Our weekend

Our weekend was low key.  Don't you just love weekend like that?

Layla went to a friends house for a play date turned sleepover.  She was one happy little girl!

Friday evening I had fun taking pictures in the setting sun.

On Saturday I attended the Thirty-One Spring Premiere.  

I am so excited about all the new spring prints and patterns!

I also enjoyed having girl time.

Since we got rid of Bogey, {i haven't posted about that, sorry} Harley is like a new dog.  She has been super social and even hangs out with Daisy now.  Clearly, Harley needs a new collar.   She has been super peppy and appears to be much happier.  I am thankful for our 12 year old pup!

I spent today chopping veggies and getting ready for our week.

We cleaned house...dusted vacuumed cleaned bathrooms and did tons of laundry.

The kids cleaned every door  knob in our house.  It's their new favorite chore!

  We were hoping to spend more time playing outside, but it was dreary.  

We are making salmon and new potatoes for dinner and I am hoping to watch Desperate Housewives.  I think it is new tonight.  I miss Brothers and Sisters.  Anyone miss it??

Have a great evening!

Thursday afternoon randoms

I wish I could explain just how giddy I am about the new episodes of Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice airing tonight.  I need some good TV in my life!

My heart is so heavy today.  I had weird dreams last night and they are weighing on me today.  The dreams are stemmed from real life issues people around me are having.  Sometimes I take on worry for other people.   Sometimes they may be people I don't even know very well.  I know this is random.  I just need to put it out there to remind us all to live life to the fullest every single day.  You never know what tomorrow will bring.

I have been in the kitchen all day long cooking and cleaning.  I washed and cut our romaine lettuce for the week.  I baked a failed loaf of bread.  

I made rice crispy treats for the kids.  I accidentally used an entire stick of butter when I melted the marshmallows so I ended up having to double the recipe.  I didn't have enough rice crispy cereal so I put Trix in the food processor to make more cereal.  Did I lose you?  Anyway, the treats turned out good and they taste fruity.  I don't like them, but the kids do.  It actually all worked out great!  I don't need to eat the darn things anyway.  I have extras so y'all come on over and grab some if you want.

I am enjoying using the my fitness pal app on my iPhone.  If you don't already know about it, it is a calorie counting app.  You can also keep track of your water intake and exercises.  It sure is cool.  Also you can have friends.  Having friends makes me stay on track.  You know?

I love iCloud.  All the pictures I take on my phone are automatically streamed onto my computer. Any pictures Gary takes stream to our computer and my phone.  How stinkin' cool is that?  AND any apps I purchase are shared between Gary and I.  It is so fun and easy and I wish I started using it months ago.  Oh how I love modern technology!

This little sleepy faced dude worked out in his pj's this morning. haha!  He makes me laugh.

All I can say is...at least someone is using that thing! ;)

I had to take a picture of Layla before she left for school yesterday.  She wore jeans.  

This is huge y'all.  She is not a fan of jeans, so when she picked them out on Sunday {we pick her clothes out for the week on Sunday afternoon} I just knew we'd have issues come Wednesday morning.  We didn't!  Yay. 

I am heading outside with the rest of my family.  They are all outside laughing and playing in the 66 degree temperatures!   It is so nice to have some warmer days thrown in with the cold days.  We love it!

Have a great evening!

my little baker boy

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip & Walnut Cookies

1 1/2 cups brown sugar

2 sticks of butter

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 egg

2 cups oatmeal

1 1/2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup of chocolate chips

1 1/2 cups walnuts crushed

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a bowl stir brown sugar and butter.  Add in vanilla and egg until light and fluffy. Stir on oatmeal, flour, baking soda and salt.  Add in chocolate chips and walnuts.

Lightly spray cookie sheet with cooking spray.  Drop dough by rounded spoonful onto the cookie sheet.

Bake for 12 minutes or until golden brown.  Cool and move to a wire rack.

Each cookie is 120 calories, makes approximately 3 1/2 dozen cookies depending on size.

Mmmm...delicious! 

New Years Eve & weekend recap

I'm doing our weekend update tonight simply because today seemed like it was still the weekend. 

 Today was our catch up day.  We cleaned the house and did laundry and basically got ready for Gary to go back to work.  He has been off for two weeks and it has been so nice!  Layla will be heading back to school in the morning.  We have had a fun break, but I think we are all ready to be back into our normal routine!

