Everyone together for Christmas

There are many photos that have been taken and are being taken of our Christmas vacation trip. But I just couldn't resist quickly posting a picture with everyone.

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and have a wonderful New Years!

Just a few snap shots from our early Christmas

Since we will be with family for Christmas, we decided to do our own little family Christmas a bit early. Last night Jonathan put together this special table just for Jade. She was thrilled to walk down and see it this morning.
She really liked her gift of a "moo, moo" (movie) and when I asked her to hold it up for a picture this is what she did.

Silly goose

Another gift we got her was the "Floppy faces" game from Discovery Toys. Jade thought the funny faces were hats and tried to wear them all:)
Not sure if this video will work or not. I took it on my camera. Jade LOVED her new boombox, mostly I think she just liked opening and closing the cd and tape holder. lol

Santa hat and more snow

We got a lot more snow last night and today! Jade and I played outside in it twice. On our seconding outing outside when I asked Jade which hat she wanted to wear she picked the Santa Hat. Hee, hee
here we are in the backyard getting ready to build a snowman. Jade didn't quite get the concept of a snowman, she kept trying to knock him down.

Kind of an Update

So many things seem to be changing, or happening, or have recently happened. A few minutes before I logged onto my blog account I had a million things to say...now I can only think of a few. lol

As you read last week, I only have four more days of work and then I'm no longer a part-time, working from home, mom. I'm just a Mom! I'm so excited about this!! I thank the Lord that my income has always been in addition to JB's and while, very helpful at times, has never been "needed" to survive.
It's been amazing to, to see how life has changed and needs have changed, as I went from working full time, to sort of full-time (six hours a day) to very part-time (4-3) and now none at all. God's timing truly is prefect.

I'm so proud of my husband too! Getting to see him on the news, hear him on the radio, read what he's written (And I'm not just talking about his book that he co-authored) just blows me away. I don't think I expected life to be as exciting this soon in our married lives. Isn't my husband suppose to be the all impressive man at like...40? Once again I get to thank God for my amazing, wonderful husband. What he has been able to do and accomplish at work blows me away.

That being said I was near tears the other night (granted I am a very emotional women, lol) watching him, once again, show what an amazing Father he is. He's so good and patient with Jade, the two of them play blocks and read books together almost every single night. Jade has come to love and expect the fun activities she gets to do with Daddy. Last night after dinner after repeating her request for daddy to "ome" (come) upstairs with her to play, she finally turned around, grabbed his hand and begin trying to pull him up the stairs with her. She needed her daddy "play" time.
When they aren't playing blocks or reading books, you can find JB with his xbox controller and Jade with an unplugged xbox controller playing football or some exciting game. Or, you can find JB working on the computer and Jade "helping" as J teaches her very important words like "Router" or "wires" or "fan". Her favorite is "fan" and the other day she brought me to the computer and went behind it pointing to the fan and saying "Momma, fan!". lol!

Jade on her own likes to read and do blocks and "wolk" (rock) in her rocking chair. She also will count for you holding up her fingers going "one, two, three, FIVE!"

She goes on the potty like a big girl now too! Sunday I brought her to church in big girl panties and she did great! That makes me very happy. she does have trouble sharing though. Saturday we had some friends over with their little baby girl. The poor girl was playing with a toy and Jade yanked it from her tiny hands. The little baby started crying and Jade got a firm reprimand. Overall, she is a pretty good friend and loves to get together with her little buddies to have "fun" (as she now says)

In other news I'm really looking forward to the holidays and getting to spend time with my In-laws (which includes sisters and brother-in-law, and cute doggies that I KNOW Jade will be thrilled to play with) and then some time with my family and almost all my siblings and sister-in-law and her two, adorable girls. I was gonna add that I am really looking forward to Jade getting to play in snow, but then over the weekend...we got snow!! Can you believe it. There is still a light dusting of snow outside, so I hope to bundle Jade up after breakfast and let her play in whatever is left of the snow. I'll try to take pictures too!

My MOPS group is "off" for the rest of this month, we had our Christmas meeting last Tuesday. That is turned into a pretty busy and big chunk of my life these days. It's so fun getting to meet new moms almost every week and get to hang out with the moms who come regularly and who have become my friends.

