Valentines!

                     So as a small child my mom made every special event and holiday memorable and I loved it. Now its not so much fun because I have a legacy to live up to and with her creative mind it is hard to be creative and come up with good ideas just like she did for us. But with some help from family fun, I was able to make Autumn's Valentines day unforgettable!

I strung pom poms up with some needle and thread. These were sparkly pink and purple for her. I then attatched them to the top of the door with push pins. This was also all done at night so that when she woke up on valentines she would wake up to the sun hitting these and be completely surprised!

Another View

...and another.....

........and yet again another.......

As much as I would love to take credit for the cupcakes, my mom actually made these for Autumn for Valentines day. They were her present to Autumn and the cupcake stand was her present to me......She still has the magic touch!

However! The valentines that you see under the cupcake stand was all me. I had these in a trail all around the house starting in Autumn's room and leading all the way down stairs to her valentines day card and present which was a purple and pink unicorn pillow pet (there is no picture becuase she would not unhand that thing!)

I loved this card so much so I had to take a picture of it. This was our card to Autumn!

For dinner I prepared a DELICIOUS pot roast, rolls, mashed potatoes and gravy and a salad. This was more for Jon than for Autumn, but she enjoyed it as well. And for myself there in those glasses is Dr. Pepper which is the key to my heart ha ha!

This is another view of the dinner table that night!

I wish I could have gotten a better picture of this, but this was our desert for the evening. This was a simple Great-grandma thing that I was taught and it is so simple yet so good. It is a twist on strawberry shortcake. Instead the cake that you see is actually twinkies. I then chopped up fresh strawberries and mixed them in a strawberry sauce. Top with whip cream and chocolate sprinkles and you have yourself one happy three year old!

I Got A Job!

                  So as if school and being mommy was not enough for me, I decided my plate was not full enough and went and applied at my favorite clothing store of all time, Maurices! Jon and I have been doing extremely well financially but we have plans for this summer for a lot of rennovations in our lives and we wanted to start paying off our Jeep completely and saving up some extra cash! We both decided that I should go back to work at this point, not just for money, but to give me an opportunity to get away from being a student or mother and having some time away. I was so unsure about it at first, not that I dont like to work but just that I guess I was worried the house and family would die without me............I was SO wrong, life goes on, but now I have a happier demeanor and I love coming home and being with my husband and little girl. Not to mention I LOVE working at Maurices. It is like a dream job for those who love clothes, and just ask my closet, I so love clothes. The hard part about this job is going to be trying to bring home a paycheck without spending it there.
                    Working again also means Autumn going back to daycare, which was actually the most hardest thing for her and I to do. This past eight months or so we have been together every day, so it was hard to have to take her to someone else and trust her with them. Luckily my sent from heaven Daycare provider was still available. I do not know what I would do without Elaine. She teaches Autumn so much and she just puts my mind at ease. Plus we run our houses a lot alike so there is no confusion for Autumn. Autumn had a hard, HARD time the first day back and did not want me to leave but once she remembered all her friends there, she begs to go there everyday! I love it.

My Little Gymnast!

                Once again I am so slacking at updating this thing, which is no good because I sometimes forget about what I want to put on here and then my poor blog suffers from that. But anywho in other news we have a lot going on and all of it started just this month!

                My little three year old Autumn is now a gymnast. She started a program that is called gym-n-dance at our Recreation Center here in town and now is a dancin', and cartwheelin' fool! There is thirty minutes of this that is devoted just to dance. The first half of the dance class is tap dance and different manuevers and the second half of the dance class is ballet, which Autumn just cannot get enough of. She loves wearing her little ballet slippers and jumping and spinning all over the place. The first day of this she was so excited and could not wait to get away from mommy and daddy and then about fifteen minutes into the class out came miss Autumn with her teacher saying she was scared. My heart just melted. So I walked her back to her class and did the stuff with her. She whispered in my ear "I thought I was doing gymnastics" I then explained that first she does ballet and then she does gymnastics. Her eyes lit up as she exclaimed "ballet just like Angelina Ballerina!?!?! (A cartoon mouse that does ballet). I said thats it and then she was gone again telling me to leave the class that it was just for girls and not moms. Ouch! Then the second half of the class is all gymnastics. They do tampoline and tumbling and watching all those little preschoolers is the cutest and funniest thing I have ever seen. They all try so hard and they are all popping their little bums in the air trying to flip over and raising their hands over their head with such enthusiasm when they have landed a move! Autumn absolutely loves it, she is getting so many new friends and learning so much just like her awesome nieces Calli and Cienna! And at the end of it all, she finds it "awesome" to get a stamp on her hand and a treat for her hard work!
               

Just a Little News....

So guess what Autumn wanted and begged and pleaded to do all week long..............

Still cant tell...........Keep looking.........

Haven't got it yet......ALL RIGHT! I will tell you..........

Oh yeah, those are real. My little diva wanted her ears pierced and she talked her daddy into them......I think someone is wrapped around her little finger ha ha ha........now we need to talk her 16 year old Aunt into getting her ears pierced!

