February and books..

Ok so other than the fact the Lily has a Febraury birthday, February is my least favorite month this year. Cold, yucky, dreary... oh and this year two big snow storms, kids had the flu.. yeah.. I have had CABIN FEVER quite a bit.  I love a day at home where we veg and do nothing but two weeks and cranky kids not so much.. Ryan loves the snow tho!!

Lily got a kitchen and she loves it.. Its so fun watching her play, she is so quiet compared to her brother at that age. Speaking of Lily- I have recently met a new friend at church and I have been reading her blog regulary. Everyone here has blogs- apparently I have been missing out. But I have learned alot from reading my new friends blogs and I am greatly enjoying the bible studies- Entrusted with a Childs Heart some info here and MOM 2 MOM- its a monthly meeting where they feed us yummy food and our souls with Women who have traveled the road of mommyhood ahead of us!! This year's is based on this Family Fragrance- practical intentional ways to fill your home with the aroma of love.

 Here is the link to a blog of the friend I mentioned above-The Macs
 (WARNING-- ITs a heartbreaker... not for the faint of heart-- her 11mth old daughter died the day Lily was born) but also a sweet family that is allowing God to be honored and glorfied in thier lives.

I just finished Patricia Cornwell's new book- port-mortuary  

  Its good. A little slow in the beginning but once I really got into I had to know how it ended! I have read them all in this series so there is no telling where Scarpetta will go or what she will go home and cook after seeing a crime scene..

These are next on my reading lists-- I try to read one book a month.. Its a great mental vacation!!

 And just cause I like to mix it up a little--book

Mindy sent me this book below so I am gonna read it! Yes, I love mystery, suspense and Parenting books cause isnt Parenting really a big mystery sometimes??? okay most of the time!!!!!

Book info

And some more ficton--

book info

I randomly saw this at the library and grabbed it as Lily was trying to take off her shoes and shirt..

book info

Yeah thats like 5 mths of reading.. YAY!! Love having a stack of books!! What are u reading or wanting to read?

favorite snow day things

                                   So we got snowed in this week. Pete made it to work safely thankfully because Agco never closes but it took him longer to get there. Here are a few of my favorite things on Snow Day.. Fred on the couch.. The dogs are mainly outdoors but when its cold they come in.. Fred loves the couch. He was our kid before we had kids. So he is a tad bit spoiled.

A warm fire so the kids and I can snuggle on the couch.

looking out the window

but not going out in it cause it soo nasty cold.

yes, I like warm comfort food

However I also love the bright colors on a fresh salad along with.. zero points for Weight Watchers and it reminds me of SUMMER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

These are a must when stuck in house with kids. yes, they are 6pts on Weight Watchers for 5 of them and they are soo worth every point. (dark chocolate)

  not necessarily this one but I love to do one these because I feel so much better after a "walk". Its one our cable (digital-on demand for free) but I also have gotten some at Walmart for $9. I started doing them with Suzanne- my neighbor in Oklahoma and its def a healthy addiction!! but I do prefer outside but this is great on blah day like today!!

My Love Affiar with food pictures.....

So I actually made this tonight and its very yummy!! And no I am not trying to underline everything. not sure what is going on with that!! Here's the recipe link chicken taco chili yumm!

I love looking at recipes online, in cookbooks and espically in magazines!! course they never look the same but this winter I have actually starting to cook them and not just look at them. Weight Watchers has taught me soo much about myself and how to eat what I love and still be healthy!! I lost 25 pounds by myself but had 3 months of not budging on the scale at all so I had several friends that are on the program and love it! So I signed up before Christmas!! Why u ask?? Well  I didnt want to undo my progress so I thought I'd give it a shot!! I am soo glad I did!! I have lost 12 pds since then!! (in two months)  I have 35 more pds to go till I reach my personal goal and 25 till I reach Weight Watchers lifetime membership.  So if your counting that 37 pounds and counting!! woohoo!

Here's some more pics!!pumkin dip






one of my favorite things to order at restaurant, however the at home version is less fattening!
spinach dip

I really did try to make the underline go away!! ughh!!! So what are some of your fav food sites with pictures of course!!!

Weekend with Hopper

Ryan brought home Hopper from preschool. He was really EXCITED about this!!

We took pictures and told what they did so he could share with his class.

 More pics!

