A Few of My Favorite Things

So far this has been the best Christmas in a long time.... I know Christmas hasn't even come yet but everything is better with a little kid who is just discovering the magic of Christmas. And when they discover it they help us find the magic too that has some how disappeared over our teenage and young adult years.

I already posted about playing in the snow....I haven't really done that for several years...I remember playing games in the snow in college but before that who knows when! Not that I was rolling around in the snow much but it was so much fun to see how much Boo loved it. She's asked to go play in the snow everyday. When she gets out there running around in it, I love how she says how much she loves it as she prances around. 

Yesterday, we made a snowman, named Fozzi. I haven't done that for probably 20 years, not joking. It turned out dang cute, in my opinion.

Granted, it had the help of the snowman kit I made for my siblings and obviously one for myself. This is why before we went to bed, we went and took his face and buttons off. I didn't want any stupid people stealing it...not that it's worth anything but I really love it and don't want to have to make anymore. And lets face it, people are stupid and take meaningless stuff.  

I'm also in love with getting Christmas Cards in the mail and hanging them up. It just feels me with joy getting a card from loved ones. 

Boo doesn't get to go out too much when it is dark outside...especially out on residential streets. A couple of weeks ago we were driving to a friends house through residential areas and she saw Christmas lights. SHE LOVED IT! She was so excited to see a simple porch have a few strings of lights on them. I am so excited to take her tonight to see houses that have gone all out.

I'm loving this Christmas season. I hope the day lives up to the season...

I might post one more time before Christmas....maybe if not come back afterwards I promise to post then. I've got a few more thoughts to share.
Merry Christmas if you don't hear from before then!

Let it Snow

So this was Boo's first time really playing in the snow since last year she did not like the snow much at all. I'm really glad that I bought her the snow pants and gloves. Thankfully she can barely squeeze into the snow boots I bought her last year and didn't use much. 

Lots and lots of fun! She keeps asking to go outside and play. Unfortunately standing out in the cold isn't the most exciting thing for me. I wish the snow was wet enough to make a snowman or a snow ball or something. But she isn't board of trudging around in the snow and picking up frozen chunks.

Maybe I'll get some pictures of the projects I worked on this Christmas season....maybe by the end of the day or Monday or something. :)  I will be posting a few more things on here in the next week or so. :) promise.

Fall

Apparently fall has come and gone. Today I was getting out the Christmas decorations and putting the lights on the tree as I listened to Michael Buble's Christmas CD while the snow was falling sideways in Nebraska fashion.

Here are our picture highlights of the last several months. Ha. Sorry. I'm not good at blogging anymore.

Trip East with the parents:

Riding the Dells in Wisconsin

Birthday Pizza

Kirtland Ohio

Boo's Birthday:

The Blindfold: :)

Pin The Bow on Minnie:

 The Pinata:

 The Birthday Girl:

The Grandparents: (LOVE IT!)

Halloween:

 Above Trunk or Treating. LOVE THE YELLOW SHOES!

Getting the Christmas Tree:

 So cold!!! We gave up trying to find a tree in the "forest" and went back to the cabin to get a pre-cut one. 

Playing with the Beard that came in the bag of toys they gave her at the tree farm:

Well, I guess that catches us up. Without much commentary. :) We are generally well and happy. We are happy we were able to spend Thanksgiving with my parents and my siblings who came to visit.

Goodbye Fall.

Emergency Preparedness

Since I've had a nagging feeling for sometime now to get emergency prepared here is my plan.

*  Water - I want another pack of bottled water and if I can find a place to hide it a bigger container of water. I want to also buy some filtration bottles.

*Food-  I'll beging to buy Food Storage items from the church (#10 can stuff) to build a substantial 3 month supply...I decided since we don't have a lot of extra cash that this was going to be my birthday gift...it will be a gift not to feel this nagging, worrying feeling!

                      - I will also be assembling 72 hour food kits

* Light- I want to make these candles. Make sure I have all necessary flashlights and batteries and matches for the candles.

* Clothing- Put clothing and toiletry supplies in designated bag(s). And additonal blankets or items to keep warm.

* Tools-an extra can opener, pocket knife, figure out a way to cook from our home with out electricity....decide if we need a camp stove or something else like it.

*Emergency Plan and Documents- I like this websites ideas and thoroughness. I liked the idea about making a plan for different amount of notification time for evacuation. She divided out responsibilities for each person based off the alloted time. (if you look at her 26 week plan you may get overwhelmed. I have to start with these few ideas and then get more elaborate- i need to get started.)

