Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Easter Bunny & Finger Painting

This morning, we met Uncle Chris, Auntie Cammie, & Chandler at the mall to see the Easter Bunny! It was both a total success and a complete flop all in one! The boys all loved him, while the girl on the other hand, thought he was a bit creepy!

Chandler chillin' on Mr. Bunny's lap! Happy First Easter Big Guy!

 There was a VW Bug painted like a lady bug parked next to the Easter Bunny, I'm sure it was advertising something, but since I really don't pay attention to stuff I have to pay for, it escapes me now.  I do know that the brothers commented on how it had "lady eyes" and Uncle Chris took their picture by it!
 Chandler and Auntie Cammie!

 The kids with the Easter Bunny.  Hadley is not liking it at all!

 She stopped crying for a brief moment and contemplated making a run for it and then changed her mind and went back to tears!
 4 Cousins, an Easter Bunny, and a heck of a great morning!
 It was raining when we got home so I made some finger paint and the kids painted.  It was a total mess but a lot of fun!  I never knew that cornstarch, water and food coloring made paint!

Painting away!

 Hadley even got into it!  I didn't have paint brushes, but I did have toothbrushes.  So, I gave each of the kids a toothbrush to use as well!
 Carter!
 Kristen!
 Hadley!
 Tanner!
 The toothbrush idea worked out perfectly until Hadley went to actually use it as a toothbrush! Her teeth, tongue, and mouth are all blue!
 Her hands are totally blue as well! I hope this washes off!

All the masterpieces!

Friday, March 23, 2012

Monster Trucks, Birthdays, Rock Painting, & Morning Time!

It's been a fun and eventful week!  We have had a little bit of sun, the boys went to Monster Trucks with Mimi, cousin William turned 2, we've been playing with our neighbors, and the morning routine we have going on right now makes me laugh! We also have started our patio make over and I am very pleased at how things are starting to turn out!



 Tanner getting ready for monster trucks!
 Carter, not in a good mood, also getting ready for monster trucks!
 Watch out Grave Digger!  Here come the Compton Brothers!
 Carter made a complete recovery from his bad mood when Mimi pulled up and he got to put on his ear muffs! Happy days are back again and he is heading to Monster Trucks!
 Tanner!
 Hadley!  She can go see the big trucks next year!
 Cousin William turned 2! We got to celebrate his birthday Elmo style!  It was great fun!
 Ready for cake!
 Happy Birthday William!
 Yesterday was beautiful! We spent so much time outside in the afternoon! The boys played with our neighbors and Becky even got out the rock painting supplies so they could do a craft!   Tanner has been having a few regular play dates with our other neighbor, Cole.  It's new territory for me because he is over there without me playing for a few hours.  It's very nice-good for both of us!  Cole and Tanner will both be going to Kindergarten together next year at the same school and they have become good friends! Apparently Cole has some of the coolest toys in the universe.  How can you go wrong with that? Yesterday, after playing at Coles house for a few hours, jean dropped him back off and he couldn't find Carter.  Well, Carter was out back with Brennan.  He went running over to Carter and gave him a big hug and told him how much he missed him.  So sweet!  I love those 2!
 Brennan!
 Rock painting!
 So pretty!
 wow!  It's a nice shade of brown!
 Kristin's rock!
 Painting their masterpieces!
 Since Chandler has been coming over, our morning routine has changed a bit.  I now get up early and get dressed and ready instead of waiting for the kids to wake me up.  It's actually really nice because I get some quiet time!
 Now, mornings go as follows, around 7:00 Chandler arrives and he and I hang out, have a bottle, watch the Today Show, and relax.  Slowly, around 8:15 the brothers wake up.  Each need "time" to wake up too. Hadley is last at about 8:45. This causes a rush on preschool days.

Once everyone is up, they drink milk, eat waffles, and watch Nick Jr in their jammies.  It's hilarious!

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

7 Lovely Logics

What's Happening!

Having Chandler hang out with us during the week has really livened up this joint! He's such a fun kid! These are just a few of the pictures from whats been going on the last few weeks!


Unless it's a preschool morning, it's always an official jammy day! I'm sure that when the sun comes out again and it's nice we will start getting dressed, but until further notice, we are in our comfy clothes!Here is Tanner, Chandler, and Carter having quiet movie time.

