Disney Live!

Lastnight we got to create a lasting memory with Emilie. We attended Disney Live! Mickeys Musical Fesitival. I was really worried about how my 2 1/2 year old would sit through a 90 minute show, but she did GREAT!!! We arrived and got to our seats about 20 minutes before the show. They were coming around with light up toys and cotton candy and of course we had to spoil our girl. We let her get a bag of cotton candy although Mommy nearly had a heart attack after he handed my precious toddler the bag and a super cheap Mickey hat and then asked for $10! LOL WOW...the price of spun sugar sure has soared!! This was Em's first experience with cotton candy and while not sure at first, she decided it was pretty awesome.

Then it was showtime! Unfortunately I was lazy and didn't get out my actual camera and between the awful lighting and the constant movement I didn't get any good pictures. I will eventually learn that my iphone4 just cannot get the picture quality I want.

She was mesmerized!

As long as Mickey was on stage sitting still wasn't a problem at all. She was either staring intently, or singing and dancing along :)

It was a great time!! I'm so glad we had the opportunity to do this with Emilie! I can't wait to see how she reacts in a few years to Disney World. Aiming for January 2015!! I think 4.5 will be the perfect age to still enjoy the magic and be tall enough to enjoy the kiddie rides :) Who's going with us???

Best Christmas yet!!

Have you ever seen the movie Four Christmas's?! Well our Christmas season is a bit like that, except if you include our own Christmas at home, we had FIVE!! Luckily they were spread out a bit and we never had to go to more than one event the same day...huge improvement on years past! Two weeks ago we had Christmas at my Dad's with my step siblings and their children. Its always a fun time because there are 7 kiddos running around newborn (ok, he wasn't running anywhere this year, lol) to age 11. Next year there will be 8 with Landon!!! And by then the babies will be crawling so it will be INSANE!! Unfortunately Emilie hadn't napped that day so it was our least successful gift opening event of the season, but she had fun nonetheless and was thoroughly spoiled! Then Saturday we had our second event at my paternal grandparents house. This is a little more low key because Em is the only little kiddo at the moment. We played games and ate some incredibly delicious mexican food and did our gift exchange. Em was much more in the mood for opening presents this time (she HAD napped) and loved opening everything...so much so that she tried to open everyone else's. Luckily we got her distracted with one of her new toys and all was good. Then Monday we had my inlaws over. We'd tried to keep it simple and just do appetizers and snacks, but somehow that was harder and this was the more stressful of all the events to prep for. It didn't help that I'd had a bad nights sleep the night before and just wasn't feeling well. But we ended up having a really nice time as a family and the kids enjoyed being even further spoiled! Our fourth Christmas was our personal Christmas morning event. Once Em woke up and came to watch a cartoon in bed with us we texted Grammie Gigi to wake up and got ready to show Emilie what Santa had brought her. We'd been careful not to mention Santa coming the night before because she's a tad bit scared of the jolly old guy and didn't want to keep her up. Once Grammie Gigi was ready and we were connected via skype we let her run into the living room and see what was ahead. She immediately saw her new bike and was ready to ride!!!

Unfortunately it was cold and storming (storming on Christmas morning?! So not right if you ask me but it was!!) so she didn't get to go ride outside but she doesn't know she's missed anything and has ridden it ALL OVER the house already!! :) Gotta love hard floors!! She loved opening her stocking and I had to laugh that her favorite stocking item was the Cinderella jump rope from the $1 store!! OF COURSE IT WAS!!! Then she started digging into the wrapped presents and boy did she have a blast! She got a tea party set, a magnadoodle, a dollhouse, art supplies, and more! Here she is creating a masterpiece for us with her new magnadoodle!

Ok, Mommy MAY have drawn the heart...but she's got the hang of it now and has been drawing all day. Then shortly after we finished up our Christmas and got dressed the rest of my family on my Mom's side came over for lunch. It amazed me how we had an entire meal to serve and it was soooo easy, but we'd all done a part and it went incredibly smoothly. We had such a nice time together and it was the perfect Christmas!! Just as we finished lunch the rain turned to snow and we got to enjoy something very rare in Texas...a White Christmas!! We all stood around the windows watching the snow come down and enjoying a moment that is very few and far between in our part of Texas. The snow was beautiful and just capped off the perfect Christmas holiday. Later in the afternoon we decided Emilie needed to enjoy the snow but she didn't have any good gloves (its TEXAS people, we aren't very well prepared for snow!) so it didn't last long. But they did try to build a snowman!

Ok so you can barely see it...but I was NOT going out in that!

My not so sure about this cold Emilie and her Daddy about as bundled as you'll see a Texan :)

I once heard someone say that if you wanted to upset your wife to get her something practical, something that plugs in. At the time (a younger version of myself) I whole heartedly agreed. But this year the hubs did an awesome job and got me a pink Artisan Kitchenaid Mixer!!! I have wanted one for years!!! Of course he blew our agreed upon budget (not that I'm surprised, he does it EVERY year) but I love it!! I'm just trying to decide what the first creation is I should make in my new mixer! I also broke the practical rule and got him a blower/mulcher thingy for yardwork. (Yep...I said "thingy" I know very little about these things and had to do quite a bit of research to pick this "thingy" but it seems I did a good job!) He's excited to get outside and use it, and I'm excited to get some of the neighbors leaves out of my flower beds!!

All in all it was a wonderful Christmas! We made lots of memories and really enjoyed watching the excitement on Em's face. Next Christmas will be different, we'll have another little one to account for and while today I can't image it, I'm sure I'll say when its all over that it too was...the best Christmas yet!

Merry Christmas friends!!

