The Blended McDs

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

2009-12-19T12:58:00.004-05:00

We woke up this morning to several inches of snow and I had one VERY excited little girl on my hands. She couldn't wait to go outside and play. So we bundled up and ventured into the backyard. Katelyn said, "Mommy, I love the snow!!"

She was an expert snowball maker. Good thing she can't throw it very far. :)

We built a fabulous little snowman and decorated him with the leftovers laying around in the garden.

Even winter is fun with Katelyn around. She had such a good time playing. She was soaked through and didn't want to go in.

My little angel making a snow angel.

Every morning when Katelyn comes downstairs she shouts, "Christmas tree!" It's like she forgets it's there or something. Christmas will be so much fun with her this year!!!

We are having a great time and our lives are full and blessed!!!!!!

My kiddos

2009-11-30T21:34:00.003-05:00

Being an inner city children's pastor is challenging for sure...but it's really rewarding also. We started an after school program this fall and although it adds a lot to my plate each week, it's been really great to be able to have time with the kids everyday instead of just once or twice a week. I couldn't let Thanksgiving pass by without saying that I'm really thankful for my church and for these kids. The kids I work with are kids that would most likely be overlooked. I'm so thankful that I'm at a church that welcomes people that wouldn't feel welcome at most churches. The picture below is of me and some of the kids with the craft project they did the last day we were all together before Thanksgiving.

The other thing I'm really thankful for is our local Christian high school. I have students from Lexington Christian Academy that have been coming and helping with our kids after school. Our kids love having all of these high schoolers around and for me and our staff it has helped ease the load.

It's really awesome to get to do something that you really love doing....for this, I am thankful.

A day at the beach...

2009-11-28T17:14:00.006-05:00

I really love western Michigan. If it wasn't for the winter, I could live here. My aunt, cousin, Katelyn and I went out to Grand Haven today on Lake Michigan. This is one of my favorite places ever!

Katelyn had a great time playing with the sand, running and jumping on the big rocks. Such a happy baby.

Here's Adrianne and Kateybug. They're a great team! Katelyn likes getting to play with her cousins. (I do too.)

Here's Katelyn looking at Lake Michigan. We didn't walk out to the lighthouse because I was rather nervous having this busy little girl on the section of the pier without railings...and it was freezing!

Here's Aunt Shirley and I. This would have been the perfect picture if it weren't for the wind giving us peacock hair.

We're heading home tomorrow and I'm a little sad to leave. It's been such a great weekend and I'm so thankful for time to relax and spend great time with family. We're so blessed! Really we are...

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

2009-11-27T10:32:00.007-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving!!! Katelyn and I came up to Michigan to spend a long weekend with family. I must say, I love my crazy family. We laugh all the time and when one of us needs something everyone rallies. It's pretty amazing actually. Katelyn and our whole family are at the top of my thankful list this year! Here's a picture of my aunt, three of my cousins and me!

Katelyn loved hanging out with everyone. A day of lots of food and activity. Perfect for this little one.

Two more cousins! (I have lots of them.)

We can hardly be serious for five seconds. Getting a "real" picture is next to impossible. :)

Katelyn loves my cousin Billy. No one can figure it out really. She goes right to him and sits on his lap. I mean, I tried to tell her that he used to bite me when we were kids, but she just won't listen. I think he was bribing her with candy.

Jen and Billy really love each other...can't you tell?

Joey loves his mama...as he should!

Katelyn loves Adrianne. Adrianne is awesome with kids and she's found herself a little buddy.

Aunt Diane said that yesterday was the 40th anniversary of her and Uncle Ed's engagement. Uncle Ed really was excited to hear that. Nick was not helping... :)

Janna made an apple pie and a pumpkin pie. This picture is for my dad. I was told I had to rub it in that we ate apple pie without you. (Sorry, I was forced to post this.)

We missed grandma for sure, but we really did spend time counting our blessings and we know she would have loved that. We all missed my mom and dad who are in Arizona and my brother and sister in law that are down in Kentucky...but Christmas is right around the corner and we can't wait!!!!

