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A New Year

January 5, 2012 by Laura@I'm Happy Homemaking

(image found here)

I love each new year. I love reviewing the past year, the good and bad. I like thinking of the future, setting some goals to accomplish in the new year. I love having a specific goal (or goals) to work on, to improve. It is a fresh start, to think about where you are, and where you want your life to go.

I have been thinking a lot lately about my goals for this year. My 2011 goals fizzled out, due to being pregnant the first half of the year, and having a newborn the second half of the year. :) Now I’m feeling more able to set new goals and work on improving myself and my family life.

Some of my top 2012 goals are;

- Organize my life. My house, my desk, and my “other” things like photos, and home videos.

- Have more fun activities as a family. Sometimes we are too focused on getting work and chores done, we don’t slow down enough to have fun memories, which I think is so important.

- Complete a photo book for 2011, and 2009. 2010 is done and beautiful!

- Complete some projects as a family, building family unity and teaching the value of work, accomplishing things together.

- Have one overnight getaway with Brandon this year. This has never happened since we have started our family, so this will be a big goal to reach. The main reason is we dont live near our families, so its tough to find someone to watch our children overnight.

Do you set new year’s resolutions? Do you follow through, or do they get forgotten after a few weeks?

Posted in children, home | Tagged , | 1 Comment »

Easy pillow covers

September 22, 2011 by Laura@I'm Happy Homemaking

 

A week ago, I was scanning thorough a fabric magazine and fell in love with this fabric: Secret Garden by Sandi Henderson. The entire collection is so beautiful. I thought this fabric would be perfect for my large light green couch, and it is! Now, I am going to order some other prints from the same collection. I purchased my fabric here on etsy, you can find it many different places.

To make the pillow covers, I searched some different tutorials and saw how easy it is! Now I wonder why it took me so long to cover these ugly pillows! Want to make your own? It’s so simple! The tutorial I used is found here, super simple.
Enjoy!

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Favorite Fall Activities

September 19, 2011 by Laura@I'm Happy Homemaking

The temperature here in Arizona is still hovering round 100 degrees, but I’m thinking about fall. Fall is my favorite season, I love the smells, the colors, the change in weather and activities after a long summer.

This fall, I am looking forward to;

- apples! Eating them raw or cooking them, our family loves apples!

- pumpkin pie and pumpkin carving

- leaves and making a thankful tree

- spending every night outside at the park, riding bikes or taking a walk

- the weather cooling down

- Halloween and Thanksgiving

 

What are you looking forward to this fall?

 

 

Posted in children, fall, home, traditions | Leave a Comment »

Oatmeal Pancake Mix

September 12, 2011 by Laura@I'm Happy Homemaking

I have been wanting to try this recipe for a while and this weekend, I finally did. Our whole family loved it! I came across it on one of my favorite recipe blogs, Mel’s Kitchen Cafe. The recipe is simple, the oats add great texture, and it makes 10 cups of mix, several meals for our family. We love topping pancakes with apple butter or strawberry jam. Enjoy!

Oatmeal Pancake Mix

*Makes 10 cups of dry mix

3 1/2 cups rolled (quick) oats
3 cups whole wheat flour
2 cups all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons baking powder
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon baking soda
1 cup vegetable or canola oil

Mix all the dry ingredients together in a mixer with a paddle (or by hand). If desired, grind the oats in a blender or food processor before adding to the other dry ingredients for a smoother mix. With mixer on slow speed (or gently by hand), drizzle the vegetable oil into the bowl slowly while the mixer is running. When all the oil has been added, stop the mixer and squeeze a clump of mix in your hand. If it stays together, it is just right. If it is still crumbly, add another tablespoon of oil at a time until the consistency is correct (I’ve never had to add additional oil). Store in an airtight container for up to two weeks at room temperature or indefinitely in the refrigerator or freezer.

