Dancing and sleeping the days away!

Here are a fun few pictures ....

When shopping in Kroger last week, we stumbled about the holiday Kefir's!  Oh my goodness!  So amazing!  Sophia said "Mommy, we should buy these for my class snacks."  I told her that most people probably wouldn't appreciate nor like the amazing KEFIR, but we do!!  Guess we are healthy weird like that!

The cranberry creme brulee was the best!

Easy way to get in TONS of probiotics and protein!

Found Jackson sleeping like this one day!  I love that the ankles are crossed and hands under his tummy!!  

Last Saturday Sophia and I had the opportunity to go see our family friend, Olivia, in the Beauty and the Beast Jr Play.  It was a fun girls day out!  We met two of our close friends there and all the girls had a blast!

Right before the show!  She was thrilled to dress up to go out!

Sophia, Saundra, Isabelle

My BEAUTY!

The Beast and Belle at the end

Don't you love Mrs Potts' costume?

Sophia and Olivia! 

Sophia with the REAL Belle!  She was THRILLED!

We ended our date with a little Orange Leaf!  YUM!

Do you have any special dates you like to go on with your children?

Exploring Jolly Days

A few weeks ago we were able to explore the Jolly Days exhibit at the Children's Museum! :)

Ice Fishing

Princess in her castle!

Playing cars!

My dear friend Glenda and her sweet Shiloh!

Love her!

Glenda's oldest Nia

Having a tea party with Mr Bear

Fun rides!

2 cute elves

Somehow don't think he liked his elf ears!

Where is Jackson?

The Indianapolis Children's Museum is INCREDIBLE!  Highly recommend it!

Happy 6th Anniversary Sweetheart!

Dec 9, 2006 ... when we pledged our love for one another and our life long commitment!

Dec 7, 2012 ... when we celebrated our 6 years of marriage!

One of the fun things we enjoy to do together as a couple is try new restaurants!  We aren't talking new chair restaurants, or the newest Bob Evans ... we are talking, unique, eclectic restaurants with ethnic foods!  The day before our anniversary, we found about about an awesome Turkish restaurant downtown near Eli Lilly called Bosphorus Istanbul Cafe through a Living Social deal.  (Living Social is like Groupon).  We paid $12 and were able to order $25 worth of food!  (Of course, we couldn't stop at $25! Ha!)

The atmosphere was incredible as it was an old restored house.  There were no more than probably 20 tables in the whole restaurant.  The decor was native to the Turkey area.  Many of our friends raved about it ... so we took the plunge and SO GLAD we did!

STARVING!!

We ordered an appetizer of Babaganush.  It is broiled eggplant mixed with tahini and parsley! It was rather unique, but quite tasty!

I ordered the spinach chicken and Nate ordered the lamb kabobs!

Loved the asparagus spears in the chicken which was PERFECTLY cooked!! Amazing!  

Nate's lamb was INCREDIBLE as well!!  The rice, veggies, and salad were all very tasty!

Last year we celebrated with Moroccan food!  Turkish food this year!  Do you have any suggestions for next year?  Please comment and let us know!!

How do you celebrate your anniversary?  

A twist on Christmas gifts for the teachers!

I felt lead to do something different for Sophia's teachers this year!  Last year I made some super cute crafts thanks to a Pinterest idea.  Don't get me wrong, I still LOVE Pinterest, but I hoped for a more meaningful gift this year!  The day I felt led to do something different, my Christ's Hope International Christmas gift guide came in the mail!  I flipped through it and found out we could donate a school backpack "fully loaded" for a child in Africa!  I knew that would be the perfect gift!

I wanted to find a creative way to display it, maybe something they could even hang in their room and use for a teaching lesson about the less fortunate children in Africa, many of which are struggling with HIV themselves, or a family member has the disease!

I thought it turned out quite nicely!

Here is the letter "Sophia" wrote to her teachers!  She still has to write in her name below!

Have you ever done a non-traditional gift for a teacher before?  If so, what?  

1000 Gifts and more ....

My awesome SIL purchased this for our family last Christmas!  She and I share a LOVE for Ann Voskamp.  If you haven't heard of Ann, you MUST check out her webpage!  She is an incredible writer with a passion for the Lord!  She has a best selling book that changed my whole outlook on life ... 1000 Gifts! Check out this trailer for her book!   I promise, if you have a teachable heart, it WILL change your life!!   It is amazing what God can do when you have a truly thankful spirit!

Ann's son made this by hand!
 We also have Jesus carrying a cross for the Easter season!

What is even more awesome ... she has a FREE app for the iTouch, iPhone, or iPad and the Android!  Check it out!  You can start logging your gifts!!!  

Wow, it's been SO "LONG!"

