*sigh* – The re-entry begins.
We’re Home Sweet Home ~ Wordless Wednesday
Reply
Author Archives: carrievoris
Crafty Tuesday
Please. You didn’t really expect something today, did you?
I’ve been traveling for the last week and a half, so nothing again this week. We do, however, head home tomorrow morning and I am so excited to start decorating for Christmas. So we just might have something next week.
Stacy has some cool sewing crafts again this week, so make sure to catch that. Anybody else have anything fun this week?
Bella Gabella Ella ~ BSM
Ewww…it is Monday already?
If you have a minute, click on this, my favorite shot of my gorgeous new niece (well, newest niece, she’ll be one, next month) and see her big ol’ eyes in all their glory. They are so beautiful!
We are now heading over to Chicago for a few days with some friends and then heading home. My little travelers are weary and A. told me yesterday “I wanna go home, Mama.” I am also anxious to go home to get some Christmas fun started! I want to decorate and finish our crafts and just start spreading some cheer. So a few more days of little posts
Don’t forget to wander over to Tracey’s to see some other holiday Best Shot Mondays.
Cranky Coffee Cup
I’m sure you are aware of my major slight obsession with Starbucks, and if you aren’t, well…let’s just say the friendly baristas at one (of the twenty) Starbucks in our area know exactly how I like my coffee, before I even tell them. (Venti non-fat, no whip, mocha with extra foam – thank you very much. In case you are coming to visit and would like to bring a hostess gift, a Grande version will also be acceptable.)
But on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I usually take my laptop and go out to work, since it has been proven that working from the next room while the sitter is with the girls, well, that just doesn’t really “work” – for me, at least. So, Starbucks it is. I like the taste of their coffee and they don’t mind while I hunker down for a few hours in one of the tables near a power source for my laptop.
I was very excited when I saw the Starbucks Oracle (thanks …And the Duck Said!) and what did this Oracle have to say about me and my personality, according to my drink?!
I’m…high maintenance.
I am so very much in denial about this forecasting. I pride myself on being very low maintenance, in fact. This is what it said for me:
You pride yourself on being assertive and direct; everyone else thinks you’re bossy and arrogant. You’re constantly running your mouth about topics that only you would find interesting. Your capacity for wasting other people’s time is limitless. Your friends find you intolerable, that’s why they’re plotting to kill you.
Also drinks: Water. Bottled, chilled, with four ice cubes, a twist of lemon, in a crystal glass.
Can also be found at: Trendy martini bars
R-e-e-a-a-l-l-y? I do know many who fit the above description, but I don’t think it applies to me. (Any of my “plotting” friends out there want to chime in?)
Clearly the Oracle is full of something…and it isn’t coffee, because we all know that coffee makes us mellow and very happy. And the Oracle appears to be a bitter old miser.
Your mission, my fellow Starbucks junkies, go see what the Oracle says about you and report back.
Daddy’s Turn
We city girls were so excited to see these nearly every morning in my sister’s backyard.
These little beauties were passing through during our Thanksgiving dinner. I still don’t know how people look into those big, brown eyes and then shoot them.
On our way up to Michigan last week we (the girls and I) were talking about how Alexis (the girls’ cousin) had gone out “to catch a deer” with her Daddy the day before we got there.
E: “So when they catch a deer, Mama? Do they tie them up?”
(Before I can answer – I’m taking a long time because I am trying to figure out how to answer this, and wondering if she had maybe seen a deer “hanging” up after it had been shot, she answered her own question. Sort of.)
E: “Oh, maybe they will just tie them up in the yard. Then they can all stay in the yard.”
(Then I realize that she thinks they are just going to “catch” the deer, like roping a horse or something.)
M: “Mmmmm…I don’t think that they actually catch the deer, baby. Um…”
E: “But some people eat the deer? Right, Mama?”
M: “Yep. Some people do eat the deer meat for food.”
So she does “get” that people eat the deer for meat. I think that the whole “where meat really comes from” is a difficult concept for kids to figure out. I didn’t really know how to tackle the fact that her hamburger comes from a cow.
But J. is very adamant that since we have all girls, he is absolved from the difficult girl talks and I “get” to do all of those talks. So I think it is only fair that he should get to tackle this one, right?
Thankful ~ Day 2 and 1
I have been kind of “off the grid.” And that was my thankful for yesterday. As much as I tease Michelle and DJ (and pretty much all of our family in Michigan) about living in the “sticks” – it has been wonderful to just be away from everything. I’ve done the tiniest amount of work I could to get by, I’ve clearly been almost non-existent in my blogging, it has just been a nice break. The girls are loving all of the “nature” they have seen. Addie is obsessed with the deer and turkeys that meander through the yard here. (Emma is more concerned that the turkeys are going to be the ones that end up on our table tomorrow.) I have had some great workouts with Meesh – the hills are killers here – and even though it has been chilly, it is so refreshing and nice to be able to see the stars and breathe clean air. Plus I have been able to see (or am going to see) all my best friends in the world!
