Eeeeeeek!!!!

New baby!!! Most of you guys know that baby #2 is officially on the way! I had tested like 3x before Christmas in hopes to break the news on Christmas day, but to no avail. I gave up and decided that it wasn't going to happen until on Sunday afternoon i decided to try once more and WAMMO! 2 lines! :) We're all really excited although i'm just crazy nervous since the first few weeks are so important! I have my 1st appt with the doctor on Jan. 5th so we'll see! Yay babies!

mmmmm soup!

i had to share this recipe for the sake of all human beings everywhere...all humans who like good food, good warm food on a cold winter day, and all humans who like to get good food with a cheap price tag! A girl at work brought this soup in for everyone to eat and it was AMAZING! Give it a shot sometime...it's soooooo easy....

Autumn Soup
1 lb ground beef
1/2 lg onion chopped
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup chopped carrots
1 cup chopped potatoes (or you can do like me and eyeball it to the proportions you prefer)
basil
1 can tomato juice
4 cups hot water
dash of hot sauce
salt & peppa'
1 bay leaf (optional) (confession: i've never owned a container of bay leaves)

Cook the beef in a skillet and season how you like, i used a little hot sauce, salt and pepper, italian seasoning, and some garlic powder. Add in the onion when the beef is almost done and let it cook.
Start a large pot with 1 can of tomato juice and 4 cups hot water. Or if you're like me and didn't even realize that tomato juice COMES IN CANS? I used 1/2 can of tomato soup and about 2 cans worth of water. I think that actually works better. Throw your veggies in to the pot add seasoning and cooked beef (i didn't use the full pound of beef either). Bring it up to a boil and then turn it down to a low boil and just let it sit and cook and get squishy and yummy and delicious. Awesome soup!

2 posts in one day...I've gone crazy!?

Ok so now i'm in a blogging mood since i did the thing earlier this morning. Soooo you all get updated on our family life. SInce my last post (over a month ago) a lot has happened. Kenzie has gotten bigger, Joel and I have gotten financially stable lol and Thanksgiving has come and gone! We had an awesome Thanksgiving with everyone over at the house. Kenzie slept through the first half of dinner but it ended up working out...i got to eat a hot meal!! Then Kenz woke up and we all got to laugh and play with her. She ate some bread and a few bites of aunt San's sweet potato casserole but not too much. Guess she wasn't hungry!

Anywho....Joel and I are doing great these days...well besides our cars. My car idles really rough and Joel's car quit entirely. His uncle is lending us his extra truck though for now so there is no RUSH to get Joel's truck working which is SUCH a blessing! Hopefully Joel can get my car fixed up today but it is like 25 degrees outside so i'm not sure if he can do it or not. We had some snow fall on Monday morning which was awesome and some ice came down last night too. I don't think kenzie is feeling too well this morning, she woke up at 3am last night with a butt explosion all over the place and then just had another blowout....but i got to it before it escaped the diaper. Things i'm sure you want to know! :) Poor baby. She wasn't eating much today so i kinda figured something was up.

we're all looking forward to the Christmas festivities. We'll all get together on Christmas Eve and then come back to our house to have a gift exchange with Joel's uncle who can't come on Christmas day. Then Christmas morning Joel's mom will come over and make breakfast, we'll all get together and eat and open presents and then probably just watch Kenzie play all day long :) I'm so excited! I got Joel some good gifts too so yay!

I love my baby. She's on my lap now and just being so cuddly. She obviosuly isn't feeling great but it's almost nice because she isn't normally this snuggly.

I would post some pics but since i always post on FB i'm sure you guys have seen em and i'm not in the mood to go through all of that madness. Sorry! Nothing new anyways. We need to get some winter pics done for our Christmas cards as time draws to a close when we can do that!

I'm busy working on Kenzie's birthday invitations nowadays and hoping to get them in the mail REALLY soon.

Well i need to go and snuggle my sick baby girl. Hope it's nothing bad!

shout out to Vanessa...I'm the first friend to know about your new house and i'm sooo excited for you guys! I'm glad it all finally worked out in the end and you finally got your own house! What a great Christmas present! hurray!

What is blogging?

Ok i was tagged so i have to post!

1.) Have you started your Christmas shopping?

Yeop and i'm nearly done with it....a few more little things to get but thats it. This is the first year that i've been done early! wowza! and they are wrapped too!

2.) Tell me about one of your special traditions.

