My garden

My giant zucchini plant....

A tiny little cucumber. Maddie has already called 1st dibs on the 1st cucumber. She can't wait for it!!

I can't wait for the 1st tomato.....

BLT'S anyone?????

On a side note......

for my old neighbor Stephanie.....

Notice the garage windows?? I used to love looking at the window boxes. You always had them looking so pretty. He let the window boxes rot and they fell off. :(

The rabbits won't get my garden this year!!! We have thought better about shooting the rabbits this time and have opted for putting up chicken wire.

And my favorite......

green beans.....

I. CAN'T. WAIT.

Good morning Tuesday.....

Good Morning.

It is early. There is still a 5 in the first number on the clock.

I am tired.

I am on my 2nd cup of coffee.

Did I say there was a 5 in the first number on the clock?

Emma woke up early. But late enough to not warrant me going back to bed. Otherwise I wouldn't have been able to wake up this morning.

I think I have been up with Emma 4 or 5 times this night.

Lesson learned.....ceaser salad does not agree with her. I knew I was taking a chance.

Bad move.

I am thankful for coffee.

Did I mention that I was on my 2nd cup......and that there is a 5 in the first number on the clock??

I am also thankful for the quiet of the morning.

For the word of God.

Which speaks so clearly to my soul.

I have drank it up this morning.

I am thankful for that time.

This is how I found Emma girl a couple days ago one morning. I don't know how she got her crib pad like that. But she did. She was having a good ole time.

Now there is a 6 for the first number on my clock and I must be getting ready for work. I have a new job. I work in an office a couple days a week. It's going well. I like the people I work for and the people I work with. I am thankful for the Lord's leading. This job fell in my lap and I am thankful for it. I am also thankful for my inlaws who have jumped in feet first and helped with watching the kids. I am blessed.

Happy Friday!!

I can't believe that I got these pictures. Bella came over to Emma while she was playing and was just sniffing her. Then she just laid right down next to her.

It was adorable. Emma gets such a kick out of watching Bella roam around the house. Emma also loves it when Bella comes up to her and tries to lick her. Emma will just giggle. It really is adorable.

And this is what happens when Nathan is bored.

Why is Nathan bored??

Well....the neighbor boys aren't home.

So he will sit and watch and wait for them to come home so he can play.

I just love how at the end of the day,

 after I have just sat down from finishing the supper dishes,

 and its 9 o'clock at night, I walk into this........

Cupboards open, stuff all over the counter, dirty dishes in the sink.

I just love it.

Happy Tuesday.

Things I love....

I forced my family to take pictures today.

I think half of them threw a fit about it. ;)

It is really very nice to have my Maddie girl home.

Last night I fell asleep with happy thoughts of my little family all under one roof. :)

be still my heart......

I recently have found journals that I kept while Maddie and Nathan were little. I don't think I have ever been so glad to have something in my whole life.

It has helped me remember.....

....to see things in a different light

.....a happier light.

well, anyway....I am glad I kept them and I am glad I wrote them down.

It has also made me glad that I blog. I know I will look back years and years down the road and just.......

bE ThAnKful

For that is how I feel today.

things I love.....

The baby bullet......

I remember making Nathan's baby food. I can't say that he never had store bought baby food, but I will say that he had a minimal amount.

It wasn't hard to to. But it can be time consuming.

This time around.

I found the baby bullet system.

When I first saw it, I thought whatever. Just another gimmick.

But then I paid a little bit more attention to it and have to say that I really like it.  It's something that can be used for more then just baby food making.

So we decided to jump in and make the investment.

I am so very glad that we did.

This is the steamer.

It will steam a sweet potato in 13 minutes. Perfectly.

I have a half a butternut squash in it in this picture.

It took about 18 min to steam it. Perfectly.

It cost me.....maybe $2.00 and I have 6 full cups of baby food and each cup will feed her 1 days worth of food.

The 1st night I fed her the squash is the 1st night that she finished all the food. I was pretty happy with her.

I decided that sense I was already making baby food I would go ahead and make some corn from the leftover ears of corn we had from dinner.

A weeks worth of baby food cost me a whole 66 cents and it took me about 5 min start to finish to make.

This is the blender. It also has another cup and blade that you can use to mill oatmeal and other grains. (I haven't done that yet.)

And these are the cups/container that you can freeze the food with. The white one is 1 piece and you put the food into that and once it is frozen you pop the individual food out and put it in a Ziploc bag. (I had already made green beans another night and that is what is in the bag to the side.)

