Making It Work, Together! : 2013

Saturday, December 14, 2013

Feeling Wonderfully Surprised!

Today turned out to be a very surprising day for me. First we started our day with a breakfast made by DJ and me, more him though (he made the breakfast quesadillas). Then we got everyone dressed and headed out to get our Christmas tree, Spencer slept through it but Mckenzee had fun! Then after that we went to pick up the presents that were gotten for us by a Sponsor family through the "Angel Christmas Program".

THIS is where the surprise came in, see when I have been a part of these programs before back in CT it was usually just a gift or two bought for the kids and they had to be wrapped. Well that is not the case this time around, this time we owe a lot of thanks to the family that sponsored us because they were more generous then I could have ever dreamed. Not only were the gifts all wrapped, tagged and bowed, but there was a massive amount of them, when I did a final count there were at least 50 gifts! It was crazy! I was shocked, I wanted to cry tears of joy and surprise and immense blessing! When I pulled them all out to stack them and see if any needed repairs (and to separate the ones for Andy for when he comes in the summer) I was literally shaking! My heart was like the Grinch's I swear it grew "3 sizes"!

Our first Christmas in WA is going to be even more wonderful, and Spencer's first Christmas ever will be better than I ever thought it would be!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS ONE AND ALL!!!

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Another cooking adventure and a Trip to the Bug Museum

Cheeseburger Soup

So I had a new adventure in cooking on Sunday, I made Cheeseburger Soup!

It seemed to be pretty well received too as I was able to get some "Mommy that was yummy's" out of my picky daughter! Guess I am definitely going to keep Yumprint.com as a place to get all my yummy recipe ideas!

Tonight was a big hit as well. I made Ham and Scalloped Potato Casserole in the crock pot and it was AWESOME! So out of the three meals I have tried from that site, three of them were great!

Ham and Scalloped Potatoes

On Saturday before DJ headed to work we took advantage of the fun at the Bug Museum and took the kids. There we were able to use a coupon to get a free caterpillar for Mckenzee to help grow into a butterfly. There was also rock drawing, picture stamp crafts, face painting, caterpillar races, and chalk drawing. Mckenzee got to check out all kinds of bugs from around the world and lots of reptiles as well, she even touched a few!

Friday, August 9, 2013

New Adventures in Cooking!

Country Fried Steaks

Cheddar-Bacon Crock Pot Potatoes

Okay since I am doing my best to live with the idea of doing something new every chance I get, I have decided that includes trying new recipes and foods that I have not before! That being said, last night I made a pretty yummy meal consisting of Country Fried Steaks, Cheddar-Bacon Crock Pot Potatoes, and cornbread! I have to say for the way I was feeling (which was not my best) and the time it took to make it all, I did pretty darn good. The food was yummy, it looked presentable (almost as perfect as the pictures had I remembered the gravy) and it was eaten without any true grumblings from anyone! Next on the menu agenda tonight is an easy meal of pasta and sauce chosen by my little girl. Saturday's dinner menu is Homemade Sweet and Sour Chicken! I cannot wait to try it! I plan to take pictures the next time to show how well I did, (I forgot last night because I was in a hurry to do the dishes and eat!)

If you are looking to plan some yummy (maybe new) meals you should check out http://yumprint.com/ ! It worked for me!

Sunday, July 28, 2013

Well it has been quite a bit since I have last written and we have had some fun so I haven't had a lot of time to sit down and write about it. About two weeks ago on the 11th we did some errands to get some of the important things we needed. While we were out we decided to have some lunch and since it is so close to Andy leaving us and we knew that he wanted to go to a Chinese Buffet before he left, we took the kids to No.1 Buffet! They loved it, especially the bananas and marshmallows that could be put under the awesome chocolate in the chocolate fountain! We all filled our bellies quite full then went to the Poulsbo Aquarium and had a blast touching seastars, and other various underwater creatures. The kids were able to leave their "mark" on a white board in the arts and crafts room and we watched a video about some of the undersea life in our area. It was a pretty good day.

Andy's mark!

Kenzee left her mark!

I just think these are cool!

Watching and learning!

He's looking at us!

Posing

Caught!

10 legged Seastar

On Sunday the 14th we went out for breakfast with the kids and then DJ and I had two different afternoons! He took all the boys in the house to the movies and Mckenzee and I had a girls day here at home! First we played with the piano for a little bit....

Then we made some brownies for the brownie sundaes we decided to have after dinner when all the guys got home!

She helped measure, pour and mix!

She loved the taste testing!

We did some yummy work and had it done in no time!

When the guys got home we had some awesome pizza and watched Disney's "Brave"! Then it was time to have our delicious sundaes and since it was such a nice night out....

We ate them outside!

Everyone had theirs in a different way....Andy had some brownie, vanilla ice cream and chocolate syrup...

Mckenzee had brownie, vanilla ice cream and strawberry syrup....

I had all of the above as you can see in my yummy sundae picture!

And DJ had his brownie with fudge brownie ice cream!

We all really liked them and they were gone very quickly!

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That following Wednesday the 17th the extended family showed up for their visit! We filled the time they were here with trips to Poulsbo, and Seattle plus the High Steel Bridge and a farm! It was a lot of fun but a shame to see them go. They also had to take my Andy with them so that he could be brought to his father back in CT. It hurt quite a bit to see him go but it had to happen since his father wouldn't let me have the whole summer with him. On the Sunday before he left (the 21st) we had a great picnic at a lake and did some BBQing and boating on the water! When we got home we had the birthday party for Andy, he was so surprised because he had thought the cakes that were made were for his great-grandma and not him! Until we put the sparkler candles on the cake in front of him of course!