19 April 2011

Garage Sale For Simon!

Saturday April 23, 2011
Time: 8am to 2pm

Eight year old Simon is currently awaiting a bone marrow transplant in Durham, NC at Duke University Hospital. His family and friends are selling furniture, bookcase, books, cds, dvds, TVs, and more to help pay medical costs. Please consider coming by and showing your support! 

2913 44th St W
Lehigh Acres, FL 33971

E-mail me if you want to drop something off - courkneyleigh@hotmail.com

08 April 2011

Father Son Camp Out

Hiram is so ready.  He looks forward to this ALL year!

01 February 2011

Double The Fun!

We are now a family of SEVEN!
Sunday we went to the hospital because my water ruptured that morning.  We arrived at 2 in the afternoon and after finding that both babies were still transverse a C-Section was scheduled for 5pm.  Everything moved very quickly and at 5:31 we met "Ed" with "Ted" following at 5:32.

"Ed" weighed 5 pounds 6 ounces and is very healthy.  She was always our laid back baby and we have been able to hold her more and she seems to be quite the cuddler!

"Ted" was 6 pounds 1 ounce and was put on some oxygen for a little over a day but is now doing well breathing on her own.  She also is being fed through a tube to her belly which should also come out soon.  "Ted" was our kicker and so we were surprised that she needed some intervention.

The girls look different to us and we can't WAIT to name them!  We also feel so blessed that they were both born so big and so healthy.  There are so many other parents that also have babies in the hospital who are not so fortunate.

Don't worry we have some names in the works and will post them as soon as they become official.  Thank you everone for your prayers and all the help we have received!

16 May 2010

Happy Mother's Day

The best gifts of all!

12 April 2010

Seeing Spuds

New Model:
Baby Potato Head

03 April 2010

Happy Easter

The Saturday before Easter we made some burlap bunnies - cute!


Dressed up for the egg hunt.
p.s. I made the girls skirts from one "ladies" skirt I found at a thrift store 
that was WAY too short for any decent lady to wear, 
but happened to be just right for two tiny girls!

17 March 2010

Yummy!

About a minute after I set dinner (chicken pot pie) on the table I find this:


A crust thief!
I shouldn't be surprised though, 
when people ask him what his favorite pie is he says, "Chicken Pie!"


What girl doesn't love to lick some cookie dough?

I don't think this will be the last time these two will share some girl time over cookie dough.

01 March 2010

My little monsters!

Sorry not monsters, robots.
In the paper bag industry of creating alter-egos these are robots.
So say the little monsters.

 

16 February 2010

Olivia The Ballerina

Olivia started a ballet class in February.
She is so excited and I personally think she is the cutest ballerina I've ever seen.


15 February 2010

Valentines Day

For breakfast I made these ...


  
Cinnamon Rolls in the shape of a heart!
And for dinner Scott made me this ...

Spaghetti in the shape of a heart and salad with heart shaped tomatoes and carrots!

08 December 2009

Top Ten Reasons to Hang a Tire Swing ...

#10
#9
 
#8
#7
 
#6 
 
#5
 
#4
 
#3 
 
#2
  
#1
 
I should post a picture when they all get on together!

26 November 2009

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is so much fun for me.  I love the cooking and the chaos!  This year we had our "Florida Family", The Bests over.  A couple of years ago we found out that Scott and Michelle Best are the 5th cousins.  Since most of their family is in Utah and our closest family is in Gainsville (4 1/2 hours north) it is nice to have some "family" close!  Now for the pictures of the awesome food!!!!!

 
Homemade rolls, broiled green beans, homemade cranberry sauce, turkey,
sweet potato casserole & deviled eggs

  
I love this cutting board.  My hubby and brother-in-law made this for my birthday one year - beautiful!
(And you thought I was going to say something about that gorgeous bird!)

These are the Best kids - get it!  Seriously we love you guys!

14 November 2009

Happy Birthday Hiram!

Hiram is the most helpful 4 year old I know. He is always ready to open a door for his Mama, sweep the floor, water the garden or get Bailey dressed. I'm not sure what I did without him. Hiram has a great work ethic that he gets from his Papa and also enjoys his alone time like his Mama - I couldn't ask for a better guy :)

So this year Hiram had four birthday requests - #1 a balloon, #2 a doughnut, #3 cotton candy and #4 a party blower. So above you can see the balloon and the party blower is in the pocket. The doughnuts came for breakfast on the morning of his birthday and the cotton candy (he had never had any before) came later in the evening when Scott took him to a carnival up the road. He would have been totally happy with just those four. (See why I love this guy!)

However since I am such a nice Mama I also made him browine cupcakes with chocolate frosting and sprinkles - I think he liked them a little :)

The haul:
Balloon - $1
Party blower - 8 for $1, we used two so $0.25 (we will save the rest for other birthdays)
Doughnuts - $2
Cotton candy - $4 (that is what we get for buying it at a carnival)
Denim bean bag - $0.25 (thrift store had the cover, Scott and I shredded styrofoam blocks for the beans)
Denim bed skirt - $1 (thrift store)
Up movie - FREE (coupons + rebates)
Octopus - $0.25 (Walgreens clearance)
Tool box - FREE (Grandma Cindie got it at an auction for free)

Grand total - $8.75
(Next year he can buy his own cotton candy!)

