Christmas Card 2011

Thanks to our super photographer PAWPAW and our go to gal for all things card related.... KENDRA WHITE of The White Lilly. She always does an awesome job for us.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Twelves Hours of Twins.....

Twleve loads of laundry

Eleven temper tantrums

Ten hugs and kisses

Nine mini pancakes

Eight bottles washed

Seven drinks of water

Six bibs to wash

Five DON'T DO THAT'S

Four little handprints

Three dirty diapers

Two changes of clothes

~~~~AND~~~~

One life I would not change.

Trying new things....

So I am trying some new recipes these days. Trying to get out of a rut and try and get my family to eat healthier by making the foods that are good for them taste better. Tonight was one of those nights. I found a recipe on Pinterest that came from fortheloveofcooking-recipes.blogspot.com . You can get the full recipe there. I only made 2 changes. Her recipe calls for russet potatoes and I used red potatoes and her recipe called for parmasan cheese and I was out so I used Italian blend. It was really good. Bella and the twins still just ate the potatoes but with all the veggies and the olive oil at least Shayne and I got some good out of it.

Vegetable Tian ~ Belden Style

before cooking

after baking.

I served it with a yummy baked ham! I look forward to more new recipes and sharing them with you.

• 2 tbsp olive oil (divided)
• 1 large sweet yellow onion cut in half and sliced
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 4-5 new red potatoes , unpeeled
• 1 zucchini
• 1 yellow squash
• 3 large Roma tomatoes
• Sea salt, freshly cracked black pepper, to taste
• sprinkling of italian cheese

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Coat a baking dish with olive oil cooking spray. Heat 1 tbsp of olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Once hot, add the onions and saute until translucent, about 8 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for another 60 seconds. Spread the onion mixture on the bottom of the greased baking dish.

Slice the potatoes, zucchini, squash and tomatoes in 1/4 inch thick slices. Layer them alternately in the dish on top of the onions, fitting them tightly into a spiral, making only one layer. Season with sea salt, black pepper to taste. Drizzle the last tablespoon of olive oil over the top.

Cover the dish with tin foil and bake for 35 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender. Uncover and sprinkle the Parmesan cheese on top and bake for another 25-30 minutes or until browned. Enjoy.

another Pinterest idea comes to life

Saw this on Pinterest, my newest obsession, and made it!

Start with a plain clear ornament. Cut your wedding invitation into strips, curl each strip around a pencil and place inside ornament.

Glue on some pretty ribbon and wa la!

Christmas Crafting

So we hit the hobby lobby this morning and after putting the twins down for their nap we got our craft on.

Teacher gifts... Thanks Pinterest!

Santa ornaments.... Here's how to make them...

Start with plain clear glass ornaments

Next you want to get some floor wax/polish (pinterest said it had to be the blue top wax but I used the orange top and it worked fine)

Remove the silver cap from the ornament and pour in some pledge floor wax. Swirl it around until the inside is coated. The turn the ornament upside down and drain the remaining wax back into the pledge bottle.

Now make or use a premade funnel to pour glitter into the ornament. You need a decent amount. Then remove funnel, use your finger to cover the hole in the ornament and SHAKE SHAKE SHAKE. dump the glitter that didn't stick to the inside of your ornament back into the glitter bottle. Put the silver part back into the ornament.

Next comes the "belt". I used glitter velvet ribbon from the scrapbooking section of Hobby Lobby. .99 cents a roll and you get 4 ornaments per roll (they were also 50% off).

Using a couple of dots of hot glue glue your ribbon around the ornament to look like a belt.

These are brads also from the scrapbook section. Just snip off the stems on the back with household scissors and glue where they 2 ends of the ribbon meet for the buckle. Wa La. Santa ornaments!