Shelley and I are thrilled!!! We've reached 1000 Fans on our Facebook fan page and we're hosting a giveaway to celebrate.  And I want to give you an extra chance to win :)

All you need to do is click the link below and follow the instructions. You'll earn extra entries by leaving a comment on this blog post and by becoming a follower of my blog.. You know you want to :)

1000 Fan Giveaway

 

I am so happy for Shelley! She has worked really hard to build her business and has been a huge cheerleader for A2 Designs, so much so that she asked me to join her shop, and it is fun and makes me find more time to be creative. And it gives me something else to write about :)

So please enter our giveaway, show some Facebook love to the vendors who have donated some pretty fabulous products for you to enjoy.

Wordless Wednesday

Love my hat! True Moon Creations

"Mommy, Daddy says this will get me the Ladies." I'm sure ladies love the stink eye...

A WW dinner party

Kinda spur of the moment Sunday, we invited some friends over for dinner.

I've been doing pretty good with Weight Watchers and I didn't want to blow it by eating out (That and Mint.com reminded me that my restaurant budget for the month couldn't handle dinner out for 4). So I decided to just double what I was making for dinner, throw some dinner rolls together and voila! Dinner is served!

Turkey Shepard's Pie
(I found a recipe at Once a Month Mom and altered it)

1lb ground turkey
1 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 green pepper, diced
1/2 red pepper, diced
1 small zucchini, grated
1 medium carrot, grated
2 cups frozen peas
2 cups frozen corn
1 head cauliflower
4 large potatoes, peeled and diced
4 cups chicken stock
2 tbsp flour
thyme
salt, pepper
1/4 cup butter
parsley

In a large frying pan cook the onion and peppers with 1/2 tbsp olive oil. When soft, transfer to a prep bowl. Brown the turkey in the remaining olive oil. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant. Sprinkle the flour and stir to coat turkey. Add 1 cup of the chicken stock. season with thyme, salt and pepper. Once the  sauce has thickened, add the onion mixture back to the pan followed by the zucchini, carrot, peas and corn. Add more stock if needed. Transfer the mixture to a casserole dish and spread in an even layer.

Cook the cauliflower in 1 cup chicken stock. Puree and set aside. Cook the potatoes. Drain and mash per taste. Add the pureed cauliflower.Add 1/4 cup buttermilk and the butter. Spread evenly over the meat mixture. Sprinkle the top with parsley to taste. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Makes 8 servings. And at 6WWPP per serving you can have a dinner roll!!! (I have to say these were the best ones I've made yet)

Everyone loved it, the kids ate it up and didn't even realize that there were so many veggies in it and I didn't have a dinner hangover! I did have to send the rest of the dinner rolls home with our company though...they were so freaking good I could have polished them all off!

School?...How?!

Tonight Gordon and I will leave our kids with their awesome evening/weekend sitter (she's a hockey player and Austin just LOVES when she comes over) and we'll head over to the school where Austin will (hopefully) be attending French Immersion Kindergarten starting in September. I say hopefully because it's technically out of area and we'll need to apply but I'm hopeful that he'll get it.

Yes. Kindergarten (or Primary as they call it here on the mainland)... how did this happen? Just yesterday he was just a tiny human, always in a good mood and well behaved...

And now he's growing up faster than I ever thought possible. I won't lie...some days (most days) I wish time would slow way down. They don't stay babies for long and watching them grow and change is terribly entertaining, but I still miss his "little" days and soon I won't be able to deny it anymore...once he is in "big" school I really won't be able to call him a baby any more. Freeze time...seriously!

Snack time!

I've redeemed myself.

At Austin's preschool, parents take turns bringing in snack. In the Fall I sent over-sized blueberry muffins from Sobeys. That really wouldn't have been so bad expect that while I was off on maternity leave I sent Pinterest inspired snacks like rainbow fruit skewers and cupcakes made to look like tea cups. I also just prefer to feed my kids things that I have made versus store bought. So knowing that my turn was coming, I revisited my Pinterest Snack board to see what I could come up with...

Any they were very easy to make! I adapted the recipe and doubled it to make enough for the whole class.

