My Mountain Man...

Missing: Andy's upper lip.

Last seen about 2 months ago.

Please let me know if you locate said lip.

It IS still winter, right??!!

It is January. It is cold. We have 6 inches of snow on the ground according to the local news. Then why is it nearly impossible to find snow boots and ski pants anywhere? We went to 5+ stores looking for something for Wilson and Luke today. We found plenty of spring clothes and shoes. But yeah, that's not what we need in the middle of a winter weekend!! I looked after the last snow storm we had at Wal*mart and couldn't find anything then. But I hated that the boys came in from playing in the snow wet and cold. They wanted to play outside today so we tried to find something. The only luck I had was at Dick's*Sporting*Goods - a pair of ski bibs for Wilson. I just got done ordering on Lands*End for Luke. I found on clearance snow boots and ski pants. I bought all of these a little big so they will fit next year. I thought I should go ahead and order from LE while they were on clearance. Not going to be unprepared anymore, especially now that the boys are bigger and will always play in the snow when we get it! Plus with 3 boys, we'll be covered for Tyler too!

My new favorite salsa!

Yum. I read a recipe on Pioneer Woman yesterday for homemade salsa. (If you want her step by step picture tutorial click here instead.) It sounded so easy I knew I had to try it. I've always wanted to make homemade salsa but thought it would be difficult. Ha! This was a CINCH! It tastes just the way I like my salsa. For dinner tonight, Luke, Ty and I dipped our chicken quesadillas in the salsa. Really made the meal delicious! Making this salsa is much cheaper than buying the one I like from the deli. That small container I like from Meijer is about 4 dollars. This cost me about $6 bucks to make 6-7 cups of salsa. Bargain!

I had another birthday...

Saturday I turned 31. I didn't do anything wild or crazy this year! My parents had us over for dinner Saturday night. I got to choose what I wanted for dinner and I picked spaghetti and meatballs. My dad made dinner and it was delicious! We also had salad and bread. My mom let me pick my dessert and I chose cheesecake. She made a very yummy cheesecake for my birthday! They definitely spoiled me that night. My maw-maw was able to join us for dinner and that was great! During the day I went over to Gayla's to hang out while some of my friends were there scrapbooking. It was nice to have time with friends! Sunday after church we went out to lunch with Andy's family at the new mexican restaurant that opened right beside our church. I like going out to lunch after church and we don't do that very often so that was fun! Thanks to everyone for making my birthday special!

Worst Parenting Moment...EVER.

So this past Friday night was awful. Things just weren't going as I had planned and I was a little dissapointed. We found ourselves with 3 tired and grumpy boys and no dinner plans. Andy ran out to get a pizza for the boys' dinner. I was giving baths while he was gone. After Ty's bath I got him dressed and he walked out of his room. I followed him several steps behind. Next thing I knew he was falling down the stairs. FAIL! The gate was down. I didn't realize the gate was down. THE GATE WAS DOWN. It had been up before the bath and I the panicked thought "is the gate up" didn't come quickly enough. It is hard to constantly be aware of the GATE...among 199,999 other things with 3 children! So yes, my dear, sweet, perfect baby fell down the stairs. He was screaming for a while. He had carpet burn on his nose and a bump on his forehead. I flew down the steps and grabbed him up and didn't let go for a long time. I did check him over to make sure there weren't any other major injuries...I've never had a child fall down the stairs before! I held myself together for quite a while, until the boys were in bed and then I couldn't stop crying. I just was so mad at myself and so upset for Tyler. Poor baby. Thankfully he is fine and I know he won't remember it, but it sure was scary!

Tyler LOVES cell phones!

I always hang my purse on the closet door at the top of the stairs. The purse I'm carrying right now has little pockets on each side. I keep my cell phone in one of those pockets. Tyler loves my cell phone. He now has it figured out. He knows where I keep my phone. He goes over to my purse and digs his hand in the side pockets to try and find my phone. It is so funny! Yesterday it was on the counter charging and not in the side pockets. He checked the pockets several times throughout the day trying to find that phone. It was so cute! This morning he couldn't reach my purse b/c it was up on a table. He was fussing for it so he could have my phone. I just picked up my purse to hang it on the door knob and he burst into tears. He thought I was putting it where he couldn't get it. His chubby little hands have trouble reaching into the side pockets but he manages to get the phone out. He sat beside me and played with it for at least 10 minutes this morning! Guess we better watch out...he'll be wanting his own cell phone before we know it!

Family Party

The birthday kiddos- Wilson, Caroline, and Luke. They all have a birthday in 1 week's time...Jan 7th, 10th, and 13th! We had a family party Saturday night to celebrate at our house. We had pizza, salad, and birthday cake.

Cara made a cake that had a W, C and L on it. We sang to all of them and they each blew out a candle. They also opened a few gifts and had fun playing! We ran out of time to play the Wii so the women and kids all came back over Sunday night for a Wii party. We had fun!

Luke's Birthday Party Pics!

We used small water balloons to give ourselves spidey muscles!

Lily's muscles

CJ's muscles

Spiderman and his cake!

6 cousins came to the party (we missed our other cousins!)

