Contest

Lindsay at Splat Designs is having a blog design contest. Visit her site and sign Mr. Linky by April 1st to be included in the drawing. If you win, this is what you get...A custom template with colors, textures, sidebar categories, and a signature added to your blog.

Fun Friday meme

I've been tagged by Stacey for this fun little meme.
1. What time did you get up this morning? About 7:00 AM
2. Diamonds or pearls? DIAMONDS
3. What was the last film you saw in the cinema? Norbit, we actually went to see music & lyrics and were sold tickets to the wrong film. Too late to change movies.
4.What is your favorite tv show? American Idol
5. What did you have for breakfast? Did I eat breakfast? Oh! a few peanut butter m&m cookies. nice and healthy :)
6. What is your middle name? Lee
7. What is your favorite cuisine? It's a tie between Italian and mexican
8. What foods do you dislike? There are quite a few foods I dislike, I am pretty picky.
9. What are your favorite chips? Chocolate
10. What is your favorite CD at the moment? I don't listen to whole CDs I download songs online individually.
11. What kind of car do you drive? Dodge Durango
12. Favorite sandwich? Hamburger straight from the grill with lettuce and tomato on a toasted bun
13. What characteristics can't you stand? dishonesty
14. What are your favorite clothes? Jeans and a V-neck t-shirt, or capris and white tennies or sandles
15. If you could go anywhere on vacation where would it be? Someplace warm and secluded with just my husband
16. Wore at sixteen? I don't remember
17. Where would you want to retire? On the road. We want to travel when we retire
18. Favorite time of day? Early morning before the whole world wakes up.
19. Where were you born? In Ohio
20. Favorite events to watch? I like to go to Indians and Browns games
21. Coke or Pepsi? Coke
22. Beavers or Ducks? What kind of crazy question is this??
23. Are you a morning person or night owl? morning person
24. Pedicures or manicures? Pedicures
25. What did you want to be when you were little? An artist, until I discovered I had no artistic talents.
26. What is your best childhood memory? Way to many to pick from, mostly Holidays with extended family.
27. Ever been to Africa? No
28. Ever been toilet papering? yes
29. Been in a car accident? yes- a few too many
30. Favorite day of the week? They all kind of blend together. Are there different days in the week? I would say Sunday since I usually have everyone together on that day.
31. Favorite flower? purple petunias
32. Favorite restaurant? Macaroni Grill
33.Favorite ice cream? Moose Tracks
34. Favorite fast food restaurant? Wendy's
35. How many times did you fail your driver's test? None! Almost perfect score:)
36. From whom did you get your last e-mail? Haven't checked e-mail today, I think the last one I opened was from Shaunda yesterday.
37. What store would you like to max out your credit card? Target, Kohl's
or Old Navy. Although I don't use credit cards. All my shopping is done with cold hard cash :) Soo glad we have all those stores close to us now! :)
38. Last person you went to dinner with? husband and kids at Casa Fiesta
39.What are you listening to right now? My quiet house since everyone is sleeping:)
40. What is your favorite color? purple
41. How many tattoos do you have? none
42. How many are you sending this e-mail to? Anyone who reads my blog
43. What time did you finish this blog entry? 10:31 Pm
44. Favorite magazine? Family Fun.
45. Coffee or tea? Coffee! Oh how I miss my coffee. I was doing great, not even wanting it and now Easter is almost here. 9 more days and I can have it again! Whoo hoo!
46. Do you tan easily or burn? burn, then tan I was trying to catch some rays today. Beautiful!
47. Do you color your hair? Every 5 months a different color!
48. What is the first car you ever purchased without your parents assistance?1984 Dodge Aries, Grey with an awesome AM radio.
49What is your most dreaded household chore? cleaning in general is dreaded to me. hee, hee. I'll say laundry because it NEVER goes away!
50. Who do you tag to do this meme? I'll pick Rachel. see if she is up for the challenge

Thursday Thirteen

Okay I always see these and thought since I am so excited for spring to be here I will share 13 things that I love about it!

Thirteen Things I love about SPRING

1. I love to wake up and hear the birds chirpping outside my window just inviting me to get up and start the day.

2. I love the way a warm sunny day feels after being cold for so long.

3. I love my flowers peeking through the ground and start to bloom.

4. I love being able to start getting outside and taking walks - my favorite way to get some excercise.

5. I love my kids being able to play outside and get their energy out -cabin fever is noo fun.

6. I love the first time being able to fire up the grill and cook outside. Food always tastes better when it's grilled.

7. I love being able to open all the windows and just let the breeze blow through the house.

8. Something about spring makes me want to clean the whole house. It feels so good to get all the winter junk out.

9. My husband just planted a flowering pear tree for me last year, so I am anxious to see if it blooms this year.

10. My husband goes back to work. I really do love having him home, but I know he enjoys his job and likes to get back into his groove.

