nest notes {roasted brussels sprouts with garlic aioli}

Source: lifestylethreesixfive.com via brownsugarhoney on Pinterest

WE HAVE A NEW FAVE!
 
i made this for dinner & it was sooo fantastic!!!
 
the brownsugars love love love brussels sprouts & this garlic aioli was a great dip (we spread it on our french onion turkey meatloaf even). i used fresh raw garlic & lemons from our grove. i also used olive oil instead & let it sit a couple of hours before serving.
 
a quick, easy & SUPER tasty way to get your veggies in! it will def be one of our fave snacks. i will experiment with other veggies... but the girlies are already asking for more!

nest notes {perfect cheeseburger soup *pseudo socal fall* weather}

 

Source: tasteofhome.com via brownsugarhoney on Pinterest

i haven't been in much of a blogging mood lately. BUT yes, we've been busy quietly doing stuff & living life.

this week we've been having what i call "pseudo" socal fall weather in that it has been chilly hoodie, hot tea & snuggly blanket weather. complete with perfectly chilly mornings & nights & actual thunderstorms. combine it all with football & me having my 1st pumpkin spice latte of my fave season...
i'm in fall-loving-happy-girl heaven!

i have been anxiously awaiting the perfect weather to make this Cheeseburger Soup & last night was it!
i made a few changes such as:
substituting ground turkey instead of ground beef & i browned it with the veggies.
i used real cheddar instead of Velveeta.
i added other seasonings to taste(onion powder, celery salt, etc...)
i would have also substituted plain yogurt for the sour cream but 
i had neither sour cream nor plain yogurt & it was still delish.
i would also add broccoli next time.

my fam LOVED LOVED LOVED this soup!
i was a huge HIT & even better today for lunch!!!

*i decided the *farm notes* thing wasn't working for me & that *nest notes* fits me better. i think it gives me more room for a wider range of topics & inspiration.

Weekending

saturday

this weekend was pretty mellow.

saturday morning i played catch up on things around the house.

the littlest brownsugar didn't feel well.

that girl is the type that if she is miserable,

she makes sure everyone else is too.

so we cancelled our backyard camp out plans.

i got this fondue set for $2 at my fave thrift store.

i marinated shrimp, chicken & par boiled red potatoes

& we had a fun little indoor fondue party for din instead.

sunday

sunday i laid in bed until 11 am finishing Catching Fire.

i am amazed that Hunger Games was soooo fantastic & Catching Fire was even better! i did not want to put it down, but i needed to eat.

part of my plan this summer was to get back to my menu planning.

i lost control of it during this crazy year & now back to it.

i decided to start off taking it a week at a time, but ended up with almost a month of healthy dinners on the calendar!

hubby started polishing up his grill master skills.

he made ribs for he & the girlies & slow smoked honey curry chicken i had marinating (similar to this recipe, but i added curry to taste). i sauteed some delish baby bellas in butter, olive oil, garlic, soy sauce & cider vinegar.

after that meal i am swearing off white rice...again...forever

this time though. 

it was all soooo good! can't wait for our summer BBQ party!

i couldn't help myself. even though i barely finished Catching Fire earlier in the day, i could not wait to get in my jammies

& get in the bed super early & read Mockingjay until my eyes refused to read anymore...& again...just like the others I'M HOOKED!!!

wintercrafting{pinterest pinecone cuties}


it was cold & rainy this weekend so the girls & i cozied up & crafted in front of the fireplace.
A designed this little snowy photo shoot scene with the lambie... guess that's pretty much the closest to snow we're gonna get here in Socal
(although its been super cold *for us* & it seems like it should be snowing!)

my little cutie.

please keep in mind i don't sew but i hand stitched around the edges of the felt.

AND YES! it almost killed me!

 i thought this would be a quick little craftie

it was cute & fun & everything

but after like 3 hours...

i didn't even care anymore & wanted to just be done!

M's little crafty cutie she made completely by herself.

she made some other little accessories that i didn't get a pic of.

K's sledding cutie she did all by herself.

love how we each came up with own different little creations.

A's ice skating cutie.

all she let me help her with really is sewing around the edges of the felt.

