Christmas 2009

Christmas Eve with my dad...


Zoa started feeling a bit better toward the end of the night. Thankfully she was 100% better on Christmas morning! Christmas morning was spent at home...the girls were happy and we were tired.



Mid morning, my mom came over and we did Christmas with her.


After a run out to my grandparent's and a afternoon movie, we headed to Jeremy's parent's.



The girls got everything they could ever need and the new toys have found their place in the toy room! Thanks to everyone that helped make the Christmas wonderful!

"Can I do that?"

{My camera is broke...so I apologize for the pictures. They are taken from my phone.}

Our girls love to help in the kitchen. Zoa just climbs right up on the counter top and starts stirring. Macie loves to read the directions. Lately I have spent a lot of time in the kitchen and I think they have enjoyed themselves more and more the older they get....they much rather be helping in the kitchen than playing with toys.

I got to thinking...

Aprons! So I got on Etsy and started looking. I found these and I fell in love!

After a few chats with the owner of the store, I placed the order, hoping they would be just as cute in person.

I am extremely happy...



These little cupckaes are adorable!



They are now hidden, stashed away from tiny hands...waiting to be wrapped in Christmas paper.

And speaking of Christmas, I have quite a few presents bought. Is it too early to start wrapping presents?

Happy Valentine's Day!

Today is Macie & Zoa Valentine's Day parties. Earlier in the week, I found these valentines. They are so cute so yesterday that was my mission. Emily stuffed the bags for me...thanks Em!! Last night, we tied the bows and connected it all. They turned out great!!

My pictures I have are not the greatest, but I will show you a box full of the finished product...


We also made the teacher's valentines and once again, the lighting in the new house is not the greatest so the pictures are really dark. But you have the link to look at them.

I know I have talked about Family Fun in the past, but it really does have some really cute ideas! If you don't get the magazine, you can look at all their crafts and other things online.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Christmas...in short.

I'm alive and well, but still too exhausted to post details. Christmas was good great, the girls had a blast and the movie was hilarious! I highly recommend it. Yesterday was MJ's birthday also so we are really worn out. (Happy Birthday April!)

Here are few pictures from my dad's house...

Ethan, Zoa and Macie

Macie so excited...I love this picture!

And Zoa...posing as usual.

I hope you had a great Christmas!

(Almost) Done with Christmas Shopping!

Saturday, I enjoyed a full day without my wonderful husband or girls. I went shopping and loved every minute of it. Target, the mall, Hobby Lobby...it was pure bliss. I am almost done with the girls. I have just a few more things that I am buying on Amazon.

That night, we had our work Christmas parties. First, we went to mine where I won the grand prize, which retails for about $500.00!! More details on that to come. Jeremy's party was next, followed by a trip to Taco Bell. Good times, good times.

I am starting my menu up again. Can you believe we have not done any serious grocery shopping in over a month?

Off to eat some food and look at the ads from the paper. Hope you had a great weekend!

Whew...

As I sit here, MJ is wrestling with my loud and rambunctious husband. All I want is silence, but I guess in a house with two small girls and a husband like Jeremy, times like that are few and far between. I am trying to count my blessings!

This week has been a fast and busy one. We hired a new girl at the office (Hi Em!) and I have been training and teaching her computer programs, the daily grind and the ins and outs. On top of that, the end of the year is fast approaching so it is time to move out old files and bring in the new. So, deep cleaning is in full force. It's nice though. At least I have someone hil-arious to chat with all day. She keeps me smiling!

Tomorrow is date night and you want to know what we are doing? First, we have dinner planned at Bella Italia. Yum! Have I told you how much I love pasta? Good thing I started my Herbalife again this week! I plan on gorging myself with pasta and Italian cheese. Followed by a glass of wine. :) And I will love every minute of it.

