Valentines Day

On Valentine's Day Grace finally made it to a school party. We missed her Thanksgiving and Christmas one but we made it for Valentines!

Grace and her best friend Camden had so much fun rolling each other up in this Winnie the Pooh chair.

After her party it was time to head to ballet. This week at ballet was red and pink week so we had to change from her normal black leotard and pink tights to make her a little more festive! :)

Opening her Valentines from Mommy & Daddy! (Daddy was in Orlando for a conference)

Here's a photo of Grace's Valentines that she gave to her friends...

Going through her Valentine box from school to see her goodies from her friends!

Grace's friend Kennedy gave everyone three heart crayons. Too cute! 

That night Grace and I baked Mickey heart cookies! 

I sure do love my sweet Valentine!

Family Photo Session, Part II

After a quick change of clothes we continued our session with my friend Laurie. Here's more photos from our photo session back in November. If you missed the first set of images you can view them here.
 

A New Adventure!

 

I met, Andrea, last March at a photography workshop on the OBX. Then she was living in Williamston with her husband who was a preacher and her three stinkin' cute boys. Being a pastors wife, mother, and a photographer were just part of her duties because she also home schools the two oldest boys and is the co-founder of one of my favorite blogs: She {hearts} it. I was AMAZED, and still am of how she does it all.

A month or so ago, Andrea, and the blogs other co-founder, Sheena, were looking for some new writers to add to their site. I sent in an inquiry because I thought it would be fun, but really didn't think I'd be chosen. However, I was! Now I am a contributing writer to this amazing site compiled of some amazing women!

She {hearts} it is a site where you can find mainly product reviews, but every once in a while you'll find recipes and lots of other fun things. Best of all there is always a giveaway going on. Right now there are giveaways for:
NeatReceipts Mobile Scanner
an item from Thumbprint Designs
A travel set from My True Nature
Quart of Coconut Oil

I encourage you to follow "She {hearts} it" on Facebook too! And be sure to frequent the blog and enter the contests. You'll never know when it will be my turn to post there!

xoxo

Fruit Cups

I signed up to bring fresh fruit for Grace's class Valentine's Day party! Instead of doing one big bowl of fresh fruit I decided that I would make individual fruit cups for everyone. It was so quick and easy. I just took small plastic cups, inserted a valentine's cupcake wrapper and filled with grapes and strawberries!

Married? In a Relationship? It's a good read!

Although Scott and I aren't married I found something in the following article that I really liked. I think people married or not, as long as you're in a relationship should read this. This was shared on one of my Facebook friend's pages, I thought I would share it with all of you.

“When I got home that night as my wife served dinner, I held her hand and said, I’ve got something to tell you. She sat down and ate quietly. Again I observed the hurt in her eyes.


Suddenly I didn’t know how to open my mouth. But I had to let her know what I was thinking. I want a divorce. I raised the topic calmly. She didn’t seem to be annoyed by my words, instead she asked me softly, why?


I avoided her question. This made her angry. She threw away the chopsticks and shouted at me, you are not a man! That night, we didn’t talk to each other. She was weeping. I knew she wanted to find out what had happened to our marriage. But I could hardly give her a satisfactory answer; she had lost my heart to Jane. I didn’t love her anymore. I just pitied her!


With a deep sense of guilt, I drafted a divorce agreement which stated that she could own our house, our car, and 30% stake of my company. She glanced at it and then tore it into pieces. The woman who had spent ten years of her life with me had become a stranger. I felt sorry for her wasted time, resources and energy but I could not take back what I had said for I loved Jane so dearly. Finally she cried loudly in front of me, which was what I had expected to see. To me her cry was actually a kind of release. The idea of divorce which had obsessed me for several weeks seemed to be firmer and clearer now.


The next day, I came back home very late and found her writing something at the table. I didn’t have supper but went straight to sleep and fell asleep very fast because I was tired after an eventful day with Jane. When I woke up, she was still there at the table writing. I just did not care so I turned over and was asleep again.


In the morning she presented her divorce conditions: she didn’t want anything from me, but needed a month’s notice before the divorce. She requested that in that one month we both struggle to live as normal a life as possible. Her reasons were simple: our son had his exams in a month’s time and she didn’t want to disrupt him with our broken marriage.


This was agreeable to me. But she had something more, she asked me to recall how I had carried her into out bridal room on our wedding day. She requested that every day for the month’s duration I carry her out of our bedroom to the front door ever morning. I thought she was going crazy. Just to make our last days together bearable I accepted her odd request.


I told Jane about my wife’s divorce conditions. . She laughed loudly and thought it was absurd. No matter what tricks she applies, she has to face the divorce, she said scornfully.


My wife and I hadn’t had any body contact since my divorce intention was explicitly expressed. So when I carried her out on the first day, we both appeared clumsy. Our son clapped behind us, daddy is holding mommy in his arms. His words brought me a sense of pain. From the bedroom to the sitting room, then to the door, I walked over ten meters with her in my arms. She closed her eyes and said softly; don’t tell our son about the divorce. I nodded, feeling somewhat upset. I put her down outside the door. She went to wait for the bus to work. I drove alone to the office.


