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!