What we wore (in orange)

What we wore:

Since it's October, I've been feeling like ORANGE.

I dressed everyone up in orange and then asked my husband to snap a pic.

Of my skirt...specifically.

This is what we got:

Attempt #1:

(he missed half of the skirt).

Attempt #2:

Still missed the bottom of the skirt.

Attempt #3:

I clarified "Could you really try to get all of my skirt?"

Attempt #4:

Most of the skirt...cut off the shoes.

Sigh...oh well :)  He did try.

What I wore:

skirt: Surrealist

shirt: Surrealist

shoes: Steve Madden

earrings: forever 21

hair: my favorite french braid.

What Saxon wore:

shirt: Target

pants: H & M

skull tie: thrifted

What Dalton wore:

shirt: Target

pants: Hurley

shoes: Jack & Lily from Costco

What Bridger wore:

shirts: Children's Place

pants: H & M

Let me tell you a little bit about why I love our orange outfits...

My little brother Kenny married his wife Lisa on Halloween a few years ago.

This is what we wore:

(look familiar? LOL)

This is what Kenny & Lisa wore to their costume wedding:

Lisa painted eyeballs on her eye lids so she could take pictures with her eyes open or closed.  This picture is with eyes closed.  Cool, huh?

And Willy Wonka performed the ceremony.

It was classic.

Linking up at:

The Pleated Poppy

Momma Go Round

No Model Lady

Dinner in a Pumpkin

Have you ever made dinner in a pumpkin?

SO FUN!

I decided to aim high and try dinner in FOUR pumpkins :)

I wanted to try Jambalaya in a pumpkin,

but my cousins who were coming over, don't like shrimp.

So, I also made a traditional beef dinner in a pumpkin.

My kids wanted their very own, so I made two individual sized dinners.

First, I picked some pumpkins from the garden and washed them.

 Then, clean them out and put them in on a tray in the oven to bake at 350.

The pumpkins will start baking while you prepare the rest of the dinner.

Recipe #1:

• 1 medium pumpkin

• 1 box Zatarain's jambalaya rice mix (mild) 

•  2 1/2 C. water 

•  2 T. vegetable oil

• 1 kielbasa or other comparable sausage, cut into bite-sized pieces

• 1 lb. shrimp, peeled and deveined

• 1 1b. boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces

• ½ C. celery, diced

• 1 medium onion, diced

• 1 green bell pepper, diced

Just put all of the ingredients in a skillet, bring to a boil, then simmer for 25 minutes.
The recipe link has a great step by step picture tutorial if you want to check it out.
Once the rice mixture is done, take the pumpkin out of the oven, fill it with Jambalaya, and put it back in the oven to bake.  It's already been in the oven for a while now, so it should only need another 15 minutes or so. 

Recipe #2:

• 1 medium pumpkin
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 lbs ground beef
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 (4 ounce) can sliced mushrooms
• 1 (15 ounce) can cream of chicken soup
• 1 1/2 cups cooked rice
• 1 (8 ounce) can sliced water chestnuts

First, brown the ground beef.  Then, drain the fat and add the onions.  Let them cook for a few minutes and then add the rest of the ingredients.  Stir the mixture on low for a few minutes.  Once it's ready, scoop it into the pumpkin.

My kids LOVED having their very own mini pumpkin to eat out of...

This was a little more time consuming that I anticipated, but very fun!

I am definitely going to make this one again.

My favorite was the Jambalaya.  Definitely.

My cousins only ate the beef so that got their vote.

My baby loved the pumpkin!

 I scooped off chunks of pumpkin and put them on his tray and he loved it :)

Success!

*side note:  One of my favorite things about the Jambalaya recipe is that it is adaptable for different diets.  My Grandma is allergic to dairy, and gluten.  So, this one works for her.  Half of my family is vegan, and if we leave out the meat, it works for them as well.  So, this was a recipe that I shared with everyone!

Linking up to:
Tip Junkie 
Blue Cricket Design 
Somewhat Simple 

GIVEAWAY X2

Today, I have TWO giveaways and I couldn't be more excited!

 My cousin Brittany introduced me to both of these cute girls and their cute blogs.

Head over to each of these blogs and enter to win a gift certificate to my shop!

Sumo's Sweet Stuff:

and...

Simply Sadie Jane

Brothers

I came across this quote a few weeks ago and fell in love...

It reminds me of my little guys...
Being a brother is better than being a superhero! 

The boys have a constant best friend, 
someone to play with, 
someone to fight with, 
someone to keep up with,
someone to look out for you,
someone to blame it on,
someone to scheme with,
someone who understands that boys simply can't aim in the toilet, 
someone to help you make it out of the deep end,
someone to help you climb up the cupboards and reach the treats,
someone to help you watch out for cars,
someone to help you team up against mom, 
someone to love you no matter what.


There's nothing else like a brother.

It is now the newest addition to my shop.

Visit cait + create on etsy to check it out :) 
(Also linked up on Tatertots and Jello and Tip Junkie)

Damask Pinboard - Tutorial

I've been loving burlap lately and decided to try out a burlap pinboard.

Here's what I started with:

Frame

Clip

Corkboard

Burlap

Paint

Brush

First I painted the frame gray,

then I picked a stencil (damask)

and centered it on the burlap.

Then I painted on the design.

And pulled off the stencil...

