it is the little things...

Man, 6 days without a post.  I'm afraid as our hectic summer approaches the posts are going to get pretty sparse, but I will do my best to continue to write here.  There is not much and also so much going on here right now.  I'm starting my job hunt...the goal is to be back to work full time by this fall...I'm not good at looking for a job, I don't like it.  I'm not good at selling myself on paper, I do better by just showing people what I can do and working hard. I've been (mostly) out of the game for 2 1/2 years...it makes me nervous to start again.  I have faith that I'll be lead in the right path if I do the legwork and get my resume out there.  If you are aware of any bookkeeping/accounting jobs open in the Cascade, IA (or surrounding area) drop me an email...I'll send you some cookies or something! 

Since it is Thursday...here is what I'm thankful for...
a husband who put an umbrella in my car yesterday
watching the kids do the "we did it!" dance from Dora
the kids cheering for daddy at his softball game
watching American Idol as a family
a long weekend with few plans

Thanks to my Aunt Jean who is doing Thankful Thursday with me!  She posted this on my facebook wall this morning:
Amber, here it is Thursday, thankful Thursday, thankful the rain stop(for a little while), Elliott weighs 5lbs 20z, a husband that's been very understanding lately, and my family(some of which I don't know what I would do if I didn't have them)

If you'd like to join us post to your blog, facebook, or if you don't use either of those...email me and I'll post them here!  If you blog or post to facebook leave a comment so I can come check out what you are thankful for!

Have a beautiful and thankful day!

relay for life in missouri...

I guess I need to back up a couple weeks to tell you about the Relay for Life I (well the whole family was there for part of it) did in Missouri with my sister.  We drove down on Friday morning and Angie helped me finish up my contribution to the team (I made scrabble tile pendants to sell...if anyone is interested there are still some left, they are $5 and the entire $5 goes to the American Cancer Society...there are two different styles, but they are at Angie's house so maybe she could take a picture for me :) ANYWAY, we headed over to set up the campsite about 4 and hung out until the start of the relay.  The weather was a little sketchy (rainy and windy) but we survived and even got some walking in! :)  We stayed awake all night (although it was touch and go for me for a little bit).  We got a few hours of sleep after we got back to Angie and Nick's house and spent the rest of the day playing outside with the kids.  It was a great weekend visit, I always love spending time with my sister and her family.
Here are the kids enjoying the relay!

wrap up on the thankful project...

I may not get to things right away...but I will get to them eventually...

The thankful project really changed the way I approached my days, I paid attention to the little things that made me happy throughout the day and I really took them in so I could remember them at the end of the day (my memory is not the best these days).  The bad seemed to be less because I was more consciously thinking of the good.  I can honestly say it made me more present in my day.  It also got me doing more things to influence my day into being a good one with lots of thankful moments. Lately, I know my posts haven't been the most upbeat or thankful, but please know that writing is my outlet for my frustrations, I haven't lost sight of the big picture...things are definitely in perspective.  I have a wonderful family, we are all healthy, we have a roof over our head and food on our table...it is enough and I am truly grateful.  I mean seriously, how lucky can a girl be?

I am thankful to you all for taking this journey with me...and maybe I'll be back with some more thankful thoughts from time to time...maybe a "thankful Thursday" type of thing?  Would anyone be willing to join me in doing "thankful Thursday" posts?

slacker...

**I apologize for the randomness of this post in advance it is just kind of a mind dump for me this morning!**

Good grief!  I've been gone a while huh?  Life has been crazy and stressful, and to be quiet honest...I'm not handling it all that well.  We've had a run of bad luck...nothing major...just a laptop crash (good part...I was able to save all my emails, documents, etc) and a spare tire falling off the truck in front of me that then bounced up into the front of my car.  No damage done to the car really...just took about 10 years off my life.  On top of that, we've had little to no activity on the house.  Like I said...I'm not dealing very well.  I've been busying myself by reading and hiding out at home.  Thankfully I have a lot to read thanks to Librarything.  I've won about 13 books in the last month.  I right now have 6 to be read and reviewed and 3 that I haven't received yet.  No complaining here thought, free books are awesome, I'm reading things I probably normally wouldn't, it is good all around.  In the middle of all of that we are potty training the little man (with little success). We took him to the bathroom every 45 min for 2 whole days and we had only 2 (mildly) successful trips.  Today I'm taking him every 30 minutes and we'll see how that goes.  One successful trip so far, we'll see how long that lasts. 
Other than the above we don't have much going on(right now)....we're gearing up for a crazy busy summer that (so far) doesn't include moving, but we are hopeful that we'll have to squeeze that in there as well!  I'm baking/decorating a cake for my cousin's graduation party (yikes...I'm scared...but also really excited!) and my mom, sister and I are taking a trip to Nashville (sooo excited) and we are taking a family (my mom/dad and sister and her family) trip to a waterpark and then to Powers Lake for a few days.  I'm beyond excited about spending some real time with my family without having 1,000 obligations to attend to while we're together.  We also have a couple of canoe trips and some other fun stuff going on this summer...including all the pre-wedding festivities for Bob's cousin and also his brother !  So, much fun and excitement also leads to some stress about how everything will get done, but I'm sure it will, it always seems to. 
Oh...and one last thing before I go...I found this recipe for a copycat black tie mousse from the Olive Garden (our favorite dessert) a while ago and have been itching to try it but was leery about the time commitment to it.  So, yesterday, as a belated anniversary present to Bob (and me too!) I decided it was time and tried it.  I will admit it isn't exactly like Olive Garden Black Tie Mousse, BUT it is pretty darn close.  The only thing to me that didn't really taste the same was the bottom cake part, it could be due to the fact I didn't have Dutch cocoa, but who knows...it is still pretty darn good!  Here is the recipe in case anyone else wants to try it :) Big thanks to Pattie Kaykes and Meemo's Kitchen for the amazing recipe!
Here is a picture of the finished product (I would have decorated it better but I was tired by the time I got to this point and didn't want to get out a pastry bag and decorating tips so I just used a ziplock with a hole cut in it also this is a cell phone picture so it isn't the best quality). 

