Our trip to beautiful Newfoundland

I certainly am behind in blogging. I'm gonna try and play a little catch up and then get back on track...try!!!

We had a wonderful trip back home to Newfoundland just after Christmas. The boys absolutely loved enjoying a second Christmas complete with some fun in the snow! Chris and I enjoyed some time together. We managed to get out for some date nights at our "Old Grounds". Our trip was even extended as we got snowed in and had to catch a later flight back to Texas!!!

Christmas Eve and Day 2010

Fall Fun

I just love this time of year! The air is starting to get cooler, Trick or Treating, Thanksgiving around the corner, Christmas around the corner. Soon time to pull our warmer clothing, sweaters, and hot drinks. It's my favorite time of year :-)

Happy 5th Birthday Matthew

I can hardly belive my first born is FIVE YEARS OLD! His babyhood is surly over. I'am sure I'll love this age as I have loved his earlier milestones. And, I'll embrace his growing independence. But, sometimes when I look at him I can still see my itty bitty baby in his face.

The morning of Matthew's birthday he just made my day. In his heart he must of known how I felt. I was saying Matthew - I just can't believe you're five years old today. His reply was "Mommy, I'll always be your baby". That was just music to my ears!!!

Matthew had a fantastic birthday. Cupcakes with his friends at preschool. A party with his playgroup friends at Chick Fil A. And, a famly day to the lego store and Dylan's Canday Bar. He got a ton of legos for his birthday. Legos are his latest favorite!

Another stage for the THREE of us.

Preschool! We all had a first this month.! Matthew has started PreK , Andrew Preschool, And myself teaching preschool. So far it's been a fun adventure! The boys have made many new friends. One night just as Matthew was falling asleep he says to me "Mommy I can't believe it I'm finally in school!" The boys little conversations in the back seat on the way home from school are just ADORABLE. I think my favorite was on Tuesday their chapel day. They were both talking about their lessons on God. And, I overheard Matthew telling Andrew ... and Jesus made my legos. LOL!

Three Year Old!!

I can hardly believe it my baby is three. Now, he'll be the first to tell you he's not a baby - he's now a "Big Boy!" But...my baby he'll always be.

Andrew had a fantastic birthday week. On his actual birthday we had a fun filled family day. Chris took the day off work and we headed to Splashway waterpark. It was so fun! Matthew enjoyed most of the water slides - he has no fear this year. So, him and his dad had a blast trying our the slides. Andrew, on the other hand was a little timid of some of the slides. He stayed in his comfort zone on the smaller slides and splashing about having a good time. We packed our cooler with lunch to have at the park. And, on the way home we stopped for a pizza for dinner. The boys were just pooped once we got home and slept so well that night.
The next day we had a little party with some of his close friends at Chick Fil A. Andrew's face lit up when daddy and the Chick Fil A cow arrived. He also LOVED his cake that I proudly made :-) I"m trying my best to keep up the tradition of creating the boys cakes each year.
Andrew's been spoiled with awesome presents from friends and family all week. He has a very nice collection of Disney Cars now that is his latest favorite.

Ahhhh to be three!!! Just don't grow up too fast, too soon my little boy!

Cooking Again!!!

During grocery shopping - Matthew tells me he wants to make a pizza. So, he proceeds to pick everything out for his pizza. We come home and make lunch! It actually tasted good!
Our boys really love cooking and baking!

Gardening

Finally, I am getting into gardening this year! I've found it hard with the kiddos previous this year but, they are to an age where I can manage now. Yippee! Here are some of my flowers so far...roses, jasmine, plumbago, vinca ... etc

Mom's Visit

We had my Mother visit us for a month from March into April. We really enjoyed having her! Chris and I got some breaks - Out for date nights!!! I got to escape and get grocerys by myself and even fit a shopping day in. We enjoyed many adventures together - strawberry picking at Froberg Farms, a trip to The Houston Zoo, picnics in parks, a train ride in Herman Park, a trip to Galveston Beach, a trip to Brenham to see the wild flowers and enjoy a treat at Blue Bell Creamery. Mom also enjoyed doing lots of shopping :-)

Gardening With Little Boys...