*Survival Guides- I don't have a very good memory. So all the things I have read say about purifing water is already gone- so it would be nice to have all that information in one place when I need it. So I want to either find a good guide or make one.

As I do each of these things I'll post about what I'm planning or have done. Maybe it will help someone else but if nothing else-it gives me some accountability and a place to write out what I've done.

until next time friends

August Dinner Calendar

I'm getting all spiffy with my dinner calendar and I thought I'd share it for anyone who needs a little help figuring out what they are eating this month. I always love getting ideas from others-heck, that's why half of these are from Pintrest! I never stay right on with the dates on the calendar it just a nice guideline to go off of. I also went with a lot of easy meals since I really don't know when GG will be home for dinner and on those days I really don't feel like cooking.  Unfortunately, I don't know how to attach a PDF document on here so that the links to the recipes would work. If you are really interested in a recipe let me know-or the ones with pictures you'll find on my Pinterest board.

HAPPY EATING!

Summer's end

I can't believe it, summer is coming to an end. *sniff*sniff*. I've loved having GG around. Today is the first "official" football meeting. I keep expecting him to come through the door soon but I know he won't even be home for dinner tonight. I suppose I should get used to that.

Here are our pictures from the 4th of July. It was a hot Hot day but we didn't want that keeping us from having fun. We participated in my parent's neighborhood parade/celebration.  And then we went to a BBQ. I loved how the kids all covered their ears during the fireworks. We thoroughly enjoyed our day.

(nevermind the 2005 on the embellishment....didn't notice it until i flattened the image. opps.)

We've had family here the last two weeks and that had been a lot of fun-I'm afraid we didn't take any pictures with them but they were here and we played. I'm glad they came and made our summer more fantastic.

GG hasn't been to the zoo here in town so that was one of the things he had on his list this summer so we went and did it. Boo loved it...especially the train. ALL ABOARD!

Since football is starting up and my family all leaving us, I need a plan to keep my body and mind occupied. So my two goals this fall:

1. Make a food storage/emergency preparedness plan. And do everything that I can to fulfill it.

2. Once a week have a some kind of learning activity for Boo.

I'll post my plans when they are made but at least the goals are out there.

Goodbye summer...

Summer Lovin'

It's been a super long time and it has been a wonderful time. GG is practically done with grad school-still has to do a portfolio before graduating in August- but no classes! It has been wonderful to have him around so much. (However, I am afraid it will only make football season that much harder for me.)

We are in summer mode around here and I love it.
MEMORIAL DAY- Swimming and a Baseball game.

We treked out west for my neice's wedding (yep, my neice that's number 4 of my neices and nephews to get married). GG helped out with a football camp and I hung out with family and took lots of naps. Boo was AWESOME on vacation. I could live on vacation. She slept well, she ate well, she played well. She had older cousins to play with (or follow) so I didn't have to watch her every minute.  We were happy-we're happy still but it was great!

Thank You Lovely Family and Friends that made our trip wonderful!!!!

ps. I'll post 4th of July photos later....I'm all tuckered out! ;)

HAPPY SUMMER!

Small Steps

GG and I celebrated our number four anniversary. Small step, I know but still progress in our journey towards eternity.

We celebrated by going out to my favorite place, Olive Garden on our actual anniversary. I love that restaurant. Good food, nice ambiance. I just wish people dressed up a little to match the ambiance-why do you look like you rolled out of bed or just got done playing basketball? I'm such a snobby snot sometimes. ANYWAY, I totally digressed.

This weekend we went to Mahoney State Park. I haven't been there since I was maybe a teenager, definitely before I went to college- so at least 10 years. I have happy memories of being there, granted we never did any of the activities-so I'm not really sure why went that far for picnics and the playground except that it was lovely. 

We started off with a picnic.... these are pretty much all self portraits so they aren't really helpful to see what we are doing except to see our pretty faces. :) Haha..

He totally got me, I didn't know he was pulling faces. Look who's got who now! BWHAHAHA. They totally just went on the blog!
Side note: I'm quite impressed that my husband can touch his tongue to his nose.

We paddled around a bit on the paddle boats. Not going to lie, not the most exciting thing in the world on a dirty, small little lake/pond thing. But just hanging out in the sun.

After paddling around with the geese with thought we'd try out our arms and swing at a few golf balls. For me, it was more like swinging at the air and missing the balls completely. GG however, is fantastic. I can see why people like hitting golf balls, if they actually can hit them, making them fly through the air. GG has been wanting to take me to a driving range since before we got married and this is the first time we actually got around to doing it.
Look at him, looking like a pro. :)

We finished our day off with a climb up the tower. I remember it being much taller than it was but I won't lie, I had to catch my breath at the top a little.

