New Moon Clip

I had to share I can't wait for it to come out it looks so cool!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fj2mRYwBgRw

I can't figure out how to post it so click on New Moon Clip and it will take you there!! One of these days I'll get it. ;)

Crisp Fall Days

I just love to wake up in the morning of a crisp fall day. It's so wonderful, a little chilly and the leaves are just beautiful. What really is better than golden, reds, browns and yellow hues all over your yard and mountains. Fall is such a beautiful time of the year. I think its one of my favorites and the days we are having lately are just beautiful. It warms up in the afternoon and cools down at night.

Mondays and school

My 1st grader got up this morning got ready for school, ate breakfast, fixed his hair, brushed his teeth and was already to go and then told me he didn't want to go to school today. I said why? Usually Mondays are hard and if we have a long weekend they are hard but we didn't do much and he's only been in school for a week. I usually don't expect to hear this until about a month into school. He's been so excited to go.

I asked him why he didn't want to go to school today and he told me it was so BORING and he was tired of sitting on the floor. I said sitting on the floor, why do you have to sit on the floor? He said its circle time and it school is so BORING. I asked him if he liked his teacher (which I have asked a couple of times last week) he said yes but that he liked Mrs. ____ who was his kindergarten teacher better. I said, "Is your teacher nice to you?" He replied yes. I asked him why he liked Mrs. ____ better? He said he didn't know.

I think its so hard on Mondays but I've noticed the excitement for school dwindle in him by the end of the week. I don't know if its his teacher or not. I've heard a few things from other parents and teachers that his teacher is flightly but seems to be a good teacher.

Is that how it gets with 1st grade?? He was so excited for school last year until about Feb/March then he kindof got tired of it. I wonder if its because its only been a week and he isn't use to going to school all day, being away from his younger brother that he plays with all the time or what it is??

Hopefully its just because it's Monday and he is still getting use to the full days of school.

Can anyone give me advice on 1st graders?? I haven't had one for a long time and don't remember with my older son. He's a senior now so it's been a long time.

Season of life

(picure from countryliving.com)

Do you ever feel down on yourself wishing that you could be better than you are? Down on yourself because your house isn't as clean as you would like it or perhaps not as clean as your friends or neighbors? Down on yourself because your yard isn't as weed free and beautiful as your neighbors?

I know I am that way sometimes and lately I seem to be so overwhelmed with getting my house clean. By the end of the summer the kids are fighting not wanting to do any of their chores or we have slacked off on them because of doing activities throughout the summer, so by the time school starts I feel so overwhelmed with my house that I don't even know where to start. I feel like a failure because my house isn't as clean as I want it to be, my kids are fighting, not doing chores, my yard has become a weedfest and I can give you a million excuses for it all. I feel so overwhelmed that some days all I want to do is sit on the couch and watch tv or sit in front of my computer reading blogs, searching the internet, anything to keep me off of my task at hand.

I read this great post on a blog and it helped me to really feel better about myself. I'll give you the link but you'll have to wait til the end. lol
I realize that I am at a "season" in my life that may not be like the "season" of my friends or neighbors and I'm trying to compare myself to them. It's not fair of me to do that to myself.

For example: my yard this summer started out great, the weeds were kept at bay, the garden growing, and lawn mowed. Now by the end of the summer my yard is full of weeds, my garden has weeds (not as many as my yard, I have kept up on that) my flowerbeds are starting to get weeds in them and the lawn looks like the jungle(ok not that bad but it is long).
My neighbor next door's yard is immaculate, no weeds, flowers are blooming, lawn is green and trimmed, it looks so nice and inviting. Granted they have their parents living with them so they have 2 extra hands (see what I mean about excuses) Well after reading this post I realize I am comparing myself to someone who is in a different "season in life" than I am. They have 2 kids, girls and they are 12 and 8.

I have 3 boys and a baby. My oldest boy who helps me with the weeding and mows the lawn has been working this summer so he hasn't had as much time to help me with the yard. My 6 year old hates I mean hates the heat when its really hot so it is very hard to get him to go outside to help and my 4 year old is a good helper but doesn't have a long attention span and then there is my baby who is 9 months old. She doesn't want to be couped up in a stroller and loves to crawl everywhere including dirt. I hope you are seeing what I mean. I am at a different stage in life where things aren't going to be perfect, I'm sure when my sons get a little older they will be able to pull more weeds, and take over mowing the lawn for my 17 year old in time. My house won't be destroyed by boys playing with toys and using their imaginations.

This post really helped me to feel better about myself, I know feel more motivated to get my butt off the couch and work on my house. I know I don't have to keep up with the "Joneses" and can only do what I can do for this "season" of my life. I love the stage of life I'm in. My kids learning and growing and playing and being a senior in high school, driving, and dating. It will pass by me in a flash so I don't need to be worried about how bad my weedfest is and my house will be immaculate one day so for now I'll just keep on working at it and there will be the times it will be spotless and other times just a few toys.

So here is the post check it out for yourself and thanks for reading about my season of life.
Courage to be you

Kitchen floor and flour don't mix

I think I told you I have tons of zucchini's this year. I usually plant 2 plants and ended up with 3. For more details scroll down a bit.

Anyway I've been trying to come up with different recipes to use them and I've frozen some shredded zucchini also.

I've tried 2 different bread recipes. I have my mom's which I love its more like bread. My friend gave me a recipe that she uses so I tried that. It has more of the crunchy sweet crust. I love both of them and to mix it up a bit so my kids don't get bored with it I'll make one recipe one week and then another the next.

Today I made the sweeter crunchy crust recipe. I didn't have the lemon zest so I left that out and I don't use walnuts since neither my kids nor myself like them. Well I started making the bread and was flouring the bread pans and my little helper under my feet loves to play with my shoe laces. My 9 month old had untied my shoe lace and I moved to step over to dump out the extra flour and tripped and the extra flour in the bread pan went flying so I have flour all over the floor and all over my shoes and on my little helper.

Later as I am taking out the beaters (that's what I call them) from my hand mixer I take a step toward the sink and slip on the flour on the floor and accidentally turn it on while pressing the buttons in to release the beaters, so bread mixture is flying all over the kitchen cabinets, the walls, the floor and me. I swear it is not my day today. Yesterday I just cleaned off all of my cabinets. I scrubbed them all down and put some orange oil on them. I guess they weren't use to being clean so now they aren't again...lol I was hoping to go at least one day with them clean.

Here's the bread recipe if you want it and take note that the picture I'm posting is actually for my mom's recipe. I'll post that one later after I get my cabinets cleaned up. If yours doesn't look the same you'll know why.



Zucchini Bread

3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teas. ground cinnamon
1 teas. baking soda
1/2 teas. salt
1/2 teas. baking powder
1/2 teas. nutmeg
2 cups white granulated sugar
2 cups finely shredded unpeeled zucchini
1/2 cup canola oil (or vegetable
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon finely shredded lemon peel or zest of
1/2 to 1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

In a mixing bowl combine flour, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, baking powder and nutmeg. In another mixing bowl combine sugar, shredded zucchini, oil, egs and lemon peel; mix well. Add flour mixture to the wet mixture; stir just until combined. Stir in chopped walnuts.

