Achieving a balance

This is a life long goal right? Sort of a never ending thing because life is ever changing. My question is not how to achieve it but to keep it. I have found balance several times. Like when the store is going nice and smooth, and my hubby has a nice working schedule where he's home at the same time every night, and Rees is in a good routine etc etc. When all these things align the balance is wonderful but then there are ALL those other times like now for instance. Store "issues" hubby has a weird schedule Rees is sort of all over the place right now and I haven't had a "me" day in a very long time so balance is harder to achieve. I live to a schedule not a super ridged one but one that works for our family and when things waiver it really knocks me all out of whack. Perfect example it's past Rees' bedtime and I can hear him on the monitor screaming.... doesn't he realize this is mommy's blogging time??? Or maybe he would understand better if I told him it was "Amy's" blogging time. I'll be back in a moment to continue my thoughts.

Where was I? Oh yeah schedule. I've come to the conclusion that balance for me just means at the end of the day all three of us go to bed happy,healthy and all together. The last couple of years have been full of so many new things for us that I am very surprised at how well we have stood up to it really. I feel that motherhood has made me a much better person. I have learned so many life lessons from my little man and I am thankful for everything he has taught me. These are the reasons that I have chose to live an unconventional lifestyle and be happy with it, so we can build something for Rees. The future is so scary, children have it so much harder these days than when I was little and I hate to think in another 15 years what Rees will have to deal with so I want to be able to give him important opportunities and life lessons and first and foremost I want to lead by example. These are strictly my thoughts on motherhood, these are things that I have always held very close to my heart and I know that some of you might not agree but that is the beauty of it, it's what gives our family balance. And what gives your family balance might be complete opposite, but isn't it nice to look at all the parts of your family working together to achieve a common denominator. I hear all the time that people "don't know how we do what we do" and the answer is simple I don't think we know how to live any other way. The hubby and I are two in the same we both might deny that but that is why we work so well as a couple our goals are the same and the way we achieve our balance is the same (most of the time anyways) I hope that things stay in balance for while cause mama don't like change! This was just a little spin off on an article that I read on someone else discussing this topic and I so enjoyed reading her blog about it but at the same time it was so different that my views of balance that's why I thought it might be fun for me to talk about my "perfect" balance. Night night off to watch Shark Tank, have you guys watched that show? Channel 8 at 9:00 or on tivo :) it is such a great show!!!

personalization makes me so happy

ANYTHING that has my name on it is awesome in my book! I adore anything that's personalized and I try to always personalize gifts. My sister is hands down the best sister in the whole wide universe. Her and I have such a wonderful, amazing, forgiving untouchable love and respect for each other that I feel she makes me a better person. Her and I did not get along until I moved out of the house and to this day I regret the horrible way that I treated her while we lived together. There is just too many years between the two of us and that made it hard to relate to each other while we where in our "formative" years but now that we're both grown ups we are best buddies, so with that said I wanted to get her something special for helping out with Rees this summer. She is such a wonderful person that I always put a lot of time and thought into her gifts and these turned out so cute I wanted to share some pictures. I found THIS cool site that would allow me design a mouse pad (with my digi scrapbook elements) and upload MY design and they printed it. I didn't really like the designs they had to offer but the capability to upload your own designs is great. So I designed a matching set which included A tote bag, a coffee mug (for her hot chocolate) bookmarks for her class, a mouse pad, stickers to go inside her books that say This book belongs to Ms. Rees and a notebook that I hand made with a cool template from Sweet Shoppe Designs that you simple edit in photoshop and then print, apply some modge podge to the cover of the comp book front and back then put a book on it to weight it down for an hour and tada you have a great inexpensive PERSONALIZED gift! Take a look....

You can click on the image to enlarge is you want to see more detail.

