Slow Cooked Chili & Cornbread

I love chili on a cool evening. We had one cool day, so I jumped at the chance to cook up belly-warming deliciousness.

About 1 lb of ground beef, cooked up with some peppers and onions. I used the frozen fire-roasted peppers and onions from Trader Joes. Anytime I can avoid chopping onions, I'm in!


Add a can of beans, tomatoes along with a can of tomato paste, 1 tbsp of chili powder and 1 tsp of salt.

Dump it all in the crock pot, turn on low.

Bake up some cornbread

Wah-la...I let it cook for about 6 hours, I'm pretty sure you can leave it in for less time but the longer it stews, the better it tastes.

MMMMMmmmmmmm

Autumn footsies

I'm a flip flop girl who puts on a pair of UGGs when it gets chilly. I don't have many occasions these days to wear shoes like these...not conducive to sandboxes, bike riding, or grocery shopping, but when I see beautiful boots I just have to admire them for a bit.The ones on the right are just so dang adorable! No clue where I'd wear them but that's the point to window shopping, right? These are from Anthropologie, a store that makes me HAPPY!

Brownies make me happy!

And even happier, seeing what is left over after an evening with good friends!

This project SUCKS!

For Hubby's big bday, I wanted to have something festive to put on the table at the restaurant while celebrating with friends. I was busy making cute signs and labels, even found some clipart of some of his favorite things (retro video games, star wars, etc). I reserved naptime to assemble it all and guess what! Well first, naptime didn't go as planned, but that's another story. My major problem was that my computer stopped talking to my printer!! Did they have a fight I wasn't aware of? UGH!! So I spent about 3 hours of my life restarting my computer, turning the printer off and on, connecting and reconnecting...meanwhile, encouraging my 2 year old to keep playing trains/legos/ANYTHING, so I could get this done... As you can see, I was not successful, so I went old school...dusted off my scrapbook pens and I got to work.

Here's what I did...
First I found a container, this is the bucket that normally holds all our sidewalk chalk.Then I stuffed it with floral foam, from the dollar store.

For the suckers, I quickly cut out strips of paper and labeled them "40 Sucks!"...get it?!?

To put it all together, I covered the foam with a coordinating tissue paper and poked holes with my handy dandy ice pick (Love that thing!)






The suckers were a hit! Everyone enjoyed picking out their favorite flavor AND it kept the kids happy and occupied for a long time ... BONUS!!

Well it didn't go as planned, but it was fun none the less!

ssshhhhh...please

Just in the past week, we've had 3 LOUD visitors during nap time, one was a package delivery, one was trying to paint the house and the third was trying to save our souls. And for whatever reason, a simple ding dong or gentle knock just isn't enough. It's been more like a ding-dong ding-dong followed by a forceful pound to the door, so NOT necessary. So, I whipped up this sign to hang on the the doorbell. It works like a charm!!

I happened to have this paper mache sign, left over from some uncompleted project (did I just admit that?) Add some scrapbook paper and modge podge and you are good to go!

Add a ribbon and Tah Dah! It's now quiet ☺

Happy Lunch

Lego Party Inspiration

***UPDATE*** Lego Madness 2010 Party Pics Here

It is party planning time again (♥LOVE IT♥) in my next life, I want to be a party planner! and Logan decided he wanted another Lego party (he had a Lego Bday Party 2 years ago, several of his friends still talk about it!). I already have a pretty good idea of what we plan to do, but LOOK at all these great ideas I found ☺ Can't wait to add a few of these!!!!!

LOVE these Lego Paper dolls from here
AND this table cloth.... spray painted bubble wrap to look like a giant lego plate
and giant Legos to go with it (time to start buying milk in half gallons and save those water bottle tops!)DIY Pinata...looks so easy
I love this pinata too but not as easy


and Lego rings...too cute! (not sure the boys would love it though) and Lego Shaped Candy...that they would love!Lego shaped Soap

Marshmallow Mini-Fig Pops!! seriously!DIY Keychain Favors I'm off to Michaels to find key chains ASAP...Super Easy Invitation!

Lego Food!
CookiesCheese and Crackers
Cake


And all the game ideas!!!
straw game
racing games

bridge building

tower building

BINGO, or should I say LEGO


My favorite resources!
http://creativeholidaygiftideas.blogspot.com/2008/10/lego-party-ideas.html
http://ashleyannphotography.com/blog/2010/03/09/hes-six-lego-birthday-party/
http://www.burbmom.net/how-to-throw-a-lego-party/
http://www.lavishweddingdesign.com/2009/06/lego-party.html
http://www.livinglocurto.com/2010/06/lego-birthday-party/
http://www.brickbirthday.com/shop/?page_id=39
http://www.birthdaypartyideas.com/html/lego_parties_0.html
http://familyfun.go.com/parties/lego-party-704662/
http://www.mypartyfile.com/blog/?tag=lego
http://aimeeaustin.wordpress.com/party-time-lego-star-wars/
http://rootsandwingsco.blogspot.com/2010/03/super-awesome-lego-party.html
http://taylormadebaking.blogspot.com/2010/09/lachlans-7th-birthday-party-part-2.html
http://launderfoldrepeat.blogspot.com/2009/12/lego-birthday-party-photo-essay.html
http://launderfoldrepeat.blogspot.com/2009/12/lego-pinata-tutorial.html
http://eiselefamilynews.blogspot.com/2010/06/lego-party-planning.html
http://www.manicmommies.com/index.php/2009/07/11/notes-from-a-lego-party/
http://yellowfence.blogspot.com/search/label/Lego%20Party




Here are some pics from his 6th bday... unfortunately I was so busy running around, I didn't get many pics. I'll do better next time!

Logan's Lego Birthday Party was a success! Fifteen of his favorite friends had fun playing Lego bingo, building and racing lego race cars, jumping in the bounce house and making lego masterpieces.

The Lego Cake survived the heat and so did we.
Wish me luck with the party planning!!!! A bunch of 8 year old boys!!!!