Day 32 of 365

The Home Depot helped us out this weekend. We have been cooped up with illnesses and household chores an it was nice to get out and stretch our legs. The Home Depot workshop this month was race cars and the kids had a blast. 

Petra and Ambrose had on their game faces and took the whole thing pretty seriously. It's a bit of free fun for the kids and we enjoy it too! 

Day 28 of 365

Today I cut my long locks for an updated do: 

It feels so light. I chopped off close to 5 inches of hair and feeling free of the dead weight. Loving my hair today. 

Day 27 of 365

So yesterday I had full intention of posting and then I went and did this:

Nearly cut the tip off chopping some wood down to kindling and it's hard to type or do anything really. The pressure that I put on my hands everyday goes unnoticed until I damage it in some way. I keep reopening the wound when I bend down to pick up my baby or use my hands to get up off the floor...

So I'm thankful that I still have the tip thus far...and hopefully it will recover quickly. 

Day 25 of 365

This:

Yes a little blurry but oh so sweet. 

Day 24 of 365

Today was a cold cold day! So I set out to make some chowder. I took out a recipe I've been wanting to try and modified it a bit to suit my taste. 

4 tablespoons of butter

1 large onion

1lb of potatoes. Any variety really. Cut and cubed. 

3 tablespoons of flour

49ounces of chicken stock

2 cans of cream styled corn

1 cup heavy cream

Sea salt to taste

Pepper to taste

Dash of sweet paprika

Two large handfuls of salmon - skinned and cut into 1 inch cubes. 

Fresh dill

Fresh parsley. 

1.  Melt the butter in a large pot. Add onions and potatoes. Mix in flour. Stir. 

2. Add chicken stock and cans of cream corn. Season to taste with salt, pepper, and paprika. I like it with a little kick so I add a healthy amount of pepper. Simmer until potatoes are tender. 

3. Mix in heavy cream and carefully stir in salmon. Wait around for 5 - 7 minutes.  

4. Add in a splash of dill and parsley and you're set! 

Serve with some fresh bread. 

Serves 4-6 depending on bowl size

Prep time: 15 min

Cook time: 15 min 

Enjoy!

 

Day 23 of 365

Check out this crazy grill...

She couldn't be happier that so many of her teeth are missing at one time. She is currently trying to get her left top tooth out also. It's starting to stick out at a funny angle and wiggle more so we know it's coming. The tooth fairy has visited quite a bit in these last few weeks and will be coming again soon. 

Day 22

So I have no picture for this post. My babies are ill. Crying, snot flinging, grouchy babes. As one gets better another gets sick so no sleep for this night nurse. 

I am thankful for modern medicine that helps alleviate the sore throats and  headaches. Oh and I'm thankful for television because that's been playing non stop lately while we recover from the sleepless nights. 

I'm so tired I can barely speak coherently and I find myself repeating the same things over and over. More coffee please!

Day 21 of 365

I'm so thankful to have daughters. My two girls are partners in crime. It reminds me a lot of my relationship with my older sister, Lainey. Aletheia rules the roost and Petra is along for the ride. Petra is happy to do whatever it is Aletheia is doing and Aletheia loves to have a little minion. 

Today Aletheia decided to fashion a prairie hat snd skirt out of tissue paper and Petra was excited to be included...

Petra, being the little rascally rabbit that she is, decided to only take photos with a finger firmly planted in her nose. It didn't help that Aletheia egged her on and laughed the whole time. Comedy. Hellllllo! Blackmail photos children thank you very much. Keep laughing now because when I bust out these photos when you bring a boy home I don't think you'll be laughing then. 

Watching their relationship develop as they grow and get older bring back little memories of my older sister and myself when we were young. I really hope they learn to love each other well and grow to be great friends.

Day 20 of 365

These photos are from last month but I just looked at them again and I love love love to have photos taken of the family. This was the first year we did this and I hope to get photos every year. It's so much better than taking them yourself because I am actually in the shot...like my whole body and not just a selfie.

Here are a few of the many shots we took. There weren't too many of poor Virgil who ended up screaming because it was so very bitterly cold. I think it was ummm about 9 degrees outside that day. Freaking cold.

My lovely in-laws were there also. I really hope we can get it together next year and get them again. Hopefully it will be in warmer weather - say like the fall. 

Day 19 of 365

So excited for this: 

First fire of the season. When we bought the house we knew we would have to do some work on the chimneys to make them functional. Well..we knew we needed a lot of outside work for the chimneys and hoped we didn't need too much work on the inside of them. An arm, a leg, and a torso later - badda boom badda bing - now we have a functioning fireplace. That small fire you see is a "conditioning fire" and the blazer will be tomorrow - God willing. 

