The things we do for our kids...

This was our current labor of love.

Matthew and I spent a lot of time making this cake for Ethan's birthday party.

More pictures to follow!

Elders Quorum Social

Because Matthew is the EQ President I got elected to help cook food for the Progressive dinner EQ social this past weekend. It was a lot of work, but it was sooooo yummy!!

I only wish I had taken pictures of the incredible cakes that were brought over for the dessert portion. Those cakes were delish, but added about 10 pounds to my hips!

I cooked 2 pans of chicken cutlets & that wasn't nearly enough by the time the night was over. These are really easy to make. You get a really sharp knife and slice the chicken into really thin slices (easier when the chicken is still partly frozen). Dip the chicken in egg and then a mixture of Romano cheese and Italian bread crumbs. Cook in extra virgin olive oil. Easy peasy!
This is a picture of a portion of the crepes we made. The night before the event we cooked crepes for like an hour. I think it was like 106 crepes or something like that. We just use a recipe from our "Better Homes and Gardens" cookbook. Really simple to make. I think there's one pan missing from the picture. These are pans of manicotti, one of my FAVORITE things that Matthew makes. Of course he uses his homemade tomato sauce recipe, which if I gave you, I'd have to kill you ;)
You could do the same recipe with bottled sauce, use crepes for the shell and make the filling from ricotta, fresh mozzarella, Romano, & eggs. I think that's all, but I'll have to check with Matthew to see if he added anything else in there. Anyway, you fill the shells, place them in the sauce, cover them in sauce and cook them for about 45 mins at about 350 degrees. Again, easy peasy--well, if you're only cooking one pan. If you're cooking this much, you better get a helper or two :)

I didn't count all the people who came through the door, but I think we fed somewhere around 60-70 people. It was so great to get to meet new people and to eat yummy food at the same time. Thanks EQ presidency for another fun social!

*pics taken 01/30/2010

Our Wolf

Ethan's bday was also pack night for his cub scout pack.

It was quite the busy day!

We're so proud of Ethan because he received his Wolf Badge, a gold arrow & 2 silver arrows.

And yes, Mommy got a Wolf pin too.

After all, I did get to encourage him along :)

Love our little cub scout!!

Happy Birthday Ethan!!

This month Ethan turned 9!!!

It's hard to believe that it was 9 years ago that he was born.

He had lots of candles this year instead of the numbered candles.

We always let the kids choose where they want to eat dinner for their bday.

Ethan choose IHOP because he loves breakfast. It was quite yummy!

Ethan had the all you can eat pancakes 'cause he loooves pancakes!

Happy Birthday to our cute Ethan whose grown into such a big boy!!

*pics taken Ethan's bday 2010

Bday Cake Pops

Ethan got to take treats to his class on his birthday.

We decided on cake pops.

These are made from dark chocolate cake mix, creme cheese frosting & candy coating. Here's where you can find a recipe for these.
Of course I had to add tags and ribbon too.

Reading Railroad Class Float

And here is Kalin's class float...

I think dragons eat socks because they always get lost coming back from the wash. What I wish they would eat is toys off the basement floor 'cause they're always lying around ;)

*pics taken 1/29/10

Reading Railroad Class Float

This month was reading month at the kids school and each class got to do a float about a book. Ethan's class did their float on the book "My Father's Dragon".

I was lucky enough to get to help with the float. There was lots of glue and paint involved!

Lots of fun!

*pics taken 1/29/10

George's Marvelous Medicine Diorama

Ethan had to do a diorama for his class this week and the book he choose to use was "George's Marvelous Medicine" by Roald Dahl.

He really loved the scene where Grandma took George's medicine and grew so big she burst through the roof.

This is the finished project minus the sun that went on after I took the pictures. Don't mind Ethan's jammies, he wasn't able to finish this project as fast as we thought.

This was a family project. Ethan did most of the work with a little help from mom, dad and Kalin.

This is George's grouchy grandma. Ethan said she was supposed to be mean looking with a big nose.

And this is George with his crazy medicine. You'll have to read the book to see just what crazy stuff goes into his medicine!

*pics taken 1/19/10

More Party Decor

A friend of mine called and asked that Tiff and I help decorate for a surprise party and of course we jumped at the chance! Cause we love decorating so much! (of course we like the bday girl too)

Since it was held at a restaurant we only needed to decorate one table and here it is. One of my favorite color schemes, pink and black :)

The Happy Birthday Banner that Tiff made with her cool die cutter!

Can you tell it's a 30th bday party? These are the party favors that Tiff and I made. Sugar cookies again--yum!!

The table all set up.

Every party needs hanging lanterns!
The table with the cake and gifts.

The surprised birthday girl! So glad that it was actually a surprise to her, much more fun that way! Thanks to Sarah for setting it all up and for asking us to decorate!

*pics taken 01/18/10

Organizing Christmas Decor

Did I ever tell you that I love decorating my Christmas tree every year? Well, I do! So naturally, I've been collecting bulb ornaments for my tree since the second year I was married. Now, remember that I'm a discount shopper and I usually buy my bulbs on clearance the year before I'm going to use them (yes, I usually have to decide on the colors a year in advance, so I can shop the after Christmas sales).

I bought these bulb organizers last year, but I didn't have near enough to fit all the bulbs I have, so I watched diligently for them to go on sale. I was so excited when they went on sale at Walmart and there were still a ton left in stock!

After that long drawn out explanation, here's the picture of all our Christmas bulbs packed away in the crawl space awaiting their turn to be used on the tree. After we packed them up we decided to count them to see just how far my obsession had gone. Well, I'm embarrassed to say that there are about 350 bulbs of varying colors in these cases and a few large ones that wouldn't even fit. You can be sure I won't be buying any more bulbs next year, oh, unless I need a new color scheme! That comment was for you Matthew ;) Anyway, if you need a new color scheme for your tree next year, don't go buy any, just call me up and you can borrow mine. That is, if I'm not using the color you want; you live by me; you're my friend; & I can trust that most will return unbroken.

I have to add that I love decorating our house for Christmas, but for some reason I LOVE even more when the house is back in it's de-cluttered order when the season is over.

*pic taken 1/11/09

Funny Faces

This is what Lexi and her friend do best--make me laugh!

They couldn't get enough of these silly glasses.

Wouldn't it be cool if we all wore these kinds of glasses?


They took turns wearing them and then laughing at each other.
Thought you'd get a kick out of these Lynne :)

*pics taken 1/13/09