Zucchini Bread

So Scott's off of work this week which completely throws our morning routine out of whack...... you would think with 2 people home in the morning more would get done around the house but I think the opposite is true and less gets done. I did unload the dishwasher this morning so at least 1 thing got done, lol, hopefully I'll get motivated to get some laundry done too.

So yesterday I tried a new recipe from allrecipes.com for some Zucchini Bread. I changed a few things with the recipe. 1st I used part Veg Oil and Part Olive Oil because I didn't have enough Veg Oil at home. 2nd I took out 1/2 cup of the sugar and replaced it with brown sugar (someone suggested that in the comments section). 3rd I used Pampered Chef's mini loaf pan instead of a large pan to cook it in. The recipe ended up making 5 mini loafs. I made 3 with nuts and 2 without nuts just in case someone didn't want the nuts and gave one of each to my friend Aimee who stopped by the house yesterday. Scott and I both tried a piece of it last night and I thought it tasted really good! Warm Zucchini Bread with a little butter (one of the only thing I use butter on), yumm!

Pumpkin Butter

A pretty relaxing day around the house. Scott & the kids went over to the Moore's for the football game while I stayed home and made some zucchini bread, took a bath and read my current book. The weekend is almost over but thankfully this is a short work week, only 3 days. Scott has all week off, lucky! And hopefully he'll be getting some last minute things outside done and also get new brakes on his truck.

So last week Jessica & I opened up our Etsy shop - AJsCanning - and going with a suggestion from our friend Carolyn I decided to look into Pumpkin Butter. I had a few pumpkins still sitting around that I needed to do something with so this seemed like the perfect thing! I got the recipe from PickYourOwn.Org like I get a lot of my recipes from. Instead of letting it cook for only about 8 hours, I cooked mine for about 24 hours but that was the only difference I made. I made a total of 12-4oz jars and 8-16oz jars. All 12 of the 4oz jars are now on our Etsy site waiting for you to purchase it. My house now smells like Thanksgiving and Pumpkin Pie!

Happy Feet

So we went out tonight for a pre-celebration for Chrissy's Birthday, Pedros, yumm! Of course I ended up eating way to much like always, but it tasted so good! I really wanted to get a Margarita but didn't because of Miss. Savannah, and plus I had to drive the kids home because Scott is going out with them to the bars. I really really really hope he doesn't come home drunk.

So yesterday for our "camp-out" we watched Happy Feet. I know the movie is 5ish years old but I had never seen it before. The second one is in theaters right now and I kind of wanted to take Connor to it so I figured we should probably see the first one. It was so cute and super good. Maybe it's my inner band/choir geekness, but I loved all the singing and dancing and plus penguins are always good. The story line is always a good one to talk to kids about, basically: be true to yourself and be who you are no matter what. If you haven't seen it already it's worth checking out, I'm going to hopefully take Connor to the 2nd one next weekend.

Lace Leggings

So yesterday was the first time in over 2 weeks I didn't make a post. Yesterday was a very busy day! I added some more items to AJsCanning (so check it out!) and also I had dinner at the in-laws, went to the grocery store, had a Marketing assignment due last night and then I stayed up late to watch the 2 hour Private Practice.

So awhile back there was a contest to win a pair of free Lace Leggings. It required my lovely family & friends to "LIKE" Lace Leggings and mention that I sent them there, with a minimum of 5 referrals. Well I believe I must have been the only person who saw the contest post because I am the only one who had any referrals and I had more than 5, so I got a free pair! Today is the first time I've put them on Savannah, they are a little big because I got the toddler size (18month-3T I believe) so she can wear them as long as possible. They are super cute! Thank you all who helped me out to receive these super cute leggings. I may have to buy a few more pairs in the different colors. If you are interested you can contact Lake Leggings on Facebook.

AJs Canning

Savannah is sleeping and Scott & Connor are watching wrestling. I still need to do some Marketing homework tonight but am just playing around on the computer instead. There are so many interesting things you can find online and I really enjoy exploring the internet. To bad I can't get paid for playing online! (If you think of a way I can, please let me know! lol)

So Jessica & I have started talking about the possibility of selling some of our caned goods online, so today I decided to set up an Etsy Shop called AJsCanning (Amber, Jessica, get it? I know, not very creative, lol, but whatever!). It's a work in progress and things will be updated as much as I have time to do so. Also I have to decide how much and of what we want to sell, for now I just put up 1 jar of our wonderful Apple Butter. Is there anything specific you would like to see for sale? If so, I'll take it into consideration and try to get it added as quickly as possible. And if you decide to make a purchase since you're a wonderful viewer of my blog type the coupon code Blogger10OFF and get 10% off your purchase!

5 Best Baby Items - "Big Ticket"

Can you believe Thanksgiving is just a little over a week away, which means Black Friday is just around the corner! Are you going shopping? I am! Walmart opens at 10 p.m. and you better believe that's when I'll be there! You can't beat $2 movies and $5 PJ's for kids! Will also be hitting up Kohl's at midnight and the mall by 5 a.m. Other stores are opening at midnight as well but so far there is nothing jumping out that I need from them.

So I was trying to come up with something to Blog about today and nothing was jumping out. Then I realized Savannah turns 1 in just 16 days so now would probably be a great time to showcase the 5 items I don't think I could live without this past year. In no particular order:

1. Medela New Pump in Style Original Breast Pump - I purchased this while still at the hospital with Connor and we have definetly gotten our money's worth. If you plan on breastfeeding but have to go back to work you need to get a good pump that will work efficiently and effectively. Other than the normal parts wearing out and having to be replaced, this has been a wonderful investment.

