a birthday in the trees

Happy fall y'all!  The (somewhat) cooler temps make me so happy and so in the mood for an outdoor party.  The only problem - the ONE birthday in my (immediate) family that falls in this wonderful month is my husband’s (Jim) who declares every year he wants no party - to do nothing.  NOTHING.  For the 13 years that I have known him I have completely ignored this request. You see, I have a close to Christmas birthday - which I think we all can agree is the worst time to have a birthday - and have always wished my birthday was in October so I could celebrate properly, outdoors in the wonderful fall weather!  Jim has, in the years past, wished me a happy birthday on his day because whatever I had planned we both knew was really for me.

This year I decided to (sort of) honor his request.  He said he wanted nothing and he meant it.  So I kept it to the 5 of us, but had to take advantage of this weather.  I (along with the help of my mom who took over carpooling to soccer, dance, and drums that day) planned a dinner high up in a tree house.

 

 
The girls had SO much fun with this.  It was a secret that they amazingly kept very well (other than lots of winking and giggling around Jim all week).

On his birthday morning, they gave him an invitation to arrive at the tree house at 6:45.  He looked at me suspiciously and I said, I promise!  It's just us.

The only problem with a secret birthday dinner is when you get a work call (Jim’s) that needs attention, he felt no need to hurry to get there so we waited…

had a little dance party

and he’s here!  MJ going to greet him with his favorite beverage

 

This football was from Mills.  She found it under our bed and thought it was the perfect gift to wrap up! 

 

A success!  a perfect non party party.  After all, you only turn 37 once :)

 

Kids and etsy updated!

I think we are finally getting  into the swing of things.  As I mentioned before, my babies are all grown.  We now have one drop off place for school which really streamlines my days (that and an amazing neighbor that we carpool with!).

Here are the girls on the first day of school.  K4, 3rd, 1st.  We are so lucky to have amazing teachers that show so much love to these girls everyday.  

Backtracking a bit - we went to the lake for Labor Day this year - above I am sporting sweet em's new neon pink disc (can purchase here). These are my current favorite!  As my wardrobe usually doesn't have a whole lot of color, I am loving the pop of color these add!  I also love that I can throw on a gray tshirt, put these earrings on and somehow feel dressed.

Did you know that the neon was inspired by MJ?  She the way I stay in touch with what people like...she may only be 8 but she is entirely more fashion forward than her mom.  

And lastly, check out the sweet em shop on etsy... I am slowly weeding out the earrings I have fallen out of love with and adding those I do love.  You don't have to order from etsy!  You can email me at shopsweetem(at)gmail(dot)com. With the number you'd like below.  All of my earrings range from $10-$14.

 

xoxo, Kristen

 

p.s. don't forget to enter to win one of the pink earrings on sweet em's facebook page.

Neon Pink sweet em

If you follow sweet em own facebook, you may have noticed a little color added.

What I love about making my own product is the constant change...I am weeding out styles I don't love and adding new ones weekly.  

So to celebrate the new color...I am having a Facebook giveaway!  The winner will be chosen at random next Friday (9.20.13) and can select from their choice of a pink earring...

Your choices are:

-bars

-disc

-dangles

-hearts (gold dipped hearts also available but not pictured)

To enter: like the sweet em facebook page (if you haven't already) and leave comment on the Facebook post regarding the giveaway, with what earrings you will pick if chosen.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Kay Fuller Interiors

It feels a little funny for me to be writing a post entitled "Kay Fuller Interiors", but here I am :)  You see, while Arre and I do share the mother-in-law (Kay Fuller) who is the creative force (among other things) behind Kay Fuller Interiors (her interior design store she started 20+ years ago), I don't have the history with the store that Arre does.  Arre worked there long before she met her husband (Kays youngest son, the other one is mine) and I may be wrong, but i think it's where they met or at least got to know each other.  Her love of interior design has kept her in close contact with the store (well that and the fact that we are all now family) through the years.  But I am here to tell you that now Kay Fuller Interiors is carrying sweet em jewelry!

