December Bake Day

Well we didn't get that much baking done again this year and have decided that this would be the last year until the girls are much older. Maddie and Bella did have fun making the sugar cookies though and they even made a big mess, imagine that:) My mom and I did make some awesome lemon cookies at around 8pm(we started at 1pm) so even though we only got two different cookies made it was nice to spend some time with my mom and the girls.

It's the Holiday season....

Well the holidays are fast approaching and couldn't we all use a little inspiration to get us through it all? This year I am trying to keep my heart on the things that really matter. Family, friends, watching for that twinkle in children's eyes as they peruse through the toy catalogs, and especially listening to the wonderful Christmas music that plays 24 hours a day on the radio. I have been in need of some extra inspiration myself lately and picked up Busy but Balanced, a book that a dear friend gave to me as a gift. In this book I found a few wonderful quotes that really shed light on my thoughts and hopes for this holiday season. I hope they will be helpful to all who read here too.

True gifts spring spontaneously from one's pure compassionate heart with no thought of any return.
~Buddha~

Each day God fills up your heart with love to give to people.
~Age 6~

Isn't that last one amazing, a six year old is thinking like this. Wow. I have been saying this one aloud throughout the day, especially during the stressful moments when we really need the reminder.

Have a wonderful day everyone!!!

Presenting..........Princess George!

I know you might want to say "poor dog" but let me assure you that he loved every minute of it. In fact at times I honestly think he was smiling:))

Halloween

Hold onto your hats there is alot of unbelievable cuteness in this post.

Enjoy!!

Clothes, Clothes, Clothes!!

Well we have ourselves not one but two little fashion diva's. I have been dealing with a 5 year old that has some very frustrating clothing issues. So I figured I'd blog about it and hopefully get some helpful ideas on how to deal with it. I have never seen a child become so upset and angry over the way a pair of pants fits. If they are hanging a little in the front inseam they are ripped off and thrown across the room. If the sleeves on a shirt are not the exact length it too is thrown aside. This goes on and on for an entire morning some days. Yesterday I had had it. I thought for sure we were going to be late because of "what to wear". Maddie starts school at 12:30 and at 11:45 she was still in her jammies, teeth not brushed, and her lunch sitting on the table! It is not like this everyday but it just gets worse as the days go by. I have tried letting her totally dress herself (matching or not), and even tried picking out 3 or 4 outfits for her to choose from. But when it is not the selection that matters but the fit of the clothes in the selection, this is where the high stress comes into play. I try to tell her of the hardships that other children in the world face and that having to have clothes that fit perfectly is silly in comparison to that, this does not help much either.

I am asking for suggestions, have any of you gone through anything like this? What might work, I will try anything. Please leave a comment, we need help over here.

Opening Day

Well it is opening day of bow season, not only is my husband excited but his two little princesses are too. They know that when daddy gets a deer, they get venison sticks and sausage and all of that "big buck meat". I had to share this photo and yes it was taken today. Too funny that Maddie has the patience to teach Bella how to shoot that bow and she really did teach her how to do it, good too. I think Mike will be impressed when Maddie and Bella are actually old enough to go in the woods with him and shoot that bow.

Recycling

We have been recycling for a while now. It is nice because there is a free drop off very close to our house, so doing it is not a chore. The thing I really like about it is teaching the girls to care for our earth. Maddie will look at the bottom of anything plastic and tell whether or not we can recycle it. This sometimes leads to me learning of a new recyclable item. Yesterday I had a ton to drop off so Bella and I went off to recycle after dropping off Maddie at school. Bella loves this one on one time and she really enjoys throwing the different things into the different bins. I would love to be able to go totally green and buy only natural and organic food but it is very expensive. So we try, we recycle, we buy organic in the things that we use the most like PB and milk for the girls only, and a lot more fruits and fresh veggies. So even though our part is small it is still a big help when you put it with all of the other people out there that are doing the same.

First Days of School

Well Maddie is officially a "big" girl. She has completed two full days of kindergarten. There have been sad moments (for me), the first day she got in line at the front school door and said bye mom,bye Bella and smiled all the way to her room, a room that I thought I would "have" to walk her to. And then there have been happy moments too, yesterday she was talking up a storm about the friends she made, the popcorn pop, and how she needs an item for show and tell for Friday. I think Maddie is going to love kindergarten even though she came home the first day and said " I can't believe I have to go to shcool three days in a row", only to find out that she actually has to go 5 days in a row (holiday this week). I keep telling her that the more she goes the more fun it will be. There was a sad moment for Michael too, Maddie has made two friends....both boys;) I think it is funny, he told her to play with the girls. I'll leave a few pictures of the first few days, Enjoy:) Blogger isn't working well so I will post more pictures later. This one is on her first day, well her first day alone.I was with her for the first time there, just for orientation.

Deer Acres

Not only did I enjoy Deer Acres Storybook Amusement Park when I was little, I worked there when I was 15. The park is based on Mother Goose stories. It really is a cute little park. There is one area where you can go in with the deer and feed them popcorn, but they almost took out Bella. They are very aggressive.

