Top 5 posts from 2013

What a wonderful year that was.

We had the opportunity to meet so many new people, see new places, and make wonderful memories.

Not everything was rainbows and unicorns, we did have a few hard times, stressful times, and sad times.

But, there were many more happy times, and I'm so thankful for that.

Two big events were when our second son was born, and moving back to Utah.
This was my first full calender year having my blog, so I wanted to send out the year with a list of the top 5 posts.
These are the posts that I posted this year that received the most views from all of you.

Hoffman Academy Review and GIVEAWAY!

Disclosure: I got this product as part of an advertorial.

When I was younger my parents had me take piano lessons. I think I was 10...
I remember I could play "Tale as Old as Time" from Beauty and the Beast, and I was so proud of that.
Fast forward years later and no more piano lessons, and now I can only play "Mary had a little lamb", "Hot Cross Buns", and "Heart and Soul".
I have wanted to take lessons again for a really long time, and this past year I thought about putting my son in lessons as well.
Piano lessons in our area were a little on the expensive side, so I turned to the internet to see if there were any ideas on where to start.
I came across Hoffman Academy.

After receiving the materials for Unit 1 my son and I sat down and went through lesson 1 together.
We loved it!
It was easy to follow and understand, and really helped me explain to my son some of the basics.
We started with the worksheet.

Easy DIY Clay Ornaments

First off I just have to say how much I LOVE that chunky little footprint :)

Ok, so for Thanksgiving on my family's side after we had our big dinner we helped my parents decorate for Christmas. Since we were all together we thought it would be fun to make some Christmas crafts as well. 

We usually do a craft on Christmas when we all get together, but this year we wanted to do it on Thanksgiving so we could admire our little decorations all season long!

Lego Star Wars Birthday Cake

I know, I've got Christmas posts and non-Christmas posts going on here. 

I'm just all over the place :)

So I already posted the Death Star Pinata from my son's 5th birthday. Now onto the cake!

This is my third time using this decorating technique for cakes, so I have a few more tips for you this go around.
Check out our Avengers cake here and our birthday cupcakes here.
Before we got started it took me a while to find a coloring book page my son liked, and we actually ended up picking two pictures and I just put them next to each other on the cake.
I of course realized afterwards that the Emperor is facing the wrong way.
Oh well.
Ok, scroll down to see all of the pictures!

So I started out by taping the pictures to the underside of a piece of glass.

An Extra Stocking

Christmas is my most favorite time of the year.

It's even more magical with children :)
With all of the exciting things going on it's really important to us to keep Christ at the center of our Christmas.

We want our son to remember the true meaning of Christmas.

When I was growing up, every year at the beginning of December my parents would take my doll's cradle and get some hay. Throughout the month of December we would do acts of service for each other, and each time we did we would put a piece of hay in the cradle.

On Christmas Eve we would place a doll (representing the baby Jesus), in the cradle with all of the hay.

The hay was symbolic of us giving back to the Savior by serving others.

Last Christmas I decided I wanted to start a new tradition, I liked what my parents had done for us, but I didn't have access to any hay.

My son had just turned 4 at the time and on the first Monday in December we had a Family Home Evening where I explained to him that Christmas is when we celebrate Christ's birth. The Wise Men took gifts of specific importance to the baby Jesus because they knew who He was. I then told my son we needed to give a gift to Him as well.

I then told my son that when Jesus was on the Earth he told the people to love one another. So a gift to we could give to Him was to be kind to one another, love one another, and serve one another.
I wanted to somehow keep track or our service to one another, so this idea was born.

Michael Todd True Organics Skincare {GIVEAWAY!}

Hello everyone,

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!
I am so ready to get full swing into Christmas!!
I'm so excited, I LOVE this time of the year :)
The only thing that's not so great about this time of the year is these winter months can wreck havoc on our skin :(
Since that's the case why not give a loved one (or yourself!) a little pampering??
 I am excited to announce that I have teamed up with KMR Communications through 4sponsor.com to bring {1} of you lucky readers {3} products from Michael Todd True Organics - a skincare line loved by celebrities including Carmen Electra, Jilian Michaels, Tori Spelling, and more.

