I Finally Crafted!

Just kidding!

Although, my weekly baking did have a V- Day spin on it.

Aren't they cute!

This is SUPER difficult now, so follow closely....

Take this recipe for Peanut Butter Cuppies...

Subtract the regular Reese's...

Insert heart shaped Reese's...

TADA!

What I affectionately refer to as, Peanut Butter Lovies.

Man I love these cookies. I have eaten them for breakfast...

And lunch....

And, if my memory serves me right (which it probably does not).... Dinner last night.

These would make a precious Valentines Day gift. Especially since they are so easy to make and so handy.

I am thinking that Mason's and Brady's teachers and classes will get some. Of course... Not from this batch.

You know, since they are disappearing pretty quickly.

Due to no fault of my own.

Somewhat.

Tiny People Expedition

My house is currently a wreck. Literally. If I showed you pictures, you would gasp. I had every intention of cleaning this weekend, but Mother Nature had different plans.

This weekend's weather was GORGEOUS! How in the world could I stay home and do trivial things like laundry and dishes when there was not a cloud in the sky and the temp was holding steady at a glorious 67 degrees. Precisely.... I couldn't. Physically impossible.

To say this weekend was wonderful would be an understatement.

We headed out to a place called Dead lake Marina. My mom was under the impression that there was more to it then there actually was, so the exploring wasn't very abundant there.

BUT.... A little sign next to the entrance to the marina indicated a chapel right down the road.

The chapel was precious! Rustic, secluded.... Right up our alley.

But first, the marina.

Gorgeous day.

Now, the chapel. Saint Andrews Chapel

Which, how awesome, has a tiny replica church right out front.

Tiny replica church again! This amazed me!

Ethan exploring. He LOVES being outside and being free to roam.

The chapel

Brady on his own expedition. (Man that kid needs a haircut!)

Part of the inside of the church. It was so precious.

His crazy cheesing face.

No Fort Gaines this weekend since they were having a Mardi Gras parade on Dauphin Island (and lord knows I wasn't getting in the middle of all of that), but next time!

 

3 a.m. Wake Up Calls and Rainy Days

What I would have done without this face this morning.... I do not know.

Mr. Ethan Cole decided that today was a 3 a.m. wake up call kind of day. Of course, he decided to go back to sleep about 5 minutes before my alarm clock went off so this morning was an early one for me.

This winter mess is for the birds. Granted, "winter" in our little nook of the country isn't really very "wintery." Case in point, right now it is about 70 outside and the sky resembles something out of Twister.  

If you didn't know any better, you would swear that it is a summer afternoon.

Ahh, Summer....

Long days filled with exposed, chunky little monster toes and sunshine.

And the beach!

A huge thank you to my ancestors for settling so close to the Gulf.

Sometimes I wish that I lived somewhere exciting. Somewhere with bustling streets shaded by towering buildings.

But then I am reminded why I love where we are.

We are exactly one hour away from the Gulf of Mexico.

30 minutes away from a bay that offers gorgeous sunsets.

Smack in the middle of the city where Mardi Gras got it's start.

But, on to other things...

I have decided that as soon as Christmas is over, Spring should begin.

No in between... No more winter... Straight to spring.

I think it works.

I still have not had any desire to craft. Instead I have done other things.

Tastier things.

I have stepped out of my "pin, but procrastinate" trend and actually MADE some of the recipes I fell in love with on Pinterest.

The BBQ Chicken that I wrote about has been the star of our dinner menu twice now. Very good stuff.

Also, I tackled the Pioneer Woman's Perfect Potatoes Au Gratin. I was iffy on this one while it was baking, but it turned out AMAZINGLY. I was extremely proud and my husband LOVED them. Definitely worth trying.

And the only evidence left of the Nutella/Hazelnut/Chocolate Chip Cookies that I made...

Learning to cook has been on my list of things to do for a while now, thanks to Pinterest I am actually doing it this time.

What else.... Oh yes!

My oldest little monster was awarded the Citizen of the month for December.

This is a fantastic thing, except for the fact that... Well, I suppose I will show you the picture and let you judge for yourself....

