Any Given Saturday

On any given Saturday, if you look out of our family room window, you are likely to see one of these...
One of these...
And maybe even one of these...
You see, I am a bit of and old soul at heart and enjoy feeding the birds and then drinking my coffee and watching all of them arrive to feed and frolic on a Saturday morning. Ever since I got my new copper bird feeder back in Nov, all had been going well until this little rascal showed up!
This little feller is the first squirrel I have seen even attempt to reap it's bounty off of my feeder. And he is one lucky little guy because the minute Grant spotted him, he was ready to get out the new BB gun he got for Christmas from Grandma and Grandpa and blast his biscuits off!
Yes, my little Davey Crockett was all ready to have squirrel for dinner. He even went so far as to ask me how you get a squirrel ready to be eaten and what it tastes like. I explained the process of preparing an animal for consumption (I'll save you the gory details) and of course I my response to what squirrel tastes like was, "It tastes like chicken." Doesn't everything taste like chicken? he he ;)
Mr. Squirrel's attempts at emptying my feeder didn't go unnoticed either...
Mr. Bunny and Mr. Blue Jay were right below gobbling up everything that Mr. Squirrel had dumped out.
They all make quite a team, don't you think!?
Aside from the circus of animals devouring my bird seed, my favorite part is enjoying the beauty of the various birds that come to visit.
I know Blue Jays are very common and are kind of the 'bullies' on the block when it comes to birds, but I think they are absolutely beautiful birds.
But my all time favorite visitors are the Cardinals. Hands down, they are the bird I get most excited about seeing at the feeder. They are so colorful and vibrant and they always remind me of the Grandma's of ours that have passed and are now in Heaven.
Just wanted to share a few little beauties of nature that make you stop and think how blessed we really are. Happy Saturday!

Super Bad Guy

So, what do you do when you live in MN, during sub-zero winter weather, on a weekend that you are confined to your house because you have Strep Throat?Why...you dress up in an absolutely ridiculous get-up and shoot Nerf darts at your Mother's windows, of course!!!!
And then you ASK your Mom to get out her camera, dust if off, fire it up and shoot some pictures of you so that she can post them on the Internet for everyone to see!
Yes, Grant bounced back rather quickly once we got a couple of doses of Amoxicillin into him. Thank goodness for antibiotics!
He woke up Saturday morning and proclaimed, "Mom, I feel lots better already. And I'm hardly even snuffy anymore!" He hit the ground running and was ready to rock-n-roll but since we were both contagious for at least 24 hours from the first dose of penicillin, we were forced to stay home all weekend. We passed the time by playing puzzles. monster trucks, playing the wii, reading lots of book, coloring, napping and watching our fair share of movies.
As you can tell from the plethora of finger prints on the french doors, we DID NOT spend our weekend cleaning!
Actually, on Sunday, while the kids both napped for about 3 hours, I took advantage of the quiet time and swept and scrubbed the floors, cleaned the bathrooms, vacuumed, cleaned out all of the clothes that the kids have grown out of and cleaned out all of the clothes I shrunk out of! In the end, I had a tub full of pants that don't fit anymore. My favorite part was when I tried on a pair of pants that I know fit me this past fall and I was able to pull them off over my hips, while they were still zipped! What an awesome feeling :) Now I need to go pants shopping in a MAJOR way!

long time coming

Okay, okay...no need to send out a search party or anything! I'm baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack! Sorry it has been so long since I put up a post, but to be honest, I was getting a little burnt out and just haven't been in the mood to spend as much time on the computer.
This also means I haven't been editing many pictures (or even taking them for that matter!)

I know, I know...I should be slapped!

These pictures aren't anything to write home about, especially since they were taken in the morning and I was forced to use my flash, but at least it is something! And aren't these two just the cutest little morning bugs you ever did see?
Another reason I have been 'in hiding' is because I got a new Droid the end of November and it has made it sooooo easy to check my fb, e-mails, etc without having to fire up the laptop. Sorry peeps!
We haven't been up to a whole lot of noteworthy stuff around here other than the every day grind. I think it has snowed practically every day in the past month and now we have hit the sub-zero temps time of year so we have been spending a lot of time 'hibernating'!
I was hoping to have a fun outing with the kids this weekend but after a trip to the clinic yesterday, it turns out that both Grant and I have Strep so we are confined to the house today! Blech! We both have two doses of penicillin down and are feeling MUCH better already though.
In other big news, I have now lost just over 15 lbs! I am pretty pumped about my success and loving that I have had to go out and buy new SMALLER jeans for the first time in almost 5 years. I have also signed up for this thing called the Warrior Dash in July with the girls I did the rollerblading marathon with last Sept. It is basically a 5K on an obstacle course! There is a very good chance that I will end up battered, bruised and maybe even broken, but I can't wait!! It is going to be a blast and of course we are going to turn it into a fun girls weekend out after all of our hard work ;)
I'm gonna try really hard to get back into the blogging groove, so bear with me as I work on catching up!

Tootie cuteness and a random update...

I'm not exactly sure why but I have been is such a blogging funk lately. I am sure you could tell from the lack of posts. Duh! But in the spirit of trying to be a good blogger, I thought I would share a few pictures of the cutest little girl I know.I do have to confess that in being such a blogging slacker, I have enjoyed a little down time. Some times it is sooooooo nice to just sit on the couch, after everyone has gone to bed, and simply veg out!
Yes, my name is Carrie and I am a couch potato!
Okay, not really. I am usually too busy to even sit down to eat dinner, but when I do find the time to just sit and enjoy a show or movie without the interruption of a child who needs some milk or a snack or without multi-tasking on my blog, facebook and editing pictures, I am in hog heaven!!!
Thus my affinity for Hulu.com I'll be the first to admit that my guilty pleasure is to sit up late (sometimes even with a glass of wine) and catch up on episodes of Greys Anatomy, Desperate Housewives, Cougar Town and Castle. If you haven't ever watched Cougar Town it is a MUST. I was a Friends super-fan back in the day, so I gave Cougar Town a chance, when it first came out, since it stars Courtney Cox. Sooooo worth it! I love their quirky humor and inside jokes!!!
Enough about me and my lazy ways! On a positive note, I have also been working much harder on 'me'... eating (a little better and a little less), working out more and attempting to take some time for myself. So far I have lost 5 lbs but I would still like to lose another 10. Wish me luck over the Thanksgiving break because starting tomorrow we have a long weekend filled with family, friends, our anniversary, a 40th birthday party and well...lots of FOOD!
Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

Chuckleheads

Not sure where the term 'Chuckleheads' ever came from but I am sure if you looked it up in the dictionary, you would find this very picture...
Yes, my two silly little Chuckleheads thought it would be funny to wear Pull-Ups as hats and run around the house giggling hysterically.
I guess you could say I thought it was pretty darn funny myself!
Mostly, I love to capture these everyday moments so that some day when I am old and wearing a Pull-Up of my own I can look back at these pictures and remember.
Not remembering moments like this is something I always fear. I want to remember every single minute of my kids being little because I know you can't ever get that time back.
And I may or may not want pictures such as these so I have some interesting photos to put up at their graduation parties. Shhhh, don't tell them that though!