Holiday Vlog Linkup

 

I'm linking up today with Sarah for her holiday link-up.  I decided to vlog my answers since I haven't done a vlog since the Turkey Trot. 

Here goes nothing....

I used my webcam on my laptop it doesn't seem to be as good as the camera on the iPhone, but I wanted to give her a try.

I cannot wait to read/watch your vlogs about Christmas! :)  

Have a Happy Thursday everyone!!

Baby Johnson: 14 Weeks

Well, nothing majorly notable happened this week, but I did take the first bump picture!  This was a self taken picture because Tim has bible study on Friday mornings, so I'm hoping that we'll figure some way to do these pictures before he leaves.  Hence this picture not being exactly "quality."

This week’s happenings:

• My insulin requirements have not changed.  I have been able to lower the amount that I take at night.  I have been able to sleep this week, it's been WONDERFUL! :)
• I have been staying up past 8:30 this week!  I feel like I've had a bit of energy this week - I've been able to get a few things done during the weeknights.
• I cooked!  I haven't been cooking much in the last several weeks, but this week, I did it!  I got my butt back into the kitchen.  Meatloaf, mashed potatoes, green beans, and corn, comfort food and delicious.
• My belly has really started to stick out.  This has just happened in the last couple of weeks.  It's craziness.  I asked the doctor yesterday about it and she said it was perfectly normal for the bump to stick out faster with the second child.  I haven't gained any weight yet, and looking at me, you'd think I'd have gained about 20 lbs.
• Baby's heartbeat was in the 150s and 160s when I got to hear it yesterday.  Made my day, make that my week to hear that heartbeat!

I should be scheduled in 4 weeks to have the anatomy scan and to find out the baby's gender.  I cannot wait!  Sometime during the week of January 7-11 hopefully! :)  So quick!  Yay!

So, I did a comparison collage of my pregnancy with Cooper and the pregnancy now.  Both are first bump pictures, however, one is at 22 weeks with Coop and 14 weeks with the little pumpkin.

So, I'm pretty sure that I'm just as big now as I was at 22 weeks with Cooper.  I'm really not sure what to think about this, since the doctor says it's normal, I'll just go with it!  I cannot wait to see how this progresses and how big I'll be at 22 weeks to do comparisons!

That's it folks.  I hope you have a fantastic weekend, ours will be super busy, but we'll be home, and that's exciting.  I need that.  A weekend at home before the crazy Christmas celebrations begin! :)

Christmas Tunes

This is my favorite time of the year, no question about it.  I love Christmas music, and I love that I can turn on the radio and listen to it on a Christmas music station.  I also have a playlist on my iPhone of Christmas music and I listen to that at work, and also in the car when I am out of an area that has a Christmas music station or when I don’t want to listen to commercials.

Some of my family (Steph/Tim) and friends (Erica) don’t particularly care all that much for Christmas music, but when they are in the car with me driving, it’s just too bad.  I’ve even gotten Cooper on the Christmas music bandwagon (although I’ll admit, he’s obsessed with about 3 songs and wants to hear them over and over again).

So, I thought today, I’d share some of my most favorite Christmas songs with you.  I would love to hear yours as well, so please comment and share your favorites with me, I love adding to my playlist each year!

In no particular order……

The 12 Days of Christmas by Straight No Chaser – this is a classic that this male a cappella group has added to and changed and made wonderful (at least in my mind).

O Holy Night – Straight No Chaser/Home Alone Soundtrack/Celine Dion/Norman Rockwell: Christmas Memories

Little Saint Nick – The Beach Boys/Straight No Chaser

Silent Night – Straight No Chaser/Norman Rockwell: Christmas Memories 

Santa Claus is Coming to Town – Bruce Springsteen

All I Want for Christmas is You (not the Mariah Carey song, completely different) – Vince Vance and The Valiants

White Christmas – Home Alone Soundtrack

Please Come Home for Christmas – Home Alone Soundtrack

Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree – Brenda Lee

Happy Holiday – A Swinging Christmas – 1940’s Style

Jolly Old St. Nicholas –  A Swinging Christmas – 1940’s Style

Up on the Housetop -  A Swinging Christmas – 1940’s Style

A Holly Jolly Christmas – Burl Ives

Here Comes Santa Claus – Gene Autry

Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer – Gene Autry/Burl Ives

All I Want for Christmas is You (different song than above) – Mariah Carey

Sleigh Ride – Ella Fitzgerald

Frosty the Snowman – Gene Autry

Merry Christmas Baby – Bruce Springsteen

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year – Andy Williams

Hark! The Herald Angels Sing – Carrie Underwood

White Christmas - Bing Crosby 

Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas – Frank Sinatra

Home for the Holidays – The Carpenter’s

I’m sure I’m missing some,  but that’s a majority of my playlist right now.   I would love to hear yours as well, so please comment and share your favorites with me, I love adding to my playlist each year!

Santa Picture Fail

Friends, today I'm linking up with Darci for the Santa Picture Fail!

I realized after I decided to link up, that I do not have Cooper's very first picture with Santa scanned into the computer, so if I can find it later - I'll scan it in, but I'll most likely forget.

