The incredible edible egg!!!

I just want to share with everyone! I have reached a new status as a mommy! I mean this is border line super hero status! I am as proud as a peacock! Are you ready to hear why?

Yesterday, I was making breakfast and the kids were in the kitchen cause they think that is the place to be whenever mommy cooks. Aaron stands there and says, "Mama, you are incredible with that egg." LOLOLOLOLOLOL Finally, someone who appreciates the little things I do. :)

Christmas time pictures

We had a good time this Christmas. The boys made out like little bandits and they are grinning from ear to ear. I just wanted to share some pictures with ya!


(Betty, my camera takes awful pictures when I don't use the flash! Grrrrr. I know you are just eyeing the shadows! LOL. When I get my Rebel I will work on it. K?)

I also wanted to share a couple of other pictures with you. This one of Aiden was taken about a year ago in out backyard in Memphis. I looked at it and instantly thought of Donald Trump. LOL! Aiden looks to be saying, "Your fired!" LOL! Couldn't pass this one up!


On this last picture, I took this this afternoon. We have another round of snow with another round coming in on Thursday night. Anyways, we looked outside and saw Cardinals everywhere. I filled up the bird feeders yesterday and forgot all about them until Rick pointed out all of our little visitors. I really had fun watching them today.

Just use your Imagination

Last night we were on out way to church and Aaron was in the back seat roaring with all of his might. This is something that he does regularly. If he is not doing that he is either barking or making some kind of animal sound as loud as his little lungs can make. As usual, this roaring was beginning to get to the rest of us and I told him to quiet down. He is quiet for a few minutes and then he said, "Mom I was just using my imagination. I was a dinosaur." I look at Rick and he is grinning from ear to ear. I can't believe how much he picks up. I told him to please just use his imagination quietly. Then he told me he was just thinking and then with a few minutes of peace the monster dinosaur came back out.

More Ice

Hopefully your not getting tired of the weather pictures cause this just continues to amaze me! I just went out to take some more and can you believe it is snowing again?

Ice Ice Baby!

Jack Frost has put us in a deep freeze. Since I am a SAHM I get to say... IT IS ABSOULUTLY BEAUTIFUL OUTSIDE!!! It is like everything is encased in glass.
Hubby went into work a few hours late this morning so we went outside to check for any damage and look in admiration. Everything is fine here and we don't know of anyone losing power here. I was really sweating that cause we would have nothing if that happened. EXCEPT>> Our cell phones! WooHoo! I would be freezing and hungry but I can talk with the best of them! LOL! Here are a few pics I took this morning.

Where is that ice pick when I need it?!?

Well, if anyone has been watching the news, we have been slammed up side the head with winter. The temp is in the teens and the ice is everywhere. I guess we are going to get another round tomorrow night sometime. It is suppose to be an ice storm. That doesn't upset me too much cause I have things scheduled for Tuesday and maybe with school possibly being cancelled, I will be able to stay home cozy with the kiddos! Hmmmmm.
I went outside for a little while this afternoon to take some pictures around our house. The one with the house in it is from the side of my yard looking out in the neighborhood. The one with the grass is where I flung that spider last summer when he thought it was a good idea to camp out in one of my clothes pins. Grrrr!
Anyways, please help me pray to keep the people that have to travel in the nasty weather to please come home safe to their families. Mainly my hubby!!! ;) What can ya expect? I am kinda fond of the guy.

For all of my friends in the South!

It is snowing! This is our second snow for the season but this one is heavier than the one that came on Thanksgiving. Beautiful! We are suppose to get about 4 inches today. Who knows, maybe there will be more. Schools have been let out early also.

This morning we had to make an emergency trip to dollar general. We were out of diapers! Anyways, we got home as the snow was really starting to pick up. Aaron wanted to play outside in it. I told him that would be fine cause I knew he wouldn't last long. He had his hat down so far because he didn't want his ears to get cold. LOL! I think he was aiming to keep even his feet warm! Check out the pics. The ones of Aaron were taken shortly after the snow started. The next were a couple of hours later and still the snow is falling. Hmmmm...Peace. Everything is so quiet outside. I am ready for my hubby to be home, safe and warm.

