My Top 5 Viewed Posts of Home

It is amazing how fast a year can go by and I think 2010, by far, has gone by the quickest of all!  Of course, my dad tells me the older I get the faster it will go, which is somewhat concerning! :-)

As a little recap of my blog, I figured I would share my 5 most viewed posts for the this year.

#5 Family Room Renovation is Complete! Pierre and I are lucky to have my dad, our personal handy man, living just 2 miles away!

#4 Warm Apple Crisp For a Cold, Crisp Fall Day There are so many amazing cookbooks and food shows out there that when I find a recipe my family likes, I just have to share it.  This recipe not only is delicious, but I love that my kids love to help make it too!

Getting Organized ~ I Finally Have a Craft Area!

As I started to organize all my scrapbooking materials, I realized that the number one thing I need to do before getting started is create a working craft area.  Before now, basically, my materials were piled on a table in our computer room.  Though the table is designated for my crafts, it is normally covered in mail, laundry, toys and whatever else isn't in its normal spot.  So last night I cleaned it off and got organized!

The best thing I found in this house to use was an item I have been cursing since I bought it.  When my daughter Hayley was just a toddler, we decided that the perfect addition to her Disney Princess themed room would be the Disney Princess toy organizer.  It has three shelves and nine showbox sized buckets you place on the shelves.  What a perfect way to organize toys, right?  Not quite.  Whoever invented these, obviously, had no children.  The concept is wonderful, but the reality is these should be called "How Fast After Mommy Organizes the Toys Can I Dump Them Out."  Ok, not a practical name, but really the only thing this was used for was dumping the toys out and me explaining yet again how to put the toys in.  Let's just say, this "organizer" lasted about a week in my daughter's room before I gave up and purchased totes with lids that only I could open!   But everything happens for a reason, and it is now the perfect addition to my craft area.  The nine buckets with no lids make it very easy for me to get to my materials quickly.  Plus, I can see exactly what I have all at once.  There is even space underneath for my paper trimmers that lay flat.  Even better, as you know, I am a Disney fanatic and having the Disney Princesses decorating my craft area is quite nice.

I also wanted to share my tip about the paper trays I have (the white totes with three drawers).  I purchased these months ago, because I made a classic rookie scrapbooking mistake - I have purchased more paper than I probably could use in a lifetime.  I swear that aisle at the craft store just sucks me in.  There are so many great papers out there I can't resist!  These trays have come in quite handy.  I have organized my paper by color, with other drawers dedicated solely to Disney paper, holiday paper, and patterned paper.  But when I was looking for something like this, I went to all the craft stores and they were just too expensive, even with coupons.  So I checked out our local WalMart.  The totes were pretty dusty and beaten up and there was only one.  I was looking for at least three.  I asked the WalMart employee about when they would get more and she gave some of the best advice.  She said to go online and order the totes from there and have them shipped Site to Store so I'd get free shipping.  Plus, she said that they come in their original packing, so there is no dust or dings in them.  I raced home and to my surprise, not only did they have them online, but they were cheaper than they were in the store! 

So now I have no excuse to not get some crafts done around here!  As you may have read in my post Disney Scrapbooks ~ Here I Come!, my first project will be finishing my 2006 Disney Trip scrapbook, which is nearly complete.  I look forward to testing out my newly organized space!

How do you organize your materials?  Feel free to share a link or comment below with your best tips for oragnizing your craft space!

Disney Scrapbooks ~ Here I Come!

One of my favorite ways to look back at my family's Disney trips is to scrapbook them.  I create one scrapbook per trip.  I also have another Disney scrapbook that is a timeline from my 1st trip as a teen in 1986 to my most recent trip in 2010 as a mom of 3.  Now I say have, but really all I have done is the plan for it.  I have been waiting to get my hands on the Sandylion Disney Mega Pack of paper before beginning.  I already have all the Disney Cricut cartridges, except the two new ones (see my post New Disney Cricut Catridges! for more details), which I hope to acquire soon.  So I was quite excited when not only did my parents give me the Disney pack of paper for Christmas, but also the 2010 Disney Parks Scrapbook.  I am all ready to get started. 

One of my New Year's Resolutions is to try to complete one Disney 2-page scrapbook layout each week.  If I stick to that plan, my 2006 one, which was Joey's 1st trip, should be completed in just a couple of weeks since I am basically almost done with that.  Then, on to my 2008 trip scrapbook, which was Hayley and Emily's first trip.  Then, onto my 2010 trip.  That sounds like a lot but really, I have them all planned out and somewhat started.  I just need to make the time for myself to do it.  Plus, I don't know about you, but I find I work on a lot of different scrapbook projects at once.  Right now I have about 5 projects started.  It gives me the opportunity to work on whatever I am most inspired to do at that moment. 

Keep checking back to see some of my layouts!  If you have any Disney layouts you'd like to share, leave me a link in the comments below.  I would love to see them ~ I am always looking for inspiration!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Thank you to everyone who has followed my blog as I have tried to teach myself some new skills this year.  Though I feel like I have definitely improved in many areas over the last 12 months, I think replacing my kitchen faucet with just my three trusty helpers (my kids) is my most memorable and out of the box accomplishment for me! If you missed that one, check out Handy Mommy to the Rescue. It is actually a pretty fun little memory of time spent with my kids this year.

Thank you to all the other card makers and scrapbookers who have shared their projects and inspired me to be more creative through their own blogs.  I am now creating things I never thought I could.  Your time spent sharing your creations and giving instruction to me and other Cricut rookies out there is very appreciated.

My family wishes you and all your loved ones a very Merry Christmas!  I can't wait to see what 2011 brings us!

Have You Met Hallmark's Snowman Band?

