a whole lot of random all mixed into one

It's Monday! A start to a fresh new week. Time to get back into my weekly schedule that I desperately need for me to get productive once again!

And, well....I woke up to a couple piles of throw up in my son's crib. The week is starting out not so fresh anymore.

For me to have a little bit of "normalcy" on a day where it's anything but normal, I thought I would do a little housekeeping and get some things in order. A little random, but in order nonetheless.

Muffin Tin Monday
visit Her Cup Overfloweth for more!
One of Mikayla's favorite meals these days is meat, cheese, and crackers. I love how she wraps her cheese and cracker up in her meat and eats it like a sandwich.
Today's muffin tin includes meat, crackers, carrots, yogurt, grapes, and cheese.


Friend Makin' Monday
Kasey at All That is Good asked us this question:
What is the best advice someone
has ever given you?
Snuggle with your little ones as much as you can. They don't stay little forever. If that means cuddle in bed on a lazy morning, do it. Or read some books with your babes in your lap, do it. Let them fall asleep on your chest when they don't feel good (like today!). Just BE with your kiddos and enjoy those little moments...while they last.


Menu Plan Monday

This will be my third week IN A ROW that I have successfully planned our menu. It has saved me so many "what's for dinner?" headaches...and a little in the pocketbook, too!

This week's menu:
Monday - Chicken Tortilla Soup (similar to this one)
Tuesday - leftover Chicken BBQ from last week (yummy for sandwiches!)
Wednesday - Steak Fajitas? (anybody have a good recipe??)
Thursday - Chicken Pasta Pesto (changed the name to this one)
Friday - Take Out (busy, busy, busy day!)
Saturday - MIKAYLA'S FAMILY PARTY
Sunday - Slow Cooked Corn Chowder & Grilled Cheese


Recipe Swap
Anissa at Learning Together Hand in Hand
is having a recipe swap today.

Here's a favorite in the Boos household:

This is a great dish that can easily make two meals for two families of four. I usually freeze one of the square dishes or make the other to bless another family with dinner.

Taco-Stuffed Pasta Shells

16-18 jumbo pasta shells, prepared
1 pound extra-lean ground beef
1 pkg. taco seasoning mix
1 cup water
1 can refried beans
1 cup shredded cheese, divided
1 jar salsa, divided

1. Cook beef in large skillet until brown; drain. Add seasoning mix and water; cook over low heat for 5 minutes or until thickened.
2. Add beans and 3/4 cup cheese; mix well.
3. Spread 1/4 cup salsa over bottom of each two 8-inch square baking dishes.
4. Fill pasta shells with beef mixture; place half of shells in each baking dish, filled side up. Spoon remaining salsa over shells.
5. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cover baking dish with foil. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes or until heated through. Sprinkle with remaining cheese. Serve with sour cream.

**To bake frozen shells, thaw in refrigerator overnight. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Remove plastic wrap; re-cover with foil. Bake 45-50 minutes or until heated through. Sprinkle with remaining cheese and serve with sour cream.

And, oh, how we tried to get the
perfect picture of the kids on Easter.
Seems to get a little more difficult each year!

let the Easter fun begin!

Today was the community Easter Egg Hunt
sponsored by the church we attend.

It started out a little something like this...

I soon realized we might be in for a "fun" time.

At least I can count on my little girl for a picture.

But give a boy a bucket and something
for him to put in it and it's all good.
After naps, Mikayla did a little egg dyeing.

Gotta love those stained fingers the day before Easter at church.
All in all a very fun and exciting day as a family!

HAPPY EASTER!
Blessings to you and your family!

{a bouquet of handprint lilies from Family Fun}

button challenge wrap up

First, a big THANK YOU to all the ladies who joined in on the fun and participated in the 2nd Monthly Craft Challenge with BUTTONS!! I had so much fun looking through all of the wonderful creations. I think this is such a great way to get inspired and to be challenged to create. If you haven't checked out all the creativity, head on over HERE for some creative inspiration and check out the links! (You can also visit HERE for the first month's challenge using a scalloped circle craft punch.)

We had 13 participants this month and I'm so ecstatic about that! The first month we had 8 participants, so we're growing!! Keep on coming back to show off your creativity!

This month's random winner (using my own personal random generator...the ever so sweet Mikayla) is...

Shelby @ Schweri Stories
{please e-mail me with your mailing address at heidilynneboos@hotmail.com}

You've won!!
3 handmade cards by ME using Cheep Talk by Stampin Up!
& 3 spools of American Crafts spring ribbon

Ribbon? Did someone say ribbon?? Were you wondering what next month's challenge might involve? RIBBON!! We all love of us some ribbon, right? So, come on back and we'll have another party on Thursday, May 7th sharing our creations. There are endless possibilities, so get creative!

