My Little Life

Well folks, tonight we say adios to 2012...and I've gotta say, it was a dang good year! It gave me a sister, And a new nephew. Gram and I started cooking together regularly, And I now have a brand spankin' new bathroom. I was able to witness my big girl experience Disney, And we logged a healthy year all around. I pray that 2013 will be as successful, healthy, and happy as 2012! May you all have a blessed and healthy 2013! Drive safely tonight, if you are out and about! Happy New Year!

Can you believe 2012 is almost over? And that we all lived through another "world ending" day? Crazy how fast time flies... I'm thoroughly enjoying my downtime, relaxing, refusing to go anywhere that isn't necessary (hockey games and Tide runs fall into the "necessary" category), and soaking in my family. I'm currently typing away whilst my littlest enjoys yet another bath and breathing in the essential oils I added to her water...it smells a bit like a hippie heaven would, I imagine. :) Okay, onto the questions! Welcome to Five Question Friday!! You've come to the right place if you want a fun, easy post or if you've suddenly discovered your muses are recovering from the holidays. Rules for 5QF:  Copy and paste the following questions to your blog post, answer them, then watch for the linky post to appear Friday morning and LINK UP! Oh, and remember (pay close attention...this is the important one)...HAVE FUN! Questions for Friday, De

Woooo hooo!! Back in the 5QF saddle and rarin' to go! Did you all have wonderful Christmases (is that a proper pluralization of Christmas?!)? I enjoyed every minute of it! Okay, since it's getting a bit late, let's get right to the questions! Welcome to Five Question Friday!! You've come to the right place if you want a fun, easy post or if you've suddenly discovered your muses are recovering from the holidays. Rules for 5QF:  Copy and paste the following questions to your blog post, answer them, then watch for the linky post to appear Friday morning and LINK UP! Oh, and remember (pay close attention...this is the important one)...HAVE FUN! Questions for Friday, December 28th :  (Special thanks to Maranda ( @MarandaLamping ) from Maranda Lamping , Rachel ( @runningrachel ) from Running Rachel , Alicia ( @_AliciaAudrey ) from Alicia Audrey , Pam ( @trooppetrie ) from Troop Petrie , and yours truly, from this here blog that you're reading right now   f

A few days before Christmas, as I was held tight in the clutches of sleep deprivation, last minute Christmas preparations, and work schedules, my Gram said, "I'll bet you can't wait until Christmas is over!" and I was all, "NOOOOOO!!! I don't want it to be over!". :) My dad made a comment about "How much the kids...well, and Mama...enjoy Christmas!"...so true. I love Christmas. Everything about it...the Reason, the giving, (the receiving...*gasp*! did I say that out loud?!), the family time, the celebrating, the generosity of people everywhere. It warms my heart and puts a smile on my face. I do admit, I could go without the lack of sleep (I blame the bathroom...video tour coming soon!!), and the stress of making sure everyone has just the right gift...except for my mom, who kind of got the shaft from us this year...she was the one person I wasn't quite done with, so she got a bottle of Crown Royal from my kids. Classy class. It'

As we celebrate the birth of our Savior, I want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas! May your day be filled with love, laughter, merriment and memories, and may your travels be safe! Happy Birthday, Baby Jesus!

Okay, seeing as how it's 10:46 and I still have a list so long it could wrap around the world 4,289,311,234 times, I'm going to postpone 5QF this week. I know, and after I begged for questions all dang day. Please don't hate me. So, what do you all think about this whole "world ending" thing tomorrow? Selfishly, I'd rather go out like that, with all my loved ones than to go out singularly, you know? Is that bad? Anyway, how, exactly, is , the world supposed to end? And when? 'Cuz I'd like to know if I need to worry about supper and whether or not I need to make sure my kids have clean underwear for Saturday. Seeing as how it's already tomorrow in other parts of the world, I'm guessing we're in the clear. But...WAIT. Has anyone heard from the Australians? I was hoping to get my Christmas baking done this week, but instead? I made a hockey meal, I shopped, I baked with Gram (posts coming...at some point), I wrapped presents, I broke m

(Let's try this again...last week's post got eaten by my Blogger app, a kind reader had saved this post--Thank you, Mary!--and emailed it to me!) Last week, as we were winding down for bedtime, my two littlest kiddos were  playing a rousing game of hide-and-seek...what? Doesn't everyone wind down with a wild game?  I called all the kiddos to come and pray and I made my way to the girls' bedroom, which is where we say our nighttime prayers. I knelt down, all alone at this point, and Baby Girl comes tearing into the  room, barrels into the closet and becomes quiet as a church mouse  (hide-and-seek, remember?) and one by one, the older four kiddos join me  (the Mr. was away at a work conference). We say our prayers (I know, I know, I should've called Baby out of the  closet but I was pooped and just ready for bedtime.. ..don't judge) and,  like every night, we add in a few "extra" intentions that are heavy on our  hearts. When the last person had sa

