Project 365 {Project Overload}

So I don’t mean to complain, but I am going to complain.  We are sick.  We have actually be sick since the beginning of January.  First the stomach bug hit the entire house and now...we are  sick with colds.  Sick with fevers.  Sick with snot from here to there, and everywhere in between.  Sick with a baby who just isn’t happy.  Who can’t sleep and doesn’t want to eat.  She is pitiful.  And now her big brother is sick.  Sick with the snot and the fever and the general unhappiness with the world.  

We hung around the house last week.  We had friends over to play, because all Ellie wanted to do was sleep.  We played by the kitchen.  We played in the basement.  We played in our rooms.  We walked around the house.  Now Bradley was home from school today and we are home again.  This mama is going a bit stir crazy.  Good thing I have 1,000 projects to keep me busy.  See example 24/365… 

24/365 Project Overload 

1/24/11  I stocked up on all of my supplies to finish my projects for Ellie's birthday party and gifts.  Felt, tulle, gingham.  We are all set!

25/365 Tweet, Tweet.

1/25/11 tweet birds. i love them, and now they are up in ellie's room! can't wait to share them with you!

26/365 Cookies

1/26/11 Homemade chocolate chip cookies. nuff said!

27/365  Burlap Wreath 

1/27/11  My wintry burlap wreath for the front door.  I love it!

28/365   Shoe Shelf

1/28/11  I have a little shelf in the cubby room for hats and such.  I started putting Bradley’s shoes up there, but soon they don’t fit!  I wanted to remember this little shelf with baby shoes.  Someday here little feet will be too big!

29/365  Heart

1/30/11  Ok, so I am fudging a little bit.  I took this picture on Sunday night at our friend’s house for dinner.  Brandi is such a wonderful friend, and she made these adorable Valentine’s cakes for us for dessert.  I snapped this picture of Grey getting ready to dig into his vday cake. 

30/365  Heart Cakes

1/30/11  Our Heart Cakes.  Thanks Brandi!

31/365  Target Run

1/31/11  What do you do when your children are sick?  You drag them to Target of course!  Must have birthday gifts and play doh for Valentine’s Day!

Who's Your Mama?

Can you match the baby with their mama??  It is really a fun game!!

Here we are…three amigas,  Ellie and I, Andre and Steph, Anna and Lori!  Love it!!  It was so great to see everyone and get together with the girls.  Steph made the long trip with Andre from Rhode Island.  Lori hosted the crew.  Jill, April, Karen, and Janna all joined in the fun for dinner and drinks.  I just wished I could have stayed longer.  There are just friends that make you smile, and you don’t have to talk all of the time to still love each other just the same.  We are all busy now….obviously.  But, there is so much love and time, and history between us.  You just can’t put a price on lifelong friends….Steph and I are working on 16 years and Lori and I are working on 11 years.  Wow!  That is scary to see in print!!

Sending love to my babies and mamas up and down the east coast!!

Naptime is Craftime {Burlap and Blue}

I was inspired to make this wreath by some awesome stuff on Etsy.  I thought….I can do that!  I really wanted a wreath that I could use in some of the wintry months…

So I gave it a try!!  What do you think?  It was SO easy….YOU can do it too!!!  (for VERY cheap, I might add!)

You need:

one medium or large sized Styrofoam wreath

scrap burlap cut into two inch strips

a wooden monogram letter from the craft store ($1)

acrylic paint and brushes…you pick the color

some ribbon

and of course…a glue gun!

Simply hot glue gun the burlap around the wreath.  I just partly covered up my previous wrap as I worked my way around.

Paint your monogram letter.

Glue gun your ribbon to your letter, and then glue it down to the burlap.

Tie a bow with your ribbon, and glue it to secure it.

You are finished!!

Burlap is such a great material.  I also used to to make a few things last fall….

