Project 366: Day 50 [April 6th]

Morning sweet bloggers! Hope you all slept great! :) 

It's FRIDAY. Always a good time around here ;)

We started off our morning by SNUGGLING. I thought at first, we were going to have another rough day yesterday. Tayler's temperature got a little too high for my comfort and she was heading down the same path today. I gave her some tylenol and juice and about an hour later... she perked up. She didn't feel 'hot' (or as hot) and she actually got up to play in her play room! That was the first time she did that since Wednesday and my mom always told me, 'Go by how she acts. If she acts fine, she feels fine.' So, I took that as a good sign :)

While she was playing, I got to cleaning. My grandma called and asked if I wanted to go to lunch with her and my mom so I knew I needed to get a great deal of cleaning done prior to leaving! I LOVE cleaning my house. I LOVE a clean house. I LOVE that Fridays are the designated day for that. I literally don't feel 'peace' if I have a messy house, so this is an absolute MUST for me each week. Mopping the floors, sweeping the floors, dusting, scrubbing toilets, doing all the dishes, cleaning out the fridge, doing laundry... :) It's a good day!

Does a Momma's heart good! :)

Before leaving at noon, I got the office, living room, Tayler's play room, dining room, mudroom, and downstairs bathroom cleaned! Which meant the kitchen, stairs, our bedroom, Tayler's bedroom, and upstairs bathroom for when we got back! 

And today's 'April Photo Challenge' was LUNCH.

Now, I didn't bring my Nikon with me to Steak and Shake, haha, so this was taken with my cell phone, but it's my sweet Tayler playing with her place mat and the little car Steak and Shake gives kiddos! She was feeling a lot better today and it made me so happy! Right here, her temperature was about 99 (but it shot back up to the 100s sometime later :() 

At least she was playing :) That was a good sign! We had a wonderful lunch! I got the Steak-And-Shake meal (my usual, haha!) It comes with a hamburger (I got lettuce, tomato, onion, and mustard on it), fries with cheese sauce, a side salad with ranch dressing, a chocolate milkshake, and I got a Dr. Pepper! :) Tayler and I split the hamburger and fries and we took the milkshake home for Daddy ;) It was tasty!

Once we got home, it was back to the grind! Tayler played while I finished cleaning up everything!

That's the kitchen. Looks 10x better clean, let me tell you, haha! We finished up everything and settled down to relax until Daddy got home! Then it was on the go again! He had a basketball game tonight and I desperately needed to go grocery shopping!

Before we left, we took some pictures of Tayler. Her Uncle TJ and Aunt Lakin bought her this outfit for her 1st birthday and I had been waiting for a cooler day for her to wear it-- and today seemed PERFECT. Couldn't she be a baby Calvin Klein model, y'all?? :)

Gosh, I LOVE LOVE LOVE her :) So pretty!

And Ethan wanted to try out the ol' camera too! I thought he did a phenomenal job on this picture :) Great job, love!

We have so much fun messing around with that thing and learning about it! :) I am so thankful we have the opportunity to learn about taking pictures.... together!

Then E was off to basketball and I was off to grocery shop. It was a mad house in there! I picked up some things to make Rice-Krispie Eggs for Easter dinner (I'll post the recipe later, of course!) And I also picked up things for Tayler's Easter basket. EEEK! And I picked up all of the necessary items for our 'Menu' this week! You all know I'm a planner and my brother and sister-in-law purchased a menu board for my kitchen for my birthday.. and I finally used it! 

I love it! Keeps me a lot more organized! I used to have to sign on here and look at the meals each day because I would forget, haha! So for the week-- 

We are going out to eat Monday.
Tuesday (it's E's birthday) and he wants Taco Dip (I'm making Crack Dip for myself!)
Wednesday we're having Pepperoni and Sausage strombolis!
Thursday we're having breakfast for dinner :)
Friday is cooking out! Hopefully we finally do this!

And guess what I bought at the store??

