Holidays 2014....6 months later

I've been gone for 6 months now, ummm wow. Keeping up to date on my blog is hard, but I want to do it because it's sort of my kids' baby books. So here are some long overdue pictures of Thanksgiving and Christmas, our first as a family of 4....what a sweet time it was.

 

Christmas 2013

The Christmas season was so special for us this year, celebrating with Hadley at this fun and tender age and so filled with joy with #2 on the way.  Here are the last couple day of December for us....

 

Reindeer Chow and No Bake Cookies - take that broken oven!



First gingerbread house!



World's sweetest husband surprised me with this :)



Getting ready for our North Pole Breakfast - Reindeer and Snowman donuts!

 

North Pole Breakfast - menu below so I don't forget next year!



 

 

 



In her big girl room - Santa did good!

North Pole Breakfast
This was so fun to put together and the girls loved it. Can't wait to add another to our table for this next Christmas! Here is the menu:

• Bacon and ham
• Crockpot grits via (so delish and they cooked themselves overnight)
• Reindeer and snowman donuts
• Baked oatmeal casserole via
• Santa pancakes (just add strawberries for his hat and whip cream for his beard)
• Hot chocolate with candy cane stirrers

Monday musings

Yay for a slow(er) week at work!  Love having a little time Monday mornings to catch up on some of my favorite blogs. 

There was literally a blizzard happening on my way to work this morning....hard to believe it is Spring with this crazy weather.  The groundhog lied!

We were couped up all weekend with lots of rain and cold temps. Brandon and I ran 12 miles on Saturday morning, our last long run before the half marathon on 4.7.13.  I am very excited for the actual race and I'm very excited I only have a 6 mile run this weekend.  My right ankle and right foot have really been bothering me.  I went to a physical therapist a couple weeks ago and she said my right hip was out of alignment.  She tried to realign it, but said I would likely need to be adjusted again. 

Hadley has been saying the cutest things lately.  She has the best little memory and the sweetest little soul.  A few things I can remember off hand:

Me: Hadley, what should we get Mimi for her birthday?
Hadley: Ummm, cookies!!!

Hadley: Mommy take vitamins. Hadley take vitamins.
Me: Yes, we take our vitamins to be strong.
Hadley: Daddy not take vitamins. Riley not take vitamins. Daddy and Riley eat chicken nuggets.
Me: HAHAHAHA :)

She also is still singing Jingle Bells, at the end of March.  Not sure how to explain to a 2 year old that certain songs we only sing part of the year.  It's really precious though.  Speaking of Christmas, Brandon got a new toy delivered over the weekend...

Last year I got a good deal on "The Little Acre" raised garden bed.  I thought it would be fun for Hadley to help plant, water, and harvest veggies this spring and summer.  I really have no idea how to garden, per se, but this looked simple enough.  I've researched some fool proof veggies/herbs and here is our list so far of what we want to plant: beans, cucumbers, squash, tomatoes, broccoli, okra, basil, cilantro and parsley. 

 
I have a love/hate relationship with meal planning.  Hate sitting down to actually do it, but I love it when I've planned each meal and shopped for all the ingredients I'll need for the week.  This week we are having Cilantro grilled chicken with roasted veggies, Asian Chicken Lettuce Wraps with steamed rice, and Crockpot Chicken tortilla soup. 

I am excited about all our Easter weekend festivities coming up this weekend!  Off work on Friday - hoping it's nice enough to take Hadley to the zoo or to the park and do some easter egg dying.  Saturday we have our neighborhood easter egg hunt and a 2 year old birthday party.  Sunday we will head to church and then over to the Skeen's to stuff ourselves :)