Harumph

It's a good thing he's so fantastic. If anybody else woke me up from a blissful sleep by puking on my face (literally all over my face) I wouldn't have calmly wiped us both off and kissed him before changing the sheets and showering. Just sayin' ...
Now that's love.

Chicken with Ham & Swiss

Coat your chicken in seasoned salt and roll in crushed Ritz crackers. Then cook till crispy in butter and olive oil. Transfer to a baking dish and top with ripped up ( to fit the chicken) ham slices and Swiss cheese. Sprinkle with thyme and stick in the broiler for 2-3 minutes. I serve this with steamed veggies and stuffing. Enjoy :D

Easy Enchiladas

Put your chicken breasts in the crock pot (frozen OR thawed) and cover with 2 jars of your favorite salsa. Cook on low 8 hrs if frozen or 4-6 hrs if thawed; shred with forks right before you're ready to bake. Dip your taco size tortillas in a little chicken broth and fill with shredded chicken and cheese and pack into a baking dish. Pour 2 cans of enchilada sauce over the whole thing and top with more cheese. Bake @ 350 for 30 min. Enjoy!! Ooops. Forgot to take a picture before we devoured it. :)

Man, I was doing so good

But lately I've fallen down the rabbit hole between home schooling, getting back on the P90X wagon and all my new social network apps. I think it's clear what needs to give...
The working out, lol just kidding.
But here's the hard part which apps go?
I mean I'm never on fb anymore but it's the only way I connect with some people.
And now I really like Path but hardly anyone is on it.
Pinterest must stay. No brainer.
Twitter is great for chatting with my best friend but I also talk to her on all the others, too.
And now that we both use MyFitnessPal we can chat on there, too.
Instagram is fun but its similar to Path but without the videos.
They all have their pros and cons and I just have to figure out which 1-2 I'm going to keep. It's just too much keeping them all updated. But in the meantime here's a few photos from the last week or so... Enjoy.

New tattoo and antiqueing

I only made it through one foot :(
I'll be going back hopefully next week to do the other foot. The full tattoo will say, " Perfected in Weakness"
It's, in my opinion, a more biblical version of " what doesn't kill you makes you stronger."
Then we went antiqueing and picked up this beautiful push/pull infant sleigh and some fantastic blue and purple glass apothecary bottles.

Gobble Gobble

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

Crafty crafty....

We are attempting to make salt dough ornaments. And our homemade fingerpaints are cooling....I'll let you know how it goes...

Hmmmm?

Do I dare go to Costco with all the kids today (the day before TG) for 1 pie???

Super day today

So, today was pretty fun. I got up and left a well fed baby snuggling in bed with Daddy, big boys sleeping and took Finlay alone to the grocery store with me. We got everything for Italian Beef Sandwiches (secret recipe, shhh) and threw it all together in the crockpot when we got home. Then I had to run straight out to go have my hair done (woot woot!) by the lovely Sweetpea Suter. I love how it came out. Pics to come...
Then pharmacy, back to the grocery store and home. The place was hoppin' with men and boys. They put up the Christmas tree while I was gone. :(
And Matthew's friends Harold and Jake came over and hung new doors to the boys bedrooms. Then dinner -delicious and key lime pie for dessert...mmmmmmm.

It's raining, it's pouring....

I love rain. I really do! And it's raining outside right now and my house smells like chocolate chip pumpkin bread, my big kids are happily watching a Lego movie and Declan is content in his bouncer while I've been cooking. <3
I'm making parmesan breaded chicken (recipe under Mama Cooks) with Harvest Grains from Trader Joes and biscuits. It's a happy night with one exception.... I really wish Matthew was home. He's at church serving the Lord with his talents. All good. But I also selfishly wish he was here enjoying this night with us.

Sickie sickies over here

Man alive! I am so tired of my family catching every gross illness that comes down the pike. Seriously. And now with Declan here, I'm terrified that he'll get sick. Which would just break my heart. I'm praying for a hedge of protection around my family as we weather this cold and flu season....

Gah! iPhone overload

So, after years of being jealous of my husbands iPhone he got me one a month ago. :D
Well, I had to put a few games on it for the kids, of course. Educational ones, fun ones and ones that I want to play, too. Then I started looking for the apps that I've heard so much about. I, of course, got my Facebook set up first but then got hooked on instagram that Delane talked about all the time. And then I wanted to be able to do the little tweegrams on instagram, so I got Tweegram. After that, I realized there must be a blogger app and here I am, getting back to my blog with a vengeance. Then Delane invites me to Pinterest... So, now I'm on Pinterest and enjoying it so far. But she texts me today and tells me I need to get back on Twitter.
To be honest, my head is fairly spinning.
I can truly say that I love how simple my iPhone makes it all but I don't know how long I can keep all these plates spinning. Not because I feel overwhelmed by them but because of my addictive nature. They are so numerous and ever-changing that there is always something new to add, check and respond to. I fear my own dependency on social media. If you know me at all, you know I'm really not that person. Well, actually, I apparently am.... :o/

Thank you Calvert

For making school a fun experience for us.
I love that the lessons are so simple to follow yet complete and allow us so much time for child led learning. Oh and a shout out to A Beka for reading and BJU Press for an awesome bible Curriculum, too.

It&apos;s beginning!

We started decorating for Christmas this morning! It's my absolute favorite time of year and I'd be one of those crazy people who keeps their home decorated all year if my husband weren't the guardian of sanity. Hahaha!

The Choir and Lucille&apos;s

I got to go out with my wonderful husband our sweet Declan last night while the bigger boys had a fun sleepover at Nana and Papa's!

Going to his first show

Were going up to Pomona to see The Choir perform an acoustic show at a pizzeria tonight. Pretty exciting!

My friend, Meredith, came over today and took photos of Declan. I can't wait to see how they came out but here's a shot I took on my phone while she was shooting.

Whew!

It was like running a marathon today. We got up early to go have school pictures taken then straight to the bank then home to drop off the 3 older boys and my mom while Declan and I went to his 2 week appointment. He's gained more than a pound, btw. No shots.
Then we ran home to make a shopping list and pack everyone back in the car to go to Trader Joe's. Then back home so I could put all the cold stuff away before jetting over to the big boys' P.E. class. Then finally back home for dinner. Declan cries almost the whole time he's in the car, so it was rough. I'm thrashed but so happy that my Mom was here all day to help and talk with. I love her.