Cardinals Fans!

Here is Hunter and I wearing our STL Cardinal's attire to celebrate opening day for Busch Stadium!

Dinner with Hunter :)

Wordless Wednesday!

Missouri is Bi-Polar!

Ok, is there another state out there that has as jacked up weather as Missouri? Seriously?!?! We were skipping around in 80 degree weather last week. Then within days the temperature plummeted! And then it snowed on Saturday...and snowed on Sunday. I am so done with the snow! I was done 3 months ago! Enough is enough....bring on the sun and heat!

I got up this morning and this is what it looked like outside:

But by the time I got home this evening it looked like this:

  Make up your mind!!!!

Weekend Recap!

Friday evening we did our usual Friday night ritual during Lent....Fish fry! I once again filled myself with greasy-fatty food that is a big no-no to my diet. I just cannot say no to Crab Rangoon!

Saturday: WE DID NOTHING!!!!! Not that we didn't have anything planned, because we did!!!! We had something fun and exciting planned, but mother nature decided to bring us yet another snow storm!!!! Therefore we were stuck at home!!! STUPID SNOW!

We had plans to go to St. Louis and surprise a very special lady for her 50th birthday. She had NO CLUE a bunch of us were coming. It was going to be an awesome surprise. But the snow ruined it, Grrr!

Sunday: Hunter and I cleaned the house. I also introduced Hunter to a movie called "Chicken Run." He LOVED it! Hunter loves all things "Chichins." If we are drawing together and I ask him what he wants me to draw, you can guarantee he will say "Chichin." When we are singing Old McDonald Had a Farm and I ask Hunter what Old McDonald had on his farm, he will say "Chichin." When I ask Hunter what he wants to be when he grows up.....a "Chichin" Need I say more?

Here is a flash back from when Hunter was about 7 months old meeting some "chichins" for the first time! Too Cute

Have a Great Week!

Happy 1/2 Birthday Hunter

Hunter is 2 1/2 today! Where has the time gone?

Weekend Recap!

Friday Evening we had a family fish fry over at Andy's Uncle's house. The first of many fish fries we will have through out Lent. We stayed out pretty late and Hunter was covered from head to toe in dirt, so we gave Hunter at bath at about 11:30pm. We were both exhausted by the time we made it to bed.

Saturday: I had to work that morning. That evening we went to another fundraiser at the local Eagles club. This time it was for the local volunteer firefighters. There was a huge crowd!!! I think they did pretty good. Afterwards, Hunter and I went over to my Mom's house. My brother was in town so we hung out with him for awhile since we hadn't seen him since Christmas.

Sunday: The weather was absolutely beautiful!!! Hunter and I spent a couple hours outside, which mostly consisted of me pushing him in the swing. Hunter would swing 24hrs a day if he could find someone to push him that long. Later on we had a contractor come over to the house. We've had decided to go ahead and build up on our house. Yay!! We'd like to have more room, but the money cruncher side of me is eager to go ahead and build up and lock in our Mortgage loan at these historical low interest rates. For those of you who have built a house know how stressful it is. Why we didn't just build the whole thing at one time is a puzzle to me! Pray for me and Andy that we can make it through this again! Anyway, the contractor came over to go over what our plans are. He is going to crunch the numbers for us on what it might cost. Either way, I think we are going to start the later part of the summer. Considering we have to rip our roof off and build a whole nother level and put the roof back on, we would prefer there be no chance of rain during this process :)

That evening: We went down to Donnie and Shanda's for dinner. It was our first BBQ of the season! Boy, do I love warm weather!!

Have a great week everyone!!!

iPhone

Andy and I recently joined the world of the iphone. I never felt the need to have one, but once I realized our cell phone contract was up for renewal and we could upgrade our phones to an iphone, I figured why not! Andy has been wanting one for awhile because a family friend showed Andy a fishing game that he had on his iphone and ever since Andy has had to have one!

