Recently, I really wanted to buy a big......no huge, mug to make tea in.
So I went to the best website to buy crafts and all things handmade....Etsy.

If you have not checked it out, you really should.

http://www.etsy.com/

I love my new tea mugs!

Yesterday, Saturday, I did my long run and a big grocery shopping trip. I made some deer meat Chili and some taco meat. Zoe and I baked some beer bread and a loaf of orange, cranberry bread. The weather outside was insanely nice, so I read on the patio while Alli napped and we cleaned the garage. As I was sweeping the garage floor in my shorts and tank top and not breaking a sweat or feeling even slightly cold I recall thinking “this IS the perfect temperature”.

Around 5 pm, I received a mysterious long distance phone call. When I listened to the message, it turned out that it was my sister, Linda, who lives in California. She was in St. Louis visiting and wanted to know when she could come to Columbia and meet the husband and baby. I told her that if she wanted, she could come right now and spend the night. I told her we had plenty to eat. She was thrilled, drove right over and arrived around 7 pm.

We all sat in the kitchen talking until Zoe got bored and found a ride back to her dads. Then James, having been sick for days, went to bed. Then my sister’s boyfriend, Bill, finally went to bed and Linda and I stayed up until 3 in the morning talking. It has been almost exactly 10 years since I talked to her at any great length so we had plenty to discuss.

This morning, at 5 am I heard James and Allia get up. I tried to keep sleeping, but the sounds of Alli kept waking me. I got up and moved to the couch and dozed off and on for another hour or so while Alli watched cartoons.

Linda finally woke up around 9 and we had coffee and breakfast and did some more visiting. She left after lunch and I was exhausted, but decided taking a nap would not work.

The weather today was nothing like yesterday. It was cold and breezy so I broke out Allia’s new hat and gloves (thank you Cherie for buying them for her) and we went out to play.

I completely amazed myself by staying up until almost 10 pm. I went all day long on only 3 hours of sleep!

Friday, Daddy went to do some more mountain biking. He borrowed some socks from Grandpa and looked pretty darn silly.

Mommy went to Dicks and purchased an Under Armor shirt ON SALE (they never have them on sale) and a Christmas gift for James using her $10 off coupon. The store was not too crowded at 9 am, but the parking lot at the shopping center was sure busy.

At nap time, we loaded up the car and headed for home. Allia slept in the car as planned and so did I. We were home in no time at all.

Once home, we unloaded the car and I started a load of laundry. James went outside to play with his chain saw.....of course.

Allia wanted to play with Daddy.....of course.

We also went for a hike in the woods. When we came to the old tree house, Allia wanted to go up the ladder and we let her. Then, we decided that may not have been wise since the old tree house is falling apart. Daddy talked her down as fast as he could. However, this prompted us to decided, for her Christmas gift, we are going to build her a tree house / play set in the trees up closer to the house. We can hook her swing to it and we may buy a slide to attach as well. She will love it since she is big into climbing at this point. We will love it because it does NOT have batteries!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving Day morning at 5 am Allia woke up and called for her Daddy. We all three got up and made some coffee and dined on various goodies that we found in the kitchen.

As soon as it was light out, James geared up and headed out to Landahl to mountain bike and I went for a jog around the lakes. It was a gorgeous sunny day and I really enjoyed my jog. I was also thrilled that I now know where the port-a-potty is half way through my route.

While we were gone, Allia played and kept Grandma and Grandpa company.



When I returned from my run, Grandpa and I put together this new set of big blocks which was actually quit the undertaking. They are made of cardboard and must be folded up.

In the afternoon, James and I went for a hike out in the woods. James insisted on going off the marked trail and we ended up bushwhacking for a while and getting lost. I was concerned we would miss dinner so I took over navigation and got us back to the car. Good thing I have an excellent sense of direction or we might still be out wandering the woods.

Grandma really put on a feast and everything was super delicious. We had green beans, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce and even homemade stuffing with giblets.

Allia, for some reason really wanted to eat ice not turkey.

Later, she finally decided the turkey was divine and ate a whole pile of it.

Allia is getting good at posing cute for her picture.

After dinner, we watched the movie, "Angels & Demons" with Tom Hanks. This movie was entertaining but totally unbelievable. Not one I would strongly recommend, but don't go out of your way to avoid it either.

At the end of the day, it was Grandpa’s turn to cuddle with Allia as she fell asleep.

Today, around 3:30 we loaded up and headed to Kansas City for the Thanksgiving Holiday. Allia was sure happy to see her Grandma and Grandpa. At bed time, she fell asleep in Grandma's lap.

