Project 365ish

I wanted to do this great project where I took (and posted) pictures every day for a year. This was supposed to give me a few months practice before Baby Girl got here so I would be in the habit of taking daily pictures. I have not done such a great job, but I will post what I have and attempt to carry on! I want to capture some of our day-to-day moments instead of just breaking out the camera at
Christmas, birthdays, etc. I am going to backdate the photos to the date they were actually taken. :)
Today's photo: what our school table looks like most of the time. My kids are addicted to crayons and markers, although they are currently on a marker ban. Landon decorated his nightstand with guns and deer, while Allie colored herself green one day while I was in the bathtub. I knew we were in trouble when I heard her tell Landon, "Look Landon, I'm not white anymore, I'm green!"

Because I don't want to forget

I read recently that women lose brain cells in late pregnancy- well let me tell ya, I believe it! The kids have said some incredibly funny things this week and I can only remember 2 of them! So I will write them down before I forget:

Sunday morning, I asked Landon if he was ready for Kindergarten on Monday. He looked at me in surprise and said, "What? I thought I got off of kindergarten for hunting season!" Oh, what a good Hays he makes!

Monday afternoon we were driving to dinner and Allie was whining. We are trying to get her to tell us in an "unwhiny" voice when something is bothering her. So Ben asked her to tell us her problem. She said immediately, "My pants aren't straight, I don't have a belt on, and you just ran that stop sign!" Oh goodness we laughed and laughed. Which she did not find funny. (on a side note, the stop sign was not run, I guess she expected us to sit there all day!)

Girls' night!

Saturday night I was in the homeland and my sister was nice enough to get together a group of girls from my previous church together to hang out, eat, and talk. We had a fabulous time! My cousin from out-of-state was also able to join us. I miss these ladies!

The nephew's 1st birthday!

My sweet little nephew A and my beautiful sister Lindsey. Brother-in-law was not home from work yet. Isn't the baby so adorable?

You must go here...

I recently re-discovered a blog I had briefly seen a while back. Since I am taking an extended break from Facebook, that gives me permission to peruse more blogs, right? Anyway, as I said, I had looked at this blog before a few months ago and found a very, very good recipe.. Buttered Rosemary Rolls. But then I never went back. Why? I am not sure. But this week I stumbled upon it again and am hooked. Since Monday I have made three of her recipes and have three more ready to go tomorrow night for dinner!
Who is this person taking over my kitchen? The Pioneer Woman. She lives in the middle of nowhere and apparently uses cooking as her therapy, and thank goodness for that!
I have also made Mystery Rolls... now that is a winner and I will be repeating! Creamy bleu cheese and butter all on bread? Yes, please.
I also made this Pasta with tomato cream sauce. It was very good as well, but may need a little tweaking.
Tonight I splurged big time and made these Vanilla scones. Are they good? Well my husband is camping in the backyard with the kids tonight and everytime he comes in, he snatches one. So I guess they are okay. :)

I will give reviews after doing the cooking tomorrow night.. I can't wait! And this gets my mind off the fact I still have seven weeks till this baby girl gets here!

PS If you go to this website, prepare to be addicted AND to buy lots of butter!

camping trip

Ben took the kiddos backyard camping. This included a night swim, followed by sitting by the fire. Only in Houston!

Baking, and cooking, and frying, and sauteeing...

Can you tell what my daughter and I have been up to lately? Making lots of yummy things to eat, that's what. It has been really fun teaching her- she can already crack an egg at age 3!
I knew we had been cooking a lot when she told me (10/5) that "eggs, milk, and sugar, they are precious in His sight." Got a few little themes of the house mixed up!

Allie brought mommy "flowers." They were beautiful!

night with Nikki

Couldn't choose between these two photos:

Allie with her "hair twin" Nikki. A great friend to the whole family, but especially Mama! :)



Not sure what Landon was doing here, but it sure was funny.

Mrs. Rita

My kids love their teacher, Mrs. Rita. She is such a sweetheart. Of course, this picture was taken the day Landon told her some not-nice things and had to get in trouble when he got home. But overall, they love her!



(this is the day I officially wanted to start Project 365)

So Glad I Said Yes!

Nine years ago today, I made one of the best decisions ever- to say "YES!" when Ben asked me to be his wife. I love him so much!

(not my exact ring but close enough!)

Isn't this precious?

(scroll down to the very bottom of the blog and hit "pause" on the pink music player or you won't be able to hear the kids!)

A few of my favorite things

I have been wanting to do a post like this for a while- since I started using coupons and shopping at CVS I have used many new products that I may have not tried otherwise- and some of them free or almost free! I know I always hate to drop $5 or more on a item and not know if I will like it, so thought I would share. There are also items on here that are not-so-cheap, but worth the money.

