Canning Fun

In my neverending quest to become a Domestic Goddess I have learned to can! I made some delicious cinnamon applesauce and pickled jalapenos (from our garden). It was so much fun I started looking around the house for other things to can. My kids vettoed the pickled eggs.

From this:

To this - yummy

Pickled Jalapenos - can't wait for tacos!

Our Budding Actress

It's been awhile since my last blog (okay a long while), but it's time for me to come back. Tonight my daughter, Madison who is 9 years old, began her acting career. She performed as the Phony Princess #4 in The Princess and The Pea at our local Boys & Girls Club and oh my was she cute! After the performace she was beaming. What a good fit for her; she's very dramatic after all. I'm not sure where she gets it from (wink, wink). Madison has a tendency to get bored with activities that she's doing, but I think this one is here to stay (for a bit anyway).

Madison is the green one in the back row.

Chicago Bears vs. Houston Texans

One of my dreams has finally come true! Anyone who knows me well, has no doubt what a huge Chicago Bears fan I am. On a whim, I bid on tickets to the Bears-Texans game in Houston. I actually won! John and I got a sitter for the kids for four days and we hit the road! We drove during the day and stayed in hotels at night. The experience was amazing, the game on the other hand...well, they lost the game and their playoff chances. But the players-Brian Urlacher, Devin Hester, Lance Briggs...so yummy! Next season, Soldier Field is calling my name! By the way, yes that is a look of thrill and excitement on John's face to be there with me :)

Christmas Morning

Christmas morning the kids woke us up at 4 am and then I proceeded to tell them "yeah right" and to get their cute little butts back into bed. Once 8 am rolled around we got up and opened our stockings and Nolan found a little treat along with a note from Santa. He has been a bit of a turd this year and we kept warning him he was going to get snowman poop if he didn't shape up... Now before you tell me how mean I am, he also got a stocking full of surprises. This was just a bit of a wake up call, suprisingly he has been nicer since. After the stockings, my charming husband made us breakfast and we all ate together in the living room floor. After that, the wrapping paper went flying!

Polar Express

It's been awhile since i've posted, so I'm going to play catch up and let everyone know what we've been up to the last couple of months... The Saturday after Thanksgiving, John and I took the kids to the North Pole on The Polar Express! In Connersville, Indiana they have this awesome historic train that takes kids to the "North Pole" to recreate the movie "The Polar Express". We took our golden tickets and boarded the train in our pajamas as the conductor yelled "all aboard". As we sat down, the sound of Christmas carols poured into the train cars enveloping us into the Christmas spirit. Hot cocoa and cookies were passed out to the children and their parents...yum. Once we reached the North Pole we all got to sing to get Santa to come out of his home. Santa boarded the train and sat with each and every child to find out what they wanted for Christmas and gave them a bell...just like the movie. This is the coolest thing ever to do for your kids at Christmas time. Tickets go on sale in May and are sold out before summer

ends so act quickly!

Finally Finished!

Our kitchen remodel is finally finished! Actually, it was finished a month ago but things happen... Here are the pics of our new kitchen. We didn't actually do a full remodel. Our cabinets and layout was all good, but we brought our bar/counter area out into a "L-shape" and added more cabinets underneath our new granite countertops. John installed the cobalt blue pendant lighting over the extension...I'm glad he is so handy! We had someone install the tile backsplash just to avoid anymore marital spats. Anyone married who has done home improvements probably knows what I mean. Good grief...we spent over six hours picking out the tile, think how long it would have taken us to install it! Anyway, we love the improvements we've made. It was well worth it!

New England 2008

Last week John and I took the kids to New England on vacation. We stayed in a beautiful resort in the Berkshires, in Massachusetts. There wasn't a whole lot to do in the town we stayed, but we took a lot of day trips. One day we went to Vermont, another to Six Flags New England, John went to NYC and then my personal favorite...Boston. There was so much to do there, we'll have to go back when we have more time. The kids did get to ride their first train though! Nolan loves trains so that was big for him. Then we took a quick trip to Madison's future home, New Haven , CT - home of the Yale Bulldogs :) We had a great time, but I think it'll be a while before I drive that far with the kids and my husband again!

Nolan's Preschool "Graduation"

Nolan graduated!!! Well, to the next preschool class anyway. One more year of preschool and he'll be in kindergarten...can you believe it? He loves school and always has. I wonder how much longer that will last?