(This was the one i started with, much better job)

{OUR PINTEREST INSPIRATION}

Source: diycrafts.blogspot.com via brownsugarhoney on Pinterest

Source: pinkandgreenmama.blogspot.com via brownsugarhoney on Pinterest

Source: cottagehome.co.uk via brownsugarhoney on Pinterest

{5 around our house}

my neighbors have one of the most amazing sunny views

overlooking groves of trees & mountains.

the entire back of their house maximizes this view.

 our plentiful SoCal sunshine pours generous amounts of light into their home.

i edited this pic to make the contrast between light & dark more dramatic.

the girls & i  are working on descriptive writing combined with technology.

 the prompt assigned was light.

here is 1's (rough unedited)  & 2's (final) light prompt blog posts.

(BTW-they are fun to follow too...hint...hint)

{5 around our house}

1.currently loving::on PANDORA Zee Avi, Ernie Halter, Norah

                     Jones, BoyzIIMen, Esperanza Spaulding, Joss

                     Stone, Adele, Veggie Tales...sooo many!

                     

                     *hot peppermint mochas {new fave}&

                     honeycrisp apple season

                     {MY ABS FAVE OBSESSION}

                     

                     *warm fires(that i built by moi's self

                      mind you)snuggles under a blanket

                      & a shaggy little stinky brown dog

                      curled up at my feet. it's actually been

                      cold here (ok really cool). 

                      i miss the cold living in 

                      SoCal so i am thoroughly enjoying this!

2.currently reading ::[of the many]

                      *me-FINALLY finished The Dry Grass of

                      August & now reading Water for

                      Elephants. so far so good.

                      

                      *1-is obsessively devouring The Hunger

                      Games. can't wait until i get a chance to 

                      read it & see what everyone is raving 

                      about! 

3.currently happy :: He & I got to go on a date! we don't

                      have childcare here, so on our vacation

                      last week we took full advantage & FINALLY

                      celebrated our anniversary (which

                      was actually in August). we had

                      a fun night of tailgating, football & tons 

                      of fun with friends & each other.  

                      i have super cute pic of us but i

                      promised Him i wouldn't share because

                      He was having an allergic reaction to

                      something unknown & one eye

                      was completely swollen shut. Poor Baby :(

4.currently relieved: that a certain shaggy little stinky 

                       brown dog AKA Prince Oliver Coco, after 5

                       long years is finally showing signs of

                       possible willingness to at least partially

                       loosely comply with the concept of     

                       potty training. maybe.

                      

                       we're hoping ::

                       1.he's finally realizing that he would be  

                         THE abs perfect pooch if he would only
                         refrain from relieving himself in my
                         room...usually on my freshly cleaned
                         laundry! Grrr!
                       2.he realizes he will no longer have to
                         wear his grody indoor diapers among  
                         other grody things that come with!
                         win win for all involved...BELIEVE ME!
                       3.he realizes i would gladly stop
                         threatening DAILY to put his cute
                         NASTY SHAGGY STINKY LITTLE BROWN DOG
                         BOOTY OUT OF MY HOUSE!!!

5.current soup from my new a soup a week pinboard 
click on link for recipe 





Source: href='http://skinnychef.com/recipes/potato-leek-soup'>skinnychef.com via href='http://pinterest.com/dtr/' target='_blank'>brownsugarhoney on href='http://pinterest.com' target='_blank'>Pinterest

.dtr.

we are back & better be bloggie safe than family sorry

Source: ffffound.com via Joanna on Pinterest

real quick.
we're back from our roadtrip.
trying to recover & get back into the groove.
we had such a GREAT time visiting with our family & friends. one of the best!
lots of late nights.laughing.
food.coffee.busy.my mama's house.
pretty much lots of everything we've been missing!

while we were gone i had this bloggie on private. eventhough our little bloggie was intended as our fam scrapbook (since i dont scrapbook much), i LOVE sharing little snippets of our lives that i'm comfie with, with other people. i think it's fun.
this bloggie may currently only have a small number of public followers, but it has had a big increase in regular (private/anon)traffic recently.
which again makes me a super happy girl & i welcome it, BUT some things got a little creepy, so...i went on a little freak out & decided to make some changes & clean our bloggie up all around.

here's a few of the changes:

• i changed all of our names (yes on each post & comments). i changed my profile name. the girls are now known as 1 (oldest), 2 (middle) & 3 (youngest). which BTW i actually think is cool. Hubs is now Him, He, or some variation. from the beginning i regretted using our real names. i hope i caught it in time (creepy people).
• i tried to remove any indication of our actual location.
• i removed this bloggie from major search engines.
• i'm also simplifying the nit-picky stuff (ex: labels, extra (DUMB) posts, etc...) & getting ready to print my post into our fam scrapbook.

call me paranoid, but when it comes to my fam fam...i'd rather be bloggie safe than family sorry. 

our five around our house coming soon :)

.dtr.

