Family Weekend

 Awwww......cousins!
We had a houseful this weekend!  My Uncle Tom from Texas came to visit along with my mom, her husband, my brother, his wife and their sweet girl, Marin. Oh, and Mom brought their dog, Roxie, too!

 There was quite a bit of time spent lounging (and quite a few naps - babies and adults alike).....

 But most of the time it was us watching the kids play and play and play!  There were toys strewn everywhere, sippy cups all around, snack cups dumped here and there, dogs jumping and sneaking in for attention and lots of smiles and giggles!

 Thank you to Tom for all these photos....I am too tired to upload and sort through  mine!  So another post may be coming !

 It is so fun now that both Marin and Quinn are old enough to walk/run and play together.  Marin is completely taken with Kennedy, or "Key" as she calls her! 

Thanks to all my family that made the trip to KC for a visit!  We love you bunches!!!!

A Pinterest Menu

If you haven't joined Pinterest yet, you are missing out!
I joined maybe 6-7 months ago and it is a favorite spot on the 'net!  I check in at least 2x a week!

Basically it is a giant corkboard online!  I used to try to bookmark sites that I liked or ideas that I saw online.  But I had hundreds of things bookmarked and forgot about them all.  With Pinterest, I can categorize my boards and "pin" things to them.  It is truly a genius idea!

One thing I have been using Pinterest for is new recipes.  I am NOT a fan of cooking.  At all.  And I need all the help (and practice) I can get.  So I wanted to share with you all some things we have tried here in our home that came from Pinterest, or that I pinned myself!

If you want to follow me on Pinterest you can do so here:Danielle's Pinterest

Let's get started!

Rainbow Cake.  We made these for Quinn's 1st Birthday Party!  It was a rainbow theme!  They are easy and super fun to make!

Baked Potato Soup.  This is a crock pot recipe...which I love.  ALL of use gave this two thumbs up!  It is VERY thick, so I think I will add either more broth or some milk next time.  But yummy!

Sweet & Sour chicken.  This was fabulous...lots better than I expected!!!

Home made mini deep dish pizzas.  We made these when Kennedy had a sleep over and each girl

put on her own toppings.  It was a hit!!!

Crock pot pizza soup.  Originally made this to take to my father-in-law.  He raved about it and I loved it!  So I made it again and Jeff loved it!  Kennedy, not so much...but she is quite picky.

Chicken parmesan.  It sounded so good.  But none of us cared for it.  Pretty blah.

These looked good but weren't anything special at all.

Breakfast casserole in the crock pot.  YUMMO!  Easy and good!

Apple Crisp.  We all gobbled this one up!  A go-to for sure!

Caramel apple cake with apple cider frosting.  I was beyond excited to try this one.  But it wasn't good.  The frosting ruined it. 

Mini Corn Dogs! Jeff and I liked this.  Kennedy says she likes the long corn dogs better.  But we will be making it again!

Chicken and dumplings in crock pot.  Jeff LOVES chicken and dumplings so I was eager to try it and see what he said.  His vote was a big YES!!!!

Sugar cookie dough dip.  Sounds delish!  But it wasn't.  Yuck.

I hope to share another Pinterest post soon!  We have done lots of fun activities that were found on Pinterest! Thanks for stopping by!

Christmas Recap #2

You can find the first half of our Christmas celebrations at this post!   After our Christmas morning in our jammies, we headed to Mema's house for our traditional Cornish Hen Feast!!!!   YUM!! Aren't you jealous?!

The kids did a great job of eating and then playing before the present opening began!

And isn't my elf a cutie?!

And of course Miss Q and Miss Z were adorable in their holiday outfits!    But now it is on to the GIFTS!

I just LOVE these photos!  Mema gave each family a Wii for Christmas!  Check out the look on EVERYONE'S faces!!!

Yeah, HUGE HIT FOR SURE!  We have been playing Wii a ton over the break!  I think once school begins again we may need to put a time limit in place!  

Christmas Recap #1

Christmas was pretty low key this year....I guess that is what the sickies will do.  Jeff, Quinn and I all passed around a flu bug.  So, the pictures are pretty ho-hum and I didn't take many.  Bummer.  Just felt too yucky.  


Christmas Eve was at our home with Jeff's sisters' family, Papa Lou, Aunt Barb, Cousin Michael and Great Papa Henry.  This was the night I felt the worst...I didn't even eat dinner.   
Here is Great Papa with Barbe and Zia...sleeping.

Jeff and Quinn watching others open gifts.

Lou got a photo of his mom and aunt...such a treasure.

Both Jeff and Lou got Cotton Bowl t-shirts. Go Cats!

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The next morning was just the four of us at home.   It was such a change from last year for Quinn.  She wasn't sitting up alone yet but this year she actually opened her own gifts!

