The Most Adorable Baby EVER!

We were given these cool coasters as wedding shower gifts a few years ago at two different weddings. They have a spot in the middle for a picture that, of course, were of the bride and groom. We managed to end up with four of these and I promptly changed the picture to some cute one's of the kids. From lots of use the pictures have started to get water marks on them. As I'm looking at this adorable one of Ella it dawns on me that I do not have another! It was taken before I had a digital camera! So, I quickly scanned it in and tried to fix it up so the mark isn't so noticeable. I had to share the pic with you because it makes me smile every time I see it! She is six months old here. Enjoy!

Don't forget about the GIVEAWAY!!! We have some good submissions so far! Keep them coming!!

I thought blog giveaways were supposed to be popular???

So, I'm offering a FREE book and NO ONE is taking me up on it? Is asking you to do one nice thing for someone too much? Or do I really not have any readers?!?

Come on everyone! This is free! I'm not asking you to buy anyone anything! Let someone merge into your lane! Give up your spot in line! Let that tired mom have the last Wii...I don't know! Get out there, do something, and tell me about it here!!

Apparently people need to read this book more than I thought....

#12!

http://feedjit.com/news/US/dillsburg/

Impressive.....have no idea what it means...

Dinner by Coby

Our Martins Grocery Store has a cool little kitchen in it where there is a chef preparing food that the customers can sample. Many a dinner has come from these recipes because the kids try them and like them! The latest one that Coby was dying to make was: Sauteed Shrimp and Creamy Tomato Pasta. YUM! Here is the recipe:

Sautéed Shrimp and Creamy Tomato Pasta

3 TBSP Olive Oil
1 pd. Medium Shrimp – peeled and deveined
2 TBSP garlic – minced
¼ tsp Dried Oregano
½ C Tomato Sauce
1 Can Diced Tomatoes, drained
¾ C Heavy Cream
½ pd. Angel Hair Pasta
S & P

Heat Oil in a skillet over med-high heat. Cook shrimp with garlic and oregano for 2-3 minutes and season with S&P. Stir in tomato sauce and tomatoes and bring to soft simmer. Add cream and briskly simmer until sauce has thickened slightly, about one minute.

Meanwhile, cook pasta until al dente and drain.
Toss pasta with shrimp and tomato sauce. Serve immediately.

Don't forget about the CHALLENGE!! I can't wait to read what you all have done! Have a great day!

A Challenge

I'm in the process of reading an incredible (well, I'm only on page 18 but so far it's incredible!) book called "Love As A Way Of Life" by Gary Chapman - he's the guy that wrote on the Five Love Languages. I came across a paragraph that I want to share with all of you. Take it to heart and see what "small things" you could do to brighten some one's day. From now until Christmas Day I will take comments under this post telling about something you have done for someone else after reading this (of course things you did yesterday and last week count, but not for this challenge - you'll just have to do something else!). I will then put every one's name in a stocking and pick one. The lucky winner will win a copy of this very book! I hope all will be blessed by what they do as well as what they read from others. Here is the excerpt:

"Is buying a homeless person a bowl of soup or taking your daughter to the park or driving a coworker to the mechanic when his car breaks down really going to make a difference in the world? The answer is an overwhelming yes. We might have loftier ideas of what it means to love, such as making a grand sacrifice of time or money or even giving up our lives, but why should we be willing to die for someone when we won't even fill up the gas tank for her? Every trait of authentic love begins with small things."

Good luck and have fun!

Feel free to pass this link to your friends. I'd love to see lots of people loving others in small ways!

NYC Pics!

Here are some pics from my day trip to NYC yesterday. I'm so tired today, but we had so much fun! Enjoy!

NYE Ball!

More bizarre happenings from our house...

