Busy Day Ahead

Today is going to be busy. I just finished making pancakes for the boys with fresh blueberries in them. Not a good idea! Neither of them likes the blueberries in there...lesson learned! I wasted my delicious blueberries and they wouldn't eat their pancakes! As you know we're trying to get our house on the market. Our goal is March 14. Two more weeks! We have many things left to accomplish. Andy is working on things like crazy. He is so talented. I am really amazed that he can do everything that needs fixing on the house. And all of the work he does looks professional too! This week he has done so much - sanding doors so they don't rub on the jamb, priming doors, rehanging doors, tilling the slope in the backyard (used to be tiered but all the railroad ties were sliding out - it wasn't done right... so Andy took them out and sloped that part of the yard), replacing windows in the garage, painting, greasing the doors so none squeak. The list goes on and on! He is doing an amazing job! Thanks babe!!
Last night we packed up extra stuff in the boys room and closet. I'm going to like living in our small home without all the "extra" stuff...decluttering feels great!

Here is our plan for today:
* Andy takes a load to the dump (the railroad ties) while I keep packing boxes of our extra stuff (trying to declutter)
* Load trailer with boxes of extra stuff, bookcase, shelf in bedroom, cedar chest in Ty's room, and other misc things
*rearrange furniture in Living Room (move Lego table from behind couch back into boys room)
* Make roasted vegetables for 25 people at church for tonight (grocery, chop veggies, roast)
* Ty's picture appointment at 2:10
*Mom is taking the boys to a school carnival from 11-1ish
*Game night at Maria's - Yea!

"Vocal Rest"

So yesterday I went to the doctor. Diagnosed with bronchitis and laryngitis. My doc thinks it's viral at this point but gave me a prescription just in case it gets worse. If it does, I'm supposed to get the prescription filled. I don't feel bad but I can't talk. She said I need vocal rest- no talking. So I did well yesterday not talking. Got a lot done as a matter of fact! Emptied kitchen pantry. Cleaned all shelves and the walls. Put contents back in very organized! I even got to use my new label maker for a few things. I washed the trashcan and the lid to Lottie's food container. Very clean in there now! Then I entered about 25 accessory/equipment things into the computer to make my consignment sale tags. I got them in baggies and ready to go. Still need to tackle the clothes and toys. In the afternoon I cleaned out the hall closet and packed up some of our games so it wouldn't be so full. I reorganized the hanging shoe organizer that is on the door. I use that for hats, gloves, scarves, umbrellas, etc. It looks very nice too! We are trying to pack away some of our stuff so when we put our house on the market it isn't crammed full of all our stuff. So I've been bring boxes home from school. Anyway, back to today...
I went to school today so I don't have any more days without pay. Thankfully I have a student teacher. She did a lot of the talking. Carrie and Brenda covered for me as well. I was useless there but did help with behavior monitoring a lot. I got several things done this morning but still felt stupid being there and not being able to talk. Hoping my voice is back tomorrow. I'm staying home from small group tonight so that I don't talk!

I'm Sick

Sunday night I wasn't feeling super- had some drainage and could tell I was fighting something off. Monday went to school and over the course of the day I lost my voice. Last night I cancelled on a meeting I was supposed to attend and did minimal talking at home to try and be able to go to work today. I used up every sick day I had for my 8 week maternity leave from Ty's birth. So this morning I was drinking my coffee and trying to wake up to start getting ready. You know how when you are sick like this it is always worse in the mornings. Kept thinking I'd clear up a little but nope. Even more of "no voice" if that is possible. So I had to call in sick. Which isn't good because being out of sick days means I'm taking a day without pay. Believe me, I weighed out my decision. When you have to talk all day for your job and you have no voice, I didn't have an option. I'll be going to the dr to find out what is wrong. I tried to go back to bed but it was too close to my coffee consumption! I better have a voice tomorrow. Two days without pay ARE NOT an option!