Hallmark is one of my favorite places to shop during the holidays. They have some very unique gifts, as well as a great collection of Disney ornaments (you can read about my Disney ornament collection on my Disney blog ~ A Disney Mom's Love of Disney ~ it was actually the theme of my Magical Blogorail post this month). Normally every year they offer some holiday set of ornaments or decor that requires you to make a purchase and they release one piece of the set every few weeks or so. I normally do not participate in these for the simple fact that in the end, you pay quite a bit of money for just a few items. But this year I could not resist. The Wireless Snowman Band caught my eye right away.

When I first saw them, only Keyboard Ken was available, though the entire band was set up and playing in the store. Each snowman was $24.95, which honestly I would never pay, but with any purchase, he was only $12.95. My kids were with me and they loved it. As soon as the Hallmark woman showed it to them, they were literally beaming ear to ear. How could I not purchase it? With the ornaments I already planned to purchase, we brought Ken home. Well, as cute as he was, he really needed a band mate. I figured I would pick up just one more in November when I went to purchase the rest of my ornaments with my next rewards check.

After purchasing our second snowman, Saxophone Joe, our little snowman band was looking better. But of course, now with two of them, I thought how cute they would be with all four. So, I gave in, purchased Guitar Freddy and Trumpet Tom when they were available, and now we have all four members of the band. Seeing my kids dance and sing when the band starts playing makes me realize they were worth every penny. If I didn't have $24 in rewards checks, I am not sure I would have purchased all four, but I am certainly glad we have them.

The Wireless Snowman Band is pretty unique. Each snowman plays two Christmas songs, so the band as a whole plays eight songs. Once one snowman begins playing his song, the other three join in. Two sway side to side, while two sway front to back. Even better, once they are synced, they can be placed up to 25 feet apart and will still play. If you are not sure if this is something for you, check out my video below. I recorded all 8 songs of the Snowman Band's Holiday Tour.

Enjoy and have a Merry Christmas!

New Disney Cricut Cartridges!

Did Santa deliver early this year???  I am so excited!  I just saw over at Obsessed with Scrapbooking that there are two new Disney cartridges being released for the Cricut this December!  The first one is Cricut Best of Pixar cartridge.  It includes images from the movies Finding Nemo, Monster's Inc., The Incredibles, A Bug's Life and Wall-E.  The second cartridge is Cricut Disney Classics cartridge.  This one includes images from Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, Pinocchio and Bambi.  Just when I thought I had all the Disney cartridges, there are two more I must have.  I am quite excited to get my hands on these two cartridges.  If you want to see images from them, make sure you check out Obsessed with Scrapbooking to see them, as well as the other Hello Thursday releases for December.

By the way Robyn, over at My Pink Stamper, will also be dispaying projects from these cartridges! Can't wait to see what she has created!

Added 12/29:
Here's a link to Robyn's Disney Classics Cartridge 2-Page Layout
Here's a link to Robyn's Cricut Best of Pixar - Nemo Card

A Bit Under Construction

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year from the Doda Family!

So right now what I should actually be working on are the 21 Toy Story cupcakes for my son's 6th birthday tomorrow, but for some reason I am here updating my blog and listening to my two girls upstairs playing when they should already be sleeping.  I can't even start to make the frosting for the cupcakes (luckily, I at least baked them earlier) because my four year old loves to cook and bake.  If she heard the mixer going, she would be down here in a flash and wanting to help.  I would certainly never get her to bed then!  Anyways, as you may have noticed I have made some changes to my blog and finally figured out how to add tabs at the top.  Feel free to check them out!

By the way, to all the moms and dads out there who can get all their children into one photo, all smiling and looking at the camera, I admire you!  This photo above was the best of I'd say of at least 100 I took.  Seriously, it was like herding cats to accomplish this!  But I must admit, I loved every minute of it!  Well, we hope you have a wonderful holiday season!

Magical Blogorail ~ On My Disney Blog

Last month a group of Disney bloggers came together and created the Magical Blogorail.  Each month we create a "loop" of posts all related to one topic.  Last month we shared what inspired us to write our blogs.  This month we discuss celebrating the holidays Disney style.  Feel free to check them out!

1st Loop ~ (starting at A Disney Mom's Love of Disney) Welcome to the First Magical Blogorail
2nd Loop ~ (starting with Growing Up Disney) Magical Blogorail: A Growing Up Disney Christmas

Enjoy!

Cricut's Fit to Length Feature & Toy Story Green Alien Glasses

I have finally upgraded to the Cricut Expression!  I am very excited to be able to cut the larger images, as well as squeeze more colors of paper onto one 12x12 cutting mat than I could on the 6x12.  As excited as I was about it, I had no idea how to use any of the features.  At first this meant I just didn't use them.  As a mom of three I have to say honestly, anytime I make my way to my craft area, I usually have my three trusty helpers close behind.  I swear my kids could be outside playing and as soon as I sit down to work on a project, presto - there they are!  Oh well, it has been nice having their "input" on colors and sizes for my projects.

I decided this week to make a point to try something new on the Expression.  For my son's upcoming birthday, we are having a Mater's Tall Tales party (if you don't know Mater, he is the tow truck from Disney-Pixar's Cars).  Now I have planned out the cake, decorations, etc and suddenly, out of the blue, Joey says he wants a Toy Story cake.  Now if you have been following me for a while, you may have noticed I am a classic Type A personality. I plan things out for weeks and having a change in schedule can really throw me off.  So in a round about way I was able to convince Joey that we would make Toy Story cupcakes for school and keep the Mater theme for home.  Since he was pretty excited about that, I let out a sigh of relief and started planning the Toy Story themed cupcakes. 

Luckily I had just purchased the Cricut Toy Story cartridge.  As I looked over my options of things I could make for little toppers for the cupcakes, I noticed that there was the choice to create glasses.  There were three versions ~ Woody, Buzz and the Green Alien.  As I prepared my craft area to create 18 sets of glasses for his class, I realized I had no idea what size to make them.  Then it hit me, now was the chance to test out the Fit to Length feature.  I brought my son over and measured his face from left to right, which was 5.5".  I then set the size dial to 5.5" and hit the fit to length key.  The machine let me know that to create glasses with a 5.5" width, they would be cut at 3.5" height.  Wow!  That was easy.  I didn't have to print several sizes to find just the right one.  So I reset my height dial to 3.5, turned off the fit to length feature and cut the rest of the pieces out.