I love painting on burlap!

Then I sprayed the corkboard with spray glue.

I did that because the burlap wants to bend and move around in the frame since there isn't any glass holding it in place.  Just a little spritz of spray glue and my burlap stayed right where I put it.

Then I assembled it and put it back in the frame.

The corkboard is a little thicker than the glass, so it was hard to attach the back of the frame.  My husband, Nate, put a few tiny nails in the corners to keep it in place.  If you buy a frame with those bending metal tabs, it would probably be easier.

I wanted to attach the clip with hot glue.

I love hot glue and I think it works for everything!

Nate, however, was feeling kind of crafty and wanted to help.

He decided to get a rivet gun and rivet the clip into place.

So, this is now one sturdy and well made frame LOL.

If you don't end up recruiting the help of a crafty husband,

just whip out the glue gun.

I think it will work :)

I use my pinboard to display Saxon's artwork from preschool.

Sometimes school artwork has a tendency to take over my house.

This gives me a nice place to put it.

The newest piece of art goes in the frame.

Of course, you can make this in any size, so you could display multiple things at once.

This one is only 8 X 10.

Sometimes I pin sports pictures, photo booth pictures, postcards, and school pictures.

All the little things that take over my fridge :)

Or, my favorite yet...

I use it to hold up my recipes :)

Easy and fun.

Go make one and tell me what you think :)

Linking up to:
Blue Cricket Design
Somewhat Simple
Tip Junkie
Tatertots & Jello

What we wore...RAINBOOTS

Has anyone else had CRAZY weather this year?

One day it is in the high 80's...

the next day it's in the 40's.

Cold. Wet. Rainy.

The perfect day for: RAINBOOTS

What I wore:

Rainboots: Target clearance $6

Jeans: IT hand-me-downs - FREE

White shirt: Forever 21 $3

Black Sweater: hand-me-down - FREE

Necklace: Love Stitched - gift - FREE

What Saxon wore:

Rainboots: Target sale $10

Shirt: ELEMENT from Ross $8

Jeans: H & M - $9

Hat: Gap "hats, gloves, scarfs, sale" $5

What Bridger wore:

Rainboots: Target - gift :) - FREE

Jeans: H & M - $9

Shirt: Old Navy sale

Hat: Macy's $14.99

What Dalton wore:

Jeans: Crazy 8's end of summer sale - $10

Shirt: Crazy 8's end of summer sale - $5

Shoes: Jack & Lily from Costco - $14 

(Photos by Love Stitched)

We'll be linking up at:

The Pleated Poppy

Momma Go Round

No Model Lady

A Happy Girl Giveaway

Have you ever heard of "A Happy Girl".

It's one of my favorite blogs.

I love her story, her hope, how she believes in miracles, and her views on motherhood.

I'm so excited to be doing a giveaway over on her blog today.

Head over read Tahnie's story and enter to win a

"Happy Girls" sign from my shop :)

G.U.M.

Currently, the bane of my existence is spelled G.U.M.

Let me give you a little background...

I'm not a gum chewer.

I never have been.

I don't like feeling like I'm constantly talking with food in my mouth.

My husband...he's a gum chewer.

He doesn't just chew, he smacks.

I didn't say anything while we were dating, but once we were married, I addressed the issue. Now, neither of us are gum chewers. :)

(What a great husband, right?)

I never let Saxon chew gum as a little kid.

One day we were at my friend's house and she gave her kids gum.

I caved, because I didn't want him to feel left out.

But, I drilled it into his head

"We don't swallow gum, we don't swallow gum, we don't swallow gum..."

Like a good little guy, when he was done, he didn't swallow his gum.

He stuck it in his pocket.

Yep.

Ruined the pants.

I renewed my resolve to be a non-gum-chewing household.

Now there's Bridger.

He's a snacker.

If there's a snack to be found in the house, he will find it.

I can't buy snacks because he will constantly sneak them.

I started to worry, so I re-evaluated my gum theory.

Maybe, just maybe, he would snack less if he chewed gum.

So, I broke down, and bought some sugar-free gum and gave it a shot.

Well, it kind of worked.

He doesn't dig for snacks anymore, but he is always begging for gum.

I have gum stuck to my sheets.

There is gum stuck to their comforter on their bed.

And there are piles of gum in every trash can.

Not to mention that they can't seem to leave it in their mouths!

The other day, Dalton walked out of the bathroom smacking.

SMACKING, like he's chewing gum.

I tried to get into his mouth to pull out whatever it was, but he clamped down his little jaw.

Finally, Nate tipped him upside down to make him laugh and I snatched it out.

G.U.M.

He had gone into the bathroom and fished an already been chewed piece of gum out of the trash can and was smacking on it.

GROSS!

I went into the kitchen to dispose of the nasty gum and came back out and Dalton is smacking!  Again!

The kid only has a few teeth.

How can he possibly be chewing gum?

He had gone back into the bathroom and found another piece of gum.

Thoroughly exasperated, I gave Nate the look that said "fix this please."

He took out all of the trashes in the house.

 

 Today, before church, I wanted to take a picture of the kids because they all looked so cute and ready for Halloween (Saxon's tie has skulls on it).

This is what I ended up with...GUM.

Even Dalton had a piece and swallowed it before I could snatch it out of his mouth.

(sigh)

What can I do?

Do you let you kids chew gum?