How Can I Keep From Singing?

Can't believe that the election is over and did not go as planned by myself and most of the people I know and love. We were extremely disappointed, however, life must go on. I did some thinking and praying, and asked God for wisdom and peace.

Even our Republican napkins couldn't pull out a victory.



Sorry, Mitt. :(


Let's not forget, we are not in charge- He has a plan for good in each and every circumstance, and if we have faith and hope and continue to do His work, this can be a positive thing. The following verses have helped me to give up this anxiety to the Lord. Every day is a gift from God, and He is the Lord of all creation. What is greater than Him? Nothing.

Ecclesiastes 7, 1-14 and Psalm 46, v. 10

We are not giving up in our house, because God will never give up on us. So, let's keep praying and working to keep our country. It is a gift from God as well, and I intend not to allow it to go down the tubes as long as I can keep working. :)


In other news, we have had a fun week! Vivian and I baked some delicious bread, and Daddy ate a whole loaf of it on Wednesday evening. (I thought we needed some comfort food, so what better than freshly baked bread?) It came out beautifully, and we picked up more yeast at the store yesterday in case we decide to make more.

Day-after depression calls for something with yeast. :)

Uncle David came over the visit on Tuesday, and even though he was majorly disappointed too with the election results, he still had a good time playing with Vivian. He helped her get her bath and into her jammies,too. He is a good uncle, and Bisky loves it when he plays his music for her.

Henry is growing like a serious weed. He was 12.4 lbs about 2 weeks ago, and goes for his 2 week appt. on Nov. 16. I'm excited to see how much more he has grown. He is a chunk! We think he looks like a little butterball turkey.

Mom came over yesterday to hang out and visit. We had a good time shopping together. Found some sweet little outfits for Henry since he is growing out of everything.

Trick or Treat!

Halloween finally arrived for little Miss Vivian. She has been excited to go trick or treating for about a month. She was Princess Rapunzel, but she took her crown off because it was hurting her head. :(

Nick took her around the block to our neighbors' to trick or treat for a little bit last night. It was colder out last night, so she was layered with two pairs of pants and 2 shirts under her princess dress. I made her wear a coat, too. She was upset because she couldn't see her bee-yoo-ti-ful dress completely, but oh well. Nothing worse than a sick kid, and we are trying to keep everyone as healthy as possible.

Before all the excitement began, Vivi and I made some pumpkin cupcakes with pumpkin spice frosting. They are only 3 Points Plus per cupcake with frosting, and 2 pp without! They are delicious. I found the recipe on a website and it uses a cake mix and canned pumpkin. They are very moist and dense. Hard to describe, but actually better than a regular dry cupcake.

 Here's the webpage where I found the recipe: http://www.skinnytaste.com/2011/09/pumpkin-cupcakes-with-pumpkin-spiced.html

The webpage itself is wonderful. Lots of yummy stuff, and all the points are calculated. (I'm back on WW again!)  http://www.skinnytaste.com

We hope everyone had a happy and safe Halloween. Now we just have to convince Vivian not to eat every piece of candy she got last night! :)

Happy Halloween! :)

2012 Presidential Election: Electoral Map

With the election only 6 days away, I thought I would post my projection for the Electoral College map. If you go to the link, you can do your own map, too. I have my students use this webpage when we are learning about the electoral college. You can look at every election's results all the way back to George Washington. It is very interesting, and one of our favorite websites to play around with.


2012 Presidential Election: Electoral Map: This map displays Jessica's projections and does not reflect the opinions of 270toWin.

Update!

The last couple of days have been mostly uneventful (which I like) but has also led to what will mostly be a boring post.

It has been cold and gross outside, and so Vivian and Mommy have a touch of cabin fever. We got out to go grocery shopping Monday evening, and it was fun for us to be out of the house. Vivian misses her friends Gracie and Raegan and her preschool. It is pretty sad to see her lower lip puff out when she talks about them. However, I know that when January rolls around and we are back in the swing of things, she will whine about having to go when she doesn't want to get up in the morning. :)

Henry is growing like a weed. He graduated from the sink to the baby tub for his baths. He was filling up the sink so much, it caused the water to spill over. Soooooo I decided it was time for a bigger venue for his buns.

Henry also got to try out the 'big' swing yesterday afternoon. Vivian likes it because it makes noise. I had to get after her to let her know the buttons were off limits. Especially at 4pm, because that's when it's time for Neil Cavuto on Fox. (Neil is my favorite.)

Tonight, if it's not too cold, Daddy is taking Vivian trick or treating around our neighborhood. She is going to be a princess. Last year, she was Thomas the Train, which was hilarious. We are also going to carve a pumpkin to light for the evening. She is very excited.



Vivian the princess wanted to keep pressing buttons.




Look at this little chunk! He is very bouyant!- I like to call him "Hank the Tank."



He loves bathtime. Almost as much as naptime and eating time. :)

Big sister 'helped' with bathtime for little brother.

Saturday with Daddy

Weekends are the best! Saturday in the fall means one thing: Notre Dame football is on tv in our house.

