Me and the boys

I love 3 day weekends!

2012-02-20T14:26:00.001-05:00

Having an extra day off makes all the difference. I feel like I actually get something done! We've had a good weekend. We were hopeful for some snow to play in but that didn't pan out. So Sunday afternoon we pulled out the couch bed and made popcorn for the boys to be cozy during a movie. It was fun. I cleaned the refrigerator (checked that off my 20 in 2012!). I've been doing laundry and more cleaning today. The boys are playing with a friend right now- Legos, Wii, outside, etc and having a blast. It's loud but they are having fun! I took a nap on Sunday and got to sleep in one morning. It's been a relaxing weekend. Saturday night my small group prepared dinner for a group of homeless men from our community. Once a month our church hosts Room in the Inn during the winter months. The men come to stay at the church for 1 night and get dinner, breakfast, and a sack lunch. It's a great ministry. My small group has done a dinner for this once a year for the last four years. We always do meatloaf, baked potatoes, oven roasted veggies, rolls, & dessert. I always bring the veggies. I think the meal was a hit with the men! February is flying by- I can't believe how fast it is going. Seems like January just ended to me.

Our Valentine's Day

2012-02-18T15:49:00.000-05:00

I made two double batches of rice krispie treats, cut them into heart shapes with a cookie cutter & dipped half them in dark chocolate. Luke sprinkled on the valentine colored sprinkles. I actually didn't eat any with the chocolate on them. I was too busy eating the rice krispie treat scraps from cutting them out with the cookie cutter. I'd forgotten just how good simple rice krispie treats taste. Yum! The boys took these to their school Valentine parties. I saw the idea on Pinterest but now can't find the pin.

Here is what the boys took their teachers & assistants. Rolo pretzel turtles. So easy and yet delicious! We made them with Valentine colored M&M's instead of pecans on top, you can do either. My grandmother told me about these last year and we've made them several times. They are all over Pinterest too. To make: Lay pretzels out on cookie sheet. I like to use the square Snyder's pretzels but you can use the twist kind too. Open your rolo's and place one on top of each pretzel. Bake at 350 for 4 minutes. Push an M&M or a pecan on the top of the rolo and smush it down a bit. Let them cool completely. I usually pop the pan into the freezer after they have cooled on the counter for a while. Just to make sure the chocolate has hardened.

Here is Wilson's Lego Valentine Box. He also ended up adding police pictures from the Internet all over the top but here it is just looking like a Lego! The knobs are tp rolls cut down and covered with wrapping paper. Luke made his bag at his school party so he didn't need to make a box at home.

My valentine and I ordered take-out from PF Chang's. The boys had heart shaped pancakes made by their daddy. I had a lovely bouquet of roses on my desk when I got to school on Tuesday. Andy had snuck them into my office Monday afternoon while I was at a meeting at another school. It was a great surprise!

Updates

2012-02-16T21:32:00.000-05:00

First of all, thank you so much for your kind words on my last post. I had facebook messages, conversations with friends, a wonderful card in the mail (thanks Mel!) and comments on the blog from my friends. Your words of encouragement, ideas, & support really helped. We see our pediatrician next week. I am looking forward to seeing what our next steps should be.

Life just doesn't stop. Since I last updated I've had a stomach virus, sinus infection, & ear infection all at the same time. I had to miss 2 days of school and probably should have missed 3. I am feeling WAY better. But Andy has a sinus infection, Ty is getting one, and Luke is taking his turn with the stomach virus as of today. I mean...really?! We are so ready to be healthy! Wilson went to the doctor for his stomach aches and they ran a bunch of tests. So far everything has been good news: good blood counts (ruled out infection & ulcer), tested negative for celiac & chrone's. I'm glad we already have Wilson & Luke's well visits next week so I can follow up about Wilson's stomach issues as well. It may just be bad luck with several mild stomach viruses or could be anxiety related.

What I keep learning as a mom of 3: The craziness never seems to stop. There is always something with one of the boys. See the previous post and the paragraph below this one for a couple examples. Someone always "needs" me. I NEED at least an hour with all the boys in bed so I can have some me time. I will fall asleep reading almost every night because by the time my head hits the pillow I'm just plain exhausted.

Tyler is causing the something right now, in addition to everything else. He is being a THREE year old. If you haven't heard, three is WAAAAY harder than two. Bedtime has become hard with him. He wants to stay up to spend time with me (so he says...) and he is at the awkward stage of needing a nap but that nap is causing him to not be quite ready for bed at the right time. So...he is put to bed. Gets up, is put back to bed, gets up, gets a spanking, etc. Repeat several times. Then at some point in the night several nights a week I wake up to find him in our bed. He shares my pillow and smushes me to the edge. What is it about kids coming to mommy's side of the bed?! We have a king size bed- but Ty wants to snuggle next to me. Awww- right? Well not when you have an elbow in the face!

So we have a new positive behavior system going on around here. I put the boys on charts. All 3 of them. Let's deal with those somethings shall we? Here is what they earn stickers for right now:
Wilson- Responding with the right attitude (coming when called, doing what he is told, completing HW without whining etc)
Luke- Answer questions when mommy/daddy ask them, no whining about HW or taking out the recycling
Ty- 1 sticker for peeing in potty, 2 stickers for pooping in potty, 1 sticker for staying in bed all night, 1 sticker for feeding Lottie

The charts are just the kind you can buy for the mini size stickers. I've had them forever. They are hanging on a low cabinet for them to see. So far they have all finished 1 chart (20 stickers). They each have a different reward they are working towards. Wilson's last one was a sandwich from Jimmy John's, Luke earned $ to buy Valentine Grams at school, & Ty wanted to buy a new car from the movie Cars.

So in a nutshell: life is good but hard. Not really any new information! We love our boys more than words can say and we are trying to be good parents. But it is hard to know what to do sometimes!

Barely hanging on...

2012-02-05T17:26:00.000-05:00

Where do I begin? I've wanted to write this post for a long time but just couldn't. And didn't know if I should put it all out there. But here I go. I think this may be theraputic and maybe somebody will have some ideas or suggestions that will help us.

About a week ago I wrote all of the "things" in my head down about the current situation with one of my boys. I just kept going - jotting down notes for a doctor appointment of everything that Andy & I have been dealing with. Life has been hard with one of my boys for years. I kept thinking it was me, something I was doing wrong.We kept trying and thinking of different things- I read some parenting books, we went to a play therapist, I used behavior systems, time-outs, spankings, grounding, room stripping, loss of priviledges, you name it, we tried it. To no avail. Nothing worked beyond the initial success. It always wore off and stopped working. I know you may be thinking that sounds normal but the behaviors that happen aren't normal. When I sat and wrote the things I had in my head I realized there is a problem. Something that we need help with. It isn't something we're doing wrong...we need answers. We go to the doctor in about 2 1/2 weeks. I am ready to open up to our pediatrician and tell her how bad it is becoming. As he gets older it is getting worse. He is stronger, he is so smart, he is getting so big. I'm tired of the constant battle of who is in control. He tries so hard and we fight back so hard. Some days I give up because I just. can't. fight. any. more. Other days either Andy or I are stronger and that person does more of the fighting. Thankfully we have each other and can lean on each other. The fussing, whining, yelling, manipulation, etc that occurs when he is told to brush his teeth/do homework, clean up, etc. is just not right. But we've been saying that for years and implementing consequences that don't work on him. So now we are trying a positive chart, one that he earns stickers for responding with the right attitude. The chart was hung up about a week ago. He has earned 7-8 stickers. At least 3 of those were on the first evening of implementing the chart. Reminding him of that doesn't seem to matter.

But there is more going on that is making the problem worse. He deals with anxiety alot. We've had this problem for a long time. He holds himself together at school so well about 98% of the time. We occasionally have a rough morning when it is time for him to go to class. But even this has improved over the years. He is so well behaved at school. I'm very thankful for that- I know we could be dealing with a lot worse. I don't know how much of his behavior is driven by fear- he worries about fire alarms (we've been having a lot during renovation), severe weather, lcokdown drills, health issues, what others think, doing well on tests, doctor appointments, spending time away from home, etc, etc. Everything. I hate that for him and I don't know what else to do. We have been to the play therapist specifically for this problem- he improved some but not enough. We learned strategies for coping but still it isn't enough. We have our breathing exercises, I have key phrases I say to him and I'm trying to teach him self talk. (I am ok. God loves me. Mommy is at school with me. Everything is ok).

A couple people have mentioned sensory issues to me - that maybe some OT would help. But I don't know. I see more defiance & anxiety (he admitted to wanting to make me miserable this morning since I wouldn't let him have his way). But that could just be because I don't fully understand sensory stuff. He doesn't do well with changes. He feels that life is unfair a lot of the time. He'll think we love one of the other boys more if we compliment something they do. It's so hard. We are ready for some answers and some new ideas to try. If you have any, please let us know! If you read all of this, thank you for listening. :)

Steel Cut Oatmeal

2012-02-05T17:00:00.000-05:00

Okay so I've never been a big oatmeal fan. Breakfast has been a struggle for me a lot of the time. I don't really like cereal so I go through phases and eat weird things. But this past week I made Steel Cut Oats with Apples and already made it again! It reheats well for leftover breakfasts too. Steel cut oats were intriguing to me for some reason. I guess just because I had read about them on a few blogs and the bloggers talked about how the texture was different from regular oatmeal. I opted for this recipe from Annie's Eats because I had the ingredients on hand. I left the raisins out because I'm not a raisin fan. It takes a long time to cook but it is good! I like the texture of the steel cut oats. They are weird looking, I was really surprised to see them. They don't look like oatmeal - more like a seed or something!

Basketball Star!

2012-01-31T21:35:00.000-05:00

Luke dribbling down the court. He looks so tall!

He shoots!

Luke is playing Upward Basketball at a church this winter. Luke & Silas are on the same team which is fun. I have been very impressed with the organization of the league and the people running the program are so kind. Luke's coach is great with the kids. They have a little team devotional and earn stars to iron onto their team undershirt after each game. Different colored stars have different meanings. Luke loves seeing the stars ironed onto the sleeve of his shirt! He plays every Saturday. For the kindergarten team they practice 30 minutes and then have a 30 minute game. Before the game starts they call the team in and they run through the gym doors across to their bleacher. So cute. The kids think that is awesome. Luke is on the Pumas. They don't keep score, they are mostly trying to talk the kids through how basketball is played even during the game...you have to dribble AND run etc. We spend a lot of time laughing in the bleachers because it is just so funny to see them playing. Luke made 2 baskets this past Saturday at the game and earned the defensive star this week! Yay Luke! Oh, and he wants to be a professional basketball player when he grows up now. :)

Luke with part of his team & the coach. There are 8 kids on the team.

Go Pumas!

My Birthday

2012-01-31T21:17:00.000-05:00

Me and the Boys

33 candles put off some serious heat! Andy made sure to buy enough candles. The boys got a kick out of that.

The cake.

Andy outdid himself. He made this on his own! I had shown him a cake from a blog a LONG time ago that was similar. I love colorful things. I loved rainbows when I was young. Colors make me happy. Anyway, I knew the frosting was the whipped cream cheese icing but had no idea what was on the inside until he cut it open. I was very impressed! The boys thought it was very neat too! Wilson says this is the cake he wants next year. Andy made me feel very special & loved. Thanks baby!

This was a great birthday! I felt very loved by family and friends. Thank you for making my birthday special!

Recipe Binder

2012-01-30T21:11:00.001-05:00

So I've had a recipe binder for a while. It has looked like this for a long time. Yep, I once turned on the wrong burner on my new to me then stove and melted plastic onto my ceramic stovetop. Andy thankfully was able to clean it off. Notice all the white papers sticking out the side? TONS of printed recipes that were just loose hanging out. When I looked for a recipe I had to flip through all of those plus the ones in plastic sheet dividers to find what I was looking for.

The dividers weren't wide enough to show past the page protectors. They were invisible. Couldn't ever find the section I needed. Plus I had never labeled them.

The new goods. I love my new binder I found out Target. IT is a 2inch binder with a brown background and cream flowers. The centers of the flowers are different colors of the rainbow. I bought coordinating folders to use as dividers. The green cardstock is for gluing smaller recipes cut out of magazines so all recipes are 8 1/2 by 11. (Both of those ideas were found on one of my new favorite blogs, here.) I put two on a green sheet when possible to make the most use of each page. Also used the front & back to glue recipes on since the page protectors are clear and show both sides! I spent $18 plus tax. We already had some plastic page protectors.

I opted to hole punch the folders without cutting them in half. Andy did that part. Then I glued them closed so they wouldn't be flapping open as I was flipping through to find recipes.

The three colors of file folders...blue, brown, & green with the coordinating flowers. *love*

I used my handy label maker to make label the dividers. I had clear label tape at first and then had to go buy more and Wal-mart was sold out of clear...had to switch to white. That bugs me a little bit. BUT oh well! These are recipes I have found on the food blogs I read or from Pinterest etc that I print out. I still have some cookbooks and I still have some recipe cards. The cards are organized in a spiral photo album and just tucked into the photo sleeves. I decided to not add them to this binder.

The categories in my binder:

DIY- (homemade taco seasoning, dressings, croutons, etc)

Drinks

Appetizers

Breakfast

Bread

Salad

Sides

Main Dish

Dessert

Top View

Is it bad that the last section (desserts) is the biggest?! The one right before that is main dish, so at least it is somewhat balanced!

Check out my updated 20 in 2012 post!

Pinterest Food on the Menu

2012-01-26T22:20:00.000-05:00

This week's menu featured a few more Pinterest inspired recipes. I promise I pin lots of things that are not recipes! It's just I have to cook dinner so I might as well make it fun and interesting!

Crockpot BBQ Chicken - This was good. Will make again. It was good as leftovers too! We had this with "the Best Broccoli of your life" and my favorite garlic rice pilaf (from good ol' Annie's Eats). OK so the broccoli was okay, I ate it and enjoyed it but no one else did. And I would be just find not eating it that way again. We decided plain steamed broccoli is enough for us! This one involves roasting, lemon zest, parmesan cheese etc. Good but probably won't make it again. Aleady deleted the pin. Everybody loves the rice recipe. So good. You should definitely try that one!

Easy Breakfast Potatoes - These were pretty good. I might make them again but they weren't spectacular. But easy! We had these with turkey sausage egg mcmuffins. I learned from Pinterest to cook eggs in a muffin tin and bake them. We like to scramble the eggs before baking so the yolk is mixed in. Then we put them on whole wheat english muffins with turkey sausage and a slice of cheese. Yum! This is my second time to make the mcmuffins.

Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting- you all, I came home from work on Monday and the house smelled like cake. Andy had made me a birthday cake! It was a surprise though and I wasn't allowed to know what kind. It about killed me. Surprises aren't really my thing I guess. Come to find out he had seen me on Pinterest and saw me pin this icing and I had said something along the lines of cream cheese frosting being the only kind I actually like. While I was at work on Monday he got on Pinterest, found my recipe board, got this recipe, and frosted the cake he made me with it. How sweet was that? Just wait till you see pics of what the cake looked like. I almost cried because he made me feel so special. I'll post pics and tell you about my birthday this weekend.

I have a fish recipe on the menu but haven't made it yet. I'll post it next week if it is good!

Cake Pictures

2012-01-26T21:54:00.000-05:00

Wilson's police badge cake (Lego City Police Dept. & he turned 8). He refused to let Andy put his name on it. I baked the cake. Andy did everything else on this one!

Luke wanted cake pops. I wanted a way for him to still get to blow out candles and this was my last minute idea. Luke loved the little green monsters!

And that's a wrap on the 6 & 8 year old birthday party!

Party Pics!

2012-01-22T13:17:00.000-05:00

UPdated Blog Layout

2012-01-22T12:55:00.000-05:00

I updated my blog sidebar. Yay! New pics of the boys, a cloud of list topics, updated list of blogs I read (plus I fixed the links of a couple that changed). I added two of my new favorite blogs I found recently. The first one I found via Pinterest because of some really cool hair pics. That blog is The Small Things Blog. The other blog is called I Heart Organizing. Hoping to get some good ideas from that one. Check them out! Yesterday Andy got about 2 years of pics off his fancy camera and put the on the computer so I'll have lots of pictures to post in the near future. Don't worry. I won't post 2 years worth ;) .

Pinterest Project #1

2012-01-17T21:22:00.000-05:00

So yesterday I made a Menu Board! This was inspired from Pinterest. I bought a 12x12 frame at Hobby Lobby for $5. It was 1/2 price. I bought a sheet of scrapbook paper for $ .30. I bought 2 packs of scrapbook stickers for a total of $3.00. All together- $8.30! Not bad! The stickers are directly on the paper, so they are under the glass. I just used a dry erase marker to write the menu down. Up until now I used a document I created in word and printed it for menu planning but now I just erase! Saving paper and ink :) . This helps with my 20 in 2012 post too. In case you are interested in any of the above recipes (other than the sloppy joes and pizza- haha) here are some links.
Pasta alla Vodka- was good last night but when re-heated for lunch today it wasn't very good. Boys thought it was spicy.
Bread with Carrabba's olive oil/spices- YUM - for special italian dinner occasions. (found through Pinterest)
Chicken Fingers
Roasted Green Beans- These were pretty good. would make again or just mix fresh green beans in with roasted veggies. (found through Pinterest)

Stovetop mac & cheese - finally, an EASY homemade mac & cheese that my family likes! (found through Pinterest)

Veggies= weekly veggie tray

20 in 2012

2012-01-16T15:29:00.007-05:00

So here is a list inspired by a blog I've found recently via Pinterest. Here are some goals for this year!

1. Get back into running -soon and keep running. I seem to start up and then quit again...I need a long term goal. I finished by C210K and then I quit running shortly after that. So I need a mileage goal for the year. I know some runners will completely laugh at this goal but I'm trying to be realistic. So 300 miles this year. As of now: 0 miles complete.
2. Read my Jesus Calling daily devotional. I've been reading it already and it is so good.
3. I would love to buy a treadmill to help me with goal #1...
4. make bagels
5. work on decluttering the house
6. ~~clean fridge~~
7. try to post on the blog once a week doing well so far!
8. begin a prayer journal inspired by the last book my small group read.
9. ~~organize my recipes~~
10. get pictures of the boys made - it's been a while
11. buy something from Etsy
12. plan fun *free* activities to do with the boys. I am with them a lot but I want to intentionally plan some fun things to do such as: bike ride, park, arboretum, make a marble racer like this, paint the snow, hiking, etc.
13. take the boys camping. Now that Ty is 3 I'm ready to try again.
14. try to sell the desk and camper and get them out of the garage.
15. MONTHLY date nights - sometimes with a baby-sitter here and sometimes after the kids are in bed with take-out/movie.
16. get my Uggs cleaned. I've had them for about 4 years and they are a mess!
17. Make at least 3 2 Pinterest projects that are not recipes. I have already made several new recipes from pins! Project #1
18. Intentionally plan dinner/movie/shopping with my sister. We don't get to spend enough time together. We had our birthday lunch together this weekend!
19. Finish Friends. Andy and I have been watching for the last year and we are on Season 8. So good. I could watch it everyday. After we finish I want to borrow the next season of The Closer from my parents.
20. Read Bringing Up Boys & The Strong Willed Child

I finished the list one time. But there was an error with Blogger...so I redid the last 8 and could only think of 6 of them! So I really wrote 22 goals but two of them are lost. :)

Happy Birthday, Luke!

2012-01-14T10:16:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was Luke's 6th birthday! He woke up to a 1 hour delay at school. (unfortunately none of them slept extra...they were up earlier than normal beginning at 4:45. They were officially up at 6. WHY?) He had donuts for breakfast and opened a Lego, dot to dot book (he loves those), the movie Despicable Me, and a green sweater before school. I was thankful for the delay because I still needed to ice his cupcakes to take to school. He wanted the same as Wilson, white cupcakes with chocolate icing and sprinkles. I just used the same recipes from Wilson's birthday post. He had a great day at school and chose O'Charleys for dinner. He wanted their rolls & chicken fingers! Today is the boys' party at an indoor gymnastics place. It has a foam pit & lots of trampolines. They are so excited!

I baked two more cakes last night. One chocolate to make cake pops & one vanilla for Wilson's police badge cake. The cake pops are DONE and now we just need to decorate the badge. I saw these candy eyeballs at Walmart and Luke and I thought they would be cute on the cake pops. This is what I ended up doing with them. Treat bags for the party are ready!

Luke lost his first tooth Thursday night! He was so excited. The tooth fairy came for a visit.

Luke has been busy- this morning was his first basketball game! He is playing Upward and I am so pleased with everything about it- nice coach, well organized, nice uniform, etc. Go Pumas!!

Happy Birthday, Wilson!

2012-01-08T15:02:00.001-05:00

Yesterday Wilson turned 8 years old. EIGHT. I can't believe it! Time truly flies as a grown up. He is getting so tall & strong. I think he is rather handsome as well ;) . He had waffles, turkey bacon, & turkey sausage for breakfast. He opened his birthday gifts from us, a Canine Police Lego & The Lego Book. If you know a Lego lover I highly recommend the book. It is really neat. In the afternoon we had family over to honor Wilson, Caroline, & Luke with cake and icecream. Their 3 birthdays fall within one week. Wilson wanted pizza for dinner so we headed to Puccini's and then did some shopping afterwards. Mimi & Poppy surprised Wilson & Luke with a Wii for their birthdays! So we took them out and bought it last night. They were so excited. This morning they woke up early to play the Wii. It was almost like Christmas all over! Next weekend Wilson & Luke are having a party with some of their friends.

Back in the Kitchen

2012-01-06T17:47:00.000-05:00

So I have been really struggling with menu planning lately. I finally told myself enough was enough and I had to make a full week's menu. Hopefully it will continue. It takes a long time to plan the whole week and make the grocery list. Pinterest (my new favorite thing) has given me a few new recipes to try. Pinterest = love. I have so many ideas for things! It is a great resource. I still have my favorite food blogs of course. Here are three new ones this week that are worth mentioning!

Creamy Chicken Taquitos from Annie's Eats. I really liked these. Wilson & Luke did not...but I really feel like they should have! It has ingredients in it that they like. Oh well. I'll make these again. I did double the recipe and ended up with about 20 taquitos I think. I wanted leftovers! I also made my favorite salsa from Pioneer Woman to dip these in. Yum!

Last night I made Wilson's birthday cupcakes for him to take to school. He wanted white cupcakes with chocolate icing. I chose the vanilla cake recipe found here and hershey's perfectly chocolate icing here. I took 1 bite of a cupcake and it was good. Andy tasted the cupcake with icing and said it was really good. Wilson told me this afternoon that his friends loved the cupcakes.

I'll be making cupcakes again next week for Luke to take to school. He hasn't decided what kind he wants yet. The cakes for their friend party next week are: Wilson- police badge cake...Andy is in charge of this one! Luke wants cake pops just like last year.

The roast I was supposed to put in the crockpot tonight is still in the freezer...so the kitchen is closed tonight! oops!

Happy New Year!!

2012-01-02T20:24:00.000-05:00

Hi. Let me introduce myself...ha! So I've been debating whether or not to stop the blog. I just haven't made the time to blog for the last several months. I felt behind and had so many posts I wanted to do and then I was so far behind I just gave up. So. I made my decision to not give up the blog yet. It is a new year so I can just start from right now without too much backtracking. 2011 was a hard year for me for several reasons, but things have been looking better these last couple months and I am slowly coming out of my funk.

We had a wonderful Christmas break. We went to Great Wolf Lodge with my parents and my sister's 3 oldest kids. We had a great time. That place is so fun. The boys and I made sugar cookies with royal icing, we cleaned and organized, made caramel corn, went to a couple Christmas parties, spent lots of time with family, and had a wonderful Christmas. After church on Christmas Eve we went caroling at a nursing home in town with a group from our church. A great tradition for our family to give something back to the community. Christmas day was spent at my grandparents in the morning and my parents in the evening. Unfortunately Andy's family was in Florida. We sure miss seeing them at Christmas!

The week after Christmas Andy and I took a 2 night getaway to Cincinnati to celebrate our 11th anniversary! That just makes us sound crazy OLD. It sure doesn't feel like it has been 11 years. We had a wonderful time. We had dinner at Rock Bottom Brewery, Maggiano's, shopped at Kenwood Towne Center, went to IKEA, slept in (LOVE blackout drapes!!), had coffee at starbucks, breakfast at Bruegger's Bagel Co., relaxed and watched HGTV, and walked around downtown. It was so nice to have so much time to ourselves! We did birthday shopping for the boys and lots of looking around. It was wonderful! This trip was our Christmas gift to each other. We celebrated New Year's Eve as a family by having chocolate fondue. That is our tradition. Ty loooved the fondue. He was all over the pound cake dipped in chocolate. He had a chocolate mouth when we were done!

Now we are coming up on Birthday Month in our house. 3 out of the 5 of us have birthdays this month. Wilson's is this Saturday and Luke's is right around the corner so we have finally ironed out party details. We shall see how well I can keep up with this blog!

Hello again!

2011-11-07T16:56:00.000-05:00

Wow. It's been a LONG time. Just can't keep up with everything! Here's what we've been up to:

* Tyler is potty training! He has #1 mastered (not at night) but he refuses to poop. He holds it and won't go to the bathroom. I got him to go on the potty one time. Andy & I are pretty frustrated with this. He won't even try!
* We went to Florida over fall break to visit Mimi & Poppy. We had a great visit. We drove which was a long trip but it was worth it. We spent an afternoon at a lovely beach, we were at Legoland on the opening day!, and spent time with family. We got to visit Nanny B in her new assisted living apartment & see Katie & David's townhouse. I'll do a Legoland post sometime.
* I had a girl's weekend in Gatlinburg with several school friends. We shopped, talked, ate, and laughed a lot. It was a great time!
* Andy has his birthday this past Saturday. We celebrated with pumpkin dessert, dinner at O'Charleys, and I got him a new cell phone for his b-day. I think he had a good day.
* Here are 2 recipes I think you should try! Both of these are from my sister. Delicious crockpot recipes! Chicken Tortilla Soup & BBQ. The barbeque is so good. It uses a can of root beer, a pork tenderloin, & bbq sauce. We recommend Sweet Baby Ray's! I'm not a huge fan of BBQ but I loved this.

My New Job

2011-09-13T07:00:00.000-04:00

Since I'm updating the blog I thought I'd update you on my new job! So far so good. My stress level has been waaay down for the most part. It became stressful last week but I'm feeling better now! We tested the whole school to see who qualified for intervention services in reading and/or math. Those were a long 5 days but overall it was interesting and not too bad. Then we analyzed the data and started making groups. Last week I began pulling my groups. I teach eleven 30minute groups each day. I have groups from K-5th grade which is very new for me and I really love the variety! I teach 7 reading groups and 4 math groups. I literally go from back to back Kindergarten groups to back to back 5th grade groups - but it is great! I met over 65 kids last week. Some groups I see twice a week and some groups I see every day depending on their academic needs. Last week I was struggling with knowing exactly what to do; but after some intense planning on Friday I feel much better now. Today was a great day! I am all over the building picking up kids and dropping them off. I kind of start throwing materials at some points of the day to keep switching groups so fast with no down time in between. But I love it!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Brownies

2011-09-12T20:56:00.000-04:00

Oh. My. Goodness. I've been wanting to make this recipe since July I think. I saw these on a couple food blogs I read and well...I love chocolate and I love cookie dough so I knew I had to make these. Last Tuesday was deemed an official Baking Therapy Evening. It just works for me. Some days I just have to bake something. It helps me feel better - the process and then of course the tasting of what I made. These weren't just a big hit with me- they were also a big hit with my small group (we celebrated Heather's birthday with them), my boys including Andy at home, and my Mom. So really. Make these as soon as you can! It makes a 9 x 13 so plan to share! Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Brownies from Brown Eyed Baker.

Happy 3rd Birthday, Ty!

2011-09-12T20:49:00.000-04:00

Today is Tyler's birthday! We have celebrated tonight just us at home. He wanted spaghetti for dinner with cheesy bread. Since Andy and I worked hard on the cake pictured below this past weekend we bought 5 cupcakes at a local bakery. Tyler was thrilled with his cupcake with sprinkles. We sang and he blew the candles out early! He couldn't wait to bite into the cupcake! He also got to open a new Lego Duplo from mommy and daddy plus a train car from each of his brothers. He was so happy! We love you SO much TW! Andy took pictures of the fun tonight so I'll try to get a few of those on the blog soon. Here are some pictures from his family party on Saturday.

The CARS wilton cake that Andy and I made on Friday night. I baked the cake on Thursday. Then I made homemade buttercream frosting on Friday and did the tinting. Andy did 90% of the decorating. I helped with some of the red stars. Team effort and SO worth it! Tyler was so excited and kept talking about his cars cake.

Six of his cousins at the park. Madelyn isn't in the picture but she was there! We had his party at our favorite local park. The weather was perfect. We decorated in the color red & cars- Ty's favorite color and party theme. The menu was planned for Ty's favorite foods: ham and cheese sliders, cheetos, applesauce cups, and sugar snap peas (on the veggie tray). He was one happy boy. He was so intent on eating that he was the last one over to the blanket for opening presents!