Random thoughts

As I'm sitting at my desk working and chasing my Little Debbie brownie (with chocolate chips on top -- sooo thankful they make a no nut version of my favorite childhood treat!) with my caffeine free Dr. Pepper I'm wondering if it is going to bite me in the rear a little later. First, I am a Dr. Pepper lover...being pregnant I am THRILLED that they make a NON-diet caffeine free version...because when you need the fizz of a soda, Sprite just won't do it for long.

Yesterday was an odd day. It started out pretty normal but I had a weird pregnancy thing happen. I took note of it and went on my way. Partially because I didn't want to pay attention to it, partially because I really thought it was fine. But later while sitting at a table full of Mommy friends the topic came up. And when they heard about the contractions I'd been having off and on and this new issue...well...they freaked. In the sweetest and caring yet forceful way. So I called the nurse and let her know I was having issues. I hadn't had a contraction in several days but they were pretty concerned about the other issue. The nurse was going to call me back after talking to the doctor. While still not overly concerned on my way home, I called my Mother. A former Labor and Delivery nurse and former NICU nurse...well if I thought my friends were forceful...my mother was a hurricane! I was immediately off the phone with her and calling the Dr. back during their lunch hour. The nurse listened again to my symptoms and promptly said to be there when they re-open at 1:15. Well...my bravado at that point was gone. I was scared. I don't know if it was my fear and stress level or shear coincidence but Landon's activity level started to pick up dramatically (and he is an active little man) and I started to have pain. I was thankful to be on my way to the doctor but getting more uncomfortable by the minute. By the time I got to see the doctor they were able to see Landon's movements visibly from across the room. This apparently isn't normal for a 23 week baby. Yes we should just be starting to feel them on the outside but not visibly see them and from a distance. The more he moved the more pain I had. I explained my previous contractions and said I knew Braxton Hicks were harmless so I hadn't called. Well...that would have been okay had these been BH but they aren't. I'm having real contractions. Awesome. -- That was my word of the day yesterday-- Awesome. After a thorough exam he decided he didn't think I had a rupture but wanted an immediate ultrasound to be sure I wasn't losing fluid. He also noted that I had a very "aggressive" baby (I think he likened him to both King Kong and something else in a short few minutes) and that his activity was causing uterine tenderness (he noticed that he could barely palpate the right side of my belly without pain) and contractions. Basically Landon was wreaking havoc on my body. But that he did not believe it was pre-labor contractions. Just a ticked off uterus. So on to the hospital to be double checked and I could go home. Luckily they found that my fluid levels were normal even slightly above normal (Praise the Lord!! My biggest fear after Emilie is another fluid issue) so as long as the contractions didn't worsen I was safe to go home. I needed to scale back my activity levels just a bit, drink more, and eat more. Ok...that's a prescription I can handle!! Now the following few hours of contractions sometimes ten minutes apart was less than fun, but they finally started to subside yesterday evening and haven't returned. I do have some discomfort that I think is just tired muscles from the contractions but I can live with it. So here's my question...what in the world causes a baby to be sooo active in the womb?! Is my brownie and DP (while caffeine free it still has sugar) treat going to throw him back into activity? Is it stress? Or is it just this baby?! I tried to research it...my friends call me the "Google Queen" but I've found nothing...nothing other than an overly active baby can lead to pre-term labor. Yeah...I think I figured that one out!! LOL

So today as I finished my afternoon treat I'm wondering...will I regret that later??

Another random note...we passed out our little friend gifts at the Christmas party yesterday and everyone loved the little Christmas tree crayons! They were a big hit! The kids loved picking a coloring book and the Mom's loved the crayons. We'll definitely be making them again for other holidays/themes/events!!

And finally, we had our first Christmas celebration of the season this weekend. Unfortunately I didn't get a good picture of Em all dressed up she'd already taken off her sweater before the camera's came out and then she was much too serious to actually look at the camera. We did catch a few to show you how seriously a two year old takes unwrapping presents!!

That's all I've got today folks! We have the babies room in the works and another few small projects in the mix to share soon and hopefully I'll find the time to get some more of our makeover pictures taken soon! We're a week from Christmas with 4 celebrations remaining!! It's that time of year!! Merry Christmas friends!

Thrifty gifting

I am a self proclaimed tight wad. Let me say though, that I can spend money with the best of them, there is always something to be shopped for. But I'm not the type to spend $100 on a single top or pair of jeans...I'm the type to get several for that price. I budget shop, plan ahead, and love a good sale. So when it comes time to give gifts I'm the same way! I do my best to plan ahead and can usually give a pretty decent gift without breaking the bank. Now when I'm left to last minute decisions due to poor planning on my own part, I end up spending the big bucks, but I do my best not to let that happen often.

For example, I'm long done with Christmas shopping. It's been wrapped and under the tree for several weeks. On top of being done with Christmas I have two gifts for Emilie from her baby brother for his arrival and two gifts stockpiled for her birthday in June. When there's a great deal or sale I can't beat, I buy it and put it in the guest closet to save for when its needed. I do the same for all the kid gifts I have to buy. We have a little playgroup circle of friends that includes 9 kiddos (these little siblings are running up our numbers and with Landon coming it will be 10). Most of these kiddos have birthdays within just 3-4 months of each other. So I HAVE to plan ahead. The same thing for Christmas with nieces and nephews. I'm a stockpile queen. Typically we don't buy Christmas gifts for our playgroup friends, but they are getting together for a little Christmas party on Monday and I felt like doing something small for our little friends. I'd seen this pin on pinterest recently and was just looking for an excuse to try it!