It's hard to believe that just a few years ago I was new to this area with little to no friends and spent my afternoons taking lonely walks in downtown while Jonathan was at work.

Now I find it's rare to have any "lonely" times and when I do, I'm finding myself enjoying them. Such as...last Friday. I didn't have anything happening until that evening. So even though I probably should have been doing some form of domestic work, I instead got a chance to read, and look at magazines and play with Jade's hair and paint our finger nails and do NOTHING at all. It was wonderful!

Well, I guess this post is pretty long. So I'll end it for now. I feel like I have so much more I want to say though!

Jade's Pig Tails

"Cheese"

"Good Job Mom"

A few MOPS crafts we did today

Just a few crafts we did at MOPS today.

A candy wreath

A candy cane vase

A set of four snowflake coasters

Tomorrow at MOPS

For those of you who live near me, I just wanted to invite you to my MOPS group tomorrow. We are having a special day planned with extra events to celebrate Christmas!

We'll have special music from the kiddos, a speaker, lots of crafts, lots of food, and games and fellowship. I know we are going to have a GREAT time so if you have young kids, babies, newborns...not yet born because they are still in your tummy...come to our meeting tomorrow from 9:15-11:15 we are going to have a really good time!

Need directions or more details, just let me know!

How I make Zeppola's

A family tradition around the holidays (growing up) was to make yummy zeppolas. Zeppolas are basically a type of deep fried, hearty donut that you can either make sweet and fill with creams, jelly's and sugars, or you can go the opposite route and fill it with saltier things such as anchovies and or various types of cheese.
Growing up, we only made these filled with mozzarella cheese. So that's the way I like them.
Yesterday, since we were having guests (and it's the holidays) I decided to make some. And, since I am a bit of a dork, I decided to take pictures of each step as I went a long.

First, you make a fairly basic bread dough, only, add a few tablespoons of sugar so the dough is just a tiny bit sweet (not to sweet, unless you are wanting a sweet donut). Place the dough in a well oiled bowl to rise for an hour, free of drafts.
While the dough is rising you can work on making other things or go polish your nails or something (hee, hee). Before you are ready to punch the dough down, go ahead and cut up your cheese or filler of choice.
I picked motzeralla cheese, of course.
Then I checked my dough to make sure it had risen properly and was ready to be rolled into balls.

It's ready!

Jade heard me say the food was ready and thought she'd turn on the oven (which I don't need). But instead just turned the oven light on and said "ready!". lol
Take a chunk of the dough and flatten in out a bit so you can stuff a hunk of cheese in the center. Then roll it up into a ball.
After you finish all your dough, or cheese, or amount of rolls you wish to make. Let them rise again for about 30min-1hr.
Then, fill your pot or deep frier with oil and turn up to around 300-350 degrees. Once the oil is hot, plop your dough balls in the oil until lightly browned. Turn at least once.
Place the cooked zeppolas in a paper toweled bowl or plate (to help obsorbe any excess oil), allow to cool a little bit and...Enjoy!

Tada! And there ladies and gentleman is my cooking "How To" for the day.

Update: Hey Janice, is this for you:) I have a bosch that I mix the bread up in and that makes it super easy!! The basic bread dough I make is:
1 pkg active dry yeast
1 cup warm water
3 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons shortening (or oil)
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoons salt
3-3.5 cups flour

combine your yeast and warm water and let stand for about 5 min. Then add your sugar, shortening, egg, salt and half of your flour, beat at low or till mixed all together.
Then gradually stir in enough remaining flour to make a soft dough.

Still teething I guess

I was sure Jade was done with or over (at least ) the hard parts of baby teething. From what I could see from casually looking in her mouth a few months ago it seemed as if she had all her baby teeth. But then yesterday she seemed really upset. kept pointing her her jaw and sticking her finger way back in her mouth and crying. After her morning nap it seemed she even had a fever. I took a closer look and could see one of her baby molars was only grown in half way. So I assumed she must be working to get the rest of the molar to pop through.

I think the saddest part if I had a lot i needed to do yesterday, and I felt awful dragging Jade along with me. But she didn't complain. She just laid on me as I ran in one store and out another. During one trip I got her out of her car seat and she fell asleep on me just from the short walk from the car to the store. I felt so bad.

