Happy Golden Birthday Grace!

I can't believe that 5 years ago today (after 40 hours of labor) I gave birth to my daughter Grace.

She was 6 weeks early due to toxemia, but still weighed in at 6 lbs. 9 ozs. pretty hefty considering.


This picture was taken a day after we got home from Milwaukee (after her heart surgery). If you look close you can still see the iv mark on her hand. She is in a newborn outfit, she did drop some weight and nothing fit her right, but htat was ok, she was still a little peanut.

I think of everything that we have been through in the past 5 years and what the future holds. I am proud to call this little girl my daughter. She has her moments, but for the most part I wouldn't change a thing.

One of my favorite things is how loving she is. She tells me every day that no matter how old she gets she will never stop cuddling with me (as a parent I know that this will end, sooner rather than later, but I keep my hopes high that it will last for quite awhile yet.


She also asked me if now that she was 5, it meant that she couldn't snuggle in bed with us anymore. She has a bad habit (as well as my younger daughter, Ella) of getting up in the middle of the night and crawling in bed with my hubby and I. I know that I should take them back to their own beds, but I am greedy for the time with them so I leave them. They will be on their own soon enough.


So, tonight it's off to the restaurant of her choice. She would normally choose Chinese, but because they won't sing happy birthday to her we think she might want to go to The Olive Garden.

I don't care as long as I get to spend the day with her. Love you Grace!

Manderfield's Bakery

When we lived in Manitowoc we did have a few local bakeries. They were good but did just carry the basic things - a few different breads, donuts, pies, etc... Now that we are in a more populated area we figured we would have more choices. Well, my girls are addicted to coffeecake - it is a Sunday ritual for us to get a few different kinds of bakery, but coffeecake is one that has to be included.

A few weeks ago, we forgot to get it when we were shopping (we used to just grab it from the grocery store when we were there). And, as expensive as it was, we just did it for convenience more than anything (they run about $5 each and aren't that big). So, we started looking for bakeries near us, and were told to go to Manderfield's. All I can say is WOW! They have a huge selection of things - my personal favorite is the sweet dough. It quite large and only costs $2.15. We got the Cherry Pie bread and the family has been raving about it. I haven't tried any, but will in the morning with my first cup of coffee.

Do you have a favorite type of bakery? A place to get it from?

The night almost got away from me

and that would have been bad because I haven't missed a day yet for Nablopomo. Granted, my posts might not be the most interesting, but they're there. As for today, it was Grace's first day back at school. They actually got St. Nick stockings at school and right now she is playing Old Maid with her dad (that was one of the things she got).

We had Kielbasa Casserole for supper - it is one of my hubby's favorites, and I think I will start to post these recipes back on my other blog titled Recipease I used to post there on a pretty regular basis, but you know that life gets in the way sometimes.

Other than that not too much is new, except for the fact that we are due for 14 inches of snow over the next two days...sounds like fun, doesn't it?

Hope you all have a great night!

The downfalls of apartment living

Do I miss our house? I do. Don't get me wrong, I love our apartment. Our house was built in 1917 and had a beautiful sunporch. Not much backyard, but enough for the kids to play. We had 3 bedrooms and 1 1/2 baths, hardwood floors in the living room and dining room, a large kitchen, etc.. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't perfect by any means. It still needs some TLC but we just finished painting the downstairs and were planning on starting some other renovations when my hubby lost his job. You all know how the economy is. We had a pretty good idea that he was not going to find anything in town, and we had talked about moving for quite awhile anyway. With the house market crappy we decided to rent out the house if he got a job outside of town.

So, when he was offered a job in the Fox Cities we were thrilled! We had always loved that area and it gave us a chance for a fresh start. And, we were only about 1 hour away from most of our family (hubby has a 16 year old so we didn't want ot be too far away). My sister and brother-in-law said they would love to rent the house from us, so that was one problem taken care of. The apartment we found is in an EXCELLENT location! There is so much to do here it is amazing. We have taken the kids to something just about every weekend since we have been here. Manitowoc doesn't have things like that. We have vaulted ceilings, a fireplace, a computer nook, only two bedrooms though, so the girls share (which is ok for now). The thing I miss the most is being able to get them outside. There is a park across the street (it is about a block away or so) but with Grace going to school in the afternoons it gets hard to get there. So they are going stir crazy, which makes me go stir crazy, lol!

They are also wound up because we are going back to Manitowoc again and spending Friday and Saturday night there. They love staying by Nana and Papa and it means they don't sleep very well (they were up a little after 6 today). Combine that with trick-or-treating and it's going to be a long week:)