Tornado of Fall 2013

I would have never believed it possible to have a tornado in November..I expect them in the summer, but fall?  On 11/17/13, a tornado ripped through NW Ohio, tearing apart communities still anxious from the tornado that killed 9 3 yrs prior. 
It was scary to hear the wind whipping, defintely stirring up memories from 2010.  They say a tornado never hits the same place twice, but it was pretty close to the exact same path.

A 1/2 mile from our home, there is a Circle K.  The gas island was destroyed, the awning was lying on the ground.

Across from the gas station, in both directions, buildings were destroyed, roofs & sides were torn off.  It's been 2 wks and they're still cleaning debris.

I'm thankful we are all safe and to my knowledge there were no deaths related to this one.  But I'll never doubt Mother Nature's wrath again!

You know it's Friday when...

Friday means double therapy day...we have it scheduled so Cai's 2nd day of therapy is on Bry's...saving time on driving to BG is all that matters!  I am able to watch the therapies in the observation room.  I prefer to watch both girls, which means 2 tv's.  Since there are only 4 tvs total, if there are a lot of people there, I'll only watch on 1 tv and flip back and forth.  I don't think there are enough words to sign them the praises they deserve!  They are doing such awesome things with my kiddos!  Bryleigh's speech is 90% intelligible and Cadence is getting A's & B's in school.  I'm so proud of them and am beyond thankful for the therapists they work with, both at BG & at their schools.  They have helped my Bry's speech & Cai's reading tremendously!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's a GIRL!!!

I was so excited to accompany Whitney to her ultrasound today.  Even more excited that it was the one to reveal the baby's gender!  EEK! 

The doctor is very confidant the baby is a girl.  Whitney is thrilled..me too.  I may still have some of Bryleigh's baby clothes..cough, cough..I swear I'm not a hoarder...  So I will be passing those on to Whitney and baby girl! 
















She talked about names as we drove.  I can tell you, two years ago when she came back into our lives, I never would have thought I would be sharing in this meaningful moment.  I hoped for a few phone calls a year..maybe a few lunch dates.  But here we are - fully inserted into each others lives. 
So much so, she's currently living with us until she finds a place.  The excitement I feel is overwhelming!!

Thank you God for bringing her back!

Anniversary Quince

In 2^nd or 3^rd grade I met a girl that had just moved here from Mexico.  We used to walk the same way home after school since we only lived a block or so away from each other and eventually we just started walking together.  I don’t remember what moment we became friends, but without a doubt, my childhood memories include her family.  I would stay the night at her house, go to family parties with her, ‘ice skate’ in the empty pool in the back with her.  It was so much fun.  I love her parents and siblings.  Her grandfather was one of the sweetest guys I’ve ever met.

Spending that much time w/her family, I became friends with her cousins.  Raquel, one of her younger cousins, has a beautiful daughter, Alejandria who was celebrated her 15^th b/day with a quincenera. 

It was a lot of fun – Ale looked beautiful.  The colors were purple & zebra print which Bryleigh fell in love with and now wants her room to match it!   The girls enjoyed dancing around and were pretty tired by the time we got home.  I love the kind of party that makes the kids tired!

 

Dennis & I also celebrated our 11^th anniversary!  We didn’t do much, bought a new toilet (sooo romantic) & had lunch at Olive Garden with NO children in tow!  That was pretty awesome.  Angie said she’d watch them for us so we could get something to eat.  It was a peaceful 2 hrs of us just enjoying each other.  We don’t do many ‘dates’ because for both of us, the perfect date is relaxing at home, but when we do get out – it’s always enjoyable and refreshing.

 

 

 

1st Baby - Baby shower!

 

One of my favorite friends & his wife are expecting their first baby!  Everyone is soooo excited.  And, in my opinion, even more exciting is this baby is a girl!  Yay! 

We threw him a shower at work and had some of the cutest treats to share...

 



 

Seriously - how adorable are these baby face cookies??!!!

 

 



So there's this wonderful lady at work & she's super artistic - check out these adorable tags she made for her delicious dipped oreos!



Another artistic lady at work made this cute diaper wreath...almost makes me want another...



