A Day in the Life...

I know I will wake up one day and wonder where the years went?  And I will think…what did I do all day and how did I do it?  Well, instead of writing it down…I thought a day of pictures would help me remember.  I decided that no matter how little or insignificant, I would take pictures of everything.  And of coarse the day I decide to do this neat photo experiment…Blakely wakes up 3 hours earlier than usual…so it's a 2 cup of coffee day.  I know these are a lot of photos (I took over 300 throughout the day)  but each photo and sequence tells the story of how this engine runs during the day.  

Ice Cream in a Bag

Can anyone say Pinterest…

Now is it P-Interest or pinterset?  Either way I love it…I am not as obsessed as some…but I must say I browse during feedings.  During one of my pin-capades…I found a recipe for homemade ice cream.  I tried it…I loved it.  So I will share:

A gallon freezer ziploc bag

A pint or quart freezer ziploc bag

1 cup of cream

add the cup of cream to the quart bag

 your flavors (if you want any)

I chose oreos and andes mint

1-tsp vanilla

1/2 tbsp no calorie sugar or 2 tbsp regular sugar

add these ingredients to the cream in the quart bag.

Release as much air and seal it up tight

Coarse salt or Ice cream salt

fill the gallon ziploc bag halfway with ice and a hand full of salt

Place the cream mixture in the ice/salt bag.  Seal up the gallon bag and Shake…Rattle and Roll for 8-10 minutes.  I wrapped my bag in a dish towel to keep my hands from freezing.

After the 8-10 minutes…remove the ice cream from the ice and rinse off under cold water.  Get all the salt off…even in the lip of the seal,,,you don't want salt in the ice cream when you open the bag.  

TaDaa! Ice Cream.  

Eat immediately or freeze in the bag.  

Riley helped me make this batch…it was a lot of fun and tastes really good.  

My second batch we added reese's cups and carnation chocolate shake protein powder (I didn't have chocolate syrup)  It was fantastic too and full of vitamins!

Chambray vs Canada

Fall calls for family pictures…and I am especially excited for this years shots because we are a complete family!  I am also excited to outfit the family for these pictures…the color palette…camel brown, cream and denim.

Something like this…but a lighter brown

I ordered everything from Old Navy (with a huge discount coupon) All the outfits are strategically put together to compliment each other, no one is wearing the same thing but it all looks good together, it took me quite a while to find a good combo…I got Blakely little faux fur boots and a denim dress…the boys in corduroy and denim, me in a camel cardigan and Ryan in a chambray shirt.  I just knew Ryan would look so handsome is this shirt and they are "in-style" for fall…but you have wear them right.
When Ryan got home from work…I told him there was a shirt I wanted him to try on.
 He walked in our room and said
"where's the shirt?"
I said "right there!"
 he responded "where!?"
I said "right in front of you!"
he said "no…."

"what do you mean no? what's wrong with this shirt!?"

Ryan explained "I honestly walked in and thought it was a women's shirt…"

silence as a cocked my head and gave him a confused look….

I then pleaded "These shirts are in-stlye!"

Ryan confirmed "I don't give a sh*t if it is in style!  I am not wearing a Canadian Tuxedo in our family pictures!"

See, what I imagined Ryan would look like in this shirt is this:

And what ryan thought he would look like in this shirt is this:

So I am returning the Canadian tuxedo and searching for something else…or maybe I can get the model above to pose in Ryan's place.

My Life On The Counter

As I was picking up the house this morning, I came across this cluster of objects on the kitchen counter.

And the thought crossed my mind: my life can be defined by this pile of mismatched items on my kitchen counter:  Epic battles between avengers and dinosaurs….diaper changes….boogers…bills…

I think most peoples lives can be summed up by what is on their kitchen counter.

