Student of the Month!

Noah was awarded Student of the Month in his class on Friday! He got a nice note from his teacher that said:

Noah, I'm so proud of all your reading that you are doing! I'm learning from you so much about WWII. Keep up the hard work! Congratulations on this honor! You're a great kid!

(heart) Mrs. McGough

He has almost met his AR reading goal for this grading period and they only needed to have 30% of the goal by yesterday! So we are really proud of him, too!

Zeke's New Hot Wheels Bed

Custom children's bed are a necessity in our house, especially since we have a Poppa who likes to build them! So Zeke got his new Hot Wheels bed this week. Boy was he excited!

We still need to get a checkered flag comforter or Hot Wheels comforter to finish it off, but how cool is that!

Valentine Layout using Unforgetable Papers

I made this layout using our new Unforgettable papers! I think it is just adorable... the boys will look handsome on this one, won't they!

This is going to be the $5 layout that I use for any gatherings in February. Book a party with me and we'll make this at your home!

If you can't attend a party but would like a kit for this layout, you can get one for $5!

Sunday afternoon at McWane

McWane is one of the kids' favorite places to go. Here are a few pics from our trip yesterday!

Playing Hotwheels

This has been one of Zeke's favorite toys from Christmas. The other boys (yes, Tony included) all love to pick out different cars and "race" them down the track to see which one is the fastest!

Frozen Birdbath

The night of January 15th was VERY cold here. The next morning when we woke up, this is what our little bird bath looked like... how did this happen? The kids were amazed!

Tony ran a 5k this morning!

He had to leave very early and I was out late last night at a crop so I didn't get up with him and we didn't go. The race was at 7:30 but he had to be there before 7 which meant he had to leave at 6:30. I would have loved to have some pictures of him actually running the race, but this is what I have... when he got home I took this picture!

Homemade Doughnuts

One thing I wanted for Christmas this year but didn't get was a doughnut pan. Now I realize this really isn't much of a Christmas gift, which is probably why no one got it for me! I had a little Christmas money left from my Grandparents so I ordered me one... Isn't it terribly cute?

It came today on the UPS truck so I made some Chocolate doughnuts tonight for the kids to eat in the morning before school. The recipe came with the pan and I substituted some of the flour for whole wheat flour. They turned out ok, but I'm sure they aren't very healthy and they really didn't seem sweet enough. But, I dusted them with powder sugar and I'm sure the kids will eat them up in the morning!Next time I will most likely try to sneak something in to these cute little doughnuts... not sure what just yet, maybe some pureed spinach or cauliflower?

Last Day of Christmas Break!

Noah and Eli go back to school tomorrow. As most of the days during this break, they stayed in the pajamas way too long! Here are pics of them eating lunch in their PJ's! And one of Zeke "Indiana Jones" at lunch.

More Artwork

This first one is using our January Stamp of the Month, Moments in Time to make a Year at a Glance calendar. I used Notebook papers.

This one I used our new Emporium papers, along with various Dimensional Elements for the letters and the January Stamp of the Month. These are some of Zeke's first steps!

I have Key To My Heart and our January Stamp of the Month, Moments in Time.

Key To My Heart artwork

This layout will perfect to put some pics of me and Tony at Valentine's. Of course, I'll have to trust one of the kids sto actually take the pictures!

Yes, I realize that one of the pictures is turned wrong. I reordered that picture in a larger size so I could cut it and it would fit in the right orientation. This is one day when Zeke got into my scrapbook room and went straight for the stamps! What a cutie!

This is a lovely scrapbook paper set along with a beautiful size E Acrylix stamp set! Check out my website at www.chantelle.myctmh.com for more info on ordering!

National Papercrafting Month!

Close To My Heart has this gorgeous paper set and stamp set to celebrate! Check out my website for all the details.... I'll be posting some artwork I've made with my set VERY soon!

One Year Through the Bible

Our pastor at church as challenged us to Read Through the Bible this year. They have provided us with a nice reference list, in the form of a bookmark, that shows the reading for each day. When I first picked one up, I have to admit I was a little intimidated b/c it is 4 readings! However, as I read through the verses yesterday, it really only took me abou 15-20 minutes to read them. There is more information on the link to the right, with the references for the verses each day if you are interested.

Healthy Muffins

Over the past year, I've been striving to make our meals and snacks more healthy. I've been using some Sneaky Chef ideas and developing my own from the books I've read. I've also been striving to not waste food. Well, this year, I'm going to work on reducing our sugar intake. I'm not worried that we eat desserts after dinner and the natural sugars in fruits, I want to not be eating sugar, and more specifically High Fructose corn syrup, in foods that are packaged as healthy. For example, granola bars and cereal bars and other things. We never let our kids drink sodas at home and they only have juice one time per day, so these aren't concerns for us, though for many, many children, what they drink is very damaging to their little bodies. And for adults, too! Sodas and fancy coffee drinks and sports drinks, etc... adds up to a lot of sugar and empty calories!



I've changed the way I make muffins over the past year. I use my mom's homemade recipe, of course, but I substitute some of the flour for whole wheat flour and add a little wheat germ. I started doing this gradually and building up the amount I use. This morning, I decided to substitue a small amount of the oil for applesauce. Now, applesauce has sugar in it but oil has a lot of fat, so... I only substituted half of the oil amount. Plus I was worried the kids might taste it in the muffins, even though they don't in chocolate brownies... but they didn't. I also reduced the sugar in them slightly since I knew the applesauce would add a little sweetness. They ate the muffins up and I made an extra large batch so we can have them for breakfast tomorrow, too!

Yes, you see some mini muffins and some big ones - the kids like the mini but I went ahead and used the large muffin pan for some so I could have less cooking time!

Now, generally speaking, I mix up a big batch of the dry ingredients for my muffins and keep that sored in a container. Then when I want to make muffins I just have to scoop some out and add the wet ingredients, this works well for me. And wheat germ needs to be kept refrigerated so I add it along with the wet ingredients. By doing this, making muffins in the morning from scratch is no more difficult than making them from a packaged mix. And while muffin mix packages aren't expensive, I can make 5 or 6 times as many muffins by making them from scratch for the same cost!

Collard Greens for New Years

I forgot to take a picture but I was able to harvest and eat some of the collard greens I've been growing for New Years! Now, no one else at my house likes them, but I thought they were yummy. I used a recipe that I found on www.allrecipes.com called Kicked Up Collard Greens and they were really good! I also soaked dried black eyed peas overnight and then cooked them with a ham hock (from my mom) and some other seasonings (garlic, salt, pepper). I thought they turned out yummy, though Tony declared that tasted too much like ham. Maybe my New Year's dinner will bring us health, wealth and happiness in the New Year! Should have taken a picture of that too - but it also included Corn bread muffins, fried potatoes and pork chops ( which Tony grilled and they turned out wonderfully!)

So Happy New Years Everyone!

I Made it! 354 pages completed!

Here are a few samples! I'm so excited I made it!

Happy New Year everyone!