Yesterday I did a ton of gardening. My boys found a frog! They wanted to give him a drink so headed for the hose - one held him the other gave him a drink! This froggie gave them about an hour of fun. From Andrew running around saying " He likes me, Mommy he likes me." To Matthew putting him in their water table and saying he could not move because he was froggie sitting. Oh the joys of childhood!

Look Who's Cooking!!!

My boys have nagging colds - runny noses, eyes and coughs. They are not so sick they are stuck in bed, just not good times to be out running around. So we were stuck home Friday! To spice it up and have a little fun Andrew made some brownies. He had such a great time! Made a lot of mess and ate a lot before it we made it to the oven. He loved the process and that's what counts!

A Park Day!

( The first picture is Matthew with is friend Isabella. They've been good friends for 3 plus years and she is moving but, staying in the state at least. The next picture is Matthew best friend "Josh" who is also moving to New York. Matthew is crushed with this move! And the last picture is sweet Andrew giving me a flower.)

This whole week we are stuck home because my sweet hubby has meetings offsite all week. So that requires transportation and our one and only car! The sound of that at the beginning of the week sounded so awful! I thought we would be dying with cabin fever! But, it's surprisingly going well. Matthew has been doing his school work in the mornings. I'm on top of the housework even the laundry. And, we've been having fun with games, playing outside, trips to the park. Not so bad at all....next week we'll be back to our adventures to Chick Fil A, Playgroup, Museum, Zoo etc... Ahh to be a toddler. Life is good!

Menu Plan Monday

Here's this weeks meals! This is the last week of January and the meal planning is paying off. Our grocery budget is under budget this month. I've been couponing each grocery trip this month, menu planning each week, and using the envelope system. It's going great!!! Only 11 more months for the year to go :-)


Breakfasts
homemade waffles (from the freezer) w/ fruit
eggs, sausage, toast, fruit
pumpkin chocolate chip muffins w/ fruit
cereal w/ fruit

Dinners
Chicken Tetrazinni (doubled to make a batch for the freezer)
Spaghetti, broccoli w/ garlic bread
Turkey Casserole (from freezer)
Turkey Burgers w/french fries and side of veggies

Snakes
homemade cookies
fruit
carrot sticks

For more great menu ideas go HERE

Menu Plan Monday

Here I go! Starting this up again for the New Year, New Begining...

On Sunday we had a Turkey cooked so my dinners this week will be centered around using that up!

Breakfasts

Homemade Waffles w/fruit

Amish Baked Oatmeal w/fruit

Cereal w/fruit

Eggs and sasage w/fruit

Homemade Donut Holes....and fruit

Dinners

Turkey Soup w/buttery bread machine rolls

Thanksgiving Memory Casserole

Thai Turkey

spagetti and garlic bread

left overs

Snacks

Brown Sugar Biscuit Twists

Yogert

mini carrotts

cookies

New Year, New Begining.....

These pictures are my boys toasting each other to the New Year! They are doing their toast with Hot Chocolate from Starbucks!

With the New Year comes our resolutions. And, as always we aim to do better. The couple months leading up to Christmas I was falling off the edge - my eating, my exercise, and spending. I was out of my routine and off my balance beam.

Life is like that a balance beam and it is so easy to loose focus and fall off. But,
we have to pick ourselves up and jump back on. That's what I'm aiming to do to clean up my act a little more :-) I still need much improvement - trust me!

I've started to do better and I'm hoping my blogging it'll help in my accountability. Here's where I am....

• Financially - We've always set our budgets but meeting them is often tricking business. To improve in this area my hubby and I have initiated an envelope of cash system. Each envelope is filled with cash for each spending area (ie grocerys, misc., personal etc.) at the beginning of each month and when the cash is gone we are done for the month! ....a little discipline lesson for us ... I'm up for the challenge here! I've set up an awesome spreadsheet that tracks my grocery spending to help out...it shows all my coupon saving. So far this month I've saved $68 using coupons. Yeah!!!

• Eating/Nutrition - I'm taking small steps here to do better. I was drinking too much coffee!! Now I'm limiting myself to only one (big)cup of caffeinated coffee in the morning then, once that's done I do green tea for the day. I'm a sipper of hot drinks during the winter months so this is working well. I'm being sure to take my daily vitamins and I'm also doing glucosamine vitamins as well.