Pour batter into 2 greased and floured 8x4x2inch loaf pans. Bake in over for 45-60 minutes depending on your oven or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes on a wire rack.

Remove bread from the pan;cool completely on a wire rack. Wrap and store overnight before slicing. (I just serve it when its cool)

Back to school time

It's back to school time for us. Getting our routines back on track. It seems by the end of the summer bedtime is later and later and other routines have gone haywire. I love the thought of getting back to my routine. Getting up, getting ready, getting kids breakfast and out the door to the bus.

The hard time for me this season is when I'm going to get ready. I have a senior that gets up at 6:30, my hubby is up at 7 and I get my 1st grader up a little after 7. So that leaves me with getting ready after 8 but in 2 more weeks I have preschool starting.

So do I get up before 6:30 or get ready after 9. There are times when I can squeeze in getting ready between 8-9 but I still have breakfast to get for my preschooler. Getting up before 6:30 a.m. makes for a long day and especially if the baby didn't sleep well that night.

I'm sure after a few trial and errors and driving my preschooler to school with wet hair I'll probably get my routine down.

How's your routine going? How do you cope with changes such as new baby, kindergarten, work, etc.?

Zucchini

I usually plant two zucchini plants because one usually dies. Last year they both lived so naturally I thought I'd plant two again this year. Well now I have 3??? To my amazement another one grew. I planted some crook neck squash and cucumbers and none of them came up. A plant started right next to my other zucchini plants so I let it grow thinking it was a crook neck or yellow squash because that's what I planted there. Well it wasn't it as another zucchini plant. Now I have zucchini's coming out of my ears.

I am searching for recipes to use zucchini in. I have a zucchini mushroom casserole recipe, a zucchini bread and a zucchini chocolate cake recipe. All of those I love. I found a zucchini muffin recipe that you use Raisin Bran with so I need to try that and someone gave me a cream of zucchini soup I thought I would try in the fall. It's too hot for soup right now. My cousin gave me a zucchini boat recipe that I need to try.

So if you have any recipes let me know. I am giving zucchini's away and making things like crazy. I guess I should freeze some but I think I will be zucchinied out here pretty soon.

I'm back

The bad blogger is back, hopefully for good this time. It's been a long summer. Haven't had a lot of time to get on the computer. Now that summer is winding down and school is about to start I'm hoping to get into my old routine.

I've started putting the kids to bed earlier in hopes that the early morning wake up call in a couple of weeks won't put them into shock.

I've started them back on chores again. They've been doing them but not all of them. Summer use to be the best time for chores for me and the kids but with the baby this time its thrown us all for a loop.

So back to the old routine and getting everything back to being organized!!

Yeah!!

Too much family Too much!!??

On Saturday we had 3 family parties. Yes, 3 of them. The first was my husband's dad's side. We have it every year and this year his uncle was in town that we see maybe once a year. It's a swimming party at his uncles.

The second was my side a family reunion at my Grandma's. I was in on the planning so I had to go. Needless to say my kids were the worst there. I don't know if its more competition because there is more kids or what but they weren't at their best. Let's just say it wasn't the funnest of all the parties.

The third was at my hubby's Grandma's. His cousin was in town from Georgia. I've met her once since we've been married. I think we haven't seen her for about 5 years I would say. She brought her daughter which we haven't seen in person who is now 3 years old.

Well we went to all of them. The first started at one and the last we got their at 7:30 p.m. They were only serving snacks which struck me as kindof weird since it started at 6 p.m. which is most peoples dinner. We didn't eat at the first one since we were planning on eating at the second. Needless to say we were buying pizza at 9:30 at night. The kids were starving and so was I.

So after all the break downs, the whining, the bloody swelled lip, the crying, some laughs, we were exhausted yesterday. My youngest son was sick from not eating. He plays so much its hard to get him to eat. So a couple of bites of pizza at 10 when we finally got home, trying to keep him awake to eat it his pizza just isn't enough.

I talked to my mom yesterday and she said I need to learn the word no. Well in hindsight I wouldn't have gone to the party on my side. There wasn't enough food and the kids were either getting punched or getting into trouble. If I would have told my mom I wasn't coming she would have had a fit.

So how do you go about making it easier on the kids. It was way way too much for them and too much for the parents. I know it doesn't happen often but the recovery from it all is exhausting. The kids are still tired today and my hubby well, I'll just say he is ornery.

Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to not live around so much family. My husband and I have 2 sets of parents each. Both of our parents are divorced and remarried. My dad lives the furthest away in Idaho so I don't see him very often, my mom is 30 minutes away, mother-in-law 5 minutes and father-in-law 15 minutes. We don't see his dad as much as the mom's. It seems we are always having family things, birthday parties, reunions, etc. It wouldn't be so bad but some of these people I see several times a week. There are the blessed times that we go a month or two without seeing them. I guess I shouldn't complain because they are close. You would probably say you have a sitter whenever you need one but it never works out that way.

Our anniversay was last Tuesday. My mom was sick and my MIL had things going on with her mother. We had the kids and the weekend was shot with family things so I planned a scavenger hunt with my hubby and the kids to find things and pick up chicken and meet me at a park. The boys loved it. I kept the baby with me and my oldest son whose 17 was gone on the trek. It turned out nice. So now that I wanted my blog to not be about venting here I've gone and done it again. Oh well....I'll try better tomorrow :)

BAD BaD Blogger

I admit it I'm a Bad BAD BAD Blogger lately. I've really been slacking and I try not too. This summer has been more hectic than I am use to. I've also felt that I'm so negative on my blog and I don't want to be. I think I've used it as a place for venting out my frustrations. Venting how imperfect I am lately and how I can't seem to get things done. So I'm trying to change my negativity to positivity!!!

I don't know about you but this summer has been crazy between art camp, 2 gaming camps, and keeping the kids from boredom and fighting, planning a reunion and more I've been really busy. We are not planning a vacation this summer. It's been too hard to plan with the baby and all the other activities my oldest son has going on. He just left today to go on a Pioneer Trek for the next 4 days. I think I need a vacation though. Mom's deserve a vacation, maybe a spa treatment, a pedicure picture this with me...



a good book and a nice hot bath. (Ok the hot bath isn't sounding so good right now. Its 96 degrees here.) The nice warm bubble bath. That could work ;) time away from the kids, a massage. Sounds nice to me where do I sign up!!

With the current economy and my husband being in real estate not so good for the vacation either which is fine since its hard to plan with all of my sons activities. So we are doing a "Staycation". I've heard a lot about it lately in the newspaper and on tv. Here's how ours is playing out swimming, playing in the backyard in the sprinklers, with the slip and slide, water fights and just playing around. The local amusement park, dinosaur park, the zoo and a trip to the Childrens Discovery Center we are having our "Staycation". I think I'll book mine after the kids are back in school.

Camping Week

The summer fighting has begun. My kids need some structure or some activities to keep them from fighting. I usually have crafts set up and a day to cook or bake something, we do a field trip once a week, maybe the $1 movie at the theatre but this year with the baby its been hard to get anything set up.

