Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Monday, November 28, 2011

gobble gobble...

here are some pics from our turkey day weekend!
sweet baby blue eyes...
is a lil turkey butt...
he's also the happiest baby....
cullen eyeing his feet, deciding which toes he wants to eat..


turkey day table at my parents house...
i forgot to take a pic of our delicious meal, oops...
nephew dominic with a turkey....
my brother, gina and dom....they are expecting baby holden in march!!
sweet boy...
my mom and culley, i love this picture.  wish it wasn't blurry...
it was a beautiful day outside, usually by thanksgiving in MN we have LOTS of snow...
cousins - dom was playing the piano for cullen.  C was fascinated with him, he kept touching him...
my sis and her bf....
my dad playing with the boys while the rest of us played a game....he is known as the baby stealer ;)
culley enjoyed his thanksgiving feast.  sweet potatoes and bananas...
C had a few outfit changes, haha.  end of the night jammies....
we had a great thanksgiving :)  hope ya'll did too!!

Sunday, November 27, 2011

WINNERS!

The winner of the Wild Juniper giveaway is:
The winner of the 4 coupons for Hormel coupons (for free side dishes) is:
CONGRATS!!

I have more giveaways coming up after the holidays!!! 
So be sure to come on back and keep on entering :)

I hope you all had a fabulous Thanksgiving!!

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

fakesgiving....

i've never cooked a turkey before.
i really have no desire to.
digging guts out, finding an animals organs...gag me.
on that note, i do love to eat turkey. ha!
i just like it best when my mom cooks it ;)
that being said, i decided to have my parents over for a fakesgiving last wednesday night.
a fakesgiving including some thanksgiving day faves and a ham!
wednesday is our family night to watch survivor and i had a quick and easy meal planned thanks to hormel!

here are all the goodies i had...

everything was so simple to throw together!
i threw the ham in a crockpot and let it slow cook for 3 hours.
i kept coating it in brown sugar..
every time i would lift the lid, the smoke would come out and the smell was amazing!

to go along with the simple prep of our meal, hormel was kind enough to send me coupons to purchase their country crock side dishes!
in the first photo the 4 tubs in the right are the dishes i chose. 
i made the 2 tubs of loaded mashed potatoes.
just pop the tubs in the microwave and heat up for 5 minutes.
they tasted homemade!

i saved the two other country crock side dishes to bring to my parents for our actual thanksgiving meal!
the side dishes just have to be kept in your fridge and they have a shelf life of over a month.

whipping together green bean casserole is so easy as well...
2 cans of green beans
1 can of cream of celery
splash of milk
mix together and bake for 20 minutes at 350
sprinkle on onions and cook another 5

i made some rhodes frozen rolls as well.
these rolls were so strange, well to me at least.
i've never bought them before and i'm so glad i read the package when i got home.
they are frozen rolls and they have to sit at room temperature for around 4 hours to rise.
easy enough though!
can you tell which one cullen touched ;)
before i popped them into the oven to bake for 25 mins i put some butter and garlic salt on them!
everything is better with butter and garlic!

the meal was very easy to make and there wasn't hardly any prep!
once everything was baked we had a buffet style line and we all dug in.
for more information check out online schooling to find culinary classes that can teach you about cooking for thanksgiving!



everything was so yummy and just a tease for thanksgiving feast!
i had apple pie and blackberry pie but we ate too much dinner to have dessert.
i can't wait for turkey day!!
big THANK YOU to hormel for allowing me to cook this quick and easy fakesgiving!! 

culley hung out with us in a pair of his gooble gooble jammies, just for the fakesgiving occasion ;)

Hormel wants to lighten the load of your holiday food prep as well and offer ONE of YOU coupons for their yummy side dishes!!
Four $3.50-off Hormel™ Country Crock® side dishes coupons to help make your holiday meals a cinch to prepare – valued at nearly $20!
*leave a comment below to be entered*
winner will be picked in the next few days!
CLOSED


i hope you all have a very happy thanksgiving!!! 

