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March 31, 2011

Giveaway going on now!

I've decided to start early with a little giveaway for all my followers on here before I really start announcing the new blog.
Who doesn't love a magazine subscription?  You have your choice of Better Homes and Gardens, House Beautiful, Country Living, Family Fun or Real Simple. So head on over to my new blog The Blooming Hydrangea for your chance to win!
You have three chances to enter this giveaway.
1. Become a follower of my new blog and  leave a comment under the Welcome blog post letting me know you are a follower.
2. Become a fan on facebook for a second entry and leave a comment under the Welcome post.
3. Let me know what you like about the new blog site and design for a third entry, leave a comment under the welcome post!



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March 30, 2011

New Address

Hello my friends and followers, I have some exciting news to announce to you all today! I am going to be changing addresses, blog addresses that is! When I first started this blog it was mainly going to be a place for me to post my recipes and meal plans. I didn't think this would turn into something I enjoy so much but it has. When I chose my blog name Love From My Kitchen I was mainly thinking of food, recipes, meal plans, etc. As my blog has grown and evolved over the past few months I was feeling a little restricted by my blog name because it's more than just my kitchen, it's my home and my heart. I decided now was the time to make the change to a new blog with a new look and new name. After racking my brain and the brains of a few friends, a new blog name was found! If you have ever tried naming a baby, naming a blog is very similar except you can purchase the name so no one else has it. One of our children was without a name in the hospital for almost three days, the nurses finally told us we had to name our baby before we left the hospital. So needless to say, hubby and I are not the best at picking out names for babies, let alone blogs.
Anyways, back to the blog. I am going to be launching the new blog on Friday but wanted to give you my sweet blog friends, readers and followers a little preview! You will need to head over to the new blog and follow along with the snazzy new buttons located on the top right hand side of the blog. I have a new facebook page as well which I hope to use a little more often. So I'd love to hear your thoughts and feedback on the new place! When I do launch the new blog on Friday, I will be posting a few giveaways throughout the week so you might want to be on the lookout for those giveaways! Thank you all for your comments, following me and cheering me on at Love From My Kitchen. I hope I will see you all over at:



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March 24, 2011

Conference Weekend

Well the big event is almost here, tomorrow evening I will be standing on a stage with my husband and trying not to pass out. My husband and I are coordinators for a Love & Respect Marriage Conference this weekend in our community. We are so excited for the people that are attending to hear the message of Love & Respect. It was a marriage changing message for us and I know it has been for others as well.
Unfortunately, I really don't like being front and center, all attention on me and then on top of that, having to speak! People that know me personally are always amazed when I tell them I don't like being on stage or speaking in front of large groups of people. They always assume because I am outgoing that I would have no problem with speaking in front of people. Thankfully, God has really been doing a work in me and I'm a lot better than I used to be. In fact, last time I had to speak I actually almost enjoyed it! So I'm not even worrying about it for this weekend and I am just going to trust my worries to the Lord!
If you are struggling in your marriage and even if you aren't, I highly recommend that you read the book Love & Respect by Dr. Emerson Eggrichs or check out the Love & Respect website for more information and also to find a conference near you!  Communication in marriage is key and they have the key you and your spouse need to communicate!  I posted a testimony on my blog last month from a couple that were already in the divorce process, you can read about that here.
I won't be posting much for the next few days as we host a conference and then just take a few days to unwind from a busy but awesome weekend!  I'm also working on something big for the blog, so stay tuned for that!
I will be busy this weekend working on something other than my home,  what are you going to do this weekend? 


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March 22, 2011

Kit Kat Bars

This recipe is from my mom.  They are a big hit whenever I make them, I wouldn't say they taste like a Kit Kat Bar but whatever they taste like, it's delicious!

Ingredients:

2 c. graham cracker crumbs
1 c. butter (softened)
1/3 c. white sugar
1 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. milk
1 c. chocolate chips
2/3 c. peanut butter
Box of club crackers


For some reason I added the butterscotch chips to this picture, you don't need them for this recipe. Sometimes it gets a little crazy around here and things like this happen.  So just to clarify, you don't need butterscotch chips.


Directions:
Place crackers in the bottom of a 9x13 pan. Have enough crackers available for 2 more layers. I usually open two packages so they are ready to go because you need to get them on quickly.



In a medium saucepan combine butter, graham cracker crumbs, white and brown sugar and milk. Stir constantly for 5 minutes at a boil.


Spread 1/2 of this mixture over the club crackers, add another layer of crackers and spread the remaining mixture over the crackers and then top with a layer of club crackers.


In a small saucepan or in the microwave, melt together the chocolate chips and peanut butter.



Spread over the top of the crackers, then refrigerate to set. Keep refrigerated.


Serve and ENJOY! These bars are hard to photograph, mainly because as soon as I tried cutting into the pan I had children surrounding me like a pack of wolves.  I had to quickly photograph the bars before they disappeared! 


I'm linking up here:


Stuff and Nonsense








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March 16, 2011

The Playroom Makeover, FINALLY!

