Naptime is the New Happy Hour....

Thoughts post...

2012-02-10T03:52:00.000-08:00

*I usually take Fridays at my day off from work as I just work 4, but today begins a new schedule for me, as starting this week I started taking Mondays. Man the idea of Fridays off just seems so much more fun then Mondays, as I sit here waiting to go to work.... I am doing this switch because Emily has started speech therapy, twice a week, and the lady who does it doesn't work on Fridays either lol. I take her Mondays, and either Dave or my mom will take her on Thursdays. She's been a few times now, and the specialist thinks she will catch on quick, and not it as long as originally thought. Emily loves going, as she gives her prizes, and takes her for rides in a wagon for a reward. =)

*I downloaded My Fitness Pal application to help monitor my calories. I used a different app in the past and this one is soooo much better. It's a free app for I think any smart phone, and it has a lot of food info already stored in the program so you don't have to waste so much time adding in the info. You can also friend other users who use it to help motivate each other.

*I went to kickboxing last night with my friend again, and I tell ya, every Thursday I drag my feet and try to come up with an excuse not to go, but once I get there and especially after I am always so glad to have gone. We always do something new, and I always feel it the next few days, so I know its helping make my body stronger and healthier. I love how close the class is to my house, and I love the positive trainer, and seeing the same people each week. I am still doing good with going to the gym, and I set a goal of going 3 days a week, but really try to aim for 5.

*I want to get my husband something for Valentine's Day, and I have no idea what to do, and I am running out of time. He says he has already made plans to take me out that night, and has a neighborhood girl coming to babysit, so if he's on the ball, I need to hurry up.

* I busted out a p90x workout the other night when I didn't have a chance to get to the gym. I did the Kenpo X one. I spent the first 10 minutes complaining about doing the yoga warmup, wanting the actual work out to start, but soon after it began I was praying he would start doing yoga again. Those videos are killer! I didn't complete it, but considering a few years ago when I attempted the videos and I only lasted 10 minutes tops, I have made progress!

*I changed from doing an 8k race to doing the 5k one. I know, I know, an 8k isn't that much more, but I would like another 5k under my belt before I try to do anything longer, plus a lot of my friends would rather do a 5k, and I don't want to be stuck running the 8k without anyone I know. Also let's be honest. Serious runners are going to chose to run the 8k over the 5k, and I am not a serious runner, and I also don't want to come in last place =)

*I am looking forward to winter vacation in a few weeks. We are heading to Massanutten the first week of March as Laura's has a break from school that week. Apparently, skiing is still going on then, though chances are we wont be skiing. But we love the tube park, and the indoor water park, and just getting away.

Happy Birthday Laura!

2012-02-09T03:38:00.000-08:00

My oldest baby girl turned 6 this past Monday. Geesh. It's crazy to think these last 6 years have flown by, and in 6 more she will be 12. This is scary stuff. We had a small family party for her on her actual birthday, as her and her sisters friend party is going to be Saturday at the VLM. She had a great birthday, and we didn't have anything going on Monday as Dave and I were both off, so we made it a fun family day, and let the girls stay home from school and preschool. We played all day, upon Laura's request we went to the VLM (the girls are obsessed with that place), and we had lunch at Papau Georges. The owner spoiled the girls with free milkshakes, and gave Laura a free piece of strawberry short cake with a candle. He's the nicest guy ever!
The girls spent the rest of the day riking bikes outside with their friends, until it was time for her party. She wanted a red velvet cake with cream cheese icing like I had made for Christmas, and a Highschool musical theme. It's a bit hard finding items for a movie that's several years old... I found a LARGE wall cling hanging of the cast on clearence for $2 at Party City, bought a musical note ceterpiece to stick on the cake, and popped the movie in and called it a day. Laura thought it was cool, and now has the huge wall cling picture of the cast upstairs in her room!

Laura was spoiled by her family members, and excited to open her presents. We got her a new bathing suit (perfect for a pool party she is going to next weekend), a hardback copy of Charlotte's Web (she's been bringing up the same book from her school library all year just about, and my old copy is falling apart), a home work bag to keep her papers in, a wedding doll barbie, and Glee Season 1. She's into it for the singing and dancing.

Valentine's...

2012-02-03T03:56:00.000-08:00

Ahh Pinterest. How I love you. With Valentine's Day coming up, I turned to it for ideas on making Valentine's with the kids for their classrooms. We have quite a bit to make with all three having Valentine Day parties at their schools. I know I could have gone to Target, or heck the Dollar Store and bought 3 quick boxes with all we need, but that's too easy, and I was aching to do some crafting with them. I also have it in my head that making Valentine's can be cheaper then buying them. Um no it isn't lol. I can attest to this now that I have bought all the supplies....But that's ok, they are cute, the girls love them, and hopefully their friends will like them, and no small children choke on the gum balls.
The girls and I fell in love with an idea we found where you print a template that looks like the bottom of a bubble gum machine, and then take bubble gum in a plastic baggy and tape it on the cut out template. It has printed on it " I chews you, Happy Valentine's Day".
I printed out the template, made a bunch of copies for all three kids classes ( I under estimated so I have to make more copies). I then laminated the copies of the template to give it more support. The bubble gum I purchased from the dollar store, and I needed about 5 bags of gum to do all of the classes with about 5 or 6 pieces in each Valentine. I also bought the baggies that the gum go in there. I used packing tape to tape the back of the baggie on the laminated paper. It was a fun counting activity for the kids when they counted out the bubble gum, and they did cutting out the templates. I did tape them on just to speed things up. We do have a few more to make, but we have plenty of time since their parties are not for another week.

Here is the link where the idea comes from if you want the template: gumball-machine-valentines

Another catch up post....

2012-02-02T10:35:00.000-08:00

My husband is pretty much as obsessed with Pioneer Woman as I am. After his birthday meal that he made from her show, he decided to make her "Knock you Naked Brownies" that were on her show last week. OH MY GOODNESS. They were simply amazing...and so simple to make. The only hard part was being patient enough to unwrap a bag of caramels. I wonder if just jar caramel sauce would work, or if it would be too runny...She makes these with a German Chocolate cake box mix, stick of butter, caramels, and evaporated milk. She did have pecans and powder sugar to spruce hers up, but we skipped out on those, and those items were not missed =) Make them now! knock-you-naked-brownies

We have really enjoyed the warm weather, and after work this week if I have been home early enough we have been outside playing in the street with our bikes, and other toys. We had a new neighbor move in at Thanksgiving who have a 18 month girl, and I have really enjoyed getting to know her. Another friend of mine who lives one street over has been coming over a lot to let her kids play on our street too, and it's been nice to watch the kids play all together, and be able to gab. It's pretty much something that has never existed before since all of our other neighbors are elderly.

I started reading another new book- The Color Purple, by Alice Walker. I love the movie, and I have to say I think I like the movie better. The book is a bit uncomfortable to read, as it goes into more detail on certain issues. I also think that I saw the movie when I was pretty young, and a lot of that may have just gone over my head and I just didn't understand it. It is a good book though, and I have already read about half of it. I picked this one up at a used book sale at my daughters school for .50

My husband is just as excited as he can be planning his Super Bowl party. Obviously I am not as excited, I know it's important to him, so I am trying to be helpful lol. I am thinking of planning a craft for the kids while they are over here so they have something fun to do. Nothing crazy or messy, maybe just a Valentine's type project, or maybe I will print out some football coloring pages for them to do.

This weekend in between getting ready for Sunday, I need to make a cake for my oldest who is turning 6 on Monday. We are having a small family party for her, and she wants a red velvet cake. I also would like to take the kids to the Air and Space Museum since our VLM pass will give us admission there as well.

I see a busy weekend and a dirty kitchen in my weekend future.

If you need me I will be laminating everything in sight...

2012-01-31T01:43:00.000-08:00

*A week or so ago, I did a Pinterest Project (the Christmas Card year book) in which I wanted to use a laminator to laminate the front and back of the book. I knew I could go to Office Max or something of the like, but was hoping a friend had one I could borrow really fast. I didn't know anyone with one, but my daughter Rachel's teacher was sweet enough to see my FB shoutout, and told me to just send it with my kiddo and she would take care of it at school. Later I read on a friends blog, that she had received one from Costco, and it was easy to use, and cheap! While I was at Costco this past Sunday, I checked it out, and it was even marked down further for about $14, so I snatched one up! I took it out later that night to laminate my daughters school schedule for the year, and was really happy with how easy it was to work! I have already started a Pinterest Board on things I plan to print out and laminate. I think it will really come in handy for projects, learning games for the kids, and of course to help me with my battle to organize myself. My next project I plan on using it for, is for Valentine's for the girls classmates to make them more sturdy, after they make them. I love the one I purchased because it's nice and compact, so very easy to store, simple to use, and of course it was very inexpensive.

*I just finished reading a great book called The Midwife's Confessions. It's the second book I have read by this author, and it was another book I couldn't put down.... I had it downloaded on my ipad, and my iphone. I have never really read any books on my iphone before, but it came in handy, and made waiting in carpool lines more productive, and it was nice to whip out my phone on lunch break and get a chapter knocked out here and there. I will totally use this app more now.

* I am now trying to finish up a book I started earlier this year, which is basically about how different men and women communicate. It's pretty obvious that men and women are different, but it's just so bizarre how different we process things, and how we can get so mad at each other by just not simply understanding how we process things differently. Honestly, I didn't think I would learn anything new from this book, that a friend had loaned me, and I liked to think of myself as a boy expert after growing up with guys and playing baseball with them for years and years. I thought I pretty much knew everything, but it's been interesting. Of course I wont leave the house with this one, because reading books that are considered Self Help genre just scream "issues" lol.

Catch up posts..

2012-01-29T06:10:00.000-08:00

- This weekend has worn me out! Friday, I took the girls to school, then had my meeting at the preschool regarding my conference. It went ok. I was much more calmer then I was last week thank goodness, but just even more confused now in a way. The head said that they have kept an eye on my child and another one in the class because of how young they were, and that the teachers actually did recommend for the other child to be placed in the 2 year old class, but that they have felt like Emily is fine in the 3's. The head also said most of the things that the teacher said Emily isn't doing in class isn't expected to be done until by the end of the year, so it's no big deal if she isn't doing somethings. I wish the teacher would have made that clear. So from my conversation with this lady, Emily is doing fine, and age appropriate for the class per her, the teach just concentrated on what my child isn't doing, and maybe she was just trying to point out what we can work on, but it just came out wrong. I honestly think this teacher is a nice person, but I am still firm on the fact that teaching preschoolers just isn't for her, and will be sending my letter in to the board of directors. So as for next year, I am going to do what I want to do, and I am trying to figure out now if that means placing her back in the 3's with another teacher, or doing the 4 year class twice. I have to have my form in for it by next Friday so that doesn't give me much time, so let's hope we do the right thing. The head of the program still really feels keeping her back an extra 4 year tends to be the best. But as her parent that's going to be up to me. She did express that if your heading to public school it's best to hold the child back in preschool before they reach Kindergarten, (if you were in a private preschool) as once they get in public school the system makes it near impossible to hold them back, as there is a push to just shove them through. How heart breaking for the kids....

- So enough about my meeting, I then ran a bunch of errands, took Emily to a follow up eye doctor appointment, played out side with the kids, hosted the slumber party, etc. Saturday morning with visited my grandmother who is at a nursing home for rehab. It's so sad to see her like she is. I don't think she's improving, and given that she's 94, I don't know if she will improve much. We spent the rest of the day outside playing hard. Such wonderful weather! We rode bikes, ran around the street, and Dave worked on cleaning out the garage (story of his life). By the end of the day everyone was passed out in the den, and had to be woken up for dinner.

- Today we have a birthday party to head to for one of Rachel's classmates, and I am sure we will be back outside doing something fun. The weekends are just never long enough are they??

Slumber party fun...

2012-01-29T02:00:00.000-08:00

My sweet oldest child had her friend over to spend the night Friday. My child loves this little girl, and looks up to her so much. She's two grades above her, and my childhood best friends niece, but they hit it off at school, and that just makes me smile. We ordered pizza, watched Dolphin Tale, painted nails, and did a craft. I was short on ideas for a craft, so we just did the valentine door hanging tissue craft. We did this last year. I just cut out a heart from the pizza box that we had, and let the girls glue balled up pieces of red tissue all over it. The girls had fun, and even passed out half way early, which was good because I was zonked. They were ready to roll though Saturday morning, and we were dressed and outside riding bikes and playing by 8am lol. Such cuties!

My mom heart is full...

2012-01-27T03:58:00.000-08:00

My daughters school starts each day off with Chapel in the morning. Yesterday, her class was singing a song in front of their school in church, so my husband, girls, and mother in law and I, made sure we didn't miss it. I had never been to one of their chapel services before, but my husband and I were very impressed with how well behaved all of the children were. I just love this school. Laura's class sang the Butterfly song, and I was just so proud of her! During her preschool years, Laura would never sing in front of others. She would stand and look terrified! Yesterday, she looked so confident, and was having a blast up there with her classmates. I told her a thousand times before I went back to work, and when I got home last night how proud I am of her. She has requested to have a friend over for a sleepover tonight, and by goodness I am making that happen.

Signs...

2012-01-26T04:10:00.000-08:00

I have been feeling overwhelmed lately, and I have been feeling like that for a while. I think it's just a natural feeling for moms, but I was trying to brain storm ways to make it easier on me, or manage it better. I know I don't do the best job managing anxiety and stress. In the past I have even taken medication to try to help with it. I stopped taking it about two years ago or so. I think it did help somewhat, it helped my mind keep from constantly racing, and helped me not be so snappy, but it also made me lazy, tired all of the time, and though it kept me a lot calmer, the energy was just zapped out of me. This lead to weight gain, and then being made at myself for not having enough energy to do other things I wanted. Don't get me wrong, I think medication can be life saving for people, but it can't be something that people use long term. You have to get to the source of the problem.

I do feel exercising has helped with me relieving stress a great deal. That's generally my "me" time. Often it's just 1/2 an hour, always no more then 45minutes, but it helps so much for my mood. I didn't have time to work out yesterday so maybe that's why I was stressed more then usual.

It's really hard being a working mom, but at the same time I am lucky it's only 4 days a week, and it can be flexible. My husbands schedule is the exact opposite of flexible, with his line of work, and working nights is hard. I am so jealous of people who have their husbands home every weekend, who work normal hours, and are going to be home every holiday. But in the other hand I do have that stress, but I am so blessed that my parents help watch the girls when we work, without them I know our stress would be soooo much greater.

Do I wish I was a stay at home mom? You betcha, but we have to provide for our children, and this is how it has to be unless we win the lottery.

I often wish I was involved in more. I tried to relieve a lot more stress earlier this year, and dropped every commitment with the exception of one which is a woman's organization. To be honest, I almost dropped out of that too, and had even looked into the process of taken a years leave from it. I figured I would need something extra for me, and I wanted to be a part of something that does so much good. However, lately it's been hanging heavy on my heart lately. With so much going on and making adjustments, I don't feel like I have been pulling my weight on my comittee that I am on. I know I haven't, but I honestly have not had the time to do what I need to do. Work has been busy, and when I come home I do even more work with the kids, cleaning, etc, that I feel like the organiztion is just too much for me to handle. I can't give what I need to, to it, and I feel bad, and I am worried my committee is going to think I am awful. I was sitting at home last night before I had to go to the meeting I was trying to make Cheese Straws before I left for it that I had picked to make, those ended in crumbles as I did something wrong. Then I was doing home work with my oldest daughter, and was trying to rush her so we could finish it before I had to leave, which isn't fair to her when she's just 5, and then I had to wake my husband up so he could get up earlier then usual since I now had to go to the grocery store and buy cheese straws since I goofed on cooking them. While I was in the store buying them I teared up, and was thinking how I just needed to drop out of this organization too, as I am just not pulling my weight.

I was seriously sitting in the chairs around all of these women, thinking to myself how I just need to get home and get things done and be with my children, when my name is called. I had won a headband for registering for the 8k. Then a little later another basket comes out, and everyone who had met another requirement was entered in a contest to win a complete dinner cooked from the cookbooks our organization sells to be prepared and brought to your house to feed your family. I freaking won that too. Don't get me wrong, I was really excited to win these things, but I felt awful for sitting there the whole time pretty much just planning on writing a letter to drop out. I am guessing those are some signs, maybe from God telling me not to. I feel bad for winning, as there are women who make this organization their life, and do such awesome things, and here I am doing the minimum, and I get these wonderful rewards. I wish I could be more involved, and I don't know how some of these ladies do it. I have met some nice ladies, but I have not been able to get really close with anyone as I have just have not been able to take the time to do some of the bonding/social things, and being such a worry wart get the better of me. I know I need to finish out the year as I committed to it, and I don't like to quit anything, but I hate feeling like I am letting my family down at the same time. I wish I was a super mom like many of these women seem to be.

I have to say though, winning that meal meant so much to me, as I am going to have an awesome meal, made for me and my family for free, and wow, that can't be beat!

Getting old...

2012-01-26T03:33:00.000-08:00

My husbands birthday was Tuesday, he's 33 now. We celebrated it over three days. Sunday we went to a new restaurant that opened called Smoke, with another couple we are friends with, and their little girls. We had heard mainly good reviews, but a few people had said they didn't care for it. I am glad we went, as the food was really good. It's a BBQ place, and has a feel of County Grill with the different BBQ sauces available, but my husband was in heaven. The pulled pork was awesome, the baked beans were my favorite part of my meal though I have to admit! Monday, we had his family party party. We were going to keep it simple with just cake and icecream, but after watching Pioneer Woman's first show of this season on the Food Network, Dave annouced he was going to cook the meal she made, and he wanted to do it. I offered to help or to make it all together, he refused saying it was going to be fun for him to make it. That's all I needed to hear =). I did make his cake though =).
He made Pioneer Woman's Pulled Pork Spicey Pop BBQ, her cole slaw from that show, and her flat apple pie. I thought it was all pretty tasty, but it is hard to beat BBQ cooked in a smoker... so he has decided to go back to how he usually makes it next time. My cake was hilarious looking despite my efforts to watch every Pinterest tip on icing cakes. Oh well, it tasted pretty good I thought =). I made home made cream cheese icing, and the cake part was chocolate that I got the recipe from on the back of the Hershey Coco can.

The girls and I spoiled him with a leather heavy bag for working out in the garage that he's been talking about, some etched glasses with a particular skull he's been wanting that I had made off of Etsy, and there was a good deal on a Groupon on our area for a massage, that I snatched up, since he loves getting those. It's his inner girl =).

On his actual birthday we went to Plaza for a quick dinner, and we enjoyed some yummy Mexican and fried ice cream.

French Toast adventures....

2012-01-23T04:30:00.000-08:00

There is a small locally owned resterant next door to the gym that Dave and I go called Papaou George's. It's kind of tourturing to walk in and out of the gym and smell the amazing food coming from the place. They are only open for breakfast and lunch, but truth be told we have never been there for lunch. The breakfast is amazing though, and very reasonably priced (cheap works). We don't go out for breakfast much, but when we do we usually end up there. I also tell myself that supporting a small business at the same time is multi tasking. Food for my belly and good deeds for our local area. The owner is also super nice and gives the best service. One of my favorite things to order when we go is the French Toast breakfast special. It's soooo good. Some french toast with a side of bacon and scrambled eggs just hits the spot.

