Project Life: Week 2, or is it 3? (I've already lost track..)

I am still loving this project so much.  I have been using up lots of random bits from my stash and even included some ephemera this week.  The pages are easy to put together, but it does end up taking up a lot of time because Avinash and I love looking at it for long periods of time.  Nandini of course loves it too and wants to taste what is in each pocket.

 The letter and envelope Avinash wrote and sent to us from preschool.  This kid has no idea what we do apparently.  We never even eat pickles anymore because they just don't compare down here to what we are used to.  I used the Amy Tangerine airmail envelope on top of his envelope, and it is actually my favorite piece in the pack.  I could use a whole pack just of those little die cuts. So glad I actually used it instead of saving it though.

I printed my photos out at Ritz this week.  Very economical with all the coupon codes.  I just ran in there after picking Avi up from school one day, but I think I will probably alternate with this and printing them out at home.

I printed my journaling out from this blog onto 'vintage' cotton paper from my Dad's old office supplies. It isn't really obvious in the album itself, but it makes so meaningful for me.  I always used to help my Dad around his office and now Avi 'helps' too. 

I only printed out a small photo of the cookie date because I knew it was a layout worthy event as well.  I added journaling to the photo in Picnik (soon to be gone sadly).  I also made a quick collage in Picasa (easy and free) of some duck feeding and picnic in the park photos.  The Houston weather is great right now.

The pink is a rectangle cut from a package sent to Nandini from her cousin.  She got a beautiful new dress, and Avinash got lots of bubble wrap to play with, double score!  I used a Martha Stewart tag with a bit of washi tape.  Simple, but I like black and white stripes against the bright pink swirls.

There is a coffee filter chromatography firework Avi made at the museum Thursday night (upper right).  No picture, just a strip of old Sassafrass paper, a no. 19 die cut for the date, and a MME Thursday sticker. The journaling is done on some Martha Stewart notepad paper with a sweet little doily punched out.  I used one punched square on top of a plain square here.  The punch looks really cool when layering different colors too as an embellishment instead of a journaling spot.

Another piece of ephemera is the comment card from Pondicheri along with a picture from Tiny Boxwoods, of Avi dipping his fries in butter, as well.  We love going out to brunch and had an added bonus brunch on Martin Luther King Day, which is how we discovered Vegetarian (meatless) Mondays at Pondicheri.  Apparently there were people storming out and getting upset about this new policy!  We loved it, especially all the new menu items.  I honestly keep coming back for the coffee here. Some of the food is amazing, like the omelets, aloo subji and parantha (simple but homey and authentic).  The paneer curry is made with a cashew sauce, so rich and delicious.  We went to the soft opening a few months and weren't all that impressed, but they have really been working on the food.  They use raw milk to make their yogurt and paneer which I love.  The taste is sensational.  We come here alot now.

I also did a catch up Christmas layout.  I took so many pictures over the holidays and even though I made a lot of layouts there were still lots of pictures that I wanted to include in my album.  A project life page is the perfect, easy way for me to do it. 
The naughty and nice tabs were perfect for Avinash and Nandini, my wild baby and my calm baby.
I used a textured Martha Stewart sticker on the bottom left (love the thick feel of it) where I wrote about my paper snowflake making project. Still love the wonder Avinash and Nandini had when they woke up in the morning to see 'snow' hanging down all over the place.  (You can see her trying to grab one in the middle row photo, heehee.)

Lots of crate paper; border stickers, snowflake, chipboard and a journaling tag with a grocery store doily over top. Love that look. Most of it is really old because I save all of my Christmas scrap supplies separately and use them from year to year.





I made a lot of my own journaling cards this past week and am working on a post to share about how to make them.  My apartment is currently being torn apart, but as soon as I can I will take some pictures of them :)

Hopefully this post will satisfy both my Mom's need to see pictures of the kids and stories about what they are up to as well as my own need to share my scrapbooking.  Win, win right?

The free shipping code for TwoPeas in February is V14DAY.
And, a free printable:



How cute will these look for dates and ages in project life?

Survival Mode

We are in survival mode this week.

Nandini is teething something awful and has bitten me twice in addition to grinding her own teeth all the time.  Sophie the Giraffe gets the real brunt of it actually.  She sometimes bites her, gets mad and throws her across the room.  Is it wrong to laugh?? 

