I'm back!

Well that month flew by, didn't it? Now it's 2012, and we'd better make it a good year just in case the world ends in December. Jonathan and I aren't the kind of people who make New Years resolutions because we think that just sets you up for disappointment and guilt. It's like saying you'll eat healthy your entire pregnancy, and then realize that pregnancy is a freaking long time and that Taco Bell and ice cream just sound SO good. We're just hoping for a great year with a happy and healthy family.

Our Christmas was wonderful, thanks for asking. Here's an ironic story: People had been asking us for a while what we wanted for Christmas. We were having SUCH a hard time coming up with anything, and I felt bad asking for stuff just to get stuff, ya know? Anyway, our computer had been having some problems like randomly shutting off and taking FOREVER to load anything. So, we had thought about asking for a gift card toward a new computer. Well, when my dad came to visit in October he changed a few of the settings and Jonathan did a whole computer restore, and then everything was all better. No more gift card needed. Except when we returned home from Grand Junction on the 27th, our computer wouldn't turn on. Nada. It ended up being the battery pack (thanks Brian, for helping us!) which wasn't too bad, but I guess we should've asked for a $60 Best Buy gift card. Haha.

Here are a few recent pictures to keep you guys interested:

Grandma with the magic touch of ALWAYS putting her to sleep

Me and the girls all in pink

My new quilt made by Melody. She actually made it a few years ago and I've had my eye on it ever since. I would've been devastated if she'd given it away!


I'm going to post an entire album of Christmas pictures on facebook, so if you're just dying to see more, go check them out on there! Happy New Year!

December

I've only blogged twice this month and I probably won't get around to blogging any more. Not because I don't want to, but because we're headed to Grand Junction on Thursday and I very rarely post from my parents house. I have to say, even though I despise the cold, I love December! It just feels so holiday-ish, and since the Christmas season is my favorite, I guess I can put up with the cold for a little bit. However, with cold come germs, and out comes Kari the germaphobe, so we haven't left our house too much. I know that you're thinking "Jonathan had Strep for 2 weeks AT YOUR HOUSE" and you'd be right, so the not leaving the house thing really doesn't mean there aren't, I'm just a freak.
Anyway~ I have thoroughly enjoyed my hot chocolate every morning and my occasional trip to Starbucks for a caramel apple cider. I constantly have on Christmas music no matter where I am. I have also enjoyed getting my girls dressed in cute winter outfits like this:

Going to church

"Little sister"

What you can't tell from this picture is how ridiculously cute her boots are.


Well, I hope you all have a wonderful December, and I'll be posting more in January!

My girls

I just want to tell you all that I think my life is great. I'm not trying to brag, just let you know that I am happy. I'm grateful for all that we have, and I really enjoy having 2 kids. More than I enjoyed having just one. Of course, having a 2 year old and a newborn doesn't always make for great days, but we're just taking it one day at a time. And most days are great. I especially love it when I come into the living room to find this:

Breast pumping.


Excuse the nakedness. She seriously does not like to have clothes on. Ever. Her favorite thing is to get naked, wrap up in her blanket, and sit in front of the space heater in her room.

Addilyn is 7 weeks old now, which is crazy! Time is flying by. She's going through the dreaded baby acne phase right now, so I haven't been taking too many pictures, but here is one:


I know one of the greatest gifts we all get is thinking that our kid(s) are the best/greatest/cutest. There are days when I don't think mine are the "best", but I definitely love them the VERY MOST!

Wheels on the bus

For your entertainment:

A story about Strep and Thanksgiving

Turns out having strep throat doesn't make for the best Thanksgiving. I wouldn't actually know, because it's Jonathan that has it. And if you're wondering why it's not Jonathan writing this post about it, it's because he's still dying on the couch. He has now been totally out-of-commission-sick since last Thursday! Poor guy! And while I feel really bad for him, I'm SO ready for him to be over it because I feel like a single mom of 3 kids right now.

