dancing after the rain

because...........

wearing dresses means she's a princess....





















but wearing boots after a rain makes her adventurous...

......playing outside after the rain, with plenty of dandelions, sure does make life grand.

meals for the week: 2 weeks worth :) (3.18 through 3.31)

well, we're knocking on April's door...  hard to believe...  then again, we've had crazy hot weather for March, so maybe April will be cool and inviting :)  i don't have my fingers crossed, but i think i can dream a little :)
i didn't get a meal plan posted last week...  for a woman who doesn't run to a formal 9 to 5 job on a daily basis, i sure do feel like a chicken with her head cut off sometimes...  the weeks seem to be busier than usual...  no real reason...maybe it's the longer days and more time outside?  maybe it's just that i have more on my lists of "to do"...  i've stopped trying to figure it out and i'm just resigned to the fact that i'm busy or a poor planner of time...  i'm sure my two sweet kids don't have much to do with this fury of time that passes... :)

so, our eats of the week... :)  well, the last 2 weeks...  i do this more for my records...but if it inspires you, then so be it :)

3.18 through 3.24
Sunday: grilled out :)
Monday:  corned beef, potatoes and carrots in the crock pot
Tuesday:  homemade pizza
Wednesday:  spaghetti
Thursday:  sour cream pancakes
Friday:  dinner with the Davis' :)  taking dessert (tye-die cupcakes & ice cream)
Saturday:  out to eat - Vinny's Grill

and for this week... :) 

3.25 through 3.31
Sunday:  macaroni soup and grilled cheese
Monday: baked ziti
Tuesday: potato and onion omelets and toast
Wednesday:  leftovers
Thursday: Meg's BBQ meatballs, mashed potatoes, corn
Friday: leftovers
Saturday:  out to eat (probably)


deep thought of the week... 
i know i've mentioned it before, but we're very blessed to be going to a fantastic church... 
in today's sermon, our pastor talked about VISION and how one sees various challenges...  he spoke about Florence Chadwick, who attempted to swim 26 miles from Catalina Island to the coast of California.  After 15 hours of swimming, surrounded by boats with armed men to scare sharks away, a dense fog set it and she had to stop swimming by her own choice.  She said she lost sight of her destination...  how sad she was to know that she got into the boat a mere mile from the coastline... 
is there anything that's keeping you from achieving something?  have you lost your VISION? 
just as a side note, Florence swam her 26 mile journey, again, two months later...  she said she kept a mental image of the coastline as she swam...  she finished, and even beat the men's record by over 2 hours. :) 

because i don't want to forget: {nativity carnival}

During the holiday season, Katherine was, well, to be honest, obsessed with the Nativity and Baby Jesus.  I'm glad for this obsession...  i won't tell you how many trips past outdoor nativity scenes we made...we went the extra mile...a lot!  :)  K and i even walked to a scene in our neighborhood so she could "touch" the people and animals (while i silently prayed that no one would come out and try to shoot us because we were on their property at 9 at night). 

Last year, we purchased the Little People Nativity scene...it was a HIT this year...as a matter of fact, i just put it away in February...  EVERY.SINGLE.MORNING, for months, Katherine would prepare the nativity scene before breakfast.  things had to be in a certain order, in a certain place, etc.  And, well, heaven help us if Hannah happened to toddle over to her scene and disturb the characters...  That, my friends, would often cause a nice tantrum... oy!  (and that is why Hannah was called "hurricane Hannah" or "tornado" during this time)

I giggled at this scene one morning...  apparently, Mary, Joseph, the Angel, three Wise Men, and animals were not enough for Baby Jesus...

We had to add "carni" workers...



Because, when Baby Jesus was born, the carni workers served popcorn...warm and buttery...and took your tickets...

and when Baby Jesus was born, a sweet little blond boy would play games with you as you waited on the birth of the King of Kings...

Next year, we'll add a Ferris wheel and a roller coaster...

Oh wait... we had the Ferris wheel...and it's safe to tell you that Mary and Joseph had their fair share of spins on the Ferris wheel...  obviously, giving birth to Jesus, being a Virgin, having to pay taxes...that wasn't enough for them....they needed the thrill of height, too :)

perspective

"You have nothing in this world

more precious than your children. 

When you grow old,

when your hair grows white and your body grows weary,

when you are prone to sit in a rocker and meditate on the things of your life, nothing will be so important as the question of how your children have turned out.

It will not be the money you have made.

It will not be the cars you have owned.  It will not be the large house in which you live.  The searing question that will cross your mind,

again and again, will be,

How well have my children done?

If the answer is that they have done very well,

then your business will be complete. 

If they have done less than well,

then no other satisfaction can compensate for your loss." 

