Homemade Bouncy Balls {recipe with the pictures}



Mix together 1/2tsp. borax, 1 tbsp. cornstarch, and 4tbsp. warm water.



When the water mixture is mixed well, grab another bowl and mix in your favorite color of food coloring and 1tbsp. Elmers School Glue.

Mix until all the white is gone! Once you've mixed it all, add the water mixture to the glue mixture. Stir until you get a big gooey glob. When you reach that point, empty out the water. Put down a paper towel, and take your gooey glob and roll it around until it dries up a bit and starts to form a ball.

Bounce and enjoy!!

Today I was going to take the kids to go play at the Splash Pad but, since they both got a sunburn yesterday, I decided not to.

I knew I needed something to keep their attention and have fun, so I started perusing the blogger world.

I stumbled upon Making Memories With Your Kids.

LOVE IT!!

On her site, I found the recipe I've shared above.

I got the kids dressed, headed to Wal-Mart, and we came home and made these little beauties.

They are in love with what THEY MADE!!

Oh, to be 3 1/2 and 5 again!!

-Brittany

Splish, Splash, Slide

Ice Cream..the perfect after lunch treat on a hot day!

If you couldn't tell, Mr. J & Ms. T had a slip n slide/lunch playdate with their friend, Ms. S!

The kids had so much fun that they played outside almost all day.

They started around 10:30 and didn't stop until 4ish, with the exception of lunch.

Needless to say, the all had loads of fun!!

The Weekend has came and gone!

It was pretty hot here Friday, so I decided to take the kids to the Kannapolis Splash Pad. I, myself, love that place. The kids are just in L.O.V.E. with that place. All in all.....is cheap fun!! Yeah, it's only $1 per person (if you're playing in the water...I'm always FREE!).

So as you can see, Mr. J & Ms. T had a WONDERFUL time splashing!

As a "tradition", before we leave the splash pad, we ALWAYS ride the train!

Agian, $1 per person. So our total for our time splashing and riding was only $5.

Anyhow, needless to say, the kids had a blast.

Friday was also finale night at VBS for the kids.

They were so cute.

They sang and dance. And recieved a certificate of completion.

Also, Mr. Homemaker finished his first week of work with the marketing firm he started with. He's loving it so far.

As a matter of fact, Mr. Homemakers job is why we were M.I.A. this weekend.

Friday, Mr. Homemaker informed me he'd be heading out of town state for a business trip.

He's down in Columbia, SC.

Anyhow, since we knew he was heading out of town, we tried to make as much out of our time as we could.

There were things we had to buy for him to take out of town, and we wanted to do something as a family with the kids.

We  went to dinner at Applebee's with Mr. Homemaker's cousin & wife, then they came & hung out all night with us.

Sunday, we spent as much time with the kids as possible. And bless Mr. Homemakers heart, he done the housework that needed to be done before he left.

And here we are to today.

Today is was the day.

Mr. Homemaker left for SC this morning at 6:30!

It blew!! For two reasons...we've never been apart for this long, and I had to get up SUPER early to see him off.

The kids had a hard time dealing with the fact that today is Monday and daddy won't be back until Friday.

Mr. J had a crying session that lasted 1 1/2 hours this morning...because....he missed daddy!! :(

But, bible school with his friend tonight kicked that saddness out the door.

All in all, not a bad day...let's hope tomorrow goes as well!

-Brittany

A Bowling Adventure

A while back I signed up on a website for the kids to bowl FREE until the end of July.

All I have to pay is the shoe rental!!

How awesome...cheap fun for the kids!!!

I decided to take Mr. J & Ms. T today and check it out.

It was  HUGE hit with both kids!

They each played 2 games and had a WONDERFUL time!!!

We will definately be going back next week.

Free Movie Tuesday...What Could be Better?!

 

Today was FREE MOVIE DAY at the Carolina Mall Cinemas!!

Free is always a good thing and pair that with a movie the kids HADN'T seen yet, Alvin & The Chipmunks: The Squeakquel, and we have a WINNER!!

The kids enjoyed the movie enough that they didn't even complain about the errands we had to run afterwards in this horrid 90 degree weather.

Since they were such troopers about the errands and I couldn't have asked for better behavior at the movie...

Mommy caved in.....I gave them their favorite....ICE CREAM!!!

Oh yeah...who's gettin' major mommy points now??? MEEEEEEEEEE!!!

I figured I'd share a  few photos from the movie (please forgive me on the quality of the last 3 photos...I took those with my cell!).

Housework is calling my name, so I must scoot!

-Brittany

Cooking Class

Today the kids had a playdate/cooking class at a very sweet lady's home, Anne (who I met back in Feb, I think?!) Anne has the most adorable little boy, Will, with the sweetest curls you've ever seen!

