Daddy's home!

Daddy is finally home. We picked him up at the airport Thursday around dinner time. And since it was around dinner we went out to Red Robin-Yum. Our airport was recently updated. It is very nice to get in and out of, but I think it takes a little bit longer now. Oh well.

Here are just a few pictures from when Daddy was in Las Vegas. He had a good time, saw some cool sights, ate at some very nice resturants, but is very tired and glad to be home. We are glad he is home too.

This was Daddy's transportation. Nice huh? Even had a bar inside. Too bad we couldn't keep it.


This was the bathroom in Daddy's room. Living in the lap of luxury.


This was the pool at Daddy's resort (not a hotel). Too bad it was too cold to go swimming.

This is where Daddy spent most of his time----JUST KIDDING! He actually did win us some money--$5! Keep your day job, Daddy!

This was in the Venetian Casino.

These was actually inside the Venetian. It looks like he's outside, doesn't it?

This was outside the Venetian. Cool gondolas. You can actually ride on them. That would be fun.

Daddy met the Blue Man Group! I've always wanted to see them in concert (do you call it a concert?) Lucky Daddy! Actually these were just wax figures, but the Blue Man Group was playing later at one of the casinos.

So that was Daddy's trip. Next time, I am going.

Snow Day!

Tuesday night into Wednesday morning we had a total of 11 inches of snow! And since Daddy wasn't here, I had the responsibility of shoveling all that snow. I've never shoveled that much snow before. So right before lunch, we all got bundled up and out we went. We were out there over 2 hours and I still didn't get it all done! Talk about a work out! After about 2 hours, the kids were ready to come in (and honestly, so was I). Just as we were coming in, I got a phone call from a friend at church asking if I needed help shoveling. He actually sent his son and his daughter's fiance' over to finish shoveling for me. It took them only about 15 minutes to finish. And then later, the neighbor across the street did in front of the garage where Daddy's truck is. It is wonderful to have such good friends and neighbors.

So here are some pictures of our snow and the kiddies in it. By the way, my son is a horrible shoveler. You can tell we don't have to do it much.

Funny things said by K girl

Tuesday morning we did end up going out to breakfast with a friend from church. It had snowed but wasn't too bad. We went to Bob Evans. It was another nice break in the midst of Daddy being gone. C sat in the booth with Miss Friend and K sat on the end in a high chair. K did end up hitting Miss Friend once with her straw but thankfully Miss Friend has 4 of her own hooligans and understands.

Miss Friend and I were sitting talking, C was coloring, and K was drinking out of my water glass with her straw. Does everyone know what Bob Evan's straws are like? The kids straws are REALLY long and bendy. I guess you can make any shape with them and still use them to drink. Somehow K took a sip and the water kept free falling out of the straw, even after she finished drinking. But us adults weren't paying her much attention. All of a sudden she says, "I getting a bath." Just as calm as you please. And sure enough the water was just pouring out of her straw and onto her. It was so comical. She didn't panic; she just thought it was funny that she was getting a bath. Oh dear. Thankfully she was dry by the time we left.

Later that day, K said she "needed to color." OK--not sure about the need part, but whatever. So she got out her 24 box of crayons and dumped them on the floor beside my computer chair. She was making a "list" by just making little marks of each color on a 3x5 card. After each color she handed me that crayon to put away. But when she got to the white crayon, she said "Mommy, we need to throw this one away. It's broken." Too funny. Maybe I'll try to find a black piece of paper and let her color on it so she can see that it's not truly "broken."

Tuesday night was our movie night (see last post). We watched Wall-E. At one point during the movie when the little white robot was flying about, K said "She cold. She naked." I didn't know a robot could be naked. :)

Movie night

Last night-for something special while Daddy was gone-I pulled the kids mattresses into my room. They laid on them while we watched movies and then I was going to let them sleep in there with me. Let me start by saying NEVER AGAIN!

First of all, we started the evening by web-caming with some of my family. My kids were so busy the entire time. K actually was running in circles behind me. My dad calls her "the blur." She was really making me tired. After we were done talking, we went upstairs, got the beds ready, and got the kids jammies on.

The first movie we watched was Kung Fu Panda. I liked that movie. I think C liked it too. K was her usual self. She could not sit still, couldn't be quiet, couldn't decide where she wanted to sit, spilled her popcorn numerous times..... Oh my!

