St. Paddy's Day

Hey there, bloggy friends! I sure have missed you! We are almost done with our kitchen (I know, it's been forever. Trust me, I know). I'm super happy with how it's turning out and have discovered some new blogs to fuel my decorating. More on that later.

Today, it's St. Patrick's Day. For some odd reason, I adore this day. Maybe it's because it's a holiday where you can just have fun...no pressure, no gifts...just wear green and have fun. This year, B-Man is old enough to get in on the excitement. So fun!

So this morning we had a yummy breakfast that would make Dr. Suess and Sam-I-Am proud. That's right, green eggs and ham! We did ours scrambled. Brady is into helping in the kitchen and his new favorite thing is cracking eggs. He's pretty good at it too-especially considering he's only two (and a half)! After he cracked the eggs, I whisked them up and he added the green food coloring. Then he put the ham in the skillet, I poured in the eggs, we both stirred, and he added the cheese.

Photo taken with iPhone

Don't they look positively disgusting? I assure you, they were yummy...and devoured.

Next up for the day: a craft! I'll wait while you pick yourself up off the floor. Those of you who know me well, know I am not crafty, though I secretly aspire to be. I somehow discovered this blog and found a tutorial even I felt confident enough to tackle!

I gotta tell you...for my first ever real "craft", I am thrilled with how it turned out! I can't wait to snap a pic of my favorite little guy wearing it...once it dries.

I changed up the original design a little. I though the heart was a little too girly for the rough and tumble boy who would be wearing it. I went with a four leaf clover thing, but in retrospect I probably would've chosen a more standard/simple design for the four leave clover. Oh well. I also added "Lucky". 

For purpose of full disclosure, I didn't actually dye my shirt because, well, I ran out of time. I did actually buy the dye, but never got around to using it. Thankfully, little guy had a green shirt in his closet. I think we got it for free from a neighbor, so it's the ultimate score! The color looks a little wonky in the picture, but I assure you, it's green.

To make up for not dying and, because I wanted to, I also added a design on the back.

How cute is that? I even impressed myself! (Note: it looks kind of crooked, but that's just because the hanger was dangling at an angle...I am anal enough that I made sure it was straight).

Want to make one of your own? Check out the tutorial. I will definitely be making more stencil shirts. They are fun and creative and help me feel crafty! Thanks, Sarah, for sharing!

My Husband

We don't celebrate Valentine's Day in the traditional sense. Well, we don't celebrate it in any sense, really. There are a number of reasons (I'll spare you), but in all our years of dating and being married, we have never bought each other one Valentine's Day gift. I joke and tell my husband he gets it easy, but that's truly how I want it. I don't believe in celebrating Valentine's Day. 

I have always loved and appreciated my husband for reasons too long to list. But, when he became a father that love took on a whole new level. There is something so extraordinary about watching the two men in my life: the big man and the little man. I am so grateful for them, for the way they are with me, and for the way they are with each other, and for a God who gave them to me.  

So, while I do not believe in celebrating Valentine's Day; I do, however, believe in celebrating love. I *love* love. 

And, I love these two.

Happy New Year!

It's a new year, a new blog post, and a new look to the blog!

I know you probably thought I'd desserted this blog and, I guess, you were right...sort of. I may not have had any posts in a little while (ok, long while) but it's always been in the back of my mind. What better time to pick blogging back up than in the new year, where resolutions run rampant?

We've been busy in our own kind of way. Christmas was wonderful and more fun than ever with Brady being two and a (almost) half. He had an emphatic "thank you!" every time he opened a present. If a box came to the door, he would follow us around saying, "I want to open it! I want to open the box. Pleeeease!".

We didn't see all the family we would've liked to see over the holidays and, as disappointing as that was, it was also relaxing to not have to travel anywhere.

As great as the holidays were, I'm especially excited to welcome in a new year. We have some big plans and ambitious goals for this year. Last year was wonderful, full of unexpected blessings. Looking back on the year, I can smile knowing we did our best to squeeze every drop of happiness out of it. This year will be even better!