Anne does a weekly cooking class for the kids & moms.

The kids get playtime and get to help cook, while the mom's learn some new recipes & have some mom time!

If you can't tell by the looks on their faces, Mr. J & Ms. T had a grand time!

DIY: $1 Watering Can Re-do

As I promised yesterday, I will reveal how my thrift store find was VERY easily transformmed from the photo on the left

To this:

I used "Celery" colored spray paint that Mr. Homemaker had to paint my watering can--FREE

My Watering can as I mentioned yesterday was $1

I added flowers that I had around the house--FREE

Total makeover cost: $1

Once my "makeover" was done, I had the perfect spot in mind for it!

My kitchen table desperately needed some "love"...so here is before and afters of my kitchen table with my new beauty!

-Brittany!



Fabulous finds..............

Mr. Homemaker and I decided to make a trip into town today to do some browsing at local thrift shops!

I can't tell you how much fun we had...and the kids did too!

First we hit the local salvation army!

I found the most adorable mini muffin/cupcake tin for $1; a rusting gold metal watering can decoration piece for $1 and a wall clock that I plan on using in the kids bathroom redo for $2! I was one happy girl!

Mr. Homemaker starts his new job Monday, so he figured he'd check out the dress clothes.

Boy is he glad he did!!

He found a suit for $6.50!!!! How awesome is that?! And it looks B.R.A.N.D. N.E.W!!!

Mr. Homemaker also got 3 new ties (still had the tags on them) for $4.47!

AND--a Ralph Lauren dress shirt for $1.99!!

We walked out of the thrift store paying $18.xx and couldn't have been happier!!

Tomorrow I will show you what this little beauty turns into!

BBQ'd Pork with Mop Sauce

Thanks to a friend of mine, I realized that I had forgotten to post the recipe to the BBQ'd Pork with Mop sauce that I had promised!!

Worry no more, Ashley! Here is the recipe!!! I highly suggest everyone try this because it is super FAB!!!

For the spice rub:

1 T. paprika
1 T. chili powder
1 1/2 t. cumin
1 t. salt
1/4 t. cayenne (can vary as you like)
Cracked black pepper to taste

For the mop sauce:1/3 c. ketchup
1/4 c. cider vinegar
2 T. molasses
2 t. Worcestershire sauce

1 1/2 lb. pork tenderloin or chops (we used chops...you can go with what you like best.)

 To prepare spice rub, combine paprika, chili powder, cumin, salt, cayenne, and pepper in a bowl. Rub half of the mixture over the pork and let set for 15 minutes.  Meanwhile, prepare the mop sauce; combine the ketchup, cider vinegar, molasses, and Worcestershire sauce in a separate bowl. Rub the pork with the remaining spice rub. Toss the pork on the grill and cook until it's done. When your meat is done you can either eat the spice rubbed pork alone (like I did) or dip your meat in the mop sauce (like Mr. J & Ms. T done), or drizzle the mop sauce across the top of the pork (like Mr. Homemaker did). Either way you fix it, it's a quick, easy, and very delicious way to eat pork! Enjoy!!

-Brittany

Lemonade Stand Kit

How stinkin' cute is this? I know a couple of kiddo's who will be getting these little cuties!!

Go check out Giggles Galore for directions!

My Mini Chefs in the making

Last night Mr. Homemaker decided he wanted Steaks for dinner! I surely didn't complain because that meant he was offering to cook. I just had to cook the sides! Mr. J asked if he could help daddy cook and Mr. Homemaker said yes. So while they grilled up some steaks, me and Ms. T fixed some corn, green beans, and homemade redskin mashed potatoes! After dinner was done, the kids decorated their own cupcakes for dessert! Here is a look at my mini chefs in the making!

 



My future grill master

Helping daddy flip the steaks

My potato mashing helper



Cupcake time!

How cute is the concentration face?

A Happy Mr. J with his finished cupcake

Miss priss was SUPER excited to show off her cupcake!



Peach Crumb Pie

Here is the recipe for the Peach Crumb Pie that I promised!

(I forgot to take a picture!!)

Peach Crumb Pie

INGREDIENTS:

(Filling) 3.5 lbs peaches

3/4c. packed light brown sugar

1.5 tbsp cornstarch

1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp. ground ginger

1 tsp. vanilla extract

(Topping) 2/3 c. old fashioned oat

1/2 c. packed light brown sugar

1/4 c. all purpose flour

1/4tsp. salt

2 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted

1 tbsp. lemon juice

1 tsp. water

(Dough) 1 c. all purpose flour

2 tsp. sugar

1/8 tsp. salt

2 tbsp. cold unsalted butter, cut into pcs.

