Ah it is raining and raining and raining. Finally maybe this is a sign of Fall. I love the cooler weather, and all of the yummy foods that are in season. Speaking of which, it is that time for apple pie making. I love making these for the girls' classes. Yesterday, I took one in for Ruthie's class to include in their apple test-tasting. Now Ruthie, unlike the rest of us, has never liked pie of any sort. So I was super excited and surprised when she came home today exclaiming that the apple pie was fabulous! YAY!!! My little Ruthie likes apple pie now. Now if only I can get Ella to eat almonds, pecans, and other nuts my culinary dreams will come true. :) But anyway, onto the lunches from yesterday and today.

Monday 9/27/10--E's Lunch:

apple slices

colby-jack cheese & seaweed rice crackers

yogurt pretzels

carrot snack sticks (I need to experiment a bit more with this recipe, although Ella loved them I did not)

low-sodium soy sauce (in dip container)

hard-boiled egg

Monday 9/27/10--R's Lunch:

Oatmeal (we love Bob's Red Mill 5-grain Rolled Cereal) with golden raisins

Ham & Cheese muffin (need to experiment with this a bit too)

grapes

Tuesday 9/28/10--E's Lunch:

Ham & cheese on whole wheat roll

apple & orange slices

spelt pretzels

steamed green beans

Tuesday 9/28/10--R's Lunch:

almond butter & jelly sandwich (a duck and tulip shapes today)

orange slices and grapes

spelt pretzels

steamed green beans

Another busy week. The girls seem to really like the lunches they have been taking, and particularly when they get to help make them, but lately they have been asking to buy lunch. I had such grand hopes of them not wanting school lunches, but I know it is hard for them when they see their friends eating corn dogs and pizzas. Ella seems more upset by not being able to finally serve herself in the lunch line, which apparently is a privilege for 3rd graders and beyond. I have no idea how to combat this. :( I only know that the changes we have made are making a difference and I must carry on.

Hmmm where did this week go? Oh I know, dr.'s visits, xrays, and volunteering to help with Grandparents' day crafts (I think they turned out very cute) But today Jamie has the day off so we can get some projects tackled but really we are just relaxing. :) And to start the day we had breakfast on the patio at Whole Foods today. Such a great way to start the day.

Wednesday 9/15/10 -- E's Lunch:

whole-wheat pesto ravioli

greek yogurt with cooked cinnamon apples

grapes

steamed green beans

Wednesday 9/15/10 -- R's Lunch:

grapes

almond butter & jelly sandwich (she chose a horse shape and hearts)

cucumber slices

steamed green beans

Thursday 9/16/10 -- E's Lunch:

Blue corn taco shells

cucumber slices

taco filling (ground sirloin, shredded spinach, and cheddar cheese all melted together for her to fill her own tacos)

grapes

jelly belly jelly beans

Thursday 9/16/10 -- R's Lunch:

whole wheat soft tacos (filled with ground sirloin, shredded spinach, and cheddar cheese

blue corn tortilla chips

grapes

carrot circles with ranch dressing (in dip container)

jelly belly jelly beans

Friday 9/17/10 -- E's Lunch:

cheese tortellini with pesto

sliced apples

peas

grape tomatoes

Friday 9/17/10 -- R's Lunch:

almond butter & jelly sandwich (she chose a fish shape and hearts)

spelt pretzels & mozzarella cheese stick

peas

apple (she didn't want her's sliced)

Last night we had squash with chicken sausage, and all but a bit of the sausage was eaten so I had to cook up some healthy mac-n-cheese to add a bit to today's lunches. It really is a time saver to use leftovers to create the lunches around.