Here are the green alien glasses that Joey will bring to school with his Toy Story cupcakes (modelled by Hayley's toy dog named . . . Hayley).  He even told me this afternoon that he is so excited to have a Cars cake AND Toy Story cupcakes.  After seeing the Toy Story Green Alien glasses, he then asked if he could look at my Cricut Cars cartridge.  About a minute later, I asked him what he was looking for and his response was, "The kids in my class would love Mater glasses too.  Are there any Mater glasses on this cartridge?"

Football Food for Monday Night Football

As you may recall from my previous post Patriots Day ~ According to Hayley, we are big New England Patriots fans.  So tonight's game against the Jets is not only a big game (both teams are 9 and 2), but it should be a great game to watch for all football fans no matter who your favorite team is.  So I decided to share my two favorite football recipes.  What better way to enjoy the game than to make nachos and stuffed jalapenos with a Sam Adams Winter Lager on the side?  Now if you are looking to control your calories, sorry, these aren't those kind of recipes.  These are not your healthiest foods, but they are delicious!

Crescent Jalapeno Poppers
Pillsbury ~ Summer Appetizers ~ June 2007
4 jalapeno chiles (about 3 inches long)**
⅓c. Boursin cheese with garlic and herbs (from 5.2 oz. container)
8 slices packaged, precooked bacon (from 2.2 oz. pkg.)
1 can (8 oz.) Pillsbury refrigerated crescent dinner rolls
½ c. pineapple or fruit salsa (optional)

1. Heat oven to 375º. Carefully remove stems from chiles; cut each in half lengthwise and again horizontally to make 4 pieces. Remove and discard seeds. Spoon about 1 t. cheese into each chile quarter. Wrap half slice of bacon around each.

2. On cutting board, unroll dough, separate dough into 8 triangles. From center of longest side to opposite point, cut each triangle in half, making 16 triangles. Place chile, cheese side down, on dough triangle. Fold one point of triangle over filling; fold 2 remaining points over first point. Place on greased cookie sheet.

3. Bake 12 to 15 minutes or until golden brown. Immediately remove from cookie sheet. Serve with salsa.
Per Appetizer:
Calories 90
Total Fat 6g
Sodium 220mg
Fiber 0g

**One can (4oz.) Old El Paso whole green chiles, drained and cut into 16 pieces can be substituted for the whole jalapeno chiles.




Game Time Dinner

 Super Nachos
Rachael Ray ~ 30-Minute Meals-Get Togethers

Since Food Network lists the recipe, here is the link for Super Nachos by Rachael Ray, which also includes photos.  Just to give you an idea of how much this recipe makes, the first ingredient is 2 bags of tortilla chips.  This recipe is definitely for a crowd, though I will admit that my husband and I have made these on many an occassion for just the two of us . . . though there were a lot of leftovers!

Good luck to the Patriots tonight!

What is your favorite football food recipe?

Has the Elf on the Shelf Visited You Yet?



Here's Max, our Elf on the Shelf



December is by far the busiest month for us.  Not only do I have a full day dedicated to trimming the tree, but we also celebrate our anniversary, two of the kids' birthdays and of course, Christmas.  December seems to sneak up on me every year, no matter how much I plan and prepare for it.  This time of year I actually believe that my To Do List (yes, I write one everyday . . . I am a classic Type A personality) gets longer by the day not shorter.  So, I am going to be catching up today on all the things I have wanted to add to this blog.  Somehow at this moment, though I shouldn't say it, all three of my kids are playing nicely.  I hear no crying or arguing, so I am taking full advantage of that!

We have many traditions this time of year, but I have added a new one . . . The Elf on the Shelf.  Now this is such a wonderful idea and my kids have fully taken in our elf, which was named Max after the dog in How the Grinch Stole Christmas.  Max appeared on our cabinet shelf last week with a book giving us all the information to make sure we take good care of him.

The first thing we had to do was give him a name.  Joey suggested we name him Joey, which then made Hayley suggest we name him Hayley.  Emily, at first thought we should name him Mater, since there has been so much talk of Mater with my son's upcoming Mater themed birthday, but then suggested Max, her favorite dog.  Everyone agreed Max was a great name.  Once we gave him his name, according to the book, he could begin his mission for Santa.  He watches over the kids each day, then reports to Santa each night on their behavior.  Every morning he reappears in a new spot somewhere in the house where he can watch over the kids.  Today he has hidden in our Christmas tree, though yesterday he was inside our clock and the day before that he was sitting on our wreath.  There are very specific directions about not touching Max because that makes his magic disappear.  Without magic he can't fly to Santa and report on all the good things they have been doing around the house.  My children are very aware of this and make sure any visitors that stop by know that they absolutely cannot touch Max.

Max has really helped out around here because I hear a lot of talk between my kids, ages 5, 4, and 3 about how Max can see them.  Yesterday, Emily wouldn't eat her dinner and Joey said, "I hope Max doesn't tell Santa that you won't eat your dinner."  What do you know?  Emily ate every bite of her dinner.  It makes me wonder if there are elves for other seasons too?? :-) Max has become a great helper for controlling behaviors without me even having to say a word.  Now he isn't a miracle worker and I still need to give reminders about what we should and shouldn't do, but it is nice to hear the kids reminding each other about how they should behave so Max won't tell Santa.  Every morning they race downstairs to find him in his new spot and excitedly let me know where he has appeared. 

