Weekly Wrap-up

Well, it's been another busy week for us. What about you?

Popular Posts this week

1. Fudgy Brownies
2. Weekly Wrap-up
3. Creamy Banana Pudding

Looking back ...

One of the nice things about this week was the weather! It was windy a couple of days but the pretty spring-like days are just what I like to see. Even my daffodils started popping up. I can't believe how tiny some of my daffodils are! I knew the early-bloomers were going to be small, but I did not think they would be THAT small. The King Alfred-type daffodils are getting ready to bloom soon, too. The picture below is from Monday when the tiny daffodils just started blooming.

We had Noah's Seussical play on Tuesday night. Noah did such a great job but next time I will try very hard to get to the school earlier so that I can get a better seat. Since the play is over, Noah has cut down on watching the Dr. Seuss videos on the iPad, so that's a relief for my ears.

Emily got her phone back recently. She'd lost her phone because of her grades but the grades have improved quite a lot. She also had picture day at school this week. We haven't really done any spring clothing shopping yet so we had to run out one night and find something for her to wear for picture day. I wish I'd snapped a picture before she left for school, but we were running short on time. She looked so cute though. We curled her hair with her Beachwaver curling iron that she got for Christmas. That thing is pretty cool - it rolls the hair up for you. We need to do a review on it so that you can see how it works.

On Saturday afternoon, we went out to Kitchen Lake for a little picnic. We took sub sandwiches from Jimmy Johns, some Cheetos, cookies and M&Ms. Maybe not your typical picnic fare, but it's what I had in the pantry. The weather was nice and not too windy, which was a nice change. There were a few people out fishing at the lake that day. One guy told us that the crappie were biting but we did not see anyone catch any fish (although we couldn't see much of the activity along the banks from our picnic table.) 

I posted the brownie recipe for you, but I'd intended to write up a recipe for apple fritters for you to try. I'm also working on a recipe for a tater tot breakfast casserole that's totally customizable depending on your taste preferences. We like it hot, but I know that's not for everyone.

Probably the biggest news is that I'm moving my blog to Wordpress. That has taken a huge amount of time and effort considering that I have over 700 blog posts, but it lets me have complete control over my website. I've been really limited on certain tweaks with my current blog hosting. So, the design is going to change soon and you might not be able to reach my site sometimes while I get everything moved over. I'm also going to write up some helpful tips for anyone else who is thinking about making a blog.

This picture below is the daffodils in the front flower bed today with the King Alfred-types starting to bloom. I can't wait to see what they look like in another week.

Looking forward ...

Noah has picture day at school this week. I need to check his closet and see if he has anything to wear so that I can plan a shopping trip if needed.

We also have parent/teacher conferences later this week. Both kids are out of school on Friday and then spring break is the following week. We have some fun things planned and we're pretty excited for spring break to get here.

I'm going to be posting a recipe for those apple fritters that I mentioned on the blog and I'm also planning to show you the finished entryway makeover. Noah has been asking me to let him write a blog post so you might even get a surprise. I told him that he needs to learn how to type first though.

Tell me about your weekend! How's the weather been where you live?

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Weekly Wrap-up

How are you? Did you have a fun weekend?

Popular Posts this week

1. Dark Chocolate Mousse
2. So Ready for Spring
3. Make-Ahead Lasagna

Looking back ...

With the warmer weather in Oklahoma, it was a lot easier to get up and moving this week. Noah and I got to walk on the sunny side of life several days this week. One morning, we were walking to the bus stop and Noah mentioned that The Sunny Side of Life was a good name for a blog. I looked up sunnysideoflife and the .com name was taken but the owner has not built a website for it. The website I was looking at said they would try to get the website name for me for "only" $69.99 + commission. Hmmm.  Then I looked up thesunnysideoflife and the .com name was available but it's considered a premium site name and it would cost $2595 + $14.95 per year. Wow! I think that's a little bit outside of my budget. I agree that it would be the perfect blog name though. 

