Total Failure

That is what happened to my list this week. I took an F on that task. It started off with Tuesday. I got up (even earlier than usual) and immediately started getting ready and getting everything else ready to go get the kids Christmas pictures made. Even made it to the studio on time. With minutes to spare! Then they took up my entire day. It was awful. We waited for over an hour and half before they even called us to take pictures. And then we had to wait for over an hour again to even look at the pictures and decide which ones to keep. It was crazy. How do they expect you to have happy babies by the time you take pictures? And they had so many people booked that people were having to line up against the walls and sit on the floor. I had another errand to run after that and we were so hungry by the time we got out of there that by the time I got home I had to get ready to turn right around and leave for a Christmas dinner. So strike one on the list for that day. I didnt get a single thing done.

Then came Wednesday. I originally thought I would be able to get both days knocked out. But I also had a little bit more shopping to do. So I ended up getting to drop the babies off at my sister in laws and finishing up my shopping. It took up more time than I expected but Im not going to complain about that. It was very enjoyable to have some time to myself. Im not sure if I ended up doing anything that day or not. I may have done a few things.

Then yesterday. I did get a good bit done but now I was three days behind that I just didn't get near the amount accomplished that I thought I would. So I'm looking ahead to next week. A fresh start! I have a good bit of cleaning to do but it will mainly just making my house functional for Christmas cooking and then getting my living room cleaned since we will be opening presents and taking pictures as well. I'm really looking forward to seeing these babies open up gifts but maybe that can be a whole new post.

This Week

This week I am trying really hard to get my house in order. I don't expect it to be perfect by the end of the week but I at least expect to be able to walk through a room without tripping over something. I made out a list last night of things to do every day. I am excited about today because I have completed almost my entire list for the day except for 2 things. I purposely spread it out so not to feel overwhelmed and by taking advice of some organization books I have read.
Like, you didn't mess it all up in one day so you aren't going to be able to clean it in one day.

I'm hoping to start some on tomorrows list because I will be gone for most of the day. The only problem now is my back is already hurting. I've been going to the chiropractor for awhile now so it is getting better. I'm going this afternoon in fact. Hopefully I will blog about my progress each day so I can let my blog hold me accountable. I have listed a different room for each day of the week along with a few other things. But each room has a detailed list of things that have to be done. So probably a boring read for you if you are reading this but I am mainly doing these blogs for myself :) Maybe I'll add some interesting stuff to it throughout the week

Doctor Visit

Yesterday we went to our first appointment with the new baby. And we also were trying out a new doctor so I was completely nervous. Thankfully, Brad went with me and we also had our 11 month old and 22 month old. When we first got there I found out that the doctor was an OB/GYN as well as he does lots of things such as laser treatment, body sculpting and so on and so on. I'm talking a huge list. This only bothers me a little as to how much he might be available for his patient.
Well, the morning started off pretty bad. Both the babies were ready for a nap and they were so cranky in this tiny waiting room. It wasn't that it was so tiny, it was just completely packed with chairs and there were lots of people in the waiting room. And there were probably more non-pregnant women there than pregnant ones. That was a huge difference from my last doctor. There was usually one or two other people in the room besides me when I went. Then we probably waited AT LEAST an hour if not more to be called back. One of the longest hours of my life. Our babies were so upset!!! It was almost embarrassing.
So after being called back I was weighed (horrible by the way) and then went to a room where I was asked a bunch of questions by a nurse. Who stopped in the middle to go get my daughter a sucker, probably because the crying was annoying her. So after that she then tells us the doctor would be in to meet us and probably would do an ultrasound since we weren't sure how far along I was. Again, I could see major differences in my last doctor. At my old doctor, my belly was measured every single visit and they listen to the baby's heartbeat. And I always had to pee in a cup where they could check for infections and glucose. I liked that much better than not doing any of it at all. And your first visit you always get an ultrasound as well.
Then the doctor came in. He was extremely nice and spent a good bit making sure we were well informed on the fact that we were wanting to do a VBAC after two C-sections. He then told us that for now we could say that a VBAC would be our goal but until I was about 36 weeks there is no way to know if it is even possible. This of course just makes me upset all over again on what happened with my son.
We then went back to do an ultrasound where they immediately chose NOT to do a tummy one to put it in a more discreet way. I hated that. And of course babies are still cranky and needing a nap and we've been there for at least two hours now. But we got to see our baby and found out that Im due around the same time we had originally thought. Im 15 weeks and due May 21. I am already going to have to really watch what I eat and get some walking in because I've already gained 10 pounds!!!
In the end we like the doctor but not so much other things. I believe we will probably stay with this doctor and I can still change my mind later on. We ended up being there almost 3 hours and it is not something we want to do again at naptime! And our next visit we get to have another ultrasound! Oh, and another thing about this office is I was able to get my blood work done there where in the past I've had to go to another place.

Thanksgiving

This has been quite an eventful week for Thanksgiving and I was so grateful for it. My family stopped doing Thanksgivings together years ago. In high school I went to my best friends for Thanksgiving and then after that I chose to always work on Thanksgiving. Then I married into a family that has a big get together with the entire family. Then last year my family had a Thanksgiving meal for the first time in ages because my uncle who lives in Arkansas and only comes down a couple times a year was down.

So, this Thanksgiving week started off with Brad's extended family dinner on Saturday night. It always has the best food! We had a great time and Brad cooked some deer meat that he had killed that morning and it seemed to be a pretty big hit.

Then on Tuesday night we went over to some more of Brad's family and had a Thanksgiving meal with them. We actually go over to this particular family's house almost every Tuesday night where one of Brad's cousins fixes dinner for whoever wants to come. And usually if we dont end up making it to Tuesday night supper we end up going over there another night of the week. They are a sweet couple and we love hanging out with them.

By Wednesday I had one child getting over having a fever and my son woke up in the middle of the night with a fever. I started giving him some medicine and by that afternoon I couldn't get his fever to break below a hundred. So that evening I ended up taking him in to the emergency room. When we got there his temp was 103.5 but thankfully he ended up having an ear infection. I'm thankful because it could've been worse. So we headed over to a local pharmacy and then home to bed. My daughter ended up staying the night at her Mimi's house with her cousins who were staying the night there.

Then on Thanksgiving we went to Brad's parents house. We did something probably a little strange to most but we made homemade pizzas. Some were obviously not thrilled with this decision but I thought they turned out delicous. And more importantly, Brad's mom has been in a lot of pain and she was very thankful not to have to cook and it was really easy to clean up. Then Thanksgiving day ended up running in to Black Friday starting at midnight but thats another story in itself.

So after Black Friday shopping and being completely exhausted we got ready to watch the Iron Bowl with some other people. Our team didn't win and I can't even begin to stress how exhausted I was but it turned out to be a pretty nice day.

And then Saturday. Probably my favorite of all. This is when my family had a meal and it was so nice to see family I haven't seen in forever. My cousin came down from Memphis and then my aunt and uncle were in from Arkansas.

Staycation

That's what we did over the weekend. For the first time in a year Brad and I got to spend the night alone together. That's probably more than most couples and we are so very thankful for the time we get to spend together. I know these times will probably get fewer and fewer between but I think I'll remain hopeful that it doesn't. Usually we've always went to Gatlinburg in the past and we contemplated all the way up til Friday morning what we were going to do this time. It was kind of like we had the money to go but at the same time we didn't. We finally decided that we would just stay at home while our kids went to family. It was of course cheaper, much nicer to sleep in our own bed and we still found things to fill our time with! We were celebrating our 4 year anniversary which was on Thursday.

So we didn't get to leave our house until about 7 on Friday evening. We went out to a new restaraunt that we had been wanting to try and it was great! Probably one of my new favorite places to eat now. It was cheap, good and we had our food probably with in five minutes of ordering! And that was after waiting at least twenty minutes to get a table. We then drove over to the dollar movie theater but it would have been midnight or so before we got home so we decided to just go ahead and go home. I was really looking forward to a night of undisturbed sleep but it never happened. No babies and I still woke up during the night and then was wide awake by 7! I even tried and tried to go back to sleep but that never happened. We didn't have any definite plans so we just sort of sat around until I remembered a girl I knew who lives up the road was having a yard sale. So we loaded up and headed to that where we got some real good deals. We then got some breakfast and drove back home. After another little while we got ready and headed to Huntsville. We went to some thrift stores and then a few other stores and then after that we decided to go to Wings to watch the Alabama game. I can't believe how many people go to a restaraunt to watch games!!! It was a mad house in there. We had probably been waiting for thirty minutes and there were still several people who were there before us. I was getting kind of aggravated because there was an empty booth and they were just refusing to seat anyone at it. I didn't want to be rude but I wanted to know why when they have that many people they weren't seating all the tables. So I went to ask the hostess why they weren't seating anyone there and they took us to that table! It was a good seat to watch the game. We left somewhere in the third quarter and ended up driving to Applebees for dessert and watched the rest of the game. We then went to the dollar movies and got home around midnight where we immediately conked out and probably would have slept all morning but started getting txt messages and phone calls about an electricity problem. So we jumped out of bed, got dressed and Brad went and fixed that then we ate breakfast. Then we headed to his moms where are babies were. As always I know my stories are jumbled together and not intersting but I dont have time to make it easy reading...:) I'm actually just finishing this post and I started it yesterday. We had a great weekend and enjoyed our alone time.