So, back to our weekend.  

We had a fun time celebrating New Years Eve in Waco.  Saturday morning we loaded up the Jeep and drove down to Waco to visit friends for the night.  Each trip we take gets easier and easier.  Since both kids are potty trained we can just pack a few things and head out.  We packed light and it was nice to not have to pack our whole house for a weekend trip.

We got to Waco in the early afternoon and the weather was amazing.  It was about 70 degrees and so we all headed outside to play.  Shelby and I had a fun time sitting on the patio watching our husbands and kids play on the golf course.  Jarred and Shelby live on the 4th tee box on a golf course in Waco.  

The kids had a fun time running and playing together.  We were very blessed with great weather and running and playing wore the kids out!  Macy was the baby sitter when us adults went to dinner, so I was happy Hayden was exhausted and went right to sleep when she asked him to!

So ... with the kids safe at home us 4 adults headed out to eat at a fun restaurant called 1424 Bistro.  We met up with 3 other couples.  I was so excited to see some friends I hadn't seen in a few months!

I had the best Seafood Picatta, but my dessert was the best I had ever had.  I hate to say I don't remember the name of it.  All I know is it was a moist white chocolate cake-ish dessert and I can't wait to go back so I can order it again.  Anything with white chocolate is my favorite!! 

Shelby and Jarred at dinner.

Gary and I at our New Years Eve dinner.

After dinner we headed back to Jarred and Shelby's house.  We all rang in the new year playing games, laughing and acting silly. It was nice to be safe at their house with our munchkins all tucked into bed.  Us adults all stayed up entirely too late.  I always think I will be fine the next day, but sleep is my friend.   I was a mess on Sunday due to lack of sleep!

Sunday we let the kids play and then headed home Sunday afternoon.  Gary and I had our first ever 5 Guys Burger and their amazing fries.  The french fries were my favorite part.  They were so good!  We planned to have black eyed beans, cabbage, ham and cornbread, but we were so full from the burgers, we ended up having cereal for dinner.

As I mentioned earlier, today was a day of rest and catch-up.  It was nice to stay in our pj's all day long.  I got totally caught up on laundry.  Tonight we cooked our ham, black eyed peas and cabbage.  I made mini cornbread muffins and we ate our New Years Day meal a day late.  We put the kids to bed super early tonight because they too were tired from our Waco trip.  Hopefully we will all be well rested and ready for a fun week!

Happy New Year...have a great week!

My thoughts on 2012

Every year is a great year if you make it great. 

Every month is a great month if you choose to make it great.  

Every day is a great day with the right attitude. 

Weather is a great metaphor for life...sometimes it's good, sometimes it's bad, and there's nothing much you can do about it but carry an umbrella!  -Terri Guillemets.

I choose to have a positive outlook no matter what life throws at me.  I have been through some pretty stinky stuff in life, but I have learned from every single thing that has happened to me.  I may not post all the bad things that happen to our little family on this here blog.  I want to keep it positive around here.    Sometime life gets us down, but we need to snap back to reality and realize life is what we ourselves choose to make of it.

When you change your habitual thoughts, it is like changing the direction of a train.

Speaking of trains.  The area we live in is basically surrounded by train tracks.  They are everywhere around our house.  When I get stopped as a train passes it is a reminder to me that I needed to stop and wait.  As frustrating as that train is I wait and remember, maybe I needed to slow down.   

Does that make sense?

This year I hope to keep on keeping on living the life we have. I'm not planning to change a thing.  I want to try to stay positive when times are tough.  I want to teach my kids to communicate openly with Gary and I about anything they encounter.

Layla and Hayden are more fun every day.  They get smarter and more independent every single day. As you all know kids don't always do what you say, they do as you do. I strive to be a good role model for them, and so does Gary.  My favorite parenting quote: 

There are two lasting bequests we can leave our children, one is roots and the other is wings.

Roots and wings baby!  I remember this when I start to get sentimental about the kiddos growing up.  They are supposed to grow up.  It is mine and Gary's job to grow them as best we can so that when we set them free they can fly and know right from wrong!

I hope you all have a wonderful 2012!  I am excited to see what is in store for our family this year.  I look forward to 2012 with much excitement and I hope to make it a super fun year!

When you have control over your thoughts, you have control over your life.