I was framed!

    
 

So I have a blank wall in my dining room that I haven't been able to decide what to do with. After looking around on pinterest.com (the best website in the world) I decided to do a collage of picture frames. I have kept my eye out for cheap frames and hit the jackpot at a yard sale. The frames were $.25, so got 6 wooden frames for $1.50!! I bought some black spray paint to make them all the same. Then I thought, as I usually do, while I'm painting the frames I should paint my side table that needs a face lift. I went to Walmart and bought some spray paint, Krylon black satin for the frames and Rust-Oleum brown stone for the table.

 

The stone paint is amazing! It has something in the paint that makes it textured and actually looks like stone. 

Don't judge me by the table, it was given to me five years ago with hopes of reviving it!



 
  

After gathering the frames and cleaning them all with soap and water, I carefully took off the backs and set the glass to the side.

                                                                             

                      

 

Well not careful enough! Thanks Dora for making it better!

I laid everything on the tarp and sprayed away! They frames took almost 3 coats to cover. Then the nozzle got stuck and so I ended up using the whole can anyways.

TA-DA!!

Someday I will fill the frames and put them on the wall. When I do I will post the final product. I can say they officially turned out AWESOME!

I finally finished! Check it out at I was framed II.

Ella's Playdate Fun

Since Ella is not in daycare, we try to have as many play-dates as we can.  This morning we went to Ella's friend Chloe's house. We had planned to stroll to the park, a two mile walk round trip. Ella hasn't been in her stroller since the spring so in the beginning, she was very unsure of the experience . She would look at me and then the road while saying "Uh-O, Uh-O, No, No, Uh-O"! But, after watching Chloe who strolls all the time with her friend Jillian, Ella just sat back and relaxed. 

 It was a nice walk through a quiet neighborhood, then around a small lake where we looked at the ducks. The playground was on the other side where we were meeting more of Ella and Chloe's friends.

We really enjoy this playground because of the wooden train they just built there. Ella is fascinated with trains right now.

Everyone usually brings snacks to share. Today they had muffins, grapes, bananas, pretzels, and goldfish.
They don't leave hungry, that's for sure!

 Look at these sweet girls!

They are best friends!

After we played at the park, we strolled across the street from the lake to the Old Mill. It was such a pretty day!
And yes I took this picture with my phone!

We walked over the bridge to look at the water below. 

The girls played in the mill we called the castle.

 

We tried to get the girls to both look and smile at the same time, but of coarse that rarely happens!

 After the Old Mill, we walked back to the house and the girls (plus us) were exhausted! We had such a fun time. Chloe's friend Jillian said at the Old Mill "If at the end of the day your child is not a brat, then it was a successful day."
So true my friend, so true.

Parker House Cooking Day

In the past few months Levon and I have not had many weekends to spend together. Someone is always working or we have something planned. So this weekend we were excited to spend the whole weekend together. We couldn't do much but we wanted to do something. So we decided to prepare several meals and freeze them.  It was Levon's job to find recipes online and my job to go to the grocery. Our Kroger is being remodeled so its very inspiring to shop there now! While I was there I found crock-pot liners. They are amazing! So in the future when we want to cook, we will pull a prepared meal from the freezer put it in the crock-pot and have hassle free dinner without a dirty crock-pot. We found 4 different recipes three out of four are chicken. We decided it to divide each a so we could have more meals and less left overs. Here is what we cooked.

The Best Chicken Tortilla Soup 

from crockpotguys.com

3 chicken breast, skinned and de-boned
2 cans Rotel
1 can black beans
1 can or 1/2 bag frozen corn
1/2 bunch cilantro, rough chopped
1/2 onion chopped
6 boxes chicken broth
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
cumin, salt, pepper, garlic, chili powder, and cayenne to taste

8 servings ~ 8 hours 
Combine all ingredients except toppings, cook for 8 hours on low. Drain and rinse black beans or broth will be murky.  Shred chicken with fork. Top with tortilla strips.  We divided this one into 3 separate meals!

 Slow Cooker BBQ Chicken

from crockpotguys.com

6 frozen skinless, boneless breast halves
1 (12 ounce) bottle your favorite barbecue sauce
1/2 cup Italian salad dressing
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

6 Servings ~ 3-4 hrs on high or 6-8 hrs on low

Place chicken in a slower cooker. In a bowl, mix BBQ sauce, Italian salad dressing, brown sugar, and Worcestershire sauce. Pour over the chicken. Cover and cook. Served with side of veggies and sweet potato fries. We divided this one in half and made two meals. 

Teriyaki Chicken

from crockpotguys.com

2 to 4 pounds of chicken

1/2 cup soy sauce

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 tsp garlic powder

3/4 tsp ground ginger

1 1/2 Tbs red wine vinegar

2 Tbsp olive oil

8-10 Servings ~ 6hrs on low

Place chicken in crockpot. Mix up the rest in a small bowl and pour sauce over chicken. Cook on low for at least 6 hours- loner won't hurt it on low. Serve over rice

Broccoli, Chicken and Rice Casserole

from The One-Dish Bible 

1 box Uncle Ben's Chef's Recipe Broccoli Rice Au Gratin Supreme

2 cups boiling water

4 boneless, skinless chicken breast (about 1 pound)

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

2 cups frozen broccoli

1 cup (4 ounces) reduced-fat shredded cheddar cheese

4 Servings

Heat oven to 425 degrees. In 13x9 baking pan, combine rice and contents of seasoning packet. Add boiling water; mix well.  Add chicken; sprinkle with garlic powder. Cover and bake 30 minutes. Add broccoli and cheese; continue to bake. covered, 8 to 10 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink in center. After we baked this casserole we divided it into 8 separate zip-lock bags and put in the freezer.