History eopin the Making

At least that's what I keep hearing. Yesterday, November 2, 2010 has undoubtedly begun a change in this nation! Not only locally, but across the nation voters are astounded at the changeover of Democratic parties verses Republican. I even watched President Obama earlier on the news. When asked how he felt about this change his first response was "bad." He was saddened over the people he felt deserved to be in office who had been voted out. But I don't really want to talk about all of that. I really just wanted to give a brief note of last night's events. Maybe later I'll go into more detail.
After getting off from working at the polls all day I quickly drove to Scottsboro where I knew people were waiting ot hear the news on whether or not my cousin, Shadrack McGill would win the race for Senate. When I got to the headquarters I was shocked at the people waiting. I had actually just left from Triple R where friends and family were already waiting. At the headquarters were Shadd's mom and dad, grandparents, my mom, Shadd's brother, my sister and then Shadd's crew from Montgomery as well as a few friends. I wanted to give you an idea of who was there so you could really get an idea of what the atmosphere was like in there. After getting numbers and numbers in we were then told that Lowell Barron had conceeded. This is when I wish I had a video camera. Everyone immediately began crying and shouting. I'm beginning to cry just reliving it again in my mind. It truly was an intimate, memorable moment. Then the night went on and on and on! After waiting on some more official word before we would begin celebrating we all drove over to Triple R BBQ. Then we ended up waiting on Shadd for probably an hour but we did sit and listen to him being interviewed on the news! Then when he got there The Daily Sentinal came to interview him and then WHNT news came in. I did my best to avoid the camera but I haven't seen the footage!!! We had cake and snacks and it was truly a wonderful night that Im sure everyone is still exhausted from. Sorry its so jumbled and not very good written but I really wanted to share Shadd's wonderful night with my few blogger friends!!!

Easy Potatoes

My mom was telling me about these potatoes earlier today and since I was already planning to make potatoes I decided to give it a try. It is so EASY and yummy too! Perfect if you dont want to spend too much time over the stove because you cook these in the microwave.
You slice potatoes really thin and layer in microwavable safe bowl. Then pour enough milk to cover the bottom of bowl. Slice some butter over the top and sprinkle with salt and pepper. I put my lid on and left it cracked open so it wouldn't boil over. I started off by cooking in the microwave for ten minutes. I then stirred them and saw I needed to add a little bit of milk. They were almost done so I cooked them about five minutes longer. Then sprinkled cheese over the top and let it melt. The milk and butter makes a creamy sauce. Again, it was super easy and yummy as well! I will definitely be using this recipe again.

Sleep

I. AM. SLEEPY! I can barely keep my eyes open. I'm pretty sure both my babies aren't feeling well. No fevers, but runny noses and bad coughs. So last night was not good. I ended up on the air mattress in the living room with one baby and Brad had the other in the bed. And he cried all night long. Poor baby. So needless to say I have had like no sleep. Then somebody called last night and wanted to come look at our house this evening. My mom is coming tomorrow to help me with some stuff but I have to get it somewhat decent looking today. I did pretty good this morning but now I have hit a road bump I can't get over. My lack of sleep has hit and I can barely keep my eyes open. Brad won't be home until later this evening anyways so they may not can come look today after all. I told him strangers weren't coming in my house without him here. And if they end up coming tonight? Well, I'm just praying that God sends the right buyer along who can see pass the mess and clutter. So thats it for now. Maybe I should force myself up and work towards cleaning some more?

Moving On Up

Oh yeah...that's right. My entire family is becoming famous...haha. First last weekend after church we went to help shoot a commercial for my cousin who is running for Senator. The babies would have been in it but they ended up sleeping the whole time. We even had to sign a model release form. It only took about 20 minutes but it was still a neat little experience. Then I found out last night that the girl who took the kids pictures had won the photo contest with my daughter's picture. How neat is that? So now that photo will be displayed at Art in the Park on Sunday which is part of the Labor Day weekend festivities. So I've been joking to my husband about how we are all becoming famous and moving up in society. Just something quick I wanted to share. I'm not sure how the commercial will look but I do know that my daughter is absolutely beautiful and I can't wait to go see her picture displayed as the winning photo!

Bourbon Chicken

This is a delicious recipe. And it doesn't even have bourbon in it. I can't remember if I had ever posted it before but its what we had for supper last night so I thought I would go ahead and post it.

2 lbs chicken, cut into bite size pieces
1-2 tbsp. olive oil
1/4 tsp. ginger
1/4 c. apple juice
2 tbsp ketchup
1/2 c. water
1 garlic clove, crushed
3/4 tsp. red pepper flakes
1/3 c. light brown sugar
1 tbsp cider vinegar
1/3 c. soy sauce

Heat oil in skillet. Add chicken and cook. Remove chicken. Add remaining ingredients, heating over medium heat until well mixed and dissolved. Add chicken and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes.
NOTES-I did buy ginger just to make this recipe but we like it so much that its worth it to me because we eat this pretty frequently. Also, the sauce is really thin so I add about a tbsp. of corn starch to thicken it up. And of course we eat it over rice!

Letters to God

Thats the movie I watched last night and it was amazing. I highly reccomend that everyone watch it. It is such an inspiring story and its also based on a real story. I often sit and think if I died today what kind of mark did I make on this world? I want to be a world changer. I know that may sound like a far off goal but to think the simplest thing could change everyone around us. Which then leads to more change and so forth. It has really got me thinking about areas in my life that could use some purging. It also made me thankful that we dont have tv as yet another distraction. There are a couple of shows that we enjoy watching but we could just watch online. Now we've even stopped watching those except one or two. First we had an AMAZING service at church Sunday and now this inspiring movie. I can't wait to get alone with God and see where He takes me.
On another note, at the end of the movie I was just sitting in the floor boohooing and my sweet little girl walks over to me and wipes the tears off my cheek. It made me laugh and lose it all over again. To think that God picked me to be her mom! Wow! I am truly blessed.

Homeschooling

I know that my first baby being in school is still a few years off but I wanted to write this down while it is still fresh on my mind. Brad told me before we got married that he felt God wanted us to homeschool. Now I have come along way since then so to say I threw a fit would be putting it mildly.

So to explain that part I have always wanted to be a teacher. I love being in the classroom. I had started college and everything was going great. Except for the fact that I had been forced to move out just 2 months after I graduated and because of somebody else's mistake my rent went from being about 100 a month to 300 or more. At the time I only worked part time. So I tried doing what I could. I switched to night classes the next semester and took a job in a different apartment. So I started going to work from 6-230 every day and going to school at night. But I wasn't making ends meet. I ended up getting a second job on the weekends. We had a one year lease on our house and I find out right before its up that the person I was living with was deciding to make other plans. Didn't even bother to tell me. So for a month or two I was pretty much homeless and bounced from place to place. During this time I ended up just having to drop all of my classes and would go back as soon as I could.

Well then life pretty much happened. I fianlly got an apartment and I was working all the time just to try and make due. At this point I ended up switching over to one of my part time jobs as my full time one. I still worked another part time job as well for awhile. Then I met Brad and after 3 weeks of dating we were having this conversation. So I was almost heartbroken to hear this. I wanted a degree. I wanted to go be a teacher not sit at home. And I DEFINITELY did not want to be a stay at home mom.
Now 4 years later I have been at home for the past 2 years and have 2 babies. I still struggle with being a stay at home if Im honest about it. There are so many days that I don't even feel qualified to do it. I honestly think its harder than going to work every day. But we are all built different and I have always loved having a job. And then you put homeschooling on top of that. I have people comment to me about how I can go back to work after my babies start school. They of course don't know our plans to homeschool.
I watch the news though and I'm thankful that my kids won't be going to school. I'm thankful to have a husband who wants to follow God. I'm thankful for the oppurtunity to get to watch every leap and step that my babies make. I'm thankful that though we have to live a tight budget lifestyle, God provides just what we need that I can continue to be a stay at home mom. I may have sounded like I was complaining too much earlier but I am so THANKFUL. I can't stress that enough.

So the whole point of this background was to tell this one little thing about homeschooling....haha. Sunday we were eating lunch with some friends and either they or one of their teenagers asked if we knew what we wanted to do about school yet and we told them we were going to homeschool. One of their teenagers who goes to public school looks over and says "they'll thank you for that." I wish I had thought more of it at the time to talk to him and get his thoughts. But what a blessing to hear someone say that! Or I think so anyways.

