2011 Goal Update

I don't set resolutions for the new year, I always set goals.  I feel that resolutions are often made to be broken but goals are set to be achieved!

In my post about my goals for 2011 I was quite ambitious.  While I accomplished several of them, there were a few that went to the wayside and some that I had to do more than once. 

Financially we didn't quite hit them all.

I had hoped to pay off the small personal loan that we have and while we didn't do that, we made great strides to getting it paid off.  Things just got in the way.  We bought a van and sold Brian's car and while we didn't have to finance a whole lot on the new vehichle it did take away from the extra money I was applying to the loan.

We did continue to grow our savings account and I am pleased to say that we will be having laminate flooring installed in our living room and hallway next month and will be paying for this IN CASH!!!!!


Spiritually we are on the right track but there is always room for improvement.  Brian and I attended a marriage conference in November and have been reading a book together at night before bed. {something that we will continue on through 2012 and start a new book when we have finished the one we are currently on}

 Personally I think that I have suceeded.  Of course I have new goals for 2012 and many of them are the same as 2011 but continuing to grow as a person is an ongoing challenge.

I lost 40 pounds last year and have about 30 more to go.  I am looking to get physically fit and healthy in the upcoming year. 

I think I have read more in 2011 than I ever have before.  AND I plan to continue.  I love reading, it is so thereaputic and helps me escape. 

In 2011 I read

1}  The Lovely Bones
2}  The Memory Keeper's Daughter
3}  The Pact
4}  Love The One You're With
5}  Heart of the Matter
6}  Baby Proof
7}  Love and Logic, Magic for Early Childhood
8}  The Four Seasons of Marriage
9}  Made To Crave
10}  Sing You Home
11}  Black Heels to Tractor Wheels
12} Something Blue
13} Something Borrowed

See what I mean?!  that is alot of books.  Plus I have started several that I have yet to finish and I have plans to re read a couple of the self help books.  :)

My blogging goal for 2011 was to blog more than I did in 2010.  I almost made it.  In 2010 I had 161 blog posts and in 2011 I have 159.  OH SO CLOSE!!!


On my organization goals I failed big time.

I had really good intentions!  I cleaned out the pantry several times only for it to get wrecked again.

I have cleaned off the kitchen counters numerous times but this last time I am determined to make it stick.  My kitchen looks amazing if I do say so myself. 

I did however clean out the junk drawer and junk cabinet and purge a ton of stuff.  I even turned the junk cabinet into Lauren's personal space.  Her crayons and coloring books and other misc stuff are all in one spot for her.

I didn't even touch my cookbook cabinet.  As a matter of fact I accumulated more!

I did a pretty good job of backing up my photos however I still would like to do better and do more.  {Which reminds me, I need to copy December to my external hard drive.}


I have so much to be thankful for over the last year and I know that 2012 is going to be even better.  I will have my goals for 2012 up next week.  I have a feeling they will look pretty similar to 2011, I am a work in progress!

2011 Recap

Wow what a year it has been!  I can't believe that it is going to be 2012 in just a couple of days.  I have high hopes for this upcoming year but for now I want to take a look back at 2011.

I set my goals for 2011 and while I accomplished some and not others I am pretty pleased with the progress I made in 2011 and look forward to continuing in 2012.  I lost a total of 40 pounds this year and have about 30 more that I want to lose in 2012. 

Lauren turned 3 in January and we are getting ready to celebrate her fourth birthday next month!  She is getting so big and continues to surprise me with all the funny and clever things that she says. 

Colton hit several milestones including rolling over and walking.  A huge accomplishment due to his hip dysplasia that has not slowed him down one bit!!  He also turned one this year and found a passion for playing the drums.

I cooked and baked alot and posted several of my favorite recipes including Cookies and Cream Oreo Dream Brownies, Pulled Pork Tacos, Red Velvet Pancakes, Banana Bread Cupcakes, O'Lucky Cupcakes, and Chocolate Stout Donuts.


Thanks for sharing 2011, I will see you in 2012!

Words Of Wisdom {In the Most Random Place}

A month or so ago my mom rented the movie Barbie Princess Charm School for Lauren from Red Box.  She watched it twice before we had to return it and then proceeded to ask that we rent it every single time we drove by the local Red Box!  :)  I thought it would be a good purchase for Christmas.

