Alabama house

How CUTE is this house?

Proud owners!

Yes he is always a helper!

I cannot tell you how HAPPY Brad, Graham and I are that Jerri and Jim now live only 1 SHORT hour from our house! 

Its is so fun to live this close to family!

Graham's penguin

Graham found this ball outside

(I am pretty sure it belongs to our neighbor)

However, he loves it so much he said, "Mama take my picture with penguin!"

Inside Fun

Include lots of painting. Graham really enjoys pouring out the paint!

Homemade purple koolaid play dough.

Very Easy! just google it

Then Graham decided he wanted to line up all of the oranges and apples and count them.

FUN TIMES INSIDE!

The Invisible Mom

A dear friend of mine emailed this story to me...

The Invisible Mom

It all began to make sense, the blank stares, the lack of response, the way
one of the kids will walk into the room while I'm on the phone and ask to be
taken to the store. Inside I'm thinking, 'Can't you see I'm on the phone?'

Obviously not; no one can see if I'm on the phone, or cooking, or sweeping
the floor, or even standing on my head in the corner, because no one can see
me at all. I'm invisible.. The invisible Mom. Some days I am only a pair of
hands, nothing more! Can you fix this? Can you tie this? Can you open this??

Some days I'm not a pair of hands; I'm not even a human being. I'm a clock
to ask, 'What time is it?' I'm a satellite guide to answer, 'What number is
the Disney Channel ?' I'm a car to order, 'Right around 5:30, please.'

Some days I'm a crystal ball; 'Where's my other sock?, Where's my phone?,
What's for dinner?'

I was certain that these were the hands that once held books and the eyes
that studied history, music and literature -but now, they had disappeared
into the peanut butter, never to be seen again. She's going, she's going,
she's gone!?

One night, a group of us were having dinner, celebrating the return of a
friend from England . She had just gotten back from a fabulous trip, and she
was going on and on about the hotel she stayed in. I was sitting there,
looking around at the others all put together so well. It was hard not to
compare and feel sorry for myself. I was feeling pretty pathetic, when she
turned to me with a beautifully wrapped package, and said, 'I brought you
this.' It was a book on the great cathedrals of Europe . I wasn't exactly
sure why she'd given it to me until I read her inscription: 'With admiration
for the greatness of what you are building when no one sees.'

In the days ahead I would read - no, devoured - the book. And I would
discover what would become for me, four life-changing truths, after which I
could pattern my work: 1) No one can say who built the great cathedrals - we
have no record of their names. 2) These builders gave their whole lives for
a work they would never see finished. 3) They made great sacrifices and
expected no credit. 4) The passion of their building was fueled by their
faith that the eyes of God saw everything.

A story of legend in the book told of a rich man who came to visit the
cathedral while it was being built, and he saw a workman carving a tiny bird
on the inside of a beam. He was puzzled and asked the man, 'Why are you
spending so much time carving that bird into a beam that will be covered by
the roof, No one will ever see it And the workman replied, 'Because God
sees.'

I closed the book, feeling the missing piece fall into place. It was almost
as if I heard God whispering to me, 'I see you. I see the sacrifices you
make every day, even when no one around you does.

No act of kindness you've done, no sequin you've sewn on, no cupcake you've
baked, no Cub Scout meeting, no last minute errand is too small for me to
notice and smile over. You are building a great cathedral, but you can't see
right now what it will become.

I keep the right perspective when I see myself as a great builder. As one of
the people who show up at a job that they will never see finished, to work
on something that their name will never be on. The writer of the book went
so far as to say that no cathedrals could ever be built in our lifetime
because there are so few people willing to sacrifice to that degree.

When I really think about it, I don't want my son to tell the friend he's
bringing home from college for Thanksgiving , 'My Mom gets up at 4 in the
morning and bakes homemade pies, and then she hand bastes a turkey for 3
hours and presses all the linens for the table.' That would mean I'd built a
monument to myself. I just want him to want to come home. And then, if there
is anything more to say to his friend, he'd say, 'You're gonna love it
there...'

As mothers, we are building great cathedrals. We cannot be seen if we're
doing it right. And one day, it is very possible that the world will marvel,
not only at what we have built, but at the beauty that has been added to the
world by the sacrifices of invisible mothers.

Share this with all the Invisible Moms you know... I just did.

chick fil a

The kid loves Chick fil a, and so does his Mommy!

homemade chicken soup

I LOVE to cook a whole chicken in the crock pot. 

First of all, it is the easiest way for me to cook chicken.

Secondly, its very tasty

Thirdly, its very affordable!

About $5.00 for a whole chicken, and I can make anywhere from 4 to 8 meals from 1 chicken.

My mom taught me how to cook a chicken in the crock pot, just rinse with water, remove whatever parts that are in the cavity and place in crock pot. Next add salt, pepper, and garlic powder, no liquid needed and set the crock pot on high for 4 hours or low for 8 hours. 

Very tender and juicy.

I usually make rice and vegetables to go with it. 

This time I sauteed celery, carrots, and onion together and added the stock that the chicken makes in the crock pot and some homemade stock.

YUMO!

You can see I also cooked a pot of sushi rice and added it to my soup.

It tastes homemade and very satisfying, without the can of preservatives from Campbells. 

*You can make make homemade chicken stock by deboning all of the crock pot cooked chicken then putting all of the bones back into the crock pot and 6-8 cups of water and turn the crock pot back on low for 8 hours. Strain the stock into a container.

Very easy, very quick and its free chicken stock, just freeze!

Exactly

one month until MY baby turns 3!

sniff, tear

purge. clean. organize. 2011

before

 tupperware pantry

AFTER

no top? gotta go!

Ok to kick off the new year, I'm finally getting this house completely organized. Well, I hope to have everything purged, cleaned and organized that we have not used or seen since we moved here by 2012! (insert BIG smile from me) 

I am usually a saver (like my mom), much different from my sisters, (they love to purge) but this year I am turning over a new leaf. If we don't need it or I haven't seen it in a year, get rid of it! We have limited storage in our house, ie no garage or basement or attic. So to quote Stephanie, "You don't have room for this, so get rid of it." In order for me too feel better about getting rid of my "extra stuff" I donate most of it to Goodwill. I know just because I'm not using it right now, doesn't necessarily mean somebody else couldn't use it. 

Right?

My sister Stephanie and I purged cleaned and reorganized Graham's closet right after Christmas. So I actually started the new year off before it was the new year.   

before

the stuff we pulled out of the closet

more stuff

trash

donate

after

*notice Brad hung a second shelf

and new hooks on the door

we also hung a low hook on the door so

 Graham can go hang up his coats and jackets by himself

 he can also go and get them all by himself

(very helpful)

I got this bookshelf from a dear friend for free!

It has really worked out well in Graham's room. 

As you can see we are overflowing with books!

Stay tuned for more purging, cleaning and organizing 2011!

It's going to be a great year!

My 2 loves

playground at Fair Meadow Farm

Nana and Papa live next to a Elementary school and we take full advantage of the playground. Graham loves to ride the golf cart over and play on the big playground.

ICEE

Graham had his first ICEE the last week and it was Cherry flavor. Graham said it tasted like snow. I was glad they had white cherry ICEEs, because I hate the red die in regular Cherry ICCEs.

Best Buddies!!

pajamas