My Pirate Princess

Today was trick or treating down here. I was really excited that this is the first year that Maddie will get to go trick or treating. Maddie was loving her costume, minus the hat. After we had dinner, we geared up and headed out. We headed over to the new house and all of a sudden she got really quiet. The lady was so nice and was offering her to pick out whatever she wanted. She was frozen. Jeff and I tried to get her to say something. anything. Jeff picked something for her and we were on our way again. She ran down the sidewalk saying 'Nice. Nice. Bye Nice. Bye Nice.' She loved watching the other children walking past us and showing off her supply of candy. Every time we left a house, she wanted to show me. Have I mentioned that I love that girl? A few houses scared her. Well, not the house, per-say, but the scary costumes. Daddy had to hold her a few times. One of the last houses the couple was dressed as the big bad wolf and little red riding hood. She was terrified of the wolf. She would not take her eyes off of him the entire time she was there. She went to the lady, but wouldn't look away for more than a second. It was funny.


We only walked down the street. I knew that would be  long enough for her and enough candy. It was getting colder and she was getting the chills, so we thought it was a good time to turn around and pass out candy. I tried to get her to help pass it out, but she just stared at the kids. So, daddy gave her a bath while I passed out candy. Overall, this evening was a big success. We made another memory together that we will never forget. Maddie had so much fun, got some candy, and got to dress up! :)


Look at the other post to see the pictures! :)


Lori

Pumpkin Carving Part II and Trick or Treating Pictures

These are the pictures from my camera. 

My beautiful daughter and I :)

Love my family!

Our pumpkins before the carving

Maddie helping daddy out!

She was determined to help out!

Poking the points herself!

Daddy was trying to get her to help...

By the look of her face, you can see that she didn't think so!

Love her! Even with her scratched up nose! : p

I was trying to get her to at least touch it!

FINALLY!!!! She touched it with her fingertip!

My Pirate Princess! and her 'Bubba'

She loved her costume!

Trying to get as many pictures with us as I can!

The picture she took of me.. with a little guidance :)

Leaving the house to go Trick or Treating for the first time.

Walking up to the first house.

She was too scared to grab a piece of candy.

While walking away she kept saying 'nice. Bye nice.'

She was scared to walk up to the house!

A little blurry, but she was excited to keep going.

She was scared of the big bad wolf.

She did not trust him. she went to Little Red Riding Hood, but didn't take her eyes off of him. 

Pumpkin Carving

Today, we decided to FINALLY do our pumpkins. I mean at least it's not after Halloween right? I was really excited because this year Maddie could be more of a participant than just an observer. BOY, was I surprised when she didn't want to stick her hands in the gooey pumpkin guts and dig it out. She wouldn't even touch it. I had to persuade her to touch them and even that with just the tip of her finger!! BOOOO! She was being a total girl today. Oh well! At least we got her to help Jeff poke the pumpkin for her sketch. Maddie picked a scary cat for her pumpkin. I picked a spider and Jeff chose a witch. I did the gutting and Jeff cut. Of course I couldn't pass up baking the pumpkin seeds. Maddie enjoyed eating a few of them. : ) I, also, tried a new recipe that turned out really well. I was kind of nervous of how it would turn out, but I was pleasantly surprised. I'll post about that in another blog post. : ) I still need to take a picture of the finished product, but I'll post the pictures that I have. Enjoy!


Lori

Mummy dogs

It's almost Halloween and if you know me, then you know that I LOVE holidays and taking part in every aspect. My house is decorated, a lot of my desserts include pumpkin, and now I am putting it into meals. Tonight I made mummy dogs. I originally found the recipe off of the Pillsbury website. I thought it was a really cute idea. After I glanced at what I had to do with the cresent dough, I did it on my own. I did not follow the recipe like I thought, but if you would like it, then you can look HERE.