Then we will be off to do some Christmas shopping!! We are the type of people who usually just wipe it out in one shot, or at least 85 % of the gifts we buy. But I love every minute of shopping so it is right up my alley. We will hit up the mall, a little Tar-jay, Sears, Toys R Us and countless others. The smell of the mall is so exciting. Yes, I think the mall has a smell. Ahhhh...

I also have to get a few things so I can start some new traditions with the girls. I am so excited about them and will let you know once we do them. But, on to another subject I have been wanting to tell you...

A few weeks ago, while the girls were at AWANA, Jeremy and I went a saw Fireproof. Oh. my. goodness. The acting was not Oscar worthy by no means, but the message is great. It really made me think about our marriage, in good ways and ways that can be improved. Once we got back to church to get the girls, I was talking with a friend of ours and he told me they actually do make the book, The Love Dare, that was featured in the movie. It is something I plan on buying as a present to myself, just to stash away or secretly complete the book for Jeremy. It would be a great book to buy for something you know who may be struggling with their marriage. I can't help but think, if I only saw this movie and knew about the book a few months ago...

If you don't already know, the people who made Fireproof is a church in Albany, Georgia. You can view their other movies here. They try to stay low-budget and focus on the meaning of the movie. The cast are members of the church and all proceeds from the movie go towards the next production they will make. Pretty neat, huh? I don't know about you, but this makes me want to support them even more. (And how romantic is this little fun fact?!)

But, that's all she wrote! I am off to baths and bedtimes, followed by myself hitting the sack.

Oh...and go wish my sister, Whitney, Happy Birthday! It is today and she needs some uplifting thoughts!

xoxo

Wordless Wedesday: Halloween 2008

Halloween was so much fun! We bought the girls' costumes,
but then at the lastminute I changed my mind and decided to
make their costumes.It was a lot of fun for me and the girls loved them.
( Double click the pictures to enlarge them.)

Zoa was a Bubble Bather...

Macie was a Spa Girl...


And my nephew Ethan was Batman...


Click here to see more Wordless Wednesday!

Celebrating Freedom

Happy Fourth of July! I hope you all have a safe and happy holiday!


Photo via.

Easter 2008

Happy Easter everyone! After a weekend packed with our ordinary weekend things, plus family get-togethers, we are finally home. Saturday night, we went to church with my family. The girls stayed the night with my parent's which worked out perfectly. The "Easter Bunny" was running behind. We made a mad dash to Wal-Mart to get basket goodies. I was somewhat surprised - the parking lot was semi-full considering it was a weekend night at 11:15 p.m. I guess I wasn't the only mom running late this year!

Today, we had a lunch with my family, followed by an Easter egg hunt. Then it was off to Jeremy's family for dinner and another egg hunt. The girls came out like bandits, as always! Thanks for the baskets everyone!

This week looks like it will be a pretty normal one, with the exception of Jeremy's alumni tournament. Hopefully, it will stay that way and there won't be any surprises!

I am headed off to do a quick run through of our house before I go to bed. That is the only thing I do not like about selling your house...you have to keep it spotless all the time! Have a good week everyone.

In case your wondering, that is my nephew, Ethan, in the top picture.

Cochineal, anyone?

I subscribe to a newsletter, Green Living. They publish and e-mail articles about living a 'greener' life. This weeks topic was on Easter egg dyes. They mentioned a few of the ingredients in dyes - coal tar and carminic acid. What is carminic acid, you ask? As the article states, it comes from dried, crushed bodies of pregnant female scale insects called cochineal. Yuck.

This year, we are going to try the alternatives they suggests. Just to name a few, you can boil some water and add some red onion skin for red color, yellow onion for yellow, spinach for green...etc.

Jeremy has not quite jumped on this bandwagon with me yet. This should be interesting.

On another note, I plan on starting a garden this year. I will definitely need to purchase this. Having a garden means I won't have to buy organic food, I will just grow them! Sounds easy, right?

Plan on a lot of entertaining pictures coming!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day! Don't forget to tell your loved ones how you feel!

