HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Christmas is finally over and done with and we had a BALL! Lucy got a new Pottery Barn Kids table and chair set from Mimi, and TONS of fun things from grandma. She is getting to be SUCH a big girl, and it was so much fun for me to watch her eyes light up when she discovered something new! Here's a beautiful scrap book page made by my mother in law - she's SO talented it makes me sick!

We have so much to be thankful for and we hope everyone has a Happy, Healthy, and Prosperous New Year!

I HATE you Santa!

My office held a Santa party for the children of employees this past Friday. I was one of the party planners, and was so happy that Lucy would be able to join us in the festivities. My Mother-in-Love picked her up from daycare and brought her down to the office where we had snacks galore, presents for the kids, and of course Santa! When the jolly old fella walked in that was it! Lucy made a b-line for the back of the room, screaming the entire way. She wanted nothing to do with him, his jingle bells, or his ho, ho ho'ing. She did finally sit on his lap with a little urging from mommy, but I am fairly confident that she has nothing but Hate for the man in red. I will post a photo when I have a chance. Her reaction was just priceless. Lucy may not like you right now Santa, but I sure do and I know in time she'll learn to love you too!

To Tree or not to Tree....

It's December 7th, and I am sad to say we don't have our tree up. Not only do we not have it up, we don't have it period. We always get a real tree. It's exciting to go find the perfect tree. Silas and Lucy went last year and picked out a tree and they surprised me with it. He did that our first year together as well. I'm just dragging my feet this year, and I'm not sure why. Perhaps it's becuase it's a lot of money to shell out for something that we'll only have for a few weeks. Maybe it's becuase Lucy doesn't understand what Chirstmas is about, so why bother? Or maybe, just maybe, I just don't have enough Christmas Cheer? We don't have anyone coming over other than my mom, and well, I am pretty sure she could care less if we had a tree or not. My dad and his wife won't visit us, we're not doing any holiday entertaining, and I just think it's a lot of work to do when no one will be there to enjoy it. Does anyone else feel the same way? Can anyone give me that nudge in my backside to get me motivated?

I NEED SOME CHRISTMAS CHEER PEOPLE!

Our pumpkin

Make a Smilebox scrap pages

If you've never visited Smilebox, you should! It's a service that allows you to create and send scrapbook pages, invitations, recipe cards, and much more! While it's free to do the creating, if you want to print anything you do have to pay. I made these two pages this morning in about 3 minutes. Just upload your photos to their site, find the design you want to use, drag your photos to the page, save it, and you're done! It's so EASY!

xo~

Some new Favorite Things

Happy hump day! I am home sick today. After napping all morning, I decided to hop online and I came across a new website:

http://sarahbrownsfavoritethings.blogspot.com

Not only is her blog visually pleasing with all of the fun, bright colors, but there are lots of cute gift ideas for the upcoming holidays and giveaways galore!

check it out - I have a feeling some of her favorite things will become your favorite things as well!

xo~

Birthday fun

WOW! Did I really just turn 36 yesterday?!?! YEP, I sure did. I had a great birthday weekend filled with fun activities and lots of birthday wishes from those that love me the most! Friday night we went out with my mom and my in-laws for dinner, Saturday Silas took me to one of my favorite little breakfast places, Bubs Cafe, then we headed out to Raccoon Lake for the day. Yesterday was very low key. We went for breakfast with my mom and then we came home and put our jammies back on and stayed in for the day (after I ran to costco!). Silas was so sweet and is sending me to the spa for a good day of relaxation, which is something I totally need. All in all, turning 36 was great, I can't wait to see what is in store for me over the next year!

Below is a picture taken on Saturday of us at the Lake. THANK YOU BRELAGE's for inviting us to spend the day with you, your family, and friends! We had an AWESOME time!

One of my new FAVES!

As many of you know, I love a good bargain. Actually, I love anything FREE! Not cheaply made free, but nice quality free! I know, I know, picky, picky, picky. But if you're giving something away for free, don't you want it to be so nice that whoever gets it will tell EVERYONE they know about it, so maybe they'll want one too?! Anyway, there is this AWESOME site called GIVE ME GOODIES and every day there is a free give away! And it's the GOOD STUFF! Check it out, http://www.givemegoodies.com/ - you could find yourself the lucky winner of a piece of pottery, some made from scratch tasty treats, something to keep you warm and toasty in the upcoming cold months, who knows what she'll be giving away - so go check it out!

When does it get easier?

