A family of three...

It seems that a family of 3 is what the Cross family was meant to be. Mother's Day started with me in the ER of a small town hospital. Having gone through a miscarriage before, I thought I knew what to expect, but this was totally different. It was like I actually went into labor. Thankfully I was blessed with an awesome ER nurse who understood I was in very intense pain and an ER doctor who was right on top of giving me something for the pain. I am still in a bit of shock. I was actually starting to get use to the idea of having a second child. Brian and I were talking about names, potty training Miss K, moving Miss K to her big girl bed so that we would have a baby bed, possibily moving before the baby was born....just a bunch of different things you plan before you have a baby. Now...we are just trying to decide on where we go from here. But we do know that we can not go through all of this again. I can not physically or mentally go through losing another baby again.

So, Miss K and I are staying with my in laws for the week so that I can heal and have someone help me with her. I've been having a hard time picking her up. She is not a little girl. She and I are spending some time playing on the swing set her grandparents bought her, drawing on the sidewalk with chalk, counting, singing Wiggle songs....I am just enjoying my daughter.

No photos. I've taken some, not a lot, but I've taken them. My inlaws still have dial up, so I can't upload any photos. They are getting cable internet tomorrow, so maybe I will get to upload some later this week.

Okay...I am headed to bed. Blog ya later.

ARG!

What's worse than being pregnant and having MAJOR morning sickness? Being pregnant with major morning sickness and having a REALLY bad cold! I think I am DYING!

ETA: Add a sick toddler to that too. At least she puked on her dad and not me.

Ready to share....

First of all...I want to say that I am sorry for anyone who thought I was very sick. To the person who thought I might have cancer...I am so sorry. Nothing that bad.

First of all...let me say that Brian and I have had a plan for our family. Miss K was a blessing to us. But, because of all the problems that I had with my first pregnancy, everything that went on with Miss K, and the recommendation of the oncologist, we decided that Miss K was enough for us. Well....God has other plans. So, the Cross family will be adding a 4th member in November. I am a nervous wreck who has been SICK for weeks. Taking care of Miss K has become somewhat of a challenge for me. I know that women have babies everyday. I just don't do it well or gracefully. It will take me a little while to get use to the whole idea of having another baby.

So, that is what is going on with us. I have a cold, so I am off.

Blog ya later.

New words everyday

The past couple of weeks have been big at our house. Miss K seems to learn a new word everyday. Now, she doesn't continually use the word, but it seems she will say it a couple of times and then not use it again for a couple of days. Saturday...all day it was 'baby' and 'puppy'. She has said each of those words before, but like I said, she said them once and then they went away. But when they come back, they come back BIG. Today's new word is APPLE. Let me tell you....this kid LOVES apples. One night Brian was eating a Granny Smith apple. Miss K walked over to him, took it and started eating it. We were shocked because the apple wasn't sliced. It was still on the core and everything. So, a couple of days later she and I were at Panaera having lunch with her gymnastic friends and she grabs the apple off the tray and started biting into it. She ate half of the apple like that! Everyone was laughing because she was going crazy with it. Today I was getting her lunch ready and she went over to the fridge, opened it up and took the apple out and started saying, "apple". She is constantly saying "oh boy!" and "oh gosh". Can I tell you I LOVE this stage. Except...can someone explain to me while my child throws herself on the floor in a tantrum every 10 minutes or so? And we won't even go into her great escape yesterday. She has learned to open the sliding door. She and the dogs made a break for it yesterday. Thankfully my new neighbor Amy saw them all outside. Seriously took 10 years off my life. Remember...I l ive next to a pond.

We are leaving Friday afternoon to head to Nashville. We will be there for a week! So, I hope I get a chance to see a lot of my friends while I am there. I've got a LOT of organizing to do while I am there. I've got to get Miss K's clothes sorted and stored. Right now they are just in a HUGE pile in her room. And I've got BOXES of scrapbook supplies that I need to get rid of. I think I will have one day where I will let people come over and look at stuff and then the rest of it will be DONATED. We are talking 3-5 large moving boxes. I think one box is full of nothing but pattern paper. And my husband helped me box it all up and never said a word about all the stuff I was getting rid of.

Well...I hear my child waking up from her nap. Blog ya later!

Long time no blog....

I know. I said I was going to be better about it, but things happen. Our family is dealing with some stuff right now so we are in need of some prayers. I am not ready to share just yet, but trust me...when you pray, God knows exactly what you are praying for because I pray about 10 times a day.

We spent 19 hours Wednesday/Thursday without any power. That really stunk because it was cold. Miss K and I spent most of the day away from home staying warm at places like McD's, Tuesday Morning and our favorite cookie bakery that has great sugar cookies. I think I actually did a happy dance when the power came back on at exactly 1:41 pm yesterday.

Brian's parents are coming to visit us this weekend. I am looking forward to that. I love my in laws and they are so great with Miss K. I am hoping to get some time to work on my scrapbook room while they are here.

Here is a photo of Miss K from Easter Sunday. We had lunch at a friend's house. She was wearing this cute outfit. Imagine my surprise when my friend opened the door and her daughter was wearing the same exact outfit in pink!

I am crazy....

Brian and I have both given up all Coke products...regular and diet. What in the world was I thinking?????

Have you ever told someone a HUGE secret and made them PROMISE not to say anything to anyone? I did that to someone yesterday. You know who you are....I'm sorry. You know I love you.

Prayers Please

This is photo from March of 2006. This is K's birthday buddy. This beautiful little boy passed away this afternoon. His parents put him down for a nap and he never woke up. Please pray for his parents. They are living every parent's worse nightmare. Hug your children tight.

Busy little bee

So, Miss K's personal library keeps growing. I found a bookshelf at Staples for $15. It fit perfect in her closet. So, Brian put it together last night. I decided to go ahead and get it in her closet and the books on it before we left for the weekend. Here is how it looks...

And here is how it looked 1 minute later...

Oh well. I am sure I am going to spend the rest of my life picking up after her.

Anyway...we are off to spend the weekend with my inlaws. This starts the week of our crazy traveling over the next month. We leave Thursday to drive to Nashville for Easter. Brian drives back on Tuesday and Kennedy and I fly back on Friday. Then we head straight to Brian's parents house again for the weekend. Then we are back in our apartment for 4 days and then back to Nashville for another week while Brian is in a workshop. Speaking of Brian and work....today is the last day that the plant in Spring Hill is operating. It will shut down today and they will start the teardown of the equipment to retool the plant for a new product. I have no idea when the plant will reopen. I think it will be at least a year.

Well...my child is crying. I am sure that she is tired. Doesn't help that she woke up this morning at 4ish. I woke up to her counting...1, 2, 3! She was WIDE awake and ready to play. Mommy. Not so much.

Blog ya later!

Good news and bad news

The good news is...my email is working again and I didn't lose anything. Yeah! The bad news...my cleaning people came LATE today. They usually come about 10:30. So, I scheduled Maxie and Betty Boop grooming appointments. Miss K and I headed to Hobby Lobby. It's a bit of a drive, but this week was a good sale. We get home about 1:45 and the cleaning people never showed up! Bummer! So I called the scheduler and she tells me that they don't guarentee a time, just a day. 2:59pm...5 minutes after I put Miss K down for a nap, they show up. CRUD! I only get the service every other week and I missed the last service becasue K wasn't feeling well and I didn't want to have to leave. So, they are going to try and reschedule for next week. Know what that means? I gotta clean. I have to scrub the toilets, showers and floors. Those are the things I totally dislike doing. I'm bummed. Bummed.

No photos. CF card is still missing in action. I have no idea where it could be. Luckily, I downloaded everything before I "lost" it. Gonna have to find it before we leave for Easter. Or buy a new one. Bummer. More $$ that I don't have.

Blog ya later.

Disaster

My email is gone. All my addresses are gone. All my stuff is GONE. Guess tomorrow Comcast is going to start rebuilding my email. I am bummed. I've lost email addresses of people I don't know how to get in touch with.