So we just got our phones in on Thursday, and ever since has been a learning experience. I am pretty computer/phone savvy, but it is taking me awhile to learn the iphone. I never realized there were millions of apps you can get. We've downloaded a few. Of course Andy wanted Hunting and Fishing Games. I on the other hand downloaded things such as: calorie counters, shopping list, kindle, and fun stuff for Hunter. 

It is slowly growing on me. I am not playing with it as much as I thought. Andy on the other hand has discovered the world of Angry Birds and can't hardly put the phone down. This has been his stance that last few evenings!!! 

Can anyone out there recommend some good apps?

The Rainbow!

Like I mentioned in my previous post, my step-dad Tim now sells these Rainbow Cleaning Systems. I am sure you have heard of them. I was familiar with them because my Grandma Hollis owned one as well as my mom. So I grew up using one, but at that time I could care less about all of its benefits. I was a kid and it was a chore, therefor I hated it. But now I am a wife and a mother and things like vacuum cleaners are now important in my life. Wow...I am officially at a new stage in my life. I just got freaking excited about a vacuum cleaner. I need a life!

I think of myself as a clean person but I don't whip out the vacuum every time Hunter spills gold fish crackers all over my carpet. I pick up what I can see and move on. I do tend to just vacuum on the weekends. And if you would have asked me if I thought my carpet was clean up until Saturday morning, I would have said yes. Boy was I wrong! The Rainbow literally speaks for itself. My carpets were filthy! I NEVER KNEW!!! I vacuumed my living room carpet on Sunday and look at the results.

This is so embarrassing! Warning: This is Gross!

Seeing is Believing

The great thing about the Rainbow is that instead of a filter, it uses a container of water to collect all the filth. It traps everything, including all the dust that you can't see on your carpet! Which was one of my main selling points. We have a lot of hardwood floors. Nothing drives me more nuts then cleaning the hardwood floor and then the sun shines thru the windows and you can see all the dust on the floors. The Rainbow now has a way of eliminating that. While are you not using it as a vacuum cleaner, it can sit in the corner of your room and filters the air in your home. Sucking away all the pesky dust particles that float around the room. Love it!

Even your toddler can operate it! 

Weekend Recap!

Friday Evening: Hunter and I met Andy at our accountant's office to sign our taxes. Thank God, we are getting money back this year. I HATE paying in!!!! Afterwards, Andy took Hunter with him and they went to the farm and drove around on the four-wheeler. I on the other hand went home and relaxed until the boys got home. It was a lazy evening!

Saturday: My mom and Step-dad came over that morning to give us a Rainbow Cleaning System demonstration. My step-dad Tim is becoming a salesman for them. I was adament that I wasn't going to buy one. Guess what I bought??? Yep, I bought one! I'll talk more about it later. Also that day, I got to watch my newest niece Liberty.

 Isn't she a doll? She was such a good baby!

That evening: Me, Andy and Hunter went to the local Eagles club to eat dinner. There was a fundraiser for the Senior Class to raise money for their project graduation. There was a good crowd and the food was great as usual.

Sunday: The Time Changed...YUCK! Losing that one hour seems to take weeks to recover from. Anyway, Andy got up early to go fishing with his brother. I wanted to sleep in, but Hunter wasn't having it. I spent a large part of the day vacuuming the house. And I loved every minute of it! Wow, show sad is that? That evening, we went down to the in-laws where we ate chicken and dumplings. It was fantastic!

Cake Balls 101

Hunter's Exhausting Day!

Today Hunter's babysitter was off, so Hunter stayed with Andy's grandma Tillie! Needless to say, but he didn't take a nap.  After

bringing him home, he quickly fell asleep on the hardwood floor...that can't be comfortable!

