Black Friday

I normally really enjoy shopping on Black Friday. But this year was the exception. I was going on a 1 1/2 hours sleep and I do not function well on little sleep. (its not pretty) We got to the mall at 3 when the first stores started to open. It was madness. We wondered around in a daze until just before 4 when Target opened and people where RUNNING to get to the doors, are you kidding me? You really need to RUN? We got shuffled in with the stinky, rude, PUSHING (yes pushing) mob and while going through the store a lady rammed me with her cart. When I turned around to look at her (and possibly slap her ;)) she gave me a look to kill and very rudely said excuse me, as if to let me know I needed to move. NOTE: that NO ONE was moving and its not like I was just standing in the middle of an isle with my finger up my nose. I am over you Black Friday, and will not be ditching my nice warm bed and coming out in the cold for your good deals anymore. You make people mean and ridiculous!

Thanksgiving Eve

For some insane reason that I have still not figured out, I waited until Wednesday to go get my groceries to make green bean casserole for Thanksgiving. The stores were packed! It was the longest I have waited in line on a Wednesday afternoon at Walmart in my life! I only had Emma with me because Jack was playing in the leaves over at my brothers. I had just pulled in the garage when my brother called and I could hear Jack crying in the background. He reported Jack had fallen out of the back of his truck and hit his head "pretty hard". I rushed over to find a FILTHY dirty little boy with a bleeding head. Off to the emergency room! We got there and they were busy, really on a Wednesday afternoon?? Whatever. They checked him in and sent us to the waiting room, where he gave me the scare of a lifetime. I turned on the tv for him and he looked up and started to cry and told me he couldn't see. WHAT!!!!!!!! YOU CANT SEE!!!?????? The very nice nurse walked by right then as I am frantic, and told me he would be fine, he probable just has a concussion. WHEW! Once we went back to the room he had to change into a gown. I am not kidding you when I say that he was so filthy from rolling in the leaves all afternoon that there was a pile of dirt and leaves on the floor where he was standing to change. (mommy was a little embarrassed!) After a thorough exam from 2 different Doctors, they concluded he has a concussion and I just needed to watch him and wake him up every 4 hours in the night and he would be fine! So relived he is OK.

It's begining to look a lot like Christmas!!

Yes I caved this weekend and let the kids put up a few decorations. I have to admit, I love it as much as they do! I could sit and look at our Christmas tree all day, adoring and reminiscing over all the ornaments we hang. I did make them wait for the tree, but I cant wait for this weekend when we put that up! Jeremy will decorate the out side of the house and he always does an amazing job! I. CANT. WAIT!

Magic of ordinary days

I am starting a new series of blogs Finding the Magic in Ordinary Days. Its dedicated to finding the small things in life to be happy about. Being grateful for all the blessing in life no matter how small and appreciating what makes YOU happy.

Today I noticed fall has fallen and most of the fall beauty is almost gone. But growing strong in my flower garden were these 2 perfect roses. 2 gorgeous, perfect, bright blooms among all the dried, crumpled, left overs of fall. What a perfect sign from my babies!

hisssss

Most children with some sort of speech problem have a lisp or cant say their R's, not Emma, she has a hiss. I am sure that it is from her having her pacie to long and learning to talk with it. It caused her not to move her mouth and hiss in place of a lisp. Although I know it really bothers some people, I have to admit I hardly notice it and think its kinda cute! I guess I will let her hiss until she turns 4 and then I better get her evaluated. For now I will enjoy every little HISSSSSSSS!
Love you Emma! (And your sweet little hiss)

yikes

Is anyone else completely freaked out by the lady in the Target black Friday commercials? If I ran into her at Target I would cry and run the other direction. Seriously, Target, this is not your best ad. I'm officially freaked!

Whats for supper?

Tonight I am making a Chicken Enchilada Ring, recipe from LC.

