SaNtA sToPpEd By.....

and left us a couple reindeer:) Aren't they cute?!?!?! He brought some other stuff but this is what is getting the most attention, by all!



Merry Christmas!

Santa may or maynot.....

be bringing us one

or two of these.

 It totally depends on their cuteness vs. Santa being able to resist their cuteness, factor. And which elf does the picking:) We have one little kiddo who would give up getting everything else if she could just have one of these. So she asked Santa (3 times) if he would pretty please just bring her one. Man oh man will she be surprised:) I've done my best to convince her that I'm not sure we need a kitten and that I don't know if Santa brings live pets. Some days I've done too good a job because we've had tears, lots and lots of tears. I feel terrible:( Enough that I'm not hardly saying anything regarding this because I'm SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I can't wait to see the look on her face!

This isn't a picture of the actual one(s) because Santa doesn't deliver until Christmas morning, but I have a feeling one of the elves found a couple a.d.o.r.a.b.l.e reindeer costumes and they will look just.as.cute as this one. If not cuter:)

And I will definitely be posting pictures of the real deal, and maybe a screaming (happy) video clip if I can get it:)

Cinnamon Rolls for Christmas

My brother makes the BEST cinnamon rolls! We celebrated Christmas last Sunday and he brought these over to share. Over the course of the day I think I ate, ummm, maybe....3?! Yes, they are that amazing. So at the end of the day Jeff is telling us he calculated up how many calories are in one roll and he came up with something like 700. What?! So just disregard that I just said that, and that I told you I ate three:) And yes Jeff actually makes these himself. Not that his wife can't /doesn't bake, it is just something he enjoys doing while he is laid off in the winters! He's pretty amazing that guy:)

I'm planning on making these for my little(ish) family Christmas morning:) Except Ash who greatly dislikes cinnamon rolls, I'm making her waffles the night before, so she can throw them in the toaster and heat them up while we are eating cinnamon rolls:) Hope you all have a MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!

Yukon Gold Cinnamon Rolls



Potatoes help make the dough amazingly moist and tender.

Ingredients


dough

1 pound Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled, cut into 2-inch pieces

1 tablespoon coarse kosher salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter

3 large eggs

4 1/2 cups (or more) unbleached all purpose flour

1/2 cup warm water (105°F to 115°F)

3 1/4-ounce envelopes active dry yeast (scant 2 tablespoons)

2 tablespoons sugar

filling

1 1/3 cups (packed) golden brown sugar

2 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon

3 tablespoons unbleached all purpose flour

9 tablespoons (1 stick plus 1 tablespoon) unsalted butter, room temperature

glaze

2 cups powdered sugar

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted

2 tablespoons (or more) whole milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/8 teaspoon coarse kosher salt

Preparation


dough

Combine potatoes, 2 cups water, and 1 tablespoon coarse salt in large saucepan. Boil until potatoes are very tender, 15 to 18 minutes. Mash potatoes with water in pan (do not drain water). Add butter and mash until butter is melted. Whisk in eggs, then 1 cup flour; mash until very smooth. Let potatoes stand until barely lukewarm, about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, pour 1/2 cup warm water into large bowl of stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment; stir in yeast and sugar. Let stand until foamy, about 10 minutes. Add potato mixture to yeast mixture; mix on low speed until well blended, 2 minutes. Mix in 3 cups flour, 1 cup at a time, beating well. Beat until sticky dough forms.

Spread 1/2 cup flour on work surface. Scrape dough out onto floured work surface. Knead until dough is smooth and elastic, adding more flour by tablespoonfuls if dough is very sticky, about 8 minutes.

Coat large bowl with butter. Transfer dough to bowl and turn to coat. Cover bowl with plastic wrap, then kitchen towel. Let dough rise in warm draft-free area until doubled in volume, about 1 hour.

Meanwhile, make filling

Mix brown sugar, cinnamon, and flour in medium bowl. Using fork, mix in butter.

Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 425°F. Line large rimmed baking sheet with parchment. Turn dough out onto well-floured work surface. Roll out dough to 24x16-inch rectangle. Sprinkle filling evenly over dough. Starting at 1 long side, roll up dough jelly-roll style, enclosing filling. Using large knife dipped in flour, cut roll crosswise into 12 pieces. Transfer rolls to baking sheet, spacing rolls about 3/4 inch apart. Cover baking sheet loosely with plastic wrap. Let rise in warm draft-free area until almost doubled in volume, about 20 minutes (rolls will be very puffy).