On the second day, both of us acted much more easily. She leaned on my chest. I could smell the fragrance of her blouse. I realized that I hadn’t looked at this woman carefully for a long time. I realized she was not young any more. There were fine wrinkles on her face, her hair was graying! Our marriage had taken its toll on her. For a minute I wondered what I had done to her.


On the fourth day, when I lifted her up, I felt a sense of intimacy returning. This was the woman who had given ten years of her life to me. On the fifth and sixth day, I realized that our sense of intimacy was growing again. I didn’t tell Jane about this. It became easier to carry her as the month slipped by. Perhaps the everyday workout made me stronger.


She was choosing what to wear one morning. She tried on a few dresses but could not find a suitable one. Then she sighed, all my dresses have grown bigger. I suddenly realized that she had grown so thin, that was the reason I could carry her more easily.


Suddenly it hit me… she had buried so much pain and bitterness in her heart. Subconsciously I reached out and touched her head.


Our son came in at the moment and said, Dad, it’s time to carry mom out. To him, seeing his father carrying his mother out had become an essential part of his life. My wife gestured to our son to come closer and hugged him tightly. I turned my face away because I was afraid I might change my mind at this last-minute. I then held her in my arms, walking from the bedroom, through the sitting room, to the hallway. Her hand surrounded my neck softly and naturally. I held her body tightly; it was just like our wedding day.


But her much lighter weight made me sad. On the last day, when I held her in my arms I could hardly move a step. Our son had gone to school. I held her tightly and said, I hadn’t noticed that our life lacked intimacy. I drove to office…. jumped out of the car swiftly without locking the door. I was afraid any delay would make me change my mind…I walked upstairs. Jane opened the door and I said to her, Sorry, Jane, I do not want the divorce anymore.


She looked at me, astonished, and then touched my forehead. Do you have a fever? She said. I moved her hand off my head. Sorry, Jane, I said, I won’t divorce. My marriage life was boring probably because she and I didn’t value the details of our lives, not because we didn’t love each other anymore. Now I realize that since I carried her into my home on our wedding day I am supposed to hold her until death do us apart. Jane seemed to suddenly wake up. She gave me a loud slap and then slammed the door and burst into tears. I walked downstairs and drove away. At the floral shop on the way, I ordered a bouquet of flowers for my wife. The sales girl asked me what to write on the card. I smiled and wrote, I’ll carry you out every morning until death do us apart.


That evening I arrived home, flowers in my hands, a smile on my face, I run up stairs, only to find my wife in the bed – dead. My wife had been fighting CANCER for months and I was so busy with Jane to even notice. She knew that she would die soon and she wanted to save me from the whatever negative reaction from our son, in case we push through with the divorce.— At least, in the eyes of our son—- I’m a loving husband….


The small details of your lives are what really matter in a relationship. It is not the mansion, the car, property, the money in the bank. These create an environment conducive for happiness but cannot give happiness in themselves.


So find time to be your spouse’s friend and do those little things for each other that build intimacy. Do have a real happy marriage!

At the end of this particular blogs post it stated that:

If you don't share this, nothing will happen to you. If you do, you just might save a marriage. Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.”

Ever think of throwing in the towel? In too much of a routine? Remember why you fell in love in the first place.

link I got it from: http://zidditamana.wordpress.com/2011/10/18/married-or-not-you-should-read-this/

Crockpot Mashed Potatoes

I think I've found a new favorite recipe. It was so easy.

What You Need

5 Pounds of Russet Potatoes

1 garlic clove minced

1 1/2 cups chicken broth

1/4 cup butter, cut into small cubes chunks

1 1/4 cup light sour cream

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/3 cup milk, warmed

2 ounces of cream cheese

What To Do

*Set crock pot out to high.

*Peel and chop potatoes. Add to crock pot with Chicken Stock and Butter.

*Cook for 4.5 hours

*Roughly Mash Potatoes

*Add garlic, sour cream, salt, pepper, milk, and cream cheese and finish mashing.

So easy and so good. I think I added way too much garlic though. Even thought I'm a big garlic fan, I think this recipe would be fine without the garlic too.

I'm also usually a big fan of mashed potatoes left over, but these weren't as good the second time around. And remember if you have a family of 2 or 3 or even 4, this recipe is WAY TOO much! ;) We had mashed potatoes coming out of our ears!

Ipad Apps

Two of Grace's new favorite Ipad App's are:

*ABC Tracing - is pretty much just tracing the capital and lower case of each letter.

Screenshot of ABC Tracing:


*Letter Quiz - Includes 4 different games: flashcards, identification, matching, & handwriting. Her favorite ones are matching and handwriting.

Screenshot of Letter Quiz:


Below are photos of Grace playing "Letter Quiz".







After she finished all the upper case letters...



LOVE this feature that shows all the letters just as she traced them. (Just wished I could save it, guess snapping a photo of it real quick works too?!?!)

These photos were taken on a Sunday night. Grace just started playing with this app the Friday night before. On Friday night she had no concept of picking up her finger after making one stroke of the letter to make another. There was lots of scribbling and just moving her finger around. Lots of circle motions on the screen. By Sunday night she'd done these letters all by herself.