Re-Cap of 2009

January:

*my baby turned 5

*we contemplated selling our house

February:

*Riley played in his swing for the first time

*Logan & the hubs got their first sledding session of the year in

*pierced my cartilage (which I just took the earring out due to constant infection!)

*hubs and I spent Valentines Day getting tattoos (no, not matching & not each other's names!)

March:

*celebrated our 1st wedding anniversary

*had a fabulous St Pattys Day with some adorable kids!

*decided to officially put the house up for sale

*Riley started eating baby food

April:

*Riley learned to sit up & to give kisses

*I tried to be creative with Easter snacks (failure)

*spring soccer season kicked off for Logan

*I started thinking about losing weight for our upcoming cruise

May:

*Our first trip to the zoo as a family of 4

*we had our first sleepover, my 3 nieces spent the night

*finally warm enough that we can play outside!

*Riley can pull himself on furniture now

June:

*took our honeymoon!

*cruised the Caribbean

July:

*Family reunion in Denver, CO (we didn't drink the entire time!)

*added a 5th tattoo to my collection

*adopted sweet Bella

August:

*my baby started Kindergarden

*multiple county fair visits

*Riley started walking

September:

*hubby's birthday

*Riley turned 1

*saw my biological dad, 1st time in about 8 years

*had my 10-yr high school reunion

*received an offer on our house

October:

*sold our house, bought a new one, MOVED!

*my birthday

*started back at school

*went to a Chiefs game (of course they lost)

November:

*finally finished the fall soccer season! BRRR!!!!

*painted, painted, and painted some more

*cooked a fabulous turkey dinner in our new house for our closest friends

*had a sick baby ALL the freaking time!

December:

*passed my 2nd semester of nursing school

*celebrated a wonderful Christmas with our ENTIRE family!

*Riley was admitted to the hospital for 1st time

*Riley had surgery to place tubes in his ears

*did a TON of baking

*successfully hosted a holiday/house warming party

*saw Trans-Siberian Orchestra

2010 Goals

I have been inspired by fellow bloggers to create a list of my goals for this new year.

2010 - can you believe that it's here already?!

You'll see on my side bar that I've created a short list of goals.

I plan to update that as I choose new goals for myself,

and will also update it with my progress.

Wish me luck on the challenges of the new year!

blues? tired? bored?

For some reason I just can't come up with blog ideas, and instead of stressing about it I simply have decided that "I don't care". Is that mean sounding? I just can't decide if I'm tired, have the post-holiday blues?, whatever the case may be I'd like to get over it. We've had a bad run of luck with the gal renting our rental. Let's see: she owes $2200; she has pets; and I can't kick her dumb ass out. Apparently in KS the tenant has more rights than the landlord and even though she has broken contract I still can't evict her without going through the courts. Today the hubs and I had to talk to a lawyer just to try and get the ball rolling, so far nothing is happening though and this bitch (scuse the language) is still living free in MY HOUSE!!!!! I can't even get animal control to get the pets because "it's a legal issue, you have to take it through the courts". Bite me.

2nd part of my bad day.... hubs and I had to go in for a physical to keep the insurance company happy. Some how over the years I have shrunk an inch, and gained enough weight to be considered obese. Really? I've posted lots of pics of myself on here and I'll be the first to admit that I need to loose weight but I sure can't agree with the obese part! Damn those stupid charts. While in the dr's office I had him examine a lump I've had behind my ear for about 5 months or so. Looks like next Tuesday I'll be going in for a biopsy... wish me luck.

3rd part.... I called my bank to check on the balance for my car loan. The last time I checked on the balance I was told $11k +/-. I checked on it today and was told $15k! Really? Someone please tell me how that happens!? And of course this can't be explained, and the bank completely stands behind that I've only paid off $3k in the last 3 years. I'm sorry, so you're telling me that I've paid an extra $100/mo (for a total of $500/mo) to only have paid off $3k! I don't think so! Something seems terribly wrong with this situation and I'm irritated as hell that no one will even discuss the matter further with me.