Uninterested? Definitely. He was expecting a trophy and when it came out that he would be getting a certificate instead, he was not having it.

This was made perfectly clear by the 45 minute long breakdown revealing that paper wasn't an award. He ended this argument with the comment that I could have it. It wasn't real.

Mmhmm. I tell you! The kid knows what he wants and he doesn't want to settle for less!

I don't know if I should be happy about this, or worried.

Another recent development, I gave birth to a super hero apparently...

I'll give you one guess who he is...

If you guessed Spiderman, you are wrong. Obviously a belt, one sock, no pants, and a Spiderman mask transforms you into Superman.

And then there are macaroni and cheese covered silly faces....

Daddy/Ethan snuggle fests...

And little bodies that take up an entire king sized bed....

On to planning our exploration for the weekend.

I am seeing a trip to the historic Fort Gaines this weekend!

Picnic in the fort = Quite possibly a top ten best way to spend a day.

The EASIEST BBQ Chicken EVER!

You have been warned, this post is photo-less. Regardless, this is the best BBQ Chicken recipe ever. And the easiest. Worth the lack of photos? You bet your butt!

While perusing Pinterest's phenomenal recipes the other day, I came across this recipe for bbq chicken. (Of course I cannot find it anymore to give due credit, but to whomever posted this recipe.... My love for you runs deep!)

Now, I am no cook. 

NOT. AT. ALL.

(Little tidbit of information for you, I try out a new baking recipe about once a week. New "real food" recipe... Maybe once every month or 2. Kids can survive on Nutella cookies and Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cupcakes... Right?)

So when I found this, it seemed easy enough for a Baking/Anti-Chef like myself.

Here you go.

4-6 Frozen Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts

1 Bottle of BBQ Sauce (I used a small bottle of Sweet Baby Rays)

1/4 Cup of Vinegar

1/4 Cup of Brown Sugar

1/2 - 1 Teaspoon of Garlic Powder

1/2 Teaspoon Red Pepper Flakes

Place FROZEN (yes frozen, even easier!) chicken into the crock pot.

Mix all other ingredients together in separate bowl

Pour BBQ mixture over the top of your frozen chicken

Cover and let it go on slow for 4-6 hours

Seriously THAT easy. And this chicken is SERIOUSLY good. I cubed one breast and had it over a salad and shredded another for a sandwich. So many different things you could do with it AND it is easy to make and HARD to mess up.... (Which is good for this gal)

Give it a try! I have some crocking away at home today waiting for this evening!

The Tiny People Expedition Diaries

Tiny People Expedition noun 

1. An excursion or journey made by individuals of a small stature for the purpose of exploration.

• Today's destination.... Fairhope, Alabama
• Today's objective.... Get out of the house and burn some energy so that Mommy doesn't go nuts and sell someone on Ebay (quite possibly a 3 for 1 special).

Photo Credit to the random Indian man at the pier who kindly offered to take a picture of me and the boys.

(I am in a black and white kind of mood today)

Today's expedition was a success! Fairhope and "The City" have been tackled.... Now I have to come up with some more locations!

Happy Saturday! 

The Mommy Diaries- Devil Rocket

Well folks, there is still NOTHING in the craft department.

Surprise, surprise.

So, on to the Mommy Diaries!

The hole in my foot is finally healing.

You read that right. HOLE in my FOOT.

A product of one of those oh so wonderful mommy moments. Some lovely individual gave my oldest boy child a rocket ship alarm clock for Christmas. (he is 6... My shaking him violently and screaming MASON! WAKE UP! hardly makes him budge.... The alarm clock was a pipe dream) Said alarm clock is obviously a tad bit complex for my brain, as I was unable to figure out how to stop the RANDOM BEEPING! I'm talking random, annoying alarm clock HONKING every hour/ten minutes/5 seconds or so.  I finally thought I had it taken care of when as soon as I laid in the bed, it started again.

I get up, confiscate it from Mason's room, and finally get it to stop. I then stash it in the laundry room, in hopes that if it decides to go off again the sound will be muffled enough not to disturb the household.

