Great check up!

D had a dental cleaning today and got a clean bill of teeth!! No cavities, yeah! All the brushing has paid off and the new electric toothbrushes from Papa for Christmas have been wonderful, they love brushing their teeth with firetrucks!!

From the dentist we made a stop at the Catholic school to check into registration for pre K in the fall. We have a tour scheduled for tomorrow am. I already am getting a little nervous...what?....school?????? My little baby is growing up sooooooo fast!!

Then we made a few stops along the way to our big destination. The jumping place!! D loves it and there is usually only a few other kids there during the week. Perfect! He had a great time on the blow up obstacle course and slide! We headed to granny's work for a cheeseburger and then to the mall to ride the carosel and a few race car games at the arcade! Whew! What a day! Then we finished by going to Toy R us to pick out a toy for him and little brother. Thomas toys...of course! He did see a Tanker truck, but oddly enough didn't want to get it. What a great day we had, lots of fun! I'm sure he'll sleep good tonight after our full day and no nap!

The weather has been great the past few days. High 60's!! Too bad it couldn't of been like this the past weekend so the boys could of went camping. Oh well, maybe the third try will be a charm. I'm not sure when they'll try to go again, but I'm sure it will be soon.

Tomorrow I will try to finish putting the decorations away! Finally! I did get them from outside, but I need to get the house back to normal and put all the bins away and the normal decor back in place.

Well, back to the boys, and then Rock Band maybe when they are asleep. I am really diggin' the drumming! I didn't know I had it in me!! It's a blast!!

Rain

Yuk! Rained all day.....

New Year, new template

Well, it's a new year and it's time for a change. I'm switching colors and templates. Still working on some of the fine tuning ,but I think I like it.
Whew! Got the tree down today :) B did very well at Papa's house, thanks Dad and Dee. Mom also picked up D on her way to work and brought him home so I had about an hour of home alone time and tackled taking down the tree. I almost got most everything down and put into storage bins, just a few things left. Oh yeah, and still have to get the decor from outside. That will be a project this weekend when the weather is supposed to be warmer, like 60's yipee!!
D is going camping with his daddy and Uncle Tim tomorrow. Should be interesting, he is very excited although he really has no idea what it's all about. I'll try to have daddy take some pictures while their gone.
Well just a short post for now. Till later this weekend, happy Friday!!

A little update

Well, D loves to play with Mac, that isn't even from Santa, he's had this toy since his Birthday, but he really likes it.









The boys also like playing air hockey on their new game table from Granny. B can even score a few points on his older bro!
My baby B woke up with a 101.5 fever today. Daddy stayed home with him today, Papa and Grandma Dee are going to watch him tomorrow am till I can get off work about 1 or so. So happy to have lots of family around to help with the kids, it's such a blessing. Thanks to everyone for their help, love and support. I hope this isn't something that sticks around for a week or so. He has a slightly decreased appetite and wants to be held alot, but otherwise doesn't really have any other symptoms. We'll just have to wait it out and see.

Stayed up till midnight (crazy us!) playing Rock Band. I was jammin away to Red Hot Chili Peppers and Metallica. My hubbs was so impressed that I might truly have some drummer skills!! He has really stepped up his game on the guitar too! Tim and Mike even played an online duel, it was really cool. But we truly were feeling our "oldness" when the alarm clock started going off this am at about 5:15, YIKES! We'll have to try to keep the play down to only a few hours at a time:) Not too much planned here for the weekend yet. The boys are getting much needed hair cuts and I think if the weather holds up D and Daddy might be going camping with Uncle Tim. We'll see. It's supposed to rain, although the temps should be in the high 60's... a far away place from our teens and 20's the past few days! Maybe me and B will do some window shopping around the mall and ride the merry go round they have in the mall for some indoor fun! Well that's about all for now, need to go cuddle my babies!!

Laugh from the past

My honey found this lost video on our semi crashed old laptop. D loved to dance to the beat of the bouncing ball by granny...gotta love it!! He was about 18 months old here.

Tim and Amanda came over on New Years and we spent about 5 hours playing rock band with a few glasses of champagne along the way. Of course she had grape juice (with a mini splash of champagne, we wont' tell!! ) What a great New Years's day. They were finally were able to get theirs online, so hopefully one night this week we can challenge them to a rock band duel....yes I know......we are old but....if you haven't played, you're missing out!! It is soooooo much fun!

Look out American Idol!

I finally caught my baby doing a little singing, he gets very camera shy, but this time decided to show off a little :) Proud mommy I am!!

I also captured his updated drumming abilites, :) he'll be the new addition to our Rock Band! Taking after mommy on drums, and D can be guitarist taking after daddy!! We are now addicited to Rock Band and we will be challenging Tim and Amanda soon to a duel!! :) Hope everyone has a great New Year! Talk to ya next year!!!!

