brilliant.

pretty slick if you ask me! :-)

kids cakes

  Check out these cute cake decorating ideas via hostess with the mostess!  They show you step by step instructions how to make EACH ONE & the supplies to make 'em.  super sweet.  

T

Individual Strawberry Cups

 {STRAWBERRIES}

its summertime. enough said. 

What You Need

1-1/4 cups HONEY MAID Graham Cracker Crumbs

1/4 cup  (1/2 stick) butter, softened

1 cup boiling water

1 pkg.  (3 oz.) JELL-O Strawberry Flavor Gelatin

2 cups Ice cubes

24   fresh strawberries, divided

2 cups thawed COOL WHIP Whipped Topping

1/3 cup  Strawberry jam 

Make It

HEAT oven to 350°F.

MIX crumbs and butter; press 2 Tbsp. onto bottom and up side of each of 12 muffin cups sprayed with cooking spray. Bake 5 min.; cool.

MEANWHILE, add boiling water to gelatin mix in medium bowl; stir 2 min. until completely dissolved. Add ice; stir 3 to 5 min. or until slightly thickened. Remove any unmelted ice. Crush 12 berries. Add to gelatin with COOL WHIP; whisk until well blended. Spoon into crusts. Refrigerate 3 hours or until firm.

SLICE remaining berries. Remove strawberry cups from muffin pan; top with berries. Microwave jam in microwaveable bowl on HIGH 30 sec. or just until melted; stir. Brush over berries. Refrigerate 20 min.

{inspiration}

i get inspired easily, especially by quotes, stories or a good talk.  A perfect evening would be a hot bubble bath, a diet mountain dew & a good book of quotes.  :-)  Thought I would pass this one along.

Things to Be Thankful For

Originally published at Revive Our Hearts

• Be thankful for the clothes that fit a little too snug, because it means you have enough to eat.
• Be thankful for the mess you clean up after a party, because it means you have been surrounded by friends.
• Be thankful for the taxes you pay, because it means you’re employed.
• Be thankful that your lawn needs mowing and your windows need fixing, because it means you have a home.
• Be thankful for your heating bill, because it means you are warm.
• Be thankful for the laundry, because it means you have clothes to wear.
• Be thankful for the space you find at the far end of the parking lot, because it means you can walk.
• Be thankful for the lady who sings off-key behind you in church, because it means you can hear.
• Be thankful when people complain about the government, because it means we have freedom of speech.
• Be thankful for the alarm that goes off in the early morning hours, because it means you’re alive

six years and counting

Six years with my stud muffin.

 

Three weeks ago was our six year wedding anniversary! Ryan &  I have been married for six years now, yikes!  Since we road tripped to Indiana (for my cousins wedding)  we had some time to reminisce about the first six years...this is what we came up with.  enjoy!  

6 Moves
4 Remodels
1,848 cans of dt.dew/mt. dew drunk
2,259 diapers changed
6 vehicles
1 Healthy, beautiful baby boy
1 moped
2 duplexes
32 nights apart
and ONE AMAZING MAN!

I am going to take a moment gush about my husband, who on all accounts is just the most amazing man I've even known.  He is kind, humble, smart, FUNNY, amazing at EVERY sport,  Godly and so much more.  And some way, he still puts up with me! :-)  For the life of me I can't figure out how he is still so smitten with me after all these years.  I thank God for answering my prayers for a husband like him every. single. day.    I am the luckiest girl in the world to call him my husband.  He is my best friend. 

Best Wedding Advice we received on our actual wedding day:  We loved two of them and have really put took them to heart.

1st:  Everyday give each other 100%, not just 50/50. 

2nd  Pray with each other daily.  

First Argument:  It was when we were unpacking all of our belongings I remember we had our fist big fight about which kitchen cabinet the glasses/plates would go it.  Something so silly, but for some reason we were adamant where we would put it.  It really was blending two families to become one. 