A house full

2009-11-18T21:58:00.004-05:00

My pastor and his wife had a conference to go to in Tennessee, so their boys came over after our kid's program tonight at church to spend the night here with Katelyn and I. These two boys are so sweet to Kateybug. They all love each other. Katelyn loved having "brothers" around. They drank chocolate milk, read stories and said their prayers together. Then they all snuggled in the boy's bed for a few minutes before everyone went to sleep. So cute!

I love having a house full of kiddos.

Night night!

Beautiful girl...

2009-11-17T21:29:00.003-05:00

I know I'm biased....I know this...but really, my daughter is gorgeous. (Again, I can say this because she's adopted so I had nothing to do with this genetically.) She smiles and her whole face lights up and you just can't help but smile with her....Look at these pictures and just try not to smile...I dare you.

So big...really she is just getting so big....

I smile every single day....no matter how hard the day is...I always smile. How could I not?

The Target toy catalog is here...and Katelyn's been pouring over it....very intently. Christmas is coming!!! It's going to be so fun this year.

She spotted the Super Why computer...she loves Super Why.

I brought Katelyn into my room for a while this morning because it was still a little early to commit to starting the day. :) She climbed into bed with me and laid there with her little face right in front of mine and she said, "I wub you mama. You my best frwend eber eber." I'm not lying...and my heart melted. (I would like this documented....ten years from now when she's screaming that she hates me while slamming a door, I want to be able to read this...)

Happy Birthday Holly!

2009-11-17T20:54:00.002-05:00

Katelyn and I are SO blessed to have Holly and her husband Brandon as our neighbors. In the last year especially, they've become like family to us. Holly is one of the most genuine, thoughtful and caring people I know. It's really easy to celebrate her life~!

Katelyn loves Holly. Holly loves Katelyn.

Katelyn loves cupcakes...so Katelyn really loves Holly's birthday.

We all play and laugh together a lot. And someone spoils Katelyn a lot (I'm not naming any names...HOLLY!)

Silly girls.

Happy Birthday Holly...we love you!

Hiking together

2009-11-14T14:45:00.008-05:00

It's been a long week. But the reality is right now, all weeks are full and go by quickly. I'm struggling to find time for myself and time to spend with other adults. (The plight of all parents with young children, but especially challenging for a single mom.) So I went to bed last night feeling overwhelmed and was happy to wake up this morning to a beautiful fall day. It's 65 degrees and sunny...in mid-November...yippie! So I knew we weren't going to sit around the house today....so off we went to Raven's Run Nature Sanctuary. It's about 15-20 miles from the house and it's thousands of acres of beautiful.

Here we are enjoying our day!

This was Katelyn's first real hike and I wasn't sure how far she'd make it, so I picked a one-mile forest loop. She did awesome! She walked the whole way herself.

We got to go on the stepping stone's to get across the creek.

Isn't it gorgeous!!!

I love my girl. She really is my favorite person to spend the day with...even though she talks about Dora the Explorer a lot.

I packed apple slices and sandwiches. Here's Katelyn's sandwich spot. :)

The trail...

She's gotten so big. There's always part of me that wants her to stay little forever, but today there was part of me that was excited for the years to come. The main trail around Raven's Run is 4 miles and part of it goes along the cliff overlooking the Kentucky River. It was so nice out I really wanted to do the whole loop. Maybe I need to get a hiking carrier for her so I can throw her on my back and then we could go...She's getting kind of heavy though....hmmmm.

I love this picture. It always amazes me how perfect a fit Katelyn and I are for each other...and how much I love her.

I feel like today was the deep breath I needed...and now I'm not so overwhelmed.

An extra hour of sleep...maybe not.

2009-11-01T20:46:00.005-05:00

I was pretty excited about the extra hour of sleep that we were going to get last night....until Katelyn woke up at 5:30. After some coaxing she laid back down and was relatively quiet until 7, but then she was definitely ready to get up. So we were ready EARLY for church today (that's a first). We went outside for a few minutes before we left and of course I had to snap a few pictures. I know this is my girl. I make the same crinkled up brow when I'm concentrating on something. :)

All ready to go to church and play with her friends!

She heard an airplane and was pretty interested in that...

"Mom, are you almost done?"