No Bake Granola Bars

1/2 cup unsalted butter
2/3 cup lightly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup honey
1 tsp vanilla

4 cups rolled oats (not instant)
2 cups rice krispies
2/3 cup raisins

In a large bowl combine the dry ingredients.

Prepare the pan: spray a cookie sheet with cooking spray. Line with Parchment paper and spray that. Set aside.

In a small to medium pot, add the butter, sugar and honey. stir until the sugar is dissolved. Bring to a boil and let it boil for 2 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla (it will splutter and you'll be cleaning it off your stove forever if you don't wipe it up as soon as you can- just an FYI). Using a silicone spatula to get all of the sugar mixture, pour over the dry ingredients and stir to completely coat. Dump the mixture onto the baking pan. With slightly damp hands pant the mixture tight to one end of the pan. You need to make sure it is tightly packed or the bars will fall apart. Leave them to set for 2 hours, overnight is best.

I cut 24 bars (4x6) but you could cut them bigger if you like. I did find them a little sweet so I think next time I'm going to cut back the honey a little. I'm also going to experiment with the dry ingredients..we shall see if that will be an epic fail or another success! Amelia LOVED these and so did Austin and his classmates.

Let me know if you try them how they turn out!

A2 Designs and Grasshopper Kids Creations

I'm lucky enough to have a very talented friend who makes some pretty amazing accessories. She started a business called Grasshopper Kids Creations and encouraged me to sell my creations in her shop. A2 Designs is doing better than I ever imagined and I love that people want to their littles to wear clothes that I have made!  We're getting ready for a craft fair with local mompreneurs on Feb 9 at Cole Harbour Place. Want a sneak peak??

credit: Andrea Heard

credit: Andrea Heard

credit: Andrea Heard (for the picture AND the baby!)

credit: Tammy Barrett Photography

Cute or what! We're accepting orders on our Facebook page and we're going to host a giveaway when we reach 1000 Likes. So please Like us....and ask your friends to like us too!

Wordless Wednesday

The one that DIDN'T make the Christmas Card

Outtakes- I love 'em!

What's for Dinner?

I am amazed that it is the 22nd of January and we have only eaten out once and treated ourselves to coffee twice. I think that is a record of some kind!

I managed to get my act together and plan out our meals. Added bonus, I was down 2.7lbs last week! But the thing I love most of all is that I don't have to hear "the question". You know, the question that makes the family's principal chef want to rip out their hair, lay their head against a counter and cry out in agony. Yup "What's for dinner?" Three words have never brought more frustration and anguish to me more than those have.Let's say G and I stay married for 87 years (we'll both be well into our 100s when its over) and that question gets asked 5 times a week.... I'll have to have an answer for "What's for dinner?" 22,620 times...22,620! Shoot me now! Thankfully though, last week I only heard it once. It was responded to with "Read the calendar on the fridge and you'll know". Haven't had to answer it since, thus ensuring that our marriage continues for another day.

So what was for dinner?

Taco Bake (5WWPP)
Orange Chicken stir fry with rice (8WWPP)
Tortellini soup
left overs

Taco Bake
(found a recipe online and changed it)

Cook 1 cup brown rice
In a pan brown 1lb ground turkey. Add a packet of low sodium taco seasoning.
Add:
1 small onion chopped
1 green pepper chopped
1 carrot grated
2 tomatoes chopped
Stir in:
1 can black beans, rinsed
1/2 cup salsa
Prepared brown rice

I put it in 2 8x8 pans, sprinkled 1/2 low fat cheese over both and baked for 15-20 minutes at 350. Serve over shredded lettuce, topped with fresh diced tomato, salsa and sour cream. The kids both loved this! It came together really fast and by the time it came out of the oven, I had the kitchen all cleaned up!

I'll share the other recipes in another post.

Amelia on Ice

Saturday we ventured down to the Oval for skating lessons. You see, I'm going for Mother of the year and forgot to sign Austin up for skating lessons with HRM Rec on the right date and now all the classes are full. And he loves to skate. I cannot justify $125 for skating lessons through minor hockey and so the logical solution is the free lessons at the Oval..yes I said FREE! It's pretty hard to beat free.

