Glitter-bomb: tutus for trucks

Ok, so you saw the last post about the cute shirts I made for the boys and older girls to wear to Monster Jam when it was in our hometown, but I made something extra crazy special for the little girls. 

Little girls (and some of us older girls) love sparkles, but after this great idea I had, I've had my fill of glitter from while. 

I made the little girls tutus... out of tulle coated in glitter. 

When I saw this sparkly goodness in the store, I just knew the little girls would love it.

So I bought enough to make four lovely tutus.

And in making them, I have permanently coated one end of our couch and a large part of our living room carpet in silver and orange sparkles. 

You're welcome, Hubs. :)

Here's one of the little angels blowing kisses - not sure if she's blowing them at the trucks or if Uncle Awesome was on the big screen... either way, she was pretty cute in her Maximum Destruction tutu. 

After having a few tutu-clad gals running around our seats and crawling all over us, we all had enough glitter all over us that we could've gone out and stood on the corner and fit in with the workin' girls, ifyaknowwhatimean.  There was so much glitter on the floor in front of our seats that it was actually slick to try to walk on. (The poor, unfortunate folks sitting in the row in front of us had glitter all over their backs...whoops... hope none of them were married men that had to answer to their wives when they got home as to why they had glitter all over their back!  HA!)

But here's the group of kiddos in their cute gear after the show.  All of the kiddos did a great job and everyone had a lot of fun. It was a great show. 

I don't think anyone cried or had a meltdown... other than me... in the car... when it was time to leave them all.  I just can't help but love 'em! :)

Making t-shirts for some truck-lovin' kiddos

I have some pretty outstanding nieces and nephews. 

They have a way of really making my heart melt with their sweetness. 

Most of them think their uncle (the one I'm married to) is pretty awesome, and I think it's pretty awesome that they thing he's Uncle Awesome. 

And when Monster Jam is coming to their town, they think he's neater than sliced bread (do people still say that? Have little kids ever said that? I don't know...) 

But the point I'm making is that these are some monster truck lovin' kids... especially Maximum Destruction since that's who their Uncle Awesome works for. 

And, because I want to be their favorite aunt wanted them to have something special for this year's Monster Jam and because I tend to be distracted by shiny things, I decided I was going to make the boys and two older girls t-shirts to wear at the show, and the smallest of them all would be getting a hand crafted onesie. (I made something different for the four younger girls, but that'll have to wait for another post... I still haven't recovered from all the glitter)

That's an order for four boy t-shirts, two girly t-shirts and one adorable onesie. 

I started with the girls' shirts

I used my little Cricut to cut the words out of freezer paper and peeled out the letters and kept the negative space to use as a stencil, along with the middle of the o's and a's.

I ironed on my handy-dandy stencils and used some Tulip glue-for-tshirts-stuff and then sprinkled it with gold glitter.  And then I let it dry for many, many hours. (but the directions only said two hours - that was my bad.)

For the boys' shirts, I made stencils the same way and used some silver fabric paint to fill them in, and then I repeated the painting, and then I put on another coat, and then I put on another coat (seriously, like four coats of the stuff!)

Here's the finished product of the older girls' shirts (I secretly LOVE them and was really tempted to make one for myself, but thought that might be a bit too "crazy-craft-lady")

For the little guy, I made two onesies, but only because I put a hole in the first one trying to peel off the stencil (turns out if you use old-school puff paint and let it dry, the stencil won't come off. And then, if you try to peel if off using your brute-force, you just might end up ripping it.  Oh well, guess that's why plain white onesies are sold in packets of three!) But for the onesie that turned out, I used the old-school puff paint and then PEELED OFF THE STENCIL BEFORE IT DRIED! See, I do learn from my mistakes.)

And he loved it :)

And they loved them :)

The older girls loved theirs too, but I didn't get a picture of just them, so you'll have to stay tuned.

(but for reals, yo, don't I have some of the most adorable nephews you ever did see? Yeah, I think so, too)

My Village... updated!

Remember last Christmas when I posted about my awesome Snow Village?  (If not, I won't hold it against you... the post is here.)

After posting the pics of my village, I got a note from one of my friends that said, "I didn't know you were one of those crazy village people!" 

