Tootaloo and a Banjo Too

Hello there kids!

My kids are super crazy. Celeste is starting to talk a lot more now, which makes me feel better about her starting school this year. she plays with the neighborhood kids almost all day long, so I dont really have any funny quotes other than, "MOM..POOPY IS NOT A BALL!!" I might need to explain that one..she found a stuffed cat she had named poofy today, and spent the morning calling it poopy, then she kept shoving it in my face saying, 'PET HER PET HER PET HER!!!' so I tossed the cat out of my face, thus the oh so charming poopy is not a ball quote. Seriously, nothing THAT strange happens MUCH around here....

As for the boy...he's becoming an escape artist...climbing out of the shopping cart, high chair, even climbing up the baby gate. He roars while throwing his arms up, as to say IM A MONTSER!! GRRR!!! and tooth #4 has finally made it's arrival,so no more hillbilly lil three tooth grin.

As for my boring craft rut, I FINALLY got some good crafts this past week.
Exibit A: The skirts.

Exibit B: Personalized sign...with instructions on making your own!!

Here is all the stuff I used. First I modpodged twon 12x12" scrapbook paper on a 12x24" canvas (yes, modpodge under the paper, and over). Then I traced the letters on contrasting paper and cut them slightly smaller than the outline, and modpodged them.

After it was all dry, I took my dark brown paint and stensiled on a few decorations, and then painted the sides and outer edged of both the canvas and letters.

I put on some fragil crackle (you cant even tell, but maybe one day I'll rub some paint in the cracks), then glued on the letters, and bam-o....your own personalized sign!

Some of you may remember it matches the one I did for the kitchen, so when we move, I have the option of putting them together.

So...this weekend I went with my friend to TONS of furniture stores!!! I FINALLY picked out a bookcase and living room chairs. I went back to the base and ordered the bookcase from the furniture store for cheaper AND no tax. I'll get the chairs later, but I'm tired of having boxes of books in my living room.

I had to take the kids on Saturday cause Greg was helping a friend move, but Sunday was just me and my friend.....or so it was planned. As I was backing out of the driveway, Celeste came out sobbing cause I was leaving without her. AWWW!! So.....she came with us. Later that night I FINALLY got patio furniture. I wanted two chairs and a table, Greg wanted a loveseat swing. I figured since I picked out the living room stuff, Greg could pick out the patio stuff. And now all the kids love swinging on our swing.

Granite Sheep

Hello there. I figured I would do a few updates. Well folks, here they are.

On the subject of the house:
I was drastically under budget this paycheck. Not MUCH to do. Here's the Super awesome pictures.
Dining Room:
Before

After:

Laundry Room Before:

After:

Stair Case Before:

After:

I felt very very bored with this section. It was essensial cause I needed things like the key holder and a bag dispenser, and our table top was getting very worn so I got a table cloth, and found a runner that matched the kitchen runner exactly but was more for suitable for wiping feet, but it was very boring to me. Crafts included framing (including customly framing the big family picture) and making a bag dispenser. Blah. Very boring indeed. I barely even topped $100 out of my $200 budget. You know what that means??
GRAND FINALE!!! I got a new piece of furniture for our empty living room!! YAY!

See how pretty it is? Our new entry table! I put a wax warmer on it and got some scentsy wax, and it makes my entire house smell GRAND!! Next furniture? A large bookcase.

Next on my list of things to write about is a new thing I'm doing. My wonderful mother go me an amazing thing for my birthday. A HUGE golden book of CHOCOLATE. Wait, that's not right....RECIPES. THAT's better. Chocolate RECIPES. I am going to do one a week. YUM! Don't you wish you were over once a week!!
This week was a lovely delicious brownie type dessert. Three words: Chocolate. Cream cheese. Orange. That's right. I present to you Cream Cheese Swirl Brownie.

MM Yes. Take it all in. I accidentally made it in an 8inch square pan instead of 9inch, and was freaking out cause the middle wasnt even close to being done when it should have been so I read and reread the instructions before realizing my error. I just baked it for a while longer and it turned out really good. It's one of those foods that you're not sure you like it untill you take more than three bites, then you realize you love it and can never live without it. True story.

