Today's The Day, Just Picture It

Today is the boys birthday party!!!!!  I have spent weeks planning a fun cowboy party for 20+ kids between the ages of 2 and 7.  Yes I rented a hall (not expensive, I  just believe they need to run around like mad), and spent countless hours, conned Mad Dad (and his awesome art skills) into making swinging saloon doors, from cardboard, made a Laffin Saloon sign, from cardboard, packaged oodles of rattlesnake eggs and mustaches, the beans are cooking, the cake is crumb coated and we are waiting for 4:00.  The boys are super pumped!

So now it is Fotography Friday and I am still having troubles with my computer, so in the interest of preserving imagination, I am going to ask you to picture what I just described, you can do it.  Tomorrow (providing my computer cooperates) I will redirect you to a site to see the pics from the party (added from a friends computer) and I will also post the recipes for the beans and cornbread we are serving today.

So until tomorrow, enjoy your day, enjoy your family and HAPPY PARTYING!!!!!

So until tomorrow,

I Am Still Here! And I Won!!!

So my computer still has a mind of it's own, and may at any minute start malfunctioning, and unfortunately no one has ever heard of this problem before, therefore it is making it hard to get it fixed.  That being said, no pics, simply for the fact that I can not necessarily get them onto the computer properly.  So instead, heres what I'm going to do, I am going to, to the best of my ability, continue to do posts, some crafts and cooking, recipes, etc.  And for the time being you will just have to imagine that I am an awesome photographer who has taken amazing pictures for your viewing pleasure.

As an example, imagine a pic of Chaos running around pretending to be a T-rex, which is his new thing, little arms and all.  Supernan on the ice as my little hockey superstar, arms up after scoring another goal.

And YaYa building tunnels and caves in the snow (without the destructive force of the BOYS to render them useless).  We  have had some amazing weather here in AB, which sure beats the freezing north weather we have had recently.  That awesome weather has made the light snow sticky enough to make an entire yard full of tunnels and caves.  Hope the visual works for you.

Something I am going to start shortly in the future, for the travelers in you, is profiling places we visit here in Alberta.  We don't go too many places in the winter, mainly to Edmonton and local towns (for hockey), and when I can get pics up, I will, but I will for sure tell you where we were and a little bit about the town or city, something special.

I am keeping up with my New Years Resolutions, and at the very least emailing people, which has also rekindled lost (just been a really long time since we talked) friendships.  I have not lost any weight (according to the scale) but my jeans are fitting a little better again, my flexibility is coming back (think popping my shoulders to get into an inverted pose YAY FOR THE FIRST TIME!!!!!!!!!!!), and my endurance is WAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYY up, in that I can run 10-15 min on the treadmill before collapsing in in a heavy lump (just kidding, it's getting easier).

The boys birthdays are this weekend, but we will be having their party next weekend so Mad Dad can be home.  Be prepared to hear about that.  It's a cowboy theme and for the first time I am prepared way ahead of time, I love it.  Supernan is Super pumped about it.

And finally, I WON!!! I follow Tattoo Tales blog, she has beautiful original artwork (and check out her etsy shop too).  Anyways, she was having a valentines giveaway for some valentines postcards and an 8x10 print and I won it!!!!!!!  I am soooooo excited! I can not wait to receive my valentines and share the love with my friends!

I will try again tomorrow to put up a somewhat normal post, a recipe.  But no promises, if my computer likes me tomorrow I will.

Until tomorrow, Enjoy your life, Enjoy your family and Happy You!

My First Guest Post!!!!!! YAY!!! (And just so you don't miss us too much, a couple of pics!)

So today is my very first guest post.  Hope this works out.  I'm a little nervous.  But I am going to help out with the Cookie Countdown over at Scraps and Scribbles.  So I have decided to do 3 cookie recipes, I will do 2 today and one tomorrow (don't forget that Sunday is family day). Also today, I am going to show you just a few pics of the crazy family, but in a separate post.  So enjoy the recipes, make sure there is some left for Santa, he will love these.

