Just for Fun!

I am pretty amazed I have been blogging for over two years. I started this blog on Jan. 25 th, 2008. A lot has happened in those two years. We added Ben to our lovely family. We had to buy a new car, washer, dryer, and hot water heater. We put in a playground, garden bed, landscaping, new floor, painted a lot of rooms in the house and worked on the basement. We have made some new friends. We are still living in the same house, amazing! We have been here for over three years now. We are planning for a busy summer as always. I am thankful for my family and friends, for our health and happiness.
There are many plans for our future!
One is that I am trying to post daily. I have a plan on how to do that.
Monday will be Make-A-Plan Monday. An idea from a friend, thanks!
Tuesday will be Talented Tuesday, I will post a project that I have finished or am working on.
Wednesday will be Wordless Wednesday, like so many of my friends do, thanks again!
Thursday will be Thursday Thirteen or Thrifty Thursday.
Friday will be Friday Fill-in or Frantic Friday (recap of our crazy week).
Saturday will be Scrumptious Saturday, I will post a new recipe that I made that week.
Sunday will be Soupy Sunday, I will post a new soup recipe that I made that week.

Happy blogging everyone!!!

The germs have found us!

Everyone is sick except Ben. Hopefully he does not get it. Everyone stayed home on Thursday. Katie and Tony stayed home today. I sent Maddie to school today and had to run to Wal-mart for pb and juice. I felt like hell the whole time. Tomorrow we are all staying in our pj's. Maddie and I got sick on Wednesday afternoon. She has been better since yesterday. Katie said her belly hurt yesterday and today she had a fever of 101.4 and a sore throat. Tony got sick yesterday and still is. He has been doing a lot of sleeping. Katie has been laying around. Ben has been playing and looking for attention. I still feel like crap. I can't even take the smell of food. Hopefully we will all feel better tomorrow. Clorox wipes and soup are our best friend.

Cuteness!

Wii

I have been trying to make some changes in my way of life. Yesterday I started doing the Wii Fit. My goal is at least 15 minutes a day. I am addicted to the hula hoop and yoga on the Wii Fit. I also donated 11 inches of my hair to "Locks for Love." I did this for two reason; first, because it is a good cause and second, because I lost a deal with myself. This is where the Wii Fit comes in. I am going to lose at least 30 pounds before Ben's 2nd Birthday! Please help me along.
Now the Wii has become a family event again. The girls love to play and Tony uses it because it is out. Ben even has an avatar. He loves to lay on the Fit board and help me to do yoga. My balance and weight are always a little off because of him. He does the one leg hug!

Life!

Lookng forward to warmer days!
Katie was almost 4 and Maddie was almost 2.

I am so proud...

I tried to post this last night but fell asleep at least three times before I could even open the computer.
I am so proud of Katie. Yesterday we went door to door selling cookies. Her goal was 100 until she looked at the incentives again. She started out wanting 150 as we walked along. Many people did not answer the door or had already bought cookies from someone else. She was getting sad, but she said she want to sell 150. So we keep walking. After about an hour and a half we went home for lunch. I then asked if she was done or if she wanted to go back out. She said she wanted to go back out. She then changed her goal to 200. She says, "I can do it. I want to get the 200 badge and a wallet." The wind was strong and cold. We started and she just keep trying. Sometimes she danced at the door as she waited. Sometimes she left the door sad and discouraged. We did the whole back half of the subd. We talked about how in earlier days people sold things door to door to make money to feed their families. We talked about goals and challenges in peoples lives. How people have to work for the things they want and goals are how they get there. She was a trooper. I am happy to say that she needs only 21 more boxes to meet her goal of 200. Way to go, Girlie Girl!!!

Friday Fun

It is finally Friday! The kiddos are really for the weekend. I am ready for it too. I started it out with a late dinner and a movie with the book club. We went to see Lovely Bones. It was a pretty good movie. I would say read the book first, then see the movie. We ate at Maria's in Brownsburg the food is pretty good. I had a hot chocolate at Boulder Creek that was not good at all. Swiss Miss is 10 x's better.
Our next book is "My Sister's Keeper." I am currently reading two really good book. I will post the title later.