Nick mowed the yard today and I worked on laundry and other mommy stuff. Vivian played outside late this afternoon for a bit and I got some good shots of her and Nick outside. Baby Henry has been a little bit fussy again today, but still a sweetheart nonetheless.

Vivian wore her new Irish sweatshirt from Grandpa and Grandma Kochmar. Even Henry wore a ND onesie for a little while (he spit up.) --- Oops!




Vivian loves having her daddy home. She fell and bumped her nose
this morning and all she wanted was her daddy.



Nick got to go to a sectional final game last night in Greenwood. The Greenwood Woodsmen are coached by Nick's good friend Mike Campbell. Mike is Andy Campbell's brother- Andy was Nick's best man in our wedding, and he is one of our closest friends. Sadly, the woodsmen lost, but the guys had a great time. I think Nick enjoyed getting to do something fun with his buddies.

Uncle David came over to hang out with me, Vivian and Henry last night since Nick was gone. I was so thankful to have him here with us. He played with Vivian and we all watched a kids movie together. She was sad when "Uncle Hammy" left. He held Henry for a little bit as well and gave me a little break.

I have been enjoying so much being here with my babies. Even though I've resumed my role as a 24-hour milkmaid, it has been such a blessing to be at home with my family. And having Nick home today and tomorrow makes it that much better. Happy Weekend!!!

Go, Irish! Nick and Henry watched kickoff together.

Playtime!

Temps are set to drop overnight- ewwww.

We have been enjoying the Indian Summer here and it has been beautiful. Vivian got to play outside and swing for a couple hours and was so happy. Papaw Maxie played outside with her yesterday and they had a good time playing on the slide and her swingset.

Grandma Michele was here too the last 2 days, and cleaned our house for us... we are so grateful! She helped me get caught up on laundry too. Yay! Anyway, she watched baby Henry for a hour or so while Vivian and I got out of the house for a little shopping.

We went to Target and found a cute baby exercise mat and 'play gym.' Vivian was a little more excited about it than Henry, but he did bat a couple of the toys around for a few minutes before scrunching up his face and crying for mommy.

Snooze.......... so not excited about this whole 'exercise' thing.

Vivster and baby brother enjoying the pretty toys.

Awww.... she loves him. (for now- mwa ha ha.)

Today Vivian and I made some spooky cookies from a cake mix. They are delicious and we sent some with Mamaw and Papaw Maxie when they left this afternoon. Nick has eaten quite a few. The cake mix cookie idea worked out really well. We had a boxed cake mix and followed the directions for cookies on the side. It was so easy, I wonder why I bake cookies the 'hard' way. Anyway, they turned out great and we frosted them with orange frosting for Halloween.

I think we like sweets and baked goods in our house. :) 

Rainy Day + Fussy Baby = Apple Pie

It rained waaaaaaay to much today in Muncie. Vivian was upset the rain was blowing the last of the leaves on our front tree away. She checks the tree each morning to see if there are any leaves left.

We enjoyed watching the debate last evening. It seemed that Romney was the president and Obama the challenger. I especially enjoyed when Mitt asked the president about why he did not visit Israel in his first term. Go, Mitt!
Isn't everyone excited to have a real president by this time 2 weeks from now? I am looking forward to voting and helping our country get back on track.




Vivian was cheering for the "real president."  :)

Anyway, since it was so gloomy out today, we didn't go for a walk like we had planned. So instead, Vivian and I made some yummy lasagna and an apple pie.

The lasagna turned out really great- even Nick, the Italian cuisine snob ate two helpings and said it was excellent. I later told him there was turkey in it... hahahahahaha! I did half ground beef and half ground turkey, lowfat cottage cheese and ricotta, and a jar of spaghetti sauce. It's topped with plain lowfat mozzarella. Lasagna is not something I prepare very often, so I guess it worked out well.
 

mmmmmmmmmm... cheesy!

Later, while the lasagna was baking, I started working on an apple pie. When you make something salty, you HAVE to have something sweet to go after, and I had a bag of granny smith apples just staring at me all lonely-like from the fridge.  The only thing I was concerned about was making a pie crust.

Mom is really good at pie crust. I am not. Nor am I experienced or talented at making those little crimped edges either. *sigh* But, I think like every other pie attempted in this house, it will taste good, even if it does look a little shady. :)

Mama Bear in Berenstein Bears always said you can't judge an apple by its looks.
Little did she know that also applies to my pies.

Henry has been a little bit fussy today. However, he has also been super cute- he has been making those sweet unimitatable baby coo noises. I just melt when he does it. He was getting a diaper change this afternoon and he scrunched up his face, and I thought for sure he was about to let loose bawling, but instead he just relaxed and did this big 'ahhhh' sound. Possibly the sweetest sounds I've ever heard are the sweet noises my children have made as infants. Little coos and sighs. Sounds like heaven to me!

"He will take your daughters to be perfumers

and cooks and bakers."  1 Samuel 8:13