5 Months

Remember how I said when Annie was 2 months old that I would post a monthly picture? Well at month 3 I forgot and at month 4 I didn't have my camera. So here it is, 5 months old and she is sooo different than she was at 2 months. She is sitting up, assisted of course, she loves to chew on her hands and drool ALL OVER! She is ticklish and LOVES baths! Her absolute favorite pastime is having her legs bare :o) If she is tired or fussy all we have to do is get her naked legs out and she is immediatly a happy girl. Her right tear duct is still blocked and continues to give me grief as it is always crusty and needs wiping & massaging. We are really loving getting to know her cute little personality. I love that she is so smiley because whenever we are in public and someone talks to her she shoots them a smile and they just get so excited. I actually rode down in the elevator at the hospital yesterday with an RN at the end of her shift and she said that it made her terrible day all better! Whatever we can do to help! Anyway I think she still looks surprisingly the same as she did when she was first born. I have been scrapbooking her birth and first few weeks pictures, and I am astonished with how much she still looks the same just older!

Oh the sizes you will be

This is the only picture I could find to use. These are our dear friends that we grew up next door to, we are all acting like we have big pregnant bellies like Laura (the one in the middle). We are at Joelie and Kerrys wedding December 2007. I had to post this picture to announce that I officially fit back into that dress!!!!! It was one of my goals. I got it on sale and I LOVED it and then I got pregnant the very next month and I haven't worn it since. Just wait... I have the PERFECT chance coming up soon, only problem is I have a little more cleavage now :o)

Back In Action

We have replaced our camera ladies and gentleman! So in honor of the event here are a few pictures of Annie Girl that I know you have been missing.

Visit The New Website Today!

Just an FYI Joe and Drew are now an established LLC! Visit their website at www.garrettcraftsmen.com. I have added it to my sidebar in case you are ever looking for a handyman to fix up your house. Happy homeowning!

Oh be careful little bloggers what you say

Well as a big swift kick in the ol' pants, here it is 24 hours after writing my last post and my child was up 4 times in the night and my car got backed into yesterday by one of Joe's BB players! I supposed God wanted to take me down a few notches off my "nice things" kick. I'm off to the auto body shop, my car is going to think that is its new home!

Nice Things & Weird Babies

I love nice things. I am appreciative of the things that the Lord has blessed me with and I like to be a good steward of those things and keep them... nice... you know what I mean!
Joe and I were very grateful for his Uncle Barry giving him his old farm truck to use for a work truck when he started construction. His Uncle Barry kept very good care of this 10+ year old ford and we will do our best to pamper her until she gives out. The truck was ready for Joe to start driving conveniently the same week that our cars were stolen. So while my car was being fixed I drove the 4-Runner. I am grateful for the 4-runner, it is a nice truck, but its just not my nice new ( or new to me shes 9 years old) fancy smooth comfortable Camry.... however shes back!! After 6 long weeks of being rebuilt and over $7000 later (we only paid our deductible of course) with a sparkly new paint job I have her back in my possession!!!!! I love her, she is so smooth and nice to me with her leather seats which don't take a ladder to climb into (I swear the 4-runner is a monster truck!) We also replaced our Ipods & Laptop this week (with updated models because they no longer sell the ones we had). We bought the same camera because we liked it, and as for the rest of the stuff we decided not to replace at this time.
I am truly grateful for the nice things and I beg of you Americans, I worked hard for these things that I have... Please don't come take them away again!

Now on to the Weird Baby :o) I always wondered how people know that their children were having a growth spurt. I have always heard it growing up you would hear when a 6-7 year old was always tripping or falling down, their mom would say "growth spurt". And what is it with infants, I am curious, does the baby actually appear larger after a week of weirdness? This is what people say when I say my child is acting weird "growth spurt"! Whatever!! Here is my history of the week and you tell me moms is it a growth spurt? Because i think it might be. Last tuesday and wednesday she was very fussy... I went through about 4 days of fussiness mixed with sleeping 10-11 hours at night but not much of a nap during the day. Then tuesday morning before work I went to pump and I only got 1 oz! Yikes! I thought... maybe she is fussy because she is hungry??? Am I not producing enough? I immediately thought of Melissas Lactation Cookies :o) Anyway today she slept 11 hours last night woke up at 8 went back to sleep for a 45 min cat nap at 10 ate at 11 and is still sleeping now 3 hours later!!! What a weirdo! Tomorrow I say she does laundry and cleans the house and I try this sleeping all day long thing!

Nothing Lasts Forever - But I will try my hardest to make it!