[i received four coupons for the country crock side dishes and a $25 gift card to buy the ham and some of the other goodies]

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

well, it finally happened....

it was inevitable...
i mean, we do live in the frozen tundra...
yep, i'm talking about snow...
we had our first snow fall of the season on saturday.

i dislike snow...
i dislike being cold...
i dislike wet socks from stepping on melted snow...
ya know, right after you take your shoes off from coming in from outside...
ugh, wet socks are icky.

i can say one positive thing about the first snow fall of the season....
i know this cute baby...
cute baby's, handsome daddy got him all bundled up in a snow suit...
then put a red and white striped hat on his head...
put the cute baby in the snow pile....
happy cute baby in the snow...
makes his momma smile :)

on saturday morning when tiny flurries were falling C and i went to the mall...
we got there right when it opened...
there was not even a line for santa...
as we walked past i so badly wanted to let C visit him...
but that is one of the "firsts" that daddy has to be with us for...
we both just took in the scenery...
we went to the few stores we needed to visit...
christmas outfits were bought...
and we were on our way...

we headed home as the snow was really starting to come down...
while at home all nice n' cozy in our comfies...
i got a call from B that his car wouldn't move on the road...
having performance tires on slick roads don't mix...
said car had to get towed....
boo.

sunday the sun was shinning...
the snow not melting...
we spent all day inside in comfies...
well, until we went to my parents for family dinner...
wouldn't want to miss that, family time is the best.

monday...
oh monday, november 21st...
said cute little baby mentioned above...
he turned 7 months old...
time, please slow down.

now its tuesday...
i received my first tasks for my part time job....
time to brew up some coffee...
and get to work!

p.s. don't forget to enter the GIVEAWAY!!

Monday, November 21, 2011

Wild Juniper - GIVEAWAY, Discount and Review!!

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I came across Wild Juniper when I was looking for some winter onesies for Cullen.  I fell in love with so many of the items in their store.  Erin and Rachel are the Mom's who run Wild Juniper, here is a little bit about them in their words...

We are first-time moms who are figuring out how this whole mommy thing works. How can we live in a way that inspires our kids? We want to live fearlessly and creatively, while still honoring our families. We love our kids and can't believe how great this adventure is (though it can sure be stressful!) Not only do we love our new role as "momma", we love to create. Creating gives a sense of purpose. As my hands move, my mind rests. There is an amazing sense of accomplishment in seeing what can be created from an old t-shirt, that pre-baby skirt, a beautiful yard of fabric, an old frame, a chair found at a thrift store....

We want to add embellishment, creativity, and originality to our lives, and we want to share it with you!

Now onto the fun goodies in their store....

[for the boys]
handsome little stud

[for the girls]
pretty little princess

[for the home]


Erin and Rachel also have a Vintage Store on Etsy that deserves a visit as well. 

These two kind ladies sent Cullen a snowman onesie!
Perfect for Minnesota winters!  
Cullen and I adore it :)
[Our little Frosty the Snowman]


The ladies of Wild Juniper are extending a discount to all my readers!  The promo code for the discount is ANNIE15, it is for 15% off!!  This code will work for one week.
They are ALSO offering one of YOU a $35 gift certificate to their store!!  They have more than just baby stuff in their store so be sure to check it out!

Mandatory entries...
1. Follow my blog
2. Visit Wild Juniper and let me know what you would pick with the $35 gift certificate!
Additional entries...
Their blog has all kinds of fun projects on it!
6. Follow me on Twitter
7. Tweet about the Giveaway
8. Follow Chapters of our Life on Facebook


Time for ya'll to go do some Christmas shopping!!

Giveaway and discount will end a week from today!
GOOD LUCK TO ALL!!


p.s. For more gift ideas check out PlumDistrict!  Just for signing up you get a free $5 and there are all kinds of great deals --> click link below to accept my gift of $5 to spend at PlumDistrict & today only you can get an EXTRA $10 if you enter enjoy10!   that's $15 FREE dollars!!  https://www.plumdistrict.com/?ref=ub3bc8896fb8

Sunday, November 20, 2011

Lions and Lily Pads - WINNER

Lucky #13 is the winner!