2. Fisher Price Bouncer - I had a bouncer with Connor but never figured out what happened with it, after a few months debating about buying a new one we finally went out and purchased one. It's great the first 6 months to have. Savannah loved looking at the animals and it made it easier for us to get dinner made with her being happily content sitting in the bouncer.

3. Fisher Price Swing - I received this from one of my baby showers when pregnant with Connor and I love it. Connor enjoyed it, my cousin's baby girl Lily used it for awhile and now Savannah uses it. Savannah likes to keep moving when she takes her naps so after I rock her to sleep I can plop her down in this and she'll take a descent nap in it. I'm glad I have it!

4. Fisher Price Booster - With Connor we used a regular high chair but with Savannah we decided against it. Why you may ask? Well since we did Baby Led Weaning with Savannah it was important that the tray wasn't to high up on her chest. With a regular high chair this is a problem and it can be difficult for a baby to grab the food easily so we decided on a booster seat - which is cheaper and it also "fits" her better. Plus it takes up a lot less room in your house.

5. Baby Carrier: BabyHawk - I really wish I would have known about these when Connor was a baby. Having to worry about a stroller is kind of a pain in the butt and if you're going somewhere like the Farmers Market Downtown with the huge crown they can be a huge inconvenience, but with a baby carrier you don't have to worry about the stroller. It is also nice when it's cold outside because it will keep you and baby warmer and there is a lot of other reasons wearing your baby is beneficial for your baby (but that's an entirely different type of post).

Microwave Rocky Road Brownie Dessert

So much homework to do, so little time.........and it doesn't help that Scott has to do homework tonight too......We really should have worked on it a little this weekend (I read like .5 chapter yesterday - but should have done more). It doesn't help that both kids are going crazy today so it seems like neither of us can get much done tonight.

So yesterday we went over to the Moore's for the Dolphin game and I decided to try out one of the recipes from the fall/winter 2011 season's best recipe collection - microwave rocky road brown dessert. WOW! It was so easy to make and it tasted so good! We actually have a little left over and I'll probably be finishing it off shortly here. If you don't already have the Deep Covered Baker you need to get it! You can make whole chickens, a roast, potato soup, and the best thing you can make is this wonderful dessert! Buy it so you can make it, you won't be sorry!

Spaghetti Sauce

So it's Sunday night. I really should be reading some of my homework because I am a few chapters behind, but I really don't feel like doing it. Instead I'm sitting here watching a movie with the family and also reading my current book "Creating Healthy Children". Buffalo Chicken Pizza is in the oven and then pretty soon it'll be time to get the kids ready for bed. I will force myself to finish reading one chapter for school tonight, just not yet!

So yesterday Jessica and Justin came over and we made Spaghetti Sauce. This was the first time we've done this so we didn't know exactly what to expect. We started off pulling 36 pounds of tomatoes out of the freezer and purchasing 6 packs of Mrs. Wages Pasta Sauce packs. I also asked a co-worker if she had any advice and she said to just throw in a little "extra" stuff with the packets, so I put in 1.5 pounds of green peppers (from the garden, in the freezer) a large onion that I had and also about 3 garlic gloves that I had. It should have gotten us approximately 30 pints of Spaghetti Sauce, but we only got the equivalent of 19 pints (7 quarts, and 5 pints), it would have been nice if it would have yielded more but not much we can do about it. We did take a little taste and I thought it tasted great so hopefully it'll taste even better after it sits in the cans for awhile. I still have 15 more pounds of tomatoes in the freezer so we'll have to come up with a project for those, either more spaghetti sauce or a different type of salsa maybe.

Frenemy

Sitting around with Jessica and Justin waiting for our Spaghetti Sauce to be complete. Scott took Connor to the bowling ally and I just got Savannah to sleep, so we're just watching Justin play his XBox. I know Walmart has a really good Black Friday deal for them, so maybe we'll get one....it would be fun, but I don't think I want to spend that kind of money on a video game considering we rarely play our Wii.

So another Friday night and we watched another movie we picked up from the Library. This time we picked up the movie Frenemy. I had never heard of the movie but we saw that Zach was in it, so we figured we'd try it out. Have any of you ever seen it? Well I advise you to never get it. It was by far the worst movie I've ever seen. The plot didn't make sense, they talked a lot about drugs and murder and it was disgusting. Don't get me wrong, I love a good slasher movie once and awhile, but this was just so bad it was disturbing and just plain wrong. Never ever be tempted to pick up this movie it'll just be a waste of 80 minutes of your life! Also, I'm still confused as to why Zach is on the cover of this movie because he's barley in this movie.

Dolly Priss

It's Friday, It's Friday! And you know what that means? We started our new bedtime routine 1 week ago, so we'll be doing another sleep log tonight! I'll post it sometime tomorrow and give you an idea on how it's working for us and then what we're going to do next.

So for Savannah's Birthday I bought this super cute dress from JcPenney's to wear but I was having a hard time finding the perfect headband to go with it. With my coupon's and sale I got the dress for only like $2 so I felt I could splurge a little bit if I needed to. I searched the Internet up and down and found what I wanted except it was the wrong color. I figured it couldn't hurt to ask if she would be willing to make me one in the colors I wanted, and she did! Dolly Priss and her Mommy Miss is the name of her company and I'm so glad I found her. You can find her on Facebook, EBay and Etsy. I had originally found her on Etsy but I believe I contacted her on Facebook. Either way, check her out! She has some beautiful items you can bid on, buy, or if you need something in another color just message her. She was reasonably priced, she got it to me relatively quickly and the headband is beautiful! The picture really doesn't do it justice, but I'll post it anyways to give you an idea.