When friends come over to play, we encourage them to come in their jammies as well! It's more fun that way!


 Must have been a preschool day because the brothers have clothes on during quiet time!

 Tanner and Inara playing super hero's one night!

 Hadley loving her bath!

 Chandler and Carter! Carter was helping him play in his little saucer thingy.  What in the world would Chandler do without the guidance of Carter?!

Hadley trying to give cousin William a hug! We don't scare him as much as we used to!

Thursday, March 8, 2012

My Favorite New Food Blog!

I have found a new favorite food blog that I must share!  It's called Favorite Family Recipes and it has all the good ones! Check it out!


Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Craft Weekend!

Craft Weekend in Lincoln City, Oregon! 

I love crafts, I was sure I would love Lincoln City even though I had never been there before so I knew I had to find a way to crash this party when I saw the Facebook Post about it on Shannan's page! I can't believe I actually got to go either!  I have never left the 3 kids and Tyler and just jetted off for a weekend without responsibilities.  Wow! I was long over due, and did not know what I was missing!  It was such fun.  I flew into Portland and my sister in law, Molly, picked me up.  I laughed most of the way from Portland to Lincoln City with her.  It was so wonderful to spend time with her!  I think it had been over a year since I had last seen her, yes, since Christmas of 2010! We kicked off the trip by getting a little lost, me losing my wallet, and making sure to grab some Arbor Mist at Safeway all before we even got to the beach house Shannan had rented.   When we made it to the beach house, we were greeted by Shannan and Traci and 3 other ladies.  Shannan and Traci had really outdone themselves!  The house was amazing and they had it decorated too! Shannan was our craft director and Traci was all over the food! The crafts were non stop awesomeness and the food was delicious!



 The first night we ate and made our aprons.  This is when I was introduced to a fun little gadget called a ruffler.  I am getting a ruffler and ruffling everything from now on.  No questions asked!  This thing is so much fun and has literally changed my life!
 Look how great Shannan has this all set up!  I am so lucky that she is my husbands cousin and so by default I get to be her cousin too! Look at all the things she can teach me, and she is super fun, and totally nice. It makes me so happy to call her my friend as well! I love it!

 Molly was my roommate and we slept up on the 3rd floor where we had a bedroom, bathroom and our own family room too!  We never used the family room because we were too busy eating and crafting.  Come to think of it, we didn't really sleep much either!
 Sheri, Shannan, & Debbie!

 Baskets of fabric!

 Caution!  Craft in Action!  Shannan seriously has all the cool tools.  Her craft set up would be comparable to a mechanical garage.  She has all the power tools necessary to get the job done!
 This was our house for the weekend.  It is adorable and very big!  It also has a hot tub! I could move in and never leave!
 Crafting away!

 Molly!
 Live Coffee Cozy tutorial!
  I made this cute pillow!
 Button!
 The beach was just across the street.  It was so serene and peaceful.  I had never been to the Oregon Coast before and honestly didn't really understand all the hype behind it.  I mean, who really wants to go to a cold and windy beach? Now I get it.  It's chilly and windy, but unlike any beach I've seen before.  I loved it!
 Me and Molly at the beach!
 Shannan!  Our cruise craft director! She is amazing at everything; sewing, cutting, gluing, tying, ruffling, measuring, the list goes on and on!  She can craft like no one else!
 The craft weekend ladies!  Traci, me, Molly, Kim, Sheri, Debbie, & Shannan.

 Our fearless leaders Traci and Shannan without whom this weekend would not have been possible!  Thanks girls!

Me in my apron (that I made BTW!) I'm really proud of it, I'm really proud of all the stuff I made! I cannot wait to do this again! Tyler is the greatest dad and husband in the world, the kids loved their weekend with him too!

Some of the recipes from the weekend are below! We ate so well!

