Saturday, June 30, 2012

Vacation. Perfect!

o, we have been back for a few weeks now, but life has been crazy.

We went to Orange Beach, Alabama on vacation for 4 days and it was amazing. We went with another couple and their 2 kids (8 so far) and her 3 nieces (yes that is 11 total people).

We came back as friends.

We will go on vacation by ourselves next time.

Not because we don't still like them, but because we just think it will be easier that way.

Day 1: after many, many hours in the van, we made it! We stopped in Gulf Shores and ate lunch. I had a soft shell crab po' boy sandwich and it was delicious!!!
We then went on to Orange Beach, found our condo, and immediately unpacked and went to the beach. Our condo was on the beach, so it was fantastic. To round out the evening, we ate sandwiches for supper and went to find ice cream. Found it, ate it and went back to the same place 2 more times before we left 4 days later.

Day 2: It was a day of shopping, naps, beach time and a Dolphin Cruise. I highly recommend this experience! We had a great time, saw several dolphins and enjoyed watching the sunset from on the ocean. BEAUTIFUL!!!

Day 3: Alligators. Everywhere. over 200 of them. This was much more fun than we had expected it to be (the other family really wanted to go, so we tagged along). . The big boys took the little boys to play putt-putt and the big girls took all of the little girls and L to the beach.

Day 4: We traveled about 12 miles to the West and landed in Pensecola at 7:45 AM to watch the Blue Angels. Best show ever! It was worth getting 11 cranky people out of bed and fed at 6:00 AM to go see. Then while on the Naval Base, we went to the National Aviation Museum. It was very educational and as a lover of educational places to visit; I give it 5 stars. You must go check it out when visiting.
And while on the beach collecting shells and looking for crabs (didn't find any crabs) the night before, a local informed us that Destin was only about 40 miles from Orange Beach and we should go check it out if we had time. She claimed it had the most beautiful beaches in the US. I DO NOT recommend this if you have a large number of people or if you are accustomed to traveling 40 miles in less than 2 hours. YIKES! It was 40 miles of moderate city traffic in the middle of no where. Basically! It was cloudy and storms moving in by the time we got there and the watr in the Gulf was so heavy, it was dangerous to be in. We crossed the highway and played in an inlet for a bit, but then turned around and spent 2 hours driving back to Orange Beach. We decided (in our humble hillbilly opinions) that it wasn't worth the drive.
We finished off our night with doing large amounts of laundry and packing.

Day 5: We were on the road again, headed for home. It took us only 14 hours to get home and that included a 1 1/2 hour stop for lunch and several pit stops (as you can imagine with 11 people in your party).

All in all we had a blast and can't wait for the next vacation!

Still the whitest Beach Bunny EVER,
MommyShelle C

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Cards By: MommyShelle

So for a couple of months now, I have been exploring a new area of the crafting world; card making.
**I have changed my title to show a few of my favorite cards I have made.**

I started by making one for a wedding shower, then made some for graduations and then got an order for a Mother's Day card. I have an order for next month for a Star Wars card, but since I do NOT anything about Star Wars except what Darth Vader and Yoda look like, it has taken some time to get going on.

I think I am going to give this card making a real shot and try to make a small (very small at the moment) side business out of it. It feeds my love of crafting and being creative, but doesn't take up as much time at one time as scrapbooking does.

If you are interested in having a card made, but leave me a message or contact me and let me know.

Also, in 2 days and 6 hours (approximately) we are leaving on our very first vacation. We are headed to Orange Beach, AL for a few days. It is sure to be an exciting and interesting time.
I will post pictures and vacation experiences when I get back.

Head on over to Travel Chatter (www.travelchatter.biz) and check out some fun and exciting travel news from a dear friend of mine. She has been everywhere and blogs about it just to kill some time.

Talk to you after my sunburn arrives,
MommyShelle C

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

WOW, It's been awhile

Almost 2 months has gone by and I have to say it feels like so much has happened since then.

