2010 Highlights

The years seem to fly by these days. Maybe it's because we seem to stay so busy and there is no doubt that 2010 was a busy year for us! So far it's been the funnest year with Mackenzie. I thought it would be fun to share our some highlights from this last year.

January: We purchased a membership to the Children's Museum. It has been the one thing that Mackenzie and I can go do on a whim. She loves it there. Each time she finds something different to do. It's great for toddlers! If you have one near you I highly recommend trying it out.

February: this was a HUGE month. I took and passed my nursing boards. Wow, it's been almost a year!

March: Mackenzie was really getting into the Princess thing. She was starting to want to play dress up a lot.

April: Mackenzie turned 3 and received her first bike! That was the BEST birthday ever!

May: Pony rides are always a highlight. She loves them. I think this little girl might end up with a horse some day.

June: First baseball game. She loved it. Can't wait for summer again! This month has two pictures because we also made new friends! Lauren was Mackenzie's first preschool teacher when we changed daycares. We've become great friends and love getting together.

July: Daddy taught Mackenzie how to have a marshmallow fight with a marshmallow gun. We were invited to Lauren's parents house for the 4th of July (why Mackenzie has noise blockers on).

August: We spent August with friends! We have become social butterflies! Every moment with our friends are cherished. This is me with my bff Katrina.

September: Mackenzie got to spend some time with Uncle Jason and I finally got a great picture of them together.

October: It's when it really starts to feel like fall which means one thing to me, PUMPKIN PATCH!

November: We went for a few very nice walks! It was so much fun watching these girls play in the leaves. Mackenzie made a new friend, Hailey, as did I with her mommy. We can't wait for the girls to play together again! In this picture is Mackenzie, Ella and Hailey.

December: A great end to a fantastic year! December is all about Christmas to us. My last blog post you saw how awesome Christmas can be with a 3 year old. Matt and Mackenzie decorated the tree this year and I think it turned out great!

Here is to a wonderful and blessed 2011. I wonder what it will bring...

Our AMAZING Christmas

Matt and I played host for Christmas Eve/Day this year. We had a blast. I really want to express that Christmas with a 3 1/2 year old is a hoot! Mackenzie was super excited this year. And not just when opening presents. It all started when we went on the Santa Train. She talked a lot about Santa after that. She knew that he was watching.....and she was good. The Foster's have always opened presents on Christmas Eve, even when Matt was a kid. So that is what we do. Then in the morning you see that Santa came. When I was child, we opened one present on Christmas Eve and did the rest in the morning.

I took Mackenzie to her first Christmas Eve candlelight service at church. Matt's mom went with us too. It was a lovely service. Mackenzie held her own candle for a couple of minutes and then handed it to me. She was very careful. She was in awe looking out over the congregation (we were in the balcony) and seeing all of the candles. There was a live nativity also. Mackenzie was excited to hear about the how Jesus was born and loved singing the Christmas carols.

Let's talk about the food.

Oh the food. It was delicious! Here is what our menu consisted of:

Christmas Eve we had leg of lamb with a sweet and spicy rub along with plum sauce. Green and white lasagna, broccoli with oranges and almonds, along with rolls. It was wonderful! We were too full to even touch dessert!

Christmas morning we had spiced apple crepes, sausage balls (meat and non-meat), caramel apple sweet rolls and mimosas.

Christmas Dinner we had a black forest ham, mashed potatoes and mustard gravy. We also had leftover lasagna, broccoli and rolls.

Dessert was a cake that had alternating layers of pumpkin and chocolate with chocolate ganache between the layers. The frosting was a salted caramel buttercream. It was wonderful too. I thought the cake was a little dry but it was still wonderful.

It was a great time with our family. The only thing that was missing was my family back home. I miss them so much, especially at Christmas. When I was growing up my sister, mom and I would make big gingerbread houses from scratch while listening to Christmas music. Dad would always come in dancing and singing "Christmas times a comin'" to make us laugh. What wonderful memories we share.

Here are some pictures from our AMAZING Christmas. I tried to rearrange the pictures but blogger is being a bugger.

Opening up her first gift from Santa-Princess Belle doll

The Princess Belle dress up dress from Mommy & Daddy

Making cookies for Santa

Our tree before present time

Pictures before Christmas Eve service

I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas! Now it's time to get my house back together.