I don't traditionally think of myself as crazy, but in this instance, the label might apply.  :)

I have new pieces to add this year and, because this blog is more of a place to virtually "keep" things, I wanted to share!

This is a grainery, or what would today be an elevator.  And with my job switch, it seemed pretty appropriate.  We added the tractors :)

This gazebo came with ....

...this lighted tree.  Hubs got me these last year because they are part of the set that goes with....

... this inn!  And how fun are the people that came with it that are checking in at the inn?

It's technically named that Eden Prairie Inn, just fyi.  

Last year, Hubs also got me this sweet little log cabin.

And it came with this little guy and his dog who are out collecting firewood for the cabin. 

My village is just a small part of the way I carry on our family's tradition of Dept. 56 Snow Village.  

Any other village crazies out there?

Merry Christmas!

By Request: Cheeseburger Soup

So here's what happened...

I posted on Facebook that this seemed like a Cheeseburger Soup kinda day and I had a few people ask for the recipe.... 

....and since I had a blog at one time *wink* I decided to just do a post about my loverly cheeseburger soup.

This is Hub's favorite, or one of them, and it is one of those meals that I only fix on rare occasion.  

If he loves it (and I do too, BTW) why is it a rarity   

Because it takes me a long time to fix it.  Today, it took me two Miranda Lambert albums and one Christmas music album... not kidding, dude.... it takes a while!  

It's not hard to make, but it requires multiple steps and lots of chopping.  I also made a triple batch because if I'm going to go through the work, we're going to eat it for more than one meal. And, in my opinion, it tastes better after the first day, anyway.  It also freezes well.

Without further ado, here's some pics of my soup.  (I'll type out the full recipe at the bottom, so you don't have to take notes throughout the post... just sit back and admire my awesome photography skills)

(that's a joke...about the photography...I didn't work too hard at it)

Step one: brown hamburger, drain and let it sit in the sink

Saute celery, onions and carrots in some butter.

Chop up potatoes

Line up canned ingredients and some more butter and take a picture.

 

 

Add broth, potatoes and beef back to veggie mix.

Think to yourself, "is that too many potatoes?"

In another pan, create a rue with butter and flour.  

(I don't know if that's really how it's spelled, but I that's what I'm going with.) (Also, I will note, I screw up this step every.single.time. I make this recipe.  So I know from experience that whether you do this right, screw it up and add it anyway, or screw it up and don't include it.... the soup's still delicious)

Add cheese and evaporated milk

Let it simmer till you're ready to eat.  

At this house, we eat it with bacon bits sprinkled on the top, but do whatever you like!

This is a recipe my mom found somewhere and she's passed it on to us. Therefore, if someone out there needs credit for creating this, I honest-to-goodness don't know who it is.

So here's the actual recipe: (sorry I didn't put it on printable cards, I missed that day of blogging class and I don't know how to do that.  But you can copy and paste!)

Enjoy!

Cheeseburger Soup:

1/2 lb ground beef
4 T butter or margarine, divided
3/4 cu chopped onion
3/4 cu chopped/shredded carrots
3/4 cu chopped celery
1 tsp dried basil
2 cans (14.5 fl. oz each) chicken broth
4 cups of peeled and diced potatoes
1/4 cup flour
2 cu. cubed Velveeta
1 can (12 fl oz) evaporated milk
3/4/ tsp salt
1/4 to 1/2 tsp black pepper
bacon bits

Cook ground beef in large saucepan over medium heat until brown; drain and set aside.
Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in same saucepan over medium heat.  Add onion, carrots, celery, and basil; cook, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes.
Add broth, potatoes, and cooked beef; bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to low; cover.  Cook, stirring occasionally, 15-20 minutes or until vegetables are tender.
Melt remaining butter in small saucepan over medium heat.  Sprinkle in flour; cook, stirring constantly, 3 to 5 minutes or until bubbly.  Add to soup; bring to a boil.  Cook, stirring occasionally, 2 minutes.
Reduce heat to low; add cheese, milk, salt and pepper. Stir until cheese is melted.
Garnish bowls with bacon bits, if desired.

Family Fried Food Extravaganza!

