Weather Check.

It's not windy....AND....AND.........AND! ....it's SUNNY out right now! yep!! That makes for one happy me! woohoo!

Buffalo Chicken Dip Recipe......

this is compliments of my dear friend, Athena...
I've promised the recipe to a few people...so thought I could just post it here and kill some birds with less stones and stuff. You all KNOW I'm not a measurer...so sorry about the rough estimations!

Buffalo Chicken Dip:
1 can of chicken
about 1/2 cup of Ranch (or Bleu Cheese) Dressing
about 1/4 cup of Buffalo Wing Sauce
8 ounces of cream cheese (you can totally do reduced fat or fat free)

There! That's it!!!! Four ingredients!!! Stir it all up and warm it in the microwave for about a minute or so..stir again...serve with tortilla chips (also good with celery) YUM!

Highlights of Aunt B, Aunt Nay Nay, Cody and Syd's visit

First Race

Today was my very very first "running race". It was the hilly course I've ever been on....and I fell behind my running partner after the first mile...but I'm here now, at home...so that's a good thing. Here are some highlights, courtesy of Dr. Stinky...my official sponsor. Thanks Bev and Renee and Sydney and Cody...(and Brooks,Reagan, and Greyson for that matter) for supporting me!!

When are they gonna be here????

Aunt B, Aunt Nay Nay...Cody, and Sydney, that is! "They're on their way!", that's what I keep saying! woohooooo!!!

Knee Update

Knee surgery=good. Hooray!
Can ya say a prayer for a quick recovery? Knee#2 is next..same process all over again. No fun.
glad he's doing so well. He's a champ.

one of my thoughts.

I think about this quite often.....found this post on Beth Moore's blogspot. (she rocks, by the way...Go Beth!...there's a link to the side here if you haven't experienced the spiritual rock star that is Beth Moore

"Will-powered faith is the worst kind of faith. A relationship with God that is rooted in our ability or strength is doomed to fail for two reasons. First, a will-powered faith will result in self-loathing. We make commitments, try our hardest, give it our all, and fail. So we try again…and fail. And the only person we have to blame is ourselves. Some of us suffer from a spiritual depression because we have lived in a cycle between trying and failing for so long. Second, if our will-powered faith doesn’t end in self-loathing it is because it ended in self-righteousness. We make commitments, try our hardest, and we succeed. We congratulate ourselves on a job well done. Then we look around and notice that other people are not experiencing the same success we are. Why don’t they try as hard as me? Maybe they are just not as godly. Self-loathing or self-righteousness—God hates both. That’s why he sent us a Helper. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you (John 14:16-17, ESV). Jesus said it was to our advantage that He went away so He could send the Holy Spirit (John 16:7) to rescue us from the inevitable cycle of human strength-centered living. He will give us the help that we cannot give ourselves. Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. (Eph 3:20-21, ESV). The Holy Spirit’s power at work within you, the same power that raised Christ from the dead (Romans 8:11), is able to do for you supernaturally what you could not do naturally: live for Jesus and resist fast food." (or whatever else it is you're trying to do on your own!)

tonight's prayer

My dad's going in for knee surgery in the morning. I soo wish I could be there to support him (and mom) and just hang out and be obnoxious to the hospital staff to make sure he gets A1 care. Tonight the kids and I made sure to include him in our bedtime prayer time. Reagan was first, "and thank you for mommy and daddy. And thankyou that poor grandpa has to get surgery tomorrow for he can feel better. AmEN!." and then Brooks, "God...we just know that mommy's dad is having surgery tomorrow. And...we're just sad that he's not going to have his bone anymore, but instead will have to have a fake one. and...he's going to just miss that bone...Amen"

"TORNADO WARNING!!"

So...it's been like, 40 degrees today maybe? Chilly! I know that! And what were we under this evening?? yeah..you guessed it..a TORNADO WARNING! (of course you guessed it...it's the title...that was a dead give away, huh?) Anyways, I was under the assumption that tornadoes happened when it was WARM outside. Apparently I need to brush up on my meteorology facts! It wound up being 55ish here tonight..while northern Iowa was in the 20's and 30's. The midwest is weird! Oh...and it's supposed to snow tomorrow. Get me outta here!

"TORNADO WARNING!!"

"Nights"

Geoff's on them. I hate it. I can't sleep. He can't sleep. It stinks. And...those mammas are busting out those babies over there this evening...which is more stinkyness.

On a lighter note: I purchased some daffodils and pansies from Lowe's this afternoon. As soon as we're out "frost danger" those bad boys are going in the dirt. Can't wait. For now...they're sitting in my kitchen window and I'm lovin' it.

Best go watch the "Biggest Loser" .....I like to snack my way through this show:)

Brooks is a "guy"

So...the neighbor kid has been hanging out at the Taylor house lately. He'll be eleven on Friday. The fellahs like to play some "Burn out" on the PS and you should hear the things that have been coming out of Brooks' mouth. "oh, yeah, BABY!! I'm smokin' you!!! take that..uh huh!" Stuff like that. It's great to have him play with someone older than him. (they're relatively quiet...compared to having another seven year old over)....amazing to watch this little boy try to act like a man in front of his BIG friend!
yikes.

Up Swing

I'm declaring that Noone's allowed to be sick today. It's a "house rule". Brooks IS tons better. He had a great day yesterday...and Greyson slept til almost 5!!! I think I might be a person today. I'm pondering make-up for later. pondering...

It's really official....

Brooks is now barfing.
me.
so.
sad!
plus...I haven't run since Sunday. hope I can go tonight. ew...so selfish am I!! ick.

April Fools!!!!

ok....my friend Jen and I are DORKS! but..this was rather fun. James is going to DIE riding home from work on his pimped out bike...and who knows what Geoff will do. I put "Just Married" in his windshield....it's rather charming, no? Hope that pink comes off...he'll be sportin' that thing for another year at least if not :)

another reason to adore Reagan

fashion sense.

yucky

Greyson's puking. Grr!!! He started Saturday night...was kinda fine yesterday...and woke up a couple of hours ago..well, covered! Poor little muffin. I hope it doesn't make its way to the rest of the Taylor Clan.
Other than that....its been going really well around the household. I can't believe it's April tomorrow already! Hooray!

I guess I best go check on da baby.

Easter at the Taylors

Photo courtesy of Reagan Taylor

Happy Spring!!!!

Hooray for Spring! I can't believe it! This has been the longest, coldest, wettest, darkest, windiest, snowiest, iciest, freezingist, burriest, frigidist, itchy-dry skinniest (although not really skinniest in the other sense), below zeroist winter I can remember! Yeah Spring! go YOU!! Are you feelin' it?

Greyson

The little man's rolling all over the carpet...and doing the army crawl. He's super duper close to the real crawling deal. yikes! where'd my little baby go already?? and yes..that IS red nail polish you see there. What's wrong with that??

Flashin' Back Friday

Here's a picture I took of my childhood home in Helena, Montana when we were there the other week. My! How those bushes have grown! We painted the house this color...I remember cause it had been lime green! but that was27 years ago! Update, new owners, update!!! yikes!! ..but kinda fun nonetheless!

Boys' Room

Here's a shameless plug for "uppercaseliving". (shameless...because I don't sell it!) I got this cute little sticker thing for something like 16 bucks! You order them from a catalog...and they have everything under the sun! You can also personalize your order (like...put your kids' names on their walls) Super fun. I was talking to a good friend yesterday who hadn't heard of it..so I thought I'd best put the word out! (hi Jen..love ya! Sorry I thought you were a socilitor so I gave you my grumpy voice!) What's your new favorite thing??