 

First Misunderstanding:  It was the first day back from our honeymoon and Ryan was supposed to be back from work @ 5:30.  I didn't work that day and was making this "awesome" dinner in the oven for my honey.  I was decked out ---had the table ready, apron on and pretty impressed with myself for preparing our first meal as husband and wife.  Well, 5:30 came and went, and he didn't get home til around 6:30.  Being a naive housewife I didn't think to turn down the oven, so supper was burnt, but the reason he was late was he wanted to bring flowers to me the first day he came home from work.  We ended up throwing the burnt supper away and going out for dinner! 

Nicknames: babycakes, pops, rino, sweetiepop .  Those are our current ones right now.  They are subject to change at any moment :-)


This coming Friday we are going to celebrate our anniversary by going to Des Monies and spending the night--all thanks for my siblings for the babysitting!! :-)  I think we have a little farmers market, prairie meadows & a movie planned! 

got the kink worked out

got the kink worked out for the grocery store list.  check out in the previous post. Thanks for your e-mails.

grocery shopping

One of the most organized persons I know is the wonderful Mrs. Debbie Martens.  In an effort to become more efficent she generoulsly sent me her grocery store map of the North Ames Fareway store... and with her permission let me share it with all of you!  I don't know if this happens to you guys, but I get to the checkout line and I forgot one item that is at the opposite end of the store.  completely annoying esepcially when you have a little one about ready to erupt! :-) 

Enter Mrs. Debbie.

She has the list organized asile by asile.  You can copy and paste this list and tweek it to another store.   I usually shop @ Fareway & Aldi's.  So I will need to tweek it a little bit for each store, but she has made it so easy! 

I have been working at HARD at getting my recipes in a binder.  All in one place, by category.  Then, on Sunday evening I do a weekly menu---how cool would it be to have this list printed and just circle what you need and then when you get to the store circled ASILE BY ASILE as you pass them!  I am thinking this might take 30 mins every sunday night.  I found this cute {did I mention FREE} menu planner I've printed off about a dozen of... click here if you'd like the link to do the same.

Here the grand list of Mrs. Debbie is... (this is PERFECT for the Ames Fareway NORTH location--will need to tweek for downtown location or another store.) 

GROCERY LIST

I hope this helped, or inspired you!  I in no way , shape or form do this every week, I fail miserably and sometimes order a pizza when my planning skills tank, but I am sure going to try and do better!  Please let me know if you have any tricks or tips on grocery shopping/saving money/or your organizational tips! 

fabric drawer liner

How cute are these?

 you could really make something so stinkin' adorable! 

Check out Beckie from Infarrantly Creative

 

I love how she coordinates it with the lamp!

Fabric Drawer Liners Tutorial

friday love.

For a short week it sure felt long!  

I've been a terrible blogger lately.  A couple of reasons...I helped with a bridal shower that was this week and of course I procrastinated til the last min, volleyball games, a holiday weekend,  two trips within two weeks of each other, and working on lots of misc projects here on the farm!   I hope to update my blog soon!  I have seen so many cool ideas I want to blog about and some projects here I've taken on (alot I've forgotten to take pictures of til AFTER I was done, super bummer!) 

Last night I couldn't sleep so I spent about an hour on Godtube.com  Super cool site, that I find completely inspiring.  if you have a spare moment sometime check it out.  

I also found my new song obsession.  :-)
if you have problems viewing, please click here

4th of july freebies

thanks to Lizard and ladybug for these free fourth of July freebie round ups!

pen n' paper flowers

(so simple - so cute)

The Party Dress  
(love the clean look of these)

Moo Moo's & Tutus 
(such cute designs)

Tweedle Dee Designs
(so so festive)

Bella Grace
(love the cherries)

Living Locurto
(these would be great for a 4th pool party)

Oh My Gluestick
(these shout 'USA')

paper and cake 

 (love the old-fashioned look of these)

less cake {more frosting} 
(so dang cute)

and my latest find...yellow mums
(love the patterns)

a few things that caught my eye...& 4th of July

this lovely flower totally caught my eye and when i looked through the tutorial

i am loving this!! such a fabulous idea that could be used year round. the hook makes it so easy to change out for all the different seasons/holidays :)

love it!

this is such a simple idea, but i love how clean and refreshing the look is. totally something i would enjoy in my home. just have to find some lovely glass bottles 

-------------------------------------------------------------------

BettyCrocker.com

 OR, need a super simple way to show your USA spirit? Check out here for these super simple ( & budget friendly!) yet fun ways to decorate your home.