Their motto is
"You'll love what's in it. You'll love even more what's not."


The exact products the winner will receive will be a surprise, but the 3 products may include any of their following best sellers:

DIY Death Star Pinata

Even though Thanksgiving is next week, my mind has been rather occupied elsewhere.

I have a certain amazing little guy in my life who just turned 5 last week.

The first two weeks of November were spent planning his awesome birthday bash.

I have discovered that I LOVE to plan birthday parties, and now that my son is older it's so fun to bounce ideas back and forth and give him something he really loves.

Last year for his 4th birthday bash we had the infamous Avengers themed party.

We made a Captain America Shield Pinata from cardboard. That pinata didn't cost me a penny to make, and it was awesome.
For this year's party my son requested a Lego Star Wars theme. As soon as he said that we both knew we had to make a Death Star pinata.

Now this pinata did cost me $2.50 because I bought a ball.
I didn't have a ball on hand that was the right size...I realized later that a beach ball would have worked perfectly though...oh well.

DIY Seashell Picture Frame

Have you ever taken a trip to the beach and taken a cute sand photo and collected some shells?
Well, I have a small project for you!
About two days before we moved from California back to Utah we decided to go to the beach one more time. It was 'our beach' because we went to the same spot every time.

We knew it was our last trip to there for a while...maybe a couple of years...so we wanted to somehow remember it.

We did the classic footprints in the sand of each member of our little family. (Yes, we had our then 2 month old do a little chubby footprint as well :) )

While we lived in California we went to the beach MANY times and my son loved collecting seashells.

Over time a bunch of the shells broke or got lost, so I wanted a way to keep the shells intact and also display our cute picture.

This is what I came up with.

An Easy Halloween Breakfast

I know Halloween was already almost a whole week ago, but I am finally just getting around to this post...that might tell you how crazy my week has been!
Holidays are so much more fun with kids!
My son was so super excited for Halloween, and the night before (yeah procrastinator I know...) I decided I wanted to make his breakfast a little special to start the day off right.
Since my decision was so last minute, I didn't have a lot of prep time.
This is what I came up with.

So first thing in the morning I whipped up a batch of pancakes from an old recipe I've used forever.
My husband once made chocolate chip pancakes for my son, and he loved them, so I decided to make a pumpkin face out of chocolate chips.
It doesn't look as glamorous as it did in my head, but it still worked!
For the 'ghost milk' I just grabbed a glass cup and painted on a face with black acrylic craft paint.
*Let the paint dry completely so little fingers don't get dirty!
(And don't worry folks, the paint was super easy to clean off. I just ran it under water for a second and wiped it off with my fingers.)
The most important note is my son's reaction.
He LOVED it!
He loved it so much, the next day he asked for 'pumpkin orange juice', and even though Halloween was technically over, I had to give in :)

This was such a hit that I think we'll have to do it again next year!

Easy Halloween Crafts

Last year for Halloween I had my son help me make some decor for our apartment.
We made a Halloween paper plate craft.
Since we just moved a few weeks ago we figured the plates would not survive, so I decided to let my son make some more Halloween crafts.
I first had it in my mind to do all hand-print crafts, but after the first one my son said he didn't want to have to keep washing his hands, and I wanted him to kind of take full reign of what and how we were to do the crafts, so these were all him.

To make the spider just paint your child's palm and 4 fingers.

Then have them place their hand down facing one way, and then overlap the palm of the hand with the fingers pointing the other way.

(My son's favorite color is green, and he really wanted a green spider :) )

Glazed Muffins

I first made these muffins a couple of weeks ago and they were delicious, but now that we are back in Utah and the air is crisp I'm dying to make them again. They have the perfect flavor for these fall days.

I found this recipe through Pinterest, of course, and I made 1 or 2 minor changes.