Blowing out his 3 candles! Guess we should have scooted the cake a little closer to the birthday boy!

Wilson reading Tyler his train card. Loved seeing that. See giant Lego head? It is a Lego storage container to hold loose legos! He kept saying "I got big wego!" He was so excited opening all of his gitfts and has had a blast playing with his new things. Thank you everyone for coming!

Back to School!

2011-08-21T15:33:00.002-04:00

The boys both had a great start to school. Wilson has walked right into class every day with no problem. So thankful! We have come such a long way! He is really happy in his new classroom and has many of his friends from 1st grade in his class. Luke loves school already. Andy dropped the boys off for the first day of school and he said Luke walked right in, no problems. By day 2 Luke wanted to walk from the cafeteria to his classroom by himself. He said he didn't need Wilson to walk him to class! I was shocked but oh so thankful! Luke was so happy on the first day because he got to go to the treasure box and had 2 recesses! I think he is going to love going to big school with Mommy and Wilson. He has been EXHAUSTED but happy. He has been rather grumpy but we are trying to be patient with him as he adjusts to a school schedule. The pictures are from the first day of school!

Chicken Gyros & Garlic Lemon Chicken

2011-08-20T14:15:00.000-04:00

A couple weeks ago we made Chicken Gyros and Garlic Lemon Chicken Kabobs on two different nights. We used tzatziki sauce to go with the chicken both nights. We enjoyed both dishes!

The Gyros were a favorite of Andy's. He loves gryos so I was hoping he would enjoy a homemade version with chicken. The gyro has a pita with marinated chicken (that we broiled), halved cherry tomatoes, purple onion, & tzatziki sauce. The sauce is good though I did add a packet of splenda to the recipe. Plain greek yogurt just needs that added in my opinion! I did not strain my yogurt as the recipe suggests. I just bought greek yogurt. Annie made her own pita bread so you will find that link in the recipe as well. I just used store bought whole wheat.

The kabobs were good and anytime I get to use my microplane to zest a lemon I'm happy! Ha-ha the little things that make me happy..:). The boys enjoyed this chicken though Luke thinks any grilled chicken needs to be dipped in barbeque sauce. Ty refers to it as Q sauce - he loves Q sauce! Wilson, Andy & I dipped it in tzatziki sauce.

Both recipes are from Annie's Eats.

Random Updates

2011-08-20T14:00:00.000-04:00

* I'm proud to say I've lost 8 pounds! I am running and still doing the diet thing. I'm cheating a little more so it is a slower process but I am ok wtih that. So just a couple more pounds and I will move to phase 3.

* Wilson lost another tooth. The two bottom teeth in the middle are gone. This is keeping him from biting his nails- I'm thrilled! It's funny to hear him talk right now with the extra space.

* Luke is tired and grumpy a lot right now. Starting kindergarten is hard!

* Ty misses his brothers and me some days more than others. He gets mad at Andy when he tells Ty that we are at school. He says "NO. They downstairs!". Poor thing. It's hard being the youngest!

* Wilson & Luke went to watch Star Wars for the first time with Uncle Mac & Trey last night. They said they liked the movie.

* Luke is starting fall t-ball tomorrow with 3 of his cousins. He is excited!

* I have first day school pictures Andy took on his camera that I need to post.

Tomato Mozzarella Salad

2011-08-13T09:08:00.000-04:00

This recipe is from my friend, Jenn. She brought this to one of our summer lunch bunch days and it was delicious! I made it this week. Unfortunately I didn't have fresh basil (I subbed 3 t of dried) or fresh mozzarella cheese (just used good old Kraft that I already had) and it was still very good. It is a very simple recipe!

Dressing:

1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 teaspoon salt
Black pepper
1 garlic clove, minced

Salad3 tablespoons fresh basil, chopped
1/4 cup onion - chopped
1 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese- cubed
1 pint cherry tomatoes - halved

Mix dressing and toss with salad. Enjoy!

End of Summer

2011-08-09T22:43:00.000-04:00

So I'm officially back to work. The boys were able to go swimming with Andy today. Andy is thinking of taking them to Krispy*Kreme for breakfast tomorrow as a last hurrah. He is such a good daddy. (Not because he buys them donuts but because he is so good at taking care of them and doing things with them. It's hard with all three!)

We let them play outside tonight until about 9pm for the last night. But before that we did the neatest thing at church. From 7-8 we had a Backpack Blessings night. The school age kids came to church with their backpacks. We sang some songs, prayed over the kids, schools, teachers, etc. Then played a game outside and the kids had icecream sundaes. It was such a positive way to start the new school year. Ty brought his backpack too (filled with wipes & diapers) and had a great time as well. Boy is he going to miss his brothers come Thursday!

The boys are excited about school but a little nervous. Andy will bring them for the first day so they can be dropped off. Pics to come later this week!

Hats off to another great year!

Lost Tooth!!

2011-08-09T22:36:00.000-04:00

My big SECOND grader lost his first tooth tonight! He was so thrilled. Giddy even. He told Andy "Now I'll fit in with everyone else." Poor thing :( but I'm soo happy that it finally happened! The hole looks tiny but look at the next picture - the tooth is tiny!

I am not a fan of the wiggling teeth. Ewww. It just creeps me out. Tonight he showed me his loose tooth and it basically could lay flat almost. I said that thing has GOT to come out! So he and Andy were outside throwing the baseball and I looked at him and said just tug it. He did and it popped right out!

He somehow has this whole tooth fairy thing figured out and told me not to forget. Then he showed me where the tooth was and how to trade it for the big bucks!! Now the tooth right next door is loose too!

Ty's Visit to CCH

2011-08-03T22:36:00.000-04:00

On Tuesday we took the family to CCH for an appointment for Tyler. This one was with the Hemangioma unit. We had not been there for a year. Ty's PWS is very faint and hasn't really changed in the last couple of years. It was darker and more noticeable when he was a newborn. The best news is the doctor's feel it is of so LITTLE concern that they don't need to see us for two years! Praise God! They chatted with me about his developments, observed him in the room, asked questions etc. They asked me how we feel about his PWS and I said we have NO concern right now! We are just so thankful that what we thought it could have turned out to be (Sturge Webber Syndrome) hasn't been a concern at all. It is so faint I would say 95% of people never notice it. So it doesn't even really cross our minds anymore. An appointment for CCH comes up and we're like "oh, yeah- that".

We are on yearly visits to neurology. We are still on 6month visits to ophthalmology. That is the biggest threat due to the placement of the blood vessels near the eye and the possibility of developing glaucoma. But God is good and our little Tyler is doing just fine!

Two Tyler funnies:
The boys have a kids coconut scented shampoo. Ty does not like the coconut shampoo. In the bath he says "I no want polka-dot shampoo." It is ADORABLE!!!

Ty sometimes pretends to be a cowboy. This week he has run through the house saying "Giddy howboy". Again sooo funny! Instead of Giddy-up Cowboy it's just Giddy Howboy! I love hearing him talk. :)

Grilled Chicken Bruschetta

2011-08-03T22:28:00.000-04:00

I made this chicken for myself Sunday night. I prepped the bruschetta and then grilled a piece of chicken. The bruschetta is delicious and could be eaten by the spoonful or over baguettes. Yum. It was pretty good over the chicken but the chicken was so bland. It needs to be jazzed up even with the bruschetta on top. If you marinated your chicken in something before grilling it would help. So the best part of this recipe was the bruschetta! Try it!
Follow this link to Pennies on a Platter for recipe and picture!

Cajun Grilled Shrimp

2011-08-03T22:22:00.000-04:00

Tonight I made my first recipe with shrimp. Andy did the grilling. It was simple and delicious! Andy, Wilson, & I all enjoyed the shrimp. I bought frozen, peeled, & deveined shrimp. They were uncooked. After thawing the shrimp you pat them dry, skewer them, and brush olive oil on. Then you salt & pepper. I did both sides because I wasn't sure. Next you sprinkle the cajun seasoning on both sides of the shrimp and grill for about 6 minutes. Follow this link to Annie's Eats to find the recipe and picture!

Updates

2011-07-31T10:17:00.000-04:00

It is hard to believe summer is coming to an end. This week at school we have our Parent Orientation and next week it is back to work with school starting on Thursday. I've been easing myself back into school with little bits here and there. The boys have all of their school supplies and the first day of school outfit ready to go. They are excited! Especially Luke with starting Kindergarten!

I am still on Phase 2 of the Du*kan Diet. Alternating between a protein day then a protein + veggie day. It is tough. The protein + veggie days are relatively easy. It's the other days that are hard. I've had a few weak moments over the last couple weeks but I feel like a treat (frozen chocolate YOGURT :) from Bruster's) is okay. We may or may not have been there twice. Ahem. Anyway! I made a healthier choice, right?! I'm still running and HAVE to find a way to keep going once school starts with the 50 hour work weeks. So all in all I have lost 5.4 pounds. Not too shabby!

We finally got the playroom cleaned up and organized. It looks great! We made Luke a new art shelf with all of his creative supplies. We are donating two boxes of stuff to Good*will. (FYI: I will NOT be going back to the shed that almost broke my hand...ouch!). The boys can actually enjoy their toys now. I am so bad about putting stuff away. I'm kind of messy at home. So I am really trying to put stuff away after I use it and still encouraging the boys to do the same. I feel so much better when the house is picked up/organized so I need to be proactive!

Before school starts we have a day trip to Cincy for CCH appointment, a day at the lake with Andy & CCY. Hopefully a few more trips to the pool.

Dieting...is for the birds.

2011-07-22T10:11:00.000-04:00

So. I started a diet on Tuesday. The Dukan Diet. The one Ka*te Midd*leton was on prior to the royal wedding. My friend told me about it and it sounded doable. I bought the book and read up on it. I have NEVER dieted before. I've always been an "everything in moderation" type of girl. But I've been unhappy with myself for a long time. So I decided I needed to do something about it rather than just complain and feel bad about myself. The best part is that Andy thinks I am beautiful and perfect just the way I am. He puts no pressure on me in this area. He has been supportive because he wants me to feel good about myself. I'm thankful for his love and support with this crazy diet thing!!

I've been running. Not a crazy amount but trying for 2-3 times a week when possible. Haven't lost any weight but have noticed my legs are getting toned. Andy said that is to be expected as you are building muscle mass and probably eating more due to the running. So. Diet phase 1 began on Tuesday.

It was the hardest three days ever. But I have lost 3.4 pounds for phase 1. My goal overall is to lose 10 pounds. Phase 1 was protein & non-fat dairy plus 1 1/2 T oat bran per day. Since my weight loss was 10 pounds I only needed to do Phase 1 (ATTACK) for 3 days. So I ate greek yogurt with oat bran, cheese sticks, cottage cheese, tilapia, shrimp, turkey with fat free cheddar, eggs, grilled chicken etc. Those were foods on the approved list.

Now I begin phase 2. I actually cheated on day 3 of ATTACK and had vegetables with my fish. I couldn't stand not eating vegetables any longer. So for phase 2 you do 1 day of all protein (foods listed above) followed by 1 day of protein + vegetables. There are some starchy vegetables I can't eat but that is okay. No fruit still. That hurts. I love fruit! I haven't had anything chocolately since Monday. It's weird. Plus you do 2 T oat bran per day. No carbs.

I have a newfound respect for people who diet and count calories/points. It is so hard. I never realized just how hard it was! Everyday I have thought I should just quit the diet and not do this anymore. But then I remember how unhappy I have been with my belly and go get something protein/nonfat dairy related from the fridge. I didn't realize how many carbs I ate. EVERYTHING has carbs it seems! So here's to phase 2 and seeing if I can lose about 6.6 more pounds...

Tilapia

2011-07-22T09:52:00.000-04:00

Last night I made a very delicious fish recipe! I haven't had a lot of luck with fish recipes before but this one I will make again. I found it on allrecipes.com. Andy & I both really enjoyed the fish.

Marinade:
2 shallots, minced --I just used 2t minced dried onion
2 T chopped garlic
2 T fresh oregano --I just used 2t dried oregano
2 T while sugar -- I used splenda instead
2 T olive oil
2 T red wine vinegar
2 T lime juice
2 T tequila - optional --I omitted
1 t salt
1 t pepper
4 tilapia fillets

Directions:
1. Comine all the ingredients except tilapia in a gallon sized ziploc bag. Shake to combine. Add the tilapia and store in the refrigerator for 2-4 hours, turning every 30 minutes.--I marinated ours for about an hour.
2. Preheat oven to 450. Line a baking sheet with foil and spray with cooking spray.
3. Arrange fish on foil and discard remaining marinade.
4. Bake for about 10 minutes, until fish flakes easily with a fork.

We Survived!

2011-07-16T09:32:00.000-04:00

This week has been good but hard. Andy was out of town for his second week this summer. He was in Florida on a Mission Trip with his youth group. Eight days of single parenting was a challenge to say the least. 3:1 is very overwhelming, at least at the ages of 7 1/2, 5 1/2, and almost 3. The boys have kept me non-stop busy from 8am (or earlier) until about 9pm. I love my boys. Very much. But they have been difficult. When daddy is away Wilson especially tries to get away with more misbehaviors. All in all it has been a good week and I tried to plan something fun for each day.

Fun things we did this week:
Bou*nce U
Pool
Library
Big boys went to a movie with my dad while Ty & I went to lunch at Sarabeth's
Dinner @ Cara's
Dinner @ Maw & Paw's - he made the BEST strawberry-rhubarb pie. YUM.
Met my dad for dinner
Mc*Donald's playdate with friends for icecream and playland
Bike riding
playing t-ball outside

I'm so thankful for my family for taking care of us so many nights with dinner. Daniel & Charissa came over to baby-sit the boys one evening so I could go to dinner with a friend. They just wanted to give me a break and it was so nice. The boys had a blast with them. I know that was one of their highlights of the week! I'm thankful I got all the boys to the Y one time to run. Even though I wish it would have been 3 times.

At this point the house is a mess - AGAIN. I'm at the end of my rope. The boys miss their daddy a LOT. So glad he gets home today. 8 days was too many. I'm tired.

I provide great entertainment...at the DOCTOR!

