Francesca Battistelli - Free To Be Me

LOVE this song! It reminds me that God has a plan, we may not see it but we will get where we are suppose to be :) Perfection is not for me, and this song reminds me that its ok!
P.S. I tried to share the music video but it would not let me.... oh well!



Happy Tuesday friends!

The Winter Solstice at the Farm

A little late on this one but better late then never! Here are a few pictures from our celebration of the winter solstice at the farm with the Cusicks! Oh how I love our winter trip to the farm :)

Enjoy!

Thanksgiving 2010

I am only one holiday behind..... ;) Here are a few pics from our family Thanksgiving at my sisters new house!

Grandparents and Aunt Marian :)


Me and the Bubs taking it easy. (I had a terrible cold so wanted to stay away from the food prep)

Enjoying a meal together :)

Brody mid-bite ....

The other side of the table...

These were from my mom's camera... I am not sure why they look so blurry though.... oh well you get the point! Perfection is no concern of mine :)

Happy Holidays!

A few days late (that's how we roll) I hope you all had a wonderful Holiday!

Christmas Prep!

Life is SO HECTIC! Making gifts and wrapping them will be my life for the next few days :) Yes i am the princess of procrastinating :) But here is a little something to fuel your Christmas prep fire....

Aunt Bef and Da Bubs!

Me and my boy hammin it up! Dont you love the giant stocking! :) Hope your christmas prep is going well!

Life is flying by...

Quick snap shot in our lives... Bubs got a little tummy virus thing/teething tummy (also known as ria :() Sorry if that is T.M.I for people! His little butt is so raw and chapped that he screams every time we change his diaper :( But besides that he is acting fine. And the good new of the day is..... No poop in the diaper when he woke up this morning! So hopefully we are on the downward end of this thing, whatever it may be!
On to better news. . . tomorrow we will be heading to the family farm in Salina for a Solstice celebration with the Cusicks! I love this time of year at the farm, lots of family and good laughs :) This year it will only be us and the Salina Cusicks but it will be as magical as ever! I am excited for Brody to get to play with his second cousins!!! :)
And last but not least today I have a cookie exchange at work! YAY COOKIES! :) I mad Monster cookies, and somewhat improvised on the ingredients, I ran out of oats and brown sugar.... added a little wheat germ, whole wheat flour and powdered sugar.... Voila!!

Happy Thursday friends! :)

O' Christmas Tree

We started decorating the tree Friday evening but Brody was a little sleepy .....

So we saved some fun ornaments for Saturday morning!

He loved taking the ornaments off the tree and bringing them to me:)

And there she blows! A beautiful tree in our new home :) We have more fun pics to come in front of the tree.... oh yes we got our Christmas pictures taken Sunday morning! Hopefully I will have some of them to share soon!

Girls Brunch!

To show off the new house, and just a good excuse to get together I had the girls over for brunch and some crafts!

Good Friends!

A nice set table....

Homemade pumpkin truffles (not so pretty but they tasted good!)

And great food! My first quiche ever! And trust me I will be making it again. This was DELISH! I used bacon, spinach (from the garden), onion and cheese.... Needless to say it was gone by the end of the day.

What a wonderful morning that turned into afternoon with the girls :) Great company and good food.... could you ask for anything more on your Saturday?

It's begining to look a lot like Christmas!

Let me just start by saying how much I love Fridays! We had a great day at work followed by a wonderful evening at home. My little fam went and picked up a Christmas tree after work! We got a great deal on a lovely tree! By the time we got home though our little man was pooped! He ate dinner and it was about bedtime. So we decided to save decorating for tomorrow morning when the bubs is fresh :) We did however get our wonderful tree in position for the morning. That coupled with a glass of red wine made for a wonderful evening at home with my boys! Oh and I decorated our mantel!....

TA-DAA!!!!

You can hardly see the garland and red balls in the picture but they are there! We eventually plan on replacing the tile and mirror with stone or if we are lucky restoring the original brick underneath. This art deco huge tile is not really our style. But hey, I am SO NOT complaining :) Its beginning to feel a little more like home :) I also spent some time in the kitchen preparing some goodies for my girls brunch tomorrow. A few girlfriends are coming over for brunch and some crafts :) I am SO EXCITED to show off the new digs :) Happy Friday friends!!! :) Tis the season!

New Home

So its official. We have moved into our new house. I have to admit i did shed a few tears as we stood outside our old house taking in the last few mins.... That house was the perfect house for us to start our family in. I will remember it fondly :) Now we are in a house that is twice the size and sometimes it feels a bit.... empty? I know that it takes time to make a new house feel like home. So we are just taking it a day at a time. I think I was just use to everything being close and the cozy feel of a small ranch style house. In time this house will feel like home I just know it :) Its beautiful and open and has more room then i ever thought we would have. Brody LOVES the carpet and has already been walking ALOT more then on the hardwoods. OH and he get actual wagon rides around the house! He loves that too :) I know that this will eventually feel like home to me :)
I think I will show you all a picture of a room at the new house with each post! This is obviously my kitchen. Its a little messy and not all the way unpacked yet (and a horrible picture that I took with my phone) ... but you get the idea! There is a little breakfast nook (you can see one of the chairs here) where a little 4 person round table fit perfectly! We still have lots of customizing to do as you can tell! Have a great day everyone!!!

