Our favorite books

There are so many children's books out there.  There are so many lame children's books out there.  So I thought I would share some great books that both Say and I love, just in case you want to add a new one to the rotation.

1. Virginia Woolf by Kyo Maclear
2. Leonardo the Terrible Monster by Mo Willems
3.  Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney
4. The Incredible Book Eating Boy by Oliver Jeffers
5. This Moose Belongs to Me by Oliver Jeffers
6. Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
7. Enemy Pie by Derek Munson
8. The Great Animal Search by Ian Jackson-we actually hide this book we get so sick of looking at it
9. How I Became a Pirate by Melinda Long
10. This is Not My Hat by Jon Klassen

What are your favorites?

Valentines for the birds

We used leftover hamburger buns, birdseed and some old peanut butter.  Now we just have to wait for them to find their surprise.

Valentine craft

This was a fun project Saylor and I collaborated on. Saylor did the painting and the glitter, and I cut up her paintings into hearts and sewed them together to make a Valentine's garland.

My little artist

I pre-mixed the paint to make different shades of pink. I then put out the paint, some watercolor paper, and pink and gold glitter and let her go to town. After Saylor she had painted and glittered to her hearts content, I let the pictures dry. When the paint was dry, I cut out different sized hearts and sewed them together with my sewing machine. Simple as that, a free project that Saylor loved doing!

My Posse

Kitchen remodel under $5000

I know you are just dying to hear how we did it. When we bought the house we were just going to paint the cabinets, but after finding that the kitchen had one electrical outlet, no lights, no dishwasher, and not a big enough space for our fridge, we decided to remodel.

 

This had a weird cabinet thingy here. Chad replaced it with his "taco bell booth". The table is attached to the wall, but slides back and forth.

There were original hardwood floors under two layers of carpet and linoleum.

We added a half wall and about 4 feet of countertop space to the area next to the stove. This seperated the front door from the kitchen and gave us an "entry".

I love white cabinets, but we chose the dark color so the brick from the fireplace would blend in more. We kept the wood burning stove, even though it is strange, because it totally works and heats up most of the house (and as my parents pointed out, would be handy for emergency preparedness).

Cost breakdown: 

Creamy tomato soup

As many of you know, Saylor is tiny and is not that into food. So when I find a recipe that is healthy and that she loves, it is like finding a gold nugget in your yard (ok maybe not that awesome), Anyways, this soup is one of those recipes-even Chad loves it. So thought I would share.

Creamy Tomato Soup 
        1 TB olive oil
        1 small onion
        3 shredded carrots
        4 cloves garlic, minced
        2/3 cup sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil (I get mine from Costco)
        2 cans diced tomatoes
        1 can chicken broth
        1 tsp sugar
        1 tsp Kosher salt
        1/4 tsp pepper
        1/2 tsp dried oregano
        1 TB dried basil
        3 oz cream cheese 

Heat oil in large pan over medium heat.  Add onion, carrot, and garlic and cook 3-4 minutes until tender.  Add rest of ingredients except cream cheese and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer for 30 min.   Remove from heat and add cream cheese.  Puree in blender ( I have to do this in two batches). Enjoy! (We like to put croutons on top).
 -adapted from our best bites

And I just wanted to share how awesome Ollie's hair is...         

Pretty hipster wouldn't you say

Princesses

So what do you do when your daughter is in love with everything princess and wants a princess birthday party, and you do not like anything princess? Well I guess you have a princess party and try to make it less cheesy. So I designed these invitations for her party hoping to make a more modern simple princess.

I designed them in Illustrator using my new skills I learned from taking a class from nicole's classes. Highly recommend any of them!