We took Hopper with us to Oklahoma. As u can tell we cleaned out our garage and were throwing stuff in the burn pile at the farm.

This farm was settled by Pete's great grandpa that came over from Denmark in the land run. It has been passed down through the family and now Pete farms the crops.

Riding on the tractor to help feed the cows! This was a really busy but fun day!! Needless to say Ryan fell asleep in the van on the way home at 6:30 that  night.

January

For some reason I have been thinking about my mom alot lately. Mayb its because I live only 30 min from where I spent my elementary years. My friends from that time period have a hard time believing that my mom is paraniod skitsafraniac.I lived with my grandparents in high school so my friends from then didnt know my mom very well or know that I have a younger sister. My college friends went on trips to see my mom so they have seen both.  I miss that loving, creative, strict woman.. However over the years I have come to accept that she is lost forever. Her shell is still there. Very rarely glimpses are seen but most of the time the person I am talking to is not my mother. Its her illness and that illness is not my mother. I know that when she is in Heaven she will be healed from it. My relationship with my saviour Jesus Christ has healed my wounds and I believe that my scars with honor the Lord and help others draw close to him. He is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow and I can always count on that no matter what!

getting organized and lots more....

I was just reading a childhood friend's blog about her desire to get more organized. Brenda is an amazing writer and even had a worksheet attached to it so I could clearly figure out my frustrations and goals.. So here is my goals for 2011 and beyond.

2010 was a year was full of lots of changes. It ended a 6 mth period of me having the children Monday thru Friday while Pete worked in another state. He had been laid off from a company in April 2009 (lily was 2mths old). So exactly a year later we moved to Kansas. Everyone told me to give yourself time to get settled... HA-- I will totally listen next time... :)  We bought an older home that lots of room and also lots and lots WALLPAPER. I used to be totally OCD before kids were born. I now often cringe when opening my bathroom cabinets and my dresser drawers.. I kept last years goal of losing weight. I lost 30 pds! Now I am shooting for 40! I joined Weight Watchers a month ago and I am really learning how to eat and make better choices but also my favorites too. Pete's job has turned out to be very demanding and not what we expected so it has made Farming season very busy. But we are grateful he is employed! I am planning on tackling alot of things before June when farm work kicks into high gear.

• Take a shower at least every other day and style my hair plus makeup daily.
• .Read my bible daily
• Organize the upstairs bathrooms closets..
• .Organize my dresser.
•  Get the remaining 4 rooms with Wallpaper down.
•  Do laundry every other day.
• Take kids on walk everyday (weather permitting- if not structed indoor activity)
• Make cards or scrapbook once a month.
• Stay on top of finances,things to be mailed.
• Meal plan
• Go to sleep by 10, get up at 6:30.
• Intentional Excerise 3 times a week
• Read more books (book club ones, parenting,etc)
• Keep my nails clean and filed..
• Lose the 40 pounds by making good choices everyday.. (aka not stress eating)

Yep, I know some of them are odd but sometimes in times of big changes and stress, mommies forget to do little things for themselves.. I read Lisa Welchel's book Taking time for the Me in Mommy.. book info here
when I was pregnant with Lily but didnt have alot time to apply it and choas of life hit. However during that time I drew close to the Lord and I know that Life isnt easy and its not fair... He is my strength and guide during those times of turmoil and calm too!! I defianetly have lots of areas to improve on in my life.

We have all had the stomach flu so I plan to start one at a time start working on my goals, some with take time while others just need me to focus and not get distracted walking from room to another..

December..

Well December and well November have flown by.. We celebrated our first Christmas in Kansas.. All day in our pj's playing and eating!!

 

The day after Christmas we went to Pete's mom's for the day. His brother Chance and our sister-in law Lori have 3 kids and our kids love LOVE,LOVE playing with thier cousins!! There is never a dull moments with the kids. It really makes hoildays so fun. One day Lori and I will be able to finish converstations agian when they are older!!  We have been all boys but now have added 2 girls so its fun navigating thru Girl world togethor!!

This a quick shot of our new floors Pete is installing this week. The white thing is piece of plastic that didnt get pciked up. But this is the hall looking into the formal living area. The hall, laundry room,kitchen, family room and formal living area are all getting these floors. Yea,lots of projects for us!! I got a new laptop from Santa.. my other one went to laptop heaven!! much easier to post blogs from a computer that works!!

Happy New YEAR!!