Hello, World!

Gosh, time has flown since my last post. I promise I will be more dedicated to my blog this year.

To sum up the past month and a half, we've been BUSY! My 24th birthday came and went; Mike took me out to dinner at our favorite Mexican restaurant where they gave me a shot instead of dessert...I wanted dessert! For Christmas, we spent time with my grandparents in western Kansas. My parents and brothers made the treck west as well. It was a lot of driving in a short amount of time, but it was good to spend it with family. Mike and I didn't make it to midnight on New Years, but we stayed up late the following night for some reason.

Skyler recently turned 4. His big birthday present from us this year was a bike. He also got a Lightning McQueen helmet to wear with it. He has grown up so much. I look back through pictures and wonder where the time has gone. This boy used to weigh 5 pounds; his head fit in the palm of my hand; his tiny fingers would clasp my pinky finger. Now this kid has an attitude! But he barrels me over with his sensitivity and heart too. He's the child that randomly stops what he is doing to tell me that he loves me or missed me or that he just wants to kiss me. I love this boy so much. And I wonder how there could possibly be room to love anyone else as much.

And then there is our daughter, Jillian. She will be turning 1 in a week. How this year has flown and how she has changed and grown. As was expected, I did not take near as many photos with her as I did with Skyler, and even with him I regret not taking more. Children change so fast; it's easy to blink and miss something. We will be celebrating both of their birthday's together next Sunday night at Chuck E Cheese's. For you Tulsan's with kids, feel free to come! Jillian will also be baptized after the noon mass on Sunday; something that should have been done months ago, but nonetheless it will be done soon! Hopefully co-Godfather's Tadd and Scott Schurwanz can make the drive down from Lawrence...they might have to miss a party...

I made a Chicken Tortialla soup for dinner tonight. I won't really have the opportunity to cook much this week, as I'll be visiting clients in California Tuesday-Thursday. What will my husband do you might ask? Well his wonderful and thoughtful wife has been thinking....my mother-in-law will be here but I don't want her to have to cook every night. I bought some Viola dinners from the frozen section and I'm going to make and freeze stuffed peppers tomorrow. I froze the leftover soup from tonight's dinner and I bought one of those complete Banquet dinners, chicken and biscuits I think. Tomorrow we're having lasagna, garlic bread, and a salad and Monday night will probably be something quick like leftovers seeing as I will probably spend a good portion of my night packing. I have to be up at 4am the following morning to make it to the airport! Eeks!

I promise to make up for my lack of cooking this week with some hopefully impressive appetizers that I'm serving after the Baptism but before the birthday party on Sunday. The menu?
Chicken Salad on Jalapeno Cornbread Toats
Seafood Stuffed Shells
Smokey Chipotle Hummus with pita and vegetables
Chicken Packages
Lemon Bars
Hopefully Mike can run to the grocery store for me while I'm gone :)

Until next time...