For Mom's Only

This is a really cool Idea................Any mom can go to this website The Mother-Letter Project.

And write a letter to another mother, advice, encouragement, insight, etc.....

Then email it to the link on the website.

It is a surprise gift for some really lucky wife and mother who has no idea what her husband has created.  Originally it was planned because of their decision not to  spend money on christmas gifts for each other.  Apparently if you write a letter, you can receive a copy of the final compilation of letters.

here is what i wrote...............

"In the past 3 1/2 years that I have been a mother (of 2)........My heart has more room, even though my mind has less; My soul has more thirst, even though my body needs more rest; My memories are more cherished, even though my time is not my own; My God is bigger, even though He remains the same yesterday today and forever.  Just as my life has been changed, I want the world to be changed by my children as they live out the incredible purpose that our Heavenly Father has designed for them.  Teaching them along the way as I am learning myself how to Love more deeply,  Give more generously, Pray more earnestly, Live more purely, and Forgive more readily.  Thanks to my children, I will never be the same."

A Blog Worthy Day

Yesterday was a day worth writing about.

First of all, my youngest son Owen, went on the big boy potty all by himself, YAY!!!!!!

In the morning, he was on his motorcycle rocker (stark nude) when all of a sudden he jumped off, ran in the the bathroom saying, "bathroom, bathroom, bathroom."  He sat down on the potty and said, "Com'n out" and I asked if it really was because he has said that before.  He stand out and says, "yah, see!." And there is was,  oh man if you could have seen the glee on his face, especially when his big brother came in to see and started clapping for him.  I was so proud that he initiated it all on his own.  Let's hope diaper changing duty is over really soon.

I rode my bike to work yesterday.  It is something we are trying to get in the habit of doing.  Since Mike has to ride his bike to work everyday, because we only have one car, I thought that I could do it on Tues and Thurs.  SO i the 7 miles by myself in the morning and we ride home together after work.  My mom picks the boys up at our house, brings my change of clothes to work as well as doughnuts or bagels for the maintenance crew, and we get there for break time to hang out with daddy and the men.  I wonder if this is why Caeden always thinks he needs a break when he is pretend working?   So if you are ever on 41 around 3:30 pm, look for me in my pink helmet riding south and slower than my husband.

While on the internet yesterday I came across an affordable, homemade, customized superhero cape for C and for O.  I really want to purchase them

It is from this Etsy site.  

Before the kids left the campground, Caeden got Tree sap stuck in his hair from doing a head stand on the cement pad across from the office.  We have gotten some of it out with rubbing alcohol, but it was not easy or tear free.  I will try to attempt it today with hopes of not having to cut his hair.

Last night my mom and I had a great time holiday baking.  We made 2 loaves of pumpkin bread, 2 loaves of banana bread, 1 pumpkin pie, choc. chip cookies for the boys, grandpa, and daddy, pretzel jello salad, and Triple Chocolate Pumpkin Pie.

It is a Martha Stewart recipe and I am excited to tasted it today!  We get to eat Thanksgiving dinner Today and Tomorrow.

I am thankful for: A God who is Tender, and Loving and doesn't give up on me.  A husband and kids that love to laugh and make memories with me.  Friends that care enough to ask about my relationship with Jesus. A church that leads me to live out worship.  Holidays that make us reflect.

I am thankful when: I lay down at night and cuddle with my husband about how I wouldn't want to be with anyone else ever.  When my kids see their daddy and run up shouting, "Daddy" with their arms open wide.  When my parents tell me their are proud of me.  When my sisters and i get to be together.  When my kids think I am funny.  When my attempt at new recipes turn out delicious.

Why I am thankful: Because I am unlovable, but loved; unworthy of salvation, but saved; Because even though all the world around me is chaos, My God shall supply all my need according to his riches in glory.

Happy Thanksgiving

Kid's Hands

I told Caeden that I wanted to take some

Pictures of their hands this morning, so 

this was his pose...............................

