Baby Tiger First Birthday

My baby turned 1 last week! Zander loves to make a "tiger" face so this made a perfect theme for him. I had so much fun finding ideas on Pinterest.com for his first birthday. It was a little challenging to find cute-sy tiger birthday decorations. Glad my family and I are crafty!
My sister Jordan came up with these pretty invites. I just love this tiger cartoon! Her Etsy shop is called Jordyluxe. We used her design to print out labels for the treat bags and cupcake toppers.
Zander got to chow down on some homemade chocolate cake with butter cream frosting made by his GiGi! Well, he didn't really chow down. But he enjoyed smashing his fingers in it.
I made the birthday banner out of scrapbook paper and card stock. The letters were made with a Die Cut. Strung on ribbon and hung with thumbtacks. I made the Tiger Paper Lanterns using this fun tutorial. Just construction paper and glue! Then hung from the ceiling with twine. My 4 year old helped me shred the paper. I got the pretzel Tiger Tails idea from this blog. Turned out really cute! Added some shades of blue fabric and toy tigers to complete the table. Zander's tiger shirt came from Crazy8.

The tigers feasted on pizza, cake, ice cream, chocolate, Swedish fish & cookies! We had plenty of tea, water and orange sodas to wash it down.

I displayed his monthly pictures on twine and hung on the mantle. I painted the wooden clothespins white & blue. My mom made a subway art of his birth stats which I can't wait to hang in his room!
Added some frames of Zander now and as a newborn. The chevron treat bags, ice cream cups & blue striped straws came from Shop Sweet Lulu. Awesome service! They included a treat bag with taffy and a "thank you" note. I would order from them again.

The treat bags were labeled "Tiger Food". Inside were candy Swedish Fish.

The balloons were a hit with the kids! Look at my big boy taking some steps :)

I decorated his highchair with more scrapbook paper and crepe paper. His party hat came from Party City and was embellished with more of the tiger labels by Jordan.

Zander had a great first birthday! Babies grow fast and I think the second one grew faster ;) Sure felt that way.

All partied out and ready for a nap!

New Dinner Recipe

Pesto Chicken Stuffed Shells found via Pinterest. The recipe is by Joelen from What's Cooking Chicago.

The main ingredients are chicken, cream cheese and parmesan. So, knew my family would love this one! These pasta shells were very rich and flavorful. I served the pasta shells with green beans and a side salad.

~Pesto Chicken Stuffed Shells~

original Joelen recipe

12-16 jumbo pasta shells
water for boiling pasta
4oz cream cheese, softened
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan or Asiago cheese + 1/4 cup for topping
3 tablespoons prepared pesto (homemade or store bought)
2 cups shredded cooked chicken
2 cloves garlic, minced
salt and pepper to taste

I sprinkled buttered parmesan bread crumbs on top prior to baking as suggested. Yum!

In a large pot over high heat, boil water and prepare pasta shells as directed on package. Cook pasta shells only until al dente. The pasta will finish cooking when the dish is baked. Drain the pasta shells and set aside.

In a large bowl, combine the rest of the ingredients, except the 1/4 cup of cheese for the topping. Fill the pasta shells with the filling and place in a baking dish. Sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup of cheese over filled shells.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and bake shells uncovered for 30 minutes or until shells are bubbling hot and cheese melts.

This is a freezer friendly recipe. I'm already scoping out my next recipe to try from Joelen!

My Baby is One!

My handsome baby boy is one today! We celebrated his birthday this past weekend at our house with friends and family. It was a tiger theme since he likes to make a tiger face! I'll do a separate post with party pics and details.

Zander is such a joyful baby. We are so blessed and happy to have him in our lives! He has started saying Ma Ma consistently which makes me feel good. His favorite word is still "ball". At his birthday party we had lots of balloons which he happily called ball over and over! Zander and his sister are starting to fight over toys. Didn't think that would happen this soon, ha! He now grunts back at her when she tells him No. A few weeks ago he took his first steps. He still tries to walk off and on. But he knows he can get around faster crawling.

I love this baby like crazy!

Here are some newborn pictures of my sweet Zander. So tiny.

I'll miss doing his "Watch Me Grow" monthly pics. I want to think of a new monthly photo project to do that would involve big sister.

Happy Birthday my baby boy! Mommy loves you so much.

