New House Numbers

October 19, 2012

Well, we got rid of our old door and replaced it with a beautiful new front door. If you follow my instagram, you might have seen some of the progress I’ve made this last week. We’ve (well mostly I’ve) stained, sealed and painted the trim on the door all week. It’s tough to leave your front door open all day in between coats and keep a very busy 1 year old out of the mess and in the house. But, it’s done and I saved myself $500 (that’s how much they were going to charge to have the door finished).

Now I’m on the look out for some new house numbers. It’s one of those cases that once you fix one thing, you find 10 other things that need to be fixed as well. But, really after all the money and work that went it this new door, shouldn’t we have fancy new numbers to go along with it?

I’ve searched high and low and these are my favorites. Some are way out of my price range and some totally unpractical, but they all have great design and style. I definitely don’t want something traditional, at the least, I need a more modern font for my numbers.

Top // Grass Numbers // Stainless Modern // Wide Modern

Middle // Stencil // Nail Head // Mission

Bottom // Succulent Number // Oversized // Twig Numbers

What would you choose to go with my new front door or maybe for your front door (if you need/want new numbers)?

etc.

Cowgirl and Indian Halloween Costumes

October 18, 2012

So, this obviously is from a few years ago. Oh my gosh, those little guys were so dang cute. This is 2007, and we were living in Sanaa, Yemen. Believe it or not, the international school the we taught at actually had a dress-up day on Halloween. It wasn’t called Halloween, but it was Halloween to us.

Denali’s outfit was all hers, not even a costume really. She got the pink boots from her Grandma when she went to the rodeo in Idaho. She wore them the whole time we lived in Yemen. Our little blonde would march around the cobble stone streets in her pink boots. The horse I bought for her at IKEA in Dubai (how exotic).

Dylan’s costume came all the way from Canada. My mom found it, his moccasins, and the dream catcher in a thrift store. Dylan was in preschool at the time and he loved his costume. He stayed in character all day. You can see him dancing.

And if you need a quick last minute costume idea, dress as a baker. I made a simple chefs hat out of tissue paper and card stock, wore an apron, put some flour on my face and carried a bowl and whisk.

You can see more of our Halloween costumes by clicking the links below.

Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia

Shark and Scuba Diver

Metamorphosis – Butterfly, Chrysalis, and Caterpillar

Wizard of Oz – Dorothy and Scarecrow

etc.

Shark and Scuba Diver Halloween Costumes

October 16, 2012

I LOVE Halloween costumes. And I love to dress my kids in costumes that go together. We’ve come up with some pretty creative ones (well that’s what I think) over the years. So, over the next couple of weeks, I’m going to share some costumes from Halloweens past. The Shark and Scuba Diver costumes are from Halloween 2010 (pre Olivia).

Denali’s Scuba Diver costume was one of the easiest ones I’ve ever made. She simply wore a long sleeved black t-shirt, black jeans, and a black ski hat for her wet suit. Then I spray painted 2 large soda bottles silver and attached a scuba sticker to them for her tanks. I used wide elastic to make her a weight belt and straps for carrying the tanks. She wore her own snorkel and mask and carried her fins.

Dylan’s Shark costume was a whole other ball game. I didn’t have a pattern, so I used pictures from the Pottery Barn Kids catalogue to come up with his. I used two tones of grey polar fleece and batting to hold the head and fins up. It turned out pretty cute and it didn’t cost me anywhere near the Pottery Barn price tag.

You can see that my kids had a lot of fun with these costumes. My favorite shot from the night is the scuba diver attacking the shark. Dylan’s face makes me smile.

You can see more of our Halloween costumes by clicking the links below.

Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia

Cowgirl and Indian

Metamorphosis – Butterfly, Chrysalis, and Caterpillar

Wizard of Oz – Dorothy and Scarecrow

etc.

Cheddar Apple Biscuits

October 15, 2012

These are soooo yummy. In the last week, I’ve made these twice for my family. These tender, slightly sweet biscuits need absolutely nothing on them, not even butter. I served these with my Curried Butternut Squash Soup.