Every year on Christmas Eve we all get together at Joel's mom's great uncles house....or something like that...either way...cousins and aunts and uncles and 2nd cousins twice removed...everyone...gets together. We all go to Catholic Mass because we have one living Catholic family member left and what she says GOES. LOL. We sat out of church last year because there was no seating room and i was ridiculously pregnant....so we'll see how this year goes with Kenzie. Either way...we all eat and talk and exchange gifts and it's great fun.

3.) When do you put up your Tree?

Day after Thanksgiving...but this year it went up a few days earlier since i worked the day after turkey day.



4.) Are you a Black Friday shopper?
I have done it EVERY year but this year because again....worked!


5.) Do you Travel at Christmas or Stay home?
Staying home....kenzie needs the time to play with her toys!

6.) What is your funniest Christmas memory?
We always read the Christmas Bible story, and the Santa Christmas story when i was growing up. One year we all gathered around the little pop up book that we had and my dad set up a video camera and we all gathered around by candlelight to read the book. I couldn't see the pop ups well enough so i decided to lean over to get a better view. Next thing i know...my mom starts slapping the side of my head. Apparently i leaned over a candle and my hair caught on fire. Luckily it was all on video so you see us all reading together and then a spark of flame and my mom beating me :)

7.) What is your favorite Christmas Movie of All time?
Ooooh hettie has it....Elf! I like smiling, smiling's my favorite!


8.)Do you do your own Christmas Baking, what’s your favorite treat?
I like making my little chocolate covered cherry mice! :)

9.) Fake or Real Tree?
Fake because i leave it up too long for a real one.

10.) What day (as a Mom) does the actual panic set in to get it all done?
I actually didn't because we were able to get most everything earlier! No panics!

11.) Are you still wrapping presents on Christmas Eve?
Nope!


12.) What is your favorite family fun time at Christmas?
The entirety of the week!

13.) What Christmas craft do you like the best?
decorating the tree and making gifts from Kenzie :)

14.) Christmas music?
Everything at church

15.) When do you plan to finish all your shopping?
Goodness....with the shopping questions. It's done...well one gift left


Tagged by Hettie
I tag you Vanessa! you have a blog and you haven't touched it in forever either!!!!

Graduation!

Happy Graduation to Mackenzie! She has officially switched her carseat to forward facing!!

She had her 9 month checkup today and everything went great! She is 29'' long and 23lbs. She is healthy as can be and doing great with all of her developmental milestones. She had to get 3 shots today, the last Hep B, seasonal flu and H1N1. She actually handled it really well too....she of course cried right when the stuck her but after about 10 seconds she was over it and eating puffs. They take urine samples at 9 months as a standard thing so as long as we get no phone calls on that then we're all good!

As for last weekend....Kenzie happily celebrated Halloween with us and he/our friends. Our two friends and their two kids went out trick or treating with us and the friend's brother drove a tractor around with a trailer and some hay so we got a hay ride around town to trick or treat! It was a blast and Kenzie actually enjoyed it more than i thought she would. She was fascinated at looking around at everything that was going on, she sucked on a lollipop and was wide awake the whole time! It was cold out (45 or so) but bundled in her fleece outfit and thick caterpillar suit she was all good. Joel and I took turns taking her up to the doors for candy. She waved HI a few times but was otherwise just happy! She seemed to like the hay ride the best though. Such a good baby! I couldn't be prouder.

Soooooo hmm...what else.....

things are going well with my new job. Haven't had any problems of late and i'm enjoying the interaction with the people. I'm starting to recognize some of the 'regulars.' Last week a little old man nearly broke my heart. He apparently comes in every other week or so. He and his wife got married when he was 18 and she was 16. They ran off to a courthouse and got married and remained married until she passed away last year. I'd say he's about 85 or something.....so you can see howlong they were married. They appear to have been best friends and so happy together. Now that she has passed away he has started to shrivel away and lose weight and has had 2 strokes and a heart attack since. He has lost his short term memory and has trouble remembering to pay his bills....but his memories of his wife are sharp as a tack. Maybe it's not such a bad thing that his short term memory is gone. Every single time he mentioned his wife to me he started to tear up. He hung around the bank for a good 15 mins just talking to all of us tellers, joking around and telling life stories. He just enjoys the company i think. Anyways...just breaks my heart. :(

I'm not in the mood to work on posting pics of Halloween just yet so i'll work on that later. Ii really need to work on getting some GOOD pics of the outfit since it was so dark outside and none really came out good on the night of.

This weekend we are celebrating Joel's aunt's birthday as well as two other friend's of ours. They have rented out a room at a downtown Irish Pub, so needless to say, Joel is psyched about that. :) Gammy will keeping Kenzie on Saturday night so i'll miss my girly but it should be a fun night.

