Books I Want to Read..

Here is a List of Books that I want to read. If anyone has any other book suggestions please tell me.

Marley and Me by John Grogan
Can You Keep A Secret? by Sophie Kinsella
Shopaholic and Baby by Sophie Kinsella
Why We Suck: A Feel Good Guide to Staying Fat, Loud, Lazy and Stupid by Denis Leary
I Walked the Line: My Life with Johnny by Vivian Cash
Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance by Barack Obama

I'm sure my list of books will grow as I find more that I want to read.

I'm so fricken excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As I was searching the internet to see if my favorite author (Sophie Kinsella) had any new books out I found out about this:



I'm am SO EXCITED!! I've been obsessed with these books since high school. I just finished reading Shopaholic and Sister and am going to the community library tomorrow to pick up Shopaholic and Baby.

Resolutions

As the year 2008 comes to an end and the begining of 2009 is fast approaching, I thought I would share my new years resolutions with everyone.

My 2009 New Year's Resolutions

1. Lose baby weight ( I have 20 lbs to go to be back to my pre-pregnancy weight! I guess that's what happens when you gain 50 lbs during your pregnancy!)

2. Get organized ( For the last couple of years, I've been really unorganized. I can never find anything that I'm looking for. Hopefully in 2009 I can change that!)

3. Spend less money ( Now that I'm in control of paying all of the bills I need to watch what we are spending and stick to our budget.)

4. Read some books (In high school, I absolutely LOVED reading. Now that I'm out of high school I haven't had much time to just read a book. There are so many books out there that I want to read so hopefully I can make time for that!)

Concentrated Driver

Layne loves to play in his exersaucers. ( He has three of them. One at our house, one at Grandma Lee's house, and one at Grandma Person's house.) When Layne is at Grandma Lee's house he absolutely loves this exersaucer! Here he is "pretending" to drive. So cute!

Menu Plan Monday

I'm quite excited for Menu Plan Monday this week. I got two new cookbooks for Christmas and am eager to try out some new recipes! I'm even going to post some of the recipes to share with everyone! ( I hate writing out recipes because I always seem to mess them up!)

Monday- Venison Roast with Garlic Mashed Potatoes
Tuesday- Tamale Pie with Chips and Salsa
Wednesday- Chili and Baked Potatoes
Thursday- Turkey Cottage Pie with Brownies for dessert
Friday- Lasagna with Breadsticks
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Turkey Cottage Pie Recipe
1/4 cup butter or margarine
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 envelope Lipton's Recipe Secrets Golden Onion soup mix
2 cups water
2 cups cut up cooked turkey or chicken
1 package (10 ounces) frozen mixed veggies
1 1/4 cups shredded Swiss Cheese
1/8 tsp pepper
5 cups hot mashed potatoes

Preheat oven to 375 F
In large saucepan melt butter and add flour. cook stirring constantly. 5 mins or until golden. Stir in soup mix thoroughly blended with water. Bring to a boil then simmer 15 mins or until thickened. Stir in turkey, veggies, 1 cup cheese and pepper. Turn into slightly greased 2 quart casserole. Top with hot mashed potatoes, then remaining 1/4 cup cheese. Bake 30 mins or until bubbling.

Recipe found in the book Quick Fixes from Brand Name Mixes.
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Tamale Pie Recipe

1 lb ground round
1 package frozen corn
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can sliced black olives
1 package taco seasoning mix
1 package corn muffin or corn bread mix plus ingredients to prepare mix
1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 green onion thinly sliced

Preheat oven to 400 F. Place meat in large skillet, cook over high heat 6-8 min or until meat is no longer pink, breaking meat aprt with wooden spoon. Drain. Add corn, tomatoes, olives and seasoning mix to meat. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat stirring constantly. Pour into deep 9 inch pie plate. Smooth top with a spatula.

