iPhone Apps I Actually Want to Use

So, Tommie recycled his iPhone3 to me a long time ago.  He's been prancing around with his fancy iPhone4 for quite some time.  At first, I downloaded quite a few apps...Bananagrams, PBSkids, CameraBag, etc.

But since then, my phone has been kind of an embarrassment in the new update arena.  One of the hard things for me is searching through the App Store to try and find apps I might like.  I'd rather have someone review the apps for me first and give me a better idea of what I'm looking for.

That being said, I stumbled across a great site the other day and found about 6 new apps I added to my phone-and those were just the FREE ones!  I'd probably download even more off of this list if I wanted to spend some cash on the apps:

Babble Top 50 iPhone Apps for Moms

Granted, many or most of these are aimed at parents, but many are just awesome apps that work great for the breeding set.  Here are one or two of my highlights:

1. Baby Travel

We're going places for the holidays and it's a LOT of work trying to pack for myself and my two midgets...while trying to guarantee (or at least hope) for not forgetting anything important.  Though it doesn't remind you to take your kid (think disaster a-la-Home Alone), type in the details of who's going where and what the weather's like and it creates a packing list FOR YOU! I tried it out yesterday and it's awesome.  P.S. If you don't put in a baby, it STILL MAKES A LIST.  So if you're cruising without little crumb-snatchers you can still get a packing list. Did I mention it's totally free?  Check it out at the App Store, or a review here.

2.Grocery IQ

Anyone think grocery shopping can be a drag?  This makes it so easy and almost fun that when I used it yesterday, I...*gulp*...enjoyed it.  :)  On top of the incredible listing features that allows you to separate shopping by stores and aisles, it has a great coupon/savings card feature that I can't wait to try.  Just click the coupons you like and send it to your printer!  Or, send your savings to your savings card to be scanned at the register.  I think this app is one that will really pay off....get it?  Check it out at the App Store, or a review and more details here.

Many of the other apps from the site rock-and once you start looking them up, the other related apps look pretty enticing too.  So enjoy browsing and let me know which apps you recently have decided to love!

Cheapies

Time is ticking folks.  There are FAR too many people at the malls....and you know you've spent about the last dime in your Christmas budget.  Unfortunately, the gifts aren't quite finished....I'd like to introduce you to: THE CHEAPIES.

These are just some random items I've seen in my Google reader in the past month that look fast, easy and cheap to produce.  Just in time for stuffing those last-minute stockings.

1. Paint Chip Wallet

This looks awesome.  I think I would probably stick to paint swatches in the same family of color or coordinating colors to add some class to the idea, but this really looks like the perfect last-minute "cherishable" gift for a guy or a gal this Christmas. Click on the photo to get instructions on how to make it.

2. Brimmed Beanie

I wanted to make these for my kids and my niece last Christmas and just couldn't quite figure it out!  This tutorial though says it can be done in 5 minutes!!! I'm in.  Buy a dollar tree beanie and you've got a very inexpensive gift. Seriously, what child/adult child do you know that would NOT love to look so indie and hip?  And homemade means you can accent it with all of your own personal touches.  Click on the photo to link to instructions.

3. Custom Microwave Popcorn

So apparently making your own microwavable popcorn is about $3 away...add some adorable paper embellishments and this could make the perfect gift for all those acquaintances that probably need some recognition at Christmas, but don't quite need a full-on Christmas present. (think teachers, child care workers at church, odd friends you kind of know...)  I'm thinking some adorable dollar tree stickers/stamps, ribbon that's easy to take off and you've got yourself an awesome handmade quality gift here.  Be sure to read the tutorial well too and include instructions-that way nobody blows up their microwave (like Tommie did with oatmeal a few months ago...*sigh) Click on the photo to link up to instructions.

4. Custom Photocopy GORGEOUS Art

This might be my favorite project on this post.  Seriously.  I saw it a few months ago and still haven't found the time to try it...but now I'm starting to want to...hmmm...Anyway, with a photocopied image, gel medium from a craft store, paint and a canvas, you have incredible art! If you want, you could even do a small series in coordinating colors, a la:

Seriously, I know how to photocopy and use a paintbrush in a primitive fashion.  I could do this, and so could you.  If you can't afford to buy a few canvases, you can also use pieces of plywood, which if you have it laying around, would make this project even less expensive.  Click the big blue photo above to get the scoop on how to make your artistic loved-ones suspiciously jealous of your talent.

