Merry Christmas!

Wishing you and yours the very merriest of Christmas and the happiest new years!

This weekend I.....

• Packed everything for our trip to the beach
• Went to a Christmas craft show with my mom,grandma & Bella
• Took a nap on Saturday!
• Went out to dinner with my family for my uncles birthday
• FINALLY got to see my best friend who came in town for thanksgiving!
• Went to a Friend chicken dinner to support a local church and it was AMAZING
• Took Bella to get her first pedicure for the beach trip with all the girls that are going!
• Went to walmart and sipped on a peppermint mocha!
• Ate the new 5 guys that opened up in our town!
• went to Sam's black Friday that was actually last night shopping event!
• Had a blast spending LOTS of time with family :)

What did you do this weekend?? 
Happy Monday!!

What we have been up to!

Its been along time since i have updated this blog. We have been very busy. This is an Iphone picture dump!

Little Miss has started dance class again. she did it last year and loved it so we are doing it again this year!

She seriously has the BEST teacher!

She went with her mamma to vote and was SOO good they gave her a sticker!

We have family dinner EVERY single Sunday. We love this time with our family and sweat pants are required :)

This past weekend we spent the hole day on Saturday getting Christmas shopping done! We traveled to Springfield which is just about an hour and a half away and we made a pretty big dent in it!

For being so good little miss got to ride the horsies!

We then went to a store that i have NEVER been to! its called Scheels. it just recently opened in Springfield and it was soo cool they had a fish tank!

They also have a Ferris wheel in the middle of the store!

I am TERRIFIED of these things. however little miss was adamant that she wanted to ride it. I absolutely HATE heights BUT since it was inside i decided to give it a try. i learned that i still hate them but i also learned that Bella REALLY likes Ferris wheels. UGHH OH!!

In other news we leave for cancun in 8 DAYS!!! I am soo excited! We leave the day after thanksgiving. I work next week Monday, Tuesday and then i am off until December 3rd! I am so excited. I know that these next 8 days are going to fly by. Our family will start to arrive for the Thanksgiving holiday this Sunday and then again on Tuesday and we cant wait to see them!!

We had to make little miss a chain to count down how many days are until we go to the BEACH. She kept waking up EVERY single day in tears because it wasn't time yet!

I am sooo excited for our vacation. We went to Cancun last year and stayed at the same resort we are staying at this year. i love this resort they are SOO kid friendly it is at the end of the strip so more family orientated and not crazy party place. I am excited for a good ole relaxing time. that brings me to my next point i need a new book to read any one have any good suggestions?

Halloween festivities 2012

We had a WONDERFUL Halloween! We spent the weekend before doing all things related to Trick or treating!

Friday night after i got off work i met the family at grandma and grandpas for a dinner. then we carved our pumpkins and after that we watch charlie browns great pumpkin patch. it was a wonderful evening!!

Saturday was a fun day as well. We went to our local zoo and they had boo at zoo. it was so fun the kids walked around to 10 different station and got candy/coloring books it was soo cute!

The cutest kitty cat i ever did see!

Sunday was the funniest day all weekend! Bella had a halloween party with all of her little friends! We painted pumpkins, decorated sugar cookies and trick or treated outside at different stations. Then we all enjoyed a big pot of chili. it was such a fun day!

All of the little kids that came over!

That would be my grandma in the back and that was the setup when everyone arrived!

These three are like the 3 stooges they are each born 6 months after the other and they go to the same daycare. they are so fun to watch grow up!

Wednesday night was the big trick or treating. Bella had so much fun going from house to house!

this was halloween morning ready for a fun day at daycare!

i made these little treat bags for her to take to preschool

Halloween night in front of my parents house!

This was such a fun weekend/week. Bella was really in to trick or treating and really enjoyed going from house to house!

St. Louis Trip weekend of 9/28

Bella and i traveled to St. Louis the weekend of 9/28 for a time full of fun with our family. we have cousins that live down there and its just a short 3 hours from home and we love going down there. that being said we are huge cardinals fans and miss Bella got to attend her first cardinals game!!

