Switcharoo!

Alrighty my friends... the time has come for us to switch to a more anonymous blog!  

So... this will be the last post here! 

Follow us on over to

The Vanilla Tulip

Public Announcement...

I would like to make a public announcement....

I HAVE THE BEST HUSBAND IN THE WORLD!!!

Seriously, I LOVE this guy!!!

This past Friday night he took me out on a date that he planned (normally I do the planning because I love to be in charge... terrible I know... I am working on it!!! :) ).  He surprised me with tickets to the Dallas Symphony!  Now... I realllly love the symphony...lots.  

On a scale of 1 to 10 my love for the symphony is a 10.

Trav's love for the symphony is a low 1 or 2 (his own rating).

So the fact that he would buy us tickets to somewhere he would rather not go was such an act of love! LOVE HIM!  It did help however that we went out for Mexican right before so he had a nice full belly for the show! :)  AND he may or may not have slept through the first 1/2.  ;)

And to top off our weekend he worked on our back yard for me.  And when I say he worked... I mean he WORKED from 7 in the morning until bedtime.  Here's what he did...

He put together a swing-set for the kids, built a small deck for me to sit on while watching the kids (and also to sunbathe on! woohoo!) and built me two raised garden beds.  All in one day!  I am so proud of what a hard worker he is!   There still is a lot to be done in the back yard but I couldn't resist showing you a picture of what he's accomplished so far!  Have I mentioned that I LOVE my husband!?

On to other news...

This little guy is getting closer and closer to crawling.  His newest trick is to pull himself up onto his knees.

And this little girl has discovered that she loves "yemmins"

As for me... I've been loading up on Benadryl and Calamine Lotion because of this evil weed...

This plant has been my enemy ever since I can remember. In case you don't recognize it it's Poison Ivy.  Blah.  I'm not sure where I got it from...perhaps during our Sunday Easter egg hunt. Who knows.  It hunts me down.  Truly.  I am so allergic to it that if it's within 100 miles of me I have a reaction (at least it feels that way).


Alrighty... off to clean up the house before the husband gets home from a track meet!
Have a wonderful Friday everyone!

Easter Pictures 2010

Hope everybody had a wonderful Easter!

HE IS RISEN!!!

He AROSE!!!

Matthew 28:6

"He is not here; He has risen, just as He said"

Happy Easter!!!  What a day to celebrate!!! HE IS RISEN!!!  

Without Christ dying on the cross and rising from the dead we would be nothing.  Thank you Lord Jesus for dying for me.  

One of my favorite Easter hymns is "He Arose."  

Here are the lyrics:

1. Low in the grave He lay,

Jesus my Savior. 

Waiting that coming day,

Jesus my Lord

Refrain:

Up from the grave He arose,

With a mighty triumph o'er His foes,

He arose a Victor from the dark domain,

And He lives forever, with His saints to reign.

He arose! He arose!

Hallelujah! Christ arose!

2. Vainly they watch His bed,

Jesus my Savior;

Vainly they seal the dead,

Jesus my Lord!

3. Death cannot keep its Prey,

Jesus my Savior;

He tore the bars away,

Jesus my Lord!

Have a blessed Easter!!!


Here's a link to somebody singing the hymn...  

He Arose!

Eggs and Resurrection Rolls

Yesterday our Sunday School had an Easter egg hunt after church for all of the kids.

Emma had NO clue what was going on. 
All of the kids were lined up waiting for the "GO"... all the other kids had their eyes fixed intently on the eggs they were about to get.  Emma on the other hand was busy smiling and trying to socialize.

She finally got the hang of it and was interested when she discovered there was CHOCOLATE in some of the eggs!  Her favorite :)
We gathered the kids together for a group picture at the end... love all those little people!

We are so excited to celebrate the Resurrection of our Lord on Sunday!  I LOVE LOVE Easter Sunday!  Later this week we will make Resurrection Rolls with Emma! I posted this recipe last year as well...but for those of you who missed it here it is again! 