I will be doing a lot more of the simple things that make life so grand. Like this:

Spending time in the kitchen playing cooking and baking with my best helper. In addition to helping, he also serves as quality control, as you can see from the chocolate remnants around his mouth. Good thing he only asks to get paid in "little tastes".

Here's to 2011!

Independence Day.

It's hard to believe it's been over a month (eek!) since I've blogged. I have so much to catch you up on, but for now I wanted to get back into the blogging swing by posting some pictures from our 4th of July.

We spent the day at I Love America and couldn't have had more fun! The forecast was calling for rain, but thankfully it held off and we had a beautiful day. We arrived around 2:00 in the afternoon and didn't leave until after 10:00...three hours past Brady's bed time. We, along with 100,000 people, spent the day in the hot sun enjoying all the things the event had to offer. There was an air show (with a B-52 flyover!), bands, food, a black hawk you could climb in (or, if you're Brady, push buttons and flip switches in), Hummers to explore, ambulances to crawl through, and so much more. It really was a great family day. And the fireworks? Amazing!

One of our first stops of the day was the Hummer. Brady spotted it immediately and excitedly (and repeatedly) exclaimed: Hummer!

At first he was content to "drive".

Then, he noticed there was a horn to honk (thankfully, it didn't make a sound).

Then, he tried to kick it into drive (double thanks that didn't work!).

After the Hummer, it was time for the Black Hawk. Of course, to Brady it was just a "big, black, helicopter!". In typical Brady fashion, his first stop was to check out the wheel.

Then, it was straight to the cockpit.

Oh yeah, he was into it.

After we made the rounds, we went back to our seats and enjoyed some watermelon. Can you believe they actually gave it away...for free?! They served over 12,000 pounds of watermelon. Brady loved it. He put away three pieces, and probably would've had more but they ran out.

It was a long, but fun, day. I am amazed (and blessed!) at how well Brady did! What a trooper! He didn't get fussy once, was pleasant and happy all day, and managed to stay awake for the fireworks....which he loved! He was so tired by the end of the day, I think he was asleep before Mike and I got our seat belts buckled.

We managed to get a family portrait at the end of the night. We're not looking our best, but hey, it was a long day. Yes, we were wearing matching shirts. It's cheesy but I love it! I sense a new tradition coming on!

And, just for fun, here we were last year (ignore the crazy wide-eyed expression Brady and I are sporting).

We are so thankful to our church for putting on such an amazing event. It's such a blessing to be a part of a church that gives back to the community and knows how to have fun. It's a huge undertaking, over 3,500 man-hours are needed to prepare the day's festivities, and it's primarily done by volunteers. I can't even attempt to guess at how much it costs to put on, and yet, they offer it for free just to be a blessing to the community. This was our first year going, but it definitely won't be our last!

Note: Since the blog has been abandoned, I gave it a new, updated look. What do you think? A special thanks to Lance for snapping the picture that's displayed in the new banner!

Sucker Day.

This weekend is the 53rd annual Sucker Day here in Nixa. It's an entire celebration devoted to suckers....as in, sucker fish. There's a long history you can read about here if you're so inclined.

The festivities always kick off with a parade on Friday evening. We have been filling Brady's head with the promises of marching bands, fire trucks, and candy all week and, thankfully, the parade did not disappoint.

I don't ever remember having more fun at a parade. Brady discovered the harder he waved, the more charming he was, and the more candy he got tossed at him. I'm surprised he is able to lift his arms today...the kid was working it. The funny thing is he never gets candy, he just liked collecting it. He was giving high-fives, accepting stickers, shaking hands...the whole bit.

Just to give you some perspective of what a difference a year can make, here he is at last year's parade:

And here's my sweet little guy this year (I can't believe it):

If that's not enough sweetness for you, here's a video of him dancing to the marching band...I honestly think it was his favorite part of the whole parade.