First official field trip of the summer

Welcome to the insanity of a Colorado "spring"...one weekend there's 2 feet of snow and then a week 1/2 later...sunny and 75 degrees. Oh well, roll with the punches has become the name of the game around here. The schnitz and I decided to celebrate the gorgeous weather we're having today by taking a field trip, just the two of us! We got dressed, jumped in the car and headed to the Littleton Historical Museum.

What a fun place!

Here's a great description of the museum from their website: "The Littleton Museum is a 14-acre site encompassing an 1860s farm and 1890s farm with costumed interpreters, Littleton's original log schoolhouse, a 1903 working blacksmith shop, and an ice house." It's also the only Smithsonian affiliated museum in Colorado. Not only does this mean it's well-maintained, it also means it's FREE...even better!:-)

Rusty and I had SUCH a great time hanging out there this morning. I decided that since this was his day, that I wouldn't be so intent on us seeing everything, but would follow his lead as to what he found interesting. This basically meant that in 2 hours we only saw about 1/3 of what was there, but also meant that it was really relaxing and that we have more than enough left to see to justify a return trip with friends on another beautiful day!:-)

A view of the 1890's farm (we'll have to make it to the 1860's farm next trip:-)

Ok, I don't care if there was a spring hooked up to the seat...I'm really thankful for my nice comfy car!

Turns out that 1890's tools are just as fascinating as the more modern ones....who knew?

All the farm animals that he doesn't normally see and this goose was fascinating enough that we had to sit down on the sidewalk and watch him eat. Too funny! To the schnitz's credit, it WAS a really pretty goose:-)

The turtles were a hit, but he had a hard time understanding what the tree limb was doing in the water...he's pretty sure that God's going to fix it and put it back with the tree. Told him we'd check on that when we come back!

I'm not sure that you would have seen a farmer taking it easy like this in the 1890's, but since then we've instated child labor laws, so.....;-)

The schnitz found the blacksmith fascinating and I have to admit, I found it really interesting too.

Side note...I found myself thinking while watching the blacksmith heat the iron in order to get it to bend into the triangle he was making. When the iron was cool, he didn't even try to bend it, it was far too resistant. However, the hotter he heated the iron, the more pliable it became. It was a reminder that, as unpleasant as it came be to go through difficult times in life, whether it's related to your job, family, friends, etc, the more difficult things are, the more it becomes possible for God to mold us into what He wants us to be. As tough as I find it to actually wish for rough times in life, I do hope that I remember this the next time I go through a valley (let's be honest...there's always another valley) and pay attention to how God may be trying to bend and shape me to be more like Him. And also to realize that, while it's not easy, there is a blessing inherent in it, if I only pay attention and submit to what He is trying to do in my life.

And finally, the kind of conversations you can have with a two year old who is obsessed with fire trucks:-)

Does it get any better than this?

Ok, these are the things that are absolutely guaranteed to melt my heart. Last night, I'm in the kitchen getting dinner ready and my sweet schnitz runs in, hugs my legs and says, "I love you!!". He then proceeds to have me pick him up, gives me a kiss on the cheek and a tight hug. He stayed that way and cuddled with me for the next couple minutes "petting" my arm that he informed me was "so soft". Oh my.

And just in case that wasn't enough, as we are eating dinner, he informs me three different times that the "mashed 'tatoes are nummy" and that "mommy is a good cooker!".

Just had to share because this mama went to bed feeling VERY loved and appreciated!:-) Seriously, who needs a Mother's Day gift with stuff like this?

A new resolve to carpe diem

I am truly embarrassed to admit this, but even after almost 3 years of motherhood I still have to really fight my tendency to think of my days in terms of my own "to do" list rather than appreciating the time I have to spend with my child. The crazy thing about this is that I have a beautiful, intelligent and incredibly entertaining son. With the exception of the normal childhood tantrums, he is honestly just a LOT of fun to spend time with. He's had a sense of humor that has astounded me since around 6 months old and now that he can talk? Truly a trip. I have really liked all of the stages that he's gone through from cuddly baby on, but have to say that this is my favorite so far. So why do I spend so much time worrying about what time the laundry and dishes get done when these years are going to speed by and before long he'll be a teenager who wants to do anything other than hang out with his mama?


So I've decided, especially with the wonderful days of summer (at some point) descending upon us, to try to be far more intentional in spending time with this awesome kid that God has blessed us with and more flexible with my "to do" list. Spend more time letting him sit in my lap to read books, play at the park, and just enjoy him.

I started making good on this new resolution last Wednesday as we were leaving MOPS. We have a fantastic playground at our church and as we were walking past it to get to the car, Rusty very excitedly began telling me how he had gone on the slide and it was "so fun!!". I continued to the car and then realized that it was a beautiful day and we didn't actually have any reason in the world that we had to leave right then. So, I turned around and we proceeded to have a great time playing on the equipment for the next 45 minutes and it was just fun! Why on earth don't I think of that stuff more often?