For this recipe, you will need:


the container of cresent rolls
8 pack of hot dogs
Cheese if you'd like
Mustard

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.Open the container and separate into 4 squares, Then you cut each square into 8 strips.Each hotdog would get 4 strips. Wrap the hot dogs and the place on the cookie sheet. Make sure that you leave room to place the 'eyes'. You may add pieces of cheese throughout the hotdogs to make it appear of bandages. I started out at 13 minutes and continued to bake it for an additional 3 minutes. Afterwards, I added mustard dots for 'eyes'.


It was a hit with my family. It was a nice change and festive for the Halloween weekend. As usual, if you try it please let me know what you think or if you changed anything.


Lori

Raspberry chocolate cupcakes

I may have a new favorite blog! If you love to bake, want new cupcake recipes then you need to go HERE. She has some amazing recipes and the past few recipes that I have used has been from her. The chocolate chip cookie dough filled cupcakes have been from her. This recipe is now one of Jeff's favorite cupcakes that I have made. He said it's between this one and the Death By Oreo. He eats at least three cupcakes the past two days since I have made them. Anyway, The recipe is so easy to make. It actually uses a boxed cake mix which makes it that much better.

These are the items that you need:

One box of Devils food cake
2 teaspoon Raspberry extract
1 cup chocolate chip morsels
1 teaspoon Almond extract
3-4 cups Confectioner's sugar
1 1/4 stick of softened butter
3-4 tablespoons of milk
red food coloring

Directions:

Make the cake batter as it is instructed on the box. In addition to the batter, add 1 teaspoon raspberry extract and 1 cup chocolate chip morsel. Bake as directed on the box. [TIP: replace the oil with unsweetened applesauce to make it healthier.]

Frosting:

Combine the softened butter with the two extracts. When it is mixed, add a cup of confectioners sugar at a time. Add 3-4 tablespoons of milk until you reach the consistency of your choice. After, mix in your food coloring to give the hint of pink.

Enjoy afterwards! If you try this, please comment and let me know what you think of this.

I think the only thing I would do differently is maybe trying to add pureed raspberry's to the frosting instead of an extract. I have a picture on my phone that I will try to add on here.

Lori

One Class Down...

I started to take classes again so I could finish up my degree in Child and Family Development. I haven't taken classes since Maddie got sick, so it's been over a year and a half. I finally came to the decision of taking classes again, but wasn't sure how many I would be able to handle at once. Jeff's schedule is so whack! Between Jeff's work schedule, his college courses, Maddie's appointments, all of our play dates for Maddie, and my health issues, I just wasn't sure if I could handle two or not. I started off with one 8 week course and a month into it, I started my second one. The week I started my second course was also the week that I just got back from my cousins wedding in another state, my parents and brother in town, and my midterm for the first class. I was tempted to quit my second class and just start when I finished the first one. It felt like it was just too much. I sucked it up though and finished what I had started. If I ever plan to finish this degree, especially in hopes of having it done before a second baby comes, I have to fight through it. This week, my friends, is the week I go down to one class again.!! :) Funny thing is, it might be midterm/finals week, but this has been the EASIEST week by far. I don't have to read like six chapters, answer two discussion boards, reply to four, take quizzes, write up journals, or write a five page paper within one week!!! That was the craziest month. I was so busy this past month. I feel like I can breath again. It is so nice! I am glad that I stuck it out because even though it was really hard to balance everything, I did it and I am that much closer to being done.  

I am going to post a blog about my newest cupcake recipe soon, so watch out! :) 

Until then, have fun and be safe! 

Lori

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Filled Cupcakes

These are amazing! I found this recipe on another blog and couldn't resist but to try them. I think these are the best cupcakes!!! They will stick around for a while.  If you would like the recipe, you can go HERE. They are absolutely amazing! I had three yesterday and almost went and got a fourth last night!! So much for my hopes of losing weight magically, right??

If you try them, comment and let me know what you think. :)

Lori

It's been so long!

