Winter Wonderland?

So we got about 4' of snow over the past two weeks! We get snow in Virginia but not this much and I have to say I had cabin fever bad at the tail end of the last storm. After being cooped up in the house for a week, the kids and I were ready to go out even just a short trip to the mall. But boy was that a mistake, because us and everyone else wanted to get out too. The roads were fine but the parking lots were half taken by story-tall walls of snow and everyone seemed to be in a hurry to get somewhere. Except me of course, so I got a little frustrated by all the road ragers.

I have to say it's beautiful and I enjoyed it at first but now I am ready for Spring! And the sun for that matter! Looks like snow is at bay for now, and I am just praying that God will bring us some beautiful Spring weather soon so we can start going outside to play. Here are some pics of our Winter wonderland...

Our street as we headed out to visit Grandma and Grandpa.

The farm road we take to get to Grandma and Grandpa's...normally a gravel road. We did fine with our awesome 4x4 Tundra. We ran into two cars that should not have been on this road; a RAV-4 with 4 wheel drive. Brian pulled them out with much ease. They offered us some money but of course I kindly declined and just said it was a good deed for a neighbor. Then we got confronted by a truck without 4wheel drive and this road was a one lane road. Luckily he was able to back up to a point where we could squeeze by. It was close and had we not turned our side view mirrors in we definitely would have hit.

One of the hay farms we pass on our way to Grandma and Grandpa's house...beautiful! I wish that was my land:-)

Proud Owner of A Minivan

Yes I never thought I would say it but I am now a proud owner of a 2006 Honda Odyssey. With the arrival of baby #3 we knew I couldn't keep driving the Toyota Tundra much longer, not to mention it is a gas guzzler. So over the past month we have been researching and deciding on what car to bring into our garage.

The Honda Pilot, the Ford Flex were just a few that we considered but in the end I knew in my heart the lack of space would come to be an inconvenience and I would have wished that we would have just sucked it up and bought a minivan. At least we would have space for all of us plus three more guests and plenty of cargo room for long trips. Not that there is anything wrong with a minivan, I guess it's just a sign of getting older?? Like when you leave your 20s...getting gray hair or other signs of maturing. But I know it was the wise choice, for everyone's sake. Especially mine on those days coming when I am out running errands with three kids, one in hand and two at my side...those automatic sliding doors and rear door will be my best friend.

So we bought used of course, these things are over $30k brand new which I could never spend that much money on a car. But God surely blessed us on this purchase which Brian made after a snowy day. It is the Touring model which is the highest package that Honda offers on the Odyssey. With black leather seats, bluetooth navigation, and seating for eight it was worth buying the older model. The one owner took great care of the interior and the leather is in amazing shape. So next time you see us, don't laugh, trust me once you ride in this thing you will wish you had one:-)

Falling In Love

Yes, I love jazz and pretty much anything with piano and many other instruments. I learned at a very young age to appreciate and play music. All thanks to my wonderful father who himself was an amazing piano player. But there is something about this music by Melody Gardot that makes my heart sink and think that everything in the world is a beautiful rose. She puts so much soul in the music, and I have never heard another singer come close to her talent. Well the closest I can think of is Sade but still I have to say she is on the top of my list. She is an amazing woman, I think, amidst all she has overcome to get where she is. She wears sunglasses all the time because she has a sensitivity to light; an aftermath of her accident that led her to music as a therapeutic way to deal with her physical pain. Pain brought on after being hit from a driver whom ran a red light and struck her while she was on her bicycle. I hope you enjoy this song "Our Love is Easy"...it's a YouTube video so click here.

Another Great Chocolate Recipe!

Yep I am all about chocolate and I thank God that I manage to keep my weight manageable with my love for fine desserts! My step brother and his wife, who are also dessert connoiseurs, passed along one of their favorite...Chocolate Angel Food Cake from Levy Beranbaum's Cake Bible. I was a little intimidated at first by the 16 egg whites requirement, but it was worth it as you will see. Thanks Kelly and Nova for sharing!

Of course the kids get in on the fun...after whipping the egg whites for awhile the formed firm peaks and when I was done the kids had fun with the whisker.

Getting ready to fold in the flour mix to the egg white mix. If you want the recipe let me know, I could not find it online.

Messy! I was cool with it though, love to see the kids having fun with me in the kitchen. Hey your only a kid once right:-)

I think he likes it...not sure if egg whites are good to eat but owell too late now!