I can't stand all the fighting that has begun now though. My two younger boys play together really well. They will go outside and jump on the trampoline play outside with toys, in the dirt or mud. But its been raining a ton so they haven't been playing outside as much. They have good imaginations and play with toys and come up with things inside but then they get fighting and I want to rip my hair out so I sat down on the computer and thought I can do a week at a time so this week we are doing a camping week.
Our activities for camping week is as follows:

We are going to the library to get books on camping. I ordered one from the kids last book order of the year. Mercer Mayer's Little Critter book Me and My Dad and they go camping.

Make indoor forts or tent with blankets etc.
Tell ghost stories
Let them sleep in it at night

For cooking and baking:

Hobo dinners
Another dinner night will be roasting hot dogs and marshmallows. (the weather is supposed to clear up and be good this week except one day)

Make smores and trail mix.

Make Banana boats for dessert one night.

Go on a walk and gather twigs, leaves, rocks, etc

For crafts we are going to do:

Camping Paintings-
we will use our twigs, rocks, leaves and stuff from our walk.

Camping Collage- they can make with the leftover stuff from the walk and I'll print out a few pictures too.

Make stick men- have them hunt for sticks and glue their own stick men together along with googly eyes.

Make grocery sack backpacks

Make glow in the dark pictures that they can see while they are sleeping in their tent.

Coloring and some activities on paper about camping.

So this is my plan for this week. Hopefully the weather will hold out maybe I'll let them sleep out in the backyard but the mosquitos are so bad after all the rain. Hopefully this will make my week go by faster.

Busy Summer Days

I am such a bad blogger lately. With the kids home, baseball, t-ball and summer camps I haven't had much time lately. I've also taken a couple of digital scrapbooking courses. Its so much fun. I'm just getting into it and trying to figure out Photoshop Elements.

This year I wanted to make a plan for my kids for summer. A calendar of activities and ideas of things to do so the summer didn't just fly by.

Some of the things could be reading, our library has a summer reading program. Workbooks so my kids don't forget during the summer months.

I also wanted to include cooking days, activity days, field trips (inexpensive ones), craft days, etc.

Well I haven't done it yet. I wish I could find a website that would have something already done that I could just vamp to my family. I found a couple that have some ideas. Here's one Chocolate On My CraniumNow I just need to incorporate it.

Do you make plans for the summer months or do you just let it fly by? I don't like to be all scheduled, I like some spontaneity so I can go do something with friends or family if needed. But I also want some scheduling some sort of plan.

Pumpkin growing contest

My dad, brothers and I are having a giant pumpkin growing contest this year for fun. This is the first year that all of us have a place to grow a garden. My older brother is a pretty avid gardner. He loves it, he's good at it and he has a good, warm, longer growing season too.

My youngest brother is pretty good at it too. This will be my other brothers first year with his garden. I've grown pumpkins but not giant pumpkins. So we'll see how it turns out.

Last year I had a beautiful hubbard squash plant. It was dead in a day. Squash bugs got it. So I'll need to be careful to watch my pumpkin plants.

I planted some seeds back in March. I finally got them in the ground a couple of weeks ago. So we will see how they turn out. My dad probably has the shortest growing season. Late and early frost but I think he has a few tricks up his sleeve (so I've heard) to get his going and growing.

Wish me luck and we'll see how big they turn out.

Peanutbutter Cornflake Treats

1 cup sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
1 cup creamy peanutbutter
6 cups corn flakes
1/2 bag chocolate chips

Put corn flakes in a large bowl set aside. I medium saucepan over medium heat combine sugar and corn syrup just til boiling. Remove from heat and add peanut butter until combined. Pour over corn flakes. Stir gently to coat. When coated add chocolate chips and gently stir to combine. Spoon spoonfuls (however large you would like them I use a tablespoon) of mixture onto waxed paper. Don't crush together. Let cool. Store in airtight container. Makes about 60 more or less depending on the size you make them.



This recipe is quick and easy if you need something fast. With the end of school coming up and all the things going on with right now I'm into quick and simple dinners and desserts.

If anyone knows of some great quick and simple dinners or freezer meals that I can make let me know. I have baseball 4 nights a week right now and I really don't like to eat dinner at 9 o'clock every night.

Shrek has nothing on me

Things have been quite a mess around here. We were becoming like Shrek, living with a "swamp". That's what I liked to call it, it sounds so much nicer than a sess pool. (Not sure how to spell that never had to before)

Okay I need to STOP right here and issue a WARNING!!! As you may have guessed while you were reading above the next few posts are going to talk about really smelly stinky stuff mainly POOP.

When Shrek said he was like onions and Donkey said they get all brown and smelly and Shrek said no they have layers well they were both right. There are a few layers to my story and it starts out nice then goes to the inside which is smelly and brown maybe black.

So now that I've issued my WARNING!! We can continue...

Let me take you back a little. We started noticing our grass in the backyard was getting a little squishy, then getting a little swampy. Anyway my "no more than you" teen would mow the lawn and the lawn mower started to sink. My husband went and checked it out and yes, you guessed it our leech lines from our septic tank were having problems. Plugged, broken, I don't know but were had a little swamp starting in our backyard in the grass.

So fast forward about 2 weeks. My husband had been really busy with work and we had been having lots of rain and bad weather so the "little swamp" just stayed put. Well more rain, more ground saturation "bigger swamp" started. Then my 5 year old had his birthday party. We had to tell the kids to stay away from that part of the yard. We told them not to go into the tall grass. My "no more than you" teen quit mowing the grass in the "swamp". My husbands aunt thought we had snakes so all the kids heard her say that and stayed away.

Fast forward again. Well the weather all of a sudden cleared up and started to get warm, really warm and the smell started coming from the "swamp". (I forgot to tell you at the birthday party my cousins husband offered to help fix the "swamp") So this is about a week later...
I have this in my backyard

I'll spare you the really gross and smelly details and just end with 6- 10' pipes, two big deep trenches and a load of gravel later and now part of my backyard looks like this
Well Shrek still lives in his swamp and mine is all gone (hopefully it all worked) I don't think he has anything on me except he can make a mean weed rat stew and pull wax out of his ear for a nice romantic dinner but I'm "swampless" now I just need to smooth out the dirt and plant some more grass....

I forgot to mention the previous owners of the house put carpet and vinyl flooring in the sand box. We started digging and found the carpet. To our amazement we found the vinyl flooring in there also so while we had the backhoe we dug that out too. We had tons of "puncture weeds" in the sand box so now its just dirt and a pile of carpet of vinyl.

Quest for organization

I've noticed with this baby and 4 kids I'm having a harder time keeping my house cleaned. I don't know if its the 4 kids or what but it seems like it shouldn't be this bad. My kids have have to do some adjusting having a new baby in the house and also my teenager that has helped me so much before has decided friends are more fun. Who new?? Just kidding I was the same way.

In my "quest" to become more organized I have a question. Is it better to have one surface area clean than no surface area?

What I mean is I'll ask my "friends are funner to be around than you mom" teenager to clean off the table for me. He moves all of the stuff to my hutch. So the table is clean but the hutch has more stuff on it.

