Saturday, February 25, 2012

The Catch Up Post

I am so behind on this blogging thing. I keep telling myself to just get on here and put something down, but I always get sidetracked with something else. Another victim of my procrastination. Usually when I feel I get too behind things, I'll give up and just let it go, but I really don't want to do that for this blog. I really love being able to look back at things I've forgotten about and smile at the memory. So I'm going to pull myself up by the bootstraps and keep going. With that said...

We've had a little bit going on in the past few weeks, but not a whole lot. One reason for that is the boys and I were sick a lot. The hubs was able to squeak by with barely a scathe. But for the rest of us, we got it in 2 doses and all at different times. For a good 2 or 3 weeks, one of us was always sick. By the end of it I had had enough. I went through the house and disinfected everything, washed clothes, bought new toothbrushes, anything that would get rid of whatever may be lingering. For the most part we are all better, though there is a little bit of cough left with me and Nicholas.

This is one of the days we were sick and hanging out in PJ's. It had been really windy the night before.
Leaves and other debris had covered our deck and the boys were checking it out.

Valentine's also happened. Rick and I kept it pretty low key this year, just getting each other cards. I mean after all he did just buy me a $400 camera for our anniversary. What more can a girl ask for?

Didn't mention that on here, did I? He had been wanting to buy me a new camera for awhile. So one day we went out on day to "browse" cameras. I didn't exactly want a DSLR (they just seem a little too much to me), but I wanted something close to one. Something that took really good pictures, had some great features, but easy enough for me to figure out and work with. I was looking at cameras that were closer to $200-$300, where as my husband was looking at ones $400 and up. I told him he was crazy, we didn't need anything that expensive. Then he discovered the Sony Cybershot DSC-HX100V.


He insisted I come look at it. That was pretty much the end of the story, we both fell in love with it. We decided to hold off buying it just then to see if we could find a better price somewhere else. We ended up finding it for about $30 cheaper at Walmart. So far it's been a pretty awesome camera.

Nicholas also had his first Valentine's Day party at school. He took in a shoebox from home and got to decorate it. The last few days before the party, he talked non stop about it. He was pretty excited. I had found this and knew I wanted to do it for his party. But I was uncomfortable with the idea of my son's picture going into people's homes who I didn't know. So with a friend's suggestion, I came up with this.

That's a pencil box holding it up.

Pretty cute huh? It was supposed to say "Happy Valentine's Day From Nicholas". But when I picked them up from Walmart, they had cut half of "Happy Valentine's Day" off. I wasn't haven't a great day and didn't want to argue with anyone (lost my wallet, canceled all my cards, only to find it later, yeah long story), so I just brought them home and cut off the top part off all together so that it just read "From Nicholas".

Then I knew I wanted to make something for his teacher's and I didn't just want to get them candy. I wanted to do something different. So after I quick web search, I came across this. Too cute, right? My very close version.


His teachers loved them. One of them told me that everyone else had brought candy and she loved how different it was. Score one for Mom.

Well, that's enough catch up for now. More to come later, that I can promise that.


Friday, February 3, 2012

InstaFriday

Linking up with Jeannett from Life Rearranged.

The ladies of my church are doing this bible study right now. It is an amazing study and has really spoken to me. I've had a lot of "ah ha" moments and moments when I feel like God is really talking to me. This is the first Priscilla Shrier study I've done and I love her approach on things. Can't wait to see what else she has out there.

The night of our anniversary I planned on making a candlelit dinner for my husband. Little did I know, I only had one candle and nothing to put it in. So in a quick fix I got a votive that was almost all used, shoved some paper towels in it, and wiggled the taper candle down in it. At least it worked.

I found this recipe on Pinterest that looked really good and perfect for our anniversary dinner. I mixed the cheeses into it, so mine didn't come out looking like the pic on Pinterest. But it was still really good. Can't wait to try this one again.

Kitty silhouette. That is all.

I'm still dreaming on going back and trying something else off this list. Cheesecake Factory anyone?

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

The Cheesecake Factory

*I'm giving a fair warning now that all the pics were taken from my husband's phone and they leave much to be desired.

For our anniversary my husband and I went out to dinner last Saturday night. We had a difference of opinions on where to go, but my sweet husband gave me the final choice.

I ,of course, chose The Cheesecake Factory. We had never been there (I know we're lame) and I've been hearing about this place for the past 5 years or so. Let me just tell you it did not disappoint.

