Lovin Every Minute of It

Its getting to be that time. I love holidays. This is my fave time of the year. It starts with Halloween and just keeps on rolling into the new year!! We usually spend Thanksgiving with my aunt, but since my cousin is having her first baby in Utah she is going to be with her. Not that I blame her. If I could, I would probably try to tag along! ha ha ha!! So, its Thanksgiving with my siblings and mom. And I get to cook alot for Thanksgiving. Which I don't usually do, but I am this year!! :) So excited about that too. I usually cook the majority of Christmas Dinner, but Thanksgiving food is different so I am excited about it. I sat down with my sister in law to be the other night and created our menu and appointed jobs to folks and that sort of thing... :) Yay!! I will post our menu a little closer to time. I can't wait!!

Its September!! Almost the best time of year! My fave month is October. I love it!!! :) I can't wait for the holidays to start!!! It puts me in the best mood. and I love to decorate! Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas and then New Years and then Valentines and then Easter and then you get a break!! :)

I have big plans for the holiday weekend - I am going to organize my house! I dread it but it desperately needs to be done. So, whats everyone elses plans for the long holiday weekend?

Happy Memorial Day!!

Well, I have thoroughly enjoyed my day off!! :) Even though it wasn't a true day off b/c I spent the first half of it cleaning my house - what I didn't finish last night. But I am satisfied. I stayed home most of the day with my family. I got to cook lunch and eat with my kids, which never happens cause we are usually on the go during the weekends and eat lunch on Sundays at Grandmas. I feel refreshed and relaxed!!

I am in the process of cooking my manicotti for my family (per their request) and am looking forward to a yummy home cooked family dinner!! yeah!!

Now to gear up for a short but busy week!!

and last but certainly not least....Thank you to the soldiers who have laid their lives down for our country so me and my family could enjoy the freedom we all love so dear!! Thank you!!

Rainy Sunday

Well, both kids rooms are painted and the trim up! YEAH!! All that's left is the hall, kitchen, living room and back bathroom...then the carpet and then a break while I decide what to do with the rest of the place! FINALLY!! So excited.

We had a ball tournament yesterday. I don't know what my deal was. I was so pumped to play yesterday but I got up in a SERIOUSLY pissy mood. I don't know why. I think it was in the air, because Shanna and Carson were both pissy, alot of my girls were whinier than usual and NONE of them seemed to want to play. That could be because we were playing like teams that are waaaaaaaayyyyyyy above us on skill level, but hey like the other parents were saying "its good practice". And it is good practice, but we have a tournament for the next two weekends. I didn't want to start our tournament weekends playing these teams ya know? and I am not even sure that all our parents realized this, but we have a tournament at our ball park next weekend and district the weekend after...sooo.....but I am excited for the girls because we do have some awesome games coming up that I am really looking forward to. :) We did get a tournament trophy yesterday though. Not sure how we managed that but we did. Our girls were so excited! They deserved a tournament trophy so much this year so I am excited that they finally got one!

I am in a much better mood this morning, I think I maybe just didn't sleep well the night before and after sleeping about 4 hours a night all week with Derek's hours last week it just caught up with me.

We went grocery shopping last night. In my attempt to be more on top of things at home, I spent last night clipping coupons, planning a menu and grocery shopping. Hot Saturday night with the husband huh? ha ha ha....So I get to cook this week! I haven't cooked in awhile and may be part of my problem. Cooking is my stress relief and I tend to get crabby when I go for awhile without doing it. So instead of the usual grilled hotdogs, hamburgers, mac n cheese and stuff for Memorial Day, I am making my husband's FAVORITE FAVORITE dish, My manacotti and crusy italian bread. He loves my manacotti. It was the first thing 'from scratch' I ever cooked for him and from that day on, he has NEVER said I could not cook. In fact, when he sees me cooking the kitchen and there are no boxes around, he gets all excited and wants to come taste. The best part of being in my kitchen is my kids. They LOVE to sit on the other side of the bar and ask questions "how do you know what to put in there?" "Why does it look so gross right now but taste so yummy later?" "When I get big will you show me how to cook?" So, this week, I am cooking almost every night. Shanna and Carson got excited when we got home with grocery bags. They like to help unload the groceries and this is usually what you hear "YYYEAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!! Apples, Look Shanna, mom bought Apples!!" "ooohhh, oooohhh, Carson, look POPTARTS!! MY FAVORITE!" Its hilarious. You would think these kids starve and live on bologna and ketchup when I bring home groceries. :)

But today, today is housecleaning day. We are having family time tomorrow and not doing anything but staying home and spending time with our kids. So today, I have to get my house immaculate (which is going to be a miracle! Luckily, my mother-in-law has been painting for us and in between she will do laundry or my dishes or clean a room - I get on to her but I am SO grateful for her help. It was much needed since I have not had the energy the last two weeks to do it all alone and Derek's help is sometimes nonexistent).

