Whats New You Ask?

So I've been off the grid for awhile with blogging! I do really enjoy the blogging world, for me though it is just hard a lot of times! My boy's are growing so fast & I feel we are just going 24/7 & when we have down time sometimes I just want to hang out with them, or the hubby, or just talk with friends! I do want to get back into the blog world however, I do miss it there are just so many amazing women out there!! Many whom I have no idea how they juggle family life & this! Kudos' to you ladies, seriously your awesome!!

Anyhow, I have also been MIA due to the fact of some serious changes in our little Circus of a life!!!
So here is the skinny on our life at the moment!!

 I am currently living in Western NY, we were in New Bern, NC before for the last 9 1/2 years!! I am up here with all 3 of my boys, my dog & cat! Where is the hubby you ask?? (no were not separating) The hubby is still in the Marine Corps till Mid  Feb & then I will be flying down to drive back up with him, here to our hometown!!

We moved up to NY during A's Christmas vacation, we knew he needed to start a new school & figured the Christmas break would be the easiest & smoothest time to accomplish this! Our house was also under contract in NC & we closed on Jan 14th!! That was a very mixed emotion day for me! I left the home my husband & I built & where we brought every one of the boy's home. (I'm getting teary eyed as I think of it)

The hubs has served for almost 12 years in the military & well were just kind of over it! He has been lucky enough to have been non-deployable the last few years & we realized that we just didn't want to deal with deployments anymore we, had done enough & it really is hard on kids. My boy's are obsessed with their dad he is so hands on it's not funny!! I think sometimes he should stay home & I should work full time he has way more patience than me! So we went back and forth the past 2 years & decided this was the right choice to get out & never have to be separated again! (except for the fact we are till February ). Let me tell you it BLOWS!! I am so thankful for his decision to get out because I could not do  6-7 month deployment with all 3 of these boys! They have cried & begged for their dad & told me they don't like me!

This has been one stressful transition!! Currently we are staying with my parents & we travel back and forth to my in-laws we are waiting for the hubs to return to find a place we both like!

What is he going to do for a job you may be wondering?? (not that it's any ones business) but since i get this question so much I'll break it down! Hubby has so many days of leave (basically vacation days) that he can get out mid February  & will still be getting a paycheck into April (so don't worry folks were not mooching off anyone) Were not being stupid, were being smart & doing what is best for us all (why we are currently 700+miles apart).

Hubs has put out quite a few applications & is still looking so right now were waiting on calls back (well really him). We also have an opportunity in PA & we would be with some great friends so that is really exciting! I would love to stay as close to family as possible but in the end we have to do what is best for our family & go where we can financially provide for our 3 boys & have good health care! The boys are top priority!!

These past few months have been anything but easy, I have laughed, I have cried many times! & I have screamed & yelled from the amount of stress all this has caused! I am thankful for family support & some amazing friends keeping me sane!! Otherwise I might be in a straight jacket right now!

I truly feel I picked the perfect name for my blog because my life is seriously like a damn circus!! So now you have the skinny on whats been going on!! I will try to be better about posts I want to get back to recipes for people & will let you know how we transition out of Military life into the civilian world!

Till next time xoxo

Jute wrapped wine bottle

Ok so I have been a slacker! Like BIG time!! I have actually been doing alot around my house & just have not gotten around to blogging it. I apologize!  I have given my living room & kitchen a makeover, almost finished the boy's gallery wall & have been working on lots of Christmas crafts. So there is stuff to come! Yippee ;)


Now with that said here is one easy & cute Christmas décor craft  I did with a wine bottle!!! Hey an excuse to drink a little wine right? 

This is super simple all you need is
* glue gun
*wine bottle
*rope (I like Jute rope)
* Cute ribbon & buttons or whatever your heart desires

**Make sure to start at the top of the bottle & wind down & then every few wraps add a dab of glue to hold it in place

It's pretty easy! When I was finished I decided to add some red & green ribbon to give it more of a Christmas feel & I finished it off with a white button.

Ready for the finished product?????

What do you think?? I'm loving it & the fact that when Christmas has come & gone I can easily cut off that ribbon & replace with another :)

 

Cranberry/Orange Oat Muffins

So I've been in the fall mood it's been cooler here & I've been able to wear jeans & boots (my favorite). Fall always makes me think of Thanksgiving!! That may be my favorite Holiday
 (I LOVE to eat).

When I think of Thanksgiving I think of my 3 favorites to eat Turkey (of course), stuffing & cranberries (YUM).

I was in the mood to do some baking today & decided I wanted some cranberry muffins. What goes great with cranberry?? Orange! My mother in law makes these awesome blueberry oat muffins so it inspired me to put oats in my muffins. So here you have Cranberry/Orange Oat Muffins!!!


Here is how I made mine:

3/4- Cup Whole Wheat Flour & 3/4 Cup White Flour (you can use all white I was just trying to make them a little healthier)

1/2- Cup Sugar

1/2- Cup Old fashioned oats

3/4- Cup OJ

1 1/4- tsp Baking Powder

1/4- tsp Baking Soda

1/2- tsp Salt

1- Egg

1/2- Cup Vegetable Oil

1-tsp Orange Zest

1- Cup Cranberries

* Pre-heat oven to 400

*Mix Oats & OJ together set aside

* Mix: Flour, Baking Powder, Baking Soda, Salt, Sugar together

* Add oats to mixture then add Oil & Egg & Zest stir to combine then gently fold in Cranberries

*Place in muffin cups sprinkle with a little sugar & bake 15-18 minutes

*Makes 12 muffins*

Enjoy!!!