Spinach & Parmesan Quinoa

I don't really ever remember eating spinach growing up.

I do remember people always hated it in the cartoons and kids shows though.

I honestly don't know why that is.

I happen to love it.

I make this recipe probably once every other week. It's great to throw in the mix for a meatless meal that's still packed with protein, and it's super easy to throw together!

DIY Big Brother T-shirt

Way back when I was first pregnant I decided I wanted my son to have a 'Big Brother' shirt to wear when he was at the hospital with us. I knew it would make him feel special so everyone knew who he was.

About a week before the baby came we finally got around to making the shirt.

We actually made it for Family Home Evening, so of course I had my son help me out with this project, it was to be his shirt after all!

I know it's not perfect, there are some smudges here and there, but it was perfect for what we needed and my son was very proud of the finished product.

So here's what we used

Mini Strawberry Cheesecakes

My new recipe for you this week is a dessert.

I love mini desserts, and these strawberry cheesecakes are amazing!

A couple of weeks ago I was in the mood to bake something new.

It was a Monday, and that night we would be having our weekly Family Home Evening, so I had an excuse to make a dessert :)

(If you are unfamiliar with Family Home Evening, you can learn more about it here)

I had found a recipe on Pinterest I wanted to try, but I didn't have a couple of the ingredients, so I decided to just get the basics of a cheesecake and then make my own version.

This is what I came up with. 

I was pretty proud of myself, because these turned out so good!

Jumping Minions

We are big Despicable Me fans over here at our house.

One of the things my son loves are of course are the minions :)

So, when I saw this craft over at All for the Boys, I knew we had to make our own version.

One day while my son and I were babystitting we made this craft with the kids.

These are their minions :)

Roasted Red Bell Pepper Sauce

So this is one of those recipes I pinned a long time ago on Pinterest, and since starting my goal of trying one new recipe a week, I finally tried this recipe out.
(It also helped that red bell peppers were on sale 3/$1!! Oh yeah.)

I'm so glad I tried this, it's SOOOO yummy!

This sauce is packed full of some amazing flavor!

* Update, I have made this pasta a few more times and tweaked the recipe a little. I also now add baby spinach to sneak in even more veggies. If you want to add a little more protein you can also add some cooked chicken (cut into bite sized pieces) to the noodles and sauce.

Kitchen Utensils and Bubbles

Today I have a super fun, simple and FREE Summer activity for you.

You can't go wrong with that!

A couple of weeks ago my son and I were babysitting and it was pretty hot outside.

I didn't want to take the kids to the park, because I knew they wouldn't last long there, but we needed to get outside.

I looked around their kitchen and found a few objects I thought we could use.

Just a quick update....

I wanted to give you all a quick update.

The blog was quiet this past week due to the fact that last Friday (Aug. 2)

I HAD MY BABY!

That's right folks, my little guy is here!

He was 19 days early.

My water broke later in the evening on Thursday, and after 5 1/2 hours he made his big debut.

6 lbs 14 oz and 19 1/4" long.

Thanks for all of your kind comments on my Pregnancy tracker updates!

Spinach Salad

A few months ago, in the earlier stages of pregnancy, I told my husband I was craving a good salad. 

I told him kind of what I had in mind, and then he added some thoughts as to what might go together well.

For some reason I would go grocery shopping, and somehow come home without the ingredients needed to make this salad...I think it was because I didn't want to commit to buying stuff and having extra if it wasn't going to be as good as I wanted it to...

Anyways, I now make this at least once a week. I add little variations here and there, depending on what's in the cupboard.

Trust me folks, it's so yummy!

36 Weeks

Ahh, I'm getting SO close!!!

The end is near :)

So many people walk up to me and ask if I'm past 40 weeks because my stomach is so big...yeah, thanks!

Weight gain: 25 lbs! (That's a lot in my book! I only gained 20 with my first)

Wedding ring: Still on. I'm thankful to not have any swelling!

Stretch marks? No sir!

