Where I've Been.....

So, if you've been wondering where I have been, I will show you.

Here.

No, I haven't been sipping pina coladas on a white sandy beach while reading the latest crime novel waiting for Benito to bring me lunch. Ohhhhhh no, I have spent more time in my bathroom in the last week than I care to admit. I was struck last Tuesday with the stomach flu, and it literally has taken a week to REALLY feel better. Unfortunately the only one to not get it was Emma. Poor Brad succumbed to it Sunday night and had to leave Wednesday morning for a business trip to Florida. He still doesn't feel the best. Our family has NEVER been this sick.

I guess the positive of this would be that I lost some weight! Although I would rather it be naturally rather than feeling like an earthquake is ravaging my body.....

Dance, Dance, Dance!

Rachel had her first dance competition last Sunday and her team came in third place!! WOOT WOOT!! She was super excited (as was Mom:) with this being her first year of dance. She had joined Just For Kix back in Kindergarten at a different location, and did that for a couple years, but did not enjoy it. She decided to try gymnastics which she loved, but then her best friend Lucy wanted to try dance so Rachel obliged, lol! She LOVES dance, and it is so fun to watch her and see how much she has changed and matured.

So, congrats Rachel, Mom and Dad are SOOOOOO proud of you!!

On the Mend....

Ok, ok, so this wasn't taken today. It was actually taken on Christmas day. My three beauties healthy. I am hoping that we are all done with this fever nonsense. They both stayed home Tuesday and Wednesday, Emma was perfectly fine yesterday, and Rachel was "better". By about 3:00, she was feeling punky again. By evening her temp spiked again. After a good nights rest, she felt good enough to go to school. I am hoping she had a good day. That girl is SUCH a trooper!

I want to add a few prayer requests...

I have posted before about my friend Annie over at
The House That Jade Built they are excitedly awaiting the arrival of their sweet baby girl Ollie who has some health conditions that will need to be dealt with. Check out her blog, and send up some sweet prayers for their family!

I found this blog through another blog, it's called The Simple Wife. 38 year old Joanne suffered a stroke last week, and her husband is blogging updates about her. They have two beautiful daughters that had to start private school after being home schooled. Please keep their entire family in your prayers!

Amy over at New Nostalgia is battling breast cancer. Please pray for her and her family, and that the cancer will stop growing and the medicines will work.

And of course, pray for my peanuts that we will get rid of this crud!

Our Day Today......

Lot's of popsicles (real fruit ones, of course), cozy blankets, Spongebob *sigh*,

and Poptarts. Yes, my kids LOVE Poptarts, hence the reason they love getting sick, because I will actually buy them! Both Rachel and Emma came down with colds and high fevers yesterday. I took them into a quick clinic last night just to rule out strep (which was negative, yay!). I am keeping them on steady doses of homeopathic medicines to keep them comfortable, and hopefully cut the duration of this flu short.

So, today we will sit and watch tv all day, play games, and take naps. Sounds like a day I can handle!

Chicken Cacciatore

This one is a keeper from Taste of Home. Very easy, and super yummy!!

Chicken Cacciatore


1 1/2 lbs. boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1/2 inch strips
1 medium onion, cut into rings
1 green pepper, julienned
2 Tbl Canola oil
1 can tomato sauce
1 can stewed tomatoes
2 Tbl. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. dried oregano
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper

In a large skillet, cook the chicken, onion and green pepper in oil until chicken is lightly browned, and vegetables are tender. Add the rest of the ingredients and transfer to a slow cooker. Cook on low 4-5 hours.

I made a side dish of Lo Mein (and of course I can't find the recipe that I used, grrr...) and everyone loved it!

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Happy New Year!

My gorgeous girls on Christmas Day! We had an incredible holiday, and enjoyed having a week off to relax...
Now I am sitting here listening to some classical music, and the sounds of my girls playing the game "Sorry" so nicely. Just kidding, Emma has now quit three times because her sister is "cheating", Alayna is getting mad that someone keeps "sorrying" her, and Rachel is just plain frustrated.....Ahh the joys of holidays....

I think I am ready to get back into the swing of things this week. It will be busy, but nice to know that all shopping is done and no more major holidays are coming up.

So how many of you made New Years resolutions?? I do every year. I don't make ridiculous goals that I know I will fail on. And I am happy to say that I achieved all of last years goals. They were to follow through on a reading-the-Bible-in-a-year plan, and continue to work out on a regular basis. This years goals are pretty similar: continue to work out, read my Bible, read MORE (instead of getting sucked up in blog reading, lol...), and continue to become more involved in our church. Pretty attainable goals. I always write them down, it seems to hold me a bit more accountable.

How about you? What new goals do you have this year??

Merry Christmas!

My New Years resolution is to get back into blogging again. It just hasn't been much of an interest for me, but I miss writing. I would love to get back to blogging at least once a week, I so enjoy looking back at my posts of the things the girl's and I have done!

I truly can't believe that Christmas is THIS WEEK. Holy carp. Thankfully, I am DONE! Done I say! Yesterday the girls and I finished our baking, I don't do a ton, because nobody eats the stuff. Well, except for me, and I don't need it... We made a couple batches of cut outs, which took us about 10 minutes to roll out, cut out and decorate. I then spent the next hour trying to clean up all the flour off of the floor, counters, chairs, walls, knick-knacks......

After seeing Rachel's disappointed expression with us being done with cookies, we decided to make some truffles. They turned out very yummy, and were super easy (like, um, really easy. Cream cheese and chocolate). We then made my Grandma Omi's molasses cookies and date filled cookies (recipes in another post).

And in true Christmas fashion, here is a little glimpse of our decorations...

This is our entry way tree. It stays up year round (and yes I DO get teased that I keep a "christmas" tree up all year), and we decorate it for all the holidays. For Christmas this becomes our homemade ornament tree. I love seeing how full it gets every year!

This is my favorite ornament from this year, super easy, and the kids loved seeing how their hands turned into Santa!

The fireplace mantel all decked out. The picture above the mantel I got this year from At Home America, I only paid $7 for it because of all the bonuses I got for having a show, yay! The stockings I decorated. When Brad and I got married, and then had Rachel, I painstakingly sewed each of the little glitter balls on for the names. Then with each kid, I totally went for the hot glue:)

Our Griswold family Christmas tree, lol. We named it this last year because there are 800 lights on it. Yes, that's right, 800. When it was on, our house was darn near glowing it was so bright. Hubby whipped up an apparatus so that we can dim the lights, so we can actually see in our living room now.

So that's just a glimpse into the life of Christmas in our house. I LOVE this time of year. I have enjoyed evenings with nothing bu Christmas music on, and warming up with the fireplace. I am sad that it's coming to an end. If I don't get on here before Christmas, I wish EACH and everyone one of you an incredible, blessed holiday!

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ABC&123

Creations by Kara