We don't have much planned for the night. I may see if Jeremy wants to go to Outback...yummy! That is our family's favorite restaraunt so it would be a good place to celebrate the holiday together.

Oh! Our power is back on. (Thanks mom and dad for letting us crash your house!) Last night, I tried to catch up on a few things around the house. Laundry, picking up, laundry...it never ends! We have a weekend packed with birthday parties so we will see what all gets accomplished.

The girls are still running a low-grade temperature. Both of their fever's got up to 103 degrees. Not sure what was causing it, but it looks like it is almost over. Some nasty virus, I'm sure.

Stay warm and be safe!

And, I'm out.

This week has been flooded with things to do. Between ballet, homework, school meetings, church meetings, and just the everyday norm, I may have seen Jeremy a total of five hours. We plan on going to a Valetine's Dance on Saturday - which I am sure will be a good time. (Shoutout to Jessica! ;))

Other than that, if I happen to find any downtime, this is what I will look like.

The girls love love love ballet! I can't take pictures though because they go to a room and we get to watch from a television. I suppose those would not make the best pictures. I will try to snap a few before they start, but don't count on it. We barely make it on the door on time!

Christmas 2007

The last week or so has been busy, active, and crazy. Holidays = non stop hustle and bustle. I just couldn't get into the spirit this year. I was at first, but then it just dwindled down. Everything that is usually fun and exciting was just another thing on the to-do list. Something was definitely 'off' this year. I hope next year is better. But, in the end, it all turned out great!

Last week, Macie had her Christmas party for school. And me, being the great mother I am, (wink, wink) was the one in charge. We played a few games, which I have a great one if anyone needs ideas for next year, ate yummy treats and pizza, and had goody bags. I was stressing, as usual. The holidays for some reason crept up on me and I am a million things to do and little time to get it all done. But it got done! Miraculously, it always gets done. Thanks mom for your help!

Saturday morning, we woke up and started on our gingerbread house. I have always wanted to do one of these with the girls, but have never got around to actually buying a kit. There is no way I could hand make a house, so we got the kit. It was so much fun! I did the icing while the girls decorated it with the candy. It turned out really cute!

Jeremy took the girls to the mall for a while Monday afternoon so I could wrap presents. Here it was, Christmas Eve, and I hadn't even started. Whitney came up to help...thank you! We finished all of the gifts before the girls even walked in. Whew! One more thing I could check off the list.

We then went to my mom and dad's for Christmas Eve. Dinner was delicious - ham, pork chops, fresh green beans, brussel sprouts, crescent rolls, baby carrots, mashed potatoes, kettle beef...the list goes on and on! After stuffing our belly's, we opened gifts. The girls and Ethan came out like champs...Thanks mom and dad! Us girls got quite a bit also. Mom and Dad still spend the same amount, if not more, on us now as they did when were little. Plus the grand kids. You do too much! Thank you!

Christmas morning, we opened gifts at home. The girls came out again like champs! A blow up jump around thing, scooters, games, puzzles, Diego, baby dolls is among some of the toys Santa delivered. Then went to my grandma and pop's. A great time was had by all. It is always nice to just sit around and catch up with family you don't see as often as you like.

Then it was off for another Christmas celebration at Jeremy's mom and dad's. We ate some more, only this time it was fried chicken, swete potatoe casserole, corn, rolls, yummy cheese dip, and fresh veggies. Then talked some more and opened even more presents. They do way to much for us all as well! The kids love all of their toys! Our living room looks like the Wal-Mart toy isle exploded in it. Tonight, my mission is to open and organize their gifts. I am starting a 'trial run' of a new method for the toy room clean up time.

So that is all for now. I hope all of you had a memorable Christmas!

I apologize, this post was not very interesting or in depth, just wanted to jot down our holiday schedule while it was fresh on my mind.

Macie turns 6 on Friday...time for another letter! Stay tuned....

