A fun, free giveaway!! Take a look!

Yep, you read that right! I have partnered up with Teflon to test out some products, share some yummy recipes, and giveaway one of their fantastic Teflon pans to one of my blog followers.

Did you know that May is Egg Month?? LOL, shhhh, I didn't either. ;o) I've been given the opportunity to try out this brand new 11 inch Teflon pan in corrolation with some fancy egg recipes. Let me just tell you, oh my word, I was in heaven cooking on this pan. I guess I'll be throwing out that can of Pam. Man, I didn't know what I was missing out on by not cooking in a good, nice quality Teflon pan.

The recipe we actually tried out first was a Kris White original. He's my cook of the house. Our scramble included:
2 full eggs
4 eggwhites
ham
turkey
chives
spinach
onions
feta cheese
mozzerella cheese
dash of Greek seasoning

These eggs cooked up so quickly and so evenly it was amazing. Just a few flips with a rubber spatula was all it took. No Sticking!! I loved it!

Teflon has graciously shared an additional pan for me to giveaway to one of my followers. There's multiple ways to get an entry in my giveaway. 1. Become a follower. 2. Leave me a comment to be entered in this blog. 3. Share my blog with a friend for another additional entry.

This giveaway will end May 31, 2010.

How to make Mickey Mouse head tie-dyed shirts

So, after seeing my Mickey Mouse tie-dyed shirts that I posted on Facebook, I have had a lot of people ask how I did them. Thanks to www.disboards.com, there is loads of ideas and information on how to do this. Here's my step-by-step instructions. Unfortunately, blogger won't let me post more than 5 photos, so you'll have to click here to see my step-by-step instructional pictures.

Step 1: Trace Mickey on plain white 100% Cotton Shirt
Step 2: Sew basting stitch with dental floss just outside the traced Mickey head shape.
Step 3: pull tight so that Mickey is puckered.
Step 4: Use rubber bands and band area below pucker about an inch to create border around Mickey Head.
Step 5: Soak in soda ash 20 minutes (mine came in my tie dye kit) and then lay damp shirt flat with puckered Mickey pointing up. ((If your kit doesn't have soda ash included then your dye probably already has it added in))
Step 6: Using Puckered Mickey, grabing about where the rubber bands are use the Mickey to start twisting shirt. Keep twisting it around, it will eventually twist up to resemble a danish with many many pleats.
Step 7: Using rubber bands, band danish like t-shirt across the diameter and then again and again like you are slicing a pizza until it is snuggly held together. Then, pull puckered Mickey up through the rubber bands that are sectioning the T-shirt.
Step 8: Tip puckered Mickey away from rest of shirt and dye it a contrasting color to those you are going to dye the rest of the shirt. When it is totally dyed, wrap it in plastic wrap and rubberband. This will keep any other dye from dripping on the head.
Step 9: Using three colors dye shirt in thirds with portions overlapping so that the overlapping colors form even more colors (i.e. yellow and blue make green)
Step 10. Wrap the rest in saran wrap and let sit for 4 - 6 hours (I did it overnight)
Finally, the next day unwrap the lovely shirt and rinse in the sink until no more dye rinses off. At that point put shirt in washing machine and wash two or so times.

Leyton's 7th birthday

Okay, I'm gonna try to get caught up here. Thanks, Amy B. for asking about blogging because it reminded me there's some stuff I needed to do over here. :o)

This year we had a very, very low key party for Leyton's 7th birthday. He knows that this year our Disney trip IS his birthday. And, of course, he's very excited about that trip. Only 3 more weeks!! So, I made some cupcakes and we invited 3 bestfriends, plus the neighborhood boys to come over for pizza and cupcakes. Leyton had a blast. I think he really could have cared less if we did the big blowout party like we normally do. He was happy regardless of the decorations, entertainment, # of kids there, etc.

Lots of fun blogs to come

Be on the look out, I've got lots of good blogs to share in the upcoming days when I can get a little time under my belt. On the docket:

-A Teflon Pan Giveway in honor of Egg Month :-) and a yummy egg creation recipe a'la Kris White.
-A Mother's Day tribute to my momma
-Step by Step instructions to my tie-died Mickey shirts
&
-Leyton's mini birthday celebration

Simply adorable single serve pies

These are the cutest, easiest little desserts to make. As much as I would love to take credit for this simple creation, I got the idea off the Bakerella blog, here. And, she got the idea from Luxiare, here.