I tried to cheat and use foil wrapped cookie cutters I had laying around the house but it was a total fail...so don't do that! I ended up having to get the silicon mold but am sooo glad to have it and a friend got it for me so even better!! :) I learned a few tricks during my failed attempt though that might help future crayon molders. First, don't torture yourself unwrapping a million crayons by hand. I found that lightly slicing through the paper with an Exacto knife and then just pulling the paper off was MUCH easier. Then I just broke the crayons in pieces and filled the mold. Like this...

Then pop them in the oven to cook. The blog tutorial I followed suggested 275 for 10 minutes. This worked when I used the crayon brand crayons during my failed attempt but I used cheap crayons from the dollar store (2 48count boxes for $1 each)for the this round and it took a 300 degree oven for closer to 15 minutes. Once they are completely melted pull them out of the oven to cool completely. When the are melted and hot they will look like this...

Once they are COMPLETELY cool (don't rush this or you'll ruin all your hard work!!) loosen up the edges of the trees by tugging on the silicon mold around them and then gently pull them out. The finished product should look something like these...

I grouped two to a package and threw them into a cute little cellophane bag...

I plan to grab some coloring books to put with them from the dollar store as well. My Dollar Tree has awesome Disney themed coloring books for $1 each so total these gifts will cost me under $10 for all 7 kiddos. And I have four trees left to add to my daughters already too full stocking on Christmas :)

I also have a tendency to make treats for my adult friends that we don't exchange gifts with. We have several friends and neighbors that we wouldn't necessarily want to start a tradition of exchanging gifts with but that we want to treat with a little something at the holidays. So we always whip up a few easy treats and bag them up in those little cellophane bags. (btw...I'm becoming a dollar store junky because I recently found packages of 25 Christmas cellophane bags for $1 each...can't beat that!) One of our easy staples is to do dipped pretzels. I just melt down a package of melting chocolate, throw a handful of pretzels into the chocolate (I prefer the white on pretzels just for aesthetics), then pull them out individually with a pair of tongs, shaking off excess chocolate in the process and then lay them out on wax paper to cool. I usually do about four pretzels before adding some red and green sprinkles...the chocolate still has to be wet for the sprinkles to stick. Then I bag them up, or put them in tubs, whatever my heart desires at the time. This year I made enough for several bags, two big tubs, and then two large mason jars to keep for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day celebrations.

Please excuse the horrible picture. I took this to tease a friend and didn't think about actually taking a good one to share.

I also made a new concoction this year that's been a big hit. Several years ago I made a rocky road bark and put it in the cellophane bags and then put those in cute mugs. As yummy as the rocky road bark was we don't allow nuts in the house anymore for Emilie's safety so I had to mix it up a bit to try to make something similar. I substituted the nuts with pretzels and it actually turned out pretty good. I melted some chocolate melting chocolate in a saucepan over low heat. Then I added about 1 1/2 cups-2 cups broken pretzel pieces to the chocolate. I also added two handfuls of white chocolate chips and marshmallows and stirred it together allowing some of them to melt. As you can tell, I don't like to measure things very much, so handfuls are my thing, its real technical ya know?! Then as I poured my mixture out onto wax paper to cool I threw in another handful of marshmallows and chocolate chips. I then drizzled any remaining chocolate from the bottom of the pan over those so they didn't look unincorporated. This is what it looks like cooling...

See the remote hiding up there, it was hidden from my toddler. Magically if you can't find the remote the cartoons can't come on! Evil Mommy!! Also this picture was taken before I drizzled the excess chocolate over it...just FYI...I'm picky like that!

Once it's had time to completely cool I just break it up into manageable pieces. Look at this deliciousness!!

Then just bag it up and gift it! This one batch made four gift bags and a nice few servings for this pregnant Mommy :) I gifted one to a friend today who raved over it and she's addicted to sugar and has no problem voicing her opinion...so I think its passed the test!

Tomorrow is our first Christmas celebration and I can.not.wait!!! I love watching Emilie's eyes light up as she gets to open a present!! And who am I trying to kid, I'm looking forward to opening a few myself. I'm a big kid at heart and love celebrations...and presents! LOL I'm looking forward to taking some of our treats to share with the fam. I made most of them earlier in the week and put them in the fridge. Covered pretzels are said to keep for several weeks to several months. I like to be extra careful and keep them refrigerated if I make them this early, but its sooo helpful not to have to do it days before Christmas/events when you're already swamped.

Merry Christmas ya'll!!!


**Update** For more posts like this one, come see me at my new home gracedbyemilie@wordpress.com

Lunch with Santa

Today was the day! We finally got up close and personal with Santa again. I had high hopes that we'd get that beautiful smiling photograph, but realistically knew better. This year she is fascinated with Santa. She loves pictures and cartoons and Santa decorations...but bring in a live man in a red suit...NO WAY!!! She immediately ran for Mommy. The beauty of lunch with Santa was that its supposed to provide some time for the kiddos to warm up to the jolly old man. After the kids finished their lunches (sonic wacky pack meals) they sang songs with Santa and then read a story.

But now its time for the big stuff...time to sit in his lap for a picture. We were on the side of the room with only one other family beside us so they decided to start where we were. Which didn't give Em much time to realize what was going on, but our little friend Parker was NOT thrilled with Santa. Seeing one kiddo cry in his lap was enough to set the mood, lol.

Em's best..."I'm not looking at you" look...

Mommy SAVE me!!

Look at those sad eyes...Mommy couldn't take it anymore after this!

Luckily there was still fun to be had after we saved her from Santa. They decorated cookies and played with their friends. It was a good time and well worth the whopping $10 we spent!!!

Decorating my cookie and then enjoying it:) Mmmmm....

So compared to last years complete hysterics, this year was more successful. Maybe by next year we'll be able to get a good Santa picture. Or...maybe NOT!

The many ways to say goodbye

I apologize now for my disappearing act after posting the Makeover!! It was amazing to watch the stats and see that people were interested! I promise to add more of our makeovers very soon.

