Adjusting....

We made it through our first week back to school and work!

First day picture 2012

It sure is an adjustment after being attached at the hip all summer. P is probably adjusting better than myself. She hardly fusses when I drop her off, she begins to follow the other little girls around & clings to her sitter. I guess I can't really cry when she seems so happy to play all day. The past two afternoons, I have rushed over to get her and she has smiled first, given me a hug, them screamed bloody murder because she wants to stay. It kind of breaks my heart and I cried balled today, but it's okay. I guess I should be happy that she doesn't have red swollen eyes from crying all day. She has taken amazing naps and has been sleeping 10 hours straight at night (post about how we made that happen coming soon) so I guess I shouldn't complain.

 So, we joined a new club tonight, it's called the 'OMG, I'll take that order to go club. ' It had been long, very busy, and exhausting week so we, of course, decided to top it off with a trip to a good neighborhood Mexican joint. Well, miss sassy pants has picked up quite a squeal at her school and she decided to show off at the table. We ended up ordering our fajitas to go and left. I even had to leave my well deserved margarita, sad mama here. She was something else, I guess I better find a book on how to deal with tantrums. I mean seriously, we won't be able to eat out for like ever. I guess it's time to arrange for a babysitter and take a date night every so often.

P is becoming such a little person. It is nearly impossible for me to believe that she will turn 1 year old next weekend. Lots of errands to get finished before the big party! We are so excited to have a big celebration at our new home!!

Recipe Share

I have been wanting to start a weekly recipe share post for a few months now, but let's see....I have been a little slacking on the posting. Maybe I have been a bit busy. Now that school is starting back up and I am off summer vaca and back to reality, I am on the hunt for quick, easy, toddler friendly, and hopefully healthy dinners. My goal is to try one new recipe a week and share the results. I even created a pin board called "School Year Dinners."

For this week I am sharing a tried and true recipe I adopted from my mother in law, one of Spencer's favorites growing up and it looks like it will be a favorite of P's too. She was crazy about these Chicken Bundles. Who wouldn't be? Cream cheese and chicken wrapped in a butter crispy croissant roll and topped with butter * breadcrumbs.  Now, I will say this is not so healthy....but fill the other side of your plate with roasted veggies and you will feel better about life.

                      Spencer's Favorite Chicken Bundles

ingredients

• 3 oz. cream cheese
• 2 Tbsp. melted butter
• 2 1/2 C. cubed, cooked chicken or canned chicken- I usually poach chicken breasts in chicken broth and chop them up.
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/8 tsp. pepper
• 2 Tbsp. milk
• 1 Tbsp. chopped red onion
• 1 (8 oz.) can crescent rolls
• 1 Tbsp. melted butter
• 3/4 C. seasoned bread crumbs

directions

Blend cream cheese (softened slightly in microwave) and butter until smooth. Add chicken, salt, pepper, milk, and onions. Stir. Separate crescent rolls in 4 rectangles. Spoon about 1/2 cup chicken mixture into center of a rectangle, then pull 4 corners of dough to center and pinch together with fingers to seal. Brush tops of each bundle with melted butter and sprinkle on bread crumbs. Bake on cookie sheet at 350 for about 20-25 minutes.

Delicious!!! And No, I will not share the rest of the plate with you because it is embarrassing what our sides were this night. It was my first day back at work and I used that as an excuse to use canned veggies.




Try it out-you won't be disappointed!

The strongest family I know..........

I created this little piece of the world wide web to simply keep family and friends who we don't see as often as we would like up to date with the happenings of our growing family.

Today, I am going to use my blog to share a story of a family that is very near and dear to my heart. My Aunt Teri and Uncle Kevin and their three children live in North Carolina and from a picture you might see that they look like your average beautiful family of five. But, if you knew them, if you really knew them, you would find that they are a whole lot stronger than your average family. 

My aunt was diagnosed with breast cancer about 10 years ago, fought a long hard battle and has been cancer free for a few years. Just when things were starting to look better, my uncle went in for a routine check up last June only to discover that he was in the later stages of colon and liver cancer. He has been fighting for over a year now. It seems that just when there is a light at the end of the tunnel, there is another discovery that leads them down another path of more radiation, more chemotherapy, and all the side effects that go along with that. They have been challenged time and time again and they always find something to be positive about. They are just that strong, but we are ready for cancer to be out of our family for a while.

I wish we could be closer so that I could make meals, give hugs, and help with drives back and forth from the doctor. But I don't. So sharing their story is the best I can do. They have set up a fundraising website through youcaring.com and are raising money to help with the medical costs of not one persons cancer treatments, but two. 

If you have a minute, read their story here and if you feel like giving, give. If not, just keep them in your prayers. Both are much appreciated. 

Going Girly

I have been begging Spencer to start this project since we got Presley's furniture. I just felt like her nursery would look so much more complete if the furniture was white. Luckily, once my husband gets going, he LOVES projects and he is really good at them.

This was the nursery at our old house. Her room was teeny tiny and it also housed my closet. Apparently people in 1920 didn't a lot of clothes. It was tiny, but it was beautiful!