My mom and I recently took the girls there and it is funny how over the last 18 0r so years not much has changed at all. The girls and I had so much fun, I felt like a kid again.

Here are some pictures of one of my many visits(when I was about 7 or 8) and then some of the girls doing the same things.

Here is me and a childhood friend at Deer Acres. And since I don't know how to get words in between the rest of the pictures I will leave it up to you to know who is who. It is pretty self explanatory:)

New Camera = Cute pictures

I'm so excited to have a new camera. I have been busy taking pictures and wanted to share a few of my favorites.

Love this....

"When one door closes, another opens, but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us".
~Alexander Graham Bell~

Imagination at it's best.

A little play make-up, a scary face, and a lovely princess add up for a good time playing the wolf and the princess. A story made up by yours truly..........

Dance Pictures...finally.

Well after a month and a half we finally recieved Maddie's dance pictures.

I will just post the group one because I like it the best. For those of you who read about but did not attend the recital, the dance for this outfit was My boyfriends back. It was soooo cute. The little guy was such a trooper, blowing each girl a kiss in the routine...too cute.

Yesterday Maddie turns on the TV and finds the cartoon station. I walk into the room and hear a program about how the egyptians drain the body of all organs and brain etc...etc... I look at Maddie and see an expression on her face that is priceless. It is a look of confusion, horror, and interest. Hmmmm...should I leave it on or is it too much for her . Now this is a children's show, Reading Rainbow. I always let them watch this if they are interested, it's educational. I used to watch this show, I loved it when I was little. But still, taking out the brains and internal organs? I decide to leave it on, you can see the intense learning that is going on just by looking at her. Towards the end of the show they show the pryamids where they kept the mummies and she is fascinated, proclaiming that she wants to go to Egypt! I bring out the globe and show her exactly where Egypt is, no problem to her. "All we have to do is take a boat like the one we rode on to Mackinaw Island and then drive the rest fo the way". I laugh and try to explain to a 5 year old how far and exspensive it is. She and I argue about this for a while, I tell her the only way we will get there is if we win the lottery. And that I would love to go to far away places too(trying to teach contentment) until I finally tell her that we will go to the museum and see a real mummy someday.
The point to my story here is that Maddie is not that little baby girl I long for her to stay, but she is growing and wanting to know and learn about things that I thought she was too young to handle. I'm trying to live in the present moments and this really makes me wonder how many moments I've lost by not living in the present.

Here is our garden so far this year

I will post the pictures starting from behind the garage to the back right corner of the yard. We only put acorn squash, watermelon, and cantaloupe in the vegetable garden. The rest of the veggies are either in pots or hidden in the flower garden.

Here is the clothes line we put in this year.

This is where the perennial garden starts and it goes the rest of the length of the yard. We added a space for strawberries and chnaged the stepping stones around. I really like it better this way. Next year the rose bushes are coming out, they are just too much work.
Our Strawberry Patch This is the new addition , really we just connected the two existing gardens and moved stones around. Here are some hidden veggies that are doing very well, I think they like it here. There are pickling cucumbers, bambino eggplants(which I will post a picture of) and japanese eggplants. We also have cucumbers, green beans and peas. Oh and let's not forget Maddie's carrots, which she plants every year and they do great every year.And the little bambino eggplant, there are wuite a few. Can't wait to try them))

Thankful Thursday

SOOOO thankful to have a digital camera again.....
Enjoy!!!

Just some pictures

Since my camera has been down I haven't been able to post any pictures, or take any for that matter. Over the weekend my mom gave me back my old digital camera and I'm back in business. So enjoy all of the cuteness.

Garden Pictures

Well here are a few pictures from our flower garden this year.

This is Bella and her Best Friend Sarah.

And here is Maddie and Bella taking a moment in the garden...love it!!

Dance is over ahhhh.....

After taking a 6 week summer dance class last year Maddie wanted to keep with it. So after finding out that her teacher from that class just became pregnant, I wondered how she would be able to teach the whole year. We ended up going to a studio that is new to Owosso, BIG mistake. I will not go into all of the horid details of this ladies business sense but I will leave you all a beautiful picture of my little "Dance Star".

By the way she did a wonderful job at the recital and for all of you wondering if I will let her continue dance, let's just say that if she wants to I will take her back to the place where she went that one summer. I saw some of the pictures from their recital and the costumes were not only 100% cuter(if that's even a word) but they were also $20 cheaper!!

Enjoy the pictures

Awesome Salsa

Here is a great salsa recipe. It can be used with tortillas chips or with grilled chicken pieces on top of grilled corn tortillas with sour cream and cheese. However you want to eat it, it will be great!!

1-3 mangos, ripe but firm. Chopped into small pieces
1-2 jalapeno peppers. seeded and then finely chopped
Fresh chopped cilantro. As much or as little as you like. I use quite a bit.
1-2 large tomatoes, use the type you like. chopped small
The juice of 1-2 limes
1 med onion finely chopped

Mix all of the chopped ingredients together and let sit in the refrigerator to chill for about 1/2 an hour or so. This is so lite and refreshing you will love it. You can add more or use less, depending on how much salsa you want to make. It really is an eyeball it and taste as you go kind of recipe.

Enjoy:))