Sad mama

I know I just posted but that was business, now to pleasure (sort of) I made a custom book of Rees' First year and it arrived today....wowza where did 17 months go??? I just can't describe how independent my boy is he won't let me do anything for him. I am not exaggerating I can't even touch his cup or he won't drink out of. He won't let me make anything easier on him, he likes to do things the hard way which don't get me wrong I think this means he will be a driven and motivated person but right now geez it's like I don't have a baby any more. This is a double edged blade. I do enjoy that he picks up after himself and he never wines just to be whining and he's really tough but I would like to baby him along a little ya know? he is still a baby! Today he walked into his room and came out with a diaper and a pack of wipes...LOL how funny is that? I have got to start potty training hard. He was nosing through a basket and turns around with a little key on a key ring and says KEEEEE oh my be still my heart. I just love it when he surprises me with new words Yeah Rees!!! He is making all kinds of words lately and worst of all....he has started referring to me as AMY which I HATE! I have been ignoring it but today he said it several times while my sister was here and she got a big kick out of it but I am really trying hard to ignore this as I have learned the bigger deal that is made out of it the more it will happen! Hmmm what else, we went swimming in his little frog pool today, when I say we I strictly meant him. No swimming for Amy in the froggie pool. I do have neighbors ya know! Then we came in to eat dinner and thank goodness he ate like a pig. He goes for days just grazing on tiny things that he will gorge, I just hate that it worries me to death. He ate a whole plate of spaghetti, and lots of other odds and ends! That's about it. Here are a couple of my new favorite pics. The first one is of him trying to shew me away from the bouncing castle, ya know it's not cool to have your mom helping you! The second one is my little ladies man he is so dang cute of course I might be a little bias :)

The H family

I took some family pics for The H family this weekend and their two little cuties are just adorable. Look at Little miss P's eyes, aren't they gorgeous! And baby E will be One soon and he is such a handsome little man, he was so easy and cooperative it was a great session. Here is a little sampling of the session...

My idea of beautiful

Back in the pre-child days I loved to garden and and grow beautiful flowers that I babied along all summer but times have changed and priorities are different now. My perennials are the only things that are still in bloom my poor annuals have been neglected to the point of embarrassment. So I took some pictures through out the summer of different things in my gardens and I have a lot of nice ones but this picture is one that I am absolutely in love with. I just love the "perspective" of it and the story that it tells. I am not an art collector nor would I know good art if it bit me in the butt I just know that this single picture makes me so happy and draws my eyes in everything I look at it.

So I played around with it today and added some cool texture effects and what not so I think I am going to order this in a canvas to hang on the wall. Rees pictures are taking over my house I figured I might through one in of a different subject matter to change things up a bit. To the point of my story things that you least expect to make you happy can! The hussle and bussle of everyday life is just overwhelming sometimes, I'm sure everyone can relate to that. So go snap some pics of something that doesn't have legs and just sit back and admire the simple beauty behind it. I have some of clouds that just make me crazy happy too! These are inexpensive things that are easy to obtain and have provided me so much peace and happiness. Do I sound crazy? Just take my word one day when things are quiet and you have a minute to yourself (when you should be cleaning house or something) go snap some pictures and enjoy them!!!!

Playing Catchup

Hmmm what a busy weekend (or week) we had. This weekend was jam packed full of adventures. Saturday we had a 1st Birthday party to attend. Baby J turned ONE!!! It was a beach themed party which was lots of fun. Just so everyone knows my son is a mac! (For you older people that's a ladies man)LOL! He was chasing all the little cute baby girls around and hugging on them :) It's cute when their little, but I dread going through all that teenager stuff! He is such a people person he just walks around doing his own thing and talking to people all along the way. Heaven forbid his mother or father touch him or try to help him in ANY way, he is such an independent little booger. So here are some pictures from the party.

