Five Things Friday

What a whirlwind week, but SO much fun! I’m happy that the kids and husband are still home for another week, we have lots of fun things planned and then before I know it they will be back to school and work. 

I didn’t get a post up for Christmas Day, so I’m including it in today’s Five Things Friday post. 

1. Santa came about 3.2 seconds after everyone was tucked in, mama was tired and wanted to go to bed too!

2. After they opened their stockings and Santa gifts, we piled into the living room to open the rest of the gifts. 

3. The afternoon and evening was spent relaxing and watching movies. I think almost all of the adults snuck a nap in at some point as well. Was glorious.

4. My daughter wanted a sewing machine from Santa, yesterday she made some burp cloths for baby girl Emma.

5. Baby Emma clothes are starting to be acquired!!! She was pretty spoiled Christmas morning, I got a few strong kicks and rolls as I was opening her gifts; we’ll just pretend that was her approval 😉

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas!!!

 

Christmas Eve 2013

This afternoon has been pretty low key so far. We met at my Mom’s house around 1:00, did a little relaxing and then started cooking the appetizers.

We had some homemade cranberry salsa over cream cheese, 7 layer dip and a cheese ball.

Apparently, I was too busy feeding kids to get pictures of dinner, but it was an amazing feast of taquitos, chicken enchiladas, beef enchilada casserole and taco pasta. I managed to eat a couple of taquitos and an enchilada before feeling so full I was going to burst!

Then it was present time! We usually get the kids a small gift to open on Christmas Eve and then the adults do a gift exchange.

Baby Jack’s stank face. He’s so cute.

Sarah modeling the two scarves and headband that my sister crocheted for her. She’s a genius with a crochet hook, and needs to pass on her skills before she heads back to CA next week!

We are now snuggled up watching Elf and once the kiddies are in bed, we can get all of the Santa stuff out, fill the stockings and go to bed ourselves!

Merry Christmas Eve!!!

Marvelous in my Monday {5}

So happy that our power came back on a few hours ago! It is getting mighty chilly outside and we were worried about the pipes freezing/bursting before the power was restored. Thank you DTE for getting us back up and running!!! Let’s get right down to today’s MiMM.

Marvelous is…my sister making this amazing spaghetti/garlic bread loaf.

Spaghetti, garlic bread, cheese and sausage; if that’s wrong, I don’t want to be right!

Here’s the finished product

Marvelous is... my mom’s Christmas tree. I don’t know how she gets it so perfect every year, but I love it.

Marvelous is…dinner tonight! We took my in laws out for dinner for their Christmas gift. SOO good. I always get the asiago peppercorn steak and it’s AMAZING. Tonight was no exception.

I’m off to finish wrapping the rest of the presents and then we are headed to my mom’s house tomorrow and Wednesday for all sorts of Christmas ridiculousness. From our family to yours, Merry Christmas!!!

 

Five Things Friday

I was looking forward to spending the day cleaning, organizing some Christmas gifts and doing a little bit of relaxing before the kids are out of school for two weeks…and then the phone rang at 5am. Apparently the back roads were a bit icy, so snow day it is. Thankfully, the school sing a long and Christmas parties were yesterday afternoon!

Let’s get on to this edition of Five Things Friday!

 

1. Last Saturday night, our Church had a Christmas dinner and then the younger kids did a live nativity. Tyler was Joseph, Karlie was an angel and Aiden was supposed to be an animal, but got a bit of stage fright at the last minute.

2. We have decided to cloth diaper this time around. I am having way too much fun shopping on Ebay for fun girly cloth diapers! I can’t believe we are going to have someone small enough to fit into this soon!!!!

3. Throwback Thursday action. This was my brother and I circa mid 1980’s. Apparently we were very excited to get those sunglasses.

4. Fisbee the Elf has come to visit from CA with my sister and niece. I have never been a fan of the Elf on the Shelf, but my son’s Kindergarten teacher does a version of it in her class room (theirs is the Frog on the Log) and Aiden has been SOO excited about it, I think I’ll have to break down and get a freaking elf next year.

5. Christmas parties at school yesterday. I bounced between the Kindergarten and 3rd grade classrooms and both were festive and full of fun activities for the kids to do. So happy they did this yesterday and they didn’t have to miss out today because of the snow day!!

 

What I Ate Wednesday {5}

5 in a row, it’s a Christmas miracle! Once again, another WIAW is upon us. I typically post at night, but once I pick up everyone from school, we are headed to my mom’s house for dinner. I’m not sure when we’ll be home, so I’m putting the post up a little bit early today.

Breakfast: 

Simple, but delicious. Oatmeal topped with vanilla stevia and crunchy nut butter.

Yogurt on the side.

Snack:

Pineapple (SO juicy and flavorful!!!) and some sharp cheddar cheese.

Lunch: 

My BIL smoked a turkey for us the other night, so I have been feasting on the leftover turkey meat the last couple of days, today I wanted something different. I turned it into one epic grilled cheese/turkey sandwich.

More pineapple on the side…

Don’t forget to head over to Peas and Crayons for more WIAW entries!!

Hump Day, Bump Day!