I know I already blogged about this, but I wanted to share it again since I was talking about my love of burlap.  I saw this bulletin board in pottery barn for $150+.  It did have a few more details to it, but it is going to get covered up with items anyway.  I thought, I can do that!! With Chris’ help we stapled the burlap to the back of a $30 bulletin board from Office Depot.  I love it!!  It is in my office/craft space, and it is one of my favorite pieces. 

I actually bought a bunch of extra burlap because it was SO cheap.  I used the extra pieces to make this fall table runner.  I just folded it together, stitched it up, and flipped it right side out.  Perfect!

Link up if you have anything crafts you are working on, or ideas to share!!

Hope you enjoyed naptime is craftime!! 

Tweet, Tweet

I don't tweet (like i need something else to be addicted to!), but if I did, it might include things like this...

we are sick over here, again, yes, you read that right.  colds.  nasty, yucky, snotty, up at night, coughing, vicks vaporizing colds.  it stinks. and ellie seems to always get it the worst. 

i started to fulfill one of my resolutions.  i signed up for a photography class with the community college.  the first class is tonight, and it is canceled because we have snow coming. booo!

after my recipe box post, aimee commented about jessica Seinfeld, and i pulled this out.  and made these....



yummmmm, and yes they have a whole can of chickpeas in them, and yes they are delicious!! she is good!

i am writing this with Windows Live Writer.  Why didn’t someone tell me about this sooner??  awesome!!

i love grapes.  i wash them when i get home and pile them up in a large bowl and eat them by the handful.




someone is turning one soon, and i have started planning the party.  here is a clue:




tomorrow i am going to post about burlap wreaths. are you going to join me?  what are you working on?

speaking of wreaths and tweets.  i made these yesterday. 

i found the pattern here. and they whipped up quick.  i am going to hang them somehow in ellie's room.  not quite sure how it will come together.  it will be another craftime post i'm sure.

bradley signed up for tball yesterday.  really?  how is he old enough to play a sport?  somehow he is, and that makes me happy and sad all rolled up into one.  he was over the moon excited about it.  i hope it continues!

bradley with his hand in the cookie jar…

i have an enormous amount of picture organizing to do.  all of my pictures came in from the last six months.  i need to sit down and put them in albums.  decide which ones will go in the baby book.  and pick special ones for ellie's photography album. 

i need to have a 'first birthday' photo shoot with the little one, but first she need to stop having snot continuously drip from her nose.

don't you hate it when babies sneeze on you with a mouth full or pureed food?  what is that about? 

well, this was fun tweeting in my blog! 

Project 365 {Lucky Number Three}

How lucky to keep one friend for life?  I consider myself blessed to have spent Saturday with some of the most amazing lifelong friends.  It was a bit of a babyfest, reunion, celebration, wine drinking good time.  Saturday we went to northern, va to see some of the girls.  Steph was down from Rhode Island with her baby Andre.  I got to meet him, and Lori's new baby Anna.

Long story short.  High school friends join sorority.  High school friends meet up with Lori in the sorority.  I still remember meeting Lori at rush with tulips on her name tag.  What was that, almost 10 years ago...yikes!  Anyway, three girls stay friends, get married, and we all have babies within two weeks of each other!!  More to come on our visit later, for now Project 365, week 3!!   

23/365  Motherhood

1/23/11  Ok, so I am fudging this whole 365 thing for this weekend.  But we spent a good part of the 23rd in the car driving home.  Not many exciting pictures there.  So I thought I would share a favorite photo from Saturday's babyfest.  Lori and Anna.  Love this one. 

22/365 Forever Friends

1/22/11 Three sorority sisters.  Three college roommates.  Three girls living on the same floor of the KD house.  Three babies all within two weeks of each other.  Love these girls!!

21/365  On the Move

1/21/365 Ellie has started scooting...this little girl isn't in a hurry to get many places. She is mostly content to just be around us and her big brother. But she has recently developed a new talent for scooting, backwards that is. She spent a good part of one morning scooting around the hardwood floor to get to Bradley's truck.

20/365  Zucchini Bread

1/20/11  Warm zucchini bread straight out of the oven.

19/365 The Needle Lady

1/19/11  Photo shoot at the needle lady.  So much inspiration!