And, Avi skipped pre-school yesterday because I was terrified of getting caught in another flood, especially since I had to bring the baby with me.

So, yeah.  Things get a little crazy.  Baths get skipped.  But, we nap.  There is no skipping of the naps. 

When the rain let up a little bit I took them out in the stroller to unwind a bit.  It was too cold to get out and play anything though.

Signs of the repaving going on in our neighborhood right now.  I tried to get Avi into it and showed him as many of the steps as I could.  We also read about it in our What People Do Everyday Richard Scary book.  I remember my mom did this me when I was little and hope I lived up to the task myself.  Although, honestly, he was ambivalent about it.  He does seem to remember a lot of it though given how little he seemed to be paying attention.  He just checked the ground today to see if it still felt hot from the tar.

Nandini just enjoyed being out and eating her cheerios with different scenery.  Like, dripping rose bushes. 

I didn't even notice she was smiling in the background of this picture until now.  Unbearable cuteness, argh!

I was amazed because I managed to keep them busy with very little television.  Which meant that we watched SuperWhy all morning today.  We did pop out to the museum for a bit.  My plan was to keep it low key and hang out in the library.

This was not Nandini's plan.

She kept scooting and alternately crawling away.  She would head right out the door every time I picked up her and brought her back.  She screamed when I held her until I let her down.  So, Avi and I abandoned story time and followed her out.  Obviously, this girl was on a mission!  (And, Avi and I were delighted to see what she was up to).

After that she kept turning around to make sure we were following her.  She headed straight for the stairs and wriggled right up them.  Now, we don't have stairs in our apartment so she has had no practice at this.  I guess she just worked out how to do and needed to try it that instant!

Her independent spirit and strong will still manage to astound me sometimes.  Maybe standing and walking are next?

Cookie Date

It was supposed to be a play date. But they both made cookies for each other because "I love him" and "I love her too!" And ate pizza together outside at twilight.  And argued over whose turn it was to 'mop' the patio after watering the plants.  Plus they kissed at the end of the night, so, yeah, big stuff.

I bought these little mailboxes from the Target Dollar Spot to store cookies in after we were done.  There weren't that many left actually, but I think they are still cute.  Of course Avi was really worried because I didn't make one for her Mom too.  Oops.  I just used my glue runner to attach the heart doily and added thickers for their names.  I added some of Crate Paper's new chipboard stickers and the ribbon, also from target. 

I love all the valentines colors.  Pink, dark pink, red and a little aqua thrown in for good contrast.  And to make it a little less girly for Avinash.

I bought some foam and glitter stickers as well and let the kids decorate the mailboxes some more themselves.  A few minutes of diversion fun at least. 

The cookie dough needed to set up in the fridge for 30 minutes so I made that ahead of time.  The kids had a blast just squishing it in their hands, rolling it out and using the cookie cutters to make shapes. 

Of course, nothing could hold a candle to the fun and excitement of frosting and sprinkles time.  I had them do this over (cool) cookie sheets to *try* and contain the mess.  Honestly it wasn't that bad.  I had to wipe off the table and vacuum afterwards but it probably needed it anyway.

I used strawberry frosting from a can and made my own blue per Nisha's request.  I tried looking up recipes but ending up just mixing up a bowl of powdered sugar with a few drops of food coloring and cream.  It was easy and tasted fine.  Not sure if it would harden up like it normally would on sugar cookies because we never got to that stage.  The sprinkle set was also from Target.  I'm glad that I bought it the small container assortment set.  It helped to contain the chaos a little.

Avinash has been begging to make cookies with a friend for months now because of a cookie press commercial.  The actual cookie press was really difficult too use, the old fashioned cookie cutters worked out much better.

It worked out well with just the two of them as Nandini and Roshan only took part in the taste testing part of the activity.  The cookies are not to sweet on their own because they got plenty of frosting piled on top.  I made another batch with some chocolate chips sprinkled on top that were also really good.  I'm thinking of trying this with 50/50 wheat flour next time to alleviate the sugar guilt I inevitably feel.  We had a lot of fun, but I would be a little scared to do this with more than two kids at a time.

Cookie Recipe
1 cup butter softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg, slightly beaten
2 1/4 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp almond extract
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 tsp salt

Cream the butter and sugar.  Add the egg, vanilla and almond.  Sift together the dry ingredients and combine.  Roll into a log and chill for thirty minutes.

Bake at 350 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes.