Can't find the Words

The Answers!

2010-08-29T20:01:00.002-05:00

So I just thought I'd post which picture was who!! Thanks for all the guesses!
The newborn pics I think were too easy, cause everyone who guessed, guessed right. They were, from top to bottom, Hannah, Lillian and Sophia.
The bath towel pics, only one person got them right! From top to bottom it is Lillian, Sophia and Hannah.
It's crazy how fast they grow up!!

Can You Figure it Out?!

2010-08-27T15:21:00.005-05:00

One of the biggest comments we get about our three girls is how they all look alike!! When Sophia was born, we thought she was a little bit different looking from the other two. When we look back at pictures though, sometimes they are a little hard to tell apart!! The cool Google face feature even has a tough time telling who is who!! So, what do you think? Are these pictures of the same babies, or if they are different, can you tell which one would be Hannah or Lillian or Sophia?

How about with these cute bath towel ones? Can you tell who is who?

Let me know what you think! And I can let you know who is who!:)

My Labor Story

2010-07-21T10:00:00.004-05:00

Time in general seems to fly by!! With three little girls now, time is really flying! So although Sophia is already over 2 months, I would still like to share my labor story!
We decided to be induced. On that day we were to call at 6 a.m. to see if there was room. They said there wasn't at that time, but to call back at 9 a.m. We were a little bummed, but just stayed in bed. I couldn't sleep cause something noisy was going on outside, and I was thinking about whether or not I would be going in to have a baby that day. Then about 30 minutes later they called back and said they had an unexpected discharge, and that we could come in! So we got all ready and left!
When I got there, they hooked the belly band thing up to me to see if I was having contractions. To my surprise, they said I was having contractions 3-5 minutes apart, and I couldn't feel any of them! I was also dilated to 3 c.m. A little while later they hooked up the I.V. which hurt! And then started the patosin(sp?) drip at about 9 a.m. My contractions continued on the very low does, but now I could only feel the contractions occasionally. I was kind of worried, cause I thought if I couldn't feel much, it was going to be a long day! I was progressing though. And then at noon the Dr. came in and broke my water. This is when the pain really started to come!! I got some nubaine(sp?), which didn't take the pain away, but let me rest in between contractions! And a short while later I started to push! Sophia Grace was born at 2:10 p.m. Only two hours after my water broke! She was 8 lbs. 4 oz. and 21 1/4 inches long! By far she was the easiest labor! The Lord was really gracious!
So now we are a family of 5! What a blessing!

Pinatas have come a long way!

2010-04-29T14:55:00.000-05:00

One of Lillian's requests for her 4th birthday was a Pinata! We were able to go to MI for her birthday this year to also celebrate my mom's birthday, which is only 2 days before Lillian's. The first step was for her to choose a pinata, which was a task because of the variety!! She decided on a Disney Princess Castle. And, then the cool thing about this pinata was that you didn't have to hit it with a big stick to break it open! Instead, there were a bunch of strings on the bottom where one string would open the trap door that would let out all the candy! I didn't know how it would go, but it was fun to watch the kids each pull out a string to see if the candy would come out! Even a little bit suspenseful!! I think Lillian was pretty pleased at the whole thing:)

The Two biggest reasons why I haven't been blogging!

2010-04-27T14:37:00.005-05:00

So, I've been a bad blogger!! I can't believe how much time has past since my last post!! Oops!
I think I have two good excuses though:)
The first one would be that I got pregnant! As of today, I am 38 1/2 weeks. The first 6 months I struggled with nauseousness, and that was tough! It's amazing how fast the time goes though, and how you push through! I couldn't just lay around and do nothing, cause I had Hannah and Lillian to take care of! It will be interesting to see how the change is between 2 kids and 3!
The second reason I haven't had much time to blog would be because this year, we decided that we would home school Hannah for kindergarten! It was a big decision that we went back and forth on, but I am glad for the decision we made. It's been an interesting journey! Some days do go better than others:) She is actually doing a public school online using k-12 curriculum. She has a teacher we can go to when we have questions, and who checks in with us once a month. There are also optional monthly outings that we have been able to go to as well. We got to tour the MN state capital building, visit a volunteer fire station, and we got a tour of an Outback steak house and eat lunch there!! The curriculum was free, which was a bonus, and the online set up they have worked great! There are goals to work towards each quarter, which helped me a lot! She has met all her minimums as of now to move on to next year, so when the baby comes we will be set!
As far as pregnancies go, this one I have been the busiest by far!! I was also able to exercise for the majority of it, which was the first time that's happened! I figure since the baby is so close to coming, I should post something, and then be ready to post pics of the newest addition to our family whenever the baby decides to arrive:)

Hannah on her first day of kindergarten.

State Fair 2009

2009-09-06T21:58:00.003-05:00

We had a lot of fun at the state fair this year!! Since the girls are older, we lasted 8 1/2 hours this time!! We were all pretty worn out by the end! The girls did the little farm hands exhibit again. They did kids rides, which they loved!! We ate a bunch, and the highlights were cheese curds, a peanut butter cup shake, the apple cider freezies, the chocolate rainbow ice cream, the dole whip, and fries (that's what I can remember!). We also made it on the Kare 11 news at 4 by just sitting in the audience! It was a lot of fun! Also, after making it to the fair many years, one thing I had never done was ride the giant slide! That was my goal this year, and I did it! Going down the slide was so much fun!! Hannah also loved it, but Lillian to our surprise didn't enjoy it that much. Maybe she'll like it better next year!

More teeth loosing adventures!

2009-08-17T21:26:00.004-05:00

So, this actually happened a couple of months ago, but I just never got around to blogging about it!
I'm not sure why, but it seems like loosing teeth for Hannah, so far, has been kind of dramatic. And this last time was no exception! We were at a friends house, and the have a ledge upstairs where you can look over it and see the downstairs. Kids love to play here! Hannah was peeking over the ledge, and holding herself up, and some how slipped and banged her teeth right into the ledge!! She was not a happy camper!!! She was bleeding and crying. I felt bad for her! We called her dentist though, and they said it should be ok, and that her teeth were probably close to coming out if hitting made them that loose. So after she calmed down, we took her home, and blessedly one of the teeth fell out while Bill was reading to her before bed. The other tooth was super loose, but we just left it alone! Then about a week later, while we were in MI, I pulled Hannah's shirt off so she could hop in the bath, and randomly the other one fell out too! Hannah was an early teether, and they say if you get them early, you tend to loose them early! She has now lost 6 teeth at only 5 years old and has another loose one now! I hope the rest of them just some how come out easier than her first ones have!

My first 5K!

2009-07-30T20:40:00.005-05:00

Last week I did something that I really thought I would never do! I ran a 5k! I never thought this would happen, cause I am actually not really a fan of running! It's hard to run for long periods of time! A couple months back though, I started going on the tread mills at the Y to change up my routine. It took me weeks to even get up to running a mile straight! Then I moved to running on their indoor track. And running a mile here or there. Then some girls asked me if I would be interested in a 5k. Since starting to run a bit, I thought maybe I would try one at some point, but didn't know if I could do it so soon! The two girls who asked me to do this particular 5K also went camping at Lake Elmo, so we all went for a run together. It felt like we went forever, and it was only 2.25 miles! Then over the 4th of July in MI, Bill and I went for a run and went 3 miles. I ran two, then walked for 1 tenth of a mile, then ran the rest. So I figured that it could be do-able to do the 5k.
It was an experience! The race was right in down town Minneapolis. Hundreds and Hundreds of people ran! We started in the middle, and at first it was even hard to get pace, as we were passing people, and people were passing us! Andy, who was also running with us, even stopped to get cheese curds!! And then caught back up with us! At first it was kind of fun, with all the people, and the excitement of running, but then it started to get tough! I was glad to make the one mile marker! It was really nice to have Bill and other friends push me to keep going! We made it to the bridge we had to go over, and I was really wanting to stop and walk, but I kept going!! Then we got pretty close to the finish line and my feet were even starting to go numb!! But Bill and Andrea told me to keep going! I'm like, "but it hurts!!" But they were like, "you can do it!" And finally, I crossed the finish line in about 38 minutes!! I ran the whole entire thing, and didn't even stop once to walk!! It was a very tough, and very fun experience! I can now say I ran a 5K! I'm not sure if I'll do one again, I guess we'll just have to wait and see!

A week of grillin!

2009-07-10T11:15:00.000-05:00

When Bill had his week off from work, he thought it would be cool if he could help out with cooking so I wouldn't have to do it all, which I thought was really nice! So I thought it would be a good idea if he grilled! I don't really grill, and he loves to do it! So here is what we ended up grillin.
Pork tenderlion, which turned out awesome on the grill! He cut a slit in it, put garlic in the slit, then slathered the whole thing with olive oil, salt and pepper.
Steak, which was in honor of Father's day!
Burgers
Brats
Grilled chicken sandwiches (which also turned out really yummy!)
And, Kabobs! We have never done kabobs before, and they turned out good!
We also did corn on the cob a couple times, cause Bill and the girls love it!
Is was a fun week to try this, and a good change up for our menu!
Thanks Bill, for being willing to grill all that week!

4th of July 2009

2009-07-09T09:05:00.005-05:00

We went up to MI this year for the fourth. I also had my 10 year class reunion! I can't believe I have been graduated from high school that long!
We had a fun time! We went to the parade, which the girls loved, and they got a ton of candy!! Also, the first people to come down the parade route were the, "give every kid a flag" people. Hannah and Lillian thought it was pretty cool that they got there own little flag to wave!

We also did the Ishpeming fireworks at night, which were really nice. My dad took Hannah to ride on a pony, which see enjoyed! And, she also loved riding on the 4 wheeler too!
Here is a picture of us while we were waiting for the parade to start....

Dance Camp

2009-06-26T11:51:00.005-05:00

This past week Bill has had another week of Mandatory unpaid leave, so we decided to sign the girls up for a dance camp, since he would be around to help get them too and from! The girls LOVED it!! It was for 4 days, 2 hours a day, and was through Spirited Feet. They learned dances, and had story time, craft time, and snack time. On the last day, the last 15 minutes of the time, they performed the dances they had learned! It was so fun to go see!! Hannah did a wonderful job, was serious about getting the moves right, but also was having fun!! Lillian was cute! She new most of the moves, but got distracted by the fact that there were people watching her! I was so glad we were able to do this for them!

More camping!

2009-06-16T20:26:00.005-05:00

This past weekend we got to do our second camping trip of the summer! This time we just went to Lake Elmo. We got to camp in the modern camp ground, and that was cool! For the first time in our marriage, we camped where there was running water and flushing toilets! 4 other couples came, and three other children, two of which were babies both under 6 months of age. The weather was nice, as it didn't rain at all! Hannah enjoyed riding her bike to the near by park. I got to go for a run with two other women, and I also went for a bike ride. The girls waded in the water, as the water was still pretty chilly! I pretty much stuck my feet in and said no thank you! There was lots of good food, fellowship, and campfires! It was a fun weekend!

Fun Shirts!

2009-06-10T13:23:00.003-05:00

I actually bought these shirts for the girls when we were in FL, almost 3 years ago! They were really cute, and I figured that the would eventually grow into them!! And finally they have! Hannah's says, "I'm the bit sister." And Lillian's says, "I'm the little sister."

Memorial Day Camping 2009!

2009-05-27T09:00:00.000-05:00

This year we went camping at Sakatah Lake state park near Faribault, MN. It was a nice time! 50 people went this year! The food was so good! I was so full after every meal! Bill got to do some fishing, and caught a fish for the very first time! He even cleaned it and cooked it! I even tried it, and it was pretty good! Hannah even tried her hand at fishing a bit. She only caught some see weed though:) Bill and Hannah also got to try Geo cashing. They also got to do a couple of bike rides! I biked to the ice cream shop in town that everyone went too! They had kids cones for 50 cents! I got a reece's pb cup flurry though! It was a nice bike ride. 3 miles one way, and the trail was nice and flat! The weather was really great! It did rain the first night and morning, but other than that, I can't complain! The campfires were great, and so was the company! It was a very nice camping trip!

The coolness of coupons!

2009-05-26T20:26:00.004-05:00

Today I went grocery shopping! And, Target ended up paying me one penny to get some Kraft Mayo! It was on sale for 1.99. I had a target coupon for a dollar off, and a manufactures coupon for a dollar off. That is two dollars off total, cause they take both coupons for the one item, hence them paying me one penny! Pretty good deal if you ask me:)

the Carnival

2009-05-19T15:02:00.005-05:00

West St. Paul days was this past weekend! It's funny, cause the carnival ends up being so close to our place! The girls can see when the trucks arrive, and slowly see as they set up the rides, and see when the rides start to go! For several days they asked, "when is it going start?!" And, "can we go on the rides?!" This year was fun cause my mom was here the same weekend! And, she said she wanted to take the girls to the carnival!

Here is Bill and girls on the slide

This is my mom on the train with the girls!

Hannah in a helicopter

And here is Lillian fishing!
We had a fun time! We could walk there, and didn't have to stay long! And, we also got some cheese curds....Yum!
There also was a parade! This is always fun for the girls! They love catching candy! This year it was a little chilly, and windy!! But fun just the same!

The Carrot Cake

2009-05-13T23:19:00.002-05:00

Here is the first carrot cake that I made from scratch for my niece Lyla's baby shower. It had home made cream cheese frosting, and turned out pretty yummy.

Lipstick eggs

2009-04-30T21:14:00.003-05:00

This is just a picture of the girls having fun with lipstick eggs, or a.k.a., robins whopper eggs. Blue works the best! I even had fun with it, but didn't think a picture was necessary:)

The pizza I made

2009-04-30T21:07:00.004-05:00

The other week I tried something I never had tried before! I made a margarita pizza! It was the first time for me to buy fresh mozzarella, and fresh basil! I made the dough, then brushed it with olive oil, then put the tomatoes, basil and mozzarella on top. I think it tasted pretty good. Not exactly the same as I have had at restaurants, but not too bad.

My First attepmt at bread!