As I was creating our Free Snapfish Photobook, (thanks to Oprah) I realized that I really had a lot of feet pictures.  Family feet, dirty feet, fun boots on feet, Wet feet.  I love those pictures, but thought maybe I could switch and start focusing on hands.

Their hands are always so busy and hard to capture, but here are some snapshots from this morning.

The Circus

Fri. Night we went to the Cole Bros. Circus.  The kids really enjoyed it and that was the main thing.  I thought it was fun, but creepy, which is what makes up a good circus any way right?  The favorite things to watch were the motorcycle tricks and the elephants.  

Caeden was enthralled in the whole event.

My parent joined us in the festivities.  

I took this picture of Owen before we left, and i thought it was cute.

Here are the really OLD elephants!

We Tried It

I saw these Turkey-Hand Cookies 

on Nick Jr. and thought it would be fun to try.

You can get the recipe from the link.  The cookies should have cooked a little longer.

Then we also made a snow-man.  The kids had fun decorating, but would rather eat the cookies plain.  I am not the best food decorator.  I don't have the patience to be detailed.

The food coloring is orange, but looks pink in the picture.  The candy corn is supposed to be his beak. It's called a turkey in our house, if no where else! :) 

Apple-Pecan Sticky Buns

Apple-Pecan Sticky Buns

" MMMMM....I put it in my mouth and I like it." Caeden Connell

Ingredients

2 tart apples, such as granny smith-peeled, cored, and sliced 1/4 inch thick

1 cup chopped pecans

1 1/4 cups brown sugar

1 stick  butter

1/2 tsp salt

2 tbs honey

1 cup heavy cream

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Directions

I bought pre-made crescent dough instead of taking the time to roll homemade dough.

Preheat oven to 400 F.

Grease 9 inch square baking pan

Place the apples, 1 tbs brown sugar, and 1 tbs butter on a parchment paper lined baking sheet; toss to coat. cover loosely with foil and roast until tender, 15 minutes.

After, Lower the temp to 350

In a small bowl, mix 1/2 cup brown sugar, pecans, and cinnamon

Roll out your dough

Cut up 2 tbs of butter and dot the rolled out dough.  

Sprinkle the brown sugar mixture on top and cover evenly with the roasted apples.

Roll up the dough, jelly roll-style, and cut crosswise into 9 slices;

 place the slices cut side down in the prepared baking pan.  

Bake until golden, 35-40 minutes

Meanwhile in a saucepan,

 bring 4 tbs butter, 3/4 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup heavy cream,

 1/2 tsp salt and honey to a boil, stirring.

Whisk until reduced, about 2 minutes.

Let cool slightly 

Drizzle the sauce over the warm buns.

super heros

I would love to purchase some more dress-up clothes for Christmas.

I came across a website called Little Hero Capes.  

It looks like great place to buy a fun cape for our two super heros.  Plus %10 of the purchase goes to charity.

These pictures were taken by Gram at Kid Zoo.

weekends with dad

Mike has been working on Saturdays, so even though today is Monday, we got to play with the kids at U-Can-Dig-It.  As you can tell, they enjoyed it.

The flower in this picture is from Woodsmoke.  I hesitated on using it for my title background because it isn't very wintery.  But this is Florida, in the winter, and this hibiscus is in full bloom and so pretty.

My favorite shoes on Owen

Mike and the boys have been working immensely hard in the back yard.  If you notice the hill behind Caeden just wasn't fit for bike jumping. It took a lot of grading, digging, filling, mowing, weed eating to get it ready for jumps like this.  As you can guess, the boys love seeing Daddy jump a hill on his bike.

This was the first picture of Mike's jump.  He is the blur.  But look at the truck and tractor in the background.  Owen wouldn't let Mike drive the Kubota without riding in Daddy's lap.

This was last Saturday at Woodsmoke, we stopped by to see if Daddy needed any help.

I love the way Caeden is standing exactly like his daddy.  It's the little things I notice with how they emulate him.  It is so cute and I wouldn't want them to be like anyone else, but Mike.

Look it up

For anyone who loves free stuff. You can check out this blog.  Notice my button on the right about free give away's for Christmas!