$100 Store, Baby Dreams, and Geese VS. Ducks

Do you ever go into the $1 Store to grab a few cheap things and walk out of there with you bank account $20 lighter? I always get suckered in at the $1 Store. Worst than the $1 Store is what I lovingly refer to as the $100 Store AKA Costco. Note to Hollye....you can not grocery shop at Costco for a family of 3! I mean, you can if you don't want to shop again for months. I mean...how long will it take us to eat 96 slices of cheese? I love Costco though. I get 90% of my photo printing done there. I also love their baby wipes. When Miss K was an infant, we used their formula. We love their muffins also. I buy them, we eat on them for a couple of days and then freeze the rest of them. The muffins are huge. Miss K and I share one for breakfast and Brian has one on the way to work in the mornings. One thing you can not beat at Costco is the snack bar. I mean seriously. You can eat there CHEAP. A hot dog and a coke for $1.50. And the hot dog is HUGE. I can't eat it all. Slice of pizza...$1.99. This HUGE chicken ceasar salad that can feed 2 people is $3.29. K and I had lunch there for $5.61 yesterday and we had about 2/3 of a hot dog left and 1/2 a salad. I was going to grab 2 more salads for dinner last night, but the line was long and the kid was grumpy. (My child is in a permnanat state of grumpy.)

So, K has not been sleeping well since oh...Thanksgiving. She wakes up in the middle of the night about 4 times a week and the only way she will go back to sleep is if she is in our bed. For those of you who really know me, you know how I feel about the whole kids sleeping with parents issue. Anyway...apparently she woke up this morning around 4. Brian brought her into our bed. She is dead alseep and all of a sudden it starts.....she's talking. Then she is laughing. The she starts singing. The tune was the ABC's, but she only knows the first 5 letters. I ws trying so hard not to laugh, but it was hard. Five minutes later Brian's alarm went off and she shot up like a rocket. So, our day started early.

Our apartment is situated infront of a pond. Up until last week, it was frozen. Monday afternoon, the ducks showed up. Tuesday the geese showed up. I heard them WAY before I saw them. They show up about 7 and honk so that everyone knows they have arrived. So, K and I have been watching them from our living room window. She screams when she sees them. Yesterday she was sitting on the coffee table while I was reading a book to her. All of a sudden she starts say 'hi' and waving. I notice a mom and her son outside feeding the ducks and geese. Duh....why didn't I think of that? K heard the word 'outside' and she was ready. We grabbed so old hamburger buns and went out to feed the fowl. I tried to engage the other mom in conversation, but she wasn't friendly at all. Oh well. I tried. Anyway...we were feeding the fowl. Well, we tried to feed them all. The geese kept honning in on the duck's territory, so the ducks hardly got anything. I felt bad for them. So, this afternoon the geese had gone and just the 2 ducks were out there. We grabbed our hot dog buns and went to feed them. The dang geese showed back up. Oh well. The ducks did get some, but they were diving for bugs I assumed and one of them came up with a frog in his mouth. K screamed. I was kinda startled. Do ducks eat frogs? He dropped the frog into the water, but picked it up again. I grabbed K and we headed toward the house. Bad frog eating duck.

Okay...no photos because I have LOST my CF card! Gotta find it tonight because we are headed to Canada tomorrow. Just to say we have been there. Plus...I wanna go to Hobby Lobby again! HA!

Blog ya later!

Leotard Lovely

As I mentioned before, Miss K is taking gymnatics. Well, not really gymnastics....we go to the training center and do some little activities. Some of the kids do rolls, but my child just wants to play with the pom poms. We did find the long trampoline today and she was singing "jump jump". That comes from the Jumpin' Judy episode of the Doodlebops. But, she looks really cute in her pink leotard. I took Brian's small camera today to class. Didn't want to carry the Rebel and chase Miss K around because she runs around like crazy when we are there.

It's not a great photo, but I wanted Brian to be able to see the "setting" of the gym. And please note the color of the pom poms in her hands. Those match her cheerleading outfit. Although, I think we are going to have to replace it when football season starts. I think it might be a little too short now.

New Goodies

I love new goodies. Here are a couple of the new things I've gotten in the past couple of days...

I won a gift card at the event on Friday night. It was for a cute little shop across from the scrapbook store. They carry my favorite bags...Vera Bradley. I've been eyeing the new Peacock pattern, so I ended up with this cutie!

We decided to go ahead and update our phones since Brian was having such a hard time getting good reception with his and mine was working fine in the same area. So, my hubby got me this!

Miss K even got some new goodies. In addition to the FOUR pair of shoes that her grandparents bought her while she was visiting, Mommy bought her a new car seat.We bought her a Britax Regent. It is referred to as the "King of all car seats." And let me tell you...this thing is HUGE. She will be using this thing for YEARS! I love it.

I also got a lot of new scrapbook goodies, but if I listed them all this blog entry would be very long. I got alot of the new Heidi Swapp stuff. As soon as Miss K goes down for her nap, I am going to work in the scrapbook/playroom. I need to get the table cleaned off and finally unpack all the boxes and get everything set up so we can start using the room for it's intended purpose. I am going to have to store all my supplies in the closet because Miss K thinks that she is suppose to eat the rubber stamps. Turkey!

Okay..off to clean. No cleaning people this week, so I need to clean the bathrooms and figure out why my child is having a meltdown.

Fabulous Weekend

I had such a wonderful weekend. I took my camera, but I didn't take hardly any photos. That seems to be one of my problems for ANY event that I go to. Oh well. I enjoyed myself.

As always...Jenni Bowlin was FABULOUS. I have been lucky enough to take classes from Jenni a number of times over the past 3 years. Love her and I LOVE her stuff. If you don't know who Jenni is (are you living under a pile of scrapbook supplies?), you can check out her blog. Also, she has an awesome kit club. Check it out. You will NOT be disappointed.

I have found my favorite new person. Alison Tyler Jones. This woman is AMAZING. I bought her book before we went and just glanced through it. We actually were sitting next to her in the lobby of the hotel and just started chatting with her. I know she thought we were nuts. We offered her a ride over to the store and she went with us. She said that she loves the South. So, before her lecture, I knew she was great, but I didn't realize how great until she started her presentation. OH. MY. WORD. I want this lady to be my neighbor! Too bad she lives in Arizona. I know that she does teach photography classes. I told Brian that I was going to look into her schedule. I've got a couple of free airline tickets. In the meantime, I am looking into a photography class here in Detroit.

All of the classes rocked. I really needed the break, but I was ready to get home. Brian and Miss K planned on meeting me in the baggage claim area of the airport to surprise me, but K went to sleep on the ride to the airport. So, she didn't even "see" me until about 15 minutes into the ride home. Then she just screamed when Brian left the car to go to work. She is all better now. She wouldn't say momma at all today. This evening she was getting a bath and I asked her if she was ready to get out and she started "singing" 'momma, momma, momma.' She's a hoot. Here is a way cute photo my MIL took of Miss K while she was outside playing in mud puddles. She LOVED it.

Overall, I had a great time. Thank you Kelli , JJ and Cathleen for the ride to Alabama. You ladies are so funny. Thank you Sherri and Michelle for letting me ride back to Nashville with you on Friday. It was good to get home early. Although, I do wish we had turned around and talked to the guy who was carrying the cross. He was on my mind all day today, But, I got to do a little cleaning and spend some time with my mom. Oh...and for those of you who knew my mom was getting chemo....she NEVER got sick. Praise God! We were so worried that she was goin g to get to get really sick. She has a great attitude about the whole thing. Just keep her in your prayers. She has 46 more weeks!

Okay...blog more about the event later!

Recipe, chemo, a trip and AWESOME weather!!

My friend Kennington had us over for dinner one night and she made the most awesome mac n' cheese. I asked her for the recipe and I thought I would share it. Brian and Miss K love it. I made it last night and they both cleaned their plates.

Homemade Mac n' Cheese

8 oz. elbow macaroni, cooked

8 oz. sharp Cheeder cheese, shredded.

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1/2 cup mayo

1/2 cup milk

Mix all together and pour into a slightly greased dish. Bake for 25 minutes @ 375 degrees.

So, tomorrow I am headed to Nashville. I can't wait. My mom was suppose to pick me up at the airport, but she got a call on Monday and she has to start her chemo on Wednesday. She is very nervous. I am very nervous. So please say a prayer for my mom if you think about it. She is going to need them.

Also, say a prayer for me, Miss K and my awesome mother in law. Brian and I are meeting the in laws tomorrow night for dinner. When we leave...Miss K is staying with them. This will be the first time that Miss K has stayed away from both of her parents at the same time. I am nervous. I know my MIL can take care of her, I worry about how Miss K will react to me and Brian not being there. She will be there Wednesday - Sunday. Brian is driving up Friday after work. I'll probably call a million times before the end of my trip.

