Paczki

This my friends is a Paczki. It is like a donut. It is polish and it is amazing! It is also around 450 calories. It is Fat Tuesday and something I have only seen while living in Michigan is the sale of Paczki's in the store on this day. They are made fresh in the morning and go out all over the state. This is the first year I have actually gotten one. I always want to get them but we forget. This year I remembered. It is filled with cream or jelly filling.


I shared with Eli so I didn't eat all the calories. He enjoyed it.


This is now my view from above so maybe I need to cut out on the paczkis altogether.

20.5 weeks and I can't see my feet!! I guess it comes with the territory!

Happy Fat Tuesday!

A Very Happy Birthday to My Special Little Girl

We spent a little bit of time preparing for Lilliana's Birthday. Friday night I had to run to town to get some balloons to do her backdrop smash cake session. I really wanted to stick with a brown and pink theme. I really wanted polka dots. I just could not find what I wanted and was not buying a new backdrop just for her cake session when I knew I could do something cheaper.

We got home and I made her cake and worked on her backdrop. It was a bit time consuming and something I don't think I will ever do again unless I come up with a different plan. I am very challenged when it comes to making cakes. They always crack and turn into a huge mess. Surprisingly this time it turned out pretty good. I also made her a homemade party hat. I had to take a break from the backdrop. Eli saw me making it and wanted to know all about it. He begged and pleaded for me to make him one. I knew I would be up late if that happened. So I did everything for her and stayed up late to make him a hat because he cried in bed repeating over and over he wanted a homemade hat too.
He knew he was going to get cake the next day too. I figured halfway through her wrecking her cake we would let him join in.

I ended up sleeping in on Saturday as I was up late working on things. I woke up to remembering the day Lilliana was born. So many emotions. I can still remember that day like it was yesterday. It was a crazy day. She came much faster than I had ever expected she would come. Labor was not horrible but thinking about it now I am so not ready to do it again. I guess that is why we attend the birthing classes we do. I just can't believe she is one. She is such a joy.

We had a nice relaxing day and really enjoyed watching the kids have fun with the cake smash. I took her monthly photos first and finished her collage.

She use to be so chubby!! She finally was standing at 12 months. Not quit walking yet but so close. She will take a few steps and gets braver every day.

Then we let her have her cake. Honestly it was the funnest thing I have ever photographed that I set up. I love newborns but honestly I think I enjoyed this better. She was just so fun and I actually had to sit back and watch rather than take pictures which I don't normally do. I usually can enjoy and take pictures at the same time. There were so many fun ones too! She loved it even if she was still not feeling well and had snot running down her nose.








Eli had so much fun too! He didn't want to get dirty at first but once we assured him he was going right to the bath afterwards he was ok with it. He didn't want to wear his hat either becuase Lilliana took off hers and got it all messy. He was scared she would do the same to him. He did put it on later and wear it around. We are going to save it for his birthday.

I have another cake smash session this next week and I am really looking forward to it! We will have an actual birthday for her this next Saturday and the cake will be on a lot smaller scale!!

The kids still have felt crummy. This stuff really hangs on. We had planned to go to church on Sunday but Lilliana had a fever and so did Eli so we stayed home and relaxed. Eli was back to borrowing shoes.
'
I was cleaning out drawers and found some old 3D glasses. We use to keep them for Eli because they would always get broke so we had them and would pull out knew ones. Lilliana decided she wanted them on. It reminded me of when Eli did the same.


Lilliana looks a lot like Eli did at this age. I love them!! They make our family so much fun.


All in all it was a great weekend! Anthony and I decided this weekend we are going to start school with Eli soon. We plan to homeschool at this point. Eli really wants to read. I know every parent says their kids are smart, but Eli really is smart!! He has always been advanced and it so many ways he acts like a 5 year old. We have a hard time rembering that at times when he starts acting 2. He knows all his letters and most their sounds so it really is time to start doing something. We started looking into curriculm this weekend and will start soon. I am not pushing it but will probably work slowly through this spring. We will take a break the summer and then start "preschool" come fall. That is the goal. I will have a year to decide it if it is really going to work and go from there. If we decide it is not going to work we can enroll him at school later. He knows so much already and is a fast learner I am not worried. I also know we have a great homeschool group around here so I will have wonderful resources. I can't believe it is getting to be time for school for him!! It just amazes me!! With that we are off to work on some art projects with the cricut. Happy Monday!!