Blueberry Scones with Lemon Glaze:
Scones:
2 cups flour
1 T. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
2 T. sugar
6 T. unsalted butter, cold & cut into small chunks
1 1/4 cup heavy cream, cold + 3 Tablespoons heavy cream for top
1 cup blueberries, fresh or frozen
Glaze:
1/2 cup lemon juice (fresh or non)
Zest one lemon
2 T. butter
2 1/4 cups powdered sugar
Preheat oven to 400. Mix flour, baking powder, salt and sugar together. Cut butter into the mixture using pastry blender or two forks until crumbly and most butter is mixed in. Make a well in the center and pour in 1 cup of cream. Mix until incorporated. Add up to 1/4 more cream if needed to make dough sticky. Fold in blueberries.  Dough is very thick and sticky.  Press out onto floured surface.  Press into rectangle about 4 inches by 12 inches. Cut in half - and half again so you have 4 equal size rectangles. Cut each one at an angle so you have 8 triangles. But on ungreased cookie sheet and brush with cream. Bake 15 - 20 minutes at 400 until very light brown. Let cool about 5 minutes then move to cooling rack. When cooling, make glaze.
Glaze:
Mix lemon juice and powdered sugar until sugar dissolved. Add zest and butter. Microwave 1 minute. Stir. Microwave 1 minute more (or until butter melted). Whisk to smooth. Let sit 5 minutes.  Spoon over scones.
Variation: Cranberries with orange glaze (swap blueberries and lemon juice out for cranberries and OJ)
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Ashley's Amazing Dip
5 avocados, chopped
7 Roma tomatoes, chopped
2 cans corn, drained
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed

1-2 packets of Good Seasoning Italian Dressing

1/4 - 1/2 cup Olive Oil (to taste)
Mix together and refrigerate. Even better the next day.
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Hummingbird Cake
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups sugar
1 teas. cinnamon
3 large eggs, beaten
1 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 teas vanilla extract
1 (8 ounce) crushed pineapple, undrained
1 cup chopped pecans
2 cups chopped or smashed ripe bananas
1 cup shredded, sweetened coconut
Cream cheese frosting:
8 ounces butter, softened
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
4 cups powdered sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
Combine first 5 ingredients in large bowl, add eggs and oil, stirring until incorporated (don't beat). Stir in vanilla, pineapple, pecans, coconut, and bananas.
Pour batter into three greased and floured 9 inch pans (or two 8 inch pans). Bake at 350 for 25 -30 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.  Cool in pans for 10 minutes; remove and cool completely on wire racks.
Spread cream cheese frosting between layers and on top. Sprinkle with pecans if desired.  Store in refrigerator.
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Meg's Enchiladas
3 cups shredded cooked chicken
1 cup sour cream
1 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 can (4.5 ounce) chopped green chilies
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 package 6 inch flour tortillas
1 jar (16 ounces) green salsa
1/2 cup water
Spray 9 x13 with Pam. Preheat oven to 350. In a bowl mix chicken, 1/2 the sour cream, 1/2 the cilantro, red pepper, chilies, 1/4 cup cheese, garlic and cumin. Warm tortillas in microwave or oven. Puree salsa, water, remaining 1/2 of sour cream and remaining 1/2 cilantro in a blender or food processor. Spread 1 cup on bottom of baking dish.
Spoon 1/3 cup chicken mixture down the center of each tortilla. Roll up and place seam side down in baking dish on sauce. Pour remaining sauce over the tortillas. Bake uncovered 35 minutes. Sprinkle with remaining cheese (3/4 cup) and bake 15 -20 minutes until bubbly.
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Breakfast Casserole
1 bag frozen hash brown potatoes (cubed or shredded)
1 pound ground breakfast sausage
1 dozen eggs
1/4 cup milk
1 - 2 cups cheddar cheese
1/2 minced onion
Cook sausage with onion and salt/pepper to taste. Pour frozen potatoes in 9x13 dish. Mix cooked sausage mixture into potatoes. In a bowl, beat the dozen eggs with 1/4 cup milk.  Pour over potato/sausage mix.  Cover with cheese then foil. Put in fridge to sit overnight.  Next morning - preheat oven to 350.  Bake covered for 1 hour.  Take cover off and bake 15 minutes until cheese melted and bubbly.  Great with salsa or ketchup!
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Chicken Salad
2 cups cooked shredded chicken
1 granny smith apple, chopped
1 -2 stalks of celery, chopped
1/2 - 1 cup golden raisins
1/2 - 1 cup pecans
Sauce:
Mayonnaise (about 2 cups)
Lemon Juice (about 2 Tablespoons)
Curry (1/2 - 1 teaspoon)
Mix together and let sit overnight in fridge. Serve on croissants, pitas, or lettuce.