If you are looking to add something new to your holiday season, I highly recommend "requesting" Santa send you an Elf to visit your home.  I love listening to my kids whisper things to him, so that he will tell Santa.  I think the three of them will be very sad when Max leaves on Christmas Eve, but he promises to return next year right after Thanksgiving!

Movie Monday ~ How the Grinch Stole Christmas

How the Grinch Stole Christmas is by far one of my most favorite Christmas classics.  I remember watching it when I was younger and now even my children love it.  It has been around since 1966, which would show you why it is a classic.  As it approaches its 44th birthday, I am sure it will be yet again a favorite amongst many households this Christmas season.  Even to prove its longevity, every year, Hallmark offers a Grinch ornament.  I have many of them and just love them.  They represent several scenes from the movie, and each July, during the Hallmark ornament premiere, I always seek out the new Grinch ornament. 

There is no better Christmas story than that of someone finding the true meaning of Christmas.  The Grinch tries to keep Christmas from coming by stealing all the decorations, food and gifts in Whoville because he hates the noise that time of year brings.  But when the Whos wake up Christmas morning, they are not the least daunted to see that all material traces of Christmas have disappeared.  They come together singing and enjoying what the true meaning of Christmas is.  As the Grinch sees this, he realizes the true meaning of Christmas himself and returns the Whos Christmas items and joins them for dinner. 

My children (and so do I) love the soundtrack for this movie.  Emily, my two year old, sings along with songs, even though she doesn't know many of the words.  Hayley, my four year old, dances to each of the songs.  I'd like to say my son sings and dances, but not so much, though I know he likes the music!

This year I decided the theme of our Trim A Tree Day will the based on this movie.  I have been able to find so many Grinch games, puzzles and stuffed animals.  If you are looking for a hardcover copy of the book, as well as a stuffed Grinch and stuffed Max, they are selling for $5 each as part of Kohl's Cares: Committed to Kids' Health and Education.  We already have a Grinch, but I did pick up Max, reindeer antler and all, for the kids this year. 

If you are looking for more information about this movie, the film or the musical, make sure you check out Wikipedia's site: How the Grinch Stole Christmas!

Thank you, Papercraft Star!

As those of you may know from previous posts, I am fairly new to papercrafting and using my Cricut.  I've had the materials for a while, but with three kids born in three years, my time to actually work on my skills has been limited.  Of course, now my oldest is 5 and my youngest is just about three, I find I can make a little more time each week to attempt a new paper project.  In order to motivate myself and build my confidence in my projects a little, I started entering my projects in different websites challenges.  For someone  like me, I love that these challenge winners are randomly chosen, so as long as I am brave enough to submit something, I can enter.   Well, this October, I entered a challenge over at Papercraft Star.  I just found out I won the October Grand Prize!  I am so thrilled.  It couldn't have come at a better time, since my children have all been getting over colds here and I had no time to even read any of my favorite craft blogs, nevermind participate!  It was just the lift I needed. 

Plus, what was even better I didn't even know I had won.  One of the followers of Papercraft Star saw the announcement that I had won and had not claimed my prize, so she contacted me personally.  That is one of the things I love about the cardmaking/scrapbooking/craft community, everyone looks out for each other.  That's what makes sharing my stories, projects and ideas so enjoyable!  So thank you, Denise, for contacting me, and thank you, Papercraft Star, for giving me the opportunity to win and share my projects!

If you want to check out my winning entry, here it is:
Entry for Papercraft Star's Challenge #17

Toy Story 3 Movie Night

Since having children, I find that I do spend time with my friends, but it consists of being at the park, letting the kids play in the pool or other things that get a little routine after a while.  I decided to change things up a bit and what better week to do it than the week Toy Story 3 is released.  Before purchasing the Blu-ray DVD combo pack at WalMart, I decided to invite the kids' friends over for a movie night.  On Saturday, we are starting our homemade pizzas at 4:30 and the movie at 5:30.  We all have little ones, so a late start time would not be good for any of us.  Plus, while at WalMart, I also picked up the Toy Story 3 Popcorn Tin, which costs just $5.10 and has three kinds of popcorn ~ cheese, butter, and caramel.

Now I had not seen Toy Story 3 in the theaters.  After a very traumatic event at Mickey's Philharmagic in the Magic Kingdom a few years ago (no award for Mom of the Year that year), my son has refused to go into any movie theaters.  So in order for me to see TS3, I had to wait for it to be released on Blu-ray.  I picked up our copy Tuesday and raced home to watch it.  I've avoided all Toy Story 3 stories, sticker books, etc. to make sure nothing gave away the ending.  Let's just say even now typing this, I get a little teary-eyed.  I am a complete movie sap anyways, but wow!  This was amazing.  Of course, my little ones didn't get it, and I am fairly certain that with the material of this movie, it was geared to those of us who have been fans of Woody and the Gang since Pixar first blessed us with them.  Toy Story 2 is my favorite of the series, but I do love them all.  My emotional ties with these characters are memories of my son when he was just 14 months meeting Buzz Lightyear for the first time in what was then called Disney's MGM Studios, now Disney's Hollywood Studios.  He was a huge Woody and Buzz Lightyear fan.  Years later, both my daughters have become Jessie fans with even Hayley being Jessie this year for Halloween.

My dilemma is now I am hosting movie night, but I will have to leave the room at one particular scene, or risk sobbing hysterically in front of the children.  Those of you who have seen it, you know which scene I am talking about.  Actually, I think my crying started at that scene and then continued through to the end.  I won't give specific details for those of you who have not seen it yet, but my advice is to have plenty of tissues by your side when you do.  I think I may need a tissue right now!

What do you do to change up your gatherings with friends and your kids?  I am always looking for new things that don't cost a lot.  Feel free to share you ideas!

