Suburbs Mama

This week in pictures...

I can not believe this week is over. It went by so quick!

We did not do anything major exciting this week since it was raining almost everyday.

But regardless, we enjoyed this week. Here is how our week looked like in pictures

Free lollipops at the bank! Wahoo!!

We had a "snow" day (the snow melted in a few hours):

Having my morning cup of tea, before the kidos wake up:

Hubby bought me some bracelets, Love 'em (both the hubby and the bracelets):

Story/craft time at the library:

Creamy chocolate and caramel, (need I say more?)

My sewing project this week contained lots of ruffles!

My Saturday morning started off with a warm chocolate muffin, mmm:

Well that about wraps it up. I wonder what next week will bring?

Remember my post about my gallery wall inspiration ? I told you guys that I loved the house of smiths shelf with the picture frames resting on them? Well I took the idea to my hubby and he agreed to help me "build" the shelf.

Here is what we came up with:

This is the only before picture I found of the same wall. This is from last October, right before I painted and stenciled the living room a light gray color.

If you want to see how we created our gallery wall, then read on:

First thing first, I collected all of the picture frames around the house

Then using my sprayer and left over white paint, I sprayed all of the frames

(I love using the paint sprayer rather then spray paint because the smell is not as bad, it gives a nice thick coat)

A shot of just a few of the frames drying, I only had to do one coat:

The next day we went to home depot and bought two of these primed boards:

(My hubby thinking "what are you doing woman!?")

As you can see they were each $8.87

We also picked up 7 of these brackets (I believe they were $6.99 each)

That same night I had my hubby hang all the brackets up

(he did the hard part, measuring and drilling)

So the next morning here is what we had.

Note that this is not the finished project, the boards are not nailed in. I just lifted the boards up and took the brackets off the wall to paint them.

Using my paint sprayer and some left over white paint I painted the brackets

(with the paint sprayer I only had to do one coat)

Using a small foam roller I painted both sides of the shelf

OK, once everything was dry, I hung up the brackets on the screws that my hubby drilled in the previous night and nailed in a nail with a nail gun through the shelf into the bracket to keep everything in place.

To hang the pictures, I played around with the placement and hung them up when I was happy with the look.

Most of the frames didn't have any pictures, so I just ordered some prints online.

Another look at the finished project, I love it!

I think it really brings the room together.

Thanks for visiting!

What's in my cloth diaper bag...

There are a few people that I know who are very skeptical about cloth diapering. Which is normal, because I was skeptical when I first found out about it.

But now that I have been cloth diapering my son for a whole year, I can honestly say that I am never going back to disposables. There is no reason why I would. Cloth diapering is easy, saves money and great for the environment. Plus those the diapers are so cute!

But this post is not about me selling you cloth diapering. :)

One of the many questions I get is:

"How do cloth diaper on the go?" I say "I pack a diaper bag just like you"

LOL, I guess it seems strange and hard for people. But really, it is no different then using disposable diapers. Instead of tossing my dirty diapers into the trash, I bring them home to wash.

Anyways, I decided to do a "what is in my diaper bag post". Keep in mind that my little man is now one and we don't need as much stuff as we did when he was younger.

When I am running to the grocery store, I usually just take one diaper in my Kushies wet bag

It looks like this when it is packed to go:

Here is everything in it:

I have some wipes in my zippered wipe bag (in the summer I wet the wipes at home, but now that it is cold outside, I try to wet the wipes with warm water when I am changing little man. Or if there is no water where I am at, I use the diaper potion spray (it isn't very often that there is no warm water as I am still on my first bottle of the potion spray).

I always grab a receiving blanket so I can put it on the changing table.

When I changed the diaper, I would put the dirty diaper and receiving blanket into the wet bag and throw the dirty diaper into my diaper bin and the receiving blanket into laundry when I get home. Is that hard? Nope :)

When we are going out for a few hours I take my diaper bag

Same thing, diapers, wipes, spray and wet bag

A receiving blanket and a bib

Spare change of clothes

Some toys

Water, snacks and a baby spoon

Off course little man has his blankie with him since it is cold outside now.

That's it, see I pack a diaper bag just like everyone else. Not hard, easy peasy.

If you want to see more posts on how I cloth diaper, like my washing routine, what wipes I use, how I store wipes. Let me know.

Thanks for visiting :)

I even cloth diapered while flying to visit family and on vacations. So it is not hard at all.

So whats in your diaper bag?

Gallery wall inspiration...

I have a big blank wall in my living room, I am working on making it into a gallery wall with lots of family photos. I was browsing on pinterest, here are a few of my favorites:

Young house love

house of smiths

from gardners to burgers

I collected some of my old frames:

I painted them:

I want a long shelf along the wall, kind of what the House of smiths have.

So I have to go to Home Depot and get some supplies.

Ok, enough wasting time on pinterest. I gotta go now :)

Grilled Teriyaki Chicken

This is a new favorite in our house. The perfect grilled chicken thighs

PRINT RECIPE HERE

Teriyaki Sauce

2 Tbsp. cornstarch

2 Tbsp. cold water

1 c. white sugar

1 c. soy sauce

1/2 c. cider vinegar

2 cloves garlic, minced

½ tsp. ground ginger

¼ tsp. black pepper

In a medium saucepan, combine sugar, soy sauce, vinegar, garlic, ginger, and black pepper.

While sauce is heating, combine cornstarch and cold water. When sauce comes to a full boil, add cornstarch mixture and stir until sauce is thickened and bubbly. Remove from heat

Use half of the sauce to marinate your chicken thighs (atleast a few hours) and put the other half aside (you will use it to baste the thighs)

When you are ready to start grilling, preheat your grill

Spray your grill with oil spray

Turn your grill on low heat and place your thighs on the grill

Close the lid and grill the thighs (about 8 minutes on each side)

When you flip the thighs they should have grill marks and be golden, if they are not, leave them on the same side for a few more minutes.

After grilling the chicken on both sides, I basted the thighs with the other half of the teriyaki sauce and grilled them for about 2 minutes.

That's it, Serve with some white rice and veggies :)

We usually have left over rice and chicken, so the next day I make stir fried rice with the leftover. It is so good, I love fried rice!

My top eleven from 2011!

It has been such a blessed year! I can not wait to see what this upcoming new year will bring!

This year has been different for me, I quit my job and was able to stay home with my children,

It is the most amazing thing (something I will never take for granted) Waking up with my children and not having to rush to work at the crack of dawn puts a smile on my face every morning.

Since I am now a stay at home mom, I was able to work on our house, craft and sew which I love so much. I can not wait to do more things next year!

Here are my top 11 viewed posts from this year:

#1:

Knit Pencil Skirt