The reality is that when we took Emilie into the Dr last week we left with a sinking feeling in our stomachs. Apparently because she was born breech she'd needed to have follow up care to check her hips for hip dysplasia, a condition that a large percentage of breech babies are faced with. We'd never heard this before! Our new pediatrician was upset that the follow up ultrasound at two months of age wasn't done, meaning simple corrective care (ie: wearing a harness over her diaper for a bit when she was an infant) would no longer be an option and we'd have to face bigger corrective care issues. That is IF a problem was found. She was also now too old for the ultrasound and would need an x-ray, soon. They wanted it done as soon as possible because the earlier we started treatment the better (again IF there was a problem found). While I knew Em had walked and climbed and all the other gross motor active skills right on time with little issue, I still couldn't get the possibility that she would have this condition out of my mind. It makes you sick to your stomach as a parent to think that something could be wrong with your child, and sicker to find out that it should have been addressed much earlier and wasn't. So I've been in a bit of a funk. And my Momma taught me if you couldn't say something nice...don't say anything at all. Thus my disappearing act while we got things figured out and our emotions under control.

Monday morning we went up to the hospital and went through the annoyingly long process of getting admitted, then waited for radiology to call us back. They realistically needed us to both hold her, but at 22 weeks pregnant I was pulled back into the safe booth with the technician. So Daddy had to do all the holding himself. The minute we laid her down on the hard table with the "big camera" over her head, she broke down. We tried telling her it was just a "big camera" to say cheese, but she just scream, "no big camera". Which isn't much surprise because she isn't too fond of a normal camera!! It didn't take long, just two positions and the x-rays were done. Mommy immediately reached into my purse for emergency M&M's I'd purchased in the gift shop before going in and filled her little hands with chocolate. The tears quit flowing after that...chocolate is magic after all.

Tuesday late morning we got the call...her hip x-rays were PERFECT!!!!!! Just as I deep down knew they would be. But what a relief to hear them say your child is fine. My baby girl is just as perfect as I always knew she was! Thank you Lord!!

So now we can get back to life, shake the funk and move on! We have lots of fun stuff happening this week! Tomorrow is lunch with Santa which will be interesting. This is last years Santa visit...

Not my best picture, I didn't realize I would BE in the pictures that day...now I know. This is her best, pouty-I'm not looking at Santa look!
And this is when Mommy walked away...

So needless to say tomorrow will be interesting. I promise photographic evidence of the event...good or bad! Friday we have a work lunch with friends that the whole family is attending and should be fun! And finally, Saturday we have our first Christmas celebration of the season at my Dads! I made a new Christmas candy recipe that I can't wait to share with you, but I'm waiting on a taste test from outside sources before I share. Hopefully by the end of the week you'll get to see the yummy goodness I made with scrap goodies from my kitchen :) Also more of our makeovers will be coming soon, I just need to get actual pictures (not on my iphone) and with the house clean! I also have a few crafts in the works...so stay tuned!!

Now lastly, to explain the title of this post! Emilie's vocabulary is growing by the day (lately by the hour!)!! She came in this morning to tell me she was going to go take a bath (Daddy does her bath every morning), I said "ok, have fun" and her response was... "bye Momma, see you in a bit, c-ya, later Mom"...ummm...WHAT?! Where did you learn all those versions of goodbye?! She cracks me up! I know, its something silly that only a Mommy cares about but it was cute enough to make me blog...so it was good for something! :)

The makeover

So we bought our house about six months ago, when we moved in they had done a lot of upgrades but left it a white box. Many people love white walls, something about it looking clean, but me...I HATE white walls. It makes me absolutely crazy! So we've made an effort slowly but surely to change that and ditch the sterile feeling about our new home. In the process of that we've painted ALMOST every room (we still have the babies room, guest room, back hallway and a small alcove off the kitchen for me to torture my hubs with) but the other rooms are DONE! It feels great!

Once we got the dining room painted it looked somewhat unfinished...it needed some texture, something. So we decided to give making valances a shot. My kitchen was in the same color scheme and had a bench seat that was in dire need of recovering from the faded blue of owners past, so I'd been on the hunt for that fabric as well. While wandering in Target I somehow ended up on the curtain aisle (not sure why because I don't need curtains) and found these amazing panels of curtains that would work PERFECTLY for the valances and I grabbed a second panel to recover the bench in. We loved working with the panels for the valances bc several of the seams were already done. We were able to get 4 valances out of one 54" x 84" panel! And because A- who touches valances to pull at the seams and B- its fast...we heat bonded the seams with a stitch witch product.

We got these three windows done the first night we worked. We were hot and tired and had to quit. Plus the toddler was up much too late watching us work. I was amazed at the transformation they made to the space, even more amazed that as you walked through the dining room to the kitchen that your eye followed the valances and drew the rooms together. I was thrilled!!! And anxiously awaiting finishing the big kitchen window and seat.

This last window was wider than 54" so we had to cut two exact pieces and seam them together in the middle. I thought you'd be able to see the seam but its barely noticeable...it just looks like a huge valance. For the window seat we measured all the sides and added an inch for seam allowances. Our trickiest spots were in the final two ends, but we did a great job and it turned out even better than I imagined!

And because I promised last time that I'd post the buffet wall here are a few of it completed :)

Aaaaah the sweet relief of another project finished. I'm on cloud nine this time because not all my projects turn out as perfect as I'd like. I'm much too picky and its hard to meet my own expectations...but we did it this time! I'm so thrilled with how it all turned out! I may have to share some of our other makeovers sometime!