eight...

Dear Bob,
Eight years ago today I thought I was living the best day of my life.  It was picture perfect and I was never happier than I was that day, it was everything I dreamed and imagined.  Actually, I take that back...it was better than anything I had ever dreamed, because the reality had you.  Standing in front of our friends and family I promised to love you in good times and bad (we have definitely had both), for richer and poorer (check!), in sickness and in health (thankfully we've been blessed so far).  I mean them today as much, if not more than I did eight years ago.  You are my best friend, my biggest fan, my strength when I feel like things are crumbling around me.  You are an amazing dad...the kids light up around you.  I know that living with me is sometimes impossible horrible a challenge, but you handle it so well.  I cannot (nor do I want to) imagine life without you.  I look around this life we have created these last eight years and although it hasn't always been sunshine and rainbows, we have had more laughter and smiles than tears.  There is no one I'd rather go through the ups and downs with and truthfully, I know that I wouldn't have made it through without you. I wish I could find the adequate words to tell you how much you mean to me (in case you don't already know).  But all I have are these...eight years ago I thought I was living the best day of my life, but I was wrong...because every day with you is better than the one before.  Each day of my life with you is the best day...you have made (and continue to make) all of this girl's dreams come true .
Happy Anniversary!
I love you!
Love,
me

unintended blogging hiatus...over...

Oh you amazing blog readers, I'm sorry I unintentionally abandoned you after you read all my days of giving thanks.  I am supremely thankful for each of you that visits here, reads my words, comment, and just join in my world in some small part.  Easter was crazy, but so so fun.  We had an amazing time in Iowa, we attended an Easter egg hunt in Cascade Saturday morning where my hilarious little boy proceeded to pick up one egg put it in his basket, hand the basket to me and ran off to play on the playground.  It made me laugh that he didn't care about the eggs or candy, he just wanted to PLAY! The kids had a great time and came away with a haul of candy.  We colored eggs at mom and dad's and my cousin Audrey and her daughters came out to join in the fun.  The egg coloring was fairly uneventful, except that Bryce decided to take a big spoonful of the die and drink it.  He said it was yucky and went on coloring eggs.  That kid!  Easter itself was really fun and we got to spend time with both of my grandmas (always a treat).  We didn't get home until midnight.  It was a looong day, but so worth it.  Last week was a little crazy, I had jury duty on Tuesday (didn't get picked for a trial) but spend most of the day downtown sitting, reading and waiting.  I got dismissed about 2:30pm and decided to head to my Tuesday job.  So that was a long day too.  The rest of the week was fairly tame, but it still didn't seem like I had any time to do anything.  This past weekend Bob had a softball tournament both days so the kids and I chilled out at home and I made Bob's birthday cake.  Yesterday my Aunt and Uncle (Cathy & Greg) and their kids (Tyler, Justin, and Nicole) came to visit on their way home from Indianapolis.  They stuck around for a while today and we spent all day outside at parks and playing in the yard.  The kids are wore out (so is mommy).  Bryce was sleeping before 7pm (that is tired for that boy).  And even though I have a crazy busy rest of the week with 1 million things I need to get done I am sitting here doing nothing (Bob is playing softball).  Maybe I'll get some ambition to do something a little later, but we'll see.  I got the house picked up and the kitchen cleaned, so I'm calling that a success!  Hope you all had a great Easter and I'll be back soon with pictures!

(Abbie, I saw your comment and want to post about it, I just can't think very clearly tonight...I will get back to your question...I promise! :)