Lots of store stuff going on so between running around for business stuff and trying to keep up with Rees and Mat the weekend flew by. But I did manage to squeeze in a little something for me on Sunday evening. I just had a wild hair to take Rees' pictures out in the field with some balloons. The sky was that beautiful deep blue with puffy fake looking clouds so I wanted that to be the background. I go and blow up the balloons and get him and his Nana to go with me on the 4wheeler to get to the "pe

rfect" location out in the field and get all my gear setup and then Nana puts Rees down with his balloons and guess what...He freaks out? Little Mr.Independent doesn't want to stand there by himself he wants her to hold him. Not that

I care to get a good pic of them together but I had imagined this magically photo of him running with the balloons and it being so pretty and it was anything but! As he was running trying to make it to someone he busted his balloons on the weeds LOL, just par for the course ya know? Oh well, maybe another time. Here's a few that turned out okay.

It's official I'm addicted

I started yet another new blog just because I found some cool new free stuff for blogs and wanted to try it but didn't want to change my current blogs, so what's a girl to do? Well of course start another blog!!! This one is only going to be used for posting resources and cool finds on the internet so if your not into that stuff don't bother visiting! It's called Confessions of an Internet Junkie I just love designing and starting new blogs and I could use some practice so if anyone would be willing to start a blog all you have to do is email or comment here what you would like for it to be named and I will do ALL the work for you, sweet deal right? I just want more practice and some more blogs to read of my friends!

Some quick pics

I was looking through my pictures from last night and found a couple of the boys that were adorable so I felt the need to share!

TGIF

Wooo hoooo it's Friday! Yeah I love Fridays just the feeling that you get at the end of the work day on Fridays especially when I get to quit early I just love it. Even though I have to work this weekend, doesn't matter I still have the Friday Happy's!!! So Amy's 30th bday bash was fun and I think she truly was surprised which was cool. Lots of kids there and it's always fun to watch kids play and laugh at the silly little things that make kids happy i.e. carrying grapes around in a cup? Rees is funny! Food was yummy especially the cake! So for this weekend we get to enjoy another big birthday celebration Jackson turns One!!!! So that should be a good time. I just love watching kids play I know I talk a lot about it and I try to get Rees around as many kids as possible because I think it is of the utmost importance to socialize him at a young age. I was such an introvert that it was painful. I remember that scary feeling in the pit of my stomach when I had to be around strangers and I don't want Rees to go through that if it can be avoided. But it the right environment (enclosed and kid proofed) it's so much fun to watch them just be their selves and let loose with other kids. The things that they say the ideas that you can see percolating in their little brains and the ornery things they can only get into with an accomplice. To me as a parent it's one of the most enjoyable moments to see your child interact with other kids!

Hmmm. there I go again blogging about my kiddo all the time. I try so hard to keep things diversified and interesting but everything always goes back to my baby. I guess at the end of the day that's just who I am now! Hope you all enjoy the everyday antics of Rees.

Who's idea was this anyways???

Well guess what we did today? We took 3 little boys to Billy Bob's...Yep It's official I'm crazy. Amy Roe and I took the boys there for a last "thursday outing" before Colton starts school. Her boys were great, mine on the other hand is a 4 year old trapped in a one year-old body. He is so stinkin independent. If I touch his drink he won't drink out of it he has to do it all his self. If I try to carry his token cup he throws a little tantrum because he wants to hold it (even though he has dropped in 42 times) Then the little maniac went around grabbing other little kids tickets as they were coming out of the machines, talk about hilarious! Those kids are addicted to the tickets. It was so exhausting chasing after him all day. But it was a really good time at the end of the day. I think the boys had a lot of fun and I know I'm going to sleep really well tonight! We went up about noon and ran into some other ladies from Gallia county with their kids up there too. Such a small world! After we got done chasing our little men I went to Best Buy and bought a point and shoot camera mine gave out. It's really hard getting out my big bertha camera just to take his pictures in the living room, so I just bought a small camera to throw in my purse so I should be having lots of candid shots to be posting soon! I was playing with it and I can't believe how many wonderful features it has for such a cheap price it's a Sony Cybershot and it's clarity is amazing. I'm obsessed with photography anymore I analyze every picture I see it's horrible I wish I could stop!!!How do I get off topic in all my posts? I am easily distracted apparently. Anyways long story shorts we spent the day with our family and had a great time making memories with the boys. Wonder what tomorrow will bring?

