Rachel's 12th Birthday

This little beauty just turned 12 on March 14th.  *sigh*  I know it's so cliche, but it IS true how fast your kids grow.  I am really loving this age right now.  And that is both the true and a lie.  She is a very strong willed, outgoing and confident girl, but she is also a stubborn, bull headed and overly opinionated girl.

Both blessings and curses, bless her heart.

For her birthday she wanted to go to the local indoor skating rink.  Despite the fact that you need to disinfect yourself when you get home, the place is a blast!  Since her birthday party was the day before St. Patrick's Day, I decided to make Lucky Charm Cupcakes.  I found the recipe on Pinterest (I apologize to whomever came up with it!  I don't have the address in front of me) and they were a hit!

Rachel has a great group of girlfriends right now, and I hope that they can remain close.  As you can see, they have a ton of fun together!

Like I said, I love this age, you really start to see the person they are becoming.  I am one PROUD mama!!

Gratituesday

It's another round of Gratituesday.  Except today is Wednesday.  Don't judge, it's been a busy week.

This is what I'm grateful for today....

Rachel just turned 12 on the 14th and man-oh-manishevitz is she growing up!  She and I have been able to have lots of one on one time (mainly driving time, but hey, you take what you can get) lately and I am loving it!  It's amazing how chatty kids get in a vehicle.  She is so much like me (poor kid) on how opinionated she is.  That can be good and bad.  I just love hearing about her day, and the neat things that goes on in this kids head.  As much as she makes me crazy sometimes, she is a great kid!

Menu Plan Monday

I am linking up with Laura over at Organizing Junkie for her Menu Plan Monday.  I have been planning my menus for quite awhile.  I had to when doing daycare, as young children seem to want to eat three meals a day.  And there is nothing worse than not being organized and not knowing what to make.  Makes me crabby.  As much as my kids would have loved mac-n- cheese from a box everyday, that wasn't an option.

One of my favorite Sunday afternoon jobs was to plan my weekly menus.  I would go through any new cooking magazines I have, blogs, cooking sites and create my menus.  With my new job, I have Fridays off which rocks!  I typically will create my menu Thursday night and then Friday will be my cooking days.  I like to do a lot of freezer cooking, makes my weeks so much easier to pull something out of the freezer and have Rachel pop it in the oven.

One of my favorite freezer cooking blogs is Mom On a Mission, she has a ton of great recipes that my family loves.

This weekend I actually got a lot accomplished.  I made a batch of Lara bars (recipe to come), Lentil Vegetable soup for my lunches this week (recipe to come), 2 loaves of bread, browned 4 lbs of hamburger for the freezer and cooked up 3 lbs of chicken that are diced and ready to freeze.

So here is what I've got on the menu this week...we don't always stick with the menu, sometimes I find something different to try and we usually go out to eat once a week.

Monday-  Cheesy Chicken and Ranch Casserole

Tuesday-  Taco or Ham Crescent bake

Wednesday- Meatloaf, Mashed Potatoes

Thursday- Smothered Pork Chops (Using my own cream soup)

Friday- We are going out for supper with friends, so probably shrimp and tots for the kiddos!

Emma's Wild Hockey Game

One of the perks with Brad's job is that he gets a lot sports tickets.  About a month ago he took Rachel to a Minnesota Gopher men's basketball game.  And it happened to be the best.game.ever.played.  They beat the #1 ranked team.  I watched a bit of it on TV and it was great!

Miss Emma loves hockey, poor kid wants to play hockey like I want a spa day.  We are just not wanting the hockey life.  Brad got three tickets to a Wild game and of course we wanted to bring Em!  Brad got her a sweatshirt and let her wear his hat.  

In true Emma form (she is sooooo like me), she made earrings by wrapping some hoops with colored yarn, painted her nails Wild colors and had the same colored ribbons in her hair.

                                    

We had FANTASTIC seats!  Four rows behind the Wild, and Emma sat right next to the area where the players come in and out of their locker room.  She got to high five (well, fist bump.  Or glove bump, if you will) most of the players, and we almost got hit by a puck!  So fun. 

We even got (almost) front row seats to a great fist fight!  Emma was enthralled...

It was such a fun night to hang with Emma, we don't get that chance often to have some one on one time with the girls.  Alayna is next, Brad promised her a Twins game!  Lord help us.

Gratituesday

If you haven't noticed, I am trying to get back into blogging.  I have been having issues with Blogger and not being able to get into my account.  Frustrating!  So now I am on a kick to get some posts put up from where I left off.  Which means you might get sick of me.  Sorry.

I've been following Heavenly Homemakers for quite some time and decided it was high time to join in on her Gratituesday.  It's Gratitude.  On a Tuesday.  Brilliant. 

So, here's my official start...*giggle*....I giggle because I am always so good at starting things like this, and then never posting again about.  *I think I can, I think I can*.....

I am grateful for the conversations the girls and I have been having at bedtime.  I bought a new book that talks about Jesus and Easter and all that goodstuff.  Alayna wanted to know if we were going to talk about bunnies.  Sorry kid, no bunnies.  Lots of questions though, from the older two about if God is real, was Jesus really his son, can he see us, is the Bible real, etc. etc.  Oh, and a very important question from Miss little...."mom, how long does nail polish last?"  Glad to know you're paying attention there tootse.