We have been so busy lately. After I posted my last blog, we went to my parents house to help finish things around the house. My dad got orders to a new place and my mom is staying back with the house. My brother flew in and visited with us, as well. It was great to see him. He is in the Navy, too, so I haven't seen him in almost a year. After my parent's house, we all drove up to NC for my cousins wedding. Now THAT was fun. We haven't had the WHOLE side of my dad's family together in like eight years. I forgot how much I truly miss my family and how much fun they are. I hated going back home, but it was needed. Dad came home with us because he had to attend a school down here for a week. Mom and my brother came the next day because they had to go pick up the dogs. That was also the week that I started my second class. That was a crazy week. Since then, I have been busy with balancing both classes, appts, Maddie, errands, and everything else going on. I am lucky to have one day free a week. I got to have a girls night last night. It was nice to take a break from class work and enjoy some company. Jeff started his Martial Arts Instructor Course. He wanted to die the first day. LOL. He survived the first week, but was really sore the entire weekend and slept a lot. He has two more weeks of it and I am sure I will have to give a thousand more massages before the end of it. Jeff had some of the other marines over today to go over some of the moves. While Maddie and I went outside to watch, she had the idea to try her own tricks. I wish I could have gotten some pictures of her. :) She is growing up too quickly. She holds the water bottle and drinks it herself!!! Can anyone see what is wrong with this??? Does anyone know how to slow her down a little?? She is so determined to grow so quickly and do everything herself.

On another note, we bought LION KINGGGGGGG!!!! I love that movie. We sat down tonight to watch it as a family and I am pretty sure I was way more excited than Maddie was. It was a lot of fun to sit down as a family and watch it. 

These next couple of months are going to be really busy. I just sat down and updated my calendar and the only days we have open during the week are tuesdays for the next two months. That is kinda crazy. We have a lot of playgroups, speech appointments, and whatever else is on there. I am looking forward to it and to being done with class. 

I know this is all random stuff. Until next time, have fun and be safe!! 

Lori :)

Who LOVES chicken!

If you love chicken as much as me, then head on over to
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Figuring it out

I have been trying to figure out who I am and what I enjoy doing. I know that I am a mom, a wife, and a student, but what things am I good at?  I used to love to craft and could make any project with no problems. Now, it seems that I can't really make anything just off the top of my head. I have to look up ideas and sit there for a while. I have gotten into baking and I think it's my passion. I love to bake and try new recipes. I am always looking up new things, watching cooking and baking shows, and seeing what I can do next. If I could bake and get paid for it, I would be in heaven! I am so relieved to have actually figured out what I really enjoy and something that I am good at. Baking and cooking is something that I really enjoy and do to get away from everything. It's what I like to do in my free time other than shopping. : ) My family doesn't seem to have a problem with it either. I do admit that not all of my recipes are good or come out perfect, but I enjoy trying at least.  So, what I am telling you is that... watch out! You're going to get a lot more recipes on here. Some of them are new and some of them I have been using for a couple years, but just now adding.

Hope you all are enjoying the recipes. Let me know any input that you may have.

Alfredo Sauce

I found this recipe a couple of years ago and fell in love with it. It is such an easy recipe and tastes amazing. This is one of my husband's favorite recipes. He always looks forward to it when I make it and we fight over left overs. This recipe make a lot of sauce which is nice because my husband is a big eater and as I previously said we love the leftovers. I did not tweak this recipe at all. I didn't find a need for it. I found this recipe on allrecipes.com. If you try this recipe, please comment back and let me know what you think and if you would change anything about it.

What you need: 

1/2 cup butter 

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese

2 teaspoons garlic powder 

2 cups milk 

6 ounces grated Parmesan cheese 

1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper

Directions

Melt butter in a medium, non-stick saucepan over medium heat. Add cream cheese and garlic powder, stirring with wire whisk until smooth. Add milk, a little at a time, whisking to smooth out lumps. Stir in Parmesan and pepper. Remove from heat when sauce reaches desired consistency. Sauce will thicken rapidly, thin with milk if cooked too long. Toss with hot pasta to serve.

Chaos!!