BARBIE

I added a picture of Ben checking out the Dinosaurs!

The zoo

found

I found these pictures on a memory card.

Wordless Wednesday a day late

Artichoke Dip

My friend Amy gave me this great recipe. I could eat it everyday. I am not a fan of artichokes regularly, but this is the best. I hope she doesn't mind that I share it.

1 can drained and chopped plain artichoke hearts

1 cup Parmesan cheese

1 cup mozzarella cheese

1 cup mayo

1 clove garlic, peeled and chopped finely

Mix all ingredients and cook at 350' for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Serve on crackers!

haircuts!

Ben and I got our haircut today. Ben just needed a good trim. I on the other hand got a lot cut. Once I figure out the cell camera I will post. New phones can be such a headache!

Tired Tuesday

I have grown to dislike Tuesdays. The girls have dance and it makes for a long day. Katie gets off the bus, eats a snack, then we rush off to Ballet. We are done around 6:15. We eat dinner, do homework, take a bath and then breath. Bedtime ends up being around 9. The usual time is 8. Wednesday are not any quieter.

The picture did not happen rescently, I just thought it was cute!

Problems already!

I am so trying to post everyday, but yesterday was another missed day. My computer caught some kind of bug that would not let me do anything. I was on Facebook and a Virus program popped up and started running. I stopped it but it had already done its damage. I am staying off of Facebook for awhile.
The happy part of yesterday. The girls had off school and wanted to go bowling, so we did. Maddie and Katie had a lot of fun. Ben was kind of bored but well behaved. The pizza there was pretty good too!

Children's Museum

Today we made a trip to the children's museum to see the Barbie Exhibit. I would give it a 7. It was like the Comic Exhibit but with Barbie. It was pretty crowded. They had mainly old Barbie dolls. Maddie saw only one doll that she has. Their favorite part was brushing the heads. Katie liked dressing the bodies. I only have pictures on my cell and I have to find out how to get them off the phone. Ben and Maddie played for la little while in the playscape. Ben liked going down the slide. Katie went to the science works which was very crowded. The line for the carousal was long. So in the end we saw the dinosaurs and Barbie and did lunch. Tomorrow we are going bowling.

The Zoo

I had all intentions of posting this last night. I had the computer open, the memory card in the scanner and Ben in my lap. I then fell asleep! We went to the zoo yesterday because it was 37'. I know it was not warm but warm compared to the last couple of weeks. We all had a great time. The zoo was pretty much empty, animals included. The garden had some really pretty flowers. I like the one that looks like a bird. Maddie was looking for the butterflies. The sad part was that the whole back part of the zoo was closed. Maddie wanted to see the giraffes and elephants. We did get to see the bears in all their glory, OK they were just moving around. Most of the animals are packed away in this weather. I am used to Brookfield Zoo where all the animals can be seen all year long. We are going to the museum today, post later.

Doctor!

Ben had the doctor today. He is in the 17% for weight and the 74% for height. He weights 20.8lbs. His height is 31 inches, I think. The doctor says he is healthy and active. The was concerned about his weight. He says that he should be heavier. You can never win. Either they are too thin or too heavy. i think that he is just right. I would like to be too thin. The doctor said to give him whole milk with Caration Instant Breakfast. Ben loves it! Ben is walking for about ten steps and then crawls like his butt is on fire. He always wants to be with the girls. He is getting his canine teeth. Ben also got four shots:(

He was a trooper!

Thursday Thirteen!

With all the things that could go wrong with ones life, I decided to post the thirteen things that I am grateful for.
1. My kids
2. My family
3. My husband
4. My friends
5. Moms groups
6. Our Health
7. That I can stay home with the kids.
8. A washer and dryer that works so I can do the laundry everyday.
9. The ability to make choices.
10. The freedom that man and women fight to give me.
11. Peace and Quiet that I find once and awhile.
12. Kohl's and Wal-mart, the two places I am always shopping at.
13. A nice, sunny day!

