37 and 14.1 Iches of Snow!

So what so you do on your 37th birthday that just so happens to fall on the 26th of December?

And after 14.1 inches of snow and ice?

Driving your family home on roads that looked like this {in Oklahoma}

And waking up to a breakfast with these smiling faces…

You head out with the family to find the perfect spot to do this…

Watch your little man fly past you in a flying saucer…

Your daughter slide right by…

Your wife “catch air”…

And then you jump on for a ride and cross all fingers and toes and pray you can get out of bed the next day!

Then you go home and leave this for your wife as you sip hot chocolate by the fireplace.

Not a shabby 37th birthday if I say so myself!

Happy belated birthday ole’man {smile}!

Hello? You Still There?

Hello?



Hello? Is anybody still there?


Sorry I have been away obligated to all the Christmas craziness.


Remember how I was so excited that it looked like we were going to have a White Christmas?

Fast forward 24 hours to this

We decided to pack up early Christmas Eve and make the 40 min. drive to both our parents’ homes. What started out ok got bad quick, really quick. This was the first blizzard that I had even seen, let alone drove in. Winds were blowing snow 60 mph sideways.

About two hours in I really thought we might not ever make it. I had not packed any bottled water or food. With the exception on one bag of white giant Snowball cheetios! And about 40 pounds of almond barked everything!

It took us 3 hours but we made it. Just as we exited the interstate they shut them all down sending out the National Guard. Whoever was praying for a white Christmas I really need to talk to them about getting on our pray chain at church!

Hope that each one of you had a blessed Christmas. I will be back in full force after the New Year when we are done with traveling and visiting all our loved ones.

Oh The Smell...

I know that I say this every year but I really, really mean it this year! Christmas sure does come fast.

Yesterday I had no choice, and was tired of the kids asking when they were going to have a gift under the tree. I had yet to wrap one thing for them. And with me working till 5pm and a scheduled family picture for the media guide yesterday I was feeling a tad bit STRESSED!

My darling husband had been such a big help and scrubbed our house clean yesterday. Then took us to dinner after our pictures so that I would not have to dirty the kitchen and cook. {BEST Christmas gift yet!}

Gabe wanted his Mac-n-cheese “soup” from Charleston’s so we headed that way.

Hannah ordered her usual Baked Potato Soup but was being dramatic and saying her tummy hurt. So I stepped in and advised that there would be no play date when we got home unless she straightened up and ate. So she did.

CHARLESTON'S BAKED POTATO SOUP

1 1/2 cans chicken broth

1/2 cup water

1 tablespoon minced onion

1/8 teaspoon oregano

1/8 teaspoon parsley

5 tablespoons butter, melted

5 tablespoons flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

2 cups half and half

4 cups cubed potatoes with or without skins

GARNISHMENTS:

sliced green onions

crisp cooked bacon bits

cheddar cheese

In large pan, mix chicken broth, water, minced onions, oregano, and parsley. Bring to a boil; simmer 5 minutes.

Add melted butter, stir in flour slowly, and add salt and pepper. Stir in half and half; cook until bubbly.

Add potatoes. Cook until done over low to medium heat, stirring occasionally. If cooked too fast, the soup will burn before potatoes cook thoroughly.

Garnish each bowl with the chopped onion, crisp cooked bacon, and grated cheese.

However, she got me back good. You see I had just gotten them to sleep and was hauling out the last of the gifts to wrap when I heard it! The sound no mother, father, grandma, grandpa or dog wants to hear.


That of a gag and splatter and then the smell…regurgitated Baked Potato Soup from Charleston’s.


I am pretty sure this will no longer be my favorite to order in the near future.


Yep, just two days before Christmas and my kiddos get a stomach bug. Gabe has yet to gag and splatter but I know, as a mom, it is only a matter of time before we all go down!


On a much happier note I am so excited to see this in our forecast

I just love a white Christmas…gag, splatter and all!

