A fun party

Fun, but exhausting. For me anyway. We had originally planned on having Emily’s party at the park this year but Mother Nature didn’t think it was a good idea. Of COURSE, it was nice and sunny Saturday morning. It was chilly windy though so it’s a good thing that we made the call on Friday to move the party indoors. It was fun, just a bit crowded.

I hope all of the kids and adults had a good time! I know we did. Almost everyone that Emily loved was at the party. Some family couldn’t make it but that’s understandable. She had aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins and some of her favorite friends over to celebrate her big day.

It was a “Pinkalicious” themed party. Emily wanted pink cake, pink ice cream, pink jelly beans and pink lemonade! The kids read Pinkalicious, played a game and decorated pink cupcakes. What more could a little girl ask for?!

I do have to say that Emily, Stephen and I have the best friends and family in the whole world! They are always so much fun, kind and generous. We couldn’t make it through life without them. Thanks to everyone who helped us celebrate Emily’s 3rd birthday! The love was definitely felt on Saturday.

Photos

Picasa albums have been updated!

There were just too many birthday pictures to include in a post so I decided to update the web albums that way you could browse only if you wanted!

Operation: Lizard

Stephen brought home Emily this cool lizard from Arizona. It’s one of those that grows when you put it into water. In 72 hours, this orange lizard went from about an inch and a half to filling up the pitcher! Emily LOVED it! Every morning she would say “Daddy!!!! Look how big our lizard is!” It was a fun little project for them.

Day 1 1/2

Day 2

Day 3

3 years ago today……

my life changed forever. In a very, very good way. At 12:47pm, Emily Grace graced us with her presence. My world has never been the same since. God decided to bless Stephen and I with this perfect little girl who brings so much light into our lives. It’s hard to believe that 3 years have passed already. It just seems like yesterday she was born. I truly believe that she is the best thing that Stephen and I decided to do.

 

Dear Emily,

You have brought your daddy and I so much joy over the past three years. It’s amazing to watch you grow and change every day. I can’t believe how much you have change just in the past year. You went from this little toddler to a beautiful little girl. You are so full of life and love. You embrace everything full throttle, with open arms.

Because of you, our house is full of laughter and love. I find myself laughing with you and at you every day. You are so funny! Some of the things you say come out of nowhere and crack me up. You love to give hugs and kisses. When you said “I love you Mommy” out of the blue my heart swells and I get tears in my eyes. I wonder how was I ever lucky enough to be blessed to be your mommy?

You are so smart and so talkative. You love life and let everyone know it. You are truly a pleasure and a joy to be around. Not a day goes by that I don’t thank God for placing you in my care. You bring so much joy to everyone in your family, especially your daddy and I.

I wish nothing but the best for you in your life. I want you to be happy and healthy. I want you to have a full life. I want you to be kind and courteous to everyone around you. I hope all of your dreams come true. I hope you look back on your childhood with happy memories. I know I will.

Love,
Mommy

Pumpkinland

Our second trip to the land of pumpkins. This place is more about playing than pumpkins though. And the kids LOVE it!

We met Emily’s bestest friend Chase and her awesome mommy Julie there earlier this week. The girls had so much fun. It is so cute to see them walking, holding hands and talking. I know I have said this before..I don’t know if you can have a bff at this young age but if you can Chase is Emily’s. These girl love each other and enjoy each other’s company so much. You can tell by their squeals when they haven’t seen each other in a while.

They had so much fun at Pumpkinland. Emily is such a daredevil and Chase is such a scaredy cat. I guess opposites do attract! Emily has really opened up recently and has no fear on certain things. She had no problem riding the zip swing thing or climbing up the bales of hay. She went through the maze, got lost and found her way through. It was so funny listening to her tell Chase about it while they were lounging on the tire swing. “It was dark in there! I got lost” Chase says “You found your way out though.” They were cracking me up!

Even though the day was overcast, everyone had a great time. Thanks for going with us Julie and Chase!

Spooky tree

Have been slowly working on some outdoor Halloween decorations and by slowly I mean one project. I am sad that my giant inflatable Scooby met his untimely maker. Or was it the Christmas one. I am really not sure and am too fat and lazy to figure it out. I really have nothing for outside now.

Ghosts. Tree. Ghost tree. I had an idea. I could make a ghost tree! I just had to decide how to do it. Think, think. That is a feat since I am pregnant as my brain has stopped working. Trash bags. Black and white trash bags. Not sure if ghosts are black but I had some junky black trash bags that I was willing to part with and only so many white grocery bags that hadn’t been recycled.  I filled the bags with other bags, pieces of the cut up bags and so forth. I even made one using a paper plate and an old cd. Eclectic. Different. Just plain odd. Not sure. You probably can’t decide by the pictures either but I’ll show you anyway.

