Baseball (or any sport!) Snack Idea

If you are anything like me, you want to make snack for the kid's sports that aren't just a pack of Goldfish crackers or a granola bar. I like to make something a little creative that the kids will like, with a bit of team spirit thrown in.

I made these for Lucas' baseball team on my snack day last week. I had everything on hand except the M&Ms so it was easy and cost efficient.


The bag toppers were super easy. I just made them the same width as the top of the bags (Wilton treat bags, 4" across), printed the logo and "Go D-Backs" on the BOTTOM part of the tag and stapled closed.

This shows you that you can take an ordinary snack and turn into something cute and fun.

Wedding Wreath

My brother is getting married this month and my Mum wanted something pretty to decorate her door. I thought if I let her do it, it might be covered in foamie glittered hearts :) So we came up with this idea together and created it together. It was nice crafting with my Mum!

My CTMH Studio J Layouts

Just sharing some of my digital layouts made with CTMH Studio J!

I also finished scrapping Ellie's party on Monday. The party was Saturday. 2 days later, I am done and have gorgeous layouts. You can't beat that!

Serious Stuff

Who ever thought baseball was serious stuff at age 8?

We are having so much fun with baseball. It's Lucas' first year playing. He did do t-ball about 3 years ago but it was just a summer program through the Y. But this year, we are in the big leagues! It has been a lot of fun watching him play and practice. The improvement has been terrific and he loves it all.The team is undefeated so far and won handily 9-2 last week. Could we go-all-the-way?? It's a pretty exciting thought.

The boys get out there on the field and stretch together counting "1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8" out loud and in unison. They run to warm up together. They communicate on the field..."let's do this guys!", "be ready, 2 outs!!". Lucas is thriving on being a member of the team, just as he did with soccer. He is in his element.

The team has 3 very dedicated and focused coaches. I cannot say enough about them. So positive and encouraging and they really focus on the right skills and form. They put so much into the kids!

An exciting day came last week when Coach told him he was ready to pitch in a game. That? is big time. I loved seeing such a huge smile on his face.


Love this shot of Lucas at bat and Daddy as the umpire :)

Lucas also made it on the swim team and practices start soon. Can you tell I am proud??!

Delicious Steak Marinade

I tried this marinade from Allrecipes and it was FANTASTIC. All of us loved it. It made the steak very tender and so tasty. If you are grilling steak, this is the way to go. I halved the recipe, this recipe as it is would be good for a party or more than 3 steaks:

• 1/3 cup soy sauce
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
• 1 1/2 tablespoons garlic powder
• 3 tablespoons dried basil (I used fresh)
  
• 1 1/2 tablespoons dried parsley flakes
• 1 teaspoon ground white pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon hot pepper sauce (optional)(I did not use this)
  
• 1 teaspoon dried minced garlic (optional)(I used fresh)
  

Directions

1. Place the soy sauce, olive oil, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, garlic powder, basil, parsley, and pepper in a blender. Add hot pepper sauce and garlic, if desired. Blend on high speed for 30 seconds until thoroughly mixed.
2. Pour marinade over desired type of meat. Cover, and refrigerate for up to 8 hours. Cook meat as desired.

Ellie is 7!

My baby girl is 7 today! I have spent a lot of time thinking of you today. We woke up early and opened presents. Daddy took the day off work. You got some drawing books and you got right to work making cute creations.

I am amazed every day at what you bring to my life. There is so much fun in our family because of you! Every day is like watching a show of fun, love and happiness.


I love so many things about you. The way you do your "noodle dance" when you want someone to make noodles for you. The way you wiggle one eyebrow up and down. The way you sneak into my bed and I wake up with you snuggled up close. The way you swim like a mermaid.



You are a unique girl! You are so individual and special. You make your own choices and follow your dreams and what your hearts wants. You love yourself!


I love going to the dog park with you and watching you love on the tiny dogs. I love playing Old Maid with you and I see my competitiveness in you! I love listening to you read, sounding out words so carefully. I love watching your little hands work on crafts that we create together. I love snuggling with you.



You are my dream come true. I remember the moment you were born and hearing "it's a girl" from Daddy. My heart flew! I never imagined...you weren't just a girl. You were Ellie. You are MY girl. And I love you more than you'll ever know.



Love,
Mummy xoxo

A Lesson

I think this year I have learned a really great lesson, or at least something has become pretty clear to me through my experiences.

We, as people (and especially women) don't give each other enough of a chance.

Let me explain. Sometimes it takes work to get to know someone. There are those special people who you just connect with right away and I have plenty of those in my life. Then there are the people who you meet and instantly don't connect. So many times this has happened in my life. I even think there are people who I have looked at and felt we'd never be friends.

But in this past year, I have discovered how important and beneficial it is to have to work at a friendship. As the kids get older, I have been meeting more and more people through their school and activities. In several cases, people have rubbed me the wrong way or my attempts at a friendship have been shot down. But one of my personal things I have been working on is not to give up and not to prematurely judge the possibility of connecting with someone.