2009-04-22T14:01:00.005-05:00

Ever since Bill and I have been married, (which will be 7 years this August!!), he has talked about Easter bread! He lived with his grandparents for awhile when he was younger, and every Easter, and only on Easter, his grandma would make this delicious bread for him. I always said, sorry hun! I've never heard of it! Also, I love to bake, but bread is the one thing that I had yet to tackle. My mom tried to teach me once, and I helped make dinner rolls before, but never on my own had a made a loaf of bread. I think it's the whole let it rise thing! What if you don't let it rise enough, or what if you let it rise too much! I have been able to tackle pizza dough, though, and that's pretty much on your way to making bread! Any who! This year, because of facebook, Bill "over read" his sister and Aunt talking about it, so he joined in on the conversation. There is something special about the bread in that you need the seeds from the pits of cherries to make it! And, his Aunt Char had some that she ordered from Greece, and graciously said she would send some to Bill and his sister, along with the family recipe! I was pretty nervous to try this, since it was bread and all! But, I did it! And, it actually turned out!!! And was edible!! And, Bill was right, it is really yummy bread! It was an adventure for sure!! I'm just kind of glad that his family says that you can only make it at Easter time:) Although, it would be kind of nice to make more, cause like I said, it was really tasty!

Also, Bill made a video about this bread making experience:) You can check it out on his blog.

Matching Easter dresses!

2009-04-13T15:49:00.005-05:00

We had a nice Easter this year! Pretty laid back and restful! The girls were really excited to wear their dresses this year! They picked out matching ones, so that was pretty cool!

Easter Candy!

2009-04-11T22:21:00.006-05:00

So, when it comes to holiday's, and the candy associated with them, Easter is by far my most favorite Holiday candy. There's just something about chocolate in the shape of an egg! And all those pastel colors just scream "eat me, eat me!" My favorite would probably have to be the reece's peanut butter cup eggs....Yum! I like the milk chocolate solid eggs, the mini cadbury eggs, lipstick eggs(malted milk robbin's eggs), and the milk chocolate eggs with the shell. Now, there are some Easter candies that I don't perfer! Like jelly beans are just not my thing. Also, Peeps! I just don't understand them! They are really cute to look at for sure, but sticking one in your mouth is just not good! Especially if they have been sitting out!! I don't understand how that makes them better! All and all though, it's just a yummy time of year!
I hope you all have a very Blessed Easter!!
He is Risen, He is Risen indeed!

I finally opened it!

2009-04-05T17:51:00.003-05:00

So, remember that huge, 5lb Hershey bar I got back a couple months ago? Well, I finally opened it! I brought bars to my niece's baptism, and I decided to make Hershey oatmeal bars so that I could put this huge candy bar to work!

It is so big!!

We put a dollar next to it just to compare!
So, what will I do with all this chocolate you may ask?! Well, I used a tiny bit for the bars. I tired some, and it was really yummy! Some has been sitting out on the counter. Also, I made up three zip bags full and put them in the freezer! Maybe I will bake more with it. And, we are going camping a couple times this summer, so I see a lot of smores in our future!

New Beds!

2009-03-31T18:26:00.004-05:00

The other week the girls were blessed to get some new bunk beds from the Moore's! It was fun for Tom to bring the stuff over, and then watch him and Bill put the bed together. And then to see how much the girls enjoyed them! Thank you Moore family!!!
Here is what their beds used to be!

Lilly is a goose!

When Hannah grew out of her crib, she went to a toddler bed. This time when Lillian grew out of the crib, she got to go straight to a twin! She's a peanut in the new bed!

Putting them together

2009-03-31T18:23:00.002-05:00

These are some pics of getting the beds together.

The Bunk Beds

2009-03-31T18:22:00.002-05:00

This is what they look like finished!

Last Week

2009-03-25T15:08:00.004-05:00

Last week Bill had to take a week of mandatory unpaid leave. Usually when Bill has time off, it's because we have plans, or we are going on a vacation. This time we planned to stay home since he wasn't getting paid. The week seemed to go so fast! We got to go to the zoo, work out together, watch Wall E for the first time, get errands done. It was also nice, cause some friends provided us with meals too, so I didn't have to cook much! So, although his next check will be smaller, it was a blessing to have Bill home for a week. I think he needed to be able to sleep in a bit! He has two little videos on his blog at the moment. One called An Early Spring Bike ride, and Lilly's birthday blizzard, which you will have to scroll down a bit to see. You should check them out by click here:)

A new cousin!!!

2009-03-22T21:40:00.004-05:00

Hannah and Lillian have a new cousin! A girl cousin! Lyla Marie was born today to my brother and sister in law, Jared and Kari. She was 7 lbs. 11oz, and 20 inches long! She is beautiful! Congratulations guys!

A Milestone!

2009-03-17T22:10:00.003-05:00

So, imagine if you will, a ton of confetti, and a ton of balloons! Then imagine turtle cheese cake, turtle candies, and a bunch of other chocolate desserts. Why you may ask? Well, that would be because this is my 100th blog post! I want to thank all my blog readers, because with out you, there would be no reason to blog! I also want to thank my husband, my daughters, who can't even read yet, and the academy!
And, thanks for humoring me:)

More Lillian pictures

2009-03-13T21:49:00.004-05:00

This is the crown that Lillian got from the Y on her birthday. And yes, that is broccoli on her plate, and yes, she does eat it!

This is Lillian blowing out the candles on her birthday that were on top of her birthday blizzard!

And this is just to show that the balloon Lillian got from my brother was pretty much life size for her!

Lillian turned 3!

2009-03-11T16:32:00.005-05:00

So the other day Lillian turned 3! It's crazy that my baby girl is that old! A couple of weekends ago my parents came down and we were able to celebrate. It was a lot of fun! Lillian wanted to make sure that Dora was incorporated in the celebration. And, her one request to us this year was that she wanted a pink bike! She is a peanut, but I am happy to say that she has moved up to the 12 percentile for weight!
This was the cake that I made for her....
This is Lilly with her balloons. My brother David got her the big Dora one!

And this is Lillian on her pink bike!

Congrats on turning 3 Lillian:)

Dorothy Day

2009-03-09T12:19:00.003-05:00

This past Saturday, with our five oaks small group, Bill and I were able to help out at the Dorothy Day center in St. Paul MN. This is the first time that I have ever done this! It was a neat experience. We had to help make the meal, and then serve the meal to homeless people. I got to help with the baking, which was a lot of fun! We made chocolate chip cookies and biscuits. The mixer was huge!!! I don't even think it would have fit in my kitchen! And, the quantity we made was crazy! Just to make the cookies we used 25lbs of flour, 9 lbs of chocolate chips, and 12 cups of butter, plus a 3lbs can of shortening butter! We also made about 770 biscuits! Thanks to Pam and Steph for babysitting! And, if you are interested, Jeremy made a cool slide show video of pictures. Click on the link if you would like to take a look.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Y_e8iDRRc0&feature=channel_page

Matching shirts?!

2009-03-06T21:26:00.003-06:00

This just shows how differently the girls have grown according to the size of their clothes! Hannah has always been ahead, like she is five, but mostly wears size 6. Lillian has been behind! She should be 3T, but is still mostly 2T, and even wears a couple pairs of pants that are 24M! My mom wanted to get that something that matched, but they are in different sections of clothing! They both saw this shirt that they really liked though. So, we got Hannah 6x, which fit her perfectly! And also looked really nice with her brown leggings. And, we got Lillian 4x, and lo and behold, she can wear it as a dress with tights! It worked out nicely:) (Bill didn't even realize it wasn't a dress!, but maybe that's because he's a guy?!)

