{Weekend Glimpses}

Ok...this cleanse is hard.
We had a cheat night on Friday.
and honestly it was great.
We had pizza, soda and ice-cream for desert.
Wow when I cheat I guess I really cheat.
The funny thing is, the night was awesome.
We ate pizza and bread sticks right out of the box
Played the music really loud
and all danced like crazy.
Somehow the night wouldn't
have been quite the same with a salad and grilled chicken.
What in the world does that say about me?
I have absolutely no will power I guess.
Glad I don't have any real addictive issues to try and overcome
or I'd be in real trouble.

Looking back over my blog recently I noticed my pictures of these two are pretty hard to come by.
Why do they have to be away from me all day at school anyway.
I miss them.

ever notice that one little hair is there a lot...drives me c.r.a.z.y.!:)

for the record, Riley does not have an ipod

she just likes to plug Dave's ear buds into her cd player and pretend

Saturday night was family movie night.
We watched Secretariat.
It was awesome. We seriously loved it and now Janey wants a horse.
Even though I was pretty good all day
eating my soup and having that above mentioned grilled chicken and salad for dinner
I did cave to the popcorn (Dave resisted...bugger).
It was yummy too.

Look what I made.

I bought a Martha Stewart kit for these at TJ Max for $7, way before Christmas.
Finally got them done and hanging above Aubrey's crib.
I need a picture of her in bed pointing up at her "poofs" as she calls them.
They look so great in her room.
The big girls love them too.
I have a feeling more poofs are in my future.

Did a little bit of Valentine decorating last week.
Saw this idea here and modified it a bit.
I was way to scared and lazy to pull out my sewing machine
so I settled for yarn and scotch tape.
I think they look pretty....from a distance.:)

Riley loved the idea so she made some for her room.

We were in a lovey kind of mood this weekend so more Valentines Day crafts were in order.

We used to do these in my classroom with love notes to each other on them.

I saw the idea again here and it reminded me of just how pretty they look.

We skipped the love notes...but there are more of those to come.

I promise.

This little girl has been eating with her toes on the table forever.

Can't tell you how much I love it.

Janey and Aubrey enjoyed some good birthday party fun.

We have been singing "Happy Birthday To You" with every ones name in it for about a week now.

I'm ready to move on to a new favorite song.

Riley did a lot of this...as usual.

She didn't stay alone for long.

This is burning in my kitchen right now.

Oh how I love Target.

Dave went out of town again....sigh...

He left a day early because of the snow that's on it's way.

He is such a sweet, sweet hubby.

He grilled some chicken for me and made me a huge salad to eat for the next few days.

I promise when I go out of town...which hasn't happened since 2008, I always deep clean the house and do ALL the laundry first!:)

What did you do this weekend?

Enjoy the day,

Cindy

{Soups On}

Well...we are in day 4 of our cleanse and I think today feels like our best day yet.
I have to admit, day 1 and 2 were tough!
And I mean tough.
I guess I never really realized how much I eat during the day.
I am definitely a snacker.
Making meals and snacks for the girls didn't help either.
Man a bowl of Goldfish never looked so good!:)

Dave made the most amazing soup last night.
I seriously had three bowls of it.
I think it was the best soup I have ever had.

source

Now if I just had a big crusty piece of bread to go with it.....

Make this soup and

enjoy your dinner!!:)

Cindy

{Clean}

Wish I had a bit more time to clean

and I mean do it right...corners and all.

I actually like to clean...when I have the time

and the energy

like now for instance...perfect time to get things clean

but someone is upstairs protesting her nap time with

loud whines and "Mamas"

oh well...another day slips by without dusting

and a quick vac 

instead of a real one will be on the agenda for today

and don't even mention moppin'

but just look at those sweet chubby fingers

I guess the cleaning can wait....

...I'm getting pretty good at these one-handed self-portraits...

Enjoy the day

messes and all,

Cindy

{Weekend Glimpses}

******still waiting on blogger to resolve their "blurry header" issue******

We had a good weekend.
Everyone was feeling better and ready to have some fun.
Our weather was cold, crisp and sunny.
If you're going to have winter weather...I guess this is the best kind to have.

one armed self-portrait

Aubrey is really in love with her new dollhouse.
Isn't it the cutest?
I love the people.
They make me smile.
Aubrey too.

This seems to be the only way to get her to smile for the camera
and to hold still so I can capture it.
I have to put her on my knees and let her fly.
A bit hard to do one-handed
but oh the giggles.

Janey and a friend

The girls had a Girl Scout ice-skating  adventure on Sunday.
They both did amazing.
It was Janey's first time and she jumped right in with both feet.
No fear and no looking back.
They wanted me to put on skates too, but honestly I think Janey did better without me to lean on.
She was awesome.
They skated for 3 hours
practically non-stop.
We have the blisters and tired legs to prove it.

image from Pioneer Woman

We ate good this weekend.
Dave made the most amazing dinners
we had Pioneer Women's Chicken and Dumplings
I never thought I was a huge Chicken and Dumpling fan, but this meal was amazing.
If you are a fan of comfort food you must make this dish.

We also had steak tacos with onion, cilantro and lime
A tasty Mexican favorite of ours.
So simple and clean and absolutely delicious.

And our weekends are never complete without Dave's homemade pizza.
He has been perfecting his pizza recipe for months now and I must say he is better then the finest pizza place in town.  His pizza really deserves a post all on it's own.
So I'll have to keep you waiting on that one but trust me it rocks!
Or you could just ask these three.

we all love it and beg for it at least once a week

We are getting all of our "good" eating out of the way because we are starting Pam's cleanse on Monday
yikes...scary!  You can find the link here.
Can we really do this....living wiht a hubby who loves to cook...I'm hoping it will make it easier....but I don't know...I have a lot of delicious meals to miss and crave.
Wish us luck.