Staying True

I wonder how many times as parents or even as humans we make a decision and then once something comes along we just take the easier route? I believe happens a lot more than we realize. At the moment we are on our third day of taking my daughter off of her pacifier. Paci as we call it. And I honestly have to give all the glory to God. I pretty much knew I would never be ready. It would take me awhile to go into detail on how much this girl loves her paci. But belive me, she is ADDICTED. We just laughed about it and it was cute. And then just last week we were having a conversation with our Pastor and his wife and she was telling me about our Pastor preaching somewhere when one of their girls was young and still had a paci. She was sitting in a seat to the side of him and he was talking about addiction and then suddenly realizes their daughter was addicted to hers and he then tells the whole congregation that they were going to take it away that day! It was a pretty funny story because she was sitting where everyone could see her and she said she had to sit there and try not to let any emotion show on her face. This was not something they had at all talked about since it had just come to him and she also knew that it would be her having to break her from it and deal with it.
So Saturday morning we were at a huge flea market and pulling our kids around in a wagon. When we got back to the truck we realized there was no paci and it must've been thrown out at some point. Which wasn't unusual for her to throw it somewhere. Well, by this point it was way past nap time and she was so sleepy and this is when she especially wants her paci. Luckily she was so sleepy that the screaming and crying didn't last too long before she eventually fell asleep. We even tried to give her a different one that we had but she refused to take it. It broke my heart watching her cry like that. The kind where she sat and sniffeled in her sleep for awhile afterwards. I prayed about it and I know that God had his hand in the entire situation. She only had one more crying episode after that. She is still walking around looking for it but we have been able to put her to bed and in the car and she has been doing great! It is still breaking my heart just because she looks so confused walking around and looking for it. She has also been sticking her thumb in her mouth a couple of times (uh-oh!) Hopefully, that will not become a problem. And this happened over the weekend and my husband has been here the entire time. Its a good thing because I am weak and would have given it to her just because she looked so lost!
So the point of this story and staying true? We decided before we ever had kids that we weren't going to give them a paci. When our daugther cried non stop we gave in so she would go to sleep. We would have never had to go through this if we had stuck with our original decision. Now we have realized that we have made it through breaking one kid from a paci and another one who would never take one and still doesn't go to sleep without some comfort. Therefore, in the future we will not give them to our kids. Now I pray that God helps me remember this and be strong with this decision! We truly need Him in every area of our lives.

A little time out

I will go ahead and say that this post is probably going to end up being a complete soapbox. But I dont really think in a complaining griping kind of way.

So anyways, this week the youth at our church are at youth camp. They go to Florida for a week. Now, we went to Florida during some of my youth camps as well. But it was still more like camping staying in long rooms comlpletely full of bunk beds. These kids go and stay in these fancy villas. But that is pointless to what I really want to talk about. I was looking at my facebook and I can see where all of these teenagers are posting about camp. And to be honest it just made me sad. I mean here they are posting about what an amazing service but seriously? There was no tv, no phones, nothing when we went to camp. And it should be that way. It should be a time of getting away from all of those things. Thats just my opinion. I wanted to say something about it on facebook but I know exactly what kind of riot that would cause. Its not just the youth on there anyways. Its the leaders that are down there with them. So thats what I wanted to share.

Weekend Getaway

Wow...even sitting here my body still feels completely exhausted. Just from one day! Friday morning we drove up to Clarksville, TN. for a little mini getaway. A friend of ours had given us a hotel room for the weekend. If we didn't have a baby nursing we probably would have really taken advantage of it and had some alone time. But we had a blast! We got there a little bit before lunch time. Then we went to lunch with a friend and came back to the hotel room. I was already starting to get a headache and the we were trying to get the babies to take a nap and my head started hurting really bad and I started getting sick to my stomach. For some crazy reason I didn't have any tylenol with me. So after realizing these babies werent going to sleep anytime soon we headed out and ended up at the mall. This is where we learned that apparently my 6 month old son absolutely HATES shoe stores. And I am not exaggerating. Every time we went into a shoe store he started screaming. And then we were walking around Target and he was doing just fine. My husband started to go look at the shoes and he started screaming again. It was definitely strange. After the mall we went to eat and we still had a gift card we had gotten so we were able to go out to eat with that. So that first day was an extremely inexpensive day. We had been discussing what we wanted to do the next day and we eventually decided on going to the zoo. I have never been to a zoo and I've always wanted to go. We probably would have went on our way down Friday if we weren't meeting for lunch. So when we woke up Saturday we decided to go ahead and pack up. The zoo was an hour back towards home and we didn't think there was much point in driving an hour back away from home just to get up and drive home the next morning. We had a birthday dinner to be back for today..(Sunday). So we went to the zoo and I probably enjoyed it more than anybody. It was extremely hot and then it became nap time. There was a few times that my daughter pointed and was like "ooooh" or "wow". But for her age it was hard for us to point out the animals to her. She has quite mastered looking where we are pointing. And these animals aren't in cages like at other zoos. There was a couple of animals we never even found. They were hidden so well in their area.
We ended up being at the zoo for about 5-6 hours then we went to this restaurant we read about on The Travel Channel. It was really good and really cheap! I would definitely go back. Then we walked around downtown and took pictures with the statues of Elvis and the giant ice cream cones.
At one corner there was a Mennonite family singing and handing out tracts. We ended up talking to a guy with them and it was surprising to me to learn that we really have a lot of the same beliefs. We got to talking about how so many "Christians" have the mentality once saved always saved. It was funny to me though that after having this discussion with him you would think it was clear that we knew we were saved and living the right way but he still wanted to give us a devotional and encourage us to read it.. But then it may have been its a book he enjoys and thought we might too. I haven't had a chance to look at it yet. We did get the family on video singing. Then we drove 2 hours home, passed out and now its Sunday morning. We wont be making it to church this morning which makes me sad since our Pastor will be gone all next week but we are still exhausted. Sorry, I am a horrible story teller and I hate going back through and reading and seperating out paragraphs. Maybe one day....

Waffle Maker

So my husband absolutely loves waffles. I however am a pancake girl myself. I had actually been planning on buying him a waffle maker for father's day but he ended up getting a bicycle instead. And of course we go yard saleing almost every weekend and I've looked there for one too. I had originally looked at Walmart and the cheapest one was close to $30 I think. It could have been closer to 20 but I dont really remember. Anyways, last week I got the chance to run real quick into a thrift store and there was a waffle maker for $4.00. I was so excited to get it for him! It was just the cheapest one you could get at Walmart and makes two waffles at a time. This morning was the first chance I've had to use it and now for the experience. IT WAS AWFUL! First the directions even said that it takes 5-7 minutes. Thats for TWO waffles. So we have two adults and a one year old going to be eating. So the end result was the waffle maker didn't cook evenly. Instead of getting the nice crunch that waffles have they were completely brown in the middle and soft on the outside. It took me almost an hour to finish the one bowl of mix I had made up. And in case you cant tell by the cooking process they weren't even good. They were actually almost cold by the time the last two finished cooking. So then I was grumpy because I had wanted to make these for Brad and then I informed him I would never be making them again. So now Im thinking ahead to Christmas. Im going to have to research them and get a good one. It may cost more but if it works it will get used. And it absolutely must cook at least 4 waffles at a time or it will never be worth it.

Homemade Sloppy Joes

This is what we had for suppThis recier last night and they were really good! Its been awhile since I last bought sloppy joe mix but if I remember right I think it is now over $1.00 a can so really this has to cheaper than buying it since a can is for one pound of meat. And its a very simple recipe to put together with stuff usually on hand.

2 pounds ground beef
1 lg onion, chopped
1-1/4 cups ketchup
1/2 cup water
1 tbsp brown suger
1 tbsp white vinegar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground mustard
1/2 tsp chili powder
*This recipe also called for 1/4 tsp ground allspice but I had none and it was still good~

In Dutch oven, cook beef and onion until meat is no longer pink; drain. Stir in the remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, for about 30 minutes or until heated through.

You had me from.....positive

It is after midnight but I can never sleep when my husband isn't home from work yet. And now I just spent the last ten minutes crying through the end of a movie. A movie about a young girl who had a baby and in the end she decides to give the baby up for an open adoption. I then went through the house to turn off the lights to get ready for bed and the light is still on in my little girls room. She stayed the night with my sister tonight and I broke down crying all over again when I looked in her empty bed. It's crazy the emotions that can get going just through watching a movie. I have had SO many life changing events happen in the past few months. I have watched too many families suffer through the heartache of losing loved ones and each thing has affected my life in a different way. And tonight...it was a simple movie. There is absolutely no words to describe what it feels like to have a child. But it starts way beyond that. In this case, I can remember clear as yesterday when I found out I was pregnant with my daughter. I was scared, excited, scared, and excited. I was scared because I had a miscarriage 8 months before. I was excited because ever since having a miscarriage I had wanted a baby so bad. I was scared because I didn't feel pregnant. I was excited to even think that there was a baby already developing inside me. Even though she would be sleeping I miss my baby girl so much right now and she's only been gone for 6 hours. But I always look in on her sleeping before I go to bed at night. And when I see her tomorrow, that hug is going to last just a little bit longer. I want to take the time to walk outside with her. Even if its just to the mailbox. She loves going outside. Im going to get my living room cleaned top to bottom so I dont have to tell her no every five seconds. Im going to not worry about the mess in the laundry room and just sit and play in the floor with her. Who knows what tomorrow holds besides God? I want to know that I never take a day for granted. Anyways, this is my heart tonight. I love you baby girl!