I probably have a few other ideas up my sleeve that I might post later, but I don't want to overwhelm you....Also, I want you to have time to finish one of these projects and send me pictures before you wrap them.  I just KNOW one of these is the perfect gift for someone out there.

*Just so you know, all of these ideas come from blogs I follow on Google Reader: Homemade Mamas and Dollar Store Crafts

Many thanks to them for making me feel able to be artistic with out breaking the bank or my thinking cap...

Fancy Christmas Sunday

Liliana slept in sponge rollers last night to get the curls.  And Truett is wearing a tie.  It's awesome.

Thanks Grandma Janie for the adorable Christmas outfits.  They'll be wearing them to our Christmas Eve service as well.  :)

Christmas Carols

I've been singing Christmas carols to the kids since late October, hoping by the time Christmas came around at least Liliana would know some of the words.  Boy does she!  She runs around singing the words to probably 8-9 different Christmas carols all day.  It's cute...mostly.  :)


In particular, tonight, I enjoyed her approximation of a phrase from "O Come, All Ye Faithful."  Lili was alternating between singing "funny faithful" and "farney fitheful."  The second of those sounds incredibly like "Barney Fife."  It's rather enjoyable.


Anyway, if you've never done it, my other recommendation for Christmas carols is to AUTOTUNE those suckers.  It's awesome.  T-Pain provides this lovely service through his iPhone app, I Am T-Paine.  Buy it here and love yourself for it.

Oh, and a word to all you parents-it's especially awesome to hear your little one's Christmas carol autotuned.  Seriously.

No Way.

I just finished making my Christmas gifts for family...I can't post about them yet since many of you reading this are family.

I LOVE what I made my family this year.  But I have to say, after just stumbling upon this tonight...I kind of wished that I would have found this sooner....

They came from this humble beginning!

Don't believe me?  Want to make some for yourself?  Click HERE to see how $3 and some paint can make you some pretty beautiful decor.

Now that Christmas has almost come and gone maybe I'll make them for July 4th?  Or heck, maybe I'll just make a bunch of them for myself and save them for next year!

Bozic MEANS Christmas

It's true.  Bozich means Christmas in Slovenian.  I think that's pretty sweet.

Maybe that's why our mantle/tree situation looks so killer this Christmas.  That and we now have FOUR stockings hanging on our mantle!  In fact, if we count Maple and the third little Bozich on the way...we could potentially have six stockings....maybe next year.

-Can I just add that we found it a little bit more difficult this year to decorate with our little midgees "helping" so much?  haha.

A Smoky Mountain Christmas

Tommie plans awesome dates.

Last night he made HOMEMADE Christmas ice cream.  Our ice cream maker makes ice cream in 30minutes and it's delicious-even better when frozen overnight.  Anyway, last night Tommie ground up mint Oreos and added them to a vanilla ice cream mix and sprinkles. It is now my FAVORITE Christmas ice cream-even better than peppermint ice cream! (*gasp*)

On top of that, he said he had something special recorded for me on the DVR.  Lo and behold, it was one of my long lost favorite Christmas moves, "A Smoky Mountain Christmas" starring none other than Dolly Parton herself. (watch the trailer here)

We put a fire in the fireplace, at our delicious ice cream and watched the mediocre memories fly by. (Tommie had never seen the movie...you'll have to ask him whether or not he liked it...) I knew all of the songs and remembered the whole thing pretty much accurately.

Do yourself a favor, find a way to watch it.  Tommie found it on CMT playing a few times last week.  I'd imagine they have it playing a few more times before Christmas if you're interested. It has an 80% approval rating on rottentomatoes.com. Or, if you like to jump in with two feet, here's a place where I'm pretty sure you can purchase a bootleg DVD of the film.

Enjoy!

Sparkly Christmas Ornaments

I LOVE holiday crafting.  I could probably do holiday crafts from Thanksgiving to New Year and be perfectly happy.