I went to Half Price Books and got a book for $1 and then went over to Starbucks and read my book with a pumpkin spice latte. Ahhhh...I'm all ready for the week now.

And for those of you who were mad at me for not posting often enough...have I caught up yet?

Trick or Treat

2009-10-31T21:37:00.003-04:00

Just when you thought she couldn't get any cuter...here comes Snow White. She was so adorable tonight. She was so excited to go trick or treating...

What a pretty princess!

She had the gig down pat. Ring door bell. People answer door. "Trick or treaty. Get some candy. Thank you. Happy Hawwoween!" She said it every time and you can tell by the look on this lady's face that people ate it up! She got a handful of candy at each house and her pumpkin was full to overflowing by the time we got around the big block.

I love this girl. I really, really, really do.

I was so proud of her tonight. She was so big and interacted so well with people. She used her best manners and flashed the biggest smiles.

Halloween is super fun with a little one!!!

Happy Halloween!

2009-10-31T21:24:00.003-04:00

Today was a FUN day. We got up kind of late...watched cartoons (I drank coffee and read the paper.) I carved the pumpkin and then Katelyn painted it.

She's very focused when she paints.

Here's our finished pumpkin!!! I think it's perfect.

This is a girl after my own heart. She's surrounded by books. She pulled out every last one of them and then sat there so nice while reading to herself.

Katelyn in mommy's shoes. Yes, she's two going on sixteen. I know.....sigh.

Happy Halloween!

So many leaves....

2009-10-30T19:58:00.003-04:00

We got to the church today and Katelyn was instantly excited about all the leaves that had fallen from the tree outside the door. Of course she had to go run and play in them. Fortunately, I had my camera with me to take some pictures of the after school program kids. All of the colors were perfect and it was a warm sunny day!!

Yippie!!!

She was doing leaf angels....

Here's a picture from this morning....

All day long she's been saying, "Go trick or treat. Knock on door. Get some candy. Thank you." (We've been practicing for tomorrow.) :)

A perfect fall day

2009-10-25T23:40:00.002-04:00

It was sunny and in the 60's today. A beautiful fall day for sure. After church today I mowed the lawn while Katelyn took a nap. I was happy for an excuse to be outside. It will most likely be the last time I'll mow for the season. The colors this fall are just beautiful. Lots of bright oranges and reds. The bushes in the front of the house are more beautiful than ever. It will be sad to see the leaves actually fall.

Katelyn and I took a walk and collected some leaves before dinner tonight. Then our neighbor came over and brought dinner and we all ate together. Loveliness!!

Sweet picture of Kateybug on the front porch. Katelyn's been fabulous this week. She's gotten over the separation anxiety issues and we're back to normal. She's been super happy and lots of fun. Delightful is a good word to describe her this week. I just soaked it all up!!

She's sitting...a rare moment indeed.

She really likes to ring the door bell and say, "Ding dong. Ding dong."

We didn't do anything extraordinary today...just an average day...but it was nice...very nice.

Play date!

2009-10-25T23:28:00.002-04:00

My friend had a class to take yesterday and her husband had to work so Katelyn and I got to play with their daughter N. N is 10 months older than Katelyn and they had a great time together. We painted, did sticker art, read books, danced, made english muffin pizzas and created many plastic meals from Katelyn's little kitchen. :)

Of course the little pizzas were a hit. Katelyn tried to eat the toppings as she was making hers and then she was really upset when I took it away to put it in the oven. My kid's not real patient when it comes to food...But she was happy when it came out of the oven!

N. was pretty happy herself. :0

Katelyn...that is so gross. (But really funny.) - Don't tell her I was laughing.

Plastic food is delicious...and fat free...calorie free. Eat all you want.

It was amazing to see how much will happen in the next 10 months. N. is three years old and I just can't believe that Katelyn is not far behind. We had a fun girl day!!

Great slow cooker recipe

2009-10-24T20:21:00.003-04:00

I am trying to use up some of the food I have in the freezer and pantry. I'm a stockpiler and my cabinets and freezer are out of control. I was trying to clean and do laundry this afternoon so I looked up a slow cooker recipe for pork chops. This recipe for pork chops and rice in the slow cooker is excellent. It was really good and I'll definitely make it again.