This morning, she woke up chipper and happy and ready to watch "Feet" (happy feet). I'm so glad she is doing better and I didn't make things worse by carting her all over the place. I guess it just goes to show you that kids are a lot tougher then we often give them credit for.

Anyway, I assume she has some more molars she still has to pop though, so I guess I'm not done with the teething stage yet. Seems like it lasts awhile.

Something cute Jade started doing

Recently Jade has really started to use her imagination when she is playing. Something she's started doing is taking her pink bear (Mr. Bear) or her pink bunny and reading to them. She'll sit them down next to her and talk to them and will ask "read book?" then she'll get a book and "Read" to her stuffed animal, even stopping to turn the book towards her stuffed animal to show them the pictures.
This morning I caught her reading to her bunny and then afterwords she took him for a walk, I tried to take a picture of this because it was so cute watching her try to make the bunny walk. The picture didn't take fast enough, so instead all I caught was her hugging her bunny for me, as she likes to pose for her pictures.

Jade also likes to pretend fed both herself and her toys, pushing plates, cups or whatever else in the face of her doll and saying "eat". It's pretty cute and always cracks me up.

Something new for me on the Horizon

Being today is December 1st, it hit me that I only have 18 days more to go before I stop working part-time (for HSLDA) and become a complete SAHM full-time. Not that I work that many hours a day right now, but still...I'll be done!

So with stopping work being just around the corner, and having Jade very near to being potty trained (she just wets at night and sometimes during naps) I'm really hoping to focus more of my morning hour time on doing projects with Jade.
I have a good friend here who always makes a point to do crafts and projects and fun activities with her kids and I'd really love to start doing that more with Jade.

For the past couple weeks I've been "teaching" Jade how to count to five. It started out as just something fun to do to distract her when she was upset (I'd hold my fingers up one at a time and count to five and turn it into a game) but when she started catching on and counting with me I realized "man, I could teach her to count already!". She also tries to spell her name with me. She has the word "Jade" up in colorful letters on her bedroom wall and when she points at it I usually say "Jade...J-A-D-E" and then she normally tries to copy me and says "Jay... A-A-E-E". So now I also feel like I could start teaching her the alphabet a little at a time.
So who knows, maybe I'll start pre-school with her a little early. That's the beauty of homeschooling right? You can work at your own pace, or begin sooner or later if needed? lol

Anyway, I don't have much to say. I'm just excited about stopping work. Who knows, maybe it will help me stop being so addicted to checking my email. I realized over the long weekend that I check my email ALL the time! I go upstairs, check my mail, I put Jade on the potty, check my mail, I vacuum the carpet, check my email. Go downstairs...run back up, check my email. It's crazy. I must check my email 50 times a day! I realize it's good to check your email often if you are working and your work is checking emails. But...I don't really need to check my personal email as often as I do...so hopefully, stopping work will help me stop being on the computer as much as I am.

With that being said, maybe I'll end this blog post for now.

Just a few Thanksgiving Day Pics

We spent most of our Thanksgiving hanging out at home, Skyping with the family and watching the Parade and Football games. Here is my man drinking some coffee and watching the Titans kill the Lions.
While Jonathan watched the game I put together some yummy T-day snacks in the kitchen for us to munch on for "lunch". We didn't want to eat to much so we could save room for the big meal planned for later.
A wonderful couple at Church invited us and another family over for Thanksgiving dinner. Here I am with the Cristy and her kiddos (the "other family" invited over). All the little ones were eating some super yummy pumpkin cookies that Cristy made.
The guys spent most of the meal and afterwords chatting at the table. This pic is of our host, Frank, and JB all full after dinner.
This picture was taken to show how Jade smiles and says "cheese" for the camera. She only recently started doing this.
Here is the lovely Ivy, our hostess, and Cristy's cute kiddos.
We had a wonderful time, after dinner we played three rounds of "catch phrase". Two of the rounds the boys won and only one round we girls won. The sad thing is we girls out numbered the boys by one and they still beat us. *pout*.