I have made baked french toast on many occasions. The kind that you prep the night before and then bake in a dish in the morning in the oven. I had been wanting to try to make it the traditional way in a skillet, but just hadn't gotten around to it. I make pancakes and waffles all of the time, so it was time to venture out and try something new for me. I saw a link this morning on a cook books fan page this morning, and figured I needed to try this morning. I did end up using half and half instead of milk because I had just used up the last of our milk, and I added a dash of cinnamon. The husband gave a me two thumbs up for this one, and I found it so easy to make. If you would like to try it out go HERE Maybe I shouldn't have done such a good job though, so we can still go to Papaou Georges....

Strike a pose....

2012-01-22T05:42:00.000-08:00

My husband likes to joke on me for taking pictures of myself with my iphone. That handy dandy camera on the front of it is really helpful though, and honestly I never have a mirror on me, so often I use it for a mirror if I need one. I also like to capture good hair days, hehe. And face it, being the mommy often means you don't have many pictures of yourself, as I am the one always behind our camera, so if I want a new facebook profile photo I just take it myself.

While I was getting a shower yesterday my daughter Rachel decided to play with my phone. One of her sisters tattled on her while I was blow drying my hair, and I was eager to just finish the process so I just said it was ok. Later on though I discovered that Rachel herself loves the iphone camera a little bit. She had take over 40 pictures, mainly of herself in about a 5 minute time span. Oh yes, she likes the camera.

The first one was a little blurry.

But soon she got the hang out of it, and was cheesing and posing like it was her job.

Then she got all artsy and started taking pictures of her toys. I like this one she captured of Woody.

She's hilarious, and obviously totally my daughter =)

Much needed weekend...

2012-01-21T11:01:00.000-08:00

It's been a good, low key Saturday. When Dave got home from work he suggested we all go to the VLM, since he had not been able to join us last weekend when we renewed our passes. Yepp our third time going in a week lol. Hey we are going to get our monies worth since we live close by. Today they were having story hour in which someone read a book about Possums. Then one was brought out for the the children to see, and they got to pet it. Yeah they sure are not the prettiest thing,but it was neat. We learned that possums in the wild generally only live for 3 years, and those out of the wild like we saw live 4-5 years. Also, they don't play dead, they pass out due to fear when they get scared. We had planned to walk to the trail there, but it started pouring so we just came home. Registration just started for the baseball/softball field by our house, and Dave went to sign the girls up, and fill out a form because he wants to coach the girls in t-ball this year. I think it's awesome that he wants to do that, such a good involved daddy. Emily is still too young for t-ball but our older two will play, but maybe she can be an honorary player =).
Tonight I am meeting a girlfriend for a dinner to catch up, and then tomorrow I am going to get some things ready for Dave's family birthday party Monday. I am making him a cake. We also have plans to go to a new bbq place called Smoke tomorrow night with some friends to celebrate a little early too!

The post in which I snap out.

2012-01-21T10:28:00.000-08:00

First of all this is going to be a venting post. Sorry about that in advance. I just have to try to keep it real on here because that is how life is. I also use this blog as a diary sometimes to just talk it out. So, Wednesday I was bummed that Emily's speech issues are severe enough for speech therapy. I'm not upset that she has to do it, I mean, it would be better if she didn't, but mainly I just feel bad for not going with my gut and pushing for it, and allowing the doctor to hold all the power. I should have been stronger and gone past him. So, Friday I am feeling better about it, excited to get the process going, and then I head to preschool for conference day with Emily and Rachel's teachers. Dave went with me, and I was ready to share info on what was going on with Emily, and see how they are doing in school.

I guess I need to back up, and say when we enrolled Emily this year, I wanted her in the 2 year old class, instead of the 3's. She turned 3 in September, and she just barely made the cut off for the three's. I felt 2 would be more appropriate, because of the concerns I had from all her ear infections, and being behind with her talking. I turned in the 2 year old application and everything, and then was told not to hold her back then, that if she needed to be held back, it's better to keep them for a 2nd year in the 4 year old class before starting Kindergarten. I balked at it, and even tried to again to keep her in the 2 year old class before school started. The head of the school convinced me to try it, and if there was a problem they would then put her back in the 2's after school started. To make matters a bit more complicated, Emily was placed in a class with a teacher who my oldest had her last year when she went there, and myself, as well as seriously all of the other moms in the class were not pleased with. To be honest the room mom of Laura's class last year wrote a letter to the board complaining about this teacher, and did not put her younger children back at this school because of the experience. She had other moms sign the letter to. I didn't sign the letter because I knew that this teacher was having personal problems going on, and I didn't want to be a part of bashing someone who was going through a rough time. My oldest child is also a fast learner, and though she could have had a better teacher, I tried to ignore it and just tell myself it was just preschool.

So, my Emily ends up with this lady for this year. At our first conference, back in October, she says things are fine, and ensures me that if I had placed Emily in the 2's she would have been bored. I have not had any more communication with her, other then letting her know about when she got glasses, and that I was trying to get her into speech therapy. I had one issue in which Emily had an accident at school right before pickup, and she was put in the car without having been put in clean clothes, and didn't even mention it, when it was obvious she had one. I immediately called the head of the school with my concern, and I wasn't even mean about it, I just asked that it be looked into.

So back to her conference. As soon as we sit down the first thing out of her mouth is, "so can anything else be done about her vision, and can it get better?" I asked what she meant as Emily got glasses back in October, and everyone else has raved about how they notice a huge difference in her since she got glasses. Her reply was that Emily sometimes takes her name sticker and sticks on the board upside down. She only does that a couple of times, she admitted. I am sure other 3 year olds put up items upside down from time to time, and it's not because they are blind. She then asked if we had hearing tested. I told her yes, and that she has no hearing issues. She then asked about a new strap for her glasses as once she has had to adjust them for her, and there had to be something better we could buy. At this point, I am getting angry because obviously this teacher hates dealing with my child's glasses. She even admitted that she hates those things. I informed her we got several types of straps, and the one we use has worked out the best. Once in a while the strap will come lose and we help her with it. The conference went on and on, and she did not have one positive thing to say. She at least behaves in class, and follows directions, (I am guessing because she didn't say she wasn't). She then said she doesn't know her shapes. I asked her how she tests for that. She said she points to the picture and asks them what it is. I told her that Emily does know her shapes as when I tell her to find a square, etc, she will point to the correct one. The teacher admitted she didn't try that with her. I mean really? I am not a teacher, but I am guessing any other person would try another method to see if the child really understands the concept at all. Don't get me wrong, I am not expecting the teacher to tell me my child is perfect, but hearing one positive thing would have been nice. I also think, with everything she laid out, she shouldn't have waiting until conference to talk to me, she should have called me sooner. Also, if this is how she is doing then she needed to be put in the 2's like I originally wanted.

We had to then go to Rachel's conference. I walked in, the teacher just looked at me, and I started crying hysterically. Not like one little tear rolling down my cheek while looking upset, we are talking full out bawling. Yepp. Total basket case. So her two teachers, and my husband then spent the first 5 minutes trying to calm me down, and then those teachers honestly starting ragging on the other teacher. They both had worked with her in the past, and they told me that she's completely inappropriate, and have had issues with her. They were as sweet as they could be with me, and made me feel better. Rachel's conference went great, and she's ready for kindergarten next year. She will go to Laura's school next year.

So back to Emily...I have called the preschool and left a message to have a meeting with the director. I never wanted to be a bad guy and complain, but I am going to express my concerns with the teacher, and I am also going to the board of the school about it. I also have spoken to other children's parents in the class, and they too said the teacher had nothing positive to say about their children in conference, and they left feeling awful. With this many people being upset they need to either get her out of the school, or give her some suggestions to do her job better. They obviously didn't take the parents complaints last year into consideration, and if they want to keep their stellar reputation they need to do something different. For that many people to make a huge stink last year to the board and director, AND for at least 5 of the maybe 8 teachers total who teach there to talk lowly about her teaching abilities then something needs to be done. To be completely honest, if I can get her in another class right now, I am going to do it, but from what I have already researched the other classes are full. With that being said I want her back in the 3 year old class again next year, because it makes no sense for her to move up if she hasn't learned what she needs to. I am not going to let them tell me what "they suggest", if they want my money then they will comply or I can find another school to pay that will let me. I am going to make sure I do everything in my power to make sure I can give my kids the best that I can. If things do not get better I will just take her out of the school all together mid year. She deserves better. I know I can talk a big talk on here sometimes, but I honestly hate confrontation, and hurting someones feelings, and there is no way to do this without the teacher knowing how I feel. Having to do this is not easy, as I know the head of school is going to think I am a crazy mom. It's even more interesting since the head of the school is my husband's bosses mother in law, so let's hope I don't snap out on her for the sake of my husbands job.

Parenting pains.

2012-01-18T17:20:00.000-08:00

Today was a hard day in parenting. Our youngest has been under an evaluation for speech services through the local school system. Apparently speech therapy with children,(at least in our area) has a long waiting list of at least 6 months if you pay privately, so we were urged to see if she could qualify for services through the public school system. We have been going through the process for about two months now, and today was our meeting for them to tell us their findings and if she qualifies. To make a long story short, she qualifies, and to qualify you really have to have a profound need, so we are a little rattled, because we didn't think it was that bad. Her issue is with articulation. The other areas were fine. I know it's not really that big of a deal, but it still upsets me. Seriously, I almost started crying during the meeting, and my husband turned about a million shades of red. I know, I know. Speech isn't a big deal. It's the whole label on it. It's under the special education umbrella and considered a handicap. I'm also frustrated that our pediatrician kept blowing me off when I brought up my concerns with her talking. I should have gone with my gut from the start, and pushed for an evaluation sooner. I am by no means saying it's his fault, as I am sure he sees overreacting moms every day, and face it, doctors have about 10 minutes of that with their patients at a visit. I know all of this is caused from all of the ear infections, and that I should just be happy she doesn't have hearing problems, critical disease, etc etc. This can be corrected. But still it's hard not to beat ourselves up, and wish she didn't have to do this, and wonder if we did something wrong. Moms, if you ever have concerns, just go with your gut.

Twice a week she will go over to a school near our house and work with the specialist. They can increase it or decrease it, if needed. The lady who does it, is a member we know from our local pool, so that was nice seeing a friendly face. She told me I look just like Betty Draper from Mad Men. This made me laugh, and I felt the need to tell her I didn't drink or smoke while pregnant with Emily, like Betty did. This lady can be my BFF though for thinking I look like her though.

I will say as a tax payer it is nice that we will be able to utilize such services for free, and we still do not have to attend the public schools. If she didn't qualify, she still would need speech, and then we would have to wait forever, and then pay $40 a session at least twice a week or more. Free works for me.

The meeting took a lot longer then I thought it would, so I just ended up having to call out from work, which was probably better that way. My mind was definitely else where. I took care of some errands, but did get around to that pedicure. It was lovely by the way. It's also good I stayed home, as I had to go back over to see the speech people, because they have a new computer program that they are not used to yet, and it didn't print off one of a zillion consents I had to sign, so they called for me to come back and sign.

My grandmother will be going back to a nursing home to start rehab tomorrow, so I am happy she is improving. She's a strong woman. I am trying to focus on everything that is positive, because I know I have a lot to be thankful for.

Another post of randoms...

2012-01-17T17:25:00.000-08:00

*Today I made progress on the girls birthday parties! We nixed previous ideas of having something at home, as I don't think I can handle a huge amount of screaming girls in our house during winter. If we could get outside I would be fine, but with the amount of friends that they want to have come, it's better to hit the road. After some looking around online, we are going with a joint friend party at the Virginia Living Museum. My girls are a year a part born in February, so they have a lot of the same friends, and the joint party worked out just fine last year. Of course in my demand that they still have a special day of their own, we will have small family parties for them on their actual birthday at the house. Today I booked the VLM, created invites, and have already brainstormed some ideas. The VLM has a great member rate for parties there, and it sounds pretty organized. We have a party room for one hour, in which I will come up with a game for the kids to play, they also get an animal show, and of course we will eat a snack, and have birthday cake! Afterward we can tour the museum, and Laura and Rachel should be pretty informative tour guides since we have been there so much. All that's left to do for the party is now send out the invites, make goodie bags, and make a cake. Totally doable.

*I finished the Hunger Game series, so I am down three books this year towards by 25 goal =). The books were great, and I have been suggesting them to everyone I know! I already loaned my girlfriend the first one, and she's hooked!

*My grandmother is doing somewhat better. It looked really bad at first, and they did a temporary feeding tube. Today they took it out, and she is tolerating some soft foods and liquids. She has a long road ahead of her that's for sure, but today she said my name and looked pretty happy to see me. Then she proceeded to tell a nurse that I have 5 kids, and apparently told another nurse after I left that I am very knowledgeable about peeing, and they should get me to show the nurses how to help people do it. Bless her heart.

* I am determined to get a pedicure after work tomorrow. I have a gift card that has been burning a hole in my pocket for far too long. Nothing better get in my way.

2012-01-16T04:02:00.000-08:00

I am still trying to come up with a menu for this week for dinner, I have some ideas swarming, but I think it wont be anything spectacular or new, as I think I did all of that this weekend with our meals =). Saturday night I fried some chicken breasts and we had home made chickfila sandwiches, which the kids loved! I had never fried before, so this was interesting but successful. Sunday night I made homemade meatballs from scratch with a yummy homemade bbq sauce, Pioneer Woman Mashed potatoes, and green bean bundles. My husband was excited to wake up to this meal =). So for tonight, I am not sure what we will have. I have some leftover chicken, so I might use that to make chicken tacos. I know it's not exciting, but it will be nice to do make something easy after working all day. I probably will make Pioneer Woman chicken spaghetti this week too, and I am sure we will do Kid's Night at Chickfila Thursday, but I need to figure out the rest of the week.

*I ended up taking the girls back to the VLM Sunday afternoon, as they were getting restless, and I got nervous they would wake up Dave. So this is the most boring post ever, so I apologize =).

A bunch of stuff...

2012-01-15T10:14:00.000-08:00

*I was able to visit my grandmother last night. She hadn't opened her eyes or responded since after breakfast before she went to the ER, but while I was there she opened her eyes and seemed to know who I was. She tried talking but we were not able to understand her. We sat and talked with my grandfather for a while. I took a piece of the sheet cake with me for him to eat, and he gobbled it up in about 10 seconds. He kept saying over and over how much the cake tasted exactly like the cake grandma used to make that he loves. It was sad to hear him talk about how he was trying to figure out if he should let them do a feeding tube, and the hard decisions he may face. They have been married for over 70 years! I hope to get by the hospital today sometime.

* I have one birthday present of Dave's enroute. He has been wanting some etched beer glasses with a certain design on them, and I thought about trying my hand at it, but I don't think I could do it without him seeing the project, so I broke down, and found a etsy shop that can do anything. The lady was really helpful, and is shipping them out Tuesday. I hope he likes them.

*Today I cleaned my oven thanks to pinterest. My oven door and inside was nasty. I honestly didn't think cleaning it would help much, but it's brand new looking now. Side note, my husband has been on a beef jerky kick lately, and has been experimenting with making it different ways. He used a food dehydrater on one batch, and then saw a technique where you basically thread the meat through a bamboo skewer, and then hang the skewer from racks in the oven with paper clips. So. Freaking. Redneck. I have to admit, the jerky he has made has tasted really good. I messed up though and posted a picture of him doing this on facebook, and our neighbor saw it, and brought over deer meat for him to do. My oven was a nighmare, so I got out the baking soda and elbow grease. I ended up also using one of those brown pampered chef scrapers, but my oven is sparkly now, even the door glass which always looks horrible! Thanks Pinterest!

*I am on the third book of The Hunger Game series- Mocking Jay, and I had to say the books are sooo good! I am sad that this is the last book, but I am eager to see how they end up the story.

* I need to get cracking planning the girls birthday parties. I have some ideas, but I need to finalize some things. My older two both have birthdays in February, one has a birthday I think the day after Super Bowl, and my husband is driving me insane, as he wants to have some Super Bowl Party, and he wants me to help plan it, when I really don't want to be bothered with, as 1. I am more concerned with trying to plan my kids parties. 2. I could care less about the game other then the commercials, and the half time show. 3. I really don't feel like busting butt for another freaking party. 4. It's going to end with me and the other wives trying to watch all of the kids, while our husbands drink. 5. It's soooo much fun to clean our house, and then watch it get destroyed in under 10 minutes. 6. I have to get up, go Laura's birthday blessing at Chapel the next day at her school, then go to work, and that should be fun getting all the kids ready after they have been up all night. 8. When I get home, I am guessing my house will still be a mess, and my husband who was home all day will have done no cleaning what so ever, and then will ask me "What's For Dinner?" 9. I am going to stop talking about it, because I can feel myself getting snarkier and snarkier.

*

Some Saturday morning Fun....

2012-01-14T10:30:00.000-08:00

The kids have been itching to get out of the house and have some fun, and it was just too cold to go to the park today. I decided to renew our Virginia Living Museum family passes again, so we could go have some fun, and stay indoors these winter months. The girls love that place, and it's been a while since we have been. It's so nice living close by it, and it's a great deal. Also, if your a member of Langley Federal Credit Union you get an extra $5 off the family price, so being that I do have an account there I took advantage of that deal!

We stayed inside instead of venturing out on the trail, but the girls still had a blast looking at all of the cool animals native to Virginia. They have already asked that we go back tomorrow, which I am sure we will!

We are staying busy inside the house the rest of today. I had planned on going to see my grandmother at the rehab center, but apparently this morning they think she has had a massive stroke, and we don't know very much yet as they took her quickly to the ER. Please keep her in your prayers. She's 94 years old and is just the sweetest thing, and the very definition of what every grandmother should be.

Friday Night Cooking....

2012-01-14T03:07:00.000-08:00

I've been slack in the meal planning lately. I hate to admit this, but I have not even really done a decent grocery shopping run since before Christmas. I have just been making stops almost daily to Food Lion to Costco to get what ever easy item I could think of to throw together, or talking my husband into going out or picking something up. I put it off long enough, and decided to get busy and do a massive grocery store run at Walmart.

For Friday night, I made something out of my My Mama Made That, junior league cookbook. It's something we had never tried before, but it sounded pretty good.

Island Style BBQ Pork
1 1/12 lb pork shoulder
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 tbs vegetable oil
1 small white onion chopped
1 8 ounce pineapple chunks in syrup
1/2 cup bbq sauce
1 tbs cornstarch
2 tbs cold water
1 tsp garlic powder
1 green pepper cut in thin strips
hot cooked rice
- cut the pork into 1 inch pieces/cubes (I found this to take me forever, and I even thought I had really good knives, I own Cutco ones, but to be honest, I don't know if the one I used is meant for meat. Total pain the but and took forever) sprinkle meat with salt and pepper. Heat oil in large skillet (I used my Le Creset Dutch oven because I feel more like Pioneer Woman when I do, and I can put it in the dishwasher when I am done) Add the pork and onion and cook until the pinkness in the pork is gone. Drain the pineapple and reserve the syrup, adding water until is reaches 3/4 cup. Pour the syrup and bbq sauce over the pork, simmer covered for 40 minutes. Stir the cornstarch into the water until smooth, and then add to the pork mixture constantly stiring until thickend. Add pineapple chuncks, and green pepper,and stir until everything heated throughout. Serve over hot rice.

Family Verdict, My oldest wasn't a fan and only ate the pineapple and pork out of it, my other two kids, and husband and I enjoyed it. I would say the amount cooked would serve 4 adults. It was plenty for my family of 5 with the three kids, and enough leftover for an adult to have some for lunch the next day. I told the kids this was an Hawaiian dish, so they thought it was perfectly acceptable to wear bathing suits to the dinner table =).

Later Friday evening, my husband ran to the gym for a quick workout, and I played with the kids, and then was craving something sweet. I decided to make Pioneer Woman's Chocolate Sheet cake....Holy cow.