So the other night we were watching it and even though I had seen it a couple of times before something really jumped out at me.  The movie is about a girl named Blair who was raised in a not so affluent area who gets the chance to go to Princess Charm School.  She feels out of place and the instructor tells her

"No one can make you feel inferior without your consent"

This quote has stuck with me for the last several days and turns out it is a quote from Eleanor Roosevelt! 

I am all the time wondering what kind of things Lauren is picking up from the radio and TV shows.  I know she listens to things because she will randomly start repeating something that she just heard even when I think she wasn't paying attention.  She has been watching a lot of princess shows and movies and her manners have greatly improved!

 I can't believe that I myself got inspiration from a Barbie movie!

Smiling's My Favorite

I think that Elf has got to me one of my all time favorite Christmas movies EVER!

It cracks me up each and every time I watch it!

There are so many good quotes so enjoy!!

Source: meghanbrindley.com via Sonya on Pinterest

You did it! Congratulations! World's best cup of coffee!

Sounds like somebody needs to sing a Christmas Carol.

The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear.

Source: clawsondesigns.com via Sonya on Pinterest

I just like to smile, smiling's my favorite.

Source: kanakukashley.com via Sonya on Pinterest

I'm a cotton-headed ninny-muggins.

Buddy the Elf! What's your favorite color? 

We elves try to stick to the four main food groups: candy, candy canes, candy corns, and syrup.

Source: txstateu.wordpress.com via Sonya on Pinterest

Buddy: "Can you pass the maple syrup please?"
Emily: "I... I didn't put... It's spagetti."
Buddy: "Oh, you know what? I think I have some. Yes."
Emily: "You like sugar, huh?"
Buddy: "Is there sugar in syrup?"
Emily: "Yes."
Buddy: "Then yes!"

SAAAANTA.  He's coming here.  I know him!

I thought maybe we could make ginger bread houses, and eat cookie dough, and go ice skating and maybe even hold hands. 

You smell like beef and cheese, you don't smell like Santa.

He's an angry elf!

What's a Christmas Gram? I want one!!

Have you seen these toilets? They're GINORMOUS!

I'm sorry I ruined your lives, and crammed eleven cookies into the VCR.

Are You On The Naughty List? {Oreo Coal Recipe}

I love to bake and when the holidays roll around my kitchen sees all kind of yummy goodness!

This year I thought it would be fun to shake things up a bit.  Lauren has been talking about Santa and the “naughty and nice list” a lot so when I came across this recipe I knew that it would work perfect for some “coal”

When I decided to make this recipe into Coal, I knew I wanted to dress it up a bit so I set out a search on pinterest. I came across this pin and it couldn’t be cuter!

See what I mean absolutely adorable!  I downloaded the tag and printed it on a brown paper sack.  What I did was take an ordinary bag from the grocery store and cut it so that it was a standard size piece of paper.  I put that into the printer and printed the tag out on it.

Oreo Coal
recipe from Picky Palate

Ingredients:
One 16 oz package of Oreo
5 cups Large Marshmallows
4 tablespoons butter

Directions:
Line a 8x8 square pan with foil.  Place Oreos in food processor and pulse until ground. In a heavy pot melt marshmallows and butter until puffed. Remove from heat and pour in ground Oreo Cookies. Stir to combine then transfer to pan. Let set up for 10 minutes. Remove bars out of pan with edges of foil and cut into squares. Place in a plastic bag and tie it up with a ribbon and Lump of Coal tag! Merry Christmas or rather Bah-Hum-Bug!!  :)

 

Rock Star in the Making

I know that I already posted a video of Colton playing the drum but this video is just too cute not to share.  A daily occurrence around our household is Colton beating on anything and everything with wooden spoons.  He recently has discovered a Christmas tin that makes a great noise!!




HAHA!  I love it!!

Honest to Goodness

Brian and I are still working through and trying to process all the amazing things we heard at the marriage conference we attended last month.  We are trying things out to see what is going to with for us and our marriage. Let me tell you...it has not been easy.  When you have held things in for so long sometimes letting go of those feelings is not pretty!

I want to be very respectful to my husband in my posts about marriage. However I also want to be honest. So I'm going to focus on my side of the story... what I have done wrong... how I have failed in my marriage. I can only control my thoughts and my feelings and so that is what I am going to share. My intention is not to make my husband out to be the bad guy, or tell you all of his shortcomings. However it is my intention to share our story so that it might help someone in a similar situation.