So, this is exactly how easy it really is. I started off with the pre-made Pillsbury pie crusts. I rolled them out and chose a perfect size heart cookie cutter and cut them all out . My 2 pre-made pie crusts made 22 of these heart pies. I used half a can of cherry pie filling. As Bakerella mentioned in her blog, you can't put much fruit filling in each pie without all the 'juice' spilling out when you press the layers together. She also mentioned that when she made her batch that it seemed they were a little bit too much pastry and not enough fruit in each bite. So, I tried to put atleast 3 cherries and a bit of the 'juice' in each pie. She was right though, all the juice really goo'ed out when pressed together. It seemed like 2 cherries was the magic number.

After filling and pressing together all your individual pies, take one egg white and brush over the top of each pie to give it a nice golden brown glaze.

Bake at 325 degrees for roughly 12-15 minutes or until they look nice and golden. And, here's the final product. Mine definitly aren't as picture perfect as the ones on the Bakerella website but after sampling, we all agreed this is one of our new favorite desserts.

Winkflash flat rate book sale

Hurry, the coupon code expires April 20!

code: booksale04

Head over to winkflash.com and create a fabulous photo book and add as many pages as you want for a flat rate. A 10x8 book is only $18.95 and even better, get a 8x8 book for $12.95. You can have up to 100 pages.

Thanks Traci, for sharing this great info with me!

A great blog I just HAD to share

Go check out www.mydfwmommy.com!

She's got ton's of fantastic tips, links for coupons and freebies, and a wealth of other great information. I love all the stuff she posts! Unfortunately for me, my work computer has a lot blocked, including java (which you need to print all the great coupons).

Another great thing about her blog, is 90% of it isn't geared towards just DFW Metroplex stuff. Most of it is links to stuff that anyone can us.

Please note, she posts a lot of new stuff everyday and it's hard to keep up. I have her blog loaded to my Google Reader so I can skim thru all the posts and click on the one's that interest me.

Hope you enjoy it too!

Bacon Cheeseburger Hot Pockets

Thanks to my friend, Mert, I've discovered a yummy, easy new recipe! Bacon Cheeseburger hot pockets. These were the easiest thing to make and the boys devowered them!

Ingredients:
1 lb hamburger
1 small onion (chopped)
1 cup bacon (or about 1/2 a package)
shredded cheese
ketchup
1 can buttermilk biscuits

While I defrosted my ground beef in the microwave, I cooked up my bacon in a skillet. After that's been cooked and the grease has been poured out I started browning my ground beef. I added my chopped onions and chopped bacon into this mixture.


You then flatten out the biscuits onto a cooking sheet. Layer ketchup, a spoonful of your meat mixture and then sprinkle with some shredded cheese. Fold into pockets and bake for about 15 minutes in a 400 degree oven.


I think my boys may have found their new favorite dinner. I can't wait to try some different varieties of this as well. Hamburger with swiss cheese, onions, & mushrooms would be yummy. Another one I can't make to make is hamburger, bacon, and blue cheese bits! You could also make a breakfast variety of this as well with some sausage and egg. Easy, easy, easy!

This is the boys new 'thing'

I guess it's been about 6 weeks or 2 months now. The boys want to sleep in the same bed. So cute. It started when they were in their bunkbeds and they asked if they could sleep together on the top bunk (there's a tall railing so no one would fall). I wouldn't give in because I knew once I said yes, they would play and talk all night and never get any sleept. Plus, it's a twin and they would be too crowded and kick & elbow each other all night. Well, one night back at the end of January I go in to check on the before I go to bed and find Maddox up on the top bunk sleeping with Leyton. Little sneaky kids!

They've since moved to the guest room with the queen bed and have been sleeping in there for the last 6 weeks or so. Here's a few cute pics of them snuggling together.

SCORE!!

"Score!!" "Oh, score, score, score!!" "Right there, score!"

This is what I hear 50 kazillion times a day. It's a fun car game some friends of ours told us about. The gist of the game is very simple. Everytime you see a yellow vehice you yell out SCORE! Big semi's, buses, and construction vehicles don't count. My boys love this game and Kris and I have become quite addicted too. Kris and I have even been known to text a picture here and there to one up each other. ;-) I have to say though that Maddox is definitly the best in our family. He can spot those yellow vehicles everywhere!

So, next time your driving with the kiddos this will definitly help keep the occupied and help pass the time.

Selfishly excited

Okay, so I just have to say I am super excited I found a way to update my blog from work! It's these small things that help brighten my day. :-)

Nothing too new and exciting to report with us. Baseball season is getting ready to kick in full gear this week. We have our first practice on Tuesday at 5p. Gees, before I was working full-time 5p would have been no big deal. I'd just work my schedule around it. Now, nope that just won't work. How does this coach expect parents who work a 9-5 job to get there on time?? I already told the coach we'd be there at 515p at the earliest!! And, I doubt we're even there by then but, whatever. (Okay, sorry for that small trivial vent...)

