emma – Page 9 – Copper Acorn

by Alexis - November 3, 2009

Because of Jamie

Because of Jamie this post is all about pictures. Jamie, my sister, just uploaded some beautiful pictures of a walk in my dad’s neighborhood. They’re of everyday objects that she made to look beautiful- bravo James. They were so simple that I thought I would take some pictures around here in honor of her last post. (Go HERE to see her blog)

There is no reason of any of the pictures, complete randomness. But a quick warning: there are a lot of pictures. Cool ones, but a lot.

A friend recently broke her leg AND ankle falling down her stairs at home. Freaky. So I made them a meal and also this gift basket. It’s basically full of tons of different chocolates, magazines and a card. She is bed ridden and literally can’t move so what else is she going to do?! I feel so bad for her…

Good night moon…

My favorite candle in our living room. It’s almost gone! 🙁

*Thanks mom for getting it for me, our home never smelled so nice.

The temp says it’s 28′ C in our living room…*sigh and it never felt so good.

Autumn’s fingerprint

How the heck did Emma’s pancake crumbs get on the living room rug?! Guess I’ll be vacuuming today.

Emma caught eating pancakes in the living room! It looks beautiful on her top lip, don’t you think?

When I start taking photos Emma gets a little jealous and wants to sit in my lap. Cutie pie.

Emma’s favorite kitty right now

Items under our couch: A plastic egg, a headband, top of a water bottle, Note wrapped in twine, plastic gourd, pink hair clip and bobby pins wrapped together with hair band. All pieces our cats decided they should put under the couch. Thank you Chloe and Janek.

USA and Europe time

I love bright colors…can you tell? Happy November!

by Alexis - October 31, 2009

Halloween Experience

We did it, our first Halloween trick or treating…and it will probably be our last, seeing that we’re hopefully still planning on being in Poland sometime next fall/winter. Who knows, we’ll see.

It was a fun night with all of our friends from church and we prayed befoe and while we were walking around the neighborhood. Many people here don’t see the spiritual affects because it has been culturally ingrained. Our friends who hosted the party, made a point to go to their neighbor’s houses to maintain and encourage relationships. Children are a great bridge.

Emma was our darling Princess Snow White.

She liked the glow in the dark bracelets more than getting candy. Oh well, thank you Dollar Tree. It was still a fun experience for her 🙂

OK cute huh. But I was TOTALLY awkward here because I wasn’t next to Trav or Emma and I didn’t have anyone to be cheesy with.

I love this picture. Didn’t you know Snow White wore hot pink socks?

OK all together….’awwwww’

Every Princess has to have a carriage.

At our friend’s house winding down.

by Alexis - October 29, 2009October 29, 2009

Toilet Paper Submerging

Emma had her first ‘incident’ as a toddler. She likes to go into our bathroom and play around in there. (no idea why-it’s the most boring room in the whole house) Well we have a lot of people over regularly and so we have one of those toilet paper holders that hold like 3 at a time so that whenever you need to refill it it’s right there.
One day she was in there and I heard her telling me something. So I look to see what she was doing and the toilet seat was up and an entire toilet paper roll was submersed in the toilet water. Ugh. I start to laugh, throw it away and wash her hands.
The whole time she’s looking at me like, ‘what just happened?!” LOL She’s so great. I was asking myself the same thing. 🙂

Reflective thoughts:

I was looking through some blogs and realized that I don’t know what I want mine to be. Is it a photography blog? kinda

a food blog? yeah, i guess. Is it about being creative with other mediums? when I have the money I thought about it and am still thinking about it. I know it will evolve with my life, but I wouldn’t mind some guidance I guess.

by Alexis - October 26, 2009

Rainy Day= Creative Day

We woke up to rainy windy weather this morning, so my idea of going to the park flew away with the wind.

Can you see the river?!

Splikity Splat Splat

Luckily I bought a paint set for Emma at the Dollar Tree (LOVE that store!) a couple days ago and thought we could have a fun painting day. And it was. She was more interested in the water than the colors and then if she wanted to chose a color- it was black. Oh well, she’s one. 🙂 All in all, her pictures turned out really well! (with some help choosing colors from mom) She made 3 masterpieces and I’m going to make them into Christmas presents. I think involving shadow boxes and other little things she loves to do.

But what about me?! I needed an activity that would make me happy. Hmmm, so I made a peach cobbler. I think all my creative juices are living in the kitchen because that is a place I know money will always pour into- grocery budget! It’s harder to find the spare cash to buy cardstock, stones/crystals or stamps. So here I am in the kitchen. I found this in a blog but can’t find it again! I am sorry but I give all credit to her…wherever she is.