The one near us is attached to a mall. Since it was a Saturday night, it was hopping. We had a good 35-45 minute wait. So while we were waiting, we walked outside where a live band was playing.

 All I will say about them is that they were playing. :/ We got the most entertainment watching people walk by stop and dance, especially little kids.

And when no one was dancing, we took a dozen or so pictures of ourselves to occupy us.

Once we finally got in and were seated, we got to take a good look around. Overall I thought it was quite nice, though there were a few decorations I found to be a little odd.

Like these mermaids floating around on the ceiling. What do mermaids have to do with cheesecakes?

For an appetizer we ordered a caesar salad to share. When our waitor brought it to us, he said it was the smallest one they had.

I don't think this picture does it justice, it was huge. I don't think we even finished it.

I ordered the Five Cheese Pasta with chicken. When it came out my husband said it looked like they threw 4 cans of Chef Boyardee in a bowl.

I hate to say it tasted like it too. This was the only downside of the night.

My husband is a guy's guy. So what did he order? Of course a steak with not only french fries, but french fries topped with onion rings.

I have to say, that steak was delicious. It was so juicy and tender. And those fries? Don't even get me started on those fries. I swear I would go back just to order a plate of those fries, they were so good.

My husband, being the gentleman, switched plates with me and let me eat the majority of his fries. He tried eatting some of my pasta, but we ended up getting a box for it.

 When it came time for dessert, we were both pretty full. But we said there was no way were going to come to The Cheesecake Factory and not try one of their cheesecakes. We decided to share one, but we didn't exactly agree on what to get either. What we finally ended up agreeing on was the Chocolate Tuxedo Cream Cheesecake.

Half way through it my husband says, "We forgot to take a picture!" Yeah, it was that good. Pure yumminess.

Overall, it was a really great night and I so enjoyed spending some quailty time with my hubby. Happy 5th to us!

Friday, January 27, 2012

InstaFriday

Linkin up with LifeRearranged again.

The other day Nicholas was playing with one of his Hot Wheels tracks that he got for Christmas.

Little did he know, Neelix was laying in wait.

And when the perfect opportunity arrived, he would spring into action. It was quite comical to watch.

While Daddy was checking this tires of his car, Nicholas was trying to check out the engine.

Today is our 5th anniversary. Really, where does time go? Hubby surprised me last night when he got home from work with my favorite flower in my favorite color. Purple tulips.

He also surprised me with a little desert. We are going out tomorrow night for dinner. And if all goes as planned, we are planning a weekend getaway in the begnning of March. I'm really looking forward to it.


Wednesday, January 25, 2012

All Boy

Rick was doing some work on his car today. So while Ben was taking a nap, Nicholas and I went outside to keep Daddy company.

Whatcha doing?

Love this face. lol

He kept going...

and going...


and going...

and going.

My silly, all boy Nicholas.

Friday, January 20, 2012

First InstaFriday

One of my favorite blogs has a weekly Friday ritual of posting pics from your cell phone of your week. I shockingly do not own a cell phone. How is that even possible, right? Well, back when we had 1 kid, 1 car, and I was always home, it was quite easy. In fact I had a cell phone but quite literally never used it, so we had it turned off. Now with 2 kids, 2 vehicles, and me always on the go, I'm in much need of one. I think I see one in my near future.

Anyways, I'm cheating a little and using pics I got from my handy, dandy camera. Which I then uploaded to photobucket and did some magic with. So here is my week in pics aka my first InstaFriday.


This is only a fraction of the aftermath Ben made with the chocolate cake. After he finished eatting, I took him into the bathroom and told him to look in the mirror. His reaction was priceless. He gasped and had this shocked look on his face like, "What happened?" I couldn't help but to burst out laughing.


I asked Nicholas to show me his eye to see how much better it had gotten. This is the face I got. Silly boy. His eye is actually a lot better already. By the time he had gone to bed last night, it was really red and puffy. Then this morning he woke up and it was almost back to normal.


It got a little chilly this week. Even Neelix got under the covers to warm up.


This pic cracks me up. I was trying to get a pic of what his hair looks like after a bath. I don't know what was up with this face.


I really do love his hair. He'll be 3 in June and I have yet to cut his hair. Everyone always asks when we are going to, but I just can't bring myself to do it. It is so fine and so soft. I often find myself petting his head. Maybe if it gets too out of control I'll consider having it trimmed.