Here is his second Christmas - 15 months old 2010:

I've gotta give Cooper credit on this one, this Santa was super scary.  Just look at him!

Third Christmas - 2 years and almost 3 months old 2011:

This Christmas, Cooper wouldn't even get close to the Jolly Old St. Nick.  Tim had to hold him far away so that he would even sit for the picture.

Fourth Christmas - 3 years and almost 3 months old 2012:

Cooper was a bit scared right after meeting Santa, but he warmed up to him very well, and he told him all that he wanted for Christmas. 

These aren't "gigantic" fails, others will have much worse, but hey, we tried to keep him as happy as we could.

Now, link up and show us your Santa Picture Fail!

Our weekend & Picture Overload

It was a busy weekend for our little family.  We were pretty non-stop from the time we got up on Saturday morning until sleep time last night!

Saturday:

We took Cooper to breakfast with Santa first thing on Saturday morning.  Cooper has been scared of Santa since the very first time we brought him to visit him when he wasn’t even 3 months old.  This year though, he did great.  He was a little hesitant at first, but warmed right up to him.

Santa greeted us when we walked in, and let Cooper hold his bells.

Then once we got our breakfast, Santa visited our table a few times for more pictures.

Cooper and me chowing down.

Finally Santa came back one last time for Cooper to sit on his lap.  Tim sat next to him so that he wouldn’t run away in case he was still scared.

Next, we made the 2 hour trip south to visit my dad and Gwen.  Cooper loves visiting my dad’s house because my dad has a horse he can ride on in the basement (the very messy basement).

The only one I got of my dad and Cooper all weekend.  Dad shaved his beard for work, it’s more than a little weird seeing him like this.  This may be only the third time in my life he hasn’t had a beard.

After visiting with Dad and Gwen and giving Gwen her birthday cake and present (which I was so caught up in that I forgot to take pictures) we headed to my mom’s house.

She was having a family gathering later that afternoon.  All but one of the 3 year olds was there – so Cooper got to play with his second cousins and it was precious.  We only see them once or twice a year (if we’re lucky.)

My uncle surprised all of the kiddos with a present, matching trucks for the boys and little outfits and $ for the girls.

Cooper was pretty excited about this truck.

Cooper and Oliver (Abby’s son) playing with their trucks.

My beautiful cousin Sherry with her three kiddos, left to right Finn, Celia and Elliot.  These kids are all 19 months apart. 

She says she is going to wait awhile for another!

Cooper and Oliver posing.

Grandma, Uncle Steve’s face, Jared (my celebrity weatherman cousin), my mom and Aunt Sheila.

My uncle Perry with Madelynn (Abby’s daughter) and Elliot

Coop and Finn hugs.

Coop, Finn and Elliot hugs.

The kiddos had a great time.  I had a great time.  I only wish I had taken a picture of all of the “adults”; our parents generation, then us kids and then our kiddos.  Oh well, maybe I’ll remember next year???

Sunday:

I awoke to Cooper crying for me – he needed to go potty.  So we did that, got him all ready to go back to bed when my mom came in and let me go back to bed.  I didn’t fall back asleep, but laid there another hour – talking to Tim and snoozing.  We had a nice breakfast of homemade waffles with strawberries then got ready to head out to the next event.

I took zero pictures, but my dad, Tim, Cooper and I went to my dad’s family’s family reunion on Sunday.

It was good to see so many people that I hadn’t seen in such a long time.  Some I met for the very first time.  It was great.

Sunday when we got home, we unpacked the car and then got to watch this little bundle of joy.  If you are friends with me on facebook or instagram you’ve seen some of these before, sorry)

Grandpa loves Soup.

My piggies taste good Mimi!!

All smiles!

Cooper giving kisses while Soup plays with her feet.

It was a busy weekend, but a good one.  If you made it this far into my post, congratulations!  It was long and very picture filled!! J  Have a happy Monday ladies!

Baby Johnson: 13 Weeks

Today I am 13 weeks pregnant.  I am already 1/3 of the way through this pregnancy.  (Only because I am diabetic, they will induce me around 38 weeks.)

The baby is about 3 inches long and the size of a shrimp.  It’s incredible to me this journey I am taking and this miracle that is going on inside of me. 

I have not started taking weekly “bump” pictures yet, but I believe I will be starting that sooner than when I was pregnant with Cooper, because I seem to have some growth already, and I want to document the process, so please expect to be bored when I do my weekly posts! J

I am going to write a list of “this week’s happenings” each week so that I can document what changes (if any) have taken place with the pregnancy.

