Happy Birthday Tirzah!

Tirzah turned the big one on Sunday and we celebrated with a wonderful family birthday party on Saturday night. Tirzah was quite the little princess wearing her little princess birthday hat and tiara. She loved having them on and special thanks goes to her Auntie Maddie and Uncle Johnny for bringing them for her. She is starting to walk here and there when she feels up to it and is just as cute as she can be!

Princess Tirzah's tiara

Eating spaghetti dinner

Opening Gifts

Isn't she just so cute?

Spring Day

Not too long ago Gideon, Tirzah and I took advantage of the beautiful spring day we had. It felt so wonderful to be outside and be able to play!

Isn't this hat so adorable on Tirzah?

House Party Box Arrived!

It's always so much fun when my box from Houseparty arrives with the green sticker that says "your party pack"! I love to host a houseparty and get the news out about new products. The way it works is you fill out an application for a party that appeals to you and if you are picked you invite people over for a party and then you are sent a nice big box of freebies to hand out and get the word out about the company. I've done a few in the past--one for SpinMasters games which was fun, I was sent the games Quelf and Logo and we played one and everyone went home with nice coupons if they were interested in buying the games. I've also done a Shutterfly one in which everyone learned how to make a photo book and then people got free photo book codes and free shipping, it was great! This houseparty which I am hosting tomorrow is to get the word out about Walgreens grocery items so as you can see they sent me some pretty great baking items...the ingredients to make Oatmeal cookies, some chex mix for the party and popcorn, some trail mix to give out, I also have coupons and free Redbox codes to give out, pretty amazing right? I'm combing my party with a get together I'm starting to host called a craft and chat, ladies bring whatever project they are working on to show everyone and to motivate them to work on it...so much fun! So if you're ever interested in hosting a house party just go out here: Houseparty

Tirzah helping me unpack

Yay, a box!

Almost One...

Practicing Walking at Cousin Judah's

Some Pictures from Christmas

So I wanted to post some pictures of our Christmas at the Shelor Reunion. It was lots of fun and we had plenty of time to visit and eat, we all took turns making different meals.

Don't you love his early morning groggy expression?

Cousin Judah digging in to his gifts!

Tirzah just wanted to play with all the gifts and unwrap them for everyone

Cousin Elijah playing with Gideon's play mat I made him a while back

Tirzah eating breakfast with Great Grandmother

Joshua, Tirzah and Grandmother

Gideon doing one of his favorite things, helping with dishes!

Grandma with Tirzah and Judah on Christmas morning

 My sister Maddie and I share a birthday...in December and we decided to celebrate it with a sisters day out. We went shopping at Joanns, Goodwill, went out for lunch at a cute diner and got our  nails done--this time I got a pedicure for the first time and loved it. Then we went on to more shopping! We had quite a day and Tirzah actually fell asleep in my arms in the last shop as we were walking around. My Mom and younger sisters joined us at lunch and I had my wonderful friends Michelle, Kyra and Stacey join us for the morning and lunch as well. It was a wonderful birthday outing!

Maddie, Tirzah and I--my sister Lydia made my darling, wonderful scarf!

Then Bethie joined us...and my hat was given to me by Maddie!

And then Michala

Cute diner we went to for lunch

Maddie, Bethie and Miriam

Getting a pedicure

Tirzah needed to put her toes in as well.

And act like she was getting her nails done...

Ruthie getting her nails done

All six sisters and Mom all beautified!

Great Deal on Chex Mix

I like to have snacks in the house that I can pull out to tie the kids over till dinner or Joshua and I can snack on in the evenings when we are relaxing. So I keep my eye open for some good deals. This week at Walgreens there is a great deal on chex mix. So in Sunday's paper there was a coupon for $.50/2 for chex mix or you can print them off in the following links. Walgreens has them on sale for 4/$6 and when you combine the $2 off coupons they wind up being only $1 a piece and if you buy 4 it also prints off a $2 register reward that you can use on your next purchase...pretty sweet huh? Walgreens $1/4  Chex Mix $.50/2 and Chex mix $.50/2

To recap: Sale is 4/$6-$2 coupons=$4 a piece plus $2 on your next purchase at Walgreens

Our Christmas Stockings

My mother-in-law is very talented. Her family has always had homemade stockings and she has kept up the tradition for all of her daughter-in-laws and her grandchildren. She cross stitches each stocking and let me tell you that has not been an easy task the past three years. In 2009 she had two new daughter-in-laws and a grandson, then in 2010 and 2011 she had to start working on another daughter-in-law and two more grandchildren so in all she has made 6 stockings with all the beautiful detail in the last couple years! She lets us pick the design and she does all the work. I love how they look on our mantlepiece. Joshua's is actually done by his aunt when he was little but the rest are done by Michelle. Aren't they darling?

Three Amazing Years

Joshua and I have been married for 3 years as of last Tuesday...we had plans to celebrate that night but we were both feeling under the weather and had a toddler who was sick with a stomach bug...so we decided that was one of the "in sickness and in health" days! So we celebrated on Saturday and went to a Japanese steakhouse for the first time. It was quite a nice experience, we had an entertaining chef and the food was delicious! We are still more in love than when we got married three years ago and our love keeps growing!

Easy Recipe for Delicious Pizza Pockets

I love having some easy meals in the freezer that I can pull out for breakfast or lunch or that I can send along with Joshua to school so he can have something delicious to heat up for lunch. I stumbled upon a recipe for Ham and Cheese pockets that was very simple and they are quite tasty. I make those as well as Pizza pockets frequently and then freeze them. I thought I would share the recipe with you in case you are interested in having an easy meal for on the go.  This is by far the best dough recipe I've found for pockets, it's a little time consuming but it's very tasty.

Pizza Pocket Dough:

• 1 T. (or 1 packet) yeast
• 1 c. warm water, divided
• 1 t. sugar
• 1/4 c. melted butter, cooled to room temperature
• 2 1/2 – 3 c. flour
• 1 1/2 t. salt

1. In a mixing bowl, dissolve the yeast in 1/4 warm water. Stir in the sugar and let sit to proof for 5 minutes. Pour in the melted and cooled butter and the remaining warm water.
2. Add 2 c. flour and the salt. Mix for two minutes. Work in as much remaining flour as needed to make a dough that is smooth but not sticky. Knead on a floured surface or continue beating for about 10 minutes. Add a bit more flour if the dough starts to get sticky while kneading.
3. Place dough in a lightly oiled bowl and cover. Let rise for 1 hour. Punch down dough, cover and let rise for at least another 30 minutes.
4. Then divide the dough into 10-12 balls.

Then I get out my different fillings: I have pepperoni I cut up smaller, I made up some sausage as well, pasta sauce, chopped green peppers and onions and mozzarella cheese. I roll out my balls into an oval and start to put my filling ingredients.

I also sprinkle some garlic, pizza seasonings and sometimes some Parmesan cheese on my pockets.

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 Pop them in the oven and cook on 350 for about 20 minutes or until they start to brown. As you can see some of my pockets started to pop open. They don't usually do this but I kind of over loaded them this time trying to get too much yummy goodness inside. You can always just put chunks of ham and cheese inside as well instead of making pizza pockets. I enjoy having two different things to choose from.

Remember this picture? (My Dad always thought Gideon would choke)...well...like brother...

  Like Sister....

There is just something about that little turtle and it's head sticking out of their mouth...it just cracks me up...and don't worry, I do watch them!