 

etsy love

i love etsy.  thankfully i just window shop most of the time...however, this one caught my eye --simple, yet motivating---  click here to see this item & other fun state shapes!

on another note, i have a whole lot to blog about, but little motivation with the sun shining outside to do it! :-)  hopefully in the next couple of weeks I will get some more fun posts up.  

roomies

Let me introduce our roommates...

Dan (boppa) & Arlene Huhn...
(aka my grandparents)

some fun facts about 'em:

They have been married for 57 years
they have never lived more than 1/4 mile apart their entire lives
my boppa first liked my grandma's identical twin sister
if i don't cook breakfast boppa will eat 6 corn chips for breakfast (something about reminding him of his childhood)
my grandma has ice cream for dinner every night
my grandpa was a farmer and my grandma taught paino lessons
my boppa has nine lives--his angels are really watching out for him
they would do anything for their grandkids
my grandma was known for having one of the best gardens around the area
they only had two children --a boy & a girl--because it was important to him to pay their way through college (so honorable!)
to this day my grandpa prefers to mow the lawn on saturday (even if it needed it on thursday) to have his yard lookin' sharp for those sunday drivers
my grandma has Parkinson's disease--and confined to a wheelchair 98% of the time
any book or tv show my boppa reads or watches he acts like the characters are his friends in real life
they still have pillow talk every night
they are a perfect match--by nature my grandma is a worrier and my grandpa is an eternal optimist
my grandma goes to an adult day care center 4 days a week and calls is "her job" (so cute!)
my boppa can outwork any man half his age
i started calling him Boppa when i was little because i couldn't pronounce grandpa--- to this day (even though we tell him differently) he thinks we everyone calls him "papa!"
my boppa loves the pieces out of my grandma

since moving her we have dubbed them 'B & G'



For the most part moving here has been going really well.  Ryan & I were talking the other day how its weird it doesn't feel weird living here.  There have been a couple of times where its been a little stressful :my grandma will get back from the adult day care center & needing help going the bathroom, Tucker's crying cause he wants a bottle and I'm in the middle of cookin' supper------ but, for the most part its been pretty smooth transition.  

We have been busy helping them out around the house, cleaning, cooking, vaccuming, helping with my grandma when she falls, washing linens organizing the pantry, etc.  Everyday we try to tackel a small project and a bigger one on the weekends.

And, the best part they claim--Tucker! :-) 


They are two very special people!!

9 month Tucker Fix

okay, i'm not gonna lie, this is mostly for the relatives.  However, if you don't mind a couple fun facts about our little kiddo, please check 'em out!  

9 month Tucker Fix

28..5 Inches Tall
23 Pounds


Things he loves doing now:
crawling....everywhere!
climbing up on things
can climb up six steps by himself
loves cherrios
does not have an "off" switch to eating
loves to be where the "action" is--for example if I leave the living room and go to the kitchen...he is there within two feet of me in seconds.  i always have to on the lookout for little fingers & toes!
loves to go swimming
can say dada, baba, nana
he is a very happy little guy
wakes up @ 7:00a.m. on the dot every morning (no complaining here!!)
goes to bed around 7:30 p.m and sleeps through the night
loves to play with newspapers and paper bags (under supervison of course!)
doesn't know a stranger
loves facial hair
loves to be sung to
loves spending time with grandparents and great grandparents
takes 2 naps a day (one usually longer than the other)


Dislikes:
getting his clothes changed
interrupted naptime
when the food is gone :-)

4th of july idea

Dress up ice cream cones

To create these decorated ice cream cones just melt white chocolate chips in a microwave, then paint melted chocolate around tops of cones with a pastry brush. Then, dip cones in red, white and blue sprinkles. Place on a waxed-paper-lined tray. Freeze for 10 minutes.

thanks All You!