• Exercise - I need to really get back into my grove in this area. I miss is and it always makes me feel so much better and helps me stay on my balance beam! I've made a point of getting a little more exercise with the boys this week. Going for walks to the park etc. I got a great yoga set for Christmas I need to break out. The colder weather has taken a toll on my exercise but I need to shake that excuse.
  

• ME ME ME - LOL! I want to get to scheduling some me time. Let's face it if mama don't take care of herself she can't take care of her family. I miss my scrap-booking, it's been about four months since I've done any. I want to get to reserving a night a week for a hobby or interest of my own.
  

There you have it! That's all I have! Other then that I just need my normal routine back. And, I'm getting there....get back into teaching and caring for my boys doing what I love!

Snapshots of our days!

My boys love to paint and cook at home!

Austin Vacation

We had an awesome mini vacation in Austin. Since living here in Texas we've now vacationed in Dallas, San Antonio, and Austin. We really enjoyed Austin and it's culture!

On our way to Austin we stopped in Brenhem at the Blue Bell Creamery. They offered tours but we declined - they were an hour long and I don't think the kiddos would of held up well for these. So we browsed around the creamery, had a picnic and enjoyed some fresh ice cream. The price was great - $1 per serving and they give you two big scoops. The kids loved it - their favorite flavor was a snicker doodle.

Once we arrived in Austin we settled into our hotel and then headed over to Whole Foods for dinner. Whole Foods was actually fonded in Austin so they have an amazing store there. It was a happening place! There was just soo much choice!! Our favorite was International food - Mediterranean and African. After that we headed back to our hotel and settled in for the night to be fresh and ready for our next days adventures.

On Friday we enjoyed breakfast at the hotel and then headed out to "dancing fountain park" officially named, Butler District Park. This was the boys favorite, with no surprise as they both love water. It was a cute water park it offered holes that spray water and many little wadding spots as well. After this we enjoyed a picnic together and an ice cream from a nearby restaurant "Sandys". Then we headed back to the hotel for the kiddos nap. After nap time we headed out to Whole Foods again.

On Saturday we enjoyed our breakfast at the hotel then headed to a Farmer's Market. It was so nice! There was a live band playing some folk music that Andrew enjoyed grooving too! We enjoyed some snow cones here and bought some local honey that tasted amazing. After this we headed to Zilker Park and enjoyed a train ride. The boys really liked this! For lunch we went to Jack in the Box seems how Matthew had been asking for it for some time. After our nap time we headed back to Zilker Park to enjoy the playground. It was nice but more designed for older kids and it was crowded...but the kids still had fun nonetheless. And of course Whole Foods to eat again. :-)

On Sunday after our hotel breakfast we went to the "dancing fountain park" again. Once the boys dried off we went to Central Market (North Lamar location). They offer a nice outdoor lunch and playtime with again live bands. Then it was time to head home...

I eyed a Mrs Bairds Bakery Outlet on the drive to Austin...that we planned to stop at on the way home. But sadly it was closed on our arrival. Upon doing some homework I've found one close to home so that will be for tomorrows blog....

Off to Austin for a few days...Vacation Time!

We are off for a mini Vacation today. Yesterday it vacation started with a trip to Discovery Green Park. It's an awesome park - The kids LOVED it! It had a fountain place that they played in for at least an hour. Then they made their was to a playground - the floor of the playground is rubber so it's OK when they fall. How nice is that with the rate of skinned knees for Matthew and Andrew just beginning his walking days. We all enjoyed a lovely picnic on a blanket that I packed. And we shared some sweet potato fries for a treat they were soooo good!!! To top the day off for dinner last night we took the boys to Rainforest Cafe. At first Matthew was a little scared because they have simulated Thunder storms in their simulated jungle. Once he got past that part he loved it too!!!

Pillow Cases - Sewing Project!!

This is my latest project. It's homemade pillowcases. I've made a few of them so far - Race car and baseball for my son. Princess and Dora for our good friends - Mel's girls "Isabella and Eliana". A Hannah Montana one and the one in the picture for my niece Sarah. I plan to make more for friends and family for Christmas yet!!! They are fun an easy too!