Oh and if you've been keeping up....Mommy radar was spot on and we're off to the Dr. this morning with a possible UTI...she's been crying when she urinates :(

Mommy Radar, Planning Ahead, & Good Eating

My Mommy radar is on alert. I hate when that happens...when you feel like something not quite right but there's nothing to pin it on?? Em's had the sneezes for about a week but otherwise has been just fine. The last several days we have to practically force feed her and she's got that "tired" look. I do NOT want a sick kiddo over Christmas this year, you may remember her last Christmas was marked with breathing treatments and severe croup...it was AWESOME! NOT! Hoping its just a phase and I'll have nothing to report in the coming days, but...I'll keep you posted!

Yesterday was my 20/21 week checkup for baby Landon and he was given his official delivery date!! I know its early for that, but when your having a big surgery apparently they like to get it on the books early. Landon will be delivered on April 9th, 2013. Cut time is supposed to be 7:30 a.m. (check-in time before 5...YUCK!) but I was warned they tend to run a bit behind at this O.R. We'll have my main doctor and then another OBGYN surgeon coming in to assist and "learn" about my surgery. I'm having a C-Hyst, it's not a common surgery so not many surgeons will do them, or have done them in their careers. Luckily my surgeon has done 15-20 in his career, the latest being just a year ago, so I'm confident in his abilities. The doctor coming in to assist has never seen one and wants to learn. I'm providing a good "teachable moment". Glad I can help out! LOL (P.S.- I have a past history that requires a hysterectomy, so it was the smartest alternative for my body to do it all in one surgery.) So after baby Landon is safely removed from his home of nine months, he and Daddy will go meet Grandma in recovery (or my next room, I don't know which yet) and wait for my hysterectomy to be finished. THEN I'll get to have some real bonding time with my baby boy. It will be a long morning for all of us, but I'm thankful we have a date in mind and can begin to mentally prepare ourselves. I don't care how prepared we are...my guess is Grandma is snuggling Landon and Daddy is pacing the halls/room nervously. We'll see if I'm right in just four short months!

Because I'm me...completely OCD (to the point of being CDO!), a planner to the core, and honestly just a little ridiculous...having this date sent me into a tailspin of planning chaos. Yesterday I had my calendar open and was virtually planning the next six months away. Realistically the next four months will fly by and if I don't start now I'll regret it in March. I don't want the stress and anxiety of that come March so I'm planning ahead now. As for the several months after the baby...well...I have no idea how long it will take to get my head on straight and return to a normal routine, so anything I can do ahead of time to reduce later stresses...yup...I'm doing! Which includes planning my two year olds' third birthday party-- 6 MONTHS EARLY?! WHAT?! I'm crazy right?! Nope...She'll turn three just 3 1/2 months after Landon arrives and we all know how those first few months go. So if I can plan it now while I have the time and am realistic about what I can manage, then all the better! So Emilie will be having a gymnastics party with 2-24 of her closest friends. They will provide the decorations, fun, goodie bags, and location...I just provide some cupcakes. UM YES!!!! Done and DONE!

I have to pat myself on the back a little. I've been trying to plan and cook for us a little better so we saved money and ate out less. Its not easy for me, I don't necessarily enjoy being in the kitchen cooking, but I've been making a valiant effort lately. Sunday we were busy!! We had lunch with friends after church, took a nap when Em did (it is the day of rest after all!), cleaned house all afternoon once she was up, and I still had dinner to serve. So I went for the easiest meal of all-- Spaghetti. Now let me preface this by saying that I HATE spaghetti. I hate it with a passion. It's boring and just not appealing to me. It probably stems from my childhood when I ate a lot of spaghetti because it was quick, easy, cheap, and fed us all. My brother and Dad love spaghetti so it was made often in our home. It was just never my thing. I've been trying the last few rounds to make little changes to my spaghetti (and I mean little...it must be easy or it isn't worth it to me) to make it edible. I finally did it! I made spaghetti that had even ME going for seconds, it was amazing!! Now this could be to blame on the little boy growing in my uterus because he tends to make me like his Daddies favorite foods in ways I never have, but I'm going to attribute it to my new way of cooking it. Same three ingredients, just in a slightly different order. I made the noodles and browned my meat, drained both, and then mixed them together before adding the sauce and letting it all simmer/cook (I let it really bubble a bit) for a while. The sauce plumped up the noodles and the flavor soaked into them. It was AWESOME! So simple- yet finally something I could enjoy! Hubs was happy...he LOVES spaghetti and I usually refuse to make it. I may add it back into the rotation now! Then Monday I made homemade sour cream chicken enchiladas. They are a recipe a friend and I worked up a few years ago and are still a family favorite in my house. SO simple - yet amazing! We cook and shred 4 chicken breasts. Throw it in a bowl with a can of drained rotel, a pile of shredded cheddar, and about half a container (the large one) of sour cream. Mix it together and spoon it into enchiladas. Then cover the enchiladas with more sour cream and shredded cheddar and bake. 30 min at 350degrees until the cheese is melted and they are heated through. SO simple! They feed 4 adults easily :) Just in case you plan to try it.

So I've basically written you a book without saying much at all. Think its time to sign off but since I promised you the true image of this sweet smile once I had it, here you go! I'm big on keeping promises ya'll!

PS-- The wall behind the buffet is painted, valances have been made, the bench seat is on its way to recovered...lots of pictures coming soon!!! I need a better camera!!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

I LOVE this time of year. I always have...I refuse to let the adult stress of this season ruin some of the wonderful memories and fun that can be had by just allowing ourselves to enjoy it. Yes Christmas is stressful for parents and adults...we have to plan, buy, wrap, cook, blah blah blah but what good does it do to stress about it? Other than ruin the holiday all together. Not me...you won't find a scrooge in this house (unless your discussing Christmas cards and that is just one tradition I no longer partake in, I just can't do it, don't expect a card from me...it won't come!). Tomorrow marks the first of December and we're ready in style! We've got our tree up, decorated and adorned with presents, we've revived our sad (yet still pretty sad) door wreath, I've made centerpieces for both tables, decorated the buffet and mantle. We're READY!!!