In the "real world" I would love to have the hutch and the counter and the table cleared of everything. It will happen one of these days again. I know it!! I would love for him to find a home for the stuff on the table, which he is also a culprit of putting them there. He'll sweep the floor and toys will be on the floor so on the table they go. I wish he would put them away. I've asked and asked now I'll I ask for is a clean surface area.

No CLUTTER is coming my way soon!!!

Crazy morning

I can tell the school year is winding down. The kids are getting more forgetful or at least mine are. My preschooler has movie day today for his last day of preschool. My kindergartener has a walk and carnival this evening and he needs to take a sack lunch and treats for a field trip tomorrow and my high schooler well, he forgot he needed treats for school today. UHHH!!

I was just getting the baby down for bed. She was really fussy and my high schooler had just got out of the shower it was a little after 10 p.m. He said I forgot that I need treats tomorrow for one of my classes. I just wanted to scream. I had just gotten back from the store. My husband said he could run to the store and get a bag of candy. But he didn't want to go last night that he would go in the morning. My son tells me its better to have homemade or something like that.

Now I'm thinking in school your supposed to take store bought stuff but I guess for this particular class they can bring whatever. He tells me one girl brought Bugles covered with caramel stuff and someone else brought cookies. I told him I could whip up and some cornflake peanutbutter balls. He said ok. My husband said he would go get the cornflakes in the morning for me. Well needless to say he forgot, got up late. I was totally out of it. The baby woke up at 2 then my 4 year old was up and I don't even know what time that was.

So we were off to the store at 8 this morning. I bought the kids a BK breakfast and ran into the grocery store for corn flakes. Dropped off my kindergartener to school got home made the corn flakes balls, my neighbor (luckily it was her turn to drive for preschool) picked up my preschooler and I drove over to the high school with the treats. I was only 5 minutes late.

I was pretty proud of myself. So now off to the shower and clean up my house. Maybe I'll have time to visit a few blogs.

I was going to post the recipe but I forgot to take a picture plus the baby has had it so I'll do that tomorrow.

Race for the Cure

Saturday we walked in the 5k for the Race for the Cure for Breast Cancer. It was a lot of fun. There were thousands of people.




My kids did pretty good. My 6 year old walked most of the way. It took us 1 hour and 15 minutes to finish.
It was fun to see all the people and the different t-shirts and hats and signs. It's a great cause.

Spring Cleaning

It's Spring Cleaning time. Time to air out your house and clean away those winter blues (and cobwebs).

Check out the Spring Cleaning Party going on.



Also Tip Junkie has a lot of spring cleaning tips so head on over and get a cleaning.

Mother's Day

With Mother's Day right around the corner I've been thinking about what to do. Before Mother's Day was hard for me. My mom always wanted me to come to her house and have a Mother's Day dinner. My in-laws wanted me to come over their for their Mother's Day dinner. But what about me? Don't I get to do something I want since I'm a mother??

I really didn't like going to any Mother's Day celebration. In fact I dreaded it. My mom would give me the guilt trip of me being their and my mother-in-law would give my husband the guilt trip of us being at her house. I really started to dread it and thought I'm a mom I should do what I want.

Luckily my mom (I love her dearly so don't think I'm being mean) has been going out of town for the past 4 Mother's Day's with her husband and his kids. He takes them to Disneyland and San Diego every year. Bless him!!! So now my dilema is solved pretty much. Some years my mother-in-law doesn't do anything so we can do whatever we want. My brother and sister-in-law usually have nothing to do because her mom lives in another state and its hard for them to travel for the weekend so they usually end of doing nothing with family so they have started their own traditions.

My sister-in-law figures she doesn't want to cook so they go to a park let the kids play, take chicken, rolls, etc that they pick up and have a picnic. Or they will bring something to BBQ like steaks, hamburgers and hotdogs. She will make brownies or cookies or something the day before for dessert. I thought it sounded so nice and simple.

Does your Mother's Day involve a big celebration with dinner, tea, brunch, or maybe a BBQ? Is is a lot of work or simple and fun?

Now that my mom isn't around and the holiday isn't as hectic for us we plan a different day to do Mother's Day with her and combine her birthday with it since its in May also.

This year I've been on a theme kick for birthdays and once a month we have a dinner at her house. February we had Italian, March was green and food with vinegar(my mom's idea) April was breakfasts and Danish (my son wanted Danish pastries).

I thought for May it would be fun to do a tea party with my mom and her grandkids (boys included). Have finger foods, crafts-like decorating a crazy hat to wear to the tea party, and maybe dressing up.

Here's some recipes for scones for the tea party:
Joy of baking


The Sunday Baker has a great blueberry scone recipe with detailed pictures of how to make them.

Now I'm off to find some finger foods and decorations....

Mother's Day Give Away

Head on over to 5 Minutes for Mom. They are having a BIG GIVE AWAY for Mother's Day. Click on the button and go enter for lot of fun prizes!!

Routines

So do you have a morning routine? I use too, still do to some degree. Tuesdays and Thursdays I love because all the boys are in school. Before I had the baby I would clean, have some "me" time, usually spent on the computer. Now I clean up breakfast and spend a little time on the computer. It seems my routines have slipped lately.

I can't do the same thing every day because the baby is not quite in a routine herself yet. She is pretty good but she has a cold so she just went down for a nap which would have been earlier but she slept longer this morning and didn't get up until after 9. (I'm not complaining at all)

I think this is apart of having "the blahs" or "the funk". I just can't seem to get my routine down. I know having a baby is hard and I'm just grateful to have her. (It took us quite some time to get pregnant and we thought we weren't having any more but that is a story for another day.)

But I feel so overwhelmed from being behind in my cleaning routine. My laundry has stacked up. I can get it done but sometimes not folded or put away before the kids get home.

My kids aren't doing their routines as well as I would like them to either. They would make their beds when they got home, clean up toys at night or when done playing, vaccuum or dust depending on age. I use to read to them every night, now with the baby some nights I can't. I've had my 17 year old read to them or my husband if he's not working. Some nights they go without. It makes me sad.

I feel unorganized. I still need to put my maternity clothes away and bring up my spring/summer clothes from the basement.

I know this time will pass and I will get caught up on my laundry and my house won't look like a bomb hit it and the kids will be read to every night. But for now I'm just taking it by baby steps. Getting the baby into more of a routine. Crash cleaning if needed. I have my 4 year old dusting now and its great, everything on the four year old eye level.

Now I just need to get my 17 year old to do more. He use to help a lot more but he is taking drivers ed, so that takes up lots more time and he wants to spend more time with friends. I don't know why!! Just kidding I loved spending time with friends and I was in drill team. I don't even remember my chores as a teenager. I remember when I was little I mopped the kitchen floor once a week and cleaned the bathroom on Saturdays and my room. And had kitchen duty on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Maybe thats my problem. I should have my 17 year old do dish duty a couple times a week. Right now he sweeps every day for me and empty's the dishwasher usually every other day. My 4 year old has learned how to empty the dishwasher so I guess my 6 year old can too.

I think I need another incentive for my kids chore charts. They love to do them and get the stickers but they get bored after a while. I'm going searching for some ideas, if you have some please share with me.

