Halo is

looking at me like I am totally crazy!

 She said grandma you are blinding me! 

 Really.... grandma... must you?   Yes dear, I must.... you are one month old plus two days.... so we must weigh and measure you too....we will be fast with it I promise....

 Mommy, Really I feel like I am falling over.... I weigh 7 and a half pounds now! 

 I can hold my head up for as long as I want, and i am 20 and a half inches long now... and wearing new born clothes in fact some of those are getting a bit tight.

 Auntie Ness, this really does not taste as good as it looks....

 Geeeee 36 pictures in 10 minutes.... sigh.  my belly is FULL!

 Do you and mommy really have to eat my toes??? that tickles you know!  yes, Halo we can't help our selves they are just so YUMMMY

 Grandma!!! I thought the picture session was over already.... No sweetums its just beginning... we have LOTS of days months and years to make you the subject of our cameras :)

 Had to share mommys lovely broken finger... that she keeps hitting me with then screaming at me like I did something wrong... tell her Halo I did not hit her finger... she hit me!

and now at 10 30 pm I decided to take all the bags of left over bread and make some bread pudding... will put pictures up in my food porn files on facebook later... and who knows might even share some here tomorrow :)   speaking of tomorrow... MJ goes back to work tomorrow... so we will see how our lives change with that... It's sure going to be tough to go to school, work , and be mommy... sigh BUT we know she CAN do it...

Friday and saturday

Bradely is ALWAYS hungry when he gets to grandmas house on Friday evenings... so I ususally have something in the crock pot ready for him ...

 he loves meatballs and carrots ... he is VERY serious about his eating and very independant.

 and he is a HAM and can not stay too serious when the camera is out!

 he was asleep by 930 pm... and spent alot of time in the swing again... he loves that darn thing.
Saturday has been set aside to me a kid and grand kid free day... so its just michael and I getting to do or NOT do whatever we want... we were hungry so i decided to make these... Bacon egg and cheese puff pastries... YUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMY

 they are so simple to make... but I dont measure exactly ... i was telling michael that i am very lucky because each time I make something like this I always have EXACTLY the right amount of filling... since several have asked how they are made....

1 package of puff pastries... (two sheets) cut in to 4 squares each.
(have your innards made before you do the pasteries.

this was a pound and a half of bacon fried hard and drained well
7 eggs 3/4 scrambled, As in not all the way done they will finish cooking in the oven.
a big spoon of ricotta cheese mixed in the eggs... when they are nearly done

I had a piece of a block of cheese (sharp cheddar) i grated it... it made maybe a cup and a half ...
when the eggs are done, mix the cheese in and then crumble the bacon up in it ... then when you cut (i use my pizza cutter)the pastries, (have flour handy as they get sticky) take a fork and poke then turnover and poke all over ... take a big spoon of mix and put in the middle of the square, take one egg and a spoon of water, (i just dip my finger in the egg wash and put it on two edges)put the egg wash on, fold over and take a fork and close the edges. the dough is a little stretchy if necessary to make it close over the filling...I put them on parchment paper so they do not stick to the pan and you dont need any kind of nonstick gunk to mess with the bread taste.
when all 8 are done take the remaing egg wash and brush over the tops of all, bake at 400 until golden brown.

if any of that does not make sense or you want to try this and want clarification please feel free to ask... they are awesome when made with a pound of your favorite sasuage.

Friday after her bath... Halo was giving me the EYE... she has on one of her new sleep sacks...she (grandma LOVES them )

 Today... 1-29-11 Halo is one month old... we will weigh and measure her on Monday when she is here again and keep a record like we have with sir Bradley... who is due a new set too...

Happy Saturday and  Have a blessed weekend!

since some have asked

this is the book i am reading... if you ever questioned anything in your life... get it read it... it is probably one of the BEST books On learning to know you and to have a guide to change your life in a biblical mannor :)

WHOA, where has the week gone?

it has been a crazy crazy week in so many ways.

the other night I made fried chicken, whipped potatos and sprouts, I dont fry chicken very often but, it was delish.