Prepare corn bread mix accoarding to directions. Spread evenly over meat mixture. Bake 8-10 mins or until golden brown. Sprinkle with cheese and onion slices. Let stand 10 mins before serving.

Recipe from the cookbook Quick Fixes from Brand Name Mixes

Caution: Layne at Play

For Christmas, Layne got a walker type toy from Grandma and Grandpa Person. Even though he is not quite big enough to walk yet, we thought he could still play with the blocks on it. He absolutely loves playing with this! He's just so cute that I had to take some pictures on him with it.

Thinking about where to put his block.

"That's my block Mom!"

Yes, at almost 5 1/2 months old he is standing up almost all by himself with this toy. Matt's holding on to the front part of the toy so that he wouldn't faceplant on the floor. I think he's going to be an early walker. What do you think?

Christmas Day

Christmas Day was spent at Matt's parents house. We had a great day filled with yummy food, opening presents, and playing Wii.

Mary Jo with the wall hanging I made her. I made one for my mom also along with one for myself and an ornament for the tree.

Matt had the genius idea of wrapping his dads present in a kleenex box. (We got him a game for his Wii. ) So we had to document his reaction to the gift.

He didn't find it as funny as what Matt and I did. He had a cold and thought the kleenex box was a very useful gift!

Christmas Eve at Grandma and Grandpa Lee's

We spent Christmas Eve with my parents. We went to church with my parents, grandma, and uncle Bob. After church we went back to my parents house where we had supper and opened presents. (My family ALWAYS has soup on Christmas Eve. This year there was three choices: Oyster Stew, Chicken Noodle and Chicken Tortilla) It was a great night. Layne enjoyed it so much! He didn't pass out until after 9!

Family Picture (The only reason Matt is so dressed up is because he was trying to out dress me and look more dressed up. What a goober!)
The picture quilt that my mom got my grandma. It says our family tree on it and has a whole bunch of pictures of everyone in our family on it. It looks really cool. (Note: My mom did not make the quilt she bought it and put the pictures on it.)

Layne showing Grandma the RIGHT way to open a present.

Christmas Part 1

The last two days have been busy for us. Going between our house, my parents house, and matt's parents house. At least no one lives too far from us as I was not in the mood for a long drive. Here are some pictures of Layne opening the present that Matt and I got him. He is obsessed with wrapping paper and had so much fun opening his present.

Matt helped him a little bit to get the rest of the paper off. He loves this steering wheel toy that we got him because it makes lots of noises!

Menu Plan Monday

This week I don't really have to cook much because we will be either at my parents house or Matt's parents house. So here is our menu for the week.

Monday-Quesadillas

Tuesday- Beef Stew

Wednesday- Christmas Eve with my parents

Thursday-Christmas Day with the in laws

Friday-Pizza

The Best Christmas Present Ever!

I love my little man!!!

"Roll Over, Roll Over"

Layne has been rolling over since he was 3 1/2 months old. He doesn't do it very often but I got him in action (somewhat) so I thought I would share the pictures.

Starting the roll.

Almost there!

The final picture didn't turn out as I spaced out and had the camera on movie mode somehow. I can't figure out how to post the picture either. :( But you all get the point.

Layne's new thing he is working on is getting on his hands and knees. He's accomplished it once already but didn't last more than 20 seconds on all fours. He will get it soon though I'm sure of it!

Happy Belated Birthday Dad!

My Dad's birthday was this past Sunday. We had my parents over for supper. I made some french dip sandwiches and baked potatoes. The sandwiches were awesome! Layne REALLY loved helping Grandpa open his gift. (Although I think he loved the wrapping paper more! lol)

(I have no explanation for why my dad's mouth is open. I just think this picture is priceless though!)

Happy Birthday to the Love of my Life!

Happy Birthday, Baby! Layne and I love you so much. You are the best husband and father anyone could ask for!

(Picture taken a few years ago.)

I can't be more excited!!