Do bizarre things happen in three's like the saying "bad thing's" do? If so I'm curious to see what that third thing is. To the left is a picture of a lava lamp (you probably already knew that!). This is very similar to the one Coby has, as it's an orange wax with clear liquid. I was in his room the other day and I was curious to see that the lamp was not doing anything. The orange wax seemed to be just sitting there in a mound. It didn't look like a hard mound, like when the lamp is cool, but something wasn't working right. It just wasn't moving. The closer I got I realized it smelled foul. When I touched it I recoiled, it was extremely hot! I unplugged it and let it cool for a few minutes before I took it apart. When I lifted the glass from the base I was almost knocked over by a burning smell. How weird! As it cooled of I noticed the wax had a different color to it. The wax had burned!! I didn't even know this was possible! Check out this picture and see what color his wax turned:

SO Weird!

Finally some relief for Jon!

So my husband prefers not to be mentioned too much here but I had to share this bizarre story with you. As you all know we went to Great Wolf Lodge two weekends ago. While he was doing that cool wave thing, Jon had one of his contact lenses rip. He went to the bathroom to pull it out and only got half. He assumed the other half had been knocked out by the water and didn't see it in his eye, so he gave up for the time being. The only problem was his eye was still bothering him. He kept looking in it and had me look around as well to see if it might be the other piece still in there. We didn't see anything and it never showed up in the corner of his eye. So he thought that he had scratched his eye and made an appointment to see the eye doc on Tuesday. He may be a male (and ignore consistent pain in his ankle that has been bothering him for years - but I digress), but you don't fool around when it comes to your eyes. The doctor checked him out and found no scratches. He stopped talking about it and we went on with our week.

So imagine my surprise when he comes out of the bathroom this morning (for those who are counting it's been ELEVEN days since the incident) after getting ready for work with his finger out. He proceeds to show me the other half of his contact lens that he had just gotten out of his eye. Can you believe the eye doctor missed that? Jon admitted that his eye had still been bothering him but wasn't sure why. He had, after all, gone to the doctor for it!

Isn't that weird?

Christmas-time is here!

I LOVE listening to the Charlie Brown Christmas album, don't you?? Between that and the Muppet's I'm not sure which is my favorite. I think CB wins out by a mere note or two! The kids love David Foster's version of "Carol of the Bells." Can't tell you how many times I've had to listen to that already this season!

Well, we went on our annual tree hunt yesterday. We needed to do it early this year because there isn't mush time between Thanksgiving and Christmas. This coming weekend Jon is on Worship Team which cuts into our Saturday and I'll be in NYC on Sunday. Then, we're just getting later and later. I'm glad it's done and as long as we I remember to water it everyday we'll be good to go! Here are some pictures from our trek:


Coby looks like he may be having fun in this picture but it's very deceiving.....

You see, this was his attitude about finding a tree. The teenage years should be fun....

And so the perfect tree was found rather quickly and taken back to the truck:

As Jon was preparing the tree for the base, the kids were having fun with our stockings:

After mom's job of putting the lights on "just right, " Coby had the honors of placing the hideous beautiful angel on top of the tree (Ella did it last year):

Editor's Note: The horrendous green-striped wallpaper (and lace curtains!) is soon to be a thing of the past. Needless to say I am literally counting the days until I am rid of the last speck of 90's "in" colors in my house! And yes that is a mistake you see in the strips. That was hanger-error. Identity to be kept secret....

Here is Ella painstakingly adding an ornament to the tree (we only had one fatality this year):

Do you like my Pampered Chef stonewear loaf pan sitting on the top of my wood stove? They really should add that use to the catalog. I think they would sell millions if buyers knew how well it worked with water in it to help keep dry-air at bay. I've been doing it for years with ne'er a crack!

Here is the finished product. Lovely, yes?

And if you promise to ignore my son's messy excuse for a room I'll show you his masterpiece.

Promise?

Okay...here it is:

HEY!!! You PROMISED!!

Now are you ready for the best part of the season? I splurged this year and decided to get my van (aptly named by the kids "Sie-oya") in on the holiday action:

Yup. I am driving around Rudolph this year. If you pass me on the roads, be sure to honk!!