House of Howards

Irony...

2012-03-05T15:34:00.000-08:00

So my last post (a long time ago, oops) was about excess etc. and now I am here to confess I am a shopaholic. This really isn't a new revelation, I have always LOVED shopping. But since the kids are both in school full time I have more time to shop, thus creating a bigger problem. I did a self imposed shopping ban for 3 months this past fall/winter. It worked I didn't buy ONE SINGLE THING for myself for 3 MONTHS! Not ONE THING, not even earrings, nothing!!!!!!!!!! But now that I am no longer on a ban and the change of seasons (VERY VERY BAD) I have relapsed. LORD, help me! I really need to stop the EXCESS shopping! RIGHT NOW, TODAY! Ok, self imposed ban is back on- until spring break, which is only a week and a half. haha Surely I can do this!

Excess....

2012-02-21T19:58:00.000-08:00

I just finished reading Jen Hatmaker's newest book 7. It was incredible. It really make you think about how fortunate we are to have what we have. If we could all take a single lesson from this book it would benefit the world! I love the phrase "Live simply so that others may simply live". This is what I took from this book. A feeling of what can I do to help. Maybe my small little ideas or contributions to whatever I decide won't change the world but I think it will change me. I will feel content, and happy that I have done something, anything! This book is on sale right now for 7 days for only $7. It is a perfect time to pick this book up and see what you can "fast" from in your life to make you think! What a perfect read for Lent!

If you want to help now you can click here to see how you can donate $ towards an anti-trafficing home! Check it out!

Questions?

2012-02-15T19:04:00.000-08:00

I was trying to find a fun questionnaire to fill out but couldn't find one I liked so I am going to mix them all and answer some random questions!!!

1. Favorite drink? - Coffee EVERY morning, then Coke!

2.Do you have kids? - yes, a 10yr old dancing daughter and a 7yr old soccer playin' son

The kids

3.Do you have a pet? - yes a dachshund doggie, a pain to take out to potty right now with no fence ;)

4.3 website you visit frequently- Facebook, kansas.com, Pinterest.com

5.Are you married?- Yes, 12 1/2 years now!

Me and the hubs

6.Favorite store?- Target would have to win this one. I am there 3 or more times a week, seriously!

7. Naturally curly/straight hair?- UGGGG, the ugly in between! It has to be either curled or straightened to look anywhere near normal, no wash and go for me :(

Winter decided to show up!

2012-02-13T11:36:00.000-08:00

Well look who decided to show up- Old Man Winter! I'll admit it's pretty but I am still not a fan of Winter!

View from the back door!

Manly gift wrapping

2012-02-10T11:57:00.000-08:00

I came up with a creative way to make my hubby's vday present a little manly. Valentines day is all girly, let's face it! I had some left over brown paper from Christmas and wrapped the boxes in that then I got him a belt and used it as the "bow/ribbon". What do ya' think?

High Five Friday

2012-02-10T10:37:00.000-08:00

Time for another Friday link up from From My Grey Desk!

My top 5 for this week:

1. Getting to become a Beta tester for Disney Parks InsidEars website! I'm so excited for this opportunity !!! Check out my badge on the right! ====>

2. Having a new Niece! My sister-in-law had her baby girl this Tuesday! Welcome to the world Kinsley!

3. My Tuesday morning class of 3 yr olds! They were so sweet and precious and can't wait to spend more Tuesday mornings with them :)

4.IT'S VALENTINE DATE NIGHT. The hubs is going to be out of town next week so we are going out to night to celebrate early!!!!!

5.Jen Hatmaker's book 7! Or Jen in general, girl cracks me up but has very important messages!

Happy Friday ya'll!

Disney Parks InsidEars

2012-02-09T19:47:00.000-08:00

I am so excited to get to be a BETA tester for the Disney Parks Insidears site. If there is a reason to talk Disney I am there so this will be so much fun! Check out my badge on the right side of my blog ;)

Music

2012-02-06T18:57:00.000-08:00

I love this song my sister introduced me to. The message is something I wish all kids/teens understood but I guess sometimes hindsight is 20/20....

2 Ingredient Donuts

2012-02-04T07:22:00.000-08:00

These are the BEST fried donuts ever. My dad used to make these when we were little and it was always exciting! Now, they are not healthy in any way, but the are delicious!

All you need is a tube of biscuits and some powdered sugar! (And a deep fryer or pan of oil.) Get your oil hot while you are cutting your biscuits!

Ok, see that little grey thing at the bottom right of the pic, that is a cap from a 2L pop bottle, this is your little friend for making the hole!

Now most of the time I just cut the biscuits in fourths and make all donut bites, but sometimes it's fun to make real donuts! Once you have your biscuits cut and ready it's time to get your powdered sugar shaker ready! I have used a brown bag before or a tupperware bowl that has a good tight lid!

Ok, now just put your biscuits in the hot oil and fry them babys up! You will need to flip them once to get both sides fried!

Ok, now just take them out, put them in your powdered sugar, shake, shake, shake and BOOM- delicious, easy donuts!!!

High Five for Friday

2012-02-03T13:29:00.000-08:00

Ok, first link up, hope I'm doing this right!

All you do for this "link up" from From My Grey Desk is go over your week and choose your 5 favorite things! So lets see...

1) Monday Bible study with my "monday makeover" group. Love these girls, currently we are studying Crazy Love by Francis Chan.

2) My kids both had GREAT reports at their conferences this week. Smart, well behaved children are a blessing :)

3)I almost can't say this but I am thankful for the rain! I don't particularly enjoy rain but it's much better than SNOW!

4) My mini donut maker is awesome! I found a great recipe that I posted about yesterday!