So this past year, We have ranked up quite a big hospital bill. (hospital visits to labor and delivery before Layne was born, actual labor and delivery, Layne's 5 day stay in the NICU, my er visit, and Matt's CT scan.) Anyways with all those visits we managed to rack up an almost $4,000 hospital bill!! We payed $783 of it back in September. (That was before we found out the true total. I absolutely hate how our hospital bills. Sending multiple statements before you know the FULL amount of the bill. So they make you think you paid it all and then they send you other bill for more money. It's ridiculous!) After we paid the first amount, we thought that was all we owed. Then in October we got another bill telling us we owed $2,704.00. I literally cried when I saw this because I had absolutely no clue how we were going to come up with the money. Anyways we talked to the financial department at the hospital and they had us fill out a financial assistance form. This past week we got a letter from the department saying they had written off $2,704.00 for us and that we don't owe them anything now! I'm so excited about this!! I just had to share the news.

What Would You Do?

Did anyone see Oprah today? She did a segment on the ABC show "What Would You Do?" with John Quiñones. Here is the synopsis of the show from Oprah's website that will better explain it.

If you mistakenly receive too much change from a cashier, would you return it? How would you handle an obnoxious cell phone user or a waitress who shamelessly flirts with your boyfriend? With the help of actors and hidden cameras, these moral dilemmas are captured on film in ABC Primetime's provocative series What Would You Do? While some of the undercover experiments end in laughter, others tackle tough issues like abuse, racism and crime. No matter what the scenario, an interesting conversation always follows when real people are put to the test.Veteran news correspondent John Quiñones sees it all while waiting in the wings. He gets a firsthand look at what happens when people think nobody's watching—and it's not always pretty. "I've gotten to see very inspiring folks who do the right thing and then others who just walk away from situations," he says. "It's allowed me to put myself in the position of the victim. And once you do that, it's hard to turn away from a person in distress, a person in need, a person in trouble."

I found Oprah's show very interesting. It made me really think about what I would do in those situations. The situation that got me the most was the Muslim lady being discriminated against. I just don't think that's right at all. Just because she dresses different than others doesn't make her a terrorist. The words the man was saying were really mean. I was impressed by the two girls that DID stand up to him. Most of the people either just ignored what was going on or a few even agreed with the man that he had a right not to serve her. (That totally appalled me!)

My one question is has anyone seen this show? I haven't seen it on ABC at all. Is it a new show that hasn't started yet or is it off the air?

Pictures of Laynes Room..

I thought I would post some pictures of Layne's room as I realized I never did that. Matt's aunt Emily made the bedding and the curtains. I think it turned out really cute!

This is obvisiously an old picture of his room before he was born because his stroller is in there.

Stuffed bear that Matt had when he was little. I think it looks a lot like Pooh but Matt gets upset when I say that.

Vintage Phone that Matt's mom's friend got us.

Matt made this name plate out of horseshoes for Layne's room. If you want one Matt will gladly make you one with whatever you want it to say. He's in the process of doing this as a side business.

This is Hilarious!!!!

This video cracks me up!!

Not Me Monday

So this is my first "Not me!" post. I thought I would try it because it looks like alot of fun. So here it goes.

The week I did not wrap almost all of my christmas presents and when finished realized that I didn't have any gift tags and couldn't remember what I had wrapped in each package. No not me!

While my husband and I were discussing about having chickens on our acreage when we get one I surely did not ask my husband if chickens tasted like chickens. No I would never say a thing like that!

While hanging some pictures up in our house I did not hit my thumb with the hammer more than once. I'm way better at hanging pictures than that!

When I left to go get Layne from my parents house on Saturday, (I took the Blazer which was parked in the grass because Matt was trying to jump start the pickup) I did not burn out in the yard and tear up a huge section of the grass. I would never do something like that!