Well I'm done with my complaining for a bit. I sure wish that I could just cheer up a little bit! Once I get up the motivation to upload some pictures I'll show off some from our Christmas. I'm glad to read everyones blogs about their wonderful Christmases! My house is finally back to normal (well sorta). My in-laws left this morning and headed up but my 3 nieces are spending the night, so technically we're not normal yet! I can honestly say that I'm ready for my oldest son to start back up at school so that I can nap with the baby! Is that bad? lol

quick xmas recap

Wednesday night: Trans-Siberian Orchestra with the entire family, so very fun!!! Also around 2 am the in-laws showed up at our house

Thursday: I had my 3 nieces at my house all day. Cooked a Christmas dinner, ham, scalloped potatoes, green bean casserole..... church at 5:30 where the oldest kiddo sang. Home to get settled in and ready for Santa!!!! Oh, and the beginning of our blizzard

Friday: Up early, STILL SNOWING!!!! At this point we had like a foot of snow! Unwrapped presents, hung out with the in-laws. Packed up and headed to my parents house for Christmas there... good times! Hello new Chi and a new Gucci purse!!!! Oh and my sis got me the coolest colanders that fit just perfect with my kitchen!

Saturday: I'm starting to feel sick, slept most of the morning and early afternoon. In-laws left to go hang with their friends, they'll be home once the bars close! We headed out to Dick's and got a GREAT deal on a treadmill! I'm super excited to start using it and finally get rid of this horrible fat!

I'll post some pictures later of the holiday festivities! Hope everyone had a great Christmas! Oh and btw, it is STILL snowing here! 3 DAYS STRAIGHT!!!!!

More party recipes

Snickerdoodles

1 c butter, softened

1 1/2 c sugar

2 eggs

2 3/4 c flour

1 tsp baking soda

2 tsp cream of tartar

1/2 tsp salt

3 Tbsp sugar

2 tsp ground cinnamon

Preheat 350

In medium bowl, cream together the shortening and 1 1/2 c sugar. Stir in eggs. Sift together the flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt. Stir into creamed mixture until well blended. In a small bowl mix 3 Tbsp sugar & cinnamon. Roll dough into 1" balls, roll in cinnamon sugar. Place on un-greased cookie sheet.

Bake 8-10 minutes, cool on wire racks

Makes about 3 dozen

Recipe courtesy of Jennifer over at This Girl Loves Pink

Chocolate Pinwheels

1 c butter

1 c sugar

6 Tbsp milk

2 beaten egg yolks

1 tsp vanilla

3 c flour

3 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

2 oz unsweetened chocolate, melted (I used semi-sweet)

Cream butter, gradually add sugar, beating until light & fluffy. Add milk, egg yolks, and vanilla, stir well. Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Add to cream mixture, stir until blended.

Divide dough in half. Add choc to one half, mix well, chill while rolling out the vanilla dough. Roll each portion into 14x6 rectangle, place the chocolate on the vanilla, roll up jelly roll style. Chill for 1 hour. Cut in 1/4" slices, place on greased cookie sheet.

Bake at 375 for 8-10 minutes.

Cool on wire racks

Recipe courtesy of Jennifer over at This Girl Loves Pink

To get the pink pinwheels (my personal touch!) instead of mixing melted chocolate into the dough add a few drops of red food coloring. Adds a great holiday touch!

WARNING: This recipe is not one to take lightly! I thought they were slightly difficult to make... 1 pointer, when rolling out the middle layer of dough (the choc or pink), make sure to roll it out on wax paper, this way you can just pick up the paper and drop it on the vanilla!!!

Twas the Night Before Christmas: Mom Style

Twas The Night Before Christmas...Mom Style

'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the abode

Only one creature was stirring & she was cleaning the commode.

The children were finally sleeping, all snug in their beds,

while visions of X-Box & Barbie flipped through their heads.

Yes, and dad was snoring in front of the TV,

with a half constructed bicycle propped on his knee.

So only the mom heard the reindeer hooves clatter,

which made her sigh, "Now what is the matter?"

With toilet bowl brush still clutched in her hand,

She descended the stairs, and saw the old man.

