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Remembering Disney Trips Past

After talking about Walt Disney World most of the pay, it got me in the mood to look back at some of our stellar moments there. We have been there twice and then also on a Walt Disney 7 day cruise aboard the Disney Magic. We all just love Disney so much...so a few pics...

Disney Social Media Moms Celebration Quest

I try to be productive most of the time when I am not taking care of the baby. I get the house clean, dishes done, beds made, you know the routine. Then, and only then, I will hit the computer to chat with some friends, show up on Facebook and Twitter and enter some blog time and contests.

Well, today was a little different. I was told that it was possible that this blog that I do could actually enable us to fulfill another wish of returning to Walt Disney World and in the process I could learn how to use the social media a little more to my advantage. Now everyone knows, I am a Disney nut, I love everything there is to Disney and something is seriously wrong if I am not planning a trip to see our buddy Mickey. We have not been able to go in almost 2 yrs and little man has never been, so I was hyped and ready to enter into the vortex that is the web to try to apply to attend the Disney Social Media Moms Celebration.

With quiet anticipation, I stuck the kids in front of the tv and I try to log on to the entry from.
It took me 90 minutes to finally get my application through and now I have this huge feeling of relief and hope that perhaps I will be chosen. I feel like I am in elementary school again and hoping not to be the last picked for the kickball team. So, crossing my fingers, toes, and eyes in hopes of getting the "yes! you are chosen!" email!

Holiday Recipes - Part 2

Sorry for the delay in posting but, with 3 kids, you know how that goes!!
Today I am posting what is probably the easiest holiday candy I make, around here they are called Buckeyes, most of the family calls them peanut butter balls. Make sure to use a quality peanut butter in them and real butter makes the recipe! You will see it calls for wax, this can be found in the canning aisle. It is what helps the chocolate stick to the peanut butter and gives it a good shine, you won't taste any difference.

Ingredients:
2 lbs. Peanut butter- room temp
1 pound butter- room temp
3 pounds powdered sugar
1/2 cup Karo Syrup
24 ozs chocolate chips ( We use Ghirardelli Chocolate)
1/2 of one bar of paraffin wax

Take the butters and cream together, combine with powdered sugar. This may take a lil more or a little less on the sugar. You want the balls to stick together and not be sticky on your hands. Roll balls into 1-1.5 inch rounds. I then put mine in the fridge while I am cooking the chocolate.

In the top of a double boiler take the chips and the wax and heat it, stirring occasionally over a double broiler. Some ppl say you can microwave, I don't, I believe it changes the texture of the chocolate too much. If you do not have a double boiler a nice thick metal mixing bowl and a sturdy pan will work. Melt and stir till combined. Working quickly take your balls and dip them in the chocolate, I use a slotted serving spoon, other use toothpicks. You need to dip the balls and then drop them onto wax paper to cool. Some recipes call for just coating 3/4 ball to make them look like real buckeyes, not us, we love the chocolate and dip it all! If your chocolate gets too cool and thickens back up, you can always but it back on the dbl broiler for a few minutes to re-melt it.

Makes around 100 balls. Keep in an airtight container or in the fridge.

This recipe is courtesy of Mrs Karn, she was my 7th grade home economics teacher. We have now made this a staple in our family for over 25 yrs.

This is also good for gifts when put in pretty tins, most of our friends request them!

While you are here, give a click on the button below, loads of great holiday ideas!

Another Day another challenge...

Well, the day started out really well, kids got up, no problems and within 90 minutes the girls were in school and Wyatt was in his high chair having breakfast. We have been working with him on trying to drink out of a sippy, because of his previous issues, he still has problems with his head/neck control and wants to keep his head more down than up. Well, with a sippy, you have to pull your head upward to drink and he just will not do that. So at his his developmental ped appointment last Friday, she suggested we go the straw route. I have look everywhere, I am unable to find a sippy small enough for him to handle. I tried one of the kids cups with the built in straw, he couldn't get enough suction on it, so I tried a glass with a straw in it and that ended up all over the place...very frustrating.
So tomorrow I will have to go to mall and try to find something he can drink out of. Always something to challenge us. But, on the bright side, he has made huge strides in his eating, starting to be able to chew a little better instead of choking on everything. He also took his first two steps Monday, of course they were him staggering backwards, but, it was steps!!

