every captive thought

For about a million months now Brad has been bugging me about making him some Lemon Blossoms. It was another culinary delight Betty made while he was at their cabin back in September. Now let me be real honest with you about something. I am not a big lemon dessert person. Until today. And all because of this little beauty... It looks small, innocent and harmless but it is not. It sits there on the counter with all of it's come-hitherness and makes you eat it and about 5 or 6 of it's little enticing friends. So how much does Brad like these little Lemon Blossoms? This much... Actually, this is just what he did after I told him to "smile and look pretty". Scary.

Today was the last day of this holiday weekend. What a wonderful day! We woke up to snow and stayed snuggled in all day until dinner with Mom and Dad. What a cozy day! I wish I could have a million more just like this. James loves playing with his Daddy. He adores him. So do I. I love these boys!

Today was girls day. Mom, Carrie, Christi and I went shopping and to lunch then picked up Morgan and Madison for a movie. We had a great day! But with all the mommies being out that meant the daddies were on duty. Brad "gave me props" later for being a stay-at-home mom. He said it was hard work. He is a wonderful Daddy though so I am sure it was easier for him than he was letting on. Brad and I went to church tonight and Johnathan gave a wonderful message. Don't you just love those sermons where you know you were supposed to be there? Tonight he spoke about being at peace. If you want to listen to it, click here and go to the media link and then to online services. If it is not up yet, check back. It will be worth it. After church Brad took James home and the girls and I made one last shopping run to Target. I nearly fell over dead from tiredness. Plus I was totally wearing the wrong shoes for shopping. But I did get 4 Christmas gifts out of the way! On

As a general rule...I do not participate in Black Friday shopping. Too many years of working in retail. But today I caved in. I am not sure why. I'll blame it on my sisters' bad influence on me. But you know what? It really wasn't that bad. Except for James. It wore him out. Going... Going... Going.... Gone! Head-falling-forward-gone... Thanks for the support Aunt Carrie!

Happy Thanksgiving! Did you go around the table today at lunch and tell everyone what you are thankful for? Me neither. But I hear that some families do that. With our family, we know what we are most thankful for...each other. We'll get to more of the Thanksgiving stuff in a minute. But first... James has learned to climb. I wasn't looking forward to that developmental stage, but it is here so I will embrace it. He climbed into the bathtub and it worked out very well for a temporary playpen to contain him while I finished getting ready. He was a little shocked when he realized what he had just accomplished. But then he warmed right up to the idea. All the fun without the downside of having to get clean. This morning he tried to eat an entire cereal bar in one bite. Which entitled him to one free bath to decerealbarify him. He even spelled out his name. Just kidding...I did that. He has also had a wonderful time with his cousins, aunts and uncles in town. He

What a great day! I LOVE cooking days! I started out early with about a gallon of coffee...that is not specific to just today...that is everyday. But anyhow...Jamesie woke up not quite as perky as I was. He was a bit subdued this morning. It took him two breakfast bars and a full sippy of milk to work through the haze. I can't wait till this kid can drink coffee...it will transform his life...or at least his mornings. As he was eating breakfast, I planned out my day. I gathered my recipes... And got to cookin! Although I only cooked three recipes (double batches of two though) it took me ALL day. First I made the Pumpkin Delights. One for my family and one for Brad's. This is my sister, Carrie's recipe and I only had to call her sixtyjillion times for help. Seriously...I can be so slow sometimes. Hmmm...came out looking a little too brownish. Carrie...if you see this...what do you think? Should I start over? Next I made peanut butter cookies with Reece cups

I got all of the cleaning done so I am all set for tomorrow to be a fun cooking day! Can't wait! Last time I made lasagna I cooked it in two 8 x 8's instead of in a 9 x 13...and one of the 8 x 8's I made in a foil pan so I could freeze it. Make sense? So tonight I heated up the frozen one for dinner. While we were sitting down eating I asked Brad how his lasagna was. He confidently said, "Good, but not as good as yours!" I was all... "It is mine" and he was like... "Oh...it's delicious then!" Oops. Way to recover...I guess. He thought that since it was in a foil pan that I had not made it. He's so funny! Bye-bye!

I don't read very often...usually only out of necessity. And when I do read it usually has to do with food...cookbooks, food magazines, recipes, etc. I think it just is such an indulgence that I have a hard time justifying it...like "I really should be cleaning right now instead of reading..." or my biggest hang up is "if I am going to be spending time reading I should be reading the Bible..." But in spite of my obvious neuroses I am reading 3 books right now. The first one is not really one that I am reading cover to cover but more just as a reference called What To Expect The Toddler Years . My sister, Christi brought it to me on Saturday. It has been helpful in realizing that some of James' little behavioral issues (such as having an utter meltdown at diaper time, gnawing on the side of his crib like a little rabbit, and throwing stuff on the floor just to watch me fetch it like a dog) are totally normal. Whew! The second one is by my favorite au

James has fallen in love with himself...as all males do. He has discovered the mirror on the back of our bedroom door and loves to give himself kisses. I can't really blame him...he is pretty irresistible. And I happen to love the sweet little lip marks on the mirror. So cute. We had my very favorite kind of lazy Sunday morning yesterday. I made coffee, Brad went and got donuts and then we lazed around in bed and watched tv and played with James. After James' afternoon nap we went to Nana and Papa's and they had a big surprise for Jamesie! I've told you before about James' obsession over Baby Einstein and the dragon (Bard) that says, "Blllllaaaaahhhhhhh" and sticks his tongue out. Well, Papa, being the doting Papa that he is, found one of the Bard puppets online and surprised James with it! So much fun! I think it took him a few minutes to wrap his mind around the fact that Bard came out of the tv and was there at Nana and Papa's! I also t

Happy Saturday! I love Saturdays. This morning my Mom made Creme Brulee french toast for breakfast (and coffee, sausage, and bacon) and had us over. It was SO delish! I could have eaten the entire dish. Mmmm. It was a fantastic ending to a long night. James didn't sleep well...which means I didn't sleep well. He didn't get either one of his naps out as well so he was pretty subdued this evening. He just wanted to snuggle and be lazy. Which always suits us just fine. I was putting up some laundry and Brad called me into the room to show me this. We thought it was really funny. James didn't even notice. Clearly we need some entertainment in our lives. We are very easily amused.