 Martha is back in school, I have probably mentioned that a few times, and I have Halo each day,  the school has put into enforcement stricter regulations on tardies.  this is a good thing but, very hard on Martha.

someone in the christian group I am in on facebook  posted this today...

Our task in this world as children of God is reconciliation. Wherever we go we see divisions among people; in families, communities, cities, and nations. All these divisions are tragic reflections of our separation from God. The truth that all people belong together as members of one family under God is hardly visible. Our task through Christ is to reveal this truth in the context and reality of everyday life.

 

this is very much in line with the book I am still reading about BOUNDARIES. (thank you little sister person )  It talks about how we need to set the correct boundaries and how when those boundaries are set correctly that we will be healthy, and happy, and following the word of God. 

 

Man, My boundaries are so messed up.   We all learn boundaries from the time we are born and then apply what we have learned as adults to our lives.  and since becoming a part of the World wide web, and meeting so many different and diverse people I have learned that we ALL have some sort of disfunction or boundary issues.  Some are much worse than others of course and many are dysfunctional due to society as a whole.

 

Needless to say I have been doing some serious soul searching and trying to figure out how to "FIX" my boundaries in order to help fix the relationships I have with people in my life.  I am very much guilty of wanting to live my life, a redo if you will, through my kids.... Wanting them to have all I never had to be all I never was and most of all wanting them to see and understand the hows and whys of it all... and thats messed up...

 

and in thinking this through I realise that I  messed up my chance (because i did not know any better) when they were young to do it "right the first time" and now I am having to work 10 times as hard to correct things now when they are for all purposes grown and on their own with their own kids to screw up royally.

 

I reckon this is called hind sight in many languages but, the difference is I want to change ME and MY issues and in turn HELP SHOW them how they can change theirs, to be better people to bring together a family that is broken apart and to teach Badley and Halo the right ways from the start, so they dont have to go through the insecurities and losses and BS that we have  put our selves through.

 

I have realised that, I can blame my parents for what they taught me. HOWEVER, It is now  my responsibility to take the responsibility for what I have chosen to do or not do and rest it right where it belongs... ON ME.  Because in the big scheme of things it is ultimately my responsibility to do what I need to do to be that healthy happy Child of God that i want to be.  Hopefully in doing so they will SEE more than they ever HEAR and decide for themselves that they WANT what I have and are willing to do whatever it takes to achieve that in their lives.

 

Does that mean that I think I am better than or have more than or am anywhere near where I want to be in this life... NO it absolutely does not, it means, that i am working for, trying to change, attempting to achieve what GOD wants for me and has planned for me.  I learned YEARS ago that being selfish is not a bad thing but somehow i missed where that needed to be applied.  I learned that there are good and bad in all things and in all people and that what they choose to do with that is totally up to them. 

 

I am learning that I can not change others no matter HOW much I may want to... MARTHA I AM SPEAKING TO YOU HERE .... I have learned that the road to being happy is often very rough and hard tough decisions have to be made and that I can not help you until I help myself FIRST.   so what i am saying is IF YOU believe that you and Halo deserve better then it is up to YOU to do what it takes to make it better.  Thats not to say that I will not go overboard to help you and halo but it is to say that I can not make your decisions for you and I can not take responsibility for the choices and decisions you have made in your life... you have to do that.

 

and since my darling halo is waking up I have to cut this bit of wisdom short, ponder things i am and have learned and figure out how to apply them in my life... and i will be returning to this subject as I continue to read and absorb more truths...

 

In the mean time Bradley is such a sweet boy and actually for the most part dealing really well with sharing grandma,  I am working very hard to teach him boundaries that are the correct boundaries that I did not teach his daddy when he was dealing with a new baby in the house (because i was NOT equipped with them myself to teach him)  He is very interested in Halo and when I am holding her, feeding her, burping her changing her he is very close by and very involved in all that goes on.  He spends alot of time cuddleing me when she is in my arms and he loves looking at her almost as much as she appears to love looking at him.  I noticed yesterday that she is much more attentive when he is here, she follows him with her eyes and even reaches (even though she is not aware that is what she is doing) out towards him. 