Holiday recipe- Church Windows

Just wanted to update with some holiday recipes that a few sister in laws have asked for. Christmas and Turkey days are coming soon,break out the bakeware everyone!This is the first in a series. Jamie asked for Stained glass window cookies like mom made, here is the recipe.

Ingred needed
1/2 cup real butter
16 ounce package chocolate chips
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup chopped walnuts
16 oz pkg colored miniature
marshmallows
2 cups flaked coconut

Directions
Melt butter and chocolate chips in a heavy saucepan over medium heat; heat until smooth . Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla. Fold in the marshmallows

Scatter about half of the coconut onto a large baking sheet. Form the chocolate mixture into two oblong logs and lay them onto the coconut. Use the remaining coconut to coat the logs. Refrigerate about 1 hour. Cut logs into slices.

Great Giveaway from Mommy Katie

Just wanted to give a heads up on a great blog giveaway right now going on at http://www.mommykatie.com/2010/11/home-for-holidays-fisher-price-ixl.html#comment-form My own daughter Katie wants one of these iXL and I wanted to share it with my followers! She has some other great giveaways also

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Some great giveaways

Great Gifting Guide from an awesome blog

Check this out!

Great gifting guide

My best friend

My best friends in the whole world are my twin sister in laws, Lisa and Linda. We have been friends for close to 30 years, we grew up practically next door to each other and have remained best friends, even after I married their older brother. Lisa has 3 children 23, 20 and 16. Linda has 3 also, except they are 24, 18 and 4. Linda's youngest is 3 months older than my daughter Carrie.

Well, Lisa is a grandmother.She has 2 beautiful granddaughters, age 5 and 3. She became a Grandma at the age of 35....I had my first child at 36. So needless to say I have enjoyed rubbing it in her face that it will be "years" before someone who actually loves me calls me Grandma. Well, today, she showed me the other side of the coin.

Her oldest grand daughter has Grandparents day today in kindergarten. Lisa took off work and went. Well, she was the youngest Grandmother there, they thought she was Abigail's mother, and that same teacher had taught her son 10 years ago. She was very proud of the fact she was the youngest and reminded me I will probably in my early 70s before I get to see a Grandparents day. The realization kind of took me back....

So I called my other best friend, her sister Linda. Linda got quite the chuckle out of it and reminded me that the nice part of it all is that we wont have to worry about them thinking they are our children when we go!I guess there is a silver lining in there somewhere....

Holidays are coming, are you ready?

A fellow blogger is having a great giveaway along with some great info starting soon, here is the info and click the button! She is doing a Holiday Gift Guide again this year that will be full of reviews and giveaways. Holiday Happiness will begin November 1st and will run right on into December.

My Daughter the Weather Girl!

Big day here, my daughter Katie was chosen in a contest I entered to be the weather girl for a local radio station! We had to wake up at 5 am to be at the radio station before 6:30am and while I was dragging butt, she was so full of vim and vigor! We got there and the sweetest DJ Adam took her into the booth, coached her through the script and had her recorded within 5 minutes. She was given a $25 gift certificate to Meijers and we were sent on our way. It was a great morning for her and I have enjoyed listening to her forecast on South Bends WAOR 95.7 all day. Momma is very proud of you Katie bug!

Awesome giveaways!!

This blog is going to give some killer prizes away, check it out!

Itchy baby and where are the drugs?