5)I found some copy cat leopard TOMS at a local store for only $15, they are not as nice as TOMS but they were cheap! :)

Donut Maker

2012-02-02T16:38:00.000-08:00

I have a new toy that I got for Christmas and I LOVE it ! It's a mini donut maker!!! I have been using muffin/cake mixed mostly to make some cute tasty donuts but today I tried this recipe I found on Pinterest! It was yummy!!! It did take a little more time than the mixes but on days that we don't have anywhere to be right away I think it's totally worth it. Tonight I'm trying this chicken taco recipe also from Pinterest! My dinner menu has expanded lately and sometimes it's for the better and other times not so much, but it's been fun trying new recipes!!! Do any of you have a donut maker?? What are some recipes you try?

2011-10-08T19:15:00.000-07:00

Pinterest....click here to follow me

I am seriously so addicted...if you have an account please follow me so I can follow you back. I am sure you have way cool ideas/things I want to see!!!!!!!!!!

9/11

2011-09-11T06:45:00.000-07:00

10 years ago today I was 1 day overdue with my first baby. I was still in bed when Stephany called and told me to turn on the TV. We stayed on the phone and watched the news in disbelief all morning. I couldn't help but think how different the world would be for the child I was carrying. No longer did the feeling of "No one would dare take on the USA" exist. However, in the days and weeks following that day Americans patriotism was strong and we as a nation came together. So many people risked and lost their own lives that day to help others. We as a Nation did not give up. Instead we came together and prayed for our Nation, as we should have been doing all along! That is the lesson I hope my children take from 9/11. Yes, it's a different world these days but God is the same! He wants us to pray for our Nation today as strongly as we did on 9/12/01!

Extra curriculars....

2011-09-01T14:13:00.000-07:00

Extra curricular activities mean NO EXTRA TIME! With soccer and dance in full swing now we have no free time. I shouldn't say NO free time b/c there is a little bit of downtime but I dont have time to cook a real meal on these days and I dont know why but I have mommy/wife guilt over this. Mondays are our free night so I make a meal and we eat at the table together on Mondays. I really believe in eating together as a family at the table as much as possible. Tuesdays we have soccer and dance and the timing just doesn't work for me to make a meal. It's grab and go and we aren't eating together because one kid has to eat before soccer while the other is still at dance and then she eats when we pick her up and while he's at soccer. If I feed them both before they would be eating dinner at 4:30pm or if we eat after we would be eating at 8:30pm and then still be trying to have time for showers and be in bed at a "normal" time! Wednesdays are our church night so we usually can eat something I make if it's fast but even then if I cook the hubs isn't usually home early enough to eat with us. We have been starting to meet him to eat somewhere before church so that's a good compromise. Thursdays we are back to the soccer/dance issue. Fridays are free days!!! We usually go out to eat on Fridays but when it gets into winter more we stay in a little more frequently during the weekends! So, now that you know our entire dinner hour schedule that you could careless about- what do you do for the time you have to make a quick meal? I am in a recipe rut and would LOVE more fast easy ideas. We dont eat fancy around here b/c even if I wanted to spend hours making dinner my kids wouldn't eat anything fancier than say, lasagna ? haha!

I Heart Faces....

2011-08-16T09:39:00.000-07:00

Ok, I'm trying to find more "fulfilling" things to do with my time now that the kids are back in school. What better than a photo challenge! I found the site http://www.iheartfaces.com/ which gives you a theme to go with and the photo must have a face in it! So, I may not be posting this correctly but I'm giving it a shot!

My niece and her big beautiful eyes!

Back to School

2011-08-15T09:37:00.000-07:00

1st day of School! How did summer go so fast.?!?!

Kaleb 1st day of 2nd grade Taya 1st day of 4th grade

Cousins

2011-07-28T14:26:00.000-07:00

It was time for a new Sanborn cousin pic....as any of you that know my sisters girls can imagine it was very entertaining!

The Sanborn cousins!

Right before she blew a snot rocket b/c she was laughing to much!

Growing up to fast!

Piper being well....Piper! hehe

maturing ....weird!

Summer is almost over

2011-07-22T13:22:00.000-07:00

Tanganyika

I can not believe that summer is almost over. Yes, we still have a couple weeks but it's creeping up on me and the idea of having to get back to a "routine" soon is no fun. We have about 1/2 the school supplies we need. We dont have any vacations or anything scheduled before school starts and with the heat keeping us prisoner to places with AC well, I feel trapped in a way! I always feel pressure towards the end of summer break to do fun things and jam it all in the last few weeks. We have done a few fun things like go to the St. Louis arch and Graceland. And the kids and I took a trip to Branson with my mom, gma and sister and her kid! It just seems this summer was uneventful is a way but we are working on the getting the house done and that has taken most our time/money! Hopefully we can find fun, and cool things to do the last few weeks!

Summa time!

2011-06-29T15:17:00.000-07:00

Swimming with the cousins today!

Kaleb is always the 1st one done swimming!

How do you not love this kid :)

My sis and I were hoping to get a little tan today but it was so darn hot we didn't last outside long enough!

Pintrest...

2011-06-29T14:56:00.000-07:00

I have become obsessed with Pintrest. I probably dont use it to it's full potential or correctly but I like to use it to save things I like and things I want to look at over and over, ;) check out my Pintrest page here:
http://pinterest.com/tayakaleb/pins/

1st post....

2011-06-28T16:36:00.000-07:00

So I have another blog, but it's dedicated to our new house contruction....so this is just for well, FUN!

me and the sis having fun

It may also be a place for sadness, venting etc:

Taya as a "sad" baby! hehe

I see all these fun blogs and I want to be like them so this is my attempt, I know I am not gonna be as cool or creative as them but it gives me something to do besides shop, right?! :)