New Years Eve!!!

       So for New Years this year, the love of my life once again had to work. What does this mean and why would I even care?.......Because that means no party, no craziness and no midnight kiss.....or does it? Ha ha this year since Jon worked, I took on a different task for New Years, and it was rather fun!! My sister-in-law Ashley and her husband Brian had a fun party to go to but no babysitter...dun dun dun....but then here I come to tell her I have no plans and so then the sleepover is set. Caden, Calli, Cienna and Autumn had a major sleepover at my house for New Years. It was really really fun, we went out to Pizza Hut, then went and bought a cupcake cake for desert and we had candy and cookies and soda and watched movies all night. Autumn was the first one to lose the battle to sleep and could not make it past eleven. Then we lost Cienna around 11:15 and finally just as Caden and Calli were starting to lose as well..........2011 ARRIVED!!! A great ending to a great night. I decided that this year for my resolutions I want to make big changes, I would tell you what they are but that would ruin the surprise!

Oh Wow....2011!

      Hmmmmm.....about me slacking, I would say I am pretty bad at keeping this updated, I need to try to do it at least once a week because in this crazy so much happens in one week, its going to be ridiculous to try and catch everyone up on our ongoing events. Here it goes anyway!!!

      So Christmas was amazing! The Neely family was surprised with a living room full of gifts from Santa Claus! He sure knows his stuff because the smile on Autumn's tiny little face was something else. This year he brought her a gigantic toy box and an Art desk with every art supply you could imagine. He also filled her stocking to the brim with toys and candy and barbie dolls and barbie clothes and even got her another train engine for her Thomas the Train set and a sled for the mountains of snow we have here. On top of all this Jon and I got her outfits, puzzles, Jessie and Bullseye (to complete her set) and Jammies! I apologize I did not get alot of pictures of Christmas mainly because we film it instead, hoping to make these times last forever so maybe someday in the very very far future, Autumn can sit down with her family and watch her growing up. Jon and I also had an awesome Christmas and we even decided to get a mutual present for ourselves and buy a new Kitchen table! I cannot wait to go pick it out! This year was also a year full of family games. Jon came home with Sorry, Monopoly and I came home with three different versions of Scrabble! My absolute favorite game. Autumn recieved Candy Land and loves it! Autumn also got an AWESOME fishtank from her Aunty Sarah and she even got a red Beta fish for it. She looked at it and named it Chip, pretty cute Huh? Chip is now part of the family and the way he looks and acts he reminds me of one of those grumpy old men who frowns and bickers all the time, very funny! Christmas was definitely one to remember this year. We had wonderful Christmas parties from both mine and Jon's sides of the family and boy do we all sure know how to party! It was a blast. And at the Neely Christmas Party we even had a visitor. Santa Claus came to make sure everyone was being good, It was so great to see Autumn react. She ran up and gave him such a big hug and was by his side till he and Mrs. Claus left. Definitely a successful December!

Slacking

        Its been a bit since I have updated this, I blame it on finals which is a very legit reason. Bringing this up to date, School is finally over as of yesterday. Thank goodness, I feel like I did well and hopefully my grades reflect that. My attitude however was rather horrendous the last two days of finals though. I suppose staying up at three in the morning is no good, and then tests stressing me out anyway is not a good combination. Thank goodness my wonderful husband understands. I know if I were him I would have exploded on me for how crappy my attitude was. I need to learn how to just chill out and take things in stride more than just making myself sick over silly things.
         So this week was Jon's work Christmas party! What a fun night! It was interesting to see where he works and who he works with. They seem like a crazy bunch, but that is what makes the workplace fun! It was a potluck and surprisingly Autumn ate rather well. There was also a few little kids there for her to play with, and if you think you have heard noisey then just wait till you hear three toddler girls jammin' out and singing together with toy instruments! Oh WOW is all I gotta say about that.
        Another exciting thing for Jon and I this week was December 7th. Yes I know that is also the day we remember Pearl Harbor, what a morbid day that was but in lighter news it is also the day five years ago that Jon and I started dating. I was fifteen and a freshman in highschool. He has been my one and only and my high school sweet-heart. We met in band class..........yes, we were both band geeks. Ha oh well, it brought us together so no complaints there. Now he just has to put up with me as his spouse. I cannot believe its been five years and getting longer and more perfect every day! He puts up with my insane OCD problems about a clean house and I have learned to live with his very forgetful mind. He makes me laugh till I cry, he holds me close when I need him, When we are mad at each other, he still lets me know how much he loves me, he is a wonderful father and my very best friend. With all that I would say band class was definitely worth it!
        We also did family pictures with a very good friend of mine this past week. They are amazing. She has had no training other than just putting herself in there and going for it. I love her work and the most amazing part about it is she is free!!!!! She does it for a hobby!! Whats even better is she edited them and then gave us all the pictures on a disk so we could print out whatever we wanted!!!
         All in all a very productive week!!!