Pasta e Fagioli

Yum! This soup really hit the spot. I made several modifications so I'll link the original recipe here and post what I did below. Andy and I both liked the soup. My boys don't care for soups so they each had to take 1 bite. (Then they ate chicken nuggets). I served this with breadsticks and sprinkled parmesan cheese on top of our soup. Yum! I got to use my new Le Creuset 5 qt Dutch Oven and it was VERY full! Mom and Dad are going to enjoy some leftovers for dinner tonight. I'll be eating it for lunch twice this week and Andy and I will eat leftovers for dinner Wednesday night. This makes a big batch of soup!

Ingredients:
2 tbsp. butter, divided
1 (12 oz.) package sweet Italian sausage, casings removed
1 medium onion, finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
4 carrots, thinly sliced
4 stalks celery, thinly sliced
1 (28 oz.) can petite diced tomatoes
1can cannelini beans, drained and rinsed
48 oz. reduced-sodium beef broth
1 (28 oz.) can tomato sauce
2 tsp. dried parsley
1/2 tsp. dried basil
1 tsp. salt
2 cups small dry pasta (I used ditalini)

Directions:Melt 1 tablespoon of the butter in a Dutch oven or large stockpot over medium-high heat. Add the sausage to the pot and brown, crumbling as it cooks. Once the sausage is browned, remove it from the pot with a slotted spoon and discard any excess grease (if you use chicken sausage you won't have any excess grease! Melt the remaining tablespoon of butter in the pot. Add the onion, garlic, carrot and celery, and saute over medium heat until vegetables are soft, 8-10 minutes. Return the sausage to the pot, add the can of diced tomatoes with juices, stir briefly, and simmer for 10 minutes.
Add the beans, beef broth and tomato sauce to the pot. Add in all of the seasonings, stir well, increase the heat to high and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer at least 30 minutes.
Add the dry pasta and continue to simmer on low for another 30 minutes. Serve with shredded parmesan cheese.
adapted from: Annie's Eats

Weekends are too short!

Friday-
We went to get paint for all the touchups. We needed more paint for the LR and trim work. We found the same color we'd bought at Sears years ago. Drove around and looked at a couple houses. Crossed one off the list! Found out that 2 of the homes we were interested in were having open houses on Sunday. Went to Qdoba for takeout. Planned out weekend. I was so thankful Andy's ski trip for all day Saturday was cancelled because we had a lot to do!

Saturday-
Andy did lots of paint touch-ups around the house (bathroom, master bedroom, living room, hallway, kitchen). It was too cold for me to paint the garage door. I became unconscious in the afternoon (this happened to me last Saturday too!) and could not open my eyes. The lack of sleep from this week sure hit me hard. Made a quick, easy all american dinner of classic hamburgers, homemade fries, and gala apple slices. Got ready for Ty's baptism - outfits, food, etc and watched Hitch on tv with Andy. To make the fries just cut 6 med potatoes into french fries. Put in large ziploc baggie. Toss 2 T melted butter, 2 t oil, 1-2 t seasoned salt and mix. Bake on greased cookie sheet at 450 for 20-25 minutes, stirring once.

Sunday-
Ty's baptism was wonderful. I'll post pics soon! We had an easy lunch afterwards for family. I ordered a 3 foot sub from Blimpie's and then Cara brought chips, mom and Maw brought fruit and cookies. With all of their help lunch was a breeze. Everyone seemed to enjoy the food. After lunch my mom and dad took the boys to their house for a fun afternoon (3 whole hours!!). Andy and I went to one open house, tried to go to the 2nd and it wasn't open even though the sign was posted that the open house was indeed today from 2-4!!, and then came home and cleaned. We got all 3 bedrooms picked up, dusted, and vacuumed. Sheets changed in 2 of 3 bedrooms and the LR picked up but not cleaned yet. It felt so good to get that done. Tonight after I picked the boys up we ran by Target, ate leftovers, built Legos, watched part of Toy Story, and then I gotthem to bed. Now I need to do menu planning/grocery list and get myself ready for school tomorrow.