Discomfort: Ha ha, this should just be a given! I'm waking up a lot more throughout the night and I want to roll over onto my stomach SO bad. I am contracting A LOT more often and they are way stronger and last longer, so if I need to bend over and pick something up I kind of have to wait until it's over.

Events: We had a doctor's appointment today! We got to hear the heartbeat again, and the doctor said I am dilated to a 2! Exciting news!
I had my son at 37 weeks, and I am thinking this little guy will make his appearance next week, so we'll see what happens :)

Eternal Girl Etsy Shop Review

* Disclaimer:
I received a necklace from Eternal Girl Etsy Shop for free-in exchange for an honest review and spotlight on my blog.

Hello all!

This past week I was contacted by Julia, she is the amazing artist behind the Eternal Girl Etsy Shop.

Why would I use the term 'artist' you might ask? Well, there are over 50 items in the shop, and each piece  is henna inspired, and hand-drawn folks!

After browsing through her shop for literally less than 2 seconds I had already found a few pieces that caught my eye.

Upcycled Wallet Tutorial

I have an awesome tutorial for you today!

I've had this wallet forever!

Just kidding...I think it's only been 4 years...but that's a long time in wallet years :)

This is what my wallet was looking like...

Southwestern Egg Rolls

So about a month and a half ago I decided that I wanted to start making and trying new recipes.

I thought in order to make this a realistic goal I shouldn't go too crazy, so I decided that I would make one new recipe every week.

That way I didn't feel overwhelmed, but it would be a nice change up for my family.

Well, I've been successful in keeping up with my goal, and I'm excited to say we've added 5 new recipes to our collection so far!

This is one of the new ones we tried out and liked.

This recipe can be a Main Dish or used as an appetizer!

34 Weeks

6 weeks to go people!!!
(Although I think he will come about 2 weeks early...it's getting close!)
My sister-in-law just gave birth on Sunday to a beautiful baby boy, and it makes me even more excited to meet our little guy :)

I hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July.

We went to a parade in the morning, the pool in the afternoon, and an Angel's baseball game in the evening.

It was a lot of fun.

Ok, so onto the pregnancy updates.

Weight gain: 22 lbs!

Maternity clothes? I caved! I was at Old Navy last week because they had all of their flip-flops on sale for $1, and I wandered around in the maternity section. I found a cute maternity t-shirt on clearance, so I got it.

That's my first 'maternity clothing' purchase for this pregnancy.
Wedding ring? Still on. No swollen fingers here!

Stretch marks? Nope!

Discomfort? Ha! Yes! My Braxton Hicks contractions are a lot stronger and more frequent. I also get this frequent weird pain kind of where my sternum is, it's like a pinched nerve-type feeling. It's really painful.
Events: We had a doctor's appointment today. Since my contractions are pretty frequent he wanted to check everything just in case.
He said the baby's head is really low, but I'm not dilated yet, and the contractions aren't making any progress, so everything still looks perfect!

Also, my husband had some time off last week, so I had him help me get down our boxes with my son's old baby clothes. I want to start washing things and hanging them up in the closet so we are ready to go!

Oh, no name picked out yet....still trying hard to think of something that seems right...

DIY Kids Coat Rack for Under $5

So this is what we were up to last week.

I love how this little project turned out!

I think the 'nesting' stage of my pregnancy is starting to kick in, I want to organize and clean everything!

Since moving into our apartment back in September (yes, almost 10 months ago), this is how my son's bedroom door has looked.

We've got a backpack, super hero masks, a super hero umbrella, and super hero capes all piled on those door knobs.

Free Template for Batman and Catwoman Felt Masks

 If you recall, a couple of weeks ago I had someone place another order for super hero masks.
She requested black and pink ones for the girls at the party as well as the other super heroes, and I came up with what I'm calling 'Catwoman'.
While I was making a template for those, I figured I should whip up a Batman template as well.

Download the free template for the Batman mask here.

Download the free template for the Catwoman mask here.