The next day was Thursday and I had to go into the office for the day. We got home at about 5:30 and it was so nice that it seemed pretty much mandatory that we spend at least a little bit of time playing outside. Dinner could wait awhile. Daddy came home and we decided (with a bit of prompting from the schnitz) to take a walk to the fire station that's about a two minute walk behind the house. As we walked up, an older fireman saw us coming, greeted us and told us he'd grab a rookie to show us around. We ended up having an awesome, impromtu field trip! And for whatever reason, I had grabbed my camera and so even got a few pictures.

Off to see the fire trucks...

Talk about getting to see the trucks up close!

Mr. Brian was so great with the schnitz and spent at least 30-40 minutes showing him everything. Of course, his favorite part was working the flashlight on the helmut!

How perfect is this? Just as our tour was ending, they got a call and we got to see the whole crew in action!


Heading home...

While writing this post, I kept hearing the words of Trace Adkins' song, "You're Gonna Miss This" and thought it would be an appropriate note to end on. Now go hug your kiddos!:-)

Trace Adkins More CMT Music More CMT Music Videos

Freaky weather, family time and football!

I should probably start this post as my friend, Amanda, did by asking, "can you call yourself a blogger if you never update your blog?", but figure I'll just skip that and jump right in:-)

Last weekend, the husband, kiddo and I jumped into the car for a roadtrip to Lubbock, Texas...home of the Texas Tech Red Raiders! Since Brad and I both graduated from Tech, we are fortunately on the same page when it comes to these things and really enjoy our trips back to west Texas. The reason for this particular trip was to see Tech's spring game and to hang out with Brad's side of the family.

As the date of departure grew closer, the weather forecasts for here on the front range started sounding ominous with warnings of up to 2 feet of snow starting on Friday. Oddly enough, we didn't really relish the idea of extending an 8 1/2 hour due to snowy roads and so we decided to leave on Thursday morning. And so, we set off, feeling rather proud of ourselves for avoiding "unsavory driving conditions". Well, we DID miss driving on all of the snow (although there was still quite a bit on the ground when we got home Sunday), but ended up driving through special west Texas weather between Amarillo and Lubbock. Can you say hail, thunderstorms, flooding and tornado warnings covering the entire Panhandle? Just to give you an idea of what really crazy spring weather can look like:

FYI...this is not snow...it's hail!

For anyone who is wondering (as my friend Janice did) there are no lakes, rivers or even creeks in this water-covered area normally, just open fields.

After being stopped for 30 minutes on I27 so that they could remove the hail from the road, we finally made it to Lubbock after about 9-9 1/2 hours on the road. Crazy!

The rest of the weekend was far more pleasant than eventful. On Friday, Brad, Rusty and I headed to the Science Spectrum where we'd heard they had a "Monsters of the Deep" exhibit. Anyone who has or has had a 2 year old boy can understand why we had to check out the monsters:-)


Apparently, his life long dream is not being eaten by a shark;-)

After finishing up with the "monsters", we had lunch at one of Brad's favorite spots (??)...Der Wienerschnitzel because he presumably wanted to show Rusty the airplane. This was a big hit!

Brad's parents, and his brother Kip with his wife, Sarah and daughter, Kate, arrived that afternoon. We had a great time getting to visit with them and it was so much fun to see the schnitz and his cousin Kate finally get to play together. We had a great time visiting that night and then Saturday headed to Tech's spring game. The weather was beautiful and we had a great time!

We had a great time on our trip and can't wait to see the fam' again in July AND for Tech's football season to start in a mere 3+ months:-) GO TECH!

Italian Bread Pudding

I just realized that I haven't actually posted any recipes in quite a while and figured I'd try to rectify that real quick! This is a recipe that I made for my Christmas brunch and will absolutely be keeping in the make-again file. I actually made it for our women's bible study, as well. Put it this way, both times the casserole dish was all but licked clean:-) It's especially good for those times that you need to bring a "brunchy" kind of casserole to church, MOPS, that sort of thing. Easy to throw together and since it has to sit in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours, you can do it the night before and just throw it in the oven the next morning. Enjoy!

Italian Bread Pudding

Prep: 15 min., Chill: 4 hr., Bake: 55 min., Stand: 5 min.

5 large eggs
*1 cup milk
1 1/2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon dried basil
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 to 1/4 tsp. ground red pepper1
(9.5-oz.) package frozen mozzarella-and-Monterey Jack cheese Texas toast, chopped
3 plum tomatoes, seeded and chopped (about 1 1/4 cups)
8 fully cooked bacon slices, chopped
1 cup grated Cheddar cheese
Garnish: fresh basil leaves

1. Whisk together first 6 ingredients until blended.
2. Layer half of Texas toast in a lightly greased 11- x 7-inch baking dish; sprinkle with half each of tomatoes, bacon, and cheese. Repeat layers once. Pour egg mixture over toast and cheese. Cover and chill 4 to 24 hours.
3. Preheat oven to 325°. Bake casserole 50 to 55 minutes or until center is set. Let stand 5 minutes before serving. Garnish, if desired.

*1 1/4 cups egg substitute may be substituted.