Cute Little Tails

Macie had her Christmas program at school last night. Due to the seating issues they had, we don't have the greatest pictures. In the picture above Macie is the third one from the right, all perched up. The kindergarten class sang a few songs. The boys were donkeys and cows, while the girls were sheep. They even had tails and ears! They did such a good job and it was so cute. I have it all on video and if I can figure out how to post it on here, I will.
Here are a few more pictures:





Here is one of Zoa, playing with my mom's glasses. I think my mom was putting chapstick on her. She loves playing with lip gloss and chapstick, which she refers to as "lips".

Spreading the Christmas Cheer

Last night, as planned, Jeremy and I completed most of our Christmas shopping. (Thank you Whitney for watching the girls!) After Target, we went to Sam's Club to see if they had any toys. While we were browsing, I went to see if they had Eat, Pray, Love. The author, Elizabeth Gilbert, has been on Oprah two times discussing the book and I have always wanted to get it and read it. After having marriage problems that ultimately ended in divorce, she lost focus on herself and went on a worldwide journey to find herself again. She went to Italy to eat, India to pray, and Indonesia to learn to love again.

I picked the book up and went to check out. Jeremy stayed back to pay while I went to get the car. He came out and told me that a family wanted to buy it for him. After much hesitation, and explaining that it was his wife's book, he allowed them to purchase it. We told each other we have to pay it forward now.I saw them leaving and after telling them thank you, they told us to have a Merry Christmas.

Isn't that what Christmas is all about?

The Joy of Christmas Shopping

Tonight, Jeremy and I will be on a quest to start and finish our Christmas shopping. For some reason, I did not start early, as in the day after Thanksgiving. Now, we are lagging. The girls have their little things they are into. So I am sure Macie will be getting a lot of Hannah Montana stuff.

She also like High School Musical. I have to admit, it is a little strange to think my child likes something with "High School" in it, but it is better that some other stuff she used to like. You can only watch Dora so many times before you start to lose your mind!

Zoa is another story. She is getting to that point where she likes Dora, Diego, and Boots, oh my! She loves Diego, the poor child has always preferred males to females, so I am sure she will be recieving a lot of him. She is also enjoying baby dolls more. She knows how to 'feed' them, 'change' them....and so on. They both really want this baby doll that swims whenever you put her in water and since I like getting them bathtub toys, I bet they will get this. It is a cool concept, as soon as she hits the water, she takes off swimming. At least that's what she does in the commercial. We will see if she really 'takes off' at home. This could be a big disappointment.

And this, this is something I would buy if I had money and desperately needed something to spend it on. The Wii is sooo much fun!

Ahhhh, the days of a disposable income!

Give Thanks...

I know I have mentioned before how precious Macie and Zoa's prayers are. Last night, Jeremy and I were putting the girls to bed, which means a book, prayers, hugs and kisses. Macie was praying and never forgets to thank God for something. Sometimes, I find when I pray I do nothing but ask. I think it is only fair to thank God for something.

On that note and since it is Thanksgiving Eve, here are a few things of many for which I am thankful:

* My family and their health. I try not to take this for granted until it is too late.
* My friends. I have a variety of friends and each of them are unique, which is why I love them.
* Spring days. To me, they symbolize new years and fresh starts. Besides gorgeous weather.
* Being married. I feel complete now.

Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever. 1 Chronicles 16:34

Happy Halloween!!

Zoa got "booed" last night! All of her pre-school teachers dressed up and went to the homes of their students and handed out goody bags.

Jeremy and I knew about it but it was a surprise to the girls. The doorbell rang and we let the girls open the door. They got the shock of their life! Four masked people were at the door. Zoa flipped out! She was terrified! We tried to tell her who it was but she was not having it. She eventually calmed down and devoured her candy.

Tonight means more candy and late bedtimes. I will put some halloween pictures up tomorrow.

Be Careful and Happy Halloween!