Happy Blogiversary

We blogged for a year...
We loved every minute...
It's a lot of work!
So, for our anniversary...

We QUIT!

(That's right, we're two women who know our limits.)
Thank you for following our journey and passing the blog along to your friends. We hope we've inspired you and maybe made you laugh. We set out with no real timeline or goal in mind; we just wanted to continue as long as we were having fun. The blog isn't going away--we'll still post if a magnificent idea strikes us--but we won't be posting weekly...probably not even monthly.

Green Bunny: Super Logan

The color scheme on this one was a lot of fun. I love these pictures because it was the first time Logan wanted to be "Super Logan" and have his blankie for a cape.

Green Bunny: Love Birds

I LOVE this layout! The top picture was the first one ever taken of Dan and I. The bottom picture is us, re-creating it, 10 years later.

Green Bunny: Canvas!

Canvas art! This was a really fun project. I am thinking it might be something I offer when I start my little business venture. I started with an 8x10 blank canvas. Next, I painted the whole canvas with Making Memories scrapbook paint. Then, I sifted through a bunch of patterned paper scraps and picked some coordinating designs.

I used foam alphabet stamps for my words and attached my papers with sticky photo tabs.

I finished the projects with a layer of modge podge. The boys always get my 'first tries'. You R My Sunshine in Carter's room and I Love You This Much goes to Logan. Can't wait to try a couple more with other colors and sayings!

Green Bunny: Little Blue Pool

This is...by far...one of my favorite layouts!

There is just something about chubby arms and that little blue pool that create a recipe for pure joy. This was the first time I combined both color and black & white photos on a layout and I love the outcome.

Joyeux Kitchen: Sangria! Ole!

We had a party over the weekend and this Emeril recipe was a huge hit.  It's easy to make ahead and serve later; perfect for a busy party day!

You'll need:

• 1 (750 ml) bottle of red wine
• 1/4 cup brandy (I used apricot)
• 1/4 cup triple sec/orange liqueur
• 2 tbsp fresh lime juice (I used bottled)
• 2 tbsp fresh orange juice (again...bottled)
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 an orange, thinly sliced
• 1/2 a lemon, thinly sliced
• 1 unwaxed apple, cored and cut into thin wedges (Oh please Emeril, where am I going to get an unwaxed apple?  I used waxed and didn't core it either.)
• 1 (750 ml) bottle of sparkling water, chilled

I also threw in a handful of tiny key limes sliced in half since I used bottled lime juice.  Combine everything but the sparkling water in a large plastic container or glass pitchers. Cover and chill completely, 1 to 2 hours. When ready to serve, add the sparkling water.  This recipe is great doubled if you're serving a crowd!  I doubled it, but didn't have a second bottle of sparkling water, so I used 2 cans of Sprite.  YUM!

Recipe courtesy Emeril Lagasse & foodnetwork.com.

Green Bunny: Week In The Life

Another amazing project from Ali Edwards. I LOVED capturing our life for a week. All the 'stuff' that makes us the McCabe Family. I did my first Week In The Life album in May 2010. I tailored mine after Ali's for the first go round and used her Designer Digitals templates to set up my album. I basically followed her format exactly as I got my toes wet in this process. It is an 8.5x11 format. I used Photoshop Elements 4.0 with the digital overlays and the divided pages are baseball card protectors. Not sure if I will use the same templates this year or try something new. I'm a big believer in "if it ain't broke..."

Ali has set her week in July this year. With Dan traveling, our anniversary, and Carter turning two, it didn't seem like the ideal week for us. I'd like to capture an 'ordinary' week (if that exists). I am going to set aside a week in August (currently looking at Aug 15-21). Consider yourself invited to join in during either time period. Visit Ali's Week In The Life page for even more inspiration.