Bake cinnamon rolls until golden, about 20 minutes. Cool rolls 10 minutes on baking sheet.

Meanwhile, make glaze

Whisk powdered sugar, melted butter, 2 tablespoons milk, vanilla, and coarse salt in small bowl. If glaze is too thick to spread, add more milk by 1/2 teaspoonfuls as needed. Spread glaze over warm rolls.

The pukes are gone....

So I sprayed everyone everything down with Lysol and started some holiday baking:)

I love peppermint patties so homemade peppermint patties? Ummm, yes please!

I found this peppermint patty recipe it was super easy to mix up. I used an ice cream scoop to make my balls before I flattened them out to patties. I'm never very good at dipping but they do taste yummy!

Next I moved on to this graham cracker cookie bars recipe. It was soooo easy. Like crazy easy! I think they look nice enough to give to the neighbors and just not tell how super easy it was! I have a list of cookies I want to make and looking on the internet is making that list longer:) Good thing I printed off a new running schedule last night....Now I just need the motivation to start it:)

My Birthday Boy!

I can't upload a picture for some reason:(

I don't know where the last 12 years have gone. It seem like just yesterday I was having my first baby....and here we are now with four kids!

I'm so grateful for the awesome young man Caleb is turning into. He was due on Christmas day, and made me a very happy mama when I went into labor 6 days early. That and the fact my labor was like 3 hours start to finish. Ummm, yeah both my boys love me and blessed me with very short labor! He is so sweet and helpful and I forget to tell him that a lot. I thankful that he is so forgiving of his crazy mama and the mistakes I make. He is so grown-up and mature (sometimes:)). It makes me just a teeny bit sad that he is growing up so quickly, but on the flip side he is even more fun with each year. 12 years ago (on the 19th) he started off our little family. I wouldn't trade one second of it! I can't even believe how much my life has changed since then and I'm so happy for what I have.

Hot Cocoa

Does anyone have a really good hot cocoa mix recipe? I bought these (the ones on the right)

At World Market. Man, I love that place! The kids drink hot cocoa all.the.time! So, they are getting these mugs as well as a 1 gallon glass container full of cocoa mix for a Christmas gift. Yes, I am that lame:)

World market had a $10 off $30 coupon and I had a couple other gifts for Andy to get there anyway so these ended up only being a little over $6.50 for the set. They are about 9 oz which is perfect for the kids and cocoa and I don't have to use cupboard space to store them. They are cute enough to keep on the counter.

But I need a good recipe so if you have one you want to share feel free:)

The newest member of my household!!!

I've waited and waited, hemmed and hawed over whether or not I should get one. I really wanted one, but on the flip side really didn't want to pay the price. Funny how that is often the case. I poured over the black friday ads and talked to everyone I knew that has one. Andy kept laughing at me as I check Craigslist five a couple times a day, to see if anything *new* had been added. Yes, I have no life:) He also told me I would "just know it" when the deal was right. Really?! I don't ever get that feeling. I'm usually having buyers remorse, even before I buy stuff. Which is good, mostly.

So last night I ended up skipping the Mom's night out. Andy came home late and we all just hung out and we pulled up CL. There it was the lift model kitchen aid!!!! They had posted it earlier in the day (yesterday I had a life and couldn't check every hour) and so of course I e-mailed right away. The guy met me this afternoon. Yeah I had to wait all.day.long.(Really dude you couldn't take the day off? I mean you were selling a mixer and all?!:) So today at 4:30 I met him, and became the new owner! Exciting stuff!

So far I've whipped up mashed potatoes, and cookies, and I'm definitely thinking about some homemade cinnamon rolls next. It's my early Christmas present, but really I'm okay with that. It cost considerably less than what Andy would have probably ended up spending. And it's just in time to get used for all my holiday baking.

Lapse in judgement?