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And, before I go and take a couple day hiatus for a fun Easter weekend, I wanted to show you some treat packages I made for the neighbors. I love making little gifts to pass out to the neighbors during the holidays. There are only a handful that we chat with on a regular basis, so it's nice to just put something small together to let them know we care!

HAPPY EASTER TO YOU AND YOUR FAMILY!


Head on over to Keeping Up With the Schultz Family for some Round Robin sharing of creative ideas, giveaways, fashion tips, or anything your heart desires.
(click on picture below to check it out)

birthday countdown

We've been slacking a little bit in the "craft a day" department. It's been kind of an off week for me and I haven't been sticking to my new schedule as much as I had been last week. But, I told myself that it's all about being flexible, so I did the best I could and that's OK with me. No reason to throw the schedule out the window for one off week.

So, Thursday I forced myself out of the slump and we decided to make a birthday countdown for Mikayla's birthday coming up in just 13 days! I thought it would be fun for her to tear off a piece of the chain a day as we count down to the big day of her turning THREE!

I wanted Mikayla to be involved in the process as much as possible...and let go of my control a little bit. So, we started out with painting some colors to use as the cupcake cut out. One page blue and one page red. I decided to use Color Wonder paper and paints to avoid a mess (hey, I said I was only going to let go of control a little bit).


She loves using my paper trimmer, so I let her cut each of the strips for the chain.


I decided to throw in a little color lesson while we were at it.


Since Mikayla's family party is actually before her birthday, we made a special link that said Family Party. Mikayla wanted to add her extra special touch...isn't she so cute concentrating on her artwork?


Then we linked together the strips of paper with a stapler.


Here is the final cupcake...she was insistent on blowing out the candles. So cute!


I needed to hang it somewhere high enough that Austin couldn't reach it. It's hanging in our hallway...right next to her room.


When we made it, I added one extra chain so Mikayla could tear it off for today.

I LOVE THESE BLUE EYED BABES!!

Check out I Blame My Mother for more kid friendly fun!!

eight is enough

My new blogging buddy, Tanielle (who, I'm surprised still likes me after making her "keep it real" the other day) tagged me to play along in sharing a little bit about me. I don't know if there is a name for this tag, but I'll call it Eight is Enough.

8 Things I Am Looking Forward To:

1. Easter egg hunt this Saturday
2. Mikayla's birthday parties - one for family & one for her little girlfriends
3. seeing one of my best friends (who currently lives in Maine) at the end of April
4. my first ever Stampin' Up! open house
5. beautiful weather so the kids can play outside
6. my DVR'd shows (I'm way behind!!)
7. all day scrapbooking
8. having my parents around again (unfortunately not until December!)

8 Things I Did Yesterday:

1. made stuffed french toast for dinner and my husband loved it!
2. put together an Easter treat for the neighbors
3. worked on MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) stuff for Monday
4. fell asleep mid-day with Austin laying on my chest because he got up way too early from his nap
5. put together a birthday gift for a friend
6. laundry (boring)
7. read books to the kids
8. mopped the floor

8 Things I Wish I Could Do:

1. go shopping and find clothes that actually look good on me
2. lose weight without trying
3. figure out why my son won't eat certain All-American foods (like a PB & J sandwich or a good old fashioned slice of cheese!)
4. get motivated to get exercising
5. sleep in
6. make my kids take longer naps
7. go on vacation somewhere warm and relax
8. enjoy running

8 Shows I Watch:

**Sidenote: I DVR all of the shows and watch them when I can.
We do this rather than rent movies. There is many more I could add to this list!
1. The Biggest Loser
2. 24 (my husband got me hooked!)
3. Grey's Anatomy
4. all 3 CSI's
5. The Mentalist
6. Ugly Betty
7. Criminal Minds
8. Amazing Race


8 People I Tag:

1. Hillary @ A Beautiful Life
2. Katie @ Katie's Nesting Spot
3. Rachel @ Memories & Mayhem
4. Lynz @ The Miles Family (gotta give something for you to do to pass the time while you're waiting for the baby to come!)
5. Shelley @ Through A Mother's Eye
6. Sarah @ Our Pumpkin & Sweet Pea
7. It Feels Like Chaos
8. Tanya @ Miller Racing Family

And, of course...anyone else who wants to play along!

I'll be back tomorrow to reveal the random winner for the button projects! Stay tuned...

hmmmm....what to say?

