Bad Day

Much of the day has been like this:

and it really sucks.

Leon woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning.  All he wanted this morning was his daddy, who had to go to work.  Leon has been tugging on his ears, which means he probably has an ear infection so I called the doctor.  They make me feel like the most ridiculous person on the earth whenever I call - which reminds me that I need to find a new doctor/office.  THEN, about an hour after I made the appointment Leon started acting as happy as can be with NO signs of anything wrong.  GRRR...which means I'm going to feel even more ridiculous when I take him to the doctor and find out everything is just fine and I'm just overreacting!!!

I'm going to go take a MUCH-NEEDED shower and pray that the day gets better.  We've been having such wonderful days - it makes the bad ones really, really BAD!

Little Dax Portraits

See my BEAUTIFUL baby Dax portraits by clicking here.

P.S.  Just in case you're wondering, I'm going to keep two seperate blogs.

Project for Leon's Room

The walls in Leon's room have been pretty bare since we moved to this house.  I've been so busy working on the rest of the house that I haven't worked on the bedrooms very much.  Well, one day last week I decided to take a break from the rest the house to do something for Leon's room.  Here is what I did for above his crib. 

This is my favorite.  The Lion is actually drawn on the glass, not the paper, so it gives it some dimension.

I'm really happy with how it turned out.  I also like it because I think it will be able to grow with him.  I'm sorry these photos aren't very good.  My new lens doesn't do wide angle shots very well - not to mention that I was just snapping them real quick on auto.

Also, my kitchen is almost done!!!!  I finished painting the pantry last night.  I'll I have to do now is get it organized and get some decorations up.  I can't wait to post photos - this kitchen has totally transformed.  I'm really happy with how it's going to far.

Question?

Would you rather me keep two seperate blogs (one for photography, one for everything else) like I do now?

OR

Would you rather them be condensed so
you can see everything in one spot?

I haven't been getting much traffic on my photo blog so I was wondering if I should just combine them?  I want to know what you all think.  I liked the idea of having two seperate ones, but the motivation to update the photo blog (even though I have tons of stuff to post) has been dying since I haven't been getting any comments.  I'm okay with anything, but you guys are the ones who read so I'd like to know what your opinion is.

Buffalo Chicken Dip Recipe

We don't normally get into March Madness.  However, some buddies from Kyle's work do and they invited us over to watch some of the games.  I don't plan on watching any of the gamse.  I'll probably sat and chat with my friend Sonny, whose husband works with Kyle, while our kiddos play.  And I'll also be eating some of my favored Buffalo Chicken Dip that I'm taking for all of us.  I thought I'd share my recipe with you all.  It's great for sporting events, game nights, and parties.

Buffalo Chicken Dip
2 cups cooked chicken, shredded
4-8 oz. Franks Hot Sauce (I like the buffalo style sauce)
12-18 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup blue cheese or ranch salad dressing
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese, divided
1 bunch celery, washed and cut into sticks (optional
1 bag tortilla chips

Preheat Oven to 350°F. In a large bowl combine: chicken, hot sauce, cream cheese, dressing and ½ of the shredded cheese. (Adjust the amounts of hot sauce and/or cream cheese to make the dip mild, medium or hot per your own taste.)

Pour mixture into a greased baking dish and sprinkle with remaining cheddar cheese. Bake at 350º F for 25 to 30 minutes. Serve with tortilla chips and/or celery.  Enjoy!

Tips from me:  For the chicken, I like to cook 1-2 chicken breast in the crockpot before hand so it's nice and tender. We like to use the neufchatel cream cheese because it's 1/3 less fat than regular cream cheese and it's already a little softer than regular cream cheese.  It also tastes great without the salad dressing - sometimes when I make this we don't have enough so I just skip it.

I ♥ Jim Henson

What? Who? Why? is what some of you are saying, right?  Well, Jim Henson is the creator of the muppets.  I've always loved the muppets.  I grew up loving Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy.  I even had stuffed animals of them.  However, it's been a long while since I have even thought of my once beloved Kermit and Miss Piggy.  We are now rediscovering Jim Henson's creations.  I was at Target and they had an Elmo video for only $5, so I said "Why not?  I'm sure Leon will like Elmo one of these days."  When we got home I popped the movie in and Leon went NUTS.  He can't stop laughing and grinning ear to ear whenever he sees Elmo.  Here are some photos to prove it: 

It is so sweet and funny to watch him watch his new friend, Elmo.  I happen to love it too.  It lets me take a 20 minute break during the day to do the dishes, work on a project, or just sit and cuddle with my little boy while we watch together.  AND that is why I ♥ Jim Henson and his lovable creations.

I was really excited until...

I was really excited about spring this year until all the snow melted away and I remembered our yard looks like this:

Leaves are everywhere.  Stumps and brush are everywhere.  Our grass is terrible.  No landscaping what-so-ever.  We don't even have a working lawn mover yet.  May I also remind you that we own 1 1/2 acres of land? What were we thinking?

Saturday it was nice, so we started doing this:

raking leaves and picking up sticks.  We don't own a wheel barrel yet, so we used a really big box to move the leaves to the fire pit.  We had a huge pile and we probably only raked about 3% of the leaves in our yard.

The one good things about spring being just around the corner is that Leon and I can go out and play (or do yard work, I suppose).  Leon wasn't sure what to do with himself, so he sat, for quite a while, like this:

Eventually he finally got up and started exploring and walking about.  We had to stop and clear dirt and even a couple of acorns from his mouth. Here are some photos of him in his new adventures and finds:

Anyone want to nominate me for one of those FREE landscape makeovers on HGTV?  I'd appreciate it!

I guess you know what I'll be doing this spring and summer...and many others to come.

Sundays are long days

When I got home from church (which was just about 15 minutes ago) and went to get Leon out of his car seat, I found him like this - all tuckered out from a long Sunday with his sunglasses upside down around his neck (because he likes and thinks they're cool but doens't like them on his actual head) and a toy in his lap.  Sundays are long days for us.  Church doesn't start until 1:00 because we have so many people attend our church that 3 different congregations have to use the building.  1:00 isn't such a great time for little munchkins either and we have A LOT of kids in our congregation.  We all manage but it's hard sometimes.  I am now a Sunday School teacher for the 4 year olds (which I love).  Even they are zoned out during class sometimes.  It's kind of nice to have Leon asleep right now though - Kyle is still at church helping with tithing and I have a few minutes to myself to change and reflect about what was taught.  Sunday's maybe long right now, but I still love them.

Brothers

I just updated my photo blog with the most adorable portraits of these two brothers.  Check it out by clicking here.