and just when you thought it was over......

A to Z of Ellie and Cece

the girls really wanted their turn....so here you go...again :)

A. Age. 7. 3.

B. Bed Size. Full. Twin.

C. Chore that you hate. Cleaning my room. Cleaning my room.

D. Dog. None. None.

E. Essential start to your day. Potty time and breakfast. Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.

F. Favorite Color. Pink and Purple. Orange and Blue.

G. Gold or Silver. For what? A color? For jewelry?...gold I guess. Serial (she can't say silver).

H. Height. ? ?

I. Instrument you play. Drums and flute. Drums and flute.    Wait a second...who purchased all these loud noisy toys...Aunt Emily...payback will be sweet :)

J. Job Title. Student and taking care of Lucy. Taking care of my babies.

K. Kids. Yes...two.  Seven babies and when they grow up then I want 100 babies.

L. Live. At home with our parents.

M. Mom's name. Molly...she rocks!!

N. Nicknames. Ellie Jo, Jo, JoJo. Cece, Cecers, Cece Kate

O. Overnight hospital stays. Birth and sleep study. Birth.

P. Pet peeve. Getting up in the morning. Ditto.

Q. Quote from a movie. Grab your buns its sloppy joe night (Good Luck Charlie) Best. Day. Ever. (Tangled)

S. Siblings. Cecilia. Ellie.

U. Underwear. Pink ones. Thomas Panties.

V. Vegetable that you hate. Tomatoes. Carrots (which is a lie...she likes them).

W. What makes you run late. When I get distracted by things like a photo album in the cabinet. Ellie crying.

X. X-Rays. Dental and for her sleep apnea. None.

Y. Yummy food you make. Snowman Poop (oreo balls). Christmas Cut Out Cookies.

Z. Zoo Animal. Elephants. Monkeys and pengiuns and turtles.

A to Z of Me

My friend Missy did this and I couldn't resist doing it myself. Sorry it is pretty random yet fun....here goes....

A. Age 29....for a few more days :)
B. Bed size. Queen. Lots better than the full we slept on for 7 years!

C. Chore that you hate. Folding laundry! Enough said!

D. Dogs. Growing up we had an amazing dog named Spot...he was half dalmatian and half blue healer and 100% amazingness! We loved him alot. Now my parents have Callie a beautiful black lab, who gets a bit excited when we come to visit but is very lovable and always happy! (even with Cece's constant "Callie no!")

E. Essential start to your day. Bathroom,  Run/Workout, Orange Juice, a check of the weather, and some cuddle time with the girls.

F. Favorite Color. Toss up....I have always loved pink and green.

G. Gold or Silver. Gold.

H. Height: 5'7''

I. Instruments you play. Well, I don't actually play anything well but I can play the piano, flute, and a  random assortment of percusion instruments including the chimes :) oh those were good times at BPHS!

J. Job Title: Mom and Teacher..they go hand in hand.

K. Kids: Ellie Jo and Cece Kate

L. Live. Iowa...so happy to be in Iowa!

M. Mom. Sally. My mom is pretty awesome. And she has a really great laugh which I think Cece may have inherited! Anywho, when I was playing sports everyone always knew when my mom was at the game because they heard her laugh and they would say, "Molly your mom is here!!"  Ok, that was a totally random tidbit...it's your lucky day!

N. Nicknames: Millie, Mols, Molly Sue

O. Overnight hospital stays. When I gave birth to the girls. Also when I was like five because I had a concussion. I tripped over a chain on a tennis court and hit my head...pretty hard! Other than that not many hospital stays for me....my brother had enough of those for all of us!

P. Pet Peeve. Having to repeat myself over and over and over and over and over....oh you get the idea:)

Q. Quote from a movie. Best. Day. Ever. Tangled.

R. Right or Left. Righty.

S. Siblings. Older brother, Scott and younger sister, Emily. And then there are those cousins that are like siblings....Jenny, Josh, Jill and Joy :) I am pretty lucky!

U. Underwear. Of course!

V. Vegetable you hate. no answer.

W. What makes you run late. Well Ellie Jo we gotta go and Cece Kate we are running late of course! No really I am what makes us run late....I try to do too much in too little time:)

X. X-rays you have had. Hmm....not many I don't think. I know I got one when I broke my toe chasing Ellie around when she was a baby....

Y. Yummy food that you make. In Ellie's opinion, Homemade Lo Mien and Mac n Cheese Cups and Peanut Butter Pie.

Z. Zoo Animal. Giraffes.

Meal Planning Monday

We have a busy week coming up, I turn the big 3-0 on Thursday and I have Parent Teacher Conferences Tuesday and Thursday nights. Ellie had her last softball game on Saturday and starts basketball on Monday. Lots of question marks on the meal plan this week....I am sure we will figure something out:)

Monday: Lo Mien

Tuesday: Chili

Wednesday: Chicken Pot Pies

Thursday: ?

Friday: ?

Saturday: Tailgating....another big game!!

Meal Planning Monday

Monday: Tacos

Tuesday: Chili

Wednesday: Homemade Calzones

Thursday: Pumpkin Pancakes

Friday: Mac-n-Cheese Cups
Really these are AWESOME!!