2011-07-12T13:53:00.000-04:00

So. Last week I really hurt my hand. Here is the story. I went to take two garbage bags of stuff to Good*will. I drove to a donation shed. The shed had these two small swinging doors on the top half of a side of the shed that you pushed in. They automatically started swinging shut - they didn't stay open. So I pushed in a garbage bag and tried to super fast pull my hands out so they wouldn't get stuck. Believe me, I don't know what I was thinking. Next thing I knew the right side of my hand was killing me. It was scraped and smashed by the swinging door. I looked at it and it hurt so bad. I shoved the other bag in with a little more grace and didn't hurt myelf. My hand was hurting terribly and I looked at it again and it was bruising, bleeding and swelling. I was shocked! I just thought it was a bad scrape. The boys were in the van and as I got in Wilson could tell I had hurt myself and asked it I was ok. I wasn't. I was fighting back the tears and trying to figure out what to do. There was a Son*ic next door so I went over and went through the drive thru (they had a drive thru! I was so glad. I didn't know Son*ic had one). I had to tell them I just hurt my hand and needed some ice. They let me buy some for 27 cents and had it in a bag. I pulled over in the Kro*ger parking lot and iced my hand. Then I started crying cause it was hurting so bad. Thankfully I had a band-aid and neosporin in Ty's backpack so I took care of the cut and calmed down. Then we drove home.

So over the weekend my hand was very sore. A bruise developed over half of my hand. I took ibuprofen everyday and that helped. But it was still swollen and sore after 4-5 days. So yesterday Jenn and Abby separately saw me and looked at my hand. I had tweeted about it after it happened. They both said I should go to the dr. So I did.

I showed up and explained to the nurse how I hurt my hand. Also asked about my ankle that has been hurting after running. So then I had to explain how I almost fell walking down the stairs while carrying a load of laundry a couple months ago. (I basically missed the last step and landed with all of my weight on my left foot - it hurt but no big deal). Then the dr came in and I explained all my clumsy accidents to her. So they did x-rays on both. And I had to tell the radiologist about the two clumsy incidents. I was feeling more and more stupid each time I told the story. Even though everyone was super nice and kind. The dr came down to read the x-rays and I asked her about a tetanus shot because several people said with cutting my hand on the Good*Will shed I needed a tetanus shot. (Those are good for 10 years). They asked me when I had my last tetanus shot and I said oh 3-4 years ago. (Which I really didn't want to explain why). They asked me where and I said at a walk-in clinic. I'm a little clumsy. (That was when I was stabbed in the foot by an ink pen. I didn't want to tell another clumsy story). So thankfully they didn't ask any questions but in my head I was like oh, wow. I am a big, clumsy, loser!

So all the x-rays were fine. My hand is just bruised and swollen but is ok. I am supposed to alternate heat and ice on my hand. My ankle is fine and I can keep running. She just told me to put ice on it after I run if it is hurting. So all in all I'm glad I went. I don't have any injuries it was just a little embarrassing to keep telling my clumsy stories. They probably laughed after I left and I can see why!!

A funny story

2011-07-12T13:29:00.000-04:00

Today I needed to run some errands so I told the boys we'd stop at the library for new books while we were out. We had the books in the van on our way to Tar*get. Wilson was reading one of his new books about Castles. There was a section on how to make your own castle. This is our conversation during the van ride.

Wilson: Hey Mom it tells you how to make your own castle!! This is what you need: poster board, masking tape, (etc, etc).
Me: Oh sounds fun! (Faked enthusiasm while thinking to myself how I reeeally don't want to make a castle).

Then Wilson started reading some of the steps. It continued until we pulled into the parking lot. I was half listening with the occasional ummhmmm and oh. But then he really caught me by surprise.

Wilson: You also need paint, paint brush, and...cock
Me: What? I don't think I heard you correctly. Spell it for me.
Wilson: C-O-C-K
Me: Hmmm...I don't know what that is (while dying inside!). Let me see what it says.

Finally I get the book and it says cockTAIL sticks. Too funny. But keep reading. We start walking into Target and Luke who has been listening this whole time says:

Luke: Where will you build a castle?
Me: oh at the kitchen table
Luke: how will it fit?
Me: realizing that he thinks we have been talking about building a REAL castle. and I just laughed and said - we'll build a MODEL of a castle. Not a real castle. I'm laughing about it now typing this. I hope it was funny to you because in real life it was hilarious!!!

Happy 4th!

2011-07-10T17:31:00.000-04:00

We had a great day on Monday. We started by meeting some friends for a small town parade where Andy grew up. It was great! The parade was at 10am, was only 30 minutes long and the boys loved it. They got candy and saw lots of fire trucks and tractors. Win - win! Then we headed back to our downtown for more festivities. We looked at a few vendors, let the boys play a shooting game, & bought kettle corn for the evening fireworks. I bought two Christmas gifts that I am really excited about!

Then we let the boys play in the fountain. Of course they got soaked! We all took a nap in the afternoon and then Danny, Steph & Co. came over for a cookout. We kept it simple with burgers and hot dogs on the grill. The kids had a lot of fun playing outside. We all spent most of the day together which was fun! Then we went and saw fireworks that evening. The boys had 3 late nights due to fireworks last weekend. We had some grumps but overall it was fun anyway!

Wedding Pics!

2011-07-09T11:22:00.000-04:00

Here are some wedding pictures that Andy's Uncle Bill took.

The ring bearers and 3 of the 4 bell ringers. Finley is missing...

Lily & Rori - the flower girls

My two bell ringers! Aren't they handsome in their bowties?!

Bride & Groom after the wedding

Katie & her dad walking from the horse & carriage to the aisle. so sweet and beautiful scenery!

Post wedding - during pictures, a little distraction was necessary with Mommy's phone.

Katie & David

Nanny front & center with all of her grand children and great grandchildren. Andy has 2 older brothers each with 3 kids. So there are 9 cousins on this side of the family. Just wait until Katie & David have kids!

Peanut Butter Baking Kick

2011-07-06T10:29:00.000-04:00

Luke and I have been baking with peanut butter. First we made Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Muffins twice last week. Cara & Jason make these about once a week and love them. I have eaten one before but hadn't made them myself. They are super easy and have ingredients you probably have on hand. Go ahead and make a double batch so you don't have to make them twice in one week!

Then we made cookies. We were going to make Snickerdoodles but I didn't have any cream of tarter. So instead we made Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies that have been on my bookmarks to make for a while. These were chewy and have a lot of honey in them so you taste that flavor as well. Not overly peanut buttery- (I wouldn't like that). These were delicious!

Two more excellent recipes from Annie's Eats!

Our Furniture -- finally!

2011-07-06T10:21:00.000-04:00

My dresser - my favorite part is the middle door. Inside are three small drawers. All the drawers have whisper close which means they finish closing on their own!

One of our 2 nightstands. This is Andy's but mine looks the same! Notice our wedding album underneath the nightstand!

The king sized bed that we love! Our temper pedic mattress and pillows are fantastic. Lottie and Ty are on the right!

Andy's dresser

Here is a pic that Luke took of Ty! Isn't he a cutie! Can't believe he'll be 3 in September.

Katie's Wedding

2011-07-06T10:12:00.000-04:00

Unfortunately all the pics we have are on Andy's camera and I can't access them. So since so much time has passed already here is a link to pics from Katie and David's wedding! The kids all looked adorable and Katie was a beautiful bride!

Cake Pop - Wedding Favors

2011-06-24T18:31:00.000-04:00

Last Friday we arrived at Creekside Resort and Spa for Katie and David's wedding. We arrived around lunch time and my SIL's and I quickly started making cake pops for the wedding favors. We needed 100. Unfortunately, the night before my cooked cake somehow ended up in the parking lot of our hotel when Andy was unpacking the van so I had to start over and make another cake. Thankfully, there was a Wal*Mart nearby and I could buy everything I needed!

Table ready with lollipop sticks, styrofoam, and sprinkles.

Erin and Steph with the cake pops ready to be dipped!

Steph and I were trying to get all the mishaps straightened out. There was a plate of mistakes that many family members benefitted from!

Some of the finished product. Katie's wedding colors were this blue and yellow.

Cakepops bagged and ready to be tagged.

My MIL, helping us tie the tags on with a ribbon. They said Katie & David with the wedding date on them. These turned out soo cute!

Overall, cakepops were a success and only took about 3 hours I guess. Not too bad. The bride was happy and those people that ate them at the wedding thought they were delicious!

Frostop

2011-06-24T17:37:00.000-04:00

Last Thursday we left for WV to go to Katie's wedding (Andy's sister). We stopped in Huntington at Frostop. They have the best root beer. The only root beer I like. They make it there and it is just so good. Anyway here are a few pics. We then went to the park nearby and ate our picnic lunch and let the boys play before driving a few more hours.

Wilson really wants to like the root beer at Frostop but he just doesn't like any drink with carbonation. Tyler wouldn't even try it so Andy, Luke and I enjoyed the root beer this time around!

Fun Times

2011-06-13T16:41:00.000-04:00

The boys have built a couple forts this past weekend. Andy and I let them sleep in the fort Sunday night. Even Ty camped out! It took a few tries to get them to bed and then they conked out. Wilson and Luke created the fort all by themselves. Ty ended up sleeping in the middle, under the coffee table.

I found this shirt at Tar*get a while back. With the treehouse Andy built for the boys I had to buy it! Unfortunately it only came in Ty's size. I wish they all 3 had one! I finally got them outside to take pics on the same day Ty was wearing his tree house shirt. Score!

Boys will be boys!

Three of my loves!

Marine Corp Silent Drill Team

2011-06-13T10:10:00.003-04:00

We had a fantastic opportunity Saturday night - we were able to see the Silent Drill Team! I have seen them once before in Washington, D.C. It is so cool. Amazing- I was so happy to get to see them again and so close to home! The boys were enthralled. Andy's uncle used to be on the Silent Drill Team. So we met him there and enjoyed some great music and the drill team.

This was so cool to see them in 1 long straight row.

FYI: I'm getting old because when they walked by us I thought - they are SO young. Plus I found a few gray hairs the other day...

So, back to blogging.

2011-06-13T10:00:00.002-04:00

ONE post in MAY?! Wow. That is an all time low! Gosh, how have all of you faithful readers survived without my enthralling posts?! Ha ha. Here are some general updates:
- Andy's sister Katie gets married this weekend!
- I'm working on Couch to 10K. I'm in week 3. It's been slow going with the end of the school year. Now I have no excuse. Hoping to run the 10K on the 4th of July.
- Tried a few new recipes lately. Carrot cake as a thank you to Andy for helping me with my classroom. Everybody that ate it said it was delicious! I agree! I substituted 1/2 cup of oil with 1/2 a cup of applesauce. It was still yummy. Thankfully we had some family over last night to help us eat it!
- Last night we made grilled fish tacos. They were ok. The fish just didn't have enough of a flavor. It was kind of bland. The corn/tomato/cilantro/lime juice relish was delicious though. This recipe came from my Everyday Food Magazine. It was our first time to try fish tacos. I'm not smitten. But might try them again...
- Summer is now officially here! I finished up on Thursday of this past week. I've been exhausted this weekend. Hopefully now I'll get myself and the boys into a routine of some kind. We've enjoyed a couple days at the pool this past week. Looking forward to many more!
- I have a confession to make. I bought some beautiful vegetable plants in the beginning of May. I never planted them. They are dead. Oh well. I've felt bad about it for a few weeks but thankfully It was less than $7 worth. I did plant the shade plants I bought. I don't have a garden spot. Maybe Drew will build me a raised bed for a garden next year... :) Now I can go throw them away and stop feeling bad!
- Last Sunday we hosted the Youth at a nearby park for their first on location summer sunday night thing. It was so much fun! We played Ultimate Frisbee (which is like football minus the tackling & football plus a frisbee). The boys were playing with us too. We grilled out hot dogs and had a picnic. It was a great time. Looking forward to more family picnics there this summer.
- The boys are all doing well! They are thrilled to have mommy home and I am trying to adjust to the stay at home mom thing for summer. Tyler is so busy and has NO fear. That is a VERY BAD thing! Luke and Wilson are like little fish when I take them swimming. They love the water and swim all over!

Another year ends!

2011-06-12T17:38:00.000-04:00

My classroom is packed up and ready for moving! CME is undergoing renovation.They have already begun working on our school. The movers started last Thursday. Half of our school will be in portables for the next 18-24 months. Every box and item is labeled with a yellow label for moving. With my new job I had boxes going to 4 locations...I'm sure the movers loved moving this classroom!

This was my teacher corner for the past 5-6 years. I can't exactly remember how many years I was in Room 10.

SOO much stuff for 24 little 2nd graders! I couldn't believe how much stuff I had. I threw a lot of it away and gave a lot of it to my former student teacher.

The view from the very back corner of the room. I taught 2nd grade for 10 years! It was bittersweet to pack everything up and know that so much will be different next year. I'm not a very sentimental person and it all hit me suddenly the last couple days of school.

I'll still see much of this stuff in August! So glad I'm getting to try something new at CME, I couldn't imagine not being at such a wonderful school!

Memorial Day Picnic

2011-06-12T17:28:00.000-04:00

We went to a picnic at my grandparents house on Memorial Day. Often, when we get together my maw-maw, my aunt, or my mom makes Cucumber dip. It is delicious. Ty is eating it below. I think this was his first time to try it. I eventually had to put the lid on so he would go play with his cousins and stop eating!

But mom, this dip is soo good!

Wilson playing wiffle ball. He looks rather into it. :)

Luke getting sprayed by the sprinkler! Madelyn, Silas, and Wilson are in the background.

Luke is a Kindergartener!

2011-06-12T17:13:00.000-04:00

Luke graduated from preschool at the end of May. We loved LE Preschool. Luke attended for the past two years and had wonderful teachers. He is so ready to start Kindergarten at "mommy & Wilson's school"! I keep telling him it is his school now too!

Here he is walking in. Love that little grin.

A cookie and lemonade for celebrating!

With his buddy Ethan. They are good friends from school and church. They were in the same class at LE this year. Ethan will be moving to Africa in August. Luke is a little sad about that.

I have a new job!

2011-05-21T14:55:00.002-04:00

Last week I found out at work that I have a new job for next year! I am SO excited. I will be an intervention teacher for grades K-5, teaching reading and math groups all day. I'll have between 3-5 kids per group and each group will last 30 minutes. I told my principal in March that I was interested in the position. It was a long 2 months to find out the result - but it was worth it! It will be nice to be doing something different at my school. I was ready for a change. This will stretch me since I haven't taught intermediate kids before but I'm ready!

I have taught 2nd grade for 10 years with my friend, Jenn. We have been there for each other through everything it seems. I've had so many wonderful teammates over the years but Jenn and I have taught together since we graduated from college. It was hard to tell her I was going for a different position but she has been so supportive. Even when I told her I got the job she was so excited for me. It will be weird to not be teaching together!