These past couple of weeks have been very hectic and flying by before I can even realize what day it is. I started school again this week. I wasn't sure how it was going to go, especially since it's been so crazy lately. I was kind of worried about it to be truthful. I have so much going on and when I have a chance to sit down and do nothing, I would like to take it. Jeff takes two classes on top of his work schedule and knew that I would be the one to put off their school in order to get stuff done or to take care of Maddie. BUT I SURVIVED!!!!! well.. you know the first week. It's a start! I can only do a week at a time. I did have to stay up a little later each night in order to get the reading done. This week I also had my first Thirty-one party. Well.. not really. I had it set for September 2nd and then realized that we had plans already. I, then, moved it to the 9th. Little did I realize, the base was throwing a luau. So, everyone that I had invited already had planned to go to that. One friend did come over and order and then we all headed to the luau. Yesterday, we hung out at the house and worked on school work. Today, we stayed around the house and worked on more school work. Do you see a pattern???
This week will probably be another busy week with speech, playgroups, homework, and homework.

Anyway, if anyone is interested in looking at thirty-one products, you can go to www.mythirtyone.com/LoriBoone

Until next time, have fun and be safe! 

Apple Pie Fold over

I got this recipe off of Pillsbury.com. This is a really simply and tasty treat. It was really good and the perfect size for a desert! This recipe is definitely a keeper in our house hold. 

 

INGREDIENTS

1 1/2 cups thinly sliced, peeled apples (1 1/2 medium)

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

2 tablespoons water

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon granulated sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon butter or margarine

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 box Pillsbury® refrigerated pie crusts

1 egg

DIRECTIONS

1 In 2-quart saucepan, mix apples, brown sugar, 1 tablespoon of the water and the lemon juice. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until bubbly. Reduce heat to low; cover and cook 6 to 8 minutes, stirring occasionally, until apples are tender. 2 In small bowl, mix flour, granulated sugar and salt. Gradually stir into apple mixture, cooking and stirring until mixture thickens. Remove from heat; stir in butter and vanilla. Cool 15 minutes. 3 Meanwhile, heat oven to 375°F. Let pie crust pouch stand at room temperature for 15 minutes. 4 Remove pie crust from pouch; unroll crust on ungreased cookie sheet. Spoon cooled fruit mixture evenly onto half of crust to within 1/2 inch of edge. 5 In small bowl, beat egg and 1 tablespoon water; brush over edge of crust. Fold untopped half of crust over apple mixture; firmly press edge to seal. Flute edge; cut small slits in several places in top crust. Brush top with remaining egg mixture. 6 Bake 25 to 35 minutes or until crust is golden brown. Serve warm or cool.

Tart apples, such as Granny Smith or McIntosh, make flavorful pies. Braeburn or Gala apples provide good texture and a slightly sweeter flavor.

french bread rolls

• 1 1/2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
• 1 tablespoon active dry yeast
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 4 cups bread flour

Directions

1. In a large bowl, stir together warm water, yeast, and sugar. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.
2. To the yeast mixture, add the oil, salt, and 2 cups flour. Stir in the remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, until the dough has pulled away from the sides of the bowl. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead until smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes. Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl, and turn to coat. Cover with a damp cloth, and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 1 hour.
3. Deflate the dough, and turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Divide the dough into 16 equal pieces, and form into round balls. Place on lightly greased baking sheets at least 2 inches apart. Cover the rolls with a damp cloth, and let rise until doubled in volume, about 40 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). 
4. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden brown.  

I got this recipe from All Recipes. This bread recipe wasn't as good as the other recipe I posted previously in my opinion. Maybe it was because it wasn't as sweet as I normally like it to be. If you try it, let me know what you think. :)

Pineapple Salsa

Ingredients

• 2 cups chopped fresh pineapple
• 1 cup chopped red and/or green bell pepper
• 1/2 cup sweet onion slivers
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 3 tablespoons chopped cilantro
• 1 fresh jalapeno pepper, seeded and finely chopped (or more to taste)

Directions

1. Blend pineapple, bell pepper, onion, lemon juice, cilantro and jalapeno pepper in medium bowl.
2. Refrigerate, covered for 4 to 24 hours, if desired, stirring occasionally.
3. Serve with grilled chicken or seafood or as an appetizer with chips.

