Childhood Recipe: Hamburger Cookies

As an elementary school student, I always looked forward to birthday parties in the classroom, especially mine. I loved to see what other mom's would bring in honor of my fellow classmate's birthday. My mom's ideas were nothing short of creative. One of my most favorite recipe that she made was Hamburger Cookies.

(Source)

I wanted to share the recipe today because its such a fun and creative idea, especially if you have little darlings that love cookies like mine do!

1 box of Nilla Wafers

1 box of Keebler Grasshopper Mint Cookies

Shredded Coconut

Green Food Coloring

Red Frosting

Yellow Frosting

Sesame Seeds

Water

Take 2 Nilla Wafers. Using one of the frostings, place a small dab on the inside of one of the Nilla Wafers and place a mint cookie on the bottom of the Nilla Wafer. You now have your bun and hamburger patty! :) Top with red frosting (for ketchup), yellow frosting (for mustard) and green colored coconut (for lettuce). Place the other Nilla Wafer, bottom down, on the top to form your hamburger! Using your finger tip, spread a dab of water on top of the hamburger just to get it moist and sprinkle with sesame seeds. And there you have a yummy, sweet hamburger treat!

Enjoy!

Xoxo,

Tanna

Crafty!

First of all, I am so thankful that my Grandma taught me how to sew, craft, and everything else. I definitely recieved her "creative gene" when I was born. When I was a little girl, my grandma would use all the patience in the world to try and teach me everything she knew about sewing, quilting, baking, cooking, knitting, cross-stitching, and any other craft you can think of. Being a little girl, with not-so-much patience, I usually just gave up on what she was trying to teach me, because I was so frustrated, and moved onto whatever else I thought sounded cool to learn and wanted her to teach me.

Now that I am getting older, I love every opportunity that I have to sew something together, knit, paint, and just create. I have definitely found a new appreciation for my Grandma and how she would use hours upon hours of teaching me all of her skills. I also believe that my Grandma is my biggest fan. Anytime I come up with something that I have made, I immediately call her because I know she'll be proud of me. I love that I can get direction from her over the phone, when she is five hours away. I love that she is my inspiration with almost every craft I do. I can only wish that I am as crafty as her some day. I can only hope that I can put together the most beautiful quilts ever. And I can only hope that I am as kind as her someday to try and teach my little girls exactly what she has taught me. Thanks, Grandma, for your patience, love, kindness, and crafty gene. :)

With that being said, I am putting my own skills to work! I have been knitting hats for Chaseton in my free time. So far, this is what I have come up with.

An orange hat, brown teddy bear hat, multi-colored green hat, and a soft, blue hat with speckles of white.

Even though it will be summer, I still wanted to make sure that Chaseton would have something to cover his fresh, newborn head. I've had a lot of fun making these hats! I've even ordered a few appliques to attach to them, in the shapes of footballs, letters, and shapes. I cannot wait to see what he thinks about them!

I find that I am more motivated if I set goals for myself. As a mom, it is sometimes hard to achieve those goals because I am easily distracted in doing something for my girls rather than myself, which is perfectly fine with me. The goal that I have set this time is to make atleast 10 hats to donate to the hospital/NICU in Chaseton's name, when he is born. I believe families will be touched by the gift of a hand knitted hat, rather than a typical hospital one. I cannot wait to share my craftiness with other babies! Here I go!

Xoxo,

Tanna

Crafting for Chaseton: Hats, Blankets, & Sneek-Peeks

I've been sewing and crafting up a storm for my new little man! Last time I posted "Crafting for Chaseton", I had just finished making up burp cloths that you can see here. I recently made Chaseton a recieving blanket with adorable little turtles on it and a matching green baby hat with different colors of green. They were so simple to make and turned out so cute!

I have a lot of things that I am in the process of making or am planning to make or sew. It will save us quite a bit of money and add some character to his things as well. I am really excited to get started on my list and get them finished!

Here are a few sneek-peeks of the items I have started on for Chaseton but haven't quite finished yet:

Shadow Boxes.

As most of you know, Matt has always had a passion for sports. He had saved most of his High School sports gear so I decided to put it together in a special way to uniquely decorate Chaseton's room.

Basketball: An article from the newspaper, sweat band, and picture.

Football: Chin Strap, Glove, Mouth Guard, Picture.

I think they turned out great and will always be a special piece in Chaseton's room!

(There is also a baseball one that I haven't finished quite yet.)

Sleepers.

After two babies, I finally came to the realization that these things are awesome when you're changing diapers in the middle of the night-or anytime. Not to mention, they look so cozy!

I decided to personalize them a bit. I can't wait to share how they turn out!

