Monthly Archives

June 2012

recipes & crafts

Cheddar Bay Biscuits

You know those amazing biscuits from Red Lobster? Or Ruby Tuesday? I found a recipe on Big Oven the other day and thought I would try them out. They were delicious!! They tasted just like the ones at Red Lobster. I thought I would share the recipe. Just don’t blame me when you eat them all!

I made my own cheddar biscuits just like those from Red Lobster or Ruby Tuesday's...and they were quite yummy!

Cheddar Bay Biscuits

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups Bisquick baking mix
1 cup Cheddar cheese; finely grated
3/4 cup Whole milk
2 tablespoons Butter
1/8 teaspoon Garlic powder
1/4 cup Butter
1/2 teaspoon Garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon Dried parsley flakes
1 dash Salt

Directions:
1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

2. Combine Bisquick with cheddar cheese, milk, 2 tablespoons of butter that has been melted in the microwave, and 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder in a medium bowl. Mix until well-combined.

3. Drop approximately 1/4-cup portions of the dough onto an ungreased cookie sheet.

4. Combine 1/4 cup butter with 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder, parsley flakes and salt. Brush this mixture over the tops of each unbaked biscuit.

5. Bake for 14 to 16 minutes or until the tops of the biscuits begin to turn light brown. Serve warm.

PRINTABLE RECIPE JUST FOR YOU

technology

Buckeye cable

For those who live near us and have Buckeye cable, you have to call and get the new modem/DVR combo. Not only does it upgrade your DVR with a larger hard drive, it also allows you to record up to 6 programs at a time. Amazing! AND…you can watch the programs from any device. If you are watching a program in your family room and then want to head to bed to finish watching it, it will pick up right where you left off. You can set, delete, watch recordings from any of your boxes as well. The DVR menu is taking some getting used to, but it’s easy enough to figure out.

New cable dvr/modem

The modem is great as well because you no longer need to use a router for wireless connection. It has wireless capabilities and you are able to change the settings for xbox connection (open the appropriate ports and such). There is a $25 fee for the setup and they come out to your house and connect everything for you. The cost of the modem/DVR box is not any more per month, in fact we would have saved a few bucks each month if we wouldn’t have ordered an extra box when we got the new equipment.

I believe Buckeye did some commercials advertising the new box, but I never seen them since I tend to DVR everything and never watch commercials. It wasn’t until I got online to look up their phone number to order a new DVR box because ours kept skipping (like dropping off sound for a second here and there) that I seen that the new boxes were available. No more sound skipping for us!

(This is not a paid advertisement, however if Buckeye would like to give me a discount on my cable bill for saying nice things about their products, that would be super!)

blog

Dance Recital

Karli did such a great job at her dance recital. I have to upload the videos yet, but when I do I will be sure to share. For now, here are the photos. She looked so pretty in her costumes! Her tap routine, the outfit with the hat, was a small group of only 4 girls and they did such an awesome job. Her hip hop number was the white outfit and had so many girls of different ages and they did really well, except the routine was too short! Karli loves hip hop so much! The turquoise outfit was for jazz and she was the youngest and much smaller than all the other girls. A couple of the girls were Andrew’s age! She struggled at times during practice to keep up with the older girls, but overall I was so proud of her. She did well at the recital and she learned so much in the class. We can’t wait until next year!

Karli Dance Recital

Karli Dance Recital

Karli Dance Recital

Karli Dance Recital

Karli did such a great job at her dance recital!! So proud ;)

doggy dogs

Happy First Birthday to the Pups!

Daisy and Pippa turned 1 today. Happy Birthday fuzz buckets!!

Happy 1st Birthday to the puppies, Daisy & Pippa!

The kids had asked what we got the puppies for their birthday and today we just happened to get new carpet installed, so I said that we got them new carpet to pee all over. I’m gonna be watching these two like a hawk!

blog

Last day of school

Karli with her friend dressed for the last day of school.
Karli and her friend...the last day of school outfit she picked out a week ago with her HEELS (must have!)

Of course no day can go without some sort of catastrophe. The last day of school Ken had a golf meeting up near Port Huron so I took Chase and Karli to school. As we were pulling around the back of the school Karli had taken her seat belt off and was sticking her head out the window. Next thing I know she is crying. She said when I hit a bump her mouth hit the top of the window and hit her tooth. When I asked her to open her mouth I was almost sick. One of her top teeth was pushed backward, like instead of pointing down it was pointing toward the back of her throat.

Thankfully it was a baby tooth!

After dropping Chase off I pulled across from the school to get a closer look at her tooth. It was bleeding a little bit and she was in a lot of pain. I called the dentist and they said they needed to take a look to see if it needed to be pulled or what. She did settle down enough to go into school to give her teacher her gift and enjoy her last day a bit. Once at the dentist her tooth did look a little bit better. Her gum was still a little purple but the tooth looked like it shifted back in place some. The dentist did want to pull it but the more he talked about it the more upset she became.

Karli at the Dentist

The dentist was going to numb her gums and all, but she just wasn’t having it. He said he didn’t want the dentist to be a traumatic experience for Karli that she never forgot so he told Karli she has 7 days to get the tooth out herself or it would need pulled.

Karli at the dentist

Amazingly, several days later the tooth actually doesn’t look that bad at all. It is almost back into its normal position so I am not going to force her to get it pulled. Since it’s a baby tooth and the next one to probably fall out anyways I think she is fine. She is already missing her two front teeth and it’s the tooth next to the front tooth.