Weekend Recap

Friday Evening: We got our taxes done in Vienna. We decided to go to Jeff City to eat dinner as well. Was that a mistake! Andy wanted Pizza Hut, so we went to the one on Eastland. Wow...what a terrible experience! We had to wait for them to clean off a booth for us (No it was not super busy!) Then there was napkins, Straw wrappers and food all under our table. When it came to ordering, I wanted the Big Dippers...well they were not longer available. Fine. So we ordered a large pan pepperoni pizza....well they were out of pan pizza, so we had to get hand tossed. Fine. Then I ordered a large cheese stick...well they were out of large, so we had to get a medium. Are you freaking kidding me??? We got our food, we ate and then we waited...and waited! We waited for the longest time for our ticket. I ended up going to the counter and paid without the ticket and then I went and got my own to-go box. I couldn't get out of there fast enough. I hate that this happened....because I love me some Pizza Hut!

Saturday: I had to work that morning. After work I went and got Hunter and we came home and played for awhile before I put him down for a nap. I proceeded to make snacks to take to a family fish fry. I made my cream cheese roll-up thingys and I made red velvet cake balls ( I will post my process later). That evening we went to the fish fry and had a fantastic time with the family!

Sunday: We bummed around the house for a majority of the day before going to Donnie and Shanda's for dinner. Fried Chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy!!! Yum!!!

It was a great weekend, but went by way too fast!!!

I am a Miracle Maker!

Every year my radio station, Y107 has a radiothon to raise money for MU's Children's Hospital and The Children's Miracle Network (CMN) and every year I end up bawling my eyes out in my vehicle listening to all of the sad stories of children suffering on my way to work. This year I made a donation in honor of my healthy son Hunter and became a Miracle Maker. I can't imagine being in the shoes these families. I pray that Hunter never-ever-ever-ever has to go to MU's Children's Hospital, but I am reassured knowing a fantastic hospital is available to us. The hospital is non-for-profit that handles a wide range of injuries and illnesses. No family is ever turned away for their inability to pay. How great is that! 

Here are some facts about the hospital:

• Children’s Hospital had 60,058 visits in 2010(includes inpatient and outpatient)

• Pediatric E.R. had 10,352 visits

• Neonatal Intensive Care Unit admits more than 500 sick and premature infants each year

• More than 420 infants and children are transported to the hospital each year

• Cared for patients from all of Missouri’s 114 counties

Click this link. It  is an audio clip of a little girl named Abe. You will LOVE it!!! She is an example of a success story going to this hospital.

If you live in Missouri, I strongly encourage you to donate to MU's Children's Hospital. Click Here to donate now! If you are uncertain on what to do, tune into the radiothon tomorrow on 106.9FM. I guarantee you will be touched!

God Bless!

Wordless Wednesday

I am struggling here...

I am in need of some Biggest Loser support!!! I believe I left my motivation on the beach somewhere in Cozumel! I think in my head, I knew there was no way I was going to win the Biggest Loser in February because we were going to an All Enclusive Resort in Mexico (AKA: all the food and drinks you can imagine) and I wanted to get my money's worth. So since we have gotten back I just can't get myself under control! I LOVE food damn it! I think I am addicted! When I first started my diet in January it was really hard for me...I think I was having a lot of withdrawls. (OMG, I sound like a drug addict). But I pushed through it and was successful at losing 10lbs in a month. Anyway, going to Mexico I completely threw my whole diet out the plane window! And as a result, I am back to the food withdrawl stage. Grrrr!!!! Our weigh-in for the month of February is next Monday. I know I haven't lost anything...heck I'll be happy if I have maintained my weight. The bad side of me is just wanting to say heck with the diet until Monday...and then jump back on the banwagon for March. But I need to just suck it up and put down the Cheez-its!!!

Ahh, what I would do for a cupcake right now!!!

These cupcakes are from Georgetown Cupcakes in Washington, DC. They are on a show called DC Cupcakes on TLC. Does anyone watch this show? If so, do you know how they make their icing? It is always so whippy, pretty...and perfect!