Decisions Decisions- I Decided On.......

* Thank you to everyone who weighed in and helped me to make up my mind. After I finished my original post yesterday I went back downstairs and relayed all the samples out on my dining room table. After looking at them for a 4th and 5th time I decided on one that I hadn't even metioned in my earlier post. Here it is, I went back last night and bought it because my mom told me that some of the fabrics were still marked down from the sale over the weekend. Sure enough the one I wanted was Waverly and still on sale so I was able to beat the mad rush of everyone today and get it last night at 50% off!


I have been wanting to recover my dining room chairs for awhile now so I went to JoAnn Fabric today to take a look and see what I can find. The best part is that they are having a Grand Opening Sale starting tomorrow and running through the weekend so I can get 50% off whatever fabric I decide on. I came home with probably 8-10 different swatches and have narrowed it down to 4. I do not have any control over the remodel of the girls bathroom (which is coming along, Cory got a lot done over the weekend, wahoo) but I can have control over the dining room chairs and their completion. Take a look at my swatches and let me know which you think would look the best. It is so hard to tell from just a little swatch luckily I saw the full design in the store. I went there thinking I wanted a stripe but I did find one that is more flower like, I just hope I decide on the right one.

Here is a picture of my dining room so you can get an idea of what my colors and taste are:



Here are the 4 swatches that I have narrowed it down to:

That is green on the far left side of this design, it didn't photograph all that well.

Leaning towards either the first one or this one.

Not too sure about this one due to the green and gold and we don't have green or gold in this room.

My non-stripe find

Trying Something New

Quite a few of my friends have been asking me to share some of my recipes with them lately so I have decided to start something on my blog called "Recipe Tuesday". Every Tuesday I will share one of my favorite recipes with you so if you are looking for something new, easy and quick to have for dinner or maybe a new appetizer or dessert check out my blog on Tuesdays. I will do this as long as I can keep thinking of good recipes to share. Enjoy!

Easy Mexican Casserole

* 3-4 grilled chicken breasts, cut in to little bite sized pieces
* 1 jar of your favorite salsa
* 2 cups of cooked noodles (Choose your favorite shape)
* 1/2 cup of sour cream
* 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

Grease a "9 X 13" dish. Heat oven to 400 degrees

1. Mix chicken, salsa, noodles, sour cream and 1/2 of the cheese together.
Pour into prepared pan. Cover with foil and cook for 30 minutes.

2. Remove foil, top with remaining cheese and bake for additional 15-20 minutes or until cheese is melted and it's bubbly in the middle.

You can also add a can of corn or black olives to your taste. Or top with crushed tortilla chips. If you don't want to use grilled chicken breast I am sure you could substitute regular chicken that has been cooked or boiled. I just plan ahead and cook some extra chicken on the grill and cut it up and freeze it so we already have some on hand if I know that I will be making it within the next week or two. I like the taste of all the garlic that is added to the grilled chicken.
If you make it please come back and leave a comment letting me know what you thought. See you back here next Tuesday for another new recipe, hopefully you will check back in with us before then too!

Eating my words!

For those readers out there that don't know Cory LOVES Jeep's and has always had one for as long as I have known him. Well he had one up until we had Claire and then I made him get rid of it because there was NO WAY that my baby was going to ride in that unsafe contraption that people call a car. Being the wonderful husband and father that he is he agreed to get rid of his Jeep Wrangler but wanted to stay in with the Jeep family and got a Jeep Cherokee instead which I was fine with. Well Cory keep his Cherokee up until we had Paige and once I became a stay at home mom and got my mini van. We both agreed that he would no longer need to take the girls anywhere in his car since I would be home full time and taking them where ever we needed to go in my van. So he sold the Cherokee and immediately went back out and found himself a black Jeep Wrangler. I was still never going to allow my girls to ride in the jeep because I still do not think they are very safe and the idea of letting them ride in it scared me to death, that was until this past weekend. I don't know what came over me, was it the fact that Claire is in a booster seat now and it is easy to move her car seat back and forth between the two cars and the only one that would really be a little bit of a pain would be Paige's, or was it the fact that the weather was absolutely beautiful here and I wanted to enjoy a ride in the jeep WITH THE TOP OFF (ahhhh) with my whole family? Regardless I ate my words and on Friday night we all went out and drove around town and ran some errands and enjoyed the beautiful evening. You all should have seen the look on Cory's face when I said let's take your car to run the errands tonight? I am sure he thought that someone had come and abducted his wife and replaced her with a new and less paranoid one. We had a GREAT time and the girls LOVE, LOVE, LOVED it!! Now we did NOT go on the highway and that will NEVER happen, I truly think that is why I was so calm about the whole situation. Here are a few pictures of the girls all ready to go!

