Laundry is never ending...

I am realizing that laundry is truly never caught up. No matter how much laundry you do there will always be more put in the basket with in a few hours. As I am getting ready for our trip I am finding it is hard to leave the house with not dirty clothes or dirty dishes. I already planned to use paper plates for dinner tonight, but then realized that I would use a cutting board and a pizza cutter so I might as well use up some plates so running the dishwasher isn't a total waste or soap and water.

I fed Ian some baked potato today! Actually I only fed him a little before he caught on and started feeding himself. He is so smart! He seemed to really like it!

Well it is nap time so I am going to join the boys in a little shut eye. Remember that I will be on vacation, so I probably won't post much next week. Also, don't forget to tune in the week after next for a give away! Yay!

getting ready...

(This is from our first trip to Florida together in 2006)

We are getting ready to go on vacation! I absolutely can not wait! We are heading to Florida to spend some time with Justin's side of the family. They will all get to meet Ian, most for the first time. Some will even be meeting me for the first time! (no pressure or anything) :)

Last night Justin was looking around online about luggage and stuff and man it has changed since the last time we flew! Now we have to pay $15 for each of our suit cases and then if we have additional suit cases we have to pay $25 for the second one. Needless to say we are going to try and get all of our stuff in to just one suit case each! Plus we have Ian's stuff. So I am going to try and use a small suit case as my carry on and have all of Ian's stuff in it. I did a practice pack last night and it seemed to go well. We will still have to put some of his things in our suit cases but over all I think it will work out!

I have been searching online about tips for flying with an infant. Everything pretty much says the same thing. "carry an extra shirt in case of an accident" ... "smile nicely if your baby is crying or very loud" ... "bring more than is needed (diapers, formula, bottles), in case of delay". So what about you? Have any of you gone on a flight with a little baby? If so what are your tips?

Sweet baby Faith...

Today I found out that this sweet little baby, Faith, passed away. I cried when I read the post from her mom about her passing. I wanted to share it with you all because it is such an amazing story. You will truly be touched. http://babyfaithhope.blogspot.com/2009/05/best-93-days-of-my-life.html

So much to post, so little desire to type...

This weekend has been full of such fun. Basically my nieces spent the night with us and we took them to the zoo, along with Ian. Zoo was super busy, but the weather was perfect. Here are some pictures from this weekend. There are so many pictures I won't type much. Enjoy...

Kylie getting some lessons on changing diapers and getting baby's dressed.

Kaitlynn did my hair and made me a crown with the name "Marrie" on it. I think it was supposed to be "Marie". :)

Kylie made Ian a club house out of a box we had. She was so creative with it and even put cardboard grass on the front! Ian seemed to enjoy it for a few minutes, but in true Ian style got bored of it real fast!

The two cutest boys around!

At this point we were all pooped! But we wanted to still go see the giraffe's and play at the park. Some how the girls got renewed energy because they played at the park for a while and I just sat on a bench!

Kaitlynn is such a ham! She cracks me up!

Cake decorating 101...(oh and a giveaway)

The other day I got the opportunity to watch my friend, Ashley, decorate a cake. She is very talented in this area! (Man, I have some talented friends) I am talking she has all sorts of tools and pieces to do this with! I learned some good tips and was treated to lunch! Here are some pictures of the decorating. (I left before she was done, so she took a picture of the final project for me).

Doesn't that just look delish! I am not sure I want to go as far as Ashley has with this decorating stuff, but I do know that if I do I want her to teach me! Yummo!

Oh and I started my apron! I didn't know so much went into using a pattern. But I am looking forward to finishing it. It will be a few weeks before I get to go back to Haley's, but keep a look out for my post with the final project!

Oh and for even bigger news...Haley has decided (well I asked her and she said yes) to do a giveaway via my blog! So come back in a few days once we have the details worked out. YAY!

Yeah, I'm that cool...

8 months!

I cannot believe my baby is 8 months old! He is getting so big. I know he is on the verge of crawling, although he might change his mind and see that he can get almost anywhere by rolling! He is so funny! His laugh fills our house daily. I could listen to that laugh all day. I love him so much!

Thank you God for giving me this wonderful child, thank you for giving me a wonderful husband too!

Above: Ian at one month old
Below: Ian at eight months old

Strawberry cake balls!

This weekend I co-hosted a baby shower for my friend Ashleigh. As soon as we started planning I new I wanted to make cake balls (aka cake truffles). I had seen an article on line about someone using strawberry cake and strawberry frosting and I knew right away that is what I wanted to do! So I did it! I ended up making two kinds. The strawberry and then chocolate ones. I topped the strawberry ones off with some white chocolate (colored pink) and the chocolate ones with white chocolate colored blue, since we don't know what she is having. ;) I should have taken some better pictures of the cake truffles, however I didn't so here is the only picture of them.

