work in progress

found this stack of frames today at hobby lobby. love it next to my new painting. yay!

sunday salsa

i decided to make my own salsa. my friend roro brought some that she made to paint night. it was so yummy! i scoured several recipes and methods, combined a few and set off for the grocery. the first step was to chop the onion, green bell pepper, jalapeno, and tomato.
above is one of my favorite tools in the kitchen, love it. it chopped the jalapenos so finely!


from there i added fresh cilantro, lime juice, garlic pepper, garlic salt, and regular salt. next, i started to mix it with my other favorite kitchen tool - the pampered chef chop and stir. it was blending nicely, but not enough. i wound up chopping it more in the food processor. i also added more of the seasonings to taste. it was hard to tell how much because its supposed to sit over night.

finished product!

i put some in a bowl for josh, and the rest i mixed with corn for me! i am so excited. think i may do another batch tomorrow.

recipe (well, sort of):

4 roma tomatoes

3 large tomatoes

1 white onion

1 green bell pepper

2 jalapenos

fresh cilantro

lime juice

garlic pepper

garlic salt

table salt

- i boiled the tomatoes for 1.5 minutes then immersed them in cold water, the skin then peeled right off. i scraped the seeds out.

so so so excited to have this tomorrow after all the flavors have "married" over night!

this is how he rolls...

vip seating on a stormy sunday afternoon.

soakin up the family time

can i just stop time and keep him this way? i just want to kiss all over his cheeks! it is very rare that he sat still long enough for me to catch this shot.
we went to hueys after church and coffee duty with mom, diddy, and sue sue. diddy entertained colton while the rest of us ate and talked, lol. thanks diddy for coming along.

that's a broccoli eating boy right there! poppy let him sit in the "real" chair at chili's. such a sucker for his favorite boy!

now the boys are out back playing. such a beautiful sunday. i am about to knock out some homework and maybe a few pinterest projects.

packed weekends

my wonderfully talented friend heather invited us to her house for a gno paint party. this is my 3rd or 4th time to go to one and it is so much fun. the last 2 parties i have attended, we all found our own canvas idea and ran with it. i love these parties b/c you move at your own pace, but have lots of people around to use for ideas and suggestions. rochelle found a really cool tree on etsy, so beth - roro- and myself decided to tackle it. mine is posted in the pic above this post. after i took the pic, i rubbed a raw umber wash over it to give it an aged look. wish i had pics of roro and beths, all of ours came out so completely different. it was a loveley night of paint, canvas, friends, great conversation, yummy food, and lovely adult beverages! thanks heather!
this week was coley's teachers birthday, the amazing ms debbie! he adores his teachers and we wanted to make this day special for her. he made her a card similar to the one posted above. colton was so focused, dot dots, stickers, stamps, and crayons. he was so proud once it was finished! the class celebrated with donut holes! we love you ms debbie.

today was baby matthew's 1st birthday party. we headed out to the bat cave with colton dressed in his best bat attire! i am in shock that he wore this mask. he's not a mask kinda kid.

this is colton and "matt-man"

can you tell that matty loved his cake?

yum!

happy birthday, sweet boy!

a woman can dream...

about this amazing place!

work, school work, and other activities have made me slightly crazy! i long to laze around on the beach with my boys, or my mom, or even by myself! we were last in daytona this july. my parents treated us to plane tickets for our birthdays and spoiled us at their beautiful "home away from home."

i knew this semester would be the toughest yet, and i grow increasingly anxious about the ones to come. 1 more semester of field work and then a full semester of student teaching. im not so anxious about the actual coursework or the student teaching, but the thought of leaving my boy full time. i have been blessed beyond measure to have him attend the school i work at. same schedule, peeking in on him, dropping him off and picking him up. plus we are in a place where i know those women love him almost as much as i do. in an ideal world i could stay at hope with him, and even beyond coley....way beyond! the thought has left me sleepless and sick to my stomach. ugh, it sucks.

i am trying to focus on the word "content." i am trying to live a content live...a content life with god. lately it seems that my "jesus calling" has fallen in line with that too. thats the thing about "jesus calling" each meaning/word/passage applies to different people in different ways. i have learned and decided to live in contentment with god, and everything else will fall into place. spend more time with him...

this is part of the entry from sept 17: "you will not find my peace by engaging in excessive planning: attempting to control what will happen to you in the future." in the end only god know what is best for my and my family. i need to let go and let god.

so for now, thats what i plan to do. spend more time with god...

and occasionally dream of that wonderful place!

the popcorn store

yup, you guessed it. pretty much one of our favorite places on earth! the pic of him is terrible, but he is happy with his icee and popcorn! we have backed off of our frequent trips to target, but manage to stop in at least once a week.

today was so exciting because of this....

woop woop, all new stuff in the dollar zone. just look at how packed the shelves are! i went today to check out treasure box goodies for my classroom. didn't find much of that, but saw some cute things for halloween.

i did score a great find, but didn't take a pic of a rug i purchased for my classroom. it will go in the block center and has a perfect "road" for racing cars! it was on sale for $20, normally $60 in the catalogue! yay!

happy targeting!

back in action

colton and daddy @ the delta fair

september 2011
nice face!
momma and colton @ the delta fair
september 2011

We're back! I have taken almost a year long sabbatical from blogging...well, not so much a sabbatical-but life. We are no busier than any other family with at least 1 toddler, but it does make it hard to sit and type. I do intend to blog at least once a week from here on out, if for nothing more but for me to look back on as Colton gets older.

Here's a little snippet of where we each are now in this journey we call life...

Colton- will be 3 in November!

- weighs 40 lbs and is roughly 38 inches tall, at last check up 95% in height and weight

-his curls are gone, he has straight blonde hair

-he loves CARS the movie and everything related to it

-he is a great eater...when he wants to be (loves his fruits and veggies)

-can ride his tricycle "all by myself"

-LOVES school and all things/people related to it

-loves books/movies/tv

-is going to be "mr tato head" for halloween

-still sleeps in a crib (and thats fine with me)

-wants NOTHING to do with potty training

-has had a sudden "brave" streak, tubing at the lake-fair rides-riding the horse

-is the sweetest, smartest, fun-lovingist, funniest, and cutest little boy around!

Me (Jamie)-

-still in Grad school at the U of M (taking 9 hours, kicking my rear)

-teaching in the 4 year old program at Hope

-so ready for Tiger Basketball

-has loads of pinterest projects lined up

-is starting to enjoy running/jogging/walking

-training for the st jude half marathon in December alongside my mom, best friend, and many others who are close to me

-so excited for my brother's wedding, blessed to be gaining such and amazing sister

-loving spending my days and nights with all my boys...josh, colton, and rocko

-very excited for the biggest loser to start back

Josh-

-still working at fidelity investments and still liking it

-sometimes trains for the st jude half marathon and can still kick my rear in anything running related

-doesn't get to golf as much as he'd like

-does lots of playing in the floor with our favorite almost 3 year old

-is looking forward to Tiger basketball

-and lots of other things, just didn't quiz him about this before i posted!

So, that's where we are. Where are you?