Ummm I always think things through...I never just buy something without thinking, just because they are so cool. Like so cool even an 11 year old who hates Goodwill and never, ever wants to go in EVER, was dragging me over to see them. Yeah two FOOF chairs. In my defense. It was the day before thanksgiving. The kids had no school. YAY! But all got up by 6:30. Yeah A.M. That is unheard of in our house, even on school days. We had run errands during the day, visited Santa, rode the train, petted live wolves and then Daddy called, to say he was home from work but was going to go to dinner with my brother who was home from Florida for a few days. I think my brain was already not working quite like it should have:) So Goodwill here we come. We literally had barely walked through the doors. (Caleb and Jocee had thrown a huge fit and were.not.going.in.THERE. I sweetly told them they were and off we went.) Next thing I know Caleb is literally pulling on my arm saying "can you please just come look, I found something that is soo cool!!!!" So I looked and here begins the lapse in judgement.
ME-"Wow buddy those are really cool."-Looking at huge beanbagish things.
C-"Ummm, so I can get one right?" "Well be really good the rest of the time!"
Ash-Joc-"If he gets one that isn't fair! Can we get the other one?!!?"
ME-looks at tag $5.99 "Sold they are yours!"
ME-"Caleb go get a couple carts and we will load them and take them to the front."

For the next 15 minutes we load and try to maneuver through the store with crazy, excited kids bouncing around trying to push carts, overflowing with foof.

The lady at the front tells me she just got them in and priced them, she knew they wouldn't last long:)With a big smile on her face. I think she was really laughing at my insanity.

For the next 20 minutes we are pushing, pulling, squeezing these two ginormous bags into the suburban. I wish I would have taken a picture:) And ummm, yes, my children had to ride home illegally. Multiple kids strapped in one seat.

We then proceeded to go back into Goodwill and continue shopping. Really?!?! Crazy lady you don't.have.room.for.kids.in.your.car, but you continue shopping? Ummmm, second lapse:) We did get Jake a really cute jersey though:) What can I say I love Goodwill!

*As a disclaimer I took these home vacuumed, lysoled, febreezed, and disinfected like crazy. Ummm yeah germs freak.me.out! Funny, I know since I have four kids. So I only paid $11.98 for them at Goodwill, but spent another $10ish. Cleaning them:)



Happy Birthday!

November 29th marks the start of the "birthday season" for our family.(Next is Caleb, Christmas, Andy in February, Ashleigh in March.)

Happy 6th Birthday Jocellen!

I love this little girl more than words can say!

She is now missing both front teeth.

She is so sweet and spunky and has the most creative outfit choices.

I hope her sense of independence and individuality continues.

I love you Jocellen!

A few examples of my Jocee!-

 At Wal-Mart the night before her birthday, while we were getting birthday treats for school, she found those candles in the clearance aisle for $.75 and had to have them to make her cake perfect. Umm, okay?! So I made the cake and she decorated it herself:) Congrats! candles and all! She was thrilled.

Her Christmas list consisted of: a "real life" turkey, a Christmas tree, and a robot.

What?!?

We convinced her to only ask Santa for a robot:)

That's My Girl!!!

Advent

I found this site this morning from here. They have a scripture to read every day to go with your advent calendar. I think we might try it! We are only one day behind:) We plan on reading the Christmas story all at once too, but I'm not sure they can hear it too much! I think I might let Caleb and Ash read these every other day for us.

Advent Calendar

December 1st...really?! Where did the year go? Luckily we are finished Christmas shopping and pretty much ready to go, so that is good!

I have always wanted to do an Advent Calendar but have been lazy never gotten around to it. So this year we're doing it! I didn't make a super cute calendar like these two. Seriously, they are so crafty it is amazing:)
So we are just using a wall advent calendar that has little pockets that my mom gave us.

So far I only have 16 events so I've got some work to do...

Here are mine so far, in no particular order:)

-Host a game night, invite another family to attend
-Read the Christmas story
-Make homemade fudge
-Make/Decorate sugar cookies
-Gingerbread house
-Go for a ride to see Christmas lights-JHL?
-Christmas movie night
-Make Christmas cards with Hand prints (there are all different kinds)
-Celebrate the first Day of winter-(Dec 22)-Snowball fight?!
-Go to a live Nativity
-Elves bring us PJs (this is always Christmas Eve)
-Make Maple syrup and snow candy Like in Little House on the Prairie
-Make a paper chain until the New Year (Usually we do this in Nov. but I'm a slacker!)
-Use a peppermint stick to drink the juice out of an orange (Andy did this when he was a kid)
-Deliver cookies to our neighbors-because they are sweet to us even though they live by us ALL YEAR!
-Camp out by the Christmas tree, roast marshmallows in the fireplace.

Hopefully I can figure out a few more:) I at least have a good start, right?! The countdown begins.