The funniest part was when we were checking out and the receptionist said $70 and Karli said, “For what, he didn’t even do anything?” I told her, “Welcome to the world of the medical field!”

blog

Karli’s bedroom and other updates

Some things that have been happening the past month or so…

We shot our new guns for the first time! Video coming soon. It was quite interesting…scary, but not as bad as what I thought it would be. I even shot Ken’s .45, which holy powerful!
Shot my AR for the first time today, pretty sweet!

I painted Karli’s bedroom a brighter pink and put up a zebra border (shhh, it’s duct tape!). I didn’t want to have to paint all the way to the ceiling since it is cathedral ceiling in her room, so I took the easy way out. We bought her a new bunk bed that is a futon that folds out into a full size bed for sleepovers with friends. She wanted as much as possible to be zebra, so I added a little here and there. I also reupholstered her desk chair because she had stains on the pad from who knows what. Now if only she would keep her room clean!
Changing from pink to pink ;)
Karli's new bedroom
Karli's new bedroom

We still kept the clouds on the walls…it is the only thing left original since we first started using this room as a nursery for Chase and then Karli. I couldn’t part with them :(
Karli's new bedroom
Karli's bedroom

We bought lots of flowers to spruce up our yard from the Detroit Eastern Market on Flower Day. Of course I bought too much and was sick of planting about half way through.
We tore out these huge ugly juniper shurbs that were around our pool and grew way too big and I planted some smaller perennials and annuals. Unfortunately I put a hole in the sprinkler hose that is buried underground around our pool. Ken was able to fix it pretty easily, but it was still another chore that we didn’t need. We ended up with a much cleaner look around the pool, which I love.
Pool

Our dogs have always been able to get out of our fence. When we built our house 11 years ago we had a Keeshond and a Pomeranian that were too big to fit through the fence. Those dogs are in doggy heaven and our current 4 dogs can all fit through the fence. Whether it be them running through to torment the huge dogs behind us who are blocked via electric fence or running out front at people walking their dogs, it’s always been a pain. Especially this last year when we got the puppies. I had told Ken I could not make it through another summer having to babysit the dogs when we let them outside. FINALLY..we came up with a solution. We bought 450, 1 foot tall pickets, actually they were 6 foot long that we had cut into 1 foot, and Ken installed them in between each gap in the fence. It ended up looking pretty decent considering it was not really meant to be.
Fence

We installed new gates as well. Ours were in bad shape and unfortunately our fence was discontinued, but we just went with a gate we thought would like nice and again, I think it turned out nicely. Ken has been a busy worker bee around here lately!
Gates

We started my home office makeover. We painted two walls a dark salmon color that has grown on me since then. I have a temporary desk set up until we buy some new cabinets and install a built in counter top. We have also ordered new carpet for the office, great room and up the stairs and down the hallway. We decided to wait and do the bedrooms next year. It’s hard to believe that it’s been 11 years with this carpet!
Home office makeover...color is looking bright! Dark salmon. Hope I grow to love it. Right now I'm not so sure.

We’ve been a little bit busy with all these projects, but I guess that is what spring is for! We will hopefully be done soon and can sit back and enjoy our summer break with the kiddos.

holidays & occassions

First Communion

Karli looked so beautiful in her First Communion dress. Fortunately she was able to wear her dress 3 different days. Once for a quick photo for her invitations, once for the official photos taken at the church and then at mass for her First Communion. She was so cute, she was nervous about it, especially drinking the wine. I tried to video her receiving communion but Ken was helping her and got in the way of my camera 8(

We had a small luncheon at our house afterward which we ended up ordering catering so we didn’t have to mess with cooking. Sometimes it is just so much easier so you get to enjoy chatting with everyone rather than cooking. Everything turned out nicely, including her yummy cake which was party chocolate cake with Ho-Ho cream and carrot cake with cream cheese filling. I love Cakes by Stephanie, but they are pricey so I save it for special occasions.

Karli & Tori

Karli & her Godfather Dean

Karli & Andrew's GF Ali

Karli & Grandma n Grandpa

Karli & Great Grandma

Karli's First Communion

Karli and Father M.

Karli's First Communion

Karli & Great Grandma

Karli & Grandma n Grandpa

Karli's First Communion

Karli's First Communion

Karli's First Communion

Karli's First Communion

Karli's First Communion

Karli's First Communion

Karli's First Communion

Karli's First Communion

Karli's First Communion

Karli's First Communion

Karli's First Communion

Karli's First Communion

Karli's First Communion

holidays & occassions

Easter

Where is the slow down button for this life of mine? I have so many blog drafts that I never published it crazy. It’s often that I will start writing something and then save it until I have time to resize photos or whatever and then I never seem to get around to finishing it.

Life is freakin’ insane people!! If you have little kids at home and you think your life is busy, just wait. It doesn’t get any easier and if people tell you that it does they are lying. Well I suppose it gets easier in the sense that you aren’t wiping butts and faces all day long, but now you have so many more things to deal with. Sports, dance, the endless birthday party invites, trying to keep the fridge filled, the laundry done…my gosh I can’t even keep my receipt pile empty. HOMEWORK!! My gosh, is homework meant for the kids or the parents? I sometimes wonder. I haven’t read any books since the Shades of Grey series because I haven’t had the desire to read at night after reading with the kids. This is the last week of school so hopefully I will be doing some reading in the near future.

Anyways, I want to get caught up here at the ole family blog and I don’t just want to skip things because my lack of extra time. So don’t mind me and the fact that I am sharing things that are a bit old.

For today we have some photos from Easter. Look at those cute kiddos and puppies!

easter2012

If you want you can view the photos individually here.