Montana!

Ok, I'm going to attempt to give an abbreviated overview of my trip to Montana. I am sure that most people would not want to hear every detail of an 8 day long trip to visit my family, so here are the highlights (with pictures, to boot!).

When Colin and I got to Helena, MT (home of cousins Brooke, Justin, Quinn, and Cord Logan; Colby, Erin, Kira, and newly expected baby Thomas; and Kyle Thomas and girlfriend Lindsay) the first thing we did was spend a super fun afternoon at Colby, Erin, and Kira's house. Colin and Kira are only a few months apart in age, so had a great time playing together. Kira taught Colin how to go down the slide on his own and how to eat salsa on chips! We had a great time hanging out and talking, and had a great taco dinner.

The next day, after a good night's sleep, Brooke and Quinn (3 years old) took Colin and I on a boat trip to the Gates of the Mountains on the Missouri River. It was absolutely beautiful scenery and weather! Here are some pictures:

Quinn, Colin, and Brooke (its not easy taking two toddlers on a boat!)

Gates of the Mountain State Park

Sharing Sunglasses!

Fields Gulch - Last place visited by Lewis and Clark

Unbelievable Beauty

Spiritual Indian Cave Painting

We really enjoyed this beautiful tour of Montana. After spending two days in Helena with the cousins, we headed up to Kalispell, MT to meet up with my mom, Aunt Lynette, and Grandma Ellie for my grandpa's memorial service. Kalispell is in northern Montana, right near Glacier National Park. My grandpa used to float and fish the north fork of the river going through Glacier, so that is where the family headed to spread his ashes. It was a lovely location and we all had a nice time remembering stories and funny anecdotes about grandpa. Mom also read a really nice poem that she wrote honoring him. Then the four cousins (myself, Brooke, Kyle, and Colby) along with my mom and aunt, hiked down to the river to spread the ashes. Here are a few pictures of the north fork and my mom presenting her poem.

Grandma and Colin at the North Fork

The River

Mom reading her poem

After our time at the River, we all headed back to Kalispell for the little ones to take naps before dinner at the Elks Club. The next morning we had the memorial service for Grandpa, which was held at Flathead Lake, near Grandpa's Lakehouse. It started with a very nice Masonic ritual and then each of his grandchildren shared their favorite memories of Grandpa. Then the minister read some scripture and Amazing Grace was sung. There was a nice turn out and a yummy salad lunch and time for visiting afterward.

We headed back to Helena on Sunday afternoon, and Colin and I were able to have some relaxing time while everyone was at work. It was rainy and cool, but that was a nice change from our 105 degree heat of Florida. On Tuesday, Brooke took half a day off and we took the kids to the carousel downtown! Colin and Quinn had a great time riding the carousel around and around.  We all got some ice cream, too! After the ice cream, we let the kids run around the little park area by the carousel to burn off some of their sugar rush before heading to some western-wear stores to check out some boots. Then we headed home for a steak dinner and a last night of visiting.

Quinn and Colin loved taking baths together!

Colin on the carousel

Checking out the park

Sitting with the bear

Checking out the water

We had a great time visiting our family in Montana. I really wish we lived closer and were able to see each other more often. Oh, and I FREAKING LOVE their weather. I'll totally miss the cool, no-humidity summer they have there.

Btw, here's an open invitation - please come visit! You'll have a place to stay and a good time in Florida!

Short Post!

This will just be a quick little update to let you know where I've been! I went to Montana for my grandfather, J. Milton Small's, memorial service and to spend some time visiting my cousins. I was there for 8 days, and will actually do a longer blog about it later when I get my pictures on my computer. I've gotta tell you, after being gone for a little over a week, I was VERY excited to get home last night! A week was a very long time for me to be a single parent. I am SO glad that I have been blessed with such an awesome husband who helps me so much with Colin. I don't know how single moms do it. Big props for them. It really is a HUGE job to do alone.

Let me just let everyone out there know that flying with a 16 month old is something I hope I don't ever have to do again for a LONG time. Although Colin was pretty good, he is also so active that I have huge bruises on my legs from him trying to get up and down and move around on the plane. A little advice, 12+ hours in flight with a little one who can't sit still is TOO LONG.

When we got home last night, Keith met us at the airport with a balloon for Colin, which he loved! Then he had presents for us at home! Colin got two new outfits, an adorable red onesie with a robot on it and khaki shorts to match and an orange button-up shirt with matching overhauls! SO CUTE! I got a really pretty grey tank top with lace on the straps and a flowy blue shirt. They are both very pretty! What a good husband! We go on a trip and STILL get presents!

We got Chinese for dinner last night and then practically fell into bed. Colin slept until 12:30 pm today! I came in a close second for long sleepers, getting up at 11:30 am. Yay! Sooo good to be home!

Poptart Goodness

Ok, so I finally got around to making those homemade poptarts! Keith and Colin went up to Keith's mom's for lunch yesterday, so I had the house to myself. This was, supposedly, to allow me some time to pack and get things ready for the trip, but I chose to use the quiet time to bake instead! Hurray for me! SO, with no further ado, here are the pictures:

These are the three fillings I used. I used mini chocolate chips, strawberry jam, and cinnamon sugar. Yum, yum.  You don't get to see a picture of the before dough, because I forgot to take one.