So yesterday, some of my loyal readers (hi mom-in-law and mom-in-law's co-worker) pointed out to me it had been 41 days since I updated my blog! Whoa! 

That got me thinkin'....

Noah coulda built an ark in that amount of time... 

and I haven't built anything in that amount of time...

I really haven't done much in that amount of time at all... 

but I have been able to spend some time with family....

and I have eaten several meals in the past 41 days.... 

including one that I'm sure my arteries haven't forgiven me for...

Enter the 

Family Fried Food Extravaganza!

(we didn't get t-shirts made, but looking back, an "I survived the Family Fried Food Extravaganza" memento seems appropriate)

Here's what happened: my dad takes an annual fishing trip where he a group of guys go spend a few days in boats and they bring back fish with the intention of freezing it and frying it before they go fishing again.

Needing the ability to fry large amount of fish, or using it as an excuse to buy a new toy that is propane powered, Dad got a turkey fryer.  

After we fried fish one weekend and realized how good it was, it got us to thinkin' about what else we could fry.  

And the 

Family Fried Food Extravaganza 

was born!

We actually started with homemade doughnuts so they wouldn't end up with a flavor of onion or hot dog.  (kudos to my mom for thinking of that before it was too late.... and who doesn't like to start a meal with dessert?)

We made cheese sticks, mini-corn dogs, 

 

...vegetables, mushrooms, onion rings ...

But we balanced it out with some chicken and beef kabobs and pasta salad along with homemade lemonade... delish!

We fried and ate all afternoon and then we'd take a break before we'd eat a little and then fry something else.

The young kids had a good time....

...playing with the big kids (their great-grandparents.)

But too much fried food can make a person sleepy and a blanket under a shade tree works for people of all sizes to take a snooze!

(disclaimer: while it was fun, I don't actually think this is a healthy diet.  Don't write me and tell me we're ruining our lives or setting these kids up for heart disease.  If you actually believe that, lighten up and have a doughnut.  After all, the family that fries together stays together!) 

Booby-Trap!

One weekend before it got really hot and gross, one of my cousins and I spend some time helping our Grandparents clean up their upstairs.  

It includes two bedrooms and the attic and my Grandma had gotten it on her brain that she needed to be cleaning it up.  Granted, it's a mess with stuff stacked and piled everywhere, but the two bedrooms raised three kids.  And since the grandparents are getting older, they really don't have any reason to be spending time up there, let alone going up and down the stairs.  So, cousin, Grandma and I spent a day working in the first bedroom and got it straightened up some.  In the process, Grandma let me take home a few treasured items that I remembered playing with as a kid.  

One of those treasurers being Booby-Trap, the game by Parker Brothers. 

And because we were having a family get-together the following day (and because Hubs hadn't ever played before) I took it to the parents' house.

The object of the game is to load up three different-sized pieces into a spring loaded, pressurized rectangle and to take turns pulling out pieces and not pull out ones that have pressure on them (or something like that)

Little Mister really had fun playing, but I think most of the fun came from the 'snap!' the contraption makes and because he got to yell, "Booby-Trap!"

Little Miss was playing, too, but certainly wasn't following the rules...

.... because she kept trying to chew on the pieces! 

We had fun and didn't lose or break any of the pieces, so I count it as success!

Cute Summer Kiddos

We've been blessed with some pretty cute nieces and nephews.  It's not something we can help and certainly not something we're complaining about, but it does make it awfully hard to narrow down which pics of them to put on here!

We've been able to spend some time with them having summer fun.  And while these pics are only of about a quarter of all the kiddos, these are some of the photos I already have loaded onto the computer (and my MIL's been hounding me about not having blogged in a while).  So until I have something more meaningful to say, here's some cute summer fun pictures (from Memorial Day weekend) to update the ol' blog!

Why is it always that the fuzzy pics are some of the cutest?

He decided he didn't need a napkin, that he'd get it all using his tongue!

Hubs played some t-ball...

and pushed the swing for a while.

Awe, nothing cuter than some hot, sweaty brotherly love!  :)

He'd wear his sunglasses, but only if they' were pushed up on his head!

Nice to know someone thinks I'm funny!

And these two took turns pulling each other around in the wagon!