Sometimes though, things don't turn out quite how you like and it can kind of put a damper on your holiday crafting mood.

Thankfully, this craft is EASY, FAST, and basically fool-proof.

They're probably a little bit hard to see, but they are SPARKLY CHRISTMAS ORNAMENTS! (plus a purple flower that Liliana insisted on)

All it takes is Borax(easily found for $2 at Target), hot water and pipe cleaners.  It's amazing.  You end up with super-crystaly gorgeousness

To get the details on how to do this craft and a better photo of how these little guys look with Christmas lights twinkling in the background, go here.

Let me know how it goes!

Post 1 of 5 to Catch Up

haha.  I'm awful.  I have very little of what some people call "stick-to-it-iveness".  I'm obviously very late on my post once a day thingy.

So this is the first one I'll of five today to catch up!

I'll celebrate in this post, letting you know IT SNOWED ON SATURDAY NIGHT!  That's right, here in VA Beach.  The thing is though, it was super-late at night, so the kids didn't get to play in it or really see it at all since it melted by the next morning.

I'm hoping for more though this winter, hopefully some that collects enough for a snowball or two.  Truett hasn't ever seen snow, so I think he'd get a kick out of it.

Also, that picture is from Lili LAST year in the snow...I know she can't wait to go sledding when we go out to Colorado this year (although I also know she's terrified about it too...she's just like me!).  

So anyway, here's to snow and to 4 more posts!

Love.

A Blog A Day Keeps the Guilt Away

So at the beginning of this year I decided to blog more often.  In my mind, that meant at least once a month, more like 15-20x a month.  I think I did pretty great at that...until about June!

But now, with the new year creeping up, I've decided to renew my blogging enthusiasm and keep my resolution remorse at bay with a BLOG POST A DAY.

I should be able to do it I think.  December is a month filled with more activities, parties, sweets, events, and happy things to blog about than many of the others throughout the year.

You can think of it as an advent calendar of sorts even...opening a new blog post each day to find a gem inside.  Of course, I will be going longer than Christmas, so it's really not like an advent calendar at all.  But it was worth trying to stretch the metaphor to maybe interest some of you.

With that in mind, I leave you with some of my favorite "unnecessary except because they're awesome" kitchen gadget gift ideas:

 Seriously.  It's a Donut Maker.  And it's shaped like a donut on the outside too.  And you can have donuts whenever you want. With sprinkles.  And did I mention it makes donuts?  Yeah...I don't have room for it in my kitchen cabinets either, but I have room for it in my heart and my stomach.

It's a Cupcake Maker.  AND IT'S SHAPED LIKE A CUPCAKE!!!!!  It even has sprinkles on the outside of it.  I love sprinkles.  It's almost a guaranteed sell if it has sprinkles. And you can have cupcakes whenever you want. And no, I don't have room for this either. But I would LOVE to know someone who does so I could go to their house all the time and make quick yummy cupcakes and get fat together.

Ahhh....sweet superficiality. Christmas is crazy.  What's a crazy Christmas thing you know you don't want and shouldn't want....but kind of do?

Genius

I know, I know.  I should remember my reusable shopping bags when I go to the grocery store.  But I must admit, between juggling to toddlers and rushing out the door, I don't always remember to be earth-friendly when I'm shopping.  In fact, maybe I'll just plain blame it on me-I'm forgetful.

In light of that forgetfulness, I sometimes have a stash of plastic bags under my sink that make me want to close my eyes when I open the cabinet. If only plastic bag holders weren't so yucky looking and still disorganized feeling (for my taste).  Enter:

It's brilliant.  Fold the bags like I used to fold notes in middle school and now the 20 or so bags fit into a shoebox that fits neatly under my sink!  Now I can see what REALLY needs to be cleaned under there.  And I still can find the bags that are useful when taking our sweet Maple out on walks.

Want to know how it's done?  Check out this SUPER EASY and FAST tutorial here.

Falling for Fall All Over Again

Despite the warmer weather today and for the next few days, last week had me falling for Fall all over again.

Summer has been a whirlwind this year.  It has stolen away our time and landed us here in September happy, tan, tired, and with more experiences and stories to take us through that sometimes dreary season that sneaks up after fall.

