Picture with Santa

"just who in the world is this guy and why is he holding me?"

Christmas card picture

Okay, so this is what we had to work with for our Christmas card picture! Jack had a meltdown and Miss Emma can not sit still. It is way to much to ask for both of them to smile at the same time! We tried to get all 4 of us - yah right :o)

Catch up!

Here are somepictures to get you all (the 2 of you who actually read this blog!!!) caught up -

Emma eating her "bawbewwies" - strawberries. One of her favorite foods. She loves all fruit and hates veggies. She tries almost everything though, especially if she sees someone else eating it. She is is such a good little eater. And talking so much - her new vocab consists of - mine (new today!), thank you, and here go. She understands so much now and answers us.


Making cookies with Gamma and Aunt Darcey. Jack looked forward to this all week. He was covered in flour and had the best time.

Loved the green frosting!

Uh, we have a couple new additions. Scratchy and Shakey. A moment of weakness! 2 bunnies. Like I need more to take care of, it's already like a zoo around here. Jack really enjoys them though. One may be finding a new home soon though because they are in the same cage outside(my nice neighbor built them a hutch and put straw in it and built them a box filled with straw to keep them warm) and I think they may be fighting, today there was a bunch of loose fur in the cage. We cannot have fighting! I made Derek set up the dog kennel inside so we can bring them in but they are so messy so we only did that once :o)

Thankful

I am so thankful for him and him and her

looney tunes

By the way, when I post a pic of food I always make Derek wait to eat until I get just the right picture. He thinks I am looney tunes! Derek waiting for food? Can you imagine how nuts he thinks I am?!! But I am totally normal. All of you take pictures of your meal before you eat right?!!!

Hungry?

Lots to report today, first of all a couple recipes. This is what we had for supper last night - White chicken chilli and naughty cornbread, yum!!
White chicken chilli:
1 large jar great northern beans, drained, 1 medium onion, chopped, 1 Tbs. olive oil, 1 tbs minced garlic, 8 oz chopped green chilis, 2 tsp ground cumin, 1 1/2 tsp oregano, 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper, 6 cups chicken stock, 3 cups chopped cooked chicken breasts, 2 cups shredded monterey jack cheese, salt, pepper and sour cream to taste.
Saute' onion in olive oil. Add garlic, chilis, cumin, oregano and cayenne. Saute' 2 minutes. Add beans, chicken stock and chicken. Simmer until heated through. Add 1 cup cheese, salt and pepper. ladle into soup bowls and top w/ more cheese and sour cream.

Naughty cornbread:
1 box yellow cake mix, 2 boxes Jiffy cornbread mix, 5 eggs, 2/3 cup milk, 1 1/3 cup water, 1/2 cup butter - melted. Mix all together and pour into muffin pans (I used 1 miffin pan and 1 pan that makes 4 mini loaves of bread). Bake at 350 degrees until knife comes out clean (muffins about 15 minutes, loaves about 30 minutes). Serve warm with butter. Soooo good! Jack wants me to make these every day :o)

This picture is of us girls before Emma's very first shopping trip to Chicago. What a day!! We were all shopped out. Emma was so good. She needed more clothes - actually she has all the clothes available in the Quad Cities area so we had to trek to Chicago. He he hehe!!!!!!

My little climber figured out how to climb up on the stools at our kitchen island, now we really are in for it! So she insisted on eating her lunch up at the counter like the big kids.

Goofball!
Also, our house got painted this week so we have been very busy putting it all back together. I'll post pictures soon.
Can you believe Thanksgiving is next week? I am so excited! Our first holiday get together is this Saturday - can't wait! Not too excited about the Christmas tree this year though with the little monster. With Jack we just put all the ornaments up high on the tree but I think Little miss thing will figure that one right out. We are in for it!
Have a great week!

more pictures

ok-on that last post The first pic wasn't supposed to be on there - you all got a bonus! Here is Emma doing a puzzle with Aunt Darcey, and then Jack and my friends baby Aiden and then the little brute being sassy!
I hope everyone has a great weekend!