Few things:

• I feel like bullets today and I'm totally ok with that!
• Luke went to bed at 5 pm tonight. He fell asleep sitting with me and we couldn't get him to wake up for dinner. Poor baby.
• I registered Wilson for Kindergarten today!
• Lottie is limping so bad. Her knee is still really bothering her. She held that leg up while she stood to eat. I don't know what to do for her. It's obviously not healing...
• Ty is getting baptized on Sunday and I am really excited!
• I'm holding a sleeping Ty right now while I'm updating on the laptop.
• I'm exhausted.
• I need to get a lot done this weekend. Order subs for Sunday, make cookies, buy fruit, drinks and chips, make picture appointment, paint touch ups, paint garage door (final coat), spend time with my boys, the list goes on and on.
• I'm dissapointed with who the bachelor sent home this week. I liked her!
• I'm thankful that Andy has patched the walls in our house.
• I'm hoping I can get paint tomorrow for all the touchups.
• I'm also thankful that Andy put meatloaf in the crockpot today.

Before I was a Mom

My maw-maw forwarded me this in an email. I've read it before but it's so true! I thought I'd post it here for others to read and enjoy!

Before I was a Mom,

I never tripped over toys

or forgot words to a lullaby.

I didn't worry whether or not my plants were poisonous.

I never thought about immunizations.

Before I was a Mom,

I had never been puked on.

Pooped on.

Chewed on.

Peed on.

I had complete control of my mind

and my thoughts.

I slept all night.

Before I was a Mom,

I never held down a screaming child

so doctors could do tests.

Or give shots.

I never looked into teary eyes and cried.

I never got gloriously happy over a simple grin.

I never sat up late hours at night watching a baby sleep.

Before I was a Mom,

I never held a sleeping baby just because

I didn't want to put him down.

I never felt my heart break into a million pieces

when I couldn't stop the hurt.

I never knew that something so small

could affect my life so much.

I never knew that I could love someone so much.

I never knew how much I would love being a Mom.

Before I was a Mom,

I didn't know the feeling of having my heart outside my body.

I didn't know how special it could feel to feed a hungry baby.

I didn't know that bond between a mother and her child.

I didn't know that something so small

could make me feel so important and happy.

Before I was a Mom,

I had never gotten up in the middle of the night

Every 10 minutes to make sure all was okay.

I had never known the warmth, the joy,

the love, the heartache, the wonderment or

the satisfaction of being a Mom.

I didn't know I was capable of feeling so much,

before I was a Mom.

A productive day off!

After breakfast we got ready and took the Jeep in for some preventive maintenance. On the way home we stopped at Lowe's to pick up a few things. When we got home I washed the garage door. Then took a shower and got ready. We went to McD's to meet all the cousins for lunch and playtime since Erin, Rori and the boys were in town. We took up a rather large section with 9 kiddos! It was fun. When we came back home I primed the garage door while Andy worked on the window of the garage. The windows on our house are all the newer, nice, vinyl windows but the two windows on the garage that face the front yard are wood. The paint was all cracked and some of the wood was rotting. So Andy is redoing the woodwork around the window. He found some really cool window sills at Lowe's that are made of PVC. So instead of getting wood and priming and painting it, it's already vinyl and white! Wahoo! After the garage door dried I painted the first coat on that matches our siding. It looks great! Just need to do 1 more coat. We're going to be working on our house inside and out because we're planning to put it on the market this spring. We have several projects we need to do to put it up for sale. I'll be in charge of paint touch ups and repainting some of the trim that has really taken a beating. Andy's got a lot of projects he plans to do. Then there will need to be thorough cleanings...So! Lots to do!

We went to pick up the Jeep then came home and had leftover mexican lasagna with some roasted veggies. Tonight I need to make the grocery list and get ready for work tomorrow.

Molten Chocolate Cakes

...Andy's Valentine dessert!

Easy and decadent! I think this came from a Kraft Foods Magazine. We ate these warm out of the oven while the center was oozing out! I made homemade whipped cream for the topping. It was delicious!