This week’s happenings:

• My insulin requirements have not been as great this week as previous weeks.  Because of this, I have been awoken 10 out of the last 13 nights due to low blood sugar.  This has caused me to have to get up and eat or drink something with a good amount of sugar so that I can try to get back to sleep, this doesn’t always work.  Sleep deprivation has been common this week.
• My appetite has been less than normal.  I cannot eat as much at meal time.
• I am very picky about what I’ll actually eat.  Many food types do not sound especially good to me, carbs are the exception.
• Cravings for lunchmeat sandwiches are at an all-time high.  Because of the risk of the bacteria Listeria monocytogenes, which could cause flu like symptoms and lead to life threatening meningitis, and I do not feel it’s worth it to eat these types of meats, although cravings are high.
• Pizza has lost its appeal this week.
• Water and milk are my “go to” drinks.  I have tried to drink caffeine free drinks as well as a few caffeinated beverages here and there, and none have tasted good, so I’ll stick with handy dandy H2O.

 That is it for this week’s happenings.  I am interested to see how these change throughout the weeks.

My next doctor’s appointment is the 13^th, so next Thursday.  I cannot wait to hear that little heartbeat again.  Then the next appointment will be when we can find out the baby’s gender! J  Woo hoo!!

We have still not told Cooper that he is going to be a big brother – I believe that we will wait until he can really see my belly growing – for now, it’s not big enough for him to wonder what is going on.  There are sometimes that I think he might know already, but the more he talks, the more I realize he doesn’t.  So that works for us for now.  We want him to soak up these last months of being the “only child.”

Have a great weekend ladies and gents!

SWW

Today, I’m linking up with Shannon today over at Life After I Dew for So What Wednesday. This is perfect for me today, as that’s about my attitude for the day, “So what?”

So without further delay here goes nothing:

So what….

• If I’m eating cheeseball and crackers for breakfast.  I’m obsessed with cheese and crackers and it is the only thing that sounds remotely good to me right now. AND, my mom makes the best cheeseball EVER.
• If ordered our Christmas cards back in EARLY October?  I am still loving the way they turned out!

• If I am the laziest blogger that I know.   My brain matter is being sucked in too many different directions during this season and during this pregnancy that I have nothing to talk about.
• If I am excited to be skipping teaching Sunday School this weekend;  I am thrilled to be going south to visit my family all weekend!  Family reunions and family Christmas gatherings are more fun anyway!
• If I haven’t wrapped a single Christmas present yet this year?  I mean I still have 19 days, right?!?  They are piling up though, so I need to start on that soon.
• If I ate cereal for dinner again last night.  At 9 o’clock.
• If I’m already in my fatty jeans again, at least I’m not in maternity ones yet. (They have been ordered though, thanks to the Old Navy Black Friday sales.)
• If Cooper wears his Halloween costume every night when we get home.  That little football uniform was the best $10 I’ve spent in a long time.  He LOVES wearing it.

What are you saying So What to this week?  Link up with Shannon and tell us!

A bit delayed....

Today isn’t one of those Mondays where I just wish I could have stayed in bed.    This is quite strange for me, and if I admit it, after the morning I’ve had, I should reconsider my wishes…

Things this morning started off pretty good, Cooper woke up without me having to force him to wake up, and bonus, he even wanted to cuddle a little bit.  My big THREE year old isn’t a big cuddler (with me anyway) – so I was happy to have some rocking chair snuggle time with him this morning.

We were out of the house by 7:30, which is a little later than I like to leave, but not unacceptable.  We were about 5 minutes away from the babysitter’s house when BOOM.  We got hit.  Along with three cars behind us.  The accident started from the back, and thankfully we were the fourth car and in the very front, and we had zero damage.  That however, didn’t stop the policeman from asking us to stay until he returned for the accident report write-up.  Around the 1 hour 10 min wait for the policeman to come back, I decided to be optimistic.

Then I thought, what am I doing, just sitting here?  Am I a blogger?!?  Do I need a picture of this pile-up?  ABSOLUTELY! 

So there you have it, the four car accident that started from the back, hit my car, and caused us zero damage, and NO ONE was hurt.  Praise the Lord! 

Hubby and I got to work around 10:15 – just in time for me to work for a little over an hour before I went to lunch.  I am thankful for a boss who is so flexible and understanding, I mean I had these lunch plans setup prior to the accident!

Ladies, I hope your mornings started off better than mine, and I’m hoping for a better afternoon!  Adios!

Favorite Things

I wanted to share a few of my favorite things with you today, and I might continue this in a few parts if I think of more.  I love seeing when people post their favorite items so I thought I'd post mine as well.