Here's the link: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Slow-Cooker-Pork-Chops-and-Rice/Detail.aspx

The only changes I made were to use a whole cup of brown rice (make sure it's regular rice not minute rice). I made my own beef broth with about 12 oz of water and a couple of beef boullion cubes on the stove.

About 15-20 minutes of prep...throw it in the crock pot on high for 4 hours. Perfect. Would be great on a chilly Sunday after church!!

I love using the crock pot! Some days it's the only way we eat a nice, healthy home cooked meal instead of running through a drive thru.

Okay so I'm a little behind....

2009-10-23T21:02:00.003-04:00

I know, I know...weeks have passed.

Mom and dad just left this week and are now back in Arizona. Sadness.

But before they left we had lots of fun together. Here are a few pictures of Katelyn out at the farm my brother and sister-in-law live on. Kateybug is in her element when outdoors in wide open spaces. She LOVES going to the farm.Is is beautiful out there or what!!

This child would roll around all day in the grass if I'd let her.

And getting to see the horses is always a hit.

We took one last boat ride before Gramma and Papa left. Katelyn wore her new hat that Aunt Dee Dee made her. SO CUTE!!!

We miss Gramma and Papa and Katelyn doesn't really understand that they'll be gone for a while...but we had such a fun summer out at the lake and can't wait until they come back for a visit at Christmas.

Fall has arrived

2009-10-01T23:48:00.002-04:00

The summer clothes are just about packed up and the fall clothes have been washed and hung in the closet. The air is crisp. Nights are chilly. I've been making soup. Fall has arrived.

And I'm happy to report that Katelyn has started posing for pictures. "Mommy take picture. Cheese." Lucky for all of you!!(Except she doesn't always want to sit still for the picture. Sometimes she wants to walk toward me.)

She is very animated when she reads. Tonight Katelyn wouldn't let me read to her...she wanted to do it herself. A theme these days, "Katelyn do it."

My baby is almost 28 months old and I'm not sure where the past few months have gone. Someone come sit on this kid before she gets any bigger!!!

Go Big Blue

2009-09-19T21:57:00.003-04:00

It was a beautiful fall day today and we headed out to the lake for a visit with Grammy and Papa. I warned Katelyn not to wear this outfit to Papa's house but she said, "Mommy, I bleed blue and the Cats are playing Louisville today. I've got to cheer for Kentucky!!" :)She prayed and prayed that they would win the game....

And sure enough...UK beat Louisville....Katelyn's cheering worked.

She ran after that red team with her stick and sent them back to The 'Ville.

But then she felt a little bad after the Michigan State/Notre Dame game. Maybe we should have brought her Junior Spartan shirt to change into between games....

(On a side note...look at how tall this child is getting...and good grief, how fast does her hair grow??)

My little Van Gogh

2009-09-10T21:36:00.002-04:00

Katelyn has been going through a big separation anxiety phase over this past week or so. All of a sudden she screams and screams when I leave her anywhere...the nursery at the gym, at a friend's house... And it's not just a cry for a few minutes and then stop sort of scream. Last night she cried for 45 minutes and my sweet friend brought her over to the church to me. She just wants mommy. I love to spend time with Katelyn and there are limited times that she's not with her dad, myself or my parents. Amazing how one day all is well and the next day she'll have nothing of it. Anyway, today I decided that she won't be little forever. This desire to be with me all the time will eventually pass and a day will come where she's not interested in spending time with me at all. So if we're going to spend all this time together we're going to do something fun!!!

Obviously our fun activity tonight was painting. What you can't hear is the silly songs CD that is playing. You can't see Katelyn dancing and singing along with "Old MacDonald Had A Farm." Her new FAVORITE song. Eeeeyiyee, Eeeeyiyeee, Ohhhh.

Katelyn looked at me and announced, "I wub to paint!"

Tonight remined me that watching Dora on TV is convenient and Katelyn enjoys it, but she was so excited about listening to music and painting. It was fun to watch her choose her colors and talk about her painting.

I mean, I might just have the next Van Gogh here!