To make the pancakes: whisk together 1 cup of mix, 1 cup buttermilk (a combination of half plain yogurt and half milk will also work), and 1 egg. The mixture may seem thin at first but the oats will soak up the milk as it stands while the griddle preheats. Heat a griddle and drop the batter onto it. When the edges look dry and bubbles come to the surface and don’t break, turn the pancake over to finish cooking on the second side. As a sidenote, buttermilk can be frozen indefinitely for future batches of pancakes, so it’s worth keeping it around!

*1 cup of mix will make about 6-7 4-inch pancakes.

Recipe Source: Adapted from King Arthur Flour The Baker’s Companion

Here is my bag of mix! Sorry ther is no picture of the finished product, they were eaten too quickly!

_

Posted in cooking, recipes | 1 Comment »

TOP 10 Inside Activities to do with your children.

September 7, 2011 by Laura@I'm Happy Homemaking

This summer has been HOT! Arizona is miserable during the months of July and August. With all the heat advisories, we have been stuck inside with each other day after day. We are getting pretty creative around our house, trying to think of new things to do with our days. Here are our favorite things to do inside.

1. Playdoh!

2. Paint; Fingerpaint, paint with water, or a paint set

3. Magic show or play

Get out some props, and let the kids use their imagination. They love a captive audience (you), and make sure you clap and cheer at the end.

4. Build a fort

Use blankets, pillows, couch cushions, sheets, anything available to make a fort. Gather some books and have the children read inside their new fort.

5. Exercise!

You’ve got to find some way to get all that energy out after being cooped up. I play this game while I’m feeding the baby and my kids want my attention. I give them specific instructions like jump 10 times, hop on one foot, run to the front door and run back, spin around in a circle, walk like a cat, swim like a fish, etc.

6. Board games and puzzles, wooden blocks, or Lego.

We love Candyland, Chutes and Ladders, Memory, and all kinds of different wooden puzzles.

7. Dance party! Crank up the music and show them how to dance.

8. Craft project

You can do either a structured project, or put out craft supplies colored paper, scissors, tape, glue, felt, stickers, etc) and see what they come up with.

 

9. Write letters for grandma and grandpa, then mail or deliver them. (We write and draw lots of letters for grandpa and grandma, however I rarely mail them! oops!)

10. Make a fun snack together and have an inside picnic with a blanket on the floor.

 

What inside activities do your children love?

Posted in children, mothering | 1 Comment »

A simple way to brighten your home

September 1, 2011 by Laura@I'm Happy Homemaking

I love flowers, all different varieties. Some of my favorite kinds of flowers are daffodils, gladiola, sweet pea, daisy, and of course, roses. While grocery shopping this week, I found these mini roses for only $2.99. I debated for a while which color to get (red, pink or white) when I remembered I had this flower-pot in a lovely shade of blue sitting empty since my “grow your own herb plant” failure. I usually kill any plant I attempt to grow. However,  I couldn’t pass these roses up, especially for $2.99! I love finding little things to make my house feel more like a home, something to brighten up my day.

so pretty

My kitchen sink, the perfect place to see the roses all day long. They are very mini, as you can tell from the picture.

What are your favorite flowers?

Posted in home | 1 Comment »

I’m rocking my baby, and babies dont keep.

August 31, 2011 by Laura@I'm Happy Homemaking

 

I love this poem. It sure fits my life night now! My baby is almost 3 months old and Im trying to capture every  moment of his newborn sweetness.

 

Babies Don’t Keep
by Ruth Hulburt Hamilton

Mother, O Mother, come shake out your cloth,
Empty the dustpan, poison the moth,
Hang out the washing, make up the bed,
Sew on a button and butter the bread.

Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?
She’s up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.

Oh, I’ve grown as shiftless as Little Boy Blue,
Lullabye, rockabye, lullabye loo.
Dishes are waiting and bills are past due
Pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peekaboo

The shopping’s not done and there’s nothing for stew
And out in the yard there’s a hullabaloo
But I’m playing Kanga and this is my Roo
Look! Aren’t his eyes the most wonderful hue?
Lullabye, rockaby lullabye loo.

The cleaning and scrubbing can wait till tomorrow
But children grow up as I’ve learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down cobwebs; Dust go to sleep!
I’m rocking my baby and babies don’t keep.

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

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