christmastime is here.

Christmastime is here.

While the kids are anxious to take each day off the countdown, I want them to stay up as long as possible.

So much to do. (Not to mention that Dave's bday is thrown in the mix!)

Lilly's pre-school had a Winterfest this week.
I helped out at the "Santa booth" along with Julie, Lilly's teacher from last year. (Santa is Julie's dad... and he was such a fun Santa!!)
Julie took these fun pics of the kids! Thanks Julie!!



Am I a bad mom that I wanted a picture of Cohen screaming on Santa's lap?!? heheh. Well, if he liked Santa, I'd want a picture of that too :) And Lilly is in the same frozen pose in each shot. Hilarious! i LOVE it!


There are so many things I enjoy about Christmas.

The goodies to make and eat.
(These buckeyes are my cousin April's recipe from the blog cookbook!! YUM!)The making of gifts. The giving of gifts. The getting of gifts (oh, it's fun to get gifts, i won't deny it!)

Seeing my kids and husband happy with surprises on Christmas morning.

The story of Christmas.

The holiday movies on TV, and Lilly and Dave wanting to watch A Christmas Story over and over again.

Driving around seeing the Christmas lights.

But the 2 things that I love about Christmas the most...

the things that I love just for ME....

1. Holiday Cards (sending and receiving them)

It's no secret that I love mail all year long. But knowing that we can get at least one fun card in the mail each day of December is so much fun for me. We hang them on the wall in our hallway, and soon the wall is filled. I love reading the little notes or letters and seeing the pictures. I even make a scrapbook page for each year using bits and pieces of the cards and photos we get. I love making our cards and picking out a photos. Addressing each envelope by hand. This year, even though we went through a rough patch, I still 'let' myself design up our card to print and buy postage stamps because I love this part of Christmas so much. Thank you to Little Bean for funding my Holiday Card addiction :)

2. Christmas Music

The music... I don't get tired of it. I love all my Hallmark music CDs, James Taylor, WOW Christmas collection, our MTV TRL Christmas CD :)... a mixed Christmas CD from Ali and Richard, the 2 local radio stations that play holiday music 24/7. It doesn't get old. Lilly asked if we could listen to a 'regular' CD today :) That's how much I love it! It's on. A lot.

Now... What is YOUR VERY OWN favorite part of Christmas?? And what Christmas music do I need to add to my wish list??

Happy weekend!

thankful.

i have so much to be thankful for.
so much so that the list would be neverending, and even then i would probably leave something out.

during the past 5 weeks, our family has litterally been surrounded by living angels. they were always there, but the past month, they have really shown themselves. some of them read this blog, a few have no clue this blog exists... but without naming names or giving specifics... THANK YOU for taking us under your wing. thank you for putting a smile on my face, and making me cry happy happy tears over and over again. all the things you have done for us, big and small, have been so amazing. thank you for helping without me even having, or really without me wanting, to ask.

i hope that eveyone had a wonderful thanksgiving and was able to reflect on all that there is to be thankful for...

i am definitley thankful for these little owls.

and thankful for their awesome daddy who took these pictures without me knowing, and finding them on the camera was a little surprise that i did enjoy :)

i am thankful for each person reading this. if you are here, you have probably touched my life in one way or another, and for that i am so thankful! some of you i don't know, but i am thankful for you reading my blog just the same!

have a wonderful week everyone!!

new fun things

here's a sneak peak of some new fun yummies over at LBE :)


Here's a link to another quick pic on the LBE blog so you dont have to go searching around the site, unless you want to seach around the site to do some Christmas shopping ;)

Happy Tuesday everyone!

blog comments.

i 'follow' a lot of blogs.

i use bloglines.com to keep track of them all.

i stalk so many blogs that i am ashamed to admit the number i have stored away in there.

the other day, yesterday i think...

i read this post

and then i left a comment on her blog.

and she left one on mine :)

how sweet it that?

im going to try to leave more comments on the blogs i read, because it makes people feel good. and i love that.

and because i can't complain that i don't get comments if i'm not leaving comments myself.

and some pictures:)

because i think that is why you are really here.

now... would you like to add a comment :)

im usually a 'make crafty gifts for christmas' girl.
but, this year i have a feeling that it's going to be a straight up home-made christmas.

as in... "what can i make from the supplies i currently have in my home" home-made.

-the list in my head is already forming.
-my favorite links folder on internet explorer is growing.

im sure some of you are starting lists of your own!
so here i share with you a bunch of stuff that ive made in the past few months. not for christmas but for other things... weddings, bdays... just for fun!

Bibs for my grandma :)

(With guidance from this tutorial)

Hankerchiefs for Grandpa Bill.

Roll up reusable grocery bags.

A new dress for Emma-Lilly.

Towels and more towels!

A little monster. Which we call "H-Man".
(Made from this tutorial)

A few headbands.

