Egg hunt #1

This year we went to the egg hunt at our church - Goldilocks knew just what to do, but Curly Bear needed a little prompting. She picked up the first egg, looked at it, and threw it back down on the ground. I had to show her to put it in her basket and then she did great! So well, she threw a tantrum when we left...

Goldilock's favorite eggs were the shiny ones and the ones with money inside. Curly Bear got an egg with a one dollar bill inside. Now she needs a piggy bank.

the big Bunny

Every year we have taken Goldilocks to the church around the corner to have her picture made with the big Bunny, she has always loved it, but doesn't like Santa Claus! Anyway, Curly Bear doesn't really like the big bunny, and this year Papa had to participate in the picture. At least she didn't scream like the kid in front of us in line. I took the pictures for his dad and they were hysterical (the kid and the pictures) ha!

Here are all of our Easter bunny pictures...

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

Consignment

For the past few years, I have volunteered and sold items at a consignment sale around the corner from us. It is a lot of fun to meet other local moms and get great deals on clothes and toys. This year I needed dresses for Goldilocks, and toys for Curly Bear's birthday.
The stuff above came from the half-price sale - can't beat 50 cent shirts and pjs!

The stuff pictured below is most of what I got the first time around,
minus 2 pairs of barely worn shoes and a DVD

Between the pre-sale and half price sale I spent $110, and came home with a 32 items I think, which gives an average price of $3.40. The highest price I paid was $6 for a single item, lowest was 50 cents!

I sold $50 worth of stuff - after the sellers fee I keep 70% which gives me back $30 - which leaves me spending a total of $80. not gonna figure out the average per item now, but this is why I love consignment sales - its time consuming, but saving money is worth it.

Curly Bear was excited to dress up in something her size, most of the dressups are too big!

I have heard Dave Ramsey talk about how children's items are one of the biggest inflated markets out there. Its a lot of overpriced stuff that is barely worn or played with...

Here's my breakdown (I think I remembered everything)

10 books (2 to send to a friend)
1 magnet book
toys - Dancing Elmo, princess vanity, baby doll with carrier & high chair, pretend mixer, Elmo radio, Little Einstein doll
2 DVDs
Goldilocks - 6 dresses, 1 never worn, and 1 strausberg, 2 shirts, 1 outfit, shoes - white mary janes & hot pink mary janes
Curly Bear - 2 dresses, 1 outfit w/hat & shoes, 2 pair pjs, cinderella dress up outfit, shorts & shirt, and a sleepsack

got milk? (and yogart?)

Grandma and Papaw have been making their own yogart lately and brought us some that they had made - yum! This week I happened across a recipe for making yogart in a crockpot and had to try it. It was a success and we are straining some of it to be thicker like Greek yogart as suggested on the blog.
All you need is 1/2 gallon of milk, 1/2 cup of plain, store bought yogart (the 1st time), crockpot and towels.
Go check out the blog A Year of Slow Cooking for lots of recipes, all gluten free (if you need to worry about that)

Hey Diddle Diddle

Baby shower cake for my friend, Emily, at church. Her nursery has the Hey Diddle Diddle theme, so that's what I did for the cake too!

Please ignore the messy counter and 1960's dish towel :)

Date w/Daddy & Pigtails

It occurred to me the other night that Curly Bear's hair might be long enough for pigtails/dogears so we gave it a try. Amazingly, she stood on the stepstool and let me fiddle with her hair. She was quite pleased with the results.

These lasted all of 4 minutes.

Thursday night Goldilocks and Papa Bear went on a date. Goldilock's preschool had "Desserts with Dads" and after the kids sang some funny songs about their dads, they got to have ice cream and cookies. They had a great time!

She finally did it,

Goldilocks put something up her nose.
I couldn't believe it when Grandma said "She's put something in her nose"
Goldilocks told us it was an eye (wiggly craft eye)

After peering up her nose with a flashlight, I decided I could get it with tweezers, except, we didn't have any tweezers.

Papaw went and got some at the drugstore, then held the flashlight while I went after it.

Goldilocks had sneezed several times after I looked up her nose, which helped move the "eye" further out.

Goldilocks lay very very still and I was able to get it out after a couple of tries, and even got a huge hug afterwards.