Chicken Enchilada Ring

Ingredients:

• 2 cups cooked chicken (I use 3 large cans of chicken)
  
• 1/4 cup chopped block olives (optional)
  
• 2 cups cheddar cheese
• 8oz cup sour cream
• 1 pkg taco seasoning (the whole package can be a bit strong, 3/4 pkg is good)
  
• 2 rolls of crescent rolls
• 1 can of rotel
• 2/3 cup finely crushed tortilla chips (optional)
  

1. Chop chicken and add olives, cheese, sour cream, rotel and taco mix. Reserve 2 Tblsp. crushed chips and add remaining chips to mixture.


2.Unroll crescent dough and separate triangles. Arrange on round baking stone or cookie sheet making a circle with wide ends OVERLAPPING in the center and points toward outside. ( I did lightly spray oil on the cookie sheet I used). There should be a 5 inch diameter opening in the center.

3. Spread chicken mixture evenly onto widest end of each triangle.

4. Bring points of triangles up and over filling and tuck under wide ends of dough at the center of the ring.

Sprinkle with 2 Tblsp. crushed chips. ( I put shredded cheese all on top!)

5. Bake @ 375 for 20-25 minutes.

Hookahs?

Who knew they sold Hookahs at the mall?? What do you think they are marketing these for? I am completely puzzled and shocked by this one.
Ps: The photo is a little blurry because I took it while walking by. I didn't want to be seen looking at or taking photos of Hookahs at the mall with my 3 year old.

Jeans

It is not often that I buy myself new clothes. This is shocking to my old self who used to buy something new every Friday AT LEAST! But that was before mommyhood and my expanding body, and now its more fun to buy things for the little people in my life. However, mommy needed a new pair of jeans in a desperately bad way. So I headed off to Maurices with my very favorite shopping partner, Emma. I had no trouble finding some cute jeans. I really felt like I should only buy one pair, but really needed 2 so I caved, knowing I had a coupon. I got up to the register and the jeans were 20% off! Then I had a coupon for 20% off my whole purchase, even better! The best part was I found a full punch card for $10 off, SCORE! I got 2 pairs of jeans for $29, yes, $29!!

Whats for supper?

Tonight on this grey cold day, we will be having a family favorite, potato soup.

• 1/2 lb carrots diced
• 4 big potatoes diced
• 2 cups milk
• 1 can cream of chicken soup
• 1/4-1/2 lb of Velveeta
• 1/4 cups butter
• 1/4 cup flour

Boil carrots and potatoes drain and set aside.
Melt butter, stir in four, slowly stir in milk, once it begins to thicken stir in soup and cheese, once smooth stir in carrots and potatoes. Let all warm together. Add salt and pepper to taste. (stew meat can be added as well)

ENJOY! :)

Oakley

My sisters family got a yellow lab a few months ago and he is a really good dog. BUT when ever he gets the chance (which is often in a busy house like hers) to dart out the front door and go for a run, he takes it. This morning while getting ready for the bus to come, the door opened and Oakley shot out like a bullet! I jumped out of my van and tried to get him but I was too late. In slow motion, but in the blink of an eye Oakley ran into a van driving down the street. In front of at least 6 kids, including his own littlest boys. THANKFULLY he was fine. I checked him out and the only thing I could see was he toe was bleeding and he was dirty from hitting the van or the ground, I'm not sure which. Good heavens! I may have had a small heart attack this morning. Glad you are OK Oak!

This is a photo from when he was a puppy,
he is much bigger now :)

We Fancy the Fresh Beats!

Emma has a favorite tv show, and she wants to watch it about a million times a day. Its call The Fresh Beats. Its is 4 people in a band, who sing catchy tunes, dance around and get into funny predicaments. I will admit, I find myself singing the Fresh Beat songs as often or more then Emma. If you are not familiar with the Fresh Beats, you should look into it :)

Marina, Shout, Kiki, Twist

Cappuccino

I can not even begin to tell you how much I love cappuccino. I could go to the gas station everyday, sometimes more then once, and never tire of them. While I was pregnant with Thomas, the craving was not there. The mere thought of coffee made want to puke. But after the barfy feeling began to leave, and it got cooler outside, I decided to give them a try again. To my dismay the gas station was out of french vanilla BUT they did have pumpkin spice. I am not much of a pumpkin person, but I tried it anyway. AMAZING!!!!!!!!!! Holy, I cant even tell you. But what is better is that the hyvee gas station has an even better version of it. So you can believe that I was going after the biggest size they have every single day. But that was getting expensive and not always convenient when you have to take 2 little kids with you, who inevitably want something too. Then I discovered this.