So, I am flying out tomorrow night. Means I have to miss the results show of American Idol AND Lost. I'm a little upset about that. Guess I'll have to watch it online later next week. But, I get to spend the next couple of days hanging with my scrappy friends. And to be honest, I need a break from my little family. I was nasty to Brian atfer the whole laptop thing, so I figured it was time for a little break. I am nowhere near ready to go, but I am not worried about it. If I don't have everything I need, I am not going to stress. I just want to have a good time.

And let's talk about the weather here in Rochester, MI. B E A U T I F U L ! It is 73 degrees outside right now. And sunshine. Fabulous sunshine. I am loving it.

And since I promised photos more often...here is one of Miss K after a long crying bout the other night. She is getting her eye teeth and she is not handling it very well at all. I'm not either. The stinker won't go to sleep. She was up until almost 11 last night and woke up in the middle of the night and wouldn't go back to sleep in her bed. We had to bring her into our bed. It's killing me.

It's not so bad...

This weekend, the weather in our part of Michigan was beautiful. It got up into the 50's. People had on their flip flops and springy skirts. I saw a bunch of people in shorts. We were still bundled up though. But the main thing...SUNSHINE! It was so nice. We spend Saturday running some errands. Brian decided that we could upgrade our cell phones, so we went to look at phones. We also found a great shopping area and my all time favorite grcoery store, Trader Joes. We also stopped in at PBK and tried out the Anywhere Chair for Miss K. She has used it at a friend's house and I wanted Brian to see it. There were WAY too many distractions in that store for her. There was a baby stroller in there that she was crazy about. It was hard getting her out of the store without her pitching a fit. I also hit Gymboree to check out the sale stuff. Walked out with ANOTHER Gymbuck. I was going to use it to buy K's Easter dress, but the new line that is coming out is AWESOME, so I will probably spend it all on that! I love Gymboree!

So, I am attending Scrap Etc. Event this week. I can not wait!!! I am riding to Alabama with kellidarrsuperstar and the fabulous JJ, so I am excited about that. I need to spend the next two days getting my stuff together. I am WAY behind. So, instead of packing, what have I done? I made inspiration journals. They aren't beautiful or anything like that. I saw one in Paper Crafts and decided to make one similar to it. I didn't have all the stuff I needed and since I was making 4 of them, I wasn't going to go out and spend a lot of money. I made one for each of my roomies...Susan, Jamey and Kim. I hope they like them! I also need to pack Miss K's stuff because she is going for her first stay away from Mommy and Daddy. She is staying with Brian's parents Wednesday night and Thursday night. Brian will drive up on Friday and spend the weekend with them. I am VERY nervous. And it isn't that I think anything will happen or that my mother in law will do something I don't agree with. I am just nervous about being away from my munchkin for so long.

Oh...did I mention that my husband spilled his LARGE Coke from Wendy's all over my NEW laptop? I was BEYOND pissed at him. Sunday he took the entire thing apart and cleaned it with a Q-tip. Lucky for him, I had the lid shut when he was being a klutz.

Today is a busy day for us. It's LAUNDRY day. I need to get about 10 loads of laundry done, plus all the linens and that includes towels and rugs. So, I better get my rear in gear!

Blog ya later!

We are in Nashville!

It was a pretty easy trip, even with the delay. SWA lost my stroller. Luckily, I bought a cheap $10 umbrella stroller from Target this morning to take to the airport. Still irritates me that they lost it. They gave me a loaner until they find it. It's a pretty nice stroller.

Had some car drama before we got home. Brian got it fixed, but now it is leaking oil. His car HAS to make it until the end of the year. Lucky for us, we are only home a couple of days a month, so we are hoping we can "patch" her up and keep her around until the end of the year.

My house is a pig sty. Tomorrow morning I will be CLEANING. I've got a load of rugs in the washer right now. I am hoping it is nice enough outside tomorrow that we can open all the windows and air the house out. Smells musty. Ick. I am the world's worst house keeper.

So tomorrow I am having lunch with my favortie mommy of 4 boys...Sherri. And I am hitting Hobby Lobby for some retail therapy.

Okay...it is almost 11 Michigan time and I am BEAT. Miss K woke up at 6 this morning and took a very short nap.

Blog ya later...with photos!

I promise...

I will start updating more often. I just haven't had a lot to blog about. I mean...how many times can I complain about how cold it is and how lonely I am? I resolved that it wasn't going to get any better until I did something about it. So I did! Miss K is now taking gymnastics. She is a "tumblebee". Today was our first day. No tumbling was involved for us. She just ran around and picked up all the plates that Miss Linda put down for "spots". But she was SUPER cute looking in her little pink leotard. Looking forward to going back next week. The mommies and kids that we met were really nice.

So, we had a "blind" playdate on Tuesday. It went okay. The little boy is older than Miss K, but she is bigger than he is. But he kept tackling her and kissing her. She wasn't having any of it. His mom finally convinced him to give me the hugs instead of Miss K. She was fine. Until another little boy decided that she was his type and he chased her all around the play area until he caught her and gave her a kiss. Then he was so excited he did a little dance and clapped his hands. His mom and I got a good laugh out of it.

Tomorrow we are going to spend the morning doing laundry and getting stuff packed for our trip to Nashville. I am looking forward to going home. We are going to try and get some stuff done on the house and visit with friends. Lots to do! Then in the afternoon we have another "blind" play date with a little girl.

Thought I would share this photo of Miss K. Monday night I was taking a shower and Brian was "watching" her. When Iturned the water off, K ran to the bathroom to hand me my towel. I yelled for Brian. K took a tub of Vaseline and covered her face, her head and her PJs. We washed her hair 5 times that night and 3 times with Dawn the next morning and it wouldn't come out. So, I went and bought some Neutrogena Anti-Residue shampoo and planned on washing her hair with baking soda and that shampoo. The little trouble maker got into a new thing of Vaseline that I bought when I bought the shampoo! I totally forgot that it was in the Target bag. This time she only got a little on her clothes and her hair. Most of it was on the carpet, coffee table and the dog. Thankfully, the baking soda and shampoo seem to have done the trick.

Can you believe that tomorrow is March 1st? This year seems to be flying by!

Blog ya later!

I am not sure what I feel...

I recently found out that one of my friends is pregnant. (Congratulations Jennie!) She is having twins. I don't evny her that, but I think I am jealous that she is pregnant. WHAT? Where did that come from? If any of you were around me when I was pregnant, you know it was NOT a pleasant situation. I was sick for 38 weeks straight. I had morning sickness at the hospital. Then there were the daily shots in the tummy. Overall, I HATED being pregnant. HATED it. Hated everything about it. When K would kick me, I would get sick to my stomach. Are you getting the sense that I didn't enjoy being pregnant? I remember being at my OB's office for one of my twice weekly non stress test. She walked in to check the monitor and I busted out crying and BEGGED her to send me the hospital and induce me. I was only 36 weeks and she was not doing to grant my request no matter how much I begged and pleaded. I know by the end of my pregnancy, she was ready for me to done too. Hollye = not a good patient. It is not something I would every willingly do again. Right??? I mean, the outcome was amazing. I've got this beautiful, funny little munchkin running around my house calling me "Hawee" and giving me sloppy kisses whenever she gets the urge. I can't even describe the feeling I get when someone tells me that she looks just like me. (Even though I think she looks like Brian.)

I am not sure what I am feeling. I need to sit down and have a long talk with myself about it. Brian just tells me that he will be happy with whatever I want. And I know that is true. He loves K like crazy. And she is a handful. Then there is whole doctor "you shouldn't have another baby" thing I need to deal with. The oncologist said no more. Guess I need to do some research on that. Then there is the whole heart issue. Some of you may or may not know this. K is not my first child. My first child, Jonah had a heart defect that was not compatible with life. And even though K does not have anything wrong with her heart, the defect is hereditary and the chances that another child would have it actually go up after you have one heart healthy child. When I was doing the research on Jonah's condition, I came across families that had more than one child with a heart defect. And not minor ones. Major life threatening conditions.

Lots of things that need to be considered. And before anyone says "all pregnancies are different", my pregnancy with Jonah was just as bad as K's, but without the shots.

Okay...I am off. All my scrappy Tennessee friends are hanging out at J's and I am jealous. I am gonna go scrapbook with my dogs for company. Pity Party for one!

Still cold...

For some reason, it is wicked cold outside right now. Brian came in from walking the dogs and I thought he had frostbite on his ears. Crazy!!!

Today was another PJ day. Both mommy and baby were sick. We both took a nice long nap.

