My awesome husband made all of my wildest dreams come true on Monday. He painted the front door! (Why, what were you thinking?)
Seriously our front door was an eyesore almost from the time we moved in 6 years ago. The painter did a horrible job and the paint never really stuck. Anytime anything touched it, the paint would pull off revealing the white door underneath. After 6 years it looked pretty speckled. Glenn, being a painter in his previous life knew how to do it right but just hasn't been able to do it until now. Yeah! I didn't even know he was planning it so it was a great surprise. It took most of the day because they had to strip all of the old paint completely off and also prep and tape the side-lights. (They meaning Glenn and Zach. Sometimes it's great to have a nephew that works for us so we can make him do jobs like this as well.)
Anyway here is a picture of the door. If you are look at the picture and think it's brown what's the big deal, that is exactly the point...it's BROWN! I love it, thanks Honey!

Moving inside now. A few weeks ago Glenn cut the vinyl for some wall words that I've been wanting. (More hubby points!) This one over the inside of the front door turned out so good that I had to take a picture of it. I love the color, the font, the fit and just everything about it. Glenn helped me put it up which I was really worried about but it even went up without a hitch. (Which is more than I can say for the last time we tried to put up a wall border together, we're still in counseling over that one.)
Here's the pic.

If you click on the picture to make it big you can see the detail of the font. Did I mention that I love it?

Happy Birthday Abby!

Ok I know I've been neglecting my blog lately so it's time to make amends. I have several things I've been wanting to post about but just haven't had much time. Let's start with Abby's birthday, yes it's been awhile.
Abby's birthday was on a Sunday, (Sept. 28) so we had a party for her on Saturday. This turned out to be a really easy party because she wanted to go swimming so we just had the girls come over, we fed them, opened presents and then went to the pool. It turned out to be free admission day at the pool so we didn't even have to pay for anyone.
We did a Hawaiian theme which was fun. As the girls arrived we took them downstairs and dressed them in hula girl attire and took pictures. For dinner we had Kalua pork, (crock pot style), rice, pineapple and carrot and celery sticks. I think the significance of the luau-style dinner was somewhat lost on 10 year old girls, they probably would have preferred pizza.
We then opened presents and it was apparent the Abby had let all of her friends know that she wanted Webkins which are stuffed animals that have an accompanying on-line game. She received three Webkins and was really quite thrilled.
After presents we loaded up and went to the pool. We let them swim for a while then took everyone home. We gave them a cupcake on their way out of the car, and that was it- Party Successful. (Parent points accumulated.)
Here are some pics.

Vegetable Pasta Cheese Bake

Here is another meal that we discovered that fits into the "Has Healthy Elements and the Kids Like It" category. To be honest I'm not sure why the kids like it but I'm grateful. (When I was little I would have voluntarily fasted before eating this meal, but I didn't do broccoli back then.)
Here's the recipe:

1 cup uncooked medium size shell macaroni
1 1/2 cups broccoli florets
1 1/2 cups cauliflower florets
1 cup shredded carrots
1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms
1 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
1 teaspoon dried parsely flakes
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon marjoram
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon basil
1/4 teaspoon salt
Cook macaroni according to instructions on package, leaving out any fat and salt. Drain well and set aside.
Steam broccoli, cauliflower, carrots and mushrooms in a small amount of boiling water until tender-crisp, about 7-8 minutes. Combine cooked macaroni, steamed vegetables, cheese and all spices; mix gently. Pour into a 2 quart casserole dish. Bake at 350 degress for 10 minutes or until cheese melts. Makes 8 servings.

I like that the amount of cheese is small, just enough to make it a little gooey and make it kid friendly.
Here are pics from the first time we had this.

The completely empty baking dish.


The girls with empty plates. See how happy and satisfied they are?


Here's Will who wanted me to take his picture too. I complied even though he didn't eat any, he only eats cottage cheese. Last week we got him to try a bit of "Pasagna". He also bit a carrot once and now brags that he eats carrots because they're good for you.

Uggggghh

I just came in from my run and it was tough today. My legs felt like lead and to make matters worse my Ipod battery died half way through. Running stinks without my tunes! For some reason I came in with "All Creatures of our God and King" going through my head. Where did that come from?
What I really wanted to write about was how much I love some of my worldly possessions, the first one being my Ipod.

Glenn surprised me with it last mother's day (2007). I had a little Rio Mp3 player that worked just fine and held plenty of songs so I wasn't expecting an upgrade at all. At first I thought that I'd take it back because it was too expensive but I ended up keeping it and have loved it ever since. I have lots of different play lists which I am way better at organizing and I love to plug it into an IHome and have tunes while working or cleaning. I also plug it in on Sundays and play church music. I don't have any videos on it except one episode of Dora that I put on for William when he was younger. It still helps me out in a pinch though. My boys can't believe that I don't have any videos on it but I'm still a greeny. I can't get over how cool the music is let alone think about putting movies on it!
Another thing I love is my running hat.

It makes me happy every time I use it. I wanted a white lightweight hat so I'd been pricing some on E-Bay but they were too expensive. I ended up at the running store and found exactly what I was looking for at half the price on Ebay. Don't you just love it when you that happens? I think this hat is probably "last year's model" and they were clearing it out because everything is dri-fit now, but it was just what I was looking for. It's totally practical too, which I love. (I am my mother's daughter.)
The last worldly item I wanted to mention is our BlendTec blender.

This one is for Glenn. He probably loves this one more than me but don't you just love it when something just works so well? It's kind of like a fine tuned automobile, it's just good. When Glenn went through his weight loss program over the summer we were drinking a lot of smoothies and the program recommended getting a BlendTec but wow, talk about pricey! Luckily we ended up getting one at wholesale, that one just worked out for us too. Our favorite smoothie is Chocolate-Peanut Butter-Banana, but we do different versions of it. Glenn's is more healthy than mine.
It's kind of fun to watch the "Will it blend" videos that Blendtec makes if you've never seen them (www.willitblend.com). They have blended everything from golf balls to cell phones and the guy that does it is this very dry guy in a lab coat who always starts the segment with "Will it Blend, that is the question." One of the coolest ones I've seen was the 12 glow sticks, they did that one with the lights off.
Well those are a few of my favorite things...

I guess I'm a pretty simple person but I prefer it that way.