Fun with Photo Booth

If I had all the money in the world, I would have a photo booth in my house. But we can have fun on the mac instead!!Boo Hoo!
Kiddy Feet (and yes, it's a tatt)
all giving a little katie belle face
roar!

Drywall!

I haven't given you an update in a while, but stuff has been going on. But we are now entering the exciting phase! They just finished repairing all the cracks in the plaster, and put in new drywall. Next week, cabinets will begin to be installed & we'll start painting! Hopefully, we will be able to move back in at the end of next month!!!

Will I Finish?

My favorite craft of the month is Ethan's quilt! I hope I can finish before we move back into our house. For my very first quilt, I'm glad I chose easy stripes. I machine stitched the top, and I'm doing the quilting by hand. I've borrowed Lance's aunt's old quilting frame. It takes up huge part of the room, but it works great!I've even gotten some help from my boys.

Hurting Resale Too!

The same Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act that I told you about here will likely hurt the resale of childrens clothes and toys from consignment sales, thrift stores, & garage sales. If you haven't taken the time, please read & take action today! The law goes into effect on February 10!

Read today's article in The Tennessean for more information.

This post at coolmompicks.com has a link to tell you how to write your Congressman, the CPSIA, and more. Picture from here.

More detailed & thorough sample letters can be found online, but here's a copy of mine, if you need a jumping off point: I am very concerned about the Consumer Products Safety Improvement Act & the implications on families across the nation. Most families rely greatly on resale items at thrift stores, garage sales & consigment sales in order to provide adequately for their families. Also, many small toy and clothing manufacturers, artisans and craftsmen will no longer be able to do business under such circumstances. I applaud your efforts to keep our children safe, but am very concerned about the effect this will have on products for America's children. Thank you.

More Handmade Christmas

In Mimi's "green basket" (which, in keeping with the theme, was really presented in a reused cardboard box!) included some of what is pictured below. The "Green" Bible (which is simply just a Bible with references to creation, etc. highlighted in green), a handmade draft dog,
Plus several homemade bouquet garnis, some sea salts, energy efficient light bulbs, tumeric, soaps, detergents, snacks, a few books, baking soda, loofah, seeds, agave nectar, and a few more handy items I'm forgetting!
and while I'm posting handmade gifts, i've got to post a picture of the cupcake painting! I hope it's a tradition that we continue!

Homemade Christmas

This year, some of my family members decided to trade homemade gifts, which was so much fun. My favorite part was not stepping into a single mall for any Christmas shopping!! I gave homemade granola and notecards. My mother made us each a "green" gift basket, filled with environmentally friendly (and useful) products. Other gifts given were homemade soaps, paintings, and candied nuts!A few of the notecards are pictured above. The labels for the granola were from myownlabels.com. Anyone else know of a good source?

Christmas Report

Ahh...Finally catching a breath from the whirlwind that was December. Here's some snapshots of our month, which included lots of online shopping, 18 cousins, travel, a Christmas program, several visits to Santa & tons and tons of fun. Here are a few highlights.the balloons are still flying high!
blue ridge parkway, in nc.
"can I squish her face?"
the cutest little handmade bunny for katie belle, bought off etsy!

Merry Christmas!

Despite all the incidents of 2008, it was a fantastic year. Our lives are so rich and full and blessed beyond measure. Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and see you in 2009!

Will It Ever End?

Last night our house was broken into. Straight up kicked down the door. This is the very reason that we put EVERYTHING into storage, despite what the insurance company wanted us to do. A few years ago our house was broken into & burglarized before while we were renovating. Lance hasn't been in yet, but I hope that nothing was vandalized.

If there ever was an ounce of humor in our situation, it's over. What is UP with people?!?!?! Insurance company, here we come again!

Today I Ate Pizza

And it really wasn't that great. I don't know why I picked pizza as my returning-to-a-normal-diet-celebration-food. I don't even like pizza that much. I've decided that I could go the rest of my life without cheese, I think. It's just not my temptation or indulgence of choice. Milk & oreos, however, are another story. They were delicious & did not disappoint.

In the 5 months since Katie Belle's birth, I've had a cumulative total of about 1 ounce of milk/egg/nut/shellfish in my diet. In the 3 months prior to that, I was eating those things in very, very, very small doses. I guess I'm going to start eating normally now. The past few months haven't been that bad, really. Much easier than I expected. Eating out is a pain, but I'm used to that. It's easier to feed myself than Ethan, when we're out. I'm fine if I just have a salad for lunch, but I can't quite convince E. that it's a good idea.

Eating normally makes me feel a bit guilty. Until E. outgrows this (which I hope he will), it is not a novelty, or a test. He has no idea what cheese tastes like. Or oreos & milk. I hope he will one day.