Lunches today:

E's Lunch:

Orange-Cranberry scone

cucumber slices w/ ranch dressing (in dip container)

Whole-grain pasta with cheese (Annie's natural Arthur pasta) and chicken sausage crumbles

orange slices

peas

R's Lunch:

cucumber slices w/ ranch dressing (in dip container)

Orange-Cranberry scone

Whole-grain pasta with cheese (Annie's natural Arthur pasta) and chicken sausage crumbles

orange slices

peas

Today's lunches (Can you tell we had breakfast night last night for supper?):

E's Lunch:

grapes & apple slices

Oatmeal pancake sticks (most delicious pancakes ever! The recipe came from my mother-in-law and is all that we use now when making pancakes.)

mozzarella cheese stick

reduced-fat sausage link & turkey bacon

R's Lunch:

grapes & apple slices

Oatmeal pancake sticks (see above note)

maple syrup to dip (in pink dip container)

mozzarella cheese stick

reduced-fat sausage link

Ok here are the lunches so far this year (I didn't get pictures of the first few days, mainly because I didn't think to do so, but also it was busy enough trying to get back into a routine)

steamed green beans

Tuesday 9/7/10 -- E's Lunch

chicken & apple sausage with whole wheat pesto pasta
cucumber sticks, carrot sticks, & mozzarella cubes
ginger dressing (in dip container for veggie sticks)
greek yogurt with cooked cinnamon apples
grape tomatoes

Tuesday 9/7/10 -- R's Lunch

chicken & apple sausage
cucumber sticks, carrot sticks, & mozzarella cubes
ranch dressing (in dip container for veggie sticks)
greek yogurt with cooked cinnamon apples

grapes

Wednesday 9/8/10 -- E's Lunch

corn on the cob
homemade cod nuggets (HERE is the recipe, I made a few changes, such as using whole-wheat Panko instead of bread crumbs and I baked them rather than frying them)
grapes

edamame

Wednesday 9/8/10 -- R's Lunch

corn on the cob
homemade cod nuggets (same recipe as above)
ketchup (in dip container for her fish)
edamame
grapes

Thursday 9/9/10 -- E's Lunch

plum
homemade chocolate chip cookie
chicken & cheese quesadilla
sour cream ( in dip container)
tortilla chips
broccoli
rice pilaf with carrots (Trader Joe's Basmati Rice Medley -- VERY Yummy)

Thursday 9/9/10 -- R's Lunch

plum
homemade chocolate chip cookie
chicken & cheese quesadilla
sour cream ( in dip container)
tortilla chips
broccoli
rice pilaf with carrots (see note above)

Friday 9/10/10 -- E's Lunch

grape tomatoes

whole wheat roll

spaghetti, roasted, shredded chicken, and low-fat shredded cheddar/mozzarella

peas

grapes

Friday 9/10/10 -- R's Lunch

almond butter & jelly sandwich (cut with a caterpillar cookie cutter)
rosemary crackers and mozzarella cheese stick

spelt pretzels

grapes

This week has been full of changes. My little Ruthie is FIVE now. We celebrated her birthday yesterday with all of her friends. I just really can't believe she is growing up so quickly and will be starting Kindergarten this fall. And then Ella, Oh my goodness when did she become a little lady? I looked at her this morning as we were getting ready for church and just suddenly became aware that she doesn't look like a little girl so much anymore. Am I really ready to embrace this next phase of life? Whether I am or not, it is coming I can see it on the horizon.

YAY, another Compose A Card challenge!I love Becky's challenges and have tried almost everyone of the 7 but usually don't have them finished and posted in time to post them on her blog. But not this time. This challenge was perfect for me as I needed some inspiration for a thank you note for my neighbor, who is absolutely the best neighbor in the world. She is one of the top reasons we are considering adding onto our house instead of moving. Yes our neighbors really are that wonderful, they are like family.


Here is my card:

click to enlarge

This morning was truly glorious, almost completely glorious. The reason is because Spring break has begun. I know that by this time next week I will be completely out of my mind ready for the girls to be back at school, but for now it is wonderful. The girls are of course very excited about being off from school for the week, but the thing I love most is enjoying the nice slow peaceful mornings. No rushing through breakfast, no arguing about clothes, no running out the door and no dealing with impatient parents in the carpool line. This is what made this morning glorious. The only interruption to my peaceful morning today came from this:Yes, this is sweet little Lady. Lady is staying with us for the weekend, and we really do love her and love when she visits. However, she is used to having my mother & father-in-law up early. So even though Jamie was up early and let her outside and fed her, as soon as he left for work she was lonely and thought I needed to be awake as well. There went my plans to sleep in. Oh well, I still have grand plans for this spring break. I will sleep in, it just may have to wait until Lady goes back home on Sunday. My whole house is getting a good cleaning, although the girls are not at all excited about this aspect as they will be helping. I will create something everyday. The girls and I will take a picnic to the park. Ruthie will have a few friends from preschool over to have a tea party. And maybe I'll even treat the girls to an afternoon at the movies to see How to Train a Dragon, hopefully that will be good motivation to get our cleanings done.