Cheddar Apple Biscuits

2 cups flour

1 tbsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. cream of tartar

2 tsp. sugar

1/4 tsp. salt

1 cup grated apple

1/2 cup grated shape cheddar

1/2 cup butter

2/3 cup milk

Mix all dry ingredients together.

Using a pastry knife, cut the COLD butter into the flour until it looks like course meal. Stir in the apple and all but 3 tbsp. of the cheese.

Add the milk and just barely combine the ingredients by tossing it gently with a fork. The less you handle the dough the more tender it will be.

Roll out to 1/2 inch and cut into circles, squares, whatever shaped you’d like. Top each biscuit with a sprinkling of the remaining cheese. Bake at 400 F for about 12-15 minutes. Enjoy them while they are warm.

I hope you had a great weekend. We had some great family and friends time. Saturday night I had 8 children under the age of 10 years old all by myself for 2 hours (then Lon came home). I’ll have you know, I made dinner and fed all of those kiddos too. It was some very fun chaos.

etc.

October Memory Verse

October 13, 2012

I thought this was an appropriate verse for October. I had fun with this one. I hand drew the garlands and lettering. I’ve shared that we celebrate Halloween without the spooky stuff. This is such a comforting verse for little ones to learn, whether it’s Halloween or not. You can print your own copy HERE for free.

Well, I’m finally back with another printable memory verse. I kind of felt that no one was using these. But then recently, I received a few messages and comments about how folks enjoy these. So, we’re back! I’ll make sure to post the months that I missed.

If you want to know more about my Monthly Memory Verse, read here. And I’d love some feedback. Do you print these verses for your home? Looking at all the months I’ve put together this year, which is you favorite? And what colors, patterns or verses would you like to see in the months to come? I value your opinion.

etc.

Curried Butternut Squash Soup

October 12, 2012

This Fall soup is full of flavor and is such an inexpensive, healthy meal. Yummy roasted squash is paired with the heat of curry and the sweetness of apples. It can be a vegetarian meal as well. I used chicken stock, but vegetable stock could be easily substituted. This is a recipe that my good friend Gwen used to make. I’ve changed it ever so slightly for my family, but it’s a Fall favorite in our home.

Curried Butternut Squash Soup
2 lbs. butternut squash (cubes into 1″ pieces)
4 tbsp. olive oil
2 cups chopped apple (granny smith or another tart apple)
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped celery
1 bay leaf
1 tbsp. curry powder
2 garlic cloves (finely chopped)
4 cups chicken or veg. stock
salt and pepper

Place squash on a foil lined baking sheet. Toss with 2 tbsp. olive oil and sprinkle with coarse salt. Bake for about 40 mins. in a 400F or until the squash is tender.

Sautee the apple onion, celery and bay leaf in 2 tbsp. olive oil until tender. Stir in the curry powder and garlic. Add the squash, broth and salt and pepper to taste.

Bring to medium heat, simmer for 30 mins.

Blend the hot soup in a blender until smooth. Serve with cheese, chicken, a dollop of sour cream or
just by itself.

My cute bowl is from West Elm. Olivia loves this soup. Because it’s a puree, it’s like gourmet baby food. And I’m sure it would freeze well. We ate the whole pot, so I couldn’t save any for later.

etc.

Modern Pumpkins

October 9, 2012

I’m trying to change it up a bit this year and infuse a little modern into my Fall decor. I love the design trend of using geometric shapes. So, I thought my pumpkins could sport some simple white triangles. I think I’ve always leaned towards simple and clean design. But, lately less is definitely more.

This has been kind of rough couple months for our family. In order to make ends meet, Lonnie has been working extra, teaching evening classes. And on top of that, he is working on his Masters in Biology. So, he is also at the University a lot. Some days he leaves at 6:45am and doesn’t get home till 9:00pm. He is exhausted, and I feel sorry for him having to work so hard. But, it’s also kind of tiring for me too. And we just miss having him around. The kids get sick of me and want their dad. We’re a team and around 7:00pm, I’m about done with single parenting. If you are a single parent – my hat goes off to you. I don’t know how you do it.