And if you made it this far thanks for staying with me on my long rambling post. I think sometimes I just write this stuff for my own benefit. This is my "adult talking time" since I'm around my kids all day.

The Blahs

I was blog hopping this morning and I visited TuTu's Bliss. She made me feel a lot better. This past week and probably longer week to 2 weeks I have just been in a blah mood. Not really feeling well. It had been raining off and on and cold, then I had a sore throat for a week and then got a stuffy, runny nose that I thought turned into a sinus infection. I went to the doctor they said I had fluid in my ears, blah, blah, blah sinus infection here's your antibiotic. Well, the next day (I didn't want to wait in line to fill my prescription so I went home) I felt tons better. No antibiotics taken or anything just a waste of my $$ for the doctor.

Well it turns out there is others out there feeling about the same way. I haven't really got anything accomplished. I feel so far behind on my housework that its so overwhelming that I don't even want to try to get caught up. I just do the basics, a load of laundry here, dishes there. So at least we have clean clothes and dishes to eat off of and cook with. Blog hopping got me through the week.

Well that was last week. Today I feel better, the sun is shining again, even though it's still cold out. I feel like "the funk" as TuTu's Bliss calls it or the Blahs is gone. I feel I can get out and start cleaning start catching up even though I'm still lacking sleep with the baby I just feel better.

My trees are starting to blossom it just feels better!!

Kid Friendly Meal

I have mentioned before that I have picky eaters. All of my boys are picky. They don't like veggies and only some fruits. And they are just picky all the way around with other foods. When it comes to trying new foods its like pulling teeth.

My sister-in-law gave me a recipe for calzones. This way the kids can help make their own and add whatever they want in them.
You take Rhodes rolls or whatever kind of frozen rolls or bread you want. I use 2 for the kids, 3 for me and 4 for my husband and teenager. Or 3 for them then they can have more than one. Defrost the dough. I do 30 seconds on one side, turn over then 25 seconds on the other. Smash them together then have the kids roll them out.

Next add spaghetti sauce. Just spoon on however much you like. My youngest doesn't like sauce so this is perfect for him. Then add whatever you like. Pepperoni, ham, mushrooms, pineapple, cheese, any veggies you like.
Next fold them over and pinch the edges together. Put on a greased cookie sheet. Or spray with Pam.



Bake in the oven on 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.

We had these for dinner for my son's birthday. He loves pizza but I thought we would try something different. He also like pizza pockets but I don't like the cost or the added stuff to them. These freeze very well and reheat up really well also.

Pirates

My canon balls are ready to fire!! I'm on the lookout for Mom at Life...Exaggerated I'm defending my blog from being pirated. I think it already has been though... check out the comments in my last post. Keep your blog from being pirated matey!! Get your canon balls and swords ready.



(That just reminded me I think pirate day at pre-school is coming up. I need to find a pirate costume. Wow!! I'm so glad Mom stopped by or I would have completely forgotten. Thanks)

Rain

It is raining like crazy here. At least it isn't cold. I love the spring rain, when its warmer. I couldn't find my sons rain jacket so I drove him to the bus stop. The other kids were soaked. I can't believe how hard its raining.

Upside: Green grass and lots of pretty flowers coming my way.

Downside: Dark, cold and wet

Luckily we got our peas planted on Saturday. I know we are a bit late but at least they are planted and now we are getting some rain. I guess there are more positives to rain than I thought.

Now that I'm done rambling on pretty much about nothing I think I'll do some blog hopping.

Slacking Spring Break

Ok, so I've really been slacking on my blog lately. It's been Spring break here so my kids are home from school. They go back to school tomorrow, Tuesday. It will be nice. I'll finally be able to get the house back in order and get back into a routine.

I was going to post on Friday but I was sick. My mom took my oldest son shopping for his birthday and I had to take him to meet her. I ended up shopping with them and having lunch. It was fun but I had the worst sinus headache and then Saturday it was even worse when I got up. I went to the doctor and they said I had a sinus infection. I think it was a combo of allergies and an infection. The hard part is I can't take a lot since I'm still breastfeeding the baby.

The good news is I'm feeling 80% better. I'd probably be feeling better if I had more sleep but that will come with time.

I got a couple of cute ideas from craft day with my aunts and cousins. I'll be posting them tomorrow. Can't wait for some free time. I love my kids but I like my routine on Tuesdays and Thursdays since I only have the baby home in the mornings, I actually get a "little me time".

Organize and crash cleaning

I've noticed with the baby I can't do as much "crash cleaning" as I like to call it. It's always worked for me when company is coming. Now it's hard for me to get things done. The baby is still a little collicky and I think she now likes to be held a lot. Can't complain because I'm just so happy to have her. (That's another story for another day...)



I am having a Craft Day with my family on my dad's side. We don't get to see each other very much and it's fun to get together have lunch and make things. My cousin is the "bomb" at making hair bows. They are the cutest bows. Now that I have a little girl I could go "hairbow crazy" along with all the other girl accessories. So we are making bows, tutu's, baby leggings, and whatever else anyone wants to make.

With me having the baby we are having it at my house this time. My house is in ok order but its still needs some deep cleaning and organizing. I haven't figured out what to do with my kids school work. They feel bad when I throw it away but I can't keep all of it. And toys, I have toys everywhere. I need to go through them and give some away. I need some system put in order for my boys to put there toys away. I have bins, totes, and plastic drawer bins. I've had them all organized so they know where things go but they just don't get put back away.

So I'm off to search some great organizing blogs. If you have any you like let me know. In the meantime I'm doing a "mini crash clean" and hope no one cares that my house isn't spotless.

I'll be posting pictures of our Craft day on Friday.

BiRtHdAy WiShEs!!

Today is my son's 17th birthday. I'm not sure what to do for him. I think he is getting to old for balloons? My younger boys love them. I told him I would cook him his favorite dinner which is Italian minimeatloaves and italian mac & cheese. I got the recipe from Rachel Ray.

We are celebrating his birthday with my 5 almost 6 year olds birthday on the 19th with family. Last year we made a sign since he was turning 16 and put it up on the house over the garage with some balloons that said Happy Birthday so when he got home he would see it. I just don't have any ideas this year. Maybe its the lack of sleep with the new baby or I don't know.

Do you have any ideas???

Adorable shoes

Check out Frugal Mommy of 2. The button is on my sidebar. She is having a great GiVeAwAy for some Vincent shoes. They are so adorable. So go check them out and enter the contest.

Menu Planning

Menu Planning for the week

Monday- Tacos & Nachos

Tuesday- Italian Mini meatloaves & Italian Mac & Cheese
(Son's birthday request)

Wednesday- Pork Chops, rice & asparagus

Thursday- Clam Chowder & homemade french bread

Friday- Homemade Calzones

Saturday- Leftover Buffet

Sunday- Easter Dinner at relatives, bring dessert

I thought if I type out my dinner plans for the week it would help. Plus it helped to enter me in a contest. Check out Menu planning Monday over at orgjunkie.com

Check out a Hair bow GiVeAwAy

Go check out this cool GiVeAwAy! It's at Babes in Hairland. She has 2 Give Aways for hair bows and accessories. Just what my Paytie bug needs!!