Family, or not, I feel honored to have my jewelry here.  Kay has such an eye for style and her store reflects that.

She has taught me a lot over the years.  When Jim and I moved into our first house she "helped" me decorate (as in did it all herself per my request because I honestly did not care what color the walls were and what fabric my pillows were in or even if I had pillows at all). I have come a long way but still rely on Kay and Arre for decorating advice.

While you are there, check out all the beautiful items KFI has to offer.  Many of her items are one of a kind finds.

 

She has recently started carrying baby gifts, and has always had wedding gifts, but now much more to offer!

It's definitely worth seeing and now you can grab your mom (sister, aunt, daughter, friend) or yourself some earrings as you browse.

And lastly, I will leave you with a snapshot of my home office. One (baby) step towards organization.

back to school :: what’s for supper?

It’s that time of year again!  I must say I am more excited and feel better organized than I ever have for school to start back.  It may just have something to do with the fact that we have made the leap from preschool to school school.  All 3 of my girls will be going to the same school, wearing the same cute (well depends on who you are asking) uniforms and being dropped off at the same time.   I will fill most of the time working but I have set aside some time to just bask in the fact that I survived the baby years.  Don’t get me wrong – I LOVED (parts of) the baby years but I am fully embracing carpooling, activities, homework, and did I mention a full day at school for them all?!  We have enjoyed the summer though and here’s a little recap from my cell phone pictures (my camera has been in the shop and I do believe (although I am not 100% sure they are the reason)) the kids are no longer allowed to touch the camer)  I think I could have bought a new one for as much as I ended up spending.  But until it’s returned to me, cell phone pics will have to do.

Molly at the library, this girl likes to take her time picking a book out.  She meticulously flips through each one to see if she wants to bring it home while her sisters tornado through there grabbing the first thing they see.  I love the pace at which she lives, sometimes I wish I could slow down like her.
 

cousins at the beach (missing 1!)

If you’re in Albany, let me know if you would like a source for local eggs.  These came from a family down the road from me – I gave her some Sweet Em earrings for eggs – sweet trade!


But what I have focused a lot of my energy on this summer is trying new recipes that are quick and easy weeknight dinners.  While we had more failed attempts than successes, we did add a few new meals to our weeknight rotation (which was in need of an update!)  I focused on slow cooker recipes since we will be much busier this year with after school activities.   While the world wide web offers endless suggestions on this subject… i thought it may be helpful to y’all to see what works for us – a family of 5 with a wide range of eaters (from one that eats like an adult to the pickiest of the picky).  These feed my family of five, some with leftovers, some with just enough.  I am just giving you our top ten main dishes, sides will have to be for another post :)
I try to keep mealtime happy and carefree so I offer the food, they take or leave it.  No one starves but Molly (pickiest) usually ends up with a bowl of cheerios regardless of what we’re eating.
1.  Baked Spaghetti – I have posted this before but it’s worth repeating.  This is my mother-in-law’s recipe, although I changed it a bit to fit our lifestyle and taste (no homemade sauce here). This is the one thing I make that gets rave reviews from everyone, can’t go wrong!  You can easily make it on a Sunday afternoon (just skip the oven until the day of) and stick in the fridge for later in the week.

• 8 oz Spaghetti Noodles
• jar Spaghetti Sauce
• 3 oz Cream Cheese
• 3 Green Onions (Chopped)
• 8 oz Sour Cream
• 1 lb Ground Beef
• 2 c Cheddar Cheese-shredded
• Cook ground beef, drain. Let the ground beef simmer with spaghetti sauce. Cook noodles as directed, drain. Mix sour cream, cream cheese, green onions.  Layer in a 9x13 casserole dish starting with noodles on the bottom, then sourr cream mix, then meat mix. Top with cheese. Cook 350 for 20 minutes.