18/365  Baby Haven

1/18/11  A playdate with our favorite friends, and a sweet baby named Haven!

17/365   TuTu Much

1/17/11  A Monday home from school calls for a trip to the pool. 

From the Recipe Box

Last week I posted about a cleanse I was doing during the week.  It called for a smoothie every morning for breakfast.  Someone asked me for the recipe, and I thought I would share it!  I LOVE to cook, bake, and find new recipes.  I am always trying to come up with a new dinner menu!  I thought maybe I would share some of the things we love to eat over here. 

Breakfast Smoothie

1/2 cup frozen raspberries

1/2 cup frozen blueberries

1 scoop whey protein-vanilla flavored (I haven't used these before, but they really thicken up the smoothie and fill you up!)

1/2 fresh banana

3/4 cup of milk (I use a few splashes more tothin it down so it isn't too thick)

5 ice cubes

1/4 tsp cinnamon

Blend and enjoy!!

Zucchini Bread

My friend Heather actually sent me this recipe with the motifications.  I have to give her all of the credit!!  I wanted to share it because it uses whole wheat flour and sneaks in zucchini, which I love for Bradley and Ellie!

1 1/2 cup whole wheat and 1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
3 tsp cinnamon
3 eggs
1/2 cup applesauce and 1/2 cup oil
1 cup white sugar and 1 cup honey
3 tsp vanilla
2 to 3 cups grated zucchini
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)


Directions
Grease and flour two 8 by 4 loaf pans.  Preheat over to 325.
Sift together flour, salt, baking powder, soda and cinnamon in a bowl.


In another large bowl, beat eggs, oil, vanilla, and sugar.  Add sifted ingredients to the creamed mixture and beat well.  Stir in zucchini and nubts if desired until well combined.  Pour batter into prepared pans.


Bake 40 to 60 minutes, or until test comes out clean.  Cool in pan or on rack for 20 minutes.  Removes from pan and cool completely.

Simple Spinach Quiche

I found this recipe in a magazine.  It is a short cut way to make a quiche.  I have made it for a few occaions lately and it has been a big hit.  It is perfect for a family with a new baby or a brunch.

1 9-inch refrigerated piecrust (bring to room temperature)

2 12 oz. boxes frozen spinach souffle (such as stouffer's) thawed

4 eggs beaten

1 1/2 cups (6 oz) grated Swiss cheese

Pepper

Directions

Heat oven to 375.  Unroll the piecrust and press it into a 9 inch pie plate or tarte pan.

Combine the spinach souflle, eggs, cheese, and 1/4 tsp of pepper in a large bowl.  Pour the mixture into the prepared pie shell.

Bake until set in the center, about 45 minutes.

Splish Splash , Swimming in the Winter

Since Bradley had a three day weekend we decided to head over to a new indoor pool facility to check it out. It was just built, and it is beautiful. Bradley is going to be taking swim lessons here in a few weeks, so I wanted him to be comfortable.

Bradley had a blast, jumped right on the slides and swam away. The whole family area was perfect for him. Towards the end of our visit he told me he was going to put his head under water, and he did it! A few trips back to the surface resulted in swallowing some water, but he seemed to recover quickly. Not much crying!

I am hoping that we will start this summer off with a big fish, and a little fish in training!!


Ellie was SO much fun in the pool.

She just giggled and splashed.

She was so talkative! Just babbling away, saying This is the best Mommy!

Then I would swim her around and her little feet would do a froggy kick. Adorable!

I can't think of anything more adorable then Ellie in her tutu swimsuit and Bradley at her side?!!

yarn, wool, merino, and mohair

You know I have found a new recent addiction to knitting. When you have an amazing place to shop for yarn, you can't help yourself. Mimi is my amazing knitting teacher and she owns a knitting shop in our downtown area. She asked me to take some pictures for her. I only had time for a few photos because class was wrapping up, but I plan to take some more for her in a few weeks.

Feast your eyes...

Are you inspired yet?