Emily's piano lesson was on Thursday afternoon and the kids went over to Nanny's after school. They went to eat with Nanny so Mike and I went to eat Mexican food.  Luckily, we got a good table in a quiet part of the restaurant so, I can't complain. This Mexican place has wonderful grilled veggies. I always get a double order of those for my sides and I just love it.

On Friday evening, we went to cousin Mason's birthday party. It was really a lot of fun. Emily and Noah always enjoy spending time with the other kids. It was also our wedding anniversary. 

This weekend, we did some recipe testing. I'm going to be posting more about that another night, but here's a little hint.

I created a Facebook page for my blog. You can go here to visit the Facebook page or you can use the buttons below to Like and Share so that you can get future updates when I post.

Looking forward ...

Noah has a program at school this week. All the students in his grade are doing a version of Seussical the Musical. Noah has been singing the songs and watching videos of other kids doing the play online. We're excited to go see the play.

I have several recipes that I'm going to be posting about this week. The whole family gets into the recipe testing and photography, which I love. The blog has been good for us. I hope you're enjoying reading along.

What's the most fun thing you did this weekend? Baby time! And cooking!

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Weekly Wrap-up

Hi guys! 

Looking back ...

This week started off with some President's Day Adventures with Grandmother and Granddaddy. We had a whole lot of fun and even got a few projects done while they were here. They left on Tuesday morning, about the time all the bad weather came rolling in.

We'd been dry for months but here came the rain - freezing rain, that is. Schools were out on Wednesday and Thursday because of the weather. I still had to work, but we still got to have a little fun cooking and watching movies.

The weather was better by Friday and the kids were back at school. It still rained quite a bit but at least it wasn't cold enough to freeze. Noah got to go to a pizza lunch on a party bus because he sold enough items at the school fundraiser last fall. He said they watched a movie and the bus had minions inside and outside. He had a lot of fun. Thanks to everyone who bought things from his fundraiser!

This afternoon, Emily and I went on a little shopping trip to try to find some plates to display the food that we feature on the blog. I was pleased with all the different types of plates we found. We went to several places but all of these came from Pier 1. And most of them were on clearance.  I love all the different colors.

When we were checking out, the lady at the checkout counter said she was curious what we were going to do with all the different plates and I told her that I was going to use them to take pictures of food. She said that the bright colors might overpower the food on the plate then she told a story about when she was getting married. She said that when she was picking out china, she'd found a beautiful, bright floral pattern but her mother told her to get simple, light-colored plates because that would make her food more appetizing. She said she hadn't even thought of that. She was just thinking about how the dishes would look in her china cabinet.

Another lady standing at the checkout asked if I was a caterer and I said no, I just take pictures of the food and post it on the internet. The ladies did not understand what I was doing at all!

I got six of the little parfait glasses in the picture above. They are so cute! They're exactly what I was looking for and they were also on clearance at Pier 1. I'm using them for tomorrow's dessert. More on that another day. 

Tonight, we decided last-minute to go out to dinner. We wanted to go to our favorite pizza place, but their waitlist was too long. We went to a local Italian bistro instead.

I ordered one of their lite menu options, the chicken cacciatore. It wasn't bad. The chicken was really tender. I thought the brown rice and quinoa medley was pretty good but I wished the broccoli was cooked a little more.

Emily and Mike both had pizzas. 

Noah has "sketti and meatballs." He wanted me to take a picture of his food too, but I took a picture of him instead!  

Looking forward ...

We're planning to have vegetable beef soup and cornbread after church tomorrow. I'm also making a special dessert. I'll be sure to fill you in on that tomorrow.

We have several birthdays in our family this week - Happy Birthday to Heather, Carter and Mason!

I'm looking forward to the warmer weather this week. I think my daffodils are looking forward to the nice weather too. They spent this week frozen over and I don't think they were too impressed. This is the first year I've had daffodils since we moved to this house four years ago and I can't wait until they start blooming. It won't be long.

I'm counting the days until spring ...

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