1. Brooks Addiction running shoes - these are the shoes that stopped the hurting in my feet when I was able to run - I had pain all over my feet when I first started running with regular ole shoes, and I went to the local running store, tried about 10 different pairs of shoes and loved these, and I still do!
2. Alcohol free instant foaming hand sanitizer - I buy the Babies-R-Us brand, because it's the cheapest I've found, but any will do.  This stuff doesn't dry out my hands, yet gives me the sanitizing featers that I want.  Also very good for kids!
3. Blistex Complete Moisture - this stuff is the bomb.com.  It goes on smooth and doesn't feel like I've got on heavy layers of lip goo.  The best stuff I've found in a long while, and I am a chapstick queen. 
4. Fresca - now that I'm not drinking much caffiene, I have tried several different diet caffiene free beverages lately and Fresca is one of my all time favorites.  Crisp taste of grapefruit, love.
5. Tide to go - I really don't go anywhere without one of these little pens.  One of the three of us will ultimately spill something on us wherever we go, so it's always good to have a little stain remover handy.
6. Ice Breakers Duo - Strawberry - For some reason, recently, gum has been making me nauseous, so I've been carrying these mints around.  They give me a fruity minty flavor and I really like them.
7. Quaker Chewy 25% less sugar chocolate chip granola bars - That's a mouthful.  I treat these guys like a dessert, and they are scrumptions.  Cooper LOVES them too.
8. Bath & Body Works Scentbug - From what I've heard, these aren't available anymore, but goodness, I don't know why.  I have one at my desk at work, and I absolutely love it.  It takes 2 AA batteries, I've had mine for just over a year and I've only changed mine once.  It uses the home fragrence oil and really makes my office area smell delicious!
9. iPad camera/sd card reader - I purchased these last year - and I bought the Apple brand (only $29) and they are awesome!  I can load pictures so easily from my sd card right onto the iPad and view them, put them on facebook, load them to Blogsy, etc.  Really a handy little tool.

Well, those are my favorite items for today, what are some of your favorites??  I'd love to add some of your faves to my Christmas list! :)

Happy Thursday Ladies.

The Poop Story by Tim (aka Hubby)

Here it is ladies!  The post I've been waiting for him to write for tooooo long!  I did zero editing, this is all the hubby! :)  Enjoy.

For several months my wife has been asking (nagging) me to write a guest blog for her. I read her blog religiously to find out if I am in any trouble and to make necessary changes to my behavior. She told me to write about whatever I wanted but try to make it funny. After telling several people at work this story and seeing them fall off of their chairs laughing, naturally I decided to tell you ‘The Poop Story’.

If you follow my Emily’s blog you know that we have a very active 3 year old who calls me his ‘big buddy’. He is very, very smart and can do almost anything he puts his mind to. We have been trying most of the summer to get him potty trained; this seems to be the one thing he has a problem with. He will consistently go #1, but #2 seems to be more than he can deal with.  He will hold it for several days to avoid having to use the potty for this function and usually explodes, hopefully at the sitter’s house. His personal best is 6 days.

So, one Sunday afternoon in September, the second week of football season, Emily asked me to watch him while she went to lunch with Aly and did some shopping. Being the first rate husband and father that I am I agreed without hesitation. We came home from church, ate lunch, played for a few minutes and then it was nap time for him and football time for me. I put a diaper on him and laid him down for his nap. All was going according to plan and several hours of blissful football awaited me.

WARNING: What you are about to read may be disturbing to some of you so stop now if you have a weak stomach.

About half an hour after I put him to bed I heard the upstairs bathroom toilet flush. My first thought was what a good little boy; he went pee all on his own. I never investigated as there was no noise or commotion and I resumed my date with the Colts not giving it a second thought. Five minutes later I heard the upstairs toilet flush again and decided to investigate. As a turned to climb the stairs several things happened at once. First, I see my son standing at the top of the stairs completely naked and posing like a gymnast who just stuck the landing. At the same time my nose was assaulted by an overpowering stench and I observed that not only was he naked, he was also covered from the neck down with, you guessed it, POOP! When I reached the top of the stairs I was in a state of shock and picked him up under the armpits, by my index fingers holding him as far away from me as possible. We headed for the master bathroom shower with him laughing, clearly he was missing the gravity of the situation, and me yelling ‘don’t touch anything, don’t touch anything’. After 3 complete scrub downs I deemed him sanitized and thought the worst was over. I have never been more wrong in my life.  I was not prepared for the utter devastation that I observed.

As we walked back down the hall toward his room I looked in the bathroom. I wept. His PJ pants and soiled diaper were hanging halfway out of the garbage can dripping, yes dripping, onto the floor. The toilet was almost completely covered in poop, and there was a trail on the floor. He had tried to rinse out the diaper in the toilet. At this point my cute little boy looked up and said ‘I tried to go potty, and then I tried to clean it up’. If I would have had my wits about me I would have recognized the foreshadowing of the second part of that statement. I wrapped him up in his towel and told him to sit in the hall while I found enough bleach to cover this. After 30 minutes of intense scrubbing, weeping, and cursing under my breath I had restored the bathroom. Ok, I handled it and the worst was surely over. Wrong again.

We next went into his room to get him dressed and I nearly passed out. He had tried to wipe himself with the following: EVERY diaper we had, his blanket, his pillow, his sheets, his stuffed animals, all the dirty clothes in his laundry basket, his clothe book his Aunt had given him, and finally the carpet.  Trying to remain calm I dressed him and took him downstairs to play so I could think of the best way to burn down the house. I headed back upstairs with a garbage bag and put everything washable in it and ran to the washer and searched for the boil setting. I resumed my assault on the bedroom and at this point I saw the 2 inch wide by 2 feet long streak on the carpet. If you have ever seen a dog scooting on the floor you understand what happened. I began scrubbing, and scrubbing, and scrubbing the dozen or so ‘spots’ on the carpet trying not to become ill. I was completely disgusted and wondered how could a boy poop that much, it had to be some kind of record.

