Simple Pleasures

Yesterday was a beautiful day! My daughter and I went on a beautiful walk, then headed to the park. As always she had a blast. We were able to sit a visit with a few friends that happened to stop by and enjoy the beautiful day together! What more could I ask for? I hope you day is full of simple pleasures!

Now This Is Summer!

It seems that our days have been filled up with taking care of the items for our new house. As I looked at the calendar I realized that my summer vacation is almost over. Where has all the time gone? The many trips to the loan officer, the Title Company, numerous trips to decorating stores and the Billions of trips to Home Depot have eaten up most of my time. And I wonder why I seem so tired lately, Gee I think I just discovered the answer!

I declared that yesterday was a day for just my daughter and I to enjoy what ever she wanted! It was great! We snuggled on the couch watching Dora for about 45 minutes then it was her request to have waffles, so away we went to the kitchen to begin our waffle making!

Ava received a pair of princess roller skates for her third birthday and has been dying to try them out. I figured what do I have to loose? A broken arm, possibly a broken leg, a missing tooth, scratched up face, oh what the heck she has to learn sometime. So I quickly said a prayer on off we went. I strapped on her knee pads, elbow pads, and wrist braces, and finally the skates. Heck, there was only about 4 inches of her body exposed there wasn't much that she could hurt. We started in the house so she could get the hang of it, and that she did. She was now ready to move outside, oh Lord help us!

Yeah!! She did it, she is much braver than I ever was at her age and I have to credit that to my husband. As a child I was always one who thought everything out before I did anything. What might possibly happen? How bad would it hurt, etc. Not my daughter she is ready for anything!

We came in for a little snack and then it was time for a nap. I think I needed one more than she did! We wrapped up the day playing babies, and dress up, and finally making one of her favorites for dinner; Mexican corn cakes. Her dad was very impressed to find out she had learned to roller skates and helped make a yummy dinner!

We had a fabulous day together! We didn't let anything get in our way! I am so glad that something helped remind me of the things that are most important, family. I need to remember that our remodel project will be fine if I take a little break for a while but my daughter will only be little once. I hope all of you have a wonderful day with your loved ones.

Bye-Bye Wood Paneling!

Things have been a little crazy around our house lately and unfortunately I don't think it is going to get any better for the next month or two. Everyone keeps telling me that it will all be worth it in the end and I do know this is true but, most days its hard to see the end.

My husband and I purchased my Grandfather's Ranch House. This is a great adventure for the two of us and luckily for me my husband, Andy is very handy! We have been doing all the remodeling by ourselves, yes just him and I. Of course my husband still has to work at his regular paying job. Therefore we work on the house in the evenings and all weekend long. I guess you could say that I'm the lucky one being a teacher I have the summer's off. However, I am beginning to wonder if I really am the lucky one in this case. With me being home I am the one who makes numerous trips to the local Home Depot or Lowe's which is a half hour away. I gather the supplies and begin the days project before my husband gets home.

We began our remodel project by taking down the wood paneling in the living room and the bedrooms. This part was easy, I can't believe how nicely it came down. Then came hauling the paneling away and the process of texture the walls.

Next, we moved onto painting the built-ins that are in the living room a nice white. The old style stain was not going to work for me. I love the way they look now, of course we are a long way from being finished, but it is getting there.

Someday, Someday! We will be sitting on our front porch enjoying a nice cold glass of tea and the beautiful view of the foothills. I will keep you posted with more before pictures and hopefully soon the after pictures as well.

Happy Tuesday to you all!



The Living room with the wonderful wood paneling!



One of the bedrooms with the wood paneling!




Another view of a bedroom with the wood paneling, but check out the large closet, oh yeah and my crying daughter; poor thing!

They Were Moving By The 100's!

I am all for wanting my children and grand children to enjoy beautiful trees and enjoy the lush earth that I have enjoyed. Unfortunately, I hate the whole recycling process. I know that's bad of me, and yes I admit I do throw away my cans and bottles; I hear about it from my mother and husband all the time. I just hate the mess. I finally gave into my husband and agreed to give it a try. He was really good and brought home some plastic barrels to keep the cans in. However, he is not good about washing the cans out before placing them in the barrel. This morning I woke up and went outside to work in the yard a bit and was greeted by hundreds of ants. At that moment my husband was not on my favorite list, let me remind you that it was already 85 degrees out! I began cleaning up the mess, sorted all the cans from the plastic water bottles and off to the recycle center I went. I do have to admit when they handed me $22.00 I was very impressed, but I still don't like the whole recycling. I think I will treat my daughter and I to a frosty this afternoon. Maybe just maybe I will give it another try but their must be some changes made to this process! Have a great day, I know mine will be better than this morning!