Christmas Bucket List 2011

Help Violet write a letter to Santa~done!
Decorate the tree together & listen to Christmas music~done!
Make a Gingerbread House~done!
Take the kids to see Santa~done!
Watch a Christmas movie and drink hot chocolate~done!
Put up Christmas Lights on the house~done!
Make treats for neighbors~done!
Send out Christmas Cards~done!
Go Ice Skating~this sounded to difficult. Didn't want to face the mall crowds to ice skate.
Remember to put the Elf on a Shelf in a new spot every night~um, sort of!
Read Christmas Stories~done!
Take a drive to look at Christmas Lights~done!
Donate some of our toys to charity~half done! bagged up to go.
Make cookies for Santa~done!
Celebrate the birth of Jesus!~Done!

What's on your Bucket List? I was inspired by this blog over at Makoodle.

Weekly Meal Plan

Now that I've made it a habit to do a weekly meal plan and grocery list. I want to start a Household Binder. I think that would help me to get organized and stay on top of chores. I get my cleaning inspiration from FlyLady, Organized Junkie and IHeartOrganizing. Time to start implementing those ideas!

Here's our meals for the week.

Zuppa Toscana Soup with bread. (roll over from last week)

Meat Pie with Glazed Carrots (trying a friend's recipe-her blog)

Crock Pot Italian Cream Cheese Chicken with rice, veggies & garlic bread

Skillet Pork Chops with Quinoa Broccoli Cheese Casserole (If this casserole is good I'll be making it for Thanksgiving)

Stuffed Zucchini with turkey sausage and Butter Rice

Lunches- leftovers or Pepperoni Pizza Puffs

Breakfast- waffles, fruit or breakfast burritos

Visit Organized Junkie for more dinner ideas!

New Gallery Wall

This was my first completed project in the new house. We have been here about a month now. I had most of these frames on a gallery wall in our previous home. So, I didn't have to buy much to update my frame collection. Just bought a few more black & silver frames from Walmart. I ended up spray painting the tiny frame under the "K" silver. Then I got some recent family portraits printed at Walgreens to complete the wall.

Here is the Before~

And AFTER!

I love it! I think I might paint all the frames to match someday but for now I'm enjoying the mix matchy look. I got the "what I love most about my home is who I share it with" from the adorable Eighteen25 blog. It's a free printable. I got my 4 year old to paint me a picture with some blue to match the table. The topiary came in a 3 pack from HomeGoods for around 10 dollars. Got the yellow bird for 5 dollars at Kirklands. The lantern was on sale for 10 dollars there as well. The small dish with a "K" on it was found at Tuesday Morning a couple years ago. The beautiful blue antique table was painted by my mom & sister. She recently used this to hold drink pitchers at her wedding! Thank you Jordan for the table. This project really didn't cost much!

It was hard to get a straight shot of the wall since it's at an angle.

Hope you like my new Gallery Wall layout! Thanks for visiting!
Jill

I'm linking up with Young & Crafty and Iheartnaptime :)

Weekly Meal Plan

(source:weightwatchers)

(source:kevinandamanda)

(my photo & recipe)

I took my time this week getting the meal plan ready. Still had 2 meals left over from last week to cook. Got my grocery shopping done today and now have a full fridge. That's always nice!

Dinners~
Crusted Honey Mustard Chicken, green beans and mashed potatoes

Calzones and side salad

Applebee's Cheese Chicken Tortilla Soup

Soft Beef Tacos with rice

My Zuppa Toscana Soup

Lunches will be leftovers, sandwiches or lean pockets.

Breakfast will be Savory Biscuits, fruit or waffles.

For more ideas go to Organized Junkie!

My Grandma's Creole Pork Chops

My Grandma used to make these pork chops back in the day when we would visit her and my Grandpa. I've changed it up a little since my hubby doesn't like stewed tomatoes and used crushed tomatoes instead. These pork chops taste the best over rice since it makes a lot of yummy sauce!

~Creole Pork Chops~

Regular bone in thin cut pork chops
green bell pepper rings
whole round onion slices
2 14oz. Can stewed tomatoes or 28oz. canned crushed tomatoes
Creole Seasoning
Salt and Pepper
Mustard
Flour

Season up the pork chops.

Dip pork chops in mustard water(1 tbsp mustard to 1C water) and coat with flour

Just brown pork chops on both sides using as little oil as possible and remove from pan

Using same oil toss in the onion and brown slightly

Next toss in bell pepper rings, continue to saute for a couple of minutes.

You should have a layer of onion & pepper

Return chops to pan on top of onions and peppers forming layer

Pour stewed/crushed tomatoes on top and spread

Add enough water to leave top of chops exposed

Cover and simmer about 20 minutes turning chops over in 10 minutes