He was covered with ashes & soot, which fell with a shrug,

"Oh great," muttered the mom, "Now I have to clean the rug."

"Ho Ho Ho!" cried Santa, I'm glad you're awake."

"your gift was especially difficult to make."

"Thanks, Santa, but all I want is time alone."

"Exactly!" he chuckled, "So, I've made you a clone."

"A clone?" she muttered, "What good is that?"

"Run along, Santa, I've no time for chit chat."

Then out walked the clone - The mother's twin,

Same hair, same eyes, same double chin.

"She'll cook, she'll dust, she'll mop every mess.

You'll relax, take it easy, watch TV and rest.

"Fantastic!" the mom cheered. "My dream has come true!"

"I'll shop, I'll read, I'll sleep a night through!"

From the room above, the youngest did fret.

"Mommy?! Come quickly, I'm scared and I'm wet."

The clone replied, "I'm coming, sweetheart."

"Hey," the mom smiled, "She sure knows her part."

The clone changed the child and hummed her a tune,

as she bundled the small one in a blanket cocoon.

"You're the best Mommy ever. I really love you."

The clone smiled and sighed, "And I love you too."

The mom frowned and said, "Sorry, Santa, no deal.

That's my child's LOVE she is going to steal."

Smiling wisely, Santa said: "To me it is clear,

Only one loving mother is needed here."

The mom kissed her child and tucked her in bed.

"Thank You, Santa, for clearing my head.

Sometimes I forget, it won't be very long,

before they'll be too old for my cradle and song."

The clock on the mantle began to chime.

Santa whispered to the clone, "It works every time."

With the clone by his side, Santa said: "Goodnight.

Merry Christmas, dear Mom, you'll be all right."

Sometimes we need reminding of what life is all about.

Especially at times when the Holiday season shouts,

and all we do is clean, bake, and procure.

You get the picture -- I'm sure.

So stop for a moment and hug that little one so dear,

whether he/she is 2 or 22, or even older this year.

For they are the gift that God gave us from Heaven above,

And what a special gift to be treasured, with endless LOVE!

Borrowed from: Pink in a Sea of Blue

drink recipes

for our holiday party I made some adult punches

Christmas Cranberry Punch

2 c vodka

4 c cranberry juice

1 1/2 c lime juice

2 c water

3 Tbsp sugar

Best if served with Holiday Cheer Ice Cubes Splash

slice oranges, maraschino cherries, strawberries, and pineapples into small pieces. Place in bottom of ice cube trays, then fill trays with cranberry juice. Freeze.

2nd punch

Corsair Cocktail

1 oz rum

6 Tbsp orange juice

6 Tbsp cranberry juice

I increased this recipe so that I could make it a punch instead of individual drinks... delicious!

Tuesdays: What's in Your?

A few weeks ago I tried to start a new "tradition" and do a Tuesday post about what's in your....? I've missed it the last few weeks but I'm determined to get it up and going! Feel free and participate by posting along and show us what's in your..... on your blog!

What's in your cabinet?

I am thrilled to say that I have these fabulous new dishes in my cabinet! We bought our house mid October, my birthday was also mid October. I am lucky enough to have a FABULOUS mother who bought me all of these awesome dishes!!!!

party recipes

Nibbles Sweet Party Mix

1 pkg Bugles original

1 pkg Fritos

1 pkg Cheetos Puffs

1 pkg mini pretzels

3 blocks unsalted butter

1 1/4 c granulated sugar

1/2 tsp garlic powder

2 tsp worcestershire sauce

Mix first 4 ingredients, set aside.

In a heavy-bottomed pan on low heat, melt butter. Add in sugar, garlic powder, and worcestershire sauce. Stir until smooth & well combined (will be the consistency of syrup)

Remove from heat & pour over dry ingredients until well coated. Bake for 1 hour at 250, mixing every 15 minutes.

Allow to cool & store in air tight containers.

WARNING: this makes ALOT!!!! I had to use 3 different cookies sheets and it was still hard to stir and constantly overflowing. On the plus side, it was a hit!

