New dreams to chase!

 

I have been asked what I want to be when I grow up and for years I haven't had a clue.  Now I don't know what got me to start thinking about it, but I think that the perfect job for me would be a job that involves photography. 

 

I love taking pictures so much and it is so gratifying when I can catch that perfect moment and preserve it forever. 

 

For right now we are concentrating on putting J through school.  ((I am so proud of him for making the Dean's list again !!!))

 

But I have been thinking about taking a few art courses when he is done and maybe pursuing some dreams of my own.

 

It is hard for me to decide on one focus, I would love to be a photographer I think, but I would also love to make photo art products.

 

Since I have to start somewhere I think I will focus on learning the ins and outs of photography, maybe I can even teach myself.  Maybe by the time J is out of school there will be a chance that I could go to the local community college and pick up some higher education LoL.

 

And then if I am lucky one of the photographers that I know will teach me a few tricks of the trade as well.

 

Well there it is, I have found myself a new dream to chase. I hope you all enjoy the photos that I take with my phone and tablet until I can afford to get a nice camera to practice with.

 

 

Is it over yet?

It has been a long holiday this year and it's still not over.  I have noticed year after year that we seem to celebrate Christmas for a week each year if not longer and we wonder why our 4 year old is still looking for more presents. 

We have finally whitled it down so that there is just one more part of the family to get together wtih so we can finish things off and I can't wait to be able to tell him he has opened all of his presents. 

The girls are not babies anymore. :( It was fun to give them presents and watch them unwrap them.  They even really impressed me by really looking over what they got before moving on to the next one and they even got bored of unwrapping and had to take a break and dance after awhile.  I have been taking videos of the girls dancing.....and they are really just too cute. ;)

Well it's getting late, see ya on the flip side :)

If it could go wrong it did this year! :)

Things really started going downhill when I got sick,  then they snow-balled.  Due to family illness plans that were made well in advance got flipped upside down.  Christmas Eve for our family ended up being done with Momma (whose Jeep broke down on the interstate just trying to get here), Mom will be here for Christmas breakfast and then it will just be time to be at home together.  Things actually turned out much more simple than they would have been which has been nice, but I do miss the whole big family get together.

We had a really good time opening gifts this evening and even wore Aiden out enough that he was out in no time once he made it to bed.  The girls were quick to give up too which was a nice change.

Now that all the children are nestled snug in their beds, we have filled their stockings and wrapped their presents so we too can go to bed. Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Happy Holidays to All !!!

I have been ill as of late.  Though the world did not end on 12/21/12, shortly after midnight it felt like my world was crashing down around me.  I have not had a flu like bug that bad ever, that I can remember, and even though I turned green in the face and blue in the lips I still survived.  My Mom was a great help taking care of kids so that J could take care of me and then taking me to the Dr. before it was all said and done.  I felt so bad when she came down with it just as I was beginning to get better, and even though I barely had the strength I went to be with her and help do what I could.  Knock on wood -- everyone seems to be getting better and after a few speed bumps Christmas Eve is back on schedule and Mom is getting the help that probably should have been offered even before we were sick.  It really will be nice to have the whole family together, I have been looking forward to this since I got my new job and knew I would be able to be around for the Holidays this year.

Aiden brought home these ornaments that he made in preschool and I absolutely adore them, especially the handprint made into snowmen.  His teachers have found some really wonderful projects to do with the kids and his creativity is showing more and more at home as well.  The next picture was his latest play-doh creation, I was impressed that he even added hair to his person.

I hope everyone has a Happy Holiday, whatever it is you may celebrate, and is able to be around their family and those that they hold dearest to their hearts.  I finally have all but one present wrapped and can get some rest before the festivities set in tomorrow.

Christmas update and Monster Cookie Recipe!

 

I managed to get out to the grocery store today to get the ingredients I was lacking for holiday cooking.  I think one more trip to Dollar Tree will finish off my shopping and then I just have to get everything wrapped. :)

This year we will be going to Mom's on Christmas Eve for a self serve dinner and presents.  Then Christmas Morning Mom is going to join us for presents and Breakfast at the river house before we take off for Dayton to celebrate with the other side of the family.  On the 26th we will wrap up the festivities with Momma at our house around lunch and then it will all be over again until next year.

