Memories

So, my New Year's resolution is to get a handle on the thousands upon thousands of pictures that I have stashed and stored everywhere! While looking through my digital files, I found this. A sweet video my brother sent after I first moved to Nebraska and the girlies were still in Kentucky for a couple of weeks.....

Abbie's Letter To Santa

In Abbie's backpack yesterday there was a laminated letter she wrote to Santa...I love it!

Dear Santa,

I love you! I go to Southside Elementary School. I am in first grade. I am 7 years old. I live in Cynthiana, Kentucky. I have been a great girl this year! I help my mommy clean the house! I help my daddy around the house. I help Mrs. Cockrell around the room. I help Pop around the house. For Christmas I would like D.S. games and Little Mommy.

Signed, Abbie Donaldson

This made me laugh so hard...I love that the bulk of the letter is explaining how good she's been and then she only requested 2 things. Waaaay too cute!:-)

Holiday Whirlwind

Been a long while since my last blog! The holidays, once again, were an absolute flutter of constant activity. We left Kentucky right after the kids got out of school last Thursday and drove all night to Nebraska. We like driving all night because a) it saves $$ on meals, hotels, etc b) the kids sleep most of the way and c) we get where we wanna be sooner! However, this 15 hour non-stop drive completely exhausts us...and we have trouble recovering. Attempting to be a fabulous guest on very few hours of good rest is so hard! Luckily, we are blessed with understanding family and we sneak some zzz's while they entertain the babies:-) We stayed for a little over a week before driving all night again to get to our own beds. Skyler and Trendon left with Jenny to spend the rest of Christmas break with her family.

Christmas was extra-special in Nebraska this year because it was the first in many years that ALL of the family was there! Jake has missed several years in a row due to this pesky thing called WAR. This was the first year since I joined the family that he was there at Christmas. At Grandma Carol & Grandpa Jack's we had a professional photographer come to the house to get a full group shot of all of their kids and grandkids....boy was that a crowd (2 parents, 5 kids, 3 daughter-in-laws, & 8 grandkids plus another on the way....Nicole's not mine LOL)! I will try an post a copy of the picture once we get them:-)

We attended many a holiday celebration during our little over a week stay in the mid-west AND (most of you know this) Zack and I also interviewed in Omaha while were there! I, with an advertising agency and Zack, with an engineering firm. The jobs are TRULY our dream jobs! I have already been blessed with an offer letter and Zack is still waiting. We know, because of the holidays, that we shouldn't worry yet....but we are so excited that it's really hard not to be anxious. I have already begun working from home on some projects from my new boss! It's quite surreal and there are a lot of pieces that have to fit together properly in order to make this HUGE transition, again. There are endless reasons why we want to move, and some that are pulling at our hearts to stay....so we are doing a lot of thinking and praying and would appreciate your thoughts and prayers as well as we make this life changing decision. We anticipate an offer from his prospective employer this week if it's going to come....I am praying that if he receives an offer...then it's meant to be:-) We haven't announced this news to the kiddos yet because we want to wait until the deals are done....and it's for sure.

We have 1 more Christmas celebration to go tomorrow! Happy Holiday's everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My Newest Kitchen Helper

Today Skyler cooked dinner, all by herself!!! She made:

Penne with Spicy Vodka Tomato Cream Sauce
SUBMITTED BY: Star Pooley PHOTO BY: LADYJAYPEE
"A nice change form your typical tomato sauce! If your worried about the alcohol, don't be! It cooks off and can not be tasted! It simply helps to enhance the flavors."



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INGREDIENTS (Nutrition)
• 1 pound uncooked penne pasta
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons vodka
• 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
• 2 (3.5 ounce) links sweet Italian sausage

DIRECTIONS
1. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente; drain.
2. In large skillet, heat oil over moderate heat. Remove casing from sausage and add to skillet. Cook, breaking up the meat, until brown. Add garlic and red pepper and cook, stirring until garlic is golden brown.
3. Add tomatoes and salt; bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer 15 minutes.
4. Add vodka and cream and bring to boil. Reduce heat to low and add pasta, toss for 1 minute. Stir in fresh parsley and serve!

MMMmmmm...delicious!! Thank you Skyler!!

Ohhhhhhh dear........

Trendon has made a great new neighbor friend. They have tons in common, love video games, cars, and boy stuff. This boy also has a crush on Skyler. We know cause he told his Mom who told us. Well, today he's over to play and I noticed both him and Skyler weren't in the basement with us anymore. So, I quickly went upstairs to find them. I noticed her door was closed and the light was off!!!! SO, of course, I swung it open with my heart in my stomach....and they were snuggled up in her bed....playing her Nintendo DS together.....YIKES..... so it was totally innocent. But, I grabbed Zack and he put a stop to it. New rule, friends over means doors open and lights on. It painted such a scary picture of what's to come for the next 10 years. So, when do we start the birds and the bees discussion? Surely not yet?!? Why can't there be a real guide book for parenting.....oh this so hard. Any comments, advice or suggestions are completely welcome....we take all the help we can get in this department! :-) ....deeeeeep breath.......

Old-Skool

On Saturday night one of my best girl friends, Angela, hosted a Girl's Sleepover at her beautiful home! Angela hasn't yet had her own babies....so she LOVES to spoil ours! She bought them make-up and other presents, baked them cup cakes, read and loved on them, and even allowed sticky fingers to grace her gorgeous furniture without even a grimace. It was such a fabulous night. The girls had an absolute blast!!!!!

The girls all decided to wear Angela's t-shirts for jammies....in her drawer she had saved her New Kids On the Block t-shirt...from what like 1990?!?! WOOOWIE Now, Skyler doesn't understand how freakin' fabulous this is but still loved posin while us ladies cheered in delight!!!;-)

Anticipating Jake's Return

In preparing for Jake's (Zack's brother) return from Iraq, the family all drew self-portraits on a huge banner!!! We all had a great time deciding how best to depict ourselves and the banner turned out just fabulous! Jake--we hope you like it!!!!!!

We are all so happy that he is returning home, today in fact! Zack and I have been together over 3 years and this will be the first Christmas that I have spent with the family that Jake has been there too! It's gonna be a great year with EVERYONE there!!!! We love you all and can't wait to see you!!!!