I'm looking forward to next school year and everything that it will bring. I have a LOT of packing to do. Packing up 2nd grade stuff for the new 2nd grade teacher, packing up my personal teaching stuff that I won't use in intervention, and packing stuff up for my new intervention classroom. Lots of weeding out, organizing, and packing to do!! As I look around my classroom I got very overwhelmed so I started with my filing cabinets this past week. I cleaned out both over a few days! Recycled a LOT of paper. Amazing how much you accumulate in 10 years.

More Spring Break :)

2011-04-09T12:05:00.002-04:00

It's so hard to see the week coming to an end. It has been wonderful! We have stayed busy around here that is for sure. Thursday was appointment day. Luke had his eye exam for school and Andy and I had a dentist appointment. We went and got frozen yogurt that night with several of the youth kids from CCY. A new froyo just opened near us and I tried pineapple/coconut twist. Not something I would usually pick but it was DELICIOUS!! I want to go back! Friday we took a picnic to the park and hung out for a couple of hours. The day was beautiful. Andy and I read while the kids ran around - it's a small park so there were only a few other people there. Ty came back every few minutes to eat cheez*its. It was funny! Later we started working in the garage and took a load of stuff to Good*will. Today we worked more in the garage this morning. We're making progress! A load to the dump and another load to good*will today and we can see the floor. Lots of organizing still to be done. I've gotten to spend a lot of time in the kitchen this week. The new recipes I have tried: - scones (1/2 blueberry and 1/2 plain for the man and boys in my life) - creamy mac & cheese - it was yummy. of course the rest of my family didn't like it - it's just a classic homemade mac & cheese...I used whole grain pasta but that was the only change to the recipe. This took a long time to make and since my family prefers less creamy mac and cheese I'll be using the boxed kind again... -spring green risotto- my first risotto ever. I've wanted to make one for a long time. It was delicious. It has asparagus, leeks, peas, & chives. I knew no one else would eat it so of course there are a ton of leftovers. It was really good though. It is creamy due to a little cream cheese (or mascarpone) and parmesan cheese. Plus a lemon flavor - perfect for spring! It makes a lot and it a little pricey with all of the ingredients. I definitely want to try more risottos. - dijon vinaigrette - this is a link to a salad with mushrooms. I just made the dressing. It was good. I only used 1/4 cup red wine vinegar and it was plenty tart for me. - smoothies- yum! So many seeds though. That was my only regret. Next time no raspberries or blackberries for me. It really tasted great I just didn't like the seeds! I just bought a mixed bag of frozen berries- raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, and blueberries. Also used a banana and frozen fresh pineapple like the recipe suggests. The boys weren't interested in even trying these. Andy had a pineapple/banana, blueberry. It was ok. That's all. I read several cooking blogs even though these are all linked to the same one. Annie's Eats is definitely my favorite site for finding new recipes!

Spring Break!

2011-04-06T16:03:00.004-04:00

We are having a lovely spring break so far. It is so nice just being home with my family and taking it easy. * Wilson, Luke, and I went to the movies to see Gnomeo & Juliet in 3D- it was really cute. * The boys have played outside quite a bit with neighbors. * I took the boys shopping for some new spring/summer clothing. Wilson got a lamp for his nightstand- a fireman themed lamp wtih a hydrant, hose combo. Really cute. Luke got new tennis shoes for his basketball class to replace his green chucks. They weren't so good for basketball and he needed bigger shoes! * We all went swimming at the Y today which the boys LOVED! Andy had to coax Ty into the pool but by the end of our time there he was loving the water! * Last night we went to the 1/2 price bookstore to sell and buy a few books. Wilson read in the car on the way home. I told him he could read for 10 minutes before turning out his light. Andy found him reading 25 minutes later. Even after we turned out his light I caught him reading again. Stinker. I love that he was reading though. Early bedtime tonight! * We're waiting for our new froyo to open near our house. Then we have plans to stop there! * We plan to enjoy the second 1/2 of this fabulous week! I have about 5 new recipes I plan on trying this week. I'll share any good ones with you. I'm watching Friends Season 5 with Andy, reading Little Bee, and loving my boys. Vacation rocks. :)

Katie's Wedding Shower

2011-04-05T09:42:00.005-04:00

Last weekend Stephanie and I threw a bridal shower for our sister-in-law Katie. More pictures will come when I get them from Steph! Here are the few pics Andy took before he left the house. I made my first banner and I loved it! I have seen so many on the blogs I read and always thought they were cute. I will definitely make these again for future parties. It wasn't hard and it was a really cute decoration for very little cost. We bought the scrapbook paper at Hobby*Lobby. I used the letter punch at school on the paper for the hearts and letters. Then I had an oval cutter for scrapbooking at home. The gifts went on the table at the shower.

Fruit kebabs! Meghan and Lily (my nieces) worked hard to put the fruit on our little bamboo sticks. They did a fabulous job!

The last picture for now- our cupcakes! Stephanie made the cupcake stand. One of my favorite blogs, Annie's Eats has a tutorial on how to make your own cupcake stand. We bought the stuff at Hobby*Lobby and she put it together easily! We bought the cake circles, scrapbook paper (to cover the cans and box at the bottom), and the ribbon. Then Steph used a hot glue gun and there you have it!

The adorable cupcakes were made by our friend, Heather. I found a picture on the internet of some cupcakes I liked and showed it to Heather. She then created these adorable cupcakes. Katie's colors are teal and yellow. These are topped in fondant and then she made little flowers for each one. They tasted great and were adorable on the cupcake stand!

We also had chicken salad in mini phyllo cups. They were cute! I used purple grapes instead of green and did not use the radish garnish.

Katie's maid of honor, Shana brought a veggie tray, and we had salmon mousse that I piped on crackers. Mine did not look like this- I just realized I was trying to pipe it wrong! I did a swirl in the center of each cracker. This was an incredibly easy recipe- with a food processor. I've realized I'm not a big salmon fan. But I heard a lot of great feedback. I'd make them again- they were a nice addition to the food spread and something different and kind of "fancy"! I love the chive garnish on Annie's but the chives at my grocery were half brown so we skipped that step!

One of my favorite things of the shower was the mock champagne punch. It tasted great and we bought plastic flutes at the party store. We garnished each glass with a strawberry on the rim. I so wish I had a picture of the 20 flutes filled and garnished! They looked so cute on the table! Everyone enjoyed the fancy glasses.

I didn't get a picture of any of this - :( - maybe Steph did. But if you click the link on the mock champagne punch and the chicken salad you'll see what they looked like!

My Baseball Boy

2011-04-05T09:31:00.002-04:00

Action shot. Look at that stance!

Tyler loves baseball. He spent a lot of time at the baseball field last spring when Wilson and Luke were playing t-ball. We recently found a Thomas bat and ball (he LOVES Thomas) so now we've been playing baseball outside, in the basement, etc. He can hit the ball pretty well sometimes!

He'll be on the baseball field soon enough!

The Glass Castle

2011-03-23T07:00:00.000-04:00

Just finished this book yesterday. It was so good. Hard to read - it hurt my heart a lot at times. But it was really good. It is a memoir about a little girl and her family growing up in extreme poverty. It is based on a true story and is worth the read. Gives you good perspective.

MIA

2011-03-22T20:24:00.002-04:00

Here's what's been keeping me busy...it's been a WHILE! There is so much going on right now I've barely kept myself afloat!

* Last week we worked most evenings on our new furniture prep and set-up. We moved the bed frame out and put our old mattress/box spring on the floor the night before our mattress was delivered. Unfortunately the platform for the tempur pedic mattress was delivered broken so now we are still sleeping with our new mattress on the floor! At least it is comfortable. :) Our pretty new bed is covered in the living room with blankets. The next evening we moved our old chest and dresser out of the bedroom. We moved furniture around in the boys' rooms and got rid of the changing table and Luke's toddler dresser. So now the boys all have plenty of drawer space with their new furniture! Our new bedroom set was delivered on Thursday. We spent the next several days moving our clothes over and rearranging etc. It is now all set except for the bed frame.

* I had parent conferences last Friday - 12 showed up (out of 15) so I am a little more than halfway done. There was a lot of prep for those and for the remaining conferences I have scheduled in the next couple weeks before spring break.

* Report cards go home this week so I've been working on those and writing comments etc. One more round of RC this year!

* The consignment sale at Luke's school starts tomorrow. All of my items had to be entered, hung, tagged etc. Thankfully with a little help from Andy and my mom the stuff was ready tonight.

* This Saturday my SIL Stephanie and I are having a wedding shower for our SIL Katie. Andy's little sis is getting married this June! It is at our house so I need to clean, go to the grocery, prep food, decorate, etc. Thankfully Steph and I will work together on everything but the cleaning. We've already planned everything so once the cleaning is out of the way it will be time for the fun stuff! Pictures will come next week. We have a couple surprises planned for Katie. I've also chosen several new recipes to make for the shower. You might think that sounds crazy - new recipes for an event but that gives me a chance to try new things!

* Of course the rest of my life hasn't stopped for the above mentioned things so you can see why I've been MIA!

Many thanks to my mama who came over on Sunday to donate her time to help me. She cleaned our double stroller so we could take it to the consignment sale and helped me clean up and rearrange the boys room. She helped me bag and tag things for the sale. I so appreciated having you here mom to help me! Love you. :)

My Little Snow Skier

2011-03-06T21:43:00.004-05:00

Skiing is so cool!

He is adorable!

He looks so little on those skis!

On February 26, Wilson got to go snow skiing with his Daddy for the first time. They went to Perfect North Slopes in Indiana. Andy was taking the youth group skiing and decided Wilson was old enough to tag along and try skiing. Wilson was very excited and Andy said he did really well! Wilson is a very coordinated little guy so Andy thought he'd be fine. They started on the bunny slope. Tried the chair lift and skied a green trail several times. Wilson did really well with learning how to control his speed and steer. After lunch he did 3 blue trails (medium level). At the end of the day he did a green trail twice without falling - and asked if he could do a black diamond slope. Ummm noooo! He also wanted to try the terrain park - no again! They tubed in the afternoon and Wilson had a great day with Andy! Here is a short video of our skier! Andy started skiing when he was 9 and loved it. Looks like Wilson will follow in his footsteps!

In Honor of My Mom!

2011-03-06T21:28:00.003-05:00

Patti -on Left (Asst. Director), Mom -on Right

About 3 weeks ago my mom's middle school orchestra had the honor of playing at KMEA. Her orchestra had been chosen to play at the Music Educator's Conference - which is a really big deal! Basically, they were playing for a lot of music educators who... really know music! First, a little background: My mom has been teaching music for 24 years, 21 of them at this middle school. When she started at the school there were 13 orchestra students. Now there are over 100! I took a personal day off of work and my family drove up to the concert. It was so nice to be able to take the day off and go hear the concert and support my mom. I'm thankful I was able to do that. My grandparents, aunt, and a family friend were all there too. (Cara's family couldn't make it because of her new job but they were there in spirit!) The orchestra had worked very hard on their music. We arrived early and listened to them warm-up. Now, I hadn't heard my mom's orchestra in a few years and - whoa - I was blown away! During the warm-up! The music sounded fantastic. During the actual concert I was again amazed. I had goose bumps at different times because the music was SO good. That is a sign of a REALLY good concert!! Plus the music was great! The songs played included: Moonlight Express, El Diablo Azul (arranged by my dad!), The Evil Eye and the Hideous Heart, The Best of Queen, and Dance of the Tumblers from "Snow Maiden". Great music selections, excellent sound by the musicians, and classy conducting by my mom!

Mom conducting the first piece of the concert.

Furniture Update!

2011-03-05T16:00:00.002-05:00

We ordered our bedroom furniture almost 2 weeks ago. We found a simple dark cherry solid wood (no veneer over plywood) bedroom set that we both loved. If you follow the link that should take you to my dresser. Love the door front in the middle. You open it and there are 3 drawers inside! Our bed is the panel bed without drawers in the footboard. It has brushed nickel hardware and is very simple. I love it! We bought 2 nightstands, a king sized bed (YIPPEEE!!!), a dresser with mirror and a chest. It is absolutely beautiful. It isn't a red cherry - it is darker. It has whisper close drawers- so when you start to push a drawer closed, it finishes closing on its own. Wowzers! When we looked at Oak*Factory and Hav*erty's the furniture quality wasn't what Andy had in mind. He did some research and found that Kin*caid furniture is still made out of solid wood. We didn't think we'd be able to afford it but when we went it was half price! We looked, thought about it and made sure we could swing it before we went back a few days later to order it. Thank goodness for tax returns! We also ordered our mattress through a co-worker's son who helped us to get an AMAZING deal on a tempur pedic mattress and pillows. (Thanks Brenda and Kevin!!!) Our bed is going to be heavenly...we can't wait! Now we need a new comforter, sheets, and 2 bed side lamps. I can't wait to have a real night stand with drawers for things and a lamp right next to me for reading! We will probably paint our bedroom this spring/summer to match whatever comforter we find and like.

Injuries

2011-02-23T21:20:00.006-05:00

So. I'm not always the most coordinated person. I have accidents. If you've been reading the blog for a while you'll remember this post perhaps. Or this one. This one too. And I'll stop there so you don't think something is wrong with me! But I keep finding more...

Well last week I fell down again. In my house. I had socks on but they were slippery. Wilson was in the shower and started screaming. I jumped off the couch and try to hurry in there and fell flat on my butt. But I have a huge bruise on the inside of my right knee. I was stuck on the floor for a few minutes. Turned out the screaming was because Luke turned the light out while Wilson was in the shower. But I didn't know why he was screaming...so there I was sitting on the floor not moving. My knee has been sore and is still healing.

Then this weekend I was peeling sweet potatoes for roasting veggies. My small group was cooking for a homeless men ministry and I was responsible for roasting veggies for 20-25 people. (Carrots, sweet potatos, garlic and cauliflower). I was holding a potato and peeling the skin off the POTATO when all of the sudden my hand slipped and I peeled a chunk of skin off the base of my thumb. It hurt so bad. It's not deep but it is a chunk right off the top. It still hurts badly.

You might be thinking right now that I'm just a weanie and these injuries aren't that bad...I don't know if I should agree with you or not. I would argue that I've birthed three big baby boys - but I did that with epidurals every time...I survived the pain after a c-section/tubal but there was a lot of pain involved in that too. So. Maybe I am a weanie and I don't like pain. I guess as the only girl (other than Lottie) in a house of boys that is something I'm entitled too. Right?

I'm sure some of you have other clumsy stories about me. Cara will want to share the time the herbie kerbie attacked me at her old house. Really the stories could go on and on. Have one to share? Might as well get a laugh out of these now, right?!

