Our week in food...

I thought I would share what we having been eating this week.. I  LOVE food and food posts are always some of my favorites for inspiration in the kitchen.

Grilled mesquite marinated flank steak stuffed with red,orange and yellow peppers and green onions with white rice and grilled veggies. So good!! 

Blueberry coffee cake..

Flat bread pizzas. Naan Indian flat bread with olive oil, minced garlic, roasted asparagus, artichoke hearts, green onions, mini red and yellow tomatoes, zucchini, spinach and colby jack cheese... 

This sandwich is Mister and I's favorite! Grilled cheese with guacamole, sprouts, cucumber and spinach.

Yummy shortbread with home made lemon curd. Soooo delicious.

We celebrated Earth Day with some Lorax activities... the little Lorax snack is a half a orange pineapple, candy eyes and a mint chocolate covered almond. The kids loved it!!

Bon Appetit!

crafty

One thing I was nervous about having three kids three and under was if I would still be able to have time for crafts...crafts with the kiddos and crafts for just me! I love to create, to make fun things, eat fun things and my kiddos do to! Thankfully my sweet little girl adapted to a schedule and I (and the kids) still have time to be creative. We may not get in as many fun crafts as we did before, or they may take a little longer but we are still able to have fun! Here are some of my crafty projects I have done recently... 

I saw mason jar cookies on Pinterest and told Hubcap that was all I wanted for my birthday. But then the more I thought about it I knew that it would probably cost a fortune which seemed silly to spend on something we were just going to eat. So my mom and I attempted to make them ourselves. Of course they are not as perfect as the professional Pinterest ones, but they were still fun!! 

Ok, this is not crafty at all but since I showed you my mason jar cookies I thought I would show you this cutest shirt Hubcap bought me for my birthday!!! It's so perfect!! 

This is old but I never posted it a sugar cookie fruit cake... we made it on St. Patricks Day. It was so delicious!! And beautiful!!! 

I love to make diaper cakes for baby showers!!! They are so cute and fun and I love when I get to pick a theme and go with it! This is a book themed one.... 

My favorite, a bee themed diaper cake... 

and 

a princess themed diaper cake!! This one was fun too..all the flowers are headbands or clips I made and the bottom is a real tutu!! Fun!!!!!! 

Happy Crafting Friends!!!! 

A little bit of life...

The weather here has been beautiful, temperatures in the 70's and 80's and we have been soaking up the sun!!! 

my little patio Hubcap put it in our side yard... my little slice of paradise. I sit here most afternoons and watch the kiddos play! 

Little Miss is going to give me gray hair! She is my wild one, always going, going going! She hit her brothers book shelf and got herself her second set of stitches!!! She was brave though and was her normal self as soon as we hit the waiting room of urgent care... oh my stars sister you need to slow down!! 

And we wonder why she's had stitches twice at the age of 2??!?!? I turn my back for one second and she is doing this...if I let her she would do flips like this from the counter.... I am going to enroll her in a tumbling class... 

I got some new flowers planted in our front beds and all my other flowers are in full bloom! I love spring!! 

 My sweet little baby girl... 

Little Miss and I made this fun flower cherry pie.. 

Here are my girls and I making dinner one night..so much fun! 

The other view of my new patio!!! And our fire pit!! We have made more than enough smores already!! 

My little loving pirates on their pirate ship we made them! 

Sisters... 

My baby girl turned 1 month! Can't believe it.... it is flying by of course! 

We got a bunch of dirt delivered for our vegetable garden boxes and Mister had a blast playing on the huge mound of dirt before Hubcap could move it!!! And we had enough extra that he now has his own huge pile in the back yard!! Boy heaven!! 

And my sweet baby girl has started smiling!! So sweet! 

Another matchy sister picture! Just love them! 

Contributions and Expectations

I have been trying to figure out for some time now  how I feel about "Chores" and "allowance". I didn't necessarily want to pay my children for helping out around the house, but I did want to start teaching them the importance of tithing and saving. I think I found a good balance and thought I would share.

Instead of chores we decided to call them contributions. I don't want them to feel like I am forcing them to work, but I do want them to understand that it is important that they help out our family and that everyone plays an important role in helping. 
I made "Contribution Charts" to hang on the fridge. On the chart is listed a task with a corresponding picture. The kiddos check to see if they have done each contribution before they go play for the day. Of course this is very guided but the kid's eat it up and can actually figure it our for themselves! 
Here are some contributions that I thought were age appropriate for a three and two year old. 

Misters 3 year old contributions:
wipe the table after meals
make bed
clothes in hamper
clean bathroom counter at the end of the day
clean sliding glass door (every other day with mom's help)


Little Miss' 2 year old contributions:
wipe kitchen cubbards
make bed
clothes in hamper
help lay out clothes 

Most of these are done at the beginning of our day, only leaving one contribution to do after dinner.

Contributions are a lot different than expectations. I expect my kiddos to pick up their toys when they are done with them. I expect them to clean up their rooms, help pick up after an art project or other little tasks I might randomly ask them to do. 
On Saturday's the kiddos get their "allowance". Both of them receive $1. Fifty cents for spending, Twenty five cents for savings and Twenty five cents for tithe. 

            ( yes I now realize I spelled tithe wrong...)

Do I think they totally understand? No. They are two and three. But I do think it is laying a good foundation, and teaching them the importance of hard work and helping our family.

Colossians 3:23, "Work hard and cheerfully at whatever you do." 

Here are baby's newborn pictures and some of our family... 

Easter 2013

What a fun Easter we had this year! It was very simple, but very fun. Mister keeps asking me if it's still Easter..funny kid. 

Leading up to the big day we did a few fun crafts. We made these little bunnies and also did some PEEP bunny print painting and made some crosses. 

I didn't do a whole lot of Easter decorating but I did manage to make this fun little display for our kitchen counter. 

It was supposed to rain all day Easter so on Saturday we did a little Easter egg hunt in our back yard. 

I put a Annie's rabbit fruit snack in each egg..my kid's think fruit snacks are a huge treat so it worked out! 

Their Easter baskets. How fun that we had three this year!! Mister got a 9 foot parachute, I made Little Miss some rainbows and Baby Girl got a cute little outfit. 

My Easter blessings all ready for church. After church and the church potluck and Easter egg hunt we headed over to my parents house. The rain stopped and it was sunny and beautiful. We were able to have another Easter egg hunt, play some baseball, dye eggs and Mister and I had an egg race which I promised him! 

My little Easter baby. Her first Easter. She is seriously the sweetest little thing ever! By far my easiest baby, so alert and just so cute! She's already adapted to a schedule (woo hoo) and only wakes up once a night to eat! And she finally joined the 7 pound club this last week as well! She is still so tiny! What a blessing to have her with our family this Easter!