Hardest Goodbye Yet.

Tonight my dad came over to play with the kids and spend a little bit of time with them before he gets on an airplane and heads back to Nebraska; back home, back to the real world, back to reality.
We have been fortunate enough to have him here for just over a month and the kiddos were getting quite used to seeing/having him around, so saying goodbye tonight after playing and ice cream was a bit confusing. Lola was trying to convince him that he needed to come back and play again tomorrow and didn't really like that he had to go back to 'Braska without her. Kyan on the other hand got giant crocodile tears in his eyes when grandpa was saying goodbye. I think it caught everyone off guard and seeing him like that made saying goodbye ten times harder. Then, when grandpa was saying goodbye to Lola, Kyan looked at me with those big blue, crocodile teared up eyes, and asked, "Mommy, is he ever gonna come back?" Wowzers, punch me in the gut, kick me when I am down (and trying to hold back the tears). Sweetest words I heard him say and I felt so sad that he was having such a hard time saying goodbye this time.

My kids are very close to Grandpa and Grandma Nebraska and already miss grandma very much (she had to leave earlier than my dad) and I am sure they will feel like a part of them is missing tomorrow when grandpa leaves. How we wish and wish and wish that they lived here all the time, but we are lucky they are here as often as they are and that we get to go to see them in May!

We really BIG love you both!

Thank you for an amazing month!
Miss you already.

Brings back memories.

Last night, in preparation for Kyan's "golf buddies" coming over for dinner (tonight), we made dessert!

The entire time we were baking, I flashed back to being a little kid and sitting on the counter top helping my Aunt Heidi measure out the ingredients to the best cookies known to mankind, it was one of my favorite things to do with her ever!!!
I make these cookies all of the time, so why did it hit me like a ton of bricks last night? Well, the kids were the happiest I have seen them in a long time; pouring and mixing up everything to make those cookies just right! They did it all and were so proud, I was pretty much just there for crowd control!
I know I have shared this recipe before (in an effort to have it written down in a safe place, the current one is kept on a yellow piece of legal paper and is quickly fading over time), but this one comes with pictures and it explained a little bit more step by step! Enjoy...

Auntie Heidi's Homemade Chocolate Chip Cookies
What you will need:
1 Cup Crisco (we use Crisco sticks = less mess!)
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp Double Strength Vanilla
1/2 tsp hot water
2 Eggs
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips

Now that you have everything you need, let's get started! But first, you are going to need to preheat the over to 350 degrees.
We tripled the recipe (so we could have extra cookeis, so if you our bowl looks fuller than yours does, don't worry, it should be)!
1 Crisco Stick
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar (make sure it is packed)
1 tsp double strength vanilla
1/2 tsp hot water
Mix above ingredients until it is creamy like a smoothie (I added a picture to show you what a smoothie cookie might look like! When I attempted this on my own, prior to watching Auntie Heidi as an adult, that story is for a different day, I had no clue! Hopefully it is helpful)!

Add 2 Large Eggs
Mix again. It will look pretty gross and doesn't need to be mixed very well, just make sure they get swirled around in there!

Add 1 cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
Mix

Add 1 more cup of flour
Mix

Finally, add in the Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips
Mix

I use a spoon and roll into small balls, 12 to a cookie sheet!

Cook for 10 minutes in 350 degree oven. When the timer goes off and you open the oven, the cookies will NOT look done, I promise they are and I think that this is where some of the magic in the recipe comes in (that and the crisco sticks instead of butter and the double strength vanilla)! Take them out and load your next dozen in!

Enjoy!
Don't forget to eat a little bit of the batter before popping the cookies in the oven!

I wonder if I had the look on my face that they did last night when I baked with Heidi?
I wonder if they will remember making cookies with me someday?

Mama in the Shot

I could not, for the life of me, get my kids to keep their eyes open this morning! HA! They kept telling me that they light was too bright (from my flash)! Thought this one was too silly and it makes me smile every time I look at it! I love them!

I haven't embraced the camera with my kiddos in awhile, excited to be hanging over at The Anderson Crew today!!!! Grab your cameras and embrace the day with the kiddos too!

At the end of the day...

I read this quote on Shey B.'s blog and it stopped me in my tracks. Those are words that I want to live by.

When a quote stops me in my tracks like that, I write it down in my little book of index cards (that I can't seem to find right now...story of my life it seems, I am always finding new "places" for things and I am sure it is just in one of those places right now, annoys the hubs).

I plan on sharing more of those quotes with you from my book (when I find it) that at one point or another in my life, have made me feel. If you have a favorite quote would you mind sharing it?

Makeover

Like the new look?

I LOVE IT!!!!

I switch stuff up around these parts a lot, but wanted to go with something a little more permanent. Plus, I switched to a new template and felt like it was looking a little funky, so I turned to none other than Becky of Adopt Africa Designs!




She helped me with my Rosie J. Photography header/blog button back in August. My friend Michael, creator of Pink Mouse (if you haven't checked him out, go...he is going to start taking pre-orders soon), designed the logo for Rosie J. way back when, Becky just made it pop for the blog!


