Confessions of a stressed out mom!

So if you read my last post you are probably wondering how many cookies I ate!?

Let's just say I'm going to have to start over with dad's gift! Oops!

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So I had good intentions to make almost every last cookie and send it to my dad. I melted the chocolate and it looked smooth and creamy, but it seemed a tad on the thick side, so the "Betty Crocker" in me was emerging and I added some milk. HUGE mistake. It turned all nasty and clumpy then I kept trying to melt it more because I figured the milk was cooling the chocolate down so much that I needed to re-heat. Nope, I burnt it!

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So now that you know the rest of the story wouldn't you have indulged?

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Let me clarify, it wasn't the whole bag in one night. It was over the course of 4 days, and the kids had some too! :)

Can I resist the temptation?

I was browsing Etsy the other day when I came across some yummy looking treats. Chocolate covered oreos. I wanted to buy them, but they were way to expensive. So I figured I could make those :) My plan is to make these with the girls tonight for my dad :) It's his birthday next week. I will try my absolute best not to consume too many. Chocolate/sweets are a big downfall of mine. So I'm sure I will eat one maybe two, but I'll try really hard not to eat more! I'll let ya know!

So what if it is only 4 o'clock and I put my p.j.'s on :) It's been a long week!!!

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Have a great night and enjoy your family!

In EVERYthing GiVE Thanks!

Here are the girls making some fun snow angels! Too cute. 

The snow is about 2 feet deep.

Jeremy getting ready to slide down the hill with the kids!

One last photo before heading inside. It was F.R.E.E.Z.I.N.G!!!!

Hot cocoa time. This girl loves lookin' through the magazines!

Alaina, LOVES hot cocoa!

We had a fun weekend of just relaxing. 

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Due to the layoffs at Jeremy's work we are trying to cut back in the financial area. 

Which is fine, but sad. 

The one place we are cutting back is Alaina's school/therapy. The Conductive Learning Center is an awesome place for kids with CP and Spina Bifida, but on the flip side it is very expensive (In state tuition is $1700/month). We have worked out a plan to keep her there 2 days a week which will help with the cost of tuition. I'm bummed that we have to cut back, but on the positive side, it will give us a break. 

There is no busing for this school, so I am the bus, and it is a 45 minute commute one way, (I don't know how people do it there whole lives?) which isn't so bad, but it's just far enough that I don't like to travel back home during the day with Addie, because that would put her in the car for 3 hours/day... too much. 

So, for that reason it will be a nice. Doing "normal" things at home, taking naps in bed instead of in the car seat, eating at home, not spending our afternoons at Starbucks and Barnes & Noble, (which isn't so bad, but when you do it EVERY day with a 3 year old... well I think you can catch my drift), crafting again (I'm really excited about this!) and keeping my house more organized and clean! This is one area that I struggle with when I am not home most of the day! By the end of the day I am so drained that I just flat out don't want to do any housework or cook or craft!

I am actually thanking God for a reason to take a break, otherwise I would still be taking her there full time and I am just getting burnt out!!!

If you are a mom, you know you would run to the ends of the earth for your kids. God knows this, and he also knows that I would have fallen off the edge without a reason to take a break! So in everything I'm giving THANKS!

Sorry if this is really jumbled, I just needed to vent a little!

Trying to stay positive!

I just bought this super fun, over-sized bag for the upcoming Spring season! It's totally fun, and not really me. It just makes me smile every time I look at it! 

What do you think?

I used my Christmas money for this fun purchase, but now feel a little guilty. Why? You ask. Well my wonderful and talented hubby just informed me that the company he was working for is going under. Another tragedy of a really bad economy! I'm overwhelmed with the idea of him being unemployed and also saddened. I also know that the God we serve has never left us nor forsaken us. By that I mean we have never missed a meal, left the house naked, or missed paying our bills. He is good and faithful, all we need to do is rest in that! 

It's still really hard to get that nasty feeling out of my stomach!

So be praying for our family, we would greatly appreciate it!

Pointless FUN!!!!

Just made this fun Wordle

Go have fun... it's addicting :)

DiD You Know?

If you are living in an area that is reaching record low temperatures. I'm sorry, but I'm right there with you, and it is no fun. Freezing cold, with the wind and snow is a nasty mix. For a some fun you should try blowing bubbles outside. 

They freeze!

This photo is courtesy of a Yahoo search :)

TiP:  If the wind is blowing try doing it in the garage. Otherwise they will pop instantly.

I fell off the bandwagon!

Today I totally disregarded my attempt to cut out the caffeine. Oh dear! Although, I did hold back and not go to Starbucks. I'm pathetic I know!