Joy of a child

2009-09-05T22:55:00.003-04:00

I came home Wednesday evening after a very full and long day at the church. When I pulled into the driveway Katelyn, my parents and my neighbors were all out front. My neighbors had their sprinkler going and Katelyn wanted to go in it. It had been a beautiful day out and before we know it fall and winter will be here. I told her she could go play in the water and she did a double take...looked at me for a brief moment as if to say, "Really?" And when she saw I meant it she ran next door and right into the water. She stood there with her hands out saying, "It's raining. It's raining." so I grabbed the umbrella...

There are so many times when I have to say no...when I have to tell Katelyn to stop doing something. But I want to make sure there are plenty of times I say yes. It may mean that she ends up wet or dirty or something takes longer to clean up...but kids grow up so fast and I want her to look back on her childhood and remember times of play...of laughter...of wonder. I don't want her to miss out on being a kid because getting messy is inconvenient for me...

And we all laughed and hung out together with a little bundle of joy running around...and then the little bundle got tossed into a warm bath...and slept well.

On the garden front...my tomaotes and peppers have gone crazy. Isn't this beautiful? I paid about $20 for the plants and dirt I needed for this year's garden. Boy has that paid off. We eat the little grape and pear tomatoes all throughout the day. I made more salsa and spaghetti sauce this week. I'm going to can some tomatoes on Monday. I think I should be set for most of the fall and winter.

I love my neighbors...

2009-08-31T01:31:00.002-04:00

I know, these pictures are perfect...but before we get to that...I just have to say, I LOVE MY NEIGHBORS!!! I have thought about the possibility of moving, but I just can't do it. I have Brandon and Holly next door...and it just doesn't get any better than them. They are thoughtful and kind. They are fun to hang out with. Brandon has cool tools and knows how to use them. He can get my weed eater working again when I can't even figure out how to turn the thing on. They have a great garden in their backyard and we exchange seeds, veggies and recipe ideas. Holly lets me use her big pot for canning. And most importantly, they've gone from being nice people next door to my friends. They love Katelyn and she loves playing in their dirt...with their dogs...with them. Needless to say, the kid is spoiled when she goes next door.

Holly is a fabulous photographer and she has captured some of Katelyn's finest moments...

I mean really...could the kid be any cuter???

Holly and Brandon always have my permission for Katelyn to get filthy. They watch her on most Wednesday nights when I'm at the church and I know that when I return Katelyn will be a mess. And nothing makes me happier because I know that my child has been loved on and played with. She gets to roll in the dirt, play with the puppies, eat tomatoes out of the garden, take walks, blow bubbles, eat yummy foods. And below is the girl I come home to....

Life is full of challenges...but it is full of so much joy...everyday. You just can't take it for granted.

My grandma's motto was "Count your blessings."

We are so blessed!

Joy and sadness

2009-08-23T00:28:00.003-04:00

It's been quite a week. Really...so much has happened in the last week that it feels like it's surely been more than a week. At church we started an after school program for our kids and youth. I'll save that for another post...but it was an excellent week in that regard. And then on Thursday I found out that my grandma had passed away. She found out last year that she had a rare and aggressive form of breast cancer. She fought hard..I mean really hard. And last summer there was no one that thought she would still be around. But she made it a whole extra year and we all were so blessed to have an extra year worth of time and memories to hold on to. And yet it seems that no matter how long you have to prepare for someone's death it's not long enough...and it's still sad...and there's still great loss. So on Friday morning my brother, Katelyn and I headed up to Michigan to join the rest of our family as we mourn and celebrate together.

Tomorrow is the visitation and Monday is the funeral. Katelyn did so well in the car on the way up here and she's been a little ray of sunshine for everyone...because a two year old knows nothing of death and is full of life.

So this morning, this full of life child was ready to run...so my mom and I took her down to the zoo. I think she was more excited about running and climbing than she was about the animals...but nevertheless, we had fun.

Here's our little drummer girl...oh how she loves to pound on things.

We were both looking at the camera, but my camera's shutter speed is just not quick enough for a two year old. It's a wonder that I ever get a good picture of her!

GRRRRRR.......

Grammy and Kateybug...

This was hillarious...the leopard had climbed up the side of this wall and was checking out what was going on below....

Here he is from the other side...just hanging out.