End of March: We went to Tulsa for a weekend to see my parents, sister and niece. It was my niece's 5th birthday and we headed to a local pizza/ arcade joint to have a birthday bash for her. K is getting so big. Hard to believe that she was born just 3 weeks after finding out I was pregnant with B. My sister and I (she still lived in my town at that time) enjoyed many twist cones from DQ for lunch in that 3 weeks. That means in just a few months, I too, will have a 5 year old in my house.

Mid-April: Went back to Tulsa, just me and B, to see my mom. She had to have a histerectomy done and we went to make sure she was doing alright and to help clean a bit of house. She was fine, up and moving well just 2 days after surgery and trying to exert herself too fast, but that is my mom and I love her.
Because of her doing so well so soon, I got to spend some quality time shopping and yard saling all weekend with my sister. She is 3 years younger and had just celebrated a birthday the week before, so we took each other, along with K & B, out to lunch for our birthdays. They are only a month and 6 days apart.
B and I did have to hightail it back home Sunday afternoon for a surprise 50th birthday party after church for our preacher. He is an awesome Godly man that preaches the word the way it was written and the way it is meant to be preached. Thanks Mike for all you do!!!

End of April: L turned 2! YIKES!
We had a monster themed party and I made and awfully cute cake (will post pics later) with a caterpillar guy acting as the #2. My mom was able to make the trip up with dad for the party (only a week and a half after her surgery) and we had a blast. J and I got him a HD tri-cycle and B gave him a giant bouncy ball. L loves to play ball, so that was one of his favorite gifts.

Mizzou had a 5 town "Barnstorming" game tour and Lebanon happened upon the map. We got tickets to go and we had a great time. The boys loved watching the ball bounce back and forth and fly through the air and J and I just loved being out of the house doing something other than eating chicken nuggets. At the end of the game, most of the Mizzou players took of their jersey tops and threw them to the crowd. I caught one!!! I am not sure who the guy was, but it was still pretty cool. Altough, in the moment, you don't stop to think about how gross it is going to be to catch a sweaty basketball shirt in mid-air as it splatters sweat across your face. (godd mental picture, huh?!)
J is an avid OU (boomer Sooners) fan, so we decided to give it to a kid from church who would actually appreciate it. He offered to pay us for it, but it was worth even more to see the face of a young boy light up. His older brothewr was super excited too.

The first week of May: J's Papa celebrated his 90th birthday and we had a huge party for him on Saturday. All 3 kids, some grand kids and 2 great grand kids (mine) were in attendance as well as many friends and church family. He had a good time, but it was his first birthday without nanny by his side, so it made it really tough. Even tougher that a couple weeks from now will be a year without her. We all miss you Nanny!!!
J's dad did arrange a neighbor of Pap's to give him a ride in a 1916 Ford. It was cool to see Papa riding in a car that was in fact 6 years older than him.

This week, sometime, I will become an Aunt again. This time, to another niece. J's family has 5 grandkids and they are all boys. Poor Granny had twin boys and now 5 more boys. This little girl is going to be spoiled rotten. Aunt Shelle is going to do her best in making that happen.

In other news: I have been making homemade cards lately and love it. I have decided to sell some if anyone is interested and will be doing custum orders. You can find pictures on Instagram at #cardsbymommyshelle. I will try to post some pictures on here later.

Thats all I have for now, so until next time,
MommyShelle C

Monday, March 19, 2012

Creativity At Work

The last time I posted, I mentioned that I was going to Scrapbook Weekend. Well in 24 hours, I got 32 pages done (16 double page spreads). I worked my tail off and got very little sleep. It made me motivated to keep going once I got home and have gotten close to 20 more pages done since. B is finally 2 in his scrapbook and he is 4 1/2 in actual age. The good news is that L is on his way and I will be getting to start his scrapbook soon. He will be 2 in just over a month.

I have been bust making cakes and cards as well. Here is a card I made tonight:




I have been staying busy with all of the kids in my house, so I haven't been getting to cook and bake as much as I like to, but I did make up a new biscuit recipe today; and it turned out fabulously.