Sugar Bugs!

Looking for a last minute stocking stuffer for the kids?
 How about this?

My kids are only aloud to pick out a box of cereal for their birthday. So this year I decided to buy some cute little boxes and stuff them into their stockings.

I always make some elaborate breakfast casserole for Christmas morning. More than often I serve it to the family as they turn up their noses. So this year they are eating sugar cereal. And I won’t be staying up preparing an overnight breakfast.

Peace and the Yannkees!

Is it too late to be putting up the kids Christmas trees?

I had almost decided that I would just wait and do it next year.

But, then I found this cute tin pink peace sign and just had to do Hannah a tree. And how could I leave out Gabe?

So I pulled the tree and lights that I had stashed up in the attic down and made Hannah about the girlish tree I could get.

I found some cute ornaments and colored tinsel to throw on everywhere.

She was thrilled with it and what girl wouldn’t be?

I was scratching my head on what to do for Gabe. Then it hit me the Yankees of course!

I mean the boy sleeps in a Yankee bed!

Using navy blue tulle, silver tinsel, and off white balls I got to work!

His tree had a lot of white and not enough navy. Yes, Santa left all the nice Fat Heads last year that pull off every inch of paint when removed. SO they still stay stuck to the walls until I can get the time to repaint his room! Thanks Santa!

So I used the cardboard inserts that the tinsel trim was wrapped around and cut out Yankee logos.

Using my spray adhesive and Martha’s navy superfine glitter we were in business!

I was going to make a large Yankee logo for the top but tossed his first Yankee hat on top instead! Then placed his tree in the bucket of balls he already had.

Still it was missing something. So I took a navy sharpie marker and 27 off white Christmas balls and wrote a year on each ball. The years represent a year that the Yankees won the World Series.

A Wii, S'mores and A Roll of Rolaids!

This post is a bit of a hodge podge, but hey it’s Friday!


After arriving home last night, after yet another Christmas gathering, I needed to eat a few of these…

Then I noticed a cute little box on our front porch.

While we were gone a friend stopped by and dropped of this little cutie.

My family was all smiles, as we love to make our own s ‘mores.

And I thought, what a cute and easy gift to give. So if anyone is looking for a last minute treat this maybe just the answer for you!

She added a bag full of mini marshmallows, mini Hershey bars, a sleeve of gram crackers, skewers and two candles. And it’s just too cute! Kids of all ages love s ‘mores and the fact that it has been created in “mini” form makes it even better.

Now we all need to get started on playing our new family game.

Daddy ordered us Wii Fit Plus early this week and we all love it, even one of Hannah’s best friends.

After you get over the setup of weighing and getting your BMI charted you are good to go. I have refused to be weighed by the Wii until at least February. Who needs that at Christmas?

But the kids think it’s the best!

All three of them {smile}!


Stop by The Shabby Nest for more great Christmas ideas!

Christmas Cards

Well the cards are in the mail and I am glad for the line that I can draw through on my long list of “to do’s”.

Isn’t that a wonderful feeling? I am a list maker deluxe and refer to it as a need to download my brain so that I can focus and stay on track. It really is the only way I can time manage. I have tired creating them on my phone but it’s not the same. I need to write it on paper and mark it off.

Ok, back to what I came to share today.

You see I took the kiddos pictures in a cute little alley on campus corner. It just so happens to be the same little alley where Sugars is located. And it’s not a children’s candy store. In fact there are no windows just a neon sign flashing Sugars {if you know what I mean}.

So, as Gabe kicked piles of half drunken beer cans. Hannah, who reads everything, was studying the writing on the wall. She asked “mom, what does nude mean?” Yep, I told her it means not to have clothing on and she was happy with that, thank goodness!

When the pictures came back I began to study them, and realized the wood poles out front had appeared in our pictures as a cross. Wow! It was a reminder to me no matter where we go He is always there.