I've recently uploaded some new videos of the kids to our YouTube account. You can check them out here. I've got a couple more I want to add. The uploading kind of takes awhile so these are just a few I've already put on. You'll get a big kick out of seeing some of the older videos on there too when Leyton and Maddox were just lil tykes.

Until later...

Snow Day Part 2

We've had so much fun the past two days playing in the snow! DFW got a record breaking 12 inches of snowfall in a 24 hour period. The most in recorded history. AND, it was a perfect snow to play in, build a snowman in, and for snowball fights! Wet, sticky snow. Plus, the temps have been just perfect for it too. They stayed in the upper 30's/low 40's and that means you can play in the snow and not freeze to death while you're playing.

As you can see, we've had such a blast these past 2 days!

Snow Day fun!

Snow ice cream! Yum!

It's too quiet, where's Maddox??

It's too quiet in this house right now...wait a second, MADDOX??? Where are you!? Oh great, he's in the bathroom. Please tell me he's not dumping out the shampoo or unraveling the newest toilet paper roll!! It's never a good thing when your 3 year old is being 'too quiet'. Well, imagine my surpise when I walk in and this is what he's doing:

And this too:

No, it's not even bedtime. We haven't even been home 10 minutes and he proceeded to open his goodie bag from school and brush his teeth. The dentist came to Maddox's school today, "Dr. Laura". Apparantly, 3 year olds DO listen and learn while at school. Go figure, it's not all coloring, puzzles, and legos. "Dr. Laura" gave the kids a little timer (if you look, you can see he wanted to use that while brushing his teeth), a new toothbrush, and floss.

And, check it out, he's learning to write his name too! He's 3.5 by the way. Leyton didn't learn to write his name until he was 4. GO MADDOX! You, over acheiver, you!

***While you're here, look over to the right and become a follower of my blog. You'll get email updates anytime I update my blog. :)

Leyton donates to the children of Haiti

My son simply melted my heart tonight. All week Leyton has been asking me if he could take some change to school to fill the 1st grade 'bucket'. We gave a baggy with some spare change (maybe a few dollars worth??) yesterday. He wanted to take more this morning. So, before I sent him to school with more money I inquired with his teacher about what he was talking about and what the money was for. 1st graders have a tendancy to be sneaky and spending their 'change' at the student store on Chucky Cheese type junk.

The teacher told me each grade was competing to earn the most money. All the money raised is being sent to the children of Haiti. When I told Leyton we would round up some more of our change for him he asked if he could just empty his piggy bank (including one $1 and a $20!!!) and give that to those kids. I of course said he could do that. If I were to guess, I'd say he had close to $30 in that bag! He said that maybe if he sent his money to Haiti that their mom's and dad's could buy them some new stuff. My goodness! What a sweetie!

After talking about the earthquake some tonight with him he asked me to show him some pictures. After seeing those pictures he asked if maybe his money might help buy them shoes and stuff. I told him I KNOW if will help!

A couple great weeks of pride

The past couple of weeks Kris and I have experienced great pride in Leyton. The pride came on the heels of a time when Leyton did something where we were really disappointed in him. He lied about getting in trouble at school.

After that week of punishment we've experienced and discovered things in Leyton where a parent couldn't be more proud.

#1 - we got a call from Leyton's football coach from this past flag football team that just ended. He called to let us know they were moving the team to the McKinney league for a couple of various reasons. He said he and another coach (from the team that placed 2nd in the league) were putting together a 'select' tackle team for this coming fall. The coach was very impressed with Leyton's abilities on the field and asked if he could be part of this team. Leyton's still in the early stages of his athletic career, but Kris and I were so proud that they thought he was good enough to be put on this team.

#2 - that same week Leyton came home with a flyer/letter from school. It stated that the school was creating a new Math and Reasoning Club that was to meet once a week after school. The letter said he was selected to be a part of this new club and it was a permission for him to be a part of it. At first I couldn't tell if the school was politely telling me that Leyton needed tutoring in math and needed to stay after school for that, or if this was an honorary thing. Well, it was certainly the latter. I emailed his teacher after getting this letter to get more information. She said she was only allowed to select one child from her class to be in this club and she saw so much potential in him and felt this would be a great thing for him. She said the math stuff they go over in class now is too remedial for him and he needed more of a challenge. Again, GREAT PRIDE! Our kid is a whiz in math! Who would of knew?!

# 3 - the third thing we discovered this past week is the fact that Leyton has some artistic abilities he's been hiding from us. The past couple of months I've seen a few things he's drawn and thought it was pretty good. Spongebob and his friends are currently adorning his bedroom door. The pictures below are what he drew this past week for us. You can see the stuffed animal that he was drawing next to the picture he drew. I think he did pretty darn good!