Friday!

Today seemed like the perfect day for watching movies and doing nothing. I was sleepy and Elsa was a little grouchy.... So we watched Tangled this morning, skipping some of the scarier scenes and me singing along to all the music, because I somehow know all the words.

Then we went on a walk. Little E. walked half a mile all by herself. Anyway, we matched. I took pictures for my other blog and Facebook page, did dishes and listened to music. Oh, and finished working out.

Since Samuel was gone this evening, Lisa and I watched not one, but two chick flicks... It was fun, but it's late now and I'm glad it's Friday, sleeping in sounds really good right about now...

Celebration!

So two family members this week have or had a birthday. It's a busy time of year for birthdays in our big family. One happens to be for my brother here in Tennessee. We celebrated it yesterday because of work and well, work...

So there's a recipe that is pretty darn amazing that we make only for special occasions. I think the last bit is a little ridiculous because it is SUPER easy to make. Like, you literally throw everything into a pot or crockpot, or roaster, or probably the oven in a hotel pan... Hmm, I should try that. And let it cook for like 5 hours. Or more if you're not home.

This Chalupa recipe comes from my grandma on Dad's side. Grandma from Hawaii is what we call her. Yes, I have relatives who live in Hawaii. Anyway, our favorite way to eat it is super hot on rice with salsa, sour cream, ect. It an also be eaten as a chip dip, in burritos, with eggs for breakfast, cold and pretty much any way you want it. Chalupa freezes brilliantly, so it makes a good freezer meal.

So yesterday I made Chalupa and a white chocolate cheesecake. Yesterday morning was actually really productive. Elsa and I walked to the store (about a mile each way), picked up ingredients for sushi that I'm planning on making later this week or next week and a cake pan. Lisa didn't have a cake pan to make the cheesecake in which I thought was hilarious because back at home I think I have at least nine pans varying in size. And that's just the round ones... Anyways, it was a good walk/run and counted as my exercise for the day.

By noon, while Skyping with Mom, I realized just how productive of a morning I had had. I had put on laundry and done dishes, made dinner, made dessert, exercises, gone shopping and gotten Elsa ready for the day. That meant by lunch time, I had nothing to do and could just relax. It was awesome. I watched stuff, read stuff and ate chocolate. It was peaceful.

Samuel came home early, but had work to do around the house, so I cleaned upstairs, did more dishes and hung out with Elsa. Dinner turned out amazingly. Everything tasted delicious and the cheesecake while I was a little dubious about how it had turned out, was super good. I garnished it with fresh raspberries and dark chocolate drizzle.

So it was a good celebration with good food making for a quiet pre-birthday celebration. 

Package From Home

So, I've been expecting a package from home for quite a while, but the snow and long weekends held it up. Ev sent a package after she, Anna and Ian went to Leavenworth with a friend and she got me something. Anyways, it finally came today and I was super excited!

She got me an adorable elephant tea strainer and some of my favorite peppermint tea. Elsa the little elephant and I think he is super cute!

Anyways, I'm one lucky girl to have family who cares about me so much. :-D 

The last few days have been dragging just a little, I think I have cabin fever and I'm a little bummed that I won't be able to get a vehicle for the weekend. Aw, well, Mom's visiting the weekend after this, so I'm super excited about that! 

Camera Fun

So Monday morning started with a wake up time of 5:30. Not a bad time. I slept on the couch until seven thirty. As I was picking Little E's outfit out, I saw the headband Mom got her. She's a girl and has been doing a lot better at keeping hats and stuff on, so I decided to give it another go. And of course pig tails were a must. I got all but a tiny strand in the back... So cute! With how she looked, I knew I had to try and get pictures. 

Couple notes about taking pictures of babies: 

1. Never put them on a rocking chair to try and get clear photos, even if the lighting is great. Just not worth it. :-P 

2. Take away the clashing pacifier (Pink and purple just doesn't go well with red!)

3. Use chocolate chips as bribing material. 

4. Have an adorable niece like mine! 

Someone (not me) taught her how to put out her tongue.

Blowing kisses. 

Check out this babe! 

There, a  normal smile! Even without teeth, I'll take it!

A golden book from her collection. She loves them and spends hours reading them!

A little Rosie the Riveter look.

Anyways, whoever dressed her has fabulous fashion sense! The rest of the morning was spent listening to my favorite list of music, singing while I wash dishes, reading stories and most of all taking out trash.

With MLK day last Monday and snow on Wednesday and Friday-Sunday, our trash wasn't picked up. It was packed and we literally couldn't fit anything else in it. So the area by the trash can had like two full bags and a couple boxes filled with trash. My room trash also needed to be taken out and the bathroom trash. So this morning, Little E. in the backpack, I hauled out the trash. It was satisfying and fun, she was giggling almost the entire time. She loves being carried downstairs!

Biscotti

So another day off of work. It was snowing from before we woke up this morning until about eight this evening. We played several games of Carcassonne (can you tell we're a bit addicted?) and hung out in the morning and I made cranberry white chocolate biscotti. It was originally for fun, but I decided to test my base vanilla recipe and see how it would work with the add-ins since it is such an easy recipe.

It worked out perfectly. I made mini and regular sized ones and while I dipped them in chocolate I got caught up with Ev on Skype. We don't talk very often, so it was nice. We talked a good deal (okay, almost the entire time) about Cascade Falcon, the leadership/aerospace summer camp she's hoping to get a position at. This year will be my 5th year working there. In four years, I have made and served over 20,000 individual meals. It's great fun, but this year has even more changes...

Anyways, I also got outside for a bit. Mostly to take pictures, but to also be out in the snow. I felt like such an adult all day, missing my siblings and knowing that if they were here during this snowy day, we would have been sledding, throwing snowballs, dropping snow down each other's shirts, barefoot runs, fort building, and thoroughly being kids again. I had to content myself with taking picture to gloat to my siblings instead. 

The mail came today, one piece of it. I was supposed to get a package, so I'm a little bummed. But that's okay. I would hardly expect them to be out and about delivering mail on a day like today.

\Usually I would never post a picture of a trash can, but this one is so gorgeous! I love icicles. We do have overflowing trash inside since it was supposed to be taken earlier in the week, but wasn't due to holidays and weather...

A Narnia feeling. I loved being out and actually noticing the little baby drifts around the yard, icicles, ice and sparkles, tons of sparkles on the perfectly white ground. Good day all round and I can't wait for another tomorrow!

SNOW!!

So, no big surprise, it snowed overnight. We got perhaps an inch of snow, but even so, Samuel and Lisa got the day off. We played Carcassonne and ate coffee cake for breakfast.

I went for a 1.5 mile walk. Mostly to see the snow, but also to work towards my goals. It was gorgeous out there. Temperature wise, it actually wasn't as cold as I thought it would be, about twenty degrees warmer then the last walk I went on outside. :-)

I stopped to take some pictures with my Ipod. It was so cool to see the same field I had taken a picture of on Sunday compared to today.

I also wrote a post for Civil Air Patrol, sharing the fact that one of my sister's got a primary nomination to the United States Military Academy. Pretty exciting stuff.

Elsa and I hung out while Samuel and Lisa worked out. She was in a great mood and was super ticklish, so we played on the bed downstairs and her giggle is absolutely delicious!

Now for watching a movie, eating soup and getting ready to finish the work week.... Although there has been a weather watch or whatever it's called for Friday. Apparently more snow! :-D

Starting the Week

I woke up at 4am this morning. That's when my job started. I grabbed one of my blankets and a pillow and headed upstairs. I checked Elsa to make sure she wouldn't roll off the bed, put a pillow in the way. Then I went to sleep on the couch. Yup, I get paid to do this. I love my job.

So Samuel and Lisa got a baby potty on Sunday and since then, Elsa has used it seven times. Every time we put her on, she pees (yeah, you probably didn't want to know this), we're impressed because she is not even eighteen months old. Twice more today... I never thought that I would work on potty training with a child that wasn't my own. I guess I really shouldn't be too surprised.

The last few weeks I've been so busy/lazy that I haven't cleaned my room up. It was really bad, I needed to fold a bunch of clothes, organize my shoes, stack up my notebooks and stuff, basically just tidying. Today seemed like the perfect day to do it, so we plugged in music and Elsa played happily while I cleaned my room. It looks really good right now and I'm so excited to get into a fresh made bed.

What makes me really excited is that we're expected to get snow overnight and boy does it feel like it! It was super cold all day. Best part is, Samuel and Lisa got the day off because of the weather, so we get to hang out and play games, watch movies, cook and drink hot chocolate. It could make for a short week. I should say, shorter week. We already had one day off this week....

Long Weekends

Another weekend off, Friday-Monday. Friday was a lazy day, I slept late, took the day off of working out- okay, just of walking, I still did push-ups and sit ups. And I did two miles on Thursday in order to take Friday off... Working out every day has been awesome. It has now been two full weeks. I've walked/run one mile every day, done 50 push ups and 25 crunches ever day. I'm getting quite a bit better at push-ups, which makes me happy. During out December push-up challenge, I was able to do 5 at a time, but even that was hard. Now, I can consistently do reps of 10, but yesterday for the first time ever, I was able to do 15 in one go, a huge step for me!

Friday, Samuel and Lisa interviewed a woman to nanny Elsa once I'm gone. I'm a little sad that I will be leaving her, but this girl seems really nice, although extremely quiet. She will continue watching the girl she's watching now, a baby a few months younger then Elsa. And named Eliza... That's a bit of a mouthful.

Saturday, I didn't even get out of my pajamas, we hung out around the house, watched a movie, played games and took a nap. It was wonderful.

