Crafts, crafts, crafts!

Today Noah and I dove into a big craft that I have been wanting to do for sometime.  We made our own garden stones!  I don’t know why it took me so long to try this craft, I think it was the working with concrete that scared me, but it was really easy and the stones turned out beautiful.  While Noah was napping I made a couple "tester" stones to make sure I had the right mixture of concrete and water and make sure I knew what I was doing before getting Noah to help me.  I really liked the two testers and when Noah got up from nap we got going on a bunch of stones!  We are going to give them as Mother’s Day gifts…..so don’t look too close, you might be getting one.

 

First though, look at this beautiful "roller coaster" art work Noah made the gym playroom today!  I put it up with all his other gym playroom art. 

 

Everyone loves dad’s blanket….even Daisy!

 

Noah was funny today at naptime.  He wanted to take a nap with one of my dish towels! 

 

Today I went shopping for something to add to our garden.  I found a Stevia plant….yep, the same Stevia that you see commericals about!  The Stevia leaves are used (after they are dried) as a sweetner, it is even sweeter than sugar!  I tasted the leaves and they are delicious!  Noah tried them too and all afternoon was asking me for more "leaves to eat".  So, we bought 4 plants and got them in our garden.  I think the leaves will be so good in salads, desserts, and tea!  I also took a picture of our garden to show you the progress….and some of my flowering baskets, they are so pretty right now!

 

Time to make some garden stones!  Noah was such a good helper and seemed to enjoy putting the stones in his stone.  We kept a few stones for ourselves and put them in our garden already!

Michael’s 22nd Bday!

My little brother turned 22 yesterday!  I can’t believe my little brother is 22!!  Where does the time go?  I am so proud of my brother and the way he has handled everything since we lost dad.  I know how terribly difficult this has been for me, I can only imagine how hard it has been for my brother.  He has really stepped up since we lost dad and has taken care of some difficult decisions, and has really taken charge of handling details that needed to be done.  Dad would be so very proud of Michael.  I am so proud of you little brother and I love you so much.  I wish we could have been there for your birthday, but know that we were thinking of you….and your gift is on it’s way!  Love you!!

 

Mom and Jaime went to dinner with Michael and his girlfriend Sarah….and 10 or so of Michael’s good friends!  Looks like that had a lot of fun!  Wish we could have been there.

 

Mom and Jaime   and Mom and Michael 

 

Rain Walk and More….

It has been raining for a couple days now and Noah decided yesterday that he wanted to take a "rain walk".  He gets so excited to get his dino rain boots on and splash in the puddles!

 

Noah did some more painting this weekend with daddy.  He worked on some wooden postcards for my mom and Jaime, and another one for Gary’s parents.  They turned out cute!  He also worked on a special bird house for Gary’s parents.  They will be here to stay with us this Friday and Noah is so excited!

 

Here’s a little idea I wanted to share for those of you watching your calorie and fat intake.  I love fried cheese….don’t we all?  But, normal fried cheese isn’t going to work in my diet plan…so I came up with my own "fried cheese" that makes me oh so happy and is only 1 point per cheese stick!  WOOHOO!  I use light string cheese and spray it with Pam cooking spray.  Then heat it in a skillet on medium heat, let it brown up, then turn to brown the next side.  Once it has a brown crust on the outside it’s ready!  It tastes delicious and gives you that "fried cheese" fix without a lot of calories and fat.

 

Mock Potato Salad Recipe

I have been talking to some friends at the gym and they all love Hungry Girl cookbooks and recipes.  One girl suggested I try this recipe for Mock Potato Salad.  She swears by it and says that her kids and husband had no idea there were no potatoes in it!  I haven’t tried the recipe yet, but just had to share it.  If you try it, let me know how you like it.  I plan on trying it in the next week.

