Crafting? Nesting? What have you....

This past week instead of packing I have been itching to sew. My mother in law says I am nesting...so much for the cleaning thing....my nesting is crafting I guess...at least this go round. I have sewed lots of burp rags...sorry, no pics, I'll post some later...but Jayda and I decided to make a diaper wipe case for her teacher, before we leave next week. She is due in a month and we wanted to give her a gift before we move. I thought it came out super cute for my first go round. It was super easy. Her baby's name is Aleigh. Cute spelling. :) She loved it!

For a tutorial on how to go here:

http://www.sewdangcutecrafts.com/2009/06/diaper-wipes-case-tutorial.html

Snow Day

Not as much snow as we are used to...way more. :) It rarely snows in Texas. Nothing like the snowmans we used to build in Utah, but we'll take it! The girls enjoyed staying home from school for this little itty bit of snow...and played outside as long as their little fingers could stand it. :)

Halle's 7th Birthday!!!!

Today my little Halle Bug turns 7 years old. I can hardly believe it! She was born 7lbs 8oz, exactly one pound bigger than Jayda. She had such dark hair and if anyone ever looked Cuban, it would have been her at birth. :) My mom said she looked just like me when I was born. I don't know about that, but of all the girls, Halle is the most like me, in looks and personality.

She is such a sweet spirit and so sensitive to others. She loves her family so much and hates for any of us to be separated. She is shy all too often, but loves friends and loves her sisters and brother. She has always loved babies since she was little and is just as excited for our next baby boy in a few months. She is such a doll! Who would have though we would have a naturally curly headed child! She has been a wonderful blessing in our family. Happy Birthday Halle!

We actually celebrated Halle's birthday on Saturday, the 29th. She invited a few friends over and we had an "olive garden" lunch, played bingo with conversation hearts, opened presents, and had cake and ice cream. I think she enjoyed it! She got some good loot for her birthday. As for the cake, we had a Valentine's theme...I tried to make a "topsy turvy/ crooked" cake....I didn't carve both cakes enough...I am horrible with cutting....so for a first go...I guess it wasn't horrible. She loved it. That is all that counts.

Here are a few pics of the festivities.....

Just us!

PS. The girls are wearing their wonderful Miss Plunkett hair accessories!

www.missplunkettboutique.com

Cluff Girl's Reunion in Vegas

Last week, 10 of the 15 Cluff girls (including mother in law) met in Vegas for an annual girl's reunion. We had so much fun. We ate at plenty of yummy places, made crafts, had a surprise baby shower for Michelle (a sister in law), shopped, ate some more, visited the Body Exhibit (no, I didn't puke), ate some more, and stayed up late chatting (thanks Trina..yes Trina!) It was so much fun to see all those that came. We had so much fun. Thanks Pam for everything!

Lunch with Carter (brother in law, working in town that day).


Dinner at the Cheesecake Factory...it was a little too dark...this is Jackie!


All the Pregnant Sister in laws....at the mall.


Michelle's Surprise Baby Shower


The craft I did...


Corie, Jackie, & Me with Miss Plunkett Accessories on!


The Bodies Exhibit


The Bellagio


The Venetian




Also, we are blessed with so many talented Sister in laws in this family...and we have one (Lori) who has started her own business...Miss Plunkett! Super cute hair accessories for little girls, babies, and women! She was nice enough to bring us all a ton of stuff to take back to our little ones and well, wear ourselves, lets be honest! The least I can do is tell you how super cute they are and insist you check out her website...because it is cool!

http://www.MissPlunkettBoutique.com

Here is a pic of Sienna...the girls have worn them everyday, but I can't seem to get a picture fast enough...so for now, this one will do. :)
Thanks Lori!

For the Lack of Posting....

Today I made the yummiest dinner! I was too hungry to take pictures, so sorry, scarffed it down! :) Here's the recipe! YUM!

Johnny Carinos Lemon Rosemary Chicken

A marinated and grilled chicken breast deglazed with fresh lemon and rosemary. Served with angel hair pasta tossed with fresh Roma tomatoes, spinach and garlic.