I love Sams Club! Not in the same way my father loves Sams Club because his affair is just sick. I love it like a normal person :o) I (gaurd JP's eyes) HATE buying stupid things. Thats right I said Hate and Stupid in the same sentence! Stupid things being trash bags, zip lock baggies, TP etc. When Joe and I got married we made a Sams trip to purchase these annoying sundries. Slowly (very slowly when just 2 people are using them) we had to replace the things we had purchased, however today I found one that had lasted us the very longest. I am proud to announce that a Sams box of Chicken Flavored Ramen Noodles lasted us exactly 3 years!! Haha! I was making a salad dressing that you use the chicken flavoring out of the ramen and then you brown the noodles for a yummy salad topping! When I went to the pantry it was the last package :o(

A Big Batch of Crazy Mixed Up Popcorn

A good day is marked by being able to get the biggest bowl I own out

And this

I Can Do It!

It is my goal to be one of those moms who uses coupons and slashes her grocery bill in half! This week I clipped coupons as usual. I normally do this while at my moms house on Sunday while we are all sitting around talking and so its not any wasted time. People are big on clipping coupons being time consuming. I am also strict on sticking with items that I would have bought anyway and not buying something just because there is a coupon. I went to the grocery to get the weeks needed items. I really can't wait till Joe is home more often and I can cook dinner because I feel like I save a lot of money, but because i hardly ever cook I don't plan a menu I just keep easy non-perishables and veggies around to whip up a nice meal (i.e enchiladas, tacos, spaghetti, chicken & rice, soup etc) Anyway I thought that I should announce that I went to Kroger today and saved $31.12 (26%) with my coupons and shoppers card! Here is what I don't get about the shoppers card, do they just jack up the price so that they can say they have it on sale with the shoppers card? Because who in their right mind wouldn't have a shoppers card? Anyway to let you know, I had 3 different coupons for Yogurt and Progresso soup and they accepted all of them! I used to think that you could only use one coupon per item! Not so, I saved a ton there! Kroger will round any coupon under .50 up to .50 and they will round any coupon over .50 to $1.00!! My bill was under $100.00 (always a goal of mine) and I even bought ridiculously expensive lotion for Annie's eczema and a big box of Tide! So get those scissors out girls and happy clipping!

Here is a good school idea for you moms who were sharing ideas. Practice cutting on the dotted line, clip any coupon of a product that you have seen mommy buy before! :o)

Life

Yesterday at work I did my first ever unassisted delivery! I probably should have been more prepared for it, maybe I was just prepared enough, I will never know. All I know is it was her 5th baby, she was going natural and not making a sound, she made a sound and I checked her, she was 8-9cm and still at 0 station. Now, to my credit, I did call out for help at this time and one dear nurse friend showed up to help me. Within 2 minuets, one tribal yell from dear patient, a panic call for the resident by me on the call button and 2 more nurses running in, there was a beautiful 6lb little boy born into my one and a half gloved hands!

Now to more serious matters, while I was at work Annie Girl has decided to cry... the whole time... She cried off and on this morning while in the nursery during women's bible study also! Its kind of upsetting because she is such a goodnatured baby. And I do leave her at some point multiple times during the week either with family or in the playroom at the gym. So why all of the sudden is she crying?

FYI I treated myself to a Mediterranean Veggie sandwich today from Panera. YUM, I had never had one of these before however people I love have said how good they are, so I decided to try!

I will leave you with this picture of my big girl, I forgot to add it yesterday. I loved how her little feet were sticking up in the air with her socks that matched her outfit.

A Very Busy Day

Can you guess from this picture of dust bunnies on the stairs what I did today? How do those get there?! I mean what do they expect sweeping more than once a month?!

After going to the gym and laying Annie down for a 3 hour afternoon nap (!) I tackled the bunny invasion. I cleaned for hours on end and accomplished getting the salty boot tracks mopped off of the hardwood floors downstairs. Most of the laundry done (yes I am still a get it all done in one day girl). I dusted, fluffed, swept and mopped until it was time to leave for Joe's BB Game. Once we were back home and husband was fed it was 10:30 and there was the mop and bucket in the bathroom which had yet to be touched. So I pulled back my sleeves and gave the bathroom a quick but thorough scrub. It was very nice to wake up to a bleach smelling bathroom! I have to work today and I am going to start women's bible study tomorrow at church. So I am SO happy to have the house clean before I am gone doing other things. The only room left to conqure is the office and it is even more frightening than the dust bunny invasion.... the paper stack invasion!!!

A good little girl playing while I finished up cleaning... although she wasn't very happy to accommodate, she kept yelling at me. :o(

Snow Fun

Yesterday I went to Krissy's house because I have yet to play in all of this snow and I needed to satisfy my desire to sled! She has just the right size hills at her house, you know not too extreme where you can sled down with children but still manage to make it back up with a two year old who can barely move in all their snow gear. I thought I was going to wet myself a couple of times once when Kris, Dory, Me & JP all loaded onto the sled and it wouldn't budge! And again when JP and Kris walked down this steep hill (following animal tracks in the snow of course) and then they couldn't get back up. At one point Kris fell and pulled JP down with her and he face planted in the snow! He thought it was great fun as he yells "Persevere Mommy!" when they were attempting for the 4th time to climb the hill.
Here are just a few pictures for your enjoyment of the babies & the kids enjoying Hot Cocoa after freezing cold fun in the snow!These two babies are the exact same length and weight although they are 5 weeks apart. I think Annie Girl carries it all in her cheeks and Anella has it all in her thighs!

