seven months old

{this moment}

Inspired by Soule Mama:
{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

sam i am

popsicles

last week we made strawberry-banana frozen yogurt popsicles. a fun "cooking" activity and a delicious dessert for a hot summer day. it's really quite simple, if you have the popsicle molds...

first you measure out one cup of vanilla yogurt (we used french vanilla...mmmmmm)

cut up one banana

cut up one cup of strawberries and dump it all in the blender

mix well....add apple juice to create a liquidy consistency

stick your fingers in your ears if the blender is too noisy

then take a sip of the smoothie...pour the rest into the popsicle molds ( i didn't take pictures of this because it was a very messy endeavor)

freeze

and enjoy!

henry says hello

old west festival winner!

saddle up your pony JMP, you are heading to the old west festival with your family!
jmp said...
My little cowgirl would love this!

congrats! email me your mailing address (katie@cards-by-katie.com) and i will drop them in the mail to you next week! maybe we will see you there, our family can't wait to go back in time and visit the old west!

If you didn't win this contest, not to worry, you still have a chance to win tickets! There are several more giveaways going on right now!

MasonMetu Old West Giveaway ~ Ends August 31
In a Galaxy Far Far Away Old West Giveaway ~ Ends August 21

{this moment}

Inspired by Soule Mama:
{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

potty training sam style

first day of school...now & then

here are a few "first day of school" snapshots, taken on ella's first day of kindergarten (2008) and today on max's first day of kindergarten (ella is in 2nd grade).

A Contest for Cowboys & Cowgirls!

Have you heard of the Old West Festival just east of Cincinnati? I had not until last week, when I was contacted by the owner of the festival with an offer for my family & my readers. Our friends at the Old West Festival are giving us 4 tickets to give away on the little things blog!

The Old West Festival returns to its permanent site just 15 minutes from I-275, east of Cincinnati. The third annual Old West Festival – running weekends September 11 to October 10 – transports visitors back in time to a Dodge City Wild West town circa 1878. (From the OWF press release)

I don’t know about you, but I think that the Old West Festival sounds like a great event for the whole family. There will be music, magic shows, drinks at the Long Branch Saloon, Cancan dancers, covered wagon rides, pony rides, puppet shows, storytelling, train rides for the kids, artisans selling their wares, kids games, and more! Your little cowboy or cowgirl can even be sworn in as deputies! And there will be a rodeo drill team showing off their stuff for the crowds. So dig out your boots & chaps and mosey on over to the Old West Festival! There’s even a costume contest each day at 1:00. My family is very excited about this adventure.

So what do you think!?! Does this sound like something your family would enjoy? If so, then this giveaway is for you! I have FOUR FREE TICKETS to the Old West Festival for One Lucky Winner!
Entering is easy! And you have 4 chances to win! Be sure to leave a comment for each entry.

1. Leave a comment below telling me why you would like to win these tickets.
2. Go to Facebook and “Like” Old West Festival, then leave a comment below telling me that you did so.
3. Share this giveaway via Twitter, Facebook (tag Old West Festival in your post), your own personal blog or an email to friends. Then leave a comment below telling me that you did so.

4. "Follow" this blog, via google, or facebook (networked blogs) -- see the right side of this blog page, and then leave a comment telling me you are my follower.

There it is, FOUR chances to win! Just be sure to leave a seperate comment for each entry.

Tell all of your friends! Contest ends Friday, August 20, 2010 at 2pm. The winner will be chosen using random.org and will have 48 hours to contact me for your prize, or another winner will be chosen.

For more chances to win check out these other Old West Festival giveaways:
-Family Friendly Cincinnati Old West Festival Giveaway
-In a Galaxy Far Far Away Old West Festival Giveaway
- MasonMetu Old West Giveaway

For more information about the Old West Festival check out their Facebook page or http://www.oldwestfestival.com/

Old West Festival

1449 Greenbush Cobb Rd.

1-866-West-Fes

**Disclaimer: The owner of the Old West Festival has given me four tickets to give away to random winner of this drawing, as well as four tickets for my family to enjoy the festival.

sunflowers

we have some beautiful sunflowers in the backyard...decorating our back wall. michael planted sunflowers last year, and these were the children of the flowers he planted last year. except for the really really tall sunflower. it is nearly 2 stories tall! i can look out of my kitchen window and it greets me each morning. this flower came from a seed that ella planted in first grade. it grew and grew and grew...and then this week it bloomed. i just love sunflowers!

baking

this week i devoted an entire afternoon to baking. i have been slacking in the kitchen since henry arrived in january. i have made meals, and dishes for parties, but i have not spent time cooking for enjoyment lately. in fact, for a while i was feeling like cooking was a chore, when i used to enjoy it so much. henry is getting older (as i type that a tear trickles down my cheek), and so it is easier for me to find time to spend in the kitchen, it's not as stressful as it was in months past. and to celebrate this fact, ella and i spent an afternoon together baking. i'd like to mention that my timing for this baking day couldn't have been worse...i chose one of the hottest days of the year to keep my oven on for hours in a house that is cooled by two window units. it was totally worth the heat, but i might wait for my next baking afternoon until the temperatures are less than 90degrees outside!

we made:

~ 28 banana chocolate chip muffins (stashed them in the freezer for school lunches). very tasty, but thinking next time i will try peanut butter chips or butterscotch chips. the kids love them! thank you meal makeover moms.