Recipe 1

Chocolate Banana Cream Pies (sorry for the messy pic, I had to take a quick pic before more little fingers got into them)

4 ripe (or over ripe) bananas, smooshed
1/4 cup butter or margarine
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 cups four
1/3 cup cocoa

Preheat oven to 350.
In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar.  Add egg and vanilla, mix well.  Stir in smooshed bananas.
Slowly add flour, baking soda and cocoa.  Stir until just mixed.
(This is probably sounding quite like a banana bread recipe, and that's cause it's adapted from one)
Your dough should be thicker than a cake dough, but thinner than a drop cookie dough.
Put dough into icing bag, with 1 1/2 inches cut from tip (I used a disposable one, but you can use a sandwich bag if thats what you have on hand). Drop cookies onto cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.  At this point, the cookies should look something like reindeer poop (at least thats what my kids thought it was)

Bake for 10-15 minutes (I know it's not super specific, but everyone's ovens vary)
Let cool completely.

Cream Filling:
1 1/2 cup whipping cream
1 cup (+) icing sugar
sprinkles, tinted sugars to decorate.

In another bowl, on high speed, mix whipping cream and icing sugar to a thick consistency. Feel free at this pint to tint it yourself, or keep it white and roll the entire cookie in sprinkles or tinted sugar.

Once the cookies are cooled, take 2 cookies approximately the same size, and sandwich about 1 teaspoon of cream filling between them.  At this point you could leave it, or you could roll the cookie in sprinkles or tinted sugar.


Recipe 2

Those wonderful looking cookie bars in the middle are one of the easiest and most delicious recipes ever.  Not to date myself, but I have made these for ** years.  They are actually from a kids cookbook that my grandpa gave me when I was 10.  Yes I still have the book, and yes I still use it.  So here they are.

Lemon Slice Bars

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup icing sugar
1 cup flour

Topping
2 eggs
2 tablespoons Lemon juice
2 teaspoons grated lemon rind
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon icing sugar

Preheat oven to 350.  Grease a 9x13 baking dish
Beat butter and icing sugar until smooth.  Stir in 1 cup flour, mixing into a smooth dough.  Press evenly into prepared dish. Bake 20 min.  Set aside to cool.

Topping:
Beat eggs well, stir in lemon juice and rind.  Stir in sugar and 2 tablespoons flour and baking powder.  Stir until mixed well.
Pour over cooled base and bake again (at 350) for 25 minutes.
Let cool.  Sift icing sugar over the top and cut into squares.


Hope you all enjoy the post and the recipes.  Until tomorrow, enjoy your day, enjoy your family and happy baking.

Merry Christmas

Library Days and Christmas Light Up #1

So this is the moment you have all been waiting for, more pictures!!!!! I know it was a hard week without seeing all of our smiling faces, but I am glad you survived.  In no particular order (sorry) is pics from our bi-weekly library trips, for preschool story time.  Pics from Chaos' first sled ride this year (he actually stayed in the sled this time).  And the Grand finale, pics from our towns annual light up.  There is crafts at the library, cookie decorating at the bakery, a wiener roast and a hay ride (pulled by a tractor).  And of course, pics with Santa!  Oh, and the pic above is Supernan after I let him dress himself for school.  He is my dress up kid, and this tie is his new favorite item of clothing.

 This is Calligators scary mean and menacing face.  Pretty scary!

 Library pics from Light Up

 BTW, This is a normal occurrence from Chaos, every time we go to the library, he knows where they are and knows what face to give to get a sucker.

 Pics from the bakery, cookie decorating!

 Obviously this is the weiner roast, there is a better pic of them, but see the 2 buddies.  Supernan and Little YaYa. 

 Thats better.

Officer! 

 Blue Steel! He is a model citizen!

 Every year and every pic we have of Supernan with santa looks like this, at least this year he got closer than 4 feet away.

 And Chaos wouldn't even go anywhere near him.

 Mad's work Christmas party.  Ain't we purdy?

Hope you all enjoy the pics.  Don't forget tomorrows recipe.

Enjoy your day, enjoy your family and happy crafting.