Stuffed Shells

I tried another new recipe tonight. It was spinach stuffed pasta shells. It wasn't bad but it was just kind of bland. I would eat it again but I think I probably wont be making it again. Maybe if I came across another recipe of it that looked like it would have more flavor. I did take a pic if anyone wants to see it. We will be eating it tomorrow night as well. It being just the two of us really eating we almost always have leftovers with stuff like that. Usually when I make chicken or porkchops I only cook however many pieces I think we will eat.

So any other news to share? Nope...not really. I had gained a few pounds back and I really need to start working hard on losing some more. You know, before I dont have the chance anymore ;). And thats all for now because this post is even boring me just writing it!

Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

This was what we had for supper tonight and it was so good. I made it with some breadsticks that are really easy to put together using bisquik mix. As always I take no credit because I am a cookbook junkie. I am writing down the original recipe and then will tell you what I did different

1/2 cup finely chopped carrot (1 medium)

1/2 cup finely chopped onion (1 medium)

1/2 cup finely chopped celery (1 medium)

1 tbsp. butter

4 cups of chicken broth

3/4 cup wild rice, rinsed and drained

12 oz. boneless, skinless chkn breast halves, cut in 3/4 in. pieces

2 tbsp. all purpose flour

2 tbsp. butter softened

2 cups half and half

In a Dutch oven cook and stir carrot, onion and celery in hot butter about 5 minutes or until tender. Add broth and wild rice. Bring to boiling, reduce heat. Simmer, covered, for 30 minutes. Add chicken. Simmer, covered, for 20-25 minutes more or until rice is tender.

In a small bowl combine flour with softened butter to make a smooth paste. Stir flour mixture into the rice mixture. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly. Cook and stir for one minute more. Add half and half. Cook and stir until heated through.

NOTES- I never use celery anything and that was the only thing I eliminated in this recipe. It may look long but it was pretty simple and delicous. For the breadsticks you take 1 cup of bisquick and 1/4 cup of milk and mix with some shredded cheese. Roll out on flour surface and shape into rectangle. Then cut in strips and bake on greased pan at 375 12-15 minutes.

Father's Day Weekend

Well, we had a pretty enjoyable weekend. Brad was out of town last week and got home Friday afternoon. I met him at his moms and we spent the evening there with our niece that comes in about every other weekend. Then Saturday we really didn't do much of anything until we had our date night. We dropped our daughter off with my sister and then took our son to my mamaws. Date nights are very hard to pull off now because I'm nursing. We went out to dinner and then we went back to mamaws so I could feed the baby and then we went to watch a movie. We saw The Karate Kid and I enjoyed it. It was funny and the only thing I can remember that was bad in it was there were three cuss words in it. But other than that it was a decent movie and pretty funny. It was 1030 by the time the movie was over so it was around 11 when we headed home. Needless to say we were pooped by the time we got home.
Today is Father's Day and we cooked out after church at Brad's mom and dads. We had steak and chicken and grilled vegetables. But the rest of the day was very uneventful and boring. The Nascar race was on all day (VERY BORING) and then while being forced to watch this half of the men fell asleep. So we had a nice date but other than that a pretty uneventful weekend and I have zero pictures. I'm not so good at taking pics anymore. And right now I just want to go to bed...but that doesn't look like its coming anytime soon.

Trip to the mall

A trip to the mall is something I would never brave by myself. I honestly dont know how mothers of multiples does it. I guess its just one of those things you do what you have to. I'm really trying to let that soak in. Where instead of getting stressed I just do what I have to do and know that God will get me through it. But today wasn't like that. My sister was taking my niece and a friend of hers to the mall so I loaded up the babies and followed them. It was an absolute sunny bright day at my house and by the time I got to Huntsville it was pouring down rain. I was originally going to go with 2 umbrella strollers but it was quicker just to get out the double stroller(in the pouring rain). I wasn't really going to buy anything but once I got there I thought it would be nice to find a nice dressy outfit but that of course didn't happen. For one, I dont fit into those clothes anymore and two, I dont feel like I should even wear most of those clothes. I have no idea what my style is anymore. At first my son was still sleepy so he was kind of cranky at first but after walkiing around for awhile he eventually fell asleep and slept for about an hour. And then when he woke up it was past his feeding time but we were getting ready to leave and I didnt really want to feed him in the mall and he actually took his sisters sippy cup and was drinking the juice!! I can't tell you what a shock this is. I may just have to skip a bottle alltogether with him and go straight to the cup! I was also able to go to Kays Jewelers and get my rings cleaned for free. That is probably what really made my day. I have only been able to start wearing them again in the last two weeks and before that it had been about two years since I've worn them. Now they are so shiny and look brand new! I haven't been able to quit looking at them. I ended up buying the same cleaner they used but it was only $6.00 and now I can always have clean rings. So this was my first trip to the mall with two babies and it was quite enjoyable.

December 26, 2009

So hands down I have the most adorable daughter EVER!! She is also the most defiant one! To my 4 followers you all know who my babies are. I am extremely nervous about anything over the internet and have decided I dont want to mention their names in my blog anymore. I will probably go back and look at my previous posts. So for future reference my daughter will be D and my son S. Hopefully not too confusing. But this story is for one particular reader. And it will be the story of my son coming into the world.



He was born right after Christmas but I must go to Christmas morning first. I was 39 weeks, HUGE and miserable. I had been saying for weeks I didnt care if I had this baby on Christmas day I just did not want to wait any longer. Christams day around lunch time we always have lunch with Brad's extended family. I wanted to start there because one of Brads cousins looked at me and said "You are going to have this baby today." My reaction? "Yeah right" Then Christmas night we went to my sister's for Christmas with my immediate family. This part of the evening is interesting because one of my sisters had gotten this chair massager thing with a heating option as well. At one point the others are playing a game and I open her gift ...:)...to try it out. Once I had been discovered I of course told her I was testing it out for her. I also joked about trying to go into labor with it. Also while playing cards I had one sharp pain. ONE. I had been having pains off and on for weeks so this of course meant nothing to me. Then as we are getting ready to leave one of my sisters suggest that she keep D overnight. Give us one last break before this second baby came. So we leave her and on the way home I even tell Brad it sure would be a good night to go into labor since D was already with someone else.



So....it was about 1130 when we finally got home and collapsed in the bed. We couldn't have been asleep long because it was around midnight when I woke up. Now I'm not sure if I had sprung a leak in my sleep or it happened right when I woke up. Either way Im laying there in bed wondering if my water had broke. I wake Brad up and say "Brad, I think my water just broke. Feel my bottom and see if its wet?" (This cracks me up now) As soon as I got the words out of my mouth though a gush of water comes out. I then jump out of bed going "YUP...IT BROKE!" And then I start jumping up and down saying "Oh my gosh, Im so nervous. Im so nervous" If someone else had been around it really was hysterical. The whole time water just keeps coming out. I had went to the bathroom and when I thought I was done had changed clothes. Then it happened again and I started to change clothes again before I realized what a not so bright idea that was. Meanwhile, Brad got really sick. I think just from having no sleep and jumping out of the bed. So while Im getting the rest of my bad ready he was throwing up. Within 15-20 minutes we were out the door and had already called the dr. where I then found out that my doctor had asked his backup to be on call for him. I was already so upset because this dr. had been so rude on the phone. He was so rude it was almost all I talked about the whole way to the hospital. So....we were on our way and phone calls had been made when I realized I had not had one single contraction. But within a few minutes of realizing that they started coming on very strong and very fast. When we got to the hospital I told Brad the wrong way to go and the door was locked so we had to walk around to the emergency entrance which seemed a mile away when I was doubled over with pain. We get a wheelchair head up to the floor and was made to sit and wait on a nurse. I was actually shocked. My water had broke, I was having VERY painful contractions every 1-2 minutes and we waited at least 10-15 minutes. From my understanding, that could be 10 minutes to late for some women. By the time they got me back in the room and changed I was already dialated to a 6. At this point I was so excited and so nervous. My dr. had already agreed that if I went into labor on my own I could try and have a vaginal delivery. (I had just had a c-section 11 months prior to this birth) A few people had already arrived at the hospital when Dr. Harris walks in. Its actually still hard for me to think about this part. He walks right in and tells me that he absolutely does not do VBACS. I literally felt like someone had just crushed my world. I wanted to experience childbirth so bad and I knew if I didn't get to this time my chances were very slim for ever getting to. I just wanted to lay back and cry. And to make matters worse this dr. was still being as rude as ever. Like its my fault I went in labor the morning after Christmas and in the middle of the night. They know it's like that when they chose that profession. So Im prepped for the c-section and I can at least be thankful that this one was completely different than my last one. I was awake the entire time, Brad was back there with me and he was able to take pictures and record it! I threw up 3 times after they gave me the numbing medicine. That happened after I had my epidural with the first birth. But this was disgusting. It was Christmas dinner. It was embarassing. I felt absolutely nothing until they started pulling the baby out. Then it felt like something was crushing down on my chest and I could barely breathe. On the video you can hear me grunting and making awful sounds. Thats embarassing too! You could tell by the cry it was a boy. Our first son! All 8 lbs and 13 oz of him! Which I actually thought was small compared to the first but all the nurse's thought he was big!
Of course there are things next time I want to do different. If I ever get to have a VBAC Im thinking of letting someone else in there besides Brad. We still dont want to find out what we are having. (S) is absolutely all boy and completely different than (D) ever was as a baby. He refuses a pacifier, she cant live without hers. He refuses a bottle, she refused the alternative. She screamed anytime we got in a car, he generally goes to sleep. She NEVER slept like a baby, and he did at first. She lost all her baby fat and got really skinny, he is as chubby as ever. They now weigh the same.