Now I hear Emily coming in the front door and ask Cooper “why is your hair wet?” I stepped out to the stair landing and could not speak; all I could do was to point in his room and shake my head. Emily’s reaction to what she saw and was told was not the same as mine. It appeared she was relieved to have been gone and thought it was somewhat funny.   She helped me finish the cleaning and she was very jovial. I think she was trying to stop my sobbing by making me laugh and I hope this story made you chuckle as well.

Thanks for reading,

Tim

Now, show the man some love and tell him what you think of his story!  Should Tim guest post again?? :)

Birthday Recap & Hubby Guest Post is SCHEDULED!

For my birthday last week, I had the pleasure of taking off work (mostly because it was going to be pointless to go into work with the shortened day (day before Thanksgiving) and because Cooper had a doctor appointment, but that’s another story). 

So, I took Cooper to the Indianapolis Children’s Museum.  And, oh my goodness, that kid had a great time!  I only have one poor quality iphone picture with me right now (all my others are on my camera still), but he had a blast playing with the sand table, the water table, the dinosaur area and especially the big Hot Wheel car section.  They have an area where kids can build with blocks, can dig in mulch and so much more!  He had a blast!  So much so, that we applied our admission cost that day to the price of a year long membership and that is part of Little Mister’s Christmas present this year.  He’s going to love it!  I cannot wait to take him back!!!

When we were finished at the museum, we headed home, where Tim was already off work and was waiting for us.  We ate lunch and started the great clean.  Tim’s sister and kiddos were coming to stay on Friday night, and since we were to be gone all day Thanksgiving day, we needed to get moving.  Thing was….. I wanted our Christmas tree up and decorated, so that’s what I did.  We had gotten a new Christmas tree at the end of the year last year, so it was pretty exciting to get it up and take a look.  Here is it all lit up before decorations.  The final product along with my other measly decorations will be shown in another post.  We had a hard time figuring out how to get all of the lights on this tree to come on, but once we did, easy peasy.   The tree is over 8 feet tall, so I had to get a step stool to decorate as high as I could, then I had Andrew decorate the rest, thank goodness for tall people.

  

Later that day, I got a few pictures from Stephanie via text message.

Isn’t she the sweetest thing you’ve ever seen???

I made an Oreo Poke Cake and some Taco Soup for Thanksgiving.  I highly recommend both if you haven’t had them, you should! 

That about wraps up my birthday fun.  Now onto the good stuff.

I have been hinting that hubby was going to guest post for me for a while now.  It has been a long and hard journey trying to get his butt in gear to write something for me.  But guess what!  He finally did it!!  I have that scheduled for tomorrow, so be sure to check back, he’s got a pretty good story to tell you, if I do say so myself. 

Speaking of hubby – he has been amazing lately.  With this pregnancy, I have been more tired than I can ever remember being.  And by tired, I mean I am usually in bed before 9pm everynight.  I have really slacked on cooking, cleaning and pretty much everything in between including laundry.  What does this mean….. It means that my dear Tim has been stepping up with EVERYTHING.  He’s been Mr. Dad and Mr. Mom.  He’s been amazing and I cannot thank him enough.  Thank you honey!! J  Love you!

Happy Tuesday Friends!

Cinnamon Roll French Toast Casserole

I know, I know, I haven't posted a recipe in a LONG time.  I apologize.  I just haven't tried too many things that I've been dying to tell you about.  I hate when that happens...  But this one, ladies, let me tell you, it's wonderful!

Just look at it.  Ooey, gooey deliciousness.  If you follow me on Pinterest, you'll know that I pin a lot of recipes for breakfast foods.  It's because I always want to come up with something delicious to make for Christmas morning or Easter morning, or any other special morning around our house.

This past weekend, Tim's sister and two of her kids came to stay with us on Friday night.  We made a big breakfast on Saturday morning which included this goodness.  I got the recipe from a Pinterest pin, but then found out it came right from Pillsbury!  Imagine that.

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 2 cans cinnamon rolls with icing (the suggestion was the 8 count rolls, but Tim bought me the Cinnabon 5 count rolls and they worked fine, great even!)
• 6 eggs (I only used 5)
• 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 cup of pecans
• 1 cup maple syrup (I used 3/4 cup)

Topping Ingredients:

• Icing from cinnamon rolls
• powdered sugar (I did not use)
• Maple Syrup (I also did not use)

Method:

1. Heat oven to 375°F. Pour melted butter into ungreased 13x9-inch (3-quart) glass baking dish. Separate both cans of dough into 16 rolls; set icing aside. Cut each roll into 8 pieces; place pieces over butter in dish. I didn't really make sure I cut each roll into 8 pieces, I just cut small pieces and it worked fine.
2. In medium bowl, beat eggs. Beat in cream, cinnamon and vanilla until well blended; gently pour over roll pieces. Sprinkle with pecans; drizzle with 1 cup syrup (or 3/4 cup as I did).
3. Bake 20 to 28 minutes or until golden brown.  I ended up having to bake for quite a big longer, as mine was very gooey in the middle until 35-40 min. Cool 15 minutes. Meanwhile, remove covers from icing; microwave on Medium (50%) 10 to 15 seconds or until thin enough to drizzle. I also didn't microwave frosting, after sitting out for the entire time the casserole baked, it was easy to drizzel and it spread wonderfully once it was on. 
4. Drizzle icing over top; sprinkle with powdered sugar. If desired, spoon syrup from dish over individual servings. Serve with the additional 1/2 cup maple syrup. Again, I opted to not add more calories with powdered sugar and syrup.  I had them on the side if anyone needed to add, but it was pretty sweet as it was.