I think it is safe to say Spring has finally arrived for North Carolina. The Bradford Pear trees along our neighborhood driveways are in full bloom which means there are 4 noses in our house that are completely stuffed with allergies. Oh well, I refuse to let that keep my windows sealed any longer. The fresh breeze blowing in is so refreshing and worth the daily doses of sudafed we are now taking.
And speaking of refreshing, I went with Ruthie and her preschool class on a field trip this week to a local farm. Ah it was so nice to just run around and play outside. And Ruthie rode a horse for the first time! It was so cool to see her just jump right up and completely feel at ease on this huge creature. I can't wait to enjoy riding with her more. Another mile marker for us this week was registering Ruthie for Kindergarten. Oh my goodness, I just can't believe it is time for that already. How big my girls are getting.
With all the fun stuff this week I only managed to snag a few minutes here and there to do a bit of stamping, but I wanted to participate in 2 challenges, so this one fits both.
First is the Poppy Seed Challenge from the very talented Lisa Johnson. This is Lisa's 2nd Poppy Seed Challenge she has issued. Unfortunately I didn't get to play along the first time (due to my incredible slackness), but I wasn't going to miss this one although I know I'm cutting it close by submitting it on the last day. *ETA: oops deadline was last night. Oh well next time I'm not going to wait to post. :)


Secondly is the Mojo Monday 131 . I loved the longer card style of the Mojo Monday sketch. And I have a ton of these longer envelopes left over from a previous project class I taught, so I'm always on the lookout for long card ideas.



And here is my card (click to enlarge):


Supplies:
Cardstock: Stamper's Select White (PTI), Aqua Mist (PTI)
Patterned paper is from Everyday Blessings paper pack (PTI)
Stamps: I can't remember the set name but it is from TAC from many years ago. Extras: Ribbon (Spring Moss PTI), Button (Aqua Mist PTI), tiny pearl (Kaiser craft), Ribbon tag die is from Spellbinders.

Ok I am in so much trouble! If you want to join me in drooling over so many yummy concoctions then you should definitely check out The Cupcake Project. I knew there was no hope of me not making these goodies, the only question was which to make first. Well I didn't have to look far into the posts to find my trial cupcake. The Margarita Cupcakes of course. So yesterday with the help of the girls we made them. Oooooooo, such a fabulous decision! And definitely a good choice for a Monday afternoon. :) I wish I could share these with others though because I'm in danger of eating the whole batch.

On another note, I was stamping and yet again forgot to post in time for the Compose A Card challenge. :(
Oh well. I had to make a cupcake card in honor of my new found yummies. Hmmm now what will be my next cupcake?

So I've been having fun playing with my stamps. ;) It has been a long time since I've just played, so to get my juices flowing I tried out Becky Oehlers Compose-A-Card Challenge. I wasn't thrilled with my final product and then to make matters worse the deadline for this particular contest was last night and my files wouldn't upload from my camera. So I didn't enter it but thought I'd post it anyway here since it did get me thinking about creating, and after all that was my goal. So here is what I made for CAC#3. Oh and I love how Becky puts a song up with each challenge! I could just listen to the Wicked soundtrack all day!


After making that card look what else I created:


And see those 2 teapots? I stamped those on some paper I made with my Distress Inks that have been in my ink cabinet forever and never used. I also have a red one from that same session but can't figure out a good card for it yet. Maybe it will make an appearance sometime soon. Anyway, that's all for today.