I can't believe it has been since the middle of October since I have blogged! :(  So sorry about that friends and family!  I tell myself each day, "I should blog about this .... or that ..." but never get the time to sit down to do so!

Here is what I have been working on the past few days .... you probably have seen the idea on Pinterest!  Gotta love me some Pinterest!  Although, I have been working on my Pinterest addiction and haven't been on for at least a month!  I know ... gasp now ...

My sis made one of these for Hannah, so I thought Sophia probably should have one too!  We split the felt so it cost both of us probably less than $5-7 to make this!

The ornaments are all hand made (many of the ideas were Sarah's ... gotta give her credit, I just copied!) and they come off and on the tree!  I can't wait till she wakes up to find it on the wall and has a chance to play with it!!

Thanks PINTEREST!

Since I haven't blogged in 2 months, here are the months in pictures ...

Trip to the Children's Museum in early November.  Jax had a blast playing in the sand!

Somehow I don't think a Harley is in her future!

Jax is NOT OK being in the passengers seat!

Tea anyone?

Digger + Princess = Hum?  

Fun picture from Eagle Creek while Nate and I had Jackson for the weekend!  We went for a nice long run!

Halloween 2012: The tale of a dog and his Princess!

My little pumpkins!

Sophia's Preschool Picture!  She is growing up so quickly!!

Hannah-banana the LadyBug, Cinderella Sophia, and Woof Jackson!

What a warm evening ... well, for the most part!

We ran into "Belle" in the neighborhood!  Sophia's friend Maddy!

Sugar-high or slap-happy ... you pick!

Every dog needs a good bath!

The LOOT ... no, she didn't get to eat it all ... she got about 1/16 of it over the month,
the rest either went in my mouth or the trash!

I promise to stick with it .... blogging is my way of journaling, but somehow I am running out of time!

Susie homemaker ... Homemade Granola Bars!

Lately I have felt like Little Miss Susie Homemaker ... Here are a few of my favorite projects!

Homemade Granola Bars!  My friend Trina passed this recipe along and I LOVE IT!  As has everyone that I have passed the recipe on to ...

YUM!

All the yummy goodness lies in the add-in's!

Homemade Granola Bars

1/2 cup + 2 T honey (don't skimp on this b/c they won't stick together well - learned the hard way)
1/2 cup brown sugar (can get away with 1/3 cup)
1/2 cup of natural peanut butter (Always AVOID using PB with hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated oils.  Strive to find a peanut butter that only has peanuts and salt.  These by far are the healthiest and best for your body!)
2 cups oats
2 cups natural rice krispies (I like the Trader Joes Crisp Rice b/c it doesn't have BHT as a preservative).
1/4 cup flaxseeds (I use 1/8 cup flaxseeds and 1/8 cup chia seeds).
1/2 cup choc chips (love the dark choc chips from trader joes!) -- optional ingredient - well, when is chocolate really optional?  Ha!
1 cup total of mix-ins (pretzils, peanuts, almond slices, other crunchy cereal).

1. Combine oats, krispies, flax/chia seeds in a large bowl.  Set aside.
2. Prepare mix-ins.  Set aside
3. Melt brown sugar and honey on stove-top until sugar dissolves.  Remove from heat and add in PB.
4. Mix into mixture, then add mix-ins.
5. Add the chocolate chips last so they don't melt.
6. Place in a 9x13 pan with wax paper (avoid clean up this way).  Smash down really hard so they don't fall apart.
7. Place in fridge to set up for 20 min!

Seriously, these are SO easy to make and SO amazing!  You MUST try them!!  MUST MUST MUST!

However, I have a challenge for you ... I have yet to live up to ... try not to eat the whole pan (mostly yourself) in 3 days!

My other project has been a "twirly" skirt for Sophia.   I have had THIS pinned on Pinterest for a long time.  I wanted to give it a "whirl," but always ran out of time.  I even bought clearanced fabric at Walmart just in case I messed up!!   The blog had an AWESOME demo, pictures, and instructions!  I made a few mistakes, but was able to cover them up!!  Ha!!  I plan to make a matching one for Hannah!  

The finished project ... ready for an adorable almost 4 year old to take it for a spin!

My first serger project ... I need help figuring out the tension, but this is close enough!

Even put an elastic waistband on the top! 

And you can watch her take it for a "spin" ...

Another project ... a minky blanket for Jackson.  My mother-in-law found this adorable crib sheet for me, but it was too small to fit on the crib!  Sad!  I decided I would re-purpose it and make a blanket!  I LOVE the feel of the minky fabric, but it is very hard to sew with!  

Burp clothes and Taggie blankets!

Birthday apron for Sophia's friend Alivia

I can not get this picture to flip ... sorry!

Any thoughts on the next project I should tackle?  I should probably look at my Pinterest board and see all the projects I have pinned!