Only problem was that Austin didn't want to participate in the lesson. He just wanted to skate, so did Aisygirl, so off they went!

ahhhhh! I just love watching these two friends together :)

Now here is someone who was a little excited

And she did pretty good on the  ice! She moved her little Bob skates pretty well. Her helmet was a little big and we didn't adjust it properly (I'll have it fixed for next time) but we made it work.

Mais oui! We have matching hats :) Thanks True Moon Creations!

The snow was coming down like crazy and the ice was a little sticky. But we all had fun.

Frozen and covered in snow, we made our way to the car. And then to Starbucks...

Amelia's cup was empty but she had great fun "cheers"-ing her brother. Looking forward to doing it again this Saturday!

Red Velvet Cheesecake Cake

I stopped baking so that I could lose some weight...I haven't lost much weight and I miss baking.

My cousin and her family came down over Christmas and we had a Christmas Dinner at my aunt and uncle's house and I was asked to bring desert. My subconscious was obviously arrived at the place where I needed to up my game and I searched Pinterest for something simple but impressive. I found this:

I didn't follow the instructions perfectly but mine turned out like this:

And it was well received

You did say that I could use this picture L!

Someone got a fork in before I snapped the picture!

Other than there being a couple of steps, this was easy, tasty and looked pretty impressive!

How to make the world adore you...

The Parade of Lights marks the beginning of the Christmas season for us. It seems like it is acceptable to begin decorating after the annual holiday Parade. After all Santa is there, and it just seems like it would be odd NOT to start getting ready after that. Last year we started a tradition of holding a Holiday Season Kick Off Brunch the morning after the parade. This year it was at our house and it was there that I finally had Dan's Cinnamon Rolls. I had heard of these delicious little baked goods...although they aren't really little  I was told that one bite would do me in...and they were right. After my first bit I professed my love for my friend's husband and tried to barter with her in an effort to enslave him in my own kitchen. (Doesn't hurt that he is almost as easy on the eyes as my own husband ;) ! )

Seriously...look at these things! Can you blame me?!

They were very quick to offer up the recipe (probably so I'd stop trying to trade my kitchen aid for her husband) and during my back to basics weekend I decided to give them a shot.

I open the Pioneer Woman's web site and burst out laughing. Her post begins with:

"A warning. If you follow these instructions and wind up delivering these cinnamon rolls to your friends, be prepared for any of the following to occur:

1. They’ll call you after they’ve taken the first bite and profess their eternal love for every ounce of your body.
2. They’ll pass out after the first bite, hit their head on the kitchen counter, sustain a concussion, and sue you for damages, despite the fact that the one bite they tasted of your cinnamon roll was the single most profound culinary experience in their miserable little life.
3. They’ll call you and ask for the recipe, saying, "HOW did you make those?"
4. They’ll call you and propose marriage.
5. They’ll hug the cinnamon roll pan, get maple frosting all over their clothes, and send you the bill for the dry cleaning."

And ITS TRUE!!!! So go there! Get the recipe and make these bad boys! I warn you they make a lot so either be prepared to share these puppies or get super fat.

1/3 of the dough

I have to admit I am proud of my perfect rectangle...I love my marble rolling pin.

So much butter, sugar and cinnamon. The goodness just could not be contained!

 I didn't use the maple icing that Ree suggests. I ladled (yes...I used a soup ladle) real cream cheese frosting on top moments after removing these bites of heaven from my oven.

So make these....a wee time consuming just because there are a few steps, but oh so worth it!!!

Wordless Wednesday

Happiness is...2 hours with Aunt Janice on a Sunday afternoon...



Sweetly Signing

On Sunday my son showed me another reason why he is simply the sweetest boy around. You may have to turn it up. He was signing softly so that he didn't hurt Ethan's ears.

He and Ethan are going to have so much fun growing up together...and yes, that is Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer that he is signing, it's Christmas carol;s year round in our house. One of the side effects of Gordon and I begging him in the womb to be like his Aunt Janice.