Menu Plan Monday

Here is our menu for the week:

Monday- Spaghetti and Meatballs with Garlic Bread

Tuesday-Venison Quesadillas

Wednesday-Mexican Beef Stew and Grilled Cheese

Thursday- Beef Stroganoff

Friday-Matt's Birthday (we're going out to eat with my parents)

Saturday- We're going out to eat for Matt and Alex's birthday with his parents

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To Do List

Finish Wall Hangings

Finish wrapping presents

Clean Bedroom

Our Christmas Tree

This past week, we finally got around to putting up our christmas tree. It didn't get put where I wanted it to as it would't of fit but it looks good where it is at. We don't have too many christmas ornaments but i still think the tree looks good.

Pretty Tree!

Ornament Layne's Great Aunt Emily gave him for his baptism. I added the picture to it.

Our Pretty Angel!

"I'm just Sittin' here Chillin', Mom."

Within the last couple of weeks, Layne has figured out how to sit up on his own. He's now obsessed with being able to sit up on his own.

So Cute!

Watching Sesame Street on TV. He loves Big Bird just as much as I did when I was little.

"Mom you can quit anytime with the pictures."

He's getting to be such a big guy!


I wouldn't be surprised that before to long I'll be posting pictures of him crawling as today he got up on his hands and knees for the first time!! I think he'll be crawling by 7 months.

Just A Little Something I've Been Working On...

When I was little my mom made salt dough ornaments and wall hangings of my handprints for gifts to my grandparents. I thought I would try the same thing with Layne. Only instead of doing handprints I did his footprint. Here are some pictures of the wall hanging I made.

I painted the light brown paint on first before adding the dark brown. I thought it would be easier.

Finished product. I just have to spray polyeurithane on it.

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Recipe for Salt Dough

4 cups Flour

1 cup salt

1 3/4 cups water

I baked the ornaments at 200 degrees for 2 1/2 hours and then let them dry out the rest of the way for 3 days before painting them. You can bake them for as long as needed just don't let them burn. (Note: It worked really well for me to spray the pan with cooking spray before putting them on the pan. They didn't stick at all. )

To Do List *Updated*

So we have been extremely busy this week. Running Errands, Putting up the Christmas tree, and Cleaning are just a few of the things that I have accomlished this week. Hopefully this weekend I can get all of the things done that I need to. Anyways thought I would update my to-do list.
To-do List
Wash Floors
Clean Guest Room
Finish Laundry
Hang Pictures
Return clothes to mall
Finish Ornaments
Wrap Gifts

Santa Claus Came To Town!

Yesterday our town was holding a Christmas festival at the community center. There was decorated christmas trees, horse drawn sleigh rides, music, free food, and the chance to see Santa and Mrs. Claus. We took Layne to see Santa and he seemed to enjoy it. (He loved Santa's beard as he pulled several strands of hair out of it. lol)

Hopefully next year when we take Layne to see Santa. I can actually get him to LOOK at the camera.

How Many Dogs Can You Fit Into A Tiny Dog Bed?

Chloe has a dog bed in our hallway by our bedroom that she sleeps on at night. Over the weekend, Matt and I woke up to find this:

I seriously did not think it was possible to fit BOTH of them in a tiny dog bed. (The dog bed CAN'T be any wider than 2ft.) I thought it was so adorable that I had to take a picture.

Daredevil Sleeper

Last Thursday, I went to check on Layne before going to bed. This is how I found my baby sleeping. (Note: I did not put him in this position. He wiggled himself into it. I thought it was funny so I had to take a picture of him.)

I walk into his room to see his arm sticking out of the side of the crib.

He's out like a light but oh so precious!

Things I Love....Baby Edition

I thought I would share some of my favorite baby finds that we use and just LOVE. So Here it goes. This garbage pail is by Graco. It's called Graco Touch-Free Diaper Pail. My favorite feature on this is that you can use any size garbage bag with it unlike the Diaper Genie. The garbage can can be used touchless with the automatic sensor that is on the top of the can. ( After the batteries died in this, we decided it was just easier without the automatic feature and it still works wonders.) There are carbon filters in the can to help diminish the amount of odor. You're supposed to change them every month but we haven't and it still keeps the smell away.