nadya suleman

Did anyone else watch that special last night about Nadya Suleman? Oh my gosh, I just can't image having 14 kids that is unbelievable. I just watched in amazement as Rees drug every toy he owns out into the living floor. Every day is a new adventure that I wake up looking forward to, I really do wake up going I wonder what Rees is going to surprise me with today. If you had 14 kids how could you enjoy any of the small things? Seems to me that you would be doing good to remember huge milestones of each kid! She said in the documentary that she messed her life up and her kids life up with that decision kinda broke my heart to hear that ya know? I'm sure the kids will see the show eventually, and I wouldn't want to hear my mama say that. But all in all it looked like she was holding up really well. Much better than I think I could. I think at this point I am just rambling so I better go start the day. I am waiting for Rees man to get up and keep me company. Wonder what we'll get into today?

Everyone told me it would fly by

I was so nervous when I brought Rees home. I had never changed a diaper before, made a bottle, burped a baby nothing. I don't know what I would have done without my mom. She stayed with us and nurtured all of us into becoming a functioning three person family. At that time it really felt like infant stage was never ending. The sleep depression played a huge role in that I'm sure but things seemed to go by slowly when he was little because he really didn't move around or do anything. But all my friends said it flies by and he will be a big boy in not time, well it's here and I have no idea how it happened so quickly. I can't believe it has only been 17 months ago when I brought my little angel home. And in that short time period he has learned how to walk, eat with a spoon, open absolutely everything he can get his hands on, put the correct key in the front door lock, beat Bernie up, and the list goes on and on. It's so mind blowing the amount of knowledge babies acquire in such a short period of time. I am making a hard bound book of Rees' first year and I am sifting through all my pictures and just cannot believe how tiny he was and quickly it all changed. I am such a sap this week with all this reflection junk! But, I am really enjoying reading his baby book and remembering little things that where so huge at the time now it just seems like it was so long ago and we are moving so quickly. Look . . .

He is such an adorable little turd. (He was showing me his teeth)

Reflections

As I read a friends blog today about happiness I had to sit and think for a few minutes about my life. I am so very different than this person but at the same time all of her statements hold true for me, if that makes sense. I know that I complain a lot about certain things but deep down I really wouldn't change my life at all. It makes me really happy to be able to say that because Mat and I have been through some hard life lessons but we made it through them together and we're still as strong as ever if not stronger. We did wait 6 years to have Rees and that to me made sense for us. I have just came to a place in life were I'm truly happy with life. I know that not every day is going to go smoothly and the lifestyle that we choose to live might not be desirable to a lot of people but it works so well for us. There are days that I just sit on the couch and miss the shit out of Mat, like today he left at 5am and got home at 9pm. At the job site all day. But ya know what it makes our next day off together so much more precious. I just am so thankful that we are in a good place, we live with love and respect for each other and we would both do anything and everything that we can for our son. Another wonderful thing that we share is our parenting outlook. We have the same goals for Rees' future and I can't image that being any other way. Being a parent is the most important job we will ever be given but it's a road that is much more rewarding when traveled together. I am just so stinkin proud of Mat for finishing up the school it's made me mushy! LOL, anyone that knows me well know that that emotion does not come out frequently :)

REES UPDATE: After he got up from his nap he was feeling much better. We went to the Patty & Maurices for dinner and he filled his little belly with spaghetti, green beans and strawberries. He ate soooo much and he was in a great mood after that. He loved all over his great grandma Mary and was a perfect little angel. I am so glad to have him back in good humor. Wow that was so stressful. It's amazing to me how I can go run a store & restaurant and deal with 13 woman and all their problems on a daily basis and be fine but a One year old defeats me. I am being a bit dramatic but I'm sure other moms can feel my pain! Thanks for all the pick me ups from you girls They were greatly appreciated!