It also come with the little green cups. Besides the fact that they are adorable, they are handy for traveling or storing food in the fridge.

I have to say that I have actually had fun making her food. As she grows, I look forward to seeing what other concoctions I can come up with.

And don't worry......I did not put salt in her food. I had used it in our food that night and it was just sitting there.

It might just be a good thing......

That Maddie is on vacation......

It started out with me just wanting to change her sheets.

When I found these.....

3 of my Fiesta Ware glasses thrown in Maddie's room. She KNOWS she is NOT to have these glasses downstairs.

While in Maddie's room, I gathered up her dirty laundry.......

While looking around for laundry, I just couldn't let it go.

I knew that Maddie's room was dirty.

But I was shocked with how dirty it just was.

(In Maddie's defense, the dust isn't all her fault. Jeremy is doing dry wall work down there and well, we all know what dry wall dust is like.

In MY defense, I was 9 months pregnant when her room was moved and just couldn't help her get it organized.

She has been told to clean her room. Obviously, she "cleaned" it. And by that I mean she shoved things in every nook and crany she could find.

Lets just....now I have time.)

Here are 4 of the 25 water bottles I found in her room.

The mixing bowl I have been looking for.

The journal and ice pack I have been looking for......

The Mio that was "misplaced."

A couple weeks ago, Maddie told me that she doesn't have a denim skirt that fits her. She begged me to get her a new skirt to wear to school.

I didn't.

I knew that she had one....somewhere.

What better place to keep it, then between your toy box and your armior??

I have been looking for this photo album since Emma has been born.

My favorite hat.....no longer wearable.

My lost headphones that no one had.

It's surprising we didn't have mice or bugs in there. Notice the moldy orange?

I spared you a picture of the moldy banana smooshed into her floor.

You welcome.

Here is another water bottle, oh and there are 2 more in the green bag.....

A dress.....

and some towels. I knew I was missing some towels.

My scissors who "no one" had.

And more clothes stuffed in the corner.

She just HAD to have this trapper keeper when school started.

Now it's just thrown on the floor.

 Next to what else?? But wrapping paper.

My favorite lotion.

No one had it.

I opened up her toy box.

Why should I be surprised?

Her Christmas dress was wadded up in there.

Doesn't everyone keep empty olive jars in their room?

My "little helper" today.

When decorating her room for Christmas, she made "snow."

She did TRY and clean it up.

Let's just say it's a little like easter grass.

No matter how hard you try and get it all, it's still there.

This is what every mother of a diabetic child like to find in her childs bedroom.

Doesn't everyone have their Mother's fondue pot in their room?

What does a Mother find when she moves the toy box?

Why a tv dinner tray....

 

You ask what the best find of the day was??

The lost ipod.

Yep,

it was in her coat, which was in her toy box, which after I washed the coat, I found it in the washing machine.

It still works.

She SWORE it was in the van.

A couple "after pictures"

Notice the vase with all the pencils/pens?

I can not tell you how many times the kids said they couldn't find a pencil for there homework.

Well....they were all in Maddie's room.

And doesn't every girl need this many purses??

I think the total is 25 OK maybe 12 water bottles, 3 pieces of moldy fruit, 2 very large overflowing baskets of laundry, 4 1/2 bags a garbage, 12 purses, 2 wallets, 6 - 3 ring binders, 1 pair of her Mother's mittens, her Mother's dumbbells, her Mother's bra, her Dad's favorite mug, 2 pairs of her Mother's shoes, a couple spoons and a whole lot of clothes to go through when she comes back.

I just have to make her bed and then it will be completely done.

Today, I am in love with Murphy's oil soap and Pledge.

I also MIGHT have called my Mother and apologized for all those times she had to force me to clean my room. She MIGHT have thought this was a little funny.

Is there a contest for the worlds messiest eater?

Good Morning!!

I am the world's messiest eater.

And I mean ever.

Mommy says that she needs to wear a hazmat suit when she feeds me.

I like to talk and spit when I am eating.

Mommy can get mad about it sometimes bc I get food ALL over me and her. ;)

I am quickly learning little Emma's game. She is beginning to figure things out. And she is beginning to throw little fits when she doesn't get what she wants.

Prime example.....

Emma likes to play with the washcloth after she gets done eating. She is all happy when you give it to her.

Take it from her........

And you would have thought we were killing her.

Give it back to her and she is one happy clam again.

And so it begins.......