This morning, after missing walking yesterday, I woke up at 8am and went out for a walk. It was 26 degrees out, but I stayed fairly toasty for my two mile walk by keeping a brisk pace and layering my clothes.

We went and checked out a new church today, which was interesting. I still feel fairly new to the whole church world, which sounds bad, but we've home-churched or not gone to church for as long as I can remember. The music felt more like a performance, and while I didn't know any of the songs, they were simple and I picked up on them. Hillsong's At The Cross in particular.

Oh Lord, You've searched me

You know my way

Even when I fail You

I know You love me 

Your holy presence

Surrounding me 

In every season

I know You love me

I know You love me

At the cross I bow my knee

Where Your blood was shed for me 

There's no greater love than this 

You have overcome the grave 

Your glory fills the highest place

What can separate me now

You go before me 

You shield my way 

Your hand upholds me 

I know You love me 

You tore the veil 

You made a way 

When You said that it is done

And when the earth fades 

Falls from my eyes 

And You stand before me 

I know You love me 

I know You love me

Anyways, it was interesting being in a new place, we'll continue to check it out.

We went out for India food afterwards, which was delicious. After watching The Hundred Foot Journey last weekend, we had been really looking forward to eating Indian food. :-) 

After a long nap for them and backing up my pictures on my Ipod, We played Carcassonne and made baked "fried" pickles. They were delicious. Samuel totally beat us at the castle game. Like totally demolished us. 

If anyone is looking for a new, family friendly, very entertaining game, I seriously recommend Carcassonne. And that way, when we get together to hang out, we can play. Or, if you want to try it out, when I get back to Washington, you can come over and learn! :-D

Oh, one last thing... I absolutely love how my hair turned out today, although it looked pretty crazy in the process (aka, piled high on the top of my head while I slept and went for a walk (thankfully it was all hidden under a hat). I love how curly it turned out and my braid was ssoooooo thick without me having to stretch it at all! Perks of having curly hair!

Is Winter Here? Feeling Like a Child

Okay, I admit to excitedly checking out the window several times last night at the possibility of snow. We all did. The idea of a cozy Sunday felt just right.

I had a really bad dream last night. I think it may have been my first nightmare. It was kinda horrible, but I did fall asleep again and when I woke, there was a dusting of snow on the ground.

Samuel, Lisa and I played several games of Golf and I Skyped home and talked with Anna, which was fun to catch up with her. After that, Elsa and I braved the 23 degree weather so I could get my walk in for the day, We bundled in up in her thick winter coat, her North Face gloves, boots, hat and scarf. I definitely miss judged how cold it was. I was freezing. Serves me right, next time I'll wear a coat and gloves... 

It's been a good weekend and I feel rested up and ready for the week. First thing on the agenda for tomorrow is laundry. I haven't done any since I got back... In other words, I'm running out of clean clothes to wear.

Saturday Morning

I woke up multiple times last night hearing Elsa coughing and crying and Samuel and Lisa trying to comfort her. I half hoped they would take her in to see a doctor because the cough sounded bad. Apparently they were thinking the same thing and they took her to urgent care...

What to do with an empty house?

Step 1: Put on music. Not just any music, but my favorites playlist. Note: play it loud and sing
Step 2: Open the curtains and let in the natural light and turn off the regular lights
Step 3: Do the dishes and wipe the counters. This isn't bad with sing-along music!
Step 4: Pick up baby toys and other miscellaneous stuff from the floor and put them away.
Step 5: Sweep
Step 6: Clean the bathroom (and neglect the bedroom. I still haven't made my bed)
Step 7: Work out while watching American Ninja Warrior (it's inspirational, what can I say)
Step 8: Shower

I think it was a very productive morning. All this before Samuel, Lisa and Elsa got back. She has croup. :-( she's pretty miserable.

While they rested, I went out. I needed to get out of the house after my first week "housebound" although my "cabin fever" wasn't too bad. I decided to check out Liberty Park because Kayla said it was pretty cool. I guess going on a nicer day it would be a really nice park, but today, well, the pictures pretty much sum it up.

This is a walking path

The not-so-perfect spot for a picnic

So yesterday, while texting one of my friend, I was telling him how much I missed Washington rainy days and it seemed not to rain too much here in Tennessee. Well, guess what it did pretty much all day...

Lisa and I went to Sam's Club later in the afternoon. We came back with quite a bit of chocolate and other yummy things. It was fun shopping with her, she's amazing! 

Other news: Little K's parents have been in contact and they are looking for someone to watch him in his house, since his reaction to being here has been so bad. In a lot of ways, it was an answer to prayers, but at the same time, the money was good. I am sooo excited to be spending the days with just Elsa, however, she is a doll and I feel more inspired to get more work type things done. Or at least pretend... Perhaps multi-tasking (x3, baby, tv or music and work)...