My Prince And Princess

Blinds!

Okay, so I know I haven't posted pics of the house yet.  Actually, right as we were moving I took my computer in to get cleaned out and all the picture are on our back up hard drive which I haven't even seen since the move. But I'm so excited about a recent development that I had to share!

Our house came with Zero window coverings.  Luckily we already had some drapes to cover some bedroom windows, but not all. (Our next door neighbors would have no problem staring at me while I change Liam's diaper, as the changing table is right under a very uncovered window.)  So we've budgeted to cover a window a month and window number one is the huge glass sliding doors in the kitchen!  Outside mount vertical blinds. We put them up all by ourselves!

Yay for slightly less exposed to the outside!

Just For Fun

Just want you to know that I love my creative kids.

Reese and Liam LOVE arts and crafts.  Reese is very careful and deliberate, Liam always seems like he's concentrating so hard, but in the end we always end up with a bunch of refrigerator-worthy pieces.

And Liam's a good dancer, too.  I wasn't even able to catch the best parts.

Slumber Party

Cousins Maranda, Gavin and Daxton got to stay the night for a Sleepover!

Here we have Maranda modeling the blanket fort we made in the bed room.  Unfortunately, only a third of it lasted until bedtime.  Actually, the whole think lasted until bedtime, only a third of it lasted until sleep time.

After the fort but before bedtime, we got to watch some riveting Thomas and Friends.  The movie stops every once in a while to get your brain thinking ("Which route should Thomas take?  Which horn sounds like Marybeth's horn?) I think the kids had fun.

The next morning, after cleaning up a breakfast of waffles that everyone said were delish despite the fact that they were whole wheat (which I must have failed to mention) we pulled out the play-doh!

 Not gonna lie, it was pretty exciting.  After play-doh we had some snacks and played a ball-toss game until Mike came to pick up the kids.  

We sure had a great time, hope to do it again!

Finally, Some New Pics

I have to admit, I'm out of the blogging habbit.  Since moving I haven't even kept up with following other's blogs, let alone keeping mine updated.  Now that I have a table (thanks, Mom) to begin unpacking office boxed onto, perhaps I will slowly begin to get a little better.

In any case, Reese recently got a new dress.  She refuses to wear pants.  She will only wear dresses.  Fancy dresses.  And they have to suit her particular taste.  She wears the same Hello Kitty dress about 5-6 days out of the week and rotates between about two other dresses the other days.  My mom tried to help by sending home some old dresses, but despite the fact that Reese professed to think they were pretty, she won't touch them.

Today the Hello Kitty dress was dirty.  Thank goodness she hates wearing dirty things because I got her to try on the new dress that we picked out together last week that she's hardly glanced at since.  She declared it her "picture dress" and insisted that we do a photo shoot.  So yeah.  There you go.  Oh, and then Liam wanted in on the action and tried to imitate Reese's poses.

Sorry, no update

Yeah, I know it's been a while.  Didn't blog at all for happenings in January.  We have moved and are getting settled, but sheesh, moving is awful, so I don't know when I'm going to blog again.  Or find my camera for that matter....
Anyway, I wanted to re-post some tips I found on the net so they would be here if I needed them.

1. Reheat Pizza

Heat up leftover pizza in a nonstick skillet on top of the stove , set heat to med-low and heat till warm. This keeps the crust crispy. No soggy micro pizza. I saw this on the cooking channel and it really works.

2. Easy Deviled Eggs

Put cooked egg yolks in a zip lock bag. Seal, mash till they are all broken up. Add remainder of ingredients, reseal, keep mashing it up mixing roughly, cut the tip of the baggy, squeeze mixture into egg. Just throw bag away when done easy clean up.

3. Expanding Frosting

When you buy a container of cake frosting from the store, whip it with your mixer for a few minutes. You can double it in size. You get to frost more cake/cupcakes with the same amount. You also eat less sugar and calories per serving.  (On a similar note, I avoid the "whipped" version of icing because that just means you're paying more for the air that's whipped in.)

4. Reheating Refrigerated Bread

To warm biscuits, pancakes, or muffins that were refrigerated , place them in a microwave with a cup of water. The increased moisture will keep the food moist and help it reheat faster.