Pioneer Woman

I had heard of the Pioneer Woman from some really cool peeps I know...I didn't know she had a blog though, Yes! I'm lame, very lame, until the same Awesome Friend that watched my kids today told me that she was giving away three Kitchen Aid mixers-which I'm currently in the market for-So I "googled it" and found the blog. MY oh my, does she have some yummy recipes on there! I thought this one sounded great so I'm planning on making them for Thanksgiving morning. My Sweet, hardworking husband is working for 7 days straight this week and Thursday is his first day off:) I'm soo very grateful that he is working so hard, so I can not work nights anymore as a stripper, JUST KIDDING, I got fired from there long ago:) Double just kidding!!! Anyway he is pretty much the greatest, so I thought I would make him a yummy artery clogging, butter dipped muffin for breakfast:) I'll let you know how they turn out, but I'm pretty sure it can't be bad! Here's the recipe:


Pumpkin Doughnut Muffins

1-½ cup All-purpose Flour


1-½ teaspoon Baking Powder

1 teaspoon Pumpkin Pie Spice

½ teaspoons Salt

½ cups Sugar

1 stick Butter

1 whole Egg

1 cup Canned Pumpkin (not Pie Filling)

1 teaspoon Vanilla

½ cups Milk

½ cups Sugar

1 teaspoon Pumpkin Pie Spice

1 teaspoon Cinnamon

1 stick Butter, Melted

Preparation Instructions

In a mixing bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, 1 teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice, and salt; set aside.



In a separate bowl, cream together 1/2 cup sugar, butter and egg. Mix in pumpkin and vanilla.



Add flour mixture and milk alternately to the creamed mixture, beating well.



Fill 12 greased muffin cups 2/3 full (don’t use paper baking cup liners). Bake at 350F for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown.



Combine 1/2 cup sugar, 1 teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice and cinnamon. While muffins are still hot out of the oven, submerge in melted butter, and then roll in sugar ‘n spice mixture until coated. Serve warm.

LHF 2010

This year I was so excited for the race. I signed up early and harassed all my friends trying to get them to sign-up. Then two days ago I started feeling very unmotivated, stressed and was really just not feeling it. So I decided to give my race number to Caleb. He has been wanting to do the race all year, but his selfish mom didn't sign him up. Caleb was super excited when I told him that I was going to give him my number so he could race, and I would bring the other kids to watch him. When I woke up this morning I was relaxed made my coffee, forgot to drink it, woke the kids up so they could get ready and waited for everyone who was meeting at our house before the race. People started arriving and then the last two of three people came. No third person. She was at home with her sick little boy. Then the next thing I know I'm being talked in to going to the race and using her number. WHAT? No! Was my response I have three other kids that I can't leave here by themselves. Then phone calls were made and this super kind lady (whose husband was also running) hopped in her car with her two kids and came over to watch my kiddos. She is the greatest! So I ended up running with Caleb. It was freezing cold and super wet and muddy! We had fun and Caleb did awesome! We got 5 miles in and he was freezing cold (possibly because every time there was mud or water he was in it!) So we moved over to the side and I took off my top two shirts and traded him for his mud caked shirt. About .25 mile later my dry shirts on Caleb were wet:) I guess being an 11 year old boy near mud and water he couldn't help it:) We survived and made it to the end where we were rewarded with HOT beef stew from Machine Shed, yummy pumpkin bars, bagels, donuts, cookies, cider, coffee and I'm sure more that we just didn't make it to. Caleb was hating life when we finished but after showering off all the mud and defrosting he was feeling better, and maybe, looking back enjoyed at least some of it. These are the only two pictures that we took, as you can see he was very excited to pose for the camera:)

I don't know why the first picture is sideways, and I'm not sure how to fix it:( Sorry!

Veteran's Day

I'm embarrassed to say that I've know there was a day for it but never really was affected by it. I mean we didn't get the day off of school or anything. We don't have any loved ones who are in the military or are Veterans that I know of, so it is easy to just not think about.

This morning though I decided to at least pray with my kids before they get on the bus. For safety for our military. Also to thank God (literally) that we live in a free country and for all of those men and women who have/are currently serving our country, and for the family of the ones who have given there life, to keep us free (something I, for sure, take for granted). As well as for the families who are also sacrificing everyday, children without a parent, husbands or wives without there spouse.

I want my kids to be aware. Chances are they will come in contact with someone who does have a loved one serving. I want them to be sensitive and also to really appreciate the freedom that we have.

Do you do anything special for Veteran's Day?