Before Ryan and I had kids, our counters were clean…very little clutter…you might find our utility bills, cell phone chargers and a batch of cookies.  That has changed.  Sometimes I think…"what the hell did we do before we had kids!?"  Being a parent is a true sacrifice of your coolness…a sacrifice of your time and energy.  Right after I had Blakely, I was sharing some stories about the birth with my sister in-law and she, sharing her birth stories…after we were done saying how hard having babies was, my niece piped in and said "Then why do keep having them?"  I really didn't know what to say…how do you explain to an 10 year old…that even though it sounds like torture and complete insanity…we all do have kids…some of us multiple times.  Even if we've planned for years or didn't plan at all, we all love the blessings we didn't know we needed.  I don't think I can sum into words…except, maybe when I am 50, I will look back on the picture above and desperately miss epic battles between avengers and dinosaurs….diaper changes….boogers…bills…okay not the bills.



"enjoy the little things, because one day you will look back and realize they were the BIG things"

Cheese and drugs

This is the face of a dog addicted to her pain medication...
Don't be fooled by her ASPCA -caged animal- feel sorry for me look...this dog is high and you can't trust a junky.
Now whenever she hears me open the medicine cabinet, she comes skidding through the kitchen, knocking over children to get her fix.  I hide the medicine in cheese (bear has never liked cheese in the past)  BUT now she likes cheese...as long as it is laced with vicadin!
Why is bear on pain medication? She had a growth removed from her elbow...which is also the reason for the stylish cone around her neck. And when you combine a drug induced dog with a cone...it's quite entertaining. She has no perifrial vision, so she runs into the furnIture and walls.  And when she bumps into anything, she freezes and won't move.  When we let her outside she turns in circles because her nose cant touch the ground to sniff.  As if this dog wasn't weird enough. 

Caramel pecan rolls

1 1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/3 cup heavy whipping cream
2 cups chopped pecans
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 tbsp ground cinnamon
1/2 cup melted butter
1 cup raisins
Frozen white rolls
2- 9 inch round pans
-Grease the pans
Preheat oven to 200 degrees
-Stir powdered sugar and cream together and distribute evenly between the 2 pans.Sprinkle the chopped pecans on top of the cream/sugar
-melt the butter in a small bowl
-mix brown sugar and cinnamon In a small bowl
-dip the frozen rolls in the melted butter and then rolls in the cinnamon/sugar mixture, then place evenly in the two pans.  Fit as many rolls as possible. 
- fill a pan with some water and place the round pans in the water and put in oven to rise for 1-2 hours or until doubled their size.  Change oven temp to 350 degrees and bake for an additional 25 minutes. 

When done...flip round pan upside down on a serving plate...pecans and cream will be on top of rolls...serve warm.

Make ahead: make the rolls the night before and raise and bake the next morning.

Moving on Up!

Just like George and Louise…we're moving on up in this world!

Of coarse we aren't in an east side apartment in the sky…but like the Jefferson's, Ryan got a new job and we are now able to upgrade the MUCH needed eyesores in our house.  

Remember this dinosaur

It was a 3 hundred pound TV…more like an iceberg…you only see 20% of it, the other 80% is all junk in the trunk.  

We have no upgraded to this:

 And how about this eye sore…?  I sure our frequent visitors recall getting stuck in this couch.

It sagged in the middle…it got mold in the storage…the dog slept on it at night…it was a snot rag…and a popcorn catcher.  The cushions were stapled gunned on (several times).  It was peed on, wrestled on, slept on, jumped on and sneezed on.  It was a good run couch…Ryan bought you right out of college from slumberland for WAY TOO MUCH MONEY…he loved you too much, but it was time to move on…

Ever since Ryan and I got married 5 1/2 years ago, we have always wanted a leather sectional couch…unfortunately we couldn't configure one in our living room…but we found this one at Homemakers and LOVE IT!  The pillows are not staying-they came with the couch-but it is comfy and sits up so much higher than our old one.  It was quite a challenge to get it in the house…much heavier than the "snot rag" couch.  And it has already paid for itself…Riley snot torpedoed it this morning and it was an easy wipe up clean!