Baked Chicken Toes

from Rachael Ray

1 cup corn flakes cereal, any brand

1 cup breadcrumbs

2 Tbsp brown sugar

1 tsp salt

1/2 tp freshly ground pepper 

1/2 rp allspice

3 Tbs vegetable oil

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

2 eggs beaten

1 1/2 pounds chicken breast tenders, cut into 2 inch pieces 

1/4 cup honey mustard

1/4 cup barbeque sauce

Serves 4

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Make the breading: pour the cornflakes into a pie pan or other large shallow dish. Crush the cereal up with your hands. Mix in bread crumbs, brown sugar, salt, pepper, and allspice.  Drizzle the vegetable oil evenly over the breading. Toss and turn it to mix the oil all though the bread crumbs and crushed cornflakes.  Pour the flour into another shallow dish and the beaten eggs into a third one.  Turn the chicken in flour, then in the eggs and then in the special, crunchy breading. Arrange the chicken toes on a nonstick baking sheet. WASH HANDS Place the chicken toes in the oven and cook until crisp and brown all over, about 15 minutes. Mix together honey mustard and BBQ sauce in a small bowl. Dip your hot chicken toes into the honey mustard BBQ. This is great for kids and the whole family and healthy too!

We had a very enjoyable day together. We made a total of 10 meals to freeze!

Ella's Monkey Luau

For those of you who know me, know that I love to plan parties, obsessing over every little detail making sure that the theme is carried out everywhere you look.  Ella's 2nd birthday was no exception. I often say if I wasn't a hairstylist I would be a party planner! Ella is in to Monkeys at the moment. She always wants to watch Curious George movies, look at pictures, and she acts like a monkey too. With her birthday so close to Labor Day we knew it would be hot outside so we knew there had to be two things at her party, monkeys and water. There was no better way to combine the two than with a monkey luau.

 As our family and friends arrived, they were given a lei as Ella played with bubbles to get into the party spirit with her great grandma. We had lots of great food that fit well in our theme. We told everyone to enjoy the food as they came in.

 Menu:

Pigs-N-Blanket, Ritz Crackers with pineapple mustard ham and a pineapple,  pineapple cream cheese spread, mango salsa, and chips were a big hit, chocolate covered bananas with either sprinkles, coconuts, or pecans, and Cranbrosia (its like a fruit salad but ten times better) ,  mandarin oranges, gold fish crackers, tropical trail mix, and pretzels.

I made the two layer cake myself. The top is a 6inch and the bottom is a 9inch. I didn't have the time to make the cake from scratch so I bought two Sarah Lee white cake mixes the kind with sprinkles in it. I did make a pineapple frosting for the middle layers that was so good!  I bought two cans of Sarah Lee whipped frosting, one for each layer. I did the top layer first and tinted the frosting a pale yellow then crushed vanilla wafers and sprinkled it over the wet frosting. It looks just like sand! The bottom was tinted blue with lots of food color. After the base of the cakes were done it was time to stack and decorate. I found the monkeys and tree pics on orientaltrading.com and sugar flowers at Hobby Lobby. There are nerds for ocean rock and gummy rings as life preservers. I covered a drink umbrella with pretzel sticks to make a tiki hut and they were also used as logs for the bonfire the candles came from. It was so much fun to make and it tasted AMAZING!

It was pure chaos in our house! Between family and friends there were about 10 kids and forty adults! Luckily we have room outside for the kids to play and eat! 

We had gone to a friends birthday party a few weeks earlier and I stole an idea from her. She had to kids cups with lids and straws at her childs party. I thought it was the smartiest thing I have ever seen. We didn't have to worry about spills from the kids!

We had beach balls, slides, and swings for the kids.

And you can't have a luau without hula hoops!

Ella is fortunate to have both grandmas live close and love her so much!

We got Ella's shirt was perfect for the party with flowers and monkeys all over it. 

We have so many great friends and family!

This is such a great picture of her Great Aunt Lorie and her Great Great Aunt Flossie.                       (Ella was named Ella Marie after her Aunt Flossie Marie.)

 

 After we visited for a while it was time for Ella to blow out her candles. With a little help from daddy of coarse!

Then it was time for presents!  

She calls this card The Dora Book it sings to her when she opens it! She is so cutie!

  

There were so many presents she had to take several brakes to play.

She had to thank her Great Aunt Selina for her new apron and food set.

After presents the kids were welcome to play in the sprinklers. We attached a garden soak-er hose up high so the kids could play in a waterfall! I read where you could do this as a limbo game, but i know I didn't want to hold it! So attaching it up high and making a waterfall was a good idea from my mom.

The party was so much fun and Ella had a good time. Even though we all had a blast, I am glad we have a whole year before we have to do this again!

About Me

My name is Sarah, and my husband Levon and I are high school sweethearts. We have been married for 6 years and have a beautiful daughter, Ella Marie who just turned 2. I work part time as a hairstylist and we have been lucky to be able to keep Ella out of daycare and at home with us. I am always trying to find balance between being a wife, a mother, and staying true to myself.
As an avid 'do it yourself-er', I enjoy anything that challenges my creativity. This blog is a way for me to share the things I create, the experiences I have with family and friends, and the good ideas I find along the way.