22 weeks and 4 days. My 11 year old wanted to take the pictures this morning. Baby girl is running out of “up room,” pretty soon she’ll just be growing out.

 

Marvelous in my Monday {4}

I’m so bummed I ended up leaving my camera at my mom’s house last night. Good thing we are going over there on Wednesday, the iPhone will have to do until then!

Marvelous is…the 2nd annual cousin picture taken at my mom’s house last night. I can’t believe how grown up all of these kids are getting!

Marvelous is…the snow storm we had on Saturday. It was the perfect type of snow storm, light snow all day long so the roads were able to be semi-cleared all day and we were still able to attend the Christmas party at Church Saturday night.

Marvelous is…new ornaments for the Christmas tree. This one isn’t new exactly, but I found a whole bag of ornaments out in the garage that we haven’t had on the tree in a few years, so they are like new this year!

Marvelous is…the winter wonderland that our neighborhood has going on today.

Marvelous is…the sunset happening right now.

Marvelous is…my sister coming into town! She will be here tomorrow night, I can’t even remember the last time we spent Christmas together!!

That wraps up this issue of Marvelous in my Monday, don’t forget to head over to Healthy Diva Life for even more MiMM fun!

22 Weeks

Baby is the size of: Papaya

This is two weeks in a row he has decided that he needs to be in the picture with me. I’m also in denial that my current “baby” will be 6 in February. Seems like I was just pregnant with him!

Symptoms: Getting harder to find a comfortable sleeping position. I’ll wake up and my hips will be on fire and then I’ll switch to the other side to wake up a few hours later with that side hurting. It’s a vicious cycle. Definitely feeling more and more movements, the strongest are at night when I’m trying to fall asleep or anytime my blood sugar is low, she beats on me like a little drum to get my attention.

Food Cravings & Aversions: Steak. I want steak and lots of it.

Upcoming Appointments: I have an appointment on Tuesday with a new eye Dr. to make sure I don’t have Diabetic Retinopathy. Don’t ask me what it means, because I really have no idea. I just know my endocrinologist told me I need to be screened for it and then once a month until I deliver.

That’s all I have for tonight. I can’t believe we are already halfway through this, April may seem far away, but it’s really not. She’ll be here before I know it!

Five Things Friday

Good evening! My boys and husband are at the Piston’s game tonight, so it’s just me and the daughter hanging out. We went out to eat with my Mom and did a little Christmas shopping, now she’s watching Tangled, I’m updating the blog and then we are both heading to bed.

But first, 5 fabulous things for today’s Five Things Friday:

1. This ice cream. Oh man, it is AMAZING. The bits of peppermint candies make it a little bowl of heaven.

2. The lowest fasting blood sugar # since October. So happy!

3. I love this candle. I have been burning it at night and the whole kitchen smells of pepperminty goodness, one of my favorite flavors and smells.

4. Dinner from tonight; you can never, ever go wrong with steak fajitas.

5. Ornament that my daughter made at school today. Handmade ornaments make up the bulk of our tree, and I wouldn’t have it any other way!

I’ll leave you with this high 5 for the end of today’s Five Things Friday. Have a great weekend and if you are also in the path of this snow storm, good luck and stay safe and warm!

 

What I Ate Wednesday {4}

It’s that time of the week again! I love this day on my favorite blogs, so many new ideas to add to our menus! Let’s get right to it.

Breakfast: It has been COLD here the last few days. I would much rather have this though, then sweating in 100 degree weather. It’s always easier to add more layers, but there’s only so much you can take off. This morning I had oats with crunchy nut butter and then a yogurt.

Lunch: I went to a friend’s house for a brunch which turned into my lunch, my contribution was this yummy egg and canadian baked dish and hash browns. We also had some blueberry muffins that were incredible. It just a laid back morning and we sat around and talked while their kids played and I snuggled with the sweet little 6 month old that was there. I can’t believe I’m going to have a little baby again…and soon!

Snack: My favorite; the mug cake. I have mentioned this so many times over the last week, but I’m not kidding, I ate least have this every other afternoon.

Dinner: Spaghetti! I  needed some vegetables in me (and baby girl) tonight, so I added a cup of steamed broccoli.

Ending with the hump day bump day picture, here we are at 21 weeks and 4 days.

Don’t forgot to check out everyone else at Peas and Crayons for more WIAW posts!

Marvelous in My Monday {3}

Happy Monday! It’s time for another edition of MiMM, for more entries, head over to Healthy Diva Eats and details on how to participate.

Marvelous is…hitting 21 weeks on Saturday.

Marvelous is…the husband surprising me with the Christmas lights being hung up while I was out running errands. We had talked about not putting them up this year, but he said he felt bad for our kids that the house wasn’t decorated on the outside. #hesakeeper

Marvelous is…my 5 year old going to his first friend’s birthday party. There is a group of 4 boys in his Kindergarten class that have been buddies since day 1 and one of them had his birthday party at an indoor pool last night. Snow falling like crazy outside, kids swimming like crazy inside.

 

It’s been a busy day and I have to run off to a Christmas party planning meeting for my 3rd grader, so I’m cutting this short. Have a great day!