Sunshine Blog Award

  I can not believe my baby is going to be one years old on Thursday. The first photo above is of Chloe at 2 weeks old and the one on the right was taken last week. Amazing how much they grow in the first year. I am planning to make her a homemade birthday cake and decorate it myself. I bought a cake pan that is in the shape of a flower. I am going to make a strawberry cake with cream cheese frosting. I have one of those pastry bags and a handful of tips that have never been used. I am a little nervous about messing it up. I will share all the details and have photos next week once family leaves.

I received the Sunshine Award for my blog from Loco Ya Ya. Pretty cool award, thanks so much for thinking of me.

In order to recieve this award I must do the following and you the same if you choose too
1) Put the logo within my blog or on my post
2) Pass the award onto 12 fellow bloggers
3) Link the nominees within my post
4) Let the nominees know they have received this award by commenting on their blog
5) Share the love and link to the person whom you received this award from.

Here are the 12 people I am passing this award on to. I chose 12 bloggers that I might not have mentioned before that all bring Sunshine to my life as I enjoy reading them. Here they are in alphabetical order.

1. Apple Juice and Milk
2. Bungalow Bee
3. Confessions from a Working Mom
4. Curious Bird
5. Daily Ramblings
6. Heart Felt
7. Hip Mountain Mama
8. Noodle Head
9. Silly Precious Piggies
10. Slugs on the Refrigerator
11. Tatertots & Jello
12. The Road to Here

Getting to Know YOU

1. What year did you graduate high school?
1991, I think that is going to date me just a little.

2. What part of your body do you neglect the most?
Probably my backside, I got a glimpse of it, I was frightened.

3. Beach House or Lake House?
Beach House would be nice, maybe in the Florida Keys.

4. Mac or PC?
PC all the way.

5. Did you wear braces?
Nope I got lucky and my teeth were all straight.

6. If you could be one person for a day...Living or deceased...Who would you be?
Angelina Jolie, I would probably walk around naked all day, oh yea and possibly cuddle with Brad and tell him to shave his beard.

7. How many times have you moved in your life?
Too many times to count, I went to 13 different schools by the time I hit high school.

8. Would you rather cook or clean?
Cook, but if I had to clean I think I would do the laundry. There is something about taking a warm clean load of laundry out of the dryer that is so satisfying.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

I was having the hardest time today trying to get a photo of Chloe in her hat that reads “The Leprechauns made me cute”. She is now at the age were she is not too keen on me putting a hat on her and trying to get a photo. This photo was the only one that turned out with her wearing the hat. Chris and I bought this hat for her at an Irish Pub last year. I wanted to wish every one a great holiday. We are having company stay with us next week to celebrate Chloe’s first birthday so I am busy cleaning and preparing. You never really know how dirty your house is until the few days before your MIL is about to visit. That is when you start to see the magnitude of the dirt that has piled up.

Getting to Know YOU

Thought I would try out Getting to Know You – Sundays put on every week by MannLand5. Go on over if you want to join in.

1. What’s your favorite Easter candy?
My favorite candy is M&Ms, and they happen to come in Easter pastel colors this time of year. I did love the Cadbury eggs but the last couple of years I have had them I did not get too excited. Of course any solid chocolate bunny is very tasty. When we were kids the Easter bunny would leave fruit in our Easter basket. I think the bunny will be leaving a variety of stuff in Chloe’s basket this year.

2. Who do you think is cleaner..men or women?
In our house it would be women. Is it possible for him to not put the dirty dishes on the counter right above the dishwasher and actually put them inside? Right now I am currently cleaning up the house to put it up for sale and it seems that every time I clear an area I turn to find random stuff that he has placed there. I think it depends on the individual. Both men and women can be slobs.

3. Which do you prefer..wordy blog posts or ones with pictures?
I prefer Pictures. It has to have photos.

4. Where you popular in High school?
No not popular. By the time I hit high school I did not care that much for school. The popular crowd was the party crowd at our school. I also dated college guys when I was in high school so I tended to spend my spare time with them or at the beach. I was popular back in grade school. Looking back now I did not handle popularity very well and was mean to a lot of kids.

5. What is Your Bra Size?
Right at the moment it is a 38C. I am usually smaller but that is the added benefit of having a baby.

6. How many states have you lived in?
7 states: New York, California, Louisiana, Mississippi, Florida, Oregon, & New Mexico

7. What is one blog you read every day?
My Open Roads

8. Peanut butter or Nutella?
Peanut butter would be my choice not a fan of the Nutella. I still eat PB&J sandwiches.

Top 3 Thursday

I know I am a day late on this but that seems to be the norm around here lately.



What are your Top 3 favorite things about being a parent?
1) One of the best things for me about being a parent is how much love I have for my daughter. On any given moment I will look at her and feel my heart growing and just have to give her a big smoochy and a snuggle.

2) I have so much to look forward too with raising my daughter. There are so many things that will be a first time for her and I get to witness and feel it right along with her.

3) I now have a bigger purpose in life than just myself. I take pride in trying to be a good mother and I hope to raise a happy and healthy child.

Cosmo's Birthday

It is Cosmo’s birthday. He is 7 yrs old. I picked him out of a very large litter of kittens at the pound seven years ago. He is the definition of Momma’s Boy. He is the apple of my eye and I would never part with him. When it feels like the end of the world or I am having a bad day, all I have to do is spend some time with him and it turns my outlook right around. He is always there for me when I need him. He is celebrating his birthday with a can of cat food and some catnip toys. Cosmo is the best and I hope for many more years spent together. Here are some photos of my boy Cosmo.

Elk Come to Meet the Ladies

Earlier this week we had 2 Elk on the property checking out our lady alpacas. We will often have groups of elk and deer that will come foraging around the alpaca pastures. It was kind of surprising just to see these 2 all by themselves. They were clearly out for a bit of fun.

Here is a photo to give you some perspective of what was going on. The Elk are on the left and a bunch of our girls are under the tree to the right. It is almost like the tree is safety.

One by one a brave female alpaca would go check out the Elk.

It was very entertaining, almost like the other females were daring one another to go meet them.



I have been keeping busy, trying to use all my spare time working on some homemade presents for Chloe’s birthday on the 25th. Chloe’s grandmas are coming to stay with us that week to celebrate her first birthday. I am remembering how pregnant I was this time last year and so ready for her to be born. Well better get back to it. Hope you are having a wonderful weekend.

Monday Matinee