Friday, January 29, 2010

"I wuv my seesters" - Is he prophetic or just silly?

Caleb-WebI was tucking in Caleb tonight and our conversation goes,

Caleb "I wuv my mommy.  I wuv my daddy. I wuv ColeConnor.  I wuv my seesters." 

Me "What?  Silly, you don't have any sisters?"

Caleb "My seesters." 

Me "Oh, what are your sisters' names?"

Caleb "Seesterhead. Seesterhead." 

Me "You're such a silly boy." 

Caleb "My want seester."

My cute boy and I have lots of silly conversations.  We often say "our little surprise" should've been named Isaac since it means "laughter."  He cracks us up on a daily basis. 

This conversation, though, I can't get out of my head. "My want seester" too, Caleb.  As many of our friends and family know, God placed adoption on my heart when I was young and then confirmed it in both of our hearts when we went through our years of infertility trying to get pregnant with Cole.  After being blessed with our three sons, I've wondered over the last few years, where does that put us adopting?  Well, it's been heavy on my heart and I've even been doing some research on countries lately.  It will still be at least another year, probably more like two, before we are able to get started in the process, but I'm excited about the future.  In the mean time, it's certainly good to know Caleb's on board with a sister. ;)



Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Obsessed with Food Blogs & Websites

I truly enjoy cooking, but I LOVE recipes and finding new ones to try.  Is that weird? I used to have a rather large cookbook collection though I've weeded some out over the years. I still love to sit down and read a good cookbook from beginning to end.  Yes, I read through the entire thing including all the recipes.  It's combines my love of reading, eating, and cooking (maybe it's a sickness????). But with the internet brimming with incredible food blogs and sites, cookbooks are just not necessary anymore.

My "go-to" sites when I'm looking for a specific recipe or what to do with a specific food item are allrecipes.com or foodnetwork.com.  I love that the recipes are reviewed by regular home cooks and you can sort by rating on both sites.  I will say that the Food Network site is slow and often cumbersome, but still some of my all-time favorites recipes are from there.

But food blogs are so fun to read.  I love reading about real cooks, their families, and the recipes they love.  I'm seriously obsessed and get a little rush going to Bloglines to see who has posted new recipes (I highly recommend using Bloglines or some other kind of reader to keep up with the blogs you like).  It's like getting a little peek into kitchens around this country and sometimes the world.

Here my current faves,


Hope you enjoy! If you have a favorite food blog or site you love, please share.



Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Some Digi Scrapping to Share

We've had a lot of sickness going around the house.  First Caleb, then Jason, then Cole, then me, now Cole and Jason again.  Yuck!  But with all this down time at the house, I've been able to get some scrapbooking done, which I've been missing lately.

Designer Digitals has a new kit, Help Haiti Collaborative Kit, where 100% of the proceeds are being given to MercyCorps to help with the horrible devastation in Haiti.  If you are scrapper, consider purchasing this great kit. Below is the page I made with this kit.  I've been working on going back and scrapping 2009 pictures that haven't been done.

The-Big-Boy-Bed-web

Products used: Get It Scrapped Sketch 30, Designer Digital's Help Haiti Collaborative Kit, Katie Pertiet's Cardstock Tabs No. 1, and fonts: love ya like a sister, ckalishand, & century gothic. 

Here is a page I did for the current Web Inspiration challenge at O'Scraps.  I've never participated in any of there challenges before, but this was a fun template to use.

Cole's-first-tooth-lost-web 

Products used: O'Scraps Jan 2010 Web Inspiration Challenge Template Freebie, Audrey Neal & Paislee Press' Photogenic Kit, Emily Powers Love Birds Kit, Danielle Young New Lunchbox Kit, and Pea Mique font

Here are 3 other pages I've done recently.  I started these awhile back but put the finishing touches on them this week.

Little-Indians-web
Products Used: Lynn Grieveson Scrap Express Template 25, Audrey Neal & Paislee Press Photogenic Kit, NinaScraps Grids & Dots, Anna Aspnes Yes Kit, and fonts: CK Puppy Love, CK Tipsy, & Century Gothic

Homecoming-Parade-09-web

Products Used: Tiffany Tillman 25 Days of Templates, DeCrow & Sahlin Studio Play Kit, Audrey Neal Resolve Kit, Katie Pertiet Photo Wraps, Hanging Tags No. 1, Anna Aspnes Yes Kit, Lynn Grieveson Worn Pages, and Fonts: tweed & ckalishand

Silliness-9-09-web

Products Used: Emily Merritt Expressive Moments Set 3 Template, Emily Powers Art Nation + Blossom Kit, Katie Pertiet Buttoned Up Love, Pattie Know Pin-Its, Jesse Edwards Little Tags Brush, Anna Aspnes Art Inspired Chat Freebie Brush, Karla Dudley Capture + Record Kit, and Fonts: CK Jr. High Girl  &  Ckalishand



Tuesday, January 12, 2010

3 Favorites - Pics from Christmas

I started to post Christmas pictures a few weeks ago, but had a hard time narrowing down to a few I wanted to share.  Of course, since then, I got a little side-tracked and just now was thinking about that again. 

We had a wonderful Christmas full of traveling, gifts, laughter, family, and memories.  We put lots of miles on our little minivan, but it was worth it.  We started off spending a few days in Canyon Lake with DeeDee, then we headed to Columbus to stay at Nana & Papa's new place, and spend a couple of days in Houston with Grandma & Grandpa as well.  Usually, at the end of a trip, I'm ready to be back to my own house, but the time flew by on this trip and we wished it could've lasted longer. 

Well, I decided to pick my favorite of each of the boys to share, which was difficult since I have a couple hundred pictures, but here they are.

IMG_2235-edited

Cole sporting his new Home Depot goggles and power tools from Uncle Dustin

IMG_2020-edited
Connor loves hats and wore this Santa hat all night on Christmas Eve

IMG_2201-edited
Caleb's favorite toy was Sydney's doll - He was so cute taking care of it


I hope everyone had wonderful holidays.  We were so busy we did even get Christmas cards out this year. We have loved the ones we received and will have get started a little earlier this year.