Week of waiting and waiting and waiting

I have survived the week alone! Daddy-O will be home tonight and I go pick up his Mom at the airport shortly. Reinforcements, thank God!

So Daddy-O got to KC after a grueling 12 hour drive. It should have only been 8 hours but the weather was horrible. There was a 20 car pile-up and a semi vs car accident on I-55 and he got detoured for awhile. Needless to say he arrived safe and sound and excited and nervous for the first day at the new job. The first week has gone extremely well and he is feeling very good about the decision to go to work for Hallmark. People have even asked when he is going to bring the family by to meet everyone! That is not something that happened with the last job so this is a big plus in my book!

It was a difficult week for me emotionally. I felt like I was just waiting for something to happen. And I was, this, the move, the readiness, the kids finishing school today, the birthday party tomorrow (#3 turns 4!) Now that the action is back, the time to get it all together and go is here I should be good. I was also having a big of the Christmas funk. Not having a tree up this year with all of our ornaments and "stuff" has been harder than I thought it would be. I love Christmas time. I love the memories of Christmas' past and making new memories. With Daddy-O gone and the impending move, it's been hard to make Christmas memories. On the bright side though, once everything is packed up, we'll be headed to Wichita to the Units house (Daddy-O's folks) for the holiday. I'm pretty sure as soon as we get there my holiday spirit will show up in full force!

On the road

Well the adventure of our move to Kansas City began today. Daddy-O starts the new job tomorrow so he left for KC a few hours in the midst of this storm we're in. We thought him driving south to St. Louis would be a better drive than going through Iowa but right now it's slow going. He has seen a bunch of cars in the ditch all ready and watched a truck with a horse trailer spin out behind him. Needless to say, I'm a bit of a wreck myself. I'm doing a lot of praying and have faith that he will make it safely.

The kids have a week left of school and then Nanni and Daddy-O will be here on Friday. We'll do a little bit of celebrating for #3's birthday on Saturday and get ready for the movers who will be here on the 20th. Writing this is making me nervous! I need to go relax a bit.

Cookie blitz begins! Peanut Butter Tempations

So I've started the cookie blitz. This is where I make 6 or so different kinds of cookies to give to friends, neighbors and send to family for the holidays. These little peanut butter temptations are a new favorite to the list. Who can resist a cookie and a piece of candy together. They were meant for each other.

Use your favorite peanut butter cookie recipe. Make into small balls that will fit into a mini cupcake liner.

While those are baking unwrap Reese's Peanut Butter cups...

As soon as the cookies come out of the oven all puffy...



Add the candy...

Let them sit for awhile or pop in the fridge for a bit for the chocolate to reset itself. And then try not to eat them all before sharing with friends!

Holiday spirit

So for those of you who are wondering here is our Advent calendar for this year...

In each envelope is a holiday-ish thing to do each day. Yesterday was "Write a letter to Santa" and today was "Donate canned goods to the needy." I also put a piece of candy in each envelope the night before too. I though about doing it all at once but the boys would sneak all of the candy out of there before the 5th of December I'm sure. Plus with candy the ribbon probably wouldn't hold up.

Here's a shot of the mantle notice the awesome Carolers that my mother-in-law got me collecting! Also notice the creeper coming down the stairs for a peek! He didn't get in trouble for creeping either because he said "Oh Mommy, it looks so pretty. Good job!"

There won't be a ton of decorations this Christmas because of the move, so what I do is going to be nice and special to us. I've got the first batch of Christmas cookies in the oven and a bit of music playing. Happy holiday spirit to you too!

When you care enough to send the very best...

Hallmark's tagline.

Hallmark is based in Kansas City.

 

Daddy-O got a job working in Product Management for Hallmark.

Hence, we are MOVING!

We spent the Thanksgiving weekend in KC with family and did a bit of house hunting too. Both were very successful I'm happy to report.

For details on Thanksgiving please visit Aunt Trish's blog at My Path to Travel.

This is our new house as of December 20, 2010

The new Casa de Chaos just waiting for my gardening skills!

HUGE backyard, complete with basketball goal!

It is going to be a crazy couple of weeks as we jump into this new chapter of our lives. So much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving season as we move into Advent. I need to get started on an Advent calendar pretty quick. Like today for tomorrow! I'm  going to see what I can do from this great post at The Crafty Crow or the gals over at How Does She have an Awesome Advent roundup too. Have fun!

Healthy, fit and strong...again

I know that I really don't have control over what happens in my life. Ultimately, it's up to God. I know that but I'm human so I wonder sometimes, why. Why do certain things happen and why do they happen when they happen? What about things you can't take back? I don't regret anything in my life, although I know I've made mistakes, but there are a few things I'm tired of.

I am tired of feeling like my body is out of my control. I'm a mom and I always put myself last. Always. I'm the last to eat dinner, the last to go to bed most nights and I rarely treat myself to things that I want or sometimes need. Well, I want to feel strong, fit and healthy again so I will take control of my body. I would like to do the Nike Women's Marathon next October again. I had such an amazing time the two previous times I ran it and well right now I want to feel like that again. So to start I've joined Weight Watchers (again.) In three days all ready, I feel better and I know I am making better food choices. I've started training. Meaning I'm out walking right now and I have a physical therapy appointment this weekend to work out some kinks in my left knee. I'm hoping to do a Turkey Trot next month and run at least half of it.

I may not have control over the future or what will happen tomorrow but this I can handle.

Flour, salt, cream of tartar, oil, water and a dash of color =

Imagination!

The recipe for homemade play dough is so easy it's a wonder I don't make it more often. I usually use all my flour for cookies so there isn't enough around for play dough! But the other day #3 and I went to town and made play dough and had hours of fun making snakes. His favorite thing to make with play dough.

3 cups flour
1 1/2 cups salt
1 tablespoon cream of tartar
2 tablespoons oil
3 cups of water
food colorings (optional)

Mix all of the ingredients in a large saucepan. Cook over medium low heat, until the dough comes away
from the edges of the pan and it becomes difficult to move the spoon. Remove from heat. Cool until it can be handled. Place on counter or wax paper knead until smooth. If you want to add color, we put it in a large Zip-lock bag and add the color, lock the bag and knead until color is worked in. Then you can take it out of the bag and continue to knead until smooth without coming away with red/green/blue hands!

Store in an air tight container.

Recipe = smiles, delight and amazement at what Mom can make!

Back to school and things I liked this week

Cookies this week.....

Back to school cookies for the office staff at #1 and #2's school.

(Butter 'em up, just in case.)

Two of my loves, cookies and scrapbooking!

Ironman logo cookies.

Things I enjoyed reading this week

Once a Month Cooking / Once a Month Mom has inspired me to create a 10 day dinner menu plan! I went shopping today. The cooking and freezing commences tomorrow !

A new favorite is Living Locurto. She has got some amazing free printables. She is an amazing artist!

Bridget at Bake at 350 reminded me that it's pumpkin time! Can't wait to try this

Today's guest: Jen Johnson on eighteen25
A how to on cute, easy yarn spiders for Halloween!

Today's guest: How does she? (a new read for me and a new fave!)
A how to on making Halloween treat bag to "boo" your neighbors in the month of October.

What did you read this week that you would recommend?