My husband is a great guy. He is very hard working and is an amazing father.

But marriage is hard work, plain and simple. There are days I don't want to be around my husband and I KNOW there are lots of days he doesn't want to be around me.

I will admit that their times I've not been the best wife. I like to yell and scream. I like to get my way. I can be inconsiderate. Occasionally manipulative. Those are not qualities my husband deserves in a wife. Nor are they qualities I want to instill in my children.

In order for me to change I must be honest, admit my wrong doings and where I fall short. Admitting this to my husband and here publicly is the first step towards any kind of progress.

Baby Jack

 

 

Newborns are so soft and snuggly!


I just love to photograph them!  This is Jack.  Isn’t he handsome!!??


I couldn’t have asked for a better model.  When he was awake he was so alert and cooperative. 


AH!  Just breathtaking!!

And then he fell asleep and let me capture lots more good shots of him!


I even caught him smiling!

Love!!

Silver Dollar City Christmas Ornaments

When we went to Branson over the Thanksgiving weekend we visited Silver Dollar City.  I love that place. During Christmas it is spectacular {sorry been reading Fancy Nancy with Lauren a bit much}  It is decorated to the hill!  Lights every where and beautiful Christmas decor to purchase in the shops.  The shop that I bought the ornament for my ornament exchange partner was no exception.  I could have spent all day in there looking at all the different decorations.  Too bad I had the kids with me or I might have!!!  I snapped a few photos of some of them. 

 

 

 

They had several trees that were decorated completely with cupcakes!  I really wish that I had bought a couple of them for our tree. 

 

 

 

This one was my favorite one I saw.  It reminds me of cotton candy!

 

 

 

Lauren wanted her picture taken in front of the beautiful trees.  She was in love with the shop about as much as I was.  I had to get her out of there though, I was afraid she would break something.  All those pretty colors are too much for a kid to resist. 

 

Little Drummer Boy

Colton is my little drummer boy. :) I came home from work one day to this horrific sound coming from the living room. My mom had given Colton one of my pots and two of my wooden spoons and he was beating away. This has been going on ever since! He is constantly going to the kitchen and pointing to where I usually keep the wooden spoons. {he has since broken every one of my cheap wooden spoons and I refuse to give him my Pampered Chef ones}  I think Santa is going to put a cheap package of wooden spoons in his stocking!

When we were over at my grandma's for Thanksgiving he spotted a wooden spoon on the table, grabbed it and started beating on a chair.  His great papa and great Gigi thought it was wonderful so my grandpa went and dug a drum out of the basement for him.  OH MY GOSH!  When Colton first hit that drum with the spoon...you should have seen his face...it was priceless!!  Such wonder, such joy, such excitement!  For the rest of the afternoon he beat away on that drum. 
I took a video of him on my phone.  Let me warn you it is a bit rough.  I forgot the correct way to hold my phone so the video is sideways and then there seems to be a glitch in it.  The sound doesn’t quite match up to his actions…BUT you get the idea. 

Cookies and Cream Oreo Dream Brownies

Let me just preface this recipe by saying that these brownies are AHHHHMAZING!!!

I first saw these brownies on pinterest and after making them for a coworkers birthday I decided I wanted to kick them up a notch, which was almost difficult because the orignal recipe was genius. 

You use a boxed brownie mix for this recipe and make it as usual only don't add the water that it calls for on the box.  Once you have all those ingredients combined then you add cookies and cream ice cream, hot fudge and crushed Oreos. 

After mixing in the hot fudge and ice cream stir in the crushed Oreos

Once you have the batter made you are ready to assemble the brownies.  Pour half of your brownie batter into your prepared pan.

Then take your Oreos and layer them all accross the brownie batter.

Top with the remaining brownie batter.

