Sandy Hook

I saw the messages on Facebook about a shooting at an Elementary school, and truthfully, I closed Facebook and didn't want to read anymore. I don't handle trajedy well. For as long as I can remember when something bad was happening, I would burry my head in the sand. If I didn't pay attention, or blocked it out wouldn't it go away? Wouldn't it just be all a bad dream?

So this is very hard for me. It makes what happened at Sandy Hook real. I know its real and I need to say a prayer for those who lost their lives way to soon.

Charlotte Bacon, 6
Daniel Barden, 7
Rachel Davino, 29, teacher aide
Olivia Engel, 6
Josephine Gay, 7
Dylan Hockley, 6
Dawn Hochsprung, 47, principal (killed while lunging at the gunman as she tried to overtake him)
Madeleine Hsu, 6
Catherine Violet Hubbard, 6
Chase Kowalski, 7
Nancy Lanza, 52, gunman's mother
Jesse Lewis, 6
Ana Marquez-Greene, 6
James Mattioli, 6
Grace Audrey McDonnell, 7
Anne Marie Murphy, 52, teacher
Emilie Parker, 6
Jack Armistead Pinto, 6
Noah Pozner, 6
Caroline Phoebe Previdi, 6
Jessica Rekos, 6
Avielle Richman, 6
Lauren Gabrielle Rousseau, 30, teacher
Mary Sherlach, 56, school psychologist
Victoria Soto, 27, teacher
Benjamin Wheeler, 6
Allison Wyatt, 6

Father I pause this moment in the name of Jesus asking you to touch each and every parent that has to endure the pain of losing a child.

Father I pray that you give them strength, comfort and peace.

Father I pray that you give then a testimony of how in the midst of this hurt, pain and bitterness that you comforted them and gave them peace that can only come from you.

Amen.

2012 Christmas card revealed. And, Santa!

 Writing her letter to Santa.

Taking Photos with a Toddler

When Courtney was just born and even up until she was one, having photos taken was easy breezy. She didn't really move. If she was fed, she was happy. Then last fall when we met back up with our maternity/newborn photographer, we thought there was no way she was going to get a good family photo. We couldn't get her to smile. She just didn't want to participate. And our photographer captured this gem.

This photo is framed on our bedroom wall because...no explanantion needed. It's amazing!

We also got a great family photo that was used on our Christmas card last year. This fall, we weren't 100% sure we wanted to deal with the wrangling of a toddler for family photos. But after debating for a few weeks, I was sad when I thought about not having one. So we went ahead and booked it.

Taking an almost 2 1/2 year old to an open area with fall leaves and a nearby playground added to the stress. And Jessica, our photographer, was at the time 8 MONTHS PREGNANT. God bless her! She's due any minute with baby #3 and they don't know what they are having. (I'm so excited for her)

After jumping around to get Courtney to look at the camera, putting leaves on her head and doing anything and everything. We undoubtedly got some perfect shots.

If you're in the Washington area, check out Jessica at www.onetreephotography.com. She is truly amazing!

You are my sunshine!

Original Video - More videos at TinyPic

Crockpot Cookin - Chicken & Stuffing

I'm always searching Pinterest or the web for some new and most importantly, easy crockpot recipes. I ran across this one and thought I'd give it a try. 1) Stovetop was one of the ingredients and Mike loves him some Stovetop. 2) It only has a handful of ingredients. Most of what I already had on hand. I decided to do a small variation so here is what I did.

I'm not IN LOVE with Stovetop like Mike is but I love myself some Mrs. Cubbison's Stuffing. Mmmmmm! So first I substituted the 6oz bag of Stovetop for a 6oz bag of Mrs. Cubbison's Cornbread Stuffing. If you've ever made Mrs. Cubbison's stuffing casserole before, you know that you add onion and celery to the mix. The casserole recipes calls for 1/2 cup butter to brown the veggies. Instead I browned the veggies using good ol Pam. The original Chicken and Stuffing recipe uses the Stovetop dry so I didn't want the Mrs. Cubbison's to be too moist when I put it into the crock pot.

Are you still with me? So one 6oz bag Mrs. Cubbison's Cornbread Stuffing mixed with browned onion and celery without the butter (hey - this saves calories and fat as well).