Well i'm gonna go and relax. Kenzie has been sorta fussy today, be it from the shots or her general allergy drainage and cough i don't know. Hopefully tonight she sleeps a little better though!

Hiiii!

So Kenzie's big landmark this week is saying HI and waving. Well sorta. SHe clasps her hand open and closed and says Hiiiii! She'll pretty much do it until she gets a reply too. It's sooooo cute.

These past few weeks i don't feel like i've relaxed for more than 10 mins at all. All weekend we were busy last week, and then this weekend will be the same i think. I'd actually just love to sit at home for one day and do absolutely nothing....but alas....things to do. AND when i am at home during the day all i do is clean since we've been too busy for a weekend cleaning session. It's exhausting. Today i took Kenzie out to KOHLS to use up $20 in KOHLS dollars i was given but it was a bust. I ended up getting a comfy pair of sweat pants....justified since i am home so much more now...a little silver ring with 2 hearts on it, and a little fleece sweater for Kenz. I walked that WHOLE store and couldn't find anything that i REALLY wanted. TONS of cute clothes for Kenz but i was strictly told that it was for me. Even though i broek that rule with the $4 sweater for Kenz. Shhhh don't tell.

Anywho...things are going well although we are still waiting on our FLIPPING money from the GI Bill. Tomorrow is my last hope...if it's not in tomorrow then we're going to have to call our mortgage company and talk to them because the month without a paycheck, and now the $15,000 per year pay cut without the gov't help we were depending on is REALLY hitting hard. :( I'm really praying that this comes through for us but it's just looking like slim to none chances. sigh. Please GOD provide a way for us.

Anywho...on to happier things....the weather is great, the fall leaves are gorgeous... and I'm loving life as a part time SAHM. Joel and I are getting to spend time together and eat together, even if it is only like 90 mins a day. Kenzie has learned to throw a ball so she'll sit on the floor and throw a big ball to you. She thinks it's the greatest and will clap everytime that she throws it to you. So cute.

Kenzie is set to get her swine flu vaccine on Tuesday next week. I'm nervous about it. It's not so much the vaccine that i don't trust because it's just a variation on the regular vaccine thats been around for years, but i'm worried of her reactions to it and if she'll get any signs of sickness or anything. Sometimes that happens. BUT with as many kids in our area that have swine flu...i feel like it's in Kenzie's best interest to get it for her.

Uhmmm....i don't have much of anything else to write about so i guess i'll wrap this thing up. Ok....bye bye!

New Pics!

So we went and had Kenzie's pics made in her fall outfit...professionally. Although i was blessed with a praise from Aunt Sandy's co-workers who all thought that these last pics were the professional ones. :) Anyways....i started out at work on Saturday...boo. Came home and we all loaded up into the car (Joel me kenzie grandma and Joel's aunt) and headed over to meet the other aunt. We met her at Olive Garden for some lunch where Kenzie then proceeded to eat like a PIG and ate breadsticks, salad, pasta, water, juice, peaches, a chocolate mint bite and something from everyone's plate. We then went on to JC Penney and Kenz got spoiled by the family with 2 pairs of shoes, 2 packs of socks, 2 pairs of tights, 2 tshirts, one fleece pair of pants/jacket, 2 jacket and shirt and pants outfits, 2 more pairs of shoes, a hat and gloves, and then her Halloween costume. Phew....i think thats it....oh no one more sweatpant outfit too. Thanks to everyone! We only bought her 2 shirts and the 2 packs of socks! LOL. Anywho...after that we went to the picture studio but they were running abour an hour behind and i had realized that i left Kenzie's pumpkin hat at home. That pretty much MADE the outfit so i called Gymboree and they had more of the hats, but only in like 3-4T. We said we'd give it a shot since we had an hour to burn anyways. We got there and the hat was HUGE...but then Joel found one in 0-3mos and since Kenzie has a small head it 'worked.' BUUUT while looking around i found a 6-12mos one so we traded it out and all was well. Soooo we went and got pics made and Kenzie did a great job. She had been up ALL day long but was barely fussy at all. I was SO proud!!!! good girly!
So without further adieu....

So thats that! We had a great day albeit a busy one. Sunday has gone well....church (i sang solo! eek!) and then lunch with friends, back home, and soon to leave again for night church. Kenzie is napping well and i cleaned up a bit and got the FRIGGIN ants out of the diaper bag again. I HATE ANTS!!!

So yeah...i should get ready and wake Joel up soon too. MUCH LOVE! :)

HAPPY AUTUMN!!!