Christmas pics

Check out our Christmas pics here

D got a hole in one of his new socks today at school.

D: " mommy I got a hole in my sock and the elves didn't know it was there"
me:" oh no"
D: "we need to take it back to the north pole"
me: "but I don't know how to get to the north pole and it's far away"
D: "just get the Christmas map and follow how to get there"
me:" oh why didn't I think of that!"


HOPE YOU ALL HAVE A SAFE AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

A Great Christmas

Well we had a wonderful Christmas at our house. The boys were very excited to go downstairs and find all the presents that Santa had left at our house. They started to rip right into the presents and I had to stop them saying, hey wait we need to see which ones are for each of you. They couldn't hardly wait. B kept opening presents and then saying'" I want another one", I think he really enjoyed opening all the presents. D loved all his presents too, except that Santa didn't bring a tanker truck. Fact was: Santa and all the elves just couldn't find one this year.

Thanks to all the family that came and helped us celebrate the special day. All the food was great.

Christmas eve was great too with chocolate martini's and apple martini's and shots of Bailey's. Tim brought over his PS3 with his new Rock Band game. WEll needless to say we rocked out till 3am!!!!!! Yes we were exhausted at 630 am when the boys jumped out of bed. But the game was really fun!! We kept switching around with who was the singer, guitar player and drummer. I have to admit I liked the drums the best and totally rocked out for my first night at the game. I think we'll be playing it more often with Tim and Amanda, although they have the advantage of practicing at home since it's their game. But lots of great fun!!!!!

Thanks to my hubby for my digital photo frame! I love it, now I can keep current pics displayed and change it whenever I want. I love it!

Bummer to have to go back to work the day after but oh well. I think next year I'll plan better and take a few days off if possible.

I'll post some pics this weekend from Christmas.

Hope everyone had a great Christmas!! WE did!! Missed ya mimi and grandaddy J, wish you could of joined us!!

Dec 25th, 2007

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT!

:) :) :)

After our usual evening ritual of pigback riding into bed, my sweetie D said "mommy turn around" so I did and he starting rubbing my shoulders......."now daddy won't have to do it"

:) :)

What a sweetheart!!

O CHRISTMAS TREE, O CHRISTMAS TREE

I forgot to post my tree pic. Thanks to my friend for the bow on top. I had a shining star but it kept leaning over and was aggravating. I'm not much of the decorator but this is my attempt. Next year I think I might let the boys decorate their own little tree in the playroom. I will let them put whatever they want on it......let me guess....Hot Wheels!! :)

{4 days till Christmas!!}

Can you believe it!! Only 4 shopping days left! I am ready I think. Although the tanker truck I searched high and low for was broken in the box! Mom tried to exchange it and of course there were no more in the store!! Oh well, I think he'll enjoy all the other millions of toys! hee hee

Busy night tonight....work happy hour, short trip for a few items from the grocery store, home to make treat bags for a few coworkers and cookies for school parties tomorrow. Also some chocolate covered pretzel goody bags for the neighbors too!

I am getting very excited about Christmas.
I am planning a game and cocktail evening the night of Christmas eve for Tim and Amanda to join us (since they can practically walk home!) It should be fun before Santa comes!! Although Amanda will get to enjoy chocolate milk in her chocolate dessert cup instead of Baileys and then some sparkling grape juice for her to toast with!! :) As far as the martini's I haven't thought of a replacement for those for her yet, maybe just more sparkling grape!

They are calling for some light precipitation on Christmas(what???snow???) I doubt it very seriously but we'll see what happens. Looks like at the least we'll have a cold and dreary and drizzling rainy Christmas like last year! At least someone will be able to try out their new Spiderman umbrella...........

Clash of the choir anyone??????????? I started to watch it just to check it out. It started out a little slow but whoa!! Patti LaBelle's choir was absolutely wonderful!! I think I'll watch the last few episodes just to check it out.TIVO is great, so that when the choir sounds terrible I'll just fast forward through it!!:)

That's all for now.. hope everyone is getting ready for Christmas. Enjoy the holiday and time spent with family and friends!!

Creative snacks

Here are a few of my recent creative snack attempts. The chocolate mice were easy and delicious, the PB&J sandwiches were easy just using Christmas cookie cutters(thanks to Dee for the Gingerbread man) and the snowmen......well let's just say you won't be seeing anymore of these. They were quite the chore to make and I don't even know if they would be edible after all it takes to mold them and everything....but they are cute to look at. I still have them in the refrig and will prob display them for Christmas dinner. I 'll post the pics now and I'll have to post the recipe for mice later, I am already past my bed time.