So, yesterday we headed to Panera for lunch. Now, while I am not as obsessed with Panera as Sherri is, I do love their creamy chicken and wild rice soup. I love it even move in a bread bowl. So, came home and hunted for the recipe on line. I found something similar to it.

Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice
(like Panera)

INGREDIENTS
4 cups chicken broth
2 cups water
2 cooked, boneless chicken breast halves, shredded
1 (4.5 ounce) package quick cooking long grain and wild rice with seasoning packet
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup butter
2 cups heavy cream

DIRECTIONS
In a large pot over medium heat, combine broth, water and chicken. Bring just to boiling, then stir in rice, reserving seasoning packet. Cover and remove from heat.
In a small bowl, combine salt, pepper and flour. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Stir in contents of seasoning packet until mixture is bubbly. Reduce heat to low, then stir in flour mixture by tablespoons, to form a roux. Whisk in cream, a little at a time, until fully incorporated and smooth. Cook until thickened, 5 minutes.
Stir cream mixture into broth and rice. Cook over medium heat until heated through, 10 to 15 minutes.

Guess what I will be making this weekend? :) I am going to run by Panera and pick up some bread bowls. I need to grocery shop this weekend. I need to find Wal-Mart around here. Groceries here are more expensive than what I am use to. I thought I was crazy at first, but I found a receipt in my purse from before we moved and I bought some of the same things and they were more expensive.

Saturday my husband is taking me to Hobby Lobby. Yep..you read that right. The nearest HL is an hour away. I don't even know if this store is even worth is, but we are going to try it out anyway. We've got a ton of errands to run, so we will just make a day of it. I've already told Miss K if she is good, we will go and get Beary Bear a new outfit at Build-A-Bear. He is still wearing his V-day pj's. He needs some new clothes.

Okay...off to bed. Blog ya later!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Hi there! I hope that your Valentine's Day is full of love and chocolate! We are having a PJ day here in Michigan. We got about 6 inches of snow yesterday, so we are staying in for the day. I've got plenty to work on, so that's a good thing.

So, yesterday K and I went to the mall. This place is just like Opry Mills. But..they have a Gymboree Outlet. YES! I got Kennedy 5 outfits for $70. These are for next Fall. They are putting their spring stuff on sale Thursday. They also have what I think is the biggest ever Children's Place. It is..SERIOUSLY 10 times bigger than the one at Cool Springs. They have all the new stuff and then they have a ton of stuff from last seaons for 99 cents! Everything that was on clearance was an additional 50% off. We played in the play area and she was so funny. She hadn't seen any "kids" since she was in Nashville. She played so hard. I have GOT to find some friends for her.

On the way home I started thinking...I've not seen a Chick-f-la since I got here. Well...there is a reason for that! The only one in this area is at the college and that is it! The next one is like 150 miles away. I AM GOING TO DIE! How am I going to scrapbook without my sweet tea? Oh well!

So, today I am 35 years old. That sounds so old. We are going to try and go out for an early dinner tonight at some place easy...like Chili's. Let me tell you...having a birthday on Valentine's Day is not fun. You can never go out to dinner without it being a major hassle. I think we are going to dinner at like 5. Okay...I must go. K is emptying out all the drawers in the bathroom and bringing it all to me in the living room. She is so helpful!

So, check out these vidoes I took of K yesterday. She is a HOOT.
Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Catch Up

Well, we made it to Michigan. Miss K did great and made herself at home from the minute we walked into the door. I think she likes the fact that everything is on one story. The weather has started to heat up. The night we arrived, it got down to -8. And the heat wasn't working. It actually got up to 22 yesterday...a heat wave! The furnace was fixed the day after we got here. It's all good now. Here is a photo of her on the plane. As much as I complain about the crazy Doodlebops, they kept her entertained the entire flight from Nashville to Detroit.

While Miss K is adjusting just fine, I am having a hard time. I don't want to go outside because it is FREAKING cold! I've been to the grocery store twice and both times were bad experiences. Nothing like having some one make fun of the way you talk. I asked some jerk who worked there where the pie crust were. He laughed in my face and then mocked me. I have not made any friends here because honestly it is too dang cold! I did post something on 2Peas looking for someone in the area that I am in. I got a response from someone, so I am hoping to join her group for a crop later this month. I am going to check out one of the scrapbook stores next week. The maid comes on Tuesday, so Miss K and I will head out and run errands and do our grocery shopping.

I've not been spending much time on the computer these days. K and I usually try to turn the webcam on first thing about 8ish so that we can talk/see my dad in Qatar. Then I usually don't get on the computer until K is napping or down for the night. I realized I was spending WAY too much time on my computer and not enough time doing things that needed to be done. I'll blog more about that later.

Brian brought all my scrapbook stuff in last night and put my bookcase back together. My table is all set up. We are headed out to visit my inlaws for the weekend. I can't wait because we are celebrating my birthday early. So, when we get back, I am going to get everything wiped down and organized. i can't wait to actually start scrapbooking again. It's been a LONG time.

Well, I gotta run. I've got a load of diapers in the washing machine, a batch of cookies waiting to go into the oven, a suitcase that needs to be packed and a child that just ran pass and made it apparent that she is in dire need of a diaper change.

I can't even think of a title

"Losing my mind" is probably what I should have called this post. It's been a stressful couple of days. I still do not have a new drivers license or a copy of K's birth certificate. And if the weatherman is right, I am going to be "snowed" in at home. Oh yeah. I've got to get both taken care of by Friday because K and I are flying to Michigan on Sunday. If you think about it, please pray for me, for K and for everyone on Southwest Airlines flight 1447 on Sunday. I am flying to Detroit with K...by myself. Now, a lot of you have never met my child. Let's just say... She's WILD. Doesn't like to sit in my lap and cuddle. That's going to be a PROBLEM. She is also a climber. I can just see her climbing over the seats. Can you tell I am STRESSED about this? We will probably end up on the news. Another toddler gets booted from an airline flight...story at 10...


The house is a wreck. But, I am working on my getting rid of scrapbook stuff. So, if it doesn't snow tomorrow and you are interested in stopping by...I am giving a TON of stuff away. I can't take it all with me and there is no point in putting it in storage. You name it...I've got it! I've probably got SEVERAL of the same item. Thursday is the only day I am offering this up. Friday I am packing it all up and take it to the Ronald McDonald House. They have a craft night every week for the families who stay there, so they are grateful for the donation. So...remember that. If you are looking to get rid of any type of craft supplies, contact the RMH if you have one in your area. So...if you want to come by and score yourself some free goodies, email me and I will give you directions.


I also have a HUGE box of goodies to donate to Project Linus here in Nashville. It is an awesome program. If you are ever looking for a service project, this is one that you can even do with your kids.


Well...the past couple of days have been emotional ones. I had lunch with a couple of my friends and when we got ready to part ways, we all said.."okay...see ya later!" Then we realized that we weren't! Sad. Then Brian informed me that the forecasted high in Michigan on Monday is ZERO DEGREES. That's the HIGH. For some of you, that might not be a big deal...for this Texas girl...it's a HUGE deal. I might not leave the apartment until the Spring. Maybe I will get a lot of scrapbooking done? Yeah...who are we kidding! I've gotten to talk to my dad a couple of times. I could tell the first time I talked to him that he was really home sick. When I spoke to my SIL today, she told me that he started crying when he was talking to my niece. They are getting settled in and are looking at houses and will be car shopping soon. I can't remember exactly what he said, but I think the "holy" day there is Friday and the work week starts on Sunday, but I am not sure that is what he said.


Miss K had a playdate at the mall with her friends MJ and Mr.B. I think the mall play area is more work for mommies than it is for the kiddos. Our kids are still a little on the small side, so some of the "bigger" kids tend to be rough with them. Miss K got wacked like 2 minutes into our visit. I don't understand moms who come in there, sit on the bench and chat and never once check on their kids. I chased one kid down twice and his mother never knew he left the play area. And don't get me started on the mean nanny. I wanted to yank her hair and give her an earful.


Okay...off to sort more scrapbook stuff. And for the record...if you do happen to come by tomorrow, my house is a wreck so PLEASE don't ask for a tour. It's TRASHED right now. Boxes and clutter everywhere.

Blog ya later.

The mess that is known as the Social Security Office

So, this past week I realized that I lost my social security card. I also remembered that I never ordered Miss K's birth certificate and my driver's licenses will expire on my birthday. I immediately got a sick feeling in my stomach. I have so much stuff going on this week (why am I wasting time on my computer?!?) and then we are out of here. I have to get my Dl renewed and if K is flying with me this weekend...I gotta have the birth certificate!

