Recent picture of the Girls

Here is a recent picture of the girls. I thought I would add this since I haven't sent a picture out in a while. They are sitting on the steps that lead into the sunroom, Abbi eating a tomato out of our garden. Her and Emma both LOVED fresh tomato's and I sure loved watching them eat 'em. :)

 

Zoommm...

Wow - I can't believe it's been so long since I last sat down and wrote in my blog. I have entered the world of cold pressed soap making and herbs! All my research I have been doing has taken' up my free time. I have learned soo much - and it's been an exciting experience. I made my first batch of soap almost a week ago. It looks as though it turned out GREAT! - However - we have to wait 3 to 4 weeks for the soap to cure before we can try it out - and that will be the REAL test! I am now waiting for some essential oils to come in so I can make a fancy "food for your skin and hair" type bar. The first cp soap batch I made was just a basic soap. No scent. I didn't want to waste any extra ingredients until I know for sure what I am doing. Making cp soap isn't hard, you just have to pay special attention to detail. I have also made an all-natural whipped shea butter - which turned out great. It's made with organic, unrefined shea butter - which has many healing qualities. It leaves my skin so soft. I especially like it for my face.

I am looking forward to Spring. (so sad since Winter is not even here yet *sigh*) I have already decided I am going to do away with the flowers in my "flower garden" and turn it into a "herb garden". I will be starting my seeds indoors as I do every year, but this time it will be herbs instead of flowers. Well - I am sure I will plant SOME flowers. I can't let my front yard go to rubbish. hehe I usually plant orange marigolds, zinnia, coleus and impatience. I will probably do the same this year, but just drastically cut the amount.

Now I am just waiting to make it to the pharmacy so I can purchase some food grade glycerin to make an echinacea tincture for my girls.

Speaking of my girls - they are both doing GREAT and GROWING too fast. :( Emma still loves going to pre-shcool, and Abbi still misses her terribly while she is gone. Our coversations go something like this about every 5 minutes while Emma is gone:

Abbi: Mom! Where Meh-ma (Emma) at?

Mom: Emma is at school - I thought I already told you that ( she asks me the same thing as soon as we step foot out of Emm'a classroom, when we drop her off in the mornings AND in the van on the way home)

Abbi: Coolll?? (school)

Mom: Yes.. at school

Abbi: Ooohhhh.... Where Daddy at? Mow?

Mom: No - daddy isn't mowing right now - he is at work making glasses to help people see better

Abbi: wok??

Mom: Yes honey - daddy is at work and Emma is at school.

Abbi: Oohhhh....

5 Minutes later...

Abbi: Mom! Where Meh-ma (Emma) at?

...........................................................................................

*smile*

She is so cute... but just SOOO persistant. Just ask her Auntie Lisa - she has seen it first hand!

Emma is having fun at school and now I am back to baby sitting. I had a six week break because the girls mom, had a baby and she was on a 6 week maternity leave. I had plans for my break.... painting the sunroom, my bedroom, my laundry room, and the closet therein .... needless to say I got NOTHING accomplished. I still had the girls 2 days out of the week. The mom still wanted to bring them since they were so crazy about playing with Emma, and visa versa! Now, the mom is back at work, and I am back to babysitting 4 days a week. Another week and I will have thier baby brother too!

Well , I need to go - Abbi is awake and calling from her bed. I still have so much to write so I will have to come back later. :D

Typical Sunday

Well .. today was another typical Sunday. It was nice, and relaxing. It was another beautiful cool day.

We got up this morning, got ready for church, went and picked up a friend and his kids and took them to church with us. After church, we had lunch at thier home. We had chili, which was VERY good!

They have a huge apple tree.. the apples were delicious. I was told to get as many as I like. Sooo....I got enough apples for 2 pies, came home, made them.. and YUMMY! They turned out GREAT!! Nothing like a good warm Apple Pie with Vanilla icecream! :)

Now... It is 11:19 and I am headed off to bed.. am very tired. Tomorrow is Monday.. wow.. how time flies...