While we adults played "catch phrase" the kids ran around playing with toys and Jade spent most of the night chasing their dog. Finally the poor doggy got tired and fell asleep. Jade still wouldn't leave him alone, as you see she is petting his head even while he's trying to sleep. lol
We are very full and happy. What a wonderful Thanksgiving we got to share with our fabulous friends. So many things we have to be Thankful for. I'm so glad we get to devote a special day each year to reflect on that. Hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving as well!

Jade's new snow suit and our Christmas tree

So I am about a day late in getting Jade her snow gear, since we just spent a good portion of Saturday in the snow...but I figure better late then never. Now Jade will be all set to play in the snow when we go back home for Christmas/New Years.

I got the snow pants, gloves and scarf on Sunday, but I had to try them on Jade today and couldn't help taking some pics of my little pink bundle. The overalls are a bit big, but she'll grow into them soon enough I'm sure. Cute, huh?


Oh, and here is our tree that we got from the woods...the old fashion way:)

Our Christmas Tree Adventure

Friends of ours invited us to go Christmas Tree "shopping" the old fashion way. They invited us to join them trekking up into the mountains to find a Christmas tree in the woods. The real woods, not a Christmas tree farm. So we thought "why not". Neither of us had gone searching for a tree this way before and figured it would be a good family experience.

We headed off too the national forest and decided to go as high as we could...till we reached snow. So even though it was a mild, almost sunny day...by the time we made it up the mountain and reached the snow, it turned into a foggy, cloudy, some what snowy day. lol
We bundled ourselves us as best we could and made sure Jade had on plenty of layers. She seemed very interested in "all that white stuff" on the ground.
Some of other people who joined us had brought sleds, so Jade got a free ride while Dad pulled her up the hill.
Then, we decided to see if she'd like a real ride and down she went on the sled with her little friend steering in the back.
She did fine down the hill, but wanted mommy as soon as the sled stopped. lol
Then we went searching for our trees. JB showed Jade how you dust off the snow so you can see how the branches will lay. Jade loved knocking the snow off and pretty soon found a tree just her size she could knock all the snow off on.
But in the end, we opted to cut down a slightly larger tree.
By 12:45, Jade was pretty grumpy, tired and hungry. So this picture isn't all that great, but I had to get at least one shot with me:) Do you like my crazy outfit? hee, hee. I really need to look into getting a snow coat.
We made it home safe and sound, we had some fun and definatly made a good memory. Now I'm off to the store to find some fun, new, Christmas Decorations!

Conversations with Jade this morning

*Mom going in her room to get her up from bed*

Mom: Good Morning Jade!

Jade: HI! Dadda? Aaa, foot.

Mom: No, Daddy isn't here right now, what's wrong with your foot?

Jade *banging her foot on the side of the crib* Foot, ah, ah, why? aaa mmm

Mom: Oh, did your foot get stuck in the side of the crib?

Jade: Ah huh

Mom: I'm sorry, are you okay?

Jade: ah huh

Mom: Do you want to get up? Are you hungry?

Jade: Eat!! Peeass!

*taking Jade downstairs to the kitchen*

Mom: What do you want for breakfast?

Jade: BANA!

Mom: Oh, you want a banana?

Jade: *clapping with glee* ah, huh!

*hand Jade her banana and then turn around and sneeze*

Jade: u aright?

Mom: Yes, I'm fine. I just sneezed

Jade: Oh

*after breakfast upstairs, I'm on the computer working*

Jade: Ma-Ma! ah ma, ooue, moo, moo?

Mom: You want to watch a movie?

Jade: Ah huh

Mom: What movie do you want to watch? Potty Power or Happy Feet?

Jade: FEET!! Peease!

*grab Happy Feet from movie cabinet*

Jade: Wow!

Mom: You like the movie?

Jade: Ah, huh.

*Jade sneezes*

Mom: Ah oh, are you alright? Do you need a Kleenex?

Jade: Ah huh

*grab tissue, wipe Jade's nose*

Jade: Ank u! (thank you)

Mom: Your welcome.

Because she is so cute...

Jade saw me taking a pic for my beauty blog and wanted to pose to. She's so stinkin' cute!

Jade's Hair

These aren't great pictures, but I just wanted to show off Jade's little french braids I did in her hair on Sunday. I love the fact my daughter has enough hair for me to play styles with!