Serves 4

Ingredients
Chicken, 8 oz Breast 4 each
Italian Vinaigrette Dressing 2 cup
Rosemary, Fresh Chopped 1/8” 2 tsp
Lemon, Fresh 1 each
Salt & Pepper to taste
Olive Oil, Extra Virgin 2 oz
Garlic, Fresh Chopped 2 tsp
Spinach, Fresh Baby Leaf 3 cup
Roma Tomatoes, Diced ½” 1 cup
Angel Hair Pasta, Dry 10 oz weight
Parmesan Cheese, Shredded 2 tsp
Rosemary Sprig, 2” 4 each
Lemon Wheels, Thin Sliced 4 each


1. Using a sharp knife, lay the chicken breast on its side and place a cut through the center of the breast going from side to side. Do not cut all the way through, leaving enough of the chicken breast connected so that you can open up the breast to ‘butterfly’ it creating a heart-shaped breast. Marinate the 4 chicken breasts in 1 cup of the vinaigrette dressing for a few hours before preparing the meal.
2. To a heated grill, place all chicken breasts down to form grill marks. Turn the chicken after 2 to 3 minutes to form diamond grill marks. Repeat this process to cook both sides of each chicken breast. Cook the chicken to 165 Degrees Fahrenheit for 15 seconds.
3. To a medium heated large sauté pan add the remaining 8 oz of vinaigrette dressing, chopped rosemary, juice from one lemon and salt and pepper to taste. Place the fully cooked chicken breasts in the sauté pan and allow the dressing to slowly glaze over the chicken on medium heat. There should be no dressing left in the pan, it should be fully glazed onto the chicken breast.
4. To another heated sauté pan, add 2 ounces of olive oil, 2 tsp of chopped garlic, spinach, diced roma tomatoes, and salt and pepper to taste. Sauté until spinach is cooked and garlic is heated. Do not burn the garlic.
5. Cook angel hair pasta according to package directions. Drain excess water and then toss pasta with tomatoes and spinach in the sauté pan and reserve for plating.
6. Plate the pasta on the designated service plate ware and overlap each chicken breast over the pasta. Garnish each glazed chicken breast with a thinly sliced lemon wheel and rosemary sprig and enjoy!


And then for dessert:

Chocolate Chip/ Chocolate covered craisin cookies
1 cup butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 heaping tbs powdered sugar
1 egg
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups white flour
1 cup wheat flour
1/2 bag of milk chocolate chips
1 bag of chocolate covered craisins

Bake at 350 for 11 minutes.

Christmas Festivities

It has been a fun year for Christmas. This year we celebrated Christmas with my mom and Step dad. They came in on Thursday to start the fun. Friday, Christmas Eve, we had a yummy waffle breakfast, got dressed, and then had lunch at Arby's. (yes it took us that long to get everyone dressed!) Then we came home, built gingerbread houses, made TONS of snowflakes, baked cookies for Santa, opened Christmas PJs, and made our annual pizza for Christmas Eve dinner. Yum! Since we don't have snow here, we made lots of snowflakes and draped them around the house from string....it actually looked so pretty...I can't quite take them down yet. :0) After dinner, we had a talent show, played a pass the present game, to the story of "Twas the Night RIGHT before Christmas," and then had a program about The Savior, with stories and songs. It was a fun Christmas Eve. The kids went to bed leaving Santa some yummy m&m cookies and egg nog (yuck)...good thing Santa likes it, and of course some water out the front door for Rudolph.
Christmas Morning, my mom woke us up with her excitement...yes, woke all of us up, even Ryder...at 6am. (I was letting her open the envelope on the tree.....telling the sex of our next baby)...I guess she was too excited! So we got up, and after the kids saw what Santa saw...we found out we were having another boy! So excited and glad to have a little buddy for Ryder. Not sure of any names, but have a few possibilities.....nothing we can't live without.



The kids opened the rest of their presents and just played around all day. We had a fun relaxed day hanging out at home.....Nana and Pappa Bill brought their Wii, so the girls (and Nelson) have been very busy playing all weekend! :) This year for Christmas dinner, instead of the usual "ham, potatoes, etc" I decided last year, no more Thanksgiving dinners for Christmas...so we had steak, salad, baked potatoes, and rolls...yum. It was good.



Besides all the fun times, we have had a few hurdles. A few kids have been sick, Ryder has an ingrown toenail that we've been soaking, and Nelson even has been pretty sick. But we are pulling through!

We had such a great Christmas and are so blessed for everything little thing we have. We are blessed with such a wonderful family to help and support us.

Merry Christmas to all!
If you would like to see our pictures, here is the link to check us out!

http://photo.walgreens.com/walgreens/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=10872599007/a=2860068007_2860068007/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=walgreens/

(Sorry, you may have to copy and paste into your browser!)

Merry Christmas!!!

Instead of giving our neighbors and loved ones near us treats, we decided to do something a little different this year. And Since we can't hand deliver one to each of our loved ones, I have posted it so you can enjoy! Merry Christmas!
(If you click on it, you can enlarge it!)