Visit from TC

Our friend Tommy came to visit from Colorado last week. We had a great visit, as always. Here was the highlight of my week - everyone but me cooking. Okay, my dad stayed clear of the kitchen too. But it was a sweet sight steering clear, while Tommy and his crew made Chicken Coconut Curry & Chapatis.

Sorry Tommy, but I had to link to Wikipedia. I just...had to.

Save Handmade!

Yikes! In an effort to reduce toxins in some of the mass-produced toys, clothing, etc. for children, the CPSC passed the ill-conceived Consumer Products Safety Improvement Act which goes into effect in two months and will absolutely decimate the small toy manufacturers, independent artisans, and crafters who have already earned the public trust. Read more about it here, at Cool Mom Picks. If you have appreciation for small business owners, artisans & stay-at-home moms who make products for children, please read how you can help.

The above link will tell you what to do, but those of you who also live in Tennessee's 5th district are represented by The Honorable Jim Cooper.

Playgroup Party

Our playgroup party, last weekend.

I promise to be more interesting in January. For now, I'm busy with Christmas plans, house renovations, a toddler, and a baby that still won't sleep through the night!

Burger & Fries, Hold the Cheese & Mayo

A couple of months ago, we were excited to find another place that we could all eat as a family - yeah!!! So we've been going with some regularity, which I've loved because - FINALLY - a break from all the cooking from scratch. So every time, we order E. the burger & fries - "No Cheese, No Seasoning. And For the Record, we have Food Allergies, so write it down on that little pad of yours & tell your friends back in the kitchen." So again last night we ordered our meal, and when it arrived, Lance noticed there were bitty bits of cheese all over the burger and a dollop of mayonnaise in the ketchup. Ahh! Both of these were not totally obvious, but he fortunately had looked over the meal when it arrived. E could have totally eaten these things had we been a bit less observant. We talked with our server and he said the spatula dropped cheese onto the burger. Hello! Food allergies! Can you use a spatula without cheese all over it?!?! This is such a pain. As careful as we are, I don't know if I can ever trust a dining experience. Will I ever get a real break from cooking? (pictured: not from our restaurant.)

Quilting

Last night I started a quilt. Why? I'm completely crazy. I completely don't have time, but couldn't find what I wanted for Ethan's room to match his new sheets. I fell in love with this quilt. But just wasn't in the mood to spend $800. Go figure. Here I go! I'm almost done with the top, but plan to do the quilting by hand. I've heard to expect that it will take me 6 months. I'm hoping I can make better time than that!

Sarah & Jake!

We had a wonderful whirlwind time in Chicago for Sarah's wedding! Sarah was a beautiful bride. The babies all did great. Congratulations Sarah & Jake!The babies preferred this portion of the wedding the best.
Here's how things went with Lizzie & Katie Belle. Lizzie would grab Katie Belle's hand (or try to eat her face). Katie Belle would squeal in delight. Lizzie would shriek in horror. We separate them. Repeat, Repeat, Repeat.
Heather, Matthew, Cash, Jake, Sarah, Us, Jen & Mason.

Craigslist

I've been spending a lot of time on Craigslist lately. I got E. a 5-piece wooden kitchen, plus wooden playfood -all for $100. What an awesome deal. (Wooden Kitchens are expensive. This set, 3-pieces, from Pottery Barn is $700!) Shhh! Don't tell Ethan!! It's his Christmas gift.

Anyway, someone should own this couch & chair. How awesome is this? Completely not the style of our house, but if it was, I would be all over it. Only $750, OBO.

Economy Got You Down?

Check out You Tube's Depression Cooking with Clara. 93-year old Clara shared cooking tips from her youth. There are several episodes. They seem to be mostly centered around pastas, potatoes, and very very little meat. I'm inspired! What do you think?

Ups & Downs

A piece of advice: If you are doing renovations to your house, hire a contractor you really trust, not the one who is the cheapest. We were locked into a decision, since the insurance company would only approve the estimate of the guys who worked super-cheap. It was a bad place to be in. Fortunately, Lance is also an architect, so he was able to spot some things that didn't meet codes. But Lance fired the contractor, so things will hopefully be looking up. We'll either hire a new one (if we can afford it at this point) or Lance will serve as general contractor from here on out.

It has now been over 2 months since the repairs got started, and we're really ready to get this whole big mess behind us. It has been a frustrating 2 months, and I'm sure it would bore you to tears for me to tell you all the details.

We've also decided to do some serious upgrades & other renovations. We decided since our whole family was being booted from our home, we'd go ahead and replace windows, the roof & other stuff while we were at it.

