Happy Birthday Andrew Zachary Bucher

Can't believe 3 years ago today that we were blessed with a little boy.  Time flies by so fast....3 already!  You sure are Mommy's little man.  You are the one I look to when I need a laugh.  You are the classic class clown.  You like to make us all smile.  Anything for a laugh :)  I will love you for always Andrew!

If it involves cake and presents, it doesn't really matter!

This is birthday party, round one for my little guy.  We celebrated his birthday this past weekend with my husband's side of the family.  He will have another birthday party in 2 weeks with my side of the family.  Then his "real" birthday will be on the 6th.  So in total that will be 3 birthday parties.  I guess that's fitting...he's turning 3...so 3 birthday parties, I guess, would be in order :)

I'm finding that it's hard to celebrate birthdays when they land so close to the holidays.  It gets even harder when everyone lives so far away from each other too.  Then you throw in the shared cousin's birthdays in there too.  But really, the kids don't seem to mind.  A birthday is still a birthday!  If it involves cake and presents...it doesn't mater where or when it is or who you share it with.

Happy Birthday to my little guy Andrew!  

We also (tried) to celebrate his 2 older cousins b-days the same weekend, but unknown circumstances kept them away. 

My Little Artist

The Bucher's Visit The Museum of Science and Industry

We did have a busy October.  As I was going through pictures that I took last month, I came across all the wonderful pictures of our trip to the museum.

We went to Chicago to celebrate my husband's cousin's wife's 30th birthday.  It was a surprise birthday....all the better!  She had no idea that we were making the 5 hour drive down there!  What a surprise it was. 

We ended up spending the weekend there and took them to the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago.  My little guy who is now (almost) 3 loved it!  It was priceless to see his face when we walked in there.  We found the trains, airplanes, science of weather, farms and tractors.  My big girl (now 5) had fun as well.  We did find the fairy house, but in my opinion, it was not kid friendly. 

We did take a lot of pictures and would like to share them with you.  If you have not been to the museum, I would suggest that it is well worth it!  There was so much that we did not have a chance to see.  But after being there for 3 hours, our kids were tired and were ready to go home.

It was a BLAST!!!

Look Mom...I'm in an airplane!

Waiting for our turn to go in a REAL combine!

Moo Moo

Driving a tractor!

Lights

The almighty Choo Choo

All Aboard

Mommy and Babies

Daddy and Babies

So Excited!

Playing Blog Catch Up!!

Well....I don't know where October went, but I can tell you that when you are busy being a wife, a mom, a child care provider and along with the many other "hats" that I wear, times just goes by, weeks go by, the days just blur right into another.

I'm going to post a few pics that were taking during the month of October for you all to enjoy.  We had a wonderful Halloween!  Our daycare party was a success!!!  What a fun month it was.  Now to enjoy November.  Around here we take it one month at a time.  We enjoy each holiday as they approach.  No Christmas here yet.  Our neighbors seem to think that by putting a huge blow-up Santa in the yard will bring Christmas cheer early.  So for now, I just won't look in their yard.  We are busy making turkeys and talking about pilgrims.

One day at a time......

 Well, that was a fast weekend! 
We ended up going to the Oktoberfest Parade.
Here are the babies sitting in the stroller waiting for the parade to start. 

At the Pumpkin Patch

 We had a ton of fun at the Pumpkin Patch!  And what a great day to go!

Weekly Wrap Up

Ok, It's Friday night and I'm sitting on my favorite red chair and I have a full belly of pizza.  I just finished my first glass of wine and now I am thinking about going in for my second.  My two wonderful children are playing so nicely (right now) and the hubby is on his laptop.  The TV is on, but I don't think anyone is watching :)

What a week it has been!  Monday through Thursday I have 3 daycare children plus my two.  On Fridays I only have one little one, plus my two.  I feel like it was a good week!  Today at nap-time I canned salsa, pickled peppers and hot cauliflower.  I don't have a real name for the cauliflower I made.  I love the hot mix of vegetables in the store that has cauliflower, hot peppers, carrots and celery  in it and they are packed in vinegar.  So hopefully mine are as good or better than the store brand.  I taste tested one before I put them in the jars and it was spicy HOT!  The salsa was awesome!  I ended up eating that for my lunch today.  I loved it!  Even when the hubby tried it, I got a thumbs up.  The pickled peppers, I never made before, so we will see and I didn't try one before I put them in the jars.  I used a pickling mix that I bought over the summer to make pickles.  But we never had enough cucumbers to make pickles.  My big girl ate the cukes faster than I could save any up to make pickles.  I also blanched broccoli and froze it for later to make broccoli soup.

Early on during the week, I made 2 chicken pot pies.  That too was yummy!  I am a cook-with-what-you-have in your fridge/freezer/pantry type person.  (Thanks to my mom and mother-in-law)  They never measure anything and that's where I learned everything from!  First I cooked the chicken in the crock pot all day in it's own juices.  Then I made the crust with a stuffing/dressing boxed mix.  I drained the chicken and added some cooked vegetables to it and also a jar of gravy that I had on hand.  Then I made up a pizza crust for the top crust.  Baked up the pot pie for a while (I don't know how long :)  Sorry.  And yum-o!!!!

It was such a nice week.  Really we had a great week.  Now for the weekend!  Looks like it will be a good one!  We are looking forward to Oktoberfest here and then to the pumpkin patch later on.  It's going to be a beautiful weekend, weather wise too!

4 jars cauliflower, 2 jars pickled red peppers, 2 jars salsa

Have a great weekend!  Cheers :)

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My new love

Pinterest

I am in LOVE with Pinterest!  I can find all kinds of yummy recipes and fun art projects for the kids.  I posted the above link for you to get onto my board.  I have all kinds of things on there.  

Tonight I made a pinterest inspired meal.  Chicken Pot Pie...the ultimate in comfort foods!  Clint loved it so much, he asked for more! 

Everyday I go on there to find another fun art project for the kids to do.  Today we made leaf rubbings.  Another Pinterest inspired idea! 

I cannot believe how much I have used their awesome website!  I get so inspired when I log in! 

Buddies Forever

Here's my pic for the day.  My two kids just melt my heart!  We were at the park playing Red Light, Green Light and sat down for a bit to rest.  The two of them just sat down next to each other and I couldn't resist taking a picture of them.  

I am...

Here's a little bit more about me for those who do not know me:

I am a mother to two awesome children. 
I am married to my husband.  We will be celebrating our 14th anniversary in January. 
I am a big sister to my 3 other siblings, one sister and two brothers. 
I am a daughter to my parents and a grand-daughter to my one living grand-mother.
I am an aunt to many nieces and nephews.  I am also a sister-in-law.
I am a child care provider to many, many children over the past 15 years.
I am a friend to many of my favorite girls and guys.
I am also a friendly face to those who know me, but don't know me well enough to say hi.

But most importantly I am Lisa.  I am a strong woman who has gone through many life experiences and I'm sure I have a lot more to go through before I am done with this life.  I hope that I am an inspiration to some. 

There are a lot of people out there that have been an inspiration to me and I hope that I can do the same for someone who needs it. 

I am....

Abbi's 5th Birthday

1st attempt at a blog

First I just wanted to share a picture that is near and dear to my heart!  Here is a picture of my babies at age 5 and 2 1/2.  My how fast they grow.  My little guy is potty trained (as of Monday) and my big girl is such a big helper. There will be more to come.  This is my first blog post and I hope I get better at blogging and I'm pretty sure there will be more to come!