Things I would NEVER do

There is a blog that I enjoy reading and she did this idea a few days ago and I thought it sounded fun so I thought I would give it a whirl. I hope you don't mind that I am trying out your idea Cassie.

* I would never be so annoyed with someone driving under the speed limit that I would ride up even closer behind them, honk my horn and motion them to drive faster by waving my hand at them to move on because that may be seen as road rage and I am a very good driver.

* I would never eat a cookie while I am shopping at Schnucks and pretend it is one of the girls when someone looks as though they are questioning why I am holding a cookie. I would never do this because I know that only children under the age of 10 are allowed one complimentary cookie and this would be kind of like taking advantage of Schnucks very nice perk of keeping the kids quite while moms shop.

* I would never tell the checker at Schnucks that I have 4 doughnuts in the bag when I know good and well there are 5 in there.

* I would never be too lazy to walk outside and find where/what my husband is doing and just scream out the back door at the top of my lungs for him. Therefore leading any of my neighbors that don't know me very well to think that I am some kind of crazy women.

* I would never purposely embarrass my husband when we are driving in the car together by waiting until we come to a red light with cars on the side of us and then start dancing and singing like a wild women.

* I would never almost pull my daughters arm out of the socket because I see another register about to open at Target and I want to be the first one in line because this may been seen as child abuse or rude to the elderly.

* And last but not least I would never get so tired of getting shocked every time I try to get something off the shelf at the grocery store or when I grab the handle of the door to open the freezer or refrigerated section that I make my daughter open the door for me and touch her before I grab the food because I would rather get a minor shock by touching her then to a dozy of one from touching the metal. Yes, I would never do this because not only am I getting shocked but my daughter is too.

It was a hit

The girls had a total blast in the blow up pool yesterday and like I said if I had any cute pics I would post them. I was not surprised at all with Claire's reaction as she has always loved the water ever since her little toes first hit it. Paige on the other hand I didn't really know what to expect, last summer was her first pool experience and she did good, but was only 1 and that is too early to really tell what they truly think of it all. Well she had a ball in the pool yesterday, more so than Claire, I could hardly get her out of it. She immediately starting putting her face in trying to copy her big sister and blow bubbles and then before she got out she had mastered how to turn herself over onto her back and float, she LOVED it.

Paige checking it all out before she gets in...


Claire still dry but not for long.


I am so glad neither one of the girls is afraid to get their heads wet.





Paige trying to blow bubbles


Claire practicing on holding her breath


Claire trying to entice Killian to join them in the pool, ah I don't think so!





Paige floating


Yes, she is alive even though it doesn't really look like it

Let Summer Begin

Today has been the first day that I have noticed that while I am outside I have started to sweat. The girls and I are so excited that this time of year has rolled back around again. The pools will be opening this weekend and the weather will be nice enough that we can spend our days outside. It is warm enough here today that I got our blow up pool out and filled with water so when Paige gets up from her nap the girls will get on their suits and we will head out to swim. I will take some pictures and post them later this week if they turn out cute. Hope everyone has time to get outside and enjoy this beautiful weather.

Our Little Princess

I can not believe that it has already been 4 years since you entered this world. I had heard that you can tell how your babies personality and misdemeanor will be based on how your pregnancy went. I always thought that the people that said that were crazy but now that you are 4 and turning into a little person with a definite personality and misdemeanor of your own I can see why people say that. You are a TOTAL mommy's girl and want to be with me all the time. You don't like to be by yourself unless it is on your own terms and you want some alone time which comes very few and far between. If I look back on my pregnancy a big clue that you would be a mommy's girl is that fact that you were 10 days late and in NO hurry to enter this world. You were very comfortable staying right where you were, right with me at all times. Once you did decide to enter this world and meet everyone who loves you dearly you were all smiles and such a happy baby. I know they say that babies don't truly smile until they are around 8 weeks, but you definitely proved this theory wrong I have pictures of you smiling at 4 weeks old, you were ALWAYS smiling.