The little climber

I am really going to try to post more often, really! I am just so busy with my little brute and my big smarty pants! Emma has learned how to climb on the kitchen chairs and then up onto the kitchen table - she is so proud of herself! Look at the second picture - "ut-oh, Mommy caught me! I'm so cute though I will get away with it!". And of course she is so stinkin' cute what can I do but to get my camera and encourage her?! See, 3rd pic "You know you think I am a cutie mommy!!". So, now for the brute part - oh and please excuse the messy house in the pics, we are painting this week - so I watched my friend Jesica's baby Aiden and Emma was so jealous. It was like the WWF around here! She just wanted me to have nothing to do with him. She also kept saying "baby" over and over. He has on a little headband to mold his head and it is a good thing - for protection from the little terror. She was trying to get it off and I think she would have loved to be able to just pick him up (by his helmet!) and "love" on him like she does her baby dolls! I still haven't quite figured out how to post pictures in this blog so I will add a few more on another post of Jack and Aiden. Jack on the other hand was so good with Aiden, he just wanted to sit and hold him - such a sweet boy.
Tomorrow Emma is going on her first shopping trip to Chicago! - with Grandma, Aunt Darcey and Mommy. So excited! What will Emma wear? Hmmm....she has no clothes :o)
Jack is going to stay home and "help" Grandpa Chris paint.
Emma has sid something new - GRANDMA! You can only imagine how excited Christie was - Emma even said "hi Grandma" on the phone to her!
She is also nodding her head yes and no - too smart.

Halloween

Here are some pics of our Halloween. What do you think of Derek as a Hobbit? Everyone thought he looked younger in that wig - think he should wear it all the time?!!!!!! Jack was so hyper, little too much candy! He loved doing his Ninja moves. And look at my little flower, precious. She left the hat part on too, I was surprised. I think she knew how cute she was. After trick or treating we went to a party at out friends house - the costumes were hilarious! I will post more pics later of that. Well, I am off to church. Derek left early for Sunday school and called - we forgot to turn back our clocks - duh!!!

long time no post

I know all of our adoring fans have been on the edge of your seats waiting for a new post (wink, wink) so here it is! I have a little extra time this morning since that sweet little face in the first picture is in major time out for biting his sister. Ugh. He got his mouth washed out with soap for the first time ever, and I used LIQUID soap!!! Yep, squirted it right in. He was gagging so much I was trying so hard not to laugh! I don't think he will bite again. Grandpa and Grandma Nancy came this past weekend to visit and brought the kids some goodies for Halloween. we had a good time. Grandpa Chris came last week and planted a lilac bush in our front yard with some help from Jack . Jack loved making the buch all "cozy" with mulch. We are looking forward to Halloween around here Emma is a flower, Jack a Teenage mutant ninja turtle and Derek is going as a Hobbit. Me, still undecided. I may cop out and just wear my jammies. The other option is Dolly Parton but that is a little bit of a stretch since we look nothing alike :o) and I can't walk in high heels. Well, I guess I will go get the biter out of T/O. I told him he may not be able to go Trick or Treating too - I am going to milk this one all day. I'll post pics os Halloween soon!

Dance the night away

Here are some pictures from the wedding we went to last weekend. Derek's cousin got married, we had a good time. You may notice there are no pics of Jack. Well that is because he spent the entire evening dancing and running around! I took pictures but they were no good because he never stopped moving! He had such a great time playing with Derek's couisins kids. They were all pooped by the end of the night. Me, I was just poo-poo'd :o) Fun though. Thankfully it ended early, even though (you know me) I wanted it to last longer I was glad the next day that I was cut off, er uh I mean decided to stop drinking by 10:00. Te, he, he! Don't get many nights like that any more. Darcey and I spent a lot of time shakin' our booties on the dance floor, Derek even got out there. Emma was good, considering she didn't have a nap all day! She was all over the place. I have a video of Jack dancing so I'll have to figure out how to post that for your enjoyment. He has his father's dance moves down pat!! Although by the end of the night I was not exactly - insert name of a good female dancer here, I can't think of one!. Thank goodness most people left early! Story of my life.

cupcake

Guess what we made today? Halloween cupcakes. Emma loved them! Can you tell?! Jack and I made them, he loves to cook. We have been so busy lately, it is hard to find time to update my blog.