Sometimes I wonder if the good Lord is just out to see how far he can push before I just crack! But I know in His grand scheme I am not that important. This weekend was just one thing after another. Started out Friday morning. Wyatt got up at 6am, took his bottle and back to sleep, as usual. 8:30 comes around and I pick him up and he has hives and spots all over him. So I call our pediatrician, she is on vacation, would I mind seeing another in the practice? Well of course not, the baby is full of bumps, they are getting worse and he is itching them! So we are off to the Dr's. Doctor looks him over, says he looks like he is either having a reaction to a bug bite, appears to be a spider bite, or he has strep. Strep? Really? Well his throat looks a little red. Wow! Well, they can do a culture, results will not be available till tonight, after they close, but I can call the after hours line in the morning for the results. Told to give itchy baby Benadryl and Infant's Motrin and call them after 10am.
So off we go to CVS, of course, they are out of Benadryl, they are also out of the store brand. They have no Infant Motrin, but I can buy the huge bottle infant Tylenol if I want. I am so not pleased with CVS on Main Street in Mishawaka, IN and I informed the manager of this. She did not seem too concerned, smirked, and said that the "truck will be in in the morning" and walked away. I was perturbed to say the least.
So I take the itchy baby and drive 15 minutes to the CVS on McKinley in Mishawaka. Until they built the new one on Main which is 6 blocks from us, the store on McKinley was my normal store. I have always gotten what I needed there and I just love the pharmacists and workers. Jim, the pharmacist, greeted me by name and came out from behind the counter to say hello to Wyatt. As soon as he saw him he asked if I knew what medicines I needed or whether the Dr ordered some. I told him I needed Infant Motrin and Childrens Benadryl, took him 10 seconds and I had both in my cart. Jim is such a joy and so helpful, he knows me and my kids, he is always there to help, he just made it so much easier for me that day.
Well itchy baby got his medication and he was a happy camper. Called Saturday, strep test came back negative (yea!!!!) and so we went to our nephews graduation party.
Well, an hour after we get to party at sister in laws house, it was time for Wyatt's medication. I go to look in the diaper bag, but it is not there. In fact, nothing is in my diaper bag! No diapers, no wipes, no bottles nor formula and NO MEDICINE!! So we all went on the hunt. About 3 minutes later we find it all, my 4 year old daughter and 4 year old niece Mariah are in the bedroom and they are taking care of their baby dolls. I am informed by Carrie that their babies all had " the itchy red bumps from babyville" and then she asked if I could open the medication so she could give it to her baby. Thank the good Lord the meds all had child proof caps!
Other things happened, some minor, some not my place to share. But needless to say, it was more drama than I needed this weekend! Tomorrow starts a new day, more PT and OT for Wyatt, hubby is going out of a state for a long haul and itchy baby has to go back to the Dr. Life never shocks me, but dang, it sure can surprise me!

Milestones...

I haven't posted in quite a while, things have been so hectic. Life with Wyatt is never anything but exciting. We recently discovered that Wyatt has a hearing loss of over 55% in his right ear. That is better news than we first were told! We are on a holding pattern right now though, hoping it is something that may resolve itself in the next 6 months with no intervention.

Wyatt has OT/PT once a week and it really has helped. Our little man is now 8 months old but yet is still not able to sit up on his own. We are working on it, and things seem to improve in spurts. He is now able to hold his head up, makes eye contact and started on semi solid ( baby) foods. We are having some trouble with the spoon, but are working on it.

He is not crawling, but finally hit a huge milestone and is now rolling over to where ever he needs or wants to go! So little man is now mobile!

I have lots to fill in for the last couple months and will attempt to in the coming days.

Awesome Stroller Giveaway!

great giveaways!

Beautiful Day!

It was a wonderful weather day today, in the mid 60's and sunny. I managed to get the yard all cleaned up and the swings ready for the kids. Also got some spring fever and washed curtains and tore apart strollers to clean them to get ready for the impending summer weather. I just cannot wait!

First Steps came and worked with Wyatt today. They are just amazed at his progress and meeting milestones. Lil man is a fighter, he will be ok, I am sure!

Other great news, Katie got her report card today, my lil smarty is now reading on a 6th grade level, 6th!!!! I am so proud of her!

Manners...are they no more?

Casey, my husband, had to work today, so, I got some courage and took all three kids with me to Meijers. Remarkably, it went extremely well! They were very well mannered and actually listened to me the entire time! My youngest has this way around the elderly, they all comment on her 'cuteness' which just tickles me. I did get a compliment today in checkout that made my day and reaffirmed that I must be doing something right with my parenting. A couple in their 50's were behind us in line. The male said "excuse me, I just wanted to let you know that your little girls are just adorable." I thanked him and he went on to say " it is nice to see that some children are still being raised with manners." I thanked him and beamed at my kids.

It made me ponder on the way home, why is it so remarkable for people to see children behave in public? I noticed at Meijer that there were so many little kids just running willy nilly throughout the aisles and parents not saying a word. I saw one little girl actually slap her mother when Mom grabbed her hand and told her "No, you can't climb onto the shelf." Mom let go of the girl and let her climb up the shelf to get her own fruit snacks.