I had a busy day finishing up my last minute shopping. I found the only "tanker truck" left in the store and ****** it if it's not broken inside the box. D has been telling me over over that he wants a tanker truck from Santa. Mom's gonna take it back for me tomorrow and see if there just happens to be another one show up on the shelves...let's keep our fingers crossed.

Thanks to Dad and Dee for the lunch today, I just love those subs!

Well short and quick this time...................GOOD NIGHT!

Pics from our trip

Click here to see some pics from our Mobile trip. I can't take just one picture, so there are many!!

Trip recap

So, we had a really great time on our trip home!! The boys handled the car ride pretty good. Thank goodness we had two movies for them to watch! Make that 1 ! D must have watched the Cars movie oh about 50 times, with a few minutes of Toy Story here and there. I don't know how they can watch the same thing over and over and over and over. Oh well, it helped to keep them content anyway. The boys had a good time at Mimi and Grandaddy's house. Mimi is learning that Bry will repeat just about anything said. "daddy in bathroom for 1 hour!!!"" It was so funny! Then he just kept repeating "1 hour, 1 hour, 1 hhhhooouuuurrr" I thought I was going to cry from laughing. Thanks also to Deb and James for the bday cake. D was very excited that he got to eat cake on my bday and sing to me. He helped me blow out the "one" candle. That's right, it was my first birhtday!! :) :)

Saturday we met our friends with twins and a 3 month old at the park. It was a good time of fellowship, the kids playing soccer and us cooing at their new baby girl. She was adorable of course!!!!! The weather was absolutely perfect, almost borderline of being hot, but very comfortable. B really liked the baby and kept kissing her on her hands, it was very sweet! He really seems to like babies (other people's that is) none on the agenda here!!
Next we headed to visit family. Uncle Lewis always has many musical instruments lying around. D decided to pick up the trumpet(don't know if he's ever seen one) and practically starting playing it. It was amazing!! He even was able to make some noticeable real keys and he knew how to work his fingers on the buttons(I don't know the exact name of them). I tried to run and get the camera to video, of course by then he was almost done, but I still captured a few notes. D seems to be pretty musical, he has played (not professionally of course ha ha) the harmonica, drums, keyboard, and now trumpet! Very cool, must of been all the loud music I played for him when he was in my tummy!! Cousin Alexis also helped the boys have fun with the hula hoops. Even daddy tried it and couldn't quite get it going, it was hilarious, but he did enventually kinda get the hoop going:)

Sunday we headed to a friend's whom I haven't seen in many years. Her house was beautiful as were her 3 boys( I know, but they were beautiful boys). Her husband planned a really cool treasure hunt for her 3 and my 2 boys. They tied bandanas around their heads to be pirates and searched for the hidden treasure. It was really cute and the boys loved the chocolate treasure at the end! I hope they can make it up our way to visit one day, hint hint!

Then we headed to the beach to play in the sand alittle and the boys collected a few shells. On the way back we stopped at a little go cart place. D got to ride with daddy in a go cart! WOW, he was scared a little at first but then really enjoyed it. Next he rode all by himself! Yes, I was TERRIFIED!! My heart was pounding and my eyes were almost watering, I'm such a wimpy mom!! He did really great though and "won the piston cup" He did have two other boys on the track with him and he wouldn't let them pass, it was very cute! I think because he's so tall for his age, he was one of the youngest to ride. He just barely made the height requirement. B did great watching his big brother and entertaining himself with sticks on the ground and sticking his head through the rails to watch his bro ride!! Next year though, he'll probably realize what he's missing and it'll be harder to keep him content until he's big enough to ride.

Thanks to Mimi and Grandaddy for the hospitality! The boys really enjoyed the visit and so did we! The food was great as always too!! Although, I guess next time Mimi will have to make chicken salad for the boys!! :) I'll post pics later of all our fun!!

No shopping last night, the weather was terrible. Oh well, it saved me some money! I think we'll go this weekend and finish up. Santa will be here soon!!!

More shopping

Heading out tonight for a few more items needed for gifts and I should be pretty much done! Yeah! As long as I can stay out of the stores and not buy anymore gifts!!! I'll try to get my past weekend trip blogged on here tonight if I don't stay out too long shopping with mom. She gets the senior discount tonight, so gotta take advantage!! :)

we're back

Yes, we made it back safe and sound. Lots to blog about but no time at the moment. We had a great trip!! Weather was a balmy 78 degrees!!!!!!! Wonderful!!!!!!! I'll post more in the next few days with pics too. Happy Humpday tomorrow!

wonderful day

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME.....HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME.....HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE....HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!
Thanks sis for the Kohls' gift card,
Thanks mom for the slippers (hee hee, great fit) and the adorable snow globe for the boys to fight over,
and my honey for my wonderful BOSE ipod dock (just what I wanted!) Pics to follow:


Packed: check
Gifts wrapped: check
Christmas treats made and packaged: check
off to work and then outta here: CHECK!!!

