Valentine's Dessert

This year for Valentines's Day I decided to make some chocolate covered strawberries for dessert. Aly loves strawberries so I assumed she would love these. Hubby and I love strawberries and chocolate as well. KK doesn't like strawberries though so I knew she wouldn't be into it.

Aly ended up refusing to try the strawberries. I didn't even try with KK. So they ended up being all for hubby and I. I think I ate three. Hubby really liked them and demolished the rest. I had to be careful because he brought me home a box of Seas candy so I couldn't eat too much sugar!

Aly and KK got some books in the mail from sticker grandma. KK was so happy with her coloring book that she could care less that we had a present for her. We had even bought her one of her favorite toys--Dora Super Babies. Next time we will save sticker grandma's presents for last--ha, ha.

Check out my new blog design by Annette

Wow, I am so lucky to have this toadily cute blog design done by Annette. For the past month or two I have been eyeing other people's frog designs on their blogs. I have toadily wished that my blog could have some cutesie cartoon frog designs. Lately Annette has been asking me to show her some of the blogs I like. So I did. She told me it was toadily easy to do and that if I found her the graphics I wanted she would be able to make me a new templet. In the beginning I wasn't really finding anything so she pointed me in the direction of digital scrapbooking designs. That is exactly where I found the designs I wanted for this templet.

In addition to her helping me redesign my blog, she also came over on Monday to help teach me how to design my own family webpage using front page. I am almost done. Just waiting for startlogic to get my domain name transferred and I will be up and running. Once that is complete I will post the URL with my family webpage. Annette did a great job teaching me and although it took me awhile to get it down, she was very patient and was a great teacher.

THANK YOU SO MUCH ANNETTE, I LOVE IT!

Aly the photographer

For Christmas we got Aly a Fisher Price digital camera. Within hours both girls were fighting over the camera. I had no idea this would happen since KK is only 2 years old. So the next day we went out and spent some of the money KK got for Christmas on a V-Tech camera. Aly actually liked the V-tech camera better and it was more difficult to use than the Fisher Price camera so we let them trade. Here is a collection of some of the pictures they took.

As you can see the camera doesn't always take great quality pictures and at times can have lighting problems. But hey, the camera is more for fun when you are 2 and 4 years old then for quality.

I never used Adobe photoshop to crop pictures. These pictures are in their raw form as taken by Aly in most cases. Usually when KK takes pictures it is of her feet or the carpet. She hasn't really figured out how to frame a picture yet.

O.k., I took the picture of KK on the right. I just had to, she was so cute sleeping. She really looks like my Dad, especially in the lips.

Aly took the picture of me on the left. I took the picture on the right and I was the crazy one that wrote the message on the car. What was I thinking wanting more snow? We sure got our wish and the snow still hasn't melted all away!

The Friendship Crisis--dedicated to Amy

I received the following email from a friend today and it was so good I just had to post it on my blog. It is totally what I believe and hope for in a friend and also try to live up to as a friend as well.



Adapted from The Friendship Crisis, by Marla Paul (Rodale Press, 2004).Everybody needs friends! Having someone to laugh with, cry with--someone who understands and cares and supports you--is part of what makes life worth living. But in today's busy world, we often don't make enough time to nurture those friendships that are so essential.



SIMPLE SOLUTION: Here are five tips that are the equivalent of friendship vitamins, sure to help a relationship flourish. Read them here:



1. Pay attention. Keep tabs on the significant events in a friend's life. Did her daughter just head off to college? Call to see how she's holding up and invite her over for coffee. Did her dad have bypass surgery? Check in.



2. Exercise your dialing finger. Okay, most of us have touch-tone phones, but you get the idea: friendship thrives on knowing the minutiae of each other's lives. You can't know them unless you stay in touch. Don't quibble about whose turn it is to call.



3. Crack open your date book. The happiest women wedge spaces into their week for pals no matter how busy they are. They meet for muffins before work, hit side-by-side treadmills at the health club, sashay out for dinner on a weeknight. Make it a nonnegotiable date.



4. Raise a flute of champagne. Sure, we need people when life clops us between the eyes. But it's just as important to cheer the victories. Did she finally finish her master's thesis or nab a promotion? Take her out to lunch or send her a note.



5. Rain compliments. Most of us don't get a lot of strokes--from our boss, our family, or our kids. That's what friends are for. I know a woman who makes me feel gorgeous and brilliant--well, at least attractive and capable--nearly every time we talk. How could you not love her?



I am so lucky that I was able to find this friendship with my best friend Amy. She is my rock as I have said to others on numerous occasions. She totally follows all 5 of the friendship vitamins. Amazingly enough even after she has moved to Montana we have still remained as close as ever. We call eachother many times a day. We know silly things such as what eachother ate for lunch and how well our children slept last night. We also know deeper things and help eachother through the rough patches of our lives. Amy this blog is dedicated to you and I will always treasure our friendship. I love you and feel so blessed to have such an amazing person in my life. You are my hero, my best friend.

Kindness Slips

The most amazing thing is happening at preschool lately. Aly's teacher is promoting kindness for the month of February and let me just tell you, the power of this activity is really working well in our home! Aly's teacher has made slips called kindness slips. Everytime Aly does something kind we get to fill out a kindness slip. These slips are returned to school. The teacher reads them out loud and puts a candy heart in a jar for each kindness slip. When the jar is full they will have a party.

I love this activity. Aly is going around everyday now being incredibly helpful. Do you know the other day while I was downstairs Aly was upstairs picking her sisters clothes out and helping her get dressed? I was in shock. Nothing had even been mentioned about getting dressed for the day. They were so cute in their room together getting their clothes on. Of course I filled out a kindness slip for that one.