SERIOUSLY...Give it a try! Last year, I took 80-100 pictures a day (Don't be overwhelmed by this number...that incudes 4-5 pictures of each subject to make sure I got atleast one good one...blurries...etc). It was easier than I thought it would be. I tried to capture several aspects of our lives: foods we were eating, the way our street looked that time of year, our shoes, toys, clothes, dog, the boys wrestling, the boys reading, the boys playing...I also included receipts, packaging, lists, pieces of mail, etc. I kept my Itso bin (mentioned in a December Daily post) on the kitchen counter with a file folder for each day of the week to keep track of everything. At the end of each day, I uploaded all the pics to a dated folder on my desktop. That way, I didn't have to sort through 1000 pictures at the end of the week and try to decided what happened on each day. I also kept a spiral notebook in the Itso bin to write notes and stories from each day. My mama brain NEEDS notes!

It is so fun to look back at last year's album. SO much has changed in just one year (no more bottles, Carter is walking, Logan is potty-trained, the toys have changed). Imagine looking back in 10 years and seeing what your 'reality' was. A glimpse of what used to be. LOVE it!

My hope is to continue doing one week a year and shifting a couple months each time in order to include different months/seasons over the years. I think I'll be able to fit two to three 'years' in one album. May 2010 was 16 pages. Take a look:

The right page is a printed 8.5x11 photo. I used Ali's digital overlays to create the collage and then printed them up on scrapbookpictures.com. I added the patterned paper once they arrived in my mailbox.

A couple of 6x12's for some variation...

The baseball page protectors were a fun size to play with. For the photos on those pages, I created a 5x7 canvas in Photoshop and added four 2.5x3.5 photos in collage format and printed them through scrapbookpictures.com. Just a small amount of cropping when they arrived and they were ALL the SAME size!

Inspired yet? I hope you'll join me! This is a great little book of memories for your family. Feel free to leave any questions you have in the comments section too!

"That's not sweat, it's your fat cells crying."

I ran my first marathon on Saturday.  Immediately after the race, I might have been tempted to call it my one and only marathon.  But today I can tell you with certainty that I will do it again. 

I ran with a very dear friend, and for her company along the course I will never be able to fully express my gratitude.  She could have finished faster but stayed with me every step of the race.  She had dozens of inspirational running quotes that she doled out along the way, wisdom from other marathoners and elite runners, and stories from random folks she'd met at other races who had all left an impression on her.  She has so much HEART.  She only let on that she was hurting one time that I can remember, as opposed to me constantly assessing which new body part was feeling searing pain.  God bless that woman and her sweet Midwestern accent; without her I might have veered to the left when the half-mary runners split from the full. 

Thank goodness for our support crew (my husband and her dad) who tracked us down at three separate places along the course carrying a bright yellow sunshine balloon so we could find them easily.  Thank goodness for my mama, who kept the girls Friday and Saturday so I could enjoy the weekend worry-free.  Thank goodness for the spectators and volunteers who showed up at the crack of dawn to cheer us on.  All along the course they held hand-written signs with memorable one-liners:

"In our minds, you're all Kenyans!"

"That's not sweat, it's your fat cells crying!"

"Chuck Norris never ran a marathon!"

"There's beer at the finish line!"

"This 26.2 is for all the girls picked last in gym class!"

I loved the sense of community all throughout the race: 26,000 strangers and throngs of supporters, united by a common goal and shared passion.

At mile 7, we reached the tribute to our nation's veterans and those lost in combat.  There were volunteers holding photos of service men and women who didn't make it home, and a long line of American flags, and the sight of it all quite literally took my breath away.  Talk about perspective.

At mile 12, I started having what I call 'big thoughts,' as in:  We've already been running for two hours and we aren't even halfway done yet, and My God What Have I Gotten Myself Into???  Then we came across a table full of snack food for the race volunteers.  Doughnuts....and grapes and broccoli.  The doughnuts proved to be too large a temptation--I made off with half an old-fashioned glazed and popped it in my mouth with two broccoli florets.  Mmm.