A good message

A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got talking at a reunion and decided to go visit their old university professor, now retired.

During their visit, conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in their work and lives.
Offering his guests coffee, the professor went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups; porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite bone china - telling them to help themselves to the coffee.

When all the alumni had a cup of coffee in hand, the professor said, "Notice that all the nice looking, expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress. Be assured that the cup itself adds no quality to the coffee. In most cases it is just more expensive and in some cases even hides what we drink.

What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the best cups... and then you began eyeing each other's cups. Now consider this: Life is the coffee; your job, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain life. The type of cup one has does not define, nor change the quality of life a person lives. Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee God has provided us.

"The happiest people don't have the best of everything. They just make the best of everything."

God brews the coffee, not the cups... Enjoy your coffee!
Live simply.
Love generously.
Care deeply.
Speak kindly.
Spend time with God over your coffee.

Love December

I truly love the month of December. All the great decorations, Beautiful light displays, gift ideas and times spent with family and friends enjoying the holidays. The month is going so quickly already and it's only the 4th day. I put up the Christmas decor inside and out, (pics to follow) and have almost finished my Christmas shopping! I am making cookies and chocolate covered pretzels this week for our trip to Mobile on Friday. Found a great new recipe too here that I am going to try. There are other cute ideas on this blog too! But, few ingredients and very cute for the holidays, easy to make of course!!



Before:









After:



Little Holiday Pretzel Treats



Ingredients:Bite-size, waffle-shaped pretzels

Hershey's Kiss or Hershey's Hug

M&M's candy

Step 1 Heat the oven to 170º. Set a number of bite-size, waffle-shaped pretzels (one for each treat) in a single layer on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper, then top each pretzel with an unwrapped Hershey's Kiss or Hershey's Hug.

Step 2 Bake for 4 to 6 minutes (the white chocolate will melt more quickly), until the chocolates feel soft when touched with a wooden spoon. Remove the cookie sheet from the oven and quickly press an M&M's candy into the center of each Kiss.

Step 3 Allow the treats to cool for a few minutes, then place them in the refrigerator to set, about 10 minutes. Place handfuls of the candies in clear plastic bags and tie on colorful ribbons.





I also found these really EASY to make cookies in a magazine I bought the other day, very simple, few ingredients(seeming to be the theme) and taste great too!!

Peanut buter and chocolate Pinwheels:


1 18oz. roll of refrigerated peanut butter cookie dough
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 18oz. roll of refrigerated sugar cookie dough
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder


In large mixing bowl combine peanut butter dough and flour, use wooden spoon to mix well and divide in half. In another bowl combine the sugar cookie dough and cocoa powder, mix well and divide dough in half.

Between pieces of wax paper, roll out one portion of peanut butter dough into a 12x6 in rectangle. Roll one of the chocolate dough portions to the same size and place on top of the peanut butter dough. Press down gently to seal.

Tightly roll up dough, jelly roll style starting from long side. Repeat with the other dough portions. Wrap rolls in plastic wrap and chill 1 hour or until firm enough to slice

Preheat oven to 375. using sharp knife, cut rolls into 1/4 in thickslices. Place slices 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake in preheated oven 8 to 10 minutes or until edges firm. Transfer cookies to wax paper to cool.



We are heading south to visit with family and friends since we are not going down for Christmas itself. I hope the weather is fairly nice so that maybe we can head to the beach for some photo ops of the boys on the sandy beach at Christmas time. We plan to see a few friends that we haven't seen in awhile(years for some) it should be alot of fun! I can't wait. Boy have times changed: from hanging out, no kids, dinner out and even a movie on the same night, drinking to "Roxanne"---Lesley! and all the stuff from the old days. Now it's 6 adults and 7 kids, and then 4 adults and 5 kids! Wow how our families have extended! Simply marvelous!!!

Going to work on some baby shower details for Amanda too while we are there. We will be returning next month for her shower,looking forward to that!

Thanks to Dad for the early Bday lunch! I can always eat Chinese!! Thanks for the waffle maker too! I can't wait to use it and make some homemade waffles for the boys!! For any of you out there that have had these make it yourself waffles at a hotel, they are fabulous and I am excited to make my own! Love the idea of the cool whip and strawberries Dad, hope to make them soon!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO DEE ! Hope you also enjoyed the Chinese and like the boots!!:)

Tomorrow= packing for trip and wrapping gifts to take on trip

Thurdays= making lots of pretzels, and cookies and above treats.

Friday= we're off to visit :) :)