So, my big plan for today was to go and get Miss K's birth certificate. Well, that didn't happen, but right before lunch I got a wild hair and decided to go to the SS office. I went on line, printed out the form, filled it out and loaded up Miss K up in the truck and we headed out. I stopped off at McD's to pick up some lunch for her. How long could this really take? I remember getting going years ago and getting my new one after I got married. I think I was in and out of there in less than 30 minutes.

I arrived at the office at 12:36pm. I was number 87. They were on number 44. WHAT? So, I entertain Miss K with her lunch and then we moved to some different chairs where there was a bit more room. Well, when it got to be like 1:50, she was mad. She was ready to leave and she made a break for the door. I grabbed her just as she was sneaking out with some people who were leaving. The Rent-A-Cop yelled at me to keep her with me. No please or anything. Just yelled at me. Then told me that she was going to get her fingers smashed in the door and that was going to cause all kinds of problems. Thanks dumbass. Don't tell me how to parent my child. I was half a step behind her, I knew where she was going and the reason she made it to the door is because she is quite a bit shorter than I am and can go under things that I can't. Jerk.

But...let's talk about this "system" they have going. You get a number and you wait. But there is a sign that tells you that they don't call the numbers in order. What's up with that? Why even give out numbers? Why not just call people based on what color shirt they are wearing? Whatever. So, in the beginning, they were pretty much calling the numbers in order...until they got closer to number 87. I'll get to that story in a minute. There are 5 windows and at any given time, there were 3 windows open, but they kept closing windows and opening different ones. It was almost like they could only help "x" amount of people and then had to close their windows. The crazy thing was....after they helped one person, it would take them anywhere from 5-15 minutes to call another person. Sometimes it was instant, other times it was forever. At one point all 5 windows were open, but they weren't helping anyone.

So...I am sitting right next to this window and can't help but overhear this lady trying to find out why her child has the wrong SS#. She tells the lady that she filed her taxes on line and she got rejected because the SS# was wrong. The lady asked her for the SS#. Woman tells her that she never received one, but the hospital gave her the SS# before she left the hospital. Now...I will admit that I was being nosey, but I couldn't help but finish listening to how this was going to turn out. The lady tells her that they don't give you a SS# for babies when you leave the hospital. The woman keeps insisting that they did. The lady asks her for the document that she got the number off of. She says that she doesn't have it. After a LOT of going back and forth between these two, the lady tells her that she must have use the hosptial ID because the hospital is not going to issue the SS# to them before they leave the hosptial. Turns out the child did have a SS#, but it wasn't the one that they had been using. It gets better...she then asks if they can change the child's SS# to what she has been using because they already have other documents with this SS# on it. Even insist that the child has a passport with this SS# on it. (Can you get a passport without your actual SS card?) That SS# actually belongs to someone. Uh oh. Is that going to cause a problem? LOL.

So anyway...they get to number 84 and come on the speaker and announce that they are going to start calling numbers out of order so do not get upset if your number is not called in order. 85...86...88...89...79...90...91...94... Get the picture? ARG! Finally NUMBER 87! Took me 2 minutes at the window and we were done. I walked out of there at 2:45. Miss K passed out before I even got into the driver seat.

Oh...no changing table in the bathroom at the SS office either. Wonder how bad the Vital Stats office is going to be tomorrow? I am seriously thinking of faxing my order in and paying the extra $10 to "rush" it.

A Blog worth reading...

First of all, I want to say that this blog is NOT an easy read. I have spent the past 2 hours crying my eyes out. I found the link to this blog on Jody Ferlaak' s blog. It is about the short life of baby name Noah, his journey home to be with our Father and his parent's faith in the Lord.

Noah Steven "Crowned in Peace"

The reason I am passing this on is 1)his parents ask people to share the blog with other and 2) it really made me stop and look at my life.

My first reaction after reading Noah's story was to run into Miss K's room, hold her and never let her go. My second reaction was prayer. I went with prayer. Prayer for Noah, prayer for his little sister, prayer for his parents and everyone his story every touched. I also prayed for my beautiful daughter. I prayed for God to lead me in the right direction for parenting her. Tonight I felt so guilty for every time I've complained about my child whining. I should be thankful that she is here on the earth to whine. This past month with Brian out of town, I've really been struggling with the "parenting".

While Noah's story is a heartbreaking one, it is a story that I am so thankful to his parents for sharing.

I hope that Noah's story touches you as much as it has touched me.

Today is the day...

My parents are moving out of the country...
Miss K turns 18 months old...
I have a million loads of laundry to do...
I have a baby shower to go to tonight...
I need to finish baby albums for the aforementioned baby shower...

I've got more to blog about, but we have our 18 month check up. I'll be back with more later...

A lazy day for Miss K...but not for me!

As I type this, Miss K is dancing in front of the TV to the Wiggles still wearing her cutie pie red PJs. They are the kind with the flap on the bum. Too cute.

I was going to actually go somewhere today. (I am sorry Jill and Renee!) But I had a small nervous breakdown last night talking to my husband about our "move". So, today I am working on cleaning out my closet and the bathroom. I've also got about 20 loads of laundry to do. So, I am waiting for Miss K to go down for her morning nap and then I am hitting the bathroom for a GOOD scrub down. Our plan is to do some minor patch work in there this weekend, paint and have that room done. I am going to have to hire someone to come in and paint my bonus room and kitchen. The other rooms just have minor touch up that needs to be done. Gotta get in touch with the painter guy and the handy man my girlfriend uses.

So, after I had my nervous breakdown, I went out to dinner with some of my mommy friends. We had a great time. But I had a major headache from the 2 ritas that I had. They gave me a card that made me cry. They keep telling me that I am NOT moving, I am just taking a very long trip. I did tell Brian last night that I have almost talked myself out of selling our house. He wants to move. He doesn't like the house anymore than I do. It's a great house, but the layout of the house doesn't work for us. We want something that is very open.

Okay...my child is now wearing more jewelry than I ever wear. She found a box that was full of costume jewelry and she likes to play with it. She has on a necklace, and like 5 bracelets. Carmen the monkey is wearing a necklace too.

Off to start the laundry. Blog ya later!

Something I bet you didn't know about me...

I have a MAJOR crush on someone. My husband knows all about it and gives me a hard time. I always tell him that this guy is my next husband. We were in Office Depot the other day and they had a calendar of just him. Brian joked and asked me if that was what I wanted for my birthday. He thought I was kidding when I said I wanted it. I am going back tomorrow to return something, so I'll pick it up then. So, if you are even THINKING of calling me on Sunday, I probably won't talk to you. I will be cheering on my man.

How to eat apple butter

When we travel to Texas or Michigan, we usually end up stopping at Cracker Barrel. It isn't that we are huge fans of the place, it is just that we know that they do have a changing table in the bathrooms (sometimes in the daddy bathroom too!) and with the store, Miss K has room to walk around without really bothering anyone while they are eating. So, on the way back from Texas, we stopped and Miss K enjoyed some apple butter, She LOVED it. Well, I guess you can tell that from the pictures!

What do you think babies dream about?

Last night Miss K was crying in her sleep. I couldn't get her to stop. So, I put her in bed with us. 1am. I couldn't take the crying anymore. 1:30 Miss K is asleep and I am smoothing her hair and she starts giggling. Asleep. Giggling. The full out laughing. This went on for a couple of minutes. I was trying so hard not to laugh. After she stopped I started wondering....just what was she laughing at? Was she dreaming of a huge sippy cup of milk? Maybe dancing sippy cups? Maybe a dozen Carmen's were dancing for her. And for those of you who don't know...Carmen is her monkey and if you have met my daughter, you have also met Carmen.

Okay...gotta run. Brian wants me to help him fold clothes. What kind of husband expects a wife to do laundry? (I am so totally joking!)

Disgusted

I can't even talk about it.

OUCH!

I am royalty...again. And it only cost me $758.50. For a crown. And a replaced filling. Dude. No Wishblade for me. Bought some of the Rhonna Farrer $1 stamps at J's instead. Dude. My mouth hurts and it is giving me a headache.

We went out to dinner with some friends last night. One the way home, we picked up some ice cream. Miss K loves any flavor, so she was going back and forth between me and Brian for a bite. I went downstairs and when I got back upstairs, this is what I found...