20 Weeks

I meant to post about this on Wed, but I got side tracked with other things! It is hard to believe but I am halfway done with this pregnancy give or take a couple of weeks as little Ari will make his appearance when he decides too.

This pregnancy has been the hardest on me emotionally. I have not said to much because I was trying to sort things out and deal with them. Before I get comments of you don't love your baby etc. please let me explain. I do love little Ari. In fact this week more than ever I do. He was a huge shock and it has taken a lot to get use to. It was a big blow when I am not even 8 months post partum and I am expecting again. I think a lot of woman go through this but are scared to really speak about it. They feel like they will be deemed ungrateful or not loving their child. The other one that comes to mind is be happy a lot of woman can't get pregnant. It is not that I don't want another baby. I hate being pregnant towards the end as it seems I have a history of problems. Financially this baby has put a strain on us. Also I just want my body back. I have been pregnant nursing or both for going on 4 years. That is a lot on ones body!! It is hard. I had hoped having an ultra sound would help. I thought seeing him would really help me. Honestly, it made it worse. I don't know why but it did. Finally though everything came to a head last weekend and I had one HUGE long cry. After that I felt amazing. This week though I have really fell in love with him like I have with my other two.

Tuesday night I was taking a much needed shower before bed just to relax. Both of my other kids have loved when I took a bath or shower when I was pregnant. I don't know if it the warmth or the noise, but they would always come alive. It is an amazing feeling and I loved it. As I was taking a shower my wonderful little third Blessing did the same. It was the moment I needed. I knew at that moment God gave us this special little boy for a reason. I fell in love then and since have been so much happier. It was amazing to feel his little butt sticking up and him kicking my hands. I am in love! I also received his first hat for his newborn pictures yesterday from one of my favorite vendors for props. I opened it and it was so small and tiny! It made me love him more! All that to say it has taken 20 weeks for it all to sink in and for me to be in love with him as much as I have my other two. He is always going to have a special meaning in my heart and God knew exactly what he was doing.

I am a bit more swollen this week. I am hoping it goes down as I hate that feeling. Anthony has been able to feel Ari a lot more and Eli has started kissing my belly. He has a lot of room to move and is all over as my uterus is measuring way ahead. He seems to like my ribs lately but I will forgive him.

20 weeks Embracing the Camera with little Ari

The kids and I took some pictures today. Eli wanted to use my camera and the tripod. He loves to use the remote so I let him. We are waiting to go pick up daddy as he has been gone the past couple of days.







Excuse the snotty noses. The kids are very sick and no matter how much I wipe their noses it never fails there is always something there.  We are off to pick up the Man of the House and finish up final details for Miss Lilliana's One Year Birthday on Saturday!! I will be back sometime this weekend with her smash cake session and our little family Birthday celebration. Have a wonderful weekend!

Embrace the Camera

I have this wonderful friend!!! I can't tell you how amazing she is. You know what is odd about this friend her and I have never met in real life. We have emailed, text, and talked in a mom's group for well over a year. Does that matter?!? No because honestly I can consider her one of my best friends. She is always there when I need her. She is caring and most of all has been the biggest support for me and photography. We can sit back and laugh at how awful I use to be.....oh man I was pretty bad. Gotta start somewhere! I still am not the best in the world but there is improvement. Anyways, she believed in me and saw something and has helped a lot. I ask her stupid stuff all the time! Seriously by now I am sure she is so over it and wishes she would have never started:) I can help her with mom experience. It is nice. We both have experience in a different area and really are supportive of each other. We have grand plans to live by each other one day and work together in Photography. One day it will happen!!!