Mandy over at Mommy Musings
CONGRATS!!  

p.s. new GIVEAWAY will be posted tomorrow! :)

Thursday, November 17, 2011

worcestershire, what....

1. first things first, i'm adoring this sweet boy....

2.  i made another ornament wreath. just for fun, they are fun to make. takes up time while baby C is asleep and hubs is away. i think i will be adding more to this wreath, like my B said.....how do you know when to stop, it seems like you could just keep going and going.

3. another thing i made....fakesgiving....without the turkey and not on thanksgiving. your mind may be wandering right about now which is why i have a post all about FAKESGIVING coming up soon ;)

4. when it comes to me and working out, i did it. once, monday....since then i've been so sore. my entire body feels bruised. maybe, just maybe, i'll attempt the shred today.

5. worcestershire sauce. i love it and add it to anything that i can. i also eat just worcestershire sauce on rice, instead of soy sauce.  it's so yummy.

6. have you all started decorating for christmas?!  i put our halloween decor away and left out some of the fall decor.  i'm planning to put up cullen's tree in his room today!

7. did i mention i LOVE when babies, mine in particular, grab their feet! too flippin' cute!!!

8. we finally have coffee in our house again after not having any the past two weeks. i'm so thankful, this is just the morning for it.  cullen was up a lot last night and woke up for good at 6:30, i feel like i didn't sleep a wink.

9. have you entered my giveaway for Lions and Lily Pads yet??  if not, you must! i ALSO have more giveaways coming up from fun boutiques! i just love boutiques, what can a momma say?!

10.  i actually have to start "working" soon. which is so weird.  this has been put off for a while but i'm ready for this new endeavor.  the past 7 months my only job has been to take care of baby C and now i am adding real work into the mix.  i'm nervous but also excited. it's work i can do from home and i can still be with C while making money. i don't know if i'll know exactly what i'm doing but i'm up for the challenge.

now i'm off to enjoy the day with my sweet c-bear, starting with coffee for me and breakfast for him :)

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Lions and Lilypads - GIVEAWAY!! & Review

CLOSED
[winner will be posted tonight]

Thanksgiving this year has an all new meaning for us.  We have the biggest blessing ever to be thankful for, our sweet baby boy!  Cullen is always dressed for holidays and the days leading up to the holiday, Turkey Day is not going to be an exception!  The talented ladies from Lions and Lilypads have so kindly sent Cullen a shirt to wear just for the occasion!  
How cute is our little turkey in his turkey goobler initial shirt!!
we just LOVE this shirt!!

You must head over to Lions and Lilypads to see all the cuteness in their shop!!  Their prices are very reasonable. You will be impressed with everything!


Holiday!


oh and personalized initial shirts!

I think by now you all know I'm slightly obsessed with customized clothes.  I suppose I should share some of the other adorable items from the Lions and Lilypads shop!  If I didn't I'd be cheating ya'll because there are other cute items!
see for yourself.....

rompersdresses and super cute outfits

seasonal bows!

Be sure to check out the Lions and Lilypads store to see the other darling items they have!!

ONE of YOU lucky readers are going to win a shirt of your choosing!
Remember, even if you don't have kiddos, you can gift the shirt to family or friends kiddos!

MANDATORY ENTRIES:
1. Follow my blog
2. Go visit Lions and Lilypads and let me know what shirt you would choose from their store
ADDITIONAL ENTRIES:
3. Heart Lions and Lilypads Etsy Store
4. Like Lions and Lily Pads on Facebook
5. Like Chapters of our Life on Facebook
6. Follow me on Twitter
7. Tweet about the giveaway

Be sure to leave SEPARATE comments for each entry to count!
This giveaway will end next Monday, the 21st.
GOOD LUCK TO ALL!!

p.s. I posted a pic of my ErinCondren labels the other day on FB and twitter and had a few questions about them! there's a deal on OKL now for labels!  - click top left pic once on site!
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