I am thankful

I have so much to be thankful for, but I wanted to mention 5 of them, just cause that's a good easy number.

#1. My Heavenly Father, for all the blessings I receive daily because of His grace, and for His son and for the redeeming sacrifice he made for me.

#2. My family. I have a wonderful husband who supports me and is an amazing father. I love my two beautiful angels, they inspire me to be a better person.

#3. Friends and extended family. My life is full when I am surrounded by people I care about and love! That includes all my blogging friends too!

#4. Food and shelter. I have never gone without either.

#5. Health and safety. My children are perfectly healthy. My husband is alive even though he is a crazy driver. I haven't caught any deadly diseases even though I am exposed to them regularly at work!

Here are some Thanksgiving pics. Brenna got to eat oatmeal, better than nothing! I had to work, but it's okay cause that means I don't have to work on Christmas!

My brave little girl

Monday was Kaylee's MRI. I am glad to report she did very well! She was so brave this time! The only time she cried was when they poked her with the IV. She let them listen to her, take her vitals, and everything without crying (as long as she was in mommy's lap). We did it at Primary's, and I was SO impressed with their staff. They really made things run rather smoothly.

This picture breaks my heart. I took it moments before going into the hospital. She was so excited to be going somewhere with mommy!

Her 'big band aide'

Poor girl

So obviously, she had to be sedated for the MRI because 3 year olds can't hold their heads still. It was so awful. The sedation they gave her made her eyes go all out of focus, and her arms and legs were doing all these jerky motions. She finally fell asleep and they carried her away. I had to fight so hard not to cry! I hated seeing her in that big machine with oxygen on. I had to go to the cafeteria to eat some food to keep my mind off it.

She slept for 2 hours afterwards, and exactly at the 2 hour mark she sat straight up, and was way dizzy and wobbly. She also was talking very slow. She became very impulsive and was uncoordinated. She also said crazy things like a drunk person! Apparently the stuff doesn't ware off completely for 24 hours! Anytime she walked anywhere for the entire day, Nate or I had to hold her hand or else she would fall or walk head first into a wall or something!

On the way home, I asked her what kind of treat she wanted for being such a brave girl, and all she said was, "Green!" (you see what I mean about the drunken behavior) so I got her a green apple slush from sonic. She drank it VERY slowly.

She was so happy to be home. She spent lots of time watching movies and cuddling with daddy.

This is just a picture from when she had her ER experience and MRI. Everytime she would look at her 'stickers,' she would freak out, just as you see here. No more of that this year! Good job Kaylee! I'm so proud of you!

Kaylee in RED

She's goofy, yet oh so pretty...

Behold the face of beauty

Do you like my dress? I do.

Go in the backyard? OK!

Mom, you make silly faces!

So do I!

Hehehe...I know I'm a beautiful princess!

Oh, stop it.

Mom, I want to go on the swing!

Weeeeeee!

Play Dough Food

Sometimes it is really hard for me to entertain my 3 year old. We color. We paint. We dress up. We play house. We play hide and seek. But after awhile, the kid gets bored with the same old stuff. She likes play dough, but is usually done with it after 5 minutes. Well, this time we tried mixing the idea of play dough and dress up. We got dressed up in our cooking attire and 'cooked' the play dough. We were probably doing this for an hour and a half! That's a long time for someone that young! Hehehe....even baby liked it.

Be prepared...we're in an economic crisis!

I thought I'd make a quick post about some things I've started doing to prepare my family in case of a real disaster. With the way things are going in our economy right now, I don't think you can be too safe!

1) I've been buying oatmeal in bulk instead of cold cereal. Oatmeal keeps a lot longer and goes a long way. It saves SO much money, and plus, it's healthier!

2) Don't throw away your milk jugs, fill them with water. I have avoided doing this for some time because I think it takes up so much room, but if there were to be a disaster in the area and we didn't have running water, I would be a wreck. It's a good idea to stalk up on wipes too for bathing. I'm good to go because I have a baby and already buy wipes in bulk!

3) Take some money out of the bank for an emergency, like $1000. I haven't had cash in the house for so long, PLASTIC BABY! I always use my debit/credit card. Checks are even a thing of the past. But really, don't you think it is such a good idea to have some money in the house? And I've heard that it's good to keep smaller bills, because for buying small things, local stores may not be able to break large bills.

4) This one is next on my list. Store a small supply of gasoline. This is good to have for a back up generator or just gas for your car! If water is rationed, you know gas will be too.

Oh, and don't forget to have your 72 hour kits prepared for each family member. I lucked out. We got ours from my mother-in-law for Christmas a couple of years ago!

Hope this helps. Am I paranoid? I don't think so. I think things are going to get worse before they get better. So be prepared!