Sentimental

Once again I apologize for not writing much lately. Life has been a whirlwind.I got sick last week, then had Thanksgiving (which was wonderful by the way and hopefully I will post on that soon) and in the midst of it all have been packing and hunting for paperwork that I never thought I would have to find! This buying a house thing is exhausting.... very exciting too though!
On my way into work this morning I was thinking about the house we will be moving from in just a few days.... I have had so many wonderful things happen in that house. I began really cooking in that house. Trial and lots of error but I am getting better and have loved every second I have spent in that tiny little kitchen :) I had my first garden at that house. I never knew I would enjoy it that much.... being outside, hands in the dirt with the sun pelting down. Then come harvest time all the rich colors.... the red of the buckets of cherry tomatoes, the orange of the first carrot I had grown on my own, the scent as I walked past the mass amounts of cilantro that popped up.... there are so many good thoughts and memories that I will always have about my first garden :) And most importantly we brought our first baby home there.... I was pregnant there.... I remember the Sunday night that I stayed up all night with contractions just to have them stop at 6 am....winding my way on foot in and out of the streets of western hills to try and make the contractions start again, and then finally they did. After being out and about all day Tuesday running errands trying to stay busy... they had finally started! That night brings tears to my eyes every time it dances across my memory. Pj went to bed because we both thought, "false labor again". I stayed up rocking back and forth on all fours. Pausing to look up and see what was going on in the shows that I had missed. I had about a months worth of Grey's Anatomy, Private Practice and Brothers and Sisters accumulated on our DVR. Now don't get my wrong, I was not strategic enough to think to myself.... I should save up some shows so that while I am laboring at home I will have something to distract me. Oh how I wish I could claim that I was that prepared, alas I am not that type of person. But how it worked out beautifully. Meredeth Grey,Addison Montgomery and Nora Walker kept me great company during those wee hours of the morning. So on all fours I rocked back and forth and back and forth.... through all the contractions then rolled over to my side to catch up on what I had missed. Looking back now it was such a beautiful night. Just me and my little baby boy inching his way closer to meeting the world. I would not change a thing about that night....
As I stood in that tiny living room searching for what I could pack next, there was a flood of emotion... How much of our new life began in this house... the person I am becoming took shape in this house. I never thought I would be sentimental about a house.... I guess I was wrong :)

Brody's Brithday Decor!

Better late then never that I post this! I found the cutest invite for Brody's Birthday party back in November. But the problem was there were no decorations that I could find that went with it.... So I just made our own!

The blank invitation we started with....

The Birthday Banner all from recycled materials (old copy paper, fishing line, cardboard boxes and ribbon from his baby shower)

I thought these guys were so cute! And they were semi-matching to his invite :)

The party favors.... I used more recycled paper (printed only on one side) to print these cute little images of the Internet. I made some cookies and with a little tape, plastic wrap and ribbon we were all set!
We also sent a picture of the invite to the woman who was making our cakes. Look how great they turned out! He got his own little cake all to himself .....

And then the big one for the rest of us to split :)

I had so much fun making all of this stuff for the party. Something about homemade decor to go with the theme makes it feel even more special! I am getting more and more into crafting these days! :) Hopefully I can start posting some better photos of things!

We got the house!!!

Sorry I have been SOOO BUSY! I have not had a chance to blog in a few weeks. Every spare minute I had I spent sleeping I think! lol I told one of my girlfriends it's like I have had 3 jobs these past few weeks, being a stellar mommy, my regular 40 hour a week job and the new hat...... first time home buyer! Now don't get me wrong, we are very fortunate to be able to be buying a home and I am incredibly grateful for that. But man is it a pain in the butt! We just got word last night that our final contract, after inspection was accepted! We close on Thursday December 2nd!!!! And we get a brand new furnace to go along with our beautiful new(well new to us) home :) I am one lucky lady! So if I am sparse in the next few weeks it is because I have taken on the roll of home mover :) I hope all is well in your life! God bless :)

Brody's First Halloween!

Our little man did not know what to think of his first Halloween! But he sure was cute!!! :)

We went to trick or treat at Nana & Gramps!

Me and my little lion! He was so sleepy by the end of the day... can you tell? lol

My boys at the end of day ... Oh I heart them :)

My little Man is one!

What can I say besides I am the luckiest Mama in the world!!!!