Next we watched Wall-E. I don't get the hype about that movie. I actually thought it was kinda boring. We got about 1/2 through it and since it was late (11 pm), we decided to turn the tv off and watch the rest the next day. C was already in bed and was asleep in a few minutes. Once again, K was her usual self. Up, down, tangled in her blanket, wanted in my bed, said she had to go potty (what a time to want to do that), etc....... Finally I pulled her in bed with me and after a very stern talking to, she settled down and finally went to sleep.

The night, however, was just as rough. I am convinced that she will forever sleep in a crib. She likes to be up against something--usually the side of her crib--but last night it was me. And I mean CLOSE. By this morning I was hanging off one side of our king bed and she was up against me. She also had woken up once in the night wanting to know where I was.

So needless to say, we are all a little tired this morning. And therefor, the kids are at each other and my nerves are a little short. Besides the fact that we are really missing Daddy today. And to top it all off, we have 9 inches of snow (and it's still snowing). We are all going out to shovel later--hopefully get some energy out. And then we are all taking naps this afternoon. AWANA was cancelled because of the snow, so there is no reason for us to go out tonight. I just need to make sure that I can get out tomorrow afternoon to get Daddy. At least I have 2 days to get the snow out of the way. That's alot of snow! I've never shoveled that much. Should be interesting. I'll take pictures and post them in a few days. For now, I'm off to veg out and drink my coffee!

Our Wii night

In our house the playstation, PSP, and now the Wii usually only get turned on on Saturdays. But since Daddy is away, the rules are a little different. Just so we all can keep our sanity. So Monday night we played the Wii. K only played for a few minutes. It doesn't keep her interest yet. I think she is a little too young and can't get the timing of the controller yet. She did play boxing and won! It was funny to watch her. C is pretty good, especially at bowling. He and I had fun playing quite a few different games together. It was a nice way to make the evening to by faster. Here are my 2 kiddies trying to do boxing. (BTW: see last post: I had 2 KOs!)

We miss you, Daddy!

Daddy is on a business trip right now. In Las Vegas. I told him he could spend $1 on the penny slots. Actually he will be quite busy and probably won't have time. But we miss him! Very bad! He won't be home til Thursday. A long week for us. But we have a few fun things planned. Tonight we played Wii. (check back tomorrow for more on that and some pictures) I did very well at boxing. I actually had a KO (knockout for those who don't know) in the first 15 seconds. The second time I had a KO in the first round. I did pretty good. Too bad it wasn't real. :) Tomorrow we have plans to go to breakfast with a friend but we are supposed to get 2-6 inches of snow overnight. If that happens, we won't be going anywhere. I have something special planned for the kiddies tomorrow night too. (check back on Wednesday for that info) So think of us this week. So far the kiddies have been very good and we've had fun. Hopefully the rest of the week will be the same.

Snow!

When we went to NY last week, we took the kids snow suits and boots. They usually have tons of snow there and the kids were wanting to play outside in it. They did have a lot of snow, but we had no time to play out in it. So yesterday, my kids wanted to get their snow suits on and play outside in the little bit of snow that we have. So being a good mother, I decided that it would be some nice exercise for them--run off some energy. So I bundled them all up and out we went. I stood on the patio and watched and took pictures. They had a good time. They did snow angels (or tried to), kicked a ball around, played with some icicles that we found, and K girl even tried to mow the grass through the snow. We were only out about 30 minutes and that was plenty of time. It was cold out. It might have been 20 degrees if we were lucky, but it was nice and sunny. (Today it is already 30 degrees out). Here are some pictures of my "abominable snowmen."

My husband is a "techie"

Is techie a word? And did I spell it right? Well my husband is one. He loves his gadgets. Gets it honestly--from his mom. She loves her gadgets too. I have been gradually "pressured" to become a techie too. I like the gadgets--just not the price that usually comes with them. All that to say.....

Since December 30 we have become the proud owners of 3 major new pieces of technology. And I have to say, I love all 3!

In December, we got a new computer-again! And so far this one has preformed like it is supposed to. We did have one moment when we thought something wasn't working right, but once touch from Best Buy's Geek Squad and it was magically healed. Typical. I like this one even better than our last. It is a widescreen and has a keypad on the side. I love my keypad! Minor, I know. For those of you who care, it is a HP G60-235X Notebook PC. Very nice!

Our 2nd new member, is Daddy's new iTouch. He has wanted one for some time and was actually saving to get one. But his mother surprised him and got him one. She actually stuck it in one of our pieces of luggage and we didn't find it til about 3 days after we got home. Kinda funny. Very sneaky, mother in law. I love that too. Even though it isn't mine. I had loads of fun playing with it yesterday. Now I want one.