Here's our centerpieces-

Small simple centerpiece for the kitchen table

This is a slightly larger and barely less simple one for the dining room table.

Both were put together quickly and inexpensively but they add a little more of that festive feel to the tables.

I'll take a better picture of the buffet later this weekend after the wall behind it is (hopefully) painted! But for now, here's a general idea of what we've done there.

Its a little harder to get in the spirit this year knowing that its going to be near 80 degrees tomorrow afternoon, but I'm not going to let it get us down. We're going to head out to Santa's Village tomorrow evening and be there for the lighting ceremony. Hopefully we'll make it through a good portion of the village and have some fun. Em should love the lights and I'm sure they'll make a good show of the lighting ceremony. I remember going as a child and hope that we can make it part of our families tradition as well. And best of all its a totally FREE event!! LOVE IT!

So here's to starting new traditions!! Tomorrow is Santa's village and I believe our elf will also make his first appearance. I'm not sure if she'll get into the elf thing or not, but I figure its time to try! We're going to make Christmas candies, visit Santa, listen to Christmas music, and be in the spirit all month long! She's only two at Christmas once!!

This is just a screen shot from our photographer of a picture she got of Em...I don't have the real image yet, but I couldn't wait to share it! I'll post the better quality image once I have it but for now...here's a little bit of sweetness :)

Yup...We've become THOSE people!

It officially happened. You know those annoying things you witness in public but aren't your business so you stay out of it? Like yelling and cursing across a table in a restaurant. Totally not my business, so no need to get involved...Right?!

Maybe until you become a Mama Bear with a toddler and the F-Bomb has been dropped for the third time. And its not just that they are talking loudly...these two men were violently yelling at each other. Had they been standing or in another setting, I fully believe there would have been a fist fight. A few minutes into the argument the calmer one who was yelling but not cursing mentioned to his partner that there was a child a few feet away and to watch his mouth. The other man didn't care. He continued to escalate until my husband couldn't take it anymore. He got up from the table and walked to theirs and started asking the men who they worked for. They were clearly contractors/workers of some sort and still wearing their yellow caution vests. The first (calmer) man, mentioned to my husband that he asked the other guy to knock off the language, my husband thanked him for that but said again...who do you work for. At this point the angrier of the two was still yelling and just couldn't seem to stop himself which is when out of no-one Mama Bear rose up and yelled back...

EXCUSE ME!!! I have a toddler here and would appreciate if you'd take your mouth elsewhere!

UM...where did that come from?! My husband looks at me with big eyes and I realize...from me! LOL! The angry man couldn't bring himself to make eye contact with me, never did look our way, but he never said another word either. My husband settles back into the table with their company name and his iPhone ready to lodge his formal complaint and I...well I sat looking at my daughter thinking...I just did that?!

So we are officially those people that tell others to watch their mouths in public. I never thought I'd see the day that I'd get involved in something like that but apparently its come. Luckily the GM of the restaurant is an old friend of ours and was not only thankful but gave us some free meal vouchers for taking care of the issue :) Gotta love having connections! And I would feel slightly embarrassed for myself but several patrons stopped by our table as they left and thanked us for handling the matter. Another Mother proudly said " GO Mama!" and then told me she was the exact same way until her kids were teens. Oh the way our kiddos change us!

So that was a first!! And hopefully a last. I don't like to get involved in things like that, especially in Texas. We do carry guns here ya know!

It's a miracle!!!!

My two year ate a sandwich!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok...so maybe not a miracle to most, but HUGE for us! She is the pickiest eater! And while I say picky, there is a good amount of food she WILL eat. If its a fruit or vegetable she likely eats it. If it's cheese she eats it. If its meat your going to come up with maybe a handful of things she MAY eat from time to time. If its pasta she eats it. If its anything mixed together like a casserole or sandwich...FORGET IT!! She won't touch pizza, won't even try a bite. She loves a piece of bread, loves cheese, but you put those two things together...FORGET IT!!!

Last week my neighbor called to let me know she'd stumbled across a miracle bread. Her picky two year old had demolished a sandwich she'd made him using the new Pepperidge Farm Goldfish bread. She thought I should try it. Thinking that I'd buy said bread and end up eating it myself...I gave it a shot.

Today for lunch my picky Emilie at 1/4 of a cinnamon goldfish sandwich with cream cheese. I realize that sounds more like breakfast, but she's not a big breakfast kid so we usually stick to fruit and yogurt and well...we had to start somewhere and sweet was my best bet. Let me just tell you...She loved it!! She immediately took a bite (which if you know her, you know is huge. She won't usually even TRY a single bite of something she isn't pretty familiar with) and said "num num" lol. Over the course of the meal she took a total of about 5-6 bites which really was probably only about 1/4 of the sandwich. But she is only two, she was given lots of fruits and veggies on her plate as well, and 5-6 bites is 5-6 bites MORE than she's EVER taken before!!!! I am thrilled!!! I know... its a ridiculous victory...but this Momma's happy! SO...if you have a picky kiddo like me, TRY THIS BREAD!!

We got the white bread too and I'm excited to try it next! Maybe she'll eat a soy nut butter and jelly sandwich!! EEK!

Oh and P.S.-- Pepperidge Farm didn't endorse any of my above comments and I'm surely not being paid to compliment them...I just really was thrilled with this bread :)

The Holidays are here!!!