{five around our house}

a few zinnias are left hanging out in the garden. to start off her busy morning visiting the chickens & bunny, 3 brought this one in & put it in a vase for me while i was making breakfast. she said it looked like fall...she knows fall is her mama's all time favorite. {sweetgirl}

1.currently loving ::spending most of this week at the horse  

                      ranch with 2 because she won't

                      have lessons during the holiday.

                     (on top of soccer practices & make-up

                      games, workshops, conferences

                      bible study, errands, etc...)

                     

                     *spending ALL of yesterday on the couch

                      after such a super busy week.

                      catching up on our DVR, magazines &

                      catalogs, napping & doing 

                      absolutely nothing. 

                     *popcorn sprinkled with nutritional

                      yeast obsessively about 3 pm everyday. 

                     (beats french fries!)

2.currently reading :: [of the many]

                      *us-the Incredible Journey on CD.  a

                      fantastic story to learn about the concept

                      of anthropomorphism. listening along to

                      the reader tell the story of the journey of

                      the three animal companions helps emphasize

                      the concept & the effect the writer

                      achieves in using it.

                      

                      *this post - such an amazing writer.

                      we used this post to discuss & identify

                      descriptive words & foreshadowing in

                      writing.

                     *me-the book of Nehemiah (finally left Ezra)

                      still The Dry Grass of August. sad.

                     (because i never actually sit down & read

                      it...much rather sleep these days)

3.currently added :: my pinterest button up top below my 

                       @brwnsugarhoney twitter button

4.currently happy :: vacation starts today. nothing

                       intentionally school-ish what-so-ever for

                                     2 WEEKS!!!

                       (didn't say nothing educational. we

                       are always learning. can't help it.)

                       cannot wait to see our fam in a few days.

                       its been FOREVER!

5.current soup ::

 {cannellini bean & cabbage soup}

Source: fitnessmagazine.com via Kerstin on Pinterest

click link or pic for recipe



i'm just a different kinda crafty



Source: projectsforyournest.blogspot.com via @earthmamaandbrownsugar on Pinterest

i love this!

honestly i'm that mama who can barely sew, knit, quilt, bake, decorate fancy desserts, scrapbook & all that other stereotypical mama stuff to save my life...im just a different kinda crafty & i'm more than ok with it!

Friday Flowers{very pretty}

Friday Flowers{very pretty}

*testing my computer out*

this pic i found on pinterest just screams summer to me.
the bright turquoise sky
{my fave color}
the cheery melon colored bloom
{a FAB summer pedi color}
 the brightness & light
{sunny skies}  
ALL of it!
it's just so so pretty.

really hoping this computer test works...we have a lot to catch up on.

wish me luck!

Source: None via earthmamaandbrownsugar on Pinterest

*yaaay!!! it worked...very sloooow still & kinda glitchy, but it worked!*

fam camping trip...can't wait

can't wait...

Source: theyearwas91.tumblr.com via Deborah on Pinterest

so super excited!

 we booked a fam camping trip in Cuyamaca. it's not until July, but im already planning. i even started a camping pinboard on Pinterest to organize my ideas.

really can't wait. 

teacher appreciation gifts pt2{we need s'more teachers like you}

teachers appreciation gift part 2

{we need s'more teachers like you}

Source: domesticatedlady.com via Deborah on Pinterest



{ours}

our charter school has two different programs : ours & Core.

we gave our 6 teachers the Amish Friendship Bread as a gift of appreciation.

sometimes the two programs intermix & we did not want to leave the very hardworking Core teachers out of the lovin'.

i saw these on Pinterest & got the directions & printables here.

 pretty cute & very easy.

guess what im thinking about :)

guess what im thinking about...

Source: fennelandfern.co.uk via Deborah on Pinterest

we miss our chickie girls.

playing with Pinterest this morning.
 i made a entire pinboard just for my chickens.
i really miss them :)

*was having trouble with the embedding codes, but looks like i got it.
this is going to be fun.

friday flowers

{hibiscus}

hibiscus are one of my fave flowers.

 i have a few varieties in my courtyard.

 this beauty was right in my face while i was eating lunch out there.

the entire bush is full of blooms just like this.

im such a happy girl.

*sorry my friday flowers took so long, i was playing on my brand new, very fun & addicting Pinterest page all day.

im beyond hooked!