I just found this incredible blog: Knock Off Wood. Ana, has designed some of the most wonderful furniture plans! If only I could have found her a few weeks ago instead of trying to figure out measuring and plan making on my own. After looking at many of the plans she has available I think I can adapt and combine some of them to work for me. Now I'm even more excited about this project! So as soon as the weather cooperates I can start construction. :) The one danger of finding this site is that now I want to build sooooo many more pieces! In fact I think I'm going to start with this one Entry Storage Bench/Shelf System. I will need to change the size of course though since my little nook by the front door is a considerable amount smaller. Here's the before photo.

Notice the total chaos with coats, shoes, bags, etc. I thought briefly about tidying it up before snapping the photo, but then that wouldn't show how desperately we need some sort of furniture in this space. So here ya go, my messy nook behind the front door. :)
And hopefully the next sunny day I get I'll construct the shelf and bench and have an after photo for you. I hope this is THE beginner project I need to get me psyched up for my grander project for the kitchen. Hmm, now should I paint it white (my first thought) or stain it to match the chest that is on the left bottom corner in the photo above?

So I've come to the realization that I like stamping and crafting in my kitchen more than in a separate craft room. So I've taken measurements and drawn up plans to build a custom cabinet/workspace along a long wall in my kitchen. I have been searching for something that will work for me for months, however the closest thing I've found was a system from Ikea which costs $2500 for all that I want and still it wouldn't be completely meeting my needs/vision. This is the first attempt I've ever made at something this large scale. I mean I was the one girl who took wood shop in middle school instead of home ec. and all, but still this is huge including 20 custom made drawers! And it must look nice seeing as how it will be front & center in my kitchen. I really hope this turns out nicer than the nightmare I'm envisioning.

Ok I seriously don't know what I was thinking when I told Ella, "sure you can have a sleepover for your birthday party." No correction, I know what I was thinking, I was thinking, "sweet! this will be easy! a few friends come over we eat pizza and cake, the girls watch a movie and they go home or go to sleep. Awesome! Only work on my part will be cleanup and surely Jamie will do that." I was thinking "easy peasy!" Oh how I can deceive myself. The party is tonight! I still need to finish cleaning, go pick up a movie from Redbox, and find some more cake decorations for the girls to use to decorate their individual cakes. Not to mention the fact that I'm so sleepy because I stayed up late last night to make these:

Yep, handmade purses for each girl. Inside is a yummy lip gloss, sparkly fingernail polish, pink fingernail polish, and little bead kit I put together to make a beaded ring. I sewed each purse, and added some sweet polka dot ribbon. Both the canvas fabric and ribbon I had left over from a bag I made for Ruthie last year to carry her ballet stuff in. The letters I diecut out of some felt I found at Hancock fabric and bought for a different project that has long been forgotten. I had to do a little stitching with white embroidery floss on each letter because otherwise they looked quite sad. All in all they went rather quick and were easy if only I hadn't started them at 10:30 pm the night before the party.Oh well I hope the girls like them.

As for the birthday cake, Ella really wanted me to make a Train Cake for 2 reasons. 1.) This has become a tradition. Sometime between Christmas and Ella's birthday we always make this cake and decorate it like a cool candy train. Some years have been quite elaborate and some we just dust it with powdered sugar and read the Polar Express. And with our Atlanta trip after Christmas and Ella going back to school as soon as we got back, we just haven't had time to do this yet. 2.) She loves to go crazy with candy as do her friends that will be joining us. So what do I do? I agree to make this. The cake is easy to make and is in fact already done and waiting to be adorned with yummies. However, I always forget how hard it is to find good candy in early January! UGH! So now I must run and hunt out the many options to use tonight. Wait! I just realized I'm going to have 5 eight year olds here tonight and I'm arming them with loads of candy and other sugar! I really need to think things through better.

So I now have an eight year old?! And why have I not updated this blog in over a year? I really have no explanation for the last question, but as for the eight year old, well she continues to inspire, amaze, frustrate and just generally make my life better every day! I just can't believe she has been doing these things for eight years now.
January 2002


January 2010

Wow how much she has changed and how much we've been through. Happy birthday to my incredible, strong, courageous and beautiful Ella!