So in my spare time (which there is very little of) I'm daydreaming on sites like: Remodelista, Apartment Therapy, Domino, Shelterrific, among others.

Has it been 4 Months?

I can't believe 4 months have gone by so quickly!

My New Blog

After much hesitation, I've decided to start a new blog, AllergySupport.blogspot.com. This will be a format to discuss products, recipes, and issues relating to food allergies. I know that many people frequently look at my past posts about food allergies, so I thought it might be good to have a place to put information just related to that topic.

I would love to have it be a blog which has 3-4 contributors, so the information is posted more often. I know I won't have tons of time to devote to it. If you would like to be a contributor, please let me know! I'd love to have some help with it to keep it going strong!

I will continue to occasionally post food allergy info here, but the new blog."> will be completely devoted to it.

Baby Shoes

I've been completely unprepared for all the stuff a little baby girl needs for cold Sunday mornings. Dress, Tights, Bloomers, Sweater, Shoes. Ahh! But you're now looking at the proud owner of baby shoes from etsy seller, LilCubby. These are not the ones I purchased, but these cuties are still for sale!

Thinkin' About Cars

I'm thinking about Christmas, and Ethan's birthday, coming up soon. Plus, the move back into our house, which will come...Someday. So I've been scouring the internet to find some of the best car-related gifts & room decor.

I typed in "Car" on etsy, and have just finished scouring the 356 pages of results. Here are just a few of my favorites: Car Activity Table
Wooden Cars
Car Mug
Cruisin' Cars Announcement
Pillow with Chalkboard
Light Switch Cover
Pillow
Red Truck Pillow
Bucket Toy Organizer
Gift Tags
Car Stationary
Hanging Magnetic Board
Car Painting
Cars on Vacation Bowl
Race Car Switchplate
And if I had a car-obsessed girl, she'd for sure get this little car coin purse.

Playgroup, 2nd Generation

The second round of our playgroup is underway! I'm so glad for the friendships with these girls & their kids. Here is Cash, with his little girl friends, Mary Michael & Katie Belle.

More Cousins

More fun with cousins last week.

StickerHead

When you let your child go to bed with stickers, he might just wake up like this:

Fall

We enjoyed hanging out yesterday underneath the most beautiful tree on the planet. I love fall!

My Husband

He's taken, Ladies. And if you've wondered - yes, that's a photo of him gracing the walls of our airport as well.

The 7 Things Thing

I've been tagged to do the whole 7 Things Thing. But I've been putting it off. 7 things is much harder than 100 Things was. But - finally - here it is.

1. I'm frugal but have several weaknesses...scarves & vintage table linens in particular.
2. The best way to get me to ignore you is to start talking numbers.
3. I've moved 9 times in 6 years of marriage.
4. I hate having people stick their finger in my belly button.
5. I can't stand spending money on things that get used one time. (Halloween Costumes are fresh on the mind.)
6. I cannot resist stopping at a lemonade stand.
7. I love love love to dance. But Ethan is the only person I can get to dance with me around here.

I'm supposed to tag some others. But right now I'm typing one-handed & can't bother with it. If you're reading, just do it too!

Note: I changed out the photo, because I was told the other was "not super-becoming." I don't know if this is any better, but I don't have any of just me!

Cookbook Winner!

As tempting as it was to rig this thing, I did it the old-fashioned-drawing way. I thought maybe I could rig it to let an old friend win. Or maybe a new friend, to let them know that I'm glad they like my blog. With a twist of irony, Courtney was the winner!!! You might remember that a few months ago, I won a drawing for her jewelry! I thought about redrawing, because surely no one would believe that this was completely random. But it is. Crazy.

If you are interested in buying a cookbook anyway, I'll let you know in the next few weeks where to pick one up. We'll either sell them through the gym or our church. All proceeds go to help children in Nairobi, Kenya. Watch a mini-documentary here. Lance & I were fortunate to go several years ago. It's life changing.

Salmon Fingers

I want to give myself a high five for finding a recipe that makes my child love salmon. Here's the original recipe. I've marked my changes to replace the egg. Sure, boxed stuffing isn't that great for you. But hey, my kid's eating salmon!

How to: Combine 1 can or sealed pouch of salmon, 3⁄4 cup stuffing mix [making sure it's free of allergens], 5 Tbs mayo [I used Follow Your Heart Grapeseed Oil Vegenaise], 1 egg (lightly beaten) [I used this flax egg replacement], and 2 tsp lemon juice. Shape into 6 "fingers" and chill for 15 minutes. Cook with oil in a skillet over medium heat until brown on all sides.

Click here for more ways to use your stuffing.

Learning to Wink

A special moment caught on camera.

Giveaway drawing is Monday. Be sure to enter!