I think it's around 83 years old...

Hadley is wearing a coat that was my Grandmas when she was little.  Her mom, my great grandma, purchased it at Hudson's Department Store in Detroit, Michigan around 83 years ago.  The coat is 100% silk and it is absolutely fabulous.  I wish it was my size!  Frankly, it scares me a little bit, it's so special and so old, when Hadley wears it there will be no food involved at all!  The dress she has on under the coat was made by my grandma for my mom to wear.   It is adorable.  Both are still a bit big so I'm sure this spring and summer there will be many occasions when she can show of these fabulous vintage pieces!  I cannot wait to learn more about the history of these items! What a stylish little girl!

More Cow Bell

We kicked off the start of the weekend by going swimming Friday night at the YMCA with Mimi. It was a blast! I think we need a Y membership, in fact, that is on my to-do list in the next week or so! Tanner went down the big water slide, Hadley went down the little water slide and Carter was content to play around in the pool.  It was fun and felt so nice to be in a pool again!

The kids were extra tired when we got home so they went right to bed! This was great, we had a big party to go to the next day and Chris and Cammie and Baby Chandler were coming over for dinner too!

The kids LOVE Chandler.  He is like a Rock Star when he comes over!

Hadley just wants to pick him up and eat him she thinks he's so great!

Tanner holding Chandler

Carter holding Chandler

Chandler fell asleep! So sweet!

Meanwhile, the boys had a little band going on in the office! Daddy is learning how to play guitar and the boys are totally into it too! It is fun to see them want to learn about music.  Uncle Chris can play every instrument known to man too so he is the perfect teacher! I've been scouring craigslist for a piano, I might just settle on a keyboard, but I think a piano would look oh so good in this house!

 Later on Saturday night, after Chris, Cam & Chandler were home, we heard Hadley crying.  This is not too unusual so Tyler went up to check on her.  This is the part of the weekend that everything goes downhill.  She had barfed.  And guess what, she continued to barf every hour all night long.  The next nights and days are just a blur, it seemed like we were dropping like flies, Tyler, me, Tanner and then finally Carter. Every single one of us and this lasted until last night. This is a picture of all the laundry I piled up over the 4 days of sickness.  Believe it or not, there is a sink and 2 cabinets under all that!

This bug was awful! I'm so happy we are all past the worst of it now and on the road to recovery. I actually felt better yesterday and it was so nice to feel good.  I think I got a little ahead of myself though because I went to the store, had a wonderful meeting with our pastor, and came home and thought it would be a great idea to drink 3 Diet Cherry Pepsi's.  This lead me to not be able to sleep (again) for the 3rd night in a row.  I laid awake in bed on the Pinterest app on my phone pinning every cool thing I came across! I tried to fall asleep, I really did, but meanwhile, there was a nice rainstorm outside with some wind and it was making the cute little wind chime I thought was so darling by the waterfall ding.  It was driving me insane. It sounded like a cow bell. That thing is gone.

We learned some new words over the 4 days of sickness, got in a lot of rest, I got caught up on most of the Dr. Oz's I have recorded and have tentatively decided to try going gluten free as Dr. Oz suggests that some people can't process gluten and so they get migraines.  I figure we have nothing to lose, so I'll give it a whirl and see if it helps Tyler out at all! I can't believe it is already Wednesday-another weekend is right around the corner!

MOPs Devotional Test Run

I signed up to give the devotional at the start of one of the upcoming MOPs.  After I did it, I wasn't quite sure why I signed up and I really had no idea what I would talk about.  Then it occurred to me today while I was holding a crying baby Ruby at Bible study, when I looked at Becky, I knew how she felt. It took me back to Tanner. The light went on; I could just tell my little MOPs story and how the girls I have met in this wonderful group have changed me and helped me and most important, kept me laughing! This might be a little long, but nothing will make sense unless I start from the beginning. I'm not including everything that I'm going to cover right now, I'll elaborate more at MOPs!

It took Tyler and I four years to have Tanner.  The 4 years of trying to have a baby were long, filled with more miscarriages than I have fingers, as well as an ectopic pregnancy that lead to emergancy surgery and the removal of a burst fallopian tube as well as ovary.  I know what it is like to try to have a baby and not have it happen right away. I can empathize.  It sucks.  However, I am so thankful for those extra years that I got to have Tyler all to myself!