I highly recommend this for a Christmas/Easter or other special morning event.  It was quite a bit for my family, especially since we had lots of other foods to eat that morning, I will probably divide it in half for our Christmas breakfast this year. 

Enjoy! :)

Par-tay Time.....

Today I am 32.  That's right, THIRTY-TWO.....  I'm old, ha, not really, but each year that number keeps growing, blah.

I like Kristen's idea of the (fill in the blank) anniversary of my 29th birthday idea... I shall call this the 3rd anniversary of my 29th birthday??  :)  Thanks Kristen.

Anyway, I'm not really upset at all about this day and here's why:

1) I don't have to work.
2) I get to spend the day with my little buddy, Cooper James.
3) I'm off for 5 days straight.
4) I see all of my family tomorrow and more over the weekend.

Over the weekend, Tim took me out to dinner, The Cheesecake Factory, and it was delicious, and we had a good time.  Nevermind the fact that I got terribly sick during the night afterwards, I'm pretty sure those prenatal vitamins are still kicking my butt. 

I hope you all have a wonderful day today and the best Thanksgiving ever!  Eat your hearts out and exercise like crazy after! :)

Turkey Trot Linkup

Today, I’m linking up with Holly & Erin for the Turkey Trot linky party! Thanks for hosting ladies!

1. What do you look forward to more: the food, football or parades?
Family.  Oh wait, that’s not on the list.  Between food, football or parades, I’ll stick with the food.  I don’t understand football, so I don’t watch it, and the parades, well, we’re usually on the road when they are on.
2. What is your favorite non-traditional Thanksgiving Day dish?
Cheeseball?  Is that a traditional Thanksgiving dish?  I love cheeseball and crackers.
3. After dinner, is it football or a nap?
Nap, definitely.
4. Do you watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade? Which is your favorite float?
I don’t.  Like I said above, we are usually on the road heading to my family’s houses, but I have been to the parade before and my favorite float is Garfield.  I love that lasagna loving cat.
5. Where do you go to celebrate and eat your big meal? Who is there (family, friends)?  We celebrate on Thanksgiving day with my family.  We go back and forth to my mom’s and dad’s houses.  We do both on Thanksgiving day.  Normally we stay down there for the night, but this year we’re coming home to sleep in our own beds.
6. What is your favorite turkey day dessert?
Pumpkin Pie/Pumpkin Roll/Pumpkin Gooey Cake.  Yum!

ME DAY!

Today = me day.  Yup, that’s right, I’m off work, doing nothing.

Literally.  Nothing.  Pure and complete laziness.  Catching up on tv shows, eating frozen pizza and just staring at the mess that surrounds me.  I am ignoring the laundry that is piled up in our bedroom, I am ignoring EVERYTHING. 

My day so far.

7-8am – helped get Tim and Cooper off to work and daycare
8-9am – breakfast and watching last week’s NCIS
9-11 – back to bed to watch more DVR’d shows and nap
11-12 – downstairs to make the frozen pizza and watch a Love It or List It from the DVR.

What will the rest of the day add up to?  Probably a whole lot of nothing.

Do you ever have days like this?  I haven’t in a loooooooooooong time and I need it.  Sometimes it’s good for the mama to have a selfish day, right???

Happy Monday Ladies!

I've got a OVbunEN.......

Yup, that's right folks!!!  I'm PREGNANT!

While you won't be reading this post until many weeks after we found out, I just had to write it and get my excitement out!  (Post written mostly on 10/3/2012 but updated as time has passed.)

After our last appointment with the doctor, I was supposed to take a pregnancy test on Cooper's birthday.  Well, we didn't have any tests at home, so afer we dropped him off at the babysitter's house that morning, we stopped by a grocery store.  (Tim and I carpool to work, since we work at the same place.)  I went into the bathroom, proceeded to take the test, and in less than a minute, this is what I saw!!!

People, you have no idea how excited I was and still am today!  Not only was it my precious boy's 3rd birthday, we found out we are having another precious baby!!! 

I was over the moon.  I couldn't wait to call my doctor and see what I needed to do next.  I didn't know how different this time would be, if any, since I'd taken medication, etc.  She asked me if I could come in that day before noon to do some bloodwork, and if so, they would be able to tell me for sure before the end of the day.  WOOHOO!  So off I went, had the bloodwork done and it was positive too.  My HCGs were right in the range they wanted them in - I would need to come back on Friday to make sure they were increasing as they should.  Done and Done.  Friday same thing.  They were increasing as they should!

