Strawberry Shortcake

As most of you know, Libby's favorite toy/cartoon/character is Strawberry Shortcake. Those of us who grew up in the 80's remember how Strawberry, Blueberry Muffin, Apple Dumpling and the rest of the gang smelled like! Libby & I spent the afternoon at Nonna & Pop's house...where Libby helped Nonna make her very own Strawberry Shortcake (with no eggs!)

Here's Libby rolling out the shortcake. Quite the little chef.

Finished product...ready for the oven! We had a great time, Nonna!

My baby and her baby

Libby with her American Girl Bitty Baby (still without a name after almost 2 years!) and their matching PJ's. I really lucked into this nightgown (which retails for like $30 at americangirl.com) for $8 at a new children's consignment shop in Floyds Knobs....that's just the way I roll.

An apology post

Happy 2010! So, I'm only a few months behind....what do you expect, I've been swamped.

How about a quick glance at what I've been doing for the last few months....starting with January:

• I went on our Jamaican girl's trip (see next post) for a trip that we couldn't forget!
• Got "conditionally" accepted to a Master's program at Bellarmine, pending my GRE scores
• Began my first Master's level class in the Nursing program at Bellarmine..."Healthcare Policy"
• Began studying for my GRE (slotted to take in early February)
• Received a letter from The Joint Commission stating that our "Primary Stroke Certification" was going to be February 12th, 2010.

• Spent basically every waking moment, and many 12 hour days, at work with Michelle and Kristin working on this HUGE projectFebruary was a blur....
  
• Took my GRE
• Got "unconditionally" accepted to the MSN program at Bellaremine
• Spent Tuesday nights in class learning more about Health Policy then anyone should know
• Lived through a "hell week" at work preparing for the biggest Certification to hit Norton Healthcare for in a LONG time
• Impressed the socks off of the Joint Commission surveyors and received the first ever disease specific certification at Norton Downtown!

Now...we are into March. I can't promise I'll do better blogging, but I'm going to give it a shot. Thanks for your patience!

Jamaica me Crazy, Mon'!

Okay, so I realize that I have not blogged in over 3 months....so let's just get past that, and work on some updates with my crazy life. In January, Mom, Nancy, Shena and I started the new year with a bang, and a trip to Jamaica! We had an amazing time!

This picture pretty much sums up our trip...lots of lazy days spent on the beach and in the pool....mostly with a cool drink in our hand.

One of the highlights of the trip was our zipline tour. It was so amazing the "fly" though the jungle over Montigo Bay. This was an afternoon that I will NEVER forget!

The resort that we stayed in was out of this world...we enjoyed delicious dinners and lots of yummy adult drinks. This was certainly a girl's trip that I will never forget. I love these girls!

'Twas the Night Before Christmas

'Twas the night before Christmas and Libby did pose

In front of the presents all covered in bows Just her and her doggie under the lights

Hopeful that Santa would make it tonight She put out the cookies and said "bye" to the elf

The one she named "Elliot" that sat on the Shelf.

Just when we thought it was all safe to leave

Santa's Little Helpers had something up their sleeve Santa did come, in spite of the rain!

The amount of the presents was simply insane!!

We heard him exclaim as he rode out of sight

"Those damn dogs ate my cookies, now we will fight!"

Gingerbread house

We decided to spend this cold, lazy, Sunday afternoon making our first ever Banet Gingerbread house. Libby was so excited to get started! She rushed back to her room to get her Strawberry Shortcake apron for the project! It was actually a lot harder than I expected it to be. The tubes of icing that came with the kit were not easy to use, so we used some piping icing that I had from Thanksgiving.It was a team effort, but here is the finished product! Libby's favorite part was decorating the snowmen and making it "snow" with powdered sugar.
So proud of the house!

I think we have discovered a new family tradition! Too bad Libby can't eat the gingerbread cookies, but luckily she ate her weight in sprinkles, gumdrops and icing!

Santa Claus came to town....

Libby was beside herself with excitement when I told her that we were going to go to the hospital to eat breakfast with Santa! Libby & Sophia enjoyed breakfast with the big man in red.

When it came Sophia's turn to meet Santa, she did great...told him what she wanted and smiled! Isaac did the same!

Libby's turn did not go over so well. She started crying when I put her down on Santa's lap. As long as I held her, she did fine, telling him that she wanted twin baby dolls that she is going to name "Max and Ruby". After we saw Santa, we headed up to my units so Libby could help me hand out Christmas gifts to my weekend staff.