This series of photos reminds me so much of Kennedy when she had her 2nd Christmas.  Papa Doug and Grandma Jodie got them ride on toys and both girls were thrilled!

Pretty cute, huh?

This is Kennedy opening her BIG gift from Santa.  A Nintendo DS!  Wonder if she liked it?

Hope you all had a blessed Christmas!   The rest of our Christmas photos will be in the next post!

Frugal Living Challenge

Just found this wonderful challenge on another blog!! Check it out!

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I consider myself, my husband, and my children to be fairly frugal people, and sometimes I admit we take it too far; for example, our couch has a hole in it and we still refuse to buy a new one, I used my old running shoes until the soles were bare, and our truck has 140,000+ miles on it but he still runs like a charm.

In no way am I recommending this to others. Nor am I saying that you have to live with holes in your furniture! However, I will suggest that there are many other ways to scale back spending and live a more frugal lifestyle.

Join me in a 23 Day Frugal Living Challenge!
Why attempt a frugal living challenge?

1. First, because living frugally allows for you to spend less than you earn. And the benefits from this are endless. You can use the difference to: get caught up on late payments, pay off debt, save, and potentially invest.
2. Second, because the less you spend, the less is required for you to earn. The benefits of this one mean: you and/or your spouse have the potential to work less, you obtain freedom from a wage, you may have the opportunity to pursue your true passions, and you may be able to retire early.

Frugal living is not suppressive! Quite the opposite, it means breaking free of the chains that bind us to unfulfilled lives.
It means spending more time with the people that mean the most. It’s having conversations, reading for leisure, growing in knowledge, enjoying nature, doing things that you think are fun, exercising, being a slave to no one, and focusing on what truly is important. The good life is waiting!
So…together let’s see how many people we can get to commit to living frugally for 23 days!
We could change the tide of society! Or, at least encourage each other along the journey. Obviously, there is a broad array of things that could happen!
The Ground Rules:
You are not committing to the implementation of all 23 ideas for living frugally. I should admit that I do most, but not all, of the tips that will be recommended and discussed. My commitment to you is to be honest with you as we move along.
I ask no more from you that I ask of myself.
Simply commit to the process and to openness.
Be willing to change, take baby steps, or jump on the path of frugality for the first time! Where ever you are on the journey, don’t be afraid to join in. We will challenge ourselves to:

• Redefine “enough”
• Learn how to use a 30-day list
• Stop the impulse buys
• Grow a garden
• Cook ahead
• And much more…

Let’s do this!

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Anybody want to join me?!?!   Its a great way to start a new year!

Christmas Cards

I had a little trouble deciding on Christmas cards this year!  I loved so many designs!  Since we send soooo many, I made various cards!    The photos of the girls at the waterfall were taken by me. The photos of the girls in their purple dresses were taken by Christina Lundeen.   Enjoy!!!

For Unto Us Religious Christmas Card

To view our unique Christmas card designs, click here.

View the entire collection of cards.

Hand Drawn Joy Religious Christmas Card

Create personalized Christmas photo cards at Shutterfly.com.

View the entire collection of cards.

Child Is Born Religious Christmas Card

Create personalized Christmas photo cards at Shutterfly.com.

View the entire collection of cards.

Rough Edge 5x7 folded card

Create personalized greeting cards and invitations at Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

Shine Upon You Religious Christmas Card

Send Christmas cards personalized with your favorite photos.

View the entire collection of cards.

Oh Holy Night Religious Christmas Card

Send Christmas cards personalized with your favorite photos.

View the entire collection of cards.

Good Bye Elfie!

Wouldn't you know Elfie would make his final day with us a memorable one?!  What a surprise it was when Kennedy woke up and was TrApPeD in her room!!!!

 

And Kennedy was not too thrilled about it either.   She wasn't really sure she was allowed to break through the barrier.  Unfortunately Quinn had been sick with the flu all night long so Mommy and Daddy were very tired and not feeling so hot either.  We all just kind of sat there for a bit.  Kennedy peeking at us through the streamers and the rest of us in the hall, half asleep.  By the way, do you see Elfie in the bottom corner with a gift for her?!

 

Finally Kennedy got the courage to run through her door!  I wish I had had the energy to get a photo of that!  Elfie left the girls 2 nice notes.  One about how well behaved they had been all year and how he would miss this so so so much until he returns next Christmas.  The other was a reward for their good behavior - they were allowed to hold Elfie ALL DAY!!!!  Do you think Quinn enjoyed that??

We already miss our elf friend to pieces! But we know he is working hard with Santa in the North Pole, preparing for Christmas 2012!!!  Thanks for following Elfie's adventures with us this season!