 I scheduled the first ultrasound for October 22nd with them; and here are the precious pictures of our little pumpkin.  Baby was six weeks 3 days in these precious pictures.  I got to hear the heartbeat, 129 bpm.  I cried.  I couldn't have been happier and more thankful for such a blessing. 

Now, I have been released from their care and am under the care of my regular OB from here on out.  I had my first ultrasound with them on November 14th.  I was 9 weeks 5 days and I loved hearing that little heartbeat again, 169 bpm this time. 

We have been trying for nearly two years.  We've been praying, doing whatever we could to get healthy so that I could get pregnant and it has finally worked!  Praise Jesus!  I think I am so much more in awe of the entire "getting pregnant" process now - it really is such a miracle from Our Lord.  God's timing is perfect and while I may not understand why this timing is perfect, I do not question it. 

We know that if something goes wrong and if I should happen to miscarry, that it was for a reason, that God's plan included this and we'll take comfort in that.  For now, we are doing everything we can, and we appreciate your prayers.

Here is my little one, showing off his new status :)

Ladies, I have been wanting to share this news with you for quite some time, but I decided to wait until we were almost through the first trimester.  I just felt better about waiting.  Thank you to all who have been praying for us throughout this journey!

Full Moon?

So Tim is sick.  He found out yesterday that he has strep throat.  So he was in bed by 6:30 last night.  That was fine with me, that just meant I had a full night to enjoy Cooper all by myself.  So Cooper and I decided to have an at home movie night.  Finding Nemo it was.  We shut off all of the lights in the house, cuddled up on the couch with our pjs and a blanket and watched.  Cooper loved it!  We’d let him watch the movie when he was a year old or so, in the car on the way to Ohio, but he didn’t get it, he just watched the fish swimming at that time.  Last night though, he LOVED IT.  We talked about what was going on, and how Nemo would see his daddy again, and what was going on throughout the movie.

Then, when it was over, it was time for Cooper to go to bed.  So, we did our nightly routine, potty/bathroom time, reading books, singing songs, drinking milk, Danimals drinkable yogurt, etc.  Then Cooper went to sleep. 

I decided since everyone else was in bed, I would do the same.  So, I went and got in bed, and started watching tv, but before I knew it I was fast asleep.  I awoke later and the tv was still on so I turned that off and went back to sleep, that is until 2am, when Cooper darted into our room and was wide awke, wanting to put on his clothes and go play.  I got up back to bed, and tried to go back to sleep myself.  I think I was about there when he came back in at 3am.  Repeat.  This time, he stayed in his bed until 4:30.  At that point, I decided to just join him in his bed and hope that he would get some more sleep.  I didn’t, but I would survive.  I got up at my normal time, 6am, and somehow didn’t disturb him when I got up and left his room.  But boy oh boy that little boy was crazy mad when I had to wake him up this morning.  He was a monster!

So I wonder, was it a full moon last night?  Because if so, that means it won’t be again tonight, right?  Maybe I can get some sleep? 

If you really knew me

You’d know………….

……that I LOVE prunes.  I could buy a canister and eat the entire thing in one sitting.  My former roommate and best friend Erica, can attest.  She used to have to take the canister away from me so that I would stop.

…..that my favorite color is blue.  Almost every shade of blue is beautiful to me.  I love it.

…..that I cannot stand heavy breathing or heavy walking.  In a previous job, there was a guy who stomped and was such a heavy breather you knew he was coming from 50 feet away.  UGH.

…..that baking is my favorite past time.

…..my favorite room to clean in the house is the kitchen.

…..that Mondays are my hardest day at work, not because it’s Monday, but because I miss Cooper so much after having two long days with him, that I cannot wait for the day to be done so I can go and give him hugs.

…..that my husband, my mom, and Erica are my best friends in the entire world.

…..I cannot stand “winterfresh” gum/mints/candy etc.  The flavor makes me sick, literally.

…..pizza is my favorite food, with spaghetti coming in at a close second.

…..that my shampoo and conditioner must match brand/flavor etc.  I cannot stand using Herbal Essence Shampoo with TRESemmé conditioner.   It absolutely drives me batty.

…..I dislike the taste of the water at my house.  It is reverse osmosis, so it should taste wonderful to me, but yuck.

….my favorite caffeine free drink hands down is Diet Cherry 7up

.....my two favorite alcoholic beverages when I was in college were vodka and lemonade and diet cherry coke with coconut rum.  YUMMO.

….. my husband was my stalker before we started dating.  Yes, I married my stalker.  True story.

…..I love my stepchildren as if they were my own. 

….I have an obsession with Tervis Tumblers.  I cannot stop buying them.

…..that I love cheese and Ritz crackers, and honey crisp apples.  Yes, all at the same time.

…..I clip coupons weekly, but forget to use them most times.

…..I think buying organic food is for the birds. 

…..I don’t wear makeup.

…..that I’m a Brooks running shoes kind of girl.