I was raised that children are a reflection of their parents in most cases. There are exceptions, my oldest was on the autism spectrum and I know all about meltdowns that make others look at you like you are a bad parent or that you are beating your child, but, for the most part, there is no reason for your child NOT to have manners. My kids know to say excuse me, please and thank you. They know there is some sort of expectation of them to act civilly or there will be consequences. I am just amazed that things have changed so much from my own upbringing, maybe I am just a dinosaur for a mom...

Help me win and you might too!

There is a contest going on right now, click through on my link to vote for my blog and we both could win some pretty cool prizes including $1000 cash! Pass it on!

Isn't one ALWAYS sick?

Sigh.....the girls are sick...again!! Both have ear infections, cough and Katie, my five year old is still running a temp. I sure hope the baby doesn't get it! The are on 3 day Z-pak so it should kick it this time.The Clorox wipes and sani-hand gel is getting huge usage around here~!

Things are looking up!

Thinks are finally looking up at our end of the spectrum. Took the baby ( Wyatt) back to Riley for a followup appointment and things went awesome! He is no officially off the oxygen! Happy Days!! He is also gaining weight, a lil too much, he is now up to 14 lbs and 8 ozs! The Similac Neosure is definiely doing what it needs to. He is also making strides in his milestones and is cooing and smiling and even trying to roll over. Thank God for all the improvements he has made in the last two weeks!

He can smile and laugh!

Today Wyatt laughed, actually laughed and smiled and I am through the roof!! My son was born 6 weeks early and it was awful from the get go. We had Wyatt Nov 23, 2009. He was born 6 weeks early, 6lbs 10 ozs. He ended up being put on ventilation and cpap for awhile and spent the first 36 days in the NICU learning how to eat and breath properly. He was released Dec 29 and came home on an apnea/bradycardia monitor as he was still having episodes of not breathing and low heart rate.He came home for 3 days, had multiple episodes of not breathing and went back into the Picu for 5 days. They found he was aspirating his formula so they thickened it and we came back home for 2.5 days and then had to be taken by ambulance back to the PICU as he quit breathing. 6 days later he was taken to Rileys Childrens Hospital in Indy where we got some pretty devastating news.


Wyatt has a brain too small for his size/age, it also has large ventricles which means it doesn't weigh near the size it is supposed to. He also has ischemic or dead tissue areas in the front. We don't know the extent of the brain damage and wont until he begins to miss milestones. He has central and obstructive apnea which means he stops breathing and has episodes of bradycardia where his heart slows way down. They also found he had extreme GERD and they did a nissen surgery along with a pylorectomy as his stomach doesnt empty fast enough like it should. They put a Gastric tube in so he eats through that. He also has laryngomalacia which is causing some of the obstructive apnea as he is choking on his own saliva.

We were in Indy for 3 weeks and came home a week ago Friday, he is on oxygen, apnea monitor and a feeding pump. He has shown major improvement the last 2 days with no alarms so we hope we have turned a corner. He was having hundreds, over 700 in the six days he was home prior. Other than the brain damage, the laryngomalacia( floppy airway) and the central apnea should hopefully correct itself as he gets older.

I had my share of problems after the birth also, they missed a bleeder during my c-section and a week after his birth my incision opened up and I had blood pouring everywhere! They removed a grapefruit sized hematoma from it and I had a hole in my tummy the size of a womens size 8 shoe. I had to wear this wound vac 24 hours a day for a few weeks and omg, it stunk so bad! I am pretty much healed now, I just have a quarter size external hole that is taking its time to close back up.

All in all it has just been a rough 9 months, since the accident in the truck in July nothing seems to have gone right. DH was a rock through it all and the girls really suffered with me being gone so much between all the hospitals. But things seem to be evening out and we have our fingers crossed it will be all ok.

Wyatt is a relatively happy baby and sleeps through the night already. He is up to 11lbs 8ozs now and is over 23 inches long.

So with all his issues, his smiling and finally laughing today is just huge, it means his brain is "remodeling" and finding ways to work around the damaged areas. What a great day!!

Are you Mom or Grandma?

I just heard that phrase at the grocery store and it sent me into shock. I am a mom of three, granted, I am 42 and have a 2 month old infant, but I never imagined someone would assume I am a Grandmother!!

I always thought I was blessed to have our three children, even though having 3 under 5 can be a challenge at time, but those 5 little words made me wonder if I maybe too old to be having little ones. Nothing I can do at his point, and honestly even if I could, I couldn't imagine life without my young'uns! I may look like a Grandmother, but I have more spunk and will that I don't act like one!