I cant get these to flip but these are the girls with fred bird!

Saturday we enjoyed a low key night in. we had faboulus take out, some wine and a movie!

Sunday we went to the best pumpkin patch ever! We seriously could of spent ALL day here. they had SOOO much to offer!

It was a great time and we LOVE going to St. Louis!

Its finally FRIDAY!!

This has been a SUPER busy week for me!! 

*Monday was a normal work day & then Bella had dance class until 7pm which means we don’t get home until 730 just in time for baths and bed. Thank god for my mom for picking up & feeding Bella dinner!

 *Tuesday was another normal work day followed by dinner at the parents’ house to celebrate my brothers 23^rd birthday!

*Wednesday Bella was with her dad and I worked late & went to target after work!

*Thursday I packed the car & got everything ready because today at 12pm we are headed to St. Louis!!!

 

We go to St. Louis at least once if not twice a month because my cousins live there!!! We have quite a bit of things planned and I’m so excited because one of them it taking Bella for the very first time to this little gem……

Thats right we are headed to a St. Louis Cardinals game tonight. Taking Bella to her first game!! Im excited i don't expect her to sit for very long  by any means but there is SO  much to do and plenty of places to watch them game!

By far my favorite player. Matt Holliday!!

Bella LOVES Fred bird. She knows who he is. Looks for him on T.V and loves watching him dance. She met him last January but preferred to watch him from afar so it will be fun to see how she does!

Besides the game we don't really have anything else planned. We usually just go down there and fly by the seat of our pants :).

I hope everyone has a................

Katie,24,Illinois

Today i am linking up with Kelly's Korner for Singles Friday! So today will be all about Me!!!

I am 24 years old born in April. I live in a very small farming town in central Illinois. I am a country girl at heart and love hoodie and bonfire weather all while wearing my coach purse :)

  First and foremost i am a Mommy to a beautiful 2 1/2 year old Isabella! I will NEVER say that she was an accident but more like the best blessing on earth..Isahella's dad and i have never been "together" we have since day one "co-raised" her. From the time she was 1 day old until the day she turned 2 years old he came to my house every single day after work to see her and hang out with her and then would go home after she went to sleep. The day she turned 2 years old it was time for this mamma to come to the realization that she and her dad needed one on one time with each other. Now she goes to his house on Tuesday & Thursdays until 830pm and then he brings her home for bed. Every other weekend he picks her up at 10am on Saturday and i pick her up from him at 10am on Sunday. This is what works for us. We are friends and will only remain friends he is engaged to be married and also has a 6 month old boy. I am thankful that her dad is in her life and that we can be friends.

I come from a very large family and Bella and I are blessed that we are usually always surrounded by family. Almost all of my family lives in the same small town as Bella and I.

I work full time for a large apartment company on the University of Illinois campus. I am the office manager and am in charge of 14 employees plus keeping around 4000 students happy. I love my job. I have worked for this company part time since i was 15 years old.

I love to cook and entertain the problem is to find the time to do it. I do a lot of cooking on the weekends and usually have my family over for a big dinner on Sundays. If it weren't for the crock pot Bella and i wouldn't eat during the week :)
I bought what i like to call Bella and I's "starter home" in April of 2011. It was a definite fixer upper and we didn't move in until July 2011. I love our home and its the perfect size 3 bedroom 1 bathroom 1 car garage for the two of us!

In my free time when Bella is with her dad I like to watch the Fighting Illini Football & Basketball teams, St Louis Cardinals & Chicago Bears. I am a definite sports girl but love to also curl up with a glass of wine and a good chick flick. Also my parents own a bar so i like to go there and mingle/ hang out with my best friends.

Bella & Mommy! Bellas 2 year pictures!

Best friends since Grade school!

My friend Jen & Myself

Favorite place on earth. Aka Busch Stadium

Cardinals game with my mom!

