goodbye '08 hello '09

so let's see....

in '08 we started attending a church
living grace
i can't say enough good things about it.
a year ago i didn't understand what it was i thought i believed in
wonderful people have been brought into my life
and God is using them to help me understand

in '08 my sis got married and moved back!!!
i love having her back
she means soooo much to me
i don't know what i did without her here

in '08 i started blogging
it may seem silly but it's a true outlet for me
especially being a stay-at-home mommy
it's helped me to re-connect with my creativity
and explore more about my likes and dislikes
it's given me the ability to express who i am and write.

in'08 i got organized

in '08 we paid off our suv

in '08 we've made our little family a top priority

in '09 we need to make our marriage a bigger priority

in '09 we will be married for 5 years and i plan on us celebrating big time!
for us that means 2 nights away.. by ourselves...

in '09 we'll have a 4 yr old and a 2 yr old.. weird!

in '09 i'll learn more about God and who i am with Him

in '09 i will vacuum with confidence
with my new yellow vacuum from my parents....

in '09 i will have more thursday nights

in '09 i will lower my expectations for myself and just
enjoy living life


so here's to '09
when the clock strikes 12 you can find me where i most want to be
comfy cozy at home curled up in my hubby's arms


Happy New Year!


{top photo: frolic / bottom photo: tiffany alexandria}

under the weather....

oh how i love to wear scarves and drink hot tea...

and oh how i dream of reading books....


but instead i've been catching up on my shows....
(in between taking care of everyone else, cleaning, cooking,
and holding our family together...)


and wishing i could curl up on her couch....


and that i could have her wardrobe...

christmas is over....

we had a lovely holiday.
it's technically not over for us yet. we still have one more tonight
but i'm sick so i'm not sure that we'll make it.
we have six total. woooh!




our trunk was FULL!


my boys and their new haircuts


my family


ya ya got everyone to join in song around the tree


we got home around 11:30 and played santa till the wee hours

the stockings were hung and filled


the presents were wrapped.


and the cookies were crumbled and
the milk was poured and dumped


and the kids, of course, were up too early





don't you love christmas morning?


i gave her my old barbie house that my
parents and grandparents made for me.
i re-papered it and painted it.

she was SOOOO excited!
i'm excited! barbie makes AWESOME things now!









happy new year everyone!

have yourself a...

MERRY little CHRISTMAS!!!


i'm not sure when i'll return.
so until i do, MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!
snuggle your loved ones close and cherish all those little moments

sorry!

didn't mean to leave you hanging since last wednesday.

well, i'm officially done christmas shopping!

i'm not done making things yet. i have 3 baby hats to finish up.
and, we're re-doing my old doll house that my parents made me
with some new wall paper, curtains, fireplace, etc.... for our daughter.
i'll post pictures soon.

our families have bought the barbie furniture to gift her.
i'm getting excited!!! i can't wait till christmas!!!
i LOVED playing in my barbie house.
now i get to again and it's not weird cause i have a daughter!!!

speaking of finishing up hats.. i must go. sorry for the bad post.
i have to get 2 to fedex by 12:30!

maybe tonight i'll post something great. and then pre-post so i
don't leave you hanging again!

thursday evenings...

every thursday evening my brother-in-law and his lovely girlfriend

come over for dinner and the office.
i've come to really look forward to these evenings
and i enjoy having people to cook for!
i've been challenging myself.
last week i made my first turkey!
i just went for it and it turned out beautifully.
i stuck it in frozen before lunch and by dinner it was perfect.

this week's thursday night came on tuesday night
as they have something else going on this thursday.


i challenged myself yet again!
i made my first ever chili.

white chicken chili
(i ended up making my own recipe)
this makes a HUGE pot to feed 10 people

7 cans of great northern beans
48 oz of swanson chicken broth
1.75 jars of salsa verde
3 garlic cloves
(that didn't work out for me but they got cooked with the onions)
1/2 lg. onion diced
1.5 tsp of salt
1.5 tsp of seasoned salt
1 can of cream of mushroom soup
5 chicken breasts
1 cup of shredded cheese

first i cooked the chicken in my crock pot for 5 hrs.
till it fell apart. then i shredded it.

i put it back in the crock pot with the chicken broth,
salsa verde, salts, and beans.

then i tearfully cut up the onion and garlic
and put it on the stove top to softened them
i ended up taking the garlic out cause i messed that up somehow

i added them to the crock pot.
then i decided that it wasn't getting done in time
so i tranfered it all to the stove top in a lg. pot

i then added the can of cream of mushroom soup
and shredded cheese

let that all simmer for a while

then i served it up with some light sour cream.
i ran out of cheese but the sour cream
helped bring out the flavors.

this is super easy. it does take all day but it was rewarding
and went over very well with my eaters

i also served it with corn bread. cheesy corn bread.
all i did was make 2 boxes of jiffy corn bread mix and
added in 1/2 bag of shredded cheese
that got baked right in!


for dessert i made

peppermint oatmeal cookies

this is something my sister found a LONG time ago
and they get made EVERY christmas season

2 sticks of butter
1 cup of brown sugar
1 cup of white sugar
1 tsp. of vanilla
2 eggs
1/2 tsp. of cinnamon

mix together

then add
1.25 cups of flour
1 tsp. of baking soda
1/2 tsp. of salt

mix well

then add
3 cups of oats
1/2 a bag of crushed peppermint

mix and bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 mins.

while that's baking make your frosting

powdered sugar
milk
the rest of the bag of crushed peppermint

ENJOY!


i had some special helpers last week when i attempted
the perfect chocolate chip cookies.
you know, just like those nestle tollhouse ready-to-bake cookies?
(it's on my list of stuff i have to do within my lifetime.)
they did NOT turn out perfect
but they were yummy!