I’m not sharing this to complain, I just want to be honest. Life isn’t always exactly how you want it, sometimes you just have to chose joy and make the best of the situations. I know this is just for a season, but sometimes in the middle of it, it’s hard to see the end.

So, to help keep my sanity and have a little fun with my kids, last night we worked on painting these pumpkins. Dylan really had the idea for the triangles. He wanted to do a pattern similar to his desk that I painted for him. And for the little pumpkins, we wanted to make them look like they had been dipped in paint.

We simply used blue painters tape and white craft paint to achieve these simple looks.

How do you deal with stress? Or is life not as perfect as you’d like it to be?

etc.

Happy Halloween Party

October 8, 2012

I love a good excuse for a party. Halloween parties are so much fun. What’s better then costumes and candy? Last year I managed to throw my kids a Halloween party with a one month old. Not sure how I made that happen. I’ve shared before that I’m not much for the scary side of Halloween. So, here’s a few fun Halloween treats that have caught my eye this year.

Black Cat Cards // Striped Paper Straws // Wooden Cutlery // Black Owl Plate

I’m going to try to put together a party this year as well. I figure you spend so much time and money on costumes, kids should get to wear them more then once. So, sometime in the week before Halloween, we’ll have a little get together with treats and decorations. Maybe a pumpkin carving party.

Dylan and Denali are getting so big. I hate to think that someday they aren’t going to want to dress up for Halloween in cute costumes. I have got to maximize on the time I have with them now. And I better start sewing their costumes soon. I have Harry Potter cloaks to make this year.

etc.

Make your own ceramic beakers

October 5, 2012

A couple weeks ago I shared on Thrifting Thursday these cute white pitchers. I wanted to mark them with graduated measurement lines. Well, I finally finished their little mini makeover. I made my own ceramic beakers! Once I found the right supplies, it was totally easy, and a lot of fun to do. These are going to make charming vases or pencil holders or who knows what – but they are cute!

I attempted painting the lines and numbers with Martha Stewart’s glass paint – no go, couldn’t get it to look nice. Then I decided to try this Sharpie Oil-based Paint pen. It worked like a charm. I’m not sure if it’s dishwasher safe, but it’s definitely on their permanently. I’ll probably just hand wash them to make sure.

Here’s how I did it:

1. Tape off the area that you will be painting in. This gives you some guides to work with. On one side of the blue tape, mark off in pencil the line and numbers where you want them. Then mark the longest lines first.

2. Now mark off the medium length lines (that fall in between the long lines), then mark the tiny lines in between those lines.

3. Remove the piece of tape on the right.

4. Write the numbers.

Let the paint dry for at least 24 hrs.

Ah the possibilities are endless. Now to find more things to paint on with sharpie paint pens. Do you have any creative ideas using paint pens and ceramic dishes?

If you like what you see, BE A FRIEND! Leave a comment, follow Oleander and Palm by email, Pinterest, Facebook, or Twitter.

Check out the Give Thanks plate I made using this same technique.

etc.

The Scooter Party – The details

October 4, 2012

Yesterday I shared some pictures from Olivia’s party. Here’s a few more pictures of the details from the party. On the dessert bar I served Pink Oreo Truffles, Sugar Cookies decorated with number 1’s, and Lime Marshmallows (recipe to come soon). I also love to have candy jars and little paper bags so that the kids can fill their own bags. Kids absolutely love this. To go with the colors of the party I had mint green rock candy, Dark Chocolate Mint M&Ms, old fashioned butter mint in pretty pastels, and Strawberry Malt Balls.

For drinks I served pink lemonade in milk bottles decorated with my scooter decals and I kept a punch bowl full of, the ever popular, Lime Sherbet Punch.

I know this is a lot of pictures, but I just had so much fun with this party I have to share. I still want to share the lunch menu with you. I had a clever idea for the lunch and I think it went over really well with a crowed house of guests. So, I’ll be back tomorrow with more scooter party fun.