Evening Drive

Well - here I am again. I haven't written in my blog for the last couple of days - not too much has been going on. Today, was another beautiful day! The kids were out most of the day. I also babysat as usual. While Emma and the girls were playing out in the backyard, Abbi and I made Pumkin Muffins, a recipe from my sister Doina and they turned out delicious! All the kids had them for snack, and we had more after supper for dessert! I can't wait to try them with wheat flour. I am out of wheat. I hope to make it to the Coutry Store this weekend to buy more.

After supper this evening Jonathan had a brilliant idea! We all jumped in the van, and went out to one of our reservoirs. The weather was absolutely gorgeous! We took a wonderful country drive -- the weather was so nice and cool, the sun was setting behind us and there were cornfeilds on either side of us....just lovely.

When we got to the reservoir we walked about half a mile. The kids walked most of the way, but then both needed a "piggy back ride" before it was done. They were getting tired. They enjoyed seeing the seagulls, and the 1 duck. Suprisingly there wasn't more. As the sun was setting, the purple martins started to come out. It was beautiful! We sat down on a big rock and watch the fish jump up.. and the sun set. It was a beautiful relaxing evening. We hope to do it again sometime real soon.

Blackberry Thief

Today, I was sitting at my computer, (laptop) at the kitchen table. The weather was nice so I had all my windows and doors open. My two little girls were playing (having a picnic) out the side door on the stair step. My next door neighbor comes over, stands in the door and calls my name. When I looked up, to my delight he was holding a bowl full of blackberries - and to my embarrassment, lil' Abigail was out there playing with no diaper on- no panties... no.. nothing. I was immediately embarrassed. So I walked over, graciously accepted the black berries and was sure to quickly explain why Abigail was naked. "I am in the process of potty training this one" I said. "Oh, Oh, - o.k." was all he could seem to say. I wonder... what kind of impression did that leave? Only time will tell - I guess I have to wait until next summer when blackberry season comes along.

I took the blackberries inside, quickly searched the internet for a blackberry recipe. With alittle bit of luck, I ran across a delicious recipe at: http://www.allrecipes.com . I measured out enough berries for the Blackberry Cobbler, washed them and set them aside. I turned around for no more than ONE minute, and low and behold.... this is who I found in the blackberries....



So, needless to say, I had to remeasure and wash.. ect. :) Even with all the obsticales, I managed to get it done. It was delicious! Jonathan gave it a 5 out of 5 rating. :) We had warm cobbler over vanilla icecream. YUMMY! You can get the recipe here. Just a note: I cut back 1/4 cup of the sugar, and it was perfect! Not too tart, and not too sweet. When all was said and done, this is what it looked like:

On a seperate note: Abbi is now on day 3 of her potty training. I think she is starting to get the hang of things. After many "accidents", this evening after wetting her panties, she immediately took them off and went and sat herself on the potty. :)So she is starting to realized what the potty is for. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day.

Potty Training Abbi

Well, I did it. Today was day one of potty training Abbi. She was more than ready, always asking to go potty and even attemping to undress herself. She has been doing this for about 3 weeks now, so I decided it was finally time to start the potty training process. We will see how this goes. She will be 20 months old tomorrow! I set her on the potty several times today, and she went teetee once! Needless to say, I was much more excited than she was - but it was a rather good day. She sat on the potty with no problem. Hopefully tomorrow will go just as smooth.

One a seperate note, when my kids went down for a nap today, I was able to do some bird watching down by our creek. The weather was AWESOME and the birds were active. I seen several cedar waxwings down by the creek. I was excited to see them for today may be the last I see of them since they will be migrating soon.

Abigail's Report

Abbi is almost 20 months old - she is doing and saying so much these days! Where do I start? :) Today she learned that she can pedal this car and get from here to there. It has become her favorite new toy.

