because i said so...

minnie to the rescue

2009-11-15T15:23:00.008-06:00

May 2008

Rough. Doesn't even begin to describe what my weekend would have been like if it weren't for my mom. With Kyle gone since Friday morning and not back until tonight, things would have been a bit tricky if she hadn't shown up.

Because she was here... I was able to focus on my big boy who was sick, sick and rub his achy legs whenever he needed it. Embry and Ellie were happily kept at a distance in hopes of not catching the yuck. My house is not the disaster it would have been otherwise. Books were read. Bottoms were wiped. Beds were made. And one little princess got her nails painted Sleeping Beauty pink.

Thanks Mom.

Thanks for rescuing me again and again.

Love you.

fruit gobbler

2009-11-08T16:36:00.003-06:00

I've made this turkey guy the last several years for the kids (Family Fun's fruit gobbler). I had Hayes help me this year, seeing that he is really into patterns and buildng these days.

Fruit Gobbler

You'll need:

bosc pear (head)

melon (body)... I like the texture of a cantaloupe

cubed cheese (beak and tail feathers)

grapes (tail feathers)
red pepper (snood, feet and side feathers)

raisins (eyes)

bamboo skewers

toothpicks

Stabilize the melon body by cutting a shallow slice off the rind to form a flat base. Using two toothpicks, attach and stabalize the pear head to the melon.

Cut a cheese triangle beak and red pepper snood. Attach both, along with raisin eyes, to the head with sections of toothpick.

Cut red pepper feet and set them in place.

For tail feathers, skewer cheese cubes and red grapes, then insert the skewers as shown. Hayes had fun making different patterns and I got over my need to make it perfect... the different patterns actually turned out really cute.

Pin pepper side feathers in place with toothpicks. Addition of a yellow and orange bell pepper, or even carrots would make it look even more colorful.

And there you have your turkey.

Gobble. Gobble.

picnic in the park

2009-11-06T19:53:00.001-06:00

After a drive clear across town and a failed attempt to feed the ducks ("Please don't feed the waterfowl" grrrrr...), we shifted gears, grabbed dinner and took advantage of a beautiful November day.

shopping with my girl

2009-11-02T21:22:00.002-06:00

The boys went one direction this evening and the girls went another. Kyle took Hayes and Embry to see Astro Boy while Ellie and I hit the mall. We have a few birthdays this month so we took advantage of our girl time to shop!

We looked at jewelry, purses, boots, perfume... she ended up with her own lip gloss, which she reapplied every couple minutes. She was so proud. I watched her as she would catch her reflection in the mirror and just flip her head from side to side and smile. There's a mirror in the Gap that has her little lipgloss kiss. :)

She flirted with the boy cashiers and had her first m&m cookie from the mall. She forced me to buy a pink hoodie instead of a blue one.

I love our girl time.

trick or treat!

2009-10-28T08:38:00.001-05:00

Buzz, Woody and Jessie wish you a Happy Halloween!

pumpkin party

2009-10-25T12:20:00.001-05:00

We had our friends over to eat and carve some pumpkins (uh hem, have the daddies carve some pumpkins). It's always fun having a houseful. Thanks everybody for partying with us! And, thanks Katie for being so on top of the picture-taking. :)

And because this just makes me laugh...

crescent roll apples

2009-10-20T19:24:00.004-05:00

Wanted to share this yummy recipe I made tonight. I hardly ever make dessert... just ask my kids. If they actually eat their dinner and earn dessert, it quite possibly could be fruit snacks or marshmallows.

I love the simplicity of these apples. I guess I love the taste even more. :)

It could definitely be paired with some ice cream. Oh yes, definitely.

Crescent Roll Apples

Serves 8

1 8 oz. can crescent rolls
2 tablespoons butter, softened
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 large Granny Smith apples, peeled and quartered
1 6 oz. can frozen apple juice concentrate, thawed

*Unroll crescent roll dough, and separate into triangles. Spread butter evenly over dough. Stir together sugar and cinnamon; sprinkle evenly over butter. (I just used the cinnamon sugar mixture from the store.)

*Wrap each apple quarter in 1 crescent roll dough triangle and place in a lightly greased 13x9 baking dish.

*Pour apple juice concentrate evenly over rolls.

*Bake at 350° for 45 minutes or until golden brown and bubbly. (I cooked for 30 minutes and covered with foil for the rest of the baking time because the tops were already golden.)

pumpkin patch

2009-10-18T19:43:00.001-05:00

good news and the not-so-good news

2009-10-14T14:49:00.002-05:00

Let's start with the good news, shall we?