Pumpkins!

Pumpkin farm??? Pumpkin patch??? I get confused…What do you call it? Other than fun?! We usually go to several during the season but due to the yucky rain we only hit 2. We had fun though so quality over quantity!

We hit our first farm/patch this past Sunday. Emily, Stephen and I set off on our adventure after church and lunch. Stephen and I have a “tradition” of going to the same farm for the past several years. In something like 6 years, we had only missed once. Until this year. apparently, everyone decided that Sunday was a wonderful day to go there. Only we didn’t get the memo. We drive over there and see that there is a line of cars about 15 deep just to turn on the road the place is on. No telling how long it would take you to actually get into the parking lot. How enjoyable would it really be if it was that crowded. So we decided to try another one.

And it was SO much better than the first one would have been. It wasn’t crowded and it was free also. There weren’t as many “picture-taking opportunities” but we had a blast. We crossed the troll bridge, walked the troll trail and even did the corn maze. Emily led the way in there. Needless to say, we made our own exit! It was a lot of fun. We found an awesome pumpkin as well. Before we left, Emily had to climb this HUGE haystack tower thing. She has no fear. I couldn’t watch her come down- I was so afraid she would fall!

Even though we didn’t make it to our “traditional” place, we had a blast. Maybe even more fun. The pictures show a happy little girl!

She’s so darn cute!

Walkin the troll trail

In the corn maze

Queen of the world…or is it princess?

An apple a day…

One way Emily and I kept busy while Stephen was in Arizona was going to Quincy with Charla to get some apples and visit some family. We decided that we needed to prepare for our trip first. We chose two apple projects to work on one day after nap.

I must say, I was pretty shocked that Emily did BOTH of these in one sitting. This girl loves her paint and glue. She’s a crafty kid. She worked diligently on both projects for a good 45 minutes. I was impressed.

The first project we did was apple prints. First time I have ever attempted this. I don’t think they turned out too bad. I might try different paint next time. She had a blast doing these. The second thing we did was a paper plate apple. We tore up some red construction paper and glued it to a paper plate. Then she glued on the stem and a leaf that I cut out. She thought it was pretty cool that she got to use the glue by herself.

One thing that I have learned from doing crafts with Emily is that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I have to let go and let her do it. It’s her craft. It’s perfection in her eyes. And you know what? Each and every piece of artwork she does is perfect because she did it.

We survived…

I don’t know how single moms do it. I don’t know how married moms handle it when their husbands are constantly on the road. I am SO glad that Stephen is no longer in the consulting business. Sure, the money was nice but his presence is much more valuable. I pray that his job situation stays such that he doesn’t have to go back on the road.

Emily and I were on our own last week…and we survived with flying colors! Stephen was out of town at a conference from Monday afternoon to late, late Friday night. Honestly, it was MUCH better than I had expected. I kept both of us busy most days. More importantly, I kept her busy during the “witching” hours after nap to dinner and until bedtime. We went for walks, went to the Mills and just overall kept busy. I think that was the key.

You would have thought I would have had plenty of time to catch up stuff around the house, blog posts, etc but that wasn’t the case. I was playing around with Emily’s bedtime and decided to push it back to around 8:15 so that left little time in the evening for “me” time. I will eventually get caught up around 2020 but it will be one thing at a time. I have some blog posts to work on but my time is up, as Emily either didn’t nap long or she just rested in her bed. Stupid post man ringing the doorbell, stupid dog barking…

Such is life….

Lazy Boy Manicotti

This turned out pretty good and was SUPER easy to make. Emily LOVED this recipe! I will have to try it out on Stephen soon.

Ingredients

• 15 ounces, weight Ricotta Cheese
• 2 whole Eggs
• 4 ounces, weight Mozzarella Cheese, Divided
• 1 Tablespoon Fresh Or Dried Parsley
• 1 pinch(es) Black Pepper
• 10 pieces Flour Tortillas (6-Inch Size) Or 6 Larger Tortillas
• 1 jar Or Can (26 Oz.) Pasta Sauce

Preparation Instructions

Mix together ricotta, eggs, 1/2 cup of mozzarella, parsley and pepper.

If using the large tortillas, cut them in half and trim a little off the “points” to roll up neater.

Place a couple spoonfuls of mixture into each tortilla. Spread a little layer over the outer “flap” to help seal it, then roll up the tortilla.

Spread pasta sauce on the bottom of a 9×12-inch casserole dish. Put tortillas seam side down on the sauce and add the remaining mozzarella.

If you want to skip the rolling up, use a smaller dish and make layers of sauce, tortillas, and cheese mixture, adding mozzarella to top. It will taste the same.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes at 350 degrees F.

Serve with meatballs or sausages.

Found on pioneerwoman.com