So I am off to start in my bathroom and work my way back to the kids rooms so I can enjoy a TRUE day off tomorrow!! Happy Memorial Day everyone!

Sunday Scoop n HAPPY EASTER!

okay, well, I am a holiday ho. I love holidays, I love everything about them. I love how people are in happy moods on holidays. I love the food, the smells, the colors, the traditions, the excitement, the anticipation. My favorites are (in order): Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, Halloween, St. Patrick's Day (This is my biological dad's birthday which is why its special to me), July 4th, Memorial/Labor Days, Valentine's Day and any other day off!! ha ha ha.....

I love holidays where I get to pretend I am something special like Santa Clause or the Easter Bunny. My kids still believe in both, and I love playing it. This morning was no exception. I put the baskets out at about midnight.....Shanna woke up and there was a spider on her window in her room. She came to get daddy and after daddy dealt with the teeny spider I couldn't believe she saw, she sleepily asked him 'can I go through that easter basket I saw now?' :) how cute is she?? So I told em to come on and they came running..."ooohh,,, a frisbeeee!!!" "ooohhh, reeses eggs! I love reeses eggs" and my absolute fave quote of the morning...my darling 5 year old daughter with the biggest heart of gold in the world "LOOK MOMMY!! I GOT A BABY DUCKLING!!" (its not real, its a doll) but you couldn't tell her otherwise. This child has more baby dolls and stuffed animals than anything in the world, but if she doesn't get some kind of animal for easter, she will be devestated. She loves to walk down the aisle at walmart and just stare at all the plush bunnies, and puppies, and duckies, and chickies....ITS ADORABLE.

So we had our easter fun this morning! We did our easter egg hunt yesterday (good thing too apparently, since its pouring outside) at my friend Brooke's. We have a yearly tradition for Easter Weekend. On Friday night our kids get together and we color eggs. On Saturday about 11ish we get together and hide eggs over and over and over...then we cookout that evening and hang out. of course this year, we couldn't cook out. I had a close cousin come in from Utah and she's prego (YEAH!!) and I couldn't wait to see her so I had to go there last night, but its okay! So we had a busy day and a fun one! Nothing like cookouts and easter egg hunts!!

oh!!! and guess what!!! I found the most awesome thing yesterday!!! I live in a tiny town. very small. We have 1 stop light at the main intersection. We got that like may 6 years ago....we felt special. We have 2 gas stations, both of which sell pizza and sandwiches, one which has a car wash. They have been there since I was tiny. Well, in the last like 2 years, we have grown. We have a small bank, a Fred's and a Sonic! It's not the same tiny town it used to be! They even put a Big Red down the highway with a McDonald's...well, like a week ago they opened a Dollar General next to Fred's. Don't know why, but they did. (For the record, I am waiting on a grocery store. I want a real grocery store out here dangit!! So I don't have to go to town!! ha ha ha, I am lazy like that) I don't like Fred's. Now, I generally go to Benton for everything, grocery shopping, Wal-Mart everything. Fred's. It doesn't have my preferred brands and the few brands they do have I have to pay nearly double for unless I want to drive 15 minutes to Benton for laundry detergent when I am lookin rough cause I am cleaning house....The color bleach I usually pay like $5 for at walmart was over $8 at Fred's!! No thanks!! so we stopped yesterday to check out the DG...just to compare prices to Walmart and Fred's next door when we needed something in a pinch. OMG. Loved it. They had tons of my preferred brands, comparable to WalMArt and they are right down the road. No more going to Walmart for one cleaning item and coming out with a cart full! WOO HOO. But, what made my day...a mop. Yes, a mop. See, my linoleum floors have those little cellulite looking grooves in it...I hate it. and hopefully in the next couple of months, those floors will be gone! But for now, I have to spend about 3 hours on my hands and knees with a Mr. Clean MAgic Eraser (b/c nothing else will clean those little grooves) and mop by hand my kitchen and the bathrooms. I HATE IT. Hate. With a fiery passion that burns. My back and knees are killing me when I am through and I am so sore the next day. Well, as I was walking down the cleaning aisles at DG yesterday, I passed the mops, when the word "magic eraser" caught my eye. OH YES, there was a MOP made by Mr. Clean and the mop pad was a big ole MAGIC ERASER!!! AAAAGGGGHHHH!!!! I just about cried I was soooo excited! I paid $13 for a mop (which is ridiculous!!!) But I don't care. I would have paid $50 not to have to go on my hands and knees for hours!! My hunny just laughed at me. It is so sad that you come to a point in your life that something that makes you so happy is a mop! ha ha ha...Well, HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE!