My triumphant (Ok maybe not), very delayed return to the bloggersphere.

Hello Bloggersphere!
It has been far to long!

Here is a quick recap of the happenings in our small part of the world since I last posted.......like 2.5 years ago.......yeah it's been that long.

My Dad got Married!
It was a hot, fun day.  I say hot because I was 8 months pregnant and hot all the time anyway.
My hubby took the pictures for the wedding and did a fantastic job.  It's his new found hobby and he captures some amazing images. 



We had a baby.... who is now 2!
Introducing miss M.  She is a sweet, busy, bundle of joyful energy.   She has brought so much joy and love.......... and chaos to our lives. 

I cannot get enough of her smiles.....................

Her laughs...............

Her attitude....well ok I can say that I get enough of that.....

"No pictures mommy!"

She is unequivocally the beat of my heart.  

C turned 3........... and then 4....and then 5!  He has grown into such a little man.

He makes us laugh with what he says. For example... I asked him if he wanted a peanut butter sandwich "for the road"  one morning.  His response, "No, you can't put peanut butter on the road! Too many cars!"

He is the breath of my body.

They test our patience and makes us better parents.   We love them So! They just keep growing! It is sometimes painfully obvious to me that kids grow way too quickly.  We need to cherish every minute of  this age because it goes so fast.

My sister S. got married!

The wedding was in Florida and we had an amazing family vacation to go along with it.

My sister J. got married!

Her wedding was in Nebraska and a beautiful time. 

Along with the numerous other holidays and events we have been busy "living the dream".


Well that is it in a nutshell.........how did I get in this nutshell? (Sorry tacky Austin Powers reference)
My wish is for my postings to be more frequently again.  I need this outlet for my sanity....or insanity which ever your prefer.   

P.S.  I may be changing my blogging name and format to go along with all the changes that have happened in my life.  Thanks for your continued patience! 

From the Mouths of Babes

Carter has reached that age where being taken by surprise by what he says is common.   It's an endearing quality that all children have.  They have not developed that understanding about what is appropriate to say and what is not, often times just saying whatever comes to mind.  Most of the times their quips are harmless and funny.....others, depending on your location at the time, are rather embarrassing.   I know some adults who do not have this understanding and let's face it we have all had our own "open mouth, insert foot" moments.   In our household we have had a couple of those moments in the last few weeks. 

A couple weeks ago Carter was asking for Lucky Charms.  Peter was headed to the store, so he promised to pick some up for him.  Well you know how it goes when a guy goes to the store without a list and is expected to get more that three items one will inevitably not be purchased.......but that is a whole different blog post to consider.  Long story short, no Lucky Charms were brought home.  Carter noted this and Peter said that he was sorry he forgot them.

 A couple days later on my day off we were at home and Carter came up to me and asked,"Where's daddy?"

"Remember he had to go to work today?", I said.

"Daddy get Lucky Charms?",  with the intonation and facial expression of,  he better get some lucky charms.

"Oh yeah he forgot, but we will get you some." I replied completely unable to keep a straight face.

I text Peter telling him he was in trouble.  Carter had a box of Lucky Charms brought home for him that night.

Last weekend my Mom hosted a Pampered Chef show at here house.  Carter and I went up for the weekend.  While I was in the kitchen area talking to 5 ladies about Pampered Chef products Carter was playing with his Uncle Mason.  The next thing I know Carter comes walking into the kitchen completely naked holding up his diaper and proclaims, "I'm wet!"  I felt a little embarrassed but the women got a good chuckle out of it one even making the comment to my mom that she "didn't know there was going to a stripper at this party."  I laughed and said, "Yeah, he's 2."  (Which I often say to Carter when he is being a typical 2 year old.  I just look at him and say "Yeah you're 2." Sometimes it makes him stop and look at me funny other times he just agrees with me and continues with what he was doing good or bad.)   

I am not sure what it is with children around 2 or 3 years old and not wanting to keep their clothes on.  I remember my brother Mason going through this stage.  Peter says he went through it too.......between the age of 21-24.  (sigh!)   I told him he didn't know what he was talking about, because he still likes to be naked.  

He did not deny it.

No matter how mortified we get by what comes out of our children's mouths or the odd moments they decide they want to naked, I believe it is a right of passage for parents.  We have to go through this. Besides it makes for great stories for when they are graduating, getting married, having kids of their own.  But I don't want to think about that too much.  That is a long way off and I just want to enjoy these moments as they come.

Apple Picking

My cousin has an apple tree in her back yard and every year they have an apple picking party. The apples are similar to a granny smith, so they are awesome for baking but a little tart for eating.   This year the apple picking happened a little earlier due to the crazy weather, or lack there of,  we have had here.

My FIL Hong is visiting this week so he joined in on the action.   After showing Carter what he had to do he helped for all of about three minutes then decided he would just hold the bag open for everyone else, which led to him running off and playing with the other kids.

In the end we got 2 large bags of apples, though at the time I had no idea what we were going to do with them.   We enjoyed some beverages and chatted with the other apple pickers, then headed out for Pizza per Carter's request.  The next day I borrowed two apple peeler/corer/slicers and ended up freezing 7 bags of apples for pies or crisps.   It only took us about 2 hours from start to finish and I had Hong and Peter helping. 

Then I baked a pie.......a caramel apple crisp pie.

It was yummy.