 

He is a bit rough at times but that is simply because he does not have the fine motor skills to control his little body when it comes to patting her on the back or rubbing her head or holding her hand.... But, unlike his dad instead of telling him NO or pushing him away I am working on helping him learn those skills he needs to be a close interacting part in her life.  It will do them both alot of good in the long run. :)

 

He is also loving the swing, he loved it when he was itty and he may have a bit of trouble sharing it with Halo, but its all good as she gets swing time when he is not here with us.

 he stayed in the swing for nearly 3 hours yesterday (not all at once but an hour here and hour there) he spent a good half hour in it after his momma got here to get him, he did not want to leave grandma yesterday and  had a fit when it was time to go, I half tricked him by telling him we would go bye bye he let me put his coat on and put mine on but when we went to the car and not the van... oh dear.

he can reach the floor and was pushing himself as fast and high as he wanted to go... the most funny to me... yeah i am twisted i know, was when he wanted to get in by himself and would back up to the seat then miss and sit on the floor... HYSTERICAL... it takes little to amuse me ya know.... I wish i could take pics while holding Halo so you could see what I am typing about... she is laying across my arms watching the ceiling fan as i type half asleep and smiling, she has the cutest darn smile whoops the eyes are rolling shes going to fall asleep soon....
and while I am thinking about it... there are TWO special ladies who apparently think very much alike, I dont think they follow each others but I have met them both through blogging and now we are friends on facebook.... on monday there was a box on my front porch, it had TWO of the newborn size HALO Sleep swaddlers (i had bought one before she was born for her and one for bradley hers is a million times too big but was the smallest they had)  anyway took a bit of questioning to figure out Ann had sent them to halo... she loves them she is in one now :)   THANK YOU ANN!!!!!!  then yesterday another package came with a larger HALO sleep sack that  will get alot of use later THANK YOU HALLIE!!!! and so now we have every size from newborn up to 3 t YAHOO, I SHOULD have invented these as they are FANTASTIC .... however we have a little girl person here who does not believe in back sleeping... she will ROLL over to her stomach with all her twisting and turnings.... so we are rolling recieveing blankets to put on each side to stop her... or at least slow her down.

Anyway I have a date with Cory and Bradley and Halo later today, gonna take Cory to lunch for his Birthday (a bit late) he turned 23 on the 18th OH MY GOD where did my baby go??? WHEN??? HOW??? have the years flown by so fast.... SIGH HAPPY Thursday to you all and GOD BLESS :)

weekend wrap up

Thursday Bradley decided to "help" with the vacuum,

 then he decided that it makes a better drum than vacuum.

 He loves anything that will make music for him, he still plunks on the piano when he is here but, if I get the camera out he runs to it.

 I have Halo while her mom is in school and decided to try to get some pics on Friday, It is cold here in the south so we snapped a few shots while changing her.  The flash did not go off on this one

 but this one it did.  She was working on eating her fist.   oh I love those rolls and creases on her arms....

 so I had to hurry and get her dressed so she could eat.  Shes a growing girl and eating 3 oz at a time sometimes even 4 oz

 those big big eyes will follow you and enchant you :)

 shes gettting an extra chin, and her cheeks are filling out some,  I love baby rolls.

 and FEET... baby feet are just delishious

 These cinnamon buns are almost as good as baby feet, and have about a billion more calories, but WHOS COUNTING RIGHT?

 this pic is out of order it is before they were baked, they were just finishing up the second rising

 Bradley and I shared some... and OH MY HOW YUMMY!

 He was asking for MORE.  they are ewwwwie  gooey bites of total bliss.....

My Sweet boy is gone home now and we will see him again Wednesday.... Hope you have a wonderful rest of the weekend!  God Bless.

a day with the babies

Martha remembered to bring me the adapter for my Micro SD card (mines here somewhere but I cant find it) so I loaded 389 photos off my phone these were taken today

Bradley LOVES the bath, he says BA BA BA *long A there... when he wants a bath and Lord help you if you dont have time when HE is ready LOL... But like his momma said He knows he gets a bath after supper so why would lunch be any different?

 when i was YOUNGER and MUCH MORE FLEXABLE I sat like bradley does I love seeing littel kids sit this way it is just so cute and then they can play with toys between their knees.

