snow - yeah, not really

I just love these little striped pants I found for Cameron at a consignment sale awhile back - thought her onesie matched perfectly...she wasn't in the mood for a photo shoot, she just wouldn't look at the camera!

Walker has picked up Cameron's paci several times and has always either given it back to her or to us, but for some reason the other day he decided he needed it. Brad got a big kick out of it and we both enjoyed it while we were getting him ready to go. When it was time to wash the paci off and head out the door, though, W was none too happy about having to give it up. Since then, he hasn't shown any more interest, so it will be interesting to see how it goes from here!


I just loved these 2 pics - Brad wasn't crazy about either, but I though they were just too cute!

Showing off her new Easter bunny.

Having a good time with Papa in the kitchen. I absolutely adore it when she makes faces like these!

Love that little hand and those long fingers!

Disappointingly, we got almost no snow...which is so odd, as lots of people close to us got 6+ inches...alas, TR just seemed to get passed over. We maybe got 1 whole inch...we took W out to play while C slept - all he wanted to do was swing.

He had on a new little pair of boots that I bought at Weecyle last fall - when we first got out in the snow he kept saying "my shoes...my new shoes" - he seemed to be worried that they were getting a little snow on them. It was so cute! You can see here how pitiful our snow coverage was - just walking in the front yard uncovered the grass...oh well - maybe another day!

Yummo & Then Some!

I made this beautiful braised chicken last week using a recipe by Anne Burrell of Secrets of a Restaurant Chef. She has quickly become my absolute favorite chef to watch on Food Network...her recipes have such depth and yumminess!!

Brad and I realized awhile back that while he is content to get in the kitchen and just throw stuff together...I am much happier when I have a recipe & a plan to follow! Her recipes do not disappoint! I was very pleased with the outcome and Brad said he thinks it's the best thing I've ever cooked...I was quite happy with that observation ;) So if you need some dinnertime inspiration...give this one a try...it won't disappoint - I promise!

disclaimer - ALL mushrooms were omitted from the recipe as mushrooms are one thing I just cannot handle - but it was extremely lovely, nonetheless!

Home Beautiful

I'm so excited - I just finalized my order on Amazon and soon the next two beautiful books will be in my hands! Home Decor has become more and more interesting to me in the past few weeks and thanks to the Nesting Place I decided this was a resource I just couldn't live with out. Barnes&Noble & Amazon had it for about $1.50 difference, so I decided to just head over to the B&N in town and pick it up...so after the doctor & the credit union yesterday morning, I ventured into B&N with both kiddos...by far my most adventuresome outing with the two...except I'm then super disappointed to find out that in the store they want $39.99 not $26 for the book - are you kidding me? I was more than happy to let them keep it and come home and order it myself...craziness! My whole point in going to the real store was so that I could use my $100 giftcard that I won in a Tackle it Tuesday challenge awhile back (still doing happy dance), but then Brad reminded me Amazon would probably take it too, and sure enough, they did!

While I was looking around at Amazon, I decided to go on and pickup the cookbook that my friend Meg is constantly raving about...only to find out that a new edition is being released in May and that they have it on mega-pre-release sale - love it! So I decided to treat myself to it too, as it seems to be a great cooking resource (and heaven knows I could always use those!) So technically I won't get my hands on it until probably May, but what a nice treat & surprise it will be when it magically shows up!

And while we're at it - does this next book not also look oh so delicious? The author has a major giveaway going on over at her blog and this is but one of the beautiful prizes...so take a few minutes and hop on over and enter...and the exciting thing is that she's giving away 2 copies of the book, so maybe we can both win, right? ;-)

Quick Pics

We went to Mama & Daddy's last night for supper...after we finished eating, I went in the den to check on the big babies and this is what I found...Walker in the carrier & Alexa rocking him - so darn cute!

A quick snap of Cameron at the doctor's office this morning - she's up to 9 lbs 1 oz & 22.25 inches - always exciting to know your baby is growing just like she should be! As a breastfeeding mama, it's somewhat incredible to know that your baby is growing & thriving solely because of the nourishment my body provides - what a beautiful system God created!