Bumblebee Scare

2011-02-23T21:14:00.002-05:00

My sweet Luke has been terrified of bees at bedtime the past two nights this week. Monday and Tuesday night he cried in his bed because he was afraid of bumblebees. I'm not sure what has brought this on - he said he hasn't talked about bees at school/with friends/etc. It's only February so he hasn't seen any outside. He was sobbing both nights. We prayed that Jesus would take his fear away and one person (ahem) might have prayed that he would never get stung by a bee - ever...that wasn't the best thing to pray for in this situation! Anyway, the next night the prayer was WAY better. Tonight we made it through bedtime with no talk of bees and no tears. My poor little guy. Andy said he thinks Luke holds stuff in...not sure WHERE he gets that trait. Here's hoping for a bee free summer...and no stings for Luke!

On another note, I registered Lukie for Kindergarten last week! (Do I have to stop calling him Lukie when he start elementary school?) I can't wait to have him at school with me and Wilson. It will be so fun to see him in the hallways. LOVE that they come with me. Even though it makes the afternoons rough sometimes! Wilson said to Luke today that he couldn't wait until he was at our school with us. I thought that was really sweet. I can't wait either. :)

Chicken Fingers & Creamy Taco Mac

2011-02-23T21:04:00.003-05:00

This week I have tried 2 new main dish recipes from Annie's Eats. They have both been good. The Creamy Taco Mac was quick and easy- like a homemade version of hamburger helper. Just healthier! It has ground turkey and whole wheat pasta. I used Annie's taco seasoning, low fat cream cheese (3 oz) and low fat sour cream (1/2 cups). Everyone ate it though Luke wasn't a big fan. This made enough dinner for two nights for our family. THe first time I saw it on the blog I didn't bookmark the recipe. But when it was featured in the blog this weekend I thought it looked good enough to try!

The other main dish was chicken fingers. I liked that the recipe called for chicken breasts cut up. I don't always care for the chicken tenderloins. Had a bad experience once when I bought them at the grocery once and it is hard for me to ever buy them again. If I don't prepare them then I can eat them. I know... Everyone liked these- very crispy with no deep frying. Panko bread crumbs and hardly any oil. Much healthier. Of course we dipped them in honey mustard!

Ty = Chatterbox!

2011-02-16T21:04:00.003-05:00

Ty talks SO much! I love to hear him talk. It is so cute! Tonight we were driving and the full moon was shining brightly. The boys and I were talking about it and I said it was beautiful and pretty. Later I heard Ty say the moon is bootful and preddy. It was adorable. He was playing with an old cell phone today and opened it and said "Hello! Bye see you." I could listen to him talk (and sing) all day. It is precious. Anytime he toots he says "I pooped" and laughs. It's quite funny.

I've realized recently that this is the first time I've had a boyat Tyler's age when I haven't already had a brand new baby or been a few weeks away from delivering another baby. My "babies" are growing up. I don't wish for the middle of the night feedings -at all! But I miss those cute new baby grunts and all the snuggling. I love babies. But I love my big boys too!

Happy Valentine's Day!

2011-02-14T05:00:00.001-05:00

Andy got in on the action before he left for work. Here we are ready to pipe the outline on all of the cookies. Next, comes flooding. I just made pink and white because I didn't have any red gel food coloring. The squeeze bottles have thinned icing in them for flooding the inside of the cookie with frosting.

The cookies turned out really well! I had so much fun making them. I think the X's and O's are super cute. Should have made more of those! They were just so fragile I didn't think they'd turn out. But the icing helped cover the minor flaws! Annie's tutorial on royal icing helps a lot. I've only used royal icing one other time, about 3 years ago.

Here are a few cookies I'm taking to school for the helping hands bake sale tomorrow. I bought the cute heart plate a Tar*get.

Low Cal Fettucine Alfredo

2011-02-13T20:30:00.003-05:00

This dish is easy, healthier than most alfredo sauces, and tastes really good! There is no heavy cream in the recipe - just 2 T cream cheese, 2% milk, and parmesan cheese. I had to tell Luke I added the green flecks (of fresh parsley) for decoration since green is his favorite color. That was what Andy and I came up with and it worked! Usually he won't eat things with green cooked into them that he can see. He'll eat green veggies, he just doesn't want them hiding in his sauces and stuff. Wilson and I enjoyed this the most. It's not one of Andy's favorite meals but for an every now and then he thought it was okay. There is a bit of a lemon flavor in the dish due to the lemon zest which was nice. That also means I got to use my microplane which is always fun! You could always add grilled chicken to this dish too. Enjoy!

Low-Cal Fettucine Alfredo
1 T unsalted butter
1 clove garlic, minced
1 t grated lemon zest
2 t flour
1 cup 2% milk
kosher salt
2 T low fat cream cheese
3/4 cup grated parmesan, plus more for topping
3 T chopped fresh parsley
12 ounces fettucine
freshly ground pepper

1. Boil water for fettucine. Cook according to package directions until al dente.
2. While the pasta is cooking make the sauce. Melt butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic and lemon zest and cook until the garlic is slightly soft, about 1 minute. Add in the flour and cook, stirring with a wooden spoon for 1 minute. Whisk in the milk and 3/4 teaspoon salt and cook, whisking constantly until just thickened, about 3 minutes. Add the cheeses; whisk until melted, about 1 minute. Stir in the parsley.
3. Reserve 1 cup of the pasta water, drain the pasta and return to the pot.
4. Add the sauce and 1/2 cup pasta water to the pasta and gently toss to combine, adding more cooking water as needed to loosen. Season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with parmesan.

Recent Recipes

2011-02-13T10:10:00.002-05:00

Homemade Buttermilk Ranch dressing - from Annie's Eats of course. I made a couple batches of this about a month or so ago. Wilson loved it and kept asking for "salad with that yummy ranch dressing". It also helped to have homemade croutons on the salad as well. Those were delish! I found the crouton recipe here. She made the croutons for her caesar salad which also looks great. I just can't bring myself to make anything with anchovies...

Last night I made chocolate sugar cookies and regular sugar cookies. I used my valentine cookie cutters and today I plan to do royal icing on them! I'm looking forward to decorating the cookies. This is my first time to try either of these cookie recipes. The chocolate dough was very soft and I had to chill it again just to finish cutting out the cookies. I recommend you double the recipe if you want more than 1 dozen cookies. It didn't make much batter. The regular sugar cookie dough has almond extract. These smell delicious and taste great! The almond flavor is really nice. That recipe made about 3 dozen cookies. So I should have plenty to decorate this afternoon!

Last night a tried a Low-Cal Fettutine Alfredo recipe from my Food Network magazine. It was good. I'll post that recipe and pics of the cookies later.
:)

Happy Things :)

2011-02-02T21:32:00.002-05:00

- The other night we had sloppy joes. Tyler thought I said poppy joes. So he kept asking "poppy here?". Then he called his dinner poppy joes. So cute!
- Last night Tyler sang parts of Jesus Loves Me as I was singing to him. He really likes that song! He has only sung with me 1-2 other times. It is the sweetest thing ever. The other boys always choose Twinkle, You Are My Sunshine, and a song I made up- called Go To Sleep. For real. Luke sometimes sings with me too. That makes me smile!
- Tyler has eaten veggies for THREE nights! Our persistent eat your veggies or no after dinner "treat" (ie: a hershey kiss or a small handfull of chocolate chips) finally worked! So far anyway!! He has been eating "balls". We have a veggie tray that I make on Monday for the week. This week it has sugar snap peas along with other veggies. Tyler likes for mommy and daddy to take the balls out of the sugar snap peas so he can eat those. So of course there had to be a joke from mommy (shocking I know!) that I found some big balls for him. It's hard to resist a joke that easy! Of course only Andy and I snicker at that - thank goodness!! But my goodness! The boy ate his veggies!!!
- A day with neither Luke or Wilson getting to Strike 3!! Yea! A great day and a wonderful bedtime! Thank you Lord!
- I have exercised 3 times in the past week. :)
- An understanding friend going through a hard time even when I showed up today without chocolate chip cookies for her trip. But I did have homemade chex mix! I ran out of ingredients and then screwed up the batter last night (Trying to multitask) so I couldn't start over. Had to dump it. But she was so nice to me this morning anyway!
- My new math group at school! It's nice to change things up every now and then.

Thank you!

2011-01-31T20:19:00.004-05:00

So many kind words in person or on the blog - I really appreciate my friends and family. It is good to know lots of busy moms feel exactly the same way. Not that I wish for anyone to feel that way but you understand!

We had a very laid back weekend, just what I needed. I was so tired. We celebrated wonderful report cards for Wilson and Luke by getting frozen yogurt Friday night. On Saturday the boys got to play outside with their neighbor friends which was great! Late that afternoon we went furniture shopping. We looked at another store on the other side of town and found our favorite in that store. They had a sleep station - a little "room" with a temper*pedic mattress and pillows. I laid on one with Luke for about 5 minutes. By them time I got up my whole body was relaxed. It was heavenly. Really hoping we can get one when we redo our bedroom furniture. Andy's back hurts everyday when he wakes up from our bed. The mattresses are 10 years old so it's time to replace them! We plan to look at 1-2 more furniture stores before we make our decision. Can't wait!

Then we ended up staying and eating at Steak N'*Shake since everyone was hungry. We lucked out because apparently kids eat free on Saturdays and Sundays off the kids menu! Score!

So, life has been tough...

2011-01-26T20:57:00.003-05:00

and I'm ready to talk about it. I definitely don't want to give off the impression on this blog that my life is perfect. It is far from perfect. Being fake is a MAJOR pet peeve of mine and I had a realization this week that I often try to focus on positive, happy things on the blog. Which is a good thing, but I don't anyone under the impression that our life is just perfect. So I decided it was time to come out and talk about the struggles I've been having lately. Some will be vague and others I've discussed on the blog before. I've been struggling to stay afloat and now I realize I've made goals. (I'm not a New Year's Eve Resolution kind of girl. Everybody is doing it then and most goals don't stick.) I'm a goal oriented person. I don't always stick to my goals but I am often making mental goals. So I'll share some of those too.

Parenting is tough. Three boys ages 7 and under. One with some anxiety issues and major opposition to anything mom/dad says. Another stuck in the terrible two's. One who doesn't want to do anything for himself. It is hard to always follow through with parenting threats/consequences. Kids can be manipulative. Sometimes when life is hard it is easier to give in. But I'm done. The boys have been driving me crazy and the house has been wild for too long. Too many battles. Too much whining. So I'm reading The Well Behaved Child by John Rosemond and trying some new things at home. I kind of made up my own version of some of his suggestions as I've not gotten very far in the book yet. (Don't have a whole lot of reading time!) We're just using a strike system - 3 strikes and you're out. Which means you go to your room for a pre-determined amount of time. On the past two snow days it was going to be 90 minutes in the afternoon. Neither Luke or Wilson got to strike 3. Yesterday late afternoon, Wilson got to strike 3 for the first time. I told him to go to his room and he could only come out for dinner, homework, and getting ready for bed. He sobbed. I didn't back down. He came to dinner and approached his homework like a totally different child! Wednesday nights are always hard because we get home from church around 8:20. I have 3 boys to get ready for bed alone b/c Andy isn't home then and it is always a nightmare. But tonight, I reminded the boys of the strike system. Told them if they got to strike 3 tonight then their consequences would be tomorrow afternoon/evening. It was a wonderful bedtime. Now, consistency is the key for me & Andy! One small success and I am feeling tons better in this area already.

So juggling marriage, working on communicating better with Andy, 3 children who are all BOYS!, working full time in a demanding job, keeping up with a house/laundry/cooking/etc, church, friends, on and on and on...this causes me to often feel like I'm failing. Because it is hard for me to stay afloat. I have high expectations for myself and I honestly get overwhelmed WAY too easily. I want to be able to handle everything life throws at me but I don't seem to be able to very well. I don't like to "need" others. Mostly because I don't want to bother anyone. (SEE NEXT PARAGRAPH!) I often carry that over to not relying on God as well and that won't work out so well. So I hold things in and don't talk or pray about it until I'm bursting. Working on that too.

I struggle with insecurity and am also reading Beth Moore's book, So Long Insecurity with my small group. I didn't realize how much I struggle with this until I started reading. I knew I had insecurities, just didn't realize how they hide under the surface to the point that you don't realize insecurity is a driving force in so many situations. God is really teaching me a lot about myself right now. Andy and I are also slowly reading Love and Respect by Emerson Eggerichs together. (As you can see I have mentioned 3 books I'm reading which tells you some of my goals. Plus I'm reading The Girl Who Played With Fire for by Steig Larsson - just for enjoyment!)

So. My goals in RANDOM order:
1. Consistency with my parenting. Don't let them take advantage. Be firm and consistent. I'm taking notes on my parenting book and I'll share them on the blog at some point.
2. Work on my insecurities and belive in myself. I come across as having it all together (at least I think I do!) but so often it feels as if I'm barely holding it together. :)
3. Keep reading the book with Andy and applying it to our marriage.
4. EXERCISE - for my physical and emotional health. Plus it give me time for MYSELF. I exercised yesterday for the first time in almost 6 months. When I was at the walk in clinic on Saturday the nurse said "your blood pressure is great! You must work out a lot!" I laughed. My friend also told me I had to start exercising twice a week for reasons mentioned above . My legs are so sore after the SHRED last night...
5. Somehow not let myself get so overwhelmed...not sure how to do this other than pray. And I need to do more of that anyway.
6. Borrow the book about Terrible Two's by John Rosemond from the library...not sure if that is the exact title.

That's all from my heart for now.

32 = not so bad!

2011-01-24T07:16:00.003-05:00

This weekend we celebrated my birthday which was on Sunday. Early Saturday my mom watched the boys so I could go to the Walk in clinic. It went so quickly that I got a manicure while I was out. It was fun! I haven't had a manicure in years. Saturday night Andy and I had dinner at Olive*Garden (which was very delicious! We even shared tiramasu!) and then we went to the mall. My birthday gift was dinner out and shopping! That is what I asked for and he said it was the easiest birthday ever! Win-win! I bought new brown shoes which I love. Actually, my dad had a pair when I was a kid and I thought they were the ugliest shoes ever. But now I like them. Go figure! I also found a few shirts at Old*Navy. Two of them were on clearance and I got them for $8! The clearance was half off the lowest price. So another win! We had a nice evening out without any kiddos. When I woke up Sunday morning the 3 boys had each made me a card. :)

On Sunday night we went to my parents house for dinner. My dad grilled fish & veggies in foil packets, made delicious homemade mac & cheese, and coleslaw. Yum! Chocolate and butterscotch pie were my dessert choices made by my Ma-maw and Pa-paw. My parents bought me a 14 cup food processor! Yay! Now I can make salsa in 1 round of processing instead of 3. I'm sure I'll find many great uses for my new kitchen tool. It was a great birthday! Thank you to everyone for making it so special!