He is such a blessing to us. He is a complete momma's boy. He rarely can be comforted by anyone else. He still sleeps in the bed with me. That's because I love my sleep and I get more rest that way. He loves to watch cartoons and he cries when the dvd stops. He LOVES to be held. He would be completely content to sit in your lap all day. He loves his sister. He loves it when she talks to him and he just sits and watches her smiling the whole time. He says dadda and momma. Not as words of course but he babbles it a lot. Mostly dadda. His eyes are still in between a green color and a brown. And he's really starting to like his dadda too. He will twist around to look at him and just smile up at him. He absolutley loves to be outside. He starts smiling every time the wind hits his face. I could go on and on but this was just supossed to be the story of his birth. So here it is. I probably left out some details in some areas and told too many in others. Just ask if you want to know anything else! -I also did not go back and proof read

BBQ Weekend

This past weekend was exhausting. We were at Brads mom and dads Saturday. About 2 in the afternoon Brad went to go get some ice cream out of the freezer and discovered that the door had not been shut all the way and everything in it was completely thawed! This is a stand up freezer that was in the garage. It held our extra stuff as well as his mom and dad's. In the end it held the meat of 3 deer, about 40 lbs of chicken, fish, roast, porkchops, and bacon among other things. So EVERYTHING had to be cooked and then still lots of things had to be thrown away. We immediately started up the smokers and the grill and had to get to preparing the meat. We then had to finish cooking what was left Sunday. It was literally exhausting. And when the deer meat had thawed it left the whole bottom of the freezer completely full of blood. It was disgusting. But today is Monday, Im still exhausted and hopefully I will not be cooking any meat for the rest of the week!!! In the end we did get to spend time with some friends and the food was delicious!!
The funny thing is we were on our way home Friday night when Brad said that if we didn't get to eating some of the deer there wouldnt really be any point in him hunting this year. Irony....

Dog Bite

I am absolutely horrible at telling stories and I know this so please bare with me. I usually end up telling 5 different stories before I ever get to the end of the first story I started telling. Plus I'm a woman and we like to go into details on describing things. I mean is the wall ever just painted plain blue? Of course not. Its probably a turqoise with just a hint of the shade of the sky or something to that affect. See....haven't even started my story and I've already written the first paragraph.

So, Thursday afternoon I went walking with a friend of mine, Stacy. I was also pushing my daughter in the stroller. We had already been around the circle once when we were passing by a house with dogs barking through the window at us when suddenly they came flying out the front door. The bigger one, a medium sized mutt, bit me on the back of the leg. It happened so fast and I didn't see it coming. When they came running out of the house I immediately started pushing the stolller off the road and walking away. The dog bit me and then ran back into the yard but was still facing us barking like crazy. I immediately kept walking trying to get as far away as possible. The owner then comes out and stand on the porch and Stacy tells him he needs to get his dog that it had just bitten me and he just stands there on the porch. With the dogs still right there at us!!!

And the way things worked out it really is amazing to see the hand of God on the situation. At first it looked like an awful bite. It immediately turned into a huge purple knot and bleeding. And it hurt SO bad. You wouldn't think it would hurt that bad but it was a throbbing pain all night long. Thankfully it happened right next door to a nurse's house that I go to church with. And then, Stacy's stepdad is an EMT and she called him too. So we went to nurse's house and she starts cleaning it off then the EMT comes and he cleaned it off and bandaged it up and took my blood pressure and all of that. He also suggested that we file a report and so we did. By this point my husband was there. I really will try and condense this....in the end the police officer found out that the dog had just had all of his shots in May (Praise God).

Everyone agreed that I needed to go to the doctor because puncture wounds was not something you wanted to mess with and I needed to get a tet shot. Stacy asks me if I have insurance and I tell her no. Well, Stacy just so happens to be a medical assistant in a doctors office. So she calls someone and here's what happened in the end.
The doctors office saw me the next morning and charged me ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to see me! Then they only charged me THEIR cost for the tet shot. And then it turned out that the antibiotic that I was going to need was very expensive so Stacy called a pharmacist friend of hers who gave me the antibiotic for $26.00 which she said was a steal!!! In the end it cost me about $60.00 but I am so amazed at how God took care of everything. Now I am much better. Its still completely tender to the touch and a huge bruise around the bite but it doesn't hurt anything like it did in the beginning.

Like I said Im not good at telling stories and Im not going to go back and read this so hopefully I didn't leave anything out or say stuff that doesn't make sense.

Changes

We have so many things going on at the moment. Last fall we bought some land about 20 minutes from here. My husband has been wanting some land for so long and everything just worked out at the time. Our original plan was to move a trailor out there and maybe one day we could build a house. Ideally, we would like more land before we chose to build a house so that might still change. Well, we recently had a tough decision to make. First we found a trailor at such an unbelievable price. A double wide that needs some work but even after we paid for everything we would never even be able to get a single wide for this price. But the only way we will be able to get it is by paying cash. We do not want to go into any more debt. Well, just a few weeks after discovering this trailor someone approached us about renting some of our land to move their trailor on. We knew that we would never want to rent it to someone because we would always have someone on our land. But then she even offered to buy it. And when Brad told her a price she acted like that was no problem. So thats where we were faced with a huge decision. Do we sell our land and get out of debt? Do we sell our house and move?

Well, we have finally decided we want to sell our house. But we do have to act quickly to insure that we can get this trailor before someone else does. I would absolutely love to have more room. But at the same time I am so terrified of being home alone and I just started staying by myself in this house a few months ago. Well part of what makes me feel safer is having neighbors. Where we will be moving there aren't that many neighbors close by. Nowhere near enough to make me feel safe. And then we live right off of the highway. I really enjoy our location for the fact that we are kind of in the middle of the two cities we go to on a regular basis. And there's more of what I will miss. What I wont miss? A train coming by my front yard every 2 hours if not more. A train blaring its horn and waking my babies up or even wake us up in the middle of the night. A kitchen so tiny I dont even have a place to put everything. Literally, I would enjoy a small apartment kitchen much more. At least then I would have cabinets!! I could go on and on with my list of pros and cons for moving or staying. And then to top it off I found out last night that my grandparents are moving right up the road from me! They will still be closer but it was so exciting to hear that news. Now we just continue to pray for God's guidance and direction. And of course the energy and resources to fix our house so we can sell it. My husband already works so hard and he is really going to have to put in a lot of hours for what needs to be done around here.

FINALLY!

I have finally (for the most part) achieved the first thing I was really after by losing weight. Besides such obvious reasons one of the biggest reasons I wanted to lose weight was so I could wear my wedding bands again. It has been about 2 years since I have been able to wear them. Over 2 years actually and we've only been married for over 3 years. That means I got to wear my rings for a little over a year! It was just shortly into my pregnancy with Talan that I was no longer able to wear them. And the one time I got them on after I had Talan my fingers started hurting so bad after just a couple of hours that I had to take them off. Well, I have now had them on all day and I also wore them Tuesday night. The reason I say (for the most part) is because I haven't slept in them yet. I dont know if I feel like thats something I will be able to do yet but we will see soon I hope. So for now I am one happily married woman! At least I feel more like a married woman when I have my rings on....Silly probably but I dont care.