Later that day KK is in the bathroom and Aly is sitting next to her helping her go to the bathroom. She helped her get toilet paper to wipe and was helping her put her clothes back on. DING, DING, another kindness slip!

The next day Aly and KK are sitting in the computer chair while Aly is playing on noggin. She is patiently asking KK where KK wants her to play next and what she wants her to click on. KK is answering and Aly is doing exactly what she said. YES! This is exactly what I like to see in my house, peace, harmony, collaboration! Another kindness slip goes out to Aly.

I think that this activity should happen every month. It should never end. (Course if it didn't I wonder if the novelty would wear off anyway)

Family Dinner for $5 or less

This past Thanksgiving I discovered this receipe and have been using it ever since. It is a family favorite and even after trying similar receipes we like this one the best.

Turkey Stuffing Dinner

1 package stove top stuffing mix prepared

2 cups cooked broccoli

2 cups cooked turkey--or chicken

1 can Cream of Celery Soup

1/2 cup of milk

1 cup of shredded Cheddar cheese (4 ounces)

Prepare stuffing mix and spoon into a 9x9 glass baking dish. Arrange the turkey and broccoli ontop of the stuffing mix. In small bowl comine soup, milk, and 1/2 cup of cheese. Pour the mixture over the turkey and broccoli. Sprinkle remaining cheese over the top.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until hot. Serves 4.

This is a very easy receipe to make. When I don't have leftover turkey or chicken, I take two chicken breasts and boil them in hot water until they are fully cooked.

The girls play dress up!

How cute they were this morning. As I am up on the computer typing away I hear Aly say to KK, "Come on KK, let's play princesses. You can be Cinderella and I will be Snow White." KK excitedly agrees and they both dash off into the playroom to get their costumes. Moments later they are both in the computer room asking me to help them put their costumes on.

They were both so happy together in their princess outfits. Although they didn't really do anything other than walk around and feel pretty. Perhaps that is what princesses do--I wouldn't know I have never even remotely been interested. I am such a tomboy I have never really been into the dress up thing.

As much as Aly loves the Cinderella dress she simply does not fit into it anymore. So she has to settle for the Snow White dress. Although from the looks of it I think she is outgrowing that as well. So I guess my only option for dress up clothes for her is to buy Halloween costumes in the bigger sizes since the dress up clothes pretty much only come in one size.

We are officially snowed in!

Since last Thursday we have got even more snow. We were lucky on Friday that it warmed up to 36 degrees and melted half of our snow. However it has been snowing off and on since Friday at 5 p.m. So now we have over a foot and a half of snow!!! Crazy huh!

Check out our car. We couldn't even get that out if we tried. The worst part is we have layers of snow and ice all mixed in. Check out the gate on our deck, we can't even open that!

This is our front yard and how we drive out to get to the main road. It may be hard to tell but to get out of our driveway we have to go right and gain speed to go up a steep gravel road. That is what causes us to get stuck. We can't make it out and up the hill at the same time!

Round Table Pizzas Big Vinnie Pizza...not so good

Tonight hubby and I were supposed to go out to dinner and leave the girls with a babysitter. However, hubby was sick. This dissapointed Aly so I told her I would take her out for pizza instead. All day little KK kept asking to go bye, bye so I asked Aly if she wouldn't mind if KK came too. She said, "Oh mommy, that would be a great idea. I would just love my sister to come."

I decided to call ahead to have the pizza ready for when we arrived. Much better than sitting around trying to entertain a 2 and 4 year old for a half hour while we wait. Apon our arrival the pizza was ready. I ordered the Big Vinnie as it was on sale for $12.99. An extra large peperoni for that price sounded good to me.

When we ate our pizza I was in shock. Either they made a mistake or I don't like New York style pizza. I ordered it with half garlic sauce and half red sauce. There was no sauce on the whole pizza, or at least I couldn't taste any. So I asked the lady if they made a mistake and didn't put sauce on it. She looked at it and said they must have made a mistake and she would make me a new one. I few minutes later another worker came out to tell me that a New York style pizza has lite sauce and that is the way it was made. She said she would go ahead and make me another one since the coupon doesn't state that it is lite on the sauce. This time they were supposed to add extra sauce.

I brought the pizza home to hubby and to my dissapointment it still didn't have any sauce or at least we couldn't find any. So I ask you, is that really how they make New York Style pizza's? Or are they just trying to cut back on their products to yield a higher profit margin? If you are familiar with New York pizza please comment and let me know!

Myspace, so why do it?

I am sure many people that do not do myspace think of it as a way to meet people up for a relationship or what not. Or a way for child predators to find unsuspecting teenagers. While I am sure this happens there are ways to safe guard against it. Set your profile to private.

I joined myspace a year ago I think. Originally I just joined because a few of my friends were on there and I thought it would be fun. I soon discovered though that it had a whole lot more to offer. I have already found three of my old HS friends that I have not been in contact with since HS. I was soo excited. I have even found friends from ten or more years ago. It is reallly nice to find old friends and catch up. I also was lucky enough to find a friend that I had not seen or talked to since I was 12 years old. So what was that like 22 years ago. Amazing! I have enjoyed that the most from myspace.

It has also gave me the opportunity to find old students that I used to teach. Many of these students that I had in second or third grade are now sophmores and juniors in HS. It has been fun to see what has happened to them and where they hope to go after HS. It has also been an eye opener to the teenage community and has let me see exactly what teenagers are up to in this day and age.

For those of you contemplating myspace I say go for it. Set your profile to private and find those friends that you lost touch with. I think you will really enjoy it.