upside down...inside out...

photo of the day. being chased by lions.

today was good. well good for the most part, unless you want to include the part where i thought i was being a cool/nice mom for giving brody chocolate milk to drink with breakfast and instead of eating his oatmeal he guzzled his milk and really only ate like 8 bites of oatmeal and after that he just wanted more chocolate milk, but alas i was a mean mom who wouldn't refill his milk because he refused to take 4 more bites of oatmeal. wow, i am mean. so then there was a major melt down and once he settled down it was a good day. we played and colored and danced to the intro of sesame street it was good, unless you want to include the part where brody kept hitting me with his plastic baseball bat and kept running to the fridge opening up the fridge door and kept picking grapes and then rolling them under the fridge. then yeah it was a good day. it was a good day when the sun...yes the SUN graced us with her presence and made it so wonderfully beautiful outside that we went for a very long walk and went past the fire station by our house and watched the fire trucks pull away as they went to save the day. i love our fire house, the fire fighters always wave to brody. i think it's so cute. it was a good day. it was a good day when brody woke up from his nap and we hopped in the car and met tyson on campus and brody went swimming with tyson and i went for a run. it was a good day unless you want to include when it was time to leave the gym, but brody was having too much fun riding the elevator and we had to pull him away and go outside with him screaming it was pretty awesome, then yeah it was a good day. it was good day when we got home and dinner was almost ready and we all sat down and enjoyed dinner together. it was a good day when we had a dance party in the kitchen and when we pretended to be lions and chase brody into his crawl tunnel and he was all smiles. it was a good day. it was good day until about bath time when brody wanted to keep chucking his tooth brush at tyson and tyson took it away, pretty sure our neighbors thought brody was being tortured or something, because heaven forbid he doesn't get to chuck his tooth brush, seesh! it was a good day once pj's were on and warm fuzzy blankets were wrapped around our little bear. it's was a good day when the bear leans in to give you kisses without asking. it was a good day when he falls asleep on your shoulder. it was a good day when you can look back and laugh at the day and know that with all the highs and lows.
it was a good day.

menu of the week

this is what we are eating for dinner this week...

chicken green chili straws with jalapeno honey dip - serving corn bread muffins with honey butter and a side of corn
-when i make the straws i always add a little more cheese and more sour cream and i add black beans too. these are so yummy!

white pizzas with arugula - serving with fruit and banana splits for dessert
-this pizza is really good and the pizza dough is fantastic. but, sometime i go and buy the whole wheat dough at Trader Joe's (in the refridgerator section) and it's really good on that too. when you actually add the ingredients onto the pizza you might be thinking 'WHOA, that's a lot of oil'. well, atleast that's what i thought. but in the end it's not. so don't be afraid! :) it's super tasty, good for a friday night dinner.

stuff zucchini and red bell peppers - serving with a side green salad and garlic bread
obviously you can stuff whatever veggies you want. i think they suggest red peppers because they are sweeter, but green works out yummy too. and i always add more cheese than it calls for. we love cheese. :)

black bean burgers - serving with baked beans and chips
we like to top our burgers with a little bbq sauce, cheese, lettuce, red onion, tomatoe, avacado and tyson likes to add bacon and of course some mayo and ketchup.

y-u-m. happy cooking!

check out other weekly menus here, here and here

images - 1,3- marthastewart.com 2- foodnetwork

Happy Lovey Dovey Day...

LOVE SHACK...

so if you remember, back at chistmas we did these and it was so much fun! i knew we just had to do it for valentine's day and make LOVE SHACKS! and we did just that! thursday night we got together with our fab friends kelli and neil and we all made ourselves some LOVE SHACKS!

getting started...


we had all sorts of fun lovey candies for decorating


tyson's LOVE SHACK


my LOVE SHACK


a view from the side of mine


neil's LOVE/CHRISTMAS SHACK


kelli's LOVE SHACK


all of us sport'in our shacks

so most of the pictures are not the best shots, but it was late and i was tired and don't mind the group shot of us, it was almost midnight and i didn't edit it. so it is, what it is. but it had to be documented! :)

it was seriously so much fun and i am really glad we did it! and it's even more fun when friends humor me and go along with my crazy ideas! :)

xoxo

super saturday highlight...

our day was filled with lots of fun activities to keep us on the go and have a really great day, but the icing on the cake today was snuggling up with this little lovie...



my other really good friend jamie had her sweet baby girl on thursday and i got to meet her this afternoon. she is just sweet yummy baby goodness too. yes i want to eat her, she is so cute and chubby! like i said before, there is seriously nothing better than a chubby baby! babies are just the best! i'm lucky to have to great friends who's babies i can now love up on. i'm in heaven.