All that to say she is great for giving me good blogs and stuff to read. We have a huge message in FB of look at this, or what about this, etc. She shared with me a blog yesterday that I fell in love with from the very few first posts. I know just what I need another blog to read! Anyways, my entire point of this post is about Embracing The Camera. I am bound and determined to do this more! I am great at taking pictures of my kids and everything else. I need to have more of me with the kids. I don't because I hate the way I look or something else. Enough excuses! I am not going to be around forever and I want my kids to  have those memories. Here is more information on it............
http://andersonfamilycrew.blogspot.com/p/embrace-camera.html
So get out your cameras and embrace them!!!

Embracing the Camera With Lilliana Today. Eli did not want a picture! I need my shorter lens next time.

As for friends I hope everybody is as fortunate to have a friend like I have.

Food

Anthony is working long hours all week. This means the kiddos and I are on our own a lot. Not a big deal. We are pretty use to it and get in a groove. Needless to say they are both sick so there is extra stuff to do altough a little more down time as they are not into everything. It has its perks, but I feel bad for them and really would like them better.

Last night I could not decide what to make for dinner. I really wanted to just order food but didn't want to spend the money or want the extra calories. So it was more out of convenience. I decided to make breakfast for dinner. Growing up French Toast was eaten a lot in our house. My mom made it a lot and as we got older we made it. Now I make pancakes. The kids love them over the French Toast but I would rather have French Toast. I decided I would make French Toast. I don't eat much bread. I started a different diet when I got pregnant. It is more of a life change. All that to say I don't eat bread much at all. It sounded good though.

 My mom always put cinimmon on our French Toast. I don't know why other than spices just make things wonderful I have decided. My mom is a wonderful baker and cook! She does both very well so I grew up eating wonderful food all the time, not so wonderful creations at times (blue cheese and white chocolate sauce over pork chops) in my eyes, but for the most part we ate really really good! Not only did she cook well she taught us too also! I will forever be greatful for that! It may have been annoying and dreaded when it was our turn at times but it taught us a lot. I am not as good as my mom but I can still cook a decent meal. All that to say my mom bought expensive quality ingredients a lot. Those things being spices! I will never forget when she started doing that. They came so different than in the stores and my favorite was the cinnamon. You know when you eat candy hearts that are spicey cinnamon? That was the kind of cinnamon she got. It tasted nothing like the stuff in the store. It had a bite to it it was wonderful! It was my favorite! Where am I going with all of this?!? Well for Christmas my parents bought us a little box of spices from the store my mom buys from. Now when I opened them I was a little worried. They were spicey!! I can't eat anything spicey at the moment. It causes terrible heartburn but I have found a use for all of those spices and use them frequently now. This has included using them in popcorn, roast, beans, potatoes, and a lot of other things. The other thing was a container of Apple Pie Spice mix. Now when I got this I said to Anthony, "I wonder what I will use this for? I am not a pie person. I don't know how to make them very good." Anthony just told me I should learn. That container of spices has sat in my cupboard until last night. Then I had an ah ha moment! I knew I would use it in the fall when I made apple crisp or for homemade applesauce but that is all I have thought about until last night when I added it to our French Toast.

That was a brilliant idea! I have to say that made the best French Toast I have ever had. It had the bite like I was previously talking about but was so yummy. I eat peanut butter and syrup on my French Toast so the combination was amazing. 

It was so good after I finally got the kids to bed and sat down to relax I decided I wanted a bowl of ice cream. Anthony bought a carton two weeks ago and it has not been touched. I thought I would add some of the spice to it. It was amazing. It reminded me of another of my mom's famous things. She use to make homemade cinnamon ice cream and it was good! It sounds so weird but it was so good. So all that to say I love spices and like to get creative with them. I think they are what makes food good food!

The kids had a rough night. Poor Lilliana just wanted to sleep on me but I had had little sleep from the previous night so I could not have it. She cried a lot and I tried to calm her but I needed some sleep to function. They both woke up feeling terrible. I had some plans for today and we only managed one. That was making cupcakes. They were a poor attempt but when you have a child that wants to help that is what you get. They are supposed to look like XandO's but I don't think that really happened. Eli just loves cupcakes. He insisted all day that they would make him feel better if I just let him have one. LOL he ended up getting half of one!



