Gingerbread House

The boys decorated their gingerbread house and had a lot of fun doing it. Gambit ate a lot more candy than he put on the house. They are so proud of it and love to pick off the candy to eat.

Fun with Cousins

It's a lot of fun to put all the empty toy bins in the pack 'n play and jump around in there. Who needs real toys anyway?

Painting

I've always wanted our front entryway painted so it's warm and inviting when we come into the house. We finally got around to it over Thanksgiving week. Painting 17 foot high ceilings is no picnic, but I just let Antonio take care of that part.

YOU can make a difference!

I have a friend, Bianca, who is an amazing mother to three beautiful daughters. Her youngest, Linden, was born last year with Down Syndrome. She is such an adorable and wonderful little girl and her mother gives 110% to all her children.

Bianca has set a goal to raise $20,000 for Reece's Rainbow, an organization that helps find international children with special needs (particularly Down Syndrome children) forever families.

If you want to make a difference, if you need a charity to give to, or if the stories of these children just tug at the heartstrings a bit, please consider giving whatever monetary donation you can afford. The lives of these children could be drastically altered, for good or bad. Around age 4 these special needs kids are moved from an orphanage to an institution. Where, unfortunately most die within the first year there. There doesn't seem to be a shortage of families who are willing to adopt these children, but international adoption can be very costly, and with the cost of medical needs of these children as well, it can be too much.

Check out her blog and progress (and a link to Reece's Rainbow) at http://www.joeandbianca.blogspot.com/.

Canned Butter

I stumbled across directions on how to can butter on the internet a few months ago. It sounded like such a great addition to our food storage and the process didn't seem too complicated. I finally got around to actually doing it and the results are 12 pint jars of canned butter! It really was very simple, just somewhat time consuming. It took me about 2.5 hours to get these canned, but it was also my first time. I've been feeling a big urge to work on beefing up our food storage. We've got a great start, but I really want to get an organized stash going with more than just the boring staple foods.

Ninja's 5th Birthday!

We had a party for Ninja to celebrate his 5th birthday! This kid is just awesome. He's smart, funny, articulate, and loving (when he wants to be). I'm so proud of the little man he's become, and I'm excited for what the next 5 years will bring. Happy Birthday, Ninja! Daddy and I love you so much!

It just feels good....

I just feels good when you are 13 weeks pregnant and you still fit into your jeans purchased from the Girls section of Target. Boy, what a self esteem booster.

This weeks cravings: Egg McMuffins and Grilled cheese with that fake american cheese.