I have a headache...

... a caffeine headache that is. I am really trying to cut back a lot on the caffeine! I am addicted to Starbucks. My regular is Grande Mocha, love it! Second I love a good Dr. Pepper!

So today was the first day in a long while I haven't had any caffeine. It feels like my eyeballs are slowly trying to be squished! Not a great feeling! Anyways, I laid down this afternoon which Addie was sure not to let me have a moment of peace. She kept telling Alaina to be quiet because mom is sleeping and then she would come in and say, "mom, i told Alaina to be quiet" it is cute, but it hurt my eyeballs. Plus, somewhere she found perfume and sprayed it on herself, because I keep getting a whiff and it is strong!

On an even scarier note :) I was almost in a multi-car pile up on the highway today. It is so scary when you are driving and all of a sudden you have to stop, you go to stop and the whole road is just a sheet of ice. Thankfully, I didn't hit anyone, but I was worried about all of the traffic behind me. No one hit me, but two huge trucks had to ditch into the median at a really fast pace and snow went flying everywhere. The second truck was going so fast that he was almost up on the road on the other lanes! Crazy. I hate that feeling of no control! God was watching over me and the girls today! Thank you Jesus!

Catch ya later, American Idol is comin' on :) I know I'm a geek!!!

Fun Times for the Midwest!

If you live in the Midwest and love roller-coasters then you should try your hardest to head to Pokagon State Park located in Angola, IN

My youngest sister Sarah gave all of the siblings a trip to this fabulous state park for Christmas. The gift included free babysitting (thanks mom and dad), free admission to the park and the toboggan paid for :) Afterwards, we were all treated to hot cocoa or coffee our choice!

Let me just say the night we went was crazy. There was hardly anyone there due to the crazy weather we were having. It was raining and there was ice everywhere. Which only made our trip down the hill even crazier. We rented a 30 lb. toboggan and all 4 of us piled onto this piece of wood. We slowly climbed the stairs to reach the top of the hill all discussing how insane we were for going down this thing with about 2 inches of ice on the run! Didn't seem to stop us though.

As we were getting ourselves on the toboggan we were listening to the instructions so that we wouldn't injure ourselves and then she said it, "Make sure you duck before the bridge!" and then she pushed us down the hill. We were all screaming at the top of our lungs and extremely terrified that the bridge was going to take our heads off! Talk about an adrenaline rush! Toward the end they had a meter to clock the speed you were going. We clocked... 39 MPH. Insane!

Well, we didn't loose our heads the bridge actually didn't come anywhere near our heads, she was just joking! Crazy lady!!! We ended up going down 3 times. Laughing and screaming the entire way!

Thanks Sarah, I had a blast and that was a fun idea for a gift!!!

P.S. I didn't take these pics. We weren't aloud to have a camera as we were going down, plus it was raining so I didn't want to get mine all wet!

Some fun new purchases and a Milestone!

Okay it only took me like 20 tries to load these 3 pictures. Blogger was being silly today!

Isn't this paper just so yummy you could eat it? I love all of the colors and patterns I can't wait to make some fun spring time cards!

Oh and I picked up this fabulous trim/ribbon. I LOVE it. The color is so eye catching and it is just so girly! I am planning on using this on some of my new cards and maybe a tote or an apron? Haven't really decided yet, but I have 4 yds to play with:)
Here are a few more accessories that I snagged while out shopping today. These little rub-ons were too cute to pass up and who doesn't need a sweet new bird stamp?

So guess what? I reached a blogger's milestone :) I just recently got over 10,000 hits on my blog. Crazy, that anyone cares about little ol' me! Hope you have a fabulous day what is left of it!!!

Be happy it is "hump" day. {the hump refers to Wednesday, so don't get any ideas!}

To Target... You're not fair!

Dear Target,

I love your store. Every time I enter your store I hold my breath. I put those horse blinders on and only purchase the necessities! Yeah Right, you must know that this never happens and I always buy more than what I need! All I want to do is spend, spend, spend. And when I have no money to spend, this becomes a problem. So please stop making such cute stuff, my husband would appreciate it!

Thank you

Okay, so I got this stuff at Target yesterday. I could not resist. I will try with all my willpower to save it for valentine's day! There was so much more fun, cute things in this pattern that I would've loved to purchase, but I came to my senses!


This mug is for my sister. She collects mugs, so that when she gets her own place she can have so many fun choices for her morning beverage :) I'm saving this for her graduation open house :) 

To My Sweet Baby GiRL!!!

To my Sweet Addie, Happy Birthday Honey! You are so very, very special to me! From the moment you were conceived you held a special place in my heart.

