Spring Has Sprung

Spring break is finally here!!! It's a much needed break for our family from work and school, too bad all three of us can't enjoy it.

The last time I posted, in January, I mentioned that our family was about to embark on a new adventure...Paul got a new job!! What a blessing for our family to say the least. Paul has been a general contractor for a long time now and it just wasn't doing so well because of the economy. He worked very hard to keep income for our family and find work but eventually it go too slow and things got tough for us financially. We did the best we could but realized that a job working for *the man* would be so much better. Paul's brother helped him get an interview with his employer a while back and it never really went anywhere but finally in December he had another interview and got the job!!! I was so proud of him and happy. He is now a valve tech, whatever the heck that is?!?!?! He goes into mills and repairs valves. It's long hours and long days and includes a paycheck EVERY Friday, something we haven't had for a long time around here. This new job turned our family upside down for a few weeks but now we have a schedule. Paul has to get up with me now to leave for work and the past few weeks he's been leaving before me but we're adjusting. I now have to take Olivia to mom's everyday, which is hard. I really like to get to work early to get ready for the day, oh well. Paul also has to travel with this job. Let's just say being a single mom SUCKED, yeah it was hard. It was hard for me but even harder for Olivia, she isn't really into talking on the phone and is still just too young to understand. Thank goodness for Skype, next time he's gone we'll be ready and maybe she'll be more into talking to Daddy when she can see him.

Spring is here and we're very excited about it...we've been outside almost everyday until almost dark. It's thrown our schedule all out of wack but we can now eat as a family, which is nice. Paul has been getting home around 7 each night.

Olivia saw *somethin crawlin* on the porch the other day, it was a caterpillar that Nana so nicely picked up for her and put in her little bug hotel. I'm proud to say it's still alive 3 days later with some nice leaves for a snack. Let's hope it lives long enough to turn into a butterfly, I just think Olivia will love to see that.

Every spring we invest in a bubble gun so I don't have to blow bubbles. Every year it's a waste of money, until this year. I think I may have gotten my money's worth this time. This thing is pretty darn cool and was worth every penny. All I have to do it pour in bubbles and push the button and BAM bubbles everywhere!!! It even came with 6 AA batteries AND a bottle of bubbles for $10.99, yeah that's it. We've had it on for the past three days with pure enjoyment. I'm hoping it lasts all summer.

Getting Back Into It

After a few month absence from blogging I'm finally getting back into it. Life has been crazy around the Panke house to say the least. So much has changed since my last post but we're getting back into the swing of things and starting a new routine, thank goodness. I'll be back tomorrow with some pictures of Olivia and more details about what's been going on around here keeping me so busy I can't blog. I'm so glad spring break is here and I can catch up on everything!!

Out With The Old...

And in with the new. Hello 2011 it's nice to meet you.

I can't believe it's 2011 already, it seems like just yesterday that we were all afraid the world would end at the stroke of midnight on January 1, 2000. Here we are 11 years later still alive and well.

I'm not sad that 2010 has ended, it wasn't such a great year. Sure, great things did happen-Olivia turned 2, memories were made, fun times were had. But it did have it's share of not so great times too especially for Paul and his business. He did however make the best of it and work hard to keep going and for our family, for that I'm very proud of him.

Looking on to 2011 GREAT things are to come. Paul has been given a wonderful opportunity, more of which I'll share in the days to come. I can't see what else is in store for our little family this year.

Happy New Year to you all!!!

Look Mommy, I'm a Chef

What can I say my child is in LOVE with all things cooking. Really, I don't know where she gets it from....ok maybe from her Mommy, her Grandfather(my dad), and her Great Grandmother(my Nanny, my dad's mom). Any chance she gets she wants to get her hands dirty in the kitchen. It is absolutely adorable, most of the time. Tonight was no exception. See Olivia has a very limited repertoire of foods she eats--mainly mac & cheese, cheese, cheese quesadilla's, cheese pizza, and fruit. Did you see a pattern there-CHEESE!! My girl needs a cow she eats so much cheese. When we order pizza Olivia likes hers cheese, NO sauce. Yeah, my 2 year old likes to eat white pizza and no you can't get it in the frozen food section of Publix. So what is a Mommy to do so her child can eat pizza at home??? I bought fresh pizza dough and mozzarella cheese and we went to town in the kitchen tonight. She got to make her very own personal pan pizza in the comfort of her own kitchen. Not only did she have a great time making it I'm now able to make 4 of these bad boys for only $2.50, much better then $5 a piece from Pizza Hut.

Look Mommy, I'm a chef!!

I wish I took a picture of the smile she had on her face when we put her pizza in the oven. She was so proud of herself and I was just as proud of her. We of course had to put the light in the oven on so we could watch it bake. At dinner time she ate her pizza and told Daddy more then once that she made it herself.

Christmas 2010

I have to say this was probably the best Christmas of my life. Olivia has been so much fun, I couldn't have asked for a better gift! We have had a wonderful vacation too, I love being able to have time off during such a fun time of year. Here are the highlights of Christmas...

Olivia had her first Preschool party, oh what fun! Playing with some friends after having a snack. She also had her first Christmas program. We practiced her songs and poems for almost a month, she was doing a great job singing Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and Jingle Bells and this is what she did the entire time she was on stage...chewed on her fingers. Yeah, my kid who talks all the time, can't close her mouth didn't sing a word on stage. I was actually waiting for tears when she first got up there. Thank goodness there were no tears but there was no singing either. Oh well, whata memory we have now of her at age 2. I was a proud Mommy and she was certainly proud too. As soon as we got her after her performance she asked me "Mommy did you see me singing with my friends?" Of course I did honey you did GREAT!!

We made a visit to the man in red too...Santa Claus that is. After waiting in a COLD line for an hour and a half we got to go in a take a quick picture. She was so happy!!

Since we were off and Olivia has a flair for crafts we decided to make a snowman out of cotton balls. Oh what fun and what a mess, I think I'm still finding cotton balls under my bakers rack a week later. She is proud of her creation, whenever someone comes over she drags them to the pantry door and shows them her Snowman.

And finally we decorated cookies for Santa.

I offically win the bad mom award this year since I didn't take one single picture of our tree after Santa arrived or of Olivia opening her gifts or playing with them. I was so involved with her I didn't bother to grab my camera, not a one-BUMMER! I do however have a video that Olivia's Poppy took for me, thanks Stacy!! So if I can figure it out I'll load them so you can see her on Christmas morning with all her goodies.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas this year too!!

Wordless Wednesday

Photos courtesy of Julie Paisley Photography

Did Someone Say FREE?!?!?!?

So last week I was doing my nightly ritual of reading blogs I saw that Kerri posted about getting 50 FREE Shutterfly Christmas cards. Seriously, FREE Christmas cards Santa had come early. I LOVE to make our Christmas card every year since we had Olivia. It's so much fun but also so stressful, which picture to use.

I've used Shutterfly in the past to print pictures of my sweet Olivia, the quality is great and shipping is quick. While persuing Shutterfly to look for the perfect card I happened upon photo calendars, I think we may be getting one of these to see how Olivia has grown over the past year and the memories we've made. I also took a look at the photo mugs, what a cute idea for the coffee drinker in your life. I've also used their servies the past two years for our family Christmas card with lots of compliments. Here are some of my favorites this year, there were so many to pick from so you may or may not see one of them in a mailbox near you.

Now that I've looked at all my choices and narrowed it down, a little, I can't wait to see the rest of our Christmas photos we had taken a few weeks ago!!