My Hair cut story

2009-03-01T22:18:00.004-06:00

My sister in law Kari graciously has me on her voucher list, so I can go to her really nice salon and get my hair cut for only $4! It's been great! For the first time I have actually kept my hair cuts up on a regular, every three month basis! We are excited, because she is expecting a baby this month! She wanted me to schedule a hair cut towards the end of February because it could be awhile before I can get in again, since she will be taking time off after the baby is born. I scheduled my appointment a couple weeks before hand and was all set!
But then came that dreaded snow storm! The one last Thursday that dumped about 6 inches on us in about 6 hours! You would think that this would deter me from going out, but I was very determined to get this hair cut in! The appointment was at 6:15 in the evening. At 2 p.m. I packed the girls up, along with winter clothes, spare clothes and PJ's! And the dinner that I was going to cook at my brothers house. It was just an adventure to get into the van! And yet, I still kept going! Just to get up highway 52 which takes usually about 5 minutes, took 40 minutes! I was stuck in this one spot and saw that the exit ramp was just not moving! So I quickly decided to take a road that I did not know where it went, but luckily I found an exit to the road I needed, and bypassed a lot of traffic!
Finally, 2 hours and 20 minutes later I arrived at my brother's house. It usually only takes about 35 minutes! I made dinner, left and got my haircut, and then we headed home! It was still snowing! And, it took about an hour to get home, but that was not nearly as bad as the way there. For whatever reason, the Lord was gracious! In the future, I may just cancel my appointment! I am very glad to have gotten my haircut though!

A fun investment!

2009-02-24T18:50:00.004-06:00

So, we were able to get Wii fit. It's been a lot of fun so far! They weigh you, and give you a BMI. You can set goals, and they track everything for you! They have Yoga, Strength training, Aerobic exercises, and Balance games. You can even go for runs! You just run in place and your mii runs through a scenic path! Hannah is pretty good at the running, and Lillian is really cute when she does it! She kind of doesn't get the whole running in place thing, so we often have to tell her to back up from the TV. There's a lot to unlock, so it will be fun to keep playing!

A Feat for Me

2009-02-16T21:13:00.003-06:00

So, maybe this is an easy thing for people to do, but for me, not so much! I ended up going about 4 1/2 weeks without cooking the same meal twice! Usually I am cheering if I do it for two weeks in a row. Now granted I do not cook 7 days a week, but it usually is at least 6 dinners a week. I'm not sure what prompted me to try this. Maybe it was me feeling like we were just eating the same things over and over, or maybe I needed a challenge. Whatever the cause, it was kind of nice. We had our regular meals, but also tried a couple of new recipes, and we had meals we hadn't had for awhile. I finally stopped though, cause there was something I really wanted to have for dinner again. I think I could have went a little bit longer, which is encouraging. I'm not sure if I will do this again, but hopefully it helped to get us out of a bit of rut. And now when I cook some of our regular dishes, I'm not feeling like we just had them!

What did I learn/think of the marriage conference?

2009-02-13T14:30:00.003-06:00

This post is to answer a friend who left a comment on my previous post, so I just thought I would make a new post out of it!
I really enjoyed going to this marriage conference! I would recommend to any one who is married to go to a marriage conference at least once in your lifetime! It's such a nice time to get away from it all and spend quality and quantity time together! This weekend made me think we need to do this more often! We do get away for our anniversary, and maybe a couple other nights out of the year, which we are thankful for! But, I think we need to do it a little more often than we do!
The speaker was Timothy Lane from CCEF in Philadelphia I believe. And the theme of the conference was, Marriage: A mess worth making. He talked about having good communication, having good conflict, and practicing forgiveness!
I think the biggest thing I took away, was that when conflict and problems comes, I need to check myself out first, and see what I am contributing to the problem. And how I need to choose words carefully cause they can either build up, or tear down. And then lastly would be that conflict can be good! If you have conflict, and you make it through, it will bring deeper intimacy into your marriage. It was all stuff that applies to marriage, but it was also nice because all these things can apply to all your relationships in life too!
That's all for now!

A really fun and relaxing weekend!

2009-02-10T22:11:00.003-06:00

So, Bill and I had the wonderful chance to go to the Bethlehem marriage retreat this past weekend! Our friend Andrea encouraged us to go, and then volunteered to watch Hannah and Lillian for us! What a blessing! The retreat was at a hotel and conference center in Chaska. A very nice place to get away! The speaker was great! It was wonderful to not have to cook the whole weekend! We got to play racket ball, have wonderful conversations, and play games with other couples. It was just a really nice and relaxing time for Bill and I to spend together.

They had a sweet heart banquet where they encouraged people to dress up a bit. This is what we wore.

Brrrrrr......

2009-02-04T13:13:00.002-06:00

You know it's been cold out when this is how Lillian prepares to go outside!

Hannah being creative

2009-02-04T13:09:00.002-06:00

The other day Hannah came up to me with a paper bag and said, "can I make something out of this?" I said sure. And so she made a paper bag costume thing for both her and Lillian, and then they each decorated their own.

I've Been Tagged!

2009-01-28T21:19:00.004-06:00

So, my friend Lisa tagged me from her blog.

Rules: Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose someone else to be tagged. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you.

1. I love Chocolate!
2. I love Ice cream!
3. I never used to like/eat broccoli, but now I love it!
4. Even though the Detroit Lions lost every game they played this season, they are still my favorite football team.
5. I enjoy playing fantasy football.
6. I played tennis in high school all 4 years. I won conference championships with my doubles partner, my junior at #2 doubles and senior year at #1 doubles.
7. I know the exact ripeness that Hannah will eat her bananas at.
8. I like this quote that I haven't heard from anyone, but I would be surprised if I made it up...."marriage is hard work, so work hard at it!"
9. I love to watch professional tennis.
10. I hope to some day going to NY and watch the U.S. open for tennis.
11. I also hope to go down hill skiing in Colorado someday.
12. I am thankful for my Husband Bill.
13. I am also thankful for my two lovely daughter's Hannah and Lillian.
14. My relationship with the Lord is important to me.
15. My check book is always balanced to the exact penny.
16. I have enjoyed my membership to the YMCA.
17. I try and work out three days a week, and love doing kick boxing with Bill on Monday nights.
18. I don't love cooking nearly as much as I love to bake!
19. I have decorated all the cakes for my girls birthday's.
20. I love to watch it snow.
21. Hmmm...I'm thinking that trying to think of 25 random things to say is tougher than I thought!
22. I got to see the Detroit Redwings play this year against the Wild at the Excel center, and that was awesome!
23. I don't like dogs, but there was one dog I did like, at that was my great Grandma Lillian's dog, and his name was Mo.
24. My favorite color is blue.
25. And, someday Bill and I hope to make it to Italy.

Now, first off, I tag Bill!!!

And then, because I read their blogs, if they are up for it, I also tag Andrea. And, my good friend from high school, Heather. And Celia, Lori, and Stacie, but no worries if you don't do it!
I would also like to tag Missy, but I'm not sure how that would work, cause she doesn't have a blog, but her husband Caleb does!

A Cool Thing we got to See

2009-01-24T20:50:00.002-06:00

This morning we were driving to a brunch at our church, and as we were coming down 35E in Eagan, we got to see a really pretty rainbow. Bill said that it must have been an ice rainbow, since of course it was not raining, and it was really cold out! It was fun, cause some other people at the brunch said they saw it too. And, we found out that it is actually called a Sun dog. I wish we would have been able to take a picture, but a friend looked it up on Wikipedia, so here's the link if you wanted to check out what one was in the scientific terms. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_dog

Uncle Dave's Christmas Gift

2009-01-24T20:40:00.004-06:00

So, my brother went kind of crazy with his gift for the girls this year and bought them a Dora Ball pit! They love it, and convinced my brother to blow it up for them while they were at my parents house. They were sad when we had to pack it up. It is away for now, cause we only have a little room for it in the basement! And now it is way too cold to play down there! So they will have to wait until spring to play with it again. Thanks Uncle Dave!