Patriots Day ~ According to Hayley

2010 Season ~ Joey, Hayley and Emily

Here in our household, Sundays during football season are days that we spend the day watching our favorite team, the New England Patriots, wearing our Patriots clothing and making football appropriate foods.  Since childhood, my family has been Patriots fans, even during seasons of just a handful of wins and the Super Bowl against the Bears, though no need to bring up that memory!  Luckily, Patriots have been very successful and have given us some exciting Sunday afternoons over the years.  This morning my daughter Hayley asked what day it was and when I told her it was Sunday, she let me know that Sundays are Patriots Days.  She loves to wear her Brady shirt.  Princess Emily, my youngest, would not wear anything but pink, so I had to get her a pink shirt.  Well, I figured I would use my blog to today to share a couple of my favorite recipes and just some cute pictures of my kids over the years in various Patriots outfits.


The 2006 NFL Season - Hayley & Joey



Of course, like everything else in our lives, we have a Disney story to go along with this.  My husband wears Patriots things pretty often and when our son was born, he was, of course, given many Patriots outfits as well.  I have a few Patriots items, though I save mine mostly for football Sundays.  One day while making our way from Frontierland to Adventureland, my dad veered away from our group and said hello to someone and shook his hand.  When I glanced over to see who he was talking to, it was Bob Kraft.  I couldn't believe it!  I especially couldn't believe that my dad walked over to talk to him.  In all our trips to WDW, we have seen many celebrities, though my dad made it very clear to my brother and I we could smile or wave to them, but they were on vacation and we were not to interrupt their time with their families.  So let me tell you I was quite shocked that my dad went against his own advice.  My dad introduced himself and thanked Bob Kraft for all that he has done for the Patriots and Patriot fans.  He then said he would let Mr. Kraft get back to his vacation with his grandkids.  The great part was, Mr. Kraft continued to chat with us about the Patriots.  My son Joey was 14 months at the time and wearing his Patriots hat.  My Kraft commented that he didn't even know that they made Patriots hats that small.  He gave my son a pin which had the Lombardi trophy and Patriots symbol on it.  He was such a nice guy and was so sweet to my son.  This just endeared me to the Patriots even more.  My dad and my husband talked about it the rest of the trip and even called my brother, who had left WDW just the day before, to let him know he missed Bob Kraft.  I will say my brother was quite disappointed.  Needless to say, we didn't get a photo, I was the camera carrier, because I felt like we were intruding on his vacation, but the men in my family will not let me live it down that I didn't get a picture of them with Mr. Kraft. 

2009 Season ~ Joey, Hayley & Emily

During every trip to WDW, we try to dress the kids in similar clothes each day.  One day of every vacation is always Patriots clothes. In 2008, my three kids and my nephew were all decked out in their Patriots shirts.  As we stood in line for Playhouse Disney Live, a cast member came up to us and said our Patriots shirts caught their eye and we would be the first family into the show.  This was a huge relief to my sister in law and I, since the men were on Tower of Terror and here we were with a 3.5 year old, 2 year old, 1.5 year old and 10 month old.  We couldn't wait to get in and get them all contained in one spot!  Luckily, my mom was there to help out too!

Each Sunday my kids help cook some special football snacks.  One of my favorite football recipes is Rachael Ray's Super Nachos.  This recipe is definitely for a crowd, but worth every second of prepartion!  I sometimes make the meat topping ahead of time and just heat it up before serving.  Normally, it is well paired with a Sam Adams, particularly a Sam's Octoberfest.  But if you are having people over who may not necessarily be beer drinkers, a nice drink for a group would be Guy Fieri's Fish Bowls.  This is a great football drink, but also we enjoy it a lot during the summer.

So good luck to the Patriots today! 

Disney's Family Cookbook ~ A Review

As you can, see, my copy is well-used!

When I am in the kitchen, my daughter Hayley is usually right by my side.  She tells me all the time she wants to be a chef and own a restaurant like Princess Tiana (for my non-Disney friends, Princess Tiana is from the movie Princess and the Frog, a must see if you haven't seen it yet!).  She always wants to help cook dinner, make lunches or bake something.  She and Emily use their pretend kitchen and dishes all the time to prepare meals for their dolls.  Their specialty used to be tea, but they have expanded that to much more and recently treated their dolls to what looked like possibly a 5-course tea party.  One day Emily was pretending to cut something.  I asked her what she was cutting and her response to me was, "Mommy, I am not cutting, I am mincing."  For those of you who haven't seen Princess in the Frog, Princess Tiana teaches Prince Naveen to mince.  I won't give away more details than that, but it is pretty cute.

This is an example of the pages with visual directions

Being a Disney fanatic, when I found the Disney Family Cookbook years ago, before kids, I just had to have it. The recipes are simple and at the time that was what I needed (see my post A New Recipe ~ Blueberry Almond Buckle to read about my learning to cook). But, now as a mom, this book has become even more valuable to me. Not only are there healthier recipes, but there are pages with visual directions so your child can cook with you. We have tried several recipes and loved each one of them.

The Table of Contents is actually what caught my eye.  There are the usual cookbook topics, such as breakfast, soup and dinner chapters, but also after school snacks, lunch specials (something I am always looking to be more creative with) and holidays.  I have found so many great recipes, but also they include many tips to get more vegetables and fruits into your child.  Basically, it makes food fun.  In addition, there is even a section on homemade play dough.  This has become one of my most referred to cookbooks in my collection.

One of the recipes I make the most often is the Mean and Lean Meatloaf which replaces your typical bread crumbs with oatmeal.  When I first read the ingredients list, I did not think that would be very delicious.  Well, let me tell you, this is the moistest meatloaf, with excellent flavor I have ever made.  If you want the recipe, just leave me a comment and I'll send it along.

So if your looking for a cookbook with recipes that lean toward the creative and healthier side, this should be a definite addition to your cookbook collection.  My kids love to help cook and this book has many fun activities for them to do in the kitchen.