I had Hayes' parent-teacher conference this morning. It's always fun to hear someone say your boy is as neat as you think he is. :) He is doing really well and is learning so much. Up until recently, he has pretty much resisted every attempt I have made to get him to color, draw or learn. Now, it's like a switch has been flipped... he is always wanting to draw and he is eager to teach me the things he learns in school.

We were at lunch a couple weeks ago and he was drawing on the place mat. I looked over and he was writing all of his colors! I knew he could spell these words in a song that he sings, but write them down? So cool. It's truly a joy watching this little guy learn to read and write right before my eyes.

And now for the not-so-good news...

Embry's skin testing with the allergist didn't go as I had hoped yesterday. No, more like didn't go as I had prayed and trusted God for it to go. I felt good going into it, knowing that I had handed this over to God and trusted that there would be healing, or at least progress in his resistance to his food allergies.

But once the little spots on his arms started to swell up and I began hearing things like, "Okay, I'm stopping the test (half-way into it) because of the significance of his reaction." and "Honestly, I haven't seen a peanut reaction of this size in a long time," the doubt began to creep in.

I have to be honest about being disappointed. I was really expecting good results. But even though I am the mommy and believe I know what is best for my baby, God's the one with the ultimate plan. And I will keeping trusting that there will be healing in that plan... not in my time, but his.

thirty three

2009-10-13T19:29:00.000-05:00

masterpiece

2009-10-10T22:56:00.002-05:00

This is how our mantle looked for over a year. Lonely and in need of a friend. I just couldn't commit to anything... the things I did like weren't exactly in the budget. So I decided that Hayes and I would make our own masterpiece. :)

I bought a canvas and some paint at Hobby Lobby (when the art supplies were on sale, of course) and we went to work. Hayes did most of it. I just tried to clean it up a bit.

We shall call it "Transportation."

So there you go... an inexpensive way to create with your kids and bring a little fun to your decor. And when you're ready for a change, you aren't out a huge amount of money. Just grab a new canvas and an eager little artist and create another one.

just like daddy

2009-10-08T16:46:00.002-05:00

"I've got my scratches on, just like Daddy."

watering flowers

2009-10-06T20:22:00.001-05:00

weekend away

2009-10-05T08:21:00.001-05:00

Whew! What a weekend!

Thanks to some wonderful grandparent shuffling, I was able to tag along with Kyle to Dallas on Thursday. He went to a dinner and attended a lab where he was able to do all kinds of procedures on a pig. I got to spend the evening in the hotel room with a glass of wine and a book (Amanda, I finally started "The Lovely Bones"). I also got some Allen outlet shopping in... can you really NOT shop there when in Dallas? :)

On our way back, we drove by a couple old places we used to live. This being the place we lived before we bought our first house. Oh yes we did. What can I say? The $400 monthly rent lured us in, but the SWAT team invading the next door neighbor for a meth lab drove us out. Good times.

We had fun staying with Auntie this weekend on OKC. It was such a great weekend to hang out, hit Pop's and go to a family wedding. While at the wedding, the kids tore it up on the dance floor and I about had a heart attack when Embry handed me a chunk of the groom's cake and said, "Sorry Mom." Luckily, it was fondant and I was able to quickly piece it back together where it looked as good as new. I think.

Thanks Auntie and Benny Boo for letting us invade your sweet little apartment. Hopefully, you won't get kicked out for all of the racket your niece and nephews made. Love you!

As we headed out on Sunday, we met Grandpa and Nana for lunch. Hayes had his first order of ribs. Daddy was so proud. :)

how's the conversation at your dinner table?

2009-09-30T21:30:00.001-05:00

There really isn't such a thing as post-call day lately. You know, where you work all day, stay the night at the hospital and then come home and rest after your shift. It's more like you work all day, all night and then all day... going on 36 hours with little, if any sleep. Poor guy.

let's celebrate!

2009-09-28T20:31:00.000-05:00

What a crazy, fun birthday we had for our little Mickey and Minnie. So crazy, I forgot my camera most of the night. :) Thanks to all of you who came over and helped us celebrate!

turning three

2009-09-26T00:01:00.000-05:00

Happy Birthday to my sweet babies.

I can't really call you babies anymore, can I? 3 years old. How can that be?

Since the day you entered our world, life has been a little busier, a little tougher, but more blessed than I could have ever imagined.

Embry, may your third year be filled with lots of laughter, high-flying adventures, wrestling matches with Daddy, anything and everything superhero and more boot-wearin' days than you can imagine.