Now she knows not to put anything in her nose or ear EVER!

On Monday, when the weather was great, Goldilocks played outside with her Grandma, while Papaw was working on Papa Bear's truck. He was working hard under the truck and the conversation went something like this
Goldilocks: Papaw, are you being careful?
Papaw: yes, I'm being careful (thinks its sweet she is concerned about him)
Goldilocks: no, papaw, are you being careful?
Papaw: yes, I'm being very careful
Goldilocks: be careful papaw, there's a worm right next to you.

Poor papaw, the little worm-lover wasn't concerned about him at all :)

ZOO!

Curly Bear and I thought the elephant was silly!
Goldilocks and Curly rode the carousel for the first time!

baby joey

baby panda - the zoo was so crowded today we couldn't see much

Apple Fritters

Yesterday, Goldilocks and I made some apple fritters from Pioneer Woman's website. They were really delicious. I had to use olive oil instead of the oil called for in the recipe, and it worked great. Papa Bear was helping a friend exercise in the living room while I was frying these, and his friend took a plateful of them out the door when he left, along with the recipe, ha!

I won!

Update: I finally got my apron - had to wait cause they sold out as a result of the contest!

It is reversible - the other side is yellow, and there are owls on it - cute!

I can't believe it

I won a really cute apron from thecottonwife!

The apron is from Bdoodle's Etsy shop

Can you guess which one I picked out?

Spaghetti, Smiles, and Croutons

Around here, we love to buy the 1 lb box of salad greens at sams club for $4. We can rarely eat it all before it goes bad, but it ends up being cheaper overall. We are simple salad eaters, but occasionally I like to make croutons with Goldilocks. I found this recipe on allrecipes.com a few years ago and love it because its easy and tastes a lot better than store bought. This February we made heart shaped croutons for the girls to give to their teachers at school and church.

Croutons

• 15 slices bread (most of a loaf)
  
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 2 teaspoons garlic salt + any herbs you like
  

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Remove crusts from stale bread slices. Brush bread on both sides with melted butter. Cut bread slices up into small cubes or cut with small cookie cutters. Sprinkle with garlic salt. Arrange cubes on an ungreased cookie sheet.
3. Bake at 350 degrees F for 15 minutes or until browned. Let cool. Store croutons in a covered container or plastic bag.
   

One of our favorite weekly meals around here is good 'ol spaghetti.Can you tell we like it?

"No more pictures please! well, maybe one, and then can you put the camera done please?"

Cheese!

Taco Night

A few years ago, we found a great recipe for taco seasoning on allrecipes.com. I make a bunch of it at a time and keep it ready to go with the other spices. To make it you will need:
6 TBSP chili powder
1/2 TBSP garlic powder
1/2 TBSP onion powder
1/2 TBSP crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 TBSP dried oregano
1 TBSP paprika
3 TBSP ground cumin
2 TBSP ground black pepper (I never put this much in)
2 TBSP sea salt ( I never add salt, there is plenty in the chips, salsa, etc.)

First, knock a drinking glass into the floor while getting out all of the spices...

Next, mix up all the ingredients, hard huh? Try not to miss the bowl like I did. ha!

This makes a jar full (6-8 servings) and leaves 2 or 3 TBsps for dinner.

My friend Natalie introduced me to Kraft's free Food & Family Magazine a number of years ago, and we have enjoyed trying out the recipes on our unsuspecting husbands. The magazine is no longer free - booo!
Here is one of our favorites from the magazine - Taco Dinner in One Pan

The recipe uses 10 min. rice, but since we were out of that, I used a cup of basmati rice, good stuff that we bought at the local warehouse club.

Brown a pound of beef

Next, stir in 2-3 TBsps of taco seasoning and 2 cups of water, Bring this to a boil then stir in 2 cups of 10 minute brown or white rice. Sprinkle cheese over the top, cover, and reduce to simmer for 5-10 minutes. (If you are cooking different rice, cook it separately and add it into the pan with only about a cup of water instead of two)
We normally serve this over smashed up tortilla chips, but works well in taco shells and tortillas too. Don't forget to cut up a pretty tomato or some green onions to make it pretty!