Folgers instant cappuccino

It is amazing, and the best thing is that I can have it whenever I want. No need to load up any kids and run to the gas station.

Its the simple things in life that make a girl happy!

Shutterfly

Well as any money saving mom I LOVE when things are free! Especially at Christmas time! So right now shutterfly is offering 50 free Christmas cards to bloggers. You bet I am ordering my cards from shutterfly and using that freebie!
I love shutterfly, I have been using it for years. I order prints, both big and little and I make the kids scrap books on there. I love that they have a personal website where you can put all your pics for friends and family to see. I cant pick just one favorite thing to buy from shutterfly, but here is some of the stuff I have used in the past.
http://www.shutterfly.com/photo-books
Each year after Christmas I sit down and make the kids photo books. I use all the pics from the year and make a big fat scrap book. The picture quality is awesome and they hold up great!
http://www.shutterfly.com/prints
When I used to order prints consistently for scrap booking purposes, I found the print quality at shutterfly to be above the rest. Now that I only order now and then for decorative purposes, I still like the prints from shutterfly above other sites.
http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-cards
And of coarse, holiday cards. This year in order to save money I was considering not sending cards, but decided I know how much I love receiving cards, so I better just make them :)

Here is how you can get 50 free cards
http://bit.ly/sfly2010

on that note

On the note of loving what you have and making the choice to be happy. I am excited to add this to my blog.
Thank you Becky!

Family

Growing up when I pictured my life as an adult, I pictured LOTS of kids and running around being a mom to them. When everyone else was deciding what to go to college for. I always knew college was pointless for me because I just wanted to be a mom. I didn't want to be a working mom. I wanted to be a stay at home mom. When we had Jack there was a short period of time that I thought I would be happy with just him. But by the time he turned one, I knew more children were a must! We had Emma 2 1/2 years later and just before her first birthday, SURPRISE!!, I was pregnant again. Although I secretly hoped we would have one more after that, I knew this would be our last baby. Unfortunately our sweet baby Elizabeth was prematurely still born. My husband was good with 2 kids (how is this possible when he used to want 6!!) and it wasn't up for discussion. He had made his mind up we would only have 2 kids and that was that. (For him anyway) I still wanted more kids. After about a year I decided that he wasn't going to change his mind and I starting ditching the baby stuff. I had a theory that if I ditched that baby stuff, I would need it again. Sure enough, that fall he decided we should have one more. So we did, and I had a miscarriage. When I got pregnant again in July, I was so nervous! I was thrilled when I made it out of the first trimester, as most miscarriages happen in the first 13 weeks, and I was so sick with this baby it was nice to be leaving the sickness and worry behind me. However, I could not leave all the worry behind, because it was at 17 weeks when I lost Elizabeth and even though the DR said it was nothing but a fluke I was scared something could happen again. Sadly it did. I went in for a quick check of the heart beat at 16 weeks, and he was gone. Our sweet baby Thomas, suffered the same fate as his sister before him. WHAT IS GOING ON???? I already have 2 perfectly healthy kids! There is no explanation for this! And that is just what all the doctors and specialists agreed, there is no explanation for this. No reason, no cause, no prevention. Its just a fluke. Great. I'm not buying that. I cant run the risk of this happening again. So, that means I can't have another baby. I am so disappointed. I feel so blessed to have Jack and Emma and I will be happy in life with them as my only children. But I wanted a big family. I come from a big family and I love having 2 sisters and a brother. Our family get togethers are always fun and big. And no matter what, I always have them. I am just sad that my own family will not be as big. People can tell me big families are overrated all they want. But I want one. I love them. It is just going to be something that I have to get used to. That this is the way it is. I am very lucky for what God has blessed me with.

I am thankful God for my version a perfect family, 2 boys and 2 girls, even though 2 of them live with you. Thank you for all the wonderful blessings you have given me and for helping me understand. AMEN