First of all the cake is so freaking easy to make, and it's all from scratch. It reminds me so much of a sheet cake my grandmother used to make that she called $500,000 Chocolate Sheet cake. The icing is fudge like, and really how can you not love a chocolate sheet cake?! I omitted the pecans she puts in hers because I don't want anything getting in my way from the chocolate. This recipe is in her cookbook, and on her website, and because I am tired so I will just leave you with the link. Click Here Make this though for your loved ones, and they will be declaring you amazing. Don't get all crazy if you don't have buttermilk, you can substitute by using regular milk mixed with a bit of white vinegar. Yes Ree taught me this. Yes I still think Ree and I would be best friends if I lived near her ranch. I plan on taking some to my grandmother this weekend who is in a nursing home right now for some rehab. I will have to see if she still has her old recipe so I can compare this one to hers!

Randoms Post...

2012-01-13T03:49:00.000-08:00

*Dave and I had a mini date Wednesday night. Bone Fish Grill has a special every Wednesday where their Bang Bang Shrimp is just $5, and let me tell you , it's banging....We went and each got one as our meal, and apparently everyone else in town had the same idea as it was already a long wait for a table, and even a wait for a seat at the bar, luckily we were able to snatch up two seats at the bar and enjoy ourselves though.

* I got my hair did yesterday, and I am super proud I just waited 8 weeks this time lol. I used to be so good about going for trims or high lites ever 4-6 weeks before kids, but now sadly I go a crazy time in between because I just get side tracked or busy, or not wanting to spend the money on it. I made an effort to get my butt in to my hair girl, because she changed shops, and she has a special right now where during the first two weeks she's there hair cuts are free and color is just $15. Yeah, for that deal I was willing to do whatever if took to get in. I also took my blue hair extension out. I had a one tiny blue hair extension put in before halloween, it was fun, and I am not going to lie I am itching to get a feather one put in again, but then I have to remind myself I am 31 years old, and wonder just how ridiculous I really look.

*My coworkers college age daughter made my day last week. She met her mom for lunch, and though I don't really know her daughter I hear all of her stories and see her pictures all the time so I feel like I know her. She was walking to her car and I was heading back into work after grabbing Subway. Before I could help myself I smiled all big at her and said hello. Then remembered she doesn't know who the heck I am as we had only met maybe once or twice years ago, and so I stopped myself from giving her a big hug before she pepper sprayed me. She called her mom a few minutes later and told her she just realized who I was, and that she thought I was some friend of hers from high school when she first saw me. So maybe I can rock a feather extension then.

*Confession, I still have not started my running program. Mainly I am wondering if I start now if it will be too far ahead of the race. The program I looked into is a 8 week program, so technically I should wait a bit. I could start now I guess, but I am worried that it will be bad on my joints, and I will end up injuring myself. I don't have joint issues, but I know running isn't exactly the best thing for your body.

* I have gone to the gym and worked out 3 times already this week, so at least I have been active. I got on the scale the other day after not being on it for a while, and I was kinda surprised that I had lost more. I am honestly not trying to lose anymore before anyone gets all crazy. To be honest I was holding good at about 130 give or take a lb, but the scale just said 124. I don't diet, or heck even count calories anymore. Don't get me wrong, I am eating a heck of a lot better the I used to when I was fat, but I honestly eat what I want now. and it's not just salad. I figured with Christmas I would gain, and I hit the gym hard in December hoping to just stay the same. Of course we got the stomach flu so that didn't help matters, but honestly I am still surprised. I know my metaoblism is better, and I am making better food choices, but I really don't want to lose any more,and in fact I'd like to get back to 130. People at work have already been freaking out on me again. I am guessing my problem is I have become a cardio junkie. When I go to the gym I always do at least 30 minutes on the crosstrainer machine. I freaking love it. There isn't much better then getting on there with my music blasting and just going as fast as I can. Dave tells me all the time I do too much cardio, but it's my favorite. I do work with some weights, but it's not my favorite. I hate the weights, I feel stupid, I always lose count, and then feel all self conscious. He has told me I just should do cardio like that 3 times a week, or may consider just doing it frequently but not as long. Of course I haven't paid any attention to that advice. I need to though. I guess I have finally got those darn endorphines or whatever people get from working out. I feel awesome on days I get to the gym, and feel blah on the few days I don't. The idea of going in the gym and doing 15 minutes on a cardio machine just seems crazy and slack. Also, I don't want to do too may weights as I don't want to be all female body builder looking.

* I am seriously jealous of my children's tennis shoes that they just got, especially my older two kiddos. They have some sweet Nike's now, and with Dave's birthday coming up,and my older girls birthdays soon after I know I wont be buying myself a pair any time soon unless I find an amazing sale.

* Have you seen those red neck wine glasses, you know the mason jars on a candle stick? Turns out I know the inventor. Seriously. She put a patent or license or whatever on it a while back, and sold the rights to a big company, and she's rich now. I feel like I know a rockstar lol. I have known her since I was a little girl, she in fact did my hair for my wedding as a gift, and spoiled my oldest with a a bunch of purses when she was little. I am so happy for her, and so proud to say I know her!

Sunday Funday!

2012-01-09T03:57:00.000-08:00

Ahhh Sunday/Funday.... I started my Sunday with a quick trip to the gym, I am still sore from being all crazy with a million fitness classes in two days. BUT it was totally needed after what I baked later Sunday. When I got home, I took the kids to the park since it was still semi warm for January out, took some fun pictures of the kids playing with my new lens. Sadly I looked into photography classes through Parks and Rec, and there isn't anything being offered right now. Oh well I can just play more with the camera until something comes up.

Anyways, I had a cooking day by prepping dinner, and a meal for a girlfriends family having surgery, and then got busy making a Pineapple Upside Down Cake. This is a Pioneer Woman receipe, but it's not on her website. It's in her cookbook though, and a few other bloggers have made it, so if you want to see all the details check out this link: http://manysleeplessnights.com/2011/01/08/pioneer-woman-recipe-5-pineapple-upside-down-cake-in-an-iron-skillet/
You make this in a cast iron skillet, and I found it really easy to make. I did have to purchase shortening for my first time ever to make it, so I can now cross that off my bucket list. The top of mine looks darker then the one in the cookbook and blog because I added a lot of cherries since we all love them, and I had dark brown sugar which of course made it a lot darker, I promise it's not burnt =). My family loved this cake, and half of it was gone in seconds. I took a huge chunk of it to my parents to get it out of the house!

2012-01-07T12:30:00.000-08:00

Well I survived kickboxing class, AND the next day a girlfriend took me with her to the cool gym in town and I did a spinning class and ab class with her. What was I thinking.... Kickboxing was great, I felt pretty good afterward, and I want to keep doing it. Helps when you have a friend doing it with you too, I was able to talk my sister in law in going with me, and I think she enjoyed it too =). So, I am feeling all awesome and then the next morning is spinning class. Don't get me wrong, I love riding my beach cruiser all around the neighborhood, but spin class was a butt kicker. It was fun, they held the class in a completely dark room, with lots of nice loud music, but the bike seat is small and tiny, and I don't exactly have a big hiny. It lasted an hour, and my legs were killing me afterward! It was doable though, because if I got too tired I could just let up on the resistance, and fake that I was working just as hard as the others lol. Then as soon as it was over, I tried to run away from my friend and say I was going to do some weight training, but she made me go to the ab class. That class was 1/2 an hour, and I survived a million crunches and some planking. By noon though I could hardly walk. The husband planned a fun date night too us, and showering and dressing for it was hilarious when you can hardly move.

I enjoyed going to my friends gym, and even though I love my cheap gym, I have to admit it would be nice to have classes which my gym doesn't offer. I think I will compromise and just stay at my gym, and take a few kickboxing classes from the Boot Camp lady who does them near my house. Since I did all of the extra classes Friday I didn't start my running program, and I am not sure if I will start Sunday or Monday. I worked out Monday- Friday, so I need to allow my body to recover.

Our date night was still really fun despite me being sore, and Dave has a sprained ankle from a treadmill injury. We looked funny hobbling around. We went to dinner, and a movie, and the kiddos spent the night with their grandparents and one of their cousins.

I have been looking around for running shoes. I am really liking how the minimalist shoes look, and they seem to be really popular right now. On a recent shopping adventure I ended up buying all new sneakers for the girls, because I still can't make up my mind, and they fell in love with some Nike's and Pumas. Go figure. Our new neighbor who runs was telling me I need to check out a website called Roadrunner, as they have a deal where you can try out tennis shoes and you have 90 days to return them if you don't like them after using them. She said it took her 4 pairs before she found a pair she liked using the site, and they have all the popular brands/styles.

I am such a running poser....

2012-01-04T16:47:00.000-08:00

Today during lunch break at work I googled how to train for a 8k. Though I have successfully mastered running a 5k without dying, I am still by no means a runner. Even though an 8k isn't much further then a 5k I am going to have to prepare for it if I want to be able to do it. Imagine my surprise when the first suggestion that pops up suggests trying to run a total of 15-25miles total a week. I about choked on my diet coke. A 8k equals about 5 miles, so if I were to run just three days a week I would need to run 5 miles each time. That's not happening right now. I know I need to build up slowly, but I am going to research some different training programs. I first need to buy some some new running shoes, I am still rocking my old Reebok Easy Tones or a pair of Nikes that are not really ideal for running. I plan on attempting my first run Friday some time at the gym. Tomorrow night I am going to do a kick boxing class to shake things up a bit before starting this adventure. The 8k isn't until April so I have plenty of time to get ready or die trying. I am sad to say goodbye to my favorite cardio machine at the gym though while I attempt this, I hate treadmills.

I finished the first book of the Hunger Games series Tuesday night. OMG, so good! I started reading the next one Catching Fire, and I am already sucked in...

Happy New Year

2012-01-01T17:48:00.000-08:00

Today the girls put on some Christmasy dresses to wear one last time before we went to my great aunt's family reunion party. I snapped a few pictures of the girls today with my new Canon 50mm lense, which I am obsessed with. I really need to read up more on photography, to learn to use my camera better. Maybe I will take a class or something through parks and rec here locally.

Our New Years Eve was even more low key then it normally is. We are still recovering from the great stomach flu of 2011. Seriously, it was rough. Everyone has had some lingering effects from it, not being able to eat a lot, still getting sick a few times, it's just been awful, and let's just thank God for washing machines, as I was constantly running the darn thing. We did venture out Saturday morning to take care of some errands, the husband finally got his new phone, and we did our fun family activity with the girls at Build a Bear. We had never done Build a Bear before, so this was pretty exciting for the girls. It was a lot of fun, and I figured it would be expensive, but oh my goodness they are making a killing there. We had gift cards for the girls to use that they got for Christmas, and I had a $5 off coupon on my phone, but we still had a chunk to pay when all said was done lol. I mean of course the new bears all needed shoes, purses, and clothing. They are really nice quality stuff animals at least, and the girls have carried them around non stop. Laura named hers Sydney, after a girl at her school that is basically her hero. Rachel named her Princess Star, and Emily named her blue bear, Blue. So stinking cute!

The girls ended up all being invited to a friends house to spend the night around the corner from us, but we kept Emily home since she was still feeling iffy. Dave and I did sneak away while my mom and dad kept her for dinner at a Hibachi early. He had to work last night, so we didn't have any exciting plans, and with him having to be at work at midnight, I didn't feel like watching the ball drop by myself, so I just went to bed early.

So I know I am supposed to come up with some goals for the New Year. Thankfully for the first time in a long time I don't have to say I want to lose weight now that I finally am at my goal for that. I have been doing a good job maintaining, and eating healthy. I guess for 2012, I just want to continue working out regularly. I want to continue to aim for working out at least 3 times a week, and I am challenging myself to an 8k in April.

My second goal is to read 25 books this year. Last year I set a goal on my goodreads.com account to read 20, and I did 23. Yesterday I starting reading the book The Hunger Games. I have all three of the books, and had been hearing forever how good they were. With the movie coming out in a few months I knew I needed to get a move on it. I started it yesterday and I am already halfway through with the first one. It's really good, and intense!

I think 2 goals is plenty, well maybe three if you consider the 8k.

Cabin Fever...

2011-12-30T10:53:00.000-08:00

Oh my goodness. The stomach flu hit our household this week full force. It started with Emily on Tuesday, and one by one we all got it. I couldn't get out of bed for one day, and that isn't like me at all. It zapped all energy out of me. It's been nasty. The husband has it now, and I think we are finally seeing the light to be done with the illness....I have spent today trying to disinfect. Dave got a Shark Steam Clean mop thingy for Christmas (yes he asked for this) and I put it together today and used it. I have done 1,000,000 loads of laundry, inhaled a million fumes that are certain to kill brain cells in order to clean the bathrooms. I am just over it, and ready to escape the freaking house. I have not left since Tuesday, and I am over it. I was supposed to work this week but of course I burnt up a good chunk of vacation hours dealing with this mess. I did put away all the Christmas decor with the exception of our tree, I will probably get around to that this weekend.
I am hoping if everyone is better tomorrow we can try to see a movie with the girls. They also have been invited to a friends house to spend the night tomorrow, and I am crossing my fingers they stay illness free so they can go. The girls deserve to do something fun over Christmas break, and I would love to get out and do something with my husband for a little bit tomorrow if he's feeling better.

Making bread....

2011-12-28T10:53:00.000-08:00

My parents gave me a beautiful new Kitchen Aide Mixer for Christmas, and today while home with my sick family I figured I would test it out. I went with a receipe from the manual that came with it for an Herb Pull Apart Bread. I figured if I survived Pioneer Woman's Cinnamon buns, then I could now try another bread. My mixer did a fantastic job mixing the dough, and remarkably once again I had good luck with the dough doubling like it should. The recipe called for cutting the dough into strips and then putting the strips in muffin tins, but I thought it would be easier to make three balls and put the balls in the muffin pan . I was patient and let them rise again once I did that, and then into the oven they went. They turned out really yummy, and baking bread is pretty amazing smell to fill the house.
If you want to attempt this one as well you will need:
1 package active dry yeast
1 cup warm water
1/4 cup melted butter
3- 3 1/2 cups of all purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 tsp thyme
1/4 tsp oregano
1/4 dill

Dissolve yeast in warm water in mixing bowl. Add butter, 2 cups of flour, sugar, salt, and other spices. Using dough hook in mixer mix for one minute until blended. Add remaining flour, and mix until the dough starts to clean sides of bowl, and until dough is smooth and elastic.
Place dough in a greased bowl, cover with towel, and leave it alone for one hour. After an hour it should have risen, punch it down. I then rolled out the dough into a medium disk about 1/2 inch thick, and divided it into six pieces. I then took each piece and pulled from it 6 pieces of dough that I made into balls, and put three into the muffin pan. I let that sit for 45 minutes or so to rise some again. Then I baked the bread in the over on 400, for about 20 minutes. So yummy!!

A Christmas Post....

2011-12-27T10:40:00.000-08:00

And just like that, Christmas is over....It felt so rushed and short this year for some reason. I heard one of the ladies on The View refer to an "illness" called PHA, preholiday anxiety. That's totally me with Christmas. All other holidays don't seem to stress me out, but Christmas can just twist me up in knots. There's just so much to do, so many places to go, so many fun things I want to do with my kids, so much shopping and spending to do, and even though it is fun, trying to keep up can kill ya. I calmed down quite a bit once I got my shopping and wrapping done and was able to enjoy the holidays a little, and now I am just plain worn out and tired. I know the tiredness is a blessing though, because it means we had a lot to do and a lot of fun with family, I was reminded this today as I heard a sad story from a patient who had to spend it all alone without any family or friends.

Christmas Eve I let Dave sleep in until lunch time as he had to work overtime the night before, so I figured we would just let him sleep until he woke up. He really needs the rest as night shift is a killer. The girls and I made some cookies for Santa with my new cookie press that my mom got me earlier this month. It's an electric one, and makes pretty cookies! We played Christmas music and watched a few movies until Dave woke up. Once he woke up, the girls went next door for a few minutes while Santa's "helpers" put together Emily's play grill that he was bringing her. We took it easy the rest of the day and later that evening went to visit with Dave's brothers family. We ended the night by letting the girls open their pj's and giving the girls baths.

The girls went to bed so excited! About 4 am Laura, our oldest came crashing into our bedroom excited that Santa had came! We made her get in bed with us, as though we like to get up early on Christmas, 4am was pushing it. She fell back asleep with us,and at 5am I went ahead and got up showered, and started on breakfast. I cooked a breakfast casserole, sausage balls, and heated up some of the cinnamon rolls. Rachel woke up crying as she had wet the bed lol, but she quicky perked up when she saw Santa had stopped by, and she ran to wake up everyone else.

Not long after the girls were all up, my parents came over to see what Santa had brought, and we gave my parents their gifts from us, and then Dave's parents came by to see as well. Before we got the girls dresses in their Christmas outfits Dave and I did our gifts. The girls gave me some pants, and a new curling iron, and Dave told me that he had ordered me a pair of Uggs on Friday, but they hadn't come yet, and he was acting all shocked that they hadn't arrived in time (he waited until the last minute and just got me what his best friend got his wife, can you picture my eye balls rolling all around in my head?? , I am sure when they do come they will be pretty, but I have to send them back for the correct size. Oh well, as my kids said, maybe if I am a good girl next year Santa will bring me something lol.

We then spent the rest of the morning and lunch at my parents house. We had a good time with my side of the family, and they spoiled us all silly. I am excited to use my new Kitchen Aide mixer! We then headed to Dave's family's house to do Christmas and again got spoiled to death and ate some goodies. It was a long busy day, but were glad to spend it with family. My grandparents were not able to make it, as my grandfather was sick and later went to the hospital. Luckily he is better now and just had a nasty virus. Unfortunately it seems we caught it from visiting him as Emily has been sick since this morning, and I am just waiting now for everyone else to get it. Hopefully, we can all rest up and get better in time to welcome in 2012!

So good you want to smack your momma

2011-12-24T05:42:00.000-08:00

I love Pioneer Woman. She's my idol. She's always so darn pretty, makes great food for her large family, and has a great sense of humor. Everything I have made of hers I have always loved, (with the exception of her mac and cheese, ok it was good, but I like my stand by recipe better). Anyways, since I disovered her blog and purchased her cookbook, I have salivated over her Cinnamon Buns. I freaking love Cinnamon Buns, and I have been sad since Cinnabun has disappeared from Hampton Roads. Side story, once Dave and I drove from Ferrum College to Greensboro, NC to eat at a Cinnabun. No joke.

Anyways, I had never tried them before because the whole letting the dough rise scares me. However, this year Pioneer Woman had a Christmas Special on the Food Network, in which she made them, and Dave begged me to attempt them. I was still scared, but then I saw a college friend of mine, and bridesmaid in our wedding, had seen the same show, made them, and had success, so I braved up.

It wasn't that bad, you don't even need a mixer. I threw everything in my large le cresut dutch oven (channeling my inner Pioneer Woman), added the yeast and then prayed. It has to sit for an hour, and I was stressed the dough wouldn't rise. I about did cartwheels when I went to check on it and it was huge! After that, it gets really messy....you add a few more things to the dough, and then its time to roll them out and start baking. I had to add more flour to my dough so I could get it to roll and not be so sticky (this happened to my bridesmaid too, and I find I have to do the same thing with her pizza dough recipe) If you attempt this, just add more flour until you can get the dough manageable. My kitchen was a freaking mess, and you have to flour the surface of your counters really well. Dave was upstairs cleaning the playroom and freaking out on the kids for making it a mess, and then came downstairs to see me creating a snowstorm with flour in the kitchen. Poor guy.

Anyways, into the oven they went, and oh my goodness....they are yummy! I froze a pan for Christmas morning. I will make these again, but I really want to know how she managed to make these on TV and not look a mess. Maybe I just need a huge kitchen like her =).

Check out the receipe from her: Yummy
I am also super excited to see she has a new cookbook coming out in March!

Ho Ho Ho

2011-12-22T11:47:00.000-08:00

Today I am finally calm. Yesterday I snapped out. Everything is done now, but I could not get my anxiety level to go down. The kids were crazy, and let's face it, when I am stressed out, they seem a million times more crazy then they actually are.

I woke up though in a much better mood today, determined to chill out and realize everything is done, and I can now enjoy Christmas. After all, I don't want my mood bringing down joy with the Holiday for my kids and husband. I spent the morning relaxing some, cleaning, and flipping through my cookbooks, and attempting to redeem my good mom status. I ended up making Black Bottom Cupcakes, from the cookbook, My Mama Made that (see picture above, so easy and yummy!), whipped up some Pioneer Woman's pizza dough, which we will do in the shape of a snowman tonight. We also have plans to go look at Christmas Lights and let the kiddos get a Krispy Cream treat.

Red Velvet Cake

2011-12-21T02:54:00.000-08:00

Every year at Christmas my mom makes an amazing 6 layer red velvet cake with the best cream cheese icing. For my kiddos ornament party I wanted to make it. I am a nervous nelly in the kitchen whenever I make something I have never done before. I wish I could be one of those relaxed types, that's just not me. I was like a warrior in the kitchen begging, praying, and freaking out. All in all it wasn't hard, just time consuming. I was nervous when I had to ice it, as my mom told me she sometimes puts raw spagetti noodle down in the layers to keep it from slipping, and then pulls them out. I just knew though if I tried this I would have spagetti noodles stuck in the cake, so I skipped this part and just took my time. I was so busy with party prepping and during the party I didn't get a change to take a picture of the finished product, but here is a picture of a slice that I had at work the next day.

It's a rich cake, but it's wonderful! My husband high fived me, and my oldest who is already planning her next bday party, has asked that I make the cake for her birthday lol.
My mom got the receipe from a Southern Living magazing many years ago, but from time to time they reprint it again in the newer issues, and has been in some of their cookbooks.
So here it is if you want to make it!
Red Velvet

Christmas stress out time...

2011-12-20T12:09:00.000-08:00

I have been way to stressed out this year with Christmas. I blame it on just not being as together as usual. I have always been good with buying a little throughout the year, but this year I didn't do that as I was stupid and had in my head I would just take a few big shopping trips closer to Christmas and get it done then. NEVER AGAIN. Those who do that every year are crazy. I was stupid this year and learned my lesson the hard way.

Today I had to take off as my youngest daughter had another speech therapy consult, and I figured I would take the day to finish my shopping. So am I done? Yes I am, but I wanted to slap myself for having to shop with all the crazies, and it was just a week day. Does anyone work anymore??? I spent my morning bribing my daughter to talk at her session by promising her a milkshake. She did good, (we don't find out what the issues are if any though until January), but she talked to the lady, and she is talking more in school. Anyways, before getting her a milkshake I figured I would take her with me to Costco so I could get my husbands present (no worries he doesn't read my blog). He wants the new Samsung Nexus Galaxy cell phone, and Costco has a better deal on it then the outside Verizon stores. Low and behold, this phone just came out like last Thursday, and the stupid thing is sold out...and not just as Costco, EVERY WHERE. Great just great. The helpful lady at Costco though did say they would have a shipment coming 12/26, and she could sell me one of equal price so he would have something to unwrap, and he can exchange the next day. I went for it, and though I am ticked it's not the phone he wanted, I am sure he will survive waiting until the next day to exchange. While I am taking care of all this, my daughter is not amused she hasn't gotten her milkshake yet. I really needed to get some grocery shopping done while I was there, but she was freaking out,and when I scolded her she bit herself. I guess I should be happy she didn't bite me.

She still got her milkshake because a bribe is a bribe, and by the time I got home Dave was finally home from work. He took one look at my face and told me to go out and finish my shopping because he's awesome like that. I am now done with shopping, just have to wrap a few things, and now I can finally relax...I know there is more to Christmas then shopping, but I doubt anyone would smile back at me in my family if I didn't have a present to give them come Christmas morning.

Here's to hoping Santa brings me a lot of Plaza Azteca gift cards for margaritas. Feliz Navidad or whatever.

December weekend wrap up....

2011-12-19T04:25:00.000-08:00

So it's less then a week from Christmas now, and am I ready. Nope. Have I ever been this far behind. Never. Ugg. I have my cards done, but I still have to mail them out. I am usually on the ball with the cards and have them sent out right after Thanksgiving. I still need to get gifts for family members, mainly just gift cards, so it's not that bad I guess, but I am a person who just can't relax until everything is done even if it's nothing that stressful I can turn it into stress.

I started wrapping gifts this weekend and have a bunch under the tree now. I need to hit up the dollar store and get some bags and tissue paper though.

I was at least productive this week with getting ready for a kiddo ornament party for a few close friends. I made a 6 layer red velvet cake that turned out gorgeous, and tasty, I also made chocolate peanut butter balls, chocolate butter cream filled whoopie pies, almond cookies with a fancy cookie press that my mom just got me, and I set up a hot chocolate bar with freaking chocolate dipped marshmellows then dipped in crushed peppermint. Yepp, it's official I lost my mind with doing all of that, but it was pretty, and hopefully everyone liked it. It honestly wasn't that bad as I just did a few things a night and put them in the freezer.

I had the kids do three ornaments a piece. Nothing that exciting or hard. They put stickers on two things, and then I had them paint and glitter a snow flake ornament. It was messy but fun. We had an extra glass ball ornament, so we copied a pinterest idea and took my friends 4 month old and put glue on her feet, stuck them on the ball, and then glittered her foot prints. It turned out really cute, and only took 2 tries =)

Also this weekend I finished the grandparent scrapbooks that I do every year. I almost didn't do one this year as I slacked off and didn't work on them little by little through the year, so basically I did two this weekend. I do them digital now with the Creative Memories software, but it's still time consuming.
So that's all I have for you now, I just can't relax or blog about munch until I get through with my shopping and wrapping....

Self induced Christmas Stress....

2011-12-08T03:19:00.001-08:00

Oh goodness, looks how close we are to Christmas, and I am no where near ready. I am all decorated at least since the day after Thanksgiving, but that's about where the motivation died at. I thought I was about done Christmas shopping for the girls, and then my oldest announced she and Rachel were getting American Girl dolls... ummmm I thought I had another year or more before we got into them at all. Those jokers are expensive! Now this may sound awful, and if it is don't tell me, but I saw that Target has their own brand just like American Girl, that is much cheaper, same size though and everything... I am thinking about going with that and see how they do and maybe for birthday start getting into the real deal...I just don't think I could stomach spending over a hundred and some dollars on a doll just to see it beat up and beheaded by them, especially as a last minute Christmas gift when I already have their gifts done. Honestly, I doubt they would notice the brand name either, as I would have those jokers out of the box, so unless there is some special marking on them that I don't know about what the big deal?

I also have not sent out my Christmas cards, or even know what we are doing for them.... I did have plans with a girlfriend to take each other's families pictures one weekend, but it's been hard getting our schedules together to do it. I probably will just force everyone to get dressed this Saturday,and do them myself of the kids and not worry about doing a family one with Dave and I in it.

I also have invited a few people over for a kiddo ornament crafting party, which I have no idea what I will be cooking/baking for it, or what ornament we will make. Yepp that's not exactly like me to plan something like that and not have a plan of action all set out. What the heck was I thinking. At least we are keeping the guest list small. Guess I better make a board on Pinterest and get some ideas and a plan of action going!

Random Christmas Pictures....

2011-12-05T03:46:00.001-08:00

Tis the Season....

2011-11-26T06:49:00.001-08:00

Thanksgiving was busy as usual this year! The morning of Dave and I ran in a 5k. I was really excited to run one with him, as it was his first, and he had been working out hard. He did great, and I was really proud of him. We finished it together and our official time was 33 minutes. I thought our times were pretty good, as there was a lot of people, so it was super crowded until about the 1 mile mark, and there were a lot more hills. The last one I did was completely flat and all on regular road so it was easier. My only goal was to do this one without stopping and I met it. Dave had to walk a little, but luckily I have a slow pace, so he was able to catch up quickly.

We later had lunch at my moms house, and then a few hours later went over to the inlaws for round two. After a bunch of eating all day I took a quick nap to rest up for black Friday! My girlfriend and I had planned to head to Target for their sale. They opened at midnight. It was crazy crowded, but we did good and got everything we were after. She took me home at about 3am, and I got in my car and went back out to the local mall to see if there was anything worth having. Apparently an incident occurred when they opened at midnight, but all was well when I got there. I hardly ever go to the mall anymore, so I was shocked to see they had opened a Crazy 8's store. I actually like it better then Gymboree. It's owned by the same people, and it's really similar but a little cheaper. They had some good deals! I came home, and then did a little more shopping online. I got a few things on the Toys R Us website, and some things on Gymboree. I should have then gone to bed, but I figured I could clean up the house, and then treat the family to a pancake breakfast. They were excited to wake up to that!

After breakfast, I was happy to have Dave's help with the Christmas decorations. Usually every year I get everything out and just do it myself, but Dave scored major brownie points by eagerly helping me. The girls also enjoyed helping. We ended up going out to the local tree lot and buying our tree, and getting that all decorated too. Laura was our biggest helper and she helped decorate the tree from start to finish! Emily and Rachel just wanted to see the finished product!

It's hard to believe that Christmas season is upon us...I love this time of year though. The girls are at such fun ages, Emily finally really "gets it".

50% off Cookbooks!!!

2011-11-23T04:28:00.001-08:00

Are you still trying to figure out what to get your loved one's for Christmas? If they like to cook, and enjoy cookbooks, consider purchasing one from The Cookbook Market Place. They have an amazing selection of cookbooks published for various junior leagues, and other community organizations. Also, readers of my blog will save 50% off the price, when you use the code NAP-HOLIDAY.

I plan on buying the cook book Virginia Hospitality for my boss, (this is a classic cookbook from my local JL, that I pretty much grew up on), and giving her a list of my favorite recipes from the book. I have been using this book ALOT in our household, from pancakes, to appetizers, to main courses, and desserts! In fact I am making a cheese ball to bring to Thanksgiving at my in-laws that can be found in this book.
Islander Cheese Ball
16 ounces cream cheese softend
8 ounces crushed pineapple drained
2 tablespoons green onions, including the tops chopped
1/4 cup green pepper chopped
2 teaspoons seasoned salt
2 cups pecans chopped

Mix cheese and pineapple with a mixer, stir in the onion, green pepper, salt, and 1/2 cup pecans. Roll into one large ball, then roll in remaining pecans. Serve with crackers, or pretzels.

*I made this for a birthday party a few weeks ago, and it was scarfed down!

Get in my belly....

2011-11-20T09:00:00.001-08:00

I have made 5 million whoopie pies. Not really but it feels like it... My oldest daughters school is having a bake sale, and I volunteered to make items for it. I wanted to make something different, and I went with whoopie pies. This receipe is something I saw on GRITS blog a while back, and I thought it sounded easy enough. I wanted to give it a test run though, before I made them to be sold, so I whipped up a batch Thursday night. Honestly it was really easy. I actually made half of them when I got home from work, and then finished them up when I got back from a dinner with a girlfriend, and got in bed before too late. My husband gave me two thumbs up, and I had some happy coworkers, and dinner guests Friday. Hey, we had to get rid of them. I made a double batch Sunday morning as I needed 2 dozen for the sale, and then I had plenty of leftovers to give to some family members. If you want the recipe click here: HERE, I did make one change of using nutmeg instead of cloves, as I didn't have cloves on hand. I also didn't pipe my icing on with a pastry bag. I just slapped it on, and it still looked fine. I found these really easy to make, which is kinda scary, as my thighs may not be as excited to allow me to consume them!

A November Weekend...

2011-11-14T10:38:00.001-08:00

Goodness gracious! The weekends just go by too fast...My husband was off which was wonderful, and doesn't happen enough. We had a fun date night Friday night enjoying some yummy mexican food and drinks with another couple that I went to high school and played softball with.

Saturday we hung out, went to the gym, and then spent the afternoon and evening at a friends house for their 4 year old's birthday party. The mom went with a Pirate theme. She made an amazing cake that had a layer of strawberry filling so it looked like blood when the cake was cut. She went all out decorating the house and yard, and the kids wore pirate hats and got their face painted. The birthday boys great grandmother even showed up dressed like a pirate! What a cool granny!

That cake is simply amazing! She's the chick who lent me the Elmo pan for Emily's party, and gave me some cake making advice =)

Sunday we went to the church at the preschool that our girls go/have gone to, as their friend was singing in the preschool choir yesterday. Once we got home from that, I went into crazy 50's house wife mode. I have cooked a lot of food in my life, (ok since getting married, let's be honest, my mom spoiled me rotten with home made meals).But I had never made mashed potatoes from scratch. I don't really know why, I own a potato masher and all, heck I have done mashed sweet potatoes, but never just normal ones. We just don't eat a lot of potatoes I guess. I also did a apple pork roast I saw on Pioneer Woman's blog, and made a pumpkin cheese cake with a home made crust. It took a super long time to make all of this mess, but I was so stinking proud that everything turned out yummy! I just don't know how my mom and grandmothers did this every Sunday, and heck my mom and grandma would make home made rolls too! We had rolls, but I went with frozen ones, and I did canned green beans. My husband was pretty excited about the meal, and I made sure to let him know this wont be happening every Sunday, but I will try to do it again from time to time. I even broke out our wedding China and crystal, and let the girls drink apple juice out of the wine glasses. They were so confused why we were eating in the dining room, and using the nice stuff, but they loved it!

I have made a slight dent in my Christmas shopping. Nothing exciting, but hey anything gets me closer to being done...I am itching to get my Christmas decor out, but I try to wait until we buy our tree, and the tree lot doesn't sell them until the day after. I am just so excited though! The kids are at such fun ages! I did purchase the Elf on the Shelf, so that will be a new tradition for the girls. I am also thinking about having an ornament making party for the kids. Nothing as big as the Halloween party, since we will be doing this all inside, and I don't think I can mentally handle that many people in my house, but just a few of their friends. I want to use cookie cutter with salt dough, and have the kids paint them. Salt dough is so easy and cheap to make, and I think the kids would love it!

Christmas is coming...

2011-11-10T03:44:00.000-08:00

I have slowly started my Christmas shopping. Don't get excited I have one present for each child and that's about it so far. I have a crazy amount to do, but I will get there....I hate how rushed the holidays seem, we just celebrated Halloween, and Thanksgiving is a couple of weeks away... But in an attempt to be organized I recently purchased the girls Christmas dresses during a big sale at Gymboree. I looked all over Etsy, and Zulily for something cute for the girls, but everything I likes cost about one million dollars or so, and so when I found these dresses for a bargain I nixed all other ideas.

I am hoping that Barnes and Noble has the Elf of the Shelf in stock already, as I plan on hitting that store up on my lunch break to make that purchase so we can get going on the Elf tradition in our house this year. I have seen all kinds of cute ideas on Pinterest do to with the Elf.

So that's what mode I am in now.... I am focused on the holidays...

The garage sale of all garage sales....

2011-11-06T04:43:00.000-08:00

I went to the garage sale of all garage sales yesterday...One of the elite communities in Williamsburg, Kings Mill has two garage sales a year, and yesterday was the fall one. I had never been before, but a girlfriend of mine who grew up in Williamsburg talked me into going. I am so glad I did! They hold it at the Busch Gardens overflow parking lot. It was freezing cold when we go there, but totally worth freezing for. I bought a cool tunnel/tent combo toy for the kids that's brand new and that I might have Santa pick up and deliver on Christmas Eve. I scored a Junior League Cookbook from Florida for a dollar, a ton of childrens clothes, brand new pair of stride rite shoes, clothing for me, etc. I got a cute dress that I can wear to work that was brand new with tags still on it for $2! They had a brand new electric smoker for $30 that I went back to get but was gone... The husband could have killed me for not getting it, but I mean we have two smokers, why the heck would we need another? Apparently though it's nicer then what we have, and he said he would have sold our old one. Oh well now I know better. Someone that my friend knows scored a flat screen tv for $30 that the owners had just upgraded to a bigger TV and just wanted to sell the old one cheap to get rid of. I was truly overwhelming, and I saw so many other things I wanted. We also went to a few other sales nerby, and I got a bag of about 40 hair bows that someone had made for $3, and they are gorgeous! I also picked up a few more books to read. I think I am hooked on garage sales, after getting so many good deals yesterday! I am totally going to go to the Spring one, and this time I will be sure to have more cash on me, and to take the husbands truck =)

Halloween 2011

2011-11-06T04:26:00.000-08:00

Oh my goodness.... It's several days past halloween, and I think I have what one would call a Halloween hangover...Last week I was completely consumed with getting ready for our Halloween pumpkin party. It was a lot of fun, but a lot of work. I was crazy busy making for for the party, and attempting to clean the house. Sometimes I wonder why I clean up before party, because 10 minutes into them the house becomes a mess all over again... We had a good turn out, a ton of kids, and some of our friends. I made one of those pumpkin bundt cakes that have been floating around Pinterest, and a million other things...

The kids had a blast though and we had glitter, paint, and pumpkin inards all over the back patio. So worth it though. I totally deserved that bottle of wine I consumed at the end of the night....

Dave and I were off the next day, but we were busy running to school parties/parades, and then we came home to get prepared for Trick or Treating! We had a few friends bring their kids over so we could trick or treat as a group which was fun too. I am so glad to have friends with children about the same age as ours. It just makes everything special.

What's been going in the Gile's house!

2011-10-29T09:50:00.000-07:00

It's a yucky rainy Saturday. I don't have anything exciting to blog about, just a bunch of randoms...I am having another pumpkin carving/painting party for the kiddos and some of their friends. I spent yesterday and this morning making some sweets for it. I made oreo truffles, chocolate dipped oreos, chocolate covered pretzel rods, cupcakes, and one of those pumpkin cakes made out of two bundt cakes. I just iced the cake a few minutes ago, and man do I need to practice my iceing skills. Oh well it's orange now and looks kinda like a pumpkin... For the stem I think I will put a snickers bar or something in the middle...If I felt like doing anymore crap in the kitchen I would attempt to make the stem and some leaves out of fondant. Truth be told I have not even bought all the actual pumpkin carving/painting supplies we need, so I doubt I have time to get all crazy with fondant considering I wont know what I am freaking doing since I have never done it before...

My husband is making bbq, and I will probably make a thing of mac and cheese. I have a feeling we will have a good turn out for the party, so hopefully I have enough of everything. I still have to clean the house, and I am getting overwhelmed thinking about everything else I need to do. I know it will be worth it though to let the kids have some fun.

I ran some of the treadmill at the gym today. The husband and I are getting ready for the Thanksgiving Day 5k in our area. This will be his first 5k, and I am excited to do it with him! This course will be tougher then the one I did last month at my daughters school as it has more hills, so I am not aiming to beat my time, I just want to try to do it without stopping again.

The kids are excited for Halloween! I am helping with Laura's class party Monday, and then running over to the preschool to watch my other two in their school parade, and then later they shall trick or treat their little hearts out =).

Rachel has asked to try Karate out, and there is a place near out house we found, and she has her first lesson Wednesday. This cracks me up. They do three one on one lessons to let kids try it out first, and then you can sign up for weekly lessons with a class. She's really excited!

