Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree

How lovely are your branches

We went hunting for a Christmas tree in the rain yesterday

 at Kelly's Tree Farm in Tipton

I could have settled for an artificial tree

but the hubs wanted a real one

We had hot cider and triple chocolate popcorn on the way there

We picked out our tree

The boys loved on the bunnies

(I love that Spencer's glasses were all fogged up)

And we got peanuts for the ride home

We came home and decorated the tree with a little help from Amelia

 and then we were exhausted and called it a day

We love our tree!

Thank you Kelly's Tree Farm!

We survived!

Well, we survived Thanksgiving!

I wasn't sure we would this year

Thanksgiving hit me like a ton of bricks

Where has the year gone?

Thanksgiving snuck up on me

and it must have snuck up my my clients as well.

A lot of them waited until the last minute to get in

but were thankful that this girl works extra hours to get them in

On Monday I worked 12 LONG hours between the 2 jobs

The only break I got was to take the boys to the dentist

On Tuesday my little guy woke up looking like this

So I rearranged my CRAZY schedule to take him to the doctor

The diagnosis- Ear infection, possible sinus infection and a NASTY eye infection

Who believes that ear infections and colds appear when children are cutting teeth?

I DO and NO doctor will ever make me change my mind

Speaking of teeth,

Remember these hideous pictures?

Parker couldn't remember how to smile without teeth.

Once those teeth popped thru, THAT SMILE WAS BACK!

ANYWAY-

Parker's feast at school was on Wednesday and we had to get him better

THANKFULLY, medicine did the trick

and he was able to go back

Once Wednesday night hit, I was exhausted

and SUPER THANKFUL that I had 4 days off to recoup

We celebrated Thanksgiving at my Aunt's house in Davenport

My family sure knows how to cook and bake!

Why didn't I get those genes?

Yesterday the hubby worked,

I stayed home and avoided the CRAZY black Friday sales.

I didn't think it would bother me but I sure missed shopping with my mom

Maybe next year!

Today the hubby is going to drag us out in this gross weather to get a tree
I may have survived Thanksgiving
but I'm not sure I will survive tree hunting in the rain

On edge

I have been on edge lately

and I HATE it

I'm working 4 nights  a week

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE my jobs

I just feel like my kids and my house need me more

I have had a lot on the brain

Our garage was graffitied last week

I can't help but look out the windows a hundred times a night

I WILL CATCH THEM

I have a million and one Christmas projects I want to make

My baby is turning 7 in a month and I have a party to plan

I am running in every direction with the boys-

School, Cub Scouts, Jammers and Gymnastics

The hubby is on orders this week for the Guard

I was reminded many times this week that Thanksgiving is next week
and MANY of my clients have waited until the last minute to make an appointment

And I'm tired of trying to please and give people what they want

Only to find out from someone else that they are upset

I just feel like I could scream at anyone at any given moment

So while 90% of my friends are on happy pills and tell me I should give them a try

I'll just go eat some chocolate :)

Who's Your Daddy?

You may remember these guys

I have talked about them a ton

My Aunt took in a mama (Smokey) and her 5 babies

 We know mama looks like this

But now that these kitties are already half grown and are absolutely gorgeous

I would LOVE to know what their daddy looks like

Is he long haired?

Is he tiger striped?

What color are his eyes? 

Look at these handsome guys and I'm not just talking about my boys :)

These kitties are BEAUTIFUL

These are 3 of our sweet Amelia's brothers

Aren't they gorgeous?

And here is our Amelia (such a pretty girl)

I wish they could talk because I would ask-

Who's your daddy?

Giving Back

November, the month to GIVE THANKS

November is also the month that we GIVE BACK

For the last 5 years we have donated to

Samaritans Purse for Operation Christmas Child

If you haven't heard of Smaritan's purse, check it out- www.samaritanspurse.org/occ

A sweet lady at our church gave 100 plastic boxes to be used for OCC

We decided to buy for a little girl this year (That was MY idea)

The boys and I went to the store and picked out her gifts -

 a Strawberry Shortcake coloring book

Strawberry Shortcake dolls
a bracelet we made
 a rubber ball

headbands
cute socks

a jump rope

Laffy Taffy
and
a puzzle

I hope she enjoys her gifts
and
I hope you GIVE BACK this holiday season

Will it ever be the same?

I'm beginning to wonder,

will it ever be the same?

In August, I started teaching gymnastics again

I absolutely LOVE the job

I love the kids and it's so rewarding to watch them learn

One day at work, I was spotting kids

They were supposed to jump on the spring board and I would lift them on to the vault

One of the kids came running and I knew one of us was going to get hurt

She was running too far to the left for me to be able to lift her

I dove for her and kicked the spring board

I'm glad I was the one that got hurt

I knew I had done something major right away

The pain was INTENSE

and the pain hasn't gone away :(

I waited 12 days before I went to get X-rays

I was sure it was broke and they would tell me to just tape them together

When my foot started going numb several times a day I became concerned

Here's what the Dr. had to say-

No fracture seen on xray.

 You have a severe sprain with nerve irritation

from the associated swelling.

Elevate and stay off of it as much as possible.

Continue taking Ibuprofen every 6 hours as needed.

These injuries usually take approximately 6 weeks to heal.