I am not a natural runner, it doesn't come easily to me.  At mile 19, I remember saying, "This is harder than childbirth!"  Maybe I was being melodramatic.  Maybe I had freakishly mild labor and delivery experiences.  (The girls all came out in 1 or 2 pushes so I certainly don't have the perspective of a woman who had to push for hours.)  26.2 miles of pavement pounding is grueling and there is no mid-race epidural.  (If you've done both and still disagree and want to call me names that's totally your prerogative. ;)

The last mile of the race felt like at least three miles; the anticipation of the finish line was palpable and painful.  But crossing it, hand in hand with my sweet friend, was an amazing rush.  I came home to bone-crushing hugs from my girls and peonies on my porch from lovely Lindsay.

I think Saturday was the beginning of a journey for me: a lifetime of marathons, hopefully some faster and probably some slower, but each with it's own unique set of experiences.  I will cross the starting line for my next 26.2 armed with the knowledge that I absolutely CAN do it.  And if I can do it, anyone can.

Green Bunny: Some Kind Of Wonderful

It is official: The first day of Summer.

C'mon sun...c'mon sun!

Here's a layout of the (no exaggeration) only sunshine day we've had so far in the Pacific NW. I DO see a glorious ball of bright in the sky this morning, so maybe it was just holding out until it was officially summertime!

Joyeux Kitchen: Great-Grandma Nell's Raspberry Swirl

(Doug's favorite dessert)

*This recipe includes raw eggs.  It's an old-school creamy dessert, and back in the day no one thought twice about using raw eggs to achieve super creamy texture.  I like livin' on the edge, but it seemed like an appropriate disclaimer if you're concerned about the possibility of food borne illness.  I list suggestions at the bottom for making it without the eggs but I can't guarantee the same creamy texture.

3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs (this time I was out of grahams so I used finely crushed animal crackers...Nilla Wafers would work too)
3 tbsp. melted butter
2 tbsp. sugar

Combine and press in the bottom of a greased or parchment lined 8 by 8 (for a thicker slice) or 9 by 13 pan.  Bake @ 375 for 8 minutes and cool completely.  Don't let it get too dark in the oven!  I left it in for 12 minutes by accident one time and it tastes terrible.

3 eggs, separated
1 8-ounce cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1/8 tsp. salt
1 cup whipped cream (homemade or Cool Whip)
1 bag frozen, sweetened raspberries, thawed

Beat egg yolks until thick.  Add cream cheese, sugar and salt and beat until light and smooth.  Beat egg whites to stiff peaks.  Gently fold whites and whipped cream into cheese mixture.  Puree raspberries; gently swirl 1/2 through cheese filling.  Spread onto crust.  Stream remaining berries onto top in long strings and swirl with a knife (for Father's Day I put it in my piping bag to be fancy :).  Freeze for at least four hours, or preferably overnight.

Let thaw for a few minutes on the counter before serving or it will be impossibly hard to get out.  It will also be really hard to get out if you forgot to grease the baking pan before you put the crust in it.  But it'll still taste great.  C'est la vie!

Websites with ideas for raw egg replacement:

http://www.recipetips.com/recipe-cards/t--2825/banana-split-dessert.asp

http://www.homemade-dessert-recipes.com/eggs-and-salmonella.html

Popular ideas seem to be pasteurized whole eggs, liquid refrigerated eggs or egg whites, or egg substitutes.  Haven't experimented yet but I'll let you know when I do!  I'll be much more comfortable serving this at parties and not having to hold my breath for a couple days wondering if I gave anyone food poisoning.

Homemade Crayons

When I asked Logan what he wanted to give his teachers as a thank you, he enthusiastically said "CRAYONS". I couldn't see myself handing the teachers a box of Crayolas, so I had to get creative. 

Why not MAKE crayons? (I said in my head)

Super simple AND super fun!

Peel your old crayons and break them into small pieces.

just pretty

I sprayed both a silicone baking mold (squares) and a metal tart tin (circles) with Pam cooking spray and started dropping in crayons. Logan was serious about creating color combos he liked.

Ready to go in the oven. I put them in at 300 degrees and watched them closely. 7-10 minutes depending on metal vs. silicone.

This pic is about halfway through cooking. Once the lumps are gone and they look melted, pull them out and let them cool completely. I used a toothpick to swirl the colors a bit before they set.

BEAUTIMOUS! Such a fun project that the kiddos can help with.