I love you, Embry Jack. xoxoxo

Ellie, may your third year be filled with hugs and kisses, pretty toenail polish, shopping trips with Mommy, anything and everything pink and more dress up days than you can imagine.

I love you, Ellie Kate. xoxoxo

fair flashbacks

2009-09-22T13:37:00.000-05:00

2006

2007

2008

take me for a ride

2009-09-19T19:47:00.002-05:00

The hometown county fair was this week. And of course we couldn't miss it! Memories from last year had the kiddos excited with anticipation! They had a blast running around to all of the different rides and eating cotton candy and caramel apples. Thanks to Grandpa and Papaw for spending a small fortune on the entertainment. Holey moley, those rides were expensive but the kids loved every minute of it. Well, maybe not the waiting their turn part. :)

And Mommy took them for a little ride of her own this morning as we headed to a baby shower. Making a turn in a neighborhood, my car began to slide on the rainy blacktop road.

Talk about everything happening in slow motion. Talk about eyes wide open as I looked back at my kids thinking, "I can't believe this is happening right now." The car finally came to a stop in the grass on the other side of the road, almost having done a complete turn. Thank you Jesus. No harm except for maybe a shaken-up mama... and one impressed 5 year old. "Mom! That was so cool! How did you do that?!?"

happy wednesday!

2009-09-16T13:07:00.001-05:00

and the winners are...

2009-09-11T23:41:00.002-05:00

Thanks for sharing all of your highlights with me. If you have a couple minutes, you should go back and read the contest comments. So encouraging to read about all of the wonderful things going on in our lives, especially on a day like today as we remember those who lost so much. God is good!

I will email you lucky ladies with details! :)

back to school!

2009-09-09T14:05:00.002-05:00

Embry and Ellie began Mother's Day Out today. They will go to school on Wednesdays and Thursdays. They did wonderful at drop-off. No tears. Same school, some of the same friends but a different classroom and different teachers.

The house is very quiet as as I sit here and type. What to do, what to do with all of this time by myself? I'm sure I can think of something! :)

one year

2009-09-06T09:00:00.006-05:00

Today marks the day when I first started this blog. Hard to believe it's already been one year.

Besides the whole collection of memories thing, there has a been a little bonus I wasn't expecting with starting a blog. I've been able to reconnect with old friends and make some wonderful, new friends. It's just been a truly amazing experience.

And I have to say this about the comments... they aren't the reason I do the blog but man, a comment is like the cherry on top! Thank you so much to those who take the time to peek inside my little world and leave me a note. Awesome!

Because giveaways seem to be the thing to do on a blogiversary, I couldn't pass up the opportunity! I want to give away a few of my favorite things. To enter, all you have to do is comment and tell me what has been the biggest highlight in your life over the past twelve months.

Here's what is up for grabs:

babypop personalized cape
one year subscription to Food Network Magazine

set of Larza Design initial notecards Comment before Thursday, September 10th. I'll announce the winners on Friday! woo! hoo!

A few of my highlights:

Hayes' creative thinking has brought us many laughs.

Embry and Ellie may not get along all the time, but it has been awesome watching the bond between them grow.

Ellie has shown me that potty training doesn't have to be the most miserable thing ever! She was a stud!

Embry loves to sing. And that singing makes me smile every time.

We've got one year of residency behind us and Kyle continues to work hard and make me so proud.

We have had one of the most fun, memorable summers!

Your turn!

better late than never...

2009-09-04T09:05:00.000-05:00

Back: Katie, me, Joy, Desiree

Front: Darrica, Cindi, Allison

Girls Night Out #1

Each of us has a husband on the physician path in one way or another. Whether it be residency or medical school, we're all going through this together. These girls (and a few more that weren't able to join us) have been such a blessing to me. They know exactly what it feels like to see your husband exhausted from long hours, stressful expectations and little pay. :)

Thanks girls for making this time in our lives a little easier to understand and not so lonely. Love ya!

I was meeting a few of these girls for the first time in person. Even though I felt like I already knew them online. It was a great night... hopefully, there will be many more to come!

along for the ride

2009-09-02T11:08:00.002-05:00

reminds me of...

Hayes' 4th birthday. The skateboards get pulled out occasionally, but you'll notice above that the tricks are performed in the grass... by Hayes anyway... should be Daddy too. :) However, Hayes did get brave last night and attempt the driveway. Kyle told him to be careful. He replied to Kyle, "I've been careful all of my life and I have managed to survive."