I still need to find side table that hold DVDs…our kids are obsessed with breaking into our DVDs and the side tables we currently have are too small, but I got them knowing they were temporary.

This last pic is my garage sale find!  ;)

Blakely: 3 Months

Well we made it…

We made it to the definitive milestone…3 Months! I know I have mentioned before how much things change after 3 months of age.  Normally the kinks of a new baby are worked out: fussiness, sleep schedules and feedings.  Everyday, Blakely's personality grows a little more.  I try to dress her is a cute outfit everyday…really trying to take advantage of having this baby girl.  I have mini panic attacks thinking about my babies growing up. And I really have to take a step back and soak it up…it will be gone before we know it!  At the garage sale, mentioned in the previous post, I cried and cried while unpacking and hanging up baby clothes.  It was seriously rediculous…I ended up having a whole tote of clothes I couldn't part with.  I not only cried with the baby clothes, but with the maternity clothes…the end of an era for me.  Below are pictures of baby B-she still falls asleep for me to take pictures and of coarse no tummy pictures {grouch!} but she was happy and kicking on her back!


3 Month Milestones:

-sleeps 9pm-8am
-nurses every 4 hours (last feeding at 8pm)
-vocalizes: coos, ahh-goo, gurgles, loves to talk and has excellent eye contact
-wants to grab, but hasn't gotten the control
-can bear weight on legs
-like bouncey chair with animals
-wears 3-6 months clothes
-good head control
-still has darker hair
-sucks her thumb
-does NOT like tummy time…but ironically sleeps on her belly
-has some digestive issues…I haven't figured out if its what I am eating, I switched to almond milk and avoid all onions and garlic.
-She is very social and very smiley
-gets tired about 1-2 hours after eating

Riley's Toy Shop

Last week we had a garage sale in Clear Lake…

The preparation leading up to the garage sale was intense in our home…especially since we were selling quite a bit of the toys.  At first I stored the sale toys in the basement, but the boys kept getting into them and making a mess.  So I moved the pile out to the garage, but every time Tate went out to the get in the van he snagged up a toy. Riley was acting traumatized "YOU CAN'T SELL MY TOYS!!!!!"   But, after I told Riley we would make money off these sale toys and with that money he could buy a new toy…he was money hungry.  Salvaging through the house tossing toy after toy in the sale pile.

The day of the garage sale came…my mom did a great job setting up their building for the sale…perfect since it was cold.  Riley had his own table and chairs to set his toys on…he had a sign that read "Riley's Toy Shop".  I wasn't sure how this whole "selling toys" was going to go…since he shoots spiders webs at people in wal mart, who know what he will do with people taking his toys. The fisrt customers of the day come in and my mom and I say "hi, how are you?"  and riley yells "WHY HELLO SIR…You Wanna Buy A Toy!"  My mom and I just looked at each other like "oh great! here we go!"  The man walked over to Riley's table and said "you have lots of Toys…can I buy this truck?" Riley said…"no, how about you buy this microphone."  The man said "what am I going to do with a microphone?"  Riley responded…"you sing on the stage with it."  The man said "Oh! I see, how much do you want for it?" Riley said. "how about ten dollars?"  I butted in-"how about 25 cents?"

And that's how the day went…Riley talked to almost everyone and almost everyone bought a toy…a real salesman he was.  He had some tricks even the most persuasive Best Buy salesmen don't have guts to try.  As one person was leaving, Riley ran up and handed them a ninja turtle and said "you have to pay for that!?"  Now that's a sales tactic.  Needless to say…Riley is not shy.

When it was all said and done…Riley made over $15!  Thats pretty good considering all his toys were 25 cents.  Some people were giving him 1-2 dollars mistaking his mind control for cuteness.  With his money he bought a new toy…CAPTAIN AMERICA!  Which has been added to our some village of action figures.

HE looks like a trusty salesman, right?