Nothing

I'm slacking big time this week of updating my blog. The baby has been sick with a runny nose, croupy cough and fever and now I think I'm coming down with something. I think Spring came for a tease a while back and now we are back to cold winds, snow and rain.

I was going to post a recipe but I only have one hand to type with because I'm holding the baby so today will be a post about nothing. I think there was a tv show about nothing wasn't there? To bad I can't make that kind of money blogging about nothing.


Tomorrow I've got a great Friday Find to post about.

Hot HOT

I didn't update my blog all weekend or yesterday. I have had a crazy weekend. I took my little Paytie bug in to get pictures taken on Saturday. She was cranky and the room was so HOT!! I had a cute little outfit on her with a brown coat that had pink flowers and was lined with a furry leopard print. The underneath of my hair was soaked by the time we left...did I mention it was HOT!!

Well needless to say she didn't cooperate. She wouldn't smile and was fussy and crying. I was ready to rip my hubby's head off. He was trying to help and kept saying lets reschedule. I don't think he understands what it takes to get there. And then you have to wait for 10-20 minutes and then walk into a room thats HOT!!! Then the baby is fussy, it is just so much work and energy. And then its HOT!!

I took her home and took some pictures later after she slept for 2 hours. She doesn't usually sleep for 2 hours. She is a big cat napper unless I'm holding her. We are trying again on Thursday. I scheduled the first appointment so it wouldn't be hot. It will probably turn out the same but at least it won't be so hot!!

Turns out she has a little cold, I have had a sore throat all weekend and my foot keeps hurting. Don't know whats up with that. My hubby just keeps telling me to go to the doctor. I don't go to the doctor for a sore throat or a sore foot. It has to be something major. And what is weird is my foot will stop hurting then start up again a few days later.

I think its all the walking around I do with the baby on our wood floors. She is still a little collicky and with her being sick she was fussy all weekend.

Did they say SPRING was on the way??? I saw it for a minute.

Newspaper Frenzy

Here's the story:

I'm sitting on the couch holding the baby relaxing because my 5 year old is at school and so is my pre-schooler. After 2 days with them home sick I'm about ready to tear my hair out. I think they are too. They have been fighting like crazy, yelling and hitting and just GRUMPYYYY!!

So I'm enjoying my peace and quiet watching a little tv for a minute when I think I hear the garage door open...I listen, no, I think, it can't be the garage door. No one should be home yet, then in runs my 5 year old yelling, "Mom, Come quick hurry!!" So I jump up put the baby down and run to the garage. The wind is blowing like crazy and my 5 year old precedes to tell me that there is newspaper flying everywhere and the mail is blowing away. There is a bundle of crumpled newspaper and some mail on the wagon in the garage.

So we go running out of the garage our newspaper is blowing into the neighbors yard. Mail is blowing this way and that way. I yell for him to get the mail in our yard. I take off after the papers that are going in my neighbors yard. They are strung out all over the bushes. Luckily the bushes are stopping them for a second so I can pounce on them.

Needless to say we grabbed as much as we could. I think we got all the mail but if you see any flying around with my name on it send it my way will you.

So my nice relaxing minute is over...my paper is all over the place and not in any kind of order. I hope we got all of our mail. I guess I forgot what time it was and didn't look out for my kindergartener to get home. He tried to get the mail but dropped some and the wind was so cold and blowing so hard. He was so worried that is was going to blow away. I thought it was cute and funny. And I'm sure I looked funny running all over our yard and the neighbors in my slippers trying to catch newspaper and mail blowing everywhere. Luckily I had sweats and a t-shirt on but it was sure cold and the snow melted. Spring isn't it wonderful!!

Hopefully the running got some energy out of the kids and they will be happier today. I'm hoping for no fighting. I told my husband I'm going to Craft Night with my friends tonight and he has the kids and if my day doesn't go better dinner too!!

Wordful Wednesday

Yesterday I had 2 sick kids at home and the baby wouldn't let me put her down. Every time I put her down she would cry. Needless to say I didn't get anything done.

So this morning first thing I jumped in the shower. The baby was happy the kids are still sick but a lot better. I get out of the shower, the kids are fighting, I come out of the kitchen to find this on my table....


Yep, you guessed it peanutbutter!! I guess I should have fed them breakfast first.

My house looks like a bomb hit it and I want to pull my hair out. Its cold outside and snowy and a big snow storm is supposed to hit tonight. Is Spring out there somewhere?? I need a vacation, the spa, or calgon....do they still make that?

Find more Wordful Wednesday here

Mopey Monday

Today I'm in a blah mood. We are back to winter here again. It snowed last night and its cold again. Windy, cloudy and very chilly. It had been in the upper 60's low 70's for about a week. I know the snow won't last but it still is kindof a downer.

The kids are home from school today it's the end of the term. It should be a great day for movies and popcorn but I'm not in the mood. I need a mood buster to lift me back to my happy self. Wow! I'm a downer today!!

I think blog hopping might help. I'm sure there is some happy cheery person out there that can make me laugh and cheer me up!! Some funny story of something that happened over the weekend....

Blog Party Time

It's 5 minutes for Mom's Ultimate Blog party. Check it out!! There will be lots of fun!!

Blue tape and Twilight

Amateur Taper and Edger For Hire

Great taper of floorboards, wall edges or corners and ceilings.

Paints floorboards and edges of wall by floorboards, wall corners and edge from ceiling to wall.

Will not be responsible if paint hits the ceiling do to distractions such as baby crying, getting bumped, etc.

Contact me at 555-BLUETAPE

My brother and sister-in-law bought a house and I am helping paint this weekend. I'm the designated taper. Somehow I got labeled as the "Designated Taper". I guess I do a fairly decent job. So my weekend is Painting Weekend.

Hopefully the baby will be good enough so I can go to a Twilight Party. A few of my friends are getting together and watching Twilight on Saturday night. Can't wait Edward, popcorn and girlfriends!!
Priceless!!

Chickens or garden

This is my 4 year old chasing chickens out of our yard.
So here's the story:

Yesterday after my 4 year old and I ventured out to see what made it through the winter he kept asking me when we were planting and what we were planting. So we went to the store and bought some peas. I think we will plant them this weekend. I'll have my 16 year old til up the garden for me and then we can start planting.

I have slowly been planting an herb garden but some of the things I've planted didn't come back. My lavender plant didn't and I know its a perennial. I think I planted chamomile but I can't remember if it is or not. My chives and sage are back and my mint but I need to dig up my mint and plant it in a bucket in the ground. I didn't realize it would spread all over.


We also have a little problem with our neighbors chickens. The are digging up my flower beds, my garden, around my trees and bushes. Did I say little, big BIG problem.

So my dilemma is WHAT TO DO ABOUT THE CHICKENS?? My hubby has talked to the neighbors and they just act like its not that big of a deal. To me it is. Last year they dug up my flower beds and my tulips and daffodils were dug up and I had no flowers come up. It really made me mad. So if you have any ideas of what to do with my neighbors chickens let me know.