2.  Hawaiian chicken (slow cooker)  - Make ahead of time, put all ingredients into a freezer bag, freeze and when ready: dump frozen block of food into slow cooker..so easy, good, and inexepensive.
3.  fish tacos – the reason I love these is because we can easily separate all ingredients to make a meal that makes everyone happy.  Molly still hasn’t embraced the fish, but that’s ok. 4 out of 5 isn’t bad :)  The only change I have made – I started mixing the sour cream with cayenne pepper and lime juice instead of jalapenos for ease. (suggested by my sister – thanks kathryn!)
4.  turkey (slow cooker) – this calls for a 10 pound turkey breast, I used a 3 pound and halved everything, and lessened the cooking time by a couple of hours.  This is great for school lunch leftovers as well and Molly LOVED it – that’s huge!
5.  hamburgers in the oven – this one i love, mini hamburgers.  The recipe calls for 2 pounds of beef, I cut it down to 1, and made thinner patties..I cut the cooking time from 30 minutes to 17 with one pound of ground beef.  So easy and a crowd pleaser!
6.  steak fajitas (slow cooker) This is one that stuck with us during my insanity last year trying to do whole foods only.  I do recommend giving the whole foods thing a shot, we did make some healthy changes to our diets but don’t beat yourself up – this small kid thing won’t last forever and you can be back to whipping up gourmet fresh meals for you and your husband when they are out of the house.  Unless you are able to do that with kids in the house and if so – I am seriously impressed
 
7.  messy shrimp – this has been a favorite of ours even pre-kids. Jim and I would devour a pound each of shrimp, soaking up the juice with fresh bread..so good!  I love to think about what in the world we did with ourselves at dinner time minus 3 girls talking at the same time, I am sure it was super boring ;)   If I cut the shrimp into small pieces Molly (even with texture issues) will eat a little bit.  You can’t go wrong drenching food in butter :)

• 4 pounds uncooked shrimp*
• 1 1/2 cups butter
• 1/4 cup creole seasoning
• 1 tablespoon pepper
• 1 tablespoon fresh chopped rosemary
• 1 tablespoon worscheshire
• 2 1/2 cloves minced garlic
• 1 1/2 cups beer

Sautee shrimp in 1/2 cup of butter for a minute or so, stir in seasonings (along with the rest of the butter melted), Cook 3-4 minutes or until shrimp are curled and pink, turn down the heat and pour in beer.  Serve with grits and a yummy salad.
*I started using cooked peeled, deveined shrimp and just heating the shrimp up with all the seasonings – this was much easier on me and the kids as I was peeling every shrimp for them. 

8.  pork tenderloin in the slower cooker
9.  baked ziti – this makes a LOT ..share with a neighbor, I usually make it when they’ve had enough of the baked spaghetti
10.  homemade pizza – I have blogged about this before but have made a huge discovery since that has made it it 100 times easier – parchment paper!  I may behind on this and if I am I wish you had told me :)  I still stand by this homemade dough – so super easy, from Dinner: A Love Story

Step 1: Make the dough – do this when you have time on a Sunday afternoon so you can quickly throw together the pizza on a weekday

Jim Lahey’s Pizza Crust
3 3/4 cups flour
2 1/2 teaspoons instant or other active dry yeast
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon sugar
1 1/3 cup room-temperature water
stir together the flour, yeast, salt, and sugar. Add the water and, using a wooden spoon or your hand, mix until blended, at least 30 seconds. The dough will be stiff, not wet and sticky. Cover the bowl and let sit at room temperature until the dough has more than doubled in volume, about 2 hours. Divide the dough in two and shape each into flattened balls. Freeze individually. (i wrapped mine in plastic wrap, then put in a freezer bag – also, make sure you use room temp water and don’t let it rise under fans – thanks sarah ;))
I love this because you can pull it out anytime to use for pizza and it’s all ingredients you have on hand (mostly).