As with the other masks I've made I'll run down a brief tutorial.

31 Weeks

Another week down!

I feel like the countdown is on and these last 9 weeks are going to fly by!

We still haven't thought of a name yet, so if anyone wants to send some ideas... :)

Everything is going really well.

Weight gain: 18 lbs

Maternity clothes? Nope. I have been looking for some maternity capris though, there just aren't a lot of options out there...

Stretch marks? Not yet! Hopefully I can make it all the way to the end without any...

Discomfort: I am waking up a little more often throughout the night, and all I want to do is roll onto my stomach to get comfy, which then makes it so I can't fall back asleep for a while...it's ok though, I can hang in there until the end!

Pasta Frola

 My husband is from the beautiful country of Argentina, and Pasta Frola is something his mom made him growing up. I knew I needed to learn how to make it to carry on the tradition.

I have to admit, the very first time I tried pasta frola I didn't get what all of the fuss was about, but now, I love just as much as he does...if not more...
Pasta frola is a shortbread type tart filled with Quince (or dulce de membrillo) jam, and then baked.
I have included a lot of pictures for you as a step-by-step guide.
Last month I made this twice, once for my husband's birthday, and then two weeks later before we went on vacation to Utah.
The first time I made this recipe I used a 9 inch pie dish, the crust was really thick, and I had a lot of left over dough, so I could have actually made two.
The second time I made the recipe, I used a 9x13 baking dish, and I feel like the thickness was perfect.

29 Weeks

Hello hello!

Can you tell I enlisted my son this week to help me with the chalkboard?  :)

Weight gain: 18 lbs

Maternity clothes? Nope. I have officially switched to skirts only, and I'm loving it.

Much more comfy :) 

Discomfort? Not really, I'm feeling really good...I did invest in a body pillow to try and keep myself from rolling onto my back while I sleep, and it seems to be working so far.

Events: We had a doctor's appointment this week and he said everything looks great! We got to hear the baby's heartbeat as well, and it was fast and strong! 

I can't believe I only have 11 weeks left. We are getting so excited to meet this little guy :)

T-ball Picture Display

What's this?? I have a craft to show you?! 

I know, I know.

It's been a while since I posted about something crafty/DIY. 

I'm using my pregnancy as an excuse :)

So, I have mentioned we were visiting Utah last week to see friends and family since we had a little time off with the long weekend and all.

A couple of days before we left I decided that we should take a little something for my parents and my husband's parents as a little token from our son's baseball season that just ended. 

I know both sets of grandparents would have LOVED to be at every game cheering on our little guy, but we did send them pictures and videos, so they felt somewhat like they were apart of it all.

The team had taken pictures a couple of weeks ago, so I thought we could use the picture and make something for them to remember the season.

This is what we came up with.

I love how this turned out. 

We have the year, my son's #, and his hand print so they can remember how small and cute it was :)

28 Weeks

Well, we skipped week #27, but that's ok because we were on a week long vacation to Utah!

It was so much fun going back 'home' and seeing a lot of our wonderful friends and family.

I feel like we crammed in everything we wanted to see and do, so huge success.

I was nervous about driving 10+ hours and being almost 7 months pregnant, but I was totally fine. 

Weight gain: I'm not 100% positive, I think 17 lbs...? I have an appointment next week, so I'll know for sure then. I will admit that since we were on vacation, there was a lot of eating out...so I know I gained something! :)

Maternity clothes? Not yet. I think I have ruled out all of my pants now though. :(

I'm a little bummed because with my first pregnancy I wore my same pants all the way until the end. All of my pants/capris still fit just fine everywhere except right under my belly where you button them up. Even when I wrap an elastic around the button, when I sit down they are a little uncomfortable.

I might have to give in and buy a pair of maternity capris...or wear a skirt everyday...we'll see I guess, I'm just taking it one day at a time!
Discomfort? Since we were running around doing so much last week, at the end of the day I had some pretty good back pain. After relaxing for a bit it would go away. Sometimes I forget how big my belly has gotten, and I try to bend over to pick something up, but my body quickly reminds me that I can't do that as easily anymore!