RESURRECTION ROLLS

• 1 package Cresent rolls
• melted butter
• large marshmallows
• cinnamon
• sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Give each child a triangle of cresent rolls.
The cresent roll represents the cloth that Jesus was wrapped in.
Give each child a marshmallow.
This represents Jesus and His purity.
Have child dip the marshmallow in melted butter.
This represents the oils of embalming.
Dip the buttered marshmallow in the cinnamon and sugar.
This represents the spices used to annoint the body of Jesus.
Wrap the coated marshmallow tightly in the cresent roll
(not like a typical cresent roll up, but bring the sides up and seal the marshmallow inside)
This represents the wrapping of Jesus' body after death.
Place in a 350 degree oven for 10 to 12 minutes.
The oven represents the tomb (pretend like it was 3 days and nights!)
When the rolls have cooled slightly, the children can open their rolls (cloths) and discover that Jesus is no longer there,
HE IS RISEN! The marshmallow melts and the cresent roll is puffed up,
but like the tomb - IT IS EMPTY!

Laurie Anna's Giveaway

One of my favorite shops in Canton is having a giveaway!!! Check it out!

My Secret Theory

I have a confession followed by my secret theory..which I guess won't be a secret once I publish this post :)

I will NOT and I repeat NOT let my children out of the house without rubbing Johnson's Pink Baby lotion all over them if I know that they will be left in somebody else's care (i.e. church nursery, a friends house...etc.).  If I forget to rub it on them before they get dressed then it goes on their hands, cheeks, neck and leftovers on their clothes. There's my confession.... now here's my theory...

A baby that smells good gets treated good

Tell me it's not true?! If there are 5 babies in a nursery... 4 of them smell stinky and sour and the other one smells like delicious Johnson and Johnson Pink Lotion...which one would you pick up and love on!? :)  So terrible...but let's be honest...100% true :)

So..there you have it.  My secret addiction to baby lotion.  I counted the bottles that I have around the house, in the car, in the diaper bag and my purse...8...a little excessive...yes!  But well worth it! :) 

Does anyone else have a little theory or confession they want to share about things they do with or for themselves, families or babies that other people might think is crazy?! :) Please do share!!!

Spring Break Catch Up!

Time to get this blog caught up!!! 

This year for Spring Break we decided to make a round-about trip to first see my grandparents in northwest Iowa and then to see my parents and siblings in Missouri.  From the beginning of Spring Break to the end we totaled over 40+ hours in the car.  And would you believe that the two fussiest travelers towards the end of that 40+ hours were Travis and me? :) 

So...from start to finish here is our whirlwind of a trip...

We traveled 9 hours the first day and stopped at a hotel that had a 3 story water slide. So FUN!

They had to clean out the pool right when we got there so Travis and the kids swam in the tub until it was ready :)

The next morning we a delicious breakfast at the hotel and then were on our way once again!

Happy Colty :)

So as not to make this whole trip seem fluffy and perfect....here's a glimpse of what the other side of the table looked like :)  Emma is NOT a morning person and was being a tooty all throughout the meal. Yay for fun breakfasts ;)

My sweet little babes love to hold hands on car rides... I made sure to take a picture because I'm quite certain this won't last much longer!

We finally arrived in Iowa and had such a great time! We stayed at my Uncle Larry and Aunt Faye's home.  I am KICKING myself for not having taken any pictures.  They live in an old farmhouse which they are slowly fixing up.  They are SO thrifty and creative and every little piece of their home has a story.  It is absolutely beautiful!  I told her once they are completely finished they need to contact a magazine to feature their home...it is THAT cool!  

Aunt Faye and Colt

Trav walking on a frozen lake with Uncle Larry

One of the afternoons we were there we drove to the town in which I was born and lived for my first 5 years.  From there we headed about 15 minutes north to Minnesota!  Travis had never been to Minnesota before so he wanted to make sure we went there since we were so close.  And then from Minnesota we headed to South Dakota (so he could say he had been there too!). 

Trav and Emma in South Dakota

The main reason for the trip was to see my grandparents and to also introduce them to Colt!  It was such a great time visiting with them...wish we lived closer.  I definitely cherished the time that I was able to spend with them while we were there. 

From Iowa we headed to Missouri to see my parents and siblings!  

While we were in Missouri my parents treated us to a day at Silver Dollar City in Branson.  SO MUCH FUN!  We went growing up but it was Trav's first time to go. The day before we went we bought a wagon from the tractor supply store.  Emma wanted to sleep in it that night... that great idea only last about 15 minutes.

Trav and the babes 

The whole group(that went to SDC) minus my little brother Tim (he was taking the picture)

We had two very tired babies by the end of the day!

We had such a great Spring Break visiting everybody we love!!!  I don't think I can say it enough but it feels SO good to be home!!! Back to my own bed...hallelujah!