All you mommies out there - this is a call for help! Lucy has started to HATE bed time. I put her to bed and she SCREAM bloody murder, snot running down her sweet face, eyes full of crocodile tears, face all blotchy from crying so much and so hard.....how do I make bedtime more relaxing for her. She seems to want mama more than anything right now. She follows me to the kitchen and sits there on the floor while I am cooking or doing dishes, just jabbering up a storm. She'll follow me to the bathroom (I know, it's only going to get worse), she'll go anywhere I go, and while I think it's sweet and I love the fact she wants her mama, at bed time enough is enough. So, this is my plead to you.....HELP ME!!!!!!! Tonight after screaming for a good solid 10 minutes, I got her out of her bed, and what did she do? She went right to sleep. So, tell me, what are YOUR TRICKS to getting your little one to bed?

Time flies when you're having fun.....and purging!

It's so hard to believe that Lucy is one now. Where has the past year gone? It seems like it was just yesterday that I was laying in the hospital room on a muggy Sunday night - just after a big rain storm came through and knocked all of the power out. Yes, you read that right. I was cooped up in a room with S for almost 5 hours with no A/C, no TV, no radio. Nothing to do but to look at each other and sweat. When the power was finally restored, I wasn't allowed to get out of bed and move around, so there I laid. Well, enough about THAT! I'm just so happy that she's here and she's just the perfect child for us. Her party was great fun, and we're so happy that those of you that came were able to share her special day with us! D & E, I know you read this and I am sorry for being a loser and not sending you an invite. You are welcome to crash our parties ANYTIME!

S and I joke that we found our house and the next day I told him I was pregnant. I won't ever forget that moment either. It's one of those that is forever burned in my memory, it was one of the sweetest moments in my life. So, back to the house. We moved from a nice sized apartment (1800 sq. ft) to a nearly 3500 sq ft home. We have 4 nice sized bedrooms. We have our room, Lucy has her room, we have an office, and we have the "guest room" also fondly referred to as THE CLOSET. So, THE CLOSET has been the dumping grounds for all of Lucy's clothes, both big and small. I decided a few weeks ago to hold a garage sale this weekend, and BOY DID I HAVE A LOT OF STUFF!!! Ok, so it was mostly clothes, that belong to Lucy (she really does need to get this clothing addiction under control!!!)! I cannot tell you how great it felt to get rid of so much stuff!!! I will be holding my garage sale tomorrow as well, so if you need any adorable girls clothes up to size 12 months, stop on by. If you have to much stuff, PURGE PURGE PURGE! You will be SO glad that you did!!! I know I sure am!

Really? It's been almost a year!

It's hard to believe that my sweet precious Lucy will be 1 year old in a few days! Where has the time gone?!?! She's so busy, ALL of the time. She can't sit still, is always in to everything and is oh so curious! I love being a mommy. I always knew I'd be a great mom and I'd love every second of it, but I had NO idea I'd love it THIS MUCH! We're planning to have a birthday party in a few days and are so excited that my sister in law Kim and sweet niece Alice will be coming from England to help us celebrate! I'm honestly not sure who is more excited about the party, me or Kim!!! I was going to do a blow out party, with lots of people, lots of food, and lots of fun....but then I realized, Lucy is just turning 1.....and she doesn't deal well with crowds, and well, she can't eat lots of food items, so I am limiting it to family and one friend, Kelli, who I've been besties with since kindergarten. Sure, we'll have snacks, and cake and ice cream, but nothing over the top. It'll be just perfect...well almost perfect. The only thing that could make it better would be if certain family members didn't take things so personally, put differences between me and them aside and love Lucy for the beautiful child that she is....perhaps one day they'll understand that it isn't always about them and that a bigger picture really does exist! I'll be sure to update everyone after the party.....I have a feeling we're going to have one tired little Lucy once it's all said and done! Happy almost Birthday tweeter, mommy and daddy love you so much!

Who ever heard of a Cheese Burger rollup???

Ok, so I've been So busy lately with work and Lucy that I barely have time to think, let alone blog, and blog with my own original thoughts and ideas, so I am going to just say this upfront, I TOOK THIS RECIPE from my friend Heathers blog. You know, the POOP ON JELLY folks?! I have to say, we were slightly skeptical about trying this, but then I remembered how picky her kids are (they almost ALWAYS eat chicken - rarely beef!) so I knew it had to be worth a shot! I am happy to say not only is this a simple recipe, but it was mighty tasty too! check out her blog for more recipe ideas and photos of this yummy roll up. THANKS HEATHER!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cheeseburger Roll Up Ingredients for one Roll Up:
About 1 lb of lean ground beef
Ketchup
Mustard
Relish
Grated Cheese
Pizza Dough in a tube

how is that for easy, Rachel Ray?

First, brown your ground beef. While it is cooking, add whatever you would normally add to flavor your burgers. For me, that is dried parsley, dried onion, garlic, and Italian seasoning. Once it is browned, remove from heat and drain any fat that might be left in the pan. Next, add ketchup, mustard, and relish to taste. Mix well. Go ahead! Taste it! Now, roll out your dough and cover it with about a pound of the prepared beef, leaving about an inch all around.
Add cheese. YUMMO! Tuck the top and bottom. Now, roll from left to right. This is where she rambled on about some egg wash. I just put two slits in the top and made sure the seam was on the bottom.