Did I mention this boy LOVES the bath???

 Halo was sleeping, she is filling out alot now and I am willing to bet is over 7 pounds now... she was 6 pounds 15 oz last week at the drs.

 She has the longest softest itty bitty fingers... and of course grandma is wrapped all around them  :)

 she wont keep those huge eyes open with the flash... totally grandmas child  in that respect.

 she does not realise that she is NOT supposed to hold her head up for minuets at a time like this ... nor is she supposed to roll over to her stomach but she sure does...

today...was kinda funny in a way... Halo got her about 735, she was sleeping and Bradley got here at 815 ish... He played and played and finally fell asleep between 930 and 10 am, Halo woke at 10,  she was drifting back off around noon, and Bradley woke up starving at 12 15.... the afternoon was a bit more hectic as both were up and bradley isnt exactly jealous but he had to climb up on grandma and lay his head beside halos... he tries to pat her back and gives her sugars it is too darn cute.

well its coffee time so have a wonderful NIGHT and great Friday!

what I'd really like to say

I can't say because I am still too angry to not cuss up a storm and I really try not to do that often... so instead I will say that Bradley and I had a wonderful day yesterday.  He is feeling better but was tired and a bit whiney when he got here so he had some scrambled eggs then a sit on grandmas lap until he fell asleep and then when he got up at 12 17 we got dressed and went to the grocery store and scored big in the meat department.

in the afternoon it was nice enough out to spend a bit of time on the front porch and take a few pics.

Yes he was thinking something up :)

 and is so darn cute at it too... he had lost a boot in the house and refused to be bothered with going to find it.

 and of course the first thing he did was to climb up an look over the top of the hand rail....

 Last night Michael and I decided on chicken and dumplings, I have been wanting to try my hand at making this forever.  I have never made dumplings from scratch before... and now Have ruined myself to yet another food that I will never be able to buy out in the public again... because these were too simple and so perfect...

Well, halo SHOULD be here in a few minutes then around 8 Bradley should get here so It is officially my first day with both babies and me all alone.  will let you know how that all goes!
Have a Happy and blessed Thursday!

Mj's dr appt

was this morning,  She gets to go back to school tomorrow so we went and picked up her schedule and let her councleor see Halo.  she still has a few weeks before she can go back to work... she was none too happy about that but, it may be a really good thing to give her time to catch back up in school and get herself acclimated to being a student and mommy.

Today My baby son is 23... I saw him for a few minutes in town as he needed to borrow a bit of cash to get his car tags ... its a pain when they are due on your birthday but... a necessary evil!

well I am feeling a NAP coming on :)  catch you on the flip side!

quickie update.

Halo's dr appt....
he is a happy dr.
he said he will see her again when she is 2 months old....
ok ok ok to the good stuffs...
she has gained 1 pound... he said they expect babies to gain about an ounce a day and she exceeded that!
she has also gotten 1/2 an inch taller.  so she is 20 inches now.
she is fitting into alot of her new born clothing and some of the premie stuff is too small now. :)

have a great night :)

it is sunday night again....

wow where does the time go?  well lemmie see what has been going on in the house of Hall this past weekend...
Friday...i spent the better part of the day running with Martha and Halo,  we went to the bank and to walmart and wandered around and picked up some things then to cracker barrel for lunch.  I took them home and came home to get ready for Bradley to come for the evening.  then Martha texted me begging for me to keep halo so she and mike could go out... told her I do not normally keep kids for dates only for work and school but this ONE time I would keep her.  they were supposed to go from 8 to 11 but it ended up being 9 to 12... which worked ok because it was 11 45 before Stephanie got Bradley... Thank God Michael was home to help out as both kids were wide open.  Bradley is on meds for ear infections and was TOTALLY BOUNCING off the walls... and Halo was starving... or so she seemed to think then had to poo two and a half diapers FULL... have mercy... Halo has a dr appt Monday I am curious to see how much weight she has gained, according to the health dept a pound... but I trust one set of scales best.