I absolutely love this bottle drying rack I got for a baby shower gift. It's by First Years and can be found a Target. It was inexpensive and really doesn't take up much space on our kitchen counters.

These Playtex Bottles with the drop in liners are amazing. I've used many different kinds of bottles while working in daycare. I've found these to be my favorite because they are so easy to clean.

This is a picture from www.babysdream.com of the baby furniture set that we have in Layne's room. (Note: We didn't purchase the armoire as Laynes room is not big enough for it) I absolutely love the changing table as it flips to grow with the child and turns into a nightstand. I love the style of the crib because it's simple and sleek. The crib is a convertible one so it grows with your child. We got a great deal on the two pieces as the store we bought it at was having a huge sale on all their baby furniture.

Menu Plan Monday

So it has been a couple of weeks since I have posted my menu plans. I've been extremely busy. Here is my menu plan for the week:

Monday- Crockpot Venison Fajitas

Tuesday- Chili with Baked Potatoes

Wednesday-Mac and Cheese with Garlic Toast

Thursday-Pork Chops and Stuffing Bake

Friday- Homemade Pizza

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To do List

Wash Floors

Clean Guest Room

Finish Laundry

Buy Stamps

Hang Pictures

Mail out Christmas Cards

Return clothes to mall

Finish Ornaments

Finish Blankets

Put Tree Up and Decorate

Wrap Gifts

Holiday Lights

Not too far from us, (about 3o miles north) there is an amazing Christmas lights display a family puts on to raise money for Make-a-Wish. It's called Crooks Christmas. You can check out there website http://www.crookschristmas.com/. Here is a video of one of my favorite songs that is put on at Crooks Christmas. It is truly amazing.




Last year, Crooks Christmas raised over $31,000.00 for Make-a-Wish. So if you are in the area go check it out!! I know we are hoping to check it out. I've heard that the neighbors next door have gotten into it so there are two houses doing it together. It should be a good show!

Stressful Times

I love Christmas time. It's one of my most favorite times of year but along with it comes the stress. It seems this year I have more than ever. Money is tight this year but I still want to be able to give gifts to our families for christmas. I've come up with some ideas for some great homemade gifts ( will share pictures later) but I still feel guilty for not being able to actually buy them something nice. Besides the gift issue, Matt is being "layed off" for two weeks over christmas and new years. The company he works for that makes grain trailers is ahead in their productions and is everyone off for two weeks to try to slow production down if that makes sense. It sucks because Matt will not have been there 90 days yet and his vacation days won't be effective yet so he is only getting paid for 1 day during those 2 weeks. Not good for us. Needless to say I'm extremely worried about how we are going to pay for everything this month. Sorry for my ranting...I needed to get that off my chest.

My Little Punk Rocker

I found this sweatshirt at H&M while I was in the cities a few weekends ago. He looks so adorable in it I just had to take a picture of him. His onesie underneath says Future Rocket Scientist on it.
I wanted a plain black onesie to put underneath but can't find any. Does anyone know where to get plain colored onesies?

Raffle-giveaway

Over at http://mycharmingkids.net, MckMama is giving away Canon camera along with some other great prizes. She is taking donations for some great causes that include www.stringofpearlsonline.com among others. Go check out her site. Her family is adorable and helpt out a great cause.

All Because I Wanted A Picture...

Earlier today, I was playing around with my camera taking pictures of Layne playing on the floor. Matt was in the recliner watching tv while I was doing this. I thought I would take a picture of Matt as well since I had the camera out. Matt thought otherwise about this idea. He fought me while I was trying to get his picture and I ended up with this:

Not the best picture but what the end result after the above picture was taken is priceless.

It would of been a lot less hassle if he would of just let me take his picture nicely in the first place. But then I wouldn't have this picture to show for it. lol