My view today...

This is my view today and I'm loving it!  The girls are so good at being dedicated and I'm so grateful!

Best money we ever spent...

Last year when we planned our big trip to Louisiana, we treated the girls to Rainbow Looms to help them during any "bored" times that we may have during the trip if Doug and I needed to sleep during the day at all.  Every time we buy something like that, I always wonder how long the phase will last.  Well this one is going strong with no end in sight.  As long as we keep them supplied with rubber bands, the projects keep coming out!  We brought out all their creations the other day.  In total they have about 125 "creatures" of one sort or another.  Some they have made up using their imaginations and some they have followed tutorials off of You Tube.  Either way, they have dedicated a lot of time to these things and most days you can find them either creating more creatures, or playing with the families they have made!  I love it!

Hamsters...

Owls...

Turtles

Rainbow Loom friends...

Madalyn made up these lizards...

Snakes with hair....the snake part they got online, but then they wanted to add hair so they figured out that part on their own.

These are dragons they made up after getting huge into "How to Train Your Dragon"

I'm so happy they love them.  Granted, we bought them over 7000 bands for Christmas and we are starting to run dry, but I still love them! :)

The Perfect Chicken

Those of you that follow my sister-in-law's blog (Cristale), you already have seen this recipe.

I'm reposting it though so a.)I can share it with those that haven't seen it and b.) I now have it saved in multiple locations for myself!!!

This was super easy to make!  You start out with the ingredients to make the rub... 

Spice Rub:
- 1 Tbsp Paprika
- 1 Tbsp Salt
- 2 Tbsp Onion Powder
- 1 tsp Cayenne Pepper
- 1 Tbsp Cumin
- 1 Tbsp Italian Seasoning
- 1 tsp Black Pepper
- 2 Tbsp Garlic Powder

Mix it all together and rub it on your whole chicken.  Then you just roast your chicken and you have a delicious dinner!  I preheated my oven for 450 and then stuck the chicken in and dropped it to 350 for about an hour and a half.  I also put onions, potatoes and carrots around my chicken so dinner was all done in one shot!  I forgot to take a picture of it but trust me it was really good!

Enjoy!

The girls...

My girls are the best :)

This morning I got up with a lot to do.  Dishes were backed up, the house is in need of a good cleaning, I needed a shower, 2 kids needed to be homeschooled, 2 extra kids were getting dropped off...So when Doug left I got right to work.  The girls woke up early, around 6am and asked if they could help!  The three of us started on our pile and I bet we had them all done in 10 minutes, including washing, drying and putting them all away.  A job that would have taken me at least 20-30 minutes was cut way down.  I'm so grateful!  By the time my extra kids arrived, I was showered, the girls were ready for school and were sitting down, and both bathrooms were clean.  

They are a huge help with the kids that I have, never complaining about a job that needs to be done.  Now granted, the baby is going to be spoiled rotten if things keep going the way they are because all she has to do is peep and one if them is at her side ;)  

That's it for today...I have a fun blog post planned for Monday, but for now, I'm off to finish cleaning and take pictures for Monday!  I hope you all have an awesome weekend and stay warm!  Doug said it was supposed to be -40 on Saturday!  

Your Going to Miss This....

I love my job!  It can be really tough, but over all its so rewarding.  Watching the girls learn and mature is awesome.  I'm so thankful that I've been given the job of being their mom and given the opportunity to stay home to raise them.  I love it and count it a huge blessing.  I realized the other day that I've been a mom for just shy of 10 years, a teacher for 5 years, and a babysitter for 8 years.  I love every second of it.  God has been so gracious to me!  We have our rough days don't get me wrong, but I wouldn't trade it for anything!  

I can't get over how fast time flies!  After watching those videos yesterday, it is even more evident.  This morning as I was getting Doug out the door and then getting the kids ready for school and preparing for my extra little ones, I realized that I take things for granted all too often.  I get tired and just can't wait for______, and I fill in the blank.  I'm going to regret thinking like that some day!  As thankful as I am for my job, its tiring!  I only get this job for so long though...and then everything changes.  I'm going to strive to just stop and enjoy each moment.  They won't be here long.  I've learned to not take Doug for granted because of his schedule, but I regret all the time I took him for granted when he was here all the time before he took this job.  I don't want to wait until the girls are gone before I realize I shouldn't be taking them for granted either!  

Ok, now that I have my cry in for the day....

Reminiscing....

The winter is catching up to me and I'm having a loss of blogs these days.  We have been doing a lot of looking back at old videos and pictures.  Time sure does fly!  I can't believe they used to be this little!  I hope you enjoy them as much as we have been!