Wordful Wednesday

My 4 year old and I went and checked out our yard to see what was "popping out". The flowers are just starting to "pop out", the trees are starting to bud and the bushes. Can't wait to start planting.

Spring is here!!! Yeah!!!

Want to see more of Wordful Wednesday check out

Tasty Tuesday

Since the weather is still a little cooler I thought a recipe for Tasty Tuesday would be good.

Taco Soup:
1 lb. hamburger
1 med. onion
1 pkg. taco seasoning (I use mild)
1 (16oz.) can cut corn, with juice
1 (16oz) can kidney beans, drained washed
1 (28 oz) can stewed tomatoes
1 (8 oz) can tomato sauce
Grated cheese
Doritos or tortilla chips
1-2 cups water (optional) (I don't add unless I want it more soupy)
sour cream

Fry hamburger and onions together, cook til done, drain. In a large pan add hamburger, onions, taco seasoning, corn, kidney beans, tomatoes and tomato sauce. Bring to a boil, turn down and simmer. Spoon into a bowl, add cheese and crushed chips. Top with sour cream.







What's soup without homemade french bread.

My Grandma uses this recipe. Her bread is divine. One day I hope mine will turn out like hers. She says the secret is to not rush the bread.

French Bread

1/2 cup warm water

2 TBS yeast (2 pkg.)

3 TBS granulated sugar

1 TBS salt

1/3 cup vegetable oil ( I use canola)

2 cups very hot water

6 cups flour

Dissolve yeast and sugar in 1/2 cup warm water. In a large bowl, combine salt, oil and 2 cups of hot water. Mix in 3 cups of flour. Add the yeast mixture. Mix in remaining 3 cups of flour. Stir down dough every 10 minutes for 50 minutes. Shape into 3 small loaves or 2 large loaves. Place on cookie sheets or french bread loaf pans sprayed with vegetable spray. (I sprinkle corn meal on the bottom) Let rise til double. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes. Cool on rack.

My grandma uses an egg wash over the top and also slits the top with 3 slits. Then lets rise again. I haven't figured that out very well because it doesn't rise as much as before but maybe I'm rushing it.

Love the bread though. It lasts only a day in my family with 3 boys.

Have you seen your neighbor lately

With the weather getting warmer and Spring right around the corner, you'll be getting outside more, working on your yard and perhaps garden. Have you noticed you haven't seen much of your neighbors during the winter? Maybe its time to get to know them again.

The other day I saw one of my neighbors and I thought I haven't talked or really even seen her all winter. It's sad. We get all hulled up in the winter and don't get out as much. With me having a baby I really haven't seen anyone. I stayed in as much as possible with the baby. Trying too keep out as many germs and illnesses as possible.

I thought I should get out and say Hi to them again. My kids usually are out playing with the neighbor kids all spring, summer and fall. But winter time they aren't outside as much.

You could take over some:
Cookies
Brownies
Fresh bread
Soda pop with a tag "Just Poppin' by to say Hi"
Popcorn or caramel popcorn with the same tag
Some seeds like peas, carrots, beans, etc
If you like to garden and so does your neighbor suggest a pumpkin growing contest or a giant sunflower growing contest, have a BBQ at the end of summer to celebrate the winner

There are so many ideas out there so get out and meet your neighbor again.

GIVEAWAY WINNER!!!

The Give Away Winner through random.org is:

Eleanor

Yeah!! Congratulations!! I will be contacting you by email. She has chosen the baby blanket.

Thanks to all of you who entered my contest! Check back often for some fun and exciting things coming up.

Time Change and Hope

This Daylight Savings time has totally thrown me for a loop this year. I think with the new baby and a kindergartener it has been worse. And when did they make it so early? I vaguely remember that last year. Last year I didn't have to get up as early because I still had a pre-schooler. My teenager gets himself up and eats and out the door. Thank goodness for that.

Wednesday, and I know this is really bad, but I couldn't get up. My kindergartener woke me up at 8:45 and said, "Mom, I'm going to miss the bus!" I told him he already did and school started 10 minutes ago. I asked him if he wanted to go and he said let me think.... no. I rolled back over and slept for 10 more minutes til the baby woke up.

(And did I mention Tuesday?? When he was late and I had to drive him to school and he was still 5 minutes late.... ) oh, I'm such a terrible mom.

I think with the baby being up and my 4 year old getting up a couple of times and the hubby recovering with surgery this time change has just sucked. (This is me rationalizing my terribleness)
I'm hoping the weekend will be full of sleeping in.....at least I can HOPE right??!??

HOPE, HOPE, HOPE....

Great Give Away

I know I did Wordless Wednesday but there are so many contests out there and I had to tell you about this one.

Go on over to My Organized Chaos she has tons of contests but I love this one the best. They are the cutest baby shoes from Jack & Lily. Enter to win like I did.

Wordless Wednesday

Bracelet or Baby Blanket GiveAWAY!!!

This is my first ever GiveAway on this blog!!

I'm giving away a flannel baby blanket or a bracelet!! Winner can choose.

The baby blanket is flannel with fringed egdes. It measures 36x42".

Beautiful bracelet soon to be sold at a shop on Etsy.

The contest ends March 13th. Winner will be notified on March 14th.

To enter you need to:

Leave a comment telling me which one you would choose.

For an additional entry:

Become a follower of my blog

For an additional 2 entries:

Blog about this GiveAway

(be sure to leave the link)

SITS Spring Fling

SITS Spring Fling is here and I'm a little behind. (Hubby had doctors appt for post op) Head on over to SITS and check out the Spring Fling it has tons of giveaways!!

Check out April Showers Spring Fling Giveaway!! It ROCKS!! A new blog header and more!!

I'm trying to get my giveaway up here in the next few minutes!! So check back...

Updates on puke and more puke

As I'm starting to post this morning, Paytie bug was a little upset. Usually I can put her in her bouncy right by me and as long as she can see me she's ok. I just start typing and she gets a little fussy. Her little cry that says pick me up so I pick her up and puke comes shooting out all down her and down me.

I say WOW and reach down for the burp cloth and more puke comes out. Now it's all over the floor, all over me and all over her. So I'm off to do some changing and some cleaning. I guess I'll post more later.

Can I say one handed typing takes a lot longer.

Crochet Hats

Do you love crochet hats? I do and I think these are the cutest hats. Check them out at NuxieMade they are having a contest. Go check them out and enter to win yourself. I'm going to have to order one for my little Paytie bug.

When even Jello isn't your friend

You know you are really miserable when you can't even eat jello. When all you can swallow is gatorade and that takes about 20 minutes. I feel so bad for the hubby. I just hope in the end all this helps.

I'm thinking the title to my blog fits me perfectly right now. I have a husband who just had surgery who will be down for 7-10 days. A 3 month old collicky baby (she is getting better) a 4 year old destroyer of everything (He can make a mess faster than anyone I know) a 5 year old that keeps waking me up in the middle of the night (he's hungry or not tired) and a moody 16 year old that doesn't get along with the destroyer.

I'm sleep deprived if not by the baby then one of the other two kids or the hubby waking me up for something. One day I hope to not be the "Frenzied Homemaker" but the "Peaceful Organized Calm Loving Fabulous (should I go on) Mother".

