Random questions

I just answered all these random questions on a face book application. Thought it would be fun to put my answers up here. Have fun learning more about me.
What was your last thought?
How many more questions are there???

Juice and crackers or milk and cookies?
Seriously??? Milk and cookies... duh!!

Favorite fruit?
C antelope! Mmmmmmmm.....

Are you a cat or a dog person?
Definitely a cat person

Would you rather be blind or deaf?
blind. There are to many beautiful sounds... of course I would really miss the color of nature.

Define yourself in 3 words...
Trying really hard

Do you eat cold cereal at night?
not usually... I like toast

Kill the spider or let it out?
KILL IT DEAD!!!!!

Do you shower every single day?
gross! Yes of course!!

Walking past a beggar, spare change or ignore?
ignore

Where do you want to travel next?
Disneyland with the kids... cuz hubby really really wants to.

What would you do if Michael Jackson asked you out
ewww......run to a police station as fast as I could!

What is your favorite food?	|
Italian

Do you read harry potter books?
JUST FINISHED THEM!!!!! Like.... 2 days ago!

What is your favorite place?
in bed... warm, cozy, and asleep!

If you could have one super human power what would you choose?
Super mom

Have you had a beer in the last week?
have I had one in my life? nope.

Vitamin Water or Gatorade?
Ewww....... Purified water! :)

Flip flops or sandles?
sandles... flip flops make my toes hurt

What do you do on fridays?
clean the house.... or play

What is your favorite song of all time?
Samuel Barber- Adagio for Strings

Do you like bananas?
occationaly

Lemonade, kites, and flamed pianos...... can we say RANDOM!???

Hi ya to all my faithful blog readers! lol. Ok.... so tonight will be a bit... uh... random. I am in a chatty mood.... but have no one to chat with, so I am going to have a nice conversation with myself on my blog and you can all read it (if you want).

So I guess I will start with the most serious part of this post!

I AM GETTING FAMILY PICTURES TAKEN!!! YAY!!!!

Ok- possibly it is lame to be THIS EXCITED about family pictures... but really I AM ELATED!! Being a photographer myself it has made it slightly more than difficult to find a photographer FOR ME! Sure I can take pictures for everyone else ... even my children's portraits... but family pictures... that gets a bit tough! Each photographer has their own style, likes, dislikes, and ideas. Since photography is a creative venue these values don't always line up!!! So far I have not been able to find a photographer that I have trusted to take my family pictures. I WON'T do a Sears portrait, but I am too cheep to pay a nice photographer unless I am TOTALLY SURE I will love the pictures, which up until now... has been non existent.

UNTIL I FOUND ELLE!!!!

Just check these ladies OUT!!!!
http://www.ellephotos.com/
Can we say AMAZING!????? Ok... again I realize this is an artistic preference... but I LOVE THEIR STYLE!!!!

I found these lovely ladies through a friends blog. They had their pictures taken there and I fell IN LOVE with them!!! I called these ladies up to make an appt. expecting a pretty standard "where do you want them and when" but NO.. it was like talking to a friend who CARED that my pictures be the BEST they could be!!! Their whole philosophy in taking pictures is to make them YOU! Not just pretty people in a stale studio... but YOU in YOUR comfort zone!! She talked to me for quite a while trying to help me pin point the perfect setting for our family photos! Something that was unique to our family and told a story. So at any rate.. to make a short story not so long...
We are having our family pictures taken WHILE WE FLY KITES!!! Yep... we are going to take one of our favorite outings with a photographer in tow. We are having a picnic, then flying kites for a while, and finishing up by playing on the playground toys! HOW FUN IS THAT!!!! I am SO EXCITED!!! The only down fall is that I now have to WAIT until MARCH for these lovely photos! Flying kites in the snow would look pretty stupid!!



Next up... my dear friend Diana gave me some LEMONADE!!! Mmmm.... I am so ready for spring and a cool glass of lemonade out on my deck!! Until then I suppose this will keep my hopes up! Diana gave me a Lemonade award. Here is what I am SUPPOSE to do........

1. Put the logo on your blog or post. (Right click on the logo at left and save to your own computer.)
2. Nominate at least 10 blogs which show great attitude and/or gratitude!
3. Link to your nominees within your post.
4. Let them know that they have received this award by commenting on their blog.
5. Share the love and link to this post with the person from whom you received your award.

I am excited to have this fun little award.... however... I am to lazy to pick ten more people and LINK to their blogs! lol. (Besides Diana stole some of my blog friends and gave them the award already.) SOOOOO....... here is what I am doing instead... lol.
If your blog is on my side bar... then you have received this award! CONGRATULATIONS!!! haha.... what a lame-o I am tonight eh?


