The boys ABC book & Paper Coterie product review

A few weeks ago I learned about a new company called Paper Coterie that offers photo books, posters, journals and things like that. From May 4th - May 6th they were doing a grand opening special where they had given out a code for a $40 credit to their online store (you just pay shipping and anything over $40). After looking around for a few minutes I decided to give them a try since their products were so cute and with a $40 credit what was the harm in trying. I decided to make an 8x8 hardcover photo book  for the boys and a 80 page journal for Darin to take when he deploys next year. I went $4 over my credit (because I wanted a hardcover book instead of softcover) so with shipping & the extra $4 they cost me $22.83. The design process was pretty simple and it really allowed me to design each page from scratch so I didn't have to fit my photos into a premade mold like most companies.It took about only about 9 days from the day I placed my order until the books arrived. Walker was so excited when they got here.The quality of the books are really nice, thick pages and very vibrant photos. My only negative comment is that they put a bar code on the last page of the book that covered up a few letters in the sentence written on it. I wish they had the bar code placed in the template so you would know not to put anything in that area. But other than that I am extremely happy with my books and will visit them again.

Here are photos of the books after we got them

inside of Darin's journal, got him one last time but it wasn't lined so he never used it.

 

How does your garden grow - month 3

Checking the garden this morning we were surprised to find a ton of green beans and peas with a few ready to pick. The tomatoes & squash have exploded but none are ready to pick yet, Darin can't wait for the tomatoes to be ready he eats them like apples. He has done a great job with the garden and it is really neat to see how much it's grown over the last 3 months.

Walker with his HUGE squash plants

and with his tomato plants that he grew from seeds

these cucumber plants are also some that Walker grew from seeds

this is our 2nd harvest of radish, but the 1st of green bean & peas - we just picked the ones that were big enough to come in.


**also as you can tell I've decided to start watermarking my photos. Anything that has a photo of us or the boys will have a watermark across the body just to protect the photos from being stolen. I don't do this on my private blog but for this one I decided that would be the best way to be able to have photos of us & the kids on here.**

ACU diaper bag redo

Back when I first got my sewing machine I made a diaper bag out of a pair of Darin's old ACU's that he wore while in Iraq. I was pretty proud of myself that I did it from scratch with no real pattern and having no idea how to make a purse/diaper bag. It took me 3 days to make and I was happy with it for the most part but there were things I didn't like that I didn't know how to fix at the time. Here is what my bag looked like when I first made it

*the biggest thing I didn't like was the lining, I didn't know how to do a traditional purse lining like I do now, I hated all the seams showing.*



Well after months of learning and sewing and making 2 other bags since the first one I have learned how to do things that would help improve the look of my bag so I decided to fix the things I did wrong.

It still isn't as good as if I had known all I do now then but I'll get another shot once Darin goes through the rest of his worn out can't wear anymore ACU's.



My other purse I made a few months ago from ACU fabric that you can get at any craft store. I wanted a smaller purse that was still roomy enough to carry a few diapers & a wipes case for like a trip to the store or something, but small enough that on the few occasions I don't have monkey with me I can still use it as a purse.

Beignets & Rolls

Today after making rolls I decided to give Beignets a try using the leftover Challah dough that was refrigerated. They were not what I expected but since I have never had one anywhere before I'm not sure how they are supposed to taste lol. They were easy enough to make especially with the dough already made up in the fridge.

All you do is roll out the dough to about 1/8th of an inch and cut into 2 inch squares using a pizza cutter. Then you let rest for 40 minutes. Once rested heat up some vegetable oil and cook them about 3 at a time until they are browned on each side. They do puff up and are very airy inside. We had them with honey instead of traditional powdered sugar. They were not that sweet but I'm sure had we covered them in the powdered sugar they would have been. Darin said they tasted pretty similar to sopapillas and little man really seemed to enjoy them so that's what matters right.

Also while Challah makes amazing bread it however did not make very good rolls, they were really dense and didn't taste like the bread loaf did. They look pretty but weren't near as good as the first batch of rolls using the basic boule dough.

MilSpouse Friday Fill In -#40

I'm following along with http://wifeofasailor.com/ and her military spouse friday fill in. I'm coming in as they are already on Friday #40 but still think it will be fun to do.

Friday Fill in #40

1. Which was the best day of your life - wedding day or homecoming day?

Our last (and first deployment) happened so fast after he enlisted that the whole year was a whirlwind. While him coming home was an amazing day our wedding by far out beats it for being the best day between them.

2. Were you part of the joining the military question or did you sign up for the relationship when your man was already in the military?

I was a part of it. DH had never even hinted or said anything about joining any branch of military. Then one day when our oldest son was just about 2 months old he said he was thinking about joining the National Guard and had talked to a recruiter about it. We talked about it and prayed about it for about a month without telling anyone what we were thinking of doing. He told me that it was my decision, that if I said no he wouldn't and that would be that.  Saying yes was one of the hardest decisions I had made up to that point. He signed his enlistment papers 12 days shy of our son's 3 month mark, 5 months later he was in bootcamp & ait and gone for 4 1/2 months, then just 10 months later he was on his 1st deployment.

3. What is your favorite Disney movie and why?
I've always loved Beauty & the Beast, I love the message behind it and it's one that whenever it comes on I have to watch it.


4. What is your favorite family activity to do on the weekend?
CAMPING, my whole family (boys included) love being out at the lake, camping, on the boat, fishing. It is just a great way to get out and away from it all.

5. Where do you secretly wish you could be stationed with your SO's line of work (realistically speaking, not everyone can be stationed at NAS Fiji)?

One big reason DH choose the guard was so that we wouldn't have to move around. But had he chosen active army I would have loved to be stationed in Germany or Italy, I think the cultural differences would have been so neat to see and experience.

Rain Rain Go Away

I thought the saying was April Showers bring May flowers but it seems that mother nature has it all jumbled up again and we are seeing a lot of rain for May. Our yard had finally dried out from the last soaking a few days ago then a few hours ago it hits us again. Since it's been raining nonstop for a few hours now it's been enough to flood most of our yard.