Molten Chocolate Cakes

4 sqaures semi-sweet Baking chocolate

1/2 cup butter

1 cup powdered sugar

2 eggs

2 egg yolks

6 Tb flour

1 cup heavy whipping cream

2 T sugar

Preheat oven to 425. Butter 4 ramekins (custard cups). Place on cookie sheet. Microwave chocolate and butter on high 1 min or until butter is melted. Stir with whisk until chocolate is completely melted. Stir in sugar until well blended. Whisk in eggs and egg yolks. Stir in flour. Divide batter between ramekins. *At this point you can cover each ramekin with plastic and refrigerate up to 1 day ahead of baking.* Bake 13-14 minutes until sides are firm but centers are soft. Let stand 1 minute. Carefully run a small knife around cakes to loosen. Invert onto plates and top with whipped cream. Serve immediately!

5 months

Napping in Mommy and Daddy's bed. He tucked his arms up under the pillow!

Trying to eat his lion!

Ty turned 5 months old this past week. He is such a big boy! He trys to sit up and is now arching his back when we put him in the carseat. He loves his toys and watching his big brothers! He also still loves to eat and be held. He generally naps in mommy and daddy's bad where we can turn the fan on for background noise. He sleeps in his crib at night. Still eats at night 1 time around 3 am. He tries to fight his morning nap sometimes as he did at church today! He is such an easy baby and so sweet! I still hate leaving him every morning. He's perfect! His birthmark (pws) hasn't changed any. We go back to CCH in March. He's in such a roly poly boy! His legs are so chunky. I love him so!

Our Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day! I've been wanting to make sugar cookies with royal icing. So last weekend I went to Hobby Lobby and bought a few things I needed. I made the Pioneer Woman's sugar cookies and made pink royal icing following the instructions on this blog. The boys helped me make the cookies and cut out hearts. Andy helped me make the icing. Then we all worked to ice the cookies! I thought we did great for our first time using royal icing! Wilson was great at spreading the icing out on the cookies with a toothpick after "flooding" the icing in the middle. Luke did a great job putting sprinkles on the cookies. It was fun and definitely something I want to try again!

Tonight Andy and I are going to put the boys to bed and order take-out from Puccini's. We have a buy 1 dinner get 1 free there! I'm going to make homemade Chocolate Molten Cakes with whipped cream. We're also renting a movie. We don't watch many movies so I'm excited! We're off to deliver cookies to my grandparents and parents!

Valentine Treats

Today I made some treats for the boys teachers, a friend who recently had a baby, and to give as valentine's for the upcoming holiday! They helped a little until my rockin' mom came and picked them up to go to the park. (Thanks, mom!!) After making and baking a simple peanut butter cookie dough you poke a mini resee cup in the soft dough and top with mini marshmallow's. Thats what I knew the boys would enjoy doing! I saw these on my favorite food blog and knew I wanted to make them! I thought Andy and the boys would like them and that they'd make cute treats for Valentine's Day. Here is the recipe. The only change I had is that this recipe yielded 36 cookies instead of 24 for me. Also, you could easily halve the ganache recipe. I have a ton leftover. I saved it for Andy to put on icecream or milkshakes! Sorry my pictures are so bad! Follow the link to see better pics. Below is what the boys are taking their teachers!

Wishing for a clean house.