It was a perfect day for a wonderful 4 years together!

THANKS GG!! xoxoxo

Bye-Bye May..

Is may taking forever or what?! Seriously. I feel like I've been awaiting the end of the month for several weeks now. Anyone else? It's not that it's been a bad month, it's been fine it's just really long. Here's why I want this month done:

1. SUMMER- GG will be done with teaching (last day is tomorrow) and his very very short week class.
2. Anniversary is the last day of May and so sometime around there we get to celebrate.
3. MONEY. Seriously. I thought we had enough this month and I feel like I have been very careful but somewhere, somehow I spent our alloted budget already. opps. We also only have enough quarters for 2 more loads of laundry. So forgive us if our clothes stink. :) jk.  I will not let that happen!
4. Menu. I don't have anything fanastic lined up food wise for the rest of the month....or even really planned. I think I'll try and see what I can make with what we've got in our cupboards.
5. Vacation we'll be much closer. My neice is getting married and I'm totally stoked for a wedding. I never cared for them before I got married, now I think they are fantastic.

Reasons I don't want May to end:
1. My sister is moving away. :( Add ad tear to that sad face. :'(
2. May is a lovely month. And spring has been pretty good here.
3. well, guess that's it.

June, oh June, will come soon?? :)

walking

Am I odd that I like to paint pictures for my header? Ever since I was a teenager, I'd say middle school aged, I liked to paint pictures on the computer. I guess it must stem out of my kindergarten dream of being an artist (I wanted to be a good at drawing like my brother). Since I'm very limited in what I can do with an actual paper and pencil, this is my fulfillment of that dream.

I'm loving this spring weather we have been having here. It's been perfect for walking. I've been trying to take two walks a day. One with the kids (boo and my nephew) and one at night. The one in the morning is wonderful because the it restrains the kids. Am I terrible for loving car seats, strollers and high chairs for the sake that its just a few minutes that I don't need to worry about where they are? They can only do so much damage in those situations.   And I love, LOVE the evening walks that I take all by myself. I thought there was freedom and peace in my morning walks but taking a walk all by myself is so LIBERATING. It relieves all the anxious tension I often feel. I can actually think! I'm not worried about taking care of anyone else but myself. I can even call my friends who I haven't called in a long time. I can walk faster and swing my arms instead of pushing a stroller. I hope I can keep these evening walks up-even when it gets warmer.

Here a few pictures of Boo...

This isn't the best picture, I took it with my phone. She fell flat on her face as she was running around while I was putting the stroller away. Currently, the scrape is brown from the scabbing (I guess) so I have a brown-noser. :)

Also taken with my phone. She took the kid's meal binoculars with her on the walk. She was so cute looking at bugs with them.

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By the time I get halfway through my blog posts, I wonder why I'm even posting or sharing what I am sharing. Oh well I guess. If you care, you care. If you don't, you don't.  I'm kinda sad I've turned into a boring mommy blogger. I suppose I need to find renewed purpose in blogging.

Until next time.

Let us eat Cake!

Pinterest isn't working for me today and that has made me realize how much I depend on Pinterest. It isn't just a place that I pin things that look cool with only a slight chance of me using. It's my recipe book. I love finding recipes and trying them. I decided that I love to cook and try new recipes-most of the time. The foods are usually fairly similar and not outrageous. I am picky with my food and not extremely adventureous but I'm getting better. Anyway, this post if for a back up storage-in case Pinterest doesn't work again sometime in the future.

My mom gave me some chocolate cake when I was visiting her house yesterday.  It was homemade (not out of a box). It tasted somewhat like a Ding-Dong, Ho-HO....or some kind of chocolate snack cake. I can picture using this for cupcakes with a cream filling and this yummy sour cream frosting- or cake balls (never made them but I think this would make good ones).   And I would definitely make this for as a plain chocolate cake.

It came from Midwest Living Magazine.

Happy thoughts

Sometimes I don't like that my blog is mostly about my daughter but sometimes I just want to just share how fun she is- sometimes I need the reminder. Especially, after days of her pushing, screaming and biting her cousin, its good for me to remember how fun and cute she is.

One of my favorite things she says is "much fun" instead of "so much fun". My favorite time she uses it is when I lay on the floor and cuddle with her at bedtime. She'll look at me with a big smile on her face and say "much fun!" When she says that I hear "I love you".  (btw, she sleeps on the floor and has completely given up on the toddler bed, and I'm mostly okay with that).