Chaseton's Room.

We've been working hard on his nursery. We decided to go with a beige wall with a white and red stripe. It turned out great! I am so thankful for a crafty husband! We still have quite a bit to decorate but we have made a lot a of progress. His crib and changing table are even up! More to come!

I hope this makes those that can't be here to help us prepare feel a little bit involved. We have so many fun projects coming up that I can't wait to share about so stay tuned!

(I apologize about the quality of my pictures. They are all taken from my phone so they might not be as clear as normal.)

Xoxo,

Tanna

Picture Overload

Spring is just around the corner or perhaps, has arrived! I find my motivation come Spring time. Warm weather and I go together like PB&J's. I've been crafting, baking, cleaning, taking my girls to play, traveling, and the sorts. I also find myself taking more pictures of my girls when the weather is beautiful outside so I thought I would share a few of those pictures.

Finlee eating a snack!

Jaelyn resting before bed.

My pretty princess.

Playing at the park:

Jaelyn is getting to be such a big girl.

Playing together. As an outsider, it might seem like my girls are constantly fighting and never enjoy each other. But as an insider, I get to share those special moments that they have as sisters. They truly love to play together, spend time together, and imagine together. I love being their mom and I love cherishing them as my little, or not so little anymore, girls.

Our "Finner-bug" is getting so big as well!

Precious.

Our favorite treat in warm weather: Sonic slushes. Finlee is enjoying a cookie that my friend, Amanda, made and brought to our house last week. Yummy!

Fin riding her new bike that she got for her 2nd birthday!

We love to play outside! Thankful for a big yard and patio where the girls can play.

We took a trip to my Grandma's at the beginning of this week. The girls had a lot of fun playing there. I'm happy that they get to share my grandparents and see how blessed they are to have ones that spoil and love them so much. 

Jaelyn on the coffee table. My grandma has had this coffee table for as long as I can remember.

I sat at this same bar, in a similar chair, eating cookies from the same special, designated cabinet when I was little.

So pretty. Jaelyn is really starting to resemble the Pollock side of the family.

Blowing bubbles.

Jae is starting to love the camera after all these years!

And so is Finlee.

Here's to a happy weekend and a warm and sunny Spring Break!

Xoxo,
Tanna

Crafting for Chaseton

I have many plans of things that I want to craft, make, sew, or paint before Chaseton arrives. I usually get my ideas from different blogs and I can't wait to try some new projects! Today, I started easy and made him these personalized burp cloths.

I love the material!

His initials with an airplane!

Close-up of his name!

C for Chaseton

Many more projects ahead that I can't wait to share!

Off to the doctor today!

Xoxo,
Tanna

Finlee Turns Two!

My baby turned two this past week. I remember the day she arrived like it was yesterday. I was so happy for Jaelyn to be a big sister. I was so happy for our family to grow. I was so happy to hold my precious girl in my arms and show her off to the world. And I was so happy that I had been blessed with a snuggly, sweet girl who wasn't as independent as her sister.
 I was happy because she needed me, she wanted me, and we loved her. I have always called Finlee my sweet baby and she is still just as sweet as she was the day she was born. Her sweet, precious smile. Her sweet giggles. Her sweet personality. She is just as sweet as can be! I always joke with Matt, now that she has grown a little, that Finlee is our sour patch kid. First she can be sour, then she's real sweet.
Finlee is also my fearless little girl. Though not so independent, she has no fear of anything. I call her my little monkey.
So what's a better way to celebrate than a sweet, monkey party? We started by inviting family and friends in the area to her party. We had a better turnout than I ever could have imagined. We're so blessed to have a little girl who is loved so much! I just wanted to have a small get-together to celebrate the life of our girl and that we did! With food, cake, and decorations, we got the job done!

Finlee's Party Favors

Banana Candy for a monkey party! Thanks for swinging by!

Buttercream Mints

Finlee's Cupcakes

Cupcake Toppers that I made.

Her sweet monkey invite.

Monkey Balloons

Picture Decor! All of my favorite pictures of Finlee.

Cupcake Table

A Chair for the Birthday Girl.

Finlee's birthday shoes made by Auntie Shelbey.

Our Birthday Girl.

Finlee with her daddy.

Pink Lemonade

Banana Pudding for all of the monkey's at our party.

Food Table

Drink Table

Jaelyn and Finlee

Finlee is TWO!

Papa helped her blow out her candle.

Playing with all her new presents!

Finlee and her cousin, Taydem.

I still cannot believe my baby is two. I look forward to many more years with my sweet, growing girl. Here's to her sister big turning 4 in just a few weeks!

Xoxo,

Tanna