Events: I started doing 'kick counts' this week :) (You basically just time the baby to see how long it takes him to move/kick 5 times). Don't worry, my little guy hasn't gone more than 10 minutes, he is active!! :)

26 Weeks

Hello all!

Notice a change with the chalkboard this week?
I feel like I am not super creative in coming up with cute things to write on the chalkboard, and then it hit me...Why do I need to write anything besides how far along I am...?

I actually really like it with just the # of weeks.
Anyways, let's see how I've been doing...
Weight gain? I am up to15 pounds!
Maternity clothes? Nope. In the pants department I only have one pair left that still fit. I'm glad the weather has warmed up because now I can wear my super comfy/cute capris, somehow those still fit really well! Yay!
Events: I think this is my last week in the second trimester! That's crazy. I can now use my belly as a table when I'm sitting on the couch, and my son now lays his head on my belly as his 'pillow' when we are cuddling  watching tv. :)
 Discomfort? Oh my yes.
It's a good thing I try to always lay on my left side when I sleep because this little guy LOVES to push his feet out (hard) on my right side.
My Braxton Hicks contractions are stronger and occur a lot more often, so that's fun.
I must say I am so thankful to have had a healthy pregnancy so far, and I am loving every minute of bonding with this little one :)

Indoor S'mores

Hello everyone!

Today I thought I would share with you one of my guilty pleasures.

S'mores.

I love them!

The only problem with S'mores is it's not every day I can make a fire and roast marshmallows... 

So, we started making them in our microwave...I needed a chocolate fix people!

I also didn't always have the larger marshmallows, or the Hershey chocolate bars, so I just started using what I already had in my baking cupboards...wow, that makes me sound like I was getting crazy desperate, but I needed something sweet. :)

Baseball Cookies

Hello hello! I hope you are all doing well :)

About a week ago we had a carnival day/fundraiser for the baseball league that my son's team is in.

They had lots of fun activities for the families, and of course lots of yummy looking treats :)

I volunteered to bring some baked goods. I baked the sugar cookies the day before, making just simple circle shapes, but for some reason I left the decorating until the morning of...

I wanted to originally do super hero designs or something along those lines, (like these sweet Justice League/Captain America cupcakes I had made a few months ago), but since we were short on time I had to come up with something else.

My son suggested I make baseball cookies.

(I had a total 'duh, why didn't I think of that?' moment, I mean they were for a fundraiser for baseball teams after all!...Oh well, it made me proud to see him come up with that idea on his own)

I'm so glad he did, because these were SO easy to decorate!

24 Weeks

Happy Sunday everyone!

I feel like this pregnancy is just flying by :)

Weight gain: 12 pounds now!!

Discomfort: YES. :) I feel like this little one is constantly stretching out and he is just trying to use all of the space he has in there! I'm also waking up a lot through out the night, just to toss and turn, which doesn't help my energy levels throughout the day...maybe my body is trying to get me used to not getting a full nights rest...thanks body...

Maternity clothes? Not yet. But, we have been going swimming more often, I might need to invest in a new swimsuit...my current one might not cover my belly much longer... :)

Events: We had our glucose testing appointment this last week, and I'm happy to say all of the blood work came back great, yay! My adorable son went with me to the appointment and as always the doctor's office was so good at letting him feel included. They let him squirt the jelly on my tummy, and then gave him the little heartbeat monitor and let him find the heartbeat, it was so cute.

So everything is going really well!

Mombo Nursing Pillow Review

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Comfort and Harmony for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

I am currently pregnant with baby #2. It's been over 4 years since I was last pregnant, and there are so many new products out there for babies! I feel like I am almost starting all over again!

One of these newer products is the Mombo Nursing Pillow from Comfort & Harmony.

I was recently sent the mombo nursing pillow  and when I opened the box, there were a couple of things that stood out to me right away.