As for life in the Hill family, I'm shopping for superhero tees cause everyone in the family has several but I have zero. I have made great friends with my neighbor and we've begun doing Insanity (work out program) together. Greg is growing closer to my friend's husband, cause they work on cars (shock). Celeste runs wild in the neighborhood and I'm getting a little more comfortable with it because she's always with a girl her age and sometimes with a group of boys slightly older than her, and they always stay around four houses in a square. I've been to a scentsy party, mary kay party, and a movie with the neighborhood ladies. It's a great life in Camp P, and yes....we still LOVE it.

Panda Panda Panda Panda Panda PAN-DAH!!

Today I took a trip down Shelley Does it Herself Lane. Sometimes...when I haven't done a craft in more than one week, I start to get the shakes and start getting itchy teeth that make me think of CRAFTING. Ok..well, maybe not, but you get the idea. UNFORTUNATELY, because I have been pacing myself on this darn house, this pay period has just been dragging on and on and on, and I'm not even on a very fun area. So far the pay period is two days left and I have spent less than $60. Crafts? Well, I'll get to that at a later blog. Wow, I really do just go on and on, don't I. Well, there I was. Craft withdrawl. And sometimes I see something so fun and neat that I must replicate it. I look at directions once or twice, then obssess in my head about how I shall execute it. I THINK I get that from being in Colorguard through high school, but I'm not sure.

Ok...more TO THE POINT. A friend posted a picture of some cute panda bread. What the frick is panda bread? Well, read on people.

All the sites I googled gave a recipe, but I just used my own recipe (thanks for the cookbook, mom!!) that I knew was good and involved rising a few times. This is everything I used.

When I got the dough to the right consistency, I divided it into three balls, with one being half as big as the other two.

I used food coloring to make one of the big balls green, and cocoa to make the small one brown.

I let it rise to double, then got out my two brad pans.

I separated all the dough in half.

Constructing the face was the first part. I separated the white dough in three balls, one being half as big as the other two, just like step one. I rolled one of the bigger pieces into a worm as long as a bread pan. I separated the brown ball into four equal parts, and made two worms to put on the top of the first worm, and made the small white ball into a worm for between the eyes.

Still with me? Good. I made more of a rectangle from the rest of the white dough and wrapped up the face nice n purdy.

Then I made the other two bworn pieces into worms and put them on the top for ears. I got a small chunk of the green ball and made a worm for between the ears.

Then I made a large rectangle out of the green, and wrapped the whole thing up.

Awwwww, who's a snuggly wuggly panda bear?

I made two (obviously) and put them in the bread pans to rise again. What is the moral of the story?
Shelley has too much time on her hand that she's making snuggly wuggly animals into her family's food.

(The on on the right was the one I took pics of.)

THE END.

Humble Gumby Takes Rufus

Aaah,

The sweet warmth of the sun...

It's getting nice and warm out there now...we went to the getty..

With FRIENDS!!

And me and the boy stayed on our towel..

While the girl played in the sand.

It's sooo nice to have friends who are our neighbors. :)
Mothers Day was nice too. We went to Ihop and stayed in, my baby girl recorded a message into a card for me. Something I will keep forever.

Spooky-ookey Blubber Hubs

We had a fun adventure this weekend. Our friend Veronica came over for a playdate. She has a baby two weeks older than Caleb, and is looking for a new full time sitter. It went very well, Coral, who is very particular and not very happy with strangers, even snuggled with me by the end of the day. We had a baby race up the stairs, it felt like racing snails. Caleb pulled ahead and swerved directly in Coral's path. Now that boy has stratagy. We had a picnic outside in our front yard.

It was pretty cute the way the babies interacted with each other. They started moving like a herd. Veronica lives far away, but works on base and has been experimenting with getting here then to work on time. So....I might just have another little one soon.

Yesterday we went to the beach. it's so beautiful here, it was only 70degrees, but the sand was very warm and the temperature felt great.

Celeste found TWO ladybugs on the shore, and was telling me how crazy they were being.

Caleb has been doing some funny things, dramaticly throwing balls,

or standing on people, or trying to climb over them, or playing funny games,

that crazy Caleb monster is sooo funny.