A Full House

I know that all of you can relate to having a birthday party and then wondering where is all this stuff going to go? I am still trying to figure out new ways to organize with some type of order. We are truly blessed with all the great gifts and toys that my daughter received for her 3rd birthday. However, I have come to the conclusion that we have just out grown our home! Good thing we are going to be moving in about two months until then, I don't know what I am going to do. After trying to clean things up and get everything in order I turned to my daughters room to find. . . . A MESS! I wanted to cry I had worked so hard at reorganizing things and while I was in the kitchen she had been busy playing dress up. But what could I say when I was greeted with this beautiful face!

I looked at her with a smile and said you are beautiful! I guess I will start in your room again!

My Cowgirl turns three!

I know it has been forever since I have blogged but things have been very busy around our house. We have been busy working away on our new house and our little cowgirl turned three. We had a great birthday party at the ranch! This year's birthday party theme was Wild, Wild West! The kids and adults had a great time! I made the invitations myself and with the help of my husband we made all the decorations for the party! When the kids arrived they were given a cowboy hat and bandanna, next it was off the "Indian Name Station". The kids had to pick an activity that they enjoy and an animal. We had Singing Elephants, Running Bunnies, and much more. There were many other stations for the kids to participate in, "Shooting Range" Nerf guns were used to knock down cans, "Pony Trails" Ride on barrel ponies pulled by a 4-wheeler, "Pony Stalls" feeding and petting miniature horses, "Prospector's Plateau" digging for gold, and of course the "Branding Station" Branding tattoos. We had a chuck wagon of food for everyone to fill their tummies. It was a day full of great fun! We are so happy that our wonderful friends and family came to share our fun and exciting day with our Cowgirl Ava!! Happy Birthday Princess, we Love you!

Fun little dress and bow

My niece turned two on Saturday so I thought I would make her a cute little dress and matching bow to go with her other birthday goodies. I loved the colors in the fabric and thought they would really make her sparkle! My daughter was all excited when the dress & bow were completed, she thought I had made it for her. I guess I better get working on another one!

Mexican Black Bean Lasagna

I came across this very easy and yummy recipe that the whole family will love in Cooking with Paula Deen, give it a try!

1 (15 ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 (15 ounce) can whole kernel corn, drained and rinsed
2 (10 ounce) cans diced tomatoes with green chilies, drained
1 cup ricotta cheese
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
8 (6 inch) corn tortillas
1 cup Mexican-style cheese blend

Preheat oven to 375 degrees, spray a 9x13- inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.

In large bowl, combine beans, corn, and tomatoes. In a small bowl, stir together ricotta, sour cream, and cumin. Place 2 tortillas on the bottom of prepared loaf pan. Spread about 1/3 cup ricotta mixture over tortillas. Top with about 1/2 cup black bean mixture. Sprinkle with 1/4 cup cheese. Repeat procedure 3 times.

Bake for 20 minutes or until heated through and cheese is melted.

A night for the two of us

What a wondeful way to spend our 4th Anniversary together just the two of us. We dropped Ava off at my parents house and then we were off. It was so cute she kept asking where our party was at and what we were going to do. She was ready to party it up. We informed her that we would take her out to have anniversary ice cream when we got back. Our evening began by heading to a great steak house about 30 minutes from our home town. I love the decor of this steak house not to mention the food is great! As we sat in the "hotel" section of our western ranch themed resturant we enjoy each others company disucssing the days events and our upcoming adventure of remodeling our new purchase! Yes, we bought by grandfather's ranch house, a dream of mine that is now a reality! Its amazing how quickly four years goes by! After dinner we headed to a near by store to check out a few things for our remodel project. It was such a great way to spend the evening together. We didn't have to worry about being in a hurry, we enjoyed our meal and I can say I actually was able to taste the food, not inhale it. We love being parents but it is nice to have a mommy and daddy night out every now and then. Of course our night wasn't over, we picked up Ava and took her to get her "anniversary ice cream", of course with 4 cherries on top! This was a great night all around!

Finding Love

It amazes me how fast time goes by. I still remember hanging around in my giants jersey with my hair and makeup perfectly done waiting until it was time to put on my beautiful dress. Four years ago today I married a great man. He is caring, loving, hardworking, and a wonderful friend. We have experienced so many wonderful things together and I am looking forward to many more. It is great knowing that you can love and rely on someone for so much and I am very lucky to have found love! I wish for many more years of love and happiness! I love you babe!