…..that I love apple scents.  Yankee Candle’s Macintosh, Bath and Body Works RED apple, BE Delicious by DKNY, love them all, not partial to apple cinnamon scents though.

…..I dislike swimming in smaller lakes or ponds.  Not being able to see the bottom scares me.  Big lakes like the Great Lakes is a different story.

….It drives me crazy when people don’t send thank you cards.  Maybe it’s how I grew up, but seriously.  Especially if we buy you a wedding present or a baby shower gift, or even a birthday or Christmas gift, just send a thank you.  It doesn’t take that long, but the sentiment goes a LONG way.

So, now that you know a little more about me, tell me something about you that I don’t know!

Television..................specifically......

ABC’s SCANDAL.

Do you all watch this show?  Oh Goodness.  IT IS AMAZING.  There are no other words. 

A friend of mine at work told me to start watching it last year.  I couldn’t do it.  I was filled to the brim with television last year.  But last summer, I was pretty bored, so I started watching online.  I caught up on all of the episodes.  And now? 

ADDICTED. 

This might be the best show eva people.  It’s wonderful.  Check it out.

Catching Up

I never seem to get everything done.  It doesn’t help that we are go-go-go at least 4 nights a week around the house.  Since this is my outlet to share our lives, I thought it was time to catch up on a few things.

Tim: he broke his ankle back in the May/June timeframe and we thought everything was healed and back to normal, but alas, something else went wrong and he’s torn something completely and he’s been back in a boot and night boot for the past 5 weeks.  He has been going to physical therapy 2 evenings per week for a few weeks now and will probably be going until the start of 2013.  And one other night each week he has a weekly meeting.  So he’s gone until after 6pm 3 nights per week.  He’s sick right now too.   I think I gave him my sinus infection from last week. Oops.  Other than that, he’s good.  He’s been awesome around the house the past several weeks, helping me out with everything and being the good clean kitchen witch that our house has always needed.  We both go in spurts, lots of cleaning for a while, then we get tired of it.  Thankfully Tim’s cleaning spurt has lasted a good amount of time this time, even if it is just the kitchen.  That is the most used room in the house, let’s be honest.

Here is a picture of the night boot.  It’s what he has to wear while sleeping every night.

Andrew: We haven’t seen much of him lately, we Skype with him about once a week, and he seems to be doing great.  He has been acing all of his classes, and I mean he got a 100% on his calc test type acing.  He’s rocking it.  He seems to be having a lot of fun this year.  Sometimes I think he’s having too much fun.  Like last night, when I got this text:

Here is that picture a little bit larger.   Andy Mike ended up with 6 stitches in his forehead.  I asked him what he did and he said head to head collision and that the other person whas fine.  Seems suspicious to me, but as long as he’s ok, that’s what’s important.  He was being all tough guy last night and not taking any advil or tylenol either.  Crazy.

Steph/Ryan/Kampbell: I haven’t seen them in over a week!  And then I was sick so I couldn’t hold her.  UGH.  Steph sent me these pictures of Soup last night, girlfriend loves her some bathtime.  She looks so much like her mommy, but in the second picture, she totally has one of Ryan’s smirks.  Steph is trying to figure out what she’s going to do with her life once her internship is over this fall and Ryan is in class and working his booty off. 

Cooper James: That boy.  Obsessed with changing into his football costume (Halloween costume) as soon as he walks in the door each evening.  Loves playing baseball (still) and cannot get enough of The Pioneer Woman (cooker maker according to Coop) or Charlie Brown.  Pretty sure homeboy could watch either of these shows for hours straight and not get the least bit bored.  He loves granola bars and begs for one each time we take a ride in the car.  (don’t ask me why) We still cannot get the boy to #2 in the potty.  He’s gone in his pants 4 or 5 times this week with JUST unders on, so we really need to start working on that one.  Any ideas you can give me would be appreciated.  We’ve tried the reward system, we’ve tried just the unders route hoping he wouldn’t like the feeling of doing that in his pants but nothing seems to be working.  We’re seriously thinking about taking his baseball stuff away from him at this point.  I hate to punish, but we’ve GOT to do something.  He cannot start his new school in January if he’s not fully trained.  He’s great about peeing, just cannot get the poop down pat.  UGH.  Here’s coop watching Charlie Brown one morning while I’m trying to get ready.  Our bedroom was a complete and total mess, but I’ve really worked on cleaning that up this week, so it’s much better now.

Me:  Well, 3 nights a week I get home with the boy and we get dinner made and we play.  One night per week is my bible study (which is ending next week L) and then it seems like the rest of the week just flies by.  Basically I’ve been so sick and so pooped lately, I’ve been going to bed before 10pm.  It’s been heavenly as far as the sleep goes, but the house is really starting to suffer.  We have at least 3 laundry baskets full of clean, folded laundry at any one time just waiting to be put away.  There is also a load of clean laundry in the dryer waiting to be folded.  Times are busy, but life is good.  I am thankful.

How are you all?  Is life as busy for you as for us?  I’m sure it is, please tell me, how do you deal with it?!?

Happy Thursday!