2 tbsp. cold vegetable shortening

1 tsp. cider vineagar

3-4 tbsp. ice water

1. Preheat oven to 375.

2. To make the filling, gently toss together all filling ingredients in lg. bowl until combined.

3. To make crumb topping, stir together oats, brown sugar, flour, and salt in medium bowl. Add butter, lemon juice, and water, stirring until mixed well. With your hands, press crumb mixture together to form large clumps.

4. Whisk together flour, sugar, and salt in large bowl. With pastry blender or two knives used scissor style (I USED MY FOOD PROCESSOR, cut butter and shortening into flour mixture until mixture resembles crumbs. With fork, stir in vinegar and water, 1tbsp. at a time, until dough begins to form.

5. Press dough together and shape into a disk. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 1 hour or up to overnight.

6. On lightly floured work surface with lightly floured rolling pin, roll dough into 12" round. Gently fold dough  in quarters and ease into 9" pie plate, pressing it against side of pie plate. Trim edging, leaving a 1" over hang. Decoratively crimp edge of dough. Spoon peach filling into pie shell. Break up crumb topping clumps and place ontop of filling.

7. Place pie on baking sheet to catch any drips. Bake 40 minutes; loosely cover with sheet of foil to prevent over browning. Bake until filling is bubbling in center, 40-45mins longer. Let cool completely on wire rack.

Mmmmmmmmmmmm...................

How good does this look??????
This was our dinner tonight....Homemade Sicilian Sausage Stuffed Pizza with Spinich Salad!

He got the job!!!!

 MR. HOMEMAKER GOT THE JOB!!!!!!!!!

Mr. Homemaker went Monday for his second interview with the marketing firm, Notch Inc.

He came home and said that the boss was going to make a decision and he would be notified by 5pm Tuesday.

5pm Tuesday came...and he heard nothing!

He has started to get disappointed and at about 5:30 his cell rang......who was it?

It was the boss man himself letting Mr. Homemaker know that he had been given the position!!!

We are SUPER excited!

Mr. Homemaker starts on his journey to a new career Monday morning!

Busy weekend & ANOTHER interview!

This weekend was a busy one for us! Yesterday (Saturday) we had a family gathering at Mr. Homemaker’s Grandparents House. Mr. Homemaker’s great-aunts had come down from Virginia for a weekend visit, and his grandparents wanted to have a family gathering so everyone could visit with them!

So after we woke up yesterday morning, I fixed breakfast for the kids, and started on a pie for the gathering. I started making a homemade Peach Crumb Pie (how yummy does that sound??!!!??). Rushing, rushing, rushing to get the pie done on time (which I didn’t), I realized that it was going to take 1 ½ hours to cook!!!! I did NOT have 1 ½ hours. SOOOOOOO, we popped the pie in the fridge, and headed to Salisbury.

We got to the family gathering and had a great time. Mr. Homemaker’s great aunts ate up all of the attention that Mr. J & Ms. T was giving them. All in all, our gathering went very well…….so well that we didn’t make it home until 8pm!! And the get together started at 1!!!

Today has been a lazy family day. We went to lunch at Firehouse Subs! That has to be the kids’ favorite place to eat. I think it’s just because they get the JR fire hats! And then off to Lowe’s we went to do some “house dreaming”. Mr. Homemaker and I have our own plans for our house, but agreeing on them is the hard part. He wants very manly and, obviously, I want more feminine! So, we shall see! When we came home, we just lounged around until dinner time. Mr. Homemaker grilled our BBQ’d Pork Chops with Homemade Mop Sauce (I’ll share the recipe tomorrow in a separate post). Dinner was awesome! We had the Chops with au gratin potatoes, and farm fresh corn. It doesn’t get much better than that! So, we’ve been busy in our own little Homemaker world. It’s time to get everything ready for the upcoming week. And by the way, let’s all keep our fingers crossed for Mr. Homemaker tomorrow. Mr. Homemaker has his SECOND interview/training session for the first company he interviewed with last week. This would be a WONDERFUL opportunity for our family if he gets the job, so let’s all just say a prayer….or two!

-Brittany!



M.I.A. and Scones

I know I was pretty much MIA yesterday. Mr Homemaker had an interview in Concord. When he got home from that, we decided to head out for lunch and have a family day. We took the kids to this great burger place in Harrisburg, 3 Monkeys! That place is AWESOME! They really do have great food. When we left there, we made a stop by Grandma's job to pick up some dry cleaning and share some ice cream with her.

When we left the dry cleaners, we decided to head out to Concord Mills. We hung out there for a while, or should I say quite a while. Long enough that we ended up having dinner at the Chili's in the food court (per Mr. J's request). We had our dinner and told the kids that if they behaved really well and ate all of their dinner that we had a suprise for them. That surely peaked their interest, but little did they know that we had been planning their suprise all day!