I just threw the items together. I didn't measure anything. I did tweak a few items. I used canned crushed pineapple rather than fresh and two jalapenos instead of one and put more cilantro in it. 

If you try this recipe, let me know if you tweaked it and how you liked it. 

It's going to be a busy week!

This past Friday I had the privilege to out to dinner and a movie with some fabulous ladies. We started off at Ruby Tuesdays. I did not know any of these ladies going into the dinner. This is something very out of my norm for me. I was nervous going into this because I am such a shy person until you get to know me. I met seven ladies and are fabulous. It was so easy to talk to them and we all had so much in common since we are all mothers of youngin's and all have at least some sort of military experience if not married to a military man. After dinner, we went to the movie theater and saw "The Help". If you have not seen that movie, I highly recommend you go see it. It was such a good movie. Some of the ladies told me that the movie did the book justice. I want to get the book just so I can compare now. I had so much fun. They were all very kind and invited me to join another play group and events that they attend.

Saturday was another long day. We got up pretty early and immediately got ready. If you know us, you know that we don't get ready right away on weekends unless we have to. I needed to head back to Walgreens to get the items that they were out of earlier in the week and then to CVS and Walmart. Jeff wanted to go to the gun show with a few other marines. I met up with them for lunch and then finally home to get Maddie a nap before we had to go to a friends BBQ. Jeff and I made some Pineapple salsa which every one enjoyed. We kept getting compliments. We had a lot of fun at the BBQ, but didn't get to stay long. Maddie was really worn out from the day and only getting an hour nap in when she is used to a three hour nap. Got her home, a bath, and finally in bed about an hour and a half then she should have been.

Today, we got up and went to church. It was a good service. Maddie had a lot of fun. One of the ladies in charge told us that she is very talkative now and more open than she was last time. After church, we went to Harbor Freight really quick and then to lunch. Old Navy was our next-and last- stop for the day. We got Maddie a few outfits for Christmas.


Finally, we are home. What a long, but fun weekend. This weekend is going to be just as busy. Play dates, birthday parties, speech therapy, and more play dates. This entire week has something to do each day. Maddie will have a lot of fun because it is all for her. She will have plenty of time to play with other kids her age.

I'll post the pineapple salsa in a minute. Hope every one is having a good weekend.

Until next time, have fun but be safe!

Ipad Case :)

Our Military Home is having an Ipad cover giveaway that is super cute! You should check it out and enter yourself! If you don't have one, it could be a great gift to someone who has one. : )

http://www.ourmilitaryhome.com/?p=1547

Just what I needed

I have been feeling a little off lately and I didn't know what to do about it. I had all of these plans and they are a little harder to achieve than I previously thought. I thought maybe I made a mistake choosing that path and got pretty down with the start of my new career as an independent consultant for Thirty-one. I was starting to doubt myself. There are some other things in life that wasn't going according to plan, but, hey, that's life right? I decided that I wanted to attempt church again. I always knew that once I had children that I wanted church to be a part of our lives. We went to church in Texas and I really loved the place. I felt so comfortable there and looked forward to going. We tried church here, but it just wasn't the same. Last night, I looked up that church and decided to give it another chance. I found that the church had another location with a younger Pastor and thought I would give it a try. It was a 30 minute drive, but if I liked it then I didn't care. Maddie and I went and tried it out. Jeff had other plans already set in place, so he didn't go this time. I am so glad that we went. It was exactly what I needed. I had a new outlook on things and I walked out with a ton of weight lifted off my shoulders. I was so relieved that after listening to the Pastor talk that I knew that this was the church for me. It felt as if they were talking right to me. I look forward to next Sunday.

Maddie has been sick lately. She is getting her two year molars and this round has been a doozy.. She has had diarrhea for a week, moody, tired, not really eating, extremely sensitive and so much more. I felt bad for her. I tried to help her as much as I could. She was so cuddly. She has been feeling good the past two days for the most part. Her appetite has been coming back and she is not as temperamental. We have her cardiology appt tomorrow. I am not looking forward to seeing her doctor again. He's not the nicest guy on Earth.