Lets start from the beginning. Last Thursday he came home from work sick with the chills and body aches and a sore throat. Friday and Saturday he struggled through the work day, taking about 4 Advil every 4 hours to keep his fever and sore throat at bay. Sunday he was still feeling really awful and annoyed that his "flu" hadn't gone away. He showed me his tonsils and they were HUGE and had white spots on them, but the light bulb didn't go off over my head until a couple hours later when he said, "Ya know, with my tonsils looking like that I wonder if I have tonsillitis or something." And I was like, "STREP!" because one of my friends from church had just told me she had it. He went to urgent care right away and sure enough: Strep. They gave him a prescription for Amoxicillin and we figured he'd take the next day off work, and within 24 hours he'd not be contagious and be good to go. Wrong. Monday was awful. Tuesday was awful. By Tuesday night when I was pretty sure he was going to die, we decided he should go to the hospital just in case something else was wrong that was making him feel like this. Nothing else was wrong but they gave him a shot of penicillin and a steroid shot and sent him on his not-so-merry way. The next morning he was feeling better but still couldn't really eat anything and was getting lightheaded if he was up too much. Same thing on Thursday, Thanksgiving, which is why it wasn't great. Same thing today, which is why he came home from work an hour early. WHEN IS IT GOING TO END?? My goodness, I haven't seen him sick like this EVER. Not in the 3 1/2 years that we've been married has he called out from work sick, and now it's been a week of days off or going home early. :( Let's just all keep our fingers crossed that he'll be back to 100% soon, or I might die too.

Did I mention he's also lost 15 pounds? :(

Needless to say, this was the ONLY picture we took on Thanksgiving:


I hope you all are staying healthy!

My secret

I've discovered the secret to happiness. Well, besides my perfect marriage and my perfect kids.



Hahahahahahahahahahahaha.

But seriously, you HAVE to make these. Even if you think it's annoying when people post recipes on their blogs, THIS is the one you have to print and try. It will not let down your expectations. And if you don't want to go through the trouble of rolling them in balls and covering them in chocolate, just take a big scoops and add it to vanilla ice cream for instant cookie dough ice cream! Perfection. Or, you can tell your kids how lucky they are that their mom lets them eat dough straight out of the bowl because hey, egg free!!


Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Truffles
Yield: 3-4 dozen
Prep Time: 1 hour
Total Time: 2 1/2 hours
Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine, room temperature
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 cup milk
1 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

14 oz dark chocolate candy coating

Directions:
Beat butter and sugars and in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add milk and vanilla. Stir in flour, baking soda and salt and mix on low speed until incorporated. Stir in chocolate chips.

Cover and chill dough for 1 hour.

When dough is firm enough to handle (it may help to lightly flour your hands), form dough into 1" balls and arrange on a baking sheet lined with waxed paper. Place sheets in freezer and let chill for 30 minutes.

Melt chocolate candy coating in a double boiler or in microwave according to package directions. Using forks or a dipping tool, dip cookie balls into candy coating to cover. Tap fork on side of pan to remove any excess coating, and return to waxed paper-lined baking sheets. Chill until set. Store, chilled, in an airtight container for up to 1 week (though good luck making them last that long).


So, the verdict is in.. These are BETTER than cake balls. And my baby weight is not going away. :) Enjoy!

Also, if you're not on Pinterest after last time I told you to, could you PLEASE get on that so I can stop posting this stuff on my blog? Thanks.

Family Pictures

Can you guys believe how many pictures we get taken? We're narcissistic.

The other day I was telling Jonathan I wasn't sure what we were going to do about a picture for our Christmas cards this year. We could go to JCPenny or Sears, but none of their card deals come with free sitting fees, which are $9.99 per person, so that's already $40 more than I wanted to spend, not including the actual pictures! (I'm cheap.) We could call the lady that did our maternity pictures, but she lives in Springs, so I knew it would take a while to get an appointment for her to drive down here, and it took her about 2 weeks to get our last pictures back, which was too long for me to wait. (I'm impatient.) So, I pretty much did nothing except whine to Jonathan that I didn't know what we were going to do. Then my friend Tara read my mind. Seriously, the next day she wrote me on my facebook as asked if it would be ok for her to take pictures of Addilyn for practice. All of my problems were solved! So, I asked her if we could throw in some family pictures while we were at it. She did such a great job! Unfortunately for you guys, you have to wait to get your Christmas card in the mail to see the whole family together. Here's a preview of the rest:


By the way, how cute are those outfits?! My Aunt Ann sent them to me when Addilyn was born, so this was the perfect opportunity to show them off!

So cute

Kisses from Mom

And Dad

For those that don't know, she has a mole on her shoulder. We thought it was a birthmark, but our pediatrician told us it was just a mole. Anyway, there it is.


Thanks again, Tara!!