Cleaning out the closets...literally

If you couldn't tell from last Tuesday's manifesto, I'm sick of clutter. My Aunt just happens to be a professional mover (as in she's moved about 9 million times in the past 25 years...that may be a stretch..it's been a few times) and I happen to love how when I'm at her place there isn't anything there that doesn't belong. There are no piles of "stuff" that have little to know value clogging up the arteries of her home. One day over sewing conversation she offered to give me a hand to get organized. I think it started from my constant complaining about my kitchen and how it doesn't work for us...She offered to come give us a hand and we picked a date.

So on a Saturday morning mid-December, Debbie showed up with pizza and chocolate milk (buying Austin's love....he thinks she's the greatest! lol) Ozzy went skating, Amelia went down for a nap and she and I got to work.

I initiated a one touch rule. I had to decide if it was keep, donate or trash. We decided to start in our living room and entrance way where our "dumping station" was. You know you do it to...come home at the end of the day and drop bags by the stairs, kids coats go flying, mittens end up on the ceiling fan and boots magically appear under couch cushions. Mail gets piled on the ledge and once a month it gets opened. What? You don't do that...well this is awkward....moving on!

We went through the front closet and got rid of coats, old shoes and useless items that just ended up there. I ditched about half of my fabric shopping bags and paired down our winter accessories. Broken flip flops and too small shoes gone.  Papers were sorted, filed and shredded. The armoire that we bough as a storage solution to cure our "dumping" and was being used as a catch all all instead. It was emptied and organized. 3 hours later our entrance/living/dining room was dug out....and I could see surfaces I haven't seen in awhile. It felt good. I was tired, more emotionally than physically, but was happy with the progress.

That night G and I decided to tackle the kids' toys and play area. It was about to be Christmas and we just do not have the space to keep old broken toys or toys they have out grown with Santa about to bring in a whole lotta fun! Austin helped a bit but after the kids were in bed the real work began. If it was broken- gone, Happy Meal toy-gone (except his spy gear...he loves those gadgets),torn books, piece-less puzzles..all gone.

Our first day of cluttering yielded 8 bags of "trash" and 2 full bags of "donate". I have no before picture....You've all seen the clutter in background of adorable pics of my littles...But here is the after:

And do you know what the most incredible thing is? I took that picture on a Sunday afternoon without doing any tidying up first! That is an unheard of event in my house since Austin was 18 months old! Embarrassed- yes but way more excited than embarrassed!

Now on to the redecorating...New flooring will be installed and I've got all the furniture picked out. Maybe I should ask Hubby his opinion...nah!..on to the most tedious part...paint and fabric.  My goal is to have the main floor all painted, flooring down a a few improvements to the kitchen completed by the summer...In the meantime everyone start wishing for an Ikea sale!!!

Wordless Wednesday (okay maybe just a few)

We have a new baby and my babies love him!!! Welcome Ethan. We've been waiting for you!

Just one pinch PUHLEEESE!

This picture seriously breaks my heart... he loves his new cousin Ethan

There's an app for that...

I love my iPhone...not in a weird, I should be on an episode of My Strange Addictions way, but in a, I've found cool apps that are actually useful way.There is an app for everything and most of them are free.

One thing I desperately need to do for myself is to get, and stay, organized. I'm so much calmer and feel way more collected when things are in order. Anyone who has known me a long time will attest that I have fallen from my "Martha" perch since having kids. Before kids, I would apologize for the mess when people dropped by. My apology was met with perplexed sideways glances as people would try to see what was out of place in my perfectly put together living space. After kids, my apologies for the mess were met with sympathetic expressions. I could see the gears turning in people's heads...couch cushions all rumpled from being piled high for forts, the mountain of laundry that took up a seating space and begged to be folded in the corner of our family room, burp cloths and receiving blankets haphazardly strewn about the house, my hair was pulled back in a ponytail, yoga pants had a day's worth of boogers and drool on them and my darling newest little either attached to me in a wrap or cradled in my arm...screaming her little head off.

It's not that I LIKED how my house had fallen to the wayside... I just didn't have the energy to care about it. My main goal each and every day since having my littles has been to ensure that they are loved, busy and alive. I was getting little to no sleep, and surviving on coffee, donuts, kiddie left overs and the support of a few good friends (and my husband now understands why I wanted a text plan for our phone!)