A first for Lillian!

2009-01-19T15:42:00.003-06:00

On Saturday afternoon we got to take Lillian to her first movie at a movie theater! We all went at saw The Tale of Despereaux. It was a pretty good movie! I'm not usually big on movies about mice and rats, but this was OK. It was all about heroism and truth and being noble. And both girls enjoyed it. It was fun to see Lillian sit in her booster seat eating popcorn and watching the huge screen! She is growing up!

Princess nightgowns!

2009-01-19T15:40:00.003-06:00

Here are the girls in their pretty princess nightgowns that they got for Christmas!

Hair cut and a bang trim

2009-01-14T22:50:00.003-06:00

Hannah said she wanted her hair cut, so I said OK! She said she wanted quite a bit off, and I wasn't so sure, but after asking her a couple of times, she said, "just do it!" So I did!

This is both of the girls before their hair cuts.
This is Hannah after! I took off at least two inches!

Lillian just needed a bang trim. She hasn't gotten her hair cut yet. I am trying to hold out until she is three, which is what we did for Hannah

This is Lillian after her bang trim:)

Nice shirts!

2009-01-09T22:09:00.002-06:00

My sister is attending NMU this year, and she did a cool thing for us! On Christmas Eve she bought us all shirts from her school! We were all very excited to get them and put them on! Bill's matches Hannah's, and Lillian's matches mine. Thanks Kristi!!

Checking it off my list!

2009-01-07T21:06:00.003-06:00

I, as I am sure that many other people do, have a list of stuff that I would like to do in my lifetime. I so far have been to a couple of Detroit Lions games, a couple of Detroit Tiger's games, and a Detroit Piston's game. Going to a Detroit Red Wings game was still on the list!
For Christmas we asked Bill's parents for Wild tickets, so they graciously gave us the money to buy tickets for when we wanted. We were looking online, and the Red Wings were going to come to town to play the Wild this past Saturday or in February, so we decided that we would try and go in February when they came. But then cool things started happening, like someone calling and saying they wanted to take the girls over night. Then we had to try and find tickets, which online they seemed really high priced. So, we randomly tried Craig's list. We found someone selling their two season tickets at face value. And they were willing to drive to West St. Paul to drop them off! And, they were 8 rows up from the ice! And, we avoided all those ticket fees! So, we very excitedly went to the game on Saturday night. It was a fun game! It went into over time, and then into a shoot out! The Detroit Red Wings won by one goal! Couldn't of asked for a much better game! It was so much fun to see Detroit too, and now I am able to check it off my list!

More Christmas

2009-01-02T20:59:00.004-06:00

Bill's parent's were here from Florida when we got back from MI. We also had a fun time with them! We got to go to the annual Buca get together, and play the annual Christmas present dice game. We got to go to Grand Slam and play laser tag, ride on the bumper cars, and play skee ball. We opened presents with them. Had a game night with his siblings. Had Savoy's pizza, which I know it's hard to believe, but I like the sauage and sour kraut pizza! And we had people over to play our wii. It was a busy holiday season for sure! But we had a great time with family!

Christmas in Michigan

2009-01-02T20:40:00.003-06:00

We traveled over some very snowy rivers and through some very snowy woods to get to Grandma's house this year! We left the Saturday that there was that big snow storm, and the snow pretty much followed us the whole way! We had a fun time though! Bill and Hannah got to snow mobile, and one time my dad put a sled on the back of the snow mobile, put Hannah and Lillian in the sled, and then drove the snow mobile to pull them! We got to see family. Do church on Christmas eve, and then a get together with my mom's side of the family. Then Christmas morning was just my family, and then we went to my other Grandma's after that. I got to visit with a friend from high school too, and go shopping at Shopko! It snowed almost everyday we were there. It was a good Christmas!

Hannah's Christmas dress
Lillian's Christmas dress
Bill and Cara on Christmas eve.

The family on Christmas eve.

My parents Christmas tree Christmas morning.

Our own Little Family Christmas

2009-01-02T20:22:00.004-06:00

We do our own family Christmas gift opening every year. It's always a lot of fun to see them open their gifts! This year they seemed like everything we gave them! And they were very thankful, which is always nice!

Hannah and her princess tea set.

Lillian and her giant carebear!
Tearing into the presents

The girls in front of the tree after it was all over!

Bill got me a panini sandwich maker, which I was really excited to get, and which we already tried out! Yum!
And Bill really enjoyed the Bobby Flay cookbook I got him, "Boy Meets Grill". Hopefully he can put that to good use this summer:)

Happy New Year!

2008-12-31T17:09:00.004-06:00

I thought I would try and get one more post in before the year 2008 is over! It has been a busy, and fun holiday season! And when things settle down, I will have some fun pictures to post! I hope everyone has a blessed New Year!

Fantasy Football!

2008-12-31T17:05:00.003-06:00

The Sunday before last was the championship game for the Yahoo fantasy football league I am in, and my team was playing in it! I was seeded 5th when the playoffs started, so I wasn't sure how I would do. I can't do better than this though, I won! Go flourless cake for coming in first place! (flourless cake was my team name:)

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-25T13:56:00.003-06:00

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you are all having a blessed day!
"For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord." Luke 2:11

A cookie theme I guess!

2008-12-19T22:53:00.001-06:00

I had always wanted to make these Christmas cookies, and this year I did it! It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be, and they turned out, so I was glad!
They are simply called candy cane cookies.

A Very Yummy Cookie!

2008-12-19T22:48:00.004-06:00

So, we have been doing the majority of our grocery shopping at Super Target. And every week we go, Hannah will go ask the bakery for a cookie, which her and Lillian split and eat while I shop. A nice treat for them! One week though, I had to run to cub for something. Hannah looked where their samples were, and they were out. Hannah, who is very shy, went all brave and went and asked their bakery for a cookie. I was so glad she did! What came out of it was one of the most yummiest cookies I ever tasted! It was a turtle pecan cookie, so good!!! So good in fact, that a couple of days later Bill and I bought a tray of them, and we rarely buy store made cookies! Thanks for asking for the cookie Hannah!

Another Really Nice Date!

2008-12-19T22:39:00.003-06:00

Last week our neighbor called. She has been a waitress at Kinkaid's in Downtown St. Paul for about 10 years now. She said that she was able to invite two guests to come and have a free dinner, and she wanted to know if we wanted to go! We were honored! So last Thursday we went there for our first time. It is a really nice place! And, where we were sitting, we could see all the lights at Rice Park.
The food was wonderful! We split and appetizer, which was brie coated in panco bread crumbs, with macadamia nuts, and a honey and balsamic vingear glaze. We spread it over cibatta bread, and it was yummy! Bill had some clam chowder soup. Then for dinner I had the sirlion steak, and Bill had the prime rib. Both were excellant! Then for dessert!

This was the turtle cheesecake! It was heavenaly, and may have been the best turtle cheesecake that I have ever had!