Willow tree

Until today this was my Willow Tree collection. Where?! did I get the headless mother with son you ask. Oh you know I have these boys...three two of them actually, and they LOVE to throw footballs in my house. Yep, gotta love um!

These were added to my collection today compliments of Goodwill. I paid more than I normally would for GW but I have been wanting this Nativity set f.o.r.e.v.e.r. I paid, for both sets, less than I can find one of them on craigslist for!!!
Needless to say it is Christmas year round in my house now, and I am giving football privileges, in the front family room now! Yeah, you know the one with the T.V. :)
A certain one of my boys is way more careful around T.V's:) Silly boys!

Anyone have any coordinating pieces they need me to take off their hands?!

 

Hey I gotta offer:)

Do I procrastinate?

 My living room after the project was complete

Our other work station

The candy I may or may not have consumed while "testing" to see if the machine worked:)

No, Nope, Not me, why of course not. So when my sweet 6th grader came home and informed me he had a project for science that was due 6 weeks away we started on it right away.... Oh wait....Nope we didn't. Caleb came home and informed me that they got to choose what they were going to do for there project. Some kids were lame, he  informed me, and just made a 3-D model of there invention. Some kids were really lame and just wrote out the plans. Not my son! Nope he volunteered to make a working model of a vending machine. What? Yeah it's no big deal mom, he said we have 6 weeks. Yep, ok buddy!

Well fast forward 5 weeks and 4 days to last Monday, at 7 pm. Ummm mom? We really, really need to get started on this project....it's due on Wednesday. (Mind you he has been asking me every other day over the past 6 weeks and I put him off because we've been busy...ish.) So Tuesday afternoon Jake and I went to Home Depot and bought the boxes to create this working vending machine. Caleb got home at three and started working. He worked until 5:30 then off to football practice. I picked him up at 7:15 and then we worked until 9:30 when we had to make a target run since I forgot a few things earlier. So I sent him to bed at 10:15 and finished the spray painting. Thankfully we finished in time and it worked. You just have to refill frequently:) But hey at least it works! We could have made it waay better had I not slacked and we had more time to work out the kinks. Hopefully he'll get a good grade and this mom has learned procrastinating is a horrible thing!



JeStEr PaRk

 Jake & Jocee in the giant log

The Crew 

 This is what we do if you talk back:)

 Ashleigh being lazy creative so she didn't have to carry the water bottle

The stream 

At one point we "lost" Ash! 

Cool forest 

 Leaf mask

 Jake is just as cool as big sis!

 We threw rocks in the water

 We found a driftwood fish

Cool shells

We got a little muddy

A tepee

Allie (before)

Allie (after)

I can't tell you how fun it is to have mid 70s in the middle of October!

On Saturday yet another milestone in my life was past. Caleb attended his first youth event. Yes, I know I'm old. He took his good friend with him and they had a blast! I'm very grateful for a great youth pastor as well as a ton of wonderful youth sponsors who are willing to volunteer there time to spend an entire Saturday afternoon/evening with a bunch of jr. high kids. I just am having a hard time cutting the umbilical cord. Is he really old enough to go places without me? I guess so, I just need to practice faith a little more and know he is truly in God's hands, and ultimately I'm not in control any way. Sometimes I forget and freak out a
tiny bit:)

Two years ago today...

Andy stayed home from a get together at my parents house because he had a fever. Which ended up as him being really sick for two weeks with a little over a week long stay in the hospital. Today he woke up with a sore throat and a headache. He's pretty much killin' me. I'm sure he just caught Jake's cold, but really couldn't it at least wait until tomorrow?:)

I posted this once before...

but it has been a few years. Right now it totally applies to my life.



"My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever." Psalm 73:26 (NIV)




Devotion:

Good Mom? Bad Mom? Good Mom? Bad Mom? Do you ever feel as though you are the ping-pong ball in a heated match bouncing constantly between feeling like a good mom to a bad mom?

One minute I have a great discussion where my child finally gets it... GOOD MOM!



The next I get an e-mail from a teacher that lists the three parents who have yet to turn in that permission slip and I am on the list for all the world to see... BAD MOM!



I calmly handle the stresses of the morning routine... GOOD MOM!



But then during the afternoon homework session, my child's irresponsibility over a last minute project just about sends me over the edge. I find my neck muscles tensing and my voice rising... BAD MOM!



I make sure they pack something healthy for lunch... GOOD MOM!