And then it happened.

On my way back down the hallway to my room a tiny Hot Wheels helicopter was quietly waiting to stage an attack on my poor unsuspecting foot.

It hurt. 

I went ahead to my room thinking that I just bruised the crap out of the bottom of my foot when suddenly, I pick my foot up and notice blood. 

FANTASTIC. 

Back to the kitchen. Bandage it up. Back to the bed.

As SOON as I lay down...

HONK HONK HONK HONK HONK HONK

That stupid alarm clock is going off AGAIN!

This time I was angry. I was bleeding from my foot. I was tired. I was ready to hop in my car and track down the individual who gifted this devil clock to my child and duct tape it to their head. After stabbing them in the foot with a metal helicopter hot wheel. 

This time the alarm clock didn't stand a chance.

I beat the crap out of it (in true, "this toy is driving me insane why won't it stop" fashion).

After taking out my frustration on the poor rocket ship I threw it into the Goodwill bag that was currently camped out by my front door waiting to be hauled off.

The next morning Mason asked me where his rocket ship was.

Part of me feels badly for tossing the rocket ship...

But then I look at the hole in the bottom of my foot, and I feel much better.

And yes, the helicopter is a goner too.

The Liebster Award!

Today I was given the pleasure of receiving the Liebster Award from Bama Girl over at Wisteria and Roses! 

This award is a special one because it is designated for blogs with less than 200 followers to encourage and develop new friendships in the blogging world! Let's be honest... Can you ever have too many friends?

Obviously not.

So, in the spirit of the Liebster award, I will be passing it along to a few of my favorite, not so widely known blogs in the hopes that you will take a moment and check out some of the awesome things they do/have to say.

I am passing this award on to:

 Messy Mimi! I found my awesome shutter/planter idea on her blog and still smile every time I look at it hanging on my porch.

Michelle at Green Acres Hobby Farm. She posts the some of the cutest do it yourself party ideas! And, everyone knows, I am all about a good party. Especially a do it yourself party!

Sarah over at Life On Walnut Street. She has some amazing projects listed on her blog. Definitely worth checking out!

Andrea at The Simple Craft Diaries. Another blog featuring so many cute crafting ideas! Not too mention that she has an Etsy shop with some absolutely PRECIOUS items!

And Csilla over at The Eccentric Cook. If you haven't found her, please do! She constantly posts recipes that make me want to go all Emeril on my kitchen, even though it would probably result in a visit from our local fire department. I never claimed to be a chef... but, I like to think that if I really tried I could. (even though I know that I probably couldn't....)

Feel free to pass this along to any of your favorite, action packed, up and coming smaller blogs and spread the love!

Craftless

That's right. I am currently craftless.

I have no motivation to even begin one! I don't know why. Maybe it is because we are finally over the holidays and getting back into a routine. Who knows.

What I do know is that I have multiple half finished projects floating around. Random things that started with ambition and a boatload of steam, have stalled.

I have stalled.

But, in my stalling, I have picked up on something that I am extremely excited about. I am in the process of started a business and I couldn't be more enthusiastic to get it up and running. I will give details as soon as things get going, but until then cross your fingers for me!

I hope everyone is having a fantastic week! One more days until the weekend!

Here We Go Again!

Every year I say it!

"This year will be better than the last!"

Every. Single. Year.

This year.... Well, it will be no exception.

EXCEPT! This year I think that it WILL be better than the last!

Why is this, well, this year I am going into the year 30 pounds lighter than last year! (Ok, FINE. 25 pounds lighter! But only because we just had Thanksgiving AND Christmas. Give me a break.) I look at it this way, if I am going INTO the year already having conquered the whole "I swear I'm going to lose it" resolution then it HAS to be better.... Right?

On top of that, this year is the year that we will FINALLY be buying a house!

