Snow babies!

This is Eli's first time playing in the snow... he loved it! He kept walking around, touching it and falling on his tush.. He didn't get upset when the snow fell down his pants haha. I'm glad they both love being in the snow. They have so much fun.

So far, today is a beautiful day. 
I'm sitting here, fresh coffee in hand, staring out of my window at the snow falling. We received a lot of snow this morning. It's piling up and twinkling on top of the snow we've had for a few days now. If it wasn't so bright and there wasn't so much snow I'd be able to see the gorgeous mountains too! I love it. I love the seasons. I love the chili weather and bundling up. Growing up as a 'Florida girl' (something I don't like to refer myself as) you don't get to experience anything like this. There are barely two season and, as far as looks go, you can't really tell the difference! 

I always felt like I was meant to be near mountains and in an area that has all four seasons. Now that I'm here. I'm so much happier. Often times we like to drive up to the top of the mountains. I usually do this when I'm having an off day or I have a lot on my mind. My husband knows it brings my spirits up so he gladly comes with. As soon we get to the top and check out our little ol' town below my mind is stripped from any stress, anything that's upsetting me, or any worries I previously had miles and miles below. I couldn't trade this for home. Never. 

I started this blog because it was always nice to lay out my feelings in text. In a somewhat creative way. In a way that I can't exactly express to anyone in person. I'm not exactly shy, I'm just absolutely horrible with words face to face. Until now, I haven't been able to get back into my groove of writing. Nothing sounds right when I read it back. Nothing comes out organized from my brain to my fingertips. I almost accepted the fact that I just can't write like I use to! What a sad thought, right? Thankfully. I just needed a little inspiration from a family member!  

Feeling great today. It's my first day back at work in a week (due to family matters and the way our company allows you to choose your own schedule) and I'm so excited to get back in there. It's sad I only have a seasonal position. Although they are choosing some seasonal employees for year round positions, due to my recent absence, I don't believe I will be a chosen one! 
If I'm being totally honest with myself, working their available schedules and mine together has been a difficult task. Come January or February my Husband will be going out of town for future career opportunities and I will REALLY need a set schedule. So, the good bye will be mutual I suppose.

Speaking of... New Years Eve is today! A new year. A fresh start! I love this time of year! 
Are you making any New Years resolutions!? I usually don't pick any or only have one or two that I forget about come February. =X 
Last year, I did stick with my resolution and I'm still going strong! This year, I want to be more organized. I want to successfully work from a calendar. I want to have a set schedule for each family member and their home duties. 
My house is almost impossible to keep clean on a daily basis by myself. It seems as though no one, including my husband, knows how to clean up after themselves or keep things in order. Yesterday, I cleaned and organized the entire house! I need a good start come January 1st as to not discourage myself from continuing. I plan on buying one of those large white board calendars. Oh, it's going to be so wonderful assigning everyone daily jobs. Hehehe..

I also want to start growing my own veggies and fruits. I could save a good amount of money by doing so!

Life...Coming together.. & a salt dough ornament recipe!

 Hello! 

   Everything is finally coming together here. I found a job(Which I LOVE). I'm handling leaving the kids to go to work a lot easier than I did in the past. I don't call one million times and request a picture or two. haha. Yes, I really did do that. But, to my defense it was when Eli was only 12 weeks old. 
 I've been meaning to post some more recipes but, I just haven't had the time. There are a few recipes we've tried lately that turned out to be BIG hits with the family. I cannot wait to share them! 
 This week Haylee and I have been making salt dough ornaments! We're mailing them to our family as Christmas gifts. A free project we made with things we already had in the cabinet! I'll share the recipe and instructions below. I'm not sure if I'll be able to add the pictures though. 
  Salt Dough Ornament recipe!
4 C. Flour
1 C. Salt
1 1/2 C. Water

1.Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees.

2.Mix all ingredients together. 

3. Roll out the dough. Shape the ornaments with you hands, a cup or cookie cutters!(we shaped our with out hands because we didn't have cookie cutters but they would have turned out MUCH nicer with a couple fun shapes). Poke a hole for the string you're going to use to hang your ornament. Using a straw to poke the hole is the best method but I used the back of my paint brush and gave it a little swirl. Worked just fine!

4. Bake the dough for an hour. Let cool. Decorate! 
We painted ours and colored on them with markers. You could use glitter too! We added cinnamon to some of our dough and they smell so yummy! Another batch we added red food coloring and made red swirly ornaments!

Sick & Tired

Oh hello...

 This has been an interesting 3 weeks. Lets do a little back story, eh?

  A few weeks ago my baby boy and little girl caught a stomach bug. They were sick for a day or two. (my son was sick a bit longer than the eldest) They quickly recovered from that and about a week later caught another bug. This one was much, much worse. Eight hours after my eldest started showing signs so did I. About four hours after me, my husband started showing signs. We were all down for the count. Horrible pain. Terribly sick! This lasted a solid two days before we could all get out of the spots in the living room our tummies thought were best. Now, almost a week after all of that I get a sore throat, high fever and achy body.. Luckily the fever and achy-ness only lasted through the night. My miracle drug? Midol! haha Works wonders! My poor husband didn't get out of this one easy though! He's been feeling like poo all day! Amazing! I can't handle being sick again.. I refuse! We never get sick so this does worry me. I don't see any reason why my family has been so sick lately. We've recently moved to a very high altitude area but, we've been here a few months now! Other than that I cannot pin point what's causing all of this. I will stay full of orange juice at all times! hahaha. That should do it!