Saturday: Taco Pizza....from Caseys....it is the current special:)

oh...a little doily bunting

Saturday morning I was wrapping a present for a baby shower and I came along some paper doilies..you know the ones...they come in a pack of 100, stick together so tightly that you have to peel them apart. I just couldn't get them out of my mind. I was inspired by this post that I found on pinterest. So Saturday afternoon while Tim was napping watching football and the girls were playing oh so nicely in the basement I got my craft on!

Supplies:

Paper Doilies, Glue, Scissors, and String
I had all supplies on hand....so it was free!

Steps
1. Fold Doilies in half.

2. Add glue in the crease and in the middle.

 3. Place string in crease.

 4. And fold.

 5. Repeat

6. Figure out where to hang doily bunting....I had been feeling like my back splash was a little blah. Perfect place for some bunting!!

7. Hang Bunting

8. Figure out what to do with the leftover bunting....hmmmm that wall looks like it could use a little doily bunting!!

9. Hang more bunting.

10. Enjoy!!

flashback friday

A few weeks ago my just over a year old phone died. My very stubborn husband is not about to pay an extra fee to get me a new phone so back to my old yet still perfectly fine phone I went. I was flipping through the pictures and found some oldies yet goodies!

This first picture brought tears...this is the first picture I sent to Tim after he moved back to Iowa late September 2008. I was trying to tell him we would be ok. It was rough. Ellie is 4 and Cece is 7 months.

 November in Arizona

 Christmas Lights in Arizona...there was no snow so people went over the top...some people even added fake snow. This yard had 6 blow ups! I liked to describe it as Christmas puked all over the yard.

 Blue Skys in the Desert

 Ellie and the Pacific Ocean in San Diego

 Border Patrol

 After she had worked no less than 3 months to pop her left front tooth through...she chipped it off in the bathtub. It was razor sharp. I had to file it with a nail file.

 Our backyard at our Plata Avenue house. We were so excited when we bought this house because we were getting a big yard! Ha!

 Birthday Cupcakes!

May 2009 still in Arizona...counting down the days! Still praying for the house to sell (it did..we got an offer 10 days before our moving truck came! God is good!)

July 2009....back in Iowa and back together as a family! Ellie was 5 and Cece was 18 months.

flowers, bushes, and trees...OH MY!

 Both Tim and I love working around the yard growing and caring for our plants. We added quite a few things this Summer. I thought a yearly yard update would be a neat way to chronicle the growth.

 Spring 2010 we planted two tiny little apple trees, they sure have grown. One is a Honey Crisp and the other is a Golden Delicious cross of some sort...don't ask which is which...we don't know:)

With the help of Scott and Tina we added a garden. We grew some pretty good onions, tomatoes, peppers, summer squash, carrots and green beans. However the best thing that grew was the....

 Zinnias!

 We added a couple rows of ornamental grass. Would you believe we paid $2 a plant!

Here is the Old Fashioned Lilac we grew from a tiny off-shoot that Tim dug up from his parents old house in Council Bluffs. It is coming along!

 We added a row of seven dogwoods in order to give our yard a little privacy and possibly (with many prayers) a wind break.

 We dug up four off shoots of my mom's dogwoods at the farm (like the above crazy looking fellow!) and purchased three from Wal-Mart for $7 a piece.They have done very well. Ellie is looking forward to Dogwood blossoms....isn't there some country song.....

We also added a Miss Canada Lilac by the front of the house. It is supposed to have a white flower and flower all year long....we will see! We planted three Blue Fescue grasses below. This is a really windy spot, we hope they can take a beating!

 By the front door we added three knockout rose bushes. Two were supposed to be pink and the middle one was supposed to be red....but they all look different. They have done well and grow considerably.

 We planted Wiegelas on either side of the house in Spring 2010, they did little last year except survive. This Summer they grew like crazy! It is hard to believe they are the same plant!

 This Spring we also added a Burning Bush to the back corner of the house to replace a plant that didn't make it. I am excited to see the leaves turn this Fall.

 For Mother's Day, Tim and the girls added this flower bed for me. Once upon a time, when Tim was looking for jobs after graduate school I told him I would move anywhere with him as long as I could have peonies and lilacs in the yard. He took a job at Arizona State...a prickly pear is not a peony and palm trees are not lilacs. However, this story does have a happy ending....he was able to land a job at Iowa State and now I have plenty of peonies and lilacs. :)

Tim and I dug up the peonies (which you can't see because I already cut them off..they are in the spaces between the smaller plants) out of my mom's garden and I purchased many of the perennials at the end of the season (around the 4th of July) for next to nothing.

A close up of the Lilac bush in the flower bed above, it should have smaller pinkish-purple flowers.

 Butterfly Bushes...they are in their third year.

 My perennial flower bed along the garage, just finishing up it's second growing season.

 Perhaps the most exciting addition to the yard (no, not the playset!) was three Maple trees.

We added a Green Mountain Sugar Maple in the backyard by the playset.

 On the other side of the back yard is an Autumn Blaze Maple.

 By the front door we added an Amur Maple. It is only supposed to get 15-20 feet tall, perfect for the tight space between houses.

We still have more to do...there is talk of a couple more flower beds, an oak tree and edging the flower beds. We will see what next Summer brings!

Oh and a few weeks ago I posted a picture of the front yard and said I didn't think it could get any worse...well it hasn't! Look at it now! Woo hoo!

Hope you enjoyed our little yard tour:) Grow on!