She has become quite the little parrot repeating almost everything you ask her too- and many words just on her own! Her favorite things to say is:

"I do it" (she wants to do EVERYTHING on her own)

"go away bug" (speaking to the flys that manage to come thru the door)

AND

"come on mommy" (if I ask her to go get something, she always asks me to come with her)

She says too many words to list. She knows the names of all 3 of the girls I babysit - including 2 of the neighbor kids that come over to play with Emma once in a while. Thier names are Alana and Douglas. Last week - we were in my bedroom - Abbi was sitting on my bed and I was next to the bed folding cloths. It was a nice cool days, our shades were up and the windows open. I am sitting there folding cloths and Abbi goes "mommy! lana - dougas", and I looked up and she was poting out the window. I looked over, and seen Alana and Douglas riding by on thier bikes. Up until then I had no clue she even knew who they were! Every day she is saying something new... she just amazes me.

Her favorite thing is to sit down and write. She will sit down and write for long periods at a time. She must also show me her picture every 5 seconds. :)

She asks me to go potty on a daily basis. I set her on the "big" potty, but she hasn't accomplished anything yet. One of these days I am going to get serious about it, and I think she will catch on in no time at all! Her favorite part about sitting on the potty now is getting wiped. (even though she doesn't do anything - she still wants me to wipe her) :)

Emma's Report

Emma - she is a sweetheart! She will do anything to please "mommy". She is always full of smiles, hugs and kisses! She is so good at playing with her sister. The picture above was taken this morning, as Emma was giving Abbi a ride on thier pedal car.

This past week while Lavinia and Michael was visiting, I realized that Emma LOVES babies! Having the little baby on her mind, this morning at the breakfast table we had an adorable conversation that went like this:

Mommy: I love my babies, Emma and Abbi! And oh yes - and I love my big baby, daddy too!

Emma: Nooo - my daddy!

Mommy: Ohh - ok.. so he is your daddy - not mine?

Emma: YES

Mommy: Yes - that's right. Do you rememeber pawpa and buna (grandma) from Uncle Sam's Wedding?

Emma: yes

Mommy: Pawpa is my daddy, and buna is my mommy

Emma: ooohhhhh

Mommy: and do you know Grandpa Ed?

Emma: yyyyyyesss

Mommy: that's daddies daddy

Emma: (thinking... thinking.. thinking) hmmm... daddy was a baby???

Mommy: yyess.. he sure was. Daddy was a small baby at one time

Emma: (eyes a glistening) Mommy! I held daddy?!?!?!

Mommy: haha .. no sweetheart, daddy was a baby loonnngg before you were born.

Emma: oooohhhhhhh

David Michael

Well.. my sister Lavinia, her husband Michael and thier new precious lilttle baby, David Michael came to see me and spent almost a week. Below you will see alot of pictures that were taken while they were here. Over the next few days I will try and add a few close up pictures.

I'm finally back!

It's been so long since I have last wrote in my "blog". My girls are growing up so fast, I have every intention of keeping it up as to what is going on in our neck of the woods. If I slack off any, be sure to contact me at: info@discountinvitationshop.com and YELL at me!

Spring is here!

Wow - I can't believe it's been about 4 months since I have last "blogged"!

Spring is finally here. The daffodils have come and gone and the tulips have bloomed and are fading out. The grass is green and the trees are coming back to life. The lilacs are also in full bloom. This is my FAVORITE time of year!

I spent most of the day out in the yard looking for new birds that have arrived. I have seen 4 news birds in just 2 days! The Eastern Phoebe, Yellow Warbler, Tree Swallow, and last but not least the Black and White Warlber! This has been very exciting being that I have not seen a "new" bird in over a year! Oh wait.. I did see an Eastern Towhee a few weeks ago. :) I will be on the look out for more birds and post them as I see them. :)

Another year gone by..