This was their burnt creme. Their version of creme brulee. This was also amazing! So good infact that we polished off together, and took the rest of the cheesecake home to finish later! It was so light and creamy!
It was a wonderful dinner, and we were so blessed to have our neighbor think to invite us! Thanks Gen!!

A Very Nice Date

2008-12-11T17:04:00.004-06:00

Last Friday Bill and I got to go on a very nice date! We decided that we would just go to downtown St. Paul and see what we could do. There was this restaurant that Bill had always wanted to go to, so we decided to go there. It was called Pazzaluna. We split a margarita pizza and a caesar salad. Both were delicious. Then since we split a meal, we were able to try the chocolate gelato with chocolate sauce! It was very yummy! FYI, the pictures are from a cell phone.

Then we went and walked through rice park to see all the lights. Very beautiful.Then we kept walking and ran into the Well Fargo Winter skate rink. It was free to skate and rentals were only $2, so we decided to skate! It was very fun to skate out doors. The whole while we were out it was snowing very beautifully. We would stop on the ice rink and look up, and with all the huge buildings surrounding us, it felt like we were skating in a snow globe! We skated for about 15 minutes maybe, and then kept walking. Our last stop would be this really yummy candy shop downtown called Candy Land. I got a turtle, and Bill got some black licorish candy. It was such a nice time!

O Christmas Tree!

2008-12-04T22:33:00.007-06:00

So, after debating about real or artificial, and then rearranging to make room, we finally put everything in it's place and got the tree decorated the other day! The girls really enjoyed this! I had to rearrange Lillian's a little bit because she loved to put like 4 ornaments on the same branch! We have this pickle ornament that we got one year, and Hannah was really into finding out where I hid it on the tree!

Decorating with dad!
The finished product!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-11-27T22:21:00.005-06:00

The girls made these cute hats the other day at the Y. Pilgrim Hannah and Pilgrim Lillian just wanted to say Happy Thanksgiving to all!!

A Cute Little Story

2008-11-24T11:03:00.003-06:00

Yesterday when we were driving home from church, Lillian made us all smile! When the radio is on, it's always on KTIS. Lillian has become quite opinionated about the songs that come on, saying that she either likes the song, or doesn't like the song! This one random song comes on and Lillian says, "Mama, I don't like this song!" I reply, "Sorry sweetie!" Then she replies again, "Mama, I don't like this song!" So I reply, "Sorry you don't like the song! I'm not changing it, so if you don't like it, cover your ears!" I said this, not thinking that she would really do it. But, I looked back at her and she had her hands over her ears, which was very cute! The funny part is next though. While having her hands over her ears Hannah asks her, "So can you hear anything Lilly?" And Lillian replys, "Nope!" :)

Sore Arm!

2008-11-18T22:01:00.003-06:00

I got my flu shot today. I am not a big fan of shots, but figured I should do it any ways. My arm is actually sore! I got to get the shot at Bill's work, so that was fun. We got our shots, and then had lunch at Wendy's which is always yummy! Yeah for the chocolate Frosty! Recently Bill had to switch building's at work, so we also got to see the new desk he works at. The girls had a lot of fun drawing on his huge white marker board! And, one of Bill's co workers bought the girls some M and M's from the M and M machine. So besides the shot, it made for a fun day!

Matching Winter Hats

2008-11-12T21:41:00.003-06:00

So it's that time of year again to bundle it up, cause it is chilly! We bought these hats last year on clearance for like a dollar a piece! That's a pretty good price I'd say! Aren't they cute:)

Trader Joes

2008-11-12T21:35:00.003-06:00

Last week I went to a Trader Joes for the first time. It was a nifty store. I don't know that I would shop there all the time, cause some of the prices did seem a little high. Although I thought the quality of the products was pretty high. I found, and bought, so really yummy dried apple slices. And I found our chocolate advent calendars for the year for only 99 cents a piece! We have been doing the advent calendars about 6 years now, which is crazy! I know that one or two of the years we have done it, the chocolate hasn't been that great depending on where we got it from. So I am hopeful this year that the chocolate will be really good since it is Trader Joes brand. We shall see come December 1st!

A Goal Reached

2008-11-09T20:33:00.005-06:00

So, I am not usually one to make goals. Partly cause if you don't reach them, it's kind of like you failed, and who likes to do that? Or, you may even forget about them. A lot of people think setting goals is a good thing though. Gives you something to shoot for. So for whatever reason, when we got our membership to the Y, I decided to set a weight loss goal. I am happy to say that after 9 1/2 long months I finally met my goal. It's cool, kind of strange too! Like, what now? Do I have to set another one? The first one took so long to reach! We'll see. The Y in Eagan is doing a fun thing. You have to weigh in before Nov. 26th, and then they will reweigh you after the New Year. If you have maintained or lost weight during the Holiday's you will get a free T shirt! I may decide to do this. It's hard though cause some of the foods you eat during this time are only things you get once a year! This could be a good thing though, helping me to intake all these yummy foods in moderation! We'll see how it goes!

Halloween 2008!

2008-11-02T21:15:00.005-06:00

We had a fun Halloween this year!
We had two princesses! Hannah was Cinderella and Lillian was Snow White.

Lillian was a pretty determined little trick or treater! She carried her bag longer than her big sister carried hers!

The both did pretty well though!
I just wore my pumpkin hat, and Bill dressed up as Obi -Wan Kenobi. His trustee light saber led the way:)

Fun Gifts

2008-10-29T21:27:00.004-05:00

These were the flowers that Bill brought home for Hannah on her birthday. I think that she was tickled pink to get flowers from her daddy!

This is what we got Hannah for her Birthday. She is really in to arts and crafts stuff. One side is a chalk board, and the other is a dry erase board. There even is a roll of paper you can drape over a side to write on. She really likes it!

A Birthday Week!

2008-10-29T21:15:00.005-05:00

Little Miss Hannah had quite the birthday week! She was able to have a little friend party, which was a ton of fun! On her birthday we got to go to the Olive Garden with a gift card that Bill had gotten from his birthday. Hannah was excited, cause they brought her out an ice cream sundae with a candle on it and sang to her! On the weekend my parents got to come down, and then we got to celebrate with family too!

I can't believe my baby girl is 5!

Hannah really wanted the tinker bell candle!

Blowing out the candles!

This was the cake I made for her friend party.
Hope you had a Happy Birthday Hannah!

One of the Best things I've Ever Received!

2008-10-26T22:48:00.006-05:00

I just have to say that Aunt Bea Rocks! She goes to Hershey PA every year on business, and says that sometimes she smells chocolate in the air! How cool is that? But a sad thing happened this year. She found out that the Hershey factory is moving to Mexico! How crazy is that! How sad! Anyways....in past years she has brought me back some pretty cool stuff, like the world's largest Hershey's Kiss, and a big Hershey bar with my name written on it. I didn't think you could top those things! Although, I think the thing she brought me this year takes the cake by far! The World's Largest Hershey Bar! Check this thing out!

It's so huge! 5 luscious lbs of pure Hershey's chocolate!

There is 50 servings. If you do the the math.....there is 240 calories per serving. So, if I ate the whole thing by myself that would be a whopping 12,000 calories! I haven't opened it yet. I need to wait a bit, cause when I open it I know there is no going back! But don't worry, I won't eat it all myself! My two little girls wouldn't let me get away with that:)
Thanks Aunt Bea!

Snow!