I am so happy it's Monday

I know I always moan and groan that the weekend is over and we have to start a new work week but I am truly glad it's Monday this week. I feel like I just need to start over and Monday is a perfect way to kick that off. I felt so defeated last night...by a One year old? I'm guessing everyone goes through that but I must say it's really not something that I want to get used to. I was so flustered and confused and just DEFEATED! I wasn't thinking straight and trying to really figure out the whys and what's been different I just blamed it on an off day for Rees because his nap got messed up, I should have known better than that. My Rees man just isn't that kind of kid to be "mean" he was really just trying to be hurtful last night and I really haven't seen it that that extent before. After my mama came over this morning I gave her the run down of last night and when he got up this morning he was the same way with her. She called me and we were talking, how could I not have thought of this??? I have been giving him an over the counter cough syrup for his cough and runny nose. It was one that we hadn't used yet and it never occurred to me that it could be a reaction to that. Abby was/is that way with over the counter stuff so I'm sure that has something to do with it. It's amazing how scary a baby can be. I was in tears with him last night because that's just so far from his normal personality that is was so frustrating to try and handle. So needless to say he will not be getting any more of that stuff and hopefully by tomorrow it will be out of his system...pray for me, I need it!

So I am in much better spirits now that I have a new found outlook on things. I feel sorry instead of upset at him. I'm sure he didn't enjoy those feelings he was having and I hope we can make it through this evening without any meltdowns!

Does anyone just go blog searching when you have a free minute? Sometimes I do and I have found some amazing blogs that I love to follow. If you sign up for a blogger account (you don't have to blog) you can become a "follower" of other blogger blogs and on your dashboard page it lists all the blogs you follow and you can see when there are new posts. It is really handy and super easy to keep track of all the blogs you like to read. Here's a really good one Mama's losin it I love to read about how other mom's handle things and have a good laugh along the way.

Back to work!

What a weekend

I know it's been a few days since I last posted but there has been a lot going on these last few days! Let's start with Friday. Crazy day at the store. I for the most part try to be a stern yet very friendly business person. I don't like to feel like people don't respect me but at the same time I don't have it in me to be cut throat to people that I deal with on a regular basis. Example one of my vendors tries to feed me a line about this a sale being beneficial to me when I am sitting in front of my calculator running the numbers that show me immediately that I would make less of a profit margin on the sale (and a much larger up front cost) than if I didn't do the promotion and just used coupons. Does he think I'm stupid??? So immediately he back steps and says oh yeah I think you should just do coupons..DUH ya dumb***. Then I had employee problems. Then my stupid poison ivy started spreading. That is a whole different story I got prescription meds so it's much better today. I was in a terrible mood on Friday and I absolutely hate feeling like that. Those are the days that you just want to be able to walk out and not worry about your business, but I have to get past those days and keep truckin! Good business news is RV is starting next week and I am hoping to pull some new business!

Saturday. I went to Columbus for a friends birthday for a shopping excursion, which was great. We ate at Buca..Oh that place is so yummy then we headed home. From there I came home and took my little man swimming at my inlaws. It was nice the pool was so warm that Rees really enjoyed it. Tricia came out and swam with us and he really enjoyed that too. He is starting to get comfortable in the water I had high hopes of teaching him some swimming but I don't think it's going to happen this year. Something to look forward to next summer!