my heart is warm and happy!

frozen in time...

frozen in time. almost 5 months old. october 25 2009.

i love being a mom.
i love being his mom.
there's nothing else i'd rather do.

i love the invention of the camera and how it can magically freeze time in an instant when it so quickly escapes us.

happy weekend.

valentine exchange...

i did a valentine exchange with some friends the other day, and this is the idea i came up with...


i made three of these valentines

if you need an idea on what to do for someone this is a great idea.

i used a 6 pack of IBC root beer, but i only gave 3 bottles and then on the other side where the other 3 bottles were (i got to keep the other 3 for us, yum!) i cut out the cardboard pieces that seperated the 3 bottles i took out, and added some cute tissue paper and two straws, a pack of popcorn and a large symphony hershey bar. and i designed my own label.

so easy and super cute!

valentine goodie round-up...

now that i've shared some fun crafty ideas, here are some yummy treats to make for yourself, for your lovies, and friends!

1 heart brownies - no link for this one. just make a batch of yummy brownies and use a heart shaped cookie cutter to make these treats a little more special.

2 heart shaped meringues - this recipe suggest to use a passion fruit curd, but you could totally do lime curd, stawberry curd, lemon curd. you get the idea.

3 little chocolates and red velvet whoopie pies

4 yummy dipped oreos

5 valentine pops

6 heart pancakes - what a fun way to start out your valentine's day morning with a fun breakfast! i know i will be doing this for brody and tyson!

7 valentine bark - love making this stuff. i do it for seriously ever holiday. it's so good! i've yet to have a friend not like this stuff. and a lot of friends tell me that they don't even like white chocolate but they love it with this stuff. it's bomb.com! seriously make it!! it's even good with half white and milk chocolate. yum!

happy sweet yummy treat making!!!

valentine round-up...

it's a week full of love. so i thought i share some fun cute crafty valentine ideas!

1 bonbon filled hearts these would be fun with any sort of little treat

2 crayon hearts i LOVE doing this. it's so much fun. and kids LOVE it!

3 felt wreath this would be fun in any color

4 clothes pin hearts

5 valentine goody bags

6 rosette wreath

7 fortune cookies love this idea, especially if you add a little treat inside them

8 heart treat boxes

happy week of love.

menu of the week...

this is what we are eating for dinner this week...

this lasagna, with salad and garlic bread

broccoli cheese and potatoe soup with rolls and fresh fruit

stir fried honey ginger chicken with peppers serving with brown rice and a side of steamed broccoli

taco salads - we like to add tomatoe, black beans, corn, avacado, and cheese to our salads. and for salad dressing we use Thousand Island. werid? it's so good! i grew up using Thousand Island on my taco salads and i don't even like thousand island. if you've never tired it, i highly suggest it! i will also be serving corn souffle

check out the past few weeks menus here and here.

mmmm yum! happy cooking!

images - 1,2 marthastewart 3, just cook already

my bear.

we get this smile all. day. long. i mean look at him. be still my heart.

he is just so much fun that i can hardly stand it!!

anyway, sorry for the brag post but whatever. i love him.

need some spiritual enlightment?...go here!

saturday...

happy saturday (imaginary high five)! we started our morning off with a little breakfast adventure down the street in the short north, we ate at the oh so tasty 'north star cafe' and it was delish...here is my proof!



nothing beats there 'cloud 9' ricotta pancakes...nothing! so so good! all those that live in columbus, it's A MUST!



and perhaps we took a little family shot before going to the car!

it snowed today! i went to a baby shower, yes another one, babies are pop'in out all over around here. :) ...tyson took brody to the pet store to see the fluffy white dogs and then to grater's (ice cream), they bonded on there man-date as we like to call them. we took naps...3 HOUR nap - boo-yah! it's lovely having a kiddo who loves to sleep. :) ...we spent the evening with friends making dumplings and celebrating chinese new years - it's the year of the Rabbit (whatever that means)! we came home from that and brody did this for a little bit...



he ate a few red vines (his favorite) and watched a little bit of toy story before bath!

so to say the least it's been a pretty nice day!

and last but not least... a shout out to my brother Jeremy...