My Pink Stamper Challenge ~ Something Cute

After completing two other challenges without using my paper doll cartridge, I decided for the "Something Cute" challenge, I would fall back on my old favorite.  I am always looking for cute cards to send out from my kids, but most cards in stores having sayings my kids would never say, or the content of the card actually has no meaning.  So for each of the grandparents this year we are creating "cute" Halloween cards that have plenty of room on the inside for my kids to draw special pictures and I can write in what they want to say.  So with that said, here is a cute Halloween card I created this afternoon with my daughter Hayley. 

I used the Paper Doll Dress Up and Martha Stewart Spiderweb Corner Punch.

If you submit a project and you are randomly chosen as the winner of the "Something Cute" challenge, you will win the Cricut cartridge Simply Charmed, which has a lot of cute images!  Good luck!

My Pink Stamper - Random Act of Kindness Challenge

My son started kindergarten this year and has been blessed to have a wonderful teacher, who has made him a kid who loves school.  He was stressed about it all summer and told us everyday he was not going to kindergarten, he staying in preschool forever.  It made for a long summer.  But I am happy to report everyday when he comes home from school and I ask him how it was, his response is "It was very good today!" or "Great!"  As a parent, I couldn't ask for anything more.

We decided this week to make her some special leaf candies using Wilton candy melts and the leaf candy molds.  Here is the gift bag that we created together.  We'll put the candies in Monday morning and Joey will deliver it to her when he gets to school.  I know a teacher can make or break a child's year, and I have to say Mrs. Towle has gotten us off to a great start!

To create the gift bag, I used Tags, Bags, Boxes and More and Doodlecharms.

Have you completed a random act of kindness today? I'd love to hear what it is!

If you'd like to be entered in My Pink Stamper's Random Act of Kindness Challenge, click here and enter a comment or a project.  You could randomly be chosen to win a set  of My Pink Stamper Stamp Set: Everyday Life.  Good luck!

My Pink Stamper Challenge ~ Something Winter

Robyn over at My Pink Stamper (great person to follow!) has posted a challenge to create something winter related.  I've decided for this challenge to actually challenge myself, meaning I could not use either of the Paper Doll cartridges.  These two cartridges, the Everyday Paper Dolls and Paper Doll Dress Up, are by far my most used cartridges.  Because of this I never branch out and try anything new.  So to challenge myself, I made myself create this using a cartridge I have but rarely used - Christmas Cheer.  I actually purchased this off ebay for on $18, which I am considering a steal since it is a retired cartridge. 

I created the house using Christmas Cheer, the saying "Thinking of You" from Alphalicious and I just couldn't stay away, I gave in and used the Everyday Paper Doll cartridge for the snow.  So, though I failed my own challenge in a way, at least this project didn't include a paper doll!  :-)

Do you have a project to submit?  Here's the My Pink Stamper Saturday Challenge.

Family Room Renovation Complete!

I am excited to report that our family room renovation is complete!  Over the past week, we cleaned out our family room, which was a main area for toys, repainted the room, hung chair rail and installed custom built bookshelves and a TV stand built by my dad.

Over the past week, my kids toys have been dispersed all over the house and furniture has been moved to other rooms.  I have found that when you renovate, your house apparently has to get more cluttered and chaotic before returning to normal.  Today my dad finished up a few little things and I am ready to restore order!  I need to get the curtains back up, fill the shelves and find some wall art to spruce up the room.

I am so lucky to have such a talented dad who was willing to give up every spare moment of his time to build this for us.  He started the project while he was working full-time in Washington, DC and only home in NH on the weekends.  Seeing how great the room came out, now I am ready to move on to the next project.  I am thinking renovating the kitchen, but my husband is convinced we should have a sports room in our basement, though he has tried to convince me of that by saying it would be a great playroom for the kids.  Hmmm . . .

Entry for Papercraft Star's Challenge #17

As you may have noticed from previous posts, I am somewhat new to using my Cricut, cardmaking and all that.  I have decided to force myself to expand my skills by participating in a few challenges.  Not only does it make me use some of the cartridges I have never tried, it gives me an opportunity to see how other people interpret different challenges.  Seeing other projects has certainly inspired me to try new things.  So here is a Halloween card I created for my son's kindergarten teacher.  I used my favorite cartridge Paper Doll Dress Up.  I know . . . I need to try some others, but I love "cute" Halloween and this cartridge does that!  I also used Lyrical Letters to created the word "Boo!"  I have owned Lyrical Letters for a while but haven't taken the time to use it.  It has a lot on there and I really need to test this one out more. 

I am entering this project in Papercraft Star's Challenge #17: Using a photograph posted on the site to inspire your creation.  I tried to use a lot of the same colors in the photo.  I didn't have anything with polka dots, so my background is "dotted" with stars.

Joey's Cars Room is FINALLY Complete

So you may remember from my previous post Joey's Disney-Pixar Cars Room, we gave Joey's room a complete makeover and gave it a Cars theme - his favorite of all Disney movies, toys, music, clothes, etc.  He is absolutely Cars obsessed.  But as mentioned in that previous post, his room still did not have a valance.  My mom though has come to the rescue, again!  We finally found the checkered flag material I had wanted and my mom created the valance for us. 

Joey was pretty funny when I put it up though.  He let me know that since the race flag was near the window, I should have put Chick Hicks, The King and Lightning McQueen over the window instead of DJ, Boost, Wingo and Snotrod.  I guess that just may have to be my next project!

Disney Junior Encyclopedia of Animated Characters - A Review

I am so excited about my most recent book purchase.  Of course, I say I bought it for the kids, but I am enjoying it just as much as they are!  It is called Disney Junior Encyclopedia of Animated Characters.  I actually found it in a catalog I received in the mail the other day called abc Distributing.  The book was only $5.95 and since I am a Upromise member, I had a coupon which took an additional 10% off. 