Chicken Fettucini

So last night I ventured out to try a new recipe. And the end result.... It was really just ok. It was kind of bland with not much taste. It was chicken cooked in a creamy sauce with seasoning, garlic, tomatoes and onion. And honestly, Im surprised with all the stuff it had in it that it was so bland. But I drowned mine in parmesan (which is how I eat my spaghetti) and I enjoyed it that way. I really love cooking and haven't had that much experience. So its getting to be kind of a downer that the last several recipes I have tried have not turned out that good. I know thats all part of it but I wish I could look at a recipe and know if its something I think will taste really good. I do think once I have been cooking regularly and trying new stuff that I will eventually be able to do that. So the end verdict is my husband agreed it tasted like it didn't have any sauce so it is not something we will be eating again.

Therapist

I must be going crazy. Well, not really but life catches up to you sometimes. Or more like passes you by and you cant catch up. But now I am beginning to see why people have therapists. They aren't always crazy, or completley lonely or kept something buried that their mom or dad did years ago. True there are those cases but then there are the cases like me. Just think, if I had a therapist I could just let out every single thing that bothers me. They dont know me and they dont know the people involved in my life. And then I would have absolutely no worries about them telling just one person who then of course tells just one person and so on and so on. And I could just go on and on and on about whatever I want to. And in my dream world its with NO interruptions or judgement. And if they are judging I dont really know them so I dont care. Its like a best friend that you dont have to feel guilty for spilling the beans on an argument with a spouse or friend. (Of course this friend doesn't come cheap!) Maybe I will start another blog under a different identity...just an idea. But for now I will just rant to myself and make this headache even bigger.

Cookies and Chicken

Today I made homemade chocolate chip cookies for the very first time. I didn't include a picture because we all know what cookies look like. And they were so good. And the recipe made a lot of cookies. The recipe said it would make 60 cookies. I didn't have that many but I probably made mine bigger than what they did. And for the first time I now know why people like to eat cookie dough. While I was waiting to put the cookies in the oven I was wondering if they were going to be good so I thought if I tried the batter I would get an idea. Well.....I ended up having to hurry up and wash the bowl out so I would quit eating it! Definitley a winner recipe.
On another note I was cooking a chicken breast for our chicken quesadillas for supper and I wanted to do it really simple. I heated up some olive oil and sprinkled salt and pepper on the chicken. It was one of the tastiest pieces of chicken I have ever tried. I cant belive how something so simple could be so yummy. And it just looked really pretty too. That will probably be a new regular way I cook chicken. Not too fattening either.

Something to think on

I love to read. I always have and if its a good book I hate to put it down. My books of choice have definitley changed over the last few years. I now read Fictional Christain but I am about to start looking at reading real life stories about Christians out in the world. But a few days ago I was reading a book and a character said something that I suppose I have known to be true but its not something I have ever really thought about. She was talking about living our lives as Christians and how Jesus sacrificed his earthly body so we are the only earthly bodies He has to use. What a revelation it was to read that! Of course we know that but is it something we ever think about? He NEEDS us to do the works that the Father has for us to do. Are we willing to do that for Him?

Happy Blues

If there is such a thing. Its Mothers Day 2010, 9:17 p.m. and I am exhausted. I couldn't even hardly stay awake visiting with my mom this evening but just a few minutes ago I was laying in bed and all I can think about is Amber. Amber is the young girl that got killed just one week ago. Then thinking about Amber send a million and one thoughts through my head. I am so confused about life and where I stand with it. I want to leave this world knowing that I walked every day with the love of God shining through me impacting everyone around me. Not just my family, but friends and even the cashier from Walmart.

But I dont see it. And if I dont see it, then its obviously not happening. I wasn't really brought up in church but I have always known God therefore never been a nonbeliever. But I have definitely been a nondoer. If that makes sense. I have 2 sisters and 2 brothers. None of which go to church or feel the need to love God and live for him. I know for a fact that at least 3 of them believe in God but I honestly dont know about the fourth one. But what am I doing for to have an impact on them? I do pray for them but not consistently. And have you ever really stopped to think about what happens to nonbelievers? I do....all the time. And just thinking about it now sends absolute FEAR through my body. I think about people I love going to hell and even people I just met and my heart starts breaking in a million pieces. Maybe its even my spirit breaking. I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy. I think about David asking God to punish his enemies and I think "I could never wish that on anyone." Not even on the man who caused me to live my entire life sleeping with one eye open and knowing that I will never have the relationship I want with my mom. Then after thinking about all of this I wonder....if I have this much doubt about my spiritual life where does that leave me? Should I fear for myself? On Judgment Day? Well I think even if I thought I was living a worthy life I would still fear standing before God and answering for all Ive done or haven't done in this life.

Now whats my point in talking about this? Im not sure exactly but I knew I couldnt spend another minute laying in bed with all of this running through my head. Today I pray for Amber's family who lost a daughter, a sister and a devoted aunt only one week ago and a month before her 25th birthday. This is a mothers worst nightmare. Well, one of them. And to have a holiday like this right after. My heart goes out to this family. I also pray that not a day goes by without God bringing conviction on my life. I want to be completely clean of anything worldly in my life. I want to bury myself in His word every day and just fall deeper and deeper into finding out who He is. Thank you God for every day that you give me. May I not take one day for granted and my I find a way to make up for all of the days I have wasted.

An Aching Heart

My heart is breaking. Not so much for what I feel but for what was lost. Yesterday morning I walk in to church and find out that someone I knew was killed in a boating accident. I had worked with this girl a few years back, went to some church functions together and just last week was sitting and laughing with her at a ballgame. I felt as if I had been punched in the stomach. She was my age. Not married but she was a woman going after God. That should help the sadness right? It doesn't. This wasn't even someone I talked to on a regular basis but I felt I could barely keep it together. I was sitting in praise and worship and all I could think was why God? She's my age. She didn't get the chance to really live. She really was loved by so many. She was one of those always laughing and smiling. I wake up this morning and nothing looks the same. All I can think is it could've been me. It could be any of us. And if I was to go today, would I felt as if I had lived my life up to par? Have I done everything I can possibly do to give my life to God completely. Do I even have that much faith to live the exact way He has asked me to?

4 months

Monday my baby boy turned 4 months old. He is starting to try and sit up when he is in the bouncer seat or even in his swing he will lean over looking at stuff. He loves to watch his sister play and he really loves it when she talks to him. He smiles and babbles but he doesn't laugh out loud very often. He really loves attention. I guess he got that from his momma because I hate to being home alone. And this morning.....he rolled over for the very first time. He is such a blessing and I so look forward to watching him grow.

Bread

This is the bread I made. The one on the left is the cinnamon bread.

Cooking

Over the past couple of days I have tried 3 new recipes. The first one was a bread recipe. I've made homemade bread before and it tasted just fine but I still wanted to try different recipes to see if there was one that I just REALLY liked. This recipe was from an Amish cookbook. I think it turned out really well. It was an extremely soft dough and the bread turned out soft and light as well. One loaf I rolled out and sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar before rolling it back up. I'm pleased with how both loaves turned out.
The next recipe I tried was for a slow cooker peanut butter cup cake. This one did not turned out anything like it looked and I followed the recipe exactly. It tasted ok but is not a recipe I will be making again.
The third recipe was for homemade blondies. Again, this one was ok just not something I will be making again. It was supossed to be a dessert and it just tasted like a slightly sweet bread. I love trying new recipes and you never know unless you try them. I think as I experiment more I will know just by looking at recipes wether or not it is something I will even like. I plan on trying a new recipe at least once a month which doesn't seem like a lot but we aren't home that often during the week for supper.
I love making homemade biscuits now and I was originally planning on making some to put in the freezer and I may still but it doesn't take long at all to make up the dough and then the biscuits cook in ten minutes where as frozen biscuits take about 20 minutes to cook.

MONDAYS

You wouldn't think being a stay at home that Mondays would bother me but they do. I have a hard time getting back to focus on Mondays so I usually end up making Monday's my errand day. But this week I have a friend having surgery tomorrow so I like to get everything done in one day out.
Well, this past weekend was our women's retreat. I got there Friday afternoon around 4 and then it was cut short due to the storm headed our way. So everyone woke up to packing, eating breakfast and then leaving. The theme of the weeked was Come To The Quiet. And I really hate to say it but I was so looking forward to that concept but it just never came. We were going to have an hour and half Saturday morning to each find a spot on the property for our quiet time. But Friday night was a nice time of fellowship and we did have a group time with the Lord and I have already heard several women talk about how they were touched by God. And now I have some things set before me to think on and get incorporated in my life that I know wouldn't have come about without this weekend. Or at least not at this time.
In a conversation the other day I was talking to someone about God and Heaven and I was really hit with a reality. They said that God wants us to be so close to Him that we are talking to Him just like we were sitting and talking. Well, I am a far cry from that. I hate to say it but hearing God's voice is something I really struggle with. I know I just need to dive in and find every way possible to deepen my relationship with him.
On my Monday side note I lost 1 pound last week. I seriously thought I would have actually gained weight last week. So I am very happy with that and now have 2 1/2 pounds to go before my first goal.