Happy to have chocolate
Seriously working on getting the fluff into her mouth with each drink

My Weekend

Friday nightJoes BB team played in the state tournament in Richmond Ky. They set a new record for the lowest scoring game in state tournament 36-37. They were up with 9 seconds left and scored, however the ball was then turned over and with 5(?) seconds left the other team scored and won :o( I have never been a sports person before, I don't "do" sports. I found out why, its too stressful! I either don't care about what is going on or who wins, as in with professional sports, or I am so stressed that my heart cannot take it. I was literally shaking after the game was over, I had to sit down and regroup because I couldnt support myself let alone hold my child who was of course in her cheerleading uniform!Go CCS!!!

Then after working very, very hard to unload the tickets to see Wicked that my wonderful husband bought me for Christmas, we ended up going to see it ourselves. I didn't want to go because it was going to be too confusing to try to get Annie to my mom and get to Louisville to see the play. But I am SO glad that we did all the confusingness :o) Joe and I got up early Saturday morning, drove home from Richmond showered and primped, dropped Annie Girl off with my Mom and drove to Louisville and back! The play was even more amazing than I could have imagined! Joe said it was good however not as good as State Semifinals :o)
I have always loved the Wizard of Oz and I was hoping that the play would tie in well and that it wouldn't be to modern like so many things on Broadway are. I hate it when like the wizard is a black woman and the monkeys are all aisian migets and dorothy is jewish. I HATE it! The Wizard is a man and Dorothy is just a farm girl from Kansas! Anyway... They did a wonderful job tying the two stories together and the only dumb part is that Elpheba (the bad witch) goes to the emerald city to save the animals of OZ!! But it was not a very important part, so I choose to overlook it :o) It was funny and the music is AAAAMAAAAZIIIING!! Unfortunatly I have no pictures of Wicked to share with you.

Sunday was the super bowl and I let my husband dictate what food would be served. We had friends come down from Dayton to join us for the fun and we spent the whole day together. I have really been wanting to try my hand at making soft pretzels lately and I saw Alton Brown make them on the Food Network so I tried his recipie. It was so easy and Delicious! I was worried they wouldn't tase like real soft pretzles but they did! Here is his recipie

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups warm (110 to 115 degrees F) water
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 package active dry yeast
• 22 ounces all-purpose flour, approximately 4 1/2 cups
• 2 ounces unsalted butter, melted
• Vegetable oil, for pan
• 10 cups water
• 2/3 cup baking soda
• 1 large egg yolk beaten with 1 tablespoon water
• Pretzel salt

Directions

Combine the water, sugar and kosher salt in the bowl of a stand mixer and sprinkle the yeast on top. Allow to sit for 5 minutes or until the mixture begins to foam. Add the flour and butter and, using the dough hook attachment, mix on low speed until well combined. Change to medium speed and knead until the dough is smooth and pulls away from the side of the bowl, approximately 4 to 5 minutes. Remove the dough from the bowl, clean the bowl and then oil it well with vegetable oil. Return the dough to the bowl, cover with plastic wrap and sit in a warm place for approximately 50 to 55 minutes or until the dough has doubled in size.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Line 2 half-sheet pans with parchment paper and lightly brush with the vegetable oil. Set aside.

Bring the 10 cups of water and the baking soda to a rolling boil in an 8-quart saucepan or roasting pan.

In the meantime, turn the dough out onto a slightly oiled work surface and divide into 8 equal pieces. Roll out each piece of dough into a 24-inch rope. Make a U-shape with the rope, holding the ends of the rope, cross them over each other and press onto the bottom of the U in order to form the shape of a pretzel. Place onto the parchment-lined half sheet pan.

Place the pretzels into the boiling water, 1 by 1, for 30 seconds. Remove them from the water using a large flat spatula. Return to the half sheet pan, brush the top of each pretzel with the beaten egg yolk and water mixture and sprinkle with the pretzel salt. Bake until dark golden brown in color, approximately 12 to 14 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack for at least 5 minutes before serving.

I tried to put cinnamon & sugar on some, however the cinnamon burned because of the high temp of the oven so I would reccomend baking them plain and then rolling them in cinnamon and sugar afterwards. Also a note to those who didn't know: Wax paper and Parchment paper are not interchangeable!! Wax paper will stick to your food, ruin your baking sheet and nearly catch on fire when used improperly!!