Here is a picture of the dough all rolled out and cut and the filling in place. I think they look delicious already.

This picture shows what they looked like right before I put them in the oven. I was afraid the filling would leak out of the holes I punched in the top of each one, but they did fine!

The last two pictures show the final product. The dough made 10 poptarts for me and I used the scraps to make rolly-poly-zips with a twist. Usually for the rolly-poly-zips, I just put cinnamon sugar on the inside, but since I had leftover chocolate chips too, I thought, what the heck, I throw those in too! (Btw, rolly-pily-zips are just made from leftover dough. You smoosh all the dough pieces back together, roll it out again, butter the dough, sprinkle cinnamon sugar, and roll it up and cut it into pieces. Its done in a snap, oh wait, in a zip!)

Keith taste-tested the poptarts for me. Here is his honest reaction: "Man, my pop-tarts are delicious!!!! Thank you so much for making them for me. I had a chocolate one and a cinnamon one. They were soooo good." I think that says it all!

Oh, here is a link to the recipe from smittenkitchen.com but, fyi, the dough is REALLY sticky and hard to work with (although it tastes really good after it is cooked) so next time I'd probably use Martha Stewart's pie dough recipe instead. Her recipe is still easy and delicious, but also much easier to roll out and work with.

On another note, my stitches got taken out yesterday by my brother-in-law Jason. He is in school for medical assisting and did a great job. Didn't hurt a bit!

Ok, seriously, I have to go pack, I'm leaving on a jet plane with a one-year-old tomorrow. Organization is required!

Sewing Room Picture

Here's one picture of my "new" sewing room. The sewing machine fits inside the cabinet and closes shut and it looks like a wardrobe. My desk is in the other corner and there is also a storage bench for Colin's toys and room for him to play! :)

I have also cleaned out a part of the closet that is going to fit my cutting table. I REALLY like having a space, even though I miss my pretty guest room. This is MUCH more functional use of the space and I think it was a great idea!

Today I have a play date with Colin's friend from Trojan Tots. We are going to the mall so that I can look for a new shirt for my trip to Montana. I am very nervous about flying such a long way with such an active boy. I believe cinnabon is on the schedule too. I can't wait! 

Lord God, open my heart to Your truth, even if it is not what I want to hear. Give me the courage to take Your message to heart and to obey it, no matter the kind of messenger You use to convey it. In Jesus' name, amen.

Father, I yield my attitudes to You. In place of selfishness and pride, give me words of life and hope to share. Through Christ, I pray. Amen.

Bad Start

Its been a bad start to the week, so I decided on some baking therapy. I made extra-marshmallow rice krispy treats on Monday. They were gone last night. Then this morning, I made the dough for homemade pop tarts (adapted from smittenkitchen.com). The dough was really sticky, so I put it in the fridge to harden for a while, which was good since Colin decided to wake up just as I had finished wrapping it in saran wrap.

I am going to take Colin outside to run in the sprinkler now, then when we come back in and he goes down for a nap, I'll try rolling them out. I'll let you know how they turn out and post pictures if they turn out good. :)

Dreams

Last night, I had two really weird dreams as a result of coming off pain medication (for the second time). For the most part, I could not sleep last night. I was hot and tossing and turning, but the two times I did drift off, here are my dreams:

In the first one, Keith and I were shopping. It was in a big store, kind of like Best Buy. The store had electronics, appliances, furniture and recliners. We were looking for some furniture for Colin. As we rounded the corner, about to head down the aisle with the recliners, I notice that the two guys checking out the recliners are not wearing pants! I am standing in shock as they tell Keith that they had to make sure they really liked them, as satisfaction was guaranteed!

In the second one, I was going to have to take a lot of different pills and I was holding one particular bottle that caught my attention. The pills were like little crystals and the bottle was glass. It looked old. I was tapping the side of the bottle with my extremely long fingernails, making the crystals bounce against the side of the glass. When I woke up, I realized that the chain from the ceiling fan was clinking against the base and had worked its way into my dreams.

No more drugs for me!

On another note, I have begun to realize, or maybe I have always known, that I am a very impatient and sometimes angry person. I have a hard time waiting, especially with big things, and I worry a lot. Also, I have a hard time letting go of my anger, especially when I have been hurt. These are some things I really want to work on. Keith put several bible verses together for me today about waiting and trusting in the Lord, and I thought I'd share them with you. They are good reminders and great verses to pray. "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight. Seek first the kingdom of God and all of these things will be added to you. Ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find. I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord, be strong, take heart and wait for the Lord. I will never leave you; I will never forsake you. The love of the Lord is never ceasing. His mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness!"

Stay At Home

Have I told you how much I love being a stay-at-home mommy? No? Well, I LOVE IT!! I feel more fulfilled playing with my son, teaching him things, and watching him discover and explore than I think I ever have or will professionally. Kindof stinks when I have to have a job. At least with teaching, I get summers off and have almost 3 whole months to spend with my boy!

