St. Patrick's Day Breakfast

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone!

I don't know about you guys but we have been hearing about some ornery little Leprechauns running rampant this week.  While Skaterboy was setting a trap for one at our house this morning it looks like the little mischief maker had already been in the kitchen.  All our breakfast was turned green!  Little Miss M must like green food because she put down 3 pancakes all by herself!  Looks like we have a new tradition.

Miss M's

The Trap!

What do you do to celebrate this Irish holiday?

House for Rent in July

Quick post about my house so I can have pictures up somewhere.

Beautiful House, Great Location!
This house is updated and ready to go! New hardwood laminate, and nice tile throughout house, newly painted rooms and kitchen cabinets, new appliances, and new fence! One part of yard fenced off and is great play area for small children. The LG. storage shed has lots of storage space, we use as playroom (carpeted, ceiling fans, window unit ac/heat, sink w/running water, etc...attic, 2 car carport, Split floor plan 3BDR/2BTH, laundry room, fireplace (gas or log), vaulted ceiling in LR, lg closets, Master has separate garden tub & shower, double sink, lots of room. Covered back patio great for entertaining, plus the raised deck on shed adds for extra room. ADT alarm system installed plus window sensors(if you choose to have $40). We are having the outside trim/deck painted soon as well. We are under 2 minutes away from great Elementary school, under 20 to Benning, if you want the quiet neighborhood feel but by all the shopping this is for you! We are planning to be out last day of June so it's ready for July 1st. 1 or 2 year lease would be preferable.  We also prefer no pets but will consider case by case with additional pet deposit.

Living room

view from living room

from dining area into kitchen...could be seating area or buffet but we use as office area.

LG shed, carpeted, water, etc...we use for play room.

Back yard facing street...play area, to the left is shed, right is carport.

Front

Let them Eat Cake!!!

Cakes, cakes, & cakes!  I had some cakes to make this weekend and got to play around with some new designs.  My daughter is loving the Pink Ruffle cake and wants one in purple and pink swirls.  Mardi Gras is coming up and I'm sure someone has some birthdays, baby showers, etc...coming up soon.  Check out my cake page for details, I would love to bake some up some Sweet Fun for your next party!

Organizing!

I have finally got the organizing bug!  We are set to move in July, so it's too early to start packing (even though I really want to start!) I have had to come up with something to keep me motivated (besides getting this house ready to rent out).  And with my new love (obsession) Pinterest there are so many ideas out there...I could cruise all day for inspiration. 

I have decided to tackle one room/area a day and get the house as organized as possible.  One, it will make it easier when it is time to pack up and two, if I get a good system down now we will all be used to it so it will work right into the new house.  Always thinking :) 

A running theme on these amazingly organized Pinterest people is baskets...lots of baskets, fancy or not, plastic, rubber, wicker, with handles or whatever works but lots of baskets!  

I recently finished my Fridge and Pantry redo!  I am so excited to show you.  The Fridge idea came from I think this link... for the baskets which I found at Walmart (they had smaller ones at Target).  And for the Pantry...This blog has a ton of ideas!...I found a bunch of the rubber buckets with handles at the Dollar Tree. Then these Sites had Free labels! I kind of smushed the ideas together and did what worked for my space and my stuff.  I am very happy with how it turned out.  

Before...the mess! and what you don't see, a storage container on the other side of the kitchen so I always had to go back and forth and dig in the drawers for some of my baking supplies.  Now it is all in one place and I can find what I need!

After...

with the labels on...

and the fridge with the baskets with handles.

love these, you can just pull out what you need to make lunches, or the condiments for 'burger night' ...all in one place.

I also broke down all the snack boxes like cheese its, flip crackers, animal crackers, etc...and put them into snack bags.  Now they are in the 'lunch box snacks' bucket...easy to grab and toss into lunch box.  And I don't have a fancy machine (I really want one!) and my sticker machine is even out of laminate so I had to get crafty.  I cut out the printed labels and put them between layers of the clear package tape...it laminated them just fine.  It didn't take as long as I thought (you know, overwhelmed for a minute with most of our food pulled out onto the kitchen floor with my 2 year old rummaging around pulling out old candy) and it was worth it.  What areas are you reorganizing? I would love more tips!

Family Strong...old writings.

I found our old blog and linked back to my account...it was nice to go back and read the posts and see what God has done in our lives.  We started 'Family Strong' when Charming joined the Army as a place for our families and  friends to keep up with us.  Of course this was all Facebook was created....that started a whole new trend didn't it?  Still I'm glad we have it.  There are a few testimonies from me and Charming and it's awesome to be reminded of our 'call' once in a while.  It was a big move to leave our Church in Cali and enter the Army adventure that is now our life.  We miss our lives in that ministry...leading a group of people to greater experience God and all He has for us and the world around us...but we love where we are now. To be able to be a part of such an old tradition and truly 'living life' with those around us, ministering to them, being with them though moves, deployments, hardships, injury's, safe arrivals back home, etc...has been such an amazing experience.  We have grown and learned so much and know God has a plan for our future.  While we hope to one day get back into a church and truly lead a revival and ignite a city(and bigger) on fire for the Lord, we will continue to draw near, seek, move forward here where He has us and keep living our 'Army Adventure.'

Happy New Year

This New Year is off to a great start and already seems to be moving quickly, at least the calendar is filling up fast.  I'm looking around at cake designs and getting inspired for Mardi Gras and Valentine's Day.  If you have a party, dinner, class or office party coming up, or you just want to order a cake for your special someone or family please let me know and I will get you booked.   Check the cake pages for more info.

Thanks!

Christmas Projects

Is anyone else wondering where this month went?  It doesn't matter now, we are here and I am so excited for Christmas this year!  I did a few projects and actually got everything shipped off on time...and with us being military our family gets more scattered every year.  I had packages going from GA to OK, AZ, TX, etc...crazy!

Anyway, here are a few projects I finished that were pretty inexpensive and easy to make.  Each is personalized though which I love...of course I didn't get a pic of my nieces gifts, so bummed!  But out there in blog world and Pinterest I saw the $ store cookie sheet idea.  You paint the front with Chalkboard paint, embellish with a ribbon on top and there you go, a cute tray to hang on wall or fridge for notes, etc...except I went a little further and printed out their initials on pretty scrapbook paper and mod-podged  in the middle and added a few decorative magnets.  SO CUTE!  I will have them send me a pic when they open them.

The others are pretty self explanatory. I found some cute, football shaped glasses at the $ store and painted the OU (Oklahoma) letters on the side for my BIL.  Again from Pinterest the $ Store plastic frames with scrapbook paper and post it notes for the Teacher gifts, and the painted canvas' where you put stickers, paint over the whole thing and then peel off the stickers...that one is addictive and I will be making more!

I would love to see some of your projects.

Have a blessed Christmas!