Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Favorite New Trick

I found something this week that is changing my life.  Shredding chicken in the mixer!



It must be a sad life to be excited over something so lame, but I really am so excited.  I had no idea you could do this.....I usually cook my in small amounts and shred it by hand, but now I can cook it in bulk, shred it in 20 seconds in the mixer, and freeze it all.....I now have 6-7 meals worth of chicken already cooked in the freezer....and it only took a few minutes.   Yay 

Sunday, October 28, 2012

Sweet Tooth

She comes by it honestly....there really was no hope for her:


In case you can't tell, that would be 3 bags of chocolate chips she's holding.  She has discovered where they were hidden....luckily she can't open them just yet.

Saturday, October 27, 2012

Possessive


Hannah has a bike she's fairly possessive of.  Sofia decided to take it for a ride.

 If you notice Hannah in the background....she was running the opposite direction until she spotted Sofia on her bike...

....then she came running to get it back.

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Notice Anything Different?



Ok...so it's kind of hard to tell in this picture, but I'm wearing earrings for the first time in about 5 years.

I got my ears pierced in high school (I think my prom dress had really cute earrings to match, so at age 18 I finally broke down and got it done).  And I wore earrings for a few years until they got infected.  We were about to leave for Thailand so I decided to let the holes close and not have to deal with it.

Fast forward 5 years and I've thought a few times about re-piercing them, but priced it and decided it wasn't worth the $35 the mall charged.....or having to accessorize (not in my skill set).

Anyway, the other day Hannah got out my little jewelry box that has my 'pearl' earrings from our wedding day....so I decided to see if I could get them in.  It took a few minutes, and a tiny bit of pain, but I was able to re-pierce my holes.  So...I saved $35.....now I just have to buy some earrings.

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Hard at Work

This is what they do around here to earn their keep!

For the record - those knives are out of their reach, despite how it looks in the photo.

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Morning Girls

Our girls are up by 5:30 or 5:45 every morning, but they're usually happy.  Here's a picture of them playing together at about 6 this morning:



Sunday, October 14, 2012

A Week of Photos

We got a DSLR a while ago (I'm ashamed to admit how long we've had it for how little I know about using it).  Anyway, I spent some time learning how to use it and felt like I was getting comfortable, but then forgot.  Sounds lame, but I didn't use the camera enough....so it was just easier to leave it in "auto" mode.

I've been back in auto mode for a while, but finally decided to learn how to use the camera for real this time.  So...I got a new book from the library, did some reading, and lots of practicing.  My goal has been to use the camera every day so I get practice and don't forget how to use it (thanks for the idea Rhonda).  

I did pretty well this last week.  I used the camera all but 2 days.  I had strep throat, so I figure that was a decent excuse.  Anyway, here are a few random pictures of the past week.  Keep in mind, I'm focusing on getting the hang of the camera, so they're definitely not award winning photos.


Hannah suddenly took a new interest to her USU t'shirt and refused to wear anything else.  I have no idea where it came from, but figured Grandpa would be happy to see it.

 Sofia's playing with her sand toys in the rocks.


 The girls were playing in the 'office' and giggling up a storm....they both had huge grins on their faces....which I missed because it was so dark I was trying to figure out how to change the ISO on my camera...I missed the smiles, but did find the ISO.

All I've read says that bright daylight is actually bad for pictures...I figured the photographers were probably right, but I wanted to test it out for myself just in case..........and I now agree it's not the best, but that's when we spend most time at the park, so we'll just make do.


Sofia has the funniest expressions

 Here's Violet, our cute friend we played with at the park this day.  She's not too happy about the swing, but it crack's me up how tightly she's holding onto the sand toys.


 Here's Hannah hard at work on play dough

Sofia is really serious about her pom poms.  I love the concentration.  I took the pom poms to church hoping they would keep her entertained like they do at home...no such luck.  Bummer.

After a week of photos my verdict....I'm never going to be professional, but I would like to take better photos and I think I'll get there eventually.  In the meantime....we need to convince James we need a new lens.  :D

Friday, October 12, 2012

Bath Time Fun

They used to love bath time....


.....apparently not anymore.



Sofia has has too many bad experiences in the tub, this is now her reaction when she has to get in.  Hannah really does love the bath, but she was scared because Sofia was screaming, so she started to cry to.  So much for playing with toys and having fun...it's now in and out!

Sunday, October 7, 2012

It's Beginning to Look a Little Like Christmas

Last Christmas I found a tutorial online for a quilted advent calendar.  I must have been in an optimistic mood because I decided I wanted to make one.  Really optimistic.  Right after Christmas I bought some fabric and started cutting.  I knew it would take a long time to get it done (I choose to blame the fact that I have to pack up the sewing machine after each use rather than blame my sewing abilities!).  I figured if I did a little work here and there it would get done before Christmas.  Like I said....I'm slow.

Earlier this week I actually finished it.  It's actually done.  100%.




I'm not a perfectionist.  I think piecing and quilting require a lot more perfectionistic abilities than I have....but it's done.  There are a lot of things I don't like about it: I should have used different batting, I did an awful job quilting it with my machine.  And, I HATE binding, so I did a cheater method of binding.  I knew it wouldn't look great, but I figured it was better than hand sewing the binding on.

I guess this means we're reading for Christmas....with the exception of all the gifts!