Baking and cooking takes up so much time for me around the holidays that I had decided I was just going to give gifts and cards and not worry about treats this year.  As Christmas gets closer and closer I have decided Christmas isn't Christmas unless there are cookies involved. LoL.  I have gotten my brownie treats baked wrapped and frozen to keep them fresh. Tomorrow will be set aside for baking monster cookies and working.  Then the rice krispies will be put off till Christmas Eve morning more than likely.  Poor bus driver won't get rice krispie treats due to time constraints, but I got some candy to add to her basket to make up for that! :)

 

Now I have to say I love love love the Monster Cookie recipe that was passed down to me from my husbands family for two reasons.  The first reason is that the cookies are super yummy and there are a variety of other ingredients that can be thrown in to change the flavor just slightly.  The second reason I love the recipe is the sheer volume of cookies that one batch will make (I am talking gallons of cookies).  So here goes the recipe is really pretty simple. 

 

You will need:

6 eggs

1 lb brown sugar

2 c granulated sugar

1/2 lb butter (softened)

1 T Karo syrup (preferrably light)

1 t vanilla extract

1 lb peanut butter

4 t baking soda (mixed with the flour)

1 1/2 c all purpose flour

7 c old fashioned oats

1/2 lb M&M's

1/2 lb chocolate chips

 

Mix the ingredients together in order.  Drop 1-2 T balls onto a greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 F for 10 minutes on the center rack of the oven.  ((these will stay fresh in the freezer for up to 2 monthes maybe longer -- ours never last that long LoL ))

Just checkin' in :)

Now everyone knows I love my cats, but c'mon man my desk and my lap are not a bathtub.  Especially while I am working, since your breath smells pretty bad.

Isabella has been working on this same picture for a few days.  She really loves to color and each day I have given her a different color and she has added a new layer.

Ha Ha! I caught Miss Em picking her nose!

Aiden was being silly, and wanted another picture of himself, of course.  I was very happy to see him playing nicely with his sisters and he even came up with a game to play with them.

Now of course, as soon as I started taping they refused to perform, but if you give them time you will see laughter and playing going on :)

This is my new favorite picture of the hubby. This semester has been a little rough for him, some of his classes have just seemed like a waste of time and some were just no fun.  Now that the end is near he has become more fun again and we even bundled up to go lay under the stars and watch the meteor shower together the other night. It was nice to lay out there cuddled up and watch the stars fall :) We even got to see a few that were bigger and some that had pretty tails.

Christmas shopping woes!!! o.O

Each year I make a Christmas list and record what I have bought.  I do this so that I know what I have to find and wrap, but also so that I know when I am done.  This year I have whittled my list down throughout the year and now that we are closing in on the shopping deadline I have realized that I don't know the best way to shop for twins.  Some people say to get them the same thing just different colors; some say get them the same exact item. I really don't know that having two of something will keep the girls from wanting what the other one has so I am at an impass. 

I am happy to announce that I actually got all of my Christmas cards dropped off at the post office.  Two weeks before Christmas... that has to be a record for me. LoL!!!

 Sorry to keep things so short, but it has been a long work week for me and I want to make sure that my alarm wakes me up in the morning so I don't end up driving Aiden to school yet again. o.O

Time for the light summer hair to be replaced with a nice chestnut brown!

It's time for my annual re-do. LoL.  It definitely seems that way to me anyways. Each year right before the holidays is when I choose to dye my hair again and usually I will add highlights as well.  Now knowing how long and thick my hair was I told J to make sure he picked up two boxes of hair-dye to ensure proper coverage.  Well, he only brought one box home so we decided to wing it.... unfortunately my tips are lighter and so we are going to try again as soon as we get a chance, I think.  It may be a good thing that I cannot see the back of my head, because from my POV I think it looks good, but J is insisting that we do in fact need to add more dye, so we will see.