Tonight Dave and I are going with a friend of mine from work and her husband to do some haunted ghost tour on a famous haunted boat in Norfolk tonight. I can't remember the details, but apparently it's a famous boat and there have been documentaries on it! I will try to take some pictures and get the details and blog about it later!

Weight Losst Adventures...

2011-10-17T12:45:00.000-07:00

So... weight loss. Geeze louise, what a fun topic. I have been debating about even writing about this as it such a touchy topic with myself, and many other people, but what the hell. I went on a weight loss journey several months ago, and was really successful. I talked about it some on here while I was doing it, but I figure I would do a blog post about it. In March I had a 31 party, and the girl who did it was telling me that some people that we both knew had lost a lot of weight, they did it with a little help... I got the info and set out to do the same thing...

April 1st I began a diet. The first few days maybe 3 or 4, I did an atkins type diet, which I messed up on and had a few carbs. It was to jump start the weight loss. Like I said though I cheated by eating bread a couple of times. Then on day 5 or so I started a 1200 calorie diet. To help stay within my calorie range, I was prescribed an appetite suppressant (phentermine). I also got vitamin b12 shots that studies are showing help with weight loss, by mainly giving you energy. The suppressant made me feel jittery for a day or so, and I cut out caffeine until I could tell I was adjusted. This suppressant really was a miracle worker. I love food. When the doctor said appetite suppressant I laughed, as I figured it wouldn't work. I literally found myself forcing myself to get in my 1200 calories a day because I just wasn't interested in eating. 1200 calories doesn't sound like much, but it was hard to get in! I cut out high fat foods, (I still have not had a french fry since March), ate high protein meals, and made it a point to get more fruits and veggies in. I became a huge fanatic of Zone bars, and protein shakes. As far as working out, I started out slowly with old lady style walking videos. Go a head laugh away. My husband and kids did. Within the first week I lost about 7lbs I think, the end of the month I was down 15 lbs. By the end of the 2nd month I was down 25. Now not every week did I lose weight, but I was losing inches, and as the weight came off I became motivated to start working out more intensely, and rejoined a local gym. Some weeks I lost 1 1lb, sometimes 5lbs, and sometimes none, but the scale kept moving on down....

I never cheated with the eating. Now drinking would be another ball game. Now don't get me wrong, the first month I didn't even cheat there, but eventually I would have a few drinks on the weekends, and then I discovered Skinny Girl Margaritas... sigh.... these are deadly. I still would save them for the weekends, and when I knew I would be drinking them, I would just have protein bars for my meals.

The end of June I stopped the appetite suppressants, but continued the vitamin b12 shots. I was scared at first I would go crazy eatting and the weight would come back on...But I remained focused, continued to work out at least 5 days a week.....The middle of July I stopped the shots, and the doctor told me I was good to go. I could come back for shots once a month, if I wanted to, but I had met my ultimate goal. Before my ultimate goal I had set two other goals. The number I would happy with getting to, a number I would love to be, and then the ultimate goal...I couldn't believe I had hit the ultimate goal.... So how much did I lose? 50 lbs... I still can't believe it... The size I am at now is pretty much highschool early years of college.

I have been able to maintain my weight so far. I try to do 1400-1600 a day, but usually do more on the weekends. I still eat healthy for the most part, man do I miss french fries....but I eat what I want within reason and with portion control. I also continue to work out, but now with girls in school, and busy schedules I mainly workout 3 times a week at the gym. So far it's working for me, and I have not gained. I bake and cook a lot at home, so if I eat anything sweet, it something I have made. I would never buy a candy bar anymore, if I am going to enjoy a sweet treat then it better be good and worth it. Also, the dietician where I work preaches about how everyone needs to lower their phosphorous intake. Seriously, the studies out there that she has shown me are very scary! Now being the diet coke addict that I am, I am not ready to say goodbye to diet coke, but I will try to make fresh desserts and meals for my family =)

It hasn't been all rainbows and unicorns though... the weight loss brought a lot of insecurities out for me. The feedback I was getting from others was also extremely hard. I had a lot of people say mean things to me about it, some people thought I was too skinny and told me I looked unhealthy, and I looked better with the weight. Really? Let's be honest....I was considered over weight on the far side with my starting BMI, and now that my BMI was appropriate people said I looked unhealthy. I hate to be snarky, but all of those people who said that crap to me were obese, but I wont lie, they got under my skin. Seeing myself thin also was like seeing a whole new person. This really shocked me as I was thin my entire life until later, so you wouldn't think going back to how I used to look would be that big of a deal, but it was....Maybe it was because it came off so fast, but I pretty much lost my mind for little while. My insecurities got the best of me, and that's all I have to say about that.

What I like: the energy that I have, buying new clothes and feeling confident in them. Buying size 2's and 4's for myself, and knowing they will fit. It's still weird getting those sizes, but it still makes me happy. I also like that being at my ideal body weight will help me health wise and lower my chances of a million different ailments and diseases. It seems like every crazy disease is linked to being overweight.

What's still hard, hoping I don't fall off the wagon and gain all the weight back. I mean seriously, I am scared to death that I will go to bed skinny and wake up fat, and how bad would that suck since I got rid of all the bigger clothes. I would have to cut a hole in my sheets and go a la mumu. It really is a life style change. You can't stuff your face every meal , every day. I still need a crazy amount of new clothes, but buying a wardrobe isn't cheap, but hopefully little by little my closet will look full again. I seriously own just two pairs of jeans lol, but that's ok, maybe I will just ask for clothes for Christmas.

I guess what I learned overall about this adventure is, you still have to find a way to love yourself no matter what you weigh. Losing 50 or 100 lbs isn't going to make your life perfect either. If anyone has any other questions feel free to comment or email me.

Weekly Menu recap

2011-10-16T08:23:00.000-07:00

So it's Sunday, I did ok with sticking to the menu. Didn't follow it exactly, but I did my best so this is how the weekly menu went
Monday- Chicken Enchiladas. This is always a family favorite, we enjoyed this, and I had enough leftovers to enjoy it at work for lunch two days this week.

Tuesday- Sweet Apple Meat Loaf-This is a recipe from My Mama Made that- Junior League cookbook. It was awesome! The kids scarfed it down, and my husband made sandwiches out of the leftovers. Will totally make again.

Wednesday- Spaghetti- I had to volunteer this night, so Dave made this for the kids and himself.

Thursday- Chickfila Kids night- I had volunteer stuff going on again, so Dave and the kids went out on the town and had a yummy dinner at Chickfila. I was sad to miss out, BUT they got me a spicy chicken sandwich and brought it to me =) When I got home I whipped up a batch of pumpkin spice muffins with a cream cheese center for everyone to enjoy the next morning. They were a-freaking-mazing.... oh my goodness. I got the receipe and how to from this blog :Pumpkin Spice Muffins I will totally make these again for us to enjoy.

Friday- I was supposed to do a London Broil, but I didn't have time to do the marinade in the morning, so this didn't happen.... I ended up baking some boneless pork chops. It may sound weird but I just put them in a dish, take a tablespoon or 2 of apple butter with a shake of cinnamon on each one and bake them for 30-45 minutes. It smells and tastes really good!

Saturday and Sunday- the pork shoulder the husband was going to smoke is still sitting in our freezer lol. But hear me out. Our weekends are just crazy, so the prep work for smoking wasn't happening. BUT I did the london broil in the marinade that we were supposed to have friday. The marinade smelled really good, but I didn't taste it at all once it was cooked... Honestly I don't think it had long enough to soak in it. It probably was just in it for 5 hours. I like to do it for 12 or more. We ate it though. To make something sweet for the kids, without feeling like being all creative and making a mess, I took refrigerated crescent rolls, unrolled the triangles, put a few chocolate chips in it, and rolled them back up and topped them with sugar. This was actually a big hit with my family. So easy to do.

Sunday- We are heading out to see a concert tonight in Virginia Beach and we have plans to go to Plaza Azteca for some yummy Mexican and margaritas. Looking forward to this =) I did make a batch of pumpkin, chocolate chip bars from this blog: pumpkin choc chip bars

Menu planning for this week....

2011-10-10T12:29:00.000-07:00

I still have been attempting to menu plan, and I am getting better at it. It sure does make grocery shopping a lot easier I will say that, and ends me staring into the fridge with a dumb look on my face or dwelling about it all day while I am at work.

This week here's the game plan for dinners:

Monday- Chicken Enchiladas. This is a recipe that I got from my sister many years ago, and I like it because its easy, and most of it is done in the crock pot.

Tuesday- Sweet Apple Meat Loaf-This is a recipe from My Mama Made that- Junior League cookbook. To be honest I have never attempted meat loaf before. The idea of it seemed kinda gross to me, BUT, at a JL meeting someone had made this, and I braved up and tried it, and LOVED it. It was really good. My husband also is a meatloaf fan, so I am hoping he will pleased with this one. We have back to school night at the preschool, so I am hoping I have enough time to get this one done...

Wednesday- Spaghetti- quick, easy, and the husband can make it. I am volunteering this night so he's on duty so I figured to put him in charge.

Thursday- Chickfila Kids night- I have volunteer stuff again this evening, so I will be missing out on a yummy Chickfila dinner (I'm obsessed with the spicy chicken on wheat sandwich). I plan on scarfing down some leftovers.

Friday- I have a new marinade I want to try out with a london broil.

Saturday and Sunday- this depends on how the day pans out, it's going to be a busy weekend for us... I have stuff for tacos, and I also have pork shoulder for Dave to BBQ, so it just depends on how things pan out for us how we will end up doing it...

Another weekend in the books....

2011-10-10T06:54:00.000-07:00

Wow, we had another busy fun filled weekend, and I can't believe the weekend is already gone.
Friday Dave and his friend and brother took the kids camping at a local park. It's such a small world really. I grew up on a baseball field pretty much as a child, and Steve and Bobby played up there too. We later went to highschool together, and I kinda sorta dated Bobby (it's complicated) at one point in the teen years. Years later it turns out Steven was on the same police force as my husband, and they hit it off and have a sort of bro romance I guess you could call it. His wife is awesome, and their oldest daughter and ours love to play together, and I know their new baby will be running along with them all soon.

So friday night was the big camping trip. I joined them for dinner and to hang out until late that night, and I have to say, the idea of camping is not appealing to me, but it was fun. The girls had a blast playing together and having some fun in the woods. No one was scared to sleep in the tent at night ( I was betting on Dave calling me to pick them up), and they all came home tired, but wanting to do it again soon.

Saturday morning we had a tball game and then ventured out to the Surry Pumpkin Patch. This pumpkin patch is on the simple side, but they have the prettiest pumpkins, and all types too. They don't charge an admission fee like a lot do around here, it's just a great big pumpkin patch, with a small shop with cute crafts, and their own homemade icecream (the pumpkin flavor is the best). We have been going since Laura was a baby, and it's a tradition I know we will always continue.

We were pretty lazy the rest of the weekend, I have been battling either a cold or some allergies which hasn't been fun. I don't feel like doing much other then laying around coughing, but I am going to have to force myself to get productive for a couple of hours to figure out our meals for the next week... I am hoping I will find something fun to make that is also blog worthy too =)

How we spent our weekend

2011-10-03T18:28:00.000-07:00

*This weekend we ate our weight in marshmellows, we made smores Saturday night, and Sunday Dave and his friend attempted to either 1. send smoke signals, or 2. make me pass out from smoke inhalation as he couldn't get the fire to keep going.

* I watched my daughter play with my childhood best friends niece, and it was like a time warp as it seriously looked like myself and her playing together. It still cracks me up, that they found each other at school and hit it off with being in different grades, and not knowing the background that they share =)
*We had a halloween costume crisis solved, and my older two want to both be mermaids, and my Costco only had one costume. I tried to talk Laura into being something else, and she pretty much told me where I could take my suggestions.... Thankfully, a wonderful girlfriend in Richmond found the costume at her Costco, and mailed it to me. Emily at least could care less, and is happy to either be a lady bug or butterfly that I saved from years past.
*I'm nervous as Emily is seeing an eye specialist tomorrow, she has a "lazy eye". Hoping it goes well.....Makes me nervous though.
*Fall ball tball started finally after being rained out the previous weekend. I was all excited to have my camera out there and my huge zoom lens, and as luck would have it I forgot my memory card lol.

Yummy Apple Cake....

2011-10-01T04:33:00.000-07:00

This morning I went to the gym after getting all the girls to school, I ran a 5k on the treadmill. I was actually able to get the stupid thing to turn on this time.... Anyways, after my workout, I came home and baked something, because it all evens out that way right???? I ended up making Apple Cake with Caramel Sauce. This is from the cookbook Lone Star to Five Star, The Junior League of Plano Texas, which I have to say, looks like an incredible cookbook and I am eager to make many more things from here soon! I was eager to make something with apples as I had found a great deal on apples this week.
It was a hit with everyone. The kids loved it, the husband was excited, and my parents gave it two thumbs up too. It was easy to make as well which makes me happy.
Apple Cake with Caramel Sauce
Cake:
3 eggs
1/2 cup veg oil
1/2 cup applesauce
2 cups of flour
2 cups of sugar
1 teaspoon of baking soda
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
2 teaspoons of cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon of salt
4 cups of chopped apples

Combine the eggs, oil, and applesauce in a mixing bowl and beat lightly. Add the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt and mix well. Fold in the apples. Spoon in a greased 9x13 inch cake pan, and bake at 350 for 45-60 minutes or until the cake is done.

To prepare the sauce, melt the butter in a saucepan, add the sugars, flour, cream, and vanilla and mix well, bring to a boil and cook for 2 minutes. Serve warm over the cake. You can also reserve the sauce and reheat it if your serving it later.

Side note: This smells amazing cooking!
If you want to purchase this cookbook for 40% off see the ad on my sidebar and enter the code NAP40 at checkout!!!

Thoughts in my head...

2011-09-27T13:53:00.001-07:00

* My legs still hurt from the 5k. I am planning to run another 5k in November, and they also have a 10k that day, my friend asked if we could do the 10k instead of the 5. No way jose, I will just wave from the sidelines at her. Or maybe I can convince her to push me in a jogging stroller the whole way?

*I am going back to the gym tonight, and I might attempt to see if I am able to turn the treadmill on today.

* Finding a perfect balance in life between all of persons roles is impossible. I beat myself up on a almost daily basis with attempting to do my best with all of my different roles that I have. I think in the last couple of months I have learned that you can't make everyone happy and do everything perfectly, so just do your best and look out for your self and family first. Hopefully your friends, coworkers, and others will understand when things are tough from time to time.

*For the love of sweet tea, do not ever buy a magazine subscription from someone knocking on your front door. Your not going to change their life, or help an organization, or ever get your magazines.

* I really could use a pedicure right about now.

* I am getting feather extensions for my older two daughters Friday. They think I am the coolest mom ever. I will remind them of this when they get upset with me about forcing them to clean their rooms.

Running just as fast as I can...

2011-09-26T03:28:00.000-07:00

Saturday I ran in my 4th ever 5k race. I am not a runner...I was curious how I would do after the weight loss, and with being good about working out at the gym with lots of cardio, and hey it was a fundraiser for my baby's school. Friday when I was at the gym, I attempted to get on the treadmill to see how running would go, and I couldn't even figure out how to turn the stupid thing on! Seriously, I followed the directions and sat there for a good 5 minutes trying to get it on. Yes I pushed the quickstart and nothing happened... I finally gave up and just go on the ARC machine....
So anyways, I went to this race with two girlfriends, and my main goal was to do at least 1 mile of the race without stopping...Yeah sadly, I always end up walking some before I hit 1 mile in every race before...I am excited to report I didn't stop to walk at all through the entire freaking thing!!! Of course I wanted to, and came close to near the end, but I didn't, and even attempted to spring the last little bit... My final time was about 31 minutes, the official times have not been posted yet, but I am still excited! So am I an offical runner now? No way, but I am so freaking proud you would have thought I did a marathon!

Iced Blondies

2011-09-23T14:50:00.000-07:00

My girlfriend bought me a junior league cookbook off ebay called The Charlotte Cookbook, from the junior league of Charlotte North Carolina. She knows me too well lol. It's an older one published in 1969. I was trying to think up something sweet to make, and while flipping through this little gem, I saw Iced Blondies. I have always wanted to make blondies and iced ones sounded even better! I had everything on hand, and it looked pretty easy and it was.

2/3 cup of butter
2 cups light brown sugar
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1 teaspoon of salt
2 whole eggs
2 egg yolks
1 teaspoon of vanilla
1 cup chopped nuts (I left these out as I didn't have any, and I am not a nut person in sweets)

Melt butter, and brown sugar over low heat until all melted. Mix remaining ingredients together. Combine both mixtures together and pour into a greased 9x12 pan and bake at 350 for 25-30 min. Ice while warm and cut into squares

Icing
4 tablespoons of butter
4 tablespoons of milk
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
Boil butter, milk, and brown sugar for 2 minutes, beat the powderd sugar in after removing from heat. Ice the blondies as soon as they are taken from the oven .

My husband woke up to these this evening, and said he had to test them out, and kids happily assisted. They gave this one two thumbs up!

You too can but this cookbook brand new from this website: HERE and get 40% of with code NAP40

Needs....

2011-09-22T03:39:00.000-07:00

*I need fall clothes really, really, really, bad.
*I need a magic fairy to fund these.
* I need it to quit raining. My kids are going bonkers, and after a couple days of it it gets old quick, rain is nice but after a couple of days it makes me feel all doom and gloom.
* I need to go grocery shopping tomorrow
* I need to do a practice run before the 5k Saturday. Or maybe not.
* I need to get to the gym to get in at least two more workouts this week
* I need to take a library book back
* I need Emily to be more interested in potty training
*I need some midol or everyone is going to catch it today.

2011-09-19T01:00:00.000-07:00

I am late making this, but I wanted to see how Rachel has changed over the last few years...these are pictures taken on her on her first day of school every year while at her preschool from ages 2-4.....Time needs to slow down!!!

Happy Birthday Emily!!!

2011-09-18T14:49:00.000-07:00

Well she's three now....I can't believe it, my youngest is 3!!!!Wow! Her party went great, and she had a good time. We had a friend who loaned us a small bouncey house, but the rain prevented us from using it, but that's ok, I think everyone bounced all over the house lol.
For the table in the dining room I displayed the Elmo tissue pom pom I made (super easy, no need to ever buy tissue pom poms again from etsy, just google a how to and your good to go, if you can fold paper ala fan style your gold). I had made white chocolate dipped pretzel rods with sprinkles a few days before that I put out, and I had some gold fish crackers for the younger ones, as well as some carmel corn in a dish for people to snack on. I also put out my Elmo cake that I was so stinking proud of, and the cupcakes.
As far as the actual dinner, my husband smoked some bbq, so we had plenty of that in two different sauces, and I made mac and cheese, fruit cabobs, and buffalo dip. I had planned to make more food, but this morning I figured enough was enough, and it seemed to be plenty!
I usually make cherry limeaide in my beverage dispenser for every birthday party, but knowing it was a red drink I figured I would go with the Elmo flow, and stick on eyes and nose so it could look the part too. Later my father in law stuck the eyes and nose on his red shirt to fit in as well =)
This year Emily really enjoyed opening her presents, and was moving as fast as she could on them. She got a lot of clothes, as well as a few toys like a barbie that she asked for as well as some other neat things.
I think she had a good time, and hopefully time will slow down a little bit, and she wont continue to grow up so fast!

A few random thoughts...

2011-09-17T04:56:00.000-07:00

1. I kicked Elmo's arse.... I had no issues getting the cake out of the pan, and I decorated the cake with three children running around the house, determined to give me a stroke.

2. I now know why these ladies who have their own cake businesses out of their house charge so much for birthday cakes. It's a pain in the butt, and takes forever!!!

3. The cake looks good, pictures to come later, and at this point, I don't even care what it tastes like as I am just so freaking proud that it looks like elmo, and I didn't mess up or end up in tears.

4. I am very proud of myself for making a birthday cake for my child, but I think next time it will be a lot less stressful to just buy a cake...if I had not have borrowed the elmo pan from a friend, it probably would have cost the same as buying a cake from Costco anyways...

5. I had a million of other ideas for the birthday party, and I didn't do but a few of them, but I doubt Emily will mind. At this point I am tired, not so much from the party planning, but just with running kids around and trying to keep up with life. I am ashamed to even admit how much diet coke I have consumed the last 2 weeks or so. I even cut back on a lot of outside activities, and I still feel overwhelmed and busy. I think it's mainly trying to get adjusted to the kids schedules. I never handle adjustment well, and just when I get comfortable with things, schedules change all over again.

6. I really, really, really hate that people wont freaking RSVP. Seriously, people. Do you have any idea how hard it is to cook food when you have no idea who is coming or who may bring an unexpected guest along.

7. I am about to get off of here and crack open a diet coke or two and chill out for a few.

She's almost 3....

2011-09-16T08:31:00.000-07:00

Today we celebrated Emily's birthday at her preschool! I can't believe tomorrow she will be turning 3...We brought Krispy Creame doughnuts as her special snack for her birthday, since she is a huge doughnut fan. She is enjoying school, but was very shy when everyone sang happy birthday to her, and she refused to wear her birthday crown that she made this morning with her teacher lol. Her personality reminds me a lot of Laura's, as they can both be very shy, especially when the focus is on her.

Today I am getting ready for the cake drama to begin.... I may or not be trying to put it off. I started decorating the dining room table, and filled the goody boxes with some homemade cookies that I made. I made a elmo paper ball thingy that looks like his head, and I hung it from the light in the dining room. I also took my Creative Memories collage frame and slapped on her invitation that I made, and used the Cricut to cut out happy birthday to hang from it. I also ran to Michael's this morning to get the freaking thing to decorate the cake with....As soon as I pick up the younger girls I will be ready to tackle the Elmo cake.... If Elmo wins I will be so mad.

It's me vs. Elmo........

2011-09-15T10:58:00.000-07:00

My obsession with Pinterest has leaked into me using it to help plan my youngest child's birthday party for Saturday. I made an Elmo Party board, and I have been attempting to finish up some details. One thing I am doing for the first time is making a birthday cake. Ok, so I have made cakes before.... but never one that required me to decorate. I can make a sheet cake, or slopp some icing on something, but let's take a moment and pray for me as I attempt to make an Elmo cake.....

A girlfriend of mine loaned me an Elmo pan that she used for one of her kids, and told me it will be easy. This chick makes all of her kids cakes, and she is good, so her idea of easy for something I have never done before is probably a lot different... I have to dye icing. This freaks me out. I have to use a star pointed thingy and make a million dots on the cake. That frightens me. Of course I wont be even able to do that if I can get the cake out of the Elmo shaped pan, which I have been told I have to lube the bejesus out of. I can't make my mind up what receipe to use for the icing or the actual cake part, I'm freaking here people!

Of course my husband has made fun of me for my cake anxiety, and said he would just do it.... NOPE, this is something that I want to do, I'm just freaked about, as I predict it will be an interesting process....with probably a few screwups a long the way... even sadder, the cake pan isn't that big so I might have to make two cakes or just forget about it and make some cupcakes to go along with the cake.

Oh yes, I do have a back up plan though.... Another mom at the ball field was listening to my worries while I got the pan, and said she makes cakes on the side, and she gave me her number to use as an emergency hotline lol. Hopefully I don't have to call her, and can report to her that it went well....

If worse comes to worse, I will just say I let Emily help make it lol.

Pray guys....

New Jeans and New Sauce!

2011-09-11T10:23:00.000-07:00

(photo borrowed from the blog link at bottom of this post)

Sunday, after everyone got up and was fed, we ventured out to Costco to get milk and cereal while Dave played a quick round of golf. I have been eyeing a pair of Calvin Klein jeans for a while, and figured I would see how they fit, and I am happy to report they fit great, so they will be my replacement for the ones I had gotten at Loft the day before. Such a great deal too at under $30. I saw a few other cute things at Costco that I may have to go back and get. I just love that freaking store!

Once we left there and hung out with Dave for a while, I fed the kids lunch and made up a jar of Comeback Sauce. I found this via Pinterest, and my friend Melanie made it a few days before and said it was really good! Your supposed to let it marinate overnight, but I have a feeling I will end up trying some on my burger tonight to test it out! Some people call this a white bbq sauce, or even use it as a dressing. Apparently it's supposed to be good on anything. I felt all domestic making it lol, and felt all Mother Earthish by reusing a glass jar to store it in. Want to make your own? Follow this link- it's easy, and I am pretty sure from the sounds of it, it will be tasety too!

http://syrupandbiscuits.wordpress.com/comeback-sauce/

Our Saturday Scene.....

2011-09-11T06:17:00.000-07:00

We had a busy Saturday! We started off the day having breakfast, and then when Dad came home from work we worked out together at the gym, mainly in preparation of eating the peanut butter cake I had made the night before.... After the gym I ran to Ann Taylor Loft to take advantage of a sale they are running this weekend in which the entire store is having an additional 30% off. I bought a pair of jeans and a shirt....I tried on the jeans at home, and though I can wear a size 2 from there now, I apparently have lost my butt entirely so the jeans behind area looks AWFUL. For a second I thought about buying the booty pop underwear that I saw on TV, pondered butt implants, and then I just sucked it up and figured I would return them and try a new style and see if a different cut works better. I have a fab pair from Jcrew that fit great, so I may just have to head back there. I have to say I really wonder about Loft's sizing, as I seriously am not that teeny.

While Dave crashed for the day, the girls and I played, napped, and then headed off to T-ball practice. Rachel and Laura are on the same team, our our little cousin white lie worked, so our friends two kids are on our team too lol. Laura really is impressing me with the skills she is building, as she's catching balls, and working hard. She's come a long way from last season this past spring. I honestly think she's more confiendent out on the field with her sister and friends out there. Rachel is having a blast, and she can hit the ball pretty hard, but she's all legs as she's so tall for a 4 year old! Seriously, she's in the 95% for height, and everyone thinks she's 6. I laughed out loud when she hit the ball and ran straight for 2nd base instead of going to 1st. She's a trip! This fall season of tball they only have 6 games all on Saturdays, so it's pretty laid back.

After tball we ran home to change and then went to my inlaws house to visit with some family that came into town. The girls were excited to meet a cousin their age and play. I took the peanut butter cake (guys this cake is frigging AMAZING, if you even like peanut butter in the smallest way you will love it. If you love peanut butter then you will go nuts). I also made Snappy Mustard Dip because I wanted a pretzel dip, and brought that along too.

I have posted the Snappy Mustard Dip before, but it's such a easy and yummy fall treat if you like things spicy that I will post it again. This is from the cookbook Very Virginia (Junior League cookbook from Hampton Roads). Awesome cookbook, but it's not being printed anymore since the league is concentrating on other publications, but you can still still find it on Amazon.com. It's still a favorite of mine, and worth adding to your collection.

Snappy Mustard Dip

1/4 cup of dry mustard

2 tablespoons of white vinegar

1 tablespoons of water

1/4 cup of sugar

1 egg yolk

1 package of cream cheese softened (I used the fat free kind and it still tasted fine)

Combine dry mustard, vinegar, water in a saucepan, add sugar and egg yolk stirring over medium heat until thickened. Let cool. Then whip together mustard mixture and the cream cheese until smooth. Pour into serving bowl and serve with pretzels.

Dave was able to make it over after he got some sleep in and eat with everyone, and later we ended up at a local festival (Bay Days) to walk around and watch the fireworks. It's safe to say we walked off the calories from dinner since we had to park so far away, and pretty much just walked around until the fireworks started. I have blisters on my feet.... Our only break being when we all got on the pretty carousel and rode the horses in the downtown area. The late night at least ensured the kids would sleep in this morning !

Menu Planning....

2011-09-09T10:10:00.000-07:00

I survived grocery shopping at Walmart. I was there early in between school pickups so it wasn't really that bad. I had to go crazy and buy the place out pretty much, I am attempted to meal plan this week and prepare for Emily's 3rd birthday party this next weekend....

So here is what I think we are having tonight through next Saturday.... I am going to attempt to stick to the plan, but it may change....

Friday night: Pioneer Woman's Chicken Spaghetti -http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2007/06/chicken_spaghet/ I made this a while back and froze it, it's time to bust it out and make everyone eat it.

Saturday Night: Cookout at inlaws- I am bringing the peanut butter cake- http://tastykitchen.com/recipes/desserts/peanut-butter-sheet-cake/ if it isn't a flop. If it fails then I will figure out something else to bring. I am making this tonight and will taste a smidge of it to make sure it tastes ok =)

Sunday Night: Cheese and Jalapeno burgers for Dave and I, hot dogs for the girls.

Monday Night: London Broil from My Mama Made That- book can be purchased from here:

https://www.frpbooks.com/store/store_details.aspx?iid=1502&tid=4

Tuesday: Maple Pecan Chicken from page 155 of My Mama Made That. I sure do love this cookbook lol. I have not tried this or the london broil recipe before but I have been dying to try both for a long time now.

Wednesday: Breakfast for dinner. Because sometimes you just need do that. Might do pancakes, or waffles, and we are obsessed with using the pancake recipe from the Virginia Hospitality cookbook. Click this link to purchase the cookbook: https://www.frpbooks.com/store/store_details.aspx?iid=282&tid=4 Probably will also cook some bacon to go with it.

Thursday: This is a mommy slacker night. I have a committee meeting for the Touch a Truck event the JL is planning, so we might bust out some soup, or leftovers, or heck just make a sandwich.

Friday: Taco's- another easy meal but I will probably be spending some of this night prepping some food for Emily's party the next day, so it's Taco's or going out to eat somewhere to make it easy on me.

Saturday: This is my baby's 3rd birthday!!! My husband will be smoking some BBQ. I plan on making Mac and Cheese, fruit kabobs, some sort of chip dip, cherry lime aide punch, green beans, and maybe a few other things. Just depends on time!

Don't forget, if you want to save 40% off any of the cookbooks I mentioned make sure you enter code NAP40 at check out!!!

Friday thoughts.....

2011-09-09T05:26:00.000-07:00

*We have survived the first week of school- I feel like a taxi cab already, and it's so weird seeing my oldest walk into school with the big kids....

*I signed up for a freaking 5K, as Laura's school is having a race for a school fundraiser in two weeks... I am doing it with a friend. It's a flat course I believe, and I know it's for a good cause, but I am already dreading all the huffing and puffing I will be doing. I work out pretty often, but being on a cardio machine is a lot different then actually running on a street. Hey, I get a T-Shirt out of the deal, and since we have two birthday parties that day at least I will burn some calories....

*Laura and Rachel have their first fall ball t-ball practice tonight. They are on the team called the Tigers! We are hoping that our friends kids are on the same team. We may or may not have told a while lie that they are cousins to try to pull it off....

*I am so ready for Fall.... I actually am planning on pulling out the fall decorations this weekend. I am proud of myself for attempting to restrain myself and not pull everything out last weekend. I did think about holding off until after we have Emily's birthday party, but I am getting to antsy about it lol.

*I am making a trip to Walmart while all the kids are in school this morning. I have to buy a lot and I want to get the most bang for my buck. I am doing some deep breaths to get ready for this shopping adventure.

* I am planning on making a peanut butter sheet cake complete with peanut butter icing this evening, saw the recipe on Pinterest.com I am already hungry thinking about it!

First Day of School- Preschool

2011-09-07T17:02:00.000-07:00

Today was Rachel and Emily's first day of preschool for the year. This was Emily's first day ever for school, and she was excited! The girls all got ready early this morning, and Emily pretty much pitched a fit asking when she was going to go, as she wanted to go right then and there! They only had school for an hour today, but never the less it was the first official day!

When we dropped them off at their classrooms, Emily did seem a little nervous, but she quickly warmed up when she saw the toys in the room. Rachel was a champ, and walked in like she owned the place =)

I can't believe that this is Rachel's last year at the preschool, and that my baby Emily has begun!

Photobucket" border="0">

Labor Day weekend treats....

2011-09-06T09:06:00.000-07:00

It was a gorgeous labor day weekend, and we were pretty lazy around the house, but I was busy in the kitchen trying out a few different recipes.... We had some friends over Sunday night, and Monday we cooked out at a family members house. I broke out some new cookbooks from the awesome website: https://www.frpbooks.com/store/store.aspx From the cook book: Seaboard to Sideboard the Junior League of Wilmington North Caroline I made Southern Sweet Tea. This tastes a lot like an Arnold Palmer, and my children and husband (my husband normally hates tea), LOVED it...

To make the Tea you will need:

8 cups of water

12 small tea bags

1 1/2 cups of sugar

1 12 ounce can of frozen lemonade concentrate

Mint leaves for garnish (who I am kidding, we skipped this part)

Bring the water and tea bags to a boil in a saucepan over high heat, let steep for 5 minutes, remove the bags. Add the sugar and the lemonade concentrate and mix well. Pour into a 1 gallon container, and fill with cold water. We had quite a ordeal over figuring out what a gallon contanior looks like, and even ended up googling how many cups are in a gallon.... (16 just in case your on the edge of your seat wanting to know) I wanted to make sure the tea wasn't overly strong or too weak. The tea was really good though, and I will make this again very soon!

Yesterday from the cookbook: Your Invited Back: A second helping of Raleigh's Favorite Recipes from Raleigh's Junior League I made a dip called Deacon Dip. This is quick and easy as well, and involves no cooking.

Deacon Dip:

2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

Sugar to taste

1 15 ounce can of black beans drained and rinsed

1 15 ounce can of white corn drained

1 10 ounce can of Rotel partially drained

4 ounces of Feta cheese crumbled

Mix the vinegar, oil, and a small amount of sugar in a small bowl. In a larger bowl combine the beans, corn, rotel, and cheese. Add the dressing and toss to coat well. Store in the fridge for at least 8 hours, and serve with tortilla chips. (I didn't have 8 hours to let sit, BUT it still tasted good, however when I had some with my lunch the next day it was amazing! The flavors had all come together and it was really good!

I am thrilled with my newest cookbooks, and look forward to cooking more from them soon! To get your own copies of these cookbooks for 40% off, please check out this website https://www.frpbooks.com/store/store.aspx and remember to use the code NAP40 to get the discount!

When breakfast needs to taste like dessert.....

2011-09-02T18:52:00.000-07:00

Upon the advice of a wonderful blog reader I decided to try a recipe from one of my favorite cookbooks- My Mama Made that. (Get yours for 40% off from this website by using the code on my sidebar!) Baked Cinnamon French Toast on page 49! I thought this would be great to make for us to have Saturday morning. It needs to sit in the fridge overnight, so I thought it would be perfect to make it for us to wake up too, and for my husband to come home to after working all night.

I did make a slight change, and used wheat french bread, rather then white french bread... There was quite a sale on the wheat kind, and I figured it would be semi healthier....

You will need:

1 loaf of french bread

8 eggs

2 cups of milk (I used skim)

1 1/2 cups of half and half

2 teaspoons of vanilla extract

1teaspoon of cinnamon

1 1/2 sticks of butter

1 1/3 cups packed brown sugar

3 tablespoons of light corn syrup

Cut the bread diagonally and arrange the slices in a buttered 9 x 13 baking dish. Beat the eggs, milk, half and half, vanilla and cinnamon in a large bowl until smooth. Pour over the bread, and chill covered for 8-10 hours.

Preheat the oven to 350, heat the butter, brown sugar, and syrup in a small saucepan until the butter melts and starts to all be bubbly. Pour over the bread and egg mixture, and bake uncovered for 40 min.

The recipe says it will serve 4, but it was more then enough for our family of 5 and we have leftovers. The girls and husband loved this and have asked me to make it again soon!

Oh goodness....

2011-09-01T11:06:00.001-07:00

Meet the teacher day at preschool!

2011-09-01T10:38:00.000-07:00

Not only did my oldest have a HUUUGGGEEE day going to Kindergarten for the first time, but after she was done with school, my other two had meet the teacher day at their preschool. Let's all have a moment of silence as this is my baby's first year of Preschool..... I can't believe Emily is old enough....It makes me so sad. But, she is so excited, and very proud, and I know her big sister Rachel will look after her.

Rachel is excited that there is a pet hamster in their class. Apparently during vacation and things like that the parents can take turns taking it home. I remember being sad I was never able to do that as my mom isn't a fan of animals like that, so I will make sure we sign up to take home the classroom pet.

Emily is excited about the play kitchen in her class room, and was happy to see her name on a bus on the wall. In tradition Emily sported the same apple dress and red maryjanes that her sisters all wore when they went to meet their teachers on their first day of school.... I will have to make some sort of cute shadow box with the dress and their pictures taken in it....

We finished the day with a fun lunch at Chickfila, and I fixed them a fun dessert when we got home! I can't believe my babies are growing up!

Laura's first day of Kindergarten!

2011-09-01T10:09:00.000-07:00

Can it really be true that I child in Kindergarten???? Laura had a great first day, and I am so excited about the school she is going to... best decision ever!!!!

Bye Irene!

2011-08-31T03:17:00.000-07:00

We survived Hurricane Irene! Woohoo! We didn't have any damage other then a mess in the yard to clean up the next day, and we lost power Saturday afternoon - through Monday afternoon, but it could have been a million times worse! We have a good generator set up, so we still were able to keep our fridge cold, keep fans in the house, and even watch TV lol. The important stuff you know! Thankfully we have natural gas so I was able to cook normally, and we all had hot showers. We had some fun with friends that stayed with us during the storm as their area floods easily, and since our husbands are both police officers and had to work that night we were able to just hunker down together in our house while they were at work. We really were lucky though. The girls and I took a walk the next day, and we saw a few houses that had trees down on their houses, and a small boy in our town was killed when a tree came down on their apartment. So sad!

Since we came out with out any unexpected damage I am now the proud owner of a sweet Ford Fusion! I freaking love it! Another cool feature on it is it has this interior lighting that you can change the color on, and one of the options you have is pink! Hehehe, when I found that on the car it sealed the deal. Yesterday we made it official and the car now has a happy home with us.

Hurricane Irene also has continued to mess up my daughters first day of being an offical Elementry schooler....The area where her school is at is still without power... I am crossing my fingers that Thursday or Friday she will be able to go.

Other then that we have just been hanging out, and I have been busy plotting my next cooking projects, as I want to try out some new receipes...stay tuned for those!

Who doesn't love cookbooks?

2011-08-26T03:15:00.000-07:00

Recently I was approached by The Cook Book MarketPlace, to share an amazing 40% off discount with my readers! The Cook Book MarketPlace can be your resource to purchase pretty much ANY Junior League cookbook, as well as other wonderful organization cookbooks from other non-profits. You all know I solemnly swear to you that any Junior League cookbook is going to be worth Every. Single.Penny. My own mother, who pretty much has her own cookbook library in her pantry, will even tell you that Junior League Cookbooks are the best hands down. They have the best recipes that are tried and true! Amazingly, if you purchase a cookbook from their website, and use the special code NAP40 when you check out, you will receive 40% off your purchase! You just can't beat that! Think of all the wonderful books you can add to your collection, or give out as gifts. I plan on purchasing several to give as Christmas gifts. Have any bridal showers coming up or new neighbors? Buy a cookbook, tie on a pretty cooking spoon with a bow and you have the perfect gift! Over the next few weeks I plan on talking some about my favorite cookbooks that you can purchase from their website, and trying out some yummy reciepes! Get to shopping and remember to use the code- NAP40

Go away Irene!

2011-08-25T13:11:00.000-07:00

Hurricane Irene is messing with my child's first day of Kindergarten, which is supposed to be tomorrow.... she still had meet the teacher day, in which we went down to her classroom and checked everything out, and met her teacher, whom we already knew as she lives one street over. Laura was shy, but seems to really like her teacher and thinks her classroom is awesome. A few pictures from the morning, before we took off to Costco to buy water, bread, and other needs to get us through the unknown of Irene! I am heading out tomorrow morning to Food Lion to get a few more needs, AND I think we have found a car... but will probably wait until after the storm before we bite the bullet! It's pretty though!

So we have a generator, plenty of food, so hopefully we are set to go. We have plenty of games, and arts and crafts stuff and books, so hopefully if we are without power for a long time we will be occupied and safe!

Thursday thought dump....

2011-08-25T04:00:00.001-07:00

*This week our area experienced a earthquake. Don't get excited- most people didn't notice it. I was in my SUV, and actually thought my car was about to die, so I was excited to find out my car was ok and it was just an earthquake.

*A hurricane may impact our area, and gas, water, and bread are already hard to find. Hopefully everyone makes it out safe, and with the least amount of damage as possible.

*Dave is hunting for a new work car for me. The Pontiac is fine, but we want something with better gas mileage as I will be attempting to take our oldest to school every day, and I have a bit of a commute to work. Plus, let's be honest, there's a lot of miles on Miss P. He's attempting to find a Ford Fusion that's a couple of years old.

* This has been the craziest busiest week, and of course I still can't make everyone happy, because everyone thinks the world revolves around them. News flash. It doesn't.

* I have to go to Costco today to get a few things, and I am trying to mentally prepare myself for the hurricane freak out crowds. I will attempt to behave myself with the shopping cart, and not mutter curse words.

* Thank your police, firemen, healthcare providers, utility repair persons, and military this weekend, who will be working overtime to make sure the general public is safe during this storm, and can't be at home to protect their own families.

Weekend cooking and new cookbooks!

2011-08-22T11:45:00.000-07:00

So this weekend I tried two new recipes... both from Pinterest. The first one I made was a cookie bar recipe that consists of a graham cracker crumble crust, melted chocolate chips, and cookie dough with heath bar topping, all baked and cut into bars. A-freaking-mazing.... I honestly gave most of it away, and cut them in small bites since it was so rich...

Sunday morning I attempted Breakfast Muffins, but I have a huge muffin pan, so my result looks more like a breakfast bite rather then muffin. Dave and I loved these, but the kids are apparently not fans of their eggs, biscuit, bacon and cheese all mixed together. They like all of those things seperate, though they did try them at least. These were good, and I wouldn't mind making them again for just Dave and I.

*I will go back and put in the links for the receiepes but Pinterest is down right now, so check back later for the links.

Recently I went to a local antique mall, and while browsing for nothing, I stumbled upon three Junior League cookbooks.... I have learned that my favorite receipes either 1. come from the interenet via food websites, blogs, or pinterest. or 2. Junior League or other woman organizations cookbooks. You just can't go wrong with Junior League cookbooks! I didn't spend more then $5 on each of these cook books, and that's a steal! I had been wanting the Tidewater on a Half Shell one for quite some time, and the Out of Our League one, is a best seller and one that I remember my mom cooking out of. I am looking forward to looking through them later tonight and planning on making some items from there soon!

Cramming as much as I can into summer....

2011-08-21T03:03:00.000-07:00

Saturday was a busy full day for all of us. As Laura starts school this friday, I am attempting to cram in some last minute fun. Several months back on groupon.com in our area, there was a paint your own pottery deal at a place in Williamsburg that I snatched up. The girls had never done it before, and I had been wanting to do it with them for ever... We finally went out yesterday to use it as it expired soon. Our friends with a new baby joined us too, so their 3 year old could particiapte as well.

Rachel picked out a piggy bank, Laura chose an owl bank, and well let's be honest, we chose Emily's item which was a small fish. Rachel kept calling her piggy bank and guinni pig bank lol. Rachel decieded to paint her pig all purple with some polka dots on it, and Laura took her time and did different colors on her owl. Emily kept saying "NO HELP!" and painted her fish blue and orange. They had a lot of fun and already have told us what they want to paint next time. Even David admitted he wouldn't mind painting his own coffee mug. I'd love to go back and paint a platter. You can have the items shipped to you, but since I work in the area I will just pick up all of our items in about a week.

After our pottery time, we had lunch at a park the girls had never been to. They enjoyed playing, and I made them take a picture with a massive oak tree!

We headed home, and attempted to all take naps, before heading out to the movie theatre. Emily was very cranky so we didn't try to take her, plus we were heading to see Glee the 3d concert experience, and didn't think she would miss much. So this was all of our first 3d movies at a theater, and let's just say we spent a small fortune...oh well, we hardly ever go to the movies, so it was a special treat. When the ticket lady gave us the total I even had her repeat it to me twice, and I was shocked lol. I mean it wasn't a real concert for goodness sakes, just a movie concert. It was worth it though as the girls did really like it, and I have to admit the 3d stuff was pretty cool.

I ended up making a yummy dessert/snack I saw on pinterest, and I have plans to make a fun breakfast here in a few for everyone once they wake up. I will share pictures and links for all of that later! Happy Sunday everyone!

Cornhole board picture and baking adventures....

2011-08-19T03:54:00.000-07:00

*Here is a picture of one of the boards Dave is working on, plus a picture of a baking adventure I had. I think Dave has done an amazing job on the boards, the picture doesn't do it justice! He's going to finish them up today, so his friends can have it for when they leave for the beach tomorrow.

*So my baking adventure... Our friends who had a baby girl are home from the hospital, and today I am going to surprise them with dinner, and figured I would also use it as an excuse to make a dessert I saw via pinterest.com . It's a cream cheese pound cake from Southern Living. The picture looked amazing! So I have to say, since I cut the whole thing up in slices so I could take some to other people as well, that is good, but not as good as I pictured. Mainly because the freaking thing took over 3 hours from start to finish, and I had to smell the goodness the whole time. By the time I could eat a slice I was dying to go to bed, and I was expected to taste heaven, and it was ok. It was easy to make, and maybe I will like it better if I try a piece today. We shall see what other people say I guess. Here is the link on how to make it if you want to try.

http://elizabethsedibleexperience.blogspot.com/2009/03/cake-cravings.html

*So the Elmo theme won on the poll, and to be honest I made my mind up this past weekend I was going to go with Elmo as well before the poll closed. I fgure she has a long time for Barbie, but not much longer for Elmo. I already have her birthday card read to send to be print (I already printed a test copy to make sure it looked ok), I also bought supplies to make her goody bags for friends, and have a friend that has a bounce house for outdoors that is going to let me borrow it! My plans are totally in motion! As for her birthday gift, we are redoing her room for her, and of course we will get her some clothes or something to open, but we are not going to go crazy on toys as there just isn't a need. A room redo, and some new clothes will be just perfect for our youngest! I already bought the bedding, and she went bonkers over it when she saw it!

Thursday Thoughts....

2011-08-18T03:54:00.001-07:00

*Yesterday my mom and I saw the movie The Help. Oh. My. Goodness. I loved this movie. My mom and I read the book when it came out, and we really enjoyed it. I had heard good things about the movie and we were not disappointed! Most times when I see a movie based on a book, I leave disappointed, but I really think the movie did the book justice. I really can't say what I liked better as both were so good! I thought the casting was great, all of the details were perfect, and I lovvvveddd seeing all of the dishes, and other antiques used on the set. I saw some Fostoria glasses that I have from my grandmother in a couple of scenes, which made me smile. Such pretty stuff! If you have read the book, please go and see this movie, you will not be disappointed.

* Dave has been making cornhole boards again. He's not selling any, but just really making a set for a good friend of his, and then working on his own. They look amazing! He bought some nice quality wood that he could stain, and then he is being all creative by using a vinyl sticker as a stencil, and staining the inside of the vinyl sticker image a darker color. The one he is making for a friend has a large palm tree silhouette. I will post pictures of it when he is done. He is trying to get them in time for his friend to take to the beach by this weekend.

*Once he is done with that project, he is helping me make a art gallery for the kids. Basically just making something for the hallway upstairs in which we can hang the kids art work and change it frequently. I saw the idea on what else: pinterest.com, and we want to hurry up and get it done in time for the kids starting school. It's going to be awesome!

*This weekend I think we are going to take the girls to use a groupon that I have for a paint your own pottery place. It expires soon, and in my attempt to squeeze in some last minute summer fun before Laura heads to school, I want to do that with them, and take them to see a movie.

Tuesday Topics, and you can tell I have been cooking a lot again....

2011-08-16T13:29:00.000-07:00

* Yesterday Laura got her Twinkle Toe Sketcher shoes, I have never seen that child smile as big as she has over them. Of course, making her happy, also makes me just as happy =)

* Some close friends of ours had their second baby girl this morning. There is nothing like a new baby! The husband came over to have dinner with us tonight, and we just had Taco's but I also whipped up a recipe that I found via Pinterest.com
It's called Taco Dip - and the link to the actual blog that has the recipe is here:

I did make my own changes though. I first of all cut everything in half as I didn't need such a large portion for us. I also attempted to make it healthier with low fat cream cheese, low fat ranch, being easy on the cheese, whole grain chips etc. It still tasted great, but hey I don't think I have tasted any sort of dip that I have not loved ....

*I also braved up and made something from my good ole stand by and BFF, Pioneer Woman... So what did I make? I made a dessert, the Prune Cake. Let's be honest, when I flip through her cookbook I always saw that and thought- EWWWWW. But little by little when I looked at it, and read that her husband was obsessed with it, and what a hit it was, I just had to see for myself. I also had a huge bag of prunes from Costco that we bought to snack on and give our youngest, when (ahem) she's needed a little help...The cake is Ammmmmmaazzzzzzinnngggg. You don't taste the prunes at all. Honestly it's pretty darn yummy, I had to cut myself off, and then go to the gym and do 45 minutes of intense cardio. True Story. Here is the link to the recipe....HERE
Make this asap, and if you need prunes, come to my house, were all stocked up here thanks to Costco...

* I am going to see the movie The Help with my mom tomorrow! So excited, both of us loved the book, and our local movie theater is running a deal this summer in which you can get $5 movie tickets for movies before 5pm Monday-Thursday, and we found a showing at 4:50pm, so we are taking advantage of that! Can't wait!

And then Laura told me she was getting married....

2011-08-15T13:12:00.001-07:00

Not really, but I am sure that day will be here sooner then I will be prepared for. Laura lost her first tooth Sunday night! It's been loose for a while, and she came running to tell me it was REALLY LOOSE. I wasn't really taking her serious though as it's been loose for like a month lol, so I told her just to be patient. She looked at me and said she was just going to take it out, and in went her hand and out came her tooth lol. I about passed out. She was so excited, started calling both sets of grandparents with the news, and then ran over to personally show my parents the empty space. My dad promptly gave her $5, so the Tooth Fairy got the memo she better top that. We found her tooth pillow (I bought each girl their own when they were all infants lol, at the Richmond Bizarre Bazzar show). She went to bed early eager to see if the tooth fairy would come, and she was presently surprised in the morning! Tonight she is taking her money, and with a little help from Dave and I she has asked that she gets a pair of those Sketcher Twinkle Toe shoes. We are headed out tonight to get them, and we are not coming home until Laura is wearing them on her feet!

Great weekend....

2011-08-14T15:56:00.000-07:00

This weekend was the best weekend that we have had as a family in a long time. Things have just been nuts it seems all summer. I have needed to simplify my life, and this weekend is just what I think we all needed. We had a lot of fun, so no we didn't just sit on our buts. The girls had a friend spend the night, her dad and my husband used to work together in their college days, and they live the next street over from us now. We took her with us to another couple's house for dinner, we did art projects (copied a butterfly hand print idea I saw on Pinterest.com) I cooked everyone a huge breakfast this morning that would make Pioneer Woman proud. We ran to Lowe's and have brainstormed a million projects we want to focus on and do together, I baked chocolate chip bars for the girls and other family members to eat, organized some kitchen cabinets, did some laundry, and enjoyed each and every second of it......

Pssst.... if you have not gotten on the pinterest.com bandwagon yet, you are missing out! If you need an invite let me know and send me your email address.... great stuff!

Party Help

2011-08-13T05:40:00.001-07:00

My youngest daughter will be turning three years old next month. I am in the very early stages of planning her party, but before I can do much I want to figure out the theme. I have asked her and she goes back and forth so I figure I get to be the tie breaker, but I need help. Should it be a barbie theme or Elmo theme??? Keep in mind she is three, and the party will be small and at our house. Help a sister out. Leave me a comment and in the mean time I am going to try to figure out how to make a poll for votes on this thing too....
**Update- poll in on the right side of my page!

Making Playdough...

2011-08-12T14:10:00.000-07:00

This past Wednesday I came home from work, and the girls wanted to get the playdough out (well Laura and Rachel did, Emily was napping). They got out the playdough, and discovered that most of it was dried out and gross. I checked the cabinets, and we had everything we needed to make our own. I make it a lot, but this time I decided I would let them help me make it, figuring it would be a learning experience for them, in measuring, counting, safety lesson, etc etc. This is pretty big for the control freak that lives inside me. David took some pictures of us in the process.

The girls loved helping, and making our very own pink playdough. At the end though when I asked them to tell me how we made it, they didn't care to rehash the details of it all, and either couldn't tell me what we used or just didn't want to... oh well hopefully if nothing else they had fun =)

Here is how we made it:
1 cup flour

1 cup warm water

2 teaspoons cream of tartar

1 teaspoon oil

1/4 cup salt

food coloring
Mix all ingredients, adding food coloring last. Stir over medium heat until smooth. Remove from pan and knead until blended smooth. Place in plastic bag or airtight container when cooled. Will last for a long time.

Back to school to do's......

2011-08-09T16:24:00.000-07:00

1. Hair Cuts for kids. Check
2. Back to school clothes shopping. Check
3. New planner for mom purchased. Check (didn't go with the momagenda this year, needed something smaller for my purse and something a lot more affordable, found something cute and pink at Target).
4. Calender filling up with important back to school meetings/dates/etc. Check
5. Figuring out work schedule with taking oldest daughter to school most mornings... half check
6. Calming down regarding youngest starting preschool. No check, I actually called the head of the school today in a panic, and she talked me down and is probably still telling her coworkers about the crazy mom who called her today.
7. School supply shopping. Half check. Have the preschool stuff done, but Laura is required to have a school tote that will be purchased Thursday.
8.Signing up the oldest for fall t-ball- to be done friday! Rachel is stocked to be able to play, and Laura asked to do this rather then try soccer. (woohoo)

It's just the time of year that I get myself all worked up with the back to school drama, and this year I will have three in school, two at the same school, and one at a new school. Junior League is about to start back up, already had a committee meeting, and I am excited to see some friends again.

I just have to add on Laura's list for school supplies she is to bring in 24 glue sticks. Yes 24 that is not a typo, and every kid in her class is to bring that amount in. That's a whole lot of glue!!!

2011-08-07T20:03:00.000-07:00

Luke 6:37 "Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

John 8:7 When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Romans 2:1 You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things.

It's that time....

2011-07-31T18:12:00.000-07:00

Back to school shopping time is upon us... Well, school isn't starting tomorrow, but it's around the corner. Laura will wear uniforms this year, and she's about set. I did pick up some tops as Gymboree had their uniform line crazy cheap, like Walmart cheap, and I had a coupon. I do need to get started on Rachel and Emily, and well just fall clothes in general for Laura too. The Virginia tax free shopping event will be starting soon on back to school items as well, and I plan on taking advantage of that since most stores also run specials.

Above is a pictures from Gymborree on some items I am loving!

Umm hi, remember me...

2011-07-26T01:23:00.000-07:00

Yes I have become the worst blogger ever... I have been busy, distracted, on vacation, self absorbed, wrapped up in life, etc etc etc. It is what it is.
So what has been happening with me? Well I am maintaining the weight loss, which I hate to dwell on, but it really has to just be a life style change or I know it will creep back on. My total weight loss from the time I started is a little over 40 lbs. I know that is freaking nuts. I still can't believe I was able to do it...I still find it interesting that it took about 25 lbs before anyone could even notice, and even more interesting that the last 10 lbs or so is when I was finally feeling thin. I rejoined the gym and I love love love going. It helps to have a good work out partner and awesome music. The Lady Gaga channel on Pandora rocks my socks. I don't want to lose any more weight, I just want to tone up more, and maintain. It's been life changing to get down to my ideal weight, and it's been weird too. I still am weirded out when I go clothes shopping. I still want to grab a size Large, and when I put on a small or the size I am now I still think the item is marked the wrong size. It's also amazing and sad at the same time how much nicer people are to skinny people. You may roll your eyes at that comment, but it's freaking true.

Most recently someone I was friends with- both the wife and daughter lost their husband/father in a motorcycle crash. I used to scrapbook a lot with the mom and hang out, and their daughter babysat for us, and honestly she was more then just a babysitter she was a good friend before she went off to college. My heart aches for them so bad. This man was such an amazing husband and father. Seriously, I don't think I have seen a man love his family more. His motto was, to go through life happy, you need to know two simple words "Yes Dear." They were treated like queens. It just makes you really stop and think. Now that the funeral is over, the real grief is setting in, and I just am heart broken for them.

We just got back from vacation, while gone I turned 31 (WTF). It was a lot of fun, lots of time at the beach with family, being silly, etc. I read two books on vacation. One was Sarah's Key (book club pick), and then a Nicholas Sparks book. Both were depressing reads. Good books, but definitely not uplifting.

In one month Laura will start her first day of Kindergarten. I am excited and sad. Emily starts preschool this year, this makes me sadder.

...and with that I leave you with a bunch of vacation pictures.....

Victory shopping...and weight loss adventures

2011-06-23T13:37:00.000-07:00

After a rather bad TJMAXX last time when Grandma tried to say I was a fatty and needed a ugly dress, I worked up the courage to go back. I need work pants- BAD. Heck I need a freaking new wardrobe, but can't afford it, but the pants I have been wearing make me look mega sloppy. I went back one day during lunch, and they didn't have many pants to choose from cause I guess it's summer, but low and behold a size 6and it fit, and wasn't tight...They were ugly though, but I was happy enough to fit in them and just left them there....

Today I ventured in Ann Taylor Loft as they are having a 40% off already marked down items, so I figured I would see if I could find anything there. In the dressing room I got even braver and took in some size 6's and 4's. You wont believe this but their size 4 fits me, and fits well...A bit shocking for me. Seriously I wanted to make an announcement over their PA system. I knew my old crap was baggy, but wow. I found a pair of nice black work pants for $11 (thank you mega sale), a pair of white shorts, and I found a cute top. It's beyond weird to buy a size small in a shirt as well. I had some food issues in highschool and especially my freshman year of college,so even when I was tiny then I felt large and hid behind baggy clothes for the most part, so I can't even remember wearing small sizes. I always picked a size large in shirts , or even xl, and I also raided my dad's closet for some of his shirts, and my dad has never been a small man.

This week I also had went to my doctor for a physical. My labs were perfect, and I got congratulated on my weight loss. Every time when you see the doctors at my office they record your weight and blood pressure. I have been going there since summer 1999, and it was amazing to see I am 5 lbs away from where I was in 1999 before heading back to college to play field hockey. It was depressing to see my weight get wacko years later. But I developed bad eat ting habits, I wasn't active, and ate like it was my job. I should have expected it, but it came on slowly or at least it seemed that way to me, and one day I woke up and I was just fat.