Now as you may know, I am a Disney fanatic, or as my family calls me a "Disney Hound," since I am always trying to find out knew Disney info and discounts.  My children luckily seem to be following in my footsteps of becoming Disney fanatics themselves, or as I call them Disney Fanatics in the making.  This book is a great way for them to learn about their favorite characters, as well as introduce them to characters they have never seen.

This encyclopedia is full of information from classic animated films, such as Snow White and Bambi to the more recent Disney Pixar movies, such as Wall-E, Monsters Inc. and Cars.  Each page gives a quick biography of the character, the movie it first appeared in, as well as a trivia section and fun facts.  We read to our children every night and I will say we have read from this book every night since it arrived, and the kids look forward to which characters they will read about the next night.  If you are looking for a book that will introduce your child to a character or give them more information about a character they already know and love, this is the one!

I highly recommend this addition to your library whether you are already a Disney fanatic or a Disney fanatic in the making!  Enjoy!

Halloween Card for a Princess

As some of you may already know, I am a mom to two beautiful girls, who both love everything princess.  While trying to find a Halloween card for each of them, I couldn't find one that I thought was "girly" enough, especially for my youngest.  I decided to create my own, and here is what I came up with.

Materials:
Ribbon
DCWV Midnight Spell Stack (I love this stack!  I purchased the 12x12 solid, which included glitter, metallic and textured sheets)
Martha Stewart Spider Web Corner Punch
Cricut Paper Doll Dress Up Cartridge (you may have noticed in previous posts this is my favorite cartridge)

Here are some other projects that I used the Paper Doll Dress Up cartridge:
Halloween Card #1
Halloween Card #2
Halloween Card #3
Halloween Gift Bag

Warm Apple Crisp for a Cold, Crisp Fall Day

Joey, Hayley, Emily & 678lb. Pumpkin

One of my favorite fall traditions is taking my children apple picking.  We go to Smith's Orchard, which is where my mom apple picked when she was little, where she took my brother and I when we were younger, and now we take my children there.  This year was the first year all three could actually reach apples to pick for themselves, and Joey and Hayley could climb the trees.  We went a little later in the season than usual since all the kids picked up colds (I am assuming it was the back to school sniffles!) and they then decided to share the cold with Grampa.  Usually when we go we are bundled up in sweatshirts and really in a fall mood, but this year it was 80 degrees and we were all quite hot to say the least. 

Hayley getting our apples ready

When we arrived the kids first saw the enormous pumpkin out front, which we were told was 678 pounds.  It was huge!  The tractor wasn't running to all of our dismay, since it was the first year I chose not to bring our red wagon . . . I'll make sure I bring it next year!  It was a lot of fun, though when Emily picked her first apple, she turned to my mom and I and told us she found her apple, so it was time to go home.  After explaining that we would be each picking more than one apple, we all got to work to fill our four bags. 



A few days after our apple picking trip, the weather turned to the regular cool, crisp fall days.  Friday was the perfect day to bake some apple crisp with the kids.  They all chose their favorite apron (all made by my mom) and we got to work.  Hayley and Joey peeled and sliced the apples with a William-Sonoma Apple Peeler/Corer.  I put the apples on, but they did the crank and put the slices into our pan.  Emily helped mix the spices for the apples and then helped make the topping.  It was a really fun morning and the kids had a great time.

Emily mixing the spices for our apples

The recipe I used is a creation of mine from several different recipes I have come across.  I like an even split between the apples and the topping, but many of the recipes I found leaned one way or the other.  So here is what I came up with.  It lists 10c. of apple slices, but really you need to fill the 13x9 with apples or the topping will overtake the apples.

Apple Crisp
10c. apples, peeled, cored, and sliced
1/4 c. water

Spices for Apples:
1c. granulated sugar
1 T. flour
1 t. cinnamon

Topping:
1 1/2 c. quick cooking oats
1 c. flour
1 1/2 c. brown sugar
3/8 t. baking powder
3/8 t. baking soda
3/4 c. butter, melted

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 
2. Place the sliced apples in a 13x9 pan.  Mix all the ingredients for the apples spices and sprinkle over the apples.  Pour water evenly over all. 
3. Combine all the ingredients for the topping.  Crumble evenly over the apple mixture.
4. Bake for 45 minutes.

Enjoy!

My Pink Stamper "Spooky" Challenge

It is hard to believe that Halloween is just around the corner.  Where did this year go? 

As you may have read in my previous post, My Pink Stamper Website ~ I Love It!, that I am fairly new to using my Cricut and have gotten a lot of inspiration from Robyn to do more with it.  This week she has posed a "Spooky" Challenge.  If you would like to be in the drawing to win her "Spooky Puns Stamp Set," all you need to do is submit a Halloween or Fall themed project.  To see the full details, you can go directly to My Pink Stamper (by the way, if you are not already a follower, I would highly recommend it!).  Anyways, here is my project I am adding to the list of already incredible entries.  My three "helpers" helped pick out the paper dolls for the card - there's one for each of them!  Just so you know, the drawings are random, which is great for someone like me.  I know my cards are still pretty basic, but having random drawings gives me an opportunity (or the confidence!) to participate.  Plus, it is a nice opportunity for me to see what this Cricut can actually do and take inspiration from other people's creations!

By the way, when you read the details of the challenge, you can scroll down to see the entries.  As I was looking through, there is one that I just thought was amazing - entry #31 or you can check it out at Court's Crafts. 

In case you missed them, here are some previous posts about some Cricut Halloween crafts I've made (yes, they are all similar - I need to branch out a little and try to be more creative!):
Halloween Card for my 6 month old nephew's 1st Halloween
Halloween Card for my 3 year old nephew
Halloween Gift Bag

Organizing My Recipes

My Recipe Collection

Over the last year, I have been working on one major project.  Now when I say a year, I don't mean I've worked on it everyday, but something I have worked on at night when the kids go to bed or when I have a moment here and there to do something.  As you may have read in my previous post, A New Recipe ~ Blueberry Almond Buckle, I am a self taught cook.  I am always trying new recipes and actually taught myself some cooking skills by watching the Food Network and using Rachael Ray's 30-Minute Meal cookbooks.  But what I found was that I would try a new recipe, love it and then could never figure out which cookbook it was in.  Since I make a menu every Sunday night, along with a grocery list, this made it very time consuming to look through all my cookbooks and attempt to find the recipes we liked.  I needed a way to save myself some time.