Anyway, I have a book called the Storybook Bible.  It has a story for each day of the year, and it's not too kiddish, but kiddish enough that all three can understand.  I also have a questions book that has a ton of question and answers about being a Christian.  It's been fun having that time with them and hearing their thoughts on the Bible, Jesus and yes, even nail polish. 

Linking up to: Gratituesday

Christmas 2012

Because I am a supermom (in case you didn't know), I wanted to show you all these amazing pictures I took at Christmas to remember our special times together as a family....

Yep, that's it folks.  Enjoy all two pictures I took.  Ugh, if you didn't already know, I am not the world's best picture taker.  Not that I don't enjoy it, but I want to enjoy the moments, and not be behind a camera 24/7.  Maybe not the best excuse, but sometimes I just plum forget. 

We had a wonderful Christmas, we really did!  The girls were happy with what they got, and I sooooo enjoy seeing how giving Rachel and Emma are becoming.  They didn't want much for presents, because they don't need much.  They are also into making blankets to donate, so wanted gift cards/money to buy fabric.  Love it.  Alayna announced she would gladly take any gifts they didn't want.  Haha!

Miss A has been thoroughly enjoying her new American Girl doll, Marie-Claire.  Although we may just have to build a new house for all the accessories they now have...

Snow Day

Ahhh the fun of a snowy day!  Sledding, hot chocolate, rosy cheeks.  It's all fun and games until you're sick of the snow, cold, wind, driving in the snow, having to plow every other day.  But I'm not complaing, just so you know.  Yes these pics are from December, and yes it is nearing the end of March, and yes it STILL looks like this outside.  *sigh*  Spring will come, I just know it will....

Cheese!!

We have a fantastic sledding hill, and the girls are pros at stopping at the bottom before hitting the electric fence.  Hey, it's what we do in the country.

I love this pic, because Maci the cat even got in on the fun.  Although this was right after Alayna thought it would be fun to put Maci on the sled and push her down the hill.  Maci didn't think it was funny.  Have I ever told you that Alayna has a lot of energy? 

Rachel's Orchestra Concert

Rachel's orchestra class got the chance to perform at the Mall of America in December.  It was so fun to see them perform, and they did so well!  She plays the violin and loves it.  Don't ask how often she practices though....thankfully I think she just naturally gets it.  She did not get that from me!

Before performances, she helps her teacher tune all of the instruments.  I am glad she is playing an instrument, I always wished I would have been in band, or something.

Cookie Baking Day

I always chuckle when I look back at pictures of our cookie baking days.  We bake 400 dozen (ok, maybe more like 4) cookies that no one eats.  Seriously.  The kids aren't big cookie eaters, so we always send some home with others.

This year Mom came over and brought her sister in law Sharon with.  Sharon had a ball watching the girls decorate the cookies.  The girls absolutely love her, they call her Grandma Sharon!  We enjoyed potato soup and grilled cheese for lunch, and of course, cookies.

It appears that Emma is in a sugar coma already...poor girl...

Lot's of awesome looking cookies, that unfortunately met there demise a few months later.....

Halloween

Halloween 2012 was full of fun, embarrassment, sugar highs, crappy weather and sugar lows (see picture below).  The girls had some pretty sweet outfits...Emma decided she wanted to be a Pizza Ranch delivery girl, so Brad contacted the manager at our local Pizza Ranch and she gave Emma the t-shirt, hat, name tag and pizza box!  She was tha-rilled!  Rachel was an 80's girl....*sigh*...a girl after my own heart. I may have spent a little too much time getting all the stuff for her outfit, but it was so fun reminiscing.  Alayna was a black cat, we tried to convince her to be a mouse, which is her nickname, but it was a no-go.

As you can see, the end of the evening proved to be a bit too much for the poor kitty cat.  She was D.O.N.E.  Fun had by all, and we shall eat candy for the next year now....

Spring Break

We did an impromptu spring break vacation.  Friends of ours were going to Wisconsin Dells and asked us to go with.  At first we declined because we are going to Disney in June.  Yes I said June, the hottest time of the year in Florida.  We then thought it would be fun to go for a few days, Sunday-Tuesday.  We were just there last June, so the girls were stoked to be going again!

We all had a blast.  Well, maybe except for Brad.  This feller is notorious for getting sick before going on vacation.  I'm serious.  Never fails.  The last time he got sick was right before we went to Mexico, three years ago. 

The girls got to try the rock climbing wall.  Emma almost made it to the top, Rachel's fear of heights took over so she didn't get too far.  Poor kid is just like me.

Emma and Brad did this rope course that takes you waaaaaay up, and then they have different rope obstacles to do.  My hands and feet were a ball of sweat watching them.  At one point I quit watching...

Alayna got to do the little kids course, she thought it was pretty cool!  Our favorite ride was the simulator.  You wear 3D glasses and sit in a movie theater like setting.  The simulator is a mine and everybody has these laser guns that you shoot at the screen.  Your chairs move around with the movie.  It was a blast,  I think I screamed more than the kids, haha!

Of course we had to do the photo booth.  Bet you never knew my eyes could get so big....