Seriously, how could a year suck (at least worse than the previous year) when you are BUYING your very first HOME! Come on! And yes, in case you are thinking to yourself... "Hold on, she's married and has three kids.... They haven't bought a home yet?" NO! We haven't. You can refer to my About Me section to learn that my husband and I did EVERYTHING backwards. And when I say everything.... Literally everything normal people do on their life path... Flip it on it's backside and there is our life. Quite possibly why our past has been far from smooth sailing. (I like to chalk this up to being able to force my kids to do the right thing while pointing to our bumpy road as a prime example. That should scare them into staying on the straight and narrow.)

So, we have NOT having to lose a crap load of weight (since I already did an all. Kudos to me, thank you very much) and buying our home!

So, that leaves goals for the year...

After spending the final days of 2011 in a funk, I decided that this year will be the year of new beginnings. It's time for some changes. Some excitement. Some good old fashioned hard earned happiness. If things are going to change I am going to have to change them. Is some magical fairy going to come grant me a new amazing job buying shoes for myself while paying me millions of dollars a year to do so???? Unfortunately, no. And, unfortunately, I couldn't even make that one happen if I tried, but I CAN make other things happen. (less off the wall outrageously wonderful things, but good things none the less)

Item one- Get my butt in gear and start making things happen. It's time! Life won't last forever!

What else, well since I have already lost the weight (minus that pesky 5 or so pounds of holiday fun hanging around my midsection), I am thinking that it may be time to get healthy. Let's face it, I can't sustain life forever (much less the weight I've lost) living on hot dogs, macaroni and cheese, and chicken nuggets (my children's super healthy list O' dinners they will actually eat. I'm mom of the year... I know this.) This whole healthy nonsense, much to my disdain, includes exercising. I've been eyeballing the joggers for a while now in jealousy over their ability to move their legs at that pace without passing out from exhaustion or falling over huffing and puffing like that fat kid everyone had in their neighborhood trying to keep up while failing miserably. I may have to google "jogging" and pick up some tips before tackling this beast. After all, I don't want to look like I'm seizing while breathing like an obese chimp causing folks to run for their cell phones reporting some woman who HAS to be on the verge of death. THAT would be embarrassing.

Also, I have decided (since we are buying a home and all) that I am going on a money diet! Time to cut the spending fat and get down to basics. Unfortunately, this means no more Starbucks or morning trips to Target raiding their super awesome dollar bins (I list those two, because they make me the saddest). It's time to save a little money and get some things paid off so that the house can be numero uno prioritio (Yes I know that isn't Spanish for priority, but since I don't know the Spanish word for it then I made up my own. How do you like THOSE 4 years of Spanish classes shining through. I learned a lot.)

So, get healthy, buy a house, google jogging, learn how to jog, actually start jogging, NOT have anyone call 911 over my jogging, and start NOT spending all of my money on caramel macchiottos and Target dollar bin decor!

Another one, get all of my ducks in a row this year so next year I can make my New Years resolution... Keep doing what you're doing!

Birthdays and Such

When everyone is nursing their Christmas hangover and prepping plans for their New Years celebration, I celebrate my birthday.

Scratch that... I celebratED by birthday.

I'm sure most mothers have this happen to them. You start having children and all of a sudden your birthday slowly becomes just another day. Since I am the party planner of the house, there really isn't someone at home to take the reigns when it's my turn. I'm not really bothered by this, I suppose. Growing older has never really appealed to my liking. (Probably why I have decided that this is the last year I celebrate my actual age. From here on out it's 25 every year)

On my birthday (especially since we were cooped up in the house recovering from Christmas for days) the little monsters and I decided to get out and do some "esplorin" (as Mason refers to it).

I gave Mason (my decision maker) his choice of Fairhope (which offers a huge fishing pier, gardens, fountains, and geese) or, what they call, The City (which is basically downtown Mobile).

He chose... Not surprisingly enough, The City (They love downtown for some crazy reason. They may end up being city folks).

So we went exploring. We walked, we looked, and we pointed in awe.

Pointing in awe..... Right there, folks.

You know, this hasn't been the best year. I often find that I have some of the worst luck, but these little fellows getting excited over things that I very rarely take the time to stop and admire makes my heart smile.

New Year's Resolution- Life is what you make it. Time to make mine live up to it's potential.

And get healthy.... You know, because what's a list of resolutions without THAT one on there.