Safe and Sound

"It's freezin' out, BRRRR", that's Isabella's favorite thing to say lately, and it could not be more true! It has been SO cold, temps below zero everyday, with windchills in the minus thirties. I'm so glad I'm an introvert that loves just staying home, because I decided tonight that when I have more than one kid, and it's this cold out, I'm not going ANYWHERE. Actually, I don't even want to take Isabella with me anywhere when it's this cold unless I have to, if I can I'll just run errands when Monte's home. Really, I'm amazed at people that have a few kids, how do they get anywhere on time in weather like this?! When I was watching my friend's kids the other day it honestly took me half an hour to get everyone bundled up and into their car seats.

We went to town tonight to pick up the Durango from the repair shop (there was more wrong with it, but I won't get into that, lots of $ later it's at least fixed . . .). Then we went to the mall, and then met some friends for supper. I needed to go to Wal-Mart but Isabella was about ready to pass out from the cold, and I was sick of the constant bundling and unbundling everytime we went in or out, so we nixed the Wal-Mart idea and headed for home. The roads were bad - icy and snow blowing so bad it was hard to see, but we made it home, and home is where we shall stay, all safe and sound.

Just because . . .

I felt like taking some pictures this morning.

I'm not feeling so well

I really don't need to write about it, I'll just refer you back to this post. It's happening all over again . . .

What's been going on around here

It's been busy around here, Monte's mom came for a few days. Monte and I got to go on a date while she was here, and she and I did some Christmas baking. One of the things we made were caramels, it was the first time I had made them. They were a pain to make, but fun since we were doing it together, I don't know that I would attempt to do that by myself. She left yesterday morning, then a friend called to see if I would watch two of her kids in the afternoon. They had only been here for about an hour when Monte called to tell me he was stranded, the drive shaft fell off the Durango while he was on a busy road, and he couldn't do anything, including putting it in park. That could have been a very scary situation if he was going fast on the interstate, but thankfully he was in town. So the tow truck had to come get him, and all this after he just got all new tires on it that morning, which was way too expensive. And this doesn't sound like it will exactly be a cheap fix. I told him I think our rainy day fund is getting poured on, that's not good! So I loaded up Isabella and the other kids, and dropped them off with their mom, and Isabella and I headed to town to rescue Monte. It will hopefully be fixed today. Then we very narrowly escaped hitting a big dear on the way home, and when we finally got home and Monte taste tested my big double batch of peanut clusters I had made, I found out they didn't turn out. I accidently bought RAW peanuts instead of the salted, roasted ones. They were disgusting. So there went about $15 in ingredients, which is miniscule compared to the cost of the tires and having the Durango fixed, but it was the end of a very long, bad day, so it pretty much sent me over the edge. But I really wanted to have those made, so off I went to the grocery store to pick up more ingredients, and now I can cross those off my list.

Update: I wrote this post last night with the intention of posting it today. Along with the car we've had a lot of other unexpected expenses lately. Today in the mail, Monte got a notice that he got a raise!! They wrote him a letter saying how much they appreciate his work and that someone high up in the company recommended he receive a raise. And this company never gives raises except when contracts are signed in April! God is good, He takes such good care of us!

Tagged

I've been tagged by Kristin. The rules are to go to my 6th picture folder and post the 6th picture from that folder to my blog.

Hey what do ya know, it's me preggers. This was on our "babymoon", I was about 22-23 weeks, just a couple weeks before all the drama and bedrest started. This was fun to reminisce! I'm tagging whoever wants to play along.

Hmmm, it seems we got a little snow

This is Monte during hour 3 of clearing out our driveway. Take a look at how high the snow was in our driveway, about chest high!

Since it's the beginning of the season, I'm actually excited about this blizzard. It was BAD, we had windchills of almost 40 below, and we could not see one thing out of any of our windows, other than pure white. Isabella kept looking out the windows and saying, "no can see anything!". It was great to be all nice and cozy inside the house.

First time sledding

It was 30 degrees here today, supposedly our last nice day for a while. We are supposed to be getting a big blizzard tonight. Isabella hasn't played outside at all this winter, she lived outside when the weather was nice and warm, but she's always so cold inside the house so I thought she probably isn't winter outdoor playing material yet. But today, with the somewhat mild temp and no wind, she really enjoyed it!

Hey What do ya know, I'm putting my degree to use . . . kind of

We had our priest over for supper the other night, he was talking about how he's starting a Spanish Mass. It came up in conversation that that was my major in college. Today he called and asked if he could come over and have me help him. He recorded me reading different parts of the Mass, the readings for this weekend, and the Gospel, so that he could listen to them and get the pronunciations right. It's been a while since I've put that to use . . .

Have you heard this song?

I love Christmas music, and I LOVE this song. When Isabella was a tiny, little newborn I would hold her and listen to this song, and of course, bawl.

Joseph's Lullaby

The Name Game

On my way home from my parents, I was daydreaming about how wonderful it would be to have another girl sometime. I was going through names in my head that I really liked, there is one name that I love, but didn't think Monte liked it. The evening I got home, Monte, out of the blue mentioned that for some reason he was thinking about what we would name another girl if we have one. When he told me his name, I about fell over! It was the same name I had picked, and we had never talked about it, AND it's not a very popular name. How crazy is that?! So I guess that's settled, we've had our boy name picked out for years, so all we need is the kid!

Christmas Card Rejects

I took Isabella's pictures for our Christmas card the other day (our tree has been up for a while, I just didn't get around to posting it until today). I think I took about 15 pictures before I got a good one. Here are three of my favorite "rejects". And yes, her dress is quite familiar.

Hmm, let me inspect this present more carefully.

And my two favorite pics, that actually made the card . . .

Decorating the Tree

Our Thanksgiving

Our quiet Thanksgiving at home was great, our first turkey turned out wonderful.

And to answer Meredith's question, here is an article on brining. I had never heard of it until I met Monte's family, it makes a huge difference!

I'm Back

Isabella and I got home last night after spending 6 days at my parents. I was so busy the entire time I was there. I painted their living room and dining room and did a lot of deep cleaning the whole time. They are doing some remodeling, so after they get their new kitchen after Christmas I'll be going back to paint that, along with two entryways, and their bedroom as well. And please tell me I am not the only one whose child has a hard time dealing with staying away from home! Isabella was really not herself the whole time we were there, I would see snippets of herself, but for the most part she was a whiny, homesick, clingy mess. When my mom wasn't at work, she was painting with me, so Isabella was kind of on her own. My niece and nephew came over one day, and she really liked that. I do have to say, though, that for the most part she played by herself really well, she would just bring a toy to wherever I was painting and play next to me. I was wishing I had one of those backpack carriers, so I could just plop her in that, because she was wanting to be held a lot. Towards the end of our time there, whenever I would tell her that I needed to start painting she would come up with some excuse like, "Annie no feel good, Annie sick, Annie SO cold" thinking I would hold her then! I can't blame her, though, she is so used to our routine here at home, and it was total chaos at my parents. The house was a mess with all the work being done, and there were a bunch of people there putting in new windows and doors. She was completely out of her comfort zone. She kept saying, "go to Annie's house, see daddy", so she was definitely missing her daddy as well. And now that we're home, she is so happy and being an angel today, and I have a lot of unpacking to do . . .