Some of you may have noticed that I have gone two whole days without a blog post. Even when I was "on a break" I didn't go two days without posting at least SOMETHING. There's really no reason for the absence. I'm still here. Reading others' blogs and leaving comments when I can. I just can't figure out what to say.

Over the last week or so, I've been working on lots of little projects. However, I can't really show them to you because I don't want to ruin the surprise for those who will be receiving these things in the mail. What fun is that, right? Don't worry I'll hopefully share sometime at the end of the week or beginning of next.

Things I've been up to these days:

-Mikayla's family birthday party invitations - an idea I saw on Monday and whipped them out because I was so inspired and excited! They'll be in the mail today!

-Easter cards for our family - I don't do Easter cards every year, but after finding some adorable paper at The Paper Zone, I put together a simple little card. Of course, my plan was to include a picture of the kids all dressed up and Easter-y, but then Mikayla fell last Thursday and banged up her lip and scraped her face, so I decided to wait until her "face" healed a bit. Then she fell again on Saturday and scraped her nose. And, well, now it's too late, so I suppose a card with no picture is better than no card and no picture. The cards will be in the mail today!

here's my sweet girl before falling again on Saturday
(it looked worse in person...trust me)

-Mikayla's 3rd birthday photo collage - I started this tradition with Mikayla last year for her 2nd birthday. I can't show you this year's since {say it with me}...it will be in the mail today! But I will show you last year's. It's so surreal to look back and see how much she's grown!!


And just for fun and to make this post a little more exciting, here's Austin's 1st birthday collage...


-playing with my Stampin' Up! stuff - I made a sample card (and then reproduced two more while I was at it) using one of my new stamp sets called One of A Kind. I was inspired by something I saw on Splitcoast Stampers. I've been trying to get everything prepared for an open house and get the invites out. There's so much to think about!!


-lots of walks and enjoying the sun - the weather has been so beautiful this last weekend and on Monday. We were outside a lot and the kids and I took walks around the neighborhood. Mikayla is loving her tricycle, so she always wants to ride her bike any chance she can get! Little does she know she's getting a 3-wheeled scooter for her birthday!

On one of our walks, the kids stopped to pick weeds (or as Mikayla would call it...lettuce).

I like to call this picture "community service".
They would pick weeds and then put them in the
back of her tricycle to haul away.

oh! to be a kid again! Mikayla is using the steps as hopscotch

this is pretty much the only entertainment the kids have in the back yard
we do have a plastic house we bought last summer for $20,
but we really need some outside toys...time to get on Craigslist!!

-a Sunday afternoon trip to the Goodwill - I've been really inspired lately by so many crafty transformations that I thought I would try my luck at our local Goodwill, so while the kids napped and I left Ryan to play a little Wii, I took a quick trip to see if I could find any treasures. I did come away with a brand new in package pink plastic table cover for $.50 and some plastic dishware for Mikayla's tea party for $1.00 which is in the dishwasher as I type. They are cute flower shaped plates and bowls perfect for her little friends.

I also found this...


...for $1.99. You'll just have to wait and see what my plans are for it! I got started on it today, but let me just tell you that spray paint is NOT my friend!

Of course there's more that we've gotten accomplished, like planning my menu for the SECOND WEEK IN A ROW! These last two weeks, I have made this a priority and it has been making a huge difference in my normal headache of dinner preparations. I'm actually enjoying cooking. Gasp!

Hope everyone is having a
great start to your week!

And, don't forget you have until Thursday to get that button project of yours linked up. I'll be choosing a winner from the participants on Thursday night and will reveal the winner and next month's craft challenge on Friday!

bed head and all

Katie from A Listmaker's Life tagged me in this
random game I like to call "keeping it real".

Here are the rules:
Take a picture of yourself right now.
No primping or preparing. Just snap a picture.
Load the picture onto your blog.
Tag some people to play.

I wanted to cheat so badly since at the moment of reading her post, I was sitting here in my pajamas, no makeup, and bed head. Actually, I think I almost groaned when I read that she had tagged me! But, since I don't have an ounce of cheater in me, I did as told...but I did drag along my daugther to help distract you! (FYI on my daughter's face...she fell TWICE in the last three days and has a scraped nose and banged up lip, not to mention a scraped knee and elbow!
My face, however, I have no excuse.)

Now, this is the part that you go run and get ready for the day before reading the list of people I tag. See, I don't cheat, but I'll give ways for others to do so...kidding, of course!