IT ONLY HAS 3 INGREDIENTS!!!!!!!!!! (thinking of you Melissa) I was skeptical at first but people it turned out awesome! (Travis called it perfect-and that never happens) All that’s in this baby is canned peaches, a yellow cake mix sprinkled evenly on top and one stick of butter cut into slices all over the top. That’s it! In that order and bake for about 1hr or until the top is nice and golden brown. I didn’t have ice cream OR whip cream.Oh well, it was still really good hot out of the oven. (I made it at 8:30pm last night-sorry for the bad picture above)

I am going to rely on this heavily in the winter months and for dinner parties and for potlucks and…etc. I was going to can pie filling and all that…but now I know just to buy regular old canned fruit! Who knew?! I am thinking about making this next with cherry pie filling. (my favorite) Yum. Try it- you can’t screw it up. Totally safe and EASY PEASY!

*note: I actually didn’t make this with canned peaches but with a 2lb bag of frozen peaches. I added 1/2 C water 1/2 C light corn syrup- you can’t cut the liquids, the cake mix NEEDS to soak it up to make it moist and well, edible. hehe

by Alexis - October 24, 2009October 24, 2009

It is done!

The party came and went last night and I can say that from my perspective it went well. I only wish I had a backyard for the kiddos to run around and go crazy in. Oh, well. Emma was, of course, Snow White. I actually dressed up as a cow girl, who I was later told I looked like a farmer. Huh, better work on that. Emma had a lot of fun, pushing a stroller full of babies, eating brownies and playing with her friends. She had her moments of being overloaded and wanting to snuggle with me- which I ate up with a spoon.

Brandon and Becky

I had been fighting a stress headache the entire day and knew that when the party was over I could start relaxing. We even had a dear couple (above pictures) who stayed behind and they helped us clean the house! It meant so much to me. They even left and came back with TACO BELL! And that is a serious love language for me…they are so sweet and thoughtful. They even babysit Emma randomly when I’m calling the day of. Good friends are important to have. They also both have blogs so please go check them out. Go here to see Becky’s and here to see Brandon’s. THANK YOU GUYS FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART!

Aren’t these mini Pumpkin Cupcakes ADORABLE?! A girlfriend friend made them, go here to see her blog, and they were a bit hit. Thank you Amy!

Another girlfriend made these- check out her blog here. The leaf and pumpkin muffins made with spice batter was so YUMMY! I think they just perfectly capture fall.

I didn’t have a shirt so I had to borrow from Trav’s side of the closet. Eyeliner for the ‘freckles’ and the hat is vintage- it was Trav’s as a young boy…either I have a tiny head or he had an enormous head as a toddler. 🙂

The children’s activity- coloring pumpkins. The older kids took this very seriously and the younger one’s thought it was more fun to color on our coffee table. Good thing they were washable and just cleaned right up. It sure made the parents sweat with fear. hehe

“Oh my goodness!”

All 9 children who came. It was so cute! Costumes in order: Snow White, Cowboy (even with chaps!), Ballerina, Kitty, Samurai Warrior, Kitty, Lady bug (Emma’s BFF), Cheerleader and Robin Hood. SO SUPER COOL, but a bit crazy too. So how did I wind down?…..

TACO BELL BABY! *sigh…ah, now I can start relaxing. This was Trav and my dinner, at around 9pm. Yikes.

If you want me to do something for you- Taco bell is close to my heart. I’m going to upload more pictures of friends and Emma onto her blog later today so check it out!

by Alexis - October 22, 2009October 22, 2009

Manicures

After talking with my mom on the phone, I felt like I had kinda slipped from doing the cool things Emma and I used to do together. So, I decided that we would start doing fun things today. Small things are just as memorable as big events. In fact I have great memories of my family hanging out in the kitchen laughing so hard I would pee my pants…ah the good ol’ days. 🙂

Today we had manicures. She had a beautiful Sparkle Pink and I had a French manicure. She ADORED it and loved seeing the color being painted onto her finger nails. She even begged for two coats! I stopped it then because she wanted three- this girl is hard core. I must say that even though my fingers don’t look horrible, I can’t wait to visit my mom and get a REAL manicure and pedicure. It is the best girl time. Well, that’s it and I hope you enjoy the pictures.

This is showing Emma’s begging in wanting three coats of polish! Check her blog out for a different perspective. 🙂

Tada!

Try this with your daughter, sister, cousin, niece. It makes such a great memory. 🙂

by Alexis - October 20, 2009October 20, 2009

Meal Planning: October 09

Meal time again. Whoopie. Not to fun for you but a nessesity for me. If I don’t plan, I will freak out next week thinking we don’t have any food. So here it is. Oh, and I have to show a picture of Emma…a post isn’t a post without a picture right?!!!!

Tuesday: BBQ Chicken Pizza

Wednesday: Chicken Noodle Cheesy Cassarole

Thursday: Chicken Empanadas

Friday: Chicken Fajitas with Roasted Vegetables

Saturday: Leftover night! Yahoo for me!

Sunday: Chicken Bean Toastadas

Monday: Date night

Tuesday: Steak/noodle Concoction

Wednesday: Chicken Pot Pie

Thursday: Grilled Cheese Sandwiches and Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

Friday: Steak Salad

Saturday: Leftover night! Yahoo for me!