2008-10-26T22:26:00.003-05:00

Well, it snowed here for the first time this season! It is always beautiful and there is almost something refreshing about the first snow fall of the year! And makes me think of Christmas, my favorite Holiday! Funny how I'm always excited for the first snow fall, but I am always wondering when Christmas is over with, when all the snow will leave and when it will be spring!

A Yummy Tradition

2008-10-21T21:51:00.005-05:00

The past few years we have made sure that some time in October we make and eat our own caramel apples. This year was no exception! It seems like there is nothing better than a home made caramel apple. You control the amount of fresh melted caramel that you put on a fresh apple! And lets just say that I put probably more than you should on each apple:) Our jaws get tired from chewing so much! Lillian and I shared one, and that was more than enough for the both of us! Hannah got her own for the first time, but didn't finish. She might of if she had more time! It's one of Bill's favorite treats, and it's a tradition I hope we keep doing!

Beautiful!!!!

2008-10-14T18:20:00.005-05:00

This place is only a little over three miles from our home. The fall colors are just stunning this year! We went and took a little drive and stopped to take some pictures. It's just so beautiful to look at!

A Good Movie!

2008-10-11T22:00:00.003-05:00

Last week Bill and I got to go see the movie Fireproof. It was a very good movie! And I would recommend it to anyone to go and see it! Just maybe bring a kleenex:)

check it out....

http://www.fireproofthemovie.com/

Bill's Surprise Party!

2008-10-09T15:19:00.004-05:00

Well, I was able to pull it off! Last week I threw a surprise party for Bill, because he is turning the big 3-0! I planned this for a long time!!! And was really nervous before he arrived, but everything worked out, and he had no idea that he was coming to his party!

He said he had a great time, so all the hard work was worth it! I was so thankful for everyone who came, and everyone who helped out!

Maybe I should have put 30 candles on the cake, but instead I just bought these cool candles that had the number 30 on them!

I had people take a quiz about Bill. My mom actually scored 13 out of 20 when I asked her to test the quiz out. The highest scored at the party was 11.
Here are some of the things that Bill said are his favorite.
His favorite color, black.
His favorite meal of the day, breakfast.
His favorite football team, The Chicago Bears.
His favorite baseball team, The MN Twins.
His favorite super hero, Spiderman.
His favorite Bible Character, Timothy.
His favorite current T.V. series, Chuck!

I hope you had a Happy Birthday Bill!!!

Vroom!

2008-10-05T20:33:00.005-05:00

Here are some action shots of my sister and Bill with Hannah and Lillian riding Swipers Sweeper. Both girls really enjoyed the ride! It may look like an innocent little ride, but it really swings you around those corners!

She did it!

2008-10-01T22:44:00.003-05:00

Little Miss Lillian got to meet Dora the Explorer, and get her picture taken with her! On T.V. I think Dora looks a lot smaller:)

Yummy and thoughtful!

2008-09-27T21:57:00.005-05:00

Last week Bill had to work late a couple of days. One night he went out to eat with his boss and co workers from out of town. At the end of the meal his boss told him to pick out a dessert and bring it home to me! A very nice surprise for me! This was the triple chocolate cake. It was very yummy! The cake was so moist, and the frosting was more like a chocolate mousse. I even shared with my girls, and they both thought it was very yummy too!

Leaf Bouquets

2008-09-27T21:46:00.005-05:00

I should have maybe taken this picture a little sooner, as they kind of dried up and curled a bit, but I thought I'd still blog about it. These are the leaf bouquets that the girls got to make with their aunt Bea. I think they are beautiful!

Matching Tank Tops

2008-09-25T22:16:00.004-05:00

This is a picture of the matching tank tops that Auntie Kristi bought the girls the last time she was visiting. It's funny, cause the first time Hannah asked me to wear a tank top, she called it a tator tot.

A Very Fun Date!

2008-09-23T13:26:00.006-05:00

Bill and I got to go the Water Park of America for free! It was fun to check it out. For a hotel water park, it seemed pretty big. It wasn't as big as an outdoor water park, or anything like that. It had a group slide, two inner tube slides where you could ride single or double, and then 3 body slides, two of which were closed. It had a big kid area in the middle, which we didn't check out cause our kids weren't with us:) They had a pool, a wave pool, a lazy river, and a surf/body board wave. The group slide was so much fun! It felt so long, as it would weave in and out of the building. It was really cool when it got darker outside! We also rode the inner tube slides a lot, which were also fun when it got dark, as they weaved in and out of the building as well. I wasn't too big on the body slide, cause the space was kind of small, and you didn't know where you were going to end up! The two inner tube slides also ended up right in the lazy river, so that was fun. We also had a good laugh, cause Bill wanted to try surfing. After watching him not be so successful at it, my guess is that it's a lot harder than it looks! He was able to laugh about it also, so that was good! And at least he tried it, cause I did not! It was a very fun date, and we were both glad that we got to check this water park out!

Funny Luxuries

2008-09-18T22:05:00.004-05:00

We have this funny little feature in our van. The volume of the radio changes as you accelerate or decelerate, going louder when you accelerate, and quieter when you decelerate. It was funny when I first figured it out, cause I was sure I didn't touch the volume, yet the volume was different. It's crazy how you adjust to things like that. Now I when I have to drive Bill's car, I kind of get annoyed when I have to adjust the volume myself. Go figure!

A good start!

2008-09-13T14:25:00.003-05:00

Well, I have to say that the start of my fantasy football year has gone way better than expected! In my dad's league I won both of my match ups! And, in my yahoo league I won my match up and I am in first place for the whole league because I also scored the most points! Now I know it's only the first week, and things can change in an instant! It's just fun for now, cause I really didn't think my teams were that good this year! Hopefully week two will go just as well, if not better!

Football!

2008-09-07T22:53:00.007-05:00

Well, this was the opening weekend for football! Which is always an exciting time!

The Lions didn't do so well, but that's OK!

What is exciting though, is these two little fans!!

Lillian was pretty funny. She would repeat these little cheers I would make, like, "Tackle that running man", or "sack that quarter back!" The best though was when I asked her if she would be my little football buddy, and she said yes! :)

I have the usual two fantasy football teams this year. I hope I will do well. One team isn't looking that good, but I was winning as of this afternoon.

State Fair Time

2008-09-01T20:34:00.003-05:00

We made it to the state fair this year. We were able to go on a week day, and it felt less busy which was nice! We walked a lot and ate a lot! We even made it on the 4 o' clock news for Kare 11. The girls got free bike helmets this year too. It was a fun time!

Helping Hands

2008-09-01T20:28:00.004-05:00

This is a cool place to visit at the fair with kids. They have to go around a farm and feed animals, and plant produce, and pick produce, and gather eggs, and pick apples, and then sell all their goods, and then they get to buy something at the end! This is the second year they have done this, and they both really enjoy it!

Rides

2008-09-01T20:18:00.004-05:00

Here are the rides they got to ride.

Jumping in the leaves

2008-08-25T21:40:00.006-05:00

I'm not sure why this one tree changed colors and why all the leaves fell off already in August...but it made for a fun time for Bill and the girls. They made the pile together, and then the girls had fun jumping in!

Check out the cool action shots!!!!!

Fun Vacation

2008-08-17T21:54:00.004-05:00

We got to go to Michigan for 6 days to hang out with my family, and celebrate our 6th wedding anniversary. Here are some highlights:

Getting to go to the cone corner and get play dough ice cream! Which is blue moon ice cream with chunks of cookie dough. Yum!