Kitchen remodeling

John and I, well I, have decided to remodel our kitchen a bit. Right now we have counter tops that are very much useable, but a little 70's for my taste. If you'll notice, also, there is a little corner by the stove for myself and Madison to shove our ghettos into while cooking dinner. That just isn't cutting it anymore. So... we're adding more cabinets and extending our current bar into an "L-shape". Poor John, I believe I'm killing him with these labor-intensive home improvements of mine...ah, well. It's all for the greater good! :) I'm having so much fun picking out paint colors and cabinets and organizers, oh my. There's nothing like a well-organized drawer...am I right? Today, we went to Indy to the granite warehouse where we seriously got to pick out the actual slab of granite that will be our counters. I am so flippin' excited! Two more weeks and they'll be all mine! Pics to come later...

Father/Daughter Dance

Tonight, Madison and John are going to the Father/Daughter Dance at her school, St. Bartholomew. She has been so excited and has had a countdown going for the last two weeks! Before the dance I did her nails and took her to get her hair done. First they're going to have dinner with her friend, Abby, and her dad at Golden Corral (apparently I haven't taught her anything about where to go when the guy is paying) and then they'll head off to dance the night away, well until 9:00 pm that is... She is so cute! The big guy next to her isn't so bad either :) Man, they grow up way too quickly. Poor Nolan. He wanted to go too and stopped balling long enough to get his picture taken with daddy.

Girl's Night Out

Madison and I have this little tradition we started a year or two ago called "Girl's Night". We usually spend the evening cruising Target (with hot chocolates in hand) or loading up on junk food while watching a funny movie.

This past weekend we decided to do things a little differently. We stayed at the Hilton in Indy (near Keystone) overnight and had a blast. Friday night, we ordered room service so we could just relax after our hour jaunt and then I talked Maddy into going to Keystone shopping. I baited her with Sephora and she loved it! Then we went back to the hotel for the night and watched Alvin and the Chipmunks.

Madison saw the little cards they leave in the room where you can choose what you want for breakfast the next day and hang the card on your door...well, we woke up with breakfast waiting for us the next morning. How spoilt I felt! Once we got cleaned up, we went to Clay Terrace in Carmel. I love that place!!! My favorite store there is Sur La Table. It's a kitchen supply store and I stayed a bit too long there. Madison had to help carry bags out of there...oops!

Once we got home, we met up with the boys for a movie and then went to Not Just Popcorn in Edinburgh. They have every kind of popcorn you can imagine. I'm not a big fan of popcorn, but it's pretty cool. I came away with a Chicago Bears tin filled with caramel corn...beautiful and delicious! All and all it was a really good time. I can't believe Madison will be 8 this year. It is killing me how fast she is growing up. It's nice to be able to spend time with her while she can still stand me! :)

John in Japan

So this week John has had the great opportunity to go to Japan. He works at Toyota here in Columbus and was chosen to visit and participate in a race. He's actually participating in a more laid back "entertainment race" wearing a national costume, which he has chosen to be Superman. That should be entertaining! Anyway, the kids and I have missed him and will be glad when he is back on Monday.

Ahh the flu...

I haven't written in awhile, but it seems the stomach flu has attached itself to me. Therefore, I have some time to write. It started out last weekend with both the kids vomitting with fevers. Madison even had to miss the first half of the school week. Now Madison and Nolan have recovered and I have the chance to lay on the couch all day. You know what, it's really not as much fun as you'd think. I'm always wishing for a day off to veg and now that I have it-I am completely bored! John and the kids have been gone all day running errands so that they wouldn't be here to jump all over me, which is nice of him but I'd really like someone here to wait on me hand-and-foot. Is that so wrong?

Charming Boys

Okay...if anyone has tried to take an attractive group picture you know that rarely can it be done. We took our pictures for our Christmas cards this year, and no lie...spent one hour taking pictures over and over again! We finally agreed on one although funnily enough, this was not it! Nolan has some sort of monkey face going on and my darling husband looks startled along

with his basketball shorts hanging out. At least we have another year to recover before next year's picture.

One for my homies

Check out my little thugs! I've started brainwashing them at a very early age. Last year a Colts player came to Parkside to speak and Madison was standing up booing with her thumbs down. She did get a note sent home, but I let it slide. It's important to instill good values in your kids.These things are important...you know?!

Go Bears!

First Blog...

Okay, I have no clue how to do this blogging thing, but it seems like a good way to keep in touch. We'll see how it goes. If anyone has any tips they would like to give me they would be greatly appreciated! :)