To make the truffles all you have to do is bake your favorite cake. As soon as it is done cut it into pieces and put it in a large bowl. Break the cake up into even smaller crumb like pieces. Then take your favorite frosting (probably should use the same flavor as the cake, example: chocolate cake, chocolate frosting). Mix the frosting and the cake pieces up. Doing this while the cake is hot helps the frosting to melt and makes it easier to mix up. I tried to do this once when the cake had cooled and I had to add some milk to the frosting to make it easier to mix. Place mixture in the fridge for at least a couple of hours, this makes it easier to ball up. Once it has been in the fridge for a while, go ahead and begin to roll it into balls. I would suggest making small ones, as the larger ones don't fit into your mouth in one bite! :) Once you have them balled up then melt some chocolate (I prefer candy melts). Cover the cake balls in chocolate and set on wax paper to harden. If you want to add some extra zing to them melt some white chocolate candy melts and drizzle it on top. You can even add color to it if you want! Enjoy these yummy treats!

For more great ideas go to I am Blissfully Domestic.

Free Arby's items...

Just wanted to mention this blog that I found. Go read it to find out what you can get for free at Arby's each Wednesday though out the summer!

http://free2befrugal.blogspot.com/2009/05/wednesdays-at-arbys.html

Eating

Ian is learning how to put the little puffs in his mouth! He is so cute when he does it. Some of them get stuck on his face and clothes! It cracks me up. But he usually finds a way to get them in his mouth. He is a smart little sucker.

Today we had lunch with my friends that I used to work with. We went to Jo's Pizza, yummy. He fell asleep towards the end. Lucy brought little Lexie, she is so cute!

T-shirts that talk...

So I visited this blog today (Make and Takes). She had a post about this T-Shirt company. So I went to visit it and found some hilarious shirts. I am tempted to get some for both me and my hubbs. You can go to TypeTees to see more of there shirts. Trust me if you want to laugh a little or at least smile you should go look at them! They are even having a contest that you can win $500 if your T-Shirt slogan gets picked! (If you win, you have to share some of it with me) :) Stick around to see some pictures of Ian eating. Hmm, let me re-phrase that, feeding himself. I will post them this afternoon.

Ants, ants, and more ants...

So here in Oklahoma we have had rain about 14 out of 15 days! Which means we have had a lot of ants coming inside the house. I kind of freaked out the other day and went on a Raid rampage! Both inside and outside. :) Now every time I walk into the kitchen I kill about 5-6 ants.

We are getting sprayed next week, which I am looking forward too! Until then the Windex will have to work (thanks Misti for the suggestion, it kills them on the spot! I guess the guy from My Big Fat Greek Wedding was right about it).

On to another, happier subject. I found a double stroller at a garage sale last weekend for only $10! I was so excited. I am not an experienced garage saler (is that even a word?), but I knew that I should at least try to lower the price, but when I asked if he would sell it for $5 he was like "well it is not mine so I can't really lower the price". Ugh. Oh well I tried, $10 is still a great deal! So I took the boys out for a walk yesterday (along with Misti and Ashley and there boys!). Ian fell asleep in the funniest position. I had to take a picture of it before I adjusted him. :)

Ian got to meet his Great Grandpa this week! Justin's Grandpa came to visit with his wife. It was a lovely time. I had not spent very much time with them so it was nice getting to know them better.

Park and Mommy's day!

I took Ian to the park the other day. This was his first time to be at a park and actually get out of the stroller and play! He loved the swings. He was unsure about the other toy I put him in. I am not sure the name of it, but is is one of those things you sit in and it moves back and forth. It was a dinosaur. Anyways, I also sat him down in the grass, which he has never done before. He wasn't quite sure what to think about it. He eventually started to play with the grass and dig his heel into the dirt part of it.

My first Mother's day with Ian in my arms was wonderful! We went to church and then had lunch at Old Chicago. Ian and Justin got me a Frog flower pot, some scrap booking stickers and a children's praise and worship CD. I wanted the CD to listen to in the mornings when we don't have the TV on. I am loving it! I wore my new "little black dress" on Sunday, so head over to my other blog Created In His Image to check out that!

Happy Mother's Day...

Bloggers party!

Last night my friend Lindsey and I drove up to Tulsa and joined about 58 other bloggers for pizza and prizes! It was so much fun to meet all of these ladies who share my passion for blogging. I pulled out my camera and for the first time in a while I wasn't the only one taking pictures of randomness!