MOVIE

Today! I'm going with Cindy and Cami this very day to see the movie. Thanks for inviting me guys! We are going to watch it while the boys watch the big game. I cannot wait. I've tried to just NOT think about the movie coming out because it seemed so far away...now it's here! I've already heard it's way good, I guess I'll have to see. I'm trying not to get my hopes up too much.

Homemade Trail Mix!

Want an alternative to candy? Dry some fruit. I got this one and I love it. It is fool proof! Just throw in the fruit, plug the thing in and VOILA! Dried fruit. It is a healthy snack and even my 3 year old loves it. It tastes WAY better than the store bought stuff, plus no preservatives! It's a really good investment. I have seen them selling for around $50, more if you want fancy shmancy. My 3 year old even likes it!

So on the bottom layer I put in the grapes because they take the longest to dry, like 2-3 days.


Next, the apples. Leave in the core for extra nutrition; you can't tell its there when you eat it dry!


Bananas are good to go after only about 1/2 a day to 1 day. I like them chewier, so I cut them into about 1/2 to 1 inch chunks.

After your fruit is dry, mix it all together with nuts and m&ms or chocolate chips for an amazing trail mix!

My funny girls

My girls are goofy, just like their mommy! Here are some funny pictures I've taken lately! Notice most of them are Brenna.

Hair piece she loves at Grandma's

Oops!

Oh, the drama!

Can you see the bubble on her chin? I'm SO glad I caught it on camera!

Trying to 'even out' the hairdo. Looking better!

Chef Brenna

She gets this from her daddy! He did this when he was little.


By the way, I apologize for the lack of 'bloggage.' I am working on a project, I will let you all in on it soon! But just know that I am here blogging in my heart. (Plus I'm getting ready for the holidays, you know)

ALSO this is your last chance to get me your email before we go private. The beginning of next week is when this blog will be closed to the public!!!

Baby boy diaper cake

I did this for my sister's baby shower. I'd seen lots of baby diaper cakes, but this was my version.

What you need:

Diapers, about 100. (Just make it look good!)
Rubber bands, cut so they can be tied together
Decorative ribbon
A few small gifts to put on cake

So instead of wrapping each diaper individually, I just placed them into a circular shape and held them in place with the rubber bands tied together. I made 3 stacks, each a different size. Once secured, I stacked them on top of each other. Then I used the decorative ribbon to hide the elastic. I placed some gifts on the cake, secured by string to the elastic. Be creative! Make yours unique!

Easy Taco Soup!

You'll need:

1 lb ground beef
1/2 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 can tomato soup
1 can kidney or black beans, undrained
1 pint mild salsa
1 quart water
1 large can chunky vegetable soup
1 quart tomatoes
2 teaspoons chili powder (or more)

First, brown together beef, onion, and garlic. Note the LARGE pot!


Then, dump in the rest and simmer for 45 min uncovered, stirring occasionally.

Serve with shredded cheese, sour cream, and crumpled tortilla chips!

Girly Cork Board

I have a little 3 year old girl who LOVES to paint, draw, and color. I have always wanted to have a special place to display her art work. I thought a cork board would be a great idea! I wanted to hang it in her own room. Of course, I could never hang anything in a little girl's room without a little zing.

What you will need for this project:

A framed cork board
small, thin wooden hearts and stars (or other shapes you want to use)
2 large craft 'Popsicle sticks'
tacky glue
4 tacks (preferably CUTE in nature!)
toll paints of choice (I used yellow, green, pink, and white)

Here's the cork board. You can find these in craft stores. This one was already painted purple, so I lucked out!


This is what the back looked like.

I took some pink ribbon and wrapped it like so. I thought it would be cute to have some little 'page holders' in the 2 corners.

I secured it in place in back with (what else?) tacky glue. I put the tack on top to secure it because I am too impatient to hold it until it's dry.

The infamous glue. Never do wood crafts without it!

I pinned the ribbon down in front with the tacks. This made it nice and taught for holding the picture in place.


Here it is with all tacks in place. Way cute so far!


These are the curtains from my girls' room. The inspiration for the colors. Everything must match!


I let my 3 year old paint the shapes. Stars: yellow, Hearts: pink, popsicle sticks: green. Actually, I ended up doing a couple of the stars green. It needed more green.

And here's a paint-saving tip: mix a little white in with a solid color instead of buying pastels. This will save you money, plus you can use the white too!

Don't forget to let ALL shapes dry completely before gluing them on.

I glued the popsicle sticks in the other corners.

I decided that the pink hearts were too plain, so I added white polka dots with the other end of a paint brush. I love polka dots!

So then you glue everything on. I didn't do a pattern, just random.
Here's the final product!

My daughter suggested that I put some buttons on. It was actually not a bad idea!

Here's today's artwork. A hall-of-famer for sure!