Saturday... Michael and I had a day to ourselves... mostly.  My cousin Pauline had surgery on her Achilles tendon Friday and so I decided to cook for her on Saturday so around noon I went and bought stuff for a couple pot roasts.  Then ran by her house and got it all done and together in the crock pot for her and her hubby (who was at work) and her son.  They liked it :)  then last night we went out on a date to one of our favorite restaurants in Augusta ... THE GRAND BUFFET it is one of the best buffet's around ever... it has Japanese, Chinese, and American foods... it is huge I love the crab legs Michael loves the variety... it was delish...  we had decided to take a nap in the evening...i was wide awake until 3 am... ARGGGG

then today had to get up and pick up before bradley got here for the day while his momma and daddy were at work.   I made a pot roast for us for tonight :)  after Stephanie picked up Bradley this evening Schlena called and came over to spend the evenign and have dinner with us.  It was a blast... We had a DVD that my sister in law had converted from a OLD VHS from 1988 of my mother in law and her sisters and some cousins... My Neice Erin had made a copy for us and we had not taken the time to watch it... IT WAS WONDEFUL... Thank you again Erin!  We laughed We cried and we had a ball remembering the people who are no longer here on earth with us.  and now its BEDTIME....

tomorrow Halo has her Dr appointment and Tuesday Martha has her appointment... she is so beyond ready to goback to work and school...I am ready for her to go too... pain in my ... she is :) love you Martha ... dont always like you but, do love you.
Stephanie is out of school tomorrow for MLK day so I wont have Bradley and Tuesday her mom is keeping him so that all works out well with the dr appointments... and Tuesday my baby son will be 23... sheesh where do the years go???

Well I so hope you all have a wonderful next few days and will catch up soon :)
God Bless :)

Merry Christmas to me

My niece gave me my christmas present yesterday :) She got it back in November but between all going on in our lives had forgotten to give it to me until yesterday. I love Christmas in January.  and I LOVE this present!!

whats funny is I had actually looked at one simular to it and nearly bought it... but did not totally love it so refrained... I LOVE this one it is perfect ... so now begins collecting and printing and keeping all my favorite recipies...
SO tell me what is your favorite recipe... I so do want to hear what you love to make and what your family loves to eat :)  
Help me make this the best recipe keeper ever!!!!!
Cant wait to hear from you all!
Happy FRIDAY to you!
Laura

snow and ice in Georgia

As you all know it has been what they are calling a winter situation here in the south.

We did not get a whole lot of snow... maybe an inch at most... it has been the ICE that has made things so very crazy here.

 the pond has not frozen solid as we have not lost power, and as long as the pumps are working the water continues flowing and only parts will actually freeze

 the part closest , the circle will freeze and actually still is frozen today

 this is the dog wood in the back covered in ice... it was actually very pretty

 Michael decided to crank  up all the vehicles on Monday/ or maybe Tuesday I cant recall which, and let them warm and get the snow and Ice off of them, he broke my plastic dust pans handle off as the cold made it brittle

 here you can see where Hank had walked through the snow before the ice came and where Michael walked and it cracked a bit but not much... this part was so slick that Martha's BF could not walk up it... we still are not positive how she made it up it.

 there were bunches of birds at the feeder but when I went out to take their pictures they all flew off except this one who came back to pose for me.

 the fish do fine in the pond all winter long they go dormant and if the pond SHOULD freeze solid you are not to break the ice as they could be hurt by it.  you simply melt with hot water an air hole... or just leave it be... 5 years ago when we were without power for 6 days we just left it alone and they all did great.

 these lazy bums are playing on the shovel... complaining about how bitter the cold is.

 more pics of the fish swimming about.

 and these two bums kicked back under the mushroom full of ice reading and collecting mushrooms :)

 We have STILL today got ice and icicles on the roof and half the front yard is still solid ice.

temps are to get down to 16 tonight... so anything that did manage to melt today will be solid frozen in the morning :)   Hope you all have a wonderful rest of Thursday and Happy Friday :)