I forgot to take a pic after we made it, this is the next morning...Brian justified eating it for breakfast because it was made with egg whites! Pure protein right:-) Either way, we all loved it. I had two slices before going to workout, one plain and one with peanut butter!!!! Mmmmm good.

We Are Getting There....

Yep getting there slowly but surely. Well I wouldn't say slowly but all considering we, or mostly Brian I should say, has been at this task very diligently. I wanted to show you some updated pics. Brian and I worked on laying the laminate flooring that we got for an amazing price at HD (Home Depot), I mean it was silly how cheap it was. We worked from 8pm - 12:30am!!!!! Now I didn't do the hard part, but I was helping Brian so that his job wasn't so hard. I laid the wood down for him, helped lay the pad and wherever else I could make this job go by quicker. His parents came by today to check it out and asked why we worked so late doing it. I told them, the only time Brian gets my help down there is at night time when the kids are in bed. This way he had my help and it went by a lot quicker and easier. So I gladly gave up my beauty rest to help out and amazingly we got up this morning and made it to church on time for the 9am service!!!

We are really excited to get the basement done so we can exercise and have room for the kids to play in without worrying about breaking things. I am very proud of the work Brian has done, he sure has a talent for detailed work in everything he does. Good job Brian!

Ta Da! Here is the floor we laid all night....this is the gym the first room you walk into when you come through the basement.

Standing in the gym looking at what will be the rec room, or the kid's play area. We decided to keep it open, with no doors so we can workout and watch the kids while they play and keeps it a little more open. We are waiting for the carpet from HD and should have it installed in a couple of weeks!

The guest room...

The bathroom...I bought that paint at HD for $4! Yep everytime I am there I check out the oops table and try to get our paint there. At $5/gallon can't beat that! This paint we got for $4 because the paint guy at HD had used a tiny bit and gave us a dollar off! I am trying to get a lot of our paint that way, but you have to be very patient and diligent. I would love to go out and just buy what I want but I know we can save tons of money on paint by trying to get the paint from the oops table.

This is the tile we bought at HD...Brian did all the tile work. Great job wouldn't you say:-) This bathroom is nicer than our master bath, and the tile was not expensive at all either.

The shower...more of Brian's work:-)

The movie theater....we painted the ceiling black and the walls a dark blue. We even painted the baseboard black and will be painting the doors on the inside black, so there is no glare in the room. Could probably be used as a photo dark room it's so dark in there.

Here are the wall scone lights we got for the theater...aren't they gorgeous! They remind me of ocean waters. They go so nice with the dark blue paint. Brian placed a dimmer on the switch in the theater so we can have it dim or well lit.

And some pics of the kids....we were rocking out to MTV the other night so thought you would like to see them dancing their booties off:-)

Kaden showing me a dance, Daddy put Aria's booties on over his pajamas it was the cutest thing.

Again but with a pumpkin on his head:-)

Leap Year

Leap Year

Well thanks to my wonderful mother in law, and father in law....I actually got out to see a movie, but not an action packed movie like the one's I succumb to when I go with Brian a few times a year, an actual chick flick. Yes I love romantic stories that make you want to fall in love with your spouse all over again just so you can feel the butterflies in the tummy again; I remember those days:-) But this movie was more than just a romance it was comical too and a great one! I loved Amy Adams in Julie & Julia but she was great in this one. So grab some girlfriends, sneak in some dark chocolate and go see the movie Leap Year. Oh and I have never heard of John Goode but he was a good actor too, not to mention a handome fella.

Chocolate Lovers I Found The One!

I love chocolate, well dark chocolate only and these cookies were so outrageously good I think whoever picked the name did a great job! I found these Martha Stewart cookies and they are now one of my favorite chocolate cookies. Easy to make but if you make them you have to make sure you let them cool for 10-15 minutes. They are very chewy inside and if you touch them before that all the chocolate in the middle will pull the cookie apart.

Here is the recipe for the Outrageous Chocolate Cookies!

Aria helping me scoop the cookies on the sheet. Oh and she is wearing one of her new Christmas outfits! Isn't she adorable:-)

I let Kaden in on the fun too except he didn't help bake, he helped clean by licking the blender wisk attachment.

Gotta love that face!

Ta Da! These are awesome and after they are cooled very divine with a cup of coffee:-)