You have always been such a curious one and so observant, I think you get the curiosity from me but definitely get the observant trait from your daddy. From the moment you opened your eyes and could some what see you were studying everyone and everything around you. Just look at how you are checking out your dad in this picture and you are not even 2 days old yet.

I remember bringing you home like it happened yesterday, walking into the house with you and your dad thinking this is just the beginning of our lives together, the start of our family.

I also had heard that the love that a mother feels for her child is undescribable and like nothing else you will feel in this world. About a week after we were home and getting settled into our routine I remember holding you and looking out our dining room window when I was overcome with this feeling of love that I had never experienced before. It was SO strong and that is when it hit me, this is the love that everyone has been talking about the love that only a mother can have for her child. It was in that single moment that I understood what everyone had been trying to describe and tell me about. One day you will have a child of your own and get to experience that feeling that is so strong and overpowering and one of the best feelings in the world.


Your first birthday was great we had the entire family including my cousins and their kids over for it. You could not walk independently yet but were crusing and able to get around to check out all the presents. You were happy throughout the entire party and went and saw everyone with a smile.


2 Years Old

We all went to the zoo as a family to celebrate your big day


Your first day of preschool you were so fearless. You always have been very sure of yourself and your surrondings. You walked right into the classroom gave me a big kiss and hug and were off checking out your new classroom.

3 Years Old- Off to the zoo again, but this year Grandma went with us!


4 Years Old


We didn't go to the zoo this year because you had your the rehersal for your dance recital. So you got to get all dressed up from head to toe and look even older than 4.

When your dad and I think about you here are some of the words that come to mind:
Caring- you are always aware of other peoples thougths and feelings and are such a WONDERFUL big sister, Paige looks up to you and loves you more and more everyday.
Curly- even though it took you almost two years to get hair, you now have a full head of beautiful curls, we can't go anywhere without someone commenting on them.
Loved- you are loved more than you could imagine.
Adventerous- you are always willing to try something new at least once. You get this from your daddy too, I may be be standing on the side lines scared to death, but you just go for it and then decide yourself if you want to do it again or not.
Intelligent- you are SO smart, your dad and I have known this from very early on and even your teachers have commentated that you are doing things that the other kids in your class that turned 4 back in September are doing with no problems at all.
Resilient- nothing keeps you down for long, you bounce right back stronger than ever.
Emotional- even though you act tough, you are a sensitive little girl on the inside.
These are just a few words to describe many of the things that your daddy and I love about you. We are so lucky to have you in our lives and can't imagine our world without you in it. Thank you for making me smile, laugh, and love more than I thought was ever possible. Happy Birthday our sweet Clairabell.

Gowns, Crowns and Jewels Too!

Today was Claire's 4th birthday party with all her girlfriends from school. We ended up having 8 four year old girls and let me tell you what that was definitely enough. Claire wanted to have a Sleeping Beauty theme party, so my hunt immediately began because as any mom out there that has a daughter that is or was at one time into princesses you know that you can't find just Sleeping Beauty by herself. I jumped onto EBay and found plates, cups, napkins and cupcake toppers which was wonderful. Claire also wanted to have the party at our house, so I had to think of things to do to keep 8 four year olds busy for 2 hours. So what did I do, I headed to Hobby Lobby to get ideas because I am not one of those creative/crafty moms. What we ended up doing was decorating flip flops, every girl had a different color and we decorated them with foam stickers. This was a HUGE hit all the girls LOVE flip flops and were SO excited to be able to decorate and then take them home. Next, I got some alphabet beads with letters on them so the girls could make a bracelet with their name on it and also had solid pink and purple beads to use as accents. Lastly, I got a bucket of all multi-colored beads and some necklaces so the girls were able to string their own necklace with as many or as few beads as they wanted. I also had lunch and did dessert which was cupcakes, all of this was just the right amount of things to keep the girls busy for 2 hours. Man, I don't know about all of them but I am TIRED!! I also want to say a VERY BIG THANK YOU to my friend/neighbor Carol, whew I wouldn't have been able to do it without your help!! Here are some pictures of the party enjoy!!