Trimming the Tree

We finally slowed down long enough to put the decorations on our Christmas tree last night. Reactions were different all the way around. Dad was just fine sitting on the couch and taking pictures, I was putting hooks on the ornaments, Aaron was eagerly putting the ornaments all in one place at the bottom of the tree and Aiden was checking out the latest toy sales in the newspaper and could care less about the tree! Now the roles between mommy and daddy switched on and off through out the evening. I ended up on the couch and Rick ended up helping Aaron move some of his ornaments in fear of the bottom tree branches touching the floor and then the whole tree would follow.
Aaron was just totally thrilled with the whole evening. I think I hung maybe two ornaments and Aaron did the rest. I had a new appreciation of our ornaments because every ornament that came out of the package was followed by oohhhs and aaahhhhs from Aaron. He was totally amazed. Thank you Aaron for your sweet spirit!
Now, I want to explain the picture I am post with this blog. First, do you like the ornaments on the very flimsy looking branch? Aaron is my responsible decorator!
Another thing about my boy, he does either all the way or no way. We were in the dining room the other night and I asked Aaron to shut the tv off so we could sit down and eat supper. For some reason both boys find this task totally amazing and usually fight over the job. I have to now specify which child gets to shut the tv off so there will not be any knock down drag out fights.
Anyways, Aaron, with all of his gusto and speed yells, "Okay mommy!" and jumps down from his chair and runs through the kitchen to get to the living room to shut the tv off. Just before he gets out of the kitchen he smacks his face right on the edge of the kitchen counter in a full run!!! Ouch! I even heard it in the other room! Poor boy! Needless to say, he was a bit whiney for the rest of the night. Ya know, you would think this would make the boys quit running through the house. Nahhhh!!

Thanksmas

We had a wonderful thanksgiving this year with family coming from the north and the south! Ricks brother and his family came from Iowa to stay a few days and Nana and Papa came for a little visit from Tennessee. It was great! We usually celebrate Christmas together at Thanksgiving because we probably won't see them until next year. Nana has officially started to call this get together, Thanksmas. Everything all rolled up into one. I wanted to post some pictures we took of the visit.



The one of Aiden by himself is a picture of him finally looking and smiling at the camera (when everyone else is not!)
I promise, my baby does smile quite a bit. He just doesn't care about people dancing around in front of him yelling, "Aiden! Aiden! Look, look! Say cheese!" Oh well, what can ya do?
I have pics of the four of us but you will have to wait for the Christmas card. :)

Birthday girl

Last weekend my aunt celebrated her birthday. As a matter of fact, so did we!
As a surprise we met her for breakfast at Golden Corral (I didn't even know they served breakfast) and then we went walking around Independence Center. We all had fun. Even the carousel ride.

My pound puppy.

Aaron is finally getting old enough to go outside by himself. Hooray! The land we bought is starting to pay off! I can go about my business in the house and keep and eye on him through the window. Now I just have Aiden in tow. This is fine. I am really not ready for them to grow up on me.
The other day I looked through the window and I was not able to find Aaron. I went to every room to look out at every angle. No Aaron. I am nervous by now. I run down the stairs and go out the back door. "Aaron!" I yelled a couple of times.
"I'm over here mama!" He yells.
I kept looking for him but I don't see him. Then, my eyes scan over to the dogs pen. He is standing in there staring at me.
He surprises me everyday. I would have never thought to look in the pen with the puppies. He climbed the fence. Actually that is his favorite place to play and be "one of the puppies" now.
Everytime he wants to go out and play I have to stop for a second and think if the puppies were let out of the pen or not. If not, I let Sassy and Blue out so he can run free with them.

Great Weekend

We were super busy this weekend. I really enjoy that because I kind of feel like I got some things done. If every day could only be so productive!

The boys and I started off at Grandma Skinners house and she taught me how to make grape jelly. I was totally thrilled about it! Times have changed for me I guess! Getting excited about making jelly never used to be on the top of my priorities! LOL! Well, Grandma gave me the itch for making more jelly and I was hungry for apple. Since I didn't plan on visiting an orchard anytime soon, I found a recipe for fruit juice jelly. I made this batch with unsweetened apple juice. YUM! That is what I did this morning.



Also, since we are going to have our first hard freeze this week, my mom was bringing in all of her house plants. I took advantage of this, bought some potting soil and loaded up all of my empty pots and got about six or seven starts off of her plants. Now lets just see of I can keep them all. Should I have the boys ask God to give mommy the green thumb for our helpless little plants during their nightly prayers? *smirk* Anyways, my dad bought the boys some work gloves and they worked very hard running around and losing them! We managed to talk Aiden into putting his in his back pocket. He keep hollering at us, turning his back to us so we could see his gloves in his pocket. They were bigger than his pocket!

THE END!!!

Candy! Candy! Candy!

Here are some pictures of the boys for Halloween last night. It really wasn't too bad outside but there was a definite chill in the air!
The boys did great and were even polite to the candy givers. Aiden just would get the word Treat out and would leave out the word Trick. You know Aiden, always buttering up people!

Some like it hot!