The schedule falls apart in the late afternoon and I wind up feeding them sugar cereal for dinner... BAD MOM!



Sometimes I feel like that ping-pong ball mom bouncing from feeling good to bad. Yesterday morning I sat down at the kitchen table after getting everyone where they needed to be and cried. Sometimes having kids is the greatest thing that has ever happened in my life. Other days I feel like the task of parenting little people is driving me to the brink of craziness. Just the other day I was processing some recent family things with my friend, Renee, over the phone. Suddenly a strange theme seemed to arise. I just started laughing. I told Renee that so many of my days seemed to tell the same kind of story... I was on the verge of a breakdown and then I spent time with Jesus and He made things better. Renee quipped back to me, "Well, isn't that where most of us live every day?" Not that we are on the edge of a breakdown, but we live in a place of utter dependence on God. I know as a mom, I live in constant need of His love, encouragement, wisdom, perspective, strength, patience, and grace. Anything I do right as a mom is because of my constant dialogs with God. Anything I do wrong as a mom is because of trying to do things in my own strength and slap wearing myself out. That's where grace steps in. And I need lots of grace. God's grace steps in and says, “Lysa, you are doing better than you think. Stop bouncing from feeling good to bad to good to bad. In the good times, rejoice and thank me. In the not so good times, call out to me quickly." And suddenly it occurred to me; with God I'm never a bad mom. I might be having a bad moment... or two... or seventeen. But a few bad moments do not define me as a bad mom. God's grace is there to cover me. Teach me. And even in the middle of a bad moment, interrupt me, redirect me, and change me. Forgiveness is there. Love is there. A second chance is there.

You are a good mom my friend even if, like me, you’ve had a few bad moments... you is the exact mom God knew your children needed. Let's live in that truth today.



Dear Lord, being a mom is a great privilege but one that can be so challenging at times. Teach me how to lean on You with every action and every reaction. And when I mess up, please help me to not define myself by my mommy failures. Help me to only be defined by Your love that assures me and Your grace that covers me. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

100 miles

During the month of October I'm planning on running 100 miles. Today I started off weak with just 2.75 miles, but hope to add to that rather quickly:) Since getting the new jogger we (Jake and I) have run 10.75 miles, in three days. It has been AWESOME! The jogger works better than I could have expected and Jake is a great sport. We get the girls on the bus and off we go. One morning he was messing around and not getting dressed and all I said was "You're going to miss out on going running!" and he was ready about a minute later. He is sooo happy to go, which in turn makes me happy since I l.o.v.e running and have missed it so much over the last several months. It makes me giddy all the running I've gotten in since I'm not working. I think I've run more this week (like the last 6 days to be exact) then I've run in the last 4 months combined. Yeah I know CRAZY!

AND...



I think ALL of you peeps who read my blog should totally sign up for the LHF race. I'm just sayin' it is so.much.fun you won't even know what to do with yourselves. And I will volunteer my house for all the kids. We can find someone to corral them and all the grown-ups can go play in the mud! SO if you haven't signed up you better get on that....quick before it fills up!

Living History Farms

The race registration starts at 12:01 am tonight. Who's in?

Baby Jogger

I am the proud new owner of the greatest (in my opinion) jogging stroller EVER! Thank you craigslist!!! I just got the Baby Jogger II with 20 inch wheels. It is super, duper well designed. It is really smooth riding from Jake's opinion and is very easy to maneuver. It's about 5 years old but is in excellent condition. The family that had it just used it on occasion for a little boy with a heart condition, and he had out grown it. I can't believe all the things people can buy/sell on craigslist for a super deal.

I can't believe I'm to the stage where I need a single stroller sniff sniff. but I am very excited to run with Jake and my cool new(ish) stroller. We took it for a test drive/ run tonight and I.am.in.L.O.V.E!

It is a performance stroller, which pretty much means NO frills which = less weight to push! All the reviews I've read say it is a great all terrain stroller and even navigates well through snow! I'm pumped! It comes apart completely and is in the washer now, should be all ready for a run in the morning when the girls get on the bus:)

I've got to get moving quick or I'm going to have to buy all new clothes. All this extra sleep I'm getting apparently means I'm burning less calories since I'm not on my feet for 18-20 hours a day. I'm loving the sleep and would take the weight gain any day, but would like to get it under control if I can. So happy running is in my very near future!

I think I dislike this background and need to find a new, cool one. I think maybe I can keep Ashleigh home for a "sick" day and she can redesign my blog:) Maybe, maybe not!

