8 Years

This past Tuesday Joel and I celebrated 8 years of marriage. I can't believe it's been that long all ready. For better or worse, I'm glad to be Joel's wife.

We didn't do anything too exciting on our actual Anniversary. Joel came home feeling miserable after working a half day. He had a nasty cold. I did pick up Dinner for 2 for $15.99 at Whole Foods (which actually ended up being enough for the 4 of us, plus leftovers.) We had turkey, mashed potatoes with gravy, cranberry compote, stuffing, and green beans. And sparkling cider of course.A couple weeks ago, we celebrated our Anniversary early by staying a night at the Atwood House. I have always wanted to stay at a Bed & Breakfast and am SO glad we finally got the chance! Larry (the owner) showed us around the gigantic home-decked out in Christmas decorations, upon our arrival. He pointed out the goodies in the kitchen and fridge stocked with sodas and water-free for the taking. Then he led us to our room. Up the spiral staircase, past the gigantic Christmas tree with sparkling white lights, and into our suite. Oh my! I almost cried tears of joy when he showed us our room. Incredible.The Bed & Breakfast had a gigantic movie library with around 700 different titles. (No we didn't count, I read that somewhere, ha!) We enjoyed watching a movie in this cozy setting.
We sprang for the "Romance Package" so we got a dozen roses in our room, rose petals & candles around the jetted tub, chocolate dipped strawberries, sparkling non-alcoholic champagne, and Godiva chocolates. This is definitely the most lavish place we've ever stayed. What a treat!!!
This is a working phone that was in our bedroom! I was shocked to pick up the receiver and hear a dial tone. How neat! :)
Chocolate-dipped strawberries. These were so yummy. I ate way too many. But fruit dipped in chocolate, right? At least there's something good for you under that sugar. :)
Breakfast the following morning was incredible. I felt so spoiled. I think the most exciting part for me was that around 6am, they brought a piping hot coffee pot upstairs and set it just outside our door. There were a variety of creamers and I had fun being a barista. We loved the Atwood House and hope to return one day.

Delightful Christmas Eats

I've been in baking mode lately. The other night I had to bring treats to Bible study so I made Cranberry Bliss Bars and Cookie Dough Truffles. They were a big hit!
I had fun decorating this batch of cookie dough balls. I didn't get that creative on the ones I took to study. The light brown sprinkles are caramel/cinnamon chip sprinkles...yum!I also made sugar cookies the other day. {Ok, I actually cheated and used a mix. The fun part is decorating!} P-man and H (a little girl I was babysitting) helped decorate. I especially like this one that P-man did...He said it's me, in a red dress! Of course. :)

Celebrating 6...Angry Birds Style!

Tomorrow my "little" boy will turn 6. It's crazy for me to think how much he's grown and changed in this past year. He's learned a lot but still says things at times that leave me wondering, "What in the world?!" P-man makes me laugh. He also makes me angry. (And he has taught me patience.) There are times that he melts my heart. Who knew kids could push your buttons one minute and then pull on your heart strings the next?! Not me...Until I became a mama.

We had a party last Saturday night, to celebrate P-man turning 6, and my nephew Nathan-turning 3. It was a snowy night, but guests still came. It was a fun evening of fellowship and celebration. Both Nathan and P-man are pretty crazy about Angry Birds, so that was the theme we went with. :)

I made cupcakes, and my Sister made a super creative cake.

A few of the gifts:

My little girl is sick again. It hasn't even been TWO whole weeks since she last had the nasty cold crud. I'm really wondering what I can do to boost her immune system! Kenzie gets sick about every month, sometimes every couple weeks!! This has been happening since she was about 4 months old. She's been a bear again the last couple days. I hate seeing her like this. :( I give her cod-liver oil and today I got some gummy Immune Support vitamins with echinacea and zinc. I also got some spirulina that I ground into a powder. I think I'll also try to get her into the chiropractor. I read that suggestion on a forum last night as I was researching why some kids get sick so much. If she keeps catching every little thing, this will be a very long winter.