City Dump

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

I know that Recycling is important, but I have a new found appreciation for the importance of it after taking a field trip to the City Dump.  I rode with Mike in the big dump truck for work. They take construction loads to the dump quite often.  I joked that we were at the highest point in Lee County. But sadly, it was true.  The hill was so large and so tall that if we were any closer in proximity, we could see into the windows of the Air Traffic Control tower at the Airport.  The hill just keeps getting bigger because once a section is full, then they pour mulch and sand over top of the garbage and compact it down , so we were driving on top of garbage even though it just looked like a big sand pile.   I want to do my part now and make sure that I recycle all we can.

I didn't take any pictures, but I guess not posting a picture of a garbage dump won't be a problem. :)

However, I just saw wall art at Target that said, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, but I couldn't find it online to post a picture.  It would be cute in my laundry room and a good reminder for my new obsession with Eco-friendly living!!

Twistee Treat

A childhood Memory shared..........

Twistee Treat, in San Carlos, has been around as long as i can remember.  I don't know why I have waited so long to go back.  As a kid, I loved the vanilla soft serve ice cream dipped in chocolate.  Now they have soft and hard ice cream in a ton of flavors.

Last night, our family each had their own cone, and it only cost us $8.  That is worth not ever going to get ice cream any where else.

Naples Zoo

Sunday, We all went to the Naples Zoo.  It was the last day of their special deal to get the yearly membership for the family at 1/2 off.  Basically it cost us a few more dollars than a one time visit and we can go free for the rest of the year.  I love the word "free".  

We learned: 

1) Monkeys have tails, and Apes do not.

2)  Spider monkeys have prehensile tails that they can use to peel a banana.

3) Fosa's (pronounced Foose's) are carnivores that feed on mostly Lemurs.  They live in Madagascar and a really large percentage of the animals found on Madagascar, are not found anywhere else in the world.  Like Lemurs, they are specific only to Madagascar.

4)  A male Lion's mane is directly related to the amount of Testosterone he has.  We learned that right after Caeden asked why the daddy lion has a mane and the mommy lion doesn't.  And I answered, "God made them that way." :)

We want to make it an family outing 1x/month.  The Fosa is the newest exhibit, and in Feb. they are hoping to have a Black Bear exhibit.  The kids also enjoyed the many playgrounds at the ZOO.

Madagascar Escape 2 Africa

Saturday, Mike, Grandaddy, Caeden, and I went to see Madagascar Escape 2 Africa.

We loved the first movie and this one was really funny too, but to me, the story line was lacking.  It felt a little too chaotic and there were too many references to male/female romantic relationships for my 3 year old.  That just might be my pickiness, oh well. We did laugh a lot and had a great time.  Overall, I am glad we got to have an afternoon at the movies.

little black dress

I am supposed to find a black dress for my good friend's wedding in Jan. 

Amber, my really cute sis, found this for me at JCREW. 

I searched their black dresses and found several that I like, but this by far is my favorite.

Adventures in Virginia

Our friends Josh and Mindy have an incredibly beautiful 3 acre lot in Virginia that the boys fell in love with.  The trees were beautiful, the air was beautiful, buy mostly, "Pop" Mindy's Dad was around to assume his given role as a weekend Adventure and Explorer guide to his grandsons and my boys.  There is a creek at the end of the property that is worth exploring daily for Beaver tracks and Deer.

They found Caeden his very own walking stick and Caleb (5) helped teach him how to defend himself against a dog.  Then as they were walking away, Pop  asked "so who knows what to do with their stick if an animal comes up behind you?"  Then the boys proceeded to hold their sticks behind their backs.  

What was also great fun, is bonding with Daddy.  We did see a few deer, but no beavers.

The woods felt safe in their neighborhood, down in Fl. i am always worried about snakes.  Since We have seen a few black snakes in our yard.  But up there, we would walk and wonder and explore without hesitation.



This is Nathan (6) and Caleb.  Caeden would have stayed to live there with them, if we allowed him to.



So long Virginia.