Weekend Highlights in photos:

At school, the kids stop frequently to wash their hands. Allia has been keeping up the habit at home. She loves to “wash, wash, wash”.

This is a little craft project I did. I painted the letter A for Allia and attached the ribbons for her bows. She has a lot of bows and this will keep the nicer, larger ones from getting smashed in the big jar with all the others.


Allia eats breakfast at home and then again at school. The girl is an eater. A few weeks ago, I had way too many eggs in the refrigerator so I encouraged her to have some scrambled eggs for breakfast. Well, she loved it and now, on most days, we make her scrambled eggs in the morning. Here is how Daddy does it. He lets her sit on the counter and help him “cook”. The whole operation makes me a bit nervous. I keep thinking she is going to get burned or something will get broken or she will fall off the counter. This is why Mommy is not as much fun as Daddy.


Daddy got a new (used) chain saw on Friday and spent the whole weekend cutting things down. Our fully wooded lot is now littered with cut off limbs and chopped down dead or undesirable trees. Looks like a tornado went through. So, if you are in need of some firewood.....please come and get it!

Saturday about dark, Daddy was working on the chain saw and Allia stopped to help. Just before this photo was taken, Allia was trying to climb the fence around the lagoon. She had gotten to the top, but by the time I got the camera she was back down and not in the mood to cooperate by climbing again.


Alli slipped on her Daddy’s work gloves.


Here she is eating a bowl of cereal with out a spoon.

Here she is eating her Cheerios with a spoon which is less efficient when a girl is really hungry, but much more graceful.

Sunday, Alli was taking a bath and kept saying “poo-poo”. I assumed that she may need to go potty so when she got out of the tub, I asked if she wanted to sit on her potty. She loved the idea and sat there for some time. She did not go poo-poo, but she did go pee-pee. I was so proud of her and gave her lots of praise. We then put on her big girl panties and she waltzed around feeling uninhibited.

Later, she wanted to sit again and we did get another pee-pee in the potty. The third one hit the carpet so we decided to barricade the family into the kitchen and cook dinner with hard floor and potty handy. This turned out to be a fine idea since the next pee-pee ended up on a kitchen chair. After dinner was over, we put a diaper on and put the potty chair back away. We will try again later since her heart really isn’t in it yet.

Today is Wednesday, the day that Allia skips school so she can hang out with her mom. This morning, however, Allia pretty much told me and Daddy that she wanted to go to school, not go to work with Mommy. I dismissed this idea thinking she was confused and obviously not fully awake yet. However, when we turned on to the road by work she realized where we were and gave me a some complaints. I then crossed my fingers and hoped a full blown tantrum was not coming next. Lucky for me, I promised her a good time and she was happy enough as she marched into the building like she owns the place. Overall, we had a good day, playing and socializing and all the fun stuff. I made sure to collect some extra hugs and kisses too.

Around 4:30, she was getting really antsy and bored and she kept getting into the junk/snack drawer. I kept closing the drawer and telling her to stay out of it. (I should have shooed her out of the area, but did not.) She finally opened the drawer for the 4th time, grabbed my brand new, just bought last night, one pound bag of pretzels by the bottom and yanked it out of the drawer as fast as she could. Pretzels went EVERYWHERE……the floor, the drawer, the desk…….everywhere. I was typing on my computer and stopped mid sentence, scolded her good, picked her up, walked across my office floor as pretzels crunched under my feet and placed her in her bed in the next room. She was screaming as if she was being tortured. I returned to the scene of the crime and decided I was not going to waste a whole bag of pretzels and started gingerly picking them up off the floor and placing them back in the bag being careful to leave the dirt behind. All I could think was…….maybe she should have gone to school today……grrrr. Allia continued to scream from the next room.

I then calmly called her daddy and asked if he could meet me and take the little monster, I mean sweetie, off my hands because Zoe and I had some errands to run after work. He was happy to help out and by the time I picked up all the pretzels and swept my floor, Allia and I were both calmed down and in a better mood. I plucked her from her Pack-n-play and she was all smiles. I love it when she doesn’t hold a grudge.



Modeling her turkey hat she made at school yesterday.

My husband went deer hunting and all I got was this set of antlers with some brains still attached!!

Pretty gross huh?

Over the weekend, James and his father went to Kirksville for their annual hunting trip. Great news, they both shot a deer so no one will go hungry this winter.

I stayed here in Columbia and played with my girls, went to the gym, did my long run and accomplished quite a bit of Christmas shopping.

Oakland Junior High Fall Sports Banquet

Zoe and Sarah Darr

The Volleyball team accepting their awards.

The Cheerleaders - Marielle Carlos on the far left.