Tanner was born and of course he was the cutest and most wonderful, miraculous thing I had ever seen!  We were just in total awe of him.  He was amazing.  He cried a lot and I had the baby blues pretty bad. To say he was a difficult baby would be putting it lightly. Sleep depravation is awful. I returned back to work when he was 3 months old.  That was such a blessing.  As much as I didn't want to go, I was so glad I did.  The nurses and doctors I worked around were amazing and really helped me get back in a  good groove.  They took one look at me, as I was wasting away to nothing, and knew exactly what I needed.  The day care that I took Tanner too was filled with my girlfriends which also helped me so much! It was fun to start and end my day seeing them and their kids and I do miss that.  My confidance as a mom was high and I felt like nothing could shake that. MOPs had just started at church and I went when I could but more often than not I couldn't leave work. So, that first year, I couldn't really bond with anyone. But I knew I really enjoyed MOPs and wanted to go more and get to know these super girls better and be involved in this great program.

When I got pregnant with Carter, and it stuck,  I was shocked and scared.  Tanner was still really young and the thought of having kids this close in age was not in my plan.  But, I was ok with it and excited for another little baby! I went back to work for 3 months after he was born and then quit for many reasons but the biggest was paying $1300 a month in childcare. This was just not a good idea for our family.  My last day of work was December 19, 2008, right before the holidays which helped, but after the holiday hustle and bustle was over, it was tough.  It was a difficult transition for me to go from working mom, to staying at home mom.  Staying at home sucked.  I felt like I was trapped and I was not used to that at all.   Another weird thing that happened was my confidance in my skills as a mother plumetted.  Any sort of confidance I had was gone.  I second guessed everything and felt like everything I did was wrong.  I felt so bad for Tanner and Carter who had this mom who now felt like she was totally inadequate. Never in my life had I felt like this.  All my friends worked, they had no idea of what I was going through. My only outings were the twice a month MOPs Fridays and I revealed in them.  I took back all the bad things I said about the moms who stayed at home and had it so easy.  This was quite the adjustment period, I was so lonley, and I was not prepared for it.  Plus, I detested feeling like I couldn't "mother" correctly. Where was all the bliss I had thought this was going to be?

Slowly, twice a month and at play dates, I started to form friendships with some of the most amazing girls ever.  Thank God. It took about a year and I felt like I had at least 15 girls in my life that were my new best friends. This number continues to grow as time goes on. I am continually surprised at the amount of wonderful girls in my life. These girls understood me, what I was going through, where I was coming from, and had the same stories I had-only now they were funny.  My confidence in my skills as a mom and who I was as a person started to rise.  I was over the hump and feeling so great.  This was just in time too because God was about to drop another bombshell on me-a pregnancy while on birth control!  Did I mention we were done having kids too.  Yes.  We had come to the decision that Tanner and Carter were enough and our family was complete.  So, we were wrong.  It's all good! I have really learned that I am not in control of my life! Luckily, I was not alone in this with my MOPs friends, yes there are other crazy families that God drops bombshells on too-we laugh now!

Hadley was born to me as a mom with confidence, security in myself, and the absolute love of being a mom & wife and nothing else.  She also is the world's easiest baby.  Thank you God! I LOVE being a mom to Tanner, Carter & Hadley. And more than anything I love the kind of wife I get to be to Tyler. I LOVE this time with them.  I'm not saying there aren't times when I cry or want to jump off a cliff. But for the most part, I cannot imagine it being any different.  I laugh when I forget to cook dinner. I don't know how I forget about it, it comes every day at the same time! It was one of those things I swore I could do so well if I didn't work.  Ha! I laugh that we can't get out of the house before 9:30, when I used to have us all out the door at 6:30.  It's amazing the transformation our family has taken.

Without MOPs I would not have been reassured that I was a good mom, friend, wife, daughter, sister, and everything else I can be at different times.  Because of the girls in my MOPs group, I was able to recoup my confidence.  You girls took away the loneliness I felt and filled it with friendship and I can't thank you enough.  This is a snippet! More to come!