A couple of examples. I met this one mom at an outside of school activity. It was the first day of the activity and she was really outgoing. We talked for a little bit and she barely let me get a word in edgewise. She seemed like the know-it-all type and seemed to want to share that all with me. I listened. And I listened. And then I went home and though "I think I'll just avoid getting in a conversation in the future"! But there she was again the next week. But I decided to open my mind and try to participate in the conversation, ask her about herself. As it turns out, we had a lot in common.

Time went by and the earthquake in Japan happened. The next time she saw me, she reached out and hugged me. She told me how much we had been in her thoughts. She offered to help in any way she could. In that moment, I realized I was right....to stick with it and work on a friendship.

I have another new-ish friend who took some work :) It has been over a year of work and part of that is she doesn't really speak English (heh heh). I am sure you are saying "no wonder"! I once wrote her a note and had is translated into Spanish to have her daughter to play. She said no because they didn't really speak English. I decided to take my time with her. We e-mail back and forth in Spanish (I use Google translate) and we have established a really nice friendship. I appreciate her desire to work with my bad Spanish! And our girls love each other. It was and is so worth it.

In the past year, I have also been given up on and it taught me how I never want to be that person. The person who, when someone makes a mistake, comes across wrong, says the wrong thing...gives up on a friendship.

If you are reading this, try living it. You will see it pay off. You'll see new friendships form with people you least expect them to. And you'll see a change in yourself that you will love.

Studio J Review

I have been really whizzing through all my pictures by using Studio J digital scrapbooking program. I bought the membership for 3 months ($30) which gives me access to all of the kits (includes embellishments, digital stickers, paper, quotes, tags, titles, buttons, brads etc etc) and all of the layouts. It also entitles me to 50% off printing and free shipping (it is extremely fast).

In less than 1 month, I have scrapbooked an entire year (2010: 42 two-page layouts).

So, in essence, the use of the program cost me about 10 cents a layout. Each 2 page layout is $6.50 which includes a page protector.

I really wanted to compare the cost of paper vs. digital because people seem to think paper scrapbooking is so much cheaper (me included). Cost is somewhat of an issue for me but anyone who knows me knows that my main mission is not to save money or make my pages as cute as possible, it is to get my pages done and in an album.

So I broke it down like this, for a two page paper layout for the way I usually scrapbook.

• 2 pages patterned paper= $2
• 2 pages cardstock: $1
• Adhesive= 20 cents
• Stickers= let's say a conservative $2
• Portion of alphabet stickers= $1
• Page protector= 50 cents
• Photo prints= (I used on average 8 photos per digital layout, including at least 1 5x7) $1.30 This is from Costco but CTMH quality is night and day above
• Buttons, ribbon, brads, flowers or any other embellies: $1

Total is $9.

I'd say this is a really conservative estimate too! Many times I buy a pack of stickers for $4-$5 and don't use the whole thing. I know I waste a lot and don't use a lot of my supplies. With digital, that's not an issue at all.

Studio J is very user friendly. It takes me less than 10 minutes to put together a gorgeous page. You can edit your photos when they are on the page, change them to black and white or sepia, take out the red eye, adjust the color. You have access to digital stickers (the alphabet and numbers, large medium and small accents, tags, borders, quotes). You have a selection of titles or make your own using a large variety of fonts in any of the CTMH colors. You can distress the paper, chalk it, sand it. Many tools at your disposal. Can you tell I love it?

Here is some great news. Before you buy a membership, you can go in and make some pages. You'll have access to the basic functions, membership offers many more layouts and perks. But at least you can make a page and see how it works.

Not to mention (and this is a HUGE plus) I can scrapbook on the couch with NO MESS to clean up! Sometimes I wake up and grab my coffee, put on my favorite show and my cat is on my lap. I just fire up Studio J and scrap til the kids get up! With paper scrapbooking, at the rate I was going I scrapped one or twice a year. I cannot keep up at that rate. I take way more pictures than I scrap.

Many people ask if I miss the paper and stickers. I still have them! I still use that stuff too but I won't be buying much of it anymore. I will have some traditional pages mixed in and some of my old pictures will be traditionally scrapped. But going forward, I am sure most of my work will be digital.

Keep in mind as well....with each layout you purchase, you also get a JPEG of it. That means you can burn an entire year of layouts onto a CD also. This keeps them safe, makes it so you can print extras for Grandparents, and I think in this age of computers it is the future!

Just so you know, I do not sell CTMH, I am just a scrapbooker who was introduced to it by a friend. I just love it that much that it looks like I sell it :) !!

It's Spring Break!

Spring Break! It's the perfect time to get caught up on organizing all that school work that comes home with the kids. I know I will be working on it this week.

I did a blog post about it a long time ago and received really good feedback from this system. So I am refreshing that post here! Commit yourself to a little organization this week.

Organizing schoolwork