I tag the following lovely ladies
(please don't hate me for this):
Kim @ Caldwell Cuties
Tammy @ Raising Angels
Amanda @ My Fragrant Life
Shawn @ SERIOUSLY
Lauren @ Snellings Stories
Heidi @ Sacred & Profane
Tanielle @ The Polka Dot Daisy
Xazmin @ This is the Year
My sister, Kim @ The Wonderful World of Wirfs
(because maybe this will make her post something...
feel free to include Hailey in the picture, sis!)

HAPPY SUNDAY EVERYONE!

on a recipe roll...

Since I'm on a roll with sharing some recipes like I'm a "real cook" or something, I thought I would join in for another week of Saturday Salads at A Listmaker's Life. I'm always up for gathering together some new recipes...especially for the coming summer months (oh, wait have we even started Spring yet?)

My sister-in-law, Kristen, introduced me to this salad at one of our first Thanksgivings together (actually, if I remember correctly it was her mom who brought it) about 4 or 5 years ago. In fact, Kristen is the one who helped me fall in love with AllRecipes.com. Whenever she makes something yummy for a family get together, I ask her where she got the recipe for the delicious dish she had made...more often than not she would say All Recipes. Now, I head that direction quite often for a little yummy inspiration.

I would type this recipe up in its entirety, but I guess I'm a little too lazy for that since if you just click the link below it will come up just as I would type it, and I make it as the recipe states. Plus, if you're into reading reviews there are 1,459 for you to choose from!

Cranberry Spinach Salad

**And, if you're looking for a yummy crockpot recipe, I just posted the recipe for Slow Cooker Chicken Cordon Bleu. Yum!

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And, because it's fun...here's a little randomness.

17th Folder
33rd Picture
{click on the above image to play along}

This is at my nephew Hunter's 1st birthday party in July 2008.
These three little ones were obviously the "life of the party".
I think they may have been in some sort of sugar coma.
Cousin Hunter (1 year) is on the right, Austin (10 months) is in the middle, and on the far left is Hunter's cousin "on the other side", Emma (11 months). It's super fun when we all get together because each of their birthdays are almost exactly one month apart...
July, August, & September.

I've been featured over at Creative Parties & Showers!
I was contacted by Shannon asking to feature my PINK AND GREEN BABY SHOWER that I co-hosted a month ago. This is a fairly new blog dedicated to sharing all about parties! Head on over when you get the chance to see what has been featured so far. You can also submit your parties to be featured on her blog.

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Speaking of parties, I'm super excited to be planning my daughter's 3rd birthday party coming up in less than 3 weeks! We'll be having a family party and then a week later, I have invited over three of her little girlfriends to come and have some "tea" and do a little dress up! I am in the process of putting together some ideas and making this a fun time for her and her little friends.

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And, don't forget there's still time to join in this month's craft challenge. You have until next Thursday to link up your button projects...in a new or old post! Take a peek HERE to see what has already been shared and to link up a little something of your own!

a week of crafts

As part of my "new schedule" this week, I have implemented a time each day to do a fun craft with Mikayla. I made myself accept the terms that the craft could not 1) be something that would take up too much time (30 minutes is good) and 2) take supplies I wouldn't have in my craft cupboard. I'm trying to keep things simple, so that I will actually keep doing this as part of our daily routine.

Keeping to these "rules", I have been happy with the quick crafts that we have done each day. Usually we do our craft time in the morning, but if there is something happening in the morning, we switch it to the afternoon. I'm learning to be flexible with my new routine!

Day One - Easter Egg Suncatchers

Day Two - Toilet Paper Tube Bunny

Day Three - Handprint Flower

Day Four - Marble Painting

Mikayla is so excited to share her crafts with her daddy the minute he walks in the door! Austin is wanting to be involved a little more each time, so I've been giving him some fun tasks to do while we're crafting, like giving him tissue paper to just play with or some marbles and a couple of cups. This stuff usually keeps him entertained while mommy and daughter are crafting!

For more kid friendly ideas, head on over to I Blame My Mother for Kid Friendly Friday!

a creamy crockpot creation

Heidi at Sacred & Profane is having her monthly cooking contest and this month it is a Crockpot Throwdown.

If you all know me well enough (my husband!)...cooking is not really my thing. I mean, I'm not terrible at it...I don't burn rice or anything, but it's just not my favorite thing to do at the end of a long day.

But, because of this shift in priorities that I'm working on, I actually had a weekly menu plan I created and have stuck with it all 4 days so far! I tried 2 new recipes this week, and they were both 2 thumbs up from the hubby (and myself). Which kind of made me feel like a chef or something, so I thought to myself...might as well throw out a recipe that others might want to try. But be nice to me, OK? Just remember this isn't MY creation!