It wasn't pretty but this was me....

And I'm tired of it....not of pouring everything into my kids, but of the chaos that holds me back from reaching my goals. So 2013 is the year to get organized... only I'm not giving us a year...I'm getting this set up in January (Well hello Super Type A Personality...nice to see you again!) and just to make my life easier there is an app for that!

I've already gotten a head start on the house (more to come) so next it just makes sense to tackle our finances. You know how you watch those tv shows that talk about money and you're all "Oh man are they stupid! There's no WAY I'd ever waste that much"....well enter Mint* and I discovered that our December latte factor was WAY out of whack. This little app allows us to always see the balances in our accounts, on our credit card, mortgage, etc. I can go to the store and know exactly how much money we have. We've set up our budgets for everything from monthly utility payments to entertainment and diapers and now we have to live within them...because I don't want to see the red line that will show up if we don't! Austin is 4 now and it's time to start teaching him about money. He is already saving for his "Special Trip" (he has no idea where we're going but he knows he needs money to get there). (More on that later)

So is January a perfect time to redo the budgets and get ourselves organized? I think so. The shiny new minivan in our driveway thinks so too. And so does my need for order and calm. Now that I have the happiest little girl instead of a shrieking violet and a boy who is growing and maturing at a rate I can hardly stand, there really is no excuse not to. And besides my kids deserve us to get this right.

Yup Christmas morning....looks like they had too much eggnog at the Reindeer kegger!

Now let's just see how this goes...

* I think I need to put in a disclaimer....no one at Mint knows me or has paid me to say good things about them!

A Snowman Dinner

No snow? No problem!!!

Oz has been wanting to make a snowman for awhile and up until a few days ago there was none to be had long enough to build a fun snow buddy out of. So the other night I decided that we would have a snowman dinner!

Snowman Pizza was on the menu along with Snowman Soup. We started with some pizza dough (I really like the Eat, Shrink and Be Merry recipe...but running short on time I picked up some dough at Sobey's), layered on alfredo sauce and lots of mozzarella cheese, veggies for the buttons, eyes and nose. Bake at 350 for abouut 20-25 minutes and voila! Snowman Pizza!

We washed down our delicious pizza with Snowman Soup (aka hot cocoa) while watching Frosty the Snowman in front of our Snowman clad fireplace. Yup...we've got a bit of a snowman problem...lol

Back to Basics

This weekend I needed to gather myself. December passed by in a blur and there were so many things I had planned, had wanted to do, that ended up going to the wayside.  And to top it all off I got sick on Dec 30 and I don't remember the last time I was so sick. I was oh so lucky to catch that flu that has been making its way around Halifax. We had to cancel our New Year plans and then I just didn't bounce back the way I usually do.  By Friday I was starting to feel better, just in time to get a text saying that Ozzy wasn't feeling so hot. So I decided that our New Year do-over would have to wait and this weekend would be a real break.

For two days we've cuddled, played match games, Gator Golf and hockey and watched a Christmas movie. We took the kids outside in the snow and built Nippy the snowman. Sweetie Pie isn't the biggest fan of snow but we finally found something she did like...the sled! G and Ozzy took turns pulling her around the yard until it was time to come in for naptime, cookies and snowman soup.

Those rosie cheeks just kill me!

Not sure where the name nippy came from...

We packed away Christmas, I planned meals for the week, packed lunches and got the kids ready for tomorrow. We hugged littles, napped, played dolly and tea party, hot wheels and read books.

I sewed a couple of small projects and then I found myself back in the kitchen. It's been awhile since I have actually cooked my family a meal. I'm ashamed to admit that it's been grab and go, simple and fast. So I took out the pots and made soup and dinner rolls. Fresh bread that didn't rise right....The upside was that the soup was delicious. Today I tried the rolls again and they turned out just fine! Even Ozzy told me that they were much better then the other ones.

These were the rolls that didn't rise so well...

2013 is a year to get pulled back together. I have allowed myself to get pulled in too many directions, and not enough time focusing my energy. I have so much that I want to do and so much that I want to teach my kids.  So keep following along on our adventure!

Happy New Years!!!