Next I mixed 1/2 cup fat free sour cream with 1 can cream of chicken soup and 1/4 cup water. Stired that together until mixed well.

I thawed out 3 chicken breasts (I did 3 instead of 4 because the Costco chicken breasts are huge.) I put them on the bottom of the crock pot.

Then I took the stuffing and covered the chicken breasts.

Lastly I covered the stuffing mix with the sour cream/cream of chicken mixture. Spread it out over the top to cover the stuffing.

Put the lid on and set the crockpot to low.

Ingredients I used:
- 3 thawed large Costco chicken breasts
- 6oz pouch Mrs. Cubbison's Cornbread Stuffing
- 1/2 onion chopped
- 3 celery stalks chopped
- 1/4 cup water
- 1 can cream of chicken soup
- 1/2 cup Fat Free sour cream (you can use whole or light)

Verdict: Pretty good. Mike liked it. Courtney ate about two bites. I liked it. Although I did forget to turn the crockpot over to warm after the 4 hours were up so I felt like I had dried out the chicken. But eh, you live and learn. And hey, it was easy peasy.

Say what?

This little one has a bit of a cold and is home with me today. Last night after we got home from having our fall family photos taken, we cuddled up in our jammies with a warm blanket before bedtime. I wrapped Courtney up in a soft blanket and said "how's that feel?" and her response "Comfy cozy."

I just love it when she picks up on things we say and repeats them in context. Last weekend we took a drive up towards Mount Baker to grab some lunch. We took Daisy with us. When we got back in the car after lunch Courtney says to Daisy "You alright back there booshie?" Daisy was in the back of the Xterra. Booshie is a nickname we have for Daisy (a nickname we've used on my parents dog as well.)

I couldn't stop laughing. She really does crack me up sometimes.

Halloween 2012 - part 1

Little Red Riding Hood. Costume made by Grandma Betsy. Amazingly talented she is.

[part 2- actual Halloween coming soon]

For stay at home moms and working moms to read:

This was written by Bethanne from Okay, BA (previously Heir to Blair) on Babble. I think it's a great read. Some of these don't apply to me since I work in the home and not in an office (so I do get to pee alone - hallelujah). But a great read either way.
11 Myths about Mothers who work outside the home

[Ombre]

I had my hair done this past Saturday and decided to do a little something different. First I thought I would cut my hair, its the longest its been since I got married 6 years ago. Then I thought, hmmmm...maybe I'll cut bangs. Then my stylist asked how I do with bangs and I said "I usually pin them back" so that was out. Then I thought maybe, just maybe I could pull off an ombre look. I searched pinterest hi and low for an ombre I liked. Not one that was too drastic or too bright. Being a brunette it can be a little difficult. So I sent my stylist this picture and we went with it.

There is no doubt about it, it is scary doing something where you are making yourself have roots. After we washed out the color and went back to the chair I was a little scared to look in the mirror. But I actually really like it. And I'm really glad I kept the length. My mom actually commented that my hair looked like extensions its so long. haha

The old, take a picture in the car trick. ;-)

And this is this morning after I curled it with my curling rod.

We sing Taylor Swift around these parts.

I apologize in advance for my "We"s. They are very, very bad. But, my munchkin is so cute I could scream. And usually I do.

Check that off.

Yesterday we made our way to the pumpkin patch. Getting started on our Fall Bucket List. We made the trip with our friends Bonny, Ethan (the cute little boy), Jen, Casey and Emma (the other cute little girl). We truly got to pick a pumpkin (or two) from the vine (and not from between power lines like in California). And FYI, fresh pumpkin stems are prickly and they HURT. Courtney enjoyed a fresh apple (you see her carrying it around the patch), apple cider and a kids hay maze. It was a fun and exhausting day.

2012 Fall Bucket List

Can you believe it's October already? On one hand I'm sad. The years just keep flying by and I'm just not ready for Courtney to get older. But on the other hand, some of the best parts about living in the PNW is our amazing fall weather. (By the way - it's 54 degrees here this morning. Brrrr!) So this year, thanks to good ol Pinterest, I decided to make us a Fall Bucket List. I couldn't find one already created on Pinterest that matched our family so I created my own.

Photo: Courtney circa Pumpkin Patch 2011