Note: For testing purposes only, we used Pepperidge Farm Mozzarella and Monterey Jack Texas Toast. (Karrie's note: I used a generic store brand that was $2 cheaper than the Pepperidge Farm and it tasted just fine:-)

Texas Toast Bread Pudding: Omit dried basil, tomatoes, and bacon. Proceed with recipe as directed.

Sausage Roll Casserole: Omit dried basil, tomatoes, and bacon. Increase cheese to 1 1/2 cups. Substitute 1 (18-oz.) package frozen sausage wrap rolls for Texas toast. Break apart sausage rolls; cut each roll crosswise into thirds, cutting across sausage. Proceed with recipe as directed.

Note: For testing purposes only, we used Sister Schubert's Sausage Wrap Rolls.

Yield: Makes 6 servingsSouthern Living, DECEMBER 2008

Christmas 2008 Part II

Ok, as I said, my last post had gotten to a crazy length and so here is my promised second post to wrap up the holidays!:-)

My parents were able to stay with us until the afternoon of Christmas day. At that point, they had to get on the road to head back to Kansas City as they had company coming themselves just a few days later. However, our holiday celebrations continued as Brad's parents flew in from Dallas on Christmas evening! They were able to stay until the following Monday which gave us plenty of time for a pleasant and relaxing visit. (For any mothers of toddlers are wondering...the schnitz recovered from his desire for constant spoiling much more quickly than expected after being surrounded by all of his doting grandparents:-)

Time to show Granddad the fancy new tools!

Woohoo...a Rangers baseball set from the grandparents! If only summer weren't seven months away.....

Brad was very excited about his copy of Thucydides. Hmmm...think I'll let him enjoy it first:-)


Helping Grammy unwap his new Texas Tech sweatshirt from Uncle Kip and Aunt Sarah. Can you say, "Double T, Texas Tech"? The schnitz can!

Ah...more Tech-wear. If only this model was as cute as the last one!

Granddad's wondering when he can start working with the schnitz on his form.

Who doesn't enjoy an episode (or two or three) of Corner Gas?!






















You think he enjoys spending time with Granddad...just a little?

Christmas Fun

Wow....the holidays have been a lot more of a whirlwind than I imagined they would be this year! But, in true New Year's Eve resolution fashion, I'm going to try to give a bit of a synopsis and be a bit better about my blogging this year.

Our season of craziness actually started with Rusty and I making a trip to Kansas City to visit with my paretns. It was so much fun and we wouldn't have missed it for the world; I say that in spite of the 14 hours it took us to drive back over black ice in western Kansas!

The reason that we had to push on through the black ice was because we had to get back to ready everything for my 4th Annual Christmas Brunch. I started this, obviously, four years ago for a variety of reasons. I really love the opportunity to get together for some girl time, Christmas is such a festive time, I love bringing together friends from all different areas of my life, and it's a great chance for me to try out fun recipes. If that sounds like I'm using my friends as guinea pigs, that might be the case, but so far no one seems to mind!

What can I say? I just felt the need to show off my yummy brunch food:-)

Church friends: Janice, me, Laura and Amanda

Work friends: Jeannine, Deena, Lisa and me

And so fun to have Mom and Aunt Ruth join us this year!

Even Rusty enjoyed himself with one of his favorite friends, Ashleigh.

And he even provided some entertainment for my cousin, Andrea and her daughter, Ashton:-)

The brunch was SO much fun, but once it was over, we quickly moved on to more holiday entertainment. The next thing on the agenda, was to attend an event called Winter Wonderlights at a local museum. They places lighted figures and Christmas lights all along a path that encircles the museum, had a small Santa's village with live reindeer, a craft area inside and several showings of "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" on the IMAX screen. How cool is that? We will definitely be attending this event again next year!

Enjoying the lights with Mimi.

Coloring the walrus puppet is serious business!

Waiting for his viewing of the "Grinch"...how cool is it to see it for the first time on such a big screen??

You'd think those big antlers would make him at least a little nervous, but no:-)

A quick pic with Mama before ending our evening o' fun.

A few days later, Christmas Eve arrived. We attended service at our church that afternoon and then headed home for a "dinner" of appetizers, the reading of the Christmas story and the opening of just one present. On my side of the family, tradition dictates that the one present opened on Christmas Eve is always pajamas (my mother's way of ensuring that everyone was decently clad for pictures on Christmas morning!) The schnitz was excited about the idea of opening presents, right up until the point that he figured out that none of the gifts contained cars! I think it's going to take a while for this particular tradition to grow on him;-)

A fun gadget from Papa made up for the disappointment a little, but Mimi gets the benefit. Sorry Papa! Life's just like that sometimes!:-)

The next morning was a little more, shall we say, gratifying to his little two year old heart! Between his GeoTrax and bath toys from Mama and Daddy and legos and tool set from Mimi and Papa, life was certainly looking up!

The rest of the morning was spent helping the rest of us open our gifts and cuddling with Mimi and Papa (kitty Louie got a little bit of that too, as you'll see:-)

Ok, this has got to be in the running for "longest blog post ever" and so I'm going to do Christmas Part II in another post!

Hope you enjoyed the first part of our Christmas holiday:-)