Football

These are in the wrong order! After and Before

He is the cutest football player ever!

We sat and watched the last 10 minutes of practice last night. At one point Caleb just ran and slid right through a puddle. Thanks buddy. Coach just stood there and shook his head. I'm sure he was thinking all these moms are going to be mad at me for having practice in the rain. I guess since he was already wet he might as well have fun and jump in all the puddles. He also ran and slid down the big grassy hill at least twice. Oh to be 11:) I soaked the pants overnight in the washer, this morning the water was pretty much black and gross. So we are just rinsing and will be rewashing them to see how they came out.

+

=

When you color yourself head to toe with sharpie and have to have a mug shot. You get a mohawk. Just FYI.

This is the kind of thing I would wake up to on a fairly regular basis. Needless to say I'm not working nights anymore!

Ashleigh

About 2 weeks ago she informed me she really likes boots! This was after going through her shoes and her not wanting to claim a pair saying she hated boots. Go figure. So Jake and I were at Goodwill the yesterday and we found these boots. I paid $4.19 for them and then by the time I got to the car had buyers remorse. They are kind of a rust color and I thought she probably will hate them. Fast forward 4 hours. Ash walks in the door from school "Who's boots are those, are they for me? Yes I love boots:)" So she likes them! This morning she comes downstairs and she is wearing bright pink sweat capri pants and a pink and gray sparkly shirt and she goes and puts on her rust colored furry boots. Ummm, yeah you might want to wear those with jeans, was my suggestion. Well that was about the end of the world because she does NOT like jeans. So we quickly dug through her drawers to find something halfway matching and this is what we ended up with. She does however look like she's 25. Which makes me sad. But I guess since I look 50 it should be okay:)

I wish I looked young...

Today we went to the center grove orchard. We were trying to pay to get in and Andy pulled out his wallet. Lady:Oh you're the dad. No your not, you look soooo young. And it continued on and on. Finally I was like, really lady do I look young too? Cause he is actually like three years older than me. She didn't have much of a response and we are probably banned forever, but really, he doesn't look that young.
I'm just a slight bit bitter:) Good thing I just started a peacemaking study, I might need it!

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I may be coming back...

In as little as two weeks i may be back to the blog world. I will no longer be working nights. Which means there is potential for me to sleep for more than 4 hours a day:) I'm just a tiny bit excited!!!! So I may be back with some very exciting stuff. I know all two of you are on the end of your seats eager with anticipation:)

Can I tell you how much I LOVE Goodwill!!!!!!!

Today I ran into Goodwill to find khakis for work. Of course I have to do a quick scan of all the racks. I found these jeans...

I've been wanting a pair of skinny jeans to wear with my super cool rainboots. Yes I am 5:)

So to make myself feel even better about my $3.89 purchase (the lady said they felt like pants) I came home and googled the brand/style/fit they are 7 for all mankind and if you want to get a pair just.like.me (cause I'm that cool) you can get it here for....wait for it.......$169.00.

Two days ago I got these jeans...

They came in Long length too. They were $5.89. Which just makes me smile:) I love long jeans, and I love cute heels to wear with them!!! So if you want to buy these jeans(you know so we can match!!) You can buy them here for.....$69.50. You know how Gap even has the date it was manufactured on the label?! It was Hol'09. Yeah! Like not even a year old!

I'm sort of wondering who has enough money to go buy jeans and then get rid of them in such a short period. Then I decided I didn't care 'cause I love them!

I know that it looks like a size zero model in the pictures, but I assure you it's not:) It's me of course! I just look better in photos than in person!

I also got Jake one of those kids cameras. They're made by fisher-price and are suppose to be indestructable (I'll let you know). It was $2.99. I of course had to google that to:) $54.88. I found thee exact model and everything. It is blue camo. It was made just for Wal Mart. So I'm feeling super cool and like the best bargin hunter ever! And it is still a bargin even if you didn't need it right?!

Ashleigh is 8!!!

Ash turned 8 on Saturday. This is the "cake" she wanted. She is my creature lover, and clearly it doesn't matter how scary the creature:) I think it turned out okay, though I don't think I'll be featured on Cake Boss anytime soon!

I just can't believe where all the time has gone. Ashleigh, you are the sweetest, kindest sister, daughter, granddaughter and friend. You are also a fantastic helper all the time. We love you soo much! Happy Birthday!