Yeast Biscuits

1/2 c. warm water
1 tsp. sugar
1 packet yeast
(mix together and let set)

2 1/2 c. flour
1 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. sugar
2/3 c. shortening
(Mix together in a mixing bowl until flour looks like little white peas)

Add in yeast mixture and 1/2 cup of milk. If dough is dry, add a bit more milk. It took about 2/3 cup milk and dough was sticky. Flour your counter and dump the dough onto the counter. Kneed for about a minute, just until no Long sticky. Roll out with a rolling pin and cut biscuits (I use a glass to cut them out).  
I used a cast iron skillet to bake mine in, but a baking sheet works fine. Brush the tops of the biscuits with a bit of milk and bake at 400 for 10-15 min or until just browned. This makes about 10 biscuits.

Bake & Enjoy and Until next time,
MommyShelle C

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Life...Where does the time go?

Just yesterday, I was weighing the pros & cons of staying home with our boys.

Really, it was 6 months ago already and I now have 4 others to care for as well.

I love it (most days).

I like it (most days).

I hate it (less days).

But, mostly, I am glad that I did it. I can't believe it has already been 6 months. I really does feel like yesterday.

I had a friend bring me lunch today and she still is amazed by the whole transition and swears she could never do it. (You could if you had to)


Just a glimpse of what has been going on...


Spaghetti O lunch with Daddy!



This weekend is our semi-annual Scrapbook weekend with the girls and all the Daddies are their own. Here is a glimpse of what it looks like with 8 girls in 1 condo for 3 days!



So until next time after a few days of a much needed break,

 MommyShelle C

Monday, January 23, 2012

Oatmeal Applesauce Cookies

I love oatmeal cookies, but J gets tired of me always putting chocolate chips in them, so I made up a new recipe this afternoon.

Oatmeal Applesauce Cookies
1 c. margarine
3/4 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. sugar
2 eggs
1/3 c. applesauce
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon (if using cinnamon applesauce, omit this)
2 c. flour
1 1/2 c. oatmeal
1 tsp baking soda

Mix together in the order listed and bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes.

These do NOT get very dark, are not overly sweet and are a pretty dense cookie (goes great with a glass of milk!)

Enjoy!
MommyShelle C

Monday, January 16, 2012

Domesticated...I am getting there.

So, before I was a SAHM, I was 'just a mom.' Ha!

I have always loved to cook, been tolerant of cleaning, and obsessed on some level with organization.

Since becoming a SAHM, I have found a new love: baking!

Primarily this love has morphed into homemade bread. In the last week I have made5 loves of white bread, 2 pans of cinnamon rolls, a loaf of cinnamon raisin bread, a pan of dinner rolls and a batch of biscuits. YUMMY!

I am also certain that all of these things will find me back the recent 7 pounds I have managed to lose.

Now, if I only I could make myself clean a little more and make a little less mess each time I do this baking, my house would be a bit more presentable a bit more often.

MommyShelle C

Thursday, January 5, 2012

Creamy Pork Chops & Rice

I only made 3 pork chops for this recipe, but make more of the chops & sauce as needed:

*Season the pork chops how ever you like but I used; salt, pepper, garlic powder & season salt.
*Put about 2 tbsp. olive oil in skillet & cook pork chops until done (about 5 min per side for 1/2 inch chop)
*Remove chops from pan and set aside
*Add about 1/3 -1/2 cup of Chicken broth to pan and stir with whisk to get all of the gunk off the bottom of the pan. This gunk is delicious and DO NOT waste it.
*Add 2 oz. cream cheese and 2-3 tbsp. butter to broth in pan. Whisk until smooth.
*Splash a couple of splashes of Worcestershire Sauce in there for some yummy flavor.
*Add salt & pepper to taste. Add more broth until the consistency that you prefer.
*Finally, pour the juice off the setting chops into cream sauce, whisk & serve over the chops & rice.

**I made a quick brown rice to serve with this and it was great together.