18 Month Check Up

Hadley Michele had her 18 month old check up today. I was a little late or overdue on it...the holiday season seems to get me all in a dither and I forget about things like the well baby check ups, or possibly with the 3 of them I feel like I go to the doctors too often.  Not sure which! However, we made it in today (a little over 19 months old) and she is in the 150% for adorableness!

Hadley is not the biggest fan of the doctors office.  The brothers LOVE going to see Dr. Baker, but Hadley on the other hand, pouts and crys and is not into it at all! There was no shots today and she even got a book and a sticker! How fun!

Weight: 25 lbs

Height: 33 inches

Head Circumference: 18 inches

All in all she is doing fantastic! She's a great kid, so much fun to be around and we love her to pieces!

Snow Day!

We got SNOW yesterday!  It was very exciting! This was the first real snow all winter and it was a blast to play in!

The snow started falling around 7:30 in the morning.  Good Morning Snow!  The brothers raced to put their gear on, it was the fastest I have ever seen either of them get dressed.  They played almost all day outside!

 It seemed to just dump continuously for about 2 hours. 

 It was beautiful!

 Carter catching snow flakes on his tongue! He's got Tanner's ski pass on from last year because Bogus has not been able to open yet! I think with all this snow, it should open very soon!

 Tanner the snowflake eating machine!

 Making snow angels!

 Scarlett came over to play with us too!

 She and Tanner played at the park for over an hour! What fun!

So glad we got our snow fix yesterday because today is cold and rainy and the snow is all gone!

What's Cookin?

I have to admit, lately I have been not doing so great on my dinners.  I'm not sure what has happened.  I've lost creativity, I'm tired, it's yucky, and I'm the only one who will eat it.  So I went on strike.  I didn't really eat much besides my new favorite of air popped popcorn with cheese sprinkled on it. Daddy and the kids had Tony's pizza or mac and cheese or both. However, last night I got myself back in the game with some really delicious chicken noodle soup. Tyler hasn't been feeling very good and so I thought that might help him! I also tried to have the house cleaned up and calmer than usual (which would still be wild and crazy in most peoples homes) when he came home!

So, I'm going to try 3 new recipes over the next week or so:

Crock Pot Orange Chicken

Ingredients:
• boneless chicken breasts, chopped into small chunks (I used about 4)
• 1/3 cup flour
• olive oil
• 1/2 Tbl. salt
• 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
• 3 Tbl. ketchup
• 6 oz. frozen orange juice concentrate (thaw or throw it in the microwave for 45 seconds)
• 4 Tbl. brown sugar

In a bowl, mix the orange juice, brown sugar, vinegar, salt, and ketchup. Pour the flour in a small bowl. Cover the chicken breast chunks in flour and shake off the excess.

Pour a small amount of olive oil in a skillet and brown the flour-covered chicken.
The chicken doesn't need to be fully cooked since it's going in the crock pot.

After the chicken is done cooking, pour the pieces into the crock pot. Then cover the chicken with your sauce mixture and give the pot a stir.

Cook on low for 5-6 hours or on high for 2-3.

Serve over rice.

Bajito Chicken

5 chicken breasts
1/2 cup salsa
1 Tbsp cumin
1/2 cup brown sugar (more to taste)
1 4 oz. can diced green chilies
6 oz. Sprite (1/2 can)
Combine all ingredients in a crock pot. Cook on low for 5-6 hours. Remove chicken and shred. Return to crock pot and cook 1 more hour. Thicken the juices with a little cornstarch mixed in water.
Serve with flour tortillas, lettuce, cheese, black beans and any other taco fixings.
If you want it spicier rather than sweeter add a hotter salsa and more green chilies.


This would be easy to use as a freezer meal! Once it is all cooked and shredded, pour into a freezer gallon-sized Ziploc bag. Freeze flat. When you are ready to use it, quickly reheat it (either in a crock pot or even a microwave!). (It works best if you let it thaw in your fridge for about 24 hours before reheating it).