Luckily the hubby is drugged up and only feels like sleeping. I hope I have some hair left after this week to 2 weeks is over.

Sleep Apnea Surgery

My husband had surgery yesterday (I'm sure he doesn't want his picture taken) for sleep apnea. It was so funny because all of the nurses kept asking so I guess he snores really bad is that why you had the surgery? I said no it was because he stopped breathing when he was sleeping.

The snoring don't get me wrong was horrible, very loud and hard for me to sleep but what concerned me was he was stopping breathing. I didn't notice it til recently because he used to work nights so we didn't sleep together very often. Great for me on the sleep. He started sleeping downstairs so it was dark during the day.

He switched jobs and now works days. I've noticed for a while that he quits breathing for like 20 seconds or more. He finally went to the doctor and did the sleep study and all the tests and they recommended surgery. He had his tonsils out, his uvula, part of his soft palate, his tongue microwaved (yuck) and a deviated septum fixed. Needless to say he is miserable.

My mother-in-law said he was terrible when he was little. Whenever something happened he was so dramatic about it and such a baby. I told her he's not really like that anymore. He will get up and get himself stuff. He hates to stay down and that's the problem. Also he is so ornery. Luckily with this surgery he is so miserable that he will stay down and rest. He can barely talk.

Hopefully he will be better in a week or so. The hard part is with a 3 month old its hard to take care of him and her and the other kids with all their activities. I'm going to need a vacation when this is over!!!

Procrastinate

I think I'm the queen of procrastinating. Yesterday we had a family party. I had all week to get ready for it. I thought I can take each day to clean. With a new baby it's hard to clean everything all in one day.

So I thought Monday I'll clean the bathroom, Tuesday the family room, etc. But then my brain starts thinking...I'll have to re-clean everything again because the kids will either mess it up or the bathroom will need to be re-cleaned. So I put off doing it.

What I should have told my brain was: I can still clean a room a day and then on Saturday I'll I will need to do is "Little touch-ups"!!!!!

I am really good at crash cleaning. Cleaning everything in one day. Being under pressure really gets me going. The only thing I didn't take into account was I have a three month old that's not going to let me do it.

So I was up late on Saturday still trying to get everything finished cleaning, cooking 2 breakfast casseroles and setting up tables and everything.

I need to figure out a way to kick my procrastination habit in the butt!!

I Love Comments

Thanks to April at April Showers for the cute I Love Comments button. Check out her blog designs. I'm deciding on what I want mine to be and it will help a great cause, her mom. Just click on the button on the right.

Croupy Cough Syndrome

Paytie bug still has a little cold and sounds so congested. I hope it doesn't get worse. She's had it for about a week now it worries me with her being so little. Almost 3 months old. My 4 year old Gibb has the croupy barking seal cough AGAIN, that he had about a week and a half ago and a month ago, only now it has totally hit.

He woke up in the middle of the night freaking out because he couldn't breathe. So we rushed into the bathroom got the shower going and the steam finally helped after water was running down my walls.

It was a good time to clean the bathroom. Who doesn't like to clean the bathroom at 2 a.m.? I mean its the best cleaning time. No one is around to mess it up and since you have nothing else to do except sit in the bathroom while your child is trying to breathe again it seems like it's the perfect time to clean. There was no scrubbing or using elbow grease. The walls came clean so easy and it didn't even take very long and with the steam it really cleans.

Who doesn't want to steam clean their bathroom? I didn't even have to buy a steam cleaner. I cleaned the walls, the mirror, the cabinets, the door, the counter and sink, even the toilet. I would have cleaned the shower and tub except their was hot water running in it. I probably should have taken him outside but I wasn't about to go outside and freeze my bootie off in the middle of the night.

Besides I probably lost a little weight sweating and cleaning the bathroom and not to mention my sinuses were so cleaned out. I felt wonderful. Decided to go back to bed. I put Gibb's back to bed around about 3:30 Paytie bug was awake. She decided it was play time. Time to kick and stretch until 6 a.m. Then back to sleep for and the hubby is waking up to get ready for work. Can you say s-l-e-e-p d-e-p-r-i-v-a-t-i-o-n?? Who needs sleep anyway.


SPRING WHERE ARE YOU??? Probably following WENDA around. You'll know what I'm talking about if you are from SITS.
I need to go find her... I need some fun for the day since its rainy and yucky but at least it's warm. In the 50's today. Yeah!!

Paytie bug just went to sleep and TJ my 5 year old is home from school now so I think I can go look for her for a minute before lunch. If you want to join in the search for Wenda I'll post the button off to the right so you can find out more info...

In the meantime send your croupy cough syndrome GO AWAY wishes my way will ya?

Spring and Italian Dessert Frenzy

It's a beautiful sunny Saturday day!! I can't wait to send the kids out to play in the snow today. It's supposed to be warmer around 48 or 49 Degrees!! I told them they need to go build a snowman before the snow melts. You know when you are so tired that you are in a really good mood but you know that it's going to come down soon. My back is killing me I notice it acts up when I get overly tired. Weird I know but I probably slept wrong holding the baby. Paytie bug has had a cold and can't breathe very good. The nose sucker isn't doing its job!! She's almost 3 months old now. my how time flies!!

So from being up all night with her, sucking out her nose and sitting up in the laz-boy isn't really isn't my kind of night. After all that I'm still in an extremely good mood. I think its the sunshine. Another day of it. It's so beautiful and I'm excited for SPRING!! I know it's lurking around the corner. I'm excited for the flowers to start peaking their heads out of the ground. Color is such a beautiful thing after the dinginess of the cold dark winter. But today is BEAUTIFUL!! I've said that a few times huh!?!

I'm having my birthday party tomorrow. My wonderful mother always cooks dinner for me and my brothers and their families come up. It's nice. We decided to make it an italian theme dinner. I'm in charge of the dessert. So I'm in a little bit of a frenzy. I'm not sure what to make. I always make desserts. I love making desserts but I haven't made an italian dessert that I can think of. I'm off to search the net for some italian dessert recipes that don't take too long to make. I've had one request for gelato so maybe.... I'll have to check out how long it takes to make it. Not sure if I'm up to gelato when its still cold outside. Tiramisu, cannoli, not sure what else biscotti, I've heard that's a little dry.

Well if you have any ideas let me know.

BEDROOM BLISS GIVEAWAY

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Snow Day

Monday and Tuesday were SNOW DaYs it snowed both days. Big, BIG Flakes. The kids loved it but my hubby didn't. He went to work at 7 a.m. and didn't get home until 10:30 p.m. He is such a great hubby. He went up to my Grandma's after work at 5 and snowblowed her driveway. She had over 30" of snow. More in some spots because the wind was blowing.



The kids had to go sledding. They had a few obstacles to avoid at Grandma's house. Don't you just love snow days. I love it when you can just curl up with a blanket some hot cocoa and watch a chick flick. Doesn't happen very often with kids around and a new baby but if you send the kids out to play and the baby is asleep it can be possible?? I wish....maybe someday soon when they can all go out and play.