Ugh. It's an addiction. These are my absolute FAVORITE. Mercy, I could eat them for breakfast, haha! ;) What's your favorite chips??

Hope you all had a great day! We were all exhausted and went to bed early :)

Cheers Project 366!

Letting Go of Revenge..

It's amazing the path God takes you down... to change you.

I use to be a 'Vengeance is mine' kind of person. No, not the person that quoted, 'Vengeance is mine thus saith the Lord.' I took revenge in to my own hands. It was typically fueled by anger, frustration, bitterness, self-pity, stubbornness, pain, hurt, aggravation, and of course... the almighty thought of 'I'll give them exactly what they gave me. You reap what you sow, right?' 

Yes, I took revenge in all sorts of ways.

I was the queen of subtlety. I was the queen of 'rubbing-success-in-your-face.' I'm ashamed to even admit this, but I'm doing it to show you where God can take you!

If someone hurt me, I would let my attitude get the best of me. I would sit there and fume over ways to 'get them back!' I wasn't the kind of person to just sit back and take it. If they hurt me-- I wanted them to hurt. It was as simple as that. I hated knowing that someone was getting away with causing people pain. I hated knowing that someone was getting away with hurting me.. lying to me... taking advantage of me.. Why should they? What makes them better than me? 

It ate me alive.

I would just sit and stew over the pain. Over why they were allowed to get away with things. Over why I couldn't just.. let it go. In my head I knew that they would eventually reap what they sowed, but I had it in my head that I had to be the one to give it to them. It was only fair. You hurt me, I hurt you. Simple math, right?

But through prayer... and I am talking gut-wrenching prayer.. God has shown me a different path. I didn't want to step aside. I didn't want to put things in to God's hands. It was a lack of trust on my part. I thought He wouldn't handle it like I *thought* He should handle it. Come on everyone, you know you have been there. 

I had some intense prayer time... in my car, in the shower, on my couch. Tears pouring. Heart crying out. I needed Him to heal my heart. I needed to find trust in Him! Through prayer, I cried out to God. I remember saying...

Lord, I NEED YOU. I need You to stop this hurt. I need You to remind me that YOU will handle the situations in my life. And for the first time in my life-- I have finally let go. I have let go of the people that cause me bitterness. I have let go of the people that cause me pain. Of the people who purposely hurt me. Of the people who are malicious and vindictive because I know that HE can handle the troubles more than I can! I stress over them. Cry about them. Get headaches because of them. And it isn't worth it! It steals my peace and my joy and I'm tired of it. Why not give it over to the One that is awake all of the time? The One that can heal the situation. The One that can change the other person's heart. I know He can do more than I could. 

Revenge isn't healthy. It isn't healthy for the mind, for the body, or for the soul.

God, I give it ALL over to you! Thank you for giving the tool and the gift of PRAYER! Thank You for giving me time to seek Your face. Thank You for making that time absolutely precious! Thank You for healing my heart. Thank You for caring about the things that cause me pain. Thank You for taking these burdens off of my shoulders and giving me rest.

Project 366: Day 49 [April 5th]

Morning fellow bloggers! :)

So, first I wanted to share some news!

I am working towards learning a lot more about photography and I am doing that through a personal (facebook) website. It is called 'Bay Photography.'

You can find that here if you are interested!

I am really excited! I am doing all sessions for free so that I can learn as much as possible about my camera, editing programs, etc. If you are interested, please let me know!

And now for the 'Photo A Day' challenge for April!

Today's task was: TINY.

I took a few pictures of it!

Just my interpretation of 'tiny.' What did you take pictures of?? :)

All of today was spent cuddling. I had a very sick baby. Her fever spiked to 102.4 which completely freaked me out. She's never had a fever that high :( We're pretty sure it's a cold. She's been coughing, a runny nose, etc. Here she is cuddling her Mommy:

And even though she enjoyed cuddling Mommy, Gigi came over for lunch and she decided to cuddle her too! 