Sunday. We had the GAHS dedication ceremony to go to. I normally hate attending public things. I am a really private type person that does not like to be around a big crowd so I had mixed emotions about this, but Mat has worked so hard on this building and it was such a battle to obtain the job so to have such a wonderful outcome to the whole situation is amazing and words cannot explain how proud I am of my husband. It was a really nice ceremony and Rees made it through about 1/2 of it he spent the other 1/2 outside with papaw. There were 100's of people the field across from the school was full of cars it was crazy. So to all the neigh sayers out there TAKE THAT! Trimat built a fabulous school and it looks awesome! So after that we had dinner with some friends and headed home. Which would bring us to the hard part of the day. So Rees man is scheduled I'm sure everyone knows that by now. He did get his nap just a couple hours earlier than usual. He turned into a little hellion tonight. He had such a short fuse with all of us we couldn't even look at him without pissing him off. I consider myself a really lucky person to have such an easy child but when this boy wants to through a fit watch out! He gets that from his mama. He walked over and kicked Bernie (our dog) square in the face, made him (the dog) cry. I didn't spank him I just had a stern talk with him and made him go hug Bernie well turns out that didn't work. I was talking to Mat on the phone telling him what Rees had done and he heard me talking about it and went over and kicked him again...REALLY???? I couldn't believe it. So guess what he got a spanking. Sorry to all the "time out supporters" but that just doesn't work with my son. He has a very strong willed personality so I feel that spanking is necessary. I love him so very much that I feel like if I let one thing pass by that should be corrected I am a bad mom. LOL, it's much harder that way now but I believe it will be much easier when he gets older and knows Right from Wrong...NO GREY AREAS! I think that's why some many kids take the wrong path. It's really hard to be on top of things constantly but it's necessary. Long story short I put Rees to bed at 8:00 I couldn't take any more and he didn't want to be around me anymore either LOL, I love that little man so much and I see some of his characteristics that are like me that I wish I could change (temper, etc) It's hard to deal with me sometimes ya know what I mean? So that concludes our weekend. Nonstop and o so short. Back to work tomorrow.

The perfect summer dessert

I have made this dessert twice and it is super yummy. I found it on the kraft website which is full of great,easy free recipes!



This has been another wonderful summer day. I invited Celeste and her kids over to play outside on the water slide so they came over around noon and we had a great outdoor lunch with all the kids (Baylee and Mason came over too) and the kids played while her and I chatted and took in a little sun. It was so nice. I just love to watch kids have conversations with each other it's so hilarious! All the kids where around the same age so there was a lot of Pretending going on! Let's just say the pool was shark infested! Rees was sort of a loner today, seemed like he just wanted to do his own, he was clumsy too he fell on the patio 3-4 times and skinned his legs, hands and cheeks up on the concrete! Maybe Mat is on to somthing wanting to carpet the patio, it is certainly an understatement to say he is a protective dad but it broke my heart to watch him keep falling today so I'm thinking maybe the green grassy like carpet??? LOL, just kidding girls I'm not that crazy. I hear my little man moving around I'm going to go get him up and we're going to head back outside to play!

Fun, Fun and more Fun!

Wow what a great day Rees and I had! It all started on a whim this morning I called Amy to see if she wanted to do something with the boys today and we decided to go look at GAHS and eat lunch then bring the boys back to play on our new toy. It was a nice tour at the school we just did our own thing. Lunch was good, Chinese Colton picked! Then we came back and blew up the gigantic slide,pool thing. The kids had a blast. It took Rees a while to warm up to it, the water was cold and he's used to warm kitchen sink water that we fill his little pool up with so I think the cold water was shocking for him but he got used to it and then had a great time. I had so much fun watching them play!

This was when he first got in!

The big kids even jumped in! Thanks for fixing that Amy.

Was anyone else caught in the monsoon?

Holy geeze what a rain storm we got! The fam and I headed into Wallyworld tonight to pick up this cool blow-up pool with a rock wall and big slide thingy that went on CLEARANCE!!! I wanted it so badly at the beginning of summer but Rees wasn't big enough for it and it was way too $$$ so when I seen they marked it down $200!!!! I went back in and got it!!! Super excited to play on it tomorrow (I hope it's warm and sunny out)(and I hope I can get the big ol' thing together) chances of this working out for me are not looking good. Anyways back on track about the time we pulled into the parking lot the storm hit. I could not believe how heavy it was raining and how hard the wind was blowing. We watched about 10 shopping carts fly at FULL speed into vehicles due to the horrendous wind, we did get a little chuckle out of it although I would be p*dd off it it hit my car but we pulled back to the far end of the lot all by ourselves and just sat back and watched, it was really comical. It lasted about 10 minutes then we grabbed the umbrellas and headed in by the time I got outside it was bright and sunny and hotter than Haiti again. We drove over to GAHS because Mat wanted to check out the jobsite to see if it was too wet to work there tomorrow...I'm guessing you all already know the answer to this, LOL I did! It was so wet and all the streams, ponds etc were overflowing it was terrible out in Centenary.