Happy Christmas Tree Decorating Day!

So this morning I am going to share with you, a little insanity of mine...... I set my Christmas tree up in November.  I am not a die hard, I know some people who set theirs up November 1st, I tried it, didn't work for me.  But even though I waited until the end of November, I still get "the look".  Even still, it is not Christmas for me until I set me tree up in November and stress myself out trying to bake enough to feed Canada.  So here are a few pics of our tree and the kids decorating.  Hope that this gets you in the spirit too.

In case you're wondering about all the blurry pics of Chaos, he NEVER stops moving!!!!!!!

Enjoy you day, enjoy your life, don't let it pass you by.

More Pics and a Request

First of all, before any pictures are posted I would like to take a moment to reflect on a blog I read yesterday, kimboscrafts.blogspot.com.  This particular entry hit me a little close to home, seeing as how both boys were born early and stayed in the hospital.  I am going to repost her entry, and I would like everyone to think about helping out here, like she said, if everyone donates $1.00, well thats not a lot from this blog, lol, but you can pass it on, and we can keep it up.  Lets see if we can not only give our neighbors a hand, but maybe a little lift and help to those parents who really need it right about now.

11.17.2010

Pay it Forward.

okay...let's talk.

seriously.

(I know-- I had to try hard not to mention the Helen hunt movie)

but I have a story.

My niece (one of a set) (she's a twin if you didn't catch my drift.) had a drowning accident (and let me stop you right there and tell you she is 100% doing great)but my sister got life flighted off the mountain (where they were camping) with my niece to Primary Children's Medical Center.  And when she got there....she had her purse. That's it. Now us moms usually have a great deal in our purses...but it's usually for our kids....so it didn't help her much. She was there for a day or two before her husband was able to drive and bring her some much needed things.

Now while she was in the PICU (Pediatric intensive care unit) she met other families going through similar stories....and one of the people was the family of Preslee Sullenger. (you can read about her story HERE) Now little Preslee wasn't so lucky as my niece. and I can't imagine what her parents went through! my prayers were and are still with them.

Preslee's birthday is coming up..(dec 17)..and her parents wanted to do something special....

They (with another family) came up with Pay if Forward...(and you can read about how it came to pass HERE)

They are gathering supplies to put in totes to give out to all the parents who find themselves in the middle of chaos with nothing but the clothes on their back. This will help them stay by their babies side. (Cause a trip to walmart is really what you want to be doing at a time like this!)

They originally started with 44 bags (there are 44 rooms) and quickly changed it to 200! and I know we can all help out!!!

They have a list of items that would be especially helpful to parents (like a toothbrush...that is a MUST!) or if you want to donate money, they have a paypal account set up (click HERE) 

 To get the details of what needs to be donated (and specifics....and where to send it..or if you just want to donate money click HERE)

I'm going to pull a martha, "THIS IS A GOOD THING!"

and if anyone is in the pocatello area and wants to drop it off at my house, email me at kimbowest21@gmail.com. My sister is going up to help assemble them so I can be the pass between!

last count:

Trail Mix - 224 (112 Bags)

Goldfish - FILLED

Fruit Leather - 302 (50 Bags)
Camera - 23
Socks - 73 (36 Bags)
Playing Cards - 102
Ponytails - 154 (77 Bags)
Lotion - 57
Pens - 55 (18 Bags)
Journals - 14
Granola Bar Boxes - 91
Chapstick - 121
Eye Drops - 7
Toothbrushes - 400 FILLED
Toothpaste - 400 FILLED
Gum/ Mints - 400 FILLED
Blankets - 55

Entire Basket - 17 already donated.

They want to have all the supplies by dec 10 so they can assemble them ...and take it all up there on Preslee's birthday (the 17th)

Okay...look over at my followers count....if everyone donated $1....that's a load of cash! We can do some good people!

and this is where I go into remembering the "reason for the Season" and "it's better to give than to receive" and all that jazz....isn't it nice to help out? are you getting a warm fuzzy? I am.

GO....DO!

Now onto my pics:

They sure are cute aren't they?