Gigi even brought her french fries and she wouldn't eat those :( You know she isn't feeling good when that happens! As the day progressed, her fever just kept getting worse. All she wanted to do was lay on the couch... and that is very rare for someone who is always on the go. She didn't even go in her play room :(

Breaks my heart.

I wrote this on Facebook:

Days like today... I am reminded why God made Mothers. Just by wrapping their arms around their children, Mothers bring comfort. By kissing their foreheads, they bring a sense of healing. By rubbing their backs, they bring peace that they will never leave. By laying beside of them, they bring knowledge that their children will never go through trials alone. With my baby sick, curled up next to me... I can only take a moment to thank God for the blessing of being a Mother. I can be for Tayler what my mother was to me: A constant in the midst of a not-so-constant world. I wish I could take her sickness, but since I can't, I'll rejoice for God giving me the chance to care for her. He's good to me!

But in GOOD news..

I got my new glasses today! My husband's team is ORANGE, so I thought these represented the occasion rather well!

I'm so excited for their next game! :) I love being all color-coordinated, haha!

And the rest of the night, we all cuddled up. Ethan is sick, Tayler is sick.. and I'm worn out from taking care of both of them LOL!! So, we laid down and watched 'American Idol!'

If you remember correctly, I predicted Hollie, Elise, and DeAndre of being in the bottom 3 and for the 2nd week in a row, IT WAS RIGHT! This is such a rare occasion I had to share it haha! However, I predicted that Elise was going home and it was DeAndre. I agree with that. I just thought all of the teenage girls of the world would have been voting for DeAndre, haha! :) I'm anxious to see who ends up winning this competition! I think the top 3 (as of right now) will be Colton, Jessica, and Skyler. What do you think??

Cheers to Project 366!

Project 366: Day 48 [April 4th]

Good morning fellow bloggers!

Hope you are having a fabulous day today! :)

First, I thought I'd start off with the the April 'Photo A Day' Challenge!

Today's task was to take a picture of someone who makes you happy.

I'm guessing you all know who I'm taking a picture of, right? ;)

My pretty little baby :)

And speaking of her.

She probably hates me, haha!

Since I got my new camera, she has been my faithful test subject. I took a few more 'Easter' pictures of her today and thought I would share!

She's just precious!

We spent a lot of time outside today because it was so nice out! We had time on the porch swing together and then I let her play in the yard for a little bit :)

And I wore my new skirt from Walmart today. I love how 'flowy' and 'cool' it is :)

I also spent a great deal of time doing laundry today! I had some catching up to do and I wanted to wash our bedding! Don't you love climbing in to bed to FRESH bedding?? Mmm! I do! :) They look kind of wrinkled because Tayler was laying right there before I took the picture LOL, but gosh almighty, I think that was the best night of sleep I have gotten in awhile. Amazing the difference it makes!

I was too lazy to cook dinner, so we picked something up. I have been really tired here lately and E hasn't been feeling good. So, we ordered in! After that, Papaw and Gigi came to visit. Tayler has officially said her 12th word and that is: PAPAW! I called my dad and told him and of course, they immediately came over ;) LOL! They are a sucker for that little girl let me tell you!

After they left, we all got our baths and cuddled in for some 'American Idol!'

Did any of you watch it last night?? What did you think??

I will say that I think the bottom 3 will be:

1. DeAndre Bracensick
2. Hollie Cavanaugh
3. Elise Testone

and I think Elise is going home.

As I always say-- I'm always wrong about these, so don't put any hope in to it LOL!

I loved Colton's performance last night and SKYLER LAINE! Holy cow, she nailed it! That was AMAZING. I told Ethan, I had goose bumps upon goose bumps.... seriously!! :) What did y'all think??

Cheers to Project 366!

Weekly Meals [4/9-4/13]

Man oh man! I am finally ahead of the game this week, haha! Usually I am writing the grocery list like 3 hours before the store! This is awesome, haha! It makes me feel better when the grocery list is finished ahead of time because then I can add things as we run out. This is a relief! :)

And this is what I have for the dinners for the week. It could change slightly depending on what we run out of in the days ahead, but it should stay pretty much the same! 

