Snow Sorrow

Claire was so excited about the snow this week...while pointing out the window, she says "nooo, noooo?" (we're working on "ssss"). We couldn't wait to put on our snow suits and play! It was unfortunate that within five minutes, she fell on her face, then had a hard time enjoying the rest of the "snow" experience...maybe our next outing will have a better outcome. Not really sure how I ended up capturing this on my camera, but believe it or not, here it is...the poor girl's first face plant. Once again, I swear I only took two photos before I scooped her up and kissed that sweet, tearful face!

{Wonder what Lucy is doing over there...}

{Hey Mom, aren't I cute in my snow suit??!!}

{Oh, geez...wasn't expecting that...}

{This stuff is COLD!}

{Moommmmyyyyy!}

While I'm at it....

While I'm trying to cut down on preservatives, chemicals and fake sugar in my house, why not make my own coffee creamer? Yes, I hate to admit it, but we're coffee creamer people...the sweeter the better! I was so excited when I saw some recipes for making your own, and here's what I came up with:

Vanilla Cream
1 can Fat-Free Sweetened Condensed Milk
1 1/2 cups milk (any kind'll do!)
1 Tbsp vanilla extract

Cinnamon Nut
1 can Fat-Free Sweetened Condensed Milk
1 1/2 cups milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp almond extract
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Put all ingredients in a glass jar (I made a half recipe of each flavor so they would fit in my jars!) and shake it like you mean it. Store in refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. The possibilities are endless!

P.S: Did you know that sweetened condensed milk is simply milk and sugar??

 My kind of ingredient list!

What We're Seasoning

With some Pinterest inspiration, I decided that I wanted to start making my own "packet" seasonings...I use dry onion soup mix, ranch and italian dressing mix and taco seasoning A LOT, especially in the winter with crock-pot recipes. Once I started reading about some of the ingredients chemicals that are in those packets, I was all for it. Starting with four canning jars (with lids), here are the recipes:

Onion Soup Mix
2/3 cup dried, minched or chopped onion
3 tsp. parsley flakes
2 tsp. onion
1 tsp. turmeric
1 tsp celery salt
1 1/2 tsp sea salt
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp ground black pepper


Ranch Dressing
5 Tbsp dried minced onions
7 tsp parsley flakes
4 tsp salt
1 tsp garlic powder

Italian Dressing

1 1/2 tsp garlic powder 

1 Tbsp onion powder

2 Tbsp dried oregano

1 Tbsp dried parsley

1 Tbsp sugar

2 Tbsp salt

1 tsp black pepper

1 tsp dried basil

1/4 tsp ground thyme

1/2 tsp celery seed

Taco Seasoning
1/2 cup chili powder
1/4 cup onion powder
1/8 cup ground cumin
1 Tbsp garlic powder
1 Tbsp paprika
1 Tbsp sea salt
**This is for a "mild" seasoning, so to make it "hot" add 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper**

Put all ingredients into each jar and give them a good shake!
2 Tbsp seasoning = one packet

Slowly but surely

Painting, check. Cement board, check. Mudding and taping, check. Shower pan mortared, plumbing perfected and tiling started, check, check and check.

 

Sew-sweet

I've been on a sewing kick lately, as I've perfected my ruffling technique on my machine...(wowza, that sounds so dorky!)  Here are some photos of my adorable baby latest masterpiece. Don't mind the droopy eyes and runny nose, a cold bug attacked our household last week.

Christmas catch-up

With the craziness of the holidays, I'm just getting around to a "holdiays" post! We are extremely blessed with friends and family that love us dearly, and this holiday season was a true blessing. Claire had fun (mainly with the wrapping paper and chasing her cousins around) at all of our Christmas celebrations, and we had some great quality family time with SJ having the whole week between Christmas and New Years off. We made progress on the bathroom...only a minor plumbing mishap that required some professional expertise, but we are now well on our way to a February 1st completion date!

The Mishel Dental crew

It's gonna be a big one...

Renovation, that is. The biggest we've tackled, thus far. We've successfully DE-structed the master bathroom, and now begins the process of putting it all back together. Here are a few "before" and "blank slate" photos to get us started.

Here's a {crappy} photo of before the "before," during our final walk-through before purchasing the house. We've done a few cosmetic updates (painting, hardware, framing the mirror and a light-fixture) since then...

Actually doesn't look half-bad from this shot....why did we do this again??

Oh, that's right....the infamous shell-shaped sink and almond-colored bathtub.

And the tiny, stinky, white-grout-turns-orange-when-it's-wet shower.

Let the destruction  begin....

I have to say, I was pretty handy with a hammer and chisel. I pretty much tore out all of the bathtub and shower tile myself...SJ was left to the plumbing, carrying down loads of debris, and tearing out floor tiles that took much more man (and brain) power!

Wow, that's a little scary, right? I think we might need a keg to go in that bucket after all of this is finished...

15 mONtHs

I'm fifteen months old!

I went for my check-up (and don't forget the three shots!) last week...Dr. Freeman says I look great and was so surprised at how calm and happy I was throughout the entire exam. I'm 21 lbs (19%) and 31 1/4 inches long (80%). Mom is worried that I'm too tiny, but Dr. Freeman assured her that I look healthy and great, and may just be going through a picky eating phase...plus I'm so tall that my weight can't keep up! I'm walking, running, climbing, chatting, getting four new teeth, and learning how to manipulate! I can say 8-10 words, make 6 animal sounds, point to most body parts and blow bubbles in the bathtub....Uncle Adam, I'll be doing the breaststroke in no time! 

(Best fake-cry face ever??)