Pumpkin Spice Latte Crockpot Style!

Who doesn't love a good PSL am I right? My husband and I are no exception!! Although this year he was bummed out by Starbucks. He felt it didn't have enough flavor for his liking.

Well me and a couple of my favorite gal pals had a girl's night in over the weekend. We decided to all hang out in our PJ's & make some snacks & just talk and laugh without the kiddos. I thought I'd make us a yummy drink to go with our snacks.

So I decided to try some Pumpkin Spice Lattes in my Crockpot. I made them decaf that night but since then I have made them twice with regular coffee.

The hubs kept asking about them so I decided to whip up a batch for him & he LOVED them! He said they had way more flavor than Starbucks. My 2 girlfriends loved them & one of the girl's husbands tried it as well and also loved them so I assure you these are tasty. It's been reviewed by 5 different people so far ;)

So here is what you need:

6 -Cups Milk (you can use skim to make them skinny)

4-5 Cups strongly brewed coffee

8-Tbsp sugar

8-Tbsp pumpkin puree

2-tsp cinnamon

1- 2oz bottle of Vanilla (yes I know that's a lot of vanilla I assure you this is correct)

1-2 shakes of pumpkin pie spice

Whipped Cream for topping *optional*

* Cook on high 2 hours stir occasionally

*This makes about a full crockpot worth


I have since made 2 Half batches and that seems to be perfect you get about 6 cups worth with a 1/2 batch

*I use 2 & 1/2 cups of coffee for a 1/2 batch & *only 2 Tbsp of vanilla in a half batch *

*If you do a half batch only cook 1 hour

End Result:

Enjoy!!!

Update On The Lil Man

Some of you may know that my youngest little guy had been diagnosed with Kawasaki Disease this happened in May 2 weeks after he turned 1.
 We have been seeing a pediatric cardiologist since then to have EKG's & Echo cardiograms on his heart. Kawasaki Disease can affect the child's heart unfortunately for C he developed a small aneurysm on his left coronary artery. So we have been watching the progress of it. He was on a high dose of baby aspirin but at our appointment in July they took him off that as his aneurysm began to shrink.

If you want to read about all we went through & gain a little more knowledge on Kawasaki Disease you can read Part 1 & Part 2 


I thought first I'd share some pictures of how our routine appointments at the cardiologist go first they weigh & measure him & take his blood pressure (I didn't take any pics of that).

Next comes the EKG:

Then after the EKG we move onto the Echo Cardiogram:

So what did they find.....????

His aneurysm is gone!! Thank the Lord!!!  The cardiologist told me I could breathe again! I was soo happy!!! We are still keeping a journal of his joint issues both with his pediatrician & his cardiologist.  But, the main thing is his little heart is back to normal.  Even though his aneurysm is gone we still will have follow ups with the cardiologist for a long time we don't have to go back for another 6 months :)

So I'm a happy happy mommy right now :)

Jewelry Organizer

So I recently re-organized my closet & changed up the Master bedroom! My old jewelry box didn't match the new décor so I decided to make something new.

It first started off with something for my earrings. I took an old 8x10 picture frame spray painted it de-stressed it a little & then used my staple gun to staple chicken wire to the back. I then hung it in my closet with a command strip. (I'm trying to not put holes in the wall)

Next came time to make something for all my necklaces. So off to Lowe's I went & had a board cut at 18inches I then painted it with a blue I had on hand from when I made my Cat Scratcher turned Towel Holder. Have you seen that? If not you can Here

 I went to Hobby Lobby  & found some adorable drawer knobs to hang the necklaces from. I was so excited too because the day I went they were 50% off (got to love not paying full price).

Then I needed Mr. Awesome's AKA the hubs!! Well I really just needed his drill but whenever I ask to use his tools he kind of takes over my project. (Honestly I don't mind). It's nice working on things together. So hubs drilled the holes & twisted in the knobs & then he got his dremel out for me & cut the back of the knobs off (they were a little too long for the board I got). We then hung that under the earring holder also using command strips!

Ready to see the cuteness????

Here it is:

What do you think?
Have you ever made a Jewelry Organizer?

Chocolate Chunk Muffins

So this morning I was pretty hungry after dropping A off at school. The little 2 really hadn't had breakfast either (besides some dry cereal) So I figured I'd better make us something.

I went to the fridge & realized I still had quite a bit of yogurt in there I happened to grab my Chobani chocolate chunk & there was a picture of muffins on the container. I read they had a recipe for muffins using the yogurt sounded yummy so I gave it a whirl & whipped some up!!

They were so delicious & fluffy & moist my Bff came over and ate some with us she loved them as well. They are kind of irresistible!! The boy's didn't leave a crumb. Defiantly will be making these again.

Want to try them?

Here is the recipe:

1¼ c Chobani Vanilla Chocolate Chunk Greek Yogurt

2¼ c all-purpose flour

1 T baking powder

½ t baking soda

¾ t kosher salt

⅔ c packed dark brown sugar *(I only had light)               

6 T canola oil

2 large eggs

1 T vanilla extract

2 T coarse brown sugar  *(I didn't have coarse b sugar I used regular)

 

 

Whisk- yogurt, eggs, vanilla, brown sugar & oil together

 

Mix- Flour, salt, baking powder & baking soda

 

Mix the dry ingredients into the wet ones

 

Spoon into muffin cups & sprinkle brown sugar on top of batter

 

Bake 16-18 minutes at 375

 

Original recipe says it makes 12 muffins I got 15 out of it

 

 Original Recipe Source

 

 

 

 

Looks good right?