Copycat Betty Crocker Cookie Mixes

I made 10 copycat Betty Crocker cookie mixes. I actually did something I pinned on Pinterest. I used these recipes and instructions:

http://fakeitfrugal.blogspot.com/2012/02/fake-betty-crocker-cookie-mixes.html?m=1

New House

Here are a few pictures of the new Chandelier and the view out our front window! Oh& the strawberries from Vday& the girls new bedroom set!!

Preschool & Other Adventures

I've started a little preschool " homework" binder for Allison. She LOVES it! I just printed off a bunch of worksheets I found on the Internet (Pinterest). She's really good at matching things, shes good with her colors& excellent at mazes! She knows her ABCs and can count to 10 but we are working on being able to read& write her letters& numbers. She knows the letter A really good& worked on B& C today. She knows 1,2&3 alright...it's a process. She's barely 3 so it's mostly just for fun but if she likes it then why not do it everyday right? She wanted to just do all the pages today! I had to stop& pace her a little. Anyway, it's a new Chapter in my life having a preschooler of my own. It's fun:) I will take pics of the book tomorrow! I also copied some fun things from some booklets that are little games. They are great!
Anyway, it's going great& I hope we can keep it up!

On a little different note I think Allison is doing great with potty training! Still a few accidents here& there but she's been great at having no accidents in public! She just gets so busy & excited with playing she forgets to go sometimes but usually she tries to get there in time! Anyway, she's doing fantastic& I'm so proud of her!

Sophie still has to have me by her to go to sleep so were working on that. Then after the baby comes we will work on no bottle to go to sleep...but one thing at a time! She's not even 2 yet after all.
Sophie loves to pretend to go potty too. It's so cute! I'm hoping once she's old enough to really know when to go it will be easy to potty train her.

I've made several more pull ups for Alli (mom as well). So between those& her panties she's set:)

We find out whether we're having a boy or girl on April 12th!!:) Alli is prob even more excited than we are!:) it's so cute!

Anyway, I can't remember what all I was going to say so ill end this!

The End :)

(Until I can remember the rest!)

Gifts

So awhile back I snagged a free 1 year subscription to Motor Trend Magazine through Tanga.com and his first one arrived early for his Bday (it's not until March 4th& he got his first one in Feb& they gave him the Jan issue too!) Anyway, it was just something I thought he'd like and it happened to show it would start around his bday so perfect! I think it might be his favorite gift! He thanks me every time he gets one in the mail (March came today!) Who would have thought he would like this gift better than any of the ones I spent tons of time& money on! :) Just goes to show it's really the thoughtfulness of it rather than the price tag& that if you really know your guy you can make his day in the simplest of ways:) And magazines that come each month are not only just awesome because they come all year but are like little reminders of how much I love him!:) Score! Guess ill have to renew his subscription next year!;)

Jess

Moving!

So, if all goes well we will be buying a new house this week& moving the next couple months!:) yay! Hopefully we won't be moving for at least 5 years or more!

I told Alli we were going to be moving soon& she was SOOO excited! She started packing her toys from around the house haha it was so funny! She has no problem moving/packing! She told Chan she was going to our new house today& asked if that guy was gone yet (referring to the guy that owns the house that was showing it to us!) :) haha
Yes I am! Haha I told her we weren't going today that it takes awhile to pack things and move but she was totally ready today! :)
We have been going through toys& boxes and putting stuff in boxes to sell/give away.
One min Alli is putting all her toys in the box to give away& the next she's saying "oh, I can't give this away, I love it!" Haha

She's so hilarious! She's been a big helper so that's good!:)

Short Cut Orange Chicken

Ingredients:
•1 bag of popcorn chicken or other breaded bite size chicken.
• 1/4 cup cold water
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch

Orange Sauce

1 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 1/2 tablespoons water
5 tablespoons sugar
5 tablespoons white vinegar
1 orange, zest of (I used orange extract instead--1 1/2 tsps)

1. Cook popcorn chicken/ other plain breaded or crispy bite size chicken according to package direction.

2. While Chicken is cooking, mix orange sauce ingredients together& bring to a boil.

3. Add cooked chicken, stirring until well mixed.

4. Stir water (1/4 cup cold) into 1 tablespoon cornstarch in separate bowl until smooth and then add to chicken.

5. Heat until sauce is thickened.

6. Serve with rice of your choice & enjoy!

I got the full recipe from the link below& modified it a little.
Read more at: http://www.food.com/recipe/panda-express-orange-chicken-103215?oc=linkback

Potty Treats

So I've been trying the treat/prize method for potty training my Allison. I was just getting the treats from places in the house, but after seeing my friends super cute one IN the bathroom I took this adorable container her Aunt made for awhile back& filled it up with candy& dollar store toys/party favor toys and put it on the back of the toilet so hopefully she will want to go more often! Even Sophia thinks its cool& has dragged me to the bathroom to take her potty a few times! Alli has dragged Sophie a few times too saying, "Lets go potty Phia!" Wish me luck that this method works better for me! I've done a chart, timer, putting on just panties, etc. She's just stubborn I guess!

My friend got a big glass jar with lid from Walmart but my daughter can't get this one open & it's just dang cute! She used an old bulk container, modge podged the lid& put some vinyl words on the outside! So perfect& great way to recycle!

Oh! She loves it so much she gives it a hug almost every time she goes in there& says, "I love my treats! They are so wonderful!" :) haha She's so darn cute!

Week 9

Week 9 of Baby #3 Already showing so thought I'd share.

Sticker Queens:)

So Alli& Sophie LOVE stickers! What kid doesn't!? Anyway, they were sticking them on things they shouldn't so I showed them how to put them on their ears like earrings& on their faces,hands, legs, feet, toes, etc. Sophie especially liked this! But Alli kept taking them off saying it didn't look very pretty:p Oh well, it was cute& fun & kept them entertained for awhile!:)

Strawberry Smoothy

I LOVE this smoothy:) It's kind of like Jamba Juice:) I put frozen/thawed strawberries, dash of sugar, ice& kiwis strawberry snapple juice in my magic bullet, blend& enjoy!:) And it doesn't make me sick so that's always good!:)