HAPPY BIRTHDAY BROTHER! LOVE YOU!
happy saturday. the end.

highlight...

todays been a really great day...but the icing on the cake was when i got to see this little nugget of love!



my friend kendall had her sweet baby girl on wednesday and i got to meet her this evening. she is just sweet yummy baby goodness. yes i want to eat her, she is so cute and chubby! there is seriously nothing better than a chubby baby! babies are just the best!

my heart is warm and happy!

cake stand 101...

i love cake stands. like a lot. but something i love even more, is making cake stands! i saw on a blog long ago on how to make your own 'cake stand' and i've been hooked ever since. i have many! which by the way have come in handy for many things and even friends have borrowed them for parties. the best part is, you can make any size you want. i've seen them done so many different ways, but my favorite way to make one is, to find a PLATE and a CANDLE HOLDER. and you will need super glue. i found a super glue meant for glass. and it's worked for everything.

so recently i found these...



candle holder on the left from Goodwill for .35 cents and the candle holder on the right from Target off the clearence shelf for $1.08 regularly $19.99, boo-yah! love Target clearence!

and then i found...



two large white plates for .25 cents each at Goodwill. and the best part is they have no scratches or anything. sometimes i find plates i like but they have marks all over them, so i pass. but these were Perfect! and hello, .25 cents each!

and then...



i spray painted the candle holders Red.

and then...



i glued on the plates to each candle holder and...viola' ....a pretty cake stand! i love it! and i have two of them! i like the red and white for valentine's and it would even work for the 4th of july, but i might repaint the candle holders White later on, i think that would look cute too! but for now they will stay red. Oh and i DID NOT glue both the cake stands together, i just stacked them so you could see both of them. :)



so fun and easy! now i just need to put something yummy on them! you totally want to make one now, don't you? do it! :)

happy cake stand making!

valentine decor pretties...

we are all festive here at Chateau Crowther!

you know we've got the poms...





and then yesterday brody and i went to the craft store and they had all there valentine fabric 60% off. yes please! so we bought some...



and i made this last night...



i'm kinda in love with it...



tis the season of LOVE!

it's february...

(february 1st 2011...ice)

welcome february! today we were greeted with a lovely ice storm and it's still beating down on us!

nonetheless it's now the month of LOVE. so excited for february!

many good things are to come this month!

we made the most of our day- playing, napping, cooking dinner and baking some cookies for us and our neighbors.

the lights keep flickering...so i am getting this posted!

we will keep day dreaming of sunny beaches and plam trees!

until then...stay warm and happy where ever you are!

xoxo

menu of the week

this is what we are having for dinner this week...

store bought rotisserie chicken, side salad- 'citrus salad', and multi-grain rice

lemon fusilli with arugula - this recipe is so good. it's light and tasty. we love it. it makes a ton. so i usually half the recipe. serving it with rolls.

chicken lettuce wraps lettuce cups, and fruit salad.

italian fish and veggie pockets - i dont even like fish, but this recipe rocks. you can use any fish you want. so i use halibut and it's yummy. i don't use the white wine, and i just add a little bit of water and a little extra lemon juice. and it's still so good.

and check out last weeks menu right here .

happy eating.

images - marthastewart.com

20...

this spunky, fun loving, vivacious, sweet, tender-hearted, adventerous, limitless energy, happy, little bear is 20 MONTHS old today!

it has been the best 20 months of our lives. and it only gets better.

xoxo

ice ice baby...

this is just one of the honker huge icicles hanging from the side of our house. makes me think of the movie 'a christmas story'...you know, where Ralphie gets his bb-gun for christmas and he takes it's out into the backyard to shoot it and "shoots his eye out", aka breaks his glasses and blames it on the icicle hanging from the garage. bahahaha. that's a classic!

well no bb-guns were involved today, just merely showing off the size of how big these bad boys get. kinda crazy how big they can get. brody thinks they are pretty much amazing and fun to touch.

happy wintery saturday from ohio. brrrrrrrrr.

You've got mail...

(love this picture...and YES his eyes are this blue!)

my friend Jamie gave the best idea a few years ago about getting your kid(s) an email address and emailing them. i totally did that for brody about a year and half ago, and i think that it's one one of the best ideas ever!

i write him letters to say hi, tell him how much i love him, tell him things he did, jot down things he's up to, adventures we've had etc. i especailly like going in and reading them and remembering some of the stuff we've done. it's fabulous. it's a nice way to keep a journal other than a blog, plus i am always checking my email, so it's so easy to hurry and write him a message.

so tip/suggestion of the day...EMAIL!

happy weekend!

momma bird...baby bird...

momma bird - baby bird - baby shower!

two of my fabulous friends and i got together and threw a really fun baby shower a couple weekends ago for our friend Kendall. she's about to have her first baby and it's a girl - and we are sooo excited to meet her!
























(nancy, kendall, jamie, me)

i feel so lucky to have such amazing friends and this was such a fun shower and i was so happy we got to celebrate kendall before her little bundle of love comes!

so now... let's bring on the baby!!