And number 3: we finally got a Wii. Now we are definitely keeping up with technology. We have been looking for one for some time, but all the stores were always out of them every time we asked. Yesterday Daddy was at Best Buy to get a case for his iTouch and he called me to say that they had one. So we broke down and got it and when tax return money comes in we will pay it all off! C was so excited when Daddy brought it in last night! He loves to play! And he is pretty good at bowling too. So after dinner, we got it all set up and played some games. K girl is such a hoot! She can't get the coordination all down yet; but she is only 2. It will be an only Saturday thing just like PlayStation--except for next week.

Daddy has a business trip next week and I think I will need some help to keep me and the kids from not going crazy. Maybe the Wii will help. He is going to Vegas for almost 5 days. I am not looking forward to him being gone. Right now he is fighting a head cold and an ear infection which hopefully will clear up before he flies. Or that will be a painful flight.

So we are having fun exploring what all these news things can do. It is fun but can be such a time waster. Speaking of, I need to get off this computer and get some stuff done!

Today in history

Today is a day to mark in history. Not only did we swear in our 44th President of the United States, but he also he is our first "African-American" president. Even though I do not agree with President Obama on all his issues, he is our president and deserves the respect that comes with the position. I have tried to remember to pray for him every day (but sometimes other issues make me forget). I believe these next 4 years will be tough, but there is Someone who sees the bigger picture and knows best. So regardless if you are "pro or anti" Obama, pray for him as he makes many decisions that will affect our entire country.

Kindergarten growth chart

While we were gone, C actually did 2 days of school. He watched some while we were traveling and then did others one afternoon. This coming week for school, the teacher is measuring each child. She did this once at the beginning of the year and now is comparing the 2 measurements. In August when we started school, C was a little over 3 feet and 7 inches tall. We measured him tonight and he is 3 feet 8 inches tall. He has grown a whole inch since August! I can tell he is growing--all his pants are becoming "high-waters" and his shoes aren't fitting anymore. We also measured K girl and she has grown about an inch too. I love that they are growing and growing well, but I can't keep them in clothes!

We're home!

We are finally home! And for 3 of us-hopefully it will be for a long time. Daddy has to leave for a business trip next Sunday. Poor him-he gets to live out of a suitcase for 5 days again. Poor us-we will be here without him for 5 days. Today was spent unpacking and re-stocking our food. We all came home with stuffy noses and congestion, so we are dealing with that also. But it is so nice to be home and sleep in our own beds. As Dorothy said, "There's no place like home!"

New York weather

We left for New York Saturday morning around 4 am. A trip that would normally take 11.5 hours took us almost 18. The weather was AWFUL! Sleet, snow, blowing, rain, ... you name it, we had it on that trip. We had to make many extra stops just to clean the ice off the lights and windshield wipers. For as long as we were in the car, the kids did pretty well. Me on the other hand, I was about to go crazy!

Sunday was the calling hours for Grandma Great. We were at the funeral home for almost 4 hours. Once again, the kids did really well. There was a room for them to play in with a few toys and we had taken coloring books and crayons and snacks. C actually wanted to see Grandma Great and really didn't make much of a comment about her. K asked "What she doing?" C got a tour of the casket room and swore up and down that's where he got the cold that he is now currently fighting. Too funny. "Mommy I shouldn't have gone in there. Now I have a cold."

Monday was the funeral. I sat in the back with the kids. C was pretty good. He colored and was quiet. K girl on the other hand. She did good for the first 3/4 of the service. But towards the end, her attitude was BAD. But in her defense, she had missed her nap two days in a row, she was hungry, and the service was long. I was a little upset with her, but the gentleman sitting beside me said he thought they both were very good, considering the circumstances.

After the funeral we had a meal at church and then went back to Daddy's sister's house and got the kids in bed at a decent time. Today, we got up slowly and packed up and came to Mom's house. We will be here through the rest of the week. Just taking it easy. And Mom wants some help going through some of Grandma Great's stuff. It will be nice to not have to rush back home. Daddy gets 5 days from work and then some personal time if he wants. We will probably head home Saturday. I probably won't do much more posting between now and when we get home, unless something very interesting comes up. So I will check back when we get home. Ta ta for now!