Step 2: Make the pizza (if you don’t have a pizza stone – check out Dinner: A Love Story’s post on how to make using a cookie sheet)

• Let your pizza dough defrost on the counter (takes a few hours at least) or overnight in the fridge)
• Put the pizza stone in the oven and preheat to 475.  you need to let the stone heat up with the oven.
• Prepare your surface – this is where I made a change! – Spray you parchment paper with Pam – this is where you’ll make your pizza! 
• The dough is easier to work with if it’s room temp, stretch it out as large as you can get, lay your dough on the parchment paper once it's the size you'd like.
• add toppings (Rao’s pizza sauce is the best if you’re trying to impress, but the Publix brand pizza sauce does the job for that weekly grocery budget). 

Step 3: Take your pizza while on the parchment paper and slide it (and the parchment paper) onto the stone in the oven.  You may need to use the backside of a cookie sheet to do the transfer.  Let it cook for 3 minutes, open the oven and you will be able to easily slide the parchment paper out from under the pizza.  It may be charred a bit from being in the oven, that’s ok, just don’t leave it in for too long. Keep cooking the pizza for 5-7 more minutes.  It should only take 8-10 minutes total to cook your pizza.  Enjoy!

I hope this helps some and I would love if you could share maybe one of your go to meals – we always are looking for more ideas!  On another note – my grandmother is 90 today!  Happy birthday Grandmama – we will be celebrating her this weekend.  And a happy belated birthday to my great grandmother who turned 101 last weekend!






 
Have a great weekend! 

a winner and a fiesta pool party

We have a winner!  Through a random drawing, our 2nd commenter (Jamie!) has won two pairs of sweet em earrings of her choice – Congrats Jamie! – please head over to etsy to pick out two and let me know which you choose – shopsweetem @ gmail (dot) com

On to the fiesta!  MJ turned 8 :)  We celebrated pool side with a Mexican fiesta. 

 

MJ found a picture of a cake online and I tried my best to copy it, with a little guidance from a friend I think we pulled it off pretty closely (and I think Mills had an early taste by the looks of that finger swipe)

 

I saw these streamers here and they didn’t take long to make at all and were so festive, I highly recommend them!

 

the cake again:  There are 4 (9” round) layers underneath all that (6 cans of!) icing.  I used two boxes of chocolate cake mix (and of course, froze those a week ahead of time!)

 

slip n’ slide was a huge hit (rental from Rental Depot, the owner is a good friend of Jim’s and one of the nicest people I know)

We served tacos (per MJ’s request) With the help of my mom (which by the way, all my parties are with the help of my mom), we made the taco meat (ground beef plus this mix) 2 weeks ahead of time and froze it.  We put it in the crock pot the day of.  Easy, easy party and just what Mary James wanted.

 

Just for fun:

• MJ turns 5
• MJ turns 6
• MJ turns 7

Have a lovely weekend!  We are headed to the beach with the family so all Sweet Em orders will be on hold until 7.22.13, thank you for your patience!

a few changes around here and a giveaway!

See the new heading ?! ^  I feel a little explanation is needed...

As you know, stewart & james is a company Arre and I started...we made frames out of reclaimed wood and then we became busy with life.  We took a "break" and realized how nice that was (wood had become scarce and keeping our product how we originally envisioned was starting to become quite a challenge!)

During the break - I started making earrings, sweet em was created (as I explained in this post).  Arre is still enjoying her break with her sweet baby, but she will still stop in every once and a while for a post because what would this blog be without her?!  Not nearly as pretty, imaginative, and well written that's for sure!

Also, on etsy or facebook you may have seen those pretty ears and well styled photos?  That is in large thanks to Arre and her eye for style... so she's not totally uninvolved :) And maybe she will start something that I know will be worth following.

We are excited to get back to blogging and hope to keep these pages filled much more often.  Thank you to all that have continued to follow us in this break and as a thanks to you all we are offering a giveaway.

two pairs of sweet em earrings of your choice

::Please leave a comment on this post for a chance to win:: winner will be chosen Friday, July 12th.

Now, I will not make you (since I am a total pushover) but out of your kind heart, please like sweet em on facebook and if you are feeling extra nice, suggest your friends to like as well.  I know y'all are so nice you will try :)

And, as a side note, my oldest baby is 8 today...eight! She's so old