So even though I have done good with the weight loss, I am scared to death I will screw up and the weight will come back on. I know if I eat right, and stay active it wont, and I have to commit to this, but it's still kinda scary as I really for the first time in a VERY long time actually like what I see in the mirror. It's been probably at least 12 years since I felt that way.

Another frustrating part is some coworkers where I work feel I am too skinny. It's makes me paranoid because of my past food issues, but I know I am at a healthy BMI level, and I am at a normal weight for my height, and not underweight. I also am not starving myself, I am eating healthy, I am just not downing french fries, and baked goods that the patients bring in anymore. The dietitian at my work thinks I am doing awesome, and explained to me that our culture is so used to seeing fat Americans, that when we see someone in a healthy weight we think they are underweight. I also think that maybe the whole too skinny thing is because they are not used to seeing me at this weight ever, and the baggy clothes I have worn until I can afford new ones don't help either. I seriously want to bust out the BMI chart and be like, see- this is what I am supposed to weigh, this is what is healthy, and will keep me from developing medical problems. All that matter is that I am finally content, and not disappointed in myself, and can actually see people from my past and not be embarrassed that I am over weight, and wonder if that's all what they are thinking.

Recent adventures in Tjmaxxing....

2011-06-13T12:25:00.000-07:00

I know my posts have been sporadic at best, and this may be repetitive, but life is just crazy. I've been stressed out, busy, tired, sad, cranky, happy, and just plain lazy. I went through just about every emotion that's possible last week. My saving grace = the pool. So glad that sucker is open.

So I had a bit of a traumatic experience at TJMAXX last week. On Thursday during my lunch break, I figured it was time to get some new clothes. 30lbs down, and I don't exactly have a lot I can wear. This is a good problem, but still a problem. To be honest, even thought I still was stuffing myself in a size 10 prior to operation get skinny, I probably was a solid size 12. The 10's are now way too big. I have maybe two pairs of size 8's in pants, and those are getting big. I was trying to pump myself up to go in the dressing room and put on a size 6 which might still be too tight, when this evil old lady decided she was going to pounce on my ego. I was minding my own business going through the racks, when grandma pulls out the worlds ugliest dress, and turns to me and asks if I am a size 12. My reaction "NO!" Her reply "Well you look like a size 12, and this is such a pretty dress and only $19.99." I quickly run out of the store as fast as I can. Didn't get to try on the smaller size, and so this week I find myself wearing the same freaking 2 pants. Thanks grandma.

Sunday brain dump....

2011-06-05T05:15:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to share a sweet photo of my youngest at her sister's T-ball game. My mom made the girls shirts like this for them to wear this summer for Memorial Day/4th of July. Emily usually wont stand to wear a head bow, so I was excited to see her last with it a few hours. She's a mess!

So I got the shellac manicure, and I really like it, however, with going to the pool it caused it to lift on both of my thumb nails. And yes, I look all janky with two unpainted thumbs, but at least it's a neautral color. When it came off my nails were not at all messed up, but I have heard if you pick it, it will mess up your nail. I think I am going to get another one, and see if it truley was the pool, or just a bad application job. It may just be something I do after pool season, as my guess it's the chemicals in the pool.

I think God knew I needed to get some housework done, as since it's a stormy day I am forced to get housework done, instead of going to the pool all day. I just hope the kids don't go crazy staying inside all day.

Does anyone else do pinterest.com? It's a really cool website that allows you to save pictures of ideas, and organize them into catergories. It's cooler then it sounds, and there are amazing ideas! You have to make an account, but it's free, and you have to get an invite, or go on a waiting list which I have no idea why. But if anyone wants an invite let me know! Here are my pinterst boards- http://pinterest.com/robyn_giles/ I don't have many, but it's so addicting to look at others.

Happy June!

2011-06-01T11:41:00.001-07:00

First and foremost- isn't my Rachel so pretty! I finally got around with her comparison of her first day of school this year and her last day of school. Rachel wasn't as pumped about pictures as Laura, so I couldn't get many in the morning. Rachel is pretty much my personality clone, meaning she wants to do, what she wants to do,and can pitch a fit like no other. Anyways, when the girls go to school I like them to dress well. I don't mean they have to dress up every freaking day. I know they are going to get dirty playing, etc. But I don't want them to think it's acceptable to wear short shorts, or teeny tank tops to school. Rachel wanted to wear some daisy dukes and one of Emily's tank tops which showed her belly. Not happening. I compromised with another pair of shorts and a tank top, but she wasn't pleased. I know they are just children, but how you dress really is important, and it drives me insane what people wear to school in the public school systems. When you are put together you act better, sit up taller, etc. Ok so end of my clothing rant. I am a product of strict dress codes in private schools, but yeah I had my moments of semi inappropriate items myself as well at times, and well it didn't do any favors for me. The kids can dress like they want at home and when they are playing, but in school they need to dress nicely. To be honest, the world judges people by how they look. It may not be right, but I can promise you it's just a fact of life. Ok end of my clothing rant. And I have probably cursed myself, and I foresee my daughters all having lip rings in 10 years or so now.

So moving on June Goals:
I actually sat down and thought about these at work on break Tuesday, so hopefully I will be more driven to follow through on them this month.

1. lose 5lbs this month. Weight loss continues to an ongoing goal. According to the BMI charts I am in a normal weight range for my height, and I originally said I would stop at where I am at now, but I want to keep pushing myself. To be honest I will probably stop with the aggressiveness and work on maintaining once I lose a total of 13 more. But I can't really say that until I get there and see how I look and feel. I also worry that my perception is just skewed in general with my past eatting issues of when I was skin and bones, and felt like a cow. And considering I became a fat cow for real in 2004, the whole thing is a thin red line with me.

2. Clean out make up drawer. My make up drawer and makeup bag in our bathroom is out of control. I need to toss, organize, and actually buy a few new things I am out of. Easy peasy.

3. Tackle the garage. Sigh....story of my life. I do have a desk in there I am going to try to refinish, but the rest is Dave mess. I am planning to do this on my own, without him there to freak out on me, as I am a tosser. I don't throw away good stuff, I know what are tools, I am not dumb. I actually made an attempt on throwing out some stupid TV Dave has been trying to fix FOR 6 MONTHS, that mind you he hasn't touched in 5.5 months. We have a neighbor who basically only comes home a few times a year, so I grabbed their trash can and attempted to shove it in there. It was heavy as crap, and I about killed myself, and it would not fit no matter how much I banged and pushed on it. So sadly I had to tote the garage can back empty, and put it back and I am going to pretend I didn't touch it for now. I was going to use the neighbors can so it would take him longer to figure out. lol I have to come up with a plan b now.

4. Read two books. Finish the one in my sidebar, and then read the next book club pick for the month of June.

5. Purchase towel rack for upstairs bathroom. Didn't complete that last month, and it really needs to get done.

I have a hard time sticking to just one topic....

2011-05-30T18:34:00.000-07:00

Oh, hi. Just sitting down seeing if I completed my May goals since tomorrow is the last day of May. Yeah, I didn't do so hot. Let's start with the good news, the weight loss goal I met and then some. I read the book club pick, LOVED Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, and had a blast at book club, and I read another book in May. Everything else like plant my veggie garend, and do that freaking strawberry/pansy planter thing, consign clothes, yeahhhhh..... didn't get to. Doubt I will complete it tomorrow in time either and I don't care. I had a great weekend, and I am just sooo excited for summer. I am still going to try to get to it, but for the time being I am just enjoying soaking up some time with family, friends, and playing with the kids.

I don't have any June goals yet, will try to think on them and post them tomorrow. May has just been pretty busy with school stuff, kid sports, etc. I had a friend compare May to December, and it's true, both are just so busy.

The pool is offically open, and we have been every chance. I have the watching three kids at the pool by myself, down pat this year, as tested by a long day there today. We had a lot of fun in the pool, but don't get me wrong, I am itching for a couple of hours there childfree with my nose in the book. Maybe next weekend for a bit =)

Laura's last day of preschool....

2011-05-26T19:46:00.000-07:00

Today Laura was a student at her preschool for her last time. As expected, I have been all emotional. Seriously, so emotional, that Laura told me to just stop it, as she was tired of me crying. This morning I took a few pictures of her, and of course her sisters outside. Her preschool sent home her file today as well, which I didn't even know they kept. Basically, for her three years there they kept every note I sent into school, permission slips, enrollment forms, AND the teachers kept blurbs for each month of the school year on the children. It was cute to go back and read about her when she was 2, and even funny to see the things she said this year. Apparently when they classroom was having a discussion about recycling, Laura told her class that her dad likes to put trash in the back of his truck and take it to the dump lol. There were pictures that they took in the classroom, and some projects that they made. Honestly, by the time I was done going through her files, I was bawling my eyes out.

I am so sad that she's done with preschool, but so glad she is going to a great school next year. I feel really good about our choice, and I know this is just the begining of her growing up.

Blurb Post....

2011-05-25T13:08:00.000-07:00

I have been the worst blogger in the world. I just have not had a lot of time, and when I have had time, I didn't feel like blogging. And all I really have for you today are a bunch of blurbs.
*I am now down 25 lbs. Apparently, it takes 25 lbs for people to start noticing lol, as people are finally giving me some good feedback. I feel pretty good, and I am aiming for about 10 more lbs. Quite honestly, thought I am excited about the loss, I wont have much that will fit me when I hit my goal. Don't get me wrong, I love shopping, but who the heck can afford a whole new warddrobe, and how scary is it to buy new clothes in smaller sizes while being scared that the weight will be put back on. I went through the same thing several years ago, and I ended up selling the things on ebay and whatnot, and at least I never got back to that weight. I did gain weight after I got down after Emily, but I didn't at least have to go up in clothing sizes, I just crammed myself in the same clothes. I guess I just need to bite the bullet and start parting with some things that are crazy big. If they don't stay around, it will be motivation for me to not go crazy again.

*I am attempting to get things ready for a Memorial Day cookout we are having at our house Saturday. It's been kinda hard with all of our other activities going on this week. I thought about calling out tomorrow to take a personal day to get things ready, and then of course I can't do that now, as I have to do something important at work in the am.

*I can not wait until I can sit by the pool and play with my kiddos. We are pumped to all be able to ride our bikes there as well, now that the kiddos are training wheel free. We have a seat on Dave's bike for Emily to ride in (it wouldn't fit on my bike, since my tires have fenders).

*I am sadz that Oprah's talk show isn't going to be on anymore. Her shows were always interesting, and never got trashy like all of the other talk shows.

*I want a shellac manicure so bad. I just need for find a cheap place, since alot of the places charge out of the ying yang, and find the time to go get it.

Almost time for summer.....

2011-05-20T13:19:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Laura and Rachel's school had their annual spring picnic, and next week is the last week of school for them for the year...I am excited for summer, but I have been sad that these last three years of preschool went by so fast for Laura, and next year she will be in kindergarten!! Seriously, I cried probably three times this week thinking about it. It wasn't all that long ago that I was walking her to class for her first day when she was 2, I cried when I left her. She's learned so much during her last three years, and made great friends. Now grant it, I am not saying preschool has made her a genius, but she still impresses me with what she has learned, and the social part of it is just awesome for the kids. I hope she will be as happy at her new school as she has been there...

Today I will appreciate him.

2011-05-17T13:51:00.000-07:00

Yesterday my husband got an award and was honored at a ceremony recognizing Police Memorial Week. I took off and took my girls so they could see their daddy get this award. It was an eye opening event for me. Police Memorial Week honors police officers that have been killed in the line of duty. Three officers in his department have been killed since it has been around, and every year those families are present and honored as well. Dave got a lifesaver award, for helping save some one's life in a car accident.

You know, I am so guilty of taking every day for granted. I find myself angry a lot about his job, especially now that he is back on night shift, and it's all for selfish reasons. To be honest it's hard having a husband that is a police officer. A statistic stated during the ceremony was that in every 53 seconds, a police officer is killed in the line of duty. Every day that my husband goes in to work it's never promised that he's going to come home. I know the same can be said for everyone who goes to work, or heck, just leaves to run an errand, but because of the very line of work he is in, his chances are that much greater. When I was in middle school, and officer in our city was killed in the line of duty. My parents and I stood on the side of the road with hundreds of people paying our respects as the funeral procession made their way down the main road. I hope to God that I am never inside one of those cars for my husband or his friends.

My husband doesn't have a job in which he just has to work 5 days a week for 8 hours a day. Nine times out of ten, he has to stay past the time he is supposed to go off duty. It doesn't matter if it's a holiday, or a celebration is planned. He only has one weekend off a month, and his days off during the week, aren't exactly days off. Most of the time he has to be in court, or he has a training. Grant it, he does get paid for that time, but it eats into his free time, and is taxed to death if it's over time. Now that he's on night shift, if he has court at 2pm, it doesn't matter if that's when he needs to be asleep, he still has to be there. His lunch breaks can be ended at any minute. I have to say, that Dave is an excellent father, and wants to be there for every activity that the kids have. He sacrifices sleep to stay up and go to a tball game, or whatnot, and just deals with being tired so he doesn't miss something. If a hurricane, snowstorm, or some other bad storm comes and he happens to be off, he can't just stay home and take care of us, he will get called in. Don't get me wrong, he went into this profession understanding that. He very rarely complains, if anything he just says he's tired.

He's not exactly rolling in the money either. Ever look up what a police officer makes? Most work extra duty, or find side jobs to try to make ends meet. My husband has a college education from a 4 year year school. We also don't get a housing allowance like the military does, I can't do my grocery shopping on base, and there are not police officer discounts when we go shopping. To be honest, I think it's been about 4 years since he has gotten a raise because of salary freezes in the city in which he works. Health insurance premiums continue to rise, gas prices go up, heck, everything goes up. I am not attempting to get sympathy, or try to say people in the military have it easier. But they deserve the same respect. People like to complain about the police, because I guess they can be an easy target. No one likes to say that they deserve getting a speeding ticket, or admitting they they just messed up. But just like people in military, they are sacrificing their lives for everyone else. I myself need to do a better job understanding that, instead of being mad that he's not helping clean the house when he's off. Though I get frustrated having to deal with a lot by myself, I have to remember that he may not come home one day.

Blurb Post

2011-05-13T10:19:00.000-07:00

*I am going to need it to rain this weekend so we can be forced to stay inside to get housework done. I am so far behind on cleaning, organizing, laundry, etc. It's just hard to get those things done when the weather has been so nice, and we want to do everything outside.

*I am in love with my new washing machine. However, our old washing machine is seriously still sitting outside by the garage, as my husband said he wanted to see how much money he could get for scrapping it. Of course that was about 4 weeks ago now, and it's still sitting there...I am starting to think it's going to sit their forever to let everyone know we are proper white trash. I am totally going to tick him off by putting out for the garbage man Monday, but oh well.

*As of today I am now 20.5 lbs down, and funny enough the only people to have said anything to me about noticing the weight loss include, my husband, coworker, and a drug rep. That's when you know your fat- when you can drop that much and hardly anyone notices.

*Two weeks from this weekend our pool opens up! Though I don't think it's quite that warm enough for some pool fun, I know the kids will be excited to go, and I will risk freezing to make them happy. A friend of ours with three kids is joining the pool this year, and I can't wait to watch them all have fun together!

*The girls also just have two more weeks of school, before they are out for the summer! Time just flies by! I am sad Laura wont be there next year, but so thankful that she is going to an awesome school next year. I just watched the documentry "Waiting for Superman", on Netflix, and it makes me so glad that our area's schools are not that bad, as it's such a heartbreaking matter to see some of the public school systems in the USA. I seriously cried watching the end of it.

Bike Shopping...

2011-05-08T12:23:00.000-07:00

Last Wednesday as promised, Laura and Rachel got new bikes. We ventured up to Conte's bike shop to seal the deal. Growing up two of my bikes came from there, and in fact when I was 13, my parents bought me my final bike to take me through until I was 27 (then Dave bought me pinky). Anyways, when I was 13 I got to ride my bike home which isn't exactly close by. I thought I was something special.

So we looked at bikes, and we saw some that were ok, but one of the guys said they just got a bunch of ones in that they were getting ready to put together. They were perfect! Laura chose pink, and Rachel wanted the purple. They even gave us a discount for buying two! They always give great service, good deals, and have quality bikes. I know once they outgrow these, we will be back!

Rachel learns without training wheels too!

2011-05-08T04:21:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Rachel learned how to ride her old bike without training wheels, we figure by the end of the week she will be brave enough to try it out on her new bike! (The girls got new bikes from Contes Bike's last week).

Book reading...

2011-05-07T04:23:00.000-07:00

The book club pick for this month is Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother. I had heard bits and pieces about it, as this is written by an asian mother on how she has raised her two children here in America. People have been talking a lot about the book as her views on childrearing are considered controversial. I knew the book would be interesting so I was glad to see it picked by a member in the group.

I spent some time trying to find it at various libraries, as when I looked at the Kindle download price of 12.99 I thought I could do better. The waiting lists at every library in my freaking area and then some are crazy long. I looked in used bookstores and on some of those online. No luck, or rather if it was cheaper then 12.99 it still wasn't far off. With the Ipad I also can down load apps for the Nook and Ibook, so I checked the prices for the book and it was the same, so I just went ahead and got the kindle download. I have not regretted the purchase.

I just started it yesterday afternoon, but I am already on Chapter 17. I am finding myself agreeing with a little, wincing at a lot, and actually seeing a bit of my dad in it as well lol. It also brings back some memories of a middle school BFF I had who was Korean. Her parents had some to the USA, and her father was a pretty awesome Doctor. They had three children (my friend was the youngest), and all of them ended up at Ivy League schools when it was time for college I think. I remember in 6th grade her telling me that she wasn't allowed to date until she was in medical school. I found this crazy because at 11 I wasn't exactly thinking about the future. Of course as we grew older she did have boyfriends, she just had to get creative with hiding it from her parents =). I actually still keep in contact with her a little on facebook. I believe she's a pscyhotherapist or something like that. Funny enough she posted on facebook that she finally told her parents that she had a boyfriend, and had been living with him for years.

I highly recommend this book to every mom out there, not as a how to raise your kid guide, but just to see how different the views are from American ways.

Teacher Appreciation Week!

2011-05-05T03:44:00.000-07:00

Things at school are winding down, and in a few weeks, both girls will be out for summer! This will be the last few weeks that Laura is there for her preschool career, and that makes me so sad, but excited for her as well. Next year Rachel will have her sister Emily heading off to school with her. Anyways- this week is Teacher Appreciation Week. Please tell any teachers you know how much you appreciate them! We trust them with so much, and they make such huge impacts on children. For gifts this year I had a lady I know from JL make these personalized key chains for the girls teachers (main teachers for each and their assistant). It's a key chain that also has a card holder on it, so they can put in their drivers license or what not. I thought they were super cute, and eventually I am going to order one for myself =).

The lady makes them out of her house, and she does a lot of really cute stuff! Check her out on Facebook- her shop is called Double Love Designs. I ordered them this weekend and she had them done Tuesday. Super Fast! After gymnastics with Rachel yesterday I finally got by her house to pick them up, and we spent last night wraping them up and having the girls make cards for the teachers.

I have to say, Teacher Appreciation Week makes me wonder about the middle school and highschool teachers. Do they get spoiled like I see the the preschool and grade school teachers? I kinda doubt it.... I guess it get's harder once your kid starts having 5-6 teachers. Anyways, I hope they all feel some love too.

Just a cute video....

2011-05-04T02:53:00.000-07:00

Of my youngest on her trike!