(From this tutorial)

i had made one of these before, but it came out much too big for lilly. in my attempts to resize them to fit lilly's head, i accidently made one precisly the size for a 4 month old :)

happy crafting to you all :)

for those of you who aren't into the crafty thing....

happy shopping :)

speaking of shopping... here's a great place to shop ;)

i plan to update the site over the weekend.

sign up on our mailing list to get the news when i do!!

have a great weekend!!

cookbook recipe share!

I made my dad's cream of broccoli soup (pg 15) for lunch today and that reminded me that i've been wanting to post about all of the WONDERFUL recipes that i've tried from the cookbook that I put together a while back, with help from a lot of you!

Here are some of our new favorite recipes!!!

(in no particular order)

tomato basil squares (pg 5) DELICIOUS!! ive made it at least 3 times :)

savory crescent chicken squares (pg 7) mmmmm... though i think i should have put that in the main dish category! oops!

fruit dip (pg 8) i can eat this stuff without fruit!

texas salsa (pg 10) so good with tomatoes from the backyard...

dry jello salad (pg 21) this one actually got me to eat cottage cheese!!

Snickers burritos (pg 56) we made these with Twix bars. different, but yummy.

apple salad (pg 23) so fun, and tasty!! we've made this several times already.

strawberry bread (pg 27) YUM! how fun is bread with berries and cool whip mixed in?!?

PB&J swirls (pg 27) another fun one!!

rice pilaf (pg 42) this is one of my all time favorite dishes. my grandma made it, my parents made it, and now i make it for my kids (and for me too!!)

easy chicken enchilada's (pg 35) we love easy things that turn out fancy!

favorite choclate chip cookies (pg 49) ok, so this a recipe i shared, so obviously i love it. i just wanted to add another pic :)

meatloaf muffins (pg 36) Yay!! We LOVE LOVE LOVE this one!! even the kids!!

swiss chicken (pg 36) delicious!! how would we survive without boxed stuffing??

biscuits & gravy (pg 37) Oh my. That's all I can say.

chicken tetrazini (pg 39) LOVE it!! even more so since i don't have to make a roux for it!

fruit cobbler (pg 57) if you've been reading my blog for a while, you already know my obsession with this recipe. i think i may head to the apple tree right after i post this!!

beef and noodles (pg 32) ive made this once, but cant wait to make it again!! SO good.

quick and easy cassoulet (pg 29) another great one!!

ham and broccoli bake ( pg 31) YUM!! a great way to sneak in the veggies.

chili dip (pg 9) do not make this unless you have other people there to share it with. otherwise you could very well eat it all on your own.

cream cheese squares (pg 6) see above statement. these things are incredibly easy and incredibly delicious!!!

chicken roll ups (pg 35) how did we survive without refrigerated crescent rolls and canned cream soups? this one is yummy.

sweet chili (pg 18) YUM!! i think i need to make this right now. cohen LOVES this stuff.

pizza soup (pg 17) this makes a TON and its great! we froze some for later.

Though all these recipes taste good... the BEST part is having a story with them. When I get to say... this is Ali's recipe, we love that recipe Lisa sent, that recipe came from someone mommy went to high school with, or that recipe is from your teacher! That's what it's all about :)

Which ones have you tried out and loved?!?!?

Please share... I need a little advice ;)

I still have a lot to test out :)

Have a great weekend!

what are YOU doing tonight?

my favorite part about this year's election?

(besides that fact that it's almost over...)

i get to SEW tonight!!

what better background noise over my sewing machine than the presidential election coverage? (for real though, i hope you voted. we did.)

i will be starting the finishing touches to a bday gift that's been a slllooooowww going process. then i have another one to start on for the end of december!!

i have a few other things i may sew in between. another bday gift. finish up a baby shower gift. and maybe ill sew up that hole in my shirt that's been laying around here for a week.

i'm not sure if any of you follow the Little Bean Embroidery Blog (without me directing you there first...) but there are a few new things going on over there!

I've added a few new things... and I've also started a mailing list. All the info is on the LBE Blog, but here is the link to the mailing list for anyone interested. I'm woking on even MORE fun things to add to the store, so sign up for the mailing list if you want to be one of the first to know what is going on. (spread the word........)

And one last thing before my machine finishes a monogram, and I trudge all my stuff upstairs for my evening of sewing...

another HUGE thank you for all the continued thoughts, prayers, well wishes, and support. It is amazing what you people in my life are doing for us. I can hardly believe it. Thank you.

All the things you think are little things, well... they are huge right now. Thank you thank you thank you.

First of all... thank you all so very very much for the kind comments, emails and phone calls during this rough time!! I have cried, laughed and smiled a lot this past week knowing that so many people are here for us, and genuinely care about us. Each one of you is amazing and without all of your support this whole situation would be a lot more difficult. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

And now to the good stuff.... what makes our world go round.

(Special thanks to Dave's buddy Roland, for bringing over this great 'prop'!)

Our little bikers.

(let's see how many pictures blogger will hold...)

Happy Halloween!
Have a wonderful weekend :)