Snow Day #7

2011-01-24T07:15:00.001-05:00

NO COMMENT.

Snow Day #6

2011-01-23T15:35:00.002-05:00

Friday we had another snow day. We got a lot of snow Thursday afternoon/evening and even had a 2 hour early dismissal. The boys and I hung out at home most of the day. I did some cleaning & laundry, rented them a movie, we did homework/reading, and then met my parents for dinner. Later that evening I went to a friend's house for game night. It was so fun! Andy heard on the news that over this wintry season we have had 21 inches of snow. How crazy is that?!

Chicken Fajitas!

2011-01-18T17:32:00.000-05:00

YUM! I've had this recipe bookmarked forever. But it required a grill. We've had a hand me down grill from my parents that just didn't work anymore. So we've been without a grill for almost a couple years I guess. I've really missed grilled food at home! Anyway, Andy got a grill from my parents for Christmas! Yay! So since it "warmed up" a little on Saturday I suggested we grill out! We had the best chicken fajitas. Andy did a fantastic job grilling and this will definitely become a regular dinner on our menu! It is of course from Annie's Eats - Grilled Chicken Quesadillas.

24 hours from HELL

2011-01-18T17:30:00.003-05:00

Well...the stomach virus didn't stop with Wilson. Oh, no...Luke threw up at 6:15 Sunday night. Andy threw up around 9:30, and Tyler threw up sometime in the middle of the night. I thought he might and I thought he would cry for me if he did but...I didn't know until I went in the next morning. Andy, Luke and I didn't get much sleep Sunday night. I just slept in Luke's room so I could help him. I think I was spared just enough to not be puking but I had body aches like the flu. I didn't eat anything until 1 or 2 because I was afraid that if I ate, I would start throwing up. I felt horrible but was better off than Andy so I met the basic needs for our children! They were fed and they were bathed*. Sheets were changed. Other than that the house looked like a tornado hit. It was ROUGH. Andy definitely took it the hardest. It's taken him 2 days and counting. He's still not back to his regular self but he is eating today. He has slept a lot and has consumed a lot of gatorade. I stayed home today to take care of Luke and Tyler so Andy could try and recuperate. I did LOTS of laundry, cleaned up the kitchen, and put away toys. Thankfully all of the rest of us felt normal today. Really hoping Andy is well tomorrow!

*One bath resulted in me fishing poop out of the tub with a disposable cup. NASTY. I think that is the 2nd time ever in my parenting years that someone has pooped in the tub. So then I got to clean the tub before finishing bath time...!!

Random Updates

2011-01-16T08:50:00.003-05:00

* If you show Tyler a picture of a hammer (in one of his picture books) he calls it a hamburger...hilarious! That boy always has food on his mind!
* Tyler has been asking to go to church for the past several days. I guess because we didn't have church Wednesday night due to a snow day he really missed going! He keeps saying "I go church." Tyler is so verbal. Right now he just said "I play drums." He is in the playroom playing the drums. He is a good communicator for a 2 year old!
* Wilson came down with a stomach bug at 2:30am Friday night. It was no fun. Really rough night of "sleep" for me and Andy. It must have been a 12-18 hour thing because he is just fine today! Praying no one else in the family comes down with it...so far so good.
* Bought my first book for the Kindle - "The Well Behaved Child" by John Rosemond. Read for a while yesterday while Wilson snuggled and napped next to me. Taking notes on the computer for future reference. We have a very oppositional child at home - he is NOT that way at school or when mommy/daddy aren't around. Has anyone else read this book? Some of the dicipline measures seem extreme but Rosemond knows that- he says it will nip the behaviors in the bud. It is a more traditional approach, like from the 1950's before all the pychobabble came out on the parenting front. So, still reading. But something has to change at home on the parenting front because everything with him is a STRUGGLE. It's just overwhelming and a lot to deal with on a daily basis. All the other methods and things we've tried obviously haven't worked because we are still dealing with the oppositional behavior. So maybe we do need something extreme.
* Friday night we went to 1 furniture store to look at bedroom furniture. Next time we'll go without kiddos! But it was fun to look around. I found a favorite at that store. But we want to check out some other stores too. Then we went for frozen yogurt with a gift card!

Happy 5th Birthday Luke!

2011-01-13T20:26:00.004-05:00

Luke is 5 years old today! I can't believe it! He is growing up...and will be in Kindergarten next year! Wow. He had a great birthday! He wanted donuts for breakfast and pizza for dessert. Super easy for mommy and daddy! Since we'd already had cake pops and cake at the other parties he chose brownies and ice cream for dessert. I woke him up this morning so I could watch him open his gifts. That allowed him and Andy to have fun with the gifts throughout the day. He opened a robe, train station Lego for his train set from Santa, and the Guess Who electronic game. He was happy. After dinner, the Mc clan came over for dessert. He got the game Pop the Pig from Mac 5 and the cousins played that for a while. Such a cute game! He also opened an art portfolio that is super cute from his Mimi and Poppy. He had several Happy Birthday phone calls today and seemed to really enjoy his day! Tomorrow he gets to bring the snack to pre-school and he chose sherbet cups. He is super excited and planning to wear a birthday sticker from one of his cards that says "I am 5 today!"

We love you Luke, Happy Birthday!

An early morning wake up call from Mommy and Daddy! It was almost 7... :)

His little cheek was so warm!

Reading the birthday card to him woke him up with a smile!

Opening Guess Who. Lottie was quite interested. She's hoping to get in on the next game.

Dessert time! Look at that adorable grin. He is so cute! Before this picture I had him change out the of Christmas shirt he picked out to wear today. Luke has his own style!

Opening Pop the Pig - a cute game!

Snow Days 4 & 5

2011-01-12T16:05:00.003-05:00

Yep. You read that right. We are up to 5 snow days already. Craziness. That makes us going to school until June 1st. It's only January 12th so I guess we could end up with even more snow days. Yesterday and today have been pretty laid back. Snow days make me kind of lazy. Here's what we've been up to:
* copied and stuffed my report cards
* lunch at chick-fil*a and playland time
* made a new recipe for dinner that we didn't care for but ate anyway
* read a lot of Mockingjay (book #3 in the Hunger Games trilogy)
* finished Luke's b-day shopping
* 1/2 price lunch at Saul*Good with some teacher friends
* made my subplans for tomorrow because I have a PD day
* little bit of laundry and cleaning up
* the boys played the wii, went to my mom's today for a few hours, Wilson shoveled, they played outside, and built a fort and at times acted crazy!

All I want to do is go take a nap. But trying to fight it so I can get to bed on time for school tomorrow. I'm hoping we're on schedule - but we have enjoyed our time at home!

This will make you laugh!

2011-01-12T15:53:00.005-05:00

More mustache and lip pictures...because it was THAT funny!!!

Wilson

Lily

Meghan

Luke!

Uncle Mac

Poppy & Wilson

*If you read through a reader, click into the blog for new sidebar pictures!

A Beary Good Time!

2011-01-12T09:26:00.004-05:00

Luke with his friends and green cake pops!

Wilson with his friends and orange cake pops.

Starting our party at Build*A*Bear

Luke ended up with a bear wearing roller skates and a hat!

Wilson made a police dog.

Washing the bears before getting them dressed.

Wilson and Luke agreed to have their birthday party at Build*A*Bear. They each invited 2 friends. We started at our house for cake pops (green for Luke, orange for Wilson), ice cream, and presents. You can't bring any of that into the store. Then we drove over to the mall for the rest of the party. It was so much fun! The store did a great job with the party. The kids had a blast making their animal and choosing clothes or accessories.

The party group with finished bears/dogs! Notice all of the boys chose accessories instead of clothes (except Wilson - he wanted a police dog!). I thought that was so funny - girls of course would choose an outfit as Luke's friend Eva did on the left! Boys surprise me all the time!

Happy 7th Birthday Wilson!

2011-01-07T09:12:00.004-05:00

Happy Birthday! His 7 candles were in the shape of a 7!

Wilson turned 7 last Friday (January 7th)! He had a great day. He woke up to a brand new bike which he is very excited about! He'd outgrown his other bike. He got to have poptarts for breakfast and bring cupcakes to school. Friday night Poppy came over for dinner. Wilson chose pancakes, sausage, and eggs for dinner. His dessert was Mountain Mama Mudslide. Uncle Bill, Danny, Steph, and the kids came over for dessert. He got to open 3 presents from them and then we played Creationary while the kids built a fort. He had a great birthday! Uncle Bill brought over wax lips and wax mustaches he bought at Cracker*Barrel. The boy cousins got the mustaches on and the girls got the lips on. Then the adults got in on the fun. We were all cracking up and laughing so hard. It was too funny!

Saturday afternoon was the friend birthday party - super fun and then Saturday night my family came over to celebrate Wilson, Caroline, and Luke's birthdays. Wilson's is January 7th, Caroline's is on the 10th, and Luke's is on the 13th. They'll be 7, 6, and 5 this year! We ordered pizza, had salad, and dessert. The kids all had a good time together. It was a birthday weekend extravaganza.

P.S. I CAN'T believe I have a 7 year old!

French Silk Chocolate Pie

2011-01-02T08:00:00.000-05:00

1 sheet refrigerated pie crust
2/3 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 squares (1 oz each) unsweetened chocolate, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup butter, softened
2/3 cup heavy whipping cream
2 teaspoons confectioners' sugar

whipped cream, chocolate curls, optional

1. Line a 7 in pie plate with pie crust. Prick bottom, trim and flute edges. Line shell with a double thickness of foil and bake at 450 for 4 minutes. Remove foil, bake 2-4 minutes longer until crust is golden brown. Cool on wire rack.

2. In a small saucepan, combine sugar and eggs until well blended. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until mixture reaches 160 degrees. Remove from heat. Stir in melted chocolate and vanilla until smooth. Let cool to luke warm (90 degrees), stirring occasionally.

3. In a small bowl cream butter until light and fluffy. Add cooled chocolate mixture; beat on high speed for 5 minutes or until light and fluffy.

4. In another large bowl beat cream until it begins to thicken. Add confectioners' sugar; beat until stiff peaks form. Fold into chocolate mixture.

5. Pour into crust. Chill for at least 6 hours before serving. Garnish with whipped cream and chocolate curls if desired. Refrigerate leftovers.

This pie was good! Took forever to get the egg mixture to 160 and then a long wait for it to cool down to 90 degrees...but well worth it! Andy loved it and didn't want to share it last night at our New Year's Eve party! But he did :) . I used my stand mixer for steps 3 and 4.

Taken from Taste of Home Comfort Food magazine that my mother in law gave me over Thanksgiving.

Good Reads

2011-01-01T17:48:00.003-05:00

Here is what I've been reading the past 2-3 months. I've liked them all!

This was good- dark, slow to start, but good. Don't recommend the movie out with subtitles. I know they are remaking the movie so maybe that will be better. Haven't read book 2 or 3 yet but plan to read them!

A really good book that took me forever to get through but I really did enjoy it! It is set in Charleston, SC.

Love, love, love this book. I flew through it over break in a couple days. I'm reading book 2 right now and really enjoying it as well! This is super easy reading becuase it is juvenile literature but still really good!

Andy and I received a Kindle for Christmas from his parents. We were super surprised and very excited! I told Andy it might turn him into a reader! The Kindle is so neat! The technology is amazing. I have 10 books on my wish list from Amazon for the kindle. I'm just used to borrowing books or checking them out from the library so I'll have to fork over some money to read now...but the kindle will be fun to read on! It is so thin and light weight. Andy is reading Treasure Island right now because it was one of the free books you can download. I already have 4-5 books on my nightstand that I need to read before I let myself buy a kindle book!

Happy New Year!

2011-01-01T12:27:00.004-05:00

Happy 2011!!

Last night we rang in the new year with Danny, Steph, Lily, Trey, Uncle Bill, and Poppy. We had an appetizer dinner which was yummy. The kids had fun playing the Wii and the adults had fun playing Buzz Word. Everyone left around 10pm because the kids all needed to get to bed! On our last day of doing whatever we want from this glorious holiday break I slept in until 10:30!! I didn't even stay up until midnight! I was tired I guess. Tyler slept in until then too! The rest of the day has been lazy. Haven't done much of anything really. Back to the real world starting tomorrow so we can have a smooth week back to work and school (laundry, menu planning, school work, etc) . It will hit us hard too! We've got two birthdays right around the corner, 2 birthday parties, report cards for me to finish, and karate starting back up this week. Unfortunately, winter break is offically over.

Nanny's House

2011-01-01T12:15:00.000-05:00

(Picture from Thanksgiving 2008 - aka pre-Tyler!)

Andy's Nanny has lived in West Virginia most of her life. She has spent the past 65+ years in Richwood, WV. Andy has travelled to Richwood every year for holidays and visits in the summer as a boy. As the boys got older the winter months often included snow skiing at Snowshoe. Andy loves WV, skiing, and he loved going to his Nanny's house. When they would go stay at Nanny's she would wake them up to go snow skiing in the morning playing "Country Roads." The house didn't really change much over the years - some new paint colors or decorations, nothing major. But it was his Nanny's house. A house they all loved and cherished going back to visit and stay overnight.

Right after Thanksgiving 2010 Nanny moved from WV to Florida to live in an apartment near her daughters (Andy's mom and aunt). She is so happy in her new home. She has 3 meals provided for her each day and someone comes in weekly to clean. It is really the right move for her and she is happy to be closer to her daughters. But it was hard on the family to lose their tie to WV. Andy went with his parents, Danny, and Katie to help pack the moving truck. He came home with a few treasures from Nanny's house. Things that will always help us to remember that home and all the great memories we have there. I remember going with him and his family for Thanksgiving before we were married. So I'd been going to that house for a long time too. We are happy for Nanny B. and glad she is getting the assistance she needs to make life a little easier! She is 90 years old and going strong! Here are the treasures Andy found when they were packing Nanny up this past November.

This was the thing I asked for - Nanny's candy dish. It was always out in her living room and always had candy in it. This dish for some reason, really reminds me of Nanny's house!

This stool was something Andy grabbed as they were leaving. He came home and said "there's one more thing I brought home...don't be mad." Prefacing it like that I was a little worried. Then he pulled out the stool and I was so excited! I am so glad he thought of this. The boys love it and it is now in our kitchen just like it had been in Nanny's kitchen for years!

Here is the coal bucket, mentioned in a previous post. From when Nanny's house used coal to heat it up. Still has coal inside!

Ten Year Anniversary!