Sometimes we take walks on the bike trail where she walks instead of riding in the stroller. Whenever she sees someones about 20 feet away she'll start waving her hand enthusiastically and start saying "hi" in her deep voice. It's so funny. The old people love her!

She just looked out the window and saw a dog and she started saying "hi" in her baby voice (similiar to how we talk to babies). Then she said "toot doogie" meaning "cute".

(This was taken probably sometime in the fall)

My little artist

Boo's First Portrait. I'm so proud. It's of her daddy.  She had a circle on her paper and I said that it looked like daddy. And then I asked her about eyes and then she drew them, then the smile, ears and nose. She's the one that decided he needed toes and that's how we got the arms and legs. 

Just thougt I'd include this one, I love her pout look....sometimes. :) 

I also wanted to say  sorry for making the "weighed down" post so depressing. I was just sharing my thoughts that have been occupying my mind and well, weighing me down a bit but I really am happy doing well.  As my sister shared with me in her comments ""(I)have a pink kink in your think. Bound, Bound and Rebound. You're doing great, just keep it up. Just look around! "  Thanks for you love and support.

the link is to the short video before a pixar movie.

You're doing great, just keep it up!

making my mouth happy

I really love food. I love it when I make food (most of the time) and I love it when others make it. I love looking at recipes at on pinterest.
One day I mistakenly said I had made 75% of the food items that I had pinned on Pinterest. I went home and counted. I had made only 25%. With probably good intentions of making at least 75% of them. :) So my new goal is to make 75% of them-to make my words true.

Here are a few that I've tried and loved!

This is Tuscan  Garlic Chicken and this is my picture. It turned out FANTASTIC.  It's a more involved recipe but so delicious. Hello homemade Olive Garden dish. yum.yum.

These Lemon White Chocolate Truffles

These Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies taste like Reese's peanut butter cups.

These are wonderful in my mouth and in my tummy, not so much my thighs...ha. :) I need to learn to love to exercise again.

weighed down

It's been a long time since I blogged....again. I guess the blogging world has lost some of it's excitement for me. I'm trying decide if it's something I should put my mind to fixing or just let it be.
Here are some random pieces of our life:

We went to Oklahoma to visit GG's brother for Easter. We had enjoyable time with family. Our niece got baptized-which was a very lovely event. We went swimming with the family at the hotel pool. Boo was very leery of the swimming pool and didn't even want to change into her swimsuit. So she and I sat and watched them until finally she decided it was time. I'll have to wait for some pictures from Nonna (gg's mom). She was super cute on her little boat thing. She picked up on how to move all over the pool in it in no time. I also got my first foot zone from his sister in law. It was an intriguing experience to learn how your feet tell what is going on in the rest of your body. I'd recommend it.

Here's a picture of her finding her basket that the Easter Bunny and helpers filled so generously.  She loves it!

I feel like I've had a bad month, or two or three, where my filter has not been working well and I spurt out things that come off sounding offensive or just wrong.  Does anyone else feel that way? Or is it just me. I really have been struggling lately and its driving me crazy. Maybe I don't get out enough.

I've decided that I need an adjustment with my attitude with money. I'm not sure how to go about that but I've got to stop feeling so offended and robbed everytime I get a bill. I'm just tired of giving people my money when I didn't plan on giving it to them. Pretty much our tax return went to a crown for me...I wish it was the tiarra kind but no, tubes for boo's ears, brakes for our van, and other medical expenses. I'm praying for a much more relaxed year but then again, we are almost at our max out of pocket for the year and its only April-so we could get some free work. :) jk. I'd really rather not.  I need to just stop being bitter and realize the blessings that we have.

The other thing that has been in my mind lately-which incidently is probably one of those things that have come out wrong-has been when friends are talking about children. I am impressed by their ability to handle more than one child yet the very idea of having two children in my care around the clock stresses me out.  I want another child, I really do, but it terrifies me. Some of you know that in January we had our second miscarriage. Like probably almost all women who have miscarriages we don't know why but I'm trusting the Lord that this is not the right timing for us. And that it just might be more than I can handle right now. But I realize I need to stop saying out loud how difficult it seems and start being more positive and figure out how I can learn to manage 2 children all day, everyday. I really do love being a mom. I love Boo and I can't wait to love another little baby.

SOoooo this was a LOT longer than anticipated...just spilled my brains here. It appears I have been a stressed out, weighed down bummer lately. goodness. Hopefully by putting all this out there, clearing the brain waves it will open up the window to more blogging. ...maybe. No promises. 

Here are a few pictures of Boo. She likes to wear our shoes- in this one she's wearing one of my (grandma-looking work shoes) and GG's shoes.

Have a good one friends.