~ 2 loaves of zucchini bread, and for those who are wondering, i took a poll, and apparently you leave the peel on the zucchini when grating it. this bread is delicious!

~ 2 snickers pies. heaven in a crust.

~ a batch of chewy granola bars...also very yummy, and filling. my cousins gave me these granola bars the night henry was admitted to the hospital with rsv (when he was 1 week old). these bars sustained me that very long weekend.

~ pizza for dinner: fresh tomatoes & basil from the garden with olive oil, garlic & mozzarella...yummmmmmm!

what have you been baking lately? please share some links for your favorite recipes!

{this moment}

Inspired by Soule Mama: {this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

**while these posts are typically wordless...i want to mention that this photo was taken around 2 o'clock this morning while my eldest and my youngest & i sat on the back steps searching the sky for meteors. we saw just a few shooting stars, but the conversation and quiet time together was priceless.

things to do in augusta, kentucky

stroll through town

hold hands

throw rocks in the river

cuddle with your papa

ask your mother for ice cream

ride the ferry across the river

eat at the beehive tavern (i haven't yet!)

watch the river roll by while you have a snack

chat with your brother

ride on your mother's back while travelling across the river to another state

admire the view & dream about a slower paced life

what's for breakfast?

a little while back one of my favorite bloggers, the pioneer woman, posted a recipe that made me drool...make ahead muffin melts. i had to have them. and so i did. the recipe was so easy to prepare -- my favorite kind of meal. you make the egg/bacon/cheese mixture the night before you want to eat it and keep it in the fridge. the next morning all you do is slop the mixture onto english muffins and bake! this recipe makes quite a few muffin melts, and would be perfect for a brunch where you are having people over. who wants to get up early and prepare a big meal for company? if you made these muffin melts you would just prepare them the night ahead and then roll out of bed right before your guests arrived! and they aren't just a breakfast food. i ate them for breakfast, lunch, and a midnight snack! my dad & i think they would make a tasty appetizer as well, if you quartered the english muffins.

if you have not checked out the pioneer woman's blog, you should do that as well, she has so many yummy recipes on her blog, as well as other fun stuff, and fabulous giveaways! watch out, her blog is highly addictive. her recipes are always well-written, and she adds photo instructions, which i love.

if you are already a pioneer woman fan...tell me, what is your favorite recipe of hers?

and the binkie clip goes to....

and the binkie clip goes to....lucky #1! micaela, who said:
I LOVELOVE the little turtle paci clip!!!

congrats to micaela and thank you all for joining us for this contest, and for all of the sweet comments you leave on my posts. i love reading your feedback & i love sharing my world with you! if you did not win this time, no worries...there will be more contests to come! and if you are still drooling over these adorable binkies, please check out the What the Scrap?! page on facebook...right now she has all kinds of deals on pacifier clips, hair clips, and more!

micaela, contact me at: katie@cards-by-katie.com and i will put you in touch with What the Scrap?!

banana bread revisited

max has been on a banana bread kick lately. he and ella love the stuff, but lately he has been asking me constantly to make some, and it's easy to oblige him, i usually have bananas rotting & waiting to move on to their next life in loaf form. and to make the job more fun, i always have a helper or two. max loves mashing the bananas! if you are looking for a great (and easy) banana bread recipe i have one here on the blog.

yard sale find

lookie here at what i found at the world's longest yard sale this morning! i have a growing salt & pepper shaker collection on a lovely set of shelves that my husband built into an old ironing board cabinet in our kitchen (see this old post for pictures of my cool shelves). i am always on the prowl for kitschy little shakers, and these two little guys just called out my name this morning...

{this moment}

Inspired by Soule Mama:
{this moment} - "A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see."

crawling

origami

today ella and had some fun with origami while the boys napped. we had borrowed some books from the library, appropriately entitled "easy origami" and had some paper that we had been given a long time ago.

origami is a great activity for grade-schoolers. it's good for working on following directions, all that folding is great fine motor pratice, and it's a perfect activity for having some parent-child one on one time. our creations were not intricate, we made some very simple things, but we are learning, and perhaps after we practice some more we will be making paper cranes.

hand made pacifier clip giveaway!

are you ready for another fun giveaway?!?! this one’s for all of the cute baby readers i have out there. well, it’s for their parents anyway…


i bought henry this adorable “bailey the blue dinosaur” pacifier clip from what the scrap?! on etsy. isn’t it sooo cute? he has an owl clip too. i love them because now i’m not constantly losing binkies or dropping them on the dirty ground. i also love that they are unique…unlike the boring pacifier clips you find at the grocery store. liz at what the scrap?! is so creative!

liz has offered give one lucky reader a FREE BABY PACIFIER CLIP! the winner will get to choose one clip from what the scrap’s shop on etsy!

here’s how you enter:
1. check out what the scrap?!? on etsy and leave a comment below telling me what your favorite paci clip design is.
2. look for “what the scrap” on facebook and “like” that page, leave a comment below telling me that you did so.
3. “follow” the little things blog, either via google or facebook (see the right hand side of this blog page), and leave a comment below telling me that you do so.
that's right, you can enter up to three times ~ just be sure to leave seperate comments for each entry!

contest ends on sunday august 8th at 9pm, so hurry to enter! a winner will be chosen using random.org and contacted via email & posted here on the site. the winner has 48 hours to contact me or another winner will be chosen. so be sure to leave your contact information!