The cookies that you see are the Red Velvet Cookies and Peanut Butter Choc. Chip Cookies, you can see the recipes for those here.

Story of the Gingerbread Man

Last Tuesday was my big guy's Christmas program at school. Does everyone know the story of the Gingerbread Man? Um, I didn't. Lets just cut to the end, the Gingerbread get eaten!

For the privacy of the other kids in the play I won't put pictures from the actual performance.

Here's my guy, he was one of the farmers...

The little guy really enjoyed the play! He waved at everyone and danced along to all the songs, it's safe to say that he may have stole the show! (ok that's a stretch of the truth, but he was definitely cute!)

tonight's the night!

That's right!!! It's our holiday/housewarming party!!!! And I'm a failure... that's right, I didn't get my bedroom painted. But in my defense, my bed is too big to move by myself so that's my excuse for not getting it done! I did stay up last night and make about 9 dozen cookies, 2 things of tortilla roll-ups, shrimp dip, and some party mix! Yes, I'll be sharing photos and recipes! I've still got some more cookies to make and some meatballs, and an ENTIRE house to clean! Anyone want to come help????

Hair

Should boys be allowed to have long hair? Can girls have short hair? There is a school that has suspended a 4 year old boy because his hair is too long. The school board has allowed the boy to return to school but he is not allowed to be with his friends or class. Are you kidding me? I can understand a school not wanting to have "freaky" looking kids but does a child having long hair classify them as a freak? You can see the video for this story here. What are your opinions on hair styles being included in a dress code?

a woman's role?

Society has changed greatly when it comes to women's rights. There are some people who still believe that women have certain roles, etc. I for one think that in a relationship we are a team. At this point in my life, I do all of the house work, cook, etc. But, my husband works 60 hours a week to provide us with an amazing house and a relaxed lifestyle. My theory is that I will do all of the work that way when my husband is home we can just spend family time together and not have to worry about any other responsibilities.

The point of the post: I was reading some "gossip trash" and got the skinny on Jon Gosselin. Apparently he is broke, can't afford to pay his attorneys, can no longer do any public appearances due to the fact that he broke his contract with TLC. Yada yada. On the bottom of these articles the readers can post their thoughts. Here is a post that I saw: LEAVE THE POOR GUY ALONE, IF SHE HAD DONE HER JOB AS A WIFE AND MOTHER HE WOULD NOT HAVE HAD TO LOOK ELSEWHERE FOR LOVE. WOMAN NEED THE REMBER THEIR ROLE.

Seriously! Who says things like that? Are we back in the dark ages?! I take great offense to these types of comments where people say that women have their role, their place in society, blah blah blah! Absolutely not! Women are able to support families, they can be the "bread-winner", and they can also choose to stay home with the kids and run the house. That's the key word though, they choose to take on that role, they aren't doing it because they have to!

Sigh, I could just ramble and ramble on about this topic but I'll save you all the time!

I did it!

Some of you that have been following me for awhile might remember my post about my MIL, see here. I finally sent her an email tonight expressing some concerns. Mainly.... she has told us that she & her husband will be coming to KS for Christmas and staying Christmas Eve through Christmas morning with us. I am so excited. I am planning a Christmas Eve dinner, ham, scalloped potatoes... all the fixins! I've never gotten to do this. My family does the traditional Christmas Day dinner and keeping with tradition we always do dinner at my parents house. So this is extremely exciting for me to get to prepare a dinner and have a holiday dinner in my own home with family!

The problem: my husband won't even get excited about this. He said that he gave up on his mom a long time ago. Heartbreaking I know! The last 2 visits that his mom made down here we were supposed to go to dinner with her. Both times she has cancelled. The 2nd time was my husbands birthday. Yep, she cancelled on his birthday dinner that SHE planned! Anytime she visits we have to find a babysitter so that we can go to the bar and hang out with her and her friends.