What are you cooking for next week?

Easter Dessert:  Rice Krispie eggs
Monday: Pepperoni/Sausage strombolis (per Ethan's request!)
Tuesday: E's birthday (Birthday breakfast: bacon, eggs, hashbrowns)
Wednesday: Taco Dip/Bacon Cheddar Dip (per Ethan's request!.. it's his birthday week so he thinks he has a say in things ;))
Thursday: Cook-Out with Fries
Friday:  Breakfast for dinner: French toast, Bacon.
Saturday: Going out!

Project 366: Day 47 [April 3rd]

Morning bloggers!! :)

Hope everyone is having a fabulous day today!!

Yesterday was a gorgeous day (minus a few patches of rain here and there!) I stayed inside most of the day with Kenton and Tayler. They absolutely love playing together and they are just hilarious! It was a pretty full time job in here yesterday with having to get caught up on dishes, their hungry appetites, getting myself ready for Tay's 1 year check-up, getting her ready, and getting Kenton out the door, hehe! He went to his Mommy's work for a little bit while I ran over and got her checked out. I figured it wouldn't be a long process since she was just getting a check-up and shots were not going to be until next week..

I have to show y'all a picture of Tayler at the doctor, haha! She will probably kill me when she's 16 for this, but seriously-- I think she looks so stinkin' cute it's unreal!

Does she not look ornery?? Yes-- I have to live with her every single day LOL! Hilarious!

Once we got home, it was picture time! She was wearing a really pretty soft yellow dress today and it inspired me since Easter is right around the corner! So, we were outside swinging and I was thinking about taking a few pictures of her for this beautiful holiday and I realized my mom gave us a sign that says, 'Easter Bunny Stop Here!' So I figured it was a prime photo session spot, haha! I took a few pictures of her and I was really happy with how they turned out! Like I tell everyone, I am not claiming to be a professional, but I am just trying to understand my camera a bit more and the editing software I have. Hope you all enjoy my sweethearts Easter pictures! 

Isn't she just precious?

She was 3 weeks old last year on Easter (I'll share that picture ON Easter this year, hehe!) and now she is 1 years old! Crazy, right? :)

Are you guys doing anything special with your children on Easter?

After that, it was dinner time. I think we were all starving. On the menu tonight was:

Two Timin' Pasta Bake.

Here's where I got the recipe.

What you need is a box of Penne Rigate, one jar of alfredo sauce, one jar of pasta sauce, and some Mozzarella cheese.

Start off by preheating your oven to 350 degrees. Then cook the pasta according to the instructions on the box. I cooked mine for about 11 minutes and it was perfect!

While you are cooking your pasta, take your Classic Alfredo sauce and Pasta Sauce (I used Zesty and Spicy just because I wanted a little 'spice' to ours. Feel free to use whatever you would like!) And mix them together!

Once you do that, you'll have something that looks like this:

After it's mixed together, throw in about a cup of mozzarella cheese and mix that in as well! Once your pasta is done cooking, drain it, and throw it in the bowl with the mixture of the alfredo sauce and the pasta sauce.

Toss it to coat all of the pasta, then pour it into a 13X9 casserole dish. Spread it out evenly.

Bake it at 350 degrees for about 20-25 minutes or until bubbly. Mine cooked for approximately 21 minutes and it was ready to go!

We served ours with rolls with garlic butter, salads, and sweet tea :)

It was absolutely delicious! If y'all make it, I hope you enjoy!! :)

And we are on Day 3 of the 'April Photo a Day Challenge!'

Are you playing along? I sure hope so!

For Day 3 it was 'Mail!' And guess what we FINALLY got in the mail today?

Tayler's 'Yo Gabba Gabba' DVDS! We ordered these before her party and especially before her birthday so she'd have a present to open that day.. and they JUST showed up, haha! I was getting extremely frustrated, but they have arrived and she loves them! :) What was your picture today?

Hope you all had a wonderful day!

Cheers to Project 366!