23 weeks

It's been 4 weeks since my last pregnancy update...oops!!

That went by FAST!

Weight gain: I think I'm up to 10 lbs now...I have an appointment next week, and I've been going off of their scale, so we'll see if I'm right.

Cravings: Not really...

Discomfort? I've noticed when I sit on the couch in the evenings my lower back starts to feel uncomfortable, so I have to move around a little more often.
Stretch marks? Nope!

Maternity clothes? Nope! I'm still hanging in there with all of my same shirts and jeans I was wearing before I got pregnant. My shirts are just starting to feel a little shorter now, like they won't be able to cover the belly much longer!

Events: The baby moves SO much! He is active! This last Sunday I was sitting in church and I could just see my belly moving. I swear he doesn't kick, he is just rolling his whole body around in there.

Birthday Cupcakes

Hello everyone!

So my husband's family came to visit us here in sunny California about 2 weeks ago, and we were so excited to see them and have all of the kids run around and get to spend time with each other.

On that side of the family we have 5 nieces, and during the week while they were here we had 3 of their birthdays to celebrate!

Needless to say, they all have different tastes and likes.

One niece is into princesses, one is into Star Wars, and the other likes animals.

I offered to make cupcakes, and I wanted to make them each something to make the celebration feel special and individualized.

My most popular post EVER on this blog is the Avengers birthday cake I made for my son's birthday.
(If you haven't had a chance to check that out yet, you can find it here).
To decorate the cake I printed out a coloring book page and traced it with frosting, check it out, it's awesome :)
Well, I decided to use the same decorating technique for these cupcakes.
That's right folks, I traced pictures with frosting again!
I started out by finding color book pages on the internet and re-sizing them to what I thought would be the right size for a cupcake.
I then taped the pictures under a piece of glass, and taped wax paper on top of the glass.

 I tinted my frosting black and did all of the outlines first.

Creamy Sun-dried Tomato and Chicken Pasta

So the blog has been quiet for a while, we had an awesome vacation with my husband's family, and it was nice to unplug and just enjoy spending time together.

I haven't done a recipe post in a while, so when I came up with this yummy-ness a couple of weeks ago I just had to share it with all of you!

The orginal recipe I found is just the chicken with the sauce, but I decided to change up how it's made and add the noodles.
I LOVE how this dish turned out.
It's so good :)

A little spelling, reading, and math

Not too long ago my son really, really wanted this game one of his friends had.

We told him if he wanted it, he had to save up enough money to cover half of the cost, and we would cover the rest.

(I'm sure most of you have heard of it, it's an X-box game called Skylanders).

Long story short, he did what was asked, and we held up our end of the deal.

There is a rule though, he can only play on the Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, and only for 30 minutes each day.

For a while we had been doing 'learning activities', but those somehow slipped through the cracks as we've gotten busier.

We decided to give my son the chance to earn more 'Skylanders time' by doing a learning activity.
For 25 minutes of learning, he gets 5 extra minutes of Skylanders time.

To keep track, each time he finishes his 25 minutes he gets to pick out a sticker and put it on this paper.

Once we've used the extra 5 minutes of X-box time, we cross the sticker off.

So, this activity is one of my favorites.

19 weeks

Hi everyone! We are so excited to announce we are having another boy! :)
Weight gain: 4 lbs
Maternity clothes: Nope! Stilling hanging in there :)
Cravings: Nothing really out of the ordinary. I'm still liking peanut butter and Ritz crackers to snack on every so often. Mashed potatoes and gravy kind of sounds good...
Discomfort? Not really.
Events: Well the biggest one of all was the ultrasound appointment! My husband was able to sneak away from work and go to the appointment with us. It worked out perfectly because he hasn't been able to go to any of the other appointments with us.
My son has said it was a boy from day one, so when the ultrasound tech showed us it was a boy, she asked my son if he was so excited, and he says, 'yeah, I already knew it was a brother'. It was so funny because he was so serious.

Hope you all have a wonderful Easter Sunday tomorrow!!

