Family and Losing Everything

Well, I among the holiday bustle I missed the obligatory "What I'm Thankful For" post. Oh well, maybe next year. We had several days of lots of family, food, and short baby naps. I'm ready for some sense of normalcy soon. After we got home last night and I got Gracie to bed I looked at my husband and said, "I've had enough familiy for one week." To which he said, "Me too, I think I just want to go hang out with some strangers for a few days." Don't get me wrong, we both love all of our quirky families, but we love to come home to just our little family of three.

On another note, I am so tired of being forgetful and losing things! It started on Friday when we were going to take some pictures and I could not find my battery charger for the new camera anywhere. Last time we had the same problem and it was found in the car of all places. Well, it is still lost.

After we sped home last night for Jeremy to watch the bedlam game we got out of the car and I realized I had forgotten the diaper bag at my mom's house (25 minutes away). I was much too tired to go back for it last night and there was no point in asking Jeremy to leave the game to get it.

We had a fun lunch with friends after church today at Las Fuentes and Jeremy was putting Gracie in the car for me so I laid his wallet on top of the car for him to get when he got out of the backseat. We drove separate so I took off of the parking lot and our friend was behind me and I thought he was just driving stupid when I saw him pull into a parking lot. It looked like something had flown out of the back of his truck and then I got further down the road and it hit me that Jeremy must not have picked up his wallet and that must have been it flapping in the wind. I had to wait until I got home to call him (because my wallet and cell were still in the other diaper bag at Mom's house) and sure enough he was standing in the middle of Hwy. 69 trying to pick up the pieces of his wallet that he had just ran over with his truck. Oh my, what a week!

I feel like George-"SERENITY NOW!"

Mashed Potatoes and Gravy...maybe

So we have the church Thanksgiving dinner on Sunday night. I decided to bring mashed potatoes. I will probably be peeling potatoes all afternoon because I bought the 10 lb. sack! I'm pretty confident in my mashed potato making abilities (can you really mess them up?) but I thought maybe I should take some gravy too. I am not really proficient in homemade gravy and being as I am not (praise the Lord!) cooking one of the turkeys I won't have any turkey juices or anything like that. I was going to buy some Turkey Gravy mixes at Wal-Mart but the McCormick was a $1 a packet and they didn't have any in the Great Value that said "Turkey Gravy." So I bought four packets of the GV "Country Gravy." Is this white gravy??? I have no idea if this is going to work. Also, I was going to put it in a Crock-Pot so it would stay warm. Anyone ever made Crock-Pot gravy? Or maybe you have an easy recipe for gravy that goes with turkey??? Anyone? Verla?? :)

7 Months

Happy 7 Months to my precious Gracie girl!



taken this morning post-bath. Please note how brave (or stupid) I am because I had not even put a diaper on her yet. I always carry her from the bathroom to her room and put lotion on her before I put her diaper on and she has never peed or poo'd on me yet...knock on wood.

She his so much fun and full of life. Just look at that drool all over her face and her drool-soaked shirt. Love it!

As I wrote in her baby book today, six months was a big month for her. She started sitting up on her own, started fruits and veggies, started rolling all over floor playing and getting into things, and she celebrated her first Halloween.

I am looking forward to her first Thanksgiving and Christmas and just seeing her reaction to all of the lights and festivities. Something about seeing the world through a baby's eyes makes you forget all of the petty stuff that is going on in your life, like certain people in my family who are stirring up drama. Lord, help me to glorify you in the coming holiday season and to treasure all of the little moments and memories.

Longing

(Warning: pity party post to follow)

I long for the days…
When my husband is home more than one night out of the week.
When we have a little left over at the end of the month to save for our future and start Gracie’s college fund.
When we can go to church together as a family on Sunday mornings and me not have to get everybody ready by myself.
When I can sit through a whole church service with my husband by my side.
When people at church would stop taking my daughter’s socks off and telling me I should be feeding her cookies and biscuits and gravy and other junk besides the homemade nutritious baby food I make her.
When I can get a dishwasher and central air in my house.
When I have the money and time to organize our office at home.
When I have the money and time to scrapbook.
When I can learn to truly just be grateful and content.

Pumpkin Fluff Dip

I thought I would share one of my all-time favorite easy fall recipes. I found it on www.allrecipes.com a year or maybe two ago and it is one of my favorites to take. I made it for my Mom to Mom group tomorrow and if I weren't so lazy I would put a picture up, but I'm going to go watch Little People, Big World instead. So, here it is:

Pumpkin Fluff Dip
1 15 oz. can solid pumpkin
1 vanilla pudding mix
1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1 8 oz. tub Cool Whip

Mix together the first three ingredients and then fold in the Cool Whip. The recipe actually calls for 16 oz. of Cool Whip but I think that is way too much so I use 8 oz or less. I serve it with apple slices and graham cracker sticks.

PSA

I thought I would pass along this info. that I found tonight in my "Parents" magazine because I know that a lot of people have these Chicco car seats like we do.

"18,000 child safety seat bases including those in the Keyfit, Keyfit 30, and Cortina Travel Systems (sold from February 2008 to March 2008) were recalled because of a defect tahat prevents the base from being installed securely when the lower latch attachments are used. Attach it to your vehicle's safety straps instead, and call 800-807-8817 for a replacement base."

I called Chicco at this number and they told me that it was only the bases made in Feb-March 08 and they could still be used but you just have to follow their instructions for proper use. I looked at my seat and even though it was bought in March 08 it was manufactured in Dec. 07 so ours was not affected. Anyways, if you have one you might check out the date it was made.

Halloween

A few Halloween pics.:

my pretty little flower


helping clean out the pumpkin


Dad did great on his first time pumpkin carving!


Gracie with Daddy and her cousins as Yoda and the Itsy Bitsy Spider