Wilson's Birthday Party Pics

The GI JOE battle cake...Blogger keeps flipping this image even though I had it turned correctly. Sorry!

Turned the girls into snowmen...with toilet paper, buttons, and scarves.

We had just finished making our GAK.

Birthday Boy!

Luke's B-day Pics!

Pancake Breakfast

Candle in his pizza!

The Spiderman Cake ...made mostly by Andy! I made the icing (from scratch! a first for me!) and I did the blue stars...Andy did the rest! He is amazing! I'm just NOT good at stuff like this. I haven't found something he CAN'T do yet! My black lines would have been squiggly. Andy is the best dad!

Happy Birthday Luke!

Yesterday was Luke's birthday! He turned 4 years old! He was asleep when I left for work so I had written him a happy birthday note and left it on the table beside his gift. When Luke woke up Andy made him pancakes for breakfast. I told Andy I didn't want to make him wait until I got home to open his present so he opened it next. Andy video taped it so I could see it when I got home! It was cute. He got a marble racer. You drop the marbles in and they slide through the path and race to the bottom. He had been wanting one and he LOVES it! He was still playing with it when I got home. Andy took Ty and Luke to McDonald's for his birthday lunch. When I got home he showed me how his marble racer works and we played with it for a while. He requested sausage pizza for his birthday dinner so that was easy for me! Especially with his birthday falling on a church night. We put a candle in his pizza and sand Happy Birthday to him. Tuesday afternoon Luke and I had made cupcakes for him to take to church on his birthday. He chose chocolate cake, chocolate icing and dipped the top in rainbow sprinkles. He was a great helper! He is now looking forward to his Spiderman birthday party on Saturday. He invited his cousins and a friend from school. I can't believe he is four! Pictures to come!

Birthday Pictures

Licking the cool whip off the candles!

Making cupcakes for school...they are in my mom's freezer until next week! Chocolate cupcakes with white icing. Then we dipped them in rainbow sprinkles. They turned out very cute and colorful!

Happy Birthday Wilson!

Today was Wilson's 6th Birthday! He had a great day! We woke up to a snow day - he was thrilled! He had prayed for a snow day last night. I went and got pumpkin muffies from Pan*era for breakfast. He loves those! Then in the afternoon Andy took the boys outside to shovel and sled. He got a birthday card in the mail and lots of birthday phone calls today. He chose pancakes, eggs, and sausage for dinner. Then my parents came over for birthday dessert (Mountain Mama Mudslide). My mom took his cupcakes home to freeze so he can take them to school next week. We have another snow day tomorrow. He opened his present before 7am today. He just HAD to open it! We got him the new LEGO fireboat. He was thrilled and built it right away. He said this was the best birthday ever! His birthday party with his friends is on Saturday afternoon. He is looking forward to a GI JOE party!

Baby #3 syndrome (for Mom)

Our handsome Tyler Wade

So yesterday we finally got Tyler's 1year old pictures made. I'm a little embarrased being that he is almost 16 months old! Sorry Tyler! Mommy loves you very much and had good intentions for getting your picture made in September but for some reason it didn't happen.

Tyler wasn't happy at first. I had to wake him up to go and the picture lady wasn't real friendly towards him. He kept fussing and then another picture lady came up and was wonderful! She spent time playing with Ty for a couple minutes, trying to tickle him and show him a stuffed animal. She was excellent and got him to feel comfortable. We actually got some good pictures after she came in to help! I know Tyler was being difficult but that is why I brought him to the professionals! To get a good shot! The grumpy picture lady was really thrilled when we only spent $40...but we left with tons of pictures!

New Cookbook

Cara got me this cookbook for Christmas. I read PW's cooking blog so I was thrilled to receive her cookbook! I have made 2 recipe's so far and have read the book from cover to cover. It is full of pictures and funny asides throughout. I have made potato skins and egg in a hole. I made the potato skins (recipe not on blog) for game night at Cara & Jason's. I made the egg in a hole for breakfast one morning. It was tasty! She is definitely a country cook and uses a lot of heavy cream, butter, shortening etc. I have marked at least 10 recipes to try! Many of them are found on her blog as well but I love having the book format. Thanks, Cara!

Reflecting on a Decade!

So many Major Things have happened in this past decade! I had to write a post to commemorate all of them...that I can remember anyway!
1. Engaged to Andy (January 2000)
2. Married to Andy (December 2000)
3. Moved into our first apartment (December 2000)
4. Graduated from college (May 2001)
5. Got my first teaching job (June 2001)
6. Bought our first home (boy did it need a LOT of work!) (October/November 2001)
7. Rescued our yellow lab, Lottie! (2002)
8. Had Wilson (January 2004)
9. Had Luke (January 2006)
10. Graduated with my Master's Degree
11. Bought our first minivan.
12. Had Tyler (September 2008)
13. Andy turned 30 (November 2008)
14. Passed my National Board Certification! (November 2008)
15. I turned 30 (January 2009)
16. Moved into our home - we want to be here a long time! (May 2009)
17. Enjoyed Christmas in our new home! (December 2009)
18. Celebrated 9 years of marriage (December 30, 2009)

Time flies and our family is so blessed. Thank you, Lord! Looking forward to another year full of memories.