Really, most of my pictures were blurry like this because Katelyn ran and ran and ran and ran....

A sweet morning...

2009-08-14T14:43:00.002-04:00

Katelyn and I got to hang out this morning. We went to God's Pantry to pick up all of the food for our after school program next week and we took it all over to the church and put it up. Then we went to the gym. Every time we get close to the YMCA Katelyn says, "Mommy exercise." She did great in the nursery this morning. She didn't even look up when I left...she was coloring. We ran a couple other quick errands and then we went home to eat lunch. Katelyn had 1/2 a PB&J (natural peanut butter and the blackberry jam I made last night), pickles (she calls them "peekles" and tortilla chips with the salsa I made the other day. She went to town on the salsa...it was mild and she loves to dip things. After lunch we sat outside at her little table and played with play dough. (Katelyn really loves to play with play dough.) I picked the tomatoes that were ready in the garden. We came inside and read a couple of books. Katelyn went right down for her nap. It was a sweet morning with my girl. I love hanging out with her.

Help, I'm being overtaken by vegetables!!

2009-08-13T21:53:00.005-04:00

In the fridge, on the counter, in the pantry, in the freezer....vegetables....EVERYWHERE!

So I had to have a plan of attack. I was being overtaken. I can't eat them fast enough. I don't want to throw all of this great stuff out. Time for a marathon...

Here's how it works at my house...Katelyn stands at the sliding glass door and says, "Mama, outside." So she's a big girl now...so I let her outside to play for a bit (of course I can see everything from the kitchen window.) Without fail, the kid makes a beeline for the garden and this is what I see...EVERY TIME...

Looking, looking for the little red grape tomatoes (I taught her that she can't pick the green ones.)...and would you please take a look at these tomato plants...they're HUGE!

Finds one...pops it in her mouth...finds one pops it in her mouth....

Looking high...looking low. Finds one...pops it in her mouth.

This goes on for a few minutes until I holler..."Katelyn, honey, that's enough tomatoes. You're going to get a belly ache. Come over here please and play." Run run run across the lawn. "Mama look. Matoes." "Katelyn, were you eating tomatoes from the garden?" Katelyn responds sheepishly, "Noooo."...with a big smile on her face. It cracks me up everyday. And I've never seen a toddler with this kind of passion for tomatoes.

But even with Katelyn's ability to mow through some tomatoes on a daily basis...I still had tons from the farm and from the backyard...So I made spaghetti sauce and salsa the other day. I'll keep doing this for the rest of the summer. I'm hoping that I won't have to buy a jar of tomato sauce over the next six-nine months. Homemade is SO much better!!!

I got all of this done just in time to go out to the farm again and get this weeks haul. Good grief. But I did make a fabulous stir fry tonight with green onion, garlic, fresh parsley, red pepper, eggplant, golden zucchini, bok choy, left over chicken, curry, cumin, rice wine vinegar, and a splash of lemon juice...over brown rice with some feta on top... Super TASTY! I also made some pesto and froze it in ice cube trays. When they're frozen you just pop them all in a freezer bag and they're ready to go...I LOVE PESTO!

And because I had a pile of blackberries that needed to be used...I canned some blackberry jam tonight. Talk about yummy! We got fresh flowers today and among many other vegetables that I had already put away, we got some beautiful golden zucchini and yellow squash.

More salsa, spaghetti sauce and pesto is on the agenda for this weekend. I need to do some cabinet cleaning too. I'm stock piling for fall and winter...

Braids

2009-08-02T15:54:00.004-04:00

First of all...someone needs to be proud of me for posting so much in the last few days!! I had to post these pictures though. Katelyn's hair has gotten so long that I put it in BRAIDED pigtails this morning. She looks so stinkin' cute!!! Here she is watching her new Ni Hao Kai Lan dvd. It's a show on Nick Jr. It's similar to Dora but Kai Lan is Chinese. So Katelyn is learning some words in Chinese now. Excellent!

I tried to get her to look at me but she was completely captivated by her show.

Here's the profile. Doesn't she look like a picture of summer??!!

She has been really into taking her baby for a walk in the stroller lately.

It's a beautiful summer day here. Church went well this morning and now we're just resting!