While I was becoming royalty today, Miss K had to stay with a friend of mine. We have talked about how Miss K would probably cry the entire time I was gone and my friend was okay with that. I called her after my coronation and she told me that Miss K had not cried one single time. WHAT? This is the child who lay on the floor and stick her fingers under the door of the bathroom if I shut the door. I had her take Miss K upstairs so that she did not see me leave. She also has pretty much all the same toys that we have at home, so she was use to the toys that were around. Glad that it went well because I have another royal engagement later this month!

Miss K and I must be living right because Brian got a call on his way to the airport Friday telling him that he needed to be in Nashville for the week! YEAH! We are going to spend this week getting some SERIOUS purging done. I've got to get rid of a TON of my clothes. I've made it my goal that everytime I leave the house, I drop something off at Goodwill. (There is a donation center that I pass almost everytime I leave the house!) We went through a lot of stuff in our computer hutch before Christmas, so I need to drop all that stuff off tomorrow when I head out to meet a friend at the mall.

Okay...we are watching the OSU/Flordia game and we are in shock. I don't know what is going on with the Buckeyes! Even though we are Michigan fans, we are rooting for the Buckeyes.

I'm off. I can feel the gray hairs growing as I watch my child act like gymnist on the short stairs.

He's bringing sexy back....

This is my nephew, Mr.L. We went out to dinner tonight and we get ready to leave and he starts singing, "I'm bringing sexy back." And sings quite a bit of the song. I just laughed and asked him if he was really bringing sexy back! Last week he pulled out his guitar and sang "Ring of Fire" for us. And again, he sang quite a bit of the song. He's a real cutie. Oh...he's 5. And he is a ham for the camera. This is pretty much the same smile I get from him for every photo...I LOVE it!

Another sad day... And a little bit of funny

My happy place is closing!!!! Since I am out of town, I got a call from one of my good scrappy friends letting me know. I am so bummed. I really could cry. Bill and Ann are two of the most wonderful people. Everytime I walked into Scrap It, I was always greated by Ann. Kinda like "Cheers"...where everybody knows your name. I have made so many wonderful friends though Scrap It and treasure all those friendships. We are going to have to come up with someway for us to get together OFTEN. The past two days have just been emotional for me.

Miss K and I spent the day helping my dad get a laptop and Vonage for their phone. I am going to try and get that all set up for him before we leave for Tennessee. My dad...bless his heart...is computer challenged. And he has to tell EVERYONE that he is leaving to go work overseas. So, if you are standing in line to pay for your groceries and some random man tells you that he is trying to get ready to move overseas in two weeks...you just met my dad.

Brian is all set up in our new apartment in Michigan. He was given his company car today...he told me that he started laughing when they handed him the keys. We got a big old pimped out Suburban. Black...full loaded. Hey Superstar....Miss K will get to watch TV in the sky now too!

So, I am doing a photo a day journal. January 3rd will have a photo of Miss K and Santa. Yep...Santa. My best friend has one of those tall Santas that dance. K was scared of it at first. Now, she will use her toes to push the buttom to make him sing. She uses her toe because she is busy holding his hand. Later...after I took the photo, so stood infront of him holding both hands and dancing. When she saw me with the camera in my hand, she let go and started walking over to me...Santa whacked her in the head with his hand and she was NOT pleased about that. She marched right back over there and pushed the button to turn him off. Serves him right. I really need to find one of those Santas. I told Brian I would keep him set up all year long in her room since she loves him so much. Maybe next year she won't cry when she goes to get her photo taken with him!

It's super late and I need to get to bed.

It was a hard day for me...

I cried. Alot. My stepmom is leaving for El Salvador in the morning for a quick visit with her family. She gets back into Texas on Saturday at noon. We are leaving for Tennessee at 9am on Saturday. So, I won't get to see her again. I cried and cried this evening. Here is the thing...I don't see my family very often. The last time I saw them, it was Miss K's birthday and they came to visit. Brian keeps trying to impress upon me that I will probably see more of them. And I know that. But I am still sad. I think it is the distance. And I worry about them so much. I know that leaving is going to be hard on them because they are very cl0se with my brother's children. I think that is going to be the hardest part for them.

I can't blog anymore about it or I am going to start crying again. I'm a big crybaby.

Happy New Year!

Hope that everyone had a wondeful start to 2007. I am looking forward to 2007. There will be a lot of changes for my family. We are moving to Michigan and my parents are moving to Qatar. I am very happy for them, but for the past two days, everytime I think about it, I start to cry. Lots going on in the next month, so be sure to check back often for updates.

By the way...my poor husband is in mourning. His beloved Wolverines lost today. I think he is broken hearted. Poor Brian.

Merry Christmas from our house to yours!

It's a Christmas Miracle!

I actually finished my Advent calendar! I kept putting it off and then I started and had some issues with some chipboard letters and glitter that made me want to toss the whole thing in the trash. I swore I was going to have it completed before Christmas. I finished the dang thing at 9:30 pm on Christmas Eve. I will probably end up reworking some of the numbers next Christmas, but for now, I can call it done. And there is a glare on the photo and I know it. I just don't want to go back downstairs and take another picture. I am too tired.

It's late and Miss K is still up. She has taken two 2 1/2 hour naps today. Her Christmas PJs are in the dryer. As soon as they are done, I am getting her dressed, take her photo and put her to bed. I've got a couple of gifts left to wrap, clean up my scrappy mess, straighten the living room and set out Santa gifts. Merry Christmas to you and yours!

"He's a really good daddy"

Friday night we dropped my mom off at the airport and then headed out for dinner at Wing Stop. We love Wing Stop. Since there is a Kroger in the same strip mall, I asked Brian if he didn't mind us grocery shopping so that I didn't have to fight the crowds tomorrow. (Well...I have to go back for bread since my crazy dog ate an entire loaf of bread in like 2 minutes.) Brian was pushing Miss K in the cart and singing Christmas songs to her while we were shopping. She was giggling at him and waving her hands in the air. A lady walks up to me and says, "He's a really good daddy." She took me by suprise, so my response to her was, "Pardon me?" I wasn't sure I heard her right. She repeated herself, smiled and walked away. I looked over at Brian who was singing "Here Comes Santa Claus" at the top of his lungs in Kroger and I know...he is an AWESOME daddy.

PHOTOS!!!

Can you believe it? I actually took photos today! Tonight we had our Christmas with my mom. She is leaving for Texas tomorrow to spend Christmas with my aunt. She is really looking forward to being off from work for a week. We had fun tonight. Miss K was a lunatic opening gifts. She has finally learned to rip the paper off. She was in her element...she is all about tearing up some paper! Meemee got Miss K a Blues Clues that dances and sings the ABC's. She was dancing with her. But her FAVORITE gift was this little "dust buster, Dusty". Doesn't really pick anything up, but she thought it was too funny. She will be in heaven on Christmas because Santa is bringing her the matching vaccum cleaner! Brian got a flash drive (I think that is what they are called.) and I got an American Express gift card. I am really wanting a Wishblade. But, but the time I finally save all the money, I will probably be over the wanting. Who knows.
Meemee was THRILLED with her gifts. She mentioned that she wished she had a collage picture frame, so I found her one holds 41 photos. I also gave her 41 photos to put in the frame. I didn't have time to put it together for her. She also got some coaster with photos of all 4 of her grandchildern on them. She got a piece of stoneware from Pampered Chef...her first piece. She was very excited about that. I knitted her a scraf and she told me how much it meant to her that I made something for her. Miss K gave her a calendar that has a photo of her on every month. She said that was her favorite gift. I told Brian that Miss K would be giving those for Christmas gifts every year! Can't wait for my dad and stepmom and my inlaws to get theirs. They love stuff like that.

So...are you ready for Christmas? I need to grocery shop in the morning and wrap presents while Miss K naps and before Brian gets home. I ordered him a skin for the lap top, but it still hasn't come in. Oh well. I'll print him out a photo of it. I've decided, next year, I am having a gift wrapping party. No cookie exchange...gift wrapping. You bring you paper, ribbons and bows and I will supply scissors, tape, wine and holiday cheer.

Okay...it is 11 and I started working on my Advent calendar last night. I had some "issues", so I hope to get most of it done tonight. I also started a mini album for Christmas. I got the spine and the cover done. I am not loving it yet, but give me some time.

Night!

No Mommy!