11. Watching the whole world turn from brown and gray to green and colorful.

12. The smell of a fresh spring rain

13. I love the whole Easter celebration with the family. It is so awesome to know what new life in Jesus REALLY is all about.

Wordless Wednesday

For more Wordless Wednesday, check here or visit 5 minutes for mom!

Menu Plan Monday

Hello! Happy Monday! This one will be a quick one as I have two girls begging to go outside to play!

Last week the new recipies were great! I will definetely be making them again.

Here is this week:

Monday: Chicken fajitas, rice

Tuesday: mini meatloafs trying this from KC, mashed potatoes, corn

Wednesday: Sloppy joe wagon wheels trying this from Palmtreefanatic, mixed veggies

Thursday:pizza, salad

Friday: Birthday party - dinner there

Saturday: hamburgers on the grill, pasta salad fresh veggies

Sunday: Spaghetti, meatballs

Don't forget to check out Laura's blog!

I did it!

I did it! Yay! I finally finished a book! A whole book. Not a magazine or an article. AND it was a book for ME. Not a parenting book not a romance novel or mystery. Something that made me think and feel and study my bible! I know our church did this together a few years ago when it came out, and I followed for most of it, but that was during Elena's pneumonia bouts and we missed a lot of church back then. So at the beginning of this year I made a plan to read The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren. But I was just so happy that I finished it I had to share it with the world!

Wordless Wednesday (3/21/07) Spring has Sprung!

For more wordless Wednesday go here or check out 5 minutes for mom.

Thinking Spring

I am thrilled that spring will officially be here tomorrow:) This momma definitely is developing a severe case of cabin fever. I didn't realize how ready for the unthawing I was until we had that teasing of warm weather last week. We spent an entire afternoon outside! Ate lunch on the deck and just soaked up as much as we could. Got out the stroller and walked two days in a row. It was so nice just to have some sunshine on my face, a quiet baby in tow just chucking it around town. So peaceful. So enjoyable. I am anxious for the sunny days also to help keep things with my workouts fresh. There is nothing more fulfilling than getting a good workout in while enjoying mother nature. Walking/jogging is one of my favorite ways to stay healthy and get back in shape.


I give soooo much credit to people who diet. Who regularly watch the calories and or foods they eat each day. I totally don't want to be braggy, but I just have always been able to stay about the same weight as long as I kept up with workouts. I am not much of a big eater. I never had to crash diet, but I have always had to workout. This truly is the first time since having kids that I have struggled to lose weight. I'm sure it has nothing to do with the fact that I have had three kids and am sliding into my 30's. So in my desperate attempt to lose these last 10 pounds, I went down to a 1200 calorie diet. I did a decent job - despite the fact I was STARVING!- I lasted a whole week :( I was stressing so much because the last weigh in at MOPS didn't go well. Scale stayed the same, so I was grasping for some additional push. I think with trying to maintain my workouts and still going without coffee (which might I add has been going well up until the past 2 days. I am starting to want it again and find myself counting down the days until Easter.) I was trying to do too many things to change myself at the same time. Too much for this already multitasking momma. So I decided to just really pay attention to portion size and really focus on making healthier choices in what I eat. I started to feel better about things a few days ago when I put on a pair of jeans I have worn quite regularly were very loose!! I have been living in my track pants and such lately so I was so, so happy to make this discovery! YAY!!


So the weather this next week is calling for 50's, 60's with some rain. Hopefully the rain holds off enough for us to get out and do some trekking about. Time to fire up the old double jogger!:)

Come on Spring!

Menu Plan Monday

Okay here is my challenge. It's getting towards the end of the month, going to be a transition period for us. Dh is going back to work. You would think. Oh well that's good more money will be coming in. Which will be true eventually. The next few weeks will be an adjustment as his pay cycle changes. Sooo I will need to be creative and budget conscious a little more. Which will be an interesting challenge. Esp with so many things I would like to purchase for Easter. So I will try to save as much as I can on our food bill so I can have more to play with:)

I am trying 2 new recipes this week that I found in magazines. Beef taco skillet, and crunchy onion chicken. I will link those recipes in case you want to check them out too.

Our week:

Monday: Beef Taco skillet $5.00 meal, $1.00 pp

Tuesday: Crunchy Onion Chicken $5.00 meal. $1.00 pp

Wednesday: minestrone soup, bread sticks $4.60 meal,$ 0.92 pp

Thursday: Egg & Bacon casserole, fruit $6.20 meal, $1.24 pp

Friday: Boxed meal or leftovers

Saturday: Sloppy Joes, Tator tots $3.75 meal, $0.75 pp

Sunday: Birthday party at McDonald's. Dinner there!