This weekend is a big time for our family, my mom is turning the big 5-0!!! She looks better than she ever has, I am so jealous, um I mean proud of her for losing all her weight she is one hot mama! And I think Rees keeps her in shape so turning it shouldn't be any big deal (at least that's my opinion but then again when I turn 30 in January it will probably be the end of my life so don't listen to my opinions about birthdays) I'm just so happy for her that she's happy and healthy. Listen to this fantabulous present we are getting her....NEW CARPET! Is that funny? if not then this will be she doesn't want to pick it out or anything she just wants to come home to new carpet installed and her house put back together and not have to do anything with it! I was happy to oblige. Those of you that know mom while totally understand this **Leighanne** Then we have the open house to attend for GAHS this weekend too. I have to brag a little on my dear hubby I am so proud of the job that he has done building this school. It looks stunning and it was his first job of this caliber and he did an amazing job on it! Way to go honey I am so proud of you not that he reads my blogs or anything but I am so thankful that I have such a hard working, motivated, dedicated hubby. I am in a yacking mood tonight. But Rees has been waking at 6ish in the mornings this week so I better call it a night. If all goes well tomorrow with the new pool I'll have some hilarious pics to post tomorrow.

Pool Day

Here was our Sunday 7:30 I went out and weeded our jungle, now it actually resembles a flower bed again. Then Rees and I went to Wal-mart for groceries, came home unloaded, ate lunch, went to the pool. I love swimming so much! Rees likes it, but after about an hour he's over it and wants to move on to something else. So we went home to take a nap and I got a killer headache it was so bad it was bordering on migraine. I didn't get to make it to a b-day party we were supposed to go to but Rees and I hung out the rest of the evening. So our Sunday was really nice (minus the headache). I love days when you get a lot accomplished but it still feels like a fun day. Only bad part was it passed by so quickly and now its Monday :(

Little Cutie

Lilee is turning 3 this month so her mommy brought her over to have her birthday pics taken and here is how they turned out

Miss L is a diva to say the least, isn't she a cutie!

My dinner recipes

I have been in a cooking mood lately and I love to try new recipes. I ran on to some phenomenal new recipes that I can't wait to share. So my buddy Roger always keeps me in fresh veggies from his amazing garden, well this year he sprung a new one on me, eggplant??? What the heck am I supposed to do with that? After it sat in my kitchen for a couple of days the thought of throwing it out really bothered my, but I had never eaten or even prepared an eggplant before so I got online and surfed around until I found a 5 star recipe on taste of home and I made a 13x9 dish last night for dinner (as a side) and between Mat, Me, Patty and Maurice it was all gone. That's how yummy it was! So give it a try.

Then I made some BBQ ribs (I used country style boneless with this recipe) and it was very tasty. It's a homemade sauce that is supper delicious. The only alteration I'll make the next time I use this recipe is doubling the sauce because I like my really saucy. They were very good and tasted a lot better than using bottled bbq sauce.

So now that Rees is a big boy he gets to take a bath in the big tub. This is such a great advancement so that I can get ready while he is taking his bath and playing, listening to songs on tv and just having a great time 3 feet away from me. He can play in that tub forever. So the other day I put bubble bath in and turned on the jets so the bubbles were huge it was so funny I had to take some pictures. I put together this collage to give to his grandmas isn't it too cute.