2011-01-01T12:13:00.002-05:00

Wow. 10 years can go so fast! Andy and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary on December 30, 2010. We had a wonderful date! My mom and dad took the boys around 4pm. Andy and I went to see a movie "Life as We Know It" and then walked around the mall for a few minutes until our dinner reservations at PF*Chang's! We enjoyed the movie and I even let myself get popcorn. We never get popcorn at the movies. But we were at the dollar movies so I splurged! I say never like we go to more than 2-3 movies a year!! Ha!

Anyway, our dinner reservations were at 7pm. We had a delicious dinner - Lettuce wraps, Cashew Almond Chicken, and Kung Pao Shrimp. We had way too much food but with only eating there about 1 time a year we had to get our 3 favorites! We ate the leftovers for lunch yesterday. After dinner we ran to Office*Depot and bought a large calendar to hang in our kitchen to help us with planning. Then we walked in Bed, Bath*, & Beyond to get towels for the downstairs bathroom (found the exact match to the blue in the shower curtain!), and then walked into Best*Buy to look at 22" tv's for the bedroom.

We had planned to pick Tyler up from my parents since he still needs his crib but ended up coming home with Wilson and Tyler. Wilson just couldn't get himself to stay - that was his and Luke's first time to spend the night at my parents house. Luke stayed and had a great time! Wilson regretted his choice the next morning. We told him to remember that the next time and maybe try and stay!

Anyway, we came home, watched Friends, ate some delicious pie that I made for Andy (recipe to come) and gave each other cards. We had agreed on NO PRESENTS because our plan for our 10th anniversary is to buy new matching bedroom furniture. I've wanted a bedroom suite since we got married. So we're waiting on our tax return and then we'll go shopping! But, as I was reading my card from Andy a jewelry box appeared on his knee. I was soo surprised and started crying. I opened the box and found something beautiful and sparkly inside. I couldn't believe it...we had a wonderful 10th anniversary!

The Bathroom

2010-12-30T11:30:00.003-05:00

The downstairs bathroom is done! It is beautiful! I'm in disbelief at what Andy was able to accomplish all on his own. Replacing cast iron pipes with pvc, drywall, priming, painting, tiling, and installing the toilet, vanity and mirror! I love our new bathroom! Yesterday he finished up the baseboard and quarter round. He has passed all of the inspections - plumbing, building, and electrical. So proud of you baby!

Now I just need to buy towels in the slate blue color to match the shower curtain. It is so handy having a bathroom in the basement! Although many times the boys or myself have forgotten about it and gone upstairs to use the bathroom! Take a look...

On the left is a bi-fold closet door. I guess we still need to put in shelving. But that isn't necessary quite yet! You can see a little of the light (which has a hidden fan inside of it!) and the pretty shower curtain. It has khaki colored velour stripes running vertically.

This picture shows our new vanity and mirror, lights above the mirror, and new toilet. Check out the tile - you can see just a little bit. The color of the walls is a light khaki.

We have a working fireplace!

2010-12-30T11:28:00.006-05:00

Terrible picture of me...but it shows the fireplace and my little karate chopper reading to me for his reading log!! He is becoming such a good reader!!

Yipee! Our fireplace works! We had it inspected and cleaned in November. Last year we didn't get to use the fireplace because we had just moved in and didn't have the extra money to have the fireplace inspected. So we waited a year (Andy patiently, me impatiently!) to have a beautiful fire in our cozy basement. I loved decorating the Christmas tree with a fire crackling and Christmas music playing! My mom said it was so Norman Rockwell! But it was nice. We've enjoyed many fires over the past 6 weeks or so.

P.S. How long will I think of this as the "new house" for all of my blog post tags??!!

P.P.S. See the black coal bucket in the background? This came from Andy's grandmother's house. It has coal in it from when her house was heated with coal. It's a pretty cool antique.

Christmas Break!!

2010-12-26T22:07:00.002-05:00

The week leading up to Christmas was wonderful. I got lots of sleep- I am no longer sleep deprived! I know this because I've been able to read without falling asleep in 10-15 minutes! I finished the book I was reading (South of Broad) and started a new book (Hunger Games). I've finished Season 1 of Friends which Andy and I are watching again, seasons 1-10. We started Season 2 yesterday! Love, love, love that show!! The first two seasons are so dated though!

We wrapped gifts, finished Christmas shopping, set up a fish tank (Christmas gift for my grandparents), and made chocolate chip cookies for Santa. We took the boys to see Santa Claus and Tyler wanted absolutely nothing to do with him. He wouldn't sit on his lap or stand in front of him. Maybe next year!

We've also gotten to hang out with family and friends a lot! I hung out with school friends one night while Andy was at a Christmas party. We had my teammates and their families over another night. We all had such a great time! There were 10 adults and 5 kids and we had a nice time talking and hanging out together. My parents came over for dinner one night and we had fun playing the Wii and the card game Spoons.

It's just been such a wonderful break so far. I hope this next week goes slowly!

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-26T21:52:00.004-05:00

Christmas Eve we went to church at 5 and then went to a nursing home with a group from our church to sing Christmas carols. Our family did this last year too. There were probably 20 of us from church, mostly families with children went. We walked through the halls singing and greeting the people. The men and women were really happy to see the kids' faces - it was really neat. I loved seeing the smiles that our boys brought! We've kind of made this a family tradition of ours since we have a group to go with. It's nice to give to others and I think it is so important to remind our boys that life ISN'T "all about me" like our culture teaches us all the time. Because it's not! We came home and let the boys open one gift from us. Read "Twas the Night Before Christmas" and the story of Jesus' birth from the bible. Then Ty did the cutest thing- he walked over to his window and peeked through the blinds asking "santa claus?". It was adorable. He was looking for Santa!!

We had such a wonderful Christmas! We have so much to be thankful for. We spent the day with family, had a nice nap, and opened too many gifts! It was a great day. The boys woke up early - Wilson came in at 3:20 the first time, then again at 5 something, and finally sometime after 6. Him and Luke were up around 6:30 but we somehow sidetracked them until almost 7 so Tyler could sleep a little longer. They raced downstairs to find what Santa had left for them. They both got the Lego they were wanting and Tyler got a Buzz and Woody from Toy Story. Wilson's Lego is the Airport and Luke's Lego is a remote control train. They are now built and the boys have had a lot of fun playing with them. Tyler loves his Buzz and Woody. Wilson also got Creationary and Luke got some Pixo's (a craft thing). Andy and I had so much fun watching them. It was cute to watch them take it all in - they found Santa's cookie crumbs on the plate and his egg nog was all gone. The fireplace doors were cracked open and one of them realized that. Christmas is so much fun!! We went to my grandparents for a late breakfast. Then went to my parents house around 4ish and stayed until bedtime. What a great day! I'll have to get some pictures from Andy's camera!

Snow Day #2 & #3

2010-12-16T21:26:00.003-05:00

More like Ice Day...we slept in which was a great start! I got a text at 4am saying school was out via Twitter. This morning we took it easy and watched The Santa Clause movie. The boys really enjoyed the movie and snuggling with mommy and daddy. We went to Chick*fil*a for lunch and let the boys play to get some energy out. Then I spent most of the afternoon making caramel corn in case we had school. Three big batches...and now there is no school tomorrow where we were going to deliver 9 bags among Wilson and Luke's teachers. Hmmm...
Andy went and finished some Christmas shopping for us. Then tonight we went to my mom and dad's house for dinner. It was nice to hang out with them and have a change of scenery for the boys! I kind of wish we had school tomorrow - I can't believe we've had so many snow days and it is only December. Tomorrow makes day #3. Crazy! But we're going to enjoy it! I need to do some cleaning and go work at school for a little while so I am ready for January 3rd. Boy does that sound crazy!

Luke's Pre-K Class

2010-12-16T21:23:00.002-05:00

Luke loves school most of the time! He has had one classmate that he says is mean that has caused him to not want to go to school on two occasions. But tonight he is a sad little boy because his Christmas party was supposed to be tomorrow but we have a snow day. He is the royal blue wise men in the picture above. This is a picture of his class. We had teacher gifts ready for tomorrow and a book for the book exchange. Maybe they will have the party in January...

Wilson loves karate!

2010-12-16T10:33:00.003-05:00

Wilson has been taking karate for 6 months. He is really enjoying his weekly class. We had to encourage him to sign up for the 3rd session but now he is asking us to sign him up again! This past 8 weeks he has been in his new level class and on Tuesday he earned his yellow belt! The level that he is in doesn't actually test for the belt colors yet. Everyone that took this level got the next color belt. He has to move to the next class up to start testing and earning belts without the white stripe. But he is pumped and doesn't quite understand the difference at this point. He is SO proud of his yellow belt. When he finishes his next 8 week class he will earn his green belt. He is learning a lot and is really good at it! He does kicks, punches, uses nunchucks and a staff. For completing this class Andy bought him a staff to practice with at home. We've promised him nunchucks when he finishes the next class. It's pretty cool to watch how much he has learned in the time he has been doing karate! He is taking Shaolin with Master The.

Snow Day #1

2010-12-16T10:13:00.004-05:00

Monday we had our first snow day. I was actually pretty excited! It gave me a chance to catch up on things. I did laundry, wrapped gifts, and spent a lot of time in the kitchen. We ran a couple of errands to get teacher gifts and groceries. Wilson played in the snow for a little while but it was so cold. We have borrowed my mom's Wii so they had fun playing that too. I made cake balls and cake pops. Andy and I had fun decorating the cake pops. If you aren't familiar with cake pops, check out Bakerella's website. I took a small tin to school for our Helping Hands auction we have every year. Then I made pepperoni rolls and broccoli/potato/cheddar soup. We had a great day!

Tyler thinks cake pops are the best thing ever! But he only wants the ones covered in sprinkles...

My Lottie Girl

2010-12-01T21:29:00.002-05:00

My sweet Lottie girl doesn't seem to be doing so well lately. About a month ago she threw up several times over the span of 2-3 days. So we stopped feeding her dog food and switched to bread, pasta, etc. for a couple days. She got better. Then for the past week or so she hasn't been eating much. Her bowl would have food in it from breakfast all the way to dinner. If you know my girl, that has never been the case. She has always eaten her bowl of food immediately. She isn't the kind of dog that nibbles on her dog food throughout the day. So it kind of bothered me that she wasn't eating normally but I tried not to worry about it. Yesterday Lottie threw up again in the morning before school. Two different places. So I've cut the dog food again. Gave her some bread, pasta, and a plain baked potato over the last two days. I just don't know what is going on with her. She sure has me concerned. I don't know what I should do. Everything else about her seems normal.

Tyler Speak

2010-11-28T07:00:00.000-05:00

My favorite things to hear Ty say right now...

1. "oh no!"

2. "oh gosh"

3. watch tb...buzz...downstairs

As soon as he wakes up he wants to watch tb and eat his breakfast. It's so cute. He loves Toy Story!

Black Friday

2010-11-27T09:06:00.002-05:00

I just can't bring myself to wakeup in the middle of the night or wee hours of the morning to go shopping. I tried it last year for the first time and it wasn't for me. I think I went out at 6:30 or something last year. I remember walking in Tar*get, going part way down an aisle and seeing the line around the whole store. I turned around and walked out. It wasn't my thing. So this year I went to Tar*get at 8:45ish. That is early for me -much more my style! It was busy but not CRAZY. I bought several christmas gifts and crossed some things off my shopping list! It was fun to get some christmas shopping done and I did get some good deals but not at the expense of my precious sleep. That afternoon I even got to nap while Ty napped because the big boys were at my mom and dad's house! It was soo nice!

Today we are going to decorate the house for Christmas! Can't wait!

Thanksgiving #2

2010-11-27T08:42:00.004-05:00

On Thursday Andy and I hosted the Mc. family Thanksgiving at our house. I spent all day Wednesday cleaning and that evening I prepped my food. Andy cleaned the bathroom, mopped, and worked hard on our downstairs bathroom. Thursday morning I finished cleaning and decorated the table with some fall decorations I borrowed from Cara. The boys had made a sign for the front door, place cards for the kids table, and handprint turkeys to hang in the dining room. They were so excited to have everyone over to our house! My parents showed up for dinner and I was so glad for them to come.

Everyone came over around 2ish. We had some appetizers since no one ate lunch. I made Jalapeno Popper dip and served it with toasted bread. Erin brought fresh fruit and spinach dip. Everything was yummy! I also made Pomegranate Punch which Wilson thought was lemonade and poured half of the juice mixture down the drain... :(

We had dinner around 5ish. I made sweet potato casserole, stuffing, and cranberry sauce. (Next time for the cranberry sauce I would reduce the pomegranate juice to 1 cup and the sugar to 1/2 cup.) I enjoyed trying new recipes for the holiday. With both thanksgiving celebrations combined I tried 5 new recipes!

The food was delicious. We also had turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, rolls, corn pudding, green bean casserole, and broccoli casserole. Everyone had a great time hanging out. The kids put on their own Thanksgiving Day parade in our basement which was adorable. It was too hot for a fire but overall it was a wonderful day of hanging out, food, and fun! With 9 cousins we have started putting all of their names in a hat. Each cousin pulls out 1 name and that is who they buy a christmas gift for. So the kids all traded gifts since we don't all see each other at Christmas. They were excited to get to open a present!

Sweet Potato Casserole

2010-11-23T17:39:00.002-05:00

As requested, here is the recipe I use for Sweet Potato Casserole! Enjoy!

1 large can sweet potatoes, drained and mashed
3/4 cup white sugar
1/3 cup evaporated milk
2 eggs
1 stick butter, melted

Mix these ingredients together and pour into a 9x13.

Topping:
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup flour
1 stick butter, melted

Mix together and spread over top of sweet potatoes. Sprinkle with pecan pieces.
Bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes, until hot and bubbly.

This dish is always a hit and now you can see why - it is NOT healthy at all!!

Thanksgiving Dinner #1

2010-11-21T21:09:00.003-05:00

Tonight we had Thanksgiving with my side of the family at Cara and Jason's house. It was nice to all be together and the food was delicious! The kids had a great time together. I made a pumpkin pie and Sweet Potatoes with sage butter crumb topping, both new recipes. The pie was delicious. Probably the best pumpkin pie I've eaten before. The recipe was time consuming and I didn't know how it was going to turn out but it was good! Homemade pie crust and homemade whipped cream to boot! The sweet potatoes were not the brown sugar super sweet ones that we are used to. These were good, just not the same. It was just a recipe I'd been wanting to try for a while so I'm glad I did. I'll be making the usual brown sugar sweet potato casserole for Thursday.

Andy's side of the family is coming to our house for Thanksgiving this year! We're excited. Everyone is bringing different parts of the dinner. Looking forward to Thanksgiving Dinner #2!