~Gordon B. Hinckley~

"mao"

we have a few stray cats that live around our house...  they're pretty nice cats for being feral, but we don't touch them...  we do feed them (thanks, Mom!) and so, i guess you know they are always hanging around now (we're going on the third summer)... 
the cats, affectionately called "Baby Cat," "Baby Cat Twin", and "Momma Cat Twin" (we're so official around here), sun themselves on our deck and spend most of the day hanging out up there...  we're not out on the deck often, so it doesn't really bother us...
Hannah, as are most 2nd born, tends to be more reserved...  she doesn't say a whole lot yet...  but, she loves doing from the living room to the kitchen to look outside... 
last week, she goes to the sliding door, plasters herself against the screen, and says, "Mao...." 
she's talkin' to the cats :) 
it's so stinkin' cute... :) 
:)

it's been a long, long time/meals for the week 3.10.12 through 3.17.12

well, it's been forever...  life seems to be speeding by at lightning speed...  i have every intention of getting something fun up on here, but the attempts are fleeting on my "to do" list... 
we've been so busy...  in the last few weeks, we've had both families here, a little party celebrating Hannah's first birthday, lots of sneezing, coughing, and the blowing of noses (for at least 2 of us), time outside, time with friends, laundry, cooking, 2 TVs made their way to appliance heaven, 2 TVs purchased, taxes done, dog shaving, freak 8 inch snows that are gone in a day, snowman making, snowball fights, snow angels, working, judging of a talent show...  seriously, time just speeds along with committments and needs knocking at a pretty constant pace... 
and, this week isn't going to be much better...  we have things going on almost every day this week...and we're also going to try to meet up with the fabulous Carrie Coleman to get Hannah's 1 year pictures taken...  she's home on spring break so we need to grab her talent and sweetness while we can.... :)
the weather is getting so warm... in the 70s to almost 80 this week...  i don't know whether to be happy that the weather is so beautiful or if i should be sad because that means our snow is probably finished for the year...  Katherine LOVES the snow, and it's so fun to hear her joy and contageous giggles as she's out in that wonderful white stuff... :) 
but anyway, i will attempt to get back into some normal posts...  i have one ready to go...as soon as i can dump the pictures from the last 3 months onto Picasa so that i can put the last picture into the post i have written...yes, folks, i'm really that far behind on pictures... :)  (are you sensing a trend here?  :))

so, to get back into a routine, i'll begin with the meal plan for the week... :)  that seems like a good start, don't you think? :)

Saturday:  belated birthday celebrating w/ the Strongs - took mac n cheese and tater tots :) Sunday:  cheeseburger soup (devine! :)  YUM!)
Monday:  spaghetti and meatballs
Tuesday: french toast casserole with apples
Wednesday:  leftovers (soup and spaghetti)
Thursday: leftovers (french toast casserole)
Friday:  homemade pizza
Saturday: leftovers

so, there ya go... :)  enjoy your week...  Happy St. Patrick's Day on Saturday...make sure you wear your green! :)  :) 

playground fun

it's hard to believe that, 3 days before, we were making a snowman and having a snowball fight and crying because we loathe the snow :)  we made our way to the playground and enjoyed the beautiful 70ish degree temperatures :) 
hannah loved swinging, and K spent most of her time jetting from one thing to another... :)  but, for the few seconds she stopped, i managed to snap some pictures of her...  she's so hard to photograph; she's very uncooperative in front of the camera :)  i was thankful to capture these pictures of our playground fun in February.... :)

 (as mentioned about difficulty photographing her...

K - with her face looking at the ground...

i said, "Katherine, can you look up for Mommy?"

and this, my friends, is what i get :)

sleepy baby :)

***snow***

snowball fights, snowman building, giggles, and lots of tears... :)
...the pictures tell the story :)

...here's to hoping we get a little more white stuff...  while i think Hannah will stay in for it, i know that K would LOVE to play! :) 

meals for the week of 2.20.2012

hotel Rakow will have no vacancy this week...  both sets of parents will be visiting for hannah's "official" first birthday party...  the Rakows will be here Wed. through Saturday and my parents will be here Friday through Monday, probably.  my parents will stay at the Best Western a few minutes away on Friday night so that they can be here on Saturday for "the big par-tay" :)
i'm hoping things are simple this weekend for Hannah's party.  i want to celebrate her, for sure...but in all honesty, we don't need to have a huge party for her at this point.  some cake, ice cream, snacks, socializing, and presents with family and friends will be just fine :)
so, meals this week will not be all that planned...  when my mother in law comes, i turn the kitchen over to her... i love her cooking (we all love her cooking), and i honestly enjoy the break.  she's so much faster and skilled in the kitchen than i... :)  i will probably cook for their arrival on Wednesday, but the rest of the week will be her menu :)

so, what we'll be having... :)

Sunday:  order in with friends, in a blizzard... :)  (more on this at another juncture :))
Monday:  happy presidents' day :)  cream of chicken and rice soup (probably my favorite soup)
Tuesday:  stuffed shells or leftover soup - not sure yet :)
Wednesday:  hamburger soup or stuffed shells
Thursday - the rest of the week:  this girl's off :)  yummy eats, however, without a doubt :)

it looks like the weather will be pretty here this week (again)...  my crocus have already bloomed and the daffodils are just starting to pop open...  as are the hyacinths...  the tulips are starting to come up, the day lilies and suprise lilies are leafing up already...  the ole groundhog told us that we'd have 6 more weeks of winter, but i'm not so sure... :)  either way, i will take what we get, but i am going to enjoy the sweet little flowers that are gracing us in mid-February :)

enjoy the week, friends...  be well :)

starry night

love this song... :)  happy wednesday :)