Here I sit...relaxing in my brand new tub taking the inaugural soak! Oh, I'm sorry, did that make you uncomfortable? That I just told you I'm sitting in bathtub? Well, I am. And it's heavenly. And I can't wait to show you all the finished product! Yup...Christmas came early for me!! :)

I really wasn't. This whole thing is just heartbreaking...absolutely crushing. 20 innocent, sweet babies. I made the mistake of re-posting "Morgan Freeman's" statement about the tragedy in Connecticut, only to find out later that it was not, afterall, Morgan Freeman who wrote the piece. Regardless, the words in that statement were poignant, well said, and spot on. First, let's stop "celebritizing" these awful people. Stop plastering their names and faces all over every media outlet. It's exactly what they want, and we are feeding right into it. Giving them exactly what they wanted, when they made the God awful decision to shoot innocent people in malls, movie theaters, and, most horrifically, kindergarten classrooms. They want to be known, even if it means being known as a monster. Second, I truly don't feel that strict gun control laws are going to help because guess what? Criminals don't obey the laws. If they want to do something

Sorry, didn't get the sneak peek up in time...it's been a crazy day and here it is 1 am and I'm just gonna go ahead and post 5QF as soon as I'm done with this post! Cranky...I tried to add some code to my post yesterday, a super cute story about bedtime prayers and my Baby and I used my Blogger app and it ate my post. ATE it. Poof. Gone. Vanished. Ugh. Remember writing papers in college and forgetting to save to your floppy disk and then all of a sudden the newly invented internet had a hiccup and BOOM your paper is gone? And then you went and drank and cried to your roommates and rewrote that paper 1/2 drunk because it was due in 2 hours? That's how I felt. Like crying.  Anyway, enough of my sob story, let's get to the questions! Welcome to Five Question Friday!! You've come to the right place if you want a fun, easy post or if you've suddenly discovered your muses are too busy sleeping away while they should be doing more important thi

Turns out BlogHer has a round up of links to a holiday gift guide . It's kinda awesome...awesome in the sense that you will find suggestions for everyone on your list. EVERYONE. Even your great aunt Ethel. I went and hopped around a bit on the page and lemme tell you what I found for ideas (myself and/or otherwise): 1. An iPad . Yes, I know I have one, but it's almost a year old and by golly that means it's practically archaic. 2. A "giving tree" for the teachers in your school. Teachers write their wish list on grabbable ornaments that the parents can nab and get them something they'll actually love? Brilliant. The teachers I know have a few too many Christmas knick-knacks and I know not everyone appreciates home baked items. My hat off to the thinker upper of this one! 3. A list for moms . All fabulous ideas that we would like...like a good massage without, well, you know what , expected afterward or three uninterrupted hours to ourselves, no texting iss

Gram called me over to her house the other day because she wanted to show me something. That something was this: The display on their mantle. So breathtakingly heartwarming...the picture doesn't do it justice.

So, basically the entire state of MinneSOOOOOta is under a "Winter Storm Warning" with anticipated snow accumulations of up to 10" in some (my) area. Who wants to bet that we'll not even see 1/2 of that? Someone *coughmecough* is a bit gun shy after last season's "SNOWMAGGEDON" storms that barely brought a dusting to us. Mother Nature? Bring it.

Is anyone else surprised at how busy life has become? I keep waiting for things to slow down a little bit, to have a period of time where there are no obligations, no plans, no nothing and it never seems to happen?  Our bathroom is really coming along! I'll post some pics soon! Let's get goin'! Welcome to Five Question Friday!! You've come to the right place if you want a fun, easy post or if you've suddenly discovered your muses are too busy sleeping away while they should be doing more important things...like baking, or wrapping, or shopping, or writing posts for you. Rules for 5QF:  Copy and paste the following questions to your blog post, answer them, then watch for the linky post to appear Friday morning and LINK UP! Oh, and remember (pay close attention...this is the important one)...HAVE FUN! Questions for Friday, December 7th :  (Special thanks to  Brooke ( @HallBro ) from  Brooke and Michael , Erin (@Midnite592) from  Dreaming with Midnite ,  Pam ( @

I had all intentions of getting this up earlier, but I ended up sleeping of a headache...it seems that I so often leave work and wind up getting a headache by the time I get home? Thoughts? Please share. Anyway, it's gone and now I've got a 3 hour nap under my belt which is a FABULOUS thing to do right before bedtime, right? Ah, no. Okay, so I can get this posted right away, let's get to the questions! Welcome to Five Question Friday!! You've come to the right place if you want a fun, easy post or if you've suddenly discovered your muses are too busy sleeping away while they should be doing more important things...like baking, or wrapping, or shopping, or writing posts for you. Rules for 5QF:  Copy and paste the following questions to your blog post, answer them, then watch for the linky post to appear Friday morning and LINK UP! Oh, and remember (pay close attention...this is the important one)...HAVE FUN! Questions for Friday, December 7th :  (Special th