One of our best memories of the summer will be letting the three cousins spend some time together as the four Gubser kids descended on my parents' house to celebrate my oldest sister's 30th bday.

I'm definitely in the fall mood now though. Weather in the 70s, cool breezes, the smell of fall in the air...makes me think of pumpkin bread, corn mazes, fall festivals and plaid shirts.

So here we come, we're riding into Fall in style.

I'm curious. What's your favorite thing about Fall?  (tommie's is pumpkin lattes) And what will you miss most about Summer this year?

Truett's Birthday!

Yesterday was Truett's First Birthday.

Celebrate Truett

Oh how I love that little boy.

Best Summer Craft

By far, this is my favorite craft I've run across this summer.  

I love Tootsie Pops and I love mustaches.  Winner!

It makes me smile every time I see the pictures.  What a simple, wonderful, hysterical idea.

Thanks to Mary Black Orrozco for her ingenuity on this one!  She's our children's director and made a TON of these for the VBS at our church this summer.  Awesome.

First Things First.

I've been super-busy lately. And I can't even complain, because it's really just that my life has been ACTION-PACKED this past month-in an awesome way.  So I have much to update you on.

First things first though: Alisa Learns to Surf and Doesn't Die

1. It's a little wave, cause the day we went was moderately flat...but it's headed my way. PADDLE FAST to try and get up to speed with the wave(ha!).

2. Pretty decent placement, push up and try to get up on my knees, then feet.

3. It's breaking on me...time is ticking and I'm failing.  On my feet with almost no time left before this wave is dead.

4. Time's up. I got caught by the wave instead of the other way around.

5. No worries, I'm on my feet in no time, steadying and readying to head out for more.

6. Don't be fooled. I'm ready for more and, believe it or not, I've actually caught a better wave or two than that.  I'm gonna dominate, just gimme time!

Tommie and I are HOOKED!  Now to start scrounging up the cash so we can buy a board...our loaner's heading back to it's rightful owner at the end of August.

Come visit. You know you want to surf.

You Don't Like Fish, You Say?

Fair enough.  I'll resist the urge to tell you, "If you try it this time, you might like it..."

But I will tell you, if you're on the border about fish, or you're trying to help a child like fish, having it shaped like a burger sure does help!  Why else do you think McD's goes through all the trouble?

That being said.  I made these garbanzo bean and fish burgers for dinner tonight and they were a HIT!  Even our little man ate an entire patty and he's not even one yet.  Our two-year-old ate with no complaints and my hubby had TWO.  

Combine that with the easiness factor and we now have another meal to rotate onto our summer menu.

Find the recipe here and leave me a comment so I know how you like them when YOU try them!

Refreshing

Two Refreshing "Must-Dos" For Yours and Mine:

1.Make homemade lemonade before the summer's over:

It's so easy...and less work and money than you might think...or might not think, considering 10-year-olds and younger routinely pull off this delicious treat whilst making the big $$$ on your neighborhood street corner.  Anyway, Lili helped me make it.  Here's how you should too:

-4 Lemons

-1/2c Sugar

-4-5c Water

Cut 3 lemons in half and squeeze juice into pitcher (you SERIOUSLY do NOT need a juicer thingy...just use your strong thumbs). Using a slotted spoon or small strainer, remove seeds from juice in pitcher.  In a separate glass measuring cup, or bowl, microwave about a cup of water for about 1min and 30sec.  Add 1/2c sugar to the hot water and stir until the water is clear (this is often known as "simple syrup" in the cooking world).  Add your simple syrup to your strained lemon juice and pour about 4c of cold water into your pitcher.  Taste and add more sugar or lemon juice to taste.  Finally, slice thin slices of your last lemon and add to your pitcher because it's BEAUTIFUL to do this and because it will keep your lemonade tasting lemonade-y.

2. Swim in a pool with kids.  Inflatable pools count.

Seriously.  Our inflatable pool has WAY earned back its meager investment.  Nothing like cooling off with your kiddos, or your brothers' or sisters' kiddos, or your friends' kiddos or, I dunno, even yourself in your own backyard.  Throw some hotdogs on the grill while you swim and it just might be your favorite evening of the week.