Delicious mint cake...melts in your mouth, delicious!!



At work - we LOVE food and parties!



this cupcake was almost too pretty to eat!  but I got over it and enjoyed every bite!



Yay Baby Evie!!

 

 

 

 

 

Happy 4th Birthday Duchess!

I did A LOT of research for Bry’s 4th bday party. Pinterest, of course, had about 16,546,514,651,654 ideas available for carnival parties. We chose do it at nearby park. Some of my pictures suck b/c I was so busy setting up, taking care of kids, etc, that I didn’t have time for picture taking.  AND my signs definitely suck!  I had plans to make cute signs, but other things took up to much of my time and I was left writing them out.  And then they had to be taped on super, duper tight b/c it was so stinkin windy!

I was able to do this party pretty inexpensively, which made me super happy! Here is a recap of the setup & of her day…

We bought raffle tickets at the dollar store for them to use to play games. We bought some cheap prizes – you can get packs of them at the dollar store & also at walmart. The first station they visited was full of stuff to decorate white paper bags which would hold their prizes. Crayons, markers, stickers, glitter, & construction paper. "Take a bag & decorate it with stickers, crayons, glitter & glue. Inside you will find your raffle tickets for Bryleigh's birthday Carnival! Have fun!!"

 

 

 

The first game we had, was a football toss. I took a hula hoop & tied it up to twine in between 2 trees. The boys & Cadence LOVED this game.

 

Guess the #...I took a cheap jar from the dollar store, filled it with candy & a b/day #4 candle, had a little bucket for them to put post it w/their guess. The winner took the candy!

 

 

 

Ring Toss….toss the bracelets over the water bottles

 

 

Tattoos…washable tattoos – all of the kids loved this one. I had a bottle of water with a washrag to apply them.

 

Lucky Pitch…I taped a bunch of Styrofoam cups to poster board, but also spray painted a couple different colors. If they went into the different colors, they won more prizes...not the best pictures, unfortunately..

 

 

 

Race Track….empty paper boxes were used for the cars, string, cds, crayons, stickers, bowls, construction paper decorated the cars. After the cars were finished – the kids wore them to race!
"Decorate your Racecar - Use stickers, crayons, construction paper, glue, cd's & paper plates to make your racecar original.  Then get ready to start your engines!"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The weather was great and the kids had a blast - that's really all it's about, right?!

 

 



 

Chicken Crescent Rolls

I'm proud of myself for coming up with this recipe on my own. Even Dennis was surprised!
He kept asking me, are you sure this was all you?? Yes, it was. I saw other recipes that had a few of the ingredients together, but not one like this. Pinterest had great recipes, but none put this together and honestly, I don't see a lot with the french onion soup mix. Man, I love that stuff!
4 boneless/skinless chicken breasts
2 pck crescent rolls
Mozz cheese – I didn’t measure b/c we LOVE cheese, so we pile it on
French onion soup mix dry

Preheat oven to temp listed on Crescent rolls – usually 375

Brown chicken on both sides in fry pan. Add water to cover chicken, add 1 packet of dry French onion soup mix & cover.

Cook until chicken is completely cooked through.

Cut into chunks.

Open crescent rolls & pinch together seams of 2 triangles to make 4 different crusts. Add chicken chunks & as much mozz cheese as you want. Then add the other package of crescent rolls, pinching seams of 2 triangles together, than placing them on top of the chicken mixture & pressing the top & bottom crescents together. Sometimes we can get a really good seam, other times, not so much.




Bake for 12-14 mins (or as long as the rolls require). Serve w/green beans & rice.
Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream for dessert equals YUM!

And really, the combination possibilities are numerous. We also made these with pepper jack cheese, sharp cheese and colby.
Instead of French soup mix, we did dry Italian dressing...the crescent roll has the flavor bake right in - it's sooo good!
We also made turkey burger (I don't eat red meat, so at home we use turk burg in lieu of hamburger) and put taco seasoning in w/taco mix cheese and served w/lettuce, tomato & sour cream... (hello heartburn!)...

Let me know if you try this and what combinations you use. I'm curious to see what else other people come up with!