Today we celebrate you turning the big 3! I love your sweet hugs, your goofy smiles, the fact that you ALWAYS have to have bare feet, even when it is snowing! I smile when I see you cuddle your blankie and suck that thumb. 

I LOVE it when I tell you something and you say, "Oh mom, that's a great idea" and you pat my back :) I am very thankful that God choose us to be your parents!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ADDIE!!!

I WiSH I had a cook! Now that would've been a great Christmas present!

Well, I do have lots to talk about today. 

One of the gifts I received this Christmas is this cookbook, "Deceptively Delicious" I had felt that I was getting into a rut and not knowing how to get out. I am getting sick and tired of hearing, "What's for dinner?" and I tell them. What do you think they say? You guessed it, "I don't like that." "OH please", I tell them, "you've never even tried it!" I really want my kids to grow up eating healthy and it didn't really feel like it was going that way! So, time to intervene!  At first glance I thought, oh dear, what am I getting myself into? I mean you have to puree the veggies and fruits to disguise them. Well, I'll give it a whirl. So far I've made the Spaghetti and meatballs. Which have pureed squash, carrots and tomatoes. My kids ate it up. Second I made her pancakes. Which have pureed sweet potato along with cinnamon. It smelled really good, but they were kind of weird. BUT the kids loved them and ate them.

Last night I made tuna fish sandwiches, which Addie would never touch with a 10 foot pole. I toasted the bread and put tomato and cheese on it. The secret ingredient...
pureed cauliflower. It takes the place of mayo or miracle whip. Add some spices and celery and voila it looks like the real deal. The hubby was not so sure, but he did say it tasted fine :) Addie on the other hand gobbled it up. I could not believe my eyes. All of what was on her plate was gone and she asked for more! People, she won't even eat cheese. She is that picky. I am really hoping that this is a change of pace... STOP

Toady's lunch... I made pizza on a tortilla. I thought hey this is a great way to have pizza and not have all of the stuff that comes along with the crust. It looked and smelled pretty much the same. Addie would not eat one bite. What a stinker. 

Back to the drawing board I guess. Will this dinner thing ever be easy?

Okay now for the moment some of you have been waiting for :) The GiVEAWAY... drum roll please!

The WiNNER is...

ASHLEY

Ashley I will be shipping your orders on Tuesday I will include the tote along with a fun surprise :) Enjoy!!!

Whimsy...

Some fun prints I found on Etsy. It doesn't matter what I am looking for I can always find it on that site!

Here I found Art and Philanthropy

She has a ton of fun whimsical items for your home or she even has fun stationary! You should check her out. She is having a BOGO sale through January!!! 

Her shop is sure to make you smile!

Don't forget about the GiVEAWAY I am having... scroll down to read the details. It ends tomorrow!

Happy New Year... It's GiVEAWAY time!

Happy New Year everyone... you'll hopefully notice the changes I made to the blog! I love the bright cheery colors! We rang in the new year with dear friends. We played, "Telephone, Pictionary" it is a fun version and best of all it doesn't cost anything. You just need 6-10 people, strips of paper and pens. {We cut notebook paper into thirds}

Each person gets a piece of paper now let your creative juices flow...

•  The first step is write down a phrase or anything that comes to your head. Some examples from last night were, "Milk, it does a body good" or "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea". 
• Then you pass the paper to the left, you then have to draw whatever the phrase says. You fold over the written part and then pass it again to the left.
•  The next person only sees the drawing and so they have to write the phrase they think it is. Then you fold over the drawing, pass it, then you have to draw a picture of the phrase. Are you seeing the pattern yet? Phrase, picture, phrase, picture...
  
• You stop when you get your original back... careful, you may not know when you get yours back!

Okay folks, it's everyone's favorite time... A GiVEAWAY!!! This is to celebrate the new year and due to the fact that I've reached my 100th post :) Who would've thunk it? So here is the item you will receive if you win... A fun Owl library tote! {I tried to upload a full length version, but it didn't work? sorry} Also, in this GiVEAWAY is a surprise! {Here is your clue... If you love to scrapbook, make cards, tags or anything crafty you will love this!}

Here are the rules... You have more than one chance to win...

• Leave me a comment = 1 entry
• Link me on your blog = 2 entries {please let me know in your comments if you linked me}
• buy something from the shop = 1 entry per item {if you purchase 3 things that's 3 entries. Please let me know in the notes to seller your BLOG name!}

Just an FYI about the shop... I just marked ALL of my Christmas goodies to HALF OFF! Plus there are a few more items in my sale section!

You have until Sunday, January 4th to play, when I will announce the winner!!! Good Luck and have fun!