For more Menu ideas - check out Lauras blog!

That's it for me! Have a blessed week!

Chronicles of Narnia

I have been meaning to post this for a few weeks now. I just had to share this because I thought it was so interesting. This Easter season our church is doing a series on the parables found in the C.S. Lewis book The Chronicles of Narnia. Now awhile back the kids and I rented this movie and to my surprise really enjoyed it. We watched it a few times that weekend. It wasn't a movie I really wanted to see originally. I never read the book and can't remember what made us rent it. But really glad that we did. Well our pastor kept talking about exciting stuff getting ready for Easter this year. We kicked it off with a family movie night at church. Imagine our surprise when Me, Ethan and Elena walked into our lobby and here is what we see in place of our normal entryway into the sanctuary. The kids were in awe... The wardrobe was in our church! It was put together by a few of the members the week before. Once you opened the door you had to walk through the fur coats just as in the movie and the church lights were dimmed and a winter wonderland was before you. Only the lamp post was lit. It felt very surreal, very magical. We enjoyed the movie with popcorn popped especially for us by pastor:) Ethan and Elena wanted to pose by the lamp post.
And we decided to get a pic coming out of the wardrobe after the movie as well. The kids were beat as we did have to spend forever sweeping up all the popcorn they dropped everywhere since church was in the morning and they spent that time chasing friends all around. So they were soo ready for bed. What a fun night!
Here we are already halfway through Lent. I am really looking forward to this Easter and each week the messages that are delivered to us.! I just wanted to share this special night that got it all started for us this year! Now that St. Pattys day is out of the way we can get out the Easter decorations out tomorrow and decorate away! YAY!

Wordless Wednesday - Luck O' The Irish

For more Wordless Wednesday pics, check out 5 minutes for mom or click here.

Happy Wednesday:)

Menu Plan Monday

Here is our menu for the week. Looking forward to this weekend most of all though. I have a girls night planned for Friday Night and Saturday night we have our 2nd annual St. Patricks Day dinner! Last year was fun. Just family and a few friends. We make corned beef and cabbage and veggies and everyone brings something to go with it. Some interesting desserts too! I am going to make a green mint tea punch with these four leaf floating clovers. We'll see how they come out!
Have a great week!!

Monday: Fiesta Chicken
Tuesday: BBQ pork sandwiches, macaroni salad
Wednesday: Baked potato soup. I know its been on here a lot, just haven't made it!
Thursday: Tuna parmesan noodle casserole
Friday: Mom's night out! Dad & kids hamburgers and french fries
Saturday: St. Patricks Day Dinner here, corn beef, cabbage, veggies and lots of other goodies!

I don't have prices broke down for each this week as Monday and Tuesday are being made with leftovers from the weekend:)

Dessert of the week: pudding parfaits and cupcakes for the weekend!

As always if you want more menu ideas check out Lauras blog!

In memory of my mom

Today I woke up with that feeling... Something isn't right, something is missing. Haven't left the house lately so I know I haven't forgotten anything, double check cell phone, diaper bag and purse. Nope all there. Takes me a bit, but then I remember the date. March 11.
Today was the day of my moms birthday. She would of been 52.

I was trying to think of a pic to post along with this, but we just moved our computer and the scanner isn't hooked up yet so this is all I have. This was taken the Christmas of 1982. The last one she was with us. Some of you know that she passed when I was young. 1983. I was 8 years old, she was 28. She has been gone 24 years out of the 32 years of my life - sometimes its weird to think I even ever had a mother since my memories of her are so few. I have some, and I cherish them deeply.

One reason that I have made it a point to stay home with my kids and why I completely smother my children daily. No really I don't smother them, at least I don't think I do... I'd like to think I am just very present in their lives and I absolutely write down every detail of everything that they do in fear that I will not be here some day to tell them all about it. Another reason I journal so much for them is that they might know a bit about who I am and things I enjoy about this wonderful life we share.
Funny how sometimes when people are gone noone wants to talk about them. For me growing up that was hard. I so wanted to know all about her, what kind of foods did she like? How did she act when she was angry or when something was funny? Did she have a good laugh?? Some things I never will know. Luckily I have ran into her best friend from high school and she tells me EVERYTHING she can remember. Which reminds me, I think I will give Marilyn a call this week ;)

I did make it past 28 which is something that was always in the back of my mind. Weird, I know but I never thought I would live longer than her, but thankfully I have so far.
I have been dwelling on this all so much lately. The past. Most days I get through just fine but lately a lot of the past has been up front and center for me. I am going to be giving my testimony at a tea and treasure day for our mops group and have been praying about what all I should be saying. Soo many parts of my past have been on my mind, but especially today I am thinking of my mom.
Something you don't realize unless you have lost your mother is how many different times in your life you need your mommy! The greiving process repeats itself over and over throughout your life. When I moved out on my own, when I was proposed to, getting married, having the kids So many life changing events you greive again. Different, but its still there.
I started reading a book recently called Motherless Daughters by Hope Edelman. and I am enjoying it so much. She also wrote one called Motherless Mothers which I hope to have time to read also. The more I read of it, the more some of the goofy things I do make sense. But I am not going to dwell on the sad stuff anymore tonight. Just going to think my happy thoughts. Know I am who I am today because of the events that have occured in my life and know that someday we will be together again!
Happy Birthday MOM!