Wordless Wednesday!

Princess and the Frog

Tonight we went to see Princess and the Frog with the Girl Scouts. It was a pretty good movie. The girls had a pretty good time. They got a tour of the behind the scenes, which was where the film is at. They also got pop, popcorn and candy. We didn't get home until 9pm. Ben was good for the most part. He got a little restless toward the end. I feed him a lot of dried fruit and juice. He fell a sleep in the car. He was so tired! Around 11pm Katie wakes up all upset, the movie scared her. I don't know if that was it or just that she wants to sleep with me. If your child is skiddish this is not the movie for them. There are shadows that come after the frogs and take one of them. I don't want to ruin the movie for anyone but some parts are a little scary.

GIrl Scout Cookies for sale!

Hi all, For those of you that don't know, Katie is a Daisy Girl Scout this year. She is selling Girl Scout Cookies and would love for you to buy some. If you love Girl Scout cookies, this is the only time of year to buy them. They make great gifts, freeze well or you could make a donation to the troops. If you don't already know a Girl Scout to buy from, we would greatly appreciate your support of Troop 749. The cookies are $3.50 per box and come in the following flavors:Lemon Chalet CremesTrefoils (shortbread)Do-Si-Dos (peanut butter/oatmeal)Samoas (caramel/coconut/chocolate)Dulce De Leche (caramel chips)NEWThank U Berry Munch (cranberry/white chip/crunch)NEWTagalongs (choc/peanut butter)Thin Mints Please let me know if you'd like to place an order. Contact me! Money is due when the cookies are delivered, the week of Feb. 15. Please feel free to pass this email along to other friends and family members that may like to order Girl Scout cookies. Thanks for your support :)

Recipes!

I have been in a cooking mood. I have tried some different recipes. My friend Amy gave me two great recipes, chicken noodle soup and a avocado dip. I am also addicted to homemade broasted chicken and taco bake. This week I am going to make a loaded potato soup. I am also planning on making Thin Mint cupcakes. Stay tuned for some great recipes.

Celebrating again!

We celebrating Ben's Bday again today. I know three parties for a one year old. He had a great time playing with Isabella. He loves the ladies. Ben got a lot of great presents from everyone. THANK YOU! I was busy ordering pictures from Walgreens so there are no pictures here. I will post some tomorrow.

The Little Guy!

Look at Ben site there are pictures of him in all this cuteness there too.

Happy 1st Birthday Ben!

Can you believe that he is a yrar already?

Happy Birthday Hubby!

Today was Tony's Birthday! We were talking about how this time last year we were wondering when Ben would arrive. Little did we know that it would be less then 24 hours from then.

Happy Birthday!

All gone!

I ran to Wal-Mart last night after a busy day. We were almost out of toilet paper (3 rolls). While I was there I thought I would get some stuff for soup, the weekend and Ben's bday. The shelves were almost empty. The freezers were empty, I mean empty. Ok almost empty. They are predicting 3 to 6 inches now and people most want to stock-up. Tony says we have enough food to get us thru the winter and spring. Hopefully we won't have to find out. Soup for dinner tonight. We have Tony's bday tomorrow and Ben's on Friday, maybe we will go out to eat. Otherwise is is tacos for Thursday.

Jungle out there!

They are forecasting 7 to 8 inches of snow. We wonder if they are going to be correct. Lets hope not!

Go figure!

I know I said I was going to post everyday in 2010 and I am already three days behind. We spent our holiday in IL. Where else would we go? We had a busy 13 days there. We saw family and some friends. We had Ben's 1st, First Birthday party on Saturday. He was so cute. We took professional pictures twice. I will post pictures tomorrow of the highlights of our time away. I will post daily from now on, or at least try. Ben will be celebrating his First Birthday in four days.