I feel like a little kid jumping up and down excitedly yelling the Holidays are here, the Holidays are here!!!!! I LOVE this time of year!! Ok, so maybe as an adult the financial stress of gifting the many people we love and physically attending/cooking/prepping for all of the festivities is a little harder than it is when your a kiddo just excited by the buzz in the air, but I like to see the best in things and do my best to make the holidays as special for my little family as possible. So I love it!!!

The day before Thanksgiving we had nice visit with my sister-in-law and her kiddos and made holiday treats. While these weren't nearly as easy as pinterest claimed them to be, we did have fun making them :)

You can find the tutorial here.

This year for Thanksgiving we had a first!! A first since we were married at the very least...we only attending ONE Thanksgiving celebration!!! And it was...AWESOME!!!! It was so nice to get up in the morning and head over to my Aunt's house to spend some time with our family. We talked and played and munched until it was time to stuff our faces. I think one of my favorite moments was watching my nearly 6' tall 16 year old cousin sitting in the floor playing cars with Emilie. She loved it and he is such a little kid in a big kids body that he really did too. I wish I'd taken a picture!! We all ate WAY too much and then after cleaning up the kitchen found a soft spot to rest a bit and visit. No one was running out the door on to their next event, no one was in any hurry, we just enjoyed each others company and it was fantastic. Probably my favorite Thanksgiving as far as I can remember! I have a lot to be thankful for and feel truly blessed that God has done some amazing things in our lives.

The rest of the four day weekend was exactly what it should have been. Equal parts laziness with equal parts productivity. Thanksgiving evening was pure lazy. Emilie had a late nap and then we had leftover pizza for dinner and just enjoyed being home together. It seems we don't get enough time like that. Friday we attempted to shop but were scared away by the lines so we hit the quiet Target and called it a day. We had leftovers for lunch and when Emilie went down for her nap the craziness began. I started dragging out presents and ended up wrapping gifts for close to 5 hours before we had the majority wrapped. WHEW! I am not looking forward to finishing the few I missed. Braden packed up the fall decor and put up the tree and then we took turns finishing wrapping and decorating for Christmas. Emilie has her own little tree to take ornaments off and on and then we have our big tree. No gifts under the tree this year, I re-wrapped far too many last year! Luckily we have some unused built in shelf space that perfectly holds all the gifts and still displays them nicely. Saturday was purely lazy...we accomplished little more than enjoying each others company and I'm happy with that. Sunday we did finish a painting project we'd been putting off, but we only finished a bucket of already opened paint and didn't even touch the several new buckets we'd purchased. We'll get there!

Here's Em with BOTH tree's. Luckily there is only one ornament holding her interest on the big tree and I was smart enough to put all breakable ornaments up high again this year.

And here's our mantle just because I like it :)

Wonderful weekends

You know how all week you yearn for the weekend, every day is one step close to that ever elusive weekend that is always over too quickly... That's how we are. We are constantly looking forward to the weekend, which is funny because we do a lot of fun things during the week...but the weekend usually means more uninterrupted family time and of course...no work!!!! I won't even try to tell you a weekend means sleeping in because our little alarm clock has an amazing internal clock and its consistent, even on the weekends! I think I've finally hit that point in my life that if I did sleep in I'd feel half the day was wasted! Does that mean I'm getting old??! I'm going to vote no...but I'm an old soul to start with so I've always been a little old at heart. Don't believe me?? Ask anyone who knows me...I'm soooo old at heart.

ANYWAYS! I'll get to the point...we had a great weekend planned!! We were meeting with one of my closest friends Saturday morning to do our family holiday pictures and then in the afternoon we were going to leave Em with my Aunt and have DATE NIGHT!

You know those adorable family pictures with everyone looking at the camera with perfect hair, cute bows, sweet smiles?? That will likely NOT be us!! My daughter knows and loves our photographer dearly, but she raises that camera and Em wants NOTHING to do with it!!! We do our best to hold her still and smile at the camera and PRAY we get a decent shot, then we chase her around hoping for one of those random shots that just kind of "happens", then we try another pose and hold her still as long as possible, then we repeat again. You'd THINK we'd get something...and because Lindsey is amazing...we probably will. I'll keep you posted. But if you don't believe me that we also get the craziest shots you can imagine...let me give you a little taste of one of the out-takes Lindsey shared with me.

Yes-- That IS my beautiful little girl. With her finger in her nose!!! OMG!!!! And despite the obvious, look at that hair?! I don't know how many times we adjusted or flat put that bow back on her, but I'm betting we see a lot more goofy hair shots as they come in. And even with her finger in her nose...she's STILL not looking at the camera. Yup...this is a proud moment for Mommy and Daddy. But it was just too priceless not to share with you!

Sadly my cousin was sick and my Aunt had to cancel her visit with Emilie but we took it in stride and decided to take her with us and make it a fun family night. And that's exactly what we had! I'm so thankful that it worked out the way it did because once we got there we had such a blast! We Christmas shopped and played and then we got to enjoy some festivities we had no idea were going on...

Em dancing in her stroller to the marching band and parade!

Watching the firework show and lighting of the Christmas tree!

What fun we had!! We had no idea all this was going on, we just stumbled upon it and had such a blast! It was a good lesson in being flexible and going with the flow because had we been out on date night or decided to stay home instead of just take Em along we would have missed all this fun! These little lessons and reminders are much needed to keep me on course because I tend to get so stuck in my "plans" that I miss out on the little fun that comes along when you're open to it. My Aunt says she's never met a detour she didn't like...that she always sees something fun or different than what she'd planned to see. That its always worth it in the end...a hard lesson to learn but one I'm working on!

The difference in boys and girls?!