I think I jinxed myself this morning when I was talking to Annie about Miss K getting her photo take today. It was a DISASTER. Yep...it totally called for caps. Oh my. Crying so hard there were snot bubbles. Crying so hard that people were coming to look in the room to make sure we hadn't hung her up by her tiny little toes. Crying so hard that they were unable to take one single photo of my daughter dressed in her beautiful Christmas dress. Five minutes after we walked out of the studio, she is giggling and laughing and entertaining people at Subway. I think being sick was part of the crying, but the other part...GBS....grumpy baby syndrome. I wish they made some medication for this. I know they do for mommies...WINE. So, Christmas Eve morning before we head out to church, I hope to get a photo of her in front of the tree.

I got the last couple of gifts bought that I needed. My parents are always so hard to buy for and this year was even more so. I always end up getting them the same thing...gift card to Outback. Well, we got them that, but I wanted to get them some fun things. Things they could use for their new "adventure". So, I got my dad a Global clock. Tells the time in 32 countries. I also got them them beautiful coffee table book on Qatar, which is where they will be moving to.

Got more information on our move and it is ALL good. We found out what our part of the rent is going to be and it was a little less than we thought, so that is good. I still want to get the house on the market soon. (I might be giving you a call Amanda!) We are on the first floor which is great since I have two rotten dogs that will have to be walked. We get a garage! Yeah! I can take Miss K's wagon and some bigger things that I thought we were going to have to store or get rid of. I did tell Brian this evening that I was very sad and he was shocked because I've been telling him how much I've been looking forward to our move. I am looking forward to my inlaws spending more time with Miss K. I am looking forward to the fact that when we move back to Nashville, we will be moving into a new house. I am thankful that Miss K and I are able to go with Brian instead of seeing him every other weekend. I am very thankful for all of it. I am just so sad to leave my friends. Old friends and new friends. (Thank you Renee for your comment the other day.) Sad to pack away most of my household items and memories.

And...to the mommy who left her child in her stoller in the middle of the aisle at Target and then walked over to another aisle...yes, I was giving you the eye. Don't you know that there are crazies in this world and even at Target who will take your child!? That was probably your car I parked next to that had the dog locked in it with all the windows up.

Okay...off.

I promise that there will be some sort of photo tomorrow.

Not much...

I hate blogging without photos. But, I've not taken my camera out of the bag in a couple of weeks. Bad Hollye. I will be better about it in the coming days. Plus, I've got a sick child and I don't want to even attempt to take a photo of her. Suppose to get her Christmas photo taken tomorrow. I dunno about that! Nothing but constant whining the past week. Between her and Brian, I am ready to stick my head in the oven. Not that it would do anything...it's not gas!

Have you ever found something out about a "friend" and it made you sick to your stomach, your heart break and your head hurt?

Okay...just because I hate the no photo thing...here's one we took at Opryland a couple of weeks ago. Miss K wouldn't sit still.

Okay...later!

Yes Hollye, there is a Santa Claus

Brian finally got some information on our move. I am really irritated how his relocation specialist has handled all this. He has had to call her and ask her for any information that he has gotten from her. All his employees have been called by their specialist and given updates as things happen. It takes a lot to irritate my husband and I think he has reached that point with this lady. So...onto the news. Our original plans were to get a 3 bedroom unfurnished. Well, we were told that wasn't going to happen. 1 or 2 bedroom and it MUST be furnished. So, Brian called his relocation specialist on Thursday and asked her if we could get a 2 bedroom with a den. She was going to check into it, but didn't know if she could find one. (Brian has already called the complex where his employees were placed and found out they did have one. When you look on their website, it shows a 2 bedroom with a den and a 3 bedroom. Get this...they are they same exact floor plan. Brian was sure that they weren't going to let us have it. (We have to pay the difference for the apartment so I don't know why it is such a big deal to them.) Again, Brian called her this morning to get a status on the apartment seacrh. We got the 2 bedroom with a den! YEAH! THIS MEANS I WILL HAVE A SCRAPBOOK ROOM! I will have to share it with Miss K as a play room, but I am SO okay with that! We will be living here. And this is the floorplan. I just wonder how much more this is going to cost us per month. I think I need to push Brian to get our house on the market by the end of January. I know it will be a LOT of work, but with a little bit of help, I think we can do it.

Okay...I am off. Miss K is still croupy (is that a word?) and Brian is feeling worse today, but is still at work. I am going to try and get Miss K down for a quick nap and do more LAUNDRY. In my next life I am going to be wealthy and will hire someone JUST to do my laundry. I mean wash/dry, fold AND put away. I stink at the putting away part. Heck, I stink at all household chores.

Crying baby.....blog ya later!

Up to my ears in...

tulle
peppermint bark
hot chocolate
candy canes
cookies
wrapping paper
unwrapped gifts
late shipped gifts
unfinished projects
sickies in my house
slobbery baby kisses
unpacked Christmas decorations
LAUNDRY
holiday dinner menus
trip preparations
move preparations
stress

Christmas Tag

I've been tagged by Amber!

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Hot chocolate. No egg nog for me. Ick!
2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? They sit all nice and pretty under the tree.
3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? White on tree. No lights on the house this year, but when we do, they are white
4. Do you hang mistletoe? No need to, I get slobbery, wet kisses about every 30 minutes these days from a 17 month old!
5. When do you put up your decorations? December 1st!
6. What is your favorite holiday dish? Christmas cookies made by my wonderful mother in law!
7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child? Tracking Santa on TV. Trying to stay up to see Santa.
8. When and how did you learn that Santa isn't real? I figured it out pretty early, but when I asked to make sure, I was told that if you didn't believe in Santa, then you didn't get gifts. So, I STILL believe in Santa.
9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? We did when we were kids, but not now.
10. How do you decorate your Christmas Tree? SLOWLY. It's the 15th of December and I am not sure all the ornaments are on it yet. My tree is decorated with hand crafted ornaments taht I have collected over the years. I love the ornaments on my tree.
11. Snow! Love it or Dread it? Can't stand it and I am about to move to the land of snow and ice. Can't you hear me crying about it?
12. Can you ice skate? Yep, but it's been forever.
13. Do you remember your favorite gift? Cabbage Patch doll. Still have her too!
14. What's the most important thing about the Holidays for you? Remembering the reason for the season. Also spending time with my extended family since they all live so far away and Christmas is usually the only time we get to see everybody.
15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? Chocolate pir made by my best friend's mom, Mrs. Hewitt.
16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? Watching bowl games with my husband. We won't get to do that this year because of our move and my parent's move. This is going to be a sad season for us. More crying....can't you hear?

Jennie and Jill, you're next! ;)

Digital camera for $1.26

You read that right! About 3 months ago, Brian was given an award at work. The award was a $250 gift card and you got to pick the location from a large list. So...what to buy? It was Brian's award, so his to spend. He decided that he wanted a small digital camera. Something that was easy for him to use. He will use the Rebel, but he would prefer something smaller. So, he got a small Sony Cybershot. We went to pay and the total was $251.26. I handed the girl the stack of gift cards and she couldnt' believe it. So, I handed her $1.26 in cash and walked out of there with Brian's new digital camera. We also went shopping at Target with some gift cards, but even with a bunch of gift cards, we still shelled out some MONEY. But, we did get a wireless router. I am LOVING my new laptop. And my daddy informed me this evening that he is buying us all computer video cameras for Christmas so that he can see his grandkids often. That ought to be fun!

So, my happy place is having a HUGE sale. 40% off. Oh my! Miss K and I have some errands to run in the morning. I have to hit Hobby Lobby to pick up some tulle. I am making her this tutu for Christmas. She has decided that she would rather dance and walk on her toes than anything. That is how we spend our mornings in Miss K's house. So, I thought a tutu would be something fun for her to have. So, I guess on my run to Hermitage (yes superstar...I am going to Hermitage AGAIN!) I will HAVE to make a stop at Scrap It!

My goal is to be home by noon, feed Miss K, put her down for a nap and start making candy. I am so far behind on things I need to do, but I am DETERMINED to get every one of them done. That's right. I WILL get that Advent calendar done. It might be December 24th before it is done, but dang it, it will be done!

Oh...Brian looked at my blog posting from yesterday and the first thing he said was, "oh! I should have gotten a skin for the laptop." I yelled at him to stop reading. Now I am wondering if I should order it? What to do...what to do.

Santa came early!

Brian and I have been talking about what we wanted for Christmas for months. We are both the type of people that if we want something, we will just go out and buy it. He golf and I don't know much about golf, so I can't really buy him anything without him knowing. Same thing with me and scrapbooking. So, he mentioned laptop and I was right on that. So, Santa UPS Claus delivered my Dell Inspiron E1705 Monday. Can I just tell you that I am in LOVE with my laptop? Well...OUR laptop. Even Miss K likes it. We sat in bed with it yesterday watching a DVD and she thought it was great. Gotta love that 17 inch screen!