Five Reasons Why I Blog...

Well Thanks to a tag from KC , who is one of my blogging friends and thankfully becoming more of a real life friend as well!
I pick up one of my friends daughters from preschool on Tuesdays sometimes and I picked her up the day of their Valentines party. She is in Sweet Pea's class. And it was funny since I "talk" to you online more than in real life, when I saw her name on the back of her Bratz valentine I thought wait I know her! LOL

OK so she tagged me, so here it goes...
Five Reasons Why I Blog:

1. I started to blog as a way to share photos and stories with my group of online friends. My friend Jen started one and within a week or so all of us had one. Much easier to update people about things going on with our kids.

2. Decided to invite the family and friends to check it out. They are all over the country and many of them like to be able to take a peek into the little everyday things that the kids are doing. So it is a way to keep in touch and brag a bit about my kiddos and family with people dear to me because you know with 4 kids you don't have time for an actual telephone conversation!

3. I started a second blog to actually be me even in the tiniest sense. I didn't want to take anything away from what I share about the kids. It seems I think of so many things I would like to blog about, but once I get online and start reading other blogs, I run out of time to blog myself!

4. I use my family blog as a scrapbook. I print the pages out and keep them in an album/binder. I just always freak when I think "what if I woke up one day and blogger was gone??" All those posts the kids could never see. So I try to save them so the kids can go back and see some things they have done. I really want to start actually scrap booking, but that time hasn't come yet, so something is being documented!

5. This is me time, I really enjoy getting to know other people, sharing interests in things that I never thought I was that interested in, like being organized, cooking, cleaning. Things I dreaded now actually seem fun. How crazy is that? But it is great to find so many ideas from real people that work, that make life more simple and a lot more fun! Its great to see so many interesting, creative, and talented people out there who are moms to boot!

Thanks KC for the fun meme, now I will go on to tag Rachel, Stacey and Jenn!

Wordless Wednesday - Brothers learning they CAN have fun together.

For more wordless wednesday click here. Or check out 5 Minutes for Mom!

Menu Plan Monday

Hello! This month ahead will kind of be a fun challenge as my dh is still off work, so it will be fun to see what good things I can come up with on our budget!

I am sorry I didn't post the White Turkey Chili recipe last week, I will post it at the end here. It is my mother-in-laws recipe and it is quite tasty!

Thanks to Laura for hosting this!

This week looks like this:
Monday: Tacos, rice $6.30 meal, $1.26 pp
Tuesday: Whole chicken, mashed potatoes, corn $5.00 meal, $1.00 pp
Wednesday: pizza, salad $7.00 meal, $1.40 pp
Thursday: BBQ ribs, twice baked potatoes, green beans $12.50 meal, 2.50 pp
Friday: Spaghetti, meat balls, garlic bread $3.01 meal, $.60 pp
Saturday: leftovers or maybe hamburgers
Sunday: baked potato soup, crescent rolls $5.16 meal, $1.03 pp

Dessert for the week: Rice Krispy treats.

When I met my dh his fave meal was potato soup and steak (his moms recipe) A friend gave me this baked potato soup recipe and it has replaced mommys :)

Baked potato soup:
4-5 lg baking potatoes
1 stick butter
2/3 cup flour
6 cups lowfat milk
salt & pepper
1c sour cream
10 oz low fat shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 lb crisp bacon, crumbled
green onions- sliced thin

Bake potatoes in oven- remove skin and dice, Melt butter in lg pot, add flour and stir gradually, add milk. Stir constantly until thickened (5 min)
stir in cheese and sour cream. Add salt and pepper to taste, stir in diced potatoes.

Garnish with bacon and onions and additional cheese if desired.

White Turkey Chili:
2 jars of Great Northern beans
2 lg cans chicken broth
1 onion, minced
2 lb boneless chicken or turkey breast, cubed.
1-2 cans chopped green chilies
1 1/2 tsp cumin
1 1/2 tsp chili season

Combine beans, broth and onion in a lg pot - simmer.
In sm skillet saute onion, chili season, cumin & chilies in sm amount of oil.
Add to beans. Add chicken or turkey and simmer 40 min. or in crock pot 3-4 hours

Top with crushed tortilla chips, shredded cheese and sour cream.