TAG SCHMAG

OK, so my friend Heather http://www.pecksinkc.blogspot.com/ likes to tag me in various bloggy type surveys.....I guess she knows if she tags me, I WILL reply.....eventually! It has been over a month since my last posting, so I better snap to it!

1. What are your current obsessions? My Daughter of course!....and I love trying new recipes!

2. Which item from your wardrobe do you wear most often? My pants that Kelli gave me when I was pregnant! Length wise they fit her perfectly, not so much on me! there are three colors to choose from, khaki, black, and navy. Currently I am sporting the navy pair. She keeps telling me to STOP WEARING THOSE PANTS, but they are like goucho sweat pants WITH an elastic waist (BONUS!!!)....perfect for chasing Lucy around in!

3. What's for dinner? OK, if Lucy were older, I'd be MUCH better at my dinner planning, but tonights dinner was......wait for it......banana ice cream with a frozen ding dong.....and NO, I AM NOT PREGNANT AGAIN!

4. Last thing you bought? I went to Meijer today and bought half of the store.....but on my receipt you would find a green pepper, cilantro, chicken, ground beef, whole wheat pita, food for Lucy, Diet Mountain Dew, Diet Pepsi, and I can't remember what else.

5. What are you listening to? The computer hum

6. If you were a god/goddess who would you be? the goddess of goucho sweat pants!

7. Favorite vacation spots? It's seriously been so long since I've had a vacation, I can't even begin to tell you where I'd want to be. Maybe in my own bed!

8. Reading right now? The Shack.

9. Four words to describe yourself. Honest, Crafty, Loyal, and Caring

10. Guilty pleasure? Can I only name one? I love to watch any of the Real Housewives shows. Silas calls them trash, I call them "and these make MY life look normal!"

11. Who or what makes you laugh until you’re weak? Silas and Kelli. They are, by far the two funniest people I know.

12. Favorite thing to do in the summer? cooking out and sitting on our patio and going to Silas's uncles house who has a huge pond.

13. Planning to travel to next? I am assuming crazy doesn't count here......so I might go to my in-laws tomorrow - pending how my cold is doing. Otherwise, I will go to work on Tuesday.

14. Best thing you ate or drank lately? FRESH SQUEEZED OJ! YUMMMMMM!!!

15. When did you last get tipsy? Probably five or so years ago. I'm not much of a drinker these days.

16. Favorite ever film? I have no clue. I liked the movie Pursuit of Happyness. it's one of those movies that makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

17. Care to share some wisdom? A. A. Milne said "One of the advantages of being disorderly is that one is constantly making exciting discoveries"

18. Least favorite thing about driving in the boondocks? I always have visions of some masked man jumping out from the trees with an axe. hey, you asked.....

19. Least favorite part of your day? dropping Lucy off at the babysitter. I miss her so much during the day.

20. Why do you blog? I would hardly say I blog.....not so much anymore these days....but i do it to stay connected with those far away and those not so far away.

Formal complaint

I'd like to file a formal complaint. Lucy is now 7 months old and is capable of doing lots of new things. She can sit up by herself, she can roll over, she plays quietly by herself in her exersaucer, she is capable of putting her spoon in her mouth (with or without food on the end of it), you name it, it seems she can or is on the verge of doing it. All of these things get a HORAY LUCY or a GOOD GIRL or a YAY LUCY from me....so why is it that the first thing she says that is audible is DA DA? I mean seriously. Does she not know that it was I who carried her for nine months in my womb. It was me, MA MA, who had evening sickness EVERY NIGHT for three months and I somehow managed to endure the pain of eating at MCL EVERY NIGHT and more amazingly managed to STAY MARRIED to her beloved DA DA during the entire thing.....oh, and please, don't let me forget the 8 hours of labor and the 16 sleepless hours before that (four of which were spent in a HOT hospital room with no a/c, no tv, no radio....because the power went out in the city as we were driving to the hospital) and finally, does she not recall the fact that I delivered her with no epidural??? So, come on, is it to much to ask that she say MA MA?? I won't even ask that she says it first, because well, we already know that isn't going to happen, but she could say it now and I'd be just as happy. Maybe for mothers day I'll get a MA MA....but if not, this complaint will be escalated to the next level.....and that won't be good for anyone!

Spicy Oyster Crackers

When Silas was young, his grandmother (MiMi) would make spicy oyster crackers for him. I recently found a recipe onone of my FAVORITE websites, www.cooks.com and i tried them. I was SO excited when Silas said "These taste just like MiMi's." To me, that was the greatest compliment he could have given me. These are easy to make, are good in soup, or great for snacking!