If you're still reading this lengthy post then have a GREAT Friday tomorrow!!! 

Please stay tuned....

I do believe it's been about 2 weeks since the last post!  Lots and lots to blog about... we've been caravanning around the country this last week for spring break.  Posts on that will be coming soon!  Exciting things will be happening soon with our blog too...stay tuned for that as well! 

Off to tackle some dishes and laundry while my little people are napping!  And of course because I don't believe in posts without pictures here's a picture of one of the states we visited last week! (In case you can't see what it says...it's Minnesota... 14 hours driven from home...details to come!)

Mish Mosh

My brain capacity is shot for this evening! So this is a quick post of mish-mosh :)

-Boots-

Last week we bought Emma a pair of rainboots.  In the spring our back yard always gets pretty muddy so we thought they would come in handy!  They were one of the best purchases that we've ever made!  Girlfriend has worn them EVERY day for the past week and a half...here's some proof...

(she also got a new swimsuit... we'll be staying at a hotel over spring break that has an indoor pool!)

I was staying up late one night and heard her clunking around in her room at 11pm...this is what I found

-COLTY-

I teach piano lessons and two of my students are a brother and sister who have lessons back to back.  While the sister has her lesson the brother was playing with the kids behind me.  At one point I turned around to check on Colt and this is what I saw :)  My little student must have thought he looked lonely I guess :)

-COSTUME QUEEN-

Besides loving her boots Emma has really started to get into playing dress-up lately.  Here are a few of her recent ensembles...

 

  

  

 (yes, those are underwear... :) like I said...her own creation!)

Off to bed... have a GREAT Monday!

Our Typical Day

One of the first blogs I ever read was Kelly's Korner.  Love her blog!  One of my favorite things about her blog is each week she has all her readers share something that has to do with the subject of that week.  This week's subject is "Show us your life- what is a typical day like?"  I've never participated before but thought this looked like one I could handle :)  So for anyone who has ever wondered (guessing there are zero of you... ;) )... here is what a typical at-home day looks like for us!

6 am- I wake up and get myself ready before the kiddos are up.  Sometimes this works and sometimes it doesn't!  A lot of the time Colt wakes up with me and he spends this time playing with his dad!

7-Emma is usually up by now.  Once both kids are up I get them dressed first thing.  Then it's time for breakfast! 

8:30- Our sweet friend Macey arrives and the girls start their play time.  While the kids play I do my cleaning, laundry, baking, etc... whatever is on my list for the day.

9-Colty is down for his morning nap!  During this time I try to do some sort of activity with the girls...whether it be a craft, reading or a game.  Then back to my cleaning or laundry :) doesn't it seem NEVER ENDING?!?!????????????????????


10:30- I try to finish up whatever housework I have by now.  Colty usually is up by now.  So we either run errands (Target anyone??!), go for a walk or get in the car for a drive! I LOVE going for drives with the kids.  Not a single day goes by that we don't leave the house at least once.  It keeps me sane :)


11:45- We usually eat lunch somewhere around here.  And at least a couple times a week we like to bring Travis his lunch at work.  He'll eat it out in the car with us.  During football season we do this everyday so that the kids can see their dad at least once during the day!  AND yes, it's another excuse to go for a car ride :)


1-1:30 All three kiddos lay down for NAPS!  Our home is really small and old (meaning our wooden floors creak every time you walk on them) so it's pretty much required that I sit on the couch while they all sleep :) :)  If I get up to clean anything or walk around you can guarantee that somebody will wake up!  So... I spend this time reading my Bible, reading blogs, budgeting, making grocery lists...basically anything that I can do sitting on the couch quietly! I love it :) 


3-The kids are usually up by now.  This is when we turn on PBS Kids...love it!  While they are watching a show I do a quick run through of the house and tidy it back up.


4:15- Bye bye Macey!


4:30- A couple days a week I teach piano lessons for an hour.  During this time the kids play quietly.  :)


5:30-Time to fix and eat supper (if I'm really on the ball I like to have crockpot meals on my piano lesson days).


6- Kids get bathed and into jammies.

6:30-Colty is in bed!

7- Emma is in bed!!!