The funny thing is that as we were leaving my friend Bonnie, who met us there because she lives in Tulsa, said she heard someone say there was one of these parties in OKC! Ha! So we drove 2 hours for a party that we could have been at in about 15 minutes. Oh well. I had so much fun and it was worth it because I got to meet Shannon from Rocks In My Dryer. I felt like I was meeting a celebrity. I took my picture with her of course! Plus getting to see Bonnie was fun too!

I will admit one of the reasons I wanted to make the drive was because they said there would be swag bags! Yep, just like the Hollywood people get only with cheaper stuff in them! And they had door prizes, of which Lindsey and I both won something! I want to show you what I won, but it will have to wait until after next week because I will be using as a decoration at a baby shower I will be hosting next Sunday and I don't want to give away the coolness of it. (Ashleigh is now wondering what it is) :)

Shannon from Rocks In My Dryer and me

Lindsey, Me, and Bonnie

Funny story about this name tag. I wanted to remember the name of her blog so I took a picture of her name tag, only it looked like I was taking a picture of her chest! We laughed, then I felt kind of stupid until other people started to do the same thing. Hehehe.

Swag bags!

Small world story. Since I won a door prize they said my name out loud (first and last). So when it was over this lady came up to me and said "are you related to Justin?" Of course I said "well yes, he is my husband." She proceeded to tell me that she went to high school with him in Bixby! I took a picture with her so I wouldn't forget to tell Justin about her. :)

The three of us went and had ice cream at Maggie Moo's afterward. Yummy!

Lindsey with her door prize. She won fancy utensils from here.

We sat with this girl, Holly. She has this blog. Turns out Bonnie had talked to her on the phone earlier in the day! Another small world story.

New find

I love to make things that require to be covered in chocolate. It has been such a mess to make it though. My hands end up covered in chocolate (don't ask me how, I think it gets on side of the bowl that I have the chocolate in and then my hands touch that, ok, so I guess you could have asked me how). Until now that it is! The other day Justin and I were at Wal-Mart and I was getting some Candy Melts (best stuff to use when covering things in chocolate). In that same section there was this set of tools to use for dipping things in chocolate! Justin actually pointed it out to me. They were not very expensive and since I still had some birthday money left I bought them.

I got to use them for the first time today! It was a miracle tool! Plus, instead of usuing a bowl to melt the chocolate in I used a pie dish. It was much easier to use and I didn't end up with chocolate all over my hands. Although, I guess there are only two ways to get that chocolate off and one of them is eating it, so that isn't so bad. ;)

Here is the finished product. Oreo truffles, requested by my husband to take to a FLOCK party on Friday night. Mmm, now the only thing left to do is make sure they last until then! So hard to resist eating them. :)

Works for Me Wednesday...

So yesterday I was cooking my Cinco De Mayo dinner and had my son, Ian, in his high chair in the kitchen with me. I put a few Little Puffs on the tray to distract him and once most of them met there end on the floor rather than his mouth I decided to give him his sippy cup. Seemed like a good idea at the time, but then he kept dropping it on the floor (which of course is super clean, so why should it matter, right? Ha, clean, yeah right!). That is when the light bulb came on above my head...attach it to his shirt with a paci-clip!!! There is nothing like using something for more than one thing to get me excited. So I found the clip and attached the part that would usually be on the pacifier to the handle of the siipy cup. This worked out great! No more dropping it on the floor!

What kind of things have you been able to get more than one "normal" use out of? Also, you can find more frugal tips (I say this is frugal because you are double using something) at We Are THAT Family.

The smell of the day

I wish so much that I could capture the smell of the day! I know that may sound weird. However just go with me here. I walked outside this morning and it was dreary out. I wanted to take a good picture of my flowers that are blooming so well again this year. So anyway, as I walked out there I felt the mist of rain on my face and then I took a deep breath...fall, it smelled like fall time! Oh how I love the smell of fall time. It makes me think of so many things, like pumpkin flavored candles, cinnamon scents and Turkey! Then it hit me, it is not fall, it is spring and while I love spring, it just isn't the same as fall. Spring means we still have a hot (and I mean HOT) summer to go through. Ugh. I am not a big fan of summer time in Oklahoma. I have been here 14 years and I am still not used to the hotness that comes this time of year. Oh well, for today, at least the next few minutes of the day because you know Oklahoma weather can change pretty quickly, I will enjoy the smell of fall and dream of turkey, pumpkin and cinnamon!

Oh and here is the picture I took of my flowers! I am so excited because this is the third year they have come up! The first year I planted them too late and only a few came up, I thought "well that was a waist of my money". But then last year and this year too they have bloomed beautifully! Now keep in mind that this picture is post a few storms, so they were even prettier before the storms!