Another cat

This one is just a kitten.

She's very playful.

She loves the other cat, but the other cat doesn't care for her so much.

She has the cutest little nose.

She loves to sit on my lap.

Unfortunately, she is not yet litter box trained...but




She is so stinkin' cute I think I'll keep her.

Got bananas?

Don't just make banana bread, or even worse throw them out. Do something truly delicious and make monkey bars.

Why? Well for one thing they have chocolate chips in them. And, more importantly, they have bananas in them so you can totally justify eating it for breakfast.

This is a recipe that I got from my Mother-in-law when I got married but I always forget that I have it. Then, last week I had some over ripe bananas and a light bulb went off in my head. My kids gobbled them up so fast that I bought extra bananas this week just so I could make more.

Cream together: 3/4 C butter

2/3 C sugar

2/3 C brown sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

Add: 3 ripe bananas (mashed)

Mix well & Add: 2 1/4 C flour (generous cups)

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 bag chocolate chips

pour in a greased 9 x 13 pan and bake @350 degrees for 30-35 minutes. Cool then sprinkle with powdered sugar.

All about us

I was sitting in the living room this afternoon watching the kids play and absentmindedly started thinking about how different the older two are and yet how similar they are in some ways. Then I wondered if Macy will be wide eyed and spirited like Samm or be goofy and sensitive like James. Probably something completely different.

I thought about the traits they inherited from Josh. They all have his beautiful lips. And the thin stringy hair both girls got from me.

It was kind of fun to compile this little list in my head, which then lead me to just start listing random things that were all about us.

Some of you may already know these things. Some of you may not.

Some of you may care. Some of you may not.

But since this is my blog and I think my kids would enjoy reading this some day. Here are some things you may, or may not want to know about our little family.

All three of our kids were born in different states.

Samm has a very large brown birthmark on her left cheek that was not present at birth.

James has a very small brown birthmark on the same cheek.

Josh sang to me on our first date. He also sang to me when he proposed.

James' answer to everything is "Because that's what boys do."

I was 18 when we got married.

Samm loves vegetables and her favorites are bell peppers and cucumbers.

James loves treats and can usually swindle Grandma into giving him three instead of just one.

Macy's favorite song is I am like a star shining brightly. It calms her down.

When I first met Josh I thought he liked my long time friend and roommate Kate.

Samm tells me at least five times a day "I love you Mom. Your such the sweetest Mom ever."

Josh prefers to be called Joshua but no one, including myself, ever calls him that.

James is obsessed with video games.

My Dad built the temple that Josh and I were sealed in. My Grandpa sealed us.

I have to special order Samm's ballet shoes because she has her Dad's extra wide feet.

Macy adores James and laughs hysterically when he jumps up and down.

I steal all of my sisters fashion secrets and jump all over her hand-me-downs.

Josh was accepted into nursing school, but with some gentle nudging from me decided to follow his dream of becoming a Doctor. The same day he withdrew his application from nursing school, he found out he had been awarded a full scholarship from the Dean and her husband.

Macy is way more attached to me than the other two were and cries if I even try to put her down for two seconds.

Samm prefers to dress up her stuffed animals in baby clothes instead of playing with dolls.

James has worn his spider man suit to bed every single night for the last two weeks.

And, recently we acquired a cat to deal with our ever growing mouse population. It's our second attempt at a pet. (not counting the fish) Her name is Bella, but we pretty much just call her Cat.

Too tired for words

Seriously!

Fun Fall Fingers for F.H.E

I was doing some frantic online searching this weekend for unicorn party supplies. Samm's birthday always sneaks up on me and this year she asked for a unicorn theme, which is not readily available in stores.

Anyway, while I was searching, I got a pop-up add from kaboose.com about a fun fall craft to do with your kids.

And, since it is Monday and I've only been husband less for one day I thought my patience level could probably handle a messy craft for F.H.E.

The kids really had a great time. Well, not Macy. She cried the whole time from her high chair, but she always cries if I'm not holding her so that was to be expected. So, if you need a fun activity for next week I would definitely suggest making a fall hand print tree. All you need is some craft paint and paper.

I think it's all pretty self explanatory, but if you have any questions feel free to ask. (the leaves are red, yellow, and orange, and they dot them with their fingertips.)

I had to try really hard to not be anal about where the kids were putting there leaves. Especially since James just wanted all of his to be on the ground. Overall I think they turned out really cute. Samm is already talking about what our winter trees will look like.

And of course there was treats after!

Was your weekend this cute?

I sure hope so!

Since we're on the subject

Of the deceased that is. (It's been a weird week) Let me show you the next great item I inherited from my Grandmother.