A day at the beach

Strolling through town

We were walking through town with my friend Lauren and decided to have a mini photo shoot with Kenzie. I think this girl likes to have her picture taken. Ignore the blue frosting around her mouth, she had just eaten a cupcake!

All about the Princess

I took Mackenzie on big outing over the weekend. Our local Christian radio station puts on a "princess" cruise. The kids wear their best princess attire and are taken on a ride on a cruise boat along with Snow White, Ariel, Belle, and Prince Charming. It was so much fun. Kenzie got to have glitter and jewels applied by Snow White and make up put on too! She also got to have ice cream with whatever she wanted on it. She had a blast. Belle and Prince Charming held story time with all the princesses that attended. Here are some of the highlights! And the best part....Prince Charming asked her to dance. :)

Another blog

Hey there strangers! Just wanted to let you know I have started another blog.

What was I thinking? I can barely keep this one updated.

I know that's probably what you were thinking too.

Anyway, this new blog is different. It's to track my progress with running. Ugh.

If you feel compelled to follow it and keep me encouraged you can find it here. It's called "Run Eva Run."

God knows I could use all the encouragement I could get!

Cupcakes with a kick!

This little guy may look all sweet an innocent but he has a kick. This, my friends is a chocolate cupcake with cayenne pepper added to the batter and then topped with a cinnamon cream cheese frosting. I have not yet mastered the pretty frosting technique as you can tell. This was the best cupcake I have ever had. I added a very small amount of the cayenne to the batter. It was ever so sweet and then BAM! I think I might have to make them again soon.

Hello? Hello? Anybody there?

Anyone reading this blog anymore?

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Father/Daughter Dance

So mad at myself!

I am SO peeved at myself right now. I took some great pictures of the gift I made for my friend and I accidentally deleted them off of my camera while taking pictures at her wedding. Oh I could kick myself if I could actually reach my behind with my foot.

On with it......here is what I made. Please pardon the quality of the picture as it was taken with my blackberry.

It' a 6x6 minibook of all of the pictures from the bachelorette soiree' that I put on for her. "Her" being my friend Whitney. Whitney and I met in nursing school, first quarter. We hit it off the first week. We've been great friends ever since. I had the pleasure of being a bridesmaid in her wedding over the weekend. She looked stunning. Made me want to get married again.

Here we are waiting for our cue to head out for the ceremony.

I told you she looked stunning!

She's Crafty: Part 1

For the last week I have been working on a project for the bride to be and I can't wait to share it with you! I had a vision and it all came together so great. I can't tell you much right now in case she sees this. I'm giving it to her tomorrow and will blog about it tomorrow night. I will tell you that it is sassy, cute, and fun. I had a lot of fun making it and I really hope Whitney loves it. If she doesn't, I hope she fakes it!

I love her smile!

I think she has a crush!

Tuesday Ramblings

Yesterday I was surprised to walk outside at 7am to find it to be 47 degrees outside. I needed my winter coat! I thought summer was coming to an end, until I left work at it was about 67 degrees. I've even started to notice the leaves falling. Then today it turns out to be 87 degrees but still chilly this morning. I have to say that this cold then hot thing does not make it easy to plan Mackenzie's wardrobe for the day. Poor kid is either going to be freezing or sweating.

This weekend is going to be super busy for me. It starts Thursday. Thursday I work, then rehearsal dinner for a wedding I'm in. Friday I am so excited to spend some time with my friend Kat. It's been a while since we've gotten some girl time.

Me and Kat

Back to what the weekend will be like....Saturday I get to help prep all the food for the wedding, then pedicures, and then finishing up prepping food. It will be an all day affair. Sunday is the wedding. We start getting ready at 10am, the ceremony is at 4pm....I think. I told you it was going to be busy! I have never been in a wedding except for when I was a little girl. This is totally new to me. I threw the bachelorette party this last weekend, it was so much fun. Any tips for helping keep the bride calm? I remember my wedding......that's all I will say about that.

Last weekend we had a lot of fun. I had the bachelorette party and then we got to see some friends. We love our friends so much. Can't forget the hair appointment I had to sass up my style a bit. I also love my hair stylist. She rocks. If only she were free on Sunday to style my hair.