Bake in your preheated oven, let cool and top with the Oreo Buttercream Frosting

Cookies and Cream Oreo Dream Brownies
recipe adapted from Kevin & Amanda

Ingredients
1 box Brownie Mix {family size for a 9x13 pan}
eggs & oil {as called for by the brownie mix}
11/2 heaping cups Cookies & Cream ice cream
1/2 Cup hot fudge topping
1 package Oreo Double Stuf Cookies
Directions:
Preheat oven & spray an 8×11 for thicker brownie or 9x13 baking dish generously with cooking spray. Combine brownie mix, eggs, and oil as directed on the back of the box, but do not add the water. Add ice cream and hot fudge to the brownie batter and stir to combine. Crush up about 10-15 Oreos and stir those into the batter. Pour half of the brownie batter into the baking dish, layer with Oreos, {side by side covering the entire pan} then top with remaining batter. Bake for 40-50 minutes or as directed on the back of the box.

Oreo Buttercream Frosting
recipe adapted from Confessions of a Cookbook Queen


Ingredients:
2 sticks salted butter
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoons vanilla
4 cups powdered sugar
15 Oreos, crushed VERY FINELY

Directions:
In the bowl of a mixer, beat butter, cream, and vanilla on medium-low until smooth and well-combined. Slowly add powdered sugar. Once powdered sugar is barely mixed in, increase speed to medium-high and beat for 2 minutes. Fold in crushed Oreos {I used my food processor to crush the Oreos into almost a powder}


These are so super yummy!  I took them to our family gathering on Thanksgiving and everyone raved about them!

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Or not!  The holidays are very busy and extremely stressful for alot of people and I have to admit at the beginning of November I'm a little bit of a scrooge about the start of the Christmas season. I think the stores start putting out stuff way too early and radio stations playing Christmas music before Thanksgiving, which I think is absurd! I want to  celebrate Thanksgiving first!

Soooo...every year it seems like it takes for ever to get into the Christmas spirit. I'm really not a big fan of the holidays. They are stressful, busy and I have to spend a ton of money. I hate that Christmas has become so commercialized.  What happened to spending time with family celebrating the birth of our savior?

We haven't even put our tree up yet. I'm not looking forward she constantly making sure the kids, mainly Colton, are leaving it alone. All the bright pretty ornaments are impossible for Colton to resist. They are like magnets to that kid!  He is drawn in by the pretty lights and colors of the tree and can't keep his hands off of the ornaments.  This year I think we are going to keep it simple.  I plan on buying a small tree to sit on top of a cabinet and letting Lauren pick out which ornaments she would like to put on it and then it will be done and out of reach of Colton.

The song says it's the most wonderful time of the year but I disagree. I think the holidays bring out the worst in people. Customers at my job are cranky and just hateful. Customers in the stores I am shopping are inconsiderate and rude. And if you ever lost a loved one this can be a lonely and heartbreaking time of year. Christmas was one of Paul's favorite holidays and it pains me every year that we are celebrating with out him.  There is always that piece of my heart that is missing during the festivities. 

With all that being said, I'm doing my best to get into the Christmas spirit. It starts out slow for me. After Thanksgiving I start listening to Christmas music at work and that helps a little bit. Then the radio starts sneaking in a Christmas tune every once in a while, that helps a little bit more. The Christmas cards are start rolling in, that puts me in the mood for sure!  I love seeing cards from all my friends and family. But you know what gets me in the mood the most is my children. I love watching Lauren get so excited for Jesus' birthday. She ask me everyday when is Jesus is birthday.  We started counting down! I also love watching how excited she gets when she meets Santa. In fact the other day she said "I wanna stay in bed until Santa comes."



Santa of course is not what Christmas is all about and she knows that.  I just love her imagination and her excitement.  That makes me excited for Christmas morning when she opens her presents.  Which will mostly be shoes, because she is constantly telling me a new pair of shoes that she wants.  I am in so much trouble!!!!!


So here it is less than 20 days till Christmas.... and I am finally getting in the Christmas Spirit and only saying bah humbug on occasion. 

Ornaments

The ornament exchange I co hosted wrapped up last week.  I mailed out my ornament to my partner on Monday and I received mine from her later in the week.  The one she got me was so incredibly perfect!  I love anything to do with snowmen, snowflakes and all that jazz.  This is the one she got me.

It is a metal 3D snowflake!!!

Whittney, my partner, said that she likes rustic ornaments.  We went to Silver Dollar City in Branson over Thanksgiving weekend so I figured that was the best place to find something rustic.  This is what I picked out.

It is a nativity scene carved into a thin piece of wood.

I thought it was super cute!  I almost bought one for us too.