Here are some that I really, really like. Unfortunately, I am not getting paid for my opinions. :(




Garnier Fructis Anti-Humidity Smoothing Milk-
I cannot take credit for this one- my friend Fabia recommended it. But I did have a coupon for it! I think with the $1 coupon I paid about $2 for it and IT WORKS! I put on my hair right after I shower, then blow dry and straighten and it actually helps keep my hair from getting too frizzy. No one knows better than a Texas woman how huge this is! I don't think there is any place more humid than Houston, at least in the US. :)




Comet Bathroom Spray-
I admit this is nothing too exciting because it has to do with one of my least favorite activities, cleaning. But this works really well. In fact, I cleaned our shower this morning and it made it so much fun! Not really, but I did spray our hard-water-covered glass door with it, and after a few minutes all I did was swipe a few times with one of my other favorites (to come), rinse, and Voila! Very clean door.
You can sometimes get a coupon in the Sunday paper, making this about $2.





This brings me to my next item- Mr. Clean Magic Eraser. Can I get an amen? I have removed everything from crayon marks on our flat, white (ugly) paint to the crusted-on food inside my microwave (I mean, I;m sure I could, if I let the microwave get that dirty. :) ) I get coupons in the mail sometimes for 75 cents off, and they are many times on sale at Target for 1.50, making this a very cheap cleaner! Oh, and I do NOT recommend store brands. This is one item that just hasn't worked as well for me.

Stay tuned for more...
the little ones who formerly put the crayon marks on my paint are about to be home from pre-school!

Do you have any products that you really like?

Hays Baby #3- week 20 already?!?!?!

I just realized that I had only briefly referenced my pregnancy on the blog... since I do such an amazing job keeping up with it, I wanted to give a better update!

I am due November 22 but most likely the baby will be taken by the 15th. The doctor knows I grow 3-month old babies and doesn't want it to get too big! Who wants to bet this one weighs 10 pounds, 10 ounces along with his/her brother and sister?

Some things about the pregnancy:
*I found out March 24th I was pregnant and was so excited! We had been trying for over a year.
*I calculated my due date (on my own) to be November 22nd, and when I had my first ultrasound, the date was spot-on! This had not happened before!
*I was a bit nauseous in the first trimester, but nothing to complain about.
*I have craved cereal in every pregnancy. With this one, new cravings were Chick-Fil-A (which didn't last long, it was too expensive!) and Taco Bell. Such healthy cravings I have!
*I felt the very first movement (very, very slight) at 14 weeks, which is also when I felt the other 2. At 17 weeks the movement was more defined and now at 20 weeks unmistakable!
*I also love that Ben felt the baby move the exact same time as the others- 20 weeks. (7/7/2010)
*This pregnancy has gone by so much more quickly, probably due to the fact that I have 2 others that need my attention. I'm sure a 2 1/2 week vacation helped, too! :)
*We are probably not going to find out the gender of the baby. Well, we will eventually, but not before the birth. ;)
*I can't wait to meet this new little one!

Australia- finally!

So we have been back for almost two months already- how can it be? I decided since I had a free day to try and catch up on some more pictures. I am going to backdate them so it doesn't look like I am so behind- but we all know I really did it in July. ;)
This are just a few pictures of the general area around our bed and breakfast- in an area called The Rocks. It is in the area that was first settled in Australia- and let me tell you- it is NOT stroller friendly! It really was beautiful though. Makes me miss it so much looking at the pictures.

Yep, the some of many stairs that we had to carry our double stroller (aka pram) up and down many many times. Sometimes I would lug the stroller while Ben lugged a sleeping child. :)



The sign for our B&B is behind the kids.







I believe this was George Street- ran behind our B&B and had lots of cute little shops and restaurants.



This was our last day in Sydney, and let me say I did not have a good attitude about leaving! I was very excited to visit with the family, but oh how I loved this city! Next time we are going to have to plan a longer trip so we can stay here longer!

This is a picture of the top of Sydney Harbor Bridge- we walked across it but did NOT climb to the top!



Ben and the kids on the bridge. We were pretty nervous walking across so they mostly had to stay in the stroller! Looks like Landon may have been having a bit of an attitude as well!



This was cool- a prison in the water, similar to Alcatraz. (viewed from the bridge as well)
We didn't know about it until our last full day, but we will be touring it the next time!



Another view from the bridge. It looks like a church but we learned that many buildings that look like a church are sadly, no longer churches. So I'm not sure what this is. :)



Had to get a picture of this... one lady who was also staying in our B&B told us about it on her last morning- she walked out on the bridge just to get a picture of it!

Day 4- botanical gardens and back to the beach!

Sydney Aquarium- day 3

Manly beach- day 2

Manly beach






The ferry ride to the beach... this is where we are retiring! :)



This is this year's Christmas card picture! ha