One of my favorite things about winter is the good ole electric blanket! Ahhhhhh! I am a warm weather kinda gal and pretty much hibernate in the winter. I was so excited when I found my latest electric blanket at a garage sale for $2.00. It is king size with dual controls! Woo Hoo!
Well, tonight my hubby decided to call it an early night and went up to bed. For some reason when everyone goes to bed before me I have a really hard time getting to sleep later that evening. I watched tv until my eyes were droopy and I grabbed a magazine, went upstairs and set up a towel to cover up some of the glare on Rick from my light on my side of bed and climbed in bed with my magazine. By the time I had finally gotten myself situated I was beginning to get chilly so I was really looking forward to laying in bed and read my magazine and all wrapped up snug as a bug in a rug under my electric blanket. I lay there for several minutes waiting to get the chill out of my body and I was not warm AT ALL. I stuck my feet on Ricks side and his side was all toasty. He even had the nerve to have his fan on high so I once again felt like I was in a wind tunnel. I climbed out of bed and turned the dial on my control as high as it would go and waited for a few minutes. As I lay there I am beginning to get really irritated and I knew it was just my luck that my side of the blanket would die out and my great bargain find was a waste. While I am laying there trying to talk myself into getting out of bed and getting the ole flannels on in the middle of the wind tunnel. I look over at Rick and he is laying there like he has just collapsed in the middle of the Sahara. Then it hit me...
Earlier that day, I changed the sheets on the bed and apparently there is a right side and a wrong side of the blanket when there are dual controls. With a smile and some giggling, I got out of bed and shut off my control and turned his up. I told Rick, don't worry that it would start cooling down for him soon. I am controlling the laughter so I won't wake him up anymore than I already have. Rick, not realizing what all is going on says, "I have turned off the blanket and it just seems to get hotter."
BuwahahahahahaHAHAHAHA!!! Tears are rolling down my face by then. By now Rick is very irritated and shouts that he had gone to bed early for a reason and being woke up a few hours later didn't help him at all. HAHAHAHAHAHA is all I could say as I ran to the bathroom to try and gain control of myself. A few minutes later I was all better and thought I could go to bed. As soon as I lay down he says sorry for yelling at me and that maybe tomorrow he can see the humor in this. HAHAHAHAHA! I buried my face into my pillow to try and keep quiet. I calmed down again.
Now, I am fully awake so I thought I would come downstairs to tell ya about it. Please sing me a lullabye or something! *giggle giggle*

Our Guests = Our Blessings

We have had a really busy week. Last week Nana and Papa came to stay with us a few days and we all had a good time. Nana was able to go to the fire station to learn about fire safety with Aaron. They were able to see where we have started to go to church and we just had a plain ole good time. Wish their stay was longer. BUT, we do get to see them next month for Thanksgiving.
Nana and Papa left Sunday afternoon and Sunday night my brother Derrick and his wife Dusty came from Orlando, Fl to visit for a couple of days. We had alot of catching up to do. The last time we saw them was three years ago. The first day we went to Jamesport to visit the Amish Community and then the next evening they took us out to eat at GoJos Japanese Steak House. We all had a really good time (check out the picture of Aaron trying to use the chop sticks) and I was sad to see everyone go. Derrick and Dusty left to travel back home today and this evening we have a dear friend of ours, Stewart coming over for supper. I am really happy to see him again. It has probably been over 10 years. Thank you God for putting good friends and family in our lives.

Fire Safety

Last weekend I took Aaron on another Parents as Teachers outing. We went to the Lathrop Fire Department to let the kiddos know a little about fire safety. It was really neat. The kids were able to climb in the fire trucks and see what a fireman would look like if he was going through our house in a fire. Face mask and all. The kids got to take home plastic fire hats and alot of other little goodies. I had a time trying to talk to Aaron about the stop, drop and roll action. He couldn't figure out why his clothes would be on fire. :)

Remembering the warm nights.

Well, our nights are starting to get cooler and cooler. Oh well, we knew it was going to happen.
I wanted to post some pictures we took of the boys with the bubble machine outside during one of our remaining warm evenings. It was really neat to see the hundreds of bubbles flying at me. Aaron received the bubble machine for his birthday last month. The boys had a blast (as well as daddy)!
Everyone, please keep Aaron and Rick in your prayers for a speedy recovery. I think they have the touch of the flu bug. Aaron said, "Mama, I have a frog in my throat, and I haven't even been near a pond." LOL!!! I love it! I will never forget some of the things they say. I explained that having a frog in your throat was just a saying and that there was not an actual frog down there. Hehehe. Should I tell him that he sounds hoarse (horse)? *giggle giggle* I could really have fun with some of this. Take care everyone and keep warm.

You're going to do what with the Tonka truck!?!

