Smile and say "Cheese"!

Lately, whenever I take out the camera and ask Maggie to smile and say "cheese" I usually get one of these silly faces. What a goof! It looks quite similar to a face that her Aunt Bird use to make when she was asked to smile. We called it her Popeye face.

1 Year Old!

WARNING: Lots of pictures.
I know I'm about a month late in posting pictures of Maggie's first birthday but since that day our lives have been busy, busy, busy! So, with out further delay here we go...

We had a lunch party for Maggie's first birthday and invited family and friends to join us at my mother-in-law's house. We decided to have a cupcake theme for her party and even though I didn't get to make everything I had wanted to for the party there were still several fun little cupcake items...

Such as the cupcakes them selves...

Maggie's cupcake shirt I made for her to wear... ( I probably should have put the little cupcake up higher...oh well...we live and learn.)

And her birthday cake.

Speaking of cake...this kid LOVES her cake! She had no problem getting in there and tearing that sucker up!

We had a great time at Maggie's party and really appreciated having all our friends and family that could make it there.

We especially enjoyed trying to take this picture. I was about to split a gut this was so funny. All these little kids were such troopers!

Harvest Festival 2010

Before it gets too late I wanted to publish a few photos of my little Lyon in her lion costume at this years Harvest Festival.

Maggie was really a good sport about wearing this little outfit. I had not planned on us really doing anything for Halloween. Our church usually holds a Harvest Festival as a Halloween alternative and initially I hadn't even planned on us going to that because I really don't want Maggie or any of our kids thinking that we have to do anything on that night. We never really did anything when I was growing up so I didn't feel the need with Maggie. And then I came across this pattern. It was so cute and it was a LION!!! How perfect! I had to make it. I started it in the beginning of October not knowing how difficult it was going to be and was done with the majority of it pretty quickly. The hardest part was gluing all the little ribbons on the hood. But I am so pleased with the results! I think I have the cutest little lion ever!

A shot of the tail. I had a few requests to see the back.

At the Harvest Festival.

Keepin' it Clean

I remember, growing up, Saturday was always the cleaning day at our house. I dreaded it. I'm sure my parents dreaded it because it was like pulling teeth getting us to actually do our chores and do them well. Now that I'm in my own house I do see the importance of keeping your house clean and taking care of things but I still hate the thought of dedicating Saturday morning to doing that. Especially since that is one time when Will is home and we can spend time together. Keeping all that in mind I went searching for a solution and that's when I discovered The Clean Mama!

For the past couple of months I've been following her blog and after a while I started using her weekly docket to keep our house in order and keep me on a schedule. It's been great! Every day has a task assigned to it as well as specific task that I do every day. For example, today is the day I wash our floors so I will mop all the hard floors in our house and tomorrow is vacuuming day so that will take care of the rest of the floors in the house. That means that after tomorrow I will have cleaned our entire house for the week and I'll have the weekend to enjoy my family.

The best part of it all is that our house stays fairly clean and I don't feel like I'm working hard and stressing out over staying on top of it. Some tasks I complete while Maggie is napping and others I complete while she is just playing around the house and I can keep an eye on her. And I have it all done on Saturday morning!

So, that's what has worked for me. Let me know what works for you and your family.

"No Puke" Beef Stew

Sadly there is no photo to go with this post but that's mainly because when making this wonderful meal there is not much to photograph.

This is a simple crock-pot recipe that I grew up on and it's delicious! Even though we call it "No Puke". And how did it get such a name? Well, because I'm an airhead and don't always read things carefully. At least not when I was as kid.

I think it was about the time we got a crock-pot that we discovered a recipe for "No Peek" beef stew and my mom decided to make it. I glanced at the recipe and could have sworn that the title said "No Puke" and so that's what we constantly referred to it as. I thought that maybe beef stew had a reputation for not being so tasty and that this was a recipe that was actually for a good and tasty beef stew. (Hey, I was about 8 years old, cut me some slack.) So, we made the beef stew and I loved it and continued to call it "No Puke" and no one corrected me. In fact, we just called it that and still do. I don't think that I actually discovered that the name of it was "No Peek" until I was married and looking for the recipe to make for Will and myself.

So, what is in this wonderful beef stew? It's so simple:

• 1 can cream of mushroom soup
• 1 envelope of onion soup mix
• 1 cup of red wine
• 2 lbs. beef for stew

Pour the first three ingredients into a crock-pot and mix together. Add the beef and mix in to cover with sauce mix. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours. Serve over rice or egg noodles. It's fabulous! And it won't make you...um...puke.

It's a Great Day at Chick-fil-a

Maggie has decided, with the help of her parents, that she is a huge fan of Chick-fil-a. She and I frequently have lunch dates with Will at this favorite restaurant. Besides the fact that their food is great, there is also the friendly service of the staff their that makes eating at CFA such a treat.

They love to talk to Maggie and play with her and on occasion they will give her a balloon, which she loves. This particular time they even gave her a stuffed cow! She played with it the rest of the day.

The last reason we love CFA...

We love sharing ice dream with each other. Although, Maggie is still learning the concept of sharing....we are working on it.

DIY Home Decor

Yes, I have taken a 2 month break from blogging and now I return with a DIY post... I do have Maggie updates but for right now this is what I want to blog about.

Ever since Will and I moved into our house I have been trying to decorate but have been on a very strict budget. I have looked online at several blogs for great, inexpensive ideas and finally found one that I thought I could cut my crafting teeth on. I found this through another blogger's site and decided to give it a try. Well, here are the results:

I bought all my supplies that I didn't already have at the Dollar Store. So the total project cost me about $2.00. Let me know what you think.