As I was cleaning up from the cupcake making and starting dinner I hear that wonderful giggle that just melts a mom's heart coming from both kids! It was just wonderful. So I peak into the living room to see what was going on. The dogs and Lilliana were literally getting sprinkled. This is what I found.



I can't say I was too pleased. This was just another addition to the messes Eli decided was ok to do today which included water all over his dinner plate then the plate all over the table, juice and water spit all over his sister, applesauce all over himself. Need I go on?!? Yeah he and food have not gone well today. I can't say I am too pleased but it was cute to hear their little laughs. The snow outside our door now looks nice and pretty where I shook the table cloth.


Oh its been a wonderful day despite all that. Eli and Lilliana got a Valentine from their Great Grandma Gloria. She is so good about sending cards like that. As  I kid I remember her doing the same for me and my mom would hang them on the door or by the door. Lilliana was not interested in opening hers as she just is miserable but Eli of course loved it. He is loving getting mail! They both got a sucker from Aunt Toni too. Eli was so excited to eat that although he would not say two words when she dropped them off. He talked to her on his pretend phone all day. He would call her and say, "Aunt Toni you text me back if I can come see you." It was hilarious. Then he would hand the phone to me and tell me to text the phone. At one point I heard, "Hello!!! Aunt Toni, Aaron, SkipperDo (Uncle Skip) your not talking to me!! You didn't call me back! Are you listening to me? You need to text or call me so I can come play!" Silly boy likes to visit and when he misses his mondays he knows it. Hopefully if he feels better he can go tomorrow.




Today I was finally able to pull all of Lillianas hair up into two little pig tails minus a bit on the top. It made her look so grown up. Of course Eli pulled them out but she started the day with her hair up. She was just beyond miserable. I really hope she sleeps tonight.



All in all we had a wonderful Valentine's Day together even if nobody feels good. My wonderful husband even left me a very thoughtful loving card. We will celebrate next week with our Anniversary. Happy Valentine's Day!

Regular Schedule

Finally it seems I am back to my regular schedule for blogging. It feels good. Now I won't have pictures and projects piling up again it seems! I have been slack on getting these done so when the kids went to see Grandma on Saturday I worked on my Day2Day scrapbook pages.


I also worked on some issues I was having with color profiles and programs. Long story short my editing programs and scrapbook programs were not lining up in the way the pictures looked so now I can finally post these. These are Lilliana's One Year Photos for her invitations! I can't believe how big she has gotten. Of course she is a clown any other time until I decided to take these pictures.


I am really happy with how they turned out. She loves her skirt and threw a fit when I made her take it off!

Friday we started getting snow. I loathe driving in the snow! It was not bad so I continued my plans for girl night! I am so glad I did. We had a blast. We went and painted pottery. It was much needed. It is a new friendship but honestly I feel like we have been friends forever and it was so much fun. I can't wait to get my mug back! Needless to say the snow got really bad and it was a long drive home! Thankfully we both arrived home safely.

It does not look like it but that will be yellow and dark blue when I get it! My writing is terrible but oh well it is mine so I am happy with it.


Eli is sick again and Lilliana has some of it too although not as bad. Poor kid just can't seem to catch a break. He has lived in pajamas for the past couple of days. He is back in the habit of borrowing our shoes.

He has gotten to watch more movies than normal because he is just miserable. This is how he was sitting yesterday. I can't understand this because this is so hard and can't be comfortable but he sat there for 30 minutes like this.

Lilliana has had a mild fever but I also suspect teeth. She does have a yucky nose which usually happens with teeth too so I can't tell what is the problem. She has been rather helpful lately. She loves to be involved with dishes now.



She has also reached another milestone this weekend!  For a while now we work on her standing by herself. Finally she figured it out Saturday night. As soon as she figured out her balance she took two steps and just keeps trying. She is getting braver. I have yet to catch the walking on camera as it is hard with me doing it all if Anthony is not around but we did get her standing. She is so proud of herself.

She can stand for a while and even bounces and claps. It won't be long now!! I can't believe it but I am so proud of her!

I have special things planned for the kids tomorrow if they feel better. Hopefully they do!! Happy Monday everybody!