Today, since we finally get to stay home all day, without having to run any errands or anything, I decided it would be a good day to get the pool and sprinkler out and play outside. Colin cried and cried when I went outside to put the pool out and get the water running. Then he cried some more when I had to sunscreen him all over and put on his swim gear. You'd think I was the meanest mommy in the world!

He LOVES being outside. We got a new pool that is a little bit bigger, so now I can go in with Colin. He really likes me being in water with him. He also loves the sprinkler because he can run all over the yard but still get wet when he gets hot. The boy loves running. He would rather run around than get on the swing or go down slides. It pretty cute.

He is knocked out now from the excitement from the pool and is sleeping in his crib now. Its nice to have the quiet time and I think I am going to try out my new sewing cabinet that Keith got for me and put together last night. It is a pretty cabinet, holds my machine, and then folds away, so it doesn't take up the whole room. We are working on redoing the guest room to be a sewing/craft/playroom. I think it will be neat. I will post some pictures when its done.

I hope everyone else is having as good a day as I am!

4th of July Fun!

I don't know about you, but we had a GREAT 4th of July weekend! It started out by getting up late on Saturday morning. I don't think there is anything better than the whole family sleeping it. Pure heaven, I tell you! Because we got up so late, I guess it was around 10:30 or so, we ate a quick breakfast at home before heading out. I didn't make anything really elaborate, which is usually what I like to do on the weekends.

Anyway, we took Colin to Tom Brown Park's playground and it was a perfect day to go to the park. It was overcast and breezy and so much fun.  Colin got to run all over the playground, up and down bridges and platforms, and went sliding on some pretty big slides with mommy and daddy. We also swang some. There was also a water mister at the playground, so if it got too hot we could go over and stand under the mist, which was cool.

From the playground, we went to the salon and the whole family got haircuts! This was Colin's first cut and he did SOOO well. He sat really still and didn't cry or go crazy or anything! We got him a balloon and cookie from Publix to help him keep his cool. The pictures aren't very good since they were taken with a cell phone, but here are a few:

On Sunday, we went up to Keith's mom's for lunch and had a really good fried chicken and mashed potato dinner! Yum. There was even apple pie! Can't get more American than that! Then we had all the kids in the backyard playing games and running through the sprinkler. It was a super fun afternoon.

Then we took Colin to see the fireworks in Killearn with some of our friends.  We thought that he'd really like them because he loves lights, but unfortunately, he was really scared. He didn't scream or cry or anything, but he tried to climb over Keith's shoulder and was pointing to get away. I took him and walked him as far away as I could and tried to plug his ears. Oh well. Maybe next year.

Rainy Friday

It has been such a LONG rainy week and it is going to be a rainy weekend too. It has SO hard to keep Colin indoors every day this week. He really really misses the time that we spend outside, playing at the park, running around in the front yard, or swimming in his pool. We both need him to have that time to burn off his extra energy. Because he has been missing out on some good running around time, he has been super fussy at night, barely makes it through dinner, before going angrily to bed. I hate to say it, but I am ready for a little sunshine for my boy. (Not cause I like the hot sunny weather, cause boy, I don't.)

One thing that has kind of been cool this week though is that Colin is really starting to show off his knowledge and independence. He knows that to go out the front door, he needs to turn off the alarm, so he gets Keith to hold him up to it, showing Keith clearly that he wants to go outside. When we have gone outside, he knows he can only go so far in the front yard before getting in trouble, so he goes that far, then turns around, runs back to Keith or I and grabs our hands, pulling us in the direction that he wants to go. And believe me, that kid is strong. He really pulls!! Not only that,  but he pulls in the direction of the park - he knows which way to go! It is neat seeing him go from this completely dependent baby that needed me for everything to an actual person with thoughts, ideas, and desires.

The downside of this is that this week has been a trial with eating times. He does breakfast fine because he likes cereal and fruit and yogurt. Anything breakfasty - he'll eat it. But, we are trying to transition him to regular food instead of baby food before I go on my trip this summer and he has been SUCH A PAIN this week! He used to like eating things like peas and carrots if they were cooked and soft enough, now he just spits them out. He won't eat any kind of pasta anymore either, even mac&cheese, which he has always loved! Plus, anything he doesn't want, he has been tossing over the side of the high chair. I got so angry and frustrated one night, after telling him not to throw things about 20 times, that I spanked his hand. He cried and cried, BUT, he hasn't thrown anything off since. Hum...

I am still in a conundrum though...what do people feed toddlers?? When can I stop buying baby food? Why will he eat sometimes and not others?? Advice??

Ok, I am going to go finish making my peanut blossom cookies now so that I can send a nice big box to my friend Shannon!

P.S. I really want (besides a new job, which, as a reminder, if you all wouldn't mind praying about it, I have an interview on July 6th for Swift Creek. That'd be great!) is a new house with an actual yard that can be fenced in that Colin can play in. Also, some more room for me...so, feel free to pray about that too! :)