 

	Wanna hear the coolest part about this recipe? There are NO potatoes in it!!! After all, the best part of potato salad isn’t even the potatoes… it’s the perfectly seasoned creamy goodness those spuds are hanging out in! This swap is so good, you’ll fool EVERYONE… but don’t feel obligated to let your guests in on our little no-tato secret. Shhhhhhhhhhhh… Ingredients: 1 large head cauliflower, roughly chopped 6 hard-boiled egg whites, chilled and chopped 1/2 envelope ranch dressing/dip mix 1 1/2 cups fat-free mayonnaise 1/2 cup fat-free sour cream 3 tbsp. Hellmann’s/Best Foods Dijonnaise 2 tbsp. fat-free non-dairy liquid creamer (like the one by Coffee-mate) 1 cup diced red onion 2 celery stalks, diced 1/4 cup chopped chives 3 tbsp. seasoned rice vinegar 2 tbsp. chopped dill 2 tbsp. chopped parsley 1/4 tsp. salt Optional garnish: paprika Directions: Place cauliflower in a large microwave-safe bowl, and pour 1/3 cup water over it. Cover and microwave for 6 – 8 minutes (until cauliflower is soft). Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, mix together the ranch mix, mayo, sour cream, Dijonnaise and salt. Set aside. Once cool enough to handle, drain any excess water from the cooked cauliflower. Lightly mash just 2 cups of the cauliflower, and then place in a blender. Add creamer and puree or pulse until blended. (Don’t worry if it isn’t completely smooth.) Pour mayo mixture into the blender and mix until blended and creamy. Chop the rest of the cauliflower into small half-inch pieces. Place these cauliflower pieces in a large bowl, and add the onion, celery and vinegar. Toss and let sit for 5 minutes. Pour the blender mixture over the vegetables and mix well. Add the chopped egg whites, chives, dill and parsley, and fold them in. Chill for several hours. If you like, sprinkle with paprika just before serving. P.S. This stuff tastes EVEN BETTER the day after it’s prepared! MAKES 10 SERVINGS
	Serving Size: 2/3 cup (1/10th of recipe) Calories: 89 Fat: 1.25g Sodium: 710mg Carbs: 16.5g Fiber: 2.5g Sugars: 7g Protein: 4.5g POINTS® value 1*

Sloppy Saturday

Daddy and Noah have been going to a fun class at our community center called Sloppy Saturday’s.  It’s a class where they have parents and toddlers play with lots of messy crafts.  Today they had several messy craft stations….one with rice and trucks, macaroni and bead necklaces, shaving with shaving cream, and fingerpaints with veggies of course!  Noah made a beautiful macaroni necklace, but by far his favorite station was the shaving cream and "shaving".

 

 

Tonight we fired up our new grill for the first time.  MAN oh MAN gas grilling is so much faster than our old charcoal grill!  We made some salmon burgers, asparagus wrapped in turkey bacon, and of course….hot dogs for Noah.  Asparagus is SO good right now, if you have never tried it….do yourself a favor and try it.  It’s delicious.  I toss it in a little Pam spray and sea salt and pepper.  YUM.

Today….Friday yay!

Today Noah and I had a craft day!  Well, the craft actually only lasted about 20 minutes, but it was fun while it lasted.  He was so excited all morning to paint his birdhouse.  It was his first "real" painting experience with a paintbrush.  He quickly learned that he could paint much more effectively with his fingers, so he got rid of the paintbrush and dug in with all his fingers!  I think the birdhouse turned out beautiful!

 

 

Tonight we went to dinner with our beloved neighbors, Dick and Jan.  They are the best and Noah just loves spending time with them.  He gave them the painted birdhouse, they loved it.

 

After dinner we went to our town’s annual "4th Friday" downtown event.  It was the first one of the season.  We just love getting out in our town and enjoying all festivities!

Outside Fun

It was a beautiful Spring day so Noah and I spent some quality time playing outside.  We played some basketball, baseball, watered our flowers (so many of our little seeds we planted are starting to come up!), and the best part….a homemade drinking fountain!  Noah was actually the designer of the "drinking fountain".  He was watering the flowers and decided to throw down the hose and it landed in the perfect position to create a drinking fountain.  He was so proud of himself!  He spent the rest of the afternoon drinking and giggling.  Funny boy.

 

 

Mommy and Noah looking cute

 

He is so darn cute without his shirt on!  He was showing me his muscles and doing little dancing.

 

He changed shirts and headed to the backyard for some more fun!

 

Spending time with his sweet Daisy.  He loves to hug her.  She was yawning…..he doesn’t phase her much.  She humors him and plays with him inbetween naps.