Another year gone by, and full of so many blessings. Jonathan and I are very thankful for our 2 beautiful little girls who bring constant joy into our lives. It is amazing how fast they have grown, and how much they learn in just 1 short year.

Emma has started to say so many words, along with short sentences, and do so many new tricks. (Such as climbing the couch from the back, jumping from the coffee table onto the couch, jumping from one box to the next, jumping like a frog and hopping like a bunny, sliding down her slide head first and so many other things that make my heart stop beating for seconds at a time.) <--- not a good thing- She has definatly grown by leaps and bounds. She loves her sister Abbi, MOST of the time. :) Emma is all excited this year. Jonathan and I have serveral little gifts wrapped for her, and Abbi. However, Emma thinks they are all for "Emma". :) Even going down the toy aisle - everything that looks appealing to her little hazel eyes was "for Emma". I look forward to watching her and Abbi both unwrap thier little gifts.

Little Abbi has accomplished so much as well. She just turned 1 year old on December 13. I feel as though she was JUST born.. yet she is walking/practically running and getting into trouble of her own. She jabbers and points and most everything is "that". She loves to have me walk her around the house and point at every picture in sight while telling her who, or what it is. She has learned many words such as.. "Mama & Dada", "Emma" (they were her first) "Hi There", "Bye Bye", "Shoes", "Backpack", "Thank you", and a few others I can't think of right off the bat. Her favorite things to do, (besides nursing and sleeping in bed with mommie and daddy) is play ball, climb on anything she can get her knee on, and draw with a pen and color.

Speaking of drawing....

About a week ago, I was laying down on the couch with a big headache, which I truly believe was from exhaustion. I fell asleep pretty quick, only to wake up to something poking me and going up and down my arm. I barely managed to open my eyes, to see what was going on and I vaguely remember seeing Abby standing over me, pen in hand and me thinking "surely that pen has a cap on it", and quickly fell right back to sleep. (don't worry, Jonathan was home watching the kids) When I awoke a couple hours later I noticed something black on both arms.. upon examining closer I had realized that Abbi had a heyday with her pen! She scribbled up and down my arms"! My favorite things to do? Hold and cuddle my babies.. watch them grow and learn, do new things. And of course, hug and cuddle my "big baby" too. :)

Abbi has mastered the art of "fake crying"

Well, well.. what do you know. At the ripe age of "ONE" my little bundle has figured out how to fake cry! Yesterday, I was standing in the kitchen, looking around trying to decide which side of the counter to clean first when I realized Abbi was jabbering loudly as if to get my attention. (she has gotten very good at that as well) I looked down at her and once she realized she DID in fact get my attention, she looked up toward the top of the fridge and pointed at the "candy jar". I looked down at her, smiled and said "you can't have that". She put her head down, her little palm cupping her face and begin to fake cry. When I decided not to pay attention to it (even though it was SO CUTE I wanted to grab and sqeeuze her!) and turned to walk away, she stopped her "fake cry" as if someone had turned an off switch off, and followed me out of the kitchen.

Then.. again... this morning, I was in the bathroom doing my hair, and without realizing she was right behind me, when I was all done I turned and walked out. She couldn't believe I left without bidding her "come with mommie", and once again - her little palm up to her face, head down and her little "fake cry".

TOO CUTE!

Buzzsaw's BBQ Sauce

This is a B-B-Q recipe, I made for shredded pork about a week ago. Was very delicious and wanted to share! Enjoy!

http://barbeque.allrecipes.com/az/80982.asp

Abbi's Birthday Party

I can't believe my little Abigail is 1 already - for I am sure I JUST had her a few months ago. My oh my how fast time has gone by.

Jonathan, Emma and I celebrated Abigail's 1st Birthday party this past Saturday. It was so sweet. Abby did a wonderful job with her cake - as you can see from the picture. :) (Click on the picture to see a closer view) Emma had a great time blowing out her candle, and opening her gift. HAPPY BIRTHDAY ABBI! I LOVE YOU!!