Sleeping Beauty waiting for her friends to arrive!

Claire with her Sleeping Beauty balloon which I also ordered on EBay.

How I envisioned the flip flops to turn out.

A few of the princesses working on their flip flops!

How the bracelets turned out, I made one as an example and they turned out much closer to mine than the flip flops did.

Everybody outside for a group shot, oops we are missing Paige!

Lunch time, here are some fruit kabobs.

Turkey and cheese sandwiches cut into heart shapes with the crust off for heir majesty

Working on their necklaces.

All ready to be sung to with her cupcakes close by.

Blowing out the candles, take a deep breath you have four this year.

After the party, Claire showing you her necklace.

Weekend Rundown!

First I would like to say a late Happy Mother's Day to all you mom's out there, I hope that you all had as great of a weekend as I did.
Saturday morning I did not get out of bed until 10am, yes you read correctly 10, Cory got up with the girls and let me sleep in. Once I got my lazy butt out of bed I headed downstairs to start some laundry and found everyone making me Mother's Day cards, very cute. We then headed outside and played for about an hour and then came in and had lunch. After lunch Paige went down for her nap while Cory and Claire got ready to make blueberry muffins for brunch on Sunday morning. While they were busy in the kitchen I hit the road to go shopping, ALL BY MYSELF, it was AWESOME. I went to 4 different stores and was gone for about 3 hours. When I got home a little after 4pm everyone got ready and we went out as a family to do a few more errands and then get dinner. It was such a pretty night here that after dinner we went outside and sat on the bench and watched the girls play and had some beers, ahh!

Cory let me sleep in again on Sunday til my alarm clock went off at 9am. I got up took a shower and got ready to head into Crestwood for brunch at my brother and sister in laws. We tried to get a few family pics in the front yard using the timer on our camera, but I don't think we got any good ones. Here are the only two that came out kind of okay.


While we were at Ryan and Lauren's we attempted to get another family pic hoping with the family there we would not only get the girls to look at the camera but smile too. Again not really any luck here are the only two that were decent.

Claire decided that she was DONE by this point but Paige was a trooper!


We got back home a little after 1:30pm and had BOTH the girls take naps. That was a nice surprise and gave me about an hour and a half to get the appetizer ready to take over to my mom and dads for dinner. We left for mom and dads a little before 4pm SO we could go meet the Newest Family Member..... Daisy! She is a miniture schnauzer and her coloring is what they call black and silver. OMG she is such a cute puppy, my sister and brother in law got her on Saturday and she is their families first dog! She gave me a kiss on my nose and I smelled her puppy breath, I love that smell!!






Paige, Adam (acting silly), Lauren and Claire with Daisy!


We then headed over to mom and dads for dinner and had a really nice time talking and laughing with each other. My mom and dad have been updating their house lately with new furniture for the family room and finishing the basement, so with all this ALOT of old family pictures have resurfaced. I don't know who had more fun Amy and I laughing at each others old pictures or our husbands looking at the old photos of us. I will have to figure out a way to get my hands on a scanner and I will scan some (of the good ones only of course)onto a post. My mom also had a nice surprise for the girls when we arrived.


We also had to make our way around back to see the horses and give them some alfalfa cubes. I will not be surprised if Paige is a veternarian when she grows up she LOVES all animals from small being cats to large being horses, she takes after her mom for sure on this one. Here is a picture of my horse Rex and his brother Dustin we have had them since they were 5 years old and they are now 22.


The pictures didn't turn out very good as I had to take them on a wierd angle through a fence and Rex would get spooked everytime the flash went off, some things never change even with age he has always looked for a reason to act crazy.

One last round on trying to get a good family picture. Me and Claire

Both the girls and I

Of course we finally get a good one and it is BLURRY!!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!