5. Newspaper Weeds Away

Start putting in your plants, work the nutrients in your soil. Wet newspapers put layers around the plants overlapping as you go cover with mulch and forget about weeds. Weeds will get through some gardening plastic they will not get through wet newspapers.

6. Picking Up Broken Glass

Use a wet cotton ball or Q-tip to pick up the small shards of glass you can’t see easily.

7. No More Mosquitoes

Place a dryer sheet in your pocket. It will keep the mosquitoes away.

8. Squirrel Away!

To keep squirrels from eating your plants sprinkle your plants with cayenne pepper. The cayenne pepper doesn’t hurt the plant and the squirrels won’t come near it.

9. Flexible Vacuum

To get something out of a heat register or under the fridge add an empty paper towel roll or empty gift wrap roll to your vacuum. It can be bent or flattened to get in narrow openings.

10. Reducing Static Cling

Pin a small safety pin to the seam of your slip and you will not have a clingy skirt or dress. Same thing works with slacks that cling when wearing panty hose. Place pin in seam of slacks and — ta da! — static is gone.

11. Unsticky Measuring Cups

Before you pour sticky substances into a measuring cup, fill with hot water. Dump out the hot water, but don’t dry cup. Next, add your ingredient, such as peanut butter, and watch how easily it comes right out.

12. Foggy Windshield?

Hate foggy windshields? Buy a chalkboard eraser and keep it in the glove box of your car. When the windows fog, rub with the eraser! Works better than a cloth!

13. Reopening Envelopes

If you seal an envelope and then realize you forgot to include something inside, just place your sealed envelope in the freezer for an hour or two. Voila! It unseals easily.

14. Smoother Legs With Conditioner

Use your hair conditioner to shave your legs. It’s a lot cheaper than shaving cream and leaves your legs really smooth. It’s also a great way to use up the conditioner you bought but didn’t like when you tried it in your hair…

15. Goodbye Fruit Flies

To get rid of pesky fruit flies , take a small glass fill it 1/2″ with Apple Cider Vinegar and 2 drops of dish washing liquid , mix well. You will find those flies drawn to the cup and gone forever!

16. Get Rid of Ants

Put small piles of cornmeal where you see ants. They eat it, take it “home”, can’t digest it so it kills them. It may take a week or so, especially if it rains , but it works & you don’t have the worry about pets or small children being harmed!

17. Info About Clothes Dryers

The heating unit went out on my dryer! The gentleman that fixes things around the house for us told us that he wanted to show us something and he went over to the dryer and pulled out the lint filter. It was clean. (I always clean the lint from the filter after every load clothes.) He told us that he wanted to show us something; he took the filter over to the sink, ran hot water over it. The lint filter is made of a mesh material – I’m sure you know what your dryer’s lint filter looks like.

WELL…the hot water just sat on top of the mesh! It didn’t go through it at all! He told us that dryer sheets cause a film over that mesh that’s what burns out the heating unit. You can’t SEE the film , but it’s there. It’s wha t is in the dryer sheets to make your clothes soft and static free – that nice fragrance too, you know how they can feel waxy when you take them out of the box, well this stuff builds up on your clothes and on your lint screen This is also what causes dryer units to catch fire & potentially burn your house down with it! He said the best way to keep your dryer working for a very long time (& to keep your electric bill lower) is to take that filter out & wash it with hot soapy water & an old toothbrush (or other brush) at least every six months. He said that makes the life of the dryer at least twice as long!

How about that!?! Learn something new every day! I certainly didn’t know dryer sheets would do that. So, I thought I’d share!

Note: I went to my dryer & tested my screen by running water on it. The water ran through a little bit but mostly collected all the water in the mesh screen. I washed it with warm soapy water & a nylon brush & I had it done in 30 seconds. Then when I rinsed it the water ran right thru the screen! There wasn’t any puddling at all! That repairman knew what he was talking about!

Read more: http://www.aimlessdirection.com/2008/17-tips-to-make-your-life-easier/#ixzz1mfr6AWcX

Anniversary 7

Dec 28 marked 7 years of marriage for me and will.
We didn't really do anything special because we're more focused on buying a home right now, but Will did bring me home some flowers.  Considering I didn't even remember until halfway through the morning that it was my anniversary, I'd say I was sufficiently surprised.  Love you, Will!