Walker showing off my shades while we were waiting for the doctor to come in. When we went for Cameron's post birth check when she was just a week old...I was so amazed because when we pulled in the doctor's office parking lot, Walker said "go see Dr. Greene" - we hadn't mentioned her name in weeks/months, but he knew where we were...this morning, I was careful not to use her name at all as I wanted to see what his reaction would be, and sure enough...once again he called her name & talked about going to see the fish as we pulled in the parking lot. I just love seeing his little mind at work!

Last week Walker decided Cameron needed her bear to love on.

Love this little girlie!

Bless this Nest

Have you been to the Nesting Place yet? I hope so - but if not, boy are you in for a treat! I have always wished that I had the decorating gene, but alas I do not. Periodically I am able to pull together a look that I like...

but more often than not, I end up at a loss. Enter Nester- her motto is it doesn't have to be perfect to be beautiful...that's been very liberating for me! Several weeks back, Nester started a 10 minute challenge - small things that you can do to spruce up a room without spending a lot of time or $$ - now that is right up my alley! I've still got a long way to go, but am loving implementing some of what I've been learning from her. I've been working in my den...on top of our TV armoire...

and on one of our big walls...
this one definitely still needs some work - a few more hanging picture frames, some other odds & ends for the top shelf & I need to get that W painted, for sure - but it's been fun to play with nonetheless! Head on over to the Nesting Place & check out other great 10 minute spruce-ups!!


edited to add: this is the top of our armoire @ night...we used an extra strand of Christmas lights up on top, so it gives off a nice glow and makes the display even more homey and enjoyable! Love it!! Thanks Nester for encouragement in the right direction!!

WFMW - Bible Reading Help

When I was in college - quiet times came easy, time seemed to be abundant and I read my Bible through cover-to-cover several, several times...now that I'm a mom...finding that time to read daily is sometimes a struggle. Last year, Brad & I started reading a read-through-in-a-year plan in January, and did great until April...or was it June...and then we fell behind and never caught back up. I don't even remember what really happened, except that we were typically reading at night and life just got busy.

This year, I knew I wanted one of my goals to be to get back on track with my Bible reading, I just didn't know what plan could/would best make that happen. I read a little here and there and then back at the end of January I found BibleShared. I was immediately excited as blog accountability seems to work for me!

I immediately signed up and started reading. I love that I can read the Bible in any order I want and simply record my progress as I go (last week I was reading in Humility and Mahaney referenced Habakkuk, so I stopped and quickly read those 3 chapters to better grasp the his point - I didn't have to wait for the summertime to roll around for Habakkuk to come up in my yearly reading plan.) I can read while online or I can read offline and record my progress after the fact. I also love that they have a widget I can put in my sidebar so that anybody can see how I'm doing - that motivates me.


As a mom of 2, it's often difficult to find time to sit down and read my Bible for 15 minutes (or more) at a time...however I'm on my computer all day long. Using Firefox, I simply keep my BibleShared page up in a separate tab, and periodically throughout the day I pop over to it and read a chapter or 2. Wow - what a difference that has made! In only 18 days of using their service, I've already read 90 chapters - or 7% of the Bible. Yippee!! And, on my progress page, BibleShared tells me that if I continue to read at my current rate of 5 chapters/day, I'll finish the Bible in 219.8 days. That's really exciting for me, because it tells me that I can finish the Bible this year!

If you want more great WFMW ideas, head on over and see Shannon @ RocksinmyDryer - and head's up...this is Shannon's last week hosting before she passes the torch on over to Kristen! Enjoy!

Walker & the Bobcat

Walker & the Bobcat from Jodi on Vimeo.

On Sunday, the family came over for lunch and the weather was so delightful that we all went outside to play after eating...after a few minutes on the swingset, Walker made a beeline for the bottom, where the Bobcat was - he's definitely in love!