Step 1: Sanding

When you are sanding to paint, you don't necessarily have to get down to the bare wood, just rough it up enough for the primer to stick. Our furniture had a glossy finish so we wanted to be sure to remove that. We invested in an electric sander and I think Spence would agree that it was well worth it. Makes the job a lot quicker. You might have to use sand paper to get in any grooves or rounded areas, like those bars on the crib. I suggest using the electric sander where you can and then go back and check for missed spots.

Step 2: Priming

We felt like it was important to prime before we painted. We got mixed answers from the people and Home Depot & Lowes. We thought better safe than sorry. In the picture below, you see Spencer using a foam roller to apply the Kilz latex primer. It goes on much quicker and thicker with this, but it does leave a little bit of a different texture than using a foam brush or paint brush. We found the best way was to use roller for primer and brush for paint. We decided to add two coats of primer because we were using such a light color to paint. Be sure to let your primer dry COMPLETELY before moving on to the next step. Tip: do not do this outside in the heat of the day, humidity is not so helpful when waiting for paint to dry.

Step 3: Paint
Let me just tell you how long this took: A long time. Let's try 3 weekends outside in a row and then we got smart and moved the crib inside. But it's a great bonding time with our husband, if he will agree to help you, like mine did.
We learned that it is best to do this inside or under cooler weather conditions. We used a Behr Premium Plus paint in Candlelight Ivory. I went with an Eggshell Enamel because I really did not want this furniture to have an kind of sheen to is. No thank you glossy. My plans from the beginning were to distress it a bit, but I ended up changing my mind because I liked it so much when we were done.
We painted with a foam roller and a foam brush, this helped to give a really smooth, streakless finish. If I was using a darker color, I would probably use a good quality regular paint brush. We put 3 coats of paint in order to achieve the right coverage we wanted. Be sure to let each coat dry completely. If you think it's dry, wait another hour. This is really difficult for myself.
I will warn you, I do not suggest painting a crib. It was hard and tedious and frustrating and to me it still isn't perfect, but it has character. Hire someone or find a way to spray it.

Hardware:
I ordered all 22 satin nickel pulls and 8 glass knobs from My Knobs.Com. They were very reasonably priced and my only complaint is that the return process is a huge hassle. They really finished off the pieces so nicely though!

 And here we have the finished product. I think it looks so much more girly and just really goes with the rest of her room. All the hard work was worth it.

We were finally able to get some time to hang decorations on the walls his weekend. The only piece that is missing is her chandelier. It will be hung in the corner over the little pink table. We have decided to keep the fan in its place.

I decided to make a little gallery wall above her dresser. There are keepsakes that were mine as a child and some that were Spencers, a few gifts, pictures, and the frame bow holder I made for her. I can see myself adding things and moving things around over the years.

These plaques are from Pottery Barn and I just love them because I am really in to word art right now and because they bring in so many different colors. I think they will be a part of her room for a long time.

These monogrammed letters came from Doodles and they are new to her room. We had a decal with her name that we could not reuse in her old room. So I wanted to get something that she could have for a while. These pretty letters are not to baby and I love the green striped ribbon.

Curtains are in the works, currently collecting ideas. And my mother in law is going to graciously give me some sewing lessons so I will be whipping those up in no time. (HA!)

What do you think about the updated nursery??

Empty Cans

I switched Miss P to formula to formula at about 6 months and immediately realized how much this little gal drank. I was throwing these empty cans away eery couple weeks. I stored away a few cans because I thought for sure I will think of another way to use these. I turned them into cute little containers for that stuff that never has a place under your bathroom sink: brushes, teasing comb, curling iron, straightener etc.
                                                                                                                                                           
I used two emptied, washed formula cans, a roll of Jute, and a jar of rubber cement.

Start at the bottom and coat about an inch of the can at a time with a good helping of the rubber cement, then start rolling the jute around the can. I squished it down as I went. That's the good thing about using rubber cement, it doesn't dry super fast so you have time to adjust. Keep working your way up and put a good coat around the last layer. Be prepared, your nails will look yucky when you are done because glue gets everywhere. That pretty shellac you see was peeling the next day. :(

Unfortunately, we do not have any drawers in our master bath. So, these are the perfect fix to keep my hair tools organized and not just tangled up in the cabinet. I am trying really hard in the new house to put my bathroom stuff back in its place and not leave stuff on the counters. So.far.So.good!

You could use these in many other places and OMG what if you covered them in ribbon or lace and added a ruffle and used in a kids bathroom. The possibilities of recovered formula cans are endless!

Getting Settled

So excited to finally be able to say we closed & have moved into our new home. Closing & moving went as smoothly as can be expected and we are just getting things organized.

We will have Internet by the end of the week and then my room reveal & DIY posts will begin. I have had several in the works, but waiting until rooms are complete to share.

I will show you one of the several pieces that we added to P's 'big girl nursery'. I found this great l book sling on Etsy at a shop called 'bluehousejoys.'(I'm on my phone so I can't include the link...check her out though) It is the perfect book holder for a 1 year old; easily accessible, books face front, not overwhelming. I picked the cutest pink, gray, and white chevron print fabric and had it embroidered to say 'books.' Hung with a double curtain rod under her window. She seems to love it, she has successfully taken out all the books 23 times already, I have put them back in.

Story.of.my.life.