A much needed buddy

Although I LOVE it when we have an awesome weekend, it makes the next week drag.  Especially at night after the girls are in bed and Doug is gone, the house just has this loneliness to it.  Molly is pretty awesome though.  She climbed up on the couch and passed out like this.  

Then Chloe jumped up and slept in between my legs.  Who needs blankets when you have dogs? ;) 

I almost hated to move them to go to bed.  I love my furry kiddos!

A late blog...

 This morning has been one of those mornings...

I am so tired of slow internet.  I finally have a somewhat decent speed, but its taken me a good amount of time to get there.  I usually get up early and write my posts because my kids aren't up yet and I don't have any extra kids.  But this morning when I got up to no internet, it kind of threw that plan right out the window.  I'm typing this currently while trying to get my extra kiddo to sleep on my lap ;)

So anyhow, onto today :)

We had a GREAT weekend!  I'm sooo thankful for my family.

From Doug, to the girls, down to the dogs and cat, they are all amazing!  Doug and I started out Saturday morning talking.  I'm blessed with a great communicator, and although we talk during the week, it isn't always a really good talk.  It was nice to get caught up with that.  We had an awesome family day with the kids...played some games, watched some movies.  It was great.  Sunday we had church, followed by some family time and then a movie night in bed.  

I'm just so thankful!  The girls are so good and helpful and go with the flow so well with all the different changes we have had.  God has really blessed me and I'm so undeserving!  

I should add in here that this picture, although I love it, is making my itch to get back in the camper even WORSE!  We aren't even halfway :(  

Oops

Doug was off yesterday for a dentist appointment and I completely forgot about my blog post!  OOPS!!!  I'm surprised I didn't get called out on Facebook or a Text because of it. :)  We had a good day anyhow.  The kids did a light day of school, I babysat, then we had a nice meal and played a game of Royal Rummy.  

One of the biggest struggles of Doug being gone the majority of the time is finding time to do things.  Things like dentist appointments require an entire day off in order to take care of it.  Hair cuts are another thing.  We have an awesome hair dresser that will cut his hair on the weekend, but with us flat out most of the time, even that is tough.  It's either he doesn't have the time to go because we have somewhere else to go, or he doesn't feel like going because all he does is go and he just wants to sit home.  

So the other night he came home and I told him he really needed to make an appointment.  I can't remember if I offered or he asked if I could just try trimming it this time, to get him through till he could go.  So I broke out the spray bottle, scissors and clippers.  I was very nervous, but in the end I think it turned out ok!  

His hair isn't the easiest to cut, and it took forever to accomplish.  I'm pleased with it though and happy that we didn't have to end up shaving it which was what he said he would just do if I butchered it!  LOL  

So thankful its Friday!  I hope you all have a great week!  I'm looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow morning!  We have had a week of really early mornings and it starts really catching up after about the 3rd one!

Chloe

This dog is crazy ;)  LOL  

So just a little back story....Chloe used to barely ever eat.  She would pick at her food here and there and maybe consume a cups worth in a weeks time.  That all changed when we fixed her.  She never ACTS like she is hungry, very rarely asks for her breakfast or dinner, but will NEVER turn down food that is offered to her.  

Fast forward to the other day.  She knows that she is not allowed to touch Molly's dish and is generally pretty good about it.  However, Molly doesn't always finish all her meals.  We try to make it a point to pick up her dish if it still has food in it before we leave the house because even if there is 3 cups of food in there (Chloe normally eats a 1/2 cup of food in an entire day), Chloe will clear the whole dish.  

So I left the house and totally forgot that Molly had not finished her breakfast.  She probably had about a cup and a half worth of food left in her dish.  We left, were gone for about 3 hours, and came back to finding a little bit of poop in the house.  She NEVER does that unless she has gotten into Molly's food.  It's like she needs to make room so that has to go kind of thing.  Anyhow, it dawned on me then that we never picked that up.  So I scolded her like I always do, took care of the pile and left it alone.  I was kind of surprised there wasn't piles of puke around, because that is the norm, but I didn't find anything.

....till a while later!  That stinkin' dog had hid all her piles all over the house.  Under blankets, behind boxes, behind doors, behind clothes baskets, behind bookshelves.... OH MY GOODNESS!  Last night at 8:30 while putting the kids to bed, I'm still finding hidden piles!  

Which tells me that she totally knew what she was doing.  She knew she shouldn't eat it and knew she would be in trouble so therefore "hid" her dog food filled puke in places I wouldn't look!  Molly ended up nosing around and led me to most of the piles.  I couldn't help but laugh. 

 ...And people say dogs are dumb!  Whatever!!!