Window Crayons

I came across these in Michaels yesterday. What a fun idea!



The kids thought it was pretty cool to be given permission to color on the windows.
I also found some contact paper that is a chalkboard surface. So, I painted up another frame... more pictures of that project to come later.

Frame Make-Overs

My mom brought me two cool old oval frames when she came at Thanksgiving. This week I finally got around to playing with them a little. One makeover is complete, the other is in the works. So, here is the Before, During, and After:
Before:


I loved the detail on this frame and the curved glass is really cool. The '70's flowers, not so much!

During:
I spray painted the frame white.


I left the burlap fabric as the backing, because burlap seems to be kind of cool and in right now. I bought a $3 letter L from Michael's and cut out some fun paper to stick to the front of it.

I glued the letter down to the burlap and put it all back together.




Now I just have to figure out where to hang it. I may still change out the paper on the L, not totally sold on the yellow yet. Anyway, it was kind of a fun re-do with a price of about $6 for spray paint and the letter.

An Epic Adventure

Today the kids and I had an epic adventure. Zander on his bike. Zella in the wagon. Me pulling.
We hit Mesta Park and played it up.





We went down to Kaisers for milkshakes.





We survived and made it back home.
I can't get enough of this beautiful weather. Fajita's and front porch sitting on the agenda tonight. I love Saturday!
All pictures in this post taken on the retro camera app on my phone. Pretty cool, huh?

What a difference a week makes!

Last week this time we were snowed in. Today I spent an hour working in my gardens wearing shorts. Awesome! This is the time of year that has me just itching to get out and plant something. It is too early, I know. But, I can fertilize, prune, and clean out the dead stuff. As I watered and worked I noticed... my daffodils are already peeking out. Crazy! I am not the only one with Spring fever.

Happy Valentines Day!

Hope you are all enjoying Valentines Day. We started the grown-up celebration Saturday with 24 hours of no kids, a hotel room, fabulous dinner, time with the best of friends, breakfast, and just plain down time. Lance spoiled me badly this year. It was a blast.

The family version started with some small gifts and a special breakfast. Then, I got to spend the morning with Zella's preK class. It was a ton of fun. I got to help make Valentines, read some stories, have a dance party in drama (this seriously wore me out!), snack, and hang out with the cutest 4 and 5 year olds around. Here are a few pics of the action.




Then Zella and I came home to make her gift- a dollhouse. I found these cool makedo kits at the Science Museum Oklahoma shop. Check them out HERE. Basically you take old boxes and other recycled supplies and use the kit to make them into something cool. Zella's makes a dollhouse, Zander's makes a car. These are really fun, creative toys. Here is Zella's house:


After dollhouse building we ran back over to school for Zander's party. He has such a sweet class and it was a blast to see them in action together.


We will wind up tonight with some burgers on the grill. It is so gorgeous here today, nice and warm! Hope you are celebrating with your loved ones!

Round 2

I just finished my freezing cold run this morning and I have to admit I loved every second of it. It felt so good to get out and literally run free after the past week of being shackled to the house. The knowledge that storm number two should hit this evening also pushed me along. I know it may be another week before I get out and do this again. I have been a runner at various times of my life. I usually gear up, get in shape, run some races, then I have a baby or it gets really hot or summer comes and my kids are always around or... you get the picture. My schedule this year has given me the opportunity to stop making excuses and just get out there and run. I am free every morning from 8-11 while Zella is at preK. I try at least three or four mornings a week to walk or run. It has been fantastic for me mentally and physically. While I have no desire to train for a major race, this small victory of consistency is enough for me in this season of life.

Speaking of seasons, winter has been pretty brutal here this year. As we await another major storm that should drop 6-10 inches on us I find myself going through the motions of storm prep yet again. Stocking up on the few basics we may run out of, calling Lance to tell him to pick up more coffee and beer, and getting ready to light another fire in the fireplace to cozy up to. Our wood got really wet in the drifting of the last storm so I have been bringing wood in and trying to dry it out so it will burn well during this storm. So Lance walked in to see this in our kitchen last night:

Pretty random storm prep huh? What is the strangest thing you do when getting ready for a winter storm? Good luck all- especially to all the mamas out there who blew through the snow storm bag of tricks last week and have nothing left:)

When life gives you lemons, make lemonaide. When your family leaves you rotten bananas...

Make Chocolate Chunk Banana Muffins!

As if we haven't been eating enough crap around here with all the snow...
I walked downstairs this morning to find these:

As I headed to Homeland in search of the eggs that were totally gone at Walmart I came across this:

That was all the reason I needed to pull out my Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook and mix up my trusty banana bread recipe. Just to mix things up and make them less good for you I made them muffins and added the Chocolate Chunks. Yummo.

In all seriousness, do you own a Better Homes and Gardens cookbook? If I was ordered at gunpoint to throw away all my cookbooks but one, this is the one that I would keep. It may not have the most fantastic recipe for every single thing you can think of, but it pretty much has a really solid recipe for everything you can think of. The lasagna recipe in this cookbook has made me semi-famous in my very small Sunday School class circle. I have never made something bad out of this trusty book. It would make an excellent wedding gift (as it was for me).

PS- to add to the bad eating situation I walked by my friend Darci's car after pickup today and walked away with 5 boxes of Girl Scout Cookies. 2 thin mint, 2 samoas, 1 chocolate covered pb- whatever those are called! Bad bad bad. Good thing it is going to snow again so I can eat them all and use the weather as an excuse!

Happy Groundhog Day!

So, how fitting is it that we have a blizzard in time for Groundhog Day? I had to laugh as we started this morning and ran through the day pretty much the same as we did the day before. And guess what? No school again tomorrow, and Friday. And then the weekend. And someone mentioned a possibility for more snow next week. Oh, man.
Day one was really pretty fun. Today we did really well too. I have to admit I was bummed when we lost our sitter for the Thunder Game tonight, not that I really wanted her driving here on the bad roads. But, Geep and Gege came through big time and helped track down enough tickets that we could all go together. It was a fun family night out, and we actually got to stay until the very end to see the confetti rain down for the win. We also ran into some friends and since there were plenty of seats open they got to move over and sit with us. It was a great night and just what I needed to face the next Groundhog day tomorrow and the next day. And the next. And the next, oh well, Spring should be here soon, right? Goodnight all!

Sausage Muffins

Sausage Muffins are a family favorite around here. I usually reserve them for special occasions... First day of school, birthdays, Thanksgiving and Christmas mornings, and... Snow Days! When the storm was rolling in I made a special run for sausage muffin ingredients. I had these for the first time years ago at a GEMS bible study. I think Monica Seibel may have made them. So, I really don't know how to properly credit this recipe. I just use it all the time!


Sausage Cheese Muffins

1 1lb. package ground pork sausage
3 cups Bisquick
1 ½ cups shredded Cheddar
1 10 ¾ oz. can condensed cheese soup
¾ cup water

Cook and drain sausage
Mix sausage, bisquick, cheese
Stir together soup and ¾ cup water. Add to sausage mixture, stir just until moistened. Spoon into muffin pans.
Bake 20-25 min. at 375 degrees

You can use whatever type of sausage you like, hot, regular, mild. I once had to use fiesta cheese soup in a pinch and they turned out delicious that time too.
Good luck to everyone snowed in again today... Lance headed out for work and we are just chilling around here. I am really hoping my babysitter feels like skiing over here tonight so I can go to the Thunder game- I am ready to get out of the house!