Friday afternoon was beautiful outside and I knew that Rick was finally on his way home from work. I took the boys outside while I waited for him to pull into our driveway. The boys were playing with their trucks, they were going up and down the driveway and playing chicken with each other. Thank goodness the trucks are Tonkas! The last through just about anything.
After a little while Rick came home and started playing with the boys and giving them a ride in the back of the trucks while they were pushed down the driveway. "Again, Again!" They constantly yelled.
"Daddys getting tired." Daddy said. Then he had an idea. See the pics to see the answer. :)
FYI...NO CHILDREN WERE HARMED IN THE MAKING OF THIS BLOG!

Long time no talk! :)

We had to take an unexpected trip to Mississippi last week and we are back home now. Actually we have been home for a few days, its just taking us a little while to get back on track. I couldn't believe how much laundry and family of four could produce in just a few days! Geez!!
The drive down south was good. It was neat to see some of the things that I didn't realize I missed and how important it was to me that my children to know a little about it. At least as much as they would stop and listen to what we were saying. The cotton! Wow! Everywhere. The further south we drove the more we saw. One town that we ended up driving through was a real wake up for all of us. Rick was driving down the interstate and we saw a crop duster flying by. As we were driving we kept getting closer and closer to him. Rick and I were pointing him out to the kids and following his path. We watched him swish down into the fields and put out the dust. It was quite cool. I don't think I ever tire of watching them, even when I lived down there. As we got real close to the plane, it came around for another drive by. Our timing was perfect. We watched him go over our heads and turn around above the field to our left and swoosh!!!! He dove down to the field and we were look straight on at him we could actually see the pilot. Rick and I were getting real dramatic for the kids and we kept asking Aaron, "Oh no! Oh no! Is he going to hit us!?!" Honestly, I don't think the kids were ever that quiet during to whole trip! Hehehe. They just stared at him as he kept getting closer and then the roar of the engine came as he flew upward into the sky!!! It was awesome! Like I said, our timing was perfect and where was my camera? Dang it! I always get caught up in the moment! I never would be a good photojournalist. The boys did great. Aaron asked alot of questions and said that he wanted to ride. Sorry baby, ain't gonna happen!
Anyways, we pulled up to the next exit to get gas. We went behind the station to watch the plane a little more and a further away of course. There was also a harvested cotton field behind the store so the boys had an opportunity to pick some left over cotton!
I added a picture of the plane from a distance while we were out in the field. The whole time I was taking pictures, I kept asking, why, why why!!!!???? Didn't I get my camera out while we were on the road!! Grrrrrr! Rick wouldn't even back track on the highway so I can try to get the same picture! Oh well. *sniff sniff*

Estelle

Todays post is in memory of my MIL Estelle who passed away 3 years ago today of ALS. Estelle was very special to me and close to my heart. When she started to get ill Rick, Aaron & I moved in to help take care of her and I would not have to work so I was able to stay home with our baby. Aaron was just under one. I never really had a clue what would happen through out that time. We went through a roller coaster of emotions the whole time. Estelle was always able to answer any kind of questions that I had in the past and eventually we had to spell out everything she was trying to say. She always stood up for me when Rick and I fussed. I could always count on her to back me up. :) Most of the time she was able to take her disability with some amusement. We would laugh at Richard when she pointed out that he "mouthed" every word she would say while he stood there and tried to understand her. At least she knew she had his attention. I remember pushing her across the room in a desk chair to help get her ready to go somewhere. I gave her a hard time about buying such thick carpet. She would tell me to quit complaining with a laugh and just push.
Estelle had a huge heart and she would always be there for anybody even though she was going through her own problems. One day comes into mind, I was beginning to lose my cool about life in general and she knew it (she would have known even if I wasn't so obvious) She called me over to her bed and I bent over her and spelled out what she was trying to say. I went through the alphabet and every letter that was right she would nod. She spelled out, "Are you ok?" Word for word, letter for letter. I looked at her with tears in my eyes and said, "yes". I was knocked back into reality when it hit me. I had a new appreciation and love for her. She was laying in a bed all day, not being able to move or speak and she was wondering if I was okay. I just want to give you a sense of what a warrior she was and how proud I am to be her daugher in law.
She would always laugh and sing until she couldn't anymore. Lookie lookie lookie here comes Cookie was one of her favorites. Her dogs name was cookie.
When Rick and I went through our tough times she was the only one who could convince me that it would all be okay.
She loved her grandkids. That was the only time I felt that I was number two and that was just fine with me. She prayed for all of us regularly. The prayers that she did for all of us then are still being answered and will continue to do so.
She love the touch and sounds of our babies. I miss her terribly and I really don't know if it has got any easier. My children will grow up knowing her and what a wonderful lady she was. I don't know why God needed her more than we did, but the selfish side of me wants her back. I don't understand why the good people have to go.