Yummy Memories

Some of my fondest memories growing up was making homemade cinnamon rolls with my mom. They were a staple in our house and many other friends' houses in our town. My parents came for a few days last week and my mom made some ooey, gooey rolls with my kiddos for the first time. Although a different receipe than we used, they were DELICIOUS! I'm glad my kids can enjoy some special memories with their Mamie!

Getting started

Anderson couldn't wait to help:)

He did a great job rolling out the dough!

Butter, cinnamon and sugar, oh my! Is there anything better??

Priss pot getting in on the action :)

The end result! Needless to say, my diet was shot for a few days. Soo good and soo worth it :)

Challenges & Changes

We've started 2011 off with a BANG by selling our home and going back to being a family with only one mortgage, yahoo! So, now we are working on other challenges and changes....I just can't relax obviously, :)

One change is Chandler moving into at toddler bed! I'm really not a fan of toddler beds, but I bought the conversion kit when I ordered the crib (5 years ago) and never had a chance to use it. It converted into a pretty cute bed though so I was pleased. I was pretty certain this change was going to cause some challenges but my sweet girl has surprised me! She has adjusted just fine. I will admit it was a little emotional taking my last crib apart :(

The next challenge is mainly for me but also incorporates the family a bit. The dreaded, dreaded word- DIET! AGGGH. I hate dieting. Hate. It. Unfortunately, I've done it to myself and now I have 20 pounds to lose. No joke, 20. I cannot believe I've done this to myself but I will dig myself out!!! I've become completely undisciplined with my eating habits and exercise regimen. Complete laziness. But that all is changing :)

This is what fills my fridge now. It's much easier for me to have everything accessible quickly. As soon as I unload groceries I wash all the fruits and veggies so I can just grab them.

This is also my new friend. I've never had a food scale but at least now I can regulate my portion sizes which, obviously, I have not been doing!

My other challenge is getting the family to eat healthier and boy has this been a challenge, whoa. I have picky eaters. I have no idea how that happen because my husband and I LOVE to eat. It's a challenge I'm willing to take on and will win (to my children's dismay, tee-hee).

Who knew a green bean could cause so much emotion, tee-hee!

Helloooo 2011

I have never in my life been more excited to see in a New Year! 2010 was full of many challenges but just as many blessings. Patrick and I stepped out of our comfort zone this year and embarked on a new challenging adventure and purchased a "fixer upper" out in the country.

Little did we know it would be the HOTTEST summer in about 20 years when we started. We have talked and talked about moving out to a place with a little land so our kids could go outside and play. Patrick actually looked at this house without me one day and nixed the idea. He was sure I wouldn't want to undertake a project like this:) Project? Did someone say PROJECT?!?! Most of you know, I L-O-V-E projects! He assured me though this would be a doozie...and he was right! After church the following Sunday he asked me if I wanted to just go look at it since we were in that area. Little did he know when we pulled up that he would be calling the realtor with an offer. I fell in love. The land, the house, the sweet little community with only has 8 other homes. My heart was there immediately even before I could go inside the house.

The door was locked and the realtor couldn't come out so what does any girl do dressed in her Sunday best and favorite animal print wedges?? She finds an unlocked window, scales the wall and hops right in of course! Patrick was right, the house was in desperate shape. It had been neglected and beat up. It made me love it more. I knew we could make it great and we slowly but surely have!

just have to add the finishing touches on this :)

So, I traded in these ....

FOR THIS......

We have pulled up stinky, nasty carpet, painted (and repainted) until our arms almost fell off, cleaned, scrubbed, disinfected so many times we should have opened our own chemical company, hauled off two tons of junk left in the home, did major dirt work, which Patrick learned to operate a back hoe, I blew a hole in my foot with powerwasher and burnt my arm on the same powerwasher, geez- don't ask, had a few kids fall in paint....and that is just a little slice of what we have been doing.

During all this we had our other house up for sale. We thought it would be a quick sale because of the location and it was a custom built home in a great neighborhood. Not so much. It sat on the market the whole summer and into the fall and beginning of winter. Two mortgages, home renovation, 3 kids and just daily life can create a little stress to say the least. This was a big time of growth for me.

In the moments I was overwhelmed with anxiety I learned to pray- immediately. In that very moment, at that exact time, I would stop and pray as GOD tells us too. HE always calmed my fears and anxiety. HE reminded me that we will always be taken care of no matter what. HE will never let us walk alone through anything big or small. A friend of mineshared with me something she hd heard "GOD is always on time but rarely early." So much truth in that statement. And as always HIS timing is flawless. As of New Year's day WE SOLD OUR HOUSE! What an amazing way to start the New Year! We are scheduled to close January 31st- God willing everything goes as planned. :)

I've also learned that making our house a "home" isn't making it perfectly clean, decorated or picked up, etc. it's the relationships and memories that are built and made inside. We have made so many memories already and have been able to share our adventure with so many of our friends! I love that our friends and their kids enjoy coming over and feel at home when they are here.

So, goodbye 2010. You've brought many blessings and challenges with you this year but I'm not sad to see you go:) We are ready to start a new chapter and can't wait to see what 2011 has in store!

Holly, Jolly Christmas!

We had a wonderful Christmas holiday this year! We were so blessed to spend a lot of time with friends and family. It was busy but we enjoyed it :)

We started the festivities off on the 23rd with with a birthday party for Jesus. It was another great way to reinforce with our kids the true reason for Christmas. We also had the kids pick out some toys to donate to children less fortunate.

We had a cake for the party!

Chandler didn't see any reason to use a fork. We may need to get our Miss Manners book out very early with her!

She is a mess!

On Christmas eve we let the kids open gifts from me and Patrick. I love having this time with just our little family:)

Chandler wasn't sure what was going on at first...

The boys on the otherhand couldn't wait!

Jackson was so excited to get a Bigfoot. He has been asking for one since October!


I love family traditions and one of ours is making cookies for Santa on Christmas eve night. I let the kids do everything from start to finish since "Santa" will be the only one eating them:)

Jack loves to make cookies!

Anderson and Chandler were more interested in eating the dough!! Imagine that.

Jackson decorated the cookies by himself this year. Ace and Chan were only interested in the eating part:) He did a great job!

Funny guy!

I was so afraid we would be getting up at 5 a.m. this year because the boys were sooo excited. Nope, I had to WAKE them up at 8:15! Are you kidding me! It didn't take them long to jump out of bed though. I love seeing the excitement on their sweet, sleepy faces on Christmas morning:)

Bed head Chandler....she loved her kitchen:) what a big girl already!

One of my favorite things about Jackson is how excited he gets about things. It makes things so much fun. Precious!

My slow but sure guy...Anderson's not in a big hurry about much :)

Santa's set up the night before :) I LOVE setting up their gifts Christmas eve night!