It's My Life

Time slows for no one. As a Mom, I find myself staring at my children and just wishing their growth would slow. Thinking maybe I could find a way to keep them small, a way to prolong the journey to grown just a tad. My oldest child. My son just took another step towards grown today. He turned seventeen. Today. It seems such a short time ago he was little and watching Teletubbies and Buzz Lightyear on a loop.  Now he is driving a car, shaving his facial hair, dating girls, and planning his senior schedule. I was feeling a bit reminiscent so I took a look back at his many birthday parties. (Which can I say I am super thankful for digital cameras!) We lived in Denver when my son turned one but we happened to be home one month before his birthday so we celebrated with family then.  On his actual first birthday, we had a Super Bowl party and had all of our friends over. The Denver Bronco's beat The Green Bay Packers that year and won their first Super Bowl. When ...

It's that time of year again. At the start of each year, we celebrate the beginning of a new year. We might also look inward and reflect.  Make plans for new goals or accomplishments we would like to achieve.  {Oh yeah and we watch a bowl game or two! How many of you caught our Missouri Tigers playing in the Cotton Bowl? All of us stayed up late to watch every second. I am not sure about you but that sure was an intense fourth quarter! M-I-Z...} It has been too cold to play outside so the family has been spending a lot of time together inside. We have been mulling resolutions over and over in our heads. Here is what we have come up with! The Short Chic's Resolutions: 1. To have fun. 2. To be a good student. 3.  And even though it was not her first idea, she has added clean her room.  The Boy's Resolutions: 1. Gain Weight 2. To be a better student.  3. To do his chores without prompting. The Husband's Resolutions: 1. To ru...

My MIL (Mother-in-law) called us New Year's Morning and inquires if I would be willing to help her make homemade tamales. I figured taking down the old Christmas Trees could wait and we agree to head over. This is my first real tamale lesson. When we arrive, she was elbow deep in Masa. (Gringo translation: Masa = Dough.) Nana told me the Masa should be the consistency of frosting. She was not sure if we ever got to that point.  I could not tell the difference! My next job was to prepare the hojas. (Gringo translation: corn leaves.) We soaked them in water and removed any hairs that might have been stuck to the hojas.   Nana had made the mole and the pork the day before. So with finished Masa and clean hojas, we were ready to begin assembling the tamale.  I learned you want an even thin layer of masa on the smooth side of the hojas. If you put it on the rough side of the hojas the tamale will stick to the hojas after cooking. I preferred to use ...

A few weeks ago, we were leaving the house and noticed how loud it was outside. The sky around our house was completely full of Canada Geese. We get them every year but every couple of years their population on our community lake appears to increase. That night, as we drove past the lake, although it was dark you could tell the entire lake was nearly covered with the honking geese. The first thing you notice is their noise. Collectively hundreds of Canada Geese are very loud. {Maybe I am glad my house does not border the lake!} The second thing you can't help but notice is that come nightfall the geese return to the lake in droves. They approach in large groups, small groups, duo's, and even singles.  An hour after dark the geese have landed and made their way to the ice, where they will stay till morning comes. We shot the video above on our second night of watching them. It is the second video I took. The first was when the lake was full but you can't see anyth...

We spent a quiet  night at home on New Year's Eve. Since we have a teenager it seemed a little dangerous to leave our house unattended on New Year's Eve. {I remember too well that who ever had the empty house hosted the party.} Luckily our friends did not mind coming over on New Year's Eve. We made dinner, goofed around, played some domino's and quietly  rang in the new year.  One of the cool things we did was make Grab Bags for New Year's Eve. I got the idea from  Hoosier Homemade  last year. Inspired by her  Countdown Goodie Bags , we have been making these for two years now. The premise is simple. Inside a bag you place a goodie for the kids/family. Each hour until midnight you open a bag. We started our bags at 6 p.m. I made the clocks from clip art and SmartArt from Word. Inside the bags the kids found a different theme for the new year.  6:00 A Year of Fun: Toys: Princess Sofia puzzles for the little girls and iPhone...

Day 5: Christmas Eve Day 6: Christmas Morning. The Short Chic and the pets enjoying gifts from Santa. Merry Christmas to All!