So, a couple days ago I ran across this blog that posts about cleaning, organizing etc. The lady has a daily cleaning list, weekly cleaning list, and monthly/seasonal cleaning lists. Just looking at those lists makes me wonder how she has time for anything else. I think she and her husband don't have any kids yet but I know she works full time. She also has daily workout routines. She has dinner parties etc all the time. She decorates for theses, makes centerpieces, has etiquitte posts about how to set the table, how to be a host, and what she does for overnight guests. It's crazy. It sounds like she does all of this by herself with occasional help from her husband. Her house looks perfect. It's decorated, down to changing decorations for the season, even the drapes, throws, and pillows get changed in the living room for the season. Anyway, there are a few good ideas I got from reading some of her blog (it's weird, I keep wanting to read more even though her perfectionism and motivation kills me!!).
I don't want to be that anal or to be so involved with my cleaning that I don't spend quality time with my children. But I'll admit, my house is usually not clean. It bothers me! We try to put things away and stay on top of the cleaning but it just doesn't always happen. In no time a picked up house goes to a trashed house around here. There is so much cleaning that needs to be done. But, I just don't want to do it. Am I lazy? What's wrong with me? Please don't think we live in a pig sty or anything, we try! The windows are so dirty, the glass and the inside of them. The carpet needs to be shampooed. It has spots all over it since the last cleaning. I've thought of having certain tasks I do each day but when I get home from work around 4 I spend time with the family, check email/blogs, make dinner, clean up, play with boys. Then we start getting them ready for bed. Generally by 8:30 they're in bed and Ty's still up. Then I have to get everything ready for work the next day. Before I know it, it's 9 o'clock and I'm so tired I don't want to clean. Maybe it's also my attitude b/c I feel like after working all day at school, then coming home and being a mom, I should get at least 30min-1hr to relax before bed. What I'm saying is I don't want to start cleaning at 9pm. I have to wake up at 5:30am.
So, someone who has any ideas for how to get my house clean regularly PLEASE HELP! I'm not looking for a perfect house, but I wish it were clean (not just picked up). Unfortunately we don't have $ to hire a house cleaner so please don't suggest that!! I just feel like there is so much to do all the time with the house, work, kids, etc etc etc. Thanks for listening to me vent. Feels good to get it off my chest. I've got the quality time with my kids down, I've got cooking meals for the family down, now I need to get more cleaning and exercise into my routine.

Snow Day #8

I think I'm in the minority when I say I've been enjoying all these snow days. I'll dread school in June, that's for sure. But with 3 young boys at home, any day I can be home with them is worth it to me! Especially now while Ty is still so young. So I'm going out on a limb, and saying I've loved the 8 snow days we've had. I've gotten to spend a lot of time with Wilson, Luke and Ty. It's almost seemed like I'm a stay at home mom! It's been great. Another perk is I've gotten more rest. I'm still feeding Ty 1-2 times a night and that really hurts my sleep. So getting to go back to bed on snow days is keeping me going. I even took a little nap today. I'll admit, Monday and Tuesday I missed my boys like crazy after having been home with them all last week. Today was a nice catch up day for me- I caught up on some sleep and some housework. And spent some quality time with my boys. I'll not think about June right now!

So proud of Wilson!

Wilson is attending preschool this year and overall he enjoys it most of the time! I have been SO pleased with our preschool choice. Yesterday we got his first progress report. As a teacher, I really appreciate the time they've taken to give me such a complete picture of him at school. Overall, I learned that Wilson is doing GREAT with listening, following directions, sharing, fine/gross motor skills, and has awesome behavior! That makes me so proud and happy. I'm so glad he is well behaved when he is away from me and Andy! Some areas he needs to improve on are participating is large group activities and learning more lower case letters. We're still working on writing his name clearly too. I'm so proud of my 5 year old!!

Graceful is not my middle name!

So last night we ate dinner at my Maw-maw and Paw-paw's since our power had just come back on. We didn't have any food left since we'd not been to the grocery and all. So, I was leaving with Tyler to go to a meeting for an upcoming Consignmnet Sale. I had the carseat hiked up on my elbow b/c that is the only way I can lug it around! I was walking out to the van and next thing I knew I was on the ground. Poor Tyler, the carseat obviously dropped. Thankfully he was safe and just scared- he was buckled in and everything so he wasn't hurt. My butt and right knee are very sore. I couldn't move for a couple minutes. So I sat on the ice and my pants were getting wet. A neighbor happened to be outside and heard the commotion so he ran over to help me. I asked him to knock on Maw's door to get me some help. He came back and helped me up. Then Andy and Paw came out to make sure Ty and I were ok. It hurt so bad. You know, falling when you're an adult is awful. It hurts so bad! As I was driving to the meeting my left arm hurt, my butt was really sore, and my knee was aching. Oh and the seat of my pants was wet. I held in my tears and went. When I got home I took two advil and a hot bath. This morning I was very aware of my sore bottom and right knee. They've bothered me all day. Hopefully it's just bruises and nothing else. OUCH!!