Last night I had an epiphany! Other than not remembering my pregnancy with Em I realized that part of why it didn't seem like I remembered these things is because most of them are new! This pregnancy is totally different from Emilie's!! I just kinda thought pregnancy was pregnancy...NOT!

First of all...with Emilie I started gaining weight from the second we conceived and over the course of the 37 1/2 weeks I continued to gain weight to a frightening total of 45 lbs!! Now I did retain a LOT of fluid with Em so I can blame some of that, but really...I just flat out gained weight and I'm willing to own it because I may have gained 45 but I lost 55 nursing and chasing a baby! But with this little guy weight gain has been MUCH slower. Slower to the point of being told at my 12 week checkup that I needed to be eating a few more calories. But don't worry...a girls trip with my Aunt and Grandmother and Halloween were in between the next appointment at 16 weeks and I'd caught up :) Still I've hit that point at 18.5 weeks where I'm virtually halfway there (a week shy if things go according to plans, we will deliver at 39 weeks) and I've only gained half of what I gained at this point with Em. I'm not complaining! I just find it interesting.

With Emilie I craved MY favorite foods. Watermelon --really ALL fruit-- but I would routinely buy a watermelon, cut it in half and sit on the couch with a grapefruit spoon and my half of watermelon, lol! I also craved CANDY!! Chocolate mostly! But with Landon I don't crave foods I even like?! I crave cheeseburgers, PIZZA, and sweets (not necessarily candy but sweets). Can I tell you who likes these foods??? MY HUSBAND!!! So this boy is forcing me to crave my husbands favorite weaknesses!!! How weird is that?? Now I have heard that boys make you crave salt and girls make you crave sweet which somewhat lines up, but this boy forces cravings that are my husbands exact favorite foods...its evil!

The only part I can't quite understand is that the food I ate with Emilie was much healthier for the most part than the foods I crave now (not that I always give in to the cravings but as I sat and ate a smore's poptart before bed lastnight all I could do was shake my head...I HATE THOSE!!) Yet somehow I gained easily double the weight with Emilie. It must be the fact that I am endlessly chasing and lifting a 30lb toddler that's keeping me in shape. There's definitely not the coming in and sitting on the couch watching bad TV with my feet up this round! LOL


-- On a side note-- We have family pictures in the morning with our favorite photographer and one of my best friends. Emilie's outfits are picked, Braden's are pretty much picked (need him to try them on and make sure the shirts still fit) but I just have a few ideas in my head for myself. She wants me to "show off the bump" so I have some things in mind but I've not finalized anything. Please send any spare vibes or prayers for my sanity and my closet as I try to figure this out before tomorrow morning! K? THANKS!!

Momnesia and Preggo Brain

Have you heard of the term Momnesia or PreggoBrain?! If not, let me first enlighten you!! Momnesia is defined as the mental fuzziness and memory lapses that set in shortly after childbirth. PreggoBrain is a state of forgetfulness and confusion experienced during pregnancy. Other symptoms can include but aren't limited to - clumsiness, memory loss and difficulty in retaining information or learning new things. Don't believe me...Google it!! I was shocked to see how many NEWS stories were out there regarding these two phenomenons. Luckily if you've had a child, or in my poor husbands case...lived with a pregnant woman...you know. Its real! Its a scary and real experience!

Now let me first say, I don't remember much of my pregnancy with Em anymore (MOMNESIA!!!) but I don't recall being as ridiculously stupid as I am lately. I knew I was affected with Momnesia after having my daughter, I'd seen it come into play, especially in the beginning when I was overly exhausted and nursing. But I eventually started to recover and it was more few and far between happenings. But I've learned something incredibly frightening lately...

The addition of Momnesia + PreggoBrain = Horrifying circumstances of ridiculous and STUPID behavior!!! Some of it is harmless: forgetting Em's sippy cup on outings, NEVER knowing where my keys are(losing my keys several times a day), forgetting what I was doing when I walk into a room, ect. Sadly the list of my ridiculousness goes on. But not all of it as funny and my most recent topped the cake! One evening every week Emilie and I spend with my Grandmother. Emilie had gotten up from her nap and we'd packed up and left for the afternoon/early evening. I had let the dogs out to potty before kenneling them up, closed the blinds knowing it would be dark when we came back, packed the car and we'd taken off. We had a nice visit as usual and headed home. When I pulled into the garage I heard barking. While that's not unusual in an alley way with several dog owners, this barking was different. It was close...it was in MY backyard! I'd left my poor dogs outside for the entire afternoon we were gone!!!!! I have NEVER done that before! They are strictly indoor dogs and barely spend much time outside at all. What's worse was I'd left the back door completely unlocked! My saving grace here is that the fence was locked and guarded by two rather annoyed large dogs and I had the alarm set. While I'd remembered to close the blinds I'd forgotten to turn on any lights. So the chicken that I am, needed a friend to talk to me while I walked the house checking things and turning on lights. The dogs were fine, mad at me, but fine. They ate dinner, got an extra treat and then spent the evening snuggling together. I think being locked out bonded them a little more ;)

So while some people don't believe in the phenomenon...I do. So please remember...

The addition of Momnesia + PreggoBrain = Horrifying circumstances of ridiculous and STUPID behavior!!!

Sweet relief!

The hole in the ground in front of our house is fixed and covered!!! We still have to moisten the soil and pack it down a little but we can finally breathe a huge sigh of relief! So while yesterday I still wanted to do this...

Do you see her little hair sticking out of the blocks?! TOO FUNNY!

Today I'm breathing much easier!! I was able to create some wiggle in my budget and have finished more than half of my Christmas shopping which is HUGE!!!! It feels so good to have a handle on that!!!

So that's all I've got...I'm in a great mood today!!! So I just wanted to share a cute smile with you :)