Jeff's class is about to graduate, so his work schedule might be a little less stressful and strenuous. He is currently taking two online classes, so he is always busy with that. He actually got to go to the shooting range today with a guy from work. He hasn't been able to do that in a while.  I think he had a good time out there. I wish there were more people out here that enjoyed doing the things he likes to do.

We took Maddie to the pool Saturday. She had so much fun. The pool that we went to has a kiddie side where it is just over a foot. She could walk up and down all by her self. She was just big enough that she could pick up a toy at the bottom and not be all of the way under water. Jeff occasionally took her to the deep end and would throw her up and down. She had so much fun doing that. Overall, it was a pretty good day.

Until next time, have fun and be safe.

Oreo cupcakes- "Death by Oreos"

These things hold true to their name. Oreo cupcakes are delicious. Imagine an oreo on the bottom, chocolate cupcakes with oreo pieces mixed in and a cream cheese frosting with oreo crumbs included. Some of you may think that is too much and some of you may think that sounds delicious! I made these for another BBQ that we went to and they went very vast. Some of my friends went for seconds. They are really easy to make and such a hit. They are not overly sweet, unless you taste them when they are still warm!

Here's the Recipe:

Cook time:	15 Min		Difficulty:	EASY
Prep time:	20 Min		Serves:	24 cupcakes

Ingredients

- 1 pkg oreos, regular size - 1 pkg mini oreos, for decoration - 1 pkg chocolate cake mix/ mix according to directions on box - 8 oz cream cheese, room temperature

- 8 Tbsp butter, room temperature - 3 3/4 c powdered sugar - 1 tsp vanilla extract - cupcake liners

Directions

1.   Preheat oven to 350. Mix packaged cake mix according to directions. (Do not bake.)
2.   Line cupcake tins with liner, place an regular size oreo cookie in the bottom of each one
3.   Take 1/2 of remaining cookies and chop coarsely and add to cake mix. Fill the cupcake tins. Bake for 15 min (or according to box directions). While cupcakes are baking make the frosting.
4.   Cream together butter and cream cheese. Add vanilla, then add powdered sugar slowly until blended well.
5.   Chop remaining regular-sized Oreos very fine. Add to frosting.
6.   After cupcakes are cool put frosting on and decorate with a few mini oreos on top

If you try this recipe, comment and let me know what you think and if you tweaked it a little bit. Enjoy!!

Oreo Ball Recipe

YUMMMY ! These are delicious! I got this recipe from my aunt and they were a big hit! I made them for a BBQ that my family and I attended and everyone there asked for the recipe! These are so good that if you don't pay attention to how many you have eaten you could have eaten half the batch. If you want something easy and delicious and sure to be a hit, this is it. Now, there are a few things that I would that would change to this recipe. The recipe says to let the dough chill for 15 minutes. I would definitely let it chill longer. It needs to be a little harder in order to be able to dip it in the melted chocolate and not break apart. Also, I don't use the white chocolate. I use milk chocolate. An idea that you could do to make it look a little prettier is to dip it in either the white or milk chocolate and drizzle the opposite chocolate over it.  If you try it, comment and let me know what you think and if you did anything different. I appreciate it. 

Cook time:			Difficulty:	EASY
Prep time:	1 Hr		Serves:	24-36

Ingredients

- 1-18oz. pkg oreo cookies (regular size, 3 rows of cookies) - 1-8oz. pkg cream cheese-block

- 4 oz white chocolate almond bark

Directions

1.   Add oreos to food processor and blend until fine.

2.   Add cream cheese to oreo crumbs and blend until dough-like.

3.   Chill mixture for 15 minutes then roll into bite-size balls. Chill balls for 15 minutes.

4.   Melt almond bark in microwave according to package directions. Dip chilled oreo balls in melted chocolate using fork so chocolate can "drip off". Set covered cookie balls onto waxed paper and let set aprox. 30 minutes. If using sprinkles or decorative sugars do so before chocolate sets. I usually do a dozen at a time sprinkling after each dozen

Enjoy