NO, NO, NO

No....this has become my daughter's favorite word. She says it for everything. When she means it as an acutal no, when she wakes up, when she's mad, even when she's playing. I feel a little sad by it at times because she hears this word all the time. So now I am trying to teach her to say yes. And we have started saying "dont touch" more instead of saying no. She has even been teething and sometimes when her mouth is hurting I think she's even telling it no like "stop hurting me" Its cute but sad also because she is usually crying when she does this.
On a side note my 4 month old and 15 month old are wearing the same size diapers now. And on another side note I lost 2 pounds this past week. That leaves 3 1/2 pounds to go to get to my first goal. Which I had given myself til May 15 so I have high hopes for that. Now Im excited at being even less than that goal by the time we go to the beach. And now both my children are napping so its time to go do some major cleaning!

Our Weekend

I lost 2 more pounds. I am happy about it but at the same time I didn't lose any weight last week so that still makes me feel blah. But I am five pounds away from my first goal which will make my weight loss a total of 12 pounds.
I just wanted to throw that side note in before I started talking about our weekend. It was a pretty full and eventful weekend. Friday night Brads mom had offered to keep Talan so we didn't have to take both babies to the Hampton Cove yard sale. Well, Friday afternoon my eye started bothering me with this thing it does every year. I had already removed my contacts but my eye gets extremely red, starts burning, and is watering non stop. And I have very sensitive eyes. They start watering if I even think about something like that. So we were originally planning on going to eat dinner Friday night and I thought we would be turning in very early to rest up for getting up so early on Saturday. That of course never happened. But we did end up getting to go eat dinner by ourselves while Brad's mom and dad watched both babies. Unfortunately, our service stunk, we didn't get hardly anything we asked for, Brad spilled his entire drink all across the table and in my lap and seat...haha...and now Brad has vowed that we will never eat at Ruby Tuesdays again.
So then we get up Saturday and I look for hours with one eye and a headache with the hopes of finding some baby clothes and end up with hardly ANY. It was a let down. Then we come home and I got to take a three hour nap but I woke up and still had a horrible headache and we already had plans that some friends were coming over. We ended up in Scottsboro eating pizza and playing games with some friends and Brad's brother. It turned out to be a pretty nice evening. Then after a screaming baby all night long we went to church, a birthday dinner, and then Brad went to go shoot some guns with some other people and we finally came home. So.....that along with some other details I didn't mention Im not sure I would say it was a pleasant weekend. I enjoyed doing the yard sale with my husband until my head hurt too bad and it did get better by the time we started playing games that night.

Monday morning excitement!

Well, it is now Monday so I can officially say that I have lost 5 pounds! I am so excited. Im hoping this is even more motivation for me to continue and try and lose weight. I usually weigh every Monday but I decided to get on the scale Friday and I saw that I had lost 3 pounds. But I didn't want to get too excited about it until after the weekend which is usually when I eat the worse. So now I have 8 more pounds to go to get to my first goal. Then I will be what I was when I found out I was pregnant with Talan. Hopefully at that point I will be able to wear my wedding rings. It has been almost 2 years since I've been able to wear them. And we've been married for three! I have given myself until May 15 to get there. Thats a good ways away so surely I can do it by then. We will see!

Life

I like to talk and being at home by myself all day almost every day never was my style. I'm getting used to it and actually since I had Nehemiah I prefer to stay at home now. I have found blogging to be sort of like a release of any conversing I need to get out. So....this post isn't anything specific and probably wont even interest you.

Today I have made HUGE progress on my bedroom. I even took pictures of it before I ever got started and once I'm done I'm actually thinking of posting before and after pics. This would be extremely embarrassing for me to admit how bad I had let things go but if anybody might have a mess that even comes close then it just might be the motivation or inspiration that somebody needs. I'm talking a HUGE mess. Its been harder for me to clean that half of the house because I cant keep an eye on Talan when I'm in there. So I put her in her swing since it was close to her nap time and got to work on it while she napped and watched cartoons. And I've been trying to get caught up on all our laundry. Its unbelievable how much stuff we have. We had a huge yard sale last year and now I'm going through stuff getting ready for another yard sale. We live in this really old house and there is only ONE closet. 2 adults and 2 babies....you do the math. So needless to say its hard finding places to put things. I'm getting all this laundry done and I'm running out of places to put things. So its time to go through again and get rid of what doesn't fit. Unfortunately I'm still wearing maternity pants and cant fit into hardly any of my old clothes so I'm not sure what to get rid of. I would at least like to think that one day soon I could wear normal clothes that don't have an elastic waistband.

And whats for dinner tonight? Chicken pot pie and salad. Chicken pot pie is by no means healthy but I will be eating a lot more vegetables than I would on a normal night. And I'm going to eat salad with it so I wont be eating so much of the pie.

Talan is learning to walk!

For a few weeks now Talan will take a few steps here and there. But tonight, she walked back and forth from me to Brad. She did this for quite awhile. We got some video of it but by the time we did she had already been doing it and I think she was getting tired of it! But soon my baby girl will be walking everywhere!

Cheeseburger Soup w Dumplings

1/2 lb ground beef
3/4 cup chopped onion
3/4 cup shredded carrots
3/4 cup diced celery
1 tsp basil
1 tsp parsley flakes
4 tbsp butter, divided
3 c chicken broth
4 cupes diced potatoes
1/4 c all-purpose flour
2 cups process cheese (Velveeta) 8 oz
1-1/2 cups milk
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/4 c sour cream

I got this recipe out of one of my many cookbooks so to give credit where credit is due I wrote the recipe down word for word. However, with that being said I will now tell you that I omitted celery because I dont like it. I also used sliced carrots and next time I will be adding more carrots than I did. The cheese I just diced up and put in the pot until I thought I had the right amount. One block of veleveeta is like 30 something ounces so you can guess you dont need very much of it. Also when I made this I didn't have any potatoes and thats where the dumplings came in. I do recommend that if you do make the dumplings only make however many you will eat that night. They kind of took away from the soup once reheated and crumbled up into the soup and makes a weird texture. Still good but for those that different textures bother them to eat that might be one of them. For the dumplings you need one cup of baking mixAnd about 1/3 cup of milk. You add milk to the mix until you get a pretty sticky dough. Once you have cooked the soup drop the dough down into the soup and cover for about 12 minutes. Until toothpick inserted into dumplings comes out clean. These are extremely yummy after being cooked in this cheese soup.

DIRECTIONS - In a 3 qt saucepan, cook beef until no longer pink. drain and set aside. In the same saucepan saute onion, carrots, celery, basil and parsley in 1 tbsp butter until vegetables are tender, about 10 minutes. Add broth, potatotes and beef, bring to a boil. Reduce the heat; cover and simmer 10-12 minutes or til potatoes are tender. Meanwhile, in a small skillet, melt remaining butter. Add flour; cook and stir 3-5 minutes or until bubbly. Add to soup; bring to a boil. Cook and stir for 2 minutes. Reduce heat to low. Add cheese, milk, salt and pepper; cook and stir until cheese melts. Remove from heat and blend in sour cream.

Fajita Rice with Vegetables

I made this last night for supper but since its usually just me eating I had it tonight too. I always like to find the cheapest way possible to make meals. So if ever I can make a meal and eliminate the meat I always do. Of course meat would enhance most of these meals but the bottom line is its still good enough to eat without it and I shouldn't be so spoiled to always have to have meat. I had been wanting to make fajitas but during my cleaning process yesterday my tortillas fell behind the stove. I put things on top of our toaster oven and they like to fall in the space between that and the wall. At this moment there are several things back there and Im thinking its time to pull something out to get everything out.

So.....I decided to cook my vegetables and eat it with rice. I was planning on having rice in it anyways but with the tortillas. I cooked a green pepper, yellow pepper, onion, carrots and mushrooms. Once my rice was done and vegetables tender I then added fajita seasoning and some water to my vegetables. I was originally going to serve this over the rice but I decided to just go ahead and throw the rice in and mix it all up. I could tell when I poured the seasoning pack in that it was too much seasoning so in the future I will either add more vegetables and rice or less seasoning. I then ate this with some sour cream and salsa. I think it turned out pretty good. It was an extremely hearty meal where only one bowl and I was full. It could be made even heartier by eating it in a tortilla or if you like you can of course add some meat to it as well. Im thinking of making the same stuff and trying it as a soup. Fajita soup. Sounds good to me. So that is what I had last night, tonight, and its looking like tomorrow as well. A very simple meal and it was loaded with vegetables.

Making My List

Making lists really do work! I dont know if its just having something with everything written down and you can go down and check it off but I will be making a point to try and do this every day. Its something my mom would always do whenever we would have to spend a saturday getting our entire house cleaned and its always helped us get the job done.