07 September 2009

Kids clothes

Alright, so how do you organize the clothes your kids have outgrown - I feel like they are taking over and we only have 4 years worth of clothes!

So this is what I have been doing so far.  Monday is my laundry day so when something comes out of the wash that I know was too small the last time they wore it I put it in boxes to save for the inevitable "next child".  Each of my boxes has about 6 months worth of clothes, labeled accoridng to size.  I keep the boxes on the shelf above the laundry so I can put them away immediately.  Recently some of the boxes were VERY full so I decided to downsize.  I just wish there was an easier way!

I would love to hear you ideas!!!!!

30 August 2009

Happy Birthday Olivia!

We are so thankful that our little Olivia is a part of our family! We enjoy learning more about her every day and know that this is only just the beginning.

She was so pleased to learn that these presents were for her -
she thought they were for someone else!

Olivia loves being able to tell (and show) everyone that she is 2!

The haul:
2 Angelina Ballerina movies - $1 (garage sale)
2 books - FREE (mine from when I was little)
8 "princess" rings - $1 (Dollar Tree)

Grand Total: $2

~~She loved the book about letters.
She can already point to and say
"B for Bailey, H for Hiram and O for ME!"~~

23 August 2009

Ants on a log!

Thanks to Grandma Cindie Hiram and Olivia now know about ants on a log. It seems as though they like them, what do you think?

11 August 2009

Frugal Baby

You know those walker/exersaucer things
that parents buy to put their baby in?
The ones with all the toys around the baby
that cost like $50 to $100.

Those babies were never as happy as this baby :)

04 August 2009

Our New House

After about ten years of saving, one year of looking and several offers later we now OWN our first home! We are so excited that all of our work has paid off - literally. Although it has not been easy living the way that we do (http://livingbelowpovertyline.blogspot.com/) we now have something to show for it. Proving that BIG sacrifices really do give BIG rewards.

(Disclaimer: Just because we have reached one of our big goals don't expect that we will become any less frugal, if anything we will just get worse. Sorry kids, this is your birthday and Christmas presents for at least the next decade. You will appreciate this when you are older much more than a pile of junk that you only play with for a few days anyway.)



House Continued

Looking south out the back door.

Looking East out the back door.


Looking West out the back door.







24 July 2009

OAMC - Chicken Recipes

Ok so I have had several people ask me about how to cook all of your family's dinners for one month in one day. I AM NOT an expert. I do what works for my family. It will be different for everyone. We love leftovers and don't mind eating the same thing 3 days in a row. You can begin my Googling "OAMC" that stands for Once A Month Cooking. Then just start with one week and work your way up to one month. I will start posting some of my favorite freezer recipes. These are all ones that I have tried out multiple times (freezing and eating). I don't have picky eaters so even my 2 year old eats this stuff. If you do have picky eaters, tell them to get over it and send them to bed hungry - they will eat eventually.

Easy Chicken & Cheese Enchiladas
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup sour cream
1 cup picante sauce or salsa
2 teaspoons chili powder
2 cups chopped cooked chicken (I do 1 cup rice and 1 cup chicken)
1/2 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
6 flour tortillas
1 tomato, chopped
1 green onion, sliced

Stir the soup, sour cream, picante sauce and chili powder in bowl. (To freeze - at this point put in a quart bag and freeze. When ready to eat, thaw and continue.) Stir 1 cup picante sauce mixture, chicken and cheese in a large bowl. Divide the chicken mixture among the tortillas. Roll up the tortillas and place them seam side up in a 11x8" shallow baking dish. Pour the remaining picante sauce mixture over the filled tortillas. Cover the baking dish. Bake at 350 for 40 minutes or until the enchiladas are hot and bubbling. Top with tomato and onion.

Chicken Pot Pie
1/3 cup butter
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/3 flour
1 3/4 cup chicken broth
2/3 cup milk
10 ounces frozen vegetables, thawed and drained
1-2 cups cut cooked chicken
double pie crust

Melt butter in a 2 quart sauce pot. Saute onions. Wisk in flour. Cook until bubbly. Remove from heat. Stir in broth and milk. Return to heat and heat to boiling. Stir in vegetables and chicken. (To freeze - at this point put chicken mixture into a gallon sized bag and freeze. When ready to eat, thaw and continue.) Roll half of the pie crust to fit ungreased 9x9x2 pan. Pour chicken mixture into crust lined pan. Roll other half to fit over the top. Turn crust under and crimp edges. Bake at 425 for 35 minutes or until golden brown.

Tetrazzini
12 oz noodles, cooked and drained
1 1/2 tablespoon butter
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 clove garlic
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
1 cup chicken broth
1 teaspoon seasoned salt
3 cups shredded cheese
4 cups diced chicken
2 teaspoons parsley

Saute onion and garlic in butter, Add soup, broth and 1 1/2 cups of cheese. Cook until smooth. Add chicken and noodles. (To freeze - at this point scoop into a gallon sized bag and freeze. When ready to eat thaw and continue.) Turn into baking dish. Cover with foil. Bake 30 minutes at 350. Sprinkle with remaining cheese and parsley. Bake until melted.