As a result, I decided I would start typing in every recipe we tried and print them out.  Of course, it had been years of trying recipes, and no joke, over a hundred cookbooks, but I started searching for the recipes I knew we had tried and loved.  I used small post-its to mark each of the recipes I wanted to type in.  Once I had gone through every single cookbook, I started typing.  A year later, I think I have every single recipe I have tried typed up and organized into binders - I had so many I needed two binders!  I sorted them by type of recipe and then alphabetized them.  The best part is I used the plastic sleeves for each recipe, so I do not have to worry about ruining them when I cook.  They are easy to wipe off.  Some of the recipes, especially ones I found in magazines, I could just print from the website, such as from Hannaford, Kraft, and Food Network.  The great part about some of these is that they sometimes include photos of the recipes.  Maybe one day I'll add photos of my own to the recipes I typed, but for now I'll stick with just the recipes - that is a project for another day!

Now when I make my menu on Sunday nights, I can quickly search my binder and have them at my fingertips.  Besides, now when someone asks for one of my recipes, I can easily e-mail it or print it out since I have them all on my computer.  Even better, since I am caught up, when we try another new recipe, it is much easier to type up one at a time, than trying to sit and type 10 to 20 at a time!

Let the Memories Begin Campaign

Disney recently announced their new campaign for 2011.  It is called "Let the Memories Begin."  The theme is sharing guests' magical memories throughout the park, either photos or videos.  Some of these images will then be displayed as part of a nightly show.  You can upload your own entry at the Disney Parks site.



Check out my memory ~ Joey's 1st Trip to WDW

This was taken when my son was just 14 months.  It was his very first trip to Walt Disney World in 2006 and my family's very first character meal.  Cape May Cafe is now our most favorite character meal, but that may because of the very magical memories we had from that first breakfast with Joey. 

Find more information and submit your own image ~ Let the Memories Begin



What do you think of the new campaign?  Are you going to submit a memory to share?  If you do, feel free to post the link to your entry in a comment below.  I would love to see it!





DCWV Diary Giveaway

Have you checked out the blog DCWV Diary?  Erin has a great giveaway this week for you scrappers who are working on fall and Halloween projects.  She is giving away a DCWV Midnight Spell Stack (this is great - I have it!), Amber Autumn Stack, and the Cricut cartridge Happy Hauntings.  Follow the link below to find details on how you can enter the giveaway - good luck!

DCWV Diary Giveaway

Joey's Disney-Pixar Cars Room

Paint Colors - Bone White & Three Cheers for Pooh

We decided to redecorate Joey's room with his favorite Disney characters from the Disney Pixar Cars movie.  It is amazing how well he knows the cars ~ their numbers, name, etc.  He first saw Cars when he was two and now it has become his most favorite of all Disney movies.  We started collecting the die cast cars for him and I believe he may have just about every car in the collection, and I am not kidding.  There are only a few that I know he doesn't have.  At this point, I am not sure who is more obsessed with finding all of them ~ Joey, my mom or me!  Of course, once we think we have them all, Cars 2 will be out in theaters and we will be starting the collecting all over again!  He had such an interest in these cars that I actually used them to teach him colors and numbers.  People thought I was crazy to buy him all 8 or 9 Ramones, but there is one in every color of the rainbow!  Same with the Piston Cup racers ~ I used these to teach him his numbers. 

Wall Clings from Lowe's

Because of his love of all the cars in this movie, it was only natural to create a Cars room for him.  Since I have been without a paycheck for the last four years, I had to be a little creative in what we were going to do because we are on a strict budget.  My dad had already installed chair rail in this room, since it was actually a Disney princess nursery and we were changing over from pink and white to red and tan.  A few years ago, I found on the clearance rack at Lowe's the wall clings of all the Radiator Springs characters and signs from the movie.  We found a Cars comforter on clearance at K-Mart's online store.

Comforter from K-Mart.com

For the paint, we only use Benjamin Moore paint.  But Home Depot, who carries the Disney specific colors, does not carry Benjamin Moore.  So, I took some of the Mickey Ear paint samples (these are also good for scrapbooking by the way) and brought them to my local hardware store.  Now the red we chose was called "Three Cheers for Pooh."  They scanned the sample and were able to match the color perfectly.  We already knew for the "tan" color that we would be using Bone White, a Benjamin Moore color we have used in other rooms. 

Snotrod, Wingo, DJ and Boost made with my Cricut

The room came out great, but it was missing a few things.  First we need to find fabric for a valance.  Luckily, my mom is a sewer, so she is going to make it for us.  The problem is I saw the perfect fabric at WalMart and didn't buy it because I wasn't sure how much I needed and when I went back to buy it, they didn't have anymore, story of my life.  So, now I am searching for something new, though I don't seem to be able to find anything I like.  The other thing the room needed was a few more characters.  I couldn't find many of the characters that Joey liked and the ones I could find were just too expensive, so I decided I would make them.  So I took out my Cricut Disney/Pixar Cars cartridge (by the way, I found this in the clearance section for $19 at WalMart) and went to work.  Joey requested Boost, Wingo, DJ and Snotrod.  They came out pretty nice and I think people wouldn't even know they were homemade, unless you looked really closely!  Joey has now put in a request for Mac, Chick Hicks and The King.  We'll see how those come out!

Here are the characters I created hanging up over the window - no valance yet though!

Edited: I posted in October 2010, an update - Joey's Cars Room is FINALLY Complete! which includes photos of the valance my mom made.