Chicken Tortilla Soup

I mentioned something about this soup on Facebook and had many requests for the recipe. So I thought I'd post it here. It's not very hard, just time consuming. And for some reason, I can't get it thick like I would want. I've tried heavy whipping cream instead of the 1/2 and 1/2 and I've tried doubling the flour and decreasing the broth by one can. Nothing has solved the problem. If you get a solution, please let me know. And by the way, this is one of those soups that just gets better the next day, and the next, and so on. Enjoy!


MCALLISTER'S CHICKEN TORTILLA SOUP
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 onion, chopped
3 tablespoons margarine
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 (14 ounce) cans chicken broth
4 cups half-and-half
1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of chicken soup
1 cup fresh salsa
1 (15 ounce) can creamed corn
6 boneless, chicken breast halves - cooked, skinned
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 (1.27 ounce) packet dry fajita seasoning
3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
TO SERVE:
16 ounces tortilla chips
8 ounces shredded Monterey Jack cheese
In a large pot over medium heat, saute the garlic and onion in the butter or margarine for 5 minutes. Add flour and stir well, cooking for 1 minute more.
Add the broth and half-and-half. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to low.
Add the soup, salsa, corn, chicken, cumin, fajita seasoning and 2 tablespoons cilantro. Stir and continue to heat for 15 minutes.
Crumble tortilla chips into individual bowls, add 1/2 ounce shredded cheese to each bowl and ladle in soup. Top each bowl with more crumbled chips, remaining 1/2 ounce cheese and remaining 1 tablespoon cilantro, and serve.

Victoria Michelle

It's hard to believe that it has been one year since Victoria Michelle came into our lives and also went home to be with Jesus. As C says, "She's up there playing on the streets of gold." We miss you Toree!

Victoria Michelle Promersberger

January 10, 2008

Ours but for a moment, God's forever.

Grandma Great

Daddy's Grandma (everyone called her Grandma Great) went home to heaven this morning. She would have been 99 in March. She's had been through much and seen much. She recently had a fall and quickly got worse. She was in some pain and not lucid. It is a very sad time for all of us here, but she is much better off. We will be leaving Saturday morning to head for NY for the funeral. Pray for safe travels for us. The weather doesn't look good going that direction. We will be gone for approximately a week. Keep us in your prayers and I will "make contact" when I can. Thanks!

My new purse

For those of you who really know me--you know that I am not usually a purse or shoes person. Although, every once in a while, I get in a "purse mood" or a "shoes mood" and go looking for one or the other. Never both. My husband actually likes shoes better than I do. He probably has more pairs than me too. :) Shhhh. Don't tell him I told you.

Anyway. While we were in FL, we went shopping at the outlets in Foley, AL. At a Fossil store there, my sis found the cutest FSU leather purse! I wanted one! But alas! She had bought the last one! I was sad, but I moved on. Cuz as I said, I am not normally a purse person and wasn't in a "purse mood."

Skip ahead to the day we did our Christmas at my parents house (actually Christmas Eve Day). We passed out presents and lo and behold! There was a present under the tree for me from my husband! Quite the surprise. We had already done our Christmas with each other at home before we left.

I'm sure by now you all can guess what was in the box. My very own FSU leather purse! Yeah! It is so cute. It would have to be for me to be blogging about a purse. Of all things! So to prove how cute it is, here is a picture of it. Aren't you jealous?!

L-E-T-S-G-O That's the way we spell, Let's Go!

As seen in a previous post, it was the year of the Seminole. C got a football uniform and K got a cheerleader uniform. Here are their 'together' poses. As well as a few others. Kinda funny-at the end of the photo session, K did a roll/flip and showed off her pull-up. Not something you would normally see on a cheereleader.

PS: I love the scheduling option on here!

Beach family pictures

On the Friday that we were in P'cola, we went to the beach to take pictures. It was a rather cloudy day, but that kinda made picture taking easier. We didn't have to squint into the sun. Daddy took most of the pictures, except for the ones that he was in. Unca brought his camera and took some pictures too, but I don't have copies of those yet (HELLO UNCA!) I think the pictures turned out very well. The kids just wanted to play in the sand. The world's biggest sandbox EVER! After pix were all done, we changed them and let them just have at it. They built sand castles, flew a kite, put their toes in the water (it was cold), and ran all over. It was a good time. Here are the highlights of the pictures. We took 100+ pictures. I don't think blogger would like me if I downloaded them all. We are going to get some blown up and printed-hopefully soon.

I think this is a good picture of my mom and brother (Unca).

I love this of my mom and K girl.


Isn't this cute? My Grandma (the kids call her GiGi) and my kiddies.