So.... tonight I did it. I sent her an email and let her know how excited we were for her to get to share the time with us. Then I added that Sage wouldn't allow himself to get excited and how much I would love for her to prove him wrong by actually showing up and giving us some of her time. I'm kinda sorta terrified now! I don't want to hurt her feelings but at the same time I think it's important that she know how her actions hurt her son. And god knows he will never tell her how sad it makes him.

Wish me luck that I didn't just ruin everything! Hopefully it will help our situation and we'll actually get to spend time with my MIL outside of a bar!

wordless Wednesday

what a day!

Impulse should be my middle name, or at least my nickname. Yesterday I decided that we should throw a holiday/house warming party this Saturday - yes, this Saturday! I have this issue with everything being perfect which means that I spent today painting.... at this very moment I'm waiting for a coat of paint to dry so that I can finish up that room. Tomorrow: more painting is on the agenda! I really want to get the entire first floor painted before the party which leaves me with my bedroom & the laundry room. Once that is done I'll just have the upstairs left, "just" being 3 bedrooms and a bathroom! Yikes!

So, that's been my day. Oh and the kiddo had his Christmas program tonight, he was so cute! Pics of the house makeovers and kiddo's play to come soon!

sick baby

Here's how it all happened:

Mr Riley was scheduled to have his tubes put in today (Monday). On Friday the kiddo woke up running 103 temperatures. I tried to get ahold of the 2 doctors that we are using (pediatrician & ENT) but no one got back with me. My last option was to take the kiddo to the ER that evening in hopes of getting more antibiotics (I just assumed that his ears were still infected).

So, now we're in the ER. We had no wait which was very nice. Poor baby was feeling miserable, doctor looked in his ears.... perfect. Seriously? Perfect? Must be a mistake... so he checks again... yup, perfect.

Off we go for chest x-rays, flu swab, and blood work... what a nightmare having to hold your 14 month old baby down for these tests.

WBC: 25,000

Chest x-ray: pneumonia, both lungs

Really? We just got him over pneumonia a month ago! This time it was more serious so poor baby boy got admitted. Luckily we only had to stay until the next afternoon but that night in the hospital was one of the longest nights in my life. It took the nurses 4 tries to get a good i.v. in him, I felt like I was holding my baby down so people could torture him. The screaming and crying.... absolutely horrible. I pray to never have to do that again.

Today we get some final blood work results, Surgery is canceled and will hopefully be rescheduled for Thursday. Tuesday brings another trip to the doctors office for repeat lab work. Poor baby... wish us luck to make it through this next week.

finally feeling a little better!

winter wonderland

365 - 1

Yes I know, I didn't post yesterday so I blew my goal of posting every day for a year. However I think this one time won't count against me considering I was in the hospital with my little boy. Poor baby got pneumonia AGAIN! and this time was admitted. We're home now and both of us are anxious to get some sleep. Talk to ya tomorrow....

1 thing to say

I PASSED MY FINAL!!!!!

1 YEAR LEFT UNTIL I'M AN RN!!!!

THAT'S RIGHT.....

I ROCK!

can it be any better?

My life that is! I have 2 of the cutest kids possible! My husband is by far the best out there. He's the greatest dad and the greatest husband. We are spending the night listening to 80's music, the kids and dad are dancing in the living room, and I'm doing some baking & studying. I LOVE these nights! The only thing that could make this life better is if I pass my final tomorrow! Wish me luck!

per request

yummy pork chops!!!

First flavor 4 pork chops with salt & pepper

then brown on sauce pan

mix 3 TBSP of packed brown sugar & 3 TBSP of honey

microwave until smooth mixture

drizzle 1/2 of mixture over pork chops

bake at 350 for 15 minutes, covered

then drizzle rest of mixture over pork chops

bake for additional 20 minutes, uncovered

viola!

I failed to take some pictures of this meal as we chowed down too quick! This was excellent with some scalloped potatoes!

Enjoy!

USA is calling

they want me to represent our country by joining their ice skating team at the Olympics!

aw thanks!

my honey

I've got mad skills!

my girlies

ice skating was so much fun! Man did it ever hurt though! My ankles and toes - ouch! I think I only lasted about 30 minutes and then the fun just wasn't worth the pain anymore!