Onto the suprise! We took the kids to see the new Disney Pixar movie "Cars 2". Both kids are in love with Lightning McQueen and Mater. When we pulled up to the theater and they realized what we were doing, they were estatic and on cloud nine! I will say, the movie was quite cute...and the fact that Miss T fell asleep sitting up straight during the movie was even cuter! All in all, our day yesterday was pretty fun and enjoyable. It never hurts to have a day devoted to bonding as a family!

We had another pretty busy day with Mr. Homemaker seeing as how this was his 3rd interview in 3 days and then running errands that needed to be done! I did try something new for breakfast this morning, Lemon Blueberry Scones! These scones turned out great and left Mr. J asking "mommy, can you fix this for breakfast every single day????". You know it's a hit when the picky eater in the house asks for this again!

Enjoy!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lemon Blueberry Scones

3/4c. Blueberries
1 tsp. grated lemon zest
1 1/2c. All-purpose flour
1 1/2c. Whole wheat flour
1/4c.. sugar
1tbsp. baking powder
1/2tsp. baking soda
1/2tsp. salt
2tbsp. unsalted, cold, butter, cut into pcs.
1c. fat free buttermilk

1.   Preheat oven to 400 F.

2. Whisk together blueberries, lemon zest, flour, sugar, baking soda & powder, and salt. Stir. Cut in butter until it resembles crumbs. Stir in buttermilk to flour mixture, just until moist dough forms.

3. With floured hands, knead dough 6-8 times in bowl to bring dough together.

4. Turn dough out onto lightly floured work surface and pat to half inch thick. With floured 2 ½ inch round cutter, cut out 10 rounds without twisting cutter. Gather scra[ps and reroll, make a total of 12.. Place scones 1inch apart on ungreased baking sheet.

5. Bake 12 mins or until golden brown.

Are you a "Retro Housewife"?

You may be wondering, "what is a retro housewife?".  A retro housewife by definition is someone who chooses to stay at home to be a wife and mother. She has options to work outside of the home but prefers to make her living as the manager of her own household.

I would say that yes, I am a retro housewife. I have chosen to stay at home and raise my children since 2005 (four months before my oldest was born). It's now 2011 and I'm still at home raising my family, and I love it! I will say that I am a budding photographer and ocassionally have photo shoots to do, but it's not full time. It's something that I can work around taking care of my family and my home. So I guess you would say I'm "retro with a twist"! LOL!

While reading this article/blog post (http://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/76420/list/The-Retro-Housewife-s-Perfect-Home), I came across a list of information I wanted to share with you. If this list describes you to a tee, then you must be a Retro Housewife!!!

1. The retro housewife is responsible for all of the domestic chores that housewives had no choice but to do in previous generations. She cooks, cleans and crafts. She decorates the home, entertains guests and makes sure everything is organized.

2. The difference between the retro housewife and an old-fashioned housewife is that she chooses this way of life and so revels in it. There are no chains holding her, here. She is a housewife because she loves to be one.

3.Of course, the retro housewife enjoys cooking and might want a more elaborate and functional kitchen.

4.The retro housewife loves to spend time doing DIY crafts. She needs a studio, office or at least some table space to work on whatever she's making. (this is the space I'm lacking in my home...maybe Mr. Homemaker will see this and take note!)

5.A beautiful well-organized laundry room is a must in this woman's home. She may take pleasure in doing household chores but she certainly wants to facilitate doing them with ease!

6. A modern apron is a favorite addition to the retro housewife's clothing collection. It is functional but also celebrates both her domesticity and her sense of style.

All American Potato Salad Recipe

We had dinner out tonight so I didn't have to cook. I figured since I didn't have to cook dinner tonight that I would get a head start on dinner for tomorrow night. Tomorrow's dinner is Barbecued Pork with mop sauce, oven roasted corn, and all american potato salad. I went ahead and started on the potato salad. I will say, it's done and chilling in my refridgerator, and my husband and I tried it already and this recipe is fab!!!

ALL AMERICAN POTATO SALAD RECIPE

INGREDIENTS:

-2lbs. baby red potatoes

-1c. fat free mayo

-1/3c. fresh parsley, chopped

-4 scallions, thinly sliced

-2 small celery stalks, thinly sliced

-2tsp. cider vinegar

-1tsp. dijon mustard

-1/2tsp. salt

-1/4tsp. pepper

Cut the potatoes in half. Put them in a pot and cover with water. Bring the potatoes to a boil.

While the potatoes are cooking, chop the the celery & parsley & scallions.

Put the celery, scallions, and parsley in a bowl. Stir.

Add in the salt, pepper, vinegar, mustard, and mayo. Mix all ingredients.

Turn the potatoes off. Drain. Add the potatoes into the herb mixture. Mix well. Put in the fridge and chill before serving.

This is a weight watcher's points plus recipe! This is only 3 points for a 3/4 cup serving!