Join in The Favorite Things Swap!

I am so excited about this!

Please join me in the Favorite Things Swap hosted by Kelly of According to Kelly...

You pick no less than 3 of your FAVORITE things (it can be anything) and you send it to your partner!

Get the details HERE and make sure you sign up with Kelly ASAP!

Mommy-Daughter Baking Session

Ahhh....I was lucky enough to get the youngest two napping at the same time today. I jumped on the opportunity to have some special Mommy-Daughter time with my 3 year old, Alyson.

We whipped up a Banana Crumb Cake that I found at Southern Plate.

Alyson poured all the ingredients, sifted the flour, poured batter, made the crumb topping, and sprinkled the crumb topping.

It's in the oven NOW and we can't wait to taste it.

I'll update later as to what ours looks like and how it tasted!

Color Help!

I'm in need of YOUR help!

See the awesomely cheerful yellow kitchen wall? We painted that about 2 years ago.

I need a change!
Those boring white cabinets keep calling me to be painted!
I'm wanting to paint the doors on all the cabinets but I don't know what color to paint them!

When we first painted the yellow walls, I was feeling the yellow/green/purple garden flower thing.
Recently I've been loving the turquoise/yellow/orange/lime green Caribbean vibe.

Can you help me pick something to liven up these boring, standard white cabinets?

Pics of my newest Hair Blossoms

Make sure to check out my Etsy store for my newest creations! Here are a few for you to drool over!

Give My Your Best Shot #7

It's Friday which means it's time for Give Me Your Best Shot over at Better in Bulk with Lolli (and her sweet family).






I snapped a kagillion shots of the kids on the swings....This is my favorite of Alyson. She has magical eyes! They make me melt every time I look at this picture!

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Cooking Class: Creamy Chicken Casserole

Creamy Chicken Casserole

This is one of my favorite meals to cook for a few reasons:
It's yummy
It's easy
It's budget-friendly
It's a one dish meal

1 can of cream of chicken soup
1 can of cream of mushroom soup
1 cup of long grain rice (NOT the instant kind)
2 cups of cooked chicken (usually about 1 or 1 1/2 chicken breasts)
salt & pepper to taste (I skip the salt)
OPTIONAL: frozen mixed veggies

Spray dish with cooking spray
Mix all ingredients together in a casserole dish (I use a large oval Corningware-the one that's almost the size of a 13 x 9)
Cook uncovered at 325 for 1 hour
I also check mine and mix to ensure all the rice cooks properly
If you decide to throw in the veggies, I do it in the last 10-15 minutes so they aren't too mushy.

WAH-LAH....easy, budget friendly dinner.

Like Giveaways?

Do you like giveaways?

Then head on over to Nesting Place! Today is Giveaway Day on her blog and she has some AMAZING giveaways including one from Lisa Leonard Designs and Back 40 Life (vinyl wall art).

Happy 2nd Birthday My Son

My Son....two words I never thought I'd get to say.

Paul. A name I didn't think would bless this family after my beloved grandfather passed away.

My Son, Paul. A love I never knew existed. It started back in the fall of 2006 after we found out we were pregnant again. I secretly wished, hoped, and prayed it was a boy so that we would have one of each because we were only planning on 2 children (that's another story).

On January 5 2007 we found out it was a boy. I knew that his name HAD to be Paul. Named for one of his great-grandfathers on either side, our son now had a name, Paul Edward. We anxiously awaited june to come so we could meet him.

Paul's entrance into this world didn't go as smoothly as possible, but he made it. Our sweet baby boy was born on June 14th. We adored him instantly.

The first 6 months were THE worst. He was colic, he didn't sleep, all he did was cry and nothing consoled him. The day he turned 8 months old he SLEPT. I can't remember if it was just a 5 hour stretch or all night, but it was THE best Valentine's gift EVER. And then everything changed. He became this sweet and squishable baby. I feel so guilty for not loving him more during this difficult time.

Today he turns 2. I sit here laughing at him dancing and marching around the house. HE sits in the dog cage pretending it's a car and tells me he's going on a trip.

I sit here with tears in my eyes because I just love him SO much. I love how he grabs my head and plants a kiss on my cheek for no reason at all. I love how he asks where Daddy is, and when I tell him "at work" he responds with "STAY!" He wants daddy to stay home. I love how he walks around with a book under his arm saying "read, read". Then he crawls into a lap to read the book. I love how he helps me unload the dishwasher and with each single dish he takes out, he says "Mama" alerting me that he has a dish for me to put away.

There are no words I can think of that describe how much I love ,adore, and cherish my son.
My one and only son Paul.
Happy 2nd birthday my little man. You are loved more than you could possibly imagine!

iPhone love

iThink someone loves me. Mr FedEx rolled up with a small brown box and inside was my very own iPhone!
Lucky for me the husband works for AT & T and with the new iPhone coming out, the "older" models are on closeout!

Now...how do I work this thing?

Do you know of any great Apps for it?

Are there any Etsy Apps?

We're HOME!

We made it back! We had a great time seeing our families and enjoying what Long Island had to offer. It was a little chillier than we expected and it rained more than we wanted it to, but we took advantage of the nice days that we had.

Some mishaps happened along the way....Poppa bear threw out his back (again) while loading the suitcase. We came home to our deep freezer unplugged and full of rancid, spoiled meat, milk, and cheese. Good thing Poppa bear has a strong stomach and cleaned it out because I thought I was gonna lose my digestive system just from the smell in the garage! EWWWW.

I still have a ton of unpacking, laundry, and uploading of photos to do.

Hello from NEW YORK!

Hello from New York everyone!

We made it safely, albeit tired. We pulled out of the driveway at 9pm Saturday evening and pulled into my in-laws driveway at 2:30pm Sunday. It was rough, I'll admit but the kids were amazing considering the circumstances. Alyson had no potty accidents.

We all suffered from lack of sleep.

Alyson slept till 10:30am Monday morning which is unheard of for her.

We've been to to playground, the beach (oh so good for my soul), eaten NY pizza, drank a pina colada (oh that was just me!), indulged in ice cream twice ALREADY, and we're only half way through our vacation. We chose not to run around doing "things" and take it easy.

And the best part, I've got tons of AMAZING pictures already. None uploaded as I am on borrowed computers.

Has ANYONE missed me? We'll be back in GA on Monday so be prepared for some great pictures (mostly of the kids). I'm still rooting for a dinner date without kids, but the kids don't seem to want to cooperate.