My two cute kiddies and my mom and dad.

Our "original" family.

Daddy thought of this picture, but then his feet weren't even in it because he was taking the picture. A tripod would have done the trick.

What a cute father and son!

I love this picture of Papa and K girl! Too cute!

My wonderful family.

I know this doesn't show their faces, but I like this picture of my sissy and her husband.

And the best for last. Me and my wonderful husband!

And these are just my favorites of all of our pictures. We had quite the fun time!

K and Mugsy

We are currently dog sitting. Mugsy is the best dog ever. If I could clone him, we would have a dog. I like to dog sit him any chance we get. We picked him up at his home Dec 30. On our way home, he puked in my car. He does that every time he gets in my car! Oh and the duct tape on my screen door? That's from him.

Anyway. On to him and K. On our way home, I mentioned to the kids that as soon as we got home we were going to eat lunch. K wanted to know who's chair Mugsy was going to sit in. Later I showed her his food/water bowl. I'm thinking that might have been a mistake. Later than that, I caught her with her hands in his water. I yelled at her and asked what she was doing. "Washing my hands, Mommy." Oh dear! You never know what is next with that girl.

Later K was trying on C's FSU helmet. For one thing, she had it on backwards, so of course couldn't see anything. Then she turned it sideways and was looking out of the ear hole. Then she took it off and wanted to know if she could put it on Mugsy. "No. It's just for people." "No, Mommy. It's just for little kids, like me." Excuse me. But I beg to differ. We have pictures to prove that it fits Daddy and Unca.

Riding the horses--and maybe the dogs?!

Saturday morning while we were in P'cola, we went to my brother's house for breakfast. I actually made sausage gravy and my mom made chocolate gravy. YUM! After we ate, we got a tour of the house. And here is what we found in one of the bedrooms.

Later we opened presents and went outside to see the horse. Each of the kids got to ride for a few minutes. They both loved it! K giggled the entire time she was up there. They both loved the dogs once the dogs calmed down. When we first got there, the dogs were out back. Duke got so excited that he jumped the fence and was in the front yard. He had to be chased down and shoved in the car. So then they went in the garage. Somehow he managed to open that door! So after they were put back out there, the dead bolt was locked. If he can get through that, he might make some money as a Houdini dog.

Here is Duke and Riley. I think they are pretty dogs. But big.

Is there a doctor in the house?

My kids love to play doctor. We have the Fischer-Price set of doctor's stuff at home. It has a stethoscope, otoscope, bandaid (band-and as K calls it), BP cuff, thermometer (tensermen as K calls it), and a shot. While we were at my parents house in P'cola, they played with a set that my parents had from when we were kids. It had extra stuff in it, like a knee hammer and a pill bottle. That set got used many times while we were there. The kids really liked the knee hammer. Grandma used it on the kids and "helped" their knees jerk. So when they used it on Grandma (or any other unsuspecting adult) they had to make their knees jerk.

All this to tell the following story. It started with Grandma and K playing with the Little People barn. Now these are the ancient Little People. Anyone remember these? I'm sure they are worth something now.

Anyway. As they were playing they discovered a horse (that was NOT Little People) that had a broken leg. Of course, K wanted to know who did it and how it happened. Grandma's answer was that it was sick and just needed to get better. All of a sudden, K ran to the other room and came back with the doctor set. She sat there and "doctored" that little tiny horse. She listened his broken leg. She wrapped the BP cuff around the horse. She gave it a shot. It was too cute! But really funny to watch because this horse was so small compared to the doctor set.

Along the lines of very old...... My mom had most of the old A Beka Book summer reading program. They don't even make them any more. There was like 50+ books in the series. I brought a bunch home for C to read. I think they have a "reading contest" later in the year and he can use those.

Happy New Year!

It's hard to believe that it is 2009! I'm excited about the upcoming year! Daddy and I will have been married 10 years this year, C will turn 7, and K will turn 3. These are all things that Daddy so nicely pointed out this morning. Let's not rush things, OK? Hope everyone had a good day. We sat around and watched football, made waffles for breakfast (only becasue we didn't have the ingredients for chocolate chip pancakes and even then we ran out of syrup), played with the kids, gave baths, did laundry, oh and I got to organize some scrapbook stuff. So actually, I guess it was a busy day. Oh well. It was a good day. Tomorrow we have errands to run and the tree to take down. And pictures at church for the directory. Maybe Saturday will be a little slower. Happy New Year!