Maybe we will roast some hot dogs and marshmallows tomorrow since my kitchen is OOC (that's out of commission for you non military folks). The kids will love it and it makes less of a clean up job for me. It's a win win all around. 

Hopefully your staying warm!

Day 18 of 365

We've been having a lot of work done in the last two days to try and get our house back on the market. There's been a rhythmic thumping of hammers and shearing sounds of saws for most of the afternoon that prevent our little ones from napping but I'm and thankful for it. It's getting done hard and fast. 

Here's a shot of our kitchen after they took the pass through cabinets and fluorescent lighting down and installed some recessed lighting. Such a huge difference. I love the open feel to it all. It will be bitter sweet to leave it all and head back the the west coast. 

The oak cabinets have new hardware also. The oak doesn't look so bad now! 

Day 17 of 365

When I told Petra to stand in front of me because I needed to talk to her. This is what she did...

She was saluting me in a very British way. Downtown Abbey influencing you a bit sweetie? 

Day 16 of 365

Man I'm loving my Ergo today. We're having work done to the house and my littlest one can't be down crawling around so I had to carry him alllllllllll daaaaaayyyyyy. Don't break my back. My achy breaky back...

Oh and quit coveting my backsplash. I know you're jealous. 

Day 15 of 365

Aletheia: 

I love this little gapped tooth smile. It seems like her adult teeth are on a roll and falling out one after the other. 

A quick comment on her hair. She wanted to leave two strands out to hang in the front like little Chinese girls do...ummm huh? Ok sweety whatever you want I said as I pulled the rest back into a braid. 

She said it definitely made her look Chinese and if she wants to be more Asian I'm all for it. 

Day 14 of 365

Today was one of those days where nothing could change my mood. I was grumpy. I tried to lift my spirits any way I could...coffee, good food, a little rest, a shower (trust me - I take this everyday but this one I took a bit longer and they usually help), and finally some rum and coke. Blah. Couldn't shake the feeling of self pity and overall grumpel-stiltskins. 

Sometime life throws you lemons and I want to chuck those dang lemons back. On a lighter note this guy was teething all night and day....so fun! (Insert eye roll)

Thankfully he throws me this crazy little squishy face through out the day and it makes me smile. 

Day 13 of 365

Grateful that I married a man that is a great husband and father. 

Ryan carrying our very large 10 month old. Love capturing these little moments. 

Day 12 of 365

Thankfully the weather cleared a bit and it was warm and dry enough to go outside and burn. 

Day 11 of 365

I'm grateful for sleepy little babes...

Last night we had a house trembling thunderstorm and it scared my monkeys half to death. 

The rain started first and it was a hard hitting rain that plunked on the windows - the kind that makes you wonder if it's hailing outside. Little shots of lighting soon followed but the thunder wasn't so bad in the beginning. But then 

lightening clapped overhead so bright my whole room lit up and I knew the thunder would be loud. 

As I started to get out of bed - the house started to shake from the massive rolling thunder so I picked up my step to try to get to the kids before they came screaming down the hall and before I could get into the hallway Aletheia comes running into my legs crying her eyes out. Then Ambrose comes out of his room crying with his fingers in his ears trying to block the thunder out. Right after I see Ambrose and on my way to get him, Petra wails from her room too scared to get out of bed. So I brought them to my room to sleep - Petra in my arms and a kid huddling each leg. Virgil managed to sleep through all of that commotion thanks be to God. 

It took a good hour to calm them down but eventualy they did fall asleep and we even got to sleep in until 7:30AM! That my friends is a miracle. 

Well tonight they are resting peacefully in their own rooms and sleeping soundly for now. 

Day 10 of 365

I'm thankful for my good friend Heather, whom I don't have a snap shot of, who sent this Army uniform in the mail to my little soldier. 

Mind the mess and terrible photo. You get the point. I need to learn how to take better photos with my phone.

He's pretty happy to have a real soldier ACU and it says he's a colonel! 

Day 9 of 365

I broke my streak so I will post two today. 

I'm thankful that I have a mind that is capable of putting this together. 

I cut, sanded, stained, varnished and screwed it all together. What is it you ask??? It's this:

My new headboard. My master bedroom needs lots of love (new paint, bed skirt, side tables, matching pillows etc..) but it's a start in the direction. 

I had all the wood and all I needed were screws, stain, sandpaper, and the varnish. After an easy trip to Home Depot I was able to put this head board together in under $40. 

So excited to have it finished and I'm pretty happy with the results.