Sunday: Small Group Football Game!

Monday: Homemade Chili and Cornbread

Doesn’t this make you want to scoop her up and not let anything bad touch her?! *sigh I am now going to give you a list of the ‘lunch items’ I am making for Travis’ lunch meals. I am stretching it kinda but making desserts is always more fun.

Cranberry Cinnamon Rolls- Check

3 Pumpkin Breads (to freeze)

Caramel Corn- one batch done, one more to make

Cappuccino Brownies

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Peach Cobbler- be looking for this incredible recipe! (only 3 items!)

Blueberry Muffins

Almond Biscotti

Berry filled Empanadas/ coated in cinnamon sugar

All of these have been in my ‘to do list’ and I am making them all now while I have the energy and freeze most of them. This way when I’m feeling lazy (and I do more often than I should in the winter months) I’ll just pop these suckers out of the freezer. Want to make them with me?

by Alexis - October 19, 2009

A Lovely Day in the Neighborhood

Today was a beautiful day. The clouds threatened us with dark colors but nothing has rained down on us but sunshine. Emma and I took a walk because Emma was freaking out wanting to go outside it would be good for Emma to get some fresh air. Once outside, she immediately started talking high pitched and looking for the neighborhood cat. She ADORES it and just so happens to also freak it out. She’s just a toddler….I mean my baby…*sniff, my baby is growing up!…..

Here kitty kitty

“There it is mommy!!!”

Unfortunately, it only came to see me and after a while got frustrated with Emma and just left. So we continued on our walk adventure. I took many many pictures and annoyed the crap out of Emma, but out of them all….only ONE had her with her eyes open. This one:

We slowly came home and colored on her special pumpkin, a project I had been holding off on till today. I had to have something to bribe her with to come inside…and she didn’t want to come inside…she let me and the whole neighborhood understand she didn’t want to.

This pumpkin is awaiting Emma’s creativity. So before…

In the middle of being beautified…

OK say it with me. “Oooooooo” I know, she has an artists stare huh…:) Or maybe the sun is just in her eyes.

Tada! The finished product which greets visitors at our front door. 🙂 Enjoy your Monday, we are going out to celebrate a friends birthday for dinner. (Yahoo, I don’t have to make anything!!!) Tomorrow I’m making BBQ Chicken pizza…mmm. For some reason I’ve been craving BBQ. Huh. Anyhoo, have a nice evening.

by Alexis - October 16, 2009October 16, 2009

Janek the Pirate Captain

Don’t you just wish you could relax like animals…or at least like cats?! Never complaining and even prefering paper bags to comfy couches. Hmmm, but maybe he isn’t relaxing at all and is…pretending to be a sea captain! Captain Janek out on the wide open ocean who has the last treasure map taking him to a treasure chest full of tuna and fake mice. (because real mice would be yucky) There he hudles behind a big rock looking at the site of the treasure. But alas, it is guarded by many scary looking cars and dogs. Will he be able to take hold of this treasure?!

OR……

Emma and I had a nice day together although our days tend to side more on the boring end of the scale. Our exciting adventure today was we went grocery shopping. My life has officially become lame. I never though I would get excited and plan my meals out 2 weeks in advance and make desserts just because. However, if I was living by myself I would seriously be eating a whole lot crappier.

We went to the pumpkin patch last weekend and unfortunately didn’t get pumpkins. The ATM wasn’t working and the fix-it-man wasn’t fixing…sad day. Well Emma got her pumpkin at the grocery store today and tomorrow we will decorate it. I have a couple ideas. We’ll see- and of course I will take pictures of it.

by Alexis - October 13, 2009October 13, 2009

What a Typical Monday looks like in my house

What a typical Monday looks like in our house.

On a typical Monday and most days you will find me making either crepes or pancakes. (different verities of course) Emma and I both love them.

I turned to clean her tray from breakfast and hear this ‘whosh’ sound…oh no. As I walk into the living room I see Emma has emptied the ENTIRE box of Goldfish crackers. hehe Life is too short to get mad over things like this. I took some pictures and we learned how to clean up.

Emma is a snuggler, most of the time. She loves, and I mean loves, Chloe. And Chloe likes her, but I think that’s because Emma feeds her human food- just a hypothesis. Anyhoo, I was looking on Facebook in the morning and looked up to find this. How cute! (notice the pancake still in her hands) I didn’t remember to turn on the flash though- my bad.

I can never ever get on the computer and not have Chloe want to all of a sudden snuggle with me. It makes it impossible to type. She can’t be comfortable with me typing and moving- but there she stays. Sweet stubborn thing.

Any time I take photos of the cats, Emma comes up and fake smiles wanting me to take some of her…I love that about her. That’s about it. I didn’t take any photos of last night, but I went to a friends house to watch MNF and Trav stayed home and chilled with Emma. Have a great Tuesday.