Ahhhh.  So refreshing.  I love you summer.

Up next: Alisa goes surfing. And doesn't die. :)

Happy Fourth of July!

Or rather, Independence Day.

I love this holiday.  Here's to hoping the kids don't get cranky and we get to see some fireworks tonight!

And here's to being crafty:

Lili and I will be wearing matching, patriotic headbands all day. (or at least I will...Lili will wear it until her little hands can't help but tear it off...)

Light a Lady Finger for me while you celebrate tonight!

June Favorites

WHEW!  I can't believe June is almost over already!  It's flown by.  I guess that's because we have so many wonderful things we're using/doing/seeing this month.  Here are a few of our favorites:

1. Beach Days!  Virginia Beach certainly has plenty to offer in the way of beach entertainment!  We've been loving heading out to the beach and just hanging out for a while until we feel like our skin is about to melt off from the heat....then we head on home.  Some things we're learning?  Don't eat handfuls of sand (Truett).  The waves aren't so scary, they're just kissing us (Lili). The sand is SUPER hot and you WILL end up carrying both kids down to the water, one on each hip, so be prepared to burn the soles of your feet off so bring another adult with you to carry at least one baby so you don't want to die (Alisa). Yay beach!

2.We love sunscreen.  Keep those white little babies white.  Arbonne Int'l has the best baby sunscreen I've found yet!  It's not oily and it smells great-and it keeps that perfect baby skin, well, perfect! You can get some by emailing my mama at louanngubserdesign@gmail.com.

3.Truett is standing now.  He can't quite get up on his own, but he thinks he's the best thing on two feet when he pulls himself up either on his crib or any other furniture, person, or dog that he can.  Needless to say, this new talent has been accompanied by a few new bruises on the poor baby's forehead.

4.Crafty mccraftiness!  I actually have finished sewing my quilt together!  I can't believe I actually did all the work to make that happen.  Just have to quilt it and then you'll get the scoop!  We also hit up Michael's for kid's craft stuff and now have a box full for those afternoons when it's just TOO hot to hit up the inflatable pool even on our own back porch.  I also aspire to make one of these adorable braided headbands sometime before the month is up.  I'm thinking maybe a red, white and blue one for July 4th!?  Want to make one too?  They look super easy, cheap and fast...all requirements on my typical craft checklist. Check out how to make one of your own with this tutorial.

5.Finally, my sister, Brittany is doing an awesome new "Blogshare Wednesday" that I think you might love.  Check out her blog faves every Wednesday here to see which new blogs you just have to add to your reader!

So I think I might have made up for my brief lull with such an overdose of awesome stuff today!  Enjoy it all and let me know which stuff you loved.

Love. Love.

Birthday. Bangs.

I'm twenty-five today.

I'm ready to do more. I'm ready to keep life exciting. And mark my words, I'm going to learn to surf this year.

Also, I'm going to rock bangs for at least a few weeks:

Busy May...Just Chillin' June

In May we had so many lovely trips!  Included in that list of trips was one to Gainesville Florida for our dear friends' wedding.  We had yet to make our pilgrimage after we left G'ville 4 years ago, so we packed our bags and headed back-WITH OUR TWO KIDS!  Liliana was a flower girl (as you can see above) and did a wonderful job in a gorgeous wedding.

Then we just chilled at THE SWAMP, home of the Gators. There we imbued our children with pride for our orange and blue. What a funny thing to revisit my college town for the first time with my two babies.  We had a blast.

We at almost all of our favorite college haunts, including:

-Sweet Dreams Ice Cream

-Sonny's Real-Pit BBQ

-El Indio

-Publix (their sub sandwiches have few rivals)

-Angie's Subs (Jax)

We even took a short tour of the stadium, just to reminisce. It was lovely.  Thank you Gainesville, for sending our May out right.  We love you.  :)

Mommy McMommerson

I don't know this baby. That's why I blacked out its eyes.

I want my baby's to have this tattoo. I think it would make a lovely mother's day gift for next year.

This past Sunday was Mother's Day, as I'm sure most of you know.  I had a particularly amazing one, thanks mostly to my wonderful husband.  (Both my mini's were wielding jewelry from Forever 21, and my hubby got me a new bathing suit from H&M!)