Hallelujah! We made it through a day :) The rest of the evening I spend visiting with Trav, on the internet, sewing, getting ready for the next day... you know...the regular evening things :)

So... hopefully nobody has fallen asleep just yet reading this post ;)  It's a pretty boring day... but I love it!!!  I love staying at home... God has blessed me with such an amazing husband who supports this decision.

What does your typical days look like? Join the Show us Your Life over at Kelly's Korner!

Elmo Live, 500 and Pork

This weekend the kids' Nana treated us to Elmo Live which was in town!  

We had such a great time! Emma's favorite character is Abby Cadabby.  I looked everywhere for a cheap Abby Cadabby shirt but couldn't find anything.  This is where good old Ebay came into play! I found a seller that makes iron-on transfers with Sesame Street characters plus the child's name.  I think I paid $4 for it and that included s&h!  I ironed it onto an old shirt that had stains on the front of it....glued on some jewels...and then sewed a pocket on the front to cover a really BIG stain (I believe it was spaghetti...missed it with my spray n' wash!). And voila'... a cheap Abby Cadabby shirt :)

The sellers name is  leesaatultimatetransfers if anyone wants to check them out.

I think Colty enjoyed the show more than Emma... he sat with this look on his face for a LONG time...

During the intermission a man came out with THE MOST GIGANTIC handful (pile, wad, cluster, what do you call a bunch of balloons together? :) ) of Elmo head balloons I have ever seen in my life! I tried to take a picture but it was way to dark...so I lightened it up as best as I could to give you some idea of what I'm talking about.  This picture doesn't even do it justice...it was GINORMOUS!

 

(HA did I mention Cousin It was there? )

We had such a great afternoon... thanks for taking us Nana!

In other news... I've added a little button to the side of my blog.  Laura and Erin's 500 in 2010 Challenge.  I came across this the other day on a blog and thought it looked like a great idea!  It's always fun to have a little motivation and competition.  Although I'm pretty sure I'm in last place since I started 8 weeks behind everybody else!!! :)  So basically I guess I'm trying to encourage other people to join in so I won't be in last place..haha!

And lastly before I forget.  I made the BEST crockpot pork this week!  I never EVER buy pork.  Or really any meat for that matter.  Not much of a meat girl and whatever we do have my parents' graciously give us from their cows.  So I was rummaging through our freezer last week and came across a family size pack of boneless pork chops that my Mom had bought while she was here after Colty was born. Yes, that would be 7 months ago :).  I wasn't exactly sure how to cook them.  So basically whatever meat I don't know how to cook I just throw into my Magic Crockpot and it always comes out delicious:)  Here's what I put into the 

 Magic Crockpot:

MAGIC CROCKPOT MEXICAN PORK (don't be jealous I came up with such a great name)

-Family Pack Boneless Pork Chops

-Water (I think around 2 Cups)

-Taco Seasoning (Around 3/4 a package)

-Cumin (LOVE this stuff! I put in a couple heavy duty shakes)

-Chopped Onions

-Chopped Green Peppers

I cooked it on low all day.  I didn't even have to shred it...it just fell right apart.  We ate on the pork for four days...kid you not!  The first day I served it over spanish rice with a dollup of sour cream on top.  The second day we had it in tortillas.  The third day we put it over salads...yum yum!!! And the fourth day I put the pork and shredded cheese into the center of biscuits (from a can).  Just crimp the edges and bake!
Each day the flavor of the meat grew even more delish! 

Hope everybody has a great weekend!!! Go make some pork!!! :)

Monday Love

Does anybody else LOVE Monday's?!?! :)  I LOVE them! I think part of the reason is because I grew up with a Mom who loves Mondays.  I love having a fresh start to a new week.  And I most definitely love writing down lists of to-dos that need to get done this week. 
What are your thoughts on Mondays? Love em' or hate em'?!

Absent...

As you can tell I've been absent from the blogging world for a week.  What have we been up to?  

We've been...

Enjoying the crazy amounts of snow we got last week!

Covering our baby in warm towels from the dryer

Celebrating Valentine's Day with chocolates for breakfast!

Attempting to take Valentine's Day pictures before church....

Discovering that we can open our mouths really wide and leaving them open like that for long periods of time

Taking our babies rectal temperatures... (she was very quiet one morning and this is what I found her doing)

Applying our lipstick before we head off to a "Sleeping Tooty" Ball

Eating lots of green veggies and loving them!

Building forts since it's too muddy to play outside

There's what we've been up to this week in a nutshell!

Have a fabulous weekend!