Enjoying the Chaos

Always our Angel, Now our Guiding light There something about little Jam turning 3 this week that has made me reflect on my life so far.  The choices we have made and the events we did not choose but have no doubt made us who we are today. The biggest of these 'unchosen' events was loosing our Angel in 1999. Heather Elisha 1996-1999  There is not much I can say except how much we love her and miss her. What a character When she met her best friend and cousin Lauren for the first time. (dresses from Grandma) Laughing with her cousin - Only 8 weeks apart First Family portrait on a flying visit - she was so unhappy which was unusual - when we got home we found out she had strep throat Her FAVORITE toy PO from the Teletubbies Such a joker - with Grandpa M Trying out the lipstick Showing off the outfits Grandma made With some of her English Cousins The last pictures we have... My Angel - Heather

Finally out of pull-ups at night!! We decided today was the day! Little Jam hasn't made a mistake at night for more than three weeks, so we thought his birthday was a great turning point!! He said it himself  "I'm a big boy now!!" Some highlights from the last three years!!

Recently I took little Jam to the Ophthalmologist to have his vision tested. I was little concerned as I thought I saw a turn of his right eye.  After I researched this, I found out that vision problems can cause a 'lazy eye'. The test was very easy. When we got their they sprayed a special medicine in his eye to dilate his pupils. Little Jam handled this like a pro. After a few minutes his pupils were dilated enough for the Ophthalmologist to get to work. It only took a few minutes for us to find out that little Jam's eyesight was causing a problem +9 in the right eye and +6 in the left. I felt terrible, especially when the Doctor showed me how bad his eyesight actually was! I am so glad that I decided to check it out! The Doctor went on to say that if this had been left to the mandatory testing age little Jam would have struggled with reading and other close work maybe even have behavior problems. Basically because he just wouldn't have been able to see and woul...

I need to tell you about a very fun website called Library Thing.   It is a free website where you can catalog all the books that you have read or want to read. There is also some other fun features on the website. There are blogs you can read, featured authors you can read about and the most fun (according to me) opportunities to read and review books. I recently 'won' the opportunity to read and review the book 'Anyone' for kindle written by  Melissa Conway I loved the book, it was written for young adults - however it was perfect for me!! Sometimes books written for adults have too much bad language and .. steamy stuff in!! Read my review here  I have also been 'awarded' two other books to review!! If you love reading and are willing to give new authors or less known authors a try it's an excellent opportunity and most of all free! I have just downloaded a copy of another Melissa Conway's book 'The Gossamer Sphere'   I am hopin...

Don't you just love these cute designs at the top of our 'Google Home Page'  . I don't know if you have noticed how it changes but I love looking for different ones. Today's Google Doodle is a very cute one it celebrates the late Art Clokey's birthday (read all about it here  ). Make sure to click on all parts of the 'Doodle' as it is interactive!!! Click here to see the previous doodles!!! They are all there in date order! It also lists which Country they were shown in - very cool. This is a cool home-school tool - spend a few minutes learning about someone or something new!

Today we feasted on roasted leg of lamb, vegetables and Yorkshire puddings! Courtesy of my husband (Wonderful Cook!!) When we first moved to the US from England 11 years ago we had to change how we made our 'yorkshire puddings' but they can turn out perfectly with just a little adaption of the recipe. The Trick is in the eggs!! We have our own chickens in fact a few days ago Jam found a huge double yolker which would have been perfect for our 'yorkshires' Anyway back to our recipe: Yorkshire Puddings 4 oz (3/4 cup) All-purpose flour 10 fl oz Milk 2 eggs ( The recipe we used in England only uses 1 however they don't rise here without the extra egg) pinch of salt and a generous grind of pepper Vegetable oil - to grease tin 450 F degrees for 20 min - Makes 12 Puddings Method: Preheat oven to 450 F degrees and heat a drop of oil in each of the 12 wells (mine were muffin tins but I keep them just for yorkshire puddings) Mix all ingredients well (i...

I have started buying Christmas Presents!!! Yes, at 4:00am on a Friday morning in October!  My little Boo is a collector of anything American Girl . She loves it all! Which has only increased since she started her American Girl through the years history class at our home school coop (a perfect history class for girls!) She has had tea parties and so much more as she learns about each of the 'Historical Doll' time periods in history. Talking about Kirsten Ready for her 'Tea Party' (sorry for the quality of my pictures I only had a few seconds to take a quick picture as she wanted to get on with the party!) Anyway back to my Christmas present deal!!   Amazon has the 'Mini American Girl Doll's' on sale right now for $14.93 shipped if you spend $25.00.  (I bought 2) They are regularly $21.95 on Amazon and $22.00 on American Girl . I don't know how long this deal will last so snap them up now for your little American Girl.

Today's Creative blog is having a really fun giveaway for 'Fabric' Sharpies http://todayscreativeblog.net/create-with-sharpies/#comment-19091 Head over to her blog (which is awesome!! I would recommend following her!!).. check it out... and enter for a chance to win!! Have a great Sunday!!!