Our friend Wayne Patterson preached on Sunday too, which added to the great day.  He talked about idolizing his Mom in a subtle way growing up, and how she, in some ways, idolized him and her role as a mother.  The main crux of his point was the day she realized it, repented and put God first.  I don't know that that was part that convicted me, rather, the part where he said, "You love your children and your families best when you as a mom love God first, intentionally."


Ooooo.  Burn. 


I feel so busy. I feel so overwhelmed. I am so busy.  I have at least one child talking to me at nearly every moment of the day. I don't have time to sit down and talk to God every day.  I don't have time to pray. I don't have time to read my Bible. Me, me, me, me, blah, blah, blah, blah.


YES I DO.


The best part about my revelation and repentance this week is that, it isn't out of duty that I'm choosing to make time for my God. I'm choosing to because I believe God is big enough to make time for me to make time for him (catch that?). I also genuinely want to go deeper, to have my well filled up so I can pour out to those around me (primarily my family) the LIFE GIVING love of Christ that I receive as his follower.  I've been so empty lately, feeling dragged down by not truly understanding what I have to offer, or what I have to fulfill.  


Jesus fills me.


Anyway, I could write volumes on this...and maybe one day I will, God willing.  But for now, I wanted you to know that I'm CHOOSING to take time out of today to intentionally love God and hear from him.  It probably won't be 30minutes of quiet time (hahah...quiet time...hahahaha).  It probably won't be 15 minutes.  But it will start today with at least some time.  And tomorrow I'll choose the same thing.  And I'll keep going like that and let Jesus draw me.


Ask me about it, keep me accountable.  And if you're feeling adventurous, join me in my efforts to know God more...the few mommy-minutes a day we have to ourselves...In fact, I know that those of you without kids struggle to find time for God too...you join me in your student-minutes, driving-minutes, work-minutes, tooth-brushing-minutes...whichever minutes you can spare.  Let's start small and see where this goes.


Pray a prayer. Say a scripture. Talk to God and listen for his voice.


I am the best mom when I love God first.
I am the best wife when I love God best first.
I am the best Alisa Kelleen when I love God best first.


I love it.

Curls

I love curling my hair.  It makes me feel so feminine and put together-despite the fact that spending the evening before in curlers makes me feel exactly the opposite. Ha!

Anyway.  Today my hair is long and curly and I love it.

I'll be 25 in less than a month and I'm trying to come up with a list of things I want to accomplish, do, be, understand by the time I'm 30.  Wanna join the fun?  Just leave a suggestion in the comments...

Wedding Season!

Sorry for the delay in posting.  We were preparing for and attending our first wedding of WEDDING SEASON!

Liliana was the flower girl for Tommie's mom's wedding in Colorado this past weekend.  It was beautiful and Lili did a great job!

In a few weeks Lili will get to perfect her skills as she's the flower girl in the wedding for our friends Bethany and Wayne in Gainesville, FL.  I'm psyched!

Here are some photos of our first wedding of the season:

Chicken and Apples

This post is long overdue. 

A few weeks ago, I asked you if you had any good recipes to take your groceries just a little farther.  I got a BUNCH of great recipes and I plan to try many more of the ones you suggested.

For the first one though, I tried David Buckmaster's CHICKEN.

He said that after 4hrs at 275 degrees it would fall of the bone and be moist and delicious.

It did.  It was.

He also said it would last for many more meals than one, including a nacho meal.  

It did. 

Recognizing the fact that food pictures rarely turn out the way you want, just know that this shredded chicken pita rocked my world. You are a chef among men, Buck.  Also, I hope this was really your recipe and not your wife's because I'm giving you so many kudos.  But since you are married, we'll just assume credit goes to both of you.

In other food news, we had some friends over the other night.  Lili's job for setting the table was to bring out an apple to the table for each of us.  I handed them to her one by one in the kitchen and she took them out to the table. When we sat down to dinner, this is what we saw:

Each of the apples has a two-year-old girl sized bite mark in them.  :)

I guess she got moderately hungry each time on the long trip from kitchen to dining room.

We all still at the apples.