So for my SECOND random topic... PIANOS!!! So most of you know the story about my Baby grand piano that I had for about a year. It now resides back with my Father who was so generous to give it to me in the first place. I have always joked with my dad that he should give the piano a hot rod flame job!! I just KNEW it would be the ONLY ONE in the world!! However, after chasing a random whim, I found out I was WRONG! I decided to do a google search on flamed pianos!! Not only did I find flames... BUT A WHOLE LOT MORE!!! Baldwin has a WHOLE LINE of NEW pianos painted in 'exotic' motifs. Check out the whole line of them here
http://www.gibson.com/en-us/divisions/baldwin/

These were a few of my 'favorites'... though it was so hard to narrow it down!

Recipes!

Hey Ya'll. So we had some friends over for a once a month dinner/FHE group that we are in. I served some YUMMY White Chilli. The girls asked me to post the recipe on my blog so they could grab it. When I started to think about it I remembered doing a scrapbook page with this recipe for a challenge a while back.... SOOOOOO.... it is already done and I can put it up lickety split! I think you should be able to right click the image and save it to your computer and then print it off.




I also found a super good recipe for pumpkin muffins a while back and have been meaning to post that too! I am SUPER picky about my pumpkin muffins... they can't be to soggy or to dry. This recipe was easy and OH SO GOOD!!!!!!

1 1/2 C. Sugar
1 C. oil
3 eggs
1 lb. pumpkin
1 1/2 C. flour
1 1/2 tsp. soda
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla

(I added a bit of nutmeg and cloves also)

Measure all ingredients in a big mixing bowl. Beat together well for 5 minutes. Pour into cupcake pans (fill more than 1/2 full). Bake at 400 degrees for 20 min.

OOOOOHHHH YUMMM!!
So there ya go... just some of my favorite recipes. I have thought about compiling a cook book of my favorite recipes..... maybe someday I will actually do that!

My Shaggy!

So I have another adorable page to share with you today (well... at least I think it is adorable) It is featuring my little crazy man!

I have been needing to cut Braden's hair for a while now. He use to love getting his hair cut! Now, all of a sudden... he is not so keen on the idea. Every time I mention it he run's from the room! It is getting more unruly everyday!! Today I got him dressed and tried to tame his hair with water but he wouldn't have it. Later in the day I was looking at my poor little waif of a child, and it dawned on me who he looked like today!


Ok- seriously I did not TRY to dress him like Shaggy! This is really the outfit I put on him HOURS before I realized who he looked like today! I will admit to posing him for the pictures though! I found them on the internet knowing Braden LOVES to imitate what he sees in pictures. I showed him the picture on the computer and asked him to do what Shaggy was doing. He was being a little camera shy today though.... so I bribed him with tootsie rolls!!!

ISN'T HE THE CUTEST SHAGGY EVER!!

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It seemed fitting to leave the title as it was.... Braden snatched the keyboard from me and started to type away.

I find myself once again playing blog catch-up. There is much I want to post about our holidays.... mostly our Christmas fire (don't worry... the house is still standing... thanks to a fire extinguisher) But in the few minutes I have today I want to share my new theme song with you.

God bless the American Housewife

The last two days have just about killed me. Going to Grandmas is always a wonderful treat but we do pay the price when it is time to come home. While the kids adjust to having boring mom around to play with again, regular bed times, and better eating habits; Mom has to adjust to cooking meals, cleaning, and well.... being a mom again.

I am in no way complaining here (well... maybe just a little). I love being a housewife and thank my hubby for giving me that opportunity. I love visiting grandmas house and I LOVE my kids..........

BUT

Yesterday I was almost in tears by bed time. I felt like I was chasing two, crazy, grumpy, naughty children in different directions all day! This morning wasn't much better. Here is a quick run down of the mornings events.

Woke up to the kids fighting over a kitchen chair.... There are three others but for some reason the BOTH wanted this ONE this morning. I.... being the great mom that I am... said "figure it out yourselves" and began reading my Harry Potter book while they fought for about an hour. At one point during the argument I was venting on the phone to Victoria when Amalyssa found a way to solve the argument.... NOT. Amalyssa comes around the corner into my bed room heaving with all her might... behind her she is dragging 'THE' chair... and as she makes her way round the corner I see braden dragging along behind the chair, holding on with all his might. OIY!!

After the chair issue was sorted out I got cereal for the kids. Braden promply spilled his all over the floor that I mopped yesterday (though it was christened last night with a glass of chocolate milk). I sent him to wait in the bathroom while I cleaned it up. When I went in to find him he had something splattered all over his face! Sunscreen.... well... at least I won't have to worry about sunburns today. Got Braden in the tub and went to try and pacify Amalyssa for a moment who was asking me every 2 minutes if I could play with her yet. While playing with amalyssa... or rather while she was explaining to me what we were playing, I hear Braden freaking out in the bathtub....... POOP, POOP, POOP!!!! Yes... he had popped in the tub.

So that was my loverly morning. Things have calmed down since then... but I am SOOOO ready for bed time! I was folding laundry and listening to my music when this song by SheDaisy started playing..... I have loved this song since the first time I heard it... but today... I just about cried! LOL..... out of laughter or pain for the truth I am not sure which... but I just HAD to come post it on my blog for all the mothers out there!

Why is it that parenting doesnt come with an instruction manual???