Best friends since the day sara was born all 9 days after me :)

A day in Chicago with my baby girl!

4th of July parade!

BEATIFUL country living!

She loves her cardinals also!

Could be my favorite drink! Margarits anyone?

Never to old to booze cruise with the best friends :)

Any questions feel free to comment with your email :)

Tasty Tuesday!!

Today I'm linking up with Tasty Tuesdays!

This weekend i did some good ole home cooking! Nothing makes me more happier than being in the kitchen for a SHORT amount of time whipping up new recipes with Bella. This kid LOVES to cook! I tried one old recipe that i have had before and one completly new recipe and both were big hits!! I invited the family over for a big ole family pot of chicken enchilada STEW not soup :) Theres a very big difference!

This is the EASIEST recipe ever and you could probably 1/2 it if you weren't cooking for a ton of people.
I found this reicpe in a crockpot cookbook but i changed it quite a bit!

-6 cans chicken-Sometimes i cook and shredd chieckn but i was being lazy on Sunday
-3 cans enchilada sauce
-2 cans chicken broth
-2 cans corn
-2 cans green chiles
-2 large cans stewed tomatoes
-1 box bow tie pasta

Dump everything in crockpot except the pasta

Boil the pasta and then add that in the crock pot

Cook on low 6-8 hours.

The recipe before didn't call for any type of noodles hints why im calling this a STEW and not a soup its very thick but very Delicious :)





 I found this recipe for pumpkin chocolate chip cookies they were super easy to make!!!

Here is the recipe

*1 1/2 cups sugar
*3/4 cup oil
*1 cup canned pumpkin
*2 1/2 cups flour
*1 Teaspoon baking powder
*1 Teaspoon baking soda
*1/2 teaspoon salt
*1 Teaspoon vanilla
*1 teaspoon cinnamon
* 1 cup chocolate chips.

I am not the prettiest cook so i just through everything in the bowl except the chocolate chips and mixed it up and then added in the chocolate chips and baked at 350* for 10 minutes.

These cookies were AMAZING. i may or may not have bought another can of pumpkin to make them again this weekend :)

Amazing Fall weekend!

I will let the pictures do that talking for this AMAZING weekend :)

 Friday was the 2nd busiest day at my work. We are open from 9am-MIDNIGHT. Yes you read that i right i worked a 16 hour day on Friday. We had a huge party for all of our tenants as well as a Dj and lots of giveaways!!

While i worked ALL day on Friday my AMAZING Dad & Uncle put up Bella's swing set. Because i wasn't there they obviously didn't show it to her until we were all together on Saturday Morning!! Lets just say she freaked out and she LOVED it!!

It was a BEAUTIFUL day in central Illinois on Saturday so my mom and i decided to take Bella to a local zoo. Its a small zoo but its oh so cute and she loves it because she can walk the whole thing and get up close with lots of the animals with out there being a huge line!

This was my favorite age to take Bella, She was pointing out EVERYTHING to us!

Of course we had to ride the carousel before we left!

Right outside the zoo is the massive park! We played for about an hour before we told Bella it was time to go Shopping!! You can tell by the last picture that Bella wasn't as excited about us as shopping but she also wasn't letting go of that tutu!

When we got home from our big adventure we played outside for a little while and then went inside for a popcorn and movie night. Bella loves to watch the popcorn maker. After such a fun day on Saturday and not getting to bed until 1am on Friday night due to work i'm not ashamed to admit that i crawled in bed at 9:04pm on Saturday and it felt oh so good :)

Sunday we got up and made a big batch of Chicken Tortilla Stew, Chocolate Pumpkin cookies. Decorated the house for fall and  A great nap by miss Bella and then spent the rest of the day outside playing on the swing set and riding around town on the golf cart!

This weekend was such a good weekend. So much quality time with Bella and lots of stuff was done. I just love the fall and the semi cooler temperatures :)