I loved her work back in August and I was hoping that she would be up for the challenge with my family blog, as I had NO idea what I wanted! Fifty seven emails between the two of us (yep, you read right, 57...I went and counted them all) and she made magic happen! At one point, her PC was seeing a very different picture than my MAC and screen shots got sent back and forth. I learned that I am a little, errrr...ok, a lot OCD with the look of my blog! I can't help it, this is my scrapbook for our family, our place that holds all of our memories since we have become a family of four, it has to look just right! I can honestly say that I am now in love with the entire thing! From the cheetah print (did you know that my room used to be decorated in denim and cheetah stuff?!) to the birds to the vintage frames!

I LOVE IT!
I know, I already said it...but I really do!

Becky is amazing to work with and appears to have the patience of a saint! She is super creative and has a incredible story to go with her design name! If you are contemplating changing the look on your blog, check her out! She can give it the full, head to toe makeover or spruce it up with a new header or blog button or page divider!

Guess what? She is having a giveaway! Head over and enter to win your own blog makeover!!!!


Thank you Becky and Adopt Africa Designs!

Lunch at Chuckie Cheese!

In Kyan's classroom, there is a backpack that rotates around the room between the kids with a Skippyjon Jones book, doll, and journal. When it is the students turn to bring Skippy home, they get to keep him for the night and go on an adventure with him, draw a picture, and write about it in the journal to share with the class the next day. It is fun to read through the stories of other students in his class and what their families do each night - some are as simple as a special family meal together to extra over the top, like riding on an airplane (obviously that kiddo got to keep Skippy on break or a long weekend)! His teacher even took Skippy back to her hometown in Ohio and wrote in the journal too for the kids! The last time we had Skippy, he helped to wiggle Kyan's tooth and wouldn't you know, the next day, it fell out at school (with the help of Mrs. Jones of course)!
I realized Skippy was in Kyan's backpack on Thursday night, when Kyan was already in bed...oops! He did not feel well that day (I sent him to school and I probably shouldn't have) and didn't say a word when he got home from school, I have had an incredibly stressful week at school, and we just had Clifford (same concept as Skippy, but obviously with Clifford the BIG Red Dog) the night before, who went to family night at McDonald's with grandpa and grandma, so it didn't dawn on me that we would have Skippy again so soon!
I talked with Kyan when he woke up on Friday morning about what we should do. He said that we could write about watching Amazing Race as a family, but Skippy didn't really do that with us, so maybe we could ask his teacher to let him keep Skippy just one more day. Great idea! That would give us the weekend to do something special. Turns out Kyan was running another fever and didn't make it to school yesterday as it was, so we worried for a red hot second for nothing! Thank goodness grandparents Nebraska are still in town and didn't have set plans yesterday and they willingly took Kyan to lay around on the couch to snuggle bear and blanket all day! Just what a grandson needs I think!

So today, now that everyone seemed to be doing okay, we headed to Chuckie Cheese, per Kyan's request on Friday. He thought that it would be a good idea to take Skippy there to have a good time (yes, I am sure he really wanted to be the one to go there for the good time, Skippy was just a nice excuse)! Now, I was a little worried about going to Chuckie Cheese on a Saturday, as that is like there busiest day of the week, but it wasn't too bad. We got there before the rush hit, so when it was time to leave, it was super busy, but the kids went through their 50 tokens (really cool, EVERY game/ride was only one token!!!) and they were still smiling! We didn't have to drag them outta there kicking and screaming (think this was a first, it is usually one or the other that is upset), they were so happy! That is a very successful adventure if you ask me!

Lola was obsessed with talking on this phone game to Chuckie! She spent the first 30 minutes glued to it before she ventured out to do anything different! She was even brave enough to pose for a picture with Chuckie when he came around, and that was after the high five and hug (I couldn't get Kyan to go near him, think he was in the gamer zone)!

See his faces? So determined when he is playing games, just like daddy!

Chuckie Cheese = kiddie Vegas!
Today, mine hit the JACKPOT! We had so much fun!

Time w/ My Mama

Today was perfect.
Mama came over around 8:30 this morning and started cracking her whip, but man, can she wreck shop and get closets organized! We cleaned out both kids closets-5 bags of clothes (ok, 4...one was pottery barn bedding)! It is hard for me to let go of my kids clothes, I love all of Kyan's t-shirts and I saved so many clothes from last summer for Lola, in hopes that they would fit, but NO DICE! Into the bags they went. We headed to Once Upon A Time to see if they would buy any of it from me. Usually I have no luck there, but today, after going through my bags for two hours (not kidding, we ate lunch at Chipotle and went to Target in between) they bought $111 worth of clothes. Holla! I turned around and spent it right on the kiddos, they needed clothes to replace the ones that they outgrew!
We made a stop at Old Navy before we came home (to do more cleaning of course)! My mom tried leaving (not too hard though) and I begged her to say. I used the guilt trip tactic and it worked like a charm. This WAS going to be the only day on her entire trip that we could be together, just us. The rest will be spent with me at work, so she stayed!!!
Lola napped, Kyan played, grandma did load after load of laundry, and I cooked a scrumptious dinner for the family after my dad finished golfing this afternoon/early evening. Brownies for dessert!
Bachelor and 90210 on the TV.
Monday's aren't so bad, especially when you have the day off of work. Thank you Mr. President.
Perfect. Wish every day could be like today.