  Unfortunately, I hear these stomach bugs are going around. Friends and family on the west coast, south east, north east.. Everyone is getting it. The bug we all got at the same time last week was so horrible I honestly didn't think my husband was going to make it without a trip to the hospital. Very scary.

  My son's FIRST birthday was last week also. The day I started feeling better... And thank goodness because I would have felt awful if we did any less than I managed to do that night. I drug myself to the store and bought him a cake and some candles. Haylee and I sang 'Happy Birthday' to him (My husband couldn't get up for it, unfortunately) and he ate some cake! He was having a great time until the icing completely cover his hands! haha. He doesn't like getting messy, I guess! I'll post pictures when I get the chance.

  I've been meaning to update on all of this but haven't been able to bring myself to until today! 

Falling into place

What a busy week! 

As crazy and hectic as it gets, I love it! We've been working on finding a way to get our daughter enrolled in Kindergarten. We're talking with the private school and researching home schools. Lots of things to learn when it comes to Home School. A good friend back home says it's free there.. Not having that kind of luck though! haha. I'll be happy when she's back in the school books. No matter how it works out. She loves school and I hate to have such limited options for her right now.

I've also been looking for a job! Ugh =( So sad. I cried. Go ahead and judge me! haha. I don't want to leave my babies. I love staying home and taking care of them. I love being their go to parent. It's the best feeling in the entire world. But, I also want to do so much with them.. Stuff that costs money.. So, off to work I go. Not yet though. I haven't had much luck at this point. 

On a good note, my sewing machine from my mom came in the mail today! I was so excited. I went rummaging through Haylee's clothes to find a pair of leggings she no longer fits in. This is a very basic sewing machine. It's called 'Perfection'. I wouldn't recommend it for someone who is just starting out because it doesn't have the exact things you need to successfully sew and you may find yourself discouraged. BUT, It got the job done. I turned her leggings into shorts. It's obviously too cold to wear outside but it will be nice to wear while playing in the house or even to bed. I love a good up-cycle :)

 It's perfect for small jobs. It will be perfect for Haylee to learn with one day. She was begging me to teach her tonight. I think she needs a good year or so though :)

 Tomorrow I'm taking some time for myself to shop around for one that will fit me :)

The 'Perfection' sewing machine

Old pair of leggings cut and ready to sew!

The finished product

Thought I would share a sweet moment the kids had today! 

Chicken Curry Recipe

Hi! My favorite recipe of all time is Chicken Curry. My husband and I make this so often that it's rare to not have left overs in the refrigerator at any given day of the week. Today, I'm going to share OUR recipe with you! I hope you can use it and I really hope you enjoy it. Here we go!

Ingredients:

• 1 large box sliced mushrooms
• 1  onion, Sliced thick
• 1/2 can chopped pineapple
• 3 cups diced, cooked chicken
• 1/3 cup canola oil
• 3 tablespoons flour
• Crushed red pepper to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 to 1/2 teaspoons curry powder
• 1 1/2 cups chicken stock and half n half

Cook first four ingredients in shortening until onion and apple are tender, 10 to 15 minutes. (if you're using fresh mushrooms, saute them for several minutes before adding other ingredients.) Remove from heat. Blend in flour, salt, crushed red pepper and curry powder. Add liquid and cook until thickened, stirring constantly. Serve with steamed rice without salt.

That's it! It's super simple and so yummy!
I definitely encourage you to add more veggies or make any changes you think would taste good. We love to add a green bell pepper every once in awhile. 

Have a good day and don't forget to vote tomorrow!!

A trip to the dentist.

Hello!

Today was both of the kids dentist appointment. Eli's first in fact! Our dentist recommends a child's first dental appointment before the age of 1.. Yep. Eli will be one in 2 weeks! =( So sad.

Anyway, before I get all teary eyed over my growing boy! Haylee did really well. I was worried about her because she's very nervous in situations like this. She asked a lot of questions! 'What are you doing?' Or 'What are you going to do with that?' 

Haha. Luckily her dental office is amazing and has a tv on the ceiling to distract the children. She really enjoyed it and is looking forward to going back! 

While we were there they took her xrays. Apparently Haylee had bumped her front teeth hard enough once to damage the root! you can't tell by looking at them, though. They said it wouldn't cause any trouble but it took me by surprise since I can't manage to remember her hitting her teeth THAT hard! 

Eli was second in the chair. He wasn't very excited about it. He's really good at the doctor's office but wasn't happy about this strange man poking around in his mouth. Haha.

Just a quick look though, and he was done! 

All in all it was a great trip and the fact that Haylee loves it there makes me really happy. I have a positive outlook on coming appointments!