Do you guys have dance wii?  Janey got the family version for her birthday.
It is hilarious to watch and a pretty decent workout if you do a bunch of songs in a row.
The girls are loving it.

I think Janey just hit the wall....must have been all that skating

So there you have it.

A small glimpse into our weekend.

It was a good one.

I will leave you with this scrumptious little picture.

Riley dressed Aubrey in her robe.  

They kept calling her Strega Nona?!?!

She wore it for hours!!

Hope your weekend was wonderful!

Enjoy the day,

Cindy

{Hi!}

Hi friends...wow has it really been that long....?
Whew...what a whirlwind the last few days have been.
A pesky little illness decided to blow through our little home.
And being the way most pesky illnesses can be it waited till Monday morning...our glorious day off of school...and the day Dave went out of town...to rear it's ugly head!
Let's just say we have done enough cleaning and laundry to last a lifetime.
At one point, my washer and dryer were spinning so hard I thought they were going to actually take flight and launch right outta the room.

But alas...Dave is home...we are all on the mend...and my house is cleaner then it has been in weeks,
so life is good!

I haven't picked up my camera since Sunday
my creativity is busting to get out
and we need some fun around here.

Aubrey and I might head to Hobby Lobby for some inspiration if the weather cooperates
Right now it is -5 outside with a wind chill of -22....hmmm...how many layers can a toddler stand?!?!?

Missed you all

Hope your Friday is fantastic!

Enjoy the day,

Cindy


*******
not quite sure why my header is showing up blurry now?!?
Is it blurry to you?
I will keep trying to fix it....:)


********
update
...just found out it may be a blogger problem....waiting it out might fix it??

{Janey Turns 7}

Little Miss Janey Brooke turned 7 on Wednesday.
We had a surprise lunch together at school, and brought in chocolate chip cookies to share with the class.
Dance and church make Wednesdays kind of a tough day for celebrations around here.
We asked her if she wanted to skip those things to celebrate her birthday or do her party on Thursday.
She decided on a Thursday party.:)

We had to sneak in one little late night after church gift opening though.

I think it's safe to say she liked her new American Girl Doll pajamas.

Deciding on the cake you want and all the details is a big deal right?

Janey was very specific about her cake wishes.

She wanted it to be rectangular in shape, yellow cake with chocolate frosting, rainbow jimmies, crushed butter rum lifesavers on top and the words "Happy Birthday Janey"...yes, she was even very specific about the wording.  

We keep the cake a surprise until the big reveal.  The girls love baking and decorating each other's cakes.  Riley took great pride in her work and I think it came out quite perfect.

 

Janey has been wanting a doctor kit for what seems like forever.  We had one years ago, but it got left and lost at a friends house.  I think this was the perfect gift for her.  She kept checking us over all night long.  Oh, and she loved her Fancy Nancy notebook and Diary...it has a real lock ya know.:)

Finally...cake time.

 I missed that first look shot...

not quite sure what Daddy was doing here, but it must have been silly....

love this look....classic Janey

The Happiest of Happys are wished for you my sweet Janey Brooke.

You make us all smile with your silliness, your "spunky monkeyness", and your giggles.

You are a sensitive soul with a heart of gold.

You love to snuggle 

and your perfect day would be one spent in your jammies

at home, 

with your family.

I love you so very much my sweet and I am so blessed to be your mommy.

Happy 7th Birthday my love!

{Ponies, Angels and Sleds}

Someone decided to be brave today and ride the pony.  She just hopped right on and pushed the button.  The tail swished, the hooves clip clopped and the neighs began.  She loved it.  No amount of prodding from us could get her on that thing, but today she just jumped on.  Usually works that way doesn't it?  I guess all that bravery prompted her to share the love. Nothing like bringing a friend along for the ride.

I can't believe how fast this little peanut is growing up.

I keep trying to see that little baby in there.  The one who stares back at me from the pictures on the screen saver every day over and over, but she keeps getting hidden by this new changing face.

She is talking so much now.  Her personality is starting to show it's self.  We are seeing glimpses of  the little girl she will become.  We are all pretty smitten I must say.

We got quite a bit of snow today.  The first thing the girls wanted to do after school was get knee deep in the white stuff.  Too bad it was really only ankle deep.  More then anything they like walking in the fresh snow, the snow no one has touched yet.  I totally get that.

Someone asked once if they always get along and if they are always the best of friends.  Right after they made these angels, I tried to get a shot of both of them together...Janey got mad at Riley for messing up her angel, snow was thrown, feelings were hurt and yada, yada no picture was taken...one went one way in a huff and the other went the opposite direction in tears.

I look out the window later and see Riley  writing "sorry" and "I love you" in the snow.  Janey saw it and tried to write something too...couldn't quite make it out...let's hope it was nice!

Five minutes later, they are doing this. Pulling each other around on a sled...on level ground mind you.
Now that's love.

Dave has been out of town for a few days.  Boy do we miss him.  We did pretty good for ourselves I must say.  The big girls help out so much and Aubrey...well if she can get in her cabinet while I play "Where's Aubrey"? she's quite content during dinner making.

Yes that is mac-n-cheese straight from the blue box boiling there on the stove.A girls gotta do what a girl gotta do. We certainly do eat better when Daddy's around.

After some jump roping, carpet skating  and some light reading we had dessert and called it a night.

Hope your Thursday was terrific.

Enjoy the day,

Cindy