Here is my recipe for Pasta with Clam Sauce (Sorry I forgot to take a picture)
1 stick butter
1/2 cup olive oil
1 tbs chopped garlic
Saute above for about 5 minutes then add,
1 can drained baby clams
2 cans undrained baby clams
3/4 cup dry white wine (chardonnay is good)
salt and pepper to taste
Bring to a boil then reduce to medium heat so it can cook down a little bit. Cook for about 20 more minutes then add lots of chopped fresh parsley. Serve over cooked pasta - I like Angel hair. Top with shredded parmesan cheese. So good. This is one of my favorite dishes.

I never measure anything when I cook so it is hard for me to come up with measurements for these recipes. Everything is approximate.

Pumpkin Patch

Happy Fall y'all!
We went to the pumpkin patch yesterday. We had so much fun. It was a great place for the kids. Jack got to shoot a corn cob out into a field, both kids got to ride this neat train and there was a petting zoo and a big bouncy jumpy thing . Then Jack went to a party with his Gamma & Gampa and we had friends over for supper. We were all tired! Hope you enjoy the pictures. We had a busy weekend as usual, but it was so nice. I'm ready for Fall weather though - we have the A/C on today, I thought we were finished with that. Tomorrow is my friend Christina's birthday so were are making dinner here, pasta with clam sauce. So I thought I'd post a recipe for it tomorrow. Have a great week!

baby fever

Look who I got to watch this week, our friends Jason and Christina's son - Jaedin. He is so sweet. It is nice to hold a sweet little baby again. Also nice to send him home with his mama so she can be up with him all night :o) I sure don't miss that part! Emma was sooo jealous. She did not want me anywhere near him. Then we sat her down and let her hold him. She has been waiting to get her hands on him, maybe she thinks he is like one of her baby dolls (which she carries all the time). She liked holding him but she sure was happy he left! Jack loves him too. He is great with him.
I tried a new recipe to post but it didn't work out so good so hopefully I will post one tomorrow.
Emma had to get blood taken today so they did a finger prick and she did not even cry! She just let out a little whimper and then was just fine. What a brute!
Jack got his Halloween costume today - a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle. Not my choice. I wanted him to be a hot dog, but noooo. Geez, I wonder why?!
See ya!

the boy at the park

Here is my big boy at the park. Doesn't he look old? Hate it! He went to the fire station at preschool today then we got Mcdonalds and went to the park. Then we walked downtown and my friend Christina got him jellybeans, made his day!


Do you hear that? Complete silence. The kids are both asleep right now. Aaah.....Time for a little drinkypoo. See what you losers who work all day are missing?!!

Emma at the park

Today we went to the park. The kids had so much fun. Emma loved the slide, she kept climbing up it.

Daddy's little pumpkin

Not too much to report. We didn't make it to the Pumpkin Patch yesterday, hopefully next weekend. I did get a blurry picture of Emma teasing me in our driveway. She was running from me. Jack is at his first big-boy birthday party right now, without his mama :o( He was so excited. Emma is addicted to chips like her brother. She saw a bag of chips at Target and started crying and reaching for them! She is also liking to watch football. We will have NONE of that. I need to get out the makeup and dolls stat!
I'll post a recipe tomorrow. Have a good week!

pretty bust day

Anybody catch my spelling mistake in the busy day post? Just to clarify, we had a pretty busy day. I also had a pretty bust though :o) I think I better start proof reading my busts - I mean posts!!

Emma and my friend Tammy - how sweet