Last night I decided to make a list of things to do in every single room. I ended up with several different lists actually. The main one was a list of everything I needed to clean. For example.....my kitchen list looked a something like this

wash dishes
clean off table
clean counters and stove
clean kitchen sink
clean microwave stand
sweep
mop

It had a few more things on it but I just started at the top of my list this morning and started working my way down and checking it off. I think listing every single thing is what helps the most. Instead of just making a list that tells me to clean the kitchen I have a specific list and I wont stop at just washing the dishes. Not only did it keep me focused but it also helped me feel like I accomplished something. Going down the list kept me from being able to clean off the kitchen table by piling stuff on the counter....which happens a lot around here. Now my kitchen is cleaned and hasn't been this clean since family cleaned it when we had Nehemiah.

I have a list for each room in my house. I also wrote out a list of things I needed to do today that went beyond cleaning my house. I even put on my list to do my workouts and drink my water for the day. Then I made a list of things I wanted to get done in the long run. This list includes things like deep cleaning out a cabinet and reorganizing my closet. I want to be realistic so Im thinking my goal is to mark at least one thing off that list a month. If Im able to do more than that then yay for me! Ive made lists before and its always worked but Ive never decided to try and do it everyday. Im thinking after accomplishing so much today it really is something I will probably stick to from now on.

Homemade Biscuits

I finally made homemade biscuits. Im sure lots of you have already ventured down this road but for me it was a first and I am pretty excited about it. It is something I have been wanting to do for a long time.

The first thing I have to say about it is that I am shocked at how CHEAP it was to do this. And on top of that it was so easy. The only downside about it (besides the mess in my kitchen) is that it was a little time consuming. Not a whole lot but with 2 babies my time is very precious and very rarely does it go without interruption. But I only used 3 ingredients and not much of them either. And how did they taste? I thought they tasted pretty good. They weren't the fluffiest biscuits I've ever eaten but I have time for that. I did learn about how thin I needed to roll the dough out because a few of the biscuits were a little thinner than I liked. When my timer went off I though they were the perfect color but I was in the middle of frying an egg and just those few seconds it took me to finish up they got a little darker than I would have liked. I ate mine crumbled up in gravy but Brad chose to have egg biscuits with his. The biscuits weren't burnt in any way but the outside did crumble very easy so his biscuit broke in half when he went to bite in it. So there are a few things I have to work on but overall I am satisfied with how they turned out and I wouldn't be bothered if they turned out like they did from here on out. You might be able to tell in the picture that one has a little character...haha. That one was from my left over dough and I have to say that it was my favorite.

The littlest joys in life

My husband is working late and calls to tell me that my cousin will probably be staying the night. Thats no big deal and in fact this isn't somebody that I care to see my messy unorganized house. I did however think that he at least needed a clean spot to sleep. Luckily, I didn't do much today but the one thing I do every do is pick up my living room in order for Talan to be able to play in the floor. So it didn't take me long to pick it back up (this is an ongoing process) and I even had a clean blanket and an extra clean pillowcase for him a pillow to lay out! Then I even thought to lay out some of Brads pajamas because I knew my cousin probably didnt have extra clothes on him. And I got to tell you.....never would I have thought something so little would give me such a sense of accomplishment. It feels good to think I at least have some things in order that I was able to do that little.
And I have now decided it is much nicer to go to bed with my living room cleaned up and ready for the next day. My usual morning routine is to feed the babies, eat breakfast and then pick up and vacuum the living room floor. I dont mind this routine but again I just feel this sense of accomplishment that I will wake up to an already clean living room and not only that, but my husband gets to come home to a clean living room. Now....if I could just get going in the other rooms.

Updates

I never thought I would be this busy staying at home with my babies and not even schooling them yet! I dont know if Im not managing my time wisely or if I really have that much to get done. I used to never want to stay at home and now I hate leaving my house. Partly because its a lot of work going anywhere and partly because I just have things I need to be getting done. There are still those days that I just want to get out and do something.
So where are we at in life right now? Let's start with Talan. She is such an amazing special little girl. She's so smart but she has hit this stage where she is completely rebellious. You might think Im being extreme seeing as how she is only 14 months old but we know she understands what no means and she even understands when we tell her that she will get a spanking. But she will purposely look at us and continue to do the same thing while we sit there and spank her each time. She is definitely strong willed. But she is still the happiest baby I have ever seen. She isn't walking and Im ok with that. Its frustrating sometimes to hear others talk about how she needs to be walking and I should be doing this or that....etc. I know she's a smart girl and when she's ready she will walk. Who knows? God may have her holding off on walking to give me some time to get adjusted to our new life.
Now to the baby. Its hard to believe he is only 2 1/2 months old. I keep expecting him to bust out laughing at any moment. He loves to smile and coo but mostly for the time being he just loves being next to his momma. I am so thankful to be breast feeding him. In the beginning I thought it was stressful and could understand why people chose not to but I wanted to hang in there because I know its good for him. Now I couldn't imagine having to give him a bottle all the time. Breast feeding gives me more sleep and less dishes to clean! Who wouldnt enjoy that?
Brad has been extremely busy with work. He's been gone a lot. Last week he was home one night out of the week. It can make things hard but we are thankful for the work God is providing for him. And him being gone has been such a learning experience for me. Im learning what Im capable of and what some of my weaknesses are. We went out on a date last weekend and it was nice just to have some us time. We even got to make it a whole afternoon and night. We went shopping at some thrift stores then we went to applebees to use the gift card we had gotten back in november for our anniversary! Then I realized I had forgotten the battery pack for my pump so we went to the mall where I could pump. Interesting. Then we ended up going bowling where a couple met up with us. I did realize on the way home that the next time we went on a date my curfew was going to have to be much earlier. It was 10 when we got home and Im pretty sure I dozed off on the way home. And thats just a little bit of how things are coming along for now.

Aggravation to Appreciation

I love one of those breaking moments when God reveals something that might seem so simple but is truly a life changing revelation. Since Nehemiah has been born he is so much like Talan was as a baby, yet so different too. He cried constantly but once I put him in my arms he is instantly comforted. Talan, however, was not so easy to comfort. I spent the first several weeks with Nehemiah basically holding him all day long. He was constantly wanting to latch on or just wanting the comfort of being held. Haven't we all longed for the comfort of a loved one's arms? I realized today that this has been something that would usually aggravate me. I would get him quiet and put down and just when I would think I could start working on something he would start up again.
Today was no different. I was heading to do another round of laundry when he started to cry. But this time, I wanted nothing more than to be the comfort he needed. Why not take this time out of the day to just simply appreciate getting to hold my baby boy and love on him. And this was also a time of relaxation from cleaning. How many times throughout our kids lives do we end up wishing we could simply hold them again as we did when they were babies? So from this moment on I thank God for those moments when he just wants to feed or simply just wants to be held. He's already growing up so fast and I want to treasure every moment with him that I have.

Tilapia

I want to share my experience on cooking fish the other night for supper. It was the first time I had ever cooked fish and I was extremely nervous. But I found a recipe and I have to say that we thought it was fantastic. My husband said it tasted like something you could get from Red Lobster. And to top it off, it was super easy.

I started off by squeezing some lemon over the fish and baking it for about 15-20 minutes. Until it starts to get flaky. I did spray the baking dish with cooking spray and you dont want the fish to overlap. Meanwhile I mixed about 1/2 cup of Mozerella with 2 tbsp butter, 2 tbsp mayo, 1/4 tsp seasoning salt, 1/4 tsp oregano and pepper. Then you spread this over the fish and broil about five minutes until a golden brown color.

This will definitely be a keeper recipe for us. One of the grocery stores in town puts there tilapia on sale buy one get 2 free and thats the reason I decided to ever buy it in the first place.

The Beginning

I finally remembered the password to my blog! Yay for me ;) I enjoy writing about things and being able to go back and read it. Does that mean I ever write in my journal? Never to be honest. I think there are 3 entries in it and that averages about one a year since I've had it.
Lately, I've been thinking a lot about my life. What direction is it going? Or lack of direction maybe...... Our Pastor always says that insanity is doing the same things over and over and expecting different results. Well that is definitely what has been going on here. In every aspect of my life. My home, my family, and my spiritual life.
For example.....my home.....I want nothing more than to see it organized and clean and I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that things would go much more smoothly if it was. So what have I done different to get these things? Well my husband hired someone to clean the house for me while I was 9 months pregnant and taking care of an 11 month old. I thought if I could only get my entire house completely clean then I can definitely KEEP it clean. Right? Well, that's a great concept but it only works if you actually change from what you were doing before!! Due to humiliation I won't even tell you how many times my house actually got cleaned and what it looks like now. Lets just say there is a reason I've been thinking about the lack of direction my life is taking. And that is just one aspect of it. So I am determined to change. I want God to use me and how is He ever going to trust me with human souls if I cant take care of what He has already given me responsibility for? So blogger world, I need you to hold me accountable. Not in a berating way but in a supportive way. Now be kind with that support and keep in mind I now have a one year old and a 3 1/2 week old baby who feels the need to be constantly latched on.