I'm going to share with you the recipe that I tried for Thursday night's dinner...it just so happened to be a crockpot recipe and a successful one for that matter! It's not your typical throw it in the crockpot meal since there is a little prep work involved. But I think it only took me 20-30 minutes and then I got to leave it in the crockpot for the rest of the day! And it smelled delicious, too!

Slow Cooker Chicken Cordon Bleu

Ingredients:
3 whole boneless, skinless chicken breasts
6 Swiss cheese slices
6 thin ham slices
2 tablespoons margarine
1 can cream of chicken or mushroom
3 tablespoons milk
1/4 teaspoon pepper

Directions:
1. Cut whole breasts in half. Flatten each half with a mallet.
2. Cover each half breast with slices of cheese and ham. Roll up and secure with toothpicks.
3. Brown each chicken roll in margarine (less or none if preferred) in skillet. Transfer to slow cooker.
4. Combine remaining ingredients. Pour over chicken, making sure chicken pieces are fully covered.
5. Cover. Cook on low 4-5 hours.

**Just a reminder...don't forget to take the toothpicks out before you dig in!

FYI: I was given this recipe from a friend when we had a crockpot recipe exchange with my Bible study small group. But when I called her while I was making it to ask her something about it, she said that she actually hadn't tried it yet, but that she saw it and thought it sounded good. I was able to track down a similar recipe and it looks like you wouldn't even need to brown the chicken first? I don't have the best of "cook smarts", but I guess this would make it a whole lot easier if you didn't have to brown the chicken first. Anybody have advice on this one? Would it cook just fine without needing to brown the chicken?

button projects - it's a party!!

I'm so excited to be hosting the second craft challenge here at Blue Eyed Blessings! A whole month has gone by since our last craft challenge of sharing ideas using a scalloped craft punch...go check it out if you haven't gotten the chance! And, it's already that time again! My hope for these monthly craft get togethers is for you to be challenged to create something!




It's simple: Each month, I give you an embellishment, tool, or idea and you get to create something fun to share with the rest of us! You have one month to work on the project (big or small) and then you can come back to share your creation on the first Thursday of the month.

Are you ready to share your button projects?

I decorated this bucket with a little Mod Podge and paper,
and added some cute little buttons to give it the finishing touch.
For more details, check it out HERE.

My second button project was decorating a clothespin and using it as a clip with a magnet on the back. I used Mod Podge and added paper for the background and then added some buttons to give it a cute whimsical look. I was going to make more than one, but I ran out of time! Go figure! I'll probably duplicate a few of these...wouldn't these be great as gifts?

Now, it's YOUR TURN!!

1. Link up your post (new or old) to Mister Linky below and be sure to link to the ACTUAL POST and not just your blog, so we know where to find your idea!
2. In your post, either use the button on the left side bar or a link to my site for others to be able to join in the fun or to come on by to see what everyone has created.
3. Try to visit as many of the participants as you can and comment on their creations.
4. I will leave Mr. Linky up for one week and it will close on Thursday, April 9th.
5. A random winner will be chosen from the participants and be announced next Thursday. This month's giveaway will be something fun using these.
6. I will also give you your next "assignment" on Thursday of next week.

Prepare to be inspired!

a little birdie came to visit

My good friend Kim at Caldwell Cuties participates each week in Paper Crafting Wednesday at There is No Place Like Home. I just couldn't help myself but to join in the fun this week and jump on the bandwagon! I've been wanting to share a few cards I made over the weekend with my new Stampin' Up! set called Cheep Talk. I love this set! I'm so glad I chose it rather than getting one of the suggested stamp sets in my demonstrator's kit. (For those of you new to my blog, I have just signed up to be a Stampin' Up! demonstrator as of a week ago!)

Because I am so new to Stampin' Up! I still don't have many of their supplies, so the paper, ribbon, and embellishments are all from my own stash. But the ink and paper are all SU.




I also made this tag using the same set.


Too much fun! Head on over to Papercrafting Wednesday for some awesome inspiration and visit my friend Kim while you're at it...she always has some cute cards (and cute kids) to share!

**And, don't forget TOMORROW is the big day to link up with our button projects for this month's craft challenge! Mr. Linky will be up and ready to go for all of us to share! It can be a new or old button project...just share the wealth of creativity, please!! And, because I love to give away fun things, there WILL be a small giveaway winner for one of the lucky participants (here's a hint: talk is cheep, cheep!).

don't mess with the little guy

If this doesn't say "don't mess with me",
I don't know what does!

For more Wordless Wednesday, visit 5 Minutes for Mom.