So, the only thing I really need to buy for Brian is come stocking stuffers. I am thinking of getting a skin for the laptop. Even though I would prefer a cute girly one, I think he would really appreciate the Michigan one. And even though I am not a graduate of the University of Michigan, I am a huge fan of their football team. (for the record, I am a University of Houston graduate.)

I came up with a couple of gifts for my parents. I got my dad this great clock that tells you the time in every time zone. I also ordered them a book on Qatar. That is where they are going to be living. I've been told that it is the richest oil area in the world. I was also told by several people that living there is pretty much just like living in the states. I am still nervous for them, but I am glad that my dad is being offered this chance and that he is finally doing something for himself and not for everyone else. I need to work on getting our passports. Which means I need to get Miss K's birth certificate corrected. Okay...rambling!

Okay..I am off. Miss K is sick...AGAIN. Up all night last night. Poor Brian, I was so tired that I couldn't stay up with her, so being the wonderful daddy that he is, he got up with her and sat in the bonus room with her until he got her to fall asleep. So, we are just hanging out at the house today. We are waiting on Comcast to come and replace our modemn. Sometime between 3-6. Only problem is it is located in my scrapbook room and you seriously can't even walk in there right now. As soon as Miss K goes down for a nap, I've got to "clear a path" so that he can actually get in there!

Brian should get some information on our relocation today. At least I hope. He starts work in Warren on the 2nd of January. I hope they have a place for us to live!

Miss K meets Santa

Well...here is the photo that I paid almost $22.00 for. Priceless, huh?

Cookies, Santa and a lot of time in the car!

Tomorrow I am attending a cookie exchange at the home of the super cute Amber. Now Amber has some strict rules on the cookies, so I searched for a recipe I thought would be fairly easy. I also wanted a recipe that was pretty big since I had to make 7 dozen. So, this morning, we got up and got going. Miss K watched her morning show and I addressed the rest of the Christmas cards. WOOHOO! Done! I started a load of laundry. With cloth diapering, I am always behind on the laundry. Miss K demanded a large breakfast this morning, so I cooked for her. Then we hung around upstairs playing with a bowl. I know...sounds funny, but she had a blast. She went down for a nap and I set out to make cookies! Now, I am not a cookie person. I'll eat them, but I've never had luck with making them. These cookies turned out just like they were suppose to, but let me tell you...it was a LOT of work. The cookie dough got too thick for the Kitchen Aid, so I had to knead it by hand. Then I had to make the cookies into 1 inch balls....by hand. After they baked, I had to hand drip them in glaze and then cover them with sprinkles before the glaze set. Miss K woke up before I was done, so she "helped". Her helping was eating the sprinkles. She had a grand time doing that. I am really looking forward to the cookie exchange.

Miss K and I spent a lot of time in the car the past couple of days. I've been trying to get the rest of my Christmas shopping done. Does anyone have any suggestions as to what I can get my parents? I don't want to get them anything big since they are leaving. I want to give them something they can use or something they can take with them. Yesterday we were in Hermitage AND Cool Springs doing shopping. Today we had to run to Murfreesboro to buy something to wear for our family portrait. I am so far behind on that. I usually have it done the first week of November! Then we headed BACK to Cool Springs to meet Brian and visit the "big man", Santa. That went over like a ton of bricks. I am posting the "before Santa" photo tonight. I'll post the Santa photo tomorrow.

Okay...I am off to make hot chocolate cones!

Please say a prayer for my dad and stepmom

My dad was up for a job in the Middle East. Things didn't pan out so he was planning on retiring at the end of next year. Great! Well, they called him back and offered him the trainer position. So, my dad and stepmom are headed to the Middle East after the first of the year. I am glad that he has this opprotunity and when he retires, he will have a nice nest egg to retire with. I am also very nervous and a bit sad. I don't see my dad very often, but I know that if I needed him, he is just a short 2 hour plane ride away. Now it will be a 24 hour plane ride. Makes me sad. The nervous part? Well...it's the Middle East. That should sum it up right there.

So, please say a prayer for my parents.

A Miss K funny

**I have to give you the "background" first. We have a cat named Socks. We call her Socksie and we kind of sing it when we say it.**

Last night we were in the car picking up Brian from the airport. Miss K took her socks off and was trying to hand them to Brian. He asked her if she can say socks. She doesn't say anything. Then he asked her if she could say Socksie. She says in...in the sing-song way and then starts going "meow meow" over and over again. I laughed so hard I started crying. She will usually either call the cat Socksie or Meow Meow, but she has never put the two together, so it was really funny. Guess you had to be there.

We are headed off to the doctor today. Miss K got hit with that virual infection that everyone seemed to have right after Thanksgiving. She also got the rash that I am told is also virual. Well, she is all better, but the rash has gotten worse and she keeps itching. When I put a onesie on her so she can't itch, she cried. It's a mess.

Hot Chocolate Recipe

Okay, I've had a number of people ask me for this recipe. It is a HUGE recipe. I am sure that you could cut it in half, but I don't. My neighbor and I share the hot chocolate, so we manage to use it all up on gifts and whatever we drink. It's really good. And to answer Christy, I did use icing bags once, but it was expensive because you need 2 bags per cone. I found a place on line to order them from. I can get 100 bags for less than $9. I order my bags from Great Scents. They have the BEST customer service and ship very fast. I normally use the 12 inch plain bags, but they ran out, so we are using the bigger bags with snowflakes on them this year.

And before some of you run out and make this...if you are going to see me at any Christmas event or gathering, you will most likely be getting one of the cones!

Here is the recipe. It is HUGE. The person I got it from says that she mixes her in a trash bag and then stores it in a tote. I just mix mine in the tote and store it there.

Hot Chocolate
4 pounds powdered milk (not Carnation brand. I used the Wal-Mart brand. It's a huge 4 pound box.)
1 package ( 2 pounds) powdered sugar
2 big (32 oz) jars of non dairy creamer (I just use the Wal-Mart brand)
2 big Nestle's Quick (It's about 4 pounds. This year I used 2 poubds of the Wal-Mart brand and 2 pounds of Nestle's.)

Then to make the chocolate you fill your cup about 1/3 full and add hot water.

Funny photo

We went to Opryland this morning to take photos. We weren't the only ones with that idea. Lots of people. Miss K was already getting tired, so we took photos quick, walked around a little and then headed out. I wanted to get a cute photo of her by the ponsettias, but she wasn't having anything to do with it. So, I sat down on the ground with her to take a photo. This one cracked me up when I saw it. She has this thing about pulling on her ears and I was trying to get her to stop and this is what the result was.

We did get a photo for our cards and I got those ordered this morning. They turned out okay. I also ordered the photo calendars for the grandparents. I am working on getting things crossed off my list!

Lots going on...but no photos!

I have so much that I need to do, but here I sit infront of this stupid computer. No wonder my house is a mess. I got to go to my 'happy place' today. I took a class from Sherri. I don't even remember signing up for the class, but I am glad that I got a chance to take it. It was nice to hang out and just chat with everyone. I am trying to get my fill of all things "scrapbook" before we move. Makes me cry just thinking about it. I just want to get through the holidays and deal with it afterwards.

So, I've got TONS of things to do tonight/tomorrow. I need to rearrange the downstairs living room so that we can put the tree up first thing in the morning. Brian is leaving for a business trip tomorrow evening and won't be back until Wednesday night. So, I want him to get the tree up so Miss K and I can decorate it while he is gone. Tonight I am going to mix up a HUGE batch of hot chocolate so that I can get working on my hot chocolate cones like I made last year. They were a huge hit and I've actually gotten orders for 100 of them from two of my friends who want to give them as Christmas gifts to the teachers at the schools their kids attend. Tomorrow morning we are headed to Opryland Hotel to take some photos. Hopefully one of them will turn out so that I can finally get my Christmas cards ordered and get the final photo for the calendars that I am ordering from Zazzle for the granparents. They have their calendars on sale for $9.99 and free shipping. Can't beat that!

I've got a Christmas party this week and a Cookie Exchange on Saturday, so I am going to be BUSY, BUSY while Brian is out of town. Oh well. That makes the time go by faster.

Hope that you are having a great weekend and that you are staying warm. I will hopefully get some photos uploaded soon. I made a slide show, but everytime I tried to place it on the blog, it messed up the format of the whole blog. I am not too good with this whole blog thing.