Picking blueberries. (see post below:)

Bill getting to drive a four wheeler for the first time, and having him take me for a ride on it. I'm brave:)

Bowling 6 games of bowling with Bill and my sister.

Bill and I getting away for two nights! So relaxing and quiet!

Driving around Presque Isle in Marquette. Very beautiful!

Eating at Bonanza. I love the ice cream machine!

Eating at the Casa Calabria. This being the restaurant that I ate at for my junior prom. The garlic bread was sooooooo good that we couldn't even believe it!

Getting to shop at Shopko.

Going to Jilbert's dairy barn and getting superman ice cream.

Eating at the congress. Their pizza is really good!!!

Buying a new card game, and playing it with Bill. King's corner.

Seeing family.

It was a fun time, and went fast. Funny how so much of the hight lights involved food:)

bridge

2008-08-17T21:52:00.002-05:00

They built a new bride over this pond that is down the rode from where my parents live. So we had a picture taken on it!

Blueberries, Blueberries, Blueberries!

2008-08-17T21:46:00.003-05:00

Last year my mom took the girls blueberry picking for the first time, and they really enjoyed it. So this year my mom said she would take them again, and they were pretty excited. At first they wanted to go a lot! It seemed like all Hannah wanted to do! I think she went out like 6 times in two days! And, in just two days, we all had picked a combined 16 cups worth! It was Bill's first time picking wild blueberries, and he thought it was cool how they could grow wild. He also thought it was cool because he got home made blueberry waffles, which he topped with store bought blueberry syrup, whip cream, and then fresh blueberries. A home made blueberry muffin, and a homemade blueberry pie! He thought it was all very yummy!!

Flowers

2008-08-17T21:41:00.003-05:00

The flowers that my bridesmaid's carried down the isle were gerber daises. My mom says that every year in her yard around our anniversary, that gerber daises always bloom! So this year she took the girls out to pick them and bring them in for Bill and I on our anniversary. Half of the flowers were a bunch of other wild flowers that Bill went out and picked for me on our anniversary. Very pretty!

My avacado story

2008-08-08T21:02:00.006-05:00

One time this past year at small group, I tasted some guacamole for the first time. I didn't think it was that bad, so I asked how the person made it. Then it clicked that guacamole was made from avocado. So I thought to myself, "I should try and make some sometime."

Lo and behold, since I had never bought an avocado before, I had no idea where they would be in the produce section. I went many weeks without every buying one, cause I had never scene them in the store. Then one day I was looking at the garlic, and I saw a guacamole mix, so I was like, "avocado's must be near!" And, lo and behold, they were right by the garlic and tomato's. So I bought one with no idea how I was going to make it, but I did know that I wanted to make it when we had taco's.

So... I looked on line and saw some recipes, and got and idea, but I kind of just threw some stuff in there. It ended up being salt, pepper, garlic, lime juice, and olive oil mixed together and refrigerated for a bit. I wasn't sure how it would taste, or how the rest of the family would like it, but it turned out very yummy! And the most surprising thing is that Bill and Lillian fight over who is going to eat more! I am pleasantly surprised that Bill liked it, but even more pleasantly surprised and a little shocked that Lillian just loved it! And that's my avocado story:)

Riding until you're sick!

2008-08-05T13:47:00.003-05:00

Some people thought we were crazy, because amidst Bill playing all these softball games, he and I got to go to valley fair for a whole evening. We got there at 5:30, and stayed until 11:30. It was fun. Riding rides now though, is so much different for me after having kids. I used to just go and go, and do every thrill ride, and carnival ride. Now, not so much! Every ride we went on, I was like, "why do I keep doing this?!" Bill even convinced me to ride on the front of steel venom. I am just glad that I didn't have my glasses on for some of the rides so I really couldn't see as much as I could of! We got to ride the newest wooden roller coaster renegade, which was a good one. We did super swing twice, and wild thing three times. The worst ride though was a carnival one. The monster as they called it, but I remember it as the octopus. Once the ride started our cart did not stop spinning, and all I could see was streaking lights. I was feeling pretty nauseous after that, so we just did two more rides and then had to go, cause I don't think I could have stomached another one!
The picture is us drinking a strawberry smoothie. It was really refreshing!

Hurray for Bill

2008-08-05T13:44:00.004-05:00

This weekend Bill had a softball tournament. He plays for the Bethlehem Baptist team. It was double elimination, and they had to win a minimum of 4 games. They won all three of their games on Saturday, and then won the first game they played Sunday, so they are the champs without even dropping a game! Hurray!

A report

2008-08-05T13:41:00.004-05:00

Well, I just thought I'd let people know that I tried out my garbage bowl! I was making an egg bake that called for six eggs. So, instead of the usual multiple trips to the garbage can, or the trying to fit as many cracked egg shells in my hand as I can, I just cracked and egg and put the cracked shell it in the garbage bowl. It was quite nice:)

Garbage bowl

2008-07-28T20:30:00.004-05:00

I can now say that I officially own a Rachael Ray garbage bowl! Bill gave it to me for my birthday. I haven't used it yet, cause my kitchen is kind of small, so walking to the garbage isn't that big of a deal, and it feels like if I use it, it's just another thing to wash....But! I am still very excited to own one:) I also now own the Rachael Ray Moppine too! (which is her all in one kitchen towel, with built in pot holders).

The garbage bowl.

Lillian holding the moppine.

Two wheels

2008-07-27T20:48:00.005-05:00

Hannah has been learning to ride her bike on two wheels, no training wheels! Bill has been taking her out every so often to teach her. She just needs a bit of help starting, but other than that, she is doing pretty well! Today they even both rode their bikes over to a near by park. She is growing up!

I also cut her hair today. Here are the before and afters....

Well see how it looks tomorrow after she sleeps on it and stuff! I may have to bring the scissors back out!

A nice Surprise

2008-07-19T20:01:00.004-05:00

A few days ago I woke up to a nice surprise! I went in the girls room to get them up for the day, and they had hung a Happy Birthday banner on the wall. Then on Hannah's kitchen there were three party hats. She made us each put one on, and then she got her and Lillian to sing me Happy Birthday. Then, she whipped out a present that was hiding under her kitchen. Lillian was like, "it's cookies!" Hannah was like, "you aren't suppose to tell!" It was funny! And, it was cookies. Newman O's to be exact. The are organic oreo's, and I think they are way better! Anyways! I thought Hannah did such a wonderful job in helping arrange such a wonderful surprise!!

That million dollar question

2008-07-17T22:16:00.003-05:00

So today I was able to get a massage, and it was great! During the the massage I was thinking to myself...And, I was thinking about when people ask you that question, "if you had a million dollars, what would you do with it?" And I seriously think that if I ever came across a million dollars, I would hire a personal masseuse, and get a massage at least once a week!
Just me random thought of the day!

Green thumb?

2008-07-14T20:35:00.003-05:00

My friend gave me a plant today, which was really cool. My luck with plants though is not very good. This particular plant that she gave me though, she said was hard to kill! So, I am going to try really hard to keep it alive, and we'll see what happens! It will help that I can keep asking her questions about it!
The other plant that I actually can keep alive is the aloe plant. That is because you don't have to remember to water it too often, and it will still grow!