Lobster Bisque

2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 shallot, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
2 tsp tomato paste
8 ounces unsalted butter
1-1/2 lbs Maine lobster
32 ounces water
2 cups heavy cream
2 bay leaves
½ cup dry sherry
Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:
Steam lobster in water until done, about 8 minutes. Save stock. Remove lobster meat from shell; set aside. Break up lobster shells, then place them back into the water; simmer over low heat until reduced by half.
Heat half the butter in a pan over medium heat. Add shallots, garlic and celery and saute until soft, about 10 minutes.
Add bay leaf, tomato paste and sherry and simmer for 10 minutes or until reduced by half.
Add cream and lobster stock and simmer over low heat (Do not boil.) for 30 to 40 minutes or until soup begins to thicken.
Season with salt and pepper.
Remove lobster shells and bay leaves.
Chop up lobster meat and add to bisque. 
Stir in remaining butter.
Serve hot with a little crème fraiche and fresh chives.

Wish me luck!

The Tale of the $250 Car

The other day I went to lunch with some friends at one of my all time favorite fajita and margarita hot spots, On The Border, and ended up buying a car for $250 for Tyler.  It's just one of those weird things that would only happen when a bunch of girlfriends get together! The conversation was going, there was laughter, eating, and then all of a sudden I hear-"I just need to get rid of the Sunfire, I just need to take it to salvage". My brain kicks into gear, ordinarily I would ignore this comment and probably tell her to donate the car.  However, about 5 years ago Tyler bought a truck for himself for $1000.  That truck has been a gem and still is.  It has come to the point of needing some work on it, more work than $250 worth.  We don't want to get rid of the truck because it is cool, and everyone always has a need for a truck. So knowing this, my ears perk up; "what? salvage? how much do you get at salvage? what is salvage? what is a Sunfire? Is that a Pontiac?" She said she thought about $250 is what salvage would give her (I am still curious what this "salvage" place is).  Well, I've got that much, I'll give you $250 for the car.  Wait, does it run? Is it drivable? I better call Tyler and check with him. So, I call Tyler and of course we are not going to pass up a car for $250.  Especially since fixing the truck will cost more than that.  It runs, it's sporty, the brakes and tires are new, it's got some body damage, and it did smoke a bit until Tyler tinkered around with it. It's certainly not perfect.  BUT, it was $250.  I really had no idea a person could find a car for $250.  I have honestly never looked at cars in that price range. Seeing as we went 5 years on a vehicle that cost $1000.  I see no reason why we cannot go another 5 years on a vehicle that cost $250. That's pretty good math if you ask me!

Hello 2012!

So it's 2012 and I'm already behind on my blog updates!  What a way to kick off the New Year!

It seemed like I puttered around after Christmas and New Years just snuck up on me.  I'm not sure how, because it's always on the same date each year! But alas, it did.  We had options for the weekend-cabin, parties, etc but we chose to stay home and lay low.  Or so we thought! Our good friends, the Wrights were in the same boat so they chose to come over and lay low with us.   It's nice that we live so close!

Last minute, the kids and I drove around to buy fireworks and drinks! A great combination if I do say so myself! The evening started off with pizza, chips, dips and drinks.  The kids played and watched movies and us adults had cocktails and reminisced. We made plans (not resolutions) for the upcoming year.  Some reasonable, like diet and exercise and money (all the old favorites that are tossed aside by February!) And some wild and crazy ones like cabins in Donnely and vacations without our kids!

Addy, Carter, Tanner & Chloe ready to go out and do fireworks! I put Hadley to bed before we went out to do fireworks-one of the perks of staying home!

 Luckily, our house runs on Island time so at 8:45 we were ready for fireworks because at 9:00 Idaho time-it was midnight on some Island!

 Hooray for Fireworks!

 Happy 2012!

 Be careful daddy, your drink is flammable! 

 What we thought would be a quiet early New Years Eve, turned into a wild fun and late one.  It was WONDERFUL too! Our neighborhood was lit up with fireworks all over the place, and we even got to experience some streakers running by our house! Welcome 2012! We know it's going to be a great year!

 Addy crashed after all the partying!

 I had bought this Spiced Cider when I stumbled upon it in the store.  My mom used to buy this all the time for Cammie and I growing up and it was always a huge hit! I remember drinking so much of it I felt like I was floating away in spiced cider.  And just like old times, the kids drank down 4 boxes of this stuff New Years Eve! It's that good!

Carter and Hadley New Years morning.  It was the first New Years morning in a long time that I can remember, when the Rose Parade was not on January 1.  I was a little bummed to not be able to sit in my jammies and watch it with everyone.  I still sat in my jammies for a loooooong time that day though!