Grrrr! I have No patience and 6 weeks is a LONG time

Oh and I have 2 active little boys, 2 jobs and a house to keep up

Staying off of it isn't an option

I wore the UGLY boot for 2 weeks

It hurt when I had it on and it hurt when I had it off

I have retired the boot!

Its been a month, it can stop hurting any time now

Here's what it looks like today

(It looks much better but doesn't feel much better)

It almost feels like I need to pull on it and unjam it

but I can barely touch it

Who would like to knock me over the head and pull on it

Will it ever be the same?

Peanut Butter Pizza

Many people have asked for this recipe

To be honest, there really isn't one

Here is what I have done ~

1 pkg. of sugar cookie dough

I REALLY like Aldi's refrigerated coolie dough but it's not always available

I have used Pillsbury refrigerated dough (this raised A LOT and was much too crumbly for my liking)

and I have also used Betty Crocker cookie mix in a bag (add butter and an egg)

Line a 12" pizza pan with foil

Lightly mist foil with cooking spray

With floured hands, spread cookie dough on pizza pan and make sure to make a little lip for the crust

The baking part is a  little tricky ~

I usually set my timer according to the directions but it's never done, so I just watch until it looks done

Don't over bake your cookie! If it's to hard it will crumble when you cut it

After the cookie is done baking, set it on cooling racks to cool

When it's almost cool, take a larger pizza pan and place it upside down

on top of your cookie and flip everything over

You should be able to remove the pan your cookie was baked on

Gently pull the foil off the back of your cookie

Place the original pizza pan back on the bottom of the cookie and flip back over

Ta Da.....

I usually let my cookie cool completely before I decorate it

Once it's cool and frosted with peanut butter, cut your cookie with a sharp knife 

Then the decorating is up to you

I have used ~

M&M's

Candy corn

Reeses Pieces

Sprinkles

Chocolate chips

Butterscotch chips

Drizzle with frosting

 (I used store bought frosting and a ziploc bag with the tip cut off  to decorate)

Now enjoy!

Nieces

I'm pretty excited this week

I'm getting a new niece,
I will be referring to her as M
She's from Ethiopia and she's darling

She has beautiful dark skin
and
OH MY! Those eyes
 (dark like Hershey kisses and they can make you melt)

I can't wait to show you pictures once the adoption is complete

My brother and sister in-law are in Africa for their first court date

If all goes well, they will come back home and wait for the call to go back to get her

My brother and sister in-law get to spend a couple days with her

 I can't wait to hear how their visit goes

As crazy as I think they are
I'm excited to be the Aunt of this little girl

This journey started in January

A family that lives in Wisconsin adopted M's biological brother and half brother

This family had 3 children of their own which quickly made them a family of 7

When they found out that there was a little sister living with an Uncle,

The family contacted Jeremy and Leslie and asked if they would be interested

And that's how it all started

I already have 2 nieces (age 7 and  3)

I worry about the girls and hope they adjust well

My mom will be leaving for Wisconsin today

She will be taking care of the girls while their parents are gone

I always try to send something special for the girls

I decided a Thanksgiving bag would be the way to go

The girls love crafts so I put some craft kits together
I got the ideas off of Pinterest and used supplies I had to make the kits

I also packed some yummy fall goodies

I heard from Leslie this morning-
She said they are safe, they slept well,
they were having pepsi and enjoying the internet at their hotel
and M is already calling them mom and dad :)


Natalie and Miriam- We miss you and we hope you have a fun week with Grandma!
M- We can't wait to meet you!

Happy Halloween 2011

What should have started out as a Happy Halloween morning

started with tears instead of smiles

The pumpkin Spencer worked so hard on

was thrown out in the road last night

I put the kids to bed and told them to get a good night sleep,

we would be celebrating Halloween tomorrow.

I walked out in the kitchen, looked out the window and saw pumpkin splattered

I immediately ran to the front window as if I was going to catch these punks

and saw the empty spot where Spencer's pumpkin had been

Within seconds I was on the phone to the police

They sent an officer, who got the pleasure of seeing me in my hot pink snowman pj's,

he said there were pumpkins smashed all over the neighborhood

Why couldn't they have thrown Parker's pumpkin,

I was the one that carved it

No, they had to throw the one that Spencer carved

I woke Spencer up this morning and told him the bad news

Why would they do this, was asked over and over

It was heart breaking to see the boys go outside in the bitter cold

and pick up the pieces of Spencer's pumpkin
I think they wanted to try to put it back together

So, after dropping the boys off at school,

I went pumpkin hunting

Do you know how hard it is to find a pumpkin on Halloween?

I went to Wal-mart, Hy-Vee, Fareway and Dollar General

I ended up down at Schmitz Melon Shed

The doors were shut and the shed was closed but there were wagons of pumpkins

I went in the restaurant and begged to purchase a pumpkin

I paid for a pumpkin and picked one I thought Spencer would like

I brought it home and set the table with carving utensils

Then I searched the internet in hopes of finding a cat carving template 

He came home and carved his new pumpkin

We ate supper

It wasn't quite like Papa Murphy's pizza but it worked

And our Halloween ended on a happy note

Costumes, Trick or Treating, Lots of Candy,
Some cool Cubs shirts (Thanks Aunt Janelle & Uncle Randy),
Visits with friends
and
A new Pumpkin