Just to refresh your memory, here are the most recent pictures of our playroom area.  There are two nice size closets in this room and in between the closets there is a built in desk.  The room has carpeting which our dog thinks is also her potty area, pleasant I know.  For some reason I only have a few pictures of this room, I either didn't take anymore or the rest are hiding because even they are embarrassed of the state this room was in.










We are hoping to tear down the wall between the kitchen and the playroom next summer but we'll see if I can bear to tear down the cloffice and the now fun and functional playroom.  Our goals for this makeover are to get rid of the carpeting and replace it with flooring that dog pee doesn't ruin, organize the games and toys so that the kids can find them and might actually want to play with them, make it kid friendly, bright and fun all while not spending a lot of cash.  I think we did a decent job in accomplishing our goals.  We used black and white alternating peel and stick tiles because they were cheap, fairly easy to install, if the dog pees on it we can always peel it up and replace it and it was a fun pattern for the playroom.   Two years ago we paid $1200 for carpeting in the playroom and the hallway.  For the tile we spent $135 for the playroom and the hallway. 


 I really wanted my kitchen floor painted like this but I was too chicken to do it.  I love it and so far it's held up really well.  It is cold on the feet but we bought a rug from Wal-mart for $20 to put in the middle of the floor so the bubs can sit somewhere and play cars without freezing his poor little piggies off.
I painted the closets a lime green color, installed shelving and organized their toys in bins.  You can read more about that in this post.  I painted the walls a fun Crayola Collection color called Shy Turquoise, it's kind of bright but I love it with the flooring.  One closet is for the bubs and the three girls all have the other closet. 





We did rip out the desk and for now I have my white dresser that used to be in the living room in here.  I have the crayons, coloring book, markers and various other art supplies in the two big drawers.  I like that the drawers aren't easy to open so the bubs can't be digging out the markers and coloring the walls, dolls and floors.  I don't have a window treatment up in this window yet and I don't  know if I will put one up. 

I really wanted a colorful map for the wall and found this one at a local store for $17.  The kids love having a map and they often use it when playing American Girls.  They will pick a state or city that they are going to travel to and then talk about staying overnight in a place along the way.  So fun and a great way for them to learn some geography too!



I was hoping to find a kid size table and chairs for the playroom but when one child is 10 years old and the baby is almost 2, it was hard to find something to fit everyone.  So we traveled to IKEA and ended up coming home with this table and chairs.  The little table and chairs were too little for the bigger kids and I figured everyone is only going to keep growing so we went with the big table and chairs.  I love that they can now use Play-Doh and it isn't stuck in my rug under the kitchen table, they can use markers on here, they play school, restaurant and we have also occasionally used it with company for eating on!  Best investment by far was this set for $100.   I hung the chalkboard I made right near the table so they could play school, the post on how I made the chalkboard is here.  I found that cute little bucket in the dollar section at Target, I thought it would be perfect for holding chalk and the eraser.   I stuck a Command hook on the wall and voila!




I fell in love with the rain gutter bookshelves a few months ago and was hoping to be able to add them to our room.  This past weekend we managed to buy the gutter for $1 but the brackets and end caps were $15 total.  At least the gutter part was cheap!  The bubs has been loving his books in the new bookshelves, he is so cute, he'll just pick out a book and sit and look at it.




I wanted a way to display the 20 million pieces of artwork we receive from our children each day.  I purchased the last three giant wooden clothespins at Hobby Lobby and have been on the lookout for a fourth one but they are sold out every time I go!  I was going to string them up but I thought they would look cute on a picture frame with some cute scrapping paper.  I think I might switch them out to bigger frames but for now it works.  I am also hoping to find giant letters that spell READ and put those above the bookshelves and move the artwork above the chalkboard.  Anyone have any big letters for me?






Finally, in November we decided to make a kitchen for our children, we found some furniture, a dog bowl, a board and various pieces of plumbing and came up with this.  Here is what it looked like originally:

I painted it white, added a cute little skirt made out of some fun material, a fun little rug and garbage can from the dollar section at Target and she looks so much better now! 


I also managed to find some fun striped curtains for this window at Target on clearance for only $7.50 each.  They were originally shower curtains but after folding over the top part of the shower curtain and some curtain clips from IKEA, you would never know they were shower curtains! 
I  also hung those three red mirrors for fun, another Target deal, only $1.24 each!  So there it is, the playroom makeover!  Here are a few before and afters of the playroom just in case you haven't had enough!














And just to keep it real, here is what it looked like a few days ago when I was painting chairs and my children were making forts on Spring Break:


They were doing what this room was made for, Playing in! 

Feel free to check out our Closet Turned Office or Cloffice and also Our Kitchen Remodel.
 Thanks for stopping by!


I'm linking up at the following places:







HookingupwithHoH









The House Creative

Stuff and Nonsense







Join  us Saturdays at tatertotsandjello.com for the weekend wrap up
    party!


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