((This picture is courtesy of Aiden))

 Before                                                        After

Personally I can't tell if it is the sun shining off the color or if my hair is actually different colors. o.O

I got new pics of the kiddos!!!

Yay! I got my pictures to upload pretty quick tonight. We got a lot done today and I followed it up by working an extra hour at the end of my shift.  It was well worth the extra upsells I was able to score. Tonight I set my personal best at 40 upsales in one shift.

Before work I had the opportunity to snap some new pictures of my babies, but I found that for today it was impossible yet again to get all three of them to sit still in one spot... though I did manage to get two of them to sit mostly still at once... LoL :)

...Emma wasn't quite so co-operative.

As much as their Daddy hates it I have allowed the kids to explore and touch the mantle decorations

Izzy set herself up beautifully in front of the fireplace and enjoyed playing with the bell for a few minutes ((I did have to take that one away since it has pointy edges and she wanted to run around with it.))

The Christmas decorations are up, now it is time to start baking!!!

Yeah I know the picture is no good at all, but one day I will learn how to take a good picture of a christmas tree.  Today is not that day.LoL.

Anyways, we decided not to put Aiden off any longer and managed to get the living room rearranged and the tree standing by bedtime on Thursday night.

We finished decorating the inside of the house Friday and I tried to post this last night, but I couldn't get my pictures to pop up.  One day I will have enough stuff to branch out of the living room, until then I will enjoy the Christmas wonderland that is my living room. :)

Mom did get some sales on the christmas spiders and I am interested to see which ones went.  I really loved all of the designs, it will be neat to see which ones were most popular.  I did get the pictures I ordered to put in my Christmas cards Friday. Today, I got all the envelopes stuffed, and just need two more addresses to be ready to head out to the post office and mail them out. It was really hard for me to choose which pictures to send out since I have taken over 3000 pictures with just my phone this year, LoL, and of course I don't have a picture of all of us together.

The craft show is getting closer and the projects are coming together!

For many years when I was young when Christmas time came around Mom would have a holiday potpouri simmering on the stove throughout the day.  So after I made my basket a couple of nights ago I was trying to figure out what to put in it and it came to me that we should package some simmer mixes and package them as a holiday gift for Mom to take to the craft show.  We have the kid of pine tree with the tiny pinecones on it in the front yard that yeilded almost two cups of pinecones from the ground, I had to get a ladder to get as many as I wanted LoL.

Tonight I was able to make two more containers for her simmer mix and I have a third almost done as well.  I have a good feeling about Mom's premiere back in the crafting world and I am glad she gave me enough notice so that I could help her out like I used to.  Maybe one day I will even have the chance to go to a craft show with her again, too.

A good day for some, and a very bad day for others!

I finished spiders 4, 5 and 6 yesterday and today!!!

I am doing my best to get a good selection of ornaments for the craft show, but once I finished the spiders I seemed to have run into a creative block and surrounded by crafting supplies I had no idea what to make next.  After fiddling with this and that, putting things together just to take them apart again. 

Then I made an accent piece out of holly leaves and paired it together with a little basket that would be perfect for potpouri or a simmer.

I woke up this morning and caught J working on the front door ((finally))! We have had a gap around it on three sides since it was originally started this past summer.

It took about 3 hours to get the door out, the door opening cleaned and prepped for the new door to be installed properly.

....and finally we have the hard part done.  We still need to trim off the extra "Great Stuff", stain, cut and hang the trim inside and paint, but at least our door is airtight again.  maybe our electric bill will even go down now.

We got to see this beautiful skyline when Aiden got off the bus with a perfect 14 star day under his belt.  He got an extra 10 minutes to play on the computer as a bonus for having a perfect day and meeting his star goal.

Last but not least this is the unhappy face of a man who has had a rough day.  To finish it off, after searching the house to see if I could find my phone I decided to check outside.  To my dismay I found my phone laying in the driveway with several cracks at the top of the screen.  Thankfully I learned from my brother that a touchscreen will still work with scotch tape covering it, so for now my phone will be accented with scotch tape til I can afford to replace it.