 

This and That

Noah loves to wear his "cape".  He runs around the house "flying" and being super Noah.   Yesterday as Noah was running around in his cape I thought it was only fair that EVERYONE wear a "cape"….so the doggies got to join in on the fun.  Ebony doesn’t mind wearing costumes, but Daisy doesn’t love it quite as much.  She sure did look cute though in my tank top!

 

SUPER NOAH and his sidekicks…..

 

Noah did a little "painting" today on the deck.

 

Don’t you wish you were as flexible as this?

 

Our new toy.  Dad would be PROUD!  After 12 years of having our little round charcoal Weber grill, we upgraded to this bad boy.  I can’t wait to try some salmon, burgers, and asparagus on it!

 

RELAY FOR LIFE update!

Thank you to all your generous donations we have raised $1,481 for the Relay for Life walk on May 8th!  I am so excited to attend this walk and can’t wait to wear my dad T-shirt.  The walk will be here before I know it and I know it will be very emotional to walk in the evening amongst the luminaries respresenting those whom we have lost, those who are survivors, and those still fighting.  We purchased a luminary for dad, one for Gary, and one for Gary’s mom, Marge….they are both survivors of cancer.  I know dad will be looking down from his place in heaven and will be so proud of me.  I miss him so much.  I can’t believe it’s only been a little over 2 months since he went to heaven.  I can’t remember his voice, and I miss his phone calls.  I miss his bright smile and loving hands.  My heart is so broken and some days I can barely manage the sadness. 

 

If you haven’t already, won’t you help me fight cancer?  Do you know someone touched by cancer?  Have you lost a loved one to cancer?  Any donation is appreciated and will be used for cancer research to find a CURE for this horrible disease.  Donate here: http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR/RelayForLife/RFLFY10OH?px=15061991&pg=personal&fr_id=23475

Sushi Cake

My friend Bridgett’s daughter had her birthday party this weekend, and she chose to go to a Japanese Steakhouse….so we both thought that "Sushi" cake would be an awesome addition to her party!  I have never made these before, but I did find some good pictures to help me out.  I have to admit it was harder than I expected, but for my first time, I think they turned out pretty good.

 

Supplies!  Lots of different candies for the sushi filling, and tons of white sprinkles for "rice", and black sugar for the "seaweed"

 

Finished product….

Two Strangers

Today I wore my beloved "dad" shirt.  I made this shirt specifically to wear in the Relay for Life May 8th, but wear it all the time now.  I love wearing it because I feel like it tells the world how much I miss my dad, love him, and honor him.  Today I wore it to the Post Office and to the grocery store and met two wonderful strangers because of my dad shirt.

 

At the post office the woman standing behind me tapped me on the shoulder and said, with tears in her eyes, "I am so sorry about your dad".  I thanked her and she told me she just lost her mom to Leukemia.  She cried, and I cried and we talked about how much we loved our parents.  I told her I know exactly how she feels and it was just a special moment with a stranger who’s heart hurts at much as mine.

 

Then at the grocery store an older couple stopped me and told me they loved my shirt.  The woman went on to say that she loves how I show my love and sadness in one shirt.  She asked a lot of questions about dad, which was actually very kind, most people don’t want to actually hear about your loved one, but she clearly did.   She and her husband stood there and as I started crying she hugged me and he teared up.  She told me that Jesus was here for me and knows my pain.  I told her that I know and that I have no idea how I would be getting through this without God’s love and healing.  I also told her that I had something dawn on me at Easter this year….I have known the Easter story forever, but really stopped to think this year about God’s pain in watching his Son…his only Son suffer and die.  It dawned on me, God knows EXACTLY what I’m going through and feeling.  He knows just how to heal me and guide me because He went through the exact pain.  The woman grabbed her chest, smiled, teared up, and said "thank you for that".  It was very touching.  As we were saying goodbye, she asked my little boy’s name.  I said "this is Noah".  She smiled at her husband and said "our son is Noah too".  

 

I came home and can’t seem to get these strangers out of my mind.  I just keep thinking, Thank you God for putting these people in my path today so that I could continue to heal just a bit more today.  By them asking me about dad and letting me talk about him, I healed a little more.

 

Me and my beloved dad shirt!