What, you don't think an old slip is very cool? Well I do. Here's why.

After a bottle of this.

And a concoction that looked like this.

I got this!

And now I can wear it with this.

And this

Pretty dang cool huh?

BTW, do you like my shoes? They were only $6.99

And so were these

And these!

Where? At Charlotte Russe of course. It's my favorite because it's cheap and I'm dirt poor!

I also picked up this little ditty last night.

Which I love. I'm not sure if my Josh will though!

And do you like my model pose? I'm practicing for when little miss Victoria goes Mommies with stretch marks. Any day now I'm sure.

And speaking of Josh, (actually it's Dr. Sexy now) He's coming home tonight! A very good surprise for me.

His new nick name has to do with a very funny story (to me, not so much him) that involves doing a "female" exam on a girl wearing handcuffs and chains on her feet. Her mother had missing teeth and they both thought he was "sexy, very sexy!"

I happen to agree! Just remember honey it's all in the name of us being filthy stinkin rich some day so I can afford to buy shoes that cost more than $6.99

I DON'T DO DEAD THINGS!!!

I thought I made that pretty clear.

So why is there a very dead rabbit in my back yard right now with flies swarming all over it? (I'll spare you all a picture.)

GROSS, GROSS, GROSS, GROSS, GROSS!

Mr. Ugly

I Cleaned my house today. You know, really cleaned it.

It felt so nice to have it clean that I thought, "I think I'll clean the car too."

So I did.

James helped and we had fun.

Until we happened upon Mr. Ugly

I don't know what he is, but he's big and he's ugly and he's stuck in my headlight. And since I'm a girly girl and bugs of any kind gross me out, he will be along for the ride until Josh gets back from caring for the sick and delivering babies, to dig him out.

At least he's all nice and clean. James made sure of that!

Macy Girl is 8 months old

ps. If your wondering why the water is cloudy it's because I was giving her an oatmeal bath to help with her rash.

Note to self

Macy plus Amoxicillin = Horrible rash all over her body and thrashing around restlessly all night long. = don't do it again!

Use It or Loose It

If I was dorky enough to admit that I have a motto, this would probably be it.

There are few things that put me in a bad mood faster than piles of stuff and useless junk laying around my house. And yes dear, I put your Dickies in one or both of those two categories, which is why they are no longer with us.

This especially comes into play with family heirlooms. If you really want to honor your loved ones than use it, display it, or give it to someone that will!

So, when my Mom told me that she had some of my Grandma's jewelry for us girls to look through, I was a little bit concerned. I didn't want to hurt my Mom's feelings by not taking anything, but I didn't want stuff that was just going to sit at the bottom of a jewelry box either.

Turns out, my Grandma had a thing for gaudy silver jewelry... So do I!

Then she brought out some of my Great Grandma's jewelry. She had a huge thing for butterflies... Me, not so much.

However, there was this one silver pin that I wanted as soon as I laid eyes on it. The trick was that my Mom kind of wanted it too.

I wanted it more.

Sorry Mom!

So today I wore my little butterfly pin to church. Not on my shirt though....

In my hair!

Thinking of you Grandma!

Making the most of a rainy day

The End

What's more important?

Teaching your children how to cook, or...

teaching them how to make Chocolate chip cookies!

If I actually knew how to cook or maybe even enjoyed it I might put that in the top 15 things I want to teach my kids. As it stands, it ranks more like number 675.

Cookies on the other hand, are a whole different story.

I of course learned the art of cookie making from my mother, and have been teaching Samm for a while now. So, yesterday I decided it was time to start Macy down the path of learning what a kitchen is really meant for.

And since it was Monday and we needed some sort of activity for Family Home Evening, it was the perfect opportunity.

PS. To any of you that we delivered cookies to. I'm sorry that they were a little underdone, and if there were any egg shells. I let Samm crack the eggs.

Macy thought she was pretty hot stuff.

Samm kept trying to sneak her fingers into the bowl when she thought I wasn't looking.

Gravitating towards the goodness.

James didn't really want to help make the cookies, but he sure showed up for the

important part.

Yep, it was that good.

So now, here is my other question. Just out of curiosity, what type of chocolate chips do you prefer? See my poll in the top right corner.

My husband is a milk chocolate kind of guy, but I think that is too much sweetness. And, up until just recently I have been a semi-sweet kind of girl. Now I am in love with the bittersweet chips. Yum!

So, we have a house divided.

Only time will tell what the kids prefer, but I'm pretty confident they will side with me.

Oh ya, and Go Jaguars!