'rapunzel' see my robe tie?
those where her 'golden extensions' like in shreck


he's my little cookie monster!

the true spirit of christmas

some people give a gift out of joy.
others give a gift for the joy that comes from the reaction.

- christy rose

oh christmas tree...

ever stop and wonder why we put TREES in our homes???

hello!

sooo... on friday night we were in a drive thru.
i heard a loud pop and i turned (and screamed)
to see our back window burst into a billion pieces.
no reason whatsoever!

it was scary. we're all safe. if we'd been
driving when it happened
it would have been blown at my kids.

we're just not happy.
it's christmas and there is a $250 deductible.
we're forgoing presents to ea. other
yeah! a window... just what we always wanted... yeahhhh

it gets fixed tomorrow. well if we get an ice storm or
lots of snow it won't.
i hope our handy plastic job holds up.
nothings says hick more then plastic and duct tape!

we did a good job though i think...

goooooooo teamwork!

*oh then when i went to call our ins. co. back that night
i accidentally called a phone sex line. apparently the 9 i
thought i had written down was a sloppy 4.

need to catch up!!!

i'm gonna take a couple of days off of blogging.
and reading blogs...

i HAVE to catch up on my to do list
and christmas presents.

don't go away!

penny pincher

i wish i were a penny pincher.
i need to learn how to be one.
i would be proud to say i was one.

here are 7 seemingly easy steps to become a better saver.
easier said then done but i'm determined to change my ways!

1. pay yourself first
this makes total sense. the very first thing i do when
he gets paid is pay bills. even if they aren't due just to
get them out of the way. then groceries and so on.
we HAVE to start doing this.

2. make it automatic
this makes sense too! if it comes out automatically
and goes into an account you only use for savings, and that
is not easily accessible, then you'll be less likely to spend it. and you
won't miss it if it just comes out right when you get paid.
just little amounts to begin.

3. save your change
this is not practical for us. we don't really ever carry cash.
but it's a nice thought!


4. round up
i HAVE to start writing down transactions...
i'm sooo bad about that.
i keep a tally in my head if that counts.
i need to start getting in the habit of writing things down
but seriously, who writes checks anymore? i think i write 1 a month.
so when i make that a habit i will round up!


5. give up a small luxury
this we already do. we've never had cable. (gasp)
we own one car. we only had one
cell phone up until a month or so ago.
we go to starbucks usually once or twice a week.
we make do with stuff given to us -vs.- buying new on credit


6. make it from scratch
if you've followed me for any amount of time you'll already know i'm a
design-it-yourselfer, bake-it-yourselfer, make-it-yourselfer...
but really i do these things cause i enjoy working with my hands, but it is
an added bonus to the bank account!


7. clip coupons
haha. lovely idea. really. i'm super stingy with shopping as it is. i only buy what we need
when it comes to groceries.
it doesn't make sense to throw out food! or hoard it in my
fridge like my mother... (ahem) for months and years...
i do find good bargains though as far as regular shopping!
so that counts, right?
my husband has been an amazing helper in molding my shopping habits.
i say that with all seriousness. i use to just buy stuff
cause it was cute but never thought about what to wear it with or
how to wear it and then it'd sit in my closet with no use.
he's helped me to think about my purchase and he's usually right!


so there are 7 steps to becoming a better saver!

{via beingfrugal.net}

i'll have a blue blue blue christmas....

my great grandma, opal, always had a
white tree with blue ornaments.
i loved it! i always wanted it but everyone thought i was nuts.
it got thrown out after she died.
in their defense it did smell like smoke.

maybe i'll have one of my very own someday...
*sigh*
isn't it lovely?




{via: this is glamorous}

be back later!

i'm taking a few hours for personal time (much needed!) and lunch with my hubby.
my mom is coming over to watch the kids. :)

i'll post something this afternoon.

and the stockings were hung....

here is my version of an advent calendar..

an elf on the shelf

i read about this creative little tradition

at everday life.

i ♥ this idea! this will definitely be on our shelves next year!

i ♥ this idea for an advent calendar!
i'm digging out the old baby socks!

happy monday!

i hope you were able to recover from the holiday.

i think we have but we're battling the end of a cold here.

we had a lovely 5 days


i baked on wednesday. they 'helped'.

wednesday night my hubby took me to four christmases
it was ok. it wasn't a movie i'd want to see again.
but, none the less, it was a christmas movie!

on thursday was thanksgiving, of course.
we ate lunch with my family
then headed to my husband's family's
we stayed up till the wee hours playing rock band.



on friday morning my sister and i battled the crowds. but we didn't start till 8:30ish.
it was actually perfect timing to still get some good deals without the HUGE crowds.
yaya came with and it was SOOOO fun!
this is the first year that she's really into it.

but this is how we felt.


friday night we enjoyed a lovely evening with my
brother-in-law and his lovely girlfriend.
we ate chinese take-out from the mall. (best ever!)
then lit some candles.

what? mine totally looks like this!

we brought down the tree.
literally.
it's been up in a stand-up attic fully decorated since last year.
plug it in and you have christmas!

on saturday night we were invited over to
my sister's sister-in-laws house
for the festival of lights parade and dinner.


our hosts


my sis and her hubby


my parents


my brother and sister



he LOVED the lights!







it was sooo cold but sooo worth it being sick and all!


and yesterday it snowed!


i hope you all had a lovely holiday weekend!