I am so thankful for our little “landing spot” right now.
And for today’s thankful, the last day before our Thanksgiving, I think it is only appropriate to say I am so, so very thankful for my family.
I am thankful for my parents for giving me life and loving and nurturing me always, and I’m so thankful to them for giving me a brother AND a sister to grow up with. I’m thankful for my brother Ken and for my sister, who will always be more than just a sister. And I’m thankful that she and DJ blessed us with three gorgeous nieces (Someday Ella…you will love your Aunt Bean! It may take a lot of spoiling, but I’ll win you over.). And for all of the grandparents, aunts and uncles that I had, and continue to have, supporting and loving me along the way.
And for my own little family, I’m so, so thankful to have J. He is the most amazing husband and father anyone could ever imagine, or ask for. I thank God for him every single day. (And I am thankful that I was given a second, extended family when I married him, complete with a mother-in-law that I LOVE, brothers and a sister and nephews, too!)
And last, but certainly the best, I am so thankful that J. and I were blessed with the best gift God has to offer. Not once, but twice. They are amazing little girls.
Really no amount of words can describe just how thankful I am today.
Thankful ~ Day 5,4,3
I have been so absent this weekend! I have some serious blog-catching-up to do. The traveling back to Michigan took us a bit longer than we had anticipated, and we just wanted to play with everyone yesterday when we did get here. Plus the wireless I was “borrowing” last time I was here, is no longer…ahem, free – if you know what I mean – so it isn’t as easy to just hook up my laptop and work while the rest of the house sleeps. So we may be a bit scarce in the posting department this week, and I am going to skip BSM today, because, well…I haven’t had a chance to pick one out. I’m sure I’ll have a whole slew of new cousin pics coming up this week, since I’ve already taken a hundred or so photos, and we’ve only just been here 24 hours.
So what am I most thankful for these past three days?
I am thankful for my amazing little travelers. They really are continually the BEST kids on the plane. The “gentleman” (and I use that term loosely) behind us made a snarky remark to his seatmate after we had boarded (we took a quick trip to the restroom) and were climbing back into our seats. It was something to the effect of “great, why didn’t you tell me there were going to be KIDS right in front of me.” I held my tongue, although I really wanted to let him have it, and thankfully my girls proved him wrong. So for that I am thankful.
I am also thankful that we have the means to be able to travel back and see our families. It is so amazing to watch my girls with Meesh’s girls. They are really beautiful together and it makes me a little sad that we don’t live closer. But it makes me so much more thankful for our special time together.
And today I am also thankful that I got to have lunch with my oldest “best” friend from high school. She is the only one of my friends that really knew me before I was even J.’s girlfriend, much less his wife. So she is very special to me and I so appreciate our lunches together and the little bit of time we get to spend. (Also I’m thankful that she doesn’t mind the whole crew of girls, tagging along! Thanks, Vic!)
So for all of those things, I am very thankful today.
Hope you are all having a great start to your week – don’t forget to check out the other BSMs, we’ll get a BSTuesday maybe….
Lemon Tree…Very Pretty
Our lemon tree finally has tons of ripe lemons.
And when life gives you lemons…
…you gotta make lemonade!
It was delicious!
Now we are just waiting for our avocados to ripen so that we can use some of these lemons and make some guacamole!
By the way, the persimmons (our neighbor’s tree) are also ripe. Anybody have a good recipe for them?
Thankful ~ Day 6
Today I’m thankful for our health. A few times yesterday I sent up a little prayer of thanks for our healthy, strong bodies.
I was talking to my mom while A. was climbing all over me and jumping on and then off again, and I called her a “little monkey!” My mom reminded me that I would much rather have her be a “monkey” than not be able to run, climb or jump at all. And it is so true. Besides a few cuts and bruises, our trip to the ER, some colds and an ear infection here or there, the girls are really both incredibly healthy.
I also visited the doctor yesterday for a check-up since I hadn’t seen a doctor since my six-week checkup after I had A. Yeah, yeah, yeah – I know that was over two years ago. But I got a full checkup and apparently, at least until all the tests come back, I am just fine. I realized that I really need to take care of myself because the girls really depend on me. I need to be here to watch them, and help them, grow up.
So today, that is what I am thankful for.
Child Labor Laws Don’t Apply Here
I think I may be in the running for a Mother-of-the-Week award after today.
I had a conference call that was scheduled before my sitter was going to be here. So I did what any good mom would do. I bribed the girls with a movie and popcorn so that they would be quiet for 45 minutes.
Oh, did I mention? It was 10 o’clock. In the morning.
And then after that, I put them to work washing all of the dishes in the kitchen.
I’m expecting my award. Any day now.