1 packet of DRY hidden valley ranch mix
1 tsp. lemon pepper
1 tsp. dill weed
1 cup vegetable oil
1 large box/package of oyster crackers

in a LARGE bowl mix the ranch, lemon pepper, dill weed and oil together. Add the crackers and give them a good coating. Let them sit for 15 minutes. Repeat the mixing and sitting process two more times then transfer them to a clean bowl and let them sit uncovered for about an hour. The oil will "dry" and the crackers will be ready to devour!

Enjoy!

Lovin' the Letter L

So, my old friends from school, Heather and Brad have started a thing on their blog where they "assign" a letter to each other (or others in this case) and you have to come up with 10 things that begin with that letter that you love. My letter is L - now, let's see how easy this is:

1. LUCY! Of course she (Heather) gave me L for Lucy! She is our first born, and will likely be our only child. She truly is the apple of my eye. Not a day goes by that I don't thank God that she is with us. It scares me to think she's almost 6 months old already - but at the same time I am eager to watch her learn and grow. I LOVE YOU LUCY!

2. LAUGHTER - without it, my world would be such a boring place.

3. LOVE - I love my husband, our family, my career, our home. Without Silas, I'd not have Lucy, and without Lucy, we'd not have our family or the need for our cozy home in which we all live.

4. LIFE - Life is like a box of chocolates - you never know what you're gonna get. - it's so true. My life is sometimes a roller coaster ride in my head, but I wouldn't have it any other way!

5. LISTENING - I love to listen to Lucy "talk". It is the sweetest sound in the entire world. Silas and I are fortunate to have a happy baby, nearly all the time. We wake up to her coo-ing over the baby monitor almost every day.

6. LONGING - I long for a stable relationship with my father. I want Lucy to know her grandpa. I don't know what else to say about this - other than what I've said.

7. LAZY DAYS - I love lazy days of doing nothing - days where the only decsion I HAVE to make is which pair of pajama bottoms I am going to wear around the house and what I want to eat (which, believe it or not can be a very difficult decision for me to make!)

8. LOUISE - It's my old middle name. I ditched it when Silas and I got married. I thought it sounded "old lady" - truth be told, now that I don't have it, I kind of miss it.

9. LASAGNA - One of my all time favorite foods. I could probably eat it every day - especially if my mom makes it. For some reason, hers is the best!

10. LEARNING - I learn something new about myself almost every day. I'm not afraid to grow old. In fact, I tend to embrace my age and look forward to learning new things about myself (and others) every day!

Well, this wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. You should see Heather and Brads answers - MUCH longer than mine!

Simple Sugar cookies

I love to bake. I think I got my love of baking from my mom. Every year at Christmas, she'd bake a HUGE assortment of the most delicious cookies.....but I don't have time for that, so I need to simplify my cookie baking! I scoured the internet for an easy sugar cookie recipe that doesn't involve rolling the dough. Below is the recipe I ended up with, and I must say, the cokies were great! Easy to make and even easier to eat!

2 1/2 C Flour
1 Tsp. Baking Powder
1 Tsp. Salt
1 C soft butter (I KNOW it's a LOT!)
1 1/4 C sugar (plus some for the tops)
1 large egg
1 Tsp. Vanilla

Cream the butter and the sugar together. Add the vanilla and egg and continue to mix. SIFT the flour and the baking powder. If you don't have a sifter, try using a colander with small(ish) holes....Once the flour and baking powder are sifted, slowly add to the butter mixture. DO NOT over beat it. Cover it and place in the fridge for 30 minutes. tick tock, tick tock, ok, 30 minutes are up. I rolled mine and then sort of squished them between my palms then placed them in pink sugar crystals, then place them on a ever so lightly greased cookie sheet and bake for 8-12 minutes at 350 degrees. - I baked mine for 9 minutes and found that 8 minutes was best for a really soft cookie!

ENJOY!

White Bean Chicken Chili

It's so cold outside, and I love chili of all varieties, so I made this the other night and not only was it EASY to make, it was DELICIOUS! The picutre didn't turn out so great, but I think that's becuase I was in SUCH a hurry to try it!

1 medium onion - diced
1 jalapeno pepper - seeds removed and diced
2 gloves of garlic - finely minced
4 cups of chicken broth
1 - 1.25 tsp of Cumin
1 Tbsp. lime juice
2 cans of white northen beans - drained and rinsed
2 cups of cooked cubed chicken
1/4 cup COLD water
2 tbsp. corn starch
olive oil for sauteeing the onion, garlic and pepper

sautee your Onion, pepper, and garlic until tender
Add chicken broth, chicken, and beans, bring to a boil and cover, then turn down and let it simmer for about 15 minutes
in a small bowl stir the corn starch with the cold water until smooth, then slowly add to the other ingredients, stir, bring back to a boil, then simmer again for another 10-15 minutes.

SOUPer good on a cold winter night!