Easter cookies

I thought I would take a moment to share these little cuties before the holiday on Sunday.

We attended an activity for the Primary kids in our ward last Saturday, and I signed up to bring a dessert.

I let my son pick through my cookie cutter stash, and these are the ones he choose for us to use.

My son has a baseball game tomorrow, and I signed up to bring the snacks.
For the snack bags I am going to include a juice box, a pack of Cheez-its, a plastic Easter egg with a few candies, and these bunny cookies we whipped up.

Free template for Spiderman mask

As promised I am back with my Spiderman mask and template!
(If you recall from my previous post I had someone contact me and order some super hero masks.
In addition to ones already shown here on the blog she wanted Wolverine and Spiderman masks as well, so I decided to make my own templates and share them with you!)
Click here to get the Spiderman template.

      

Start out by cutting out two pieces of felt from the template.

18 weeks

I'm so excited for my doctor's appointment coming up!

All along I have thought it was a boy, as well as my husband and son, but now my husband has changed his mind and says it's a girl for sure.

I'm going back and forth now, and just can't wait to know!!

Weight gain: 3 1/2 pounds

Maternity clothes? No sir! :)
Discomfort? I started getting Braxton Hicks contractions this past week. Awesome. I had them throughout my first pregnancy as well, so I guess, for me, it just comes with the territory.
If you've never had Braxton Hicks, it's basically a fake contraction. Your belly kind of tightens/hardens if that makes sense, and it's pretty uncomfortable for a minute, but then goes away.
Stretch marks? Nope! (Keep on moisturizing and drinking water!!)
Events: I can feel the baby A LOT more now, which is so much fun!

17 weeks

Hello everyone!

If you've been following along, you may have noticed I didn't do a 16 week pregnancy post.

Oops.

I have a ton of different things I could blame for not getting it posted, but when it comes down to it, I just wasn't able to get it done.

Oh well.

On to a new week!
My son decided he wanted to help me with the chalkboard this week.
I LOVE how this turned out.

There is a smiley face, a heart, and the next thing is supposed to be Turnip from a show on Nick Jr called Octonauts (because I told my son the baby is about the length of a turnip. No, he has no idea what that is, he just knows on Bubble Guppies one of the little characters is named Turnip, at least we think that's it's name...)
I think this is my favorite chalkboard so far :)

Weight gain: 3 lbs

Cravings: I get random cravings at random times, mostly depending on what's around me or what I'm thinking about. This week I was craving movie theater popcorn, Panda Express, fried chicken...see, it's just all over the place. The nice thing is the cravings only last a few minutes until my mind is distracted by something else.
Maternity clothes? Nope. I have no idea how I've been able to manage wearing my normal pants this long. At the beginning of this pregnancy I felt like I needed maternity pants the day after I found out I was pregnant...I guess a lot of it was in my head...anyways, I wore my normal pants clear through my first pregnancy, so here's hoping I can pull that off again :)
Events: We had an appointment last week and we were able to hear the heartbeat again. My son of course loved it, he got to help the doctor use the machine again.
Oh, last night my husband and I were sitting on the couch watching one of our shows, and the baby was moving around, a lot, so I grabbed my husband's hand and had him hold it on my belly for a minute, and he felt the baby kick!!
We have our next appointment in 2 weeks to find out what we are having, we are so excited!!

Anyone want to guess, boy or girl?

Wolverine felt mask with FREE template

Last week I mentioned I was filling an order for some Avengers masks.

I was also asked to make some Wolverine and Spiderman masks.
I've seen a few different templates, but I decided to come up with my own version, and this is what I came up with.
(I will post the Spiderman mask and template soon).

(I ended up running out of the thinner elastic I used in the previous masks, and had to use a thicker one, pictured above, but I feel like the thinner elastic works better with the super hero masks).

My son had A LOT of opinions on this mask, he sure knows his superheroes :)

This mask can be made by sewing it, or you can do a no-sew version using a hot glue gun.