12.23.09
A New Tradition is Born
A couple of weeks ago I thought that it might be fun to start a new tradition around here. Because we don’t have quite enough already. I thought that it would be fun to have my best girlfriends bring over their daughters for a morning of decorating gingerbread houses. The only problem is I had this brilliant idea about six days prior to the only Saturday I thought that I could feasibly do it. In other words- only my dear sweet neighbor was able to make it.
Which ended up being nice for my first year to try this. We ended up doing the “party” this past Saturday and it was a lot of fun. And I have the pictures to prove it:
I bought pre-assembled houses on sale for $7 and they were worth every penny.
I think that they ate about as much candy as they put on their houses.
The finished products:
I decided to buy houses for Baby #1 and my neighbor’s son so that they could join in on the fun too. Here was the surprising part- they were about twice as fast at decorating (okay- I guess that shouldn’t be all that surprising) and a whole lot less messy than the girls were. If you do this- be prepared for a HUGE mess. Totally worth it though.
These are two of my favorite pictures from the day:
I now have more Christmas decorations:
This was a great project and I’m looking forward to doing it next year with even more people. I’ll be sending out an invitation in January so no excuses girls!
05.31.09
Friday Night Lights
Friday night was a pretty big night around here. It was the night that Baby #1 played soccer against our friend’s son’s teams (seems like a misuse of apostrophes there, but just go with it). There was quite a bit of smack talk leading up the game thanks to Hubs hijacking my Facebook page, daily, and throwing down the gauntlet.
My friend J did her share with sending us some videos of off of You Tube. My personal favorite was Queen’s We Will Rock You.
So it came down to the Friday night and we had quite the crowd. My mom came along with our friends A, S and D from church. They were Switzerland by the way- totally neutral.
There was a lot of this:
Because this age seems to have a lot of trouble keeping the ball inside the lines.
This picture (below) personifies why I love Upward Soccer so much- this is the other teams coach giving Baby #1 a fist bump after he scored a goal (he scored two just in case you were wondering). If you’re looking to put your kids in soccer I highly recommend Upward- it’s a wonderful program.
After the big game, which I should mention we won. They did have some good defense because they only allowed three goals and Baby #1’s team usually scores at least 7 per game. So shout out to the defensive moves of the Mighty Penguins.
After the game we headed over to Braums for ice cream.
Yes that’s a ballerina costume she has on. Some days it’s just not worth the fight to make her real wear real clothes.
Where there is testosterone there is arm wrestling. Baby #1 comes by it naturally- my maternal grandma made my dad arm wrestle her the first time he came over to take my mom out on a date. Classy.
This is J, A and me chilling before the rowdiness started up.
Good friends, good times, good night.
12.29.08
The weekend wrap-up
We had a great weekend. On Saturday morning I took Baby #2 on a date to Build-A-Bear. We had so much fun doing this. And thanks to the gift certificate I won over at Jill’s and a $5 off coupon I only spent $2.50!
If you’ve never been there – here’s a tutorial for you. First you pick out the bear you want to stuff:
Next you pick out a little heart that actually gets put in the bear before it’s stuffed:
The next step is stuffing the bear. She actually stepped on the pedal while the guy stuffed the bear.
Next she needs to give her bear a bath:
Thanks to the coupon we were able to buy a t-shirt for her bear (the bear cost $10). It’s hard to see, but it’s the Disney Princesses! Is there anywhere that the Disney Princesses aren’t? Good grief – talk about market saturation.
Our next stop was the computers where we registered and named her bear. Baby #2 named her Tinkerbell and received a birth certificate for her new friend. Overall it was really fun and I hope to take Baby #3 there soon. If for no other reason to get her her own bear so that they stop fighting over Tinkerbell.
On Saturday night I went to my mom’s house to dog sit for her while she was out of town. I was looking forward to catching up on HGTV and TLC since we don’t have cable. My sister called me and told me that the spa/salon that she used to work at was being featured on a Style Network show called Split Ends. Since I’d actually been to that salon and had my hair cut by the stylist on the show that was being featured I wanted to see it.
My sister doesn’t get the Style Network so she decided to come over and crash my little party. It was so much fun. After we watched Split Ends (where we found out just how unrealistic “reality tv” is) we watched Mamma Mia. Loved it! I saw the musical several years ago so I knew what to expect, but it was so much fun watching it with my sister and belting all of the songs. I’m sure that Hubs was thankful that he didn’t have to sit through Mamma Mia- again.
On Sunday night we had a double date with our best friends A and D. The plan was to get pizza and play their Wii, but thanks to my sensitive friend A and the fact that I’m on Weight Watchers (I’ve lost 10 pounds so far!!!) she offered to get Subway instead. We ate and talked- with no kids interrupting us. Heaven.
Next we moved over to the Wii. Hubs and I were Wii virgins so we really didn’t know what to expect. First we played bowling and I’m happy to report that Hubs and I swept first and second place. I got a 163!!! That’s about 100 points more than I get in real life bowling.
Next on to golf. I’m not a big golfer and there were so many variables- wind, slope of the field- basically too much thinking for me.
After golf we moved on the the race cart which is a game you can play with a partner. This was so much fun! The first time through we got something like 65% teamwork, but improved to 88% teamwork the second time around. A and D had to show us up and get 100%.
We were all are playing the Wii. As you can see we look totally normal:
Can’t say the same for A and D (love you guys!!):
And proof that they got 100%:
Next up is the Christmas post. I have so many pictures to sort through. My goal is to have our Christmas post posted no later than Wednesday. Now I’m off to do some bra shopping with 3 kids in tow. Can you say suicide mission? Let’s hope that they give me nothing to blog about.
12.24.08
This must be what Martha feels like
I’ve have been Martha Stewart Jr. over here the last two days. Yesterday the kids painted ornaments and today we made sugar cookies and Hubs finished the all important craft project. And I took lots and lots of pictures.
Yesterday we were suppose to go to a museum, but the weather was really cold and gross so we stayed home. Thankfully my sweet sweet neighbor (who just had her fourth child 3 weeks ago) brought over a goodie basket on Monday.
She put my favorite Special K Bliss and Dove Cream Oil body wash, some hot chocolate, pancake mix and wooden ornaments with paint and paint brushes! Those ornaments saved the day yesterday. I normally don’t tell my kids when we’re doing anything fun until we’re heading out the door – just in case something falls through. Well I told them on Monday about the museum on Tuesday so I knew that I better have something good to do at home instead. That’s where the ornaments came in:
Baby #1 was disappointed that his ornament was “ruined” when Baby #3 dripped a little bit of water and paint on his mitten ornament.
I didn’t realize it until after I took the picture, but Baby #3 is actually holding Baby #2’s heart ornament. Oh well.
My neighbor even had pictures of my kids in the heart ornaments!!
Today we made sugar cookies. We made the dough yesterday and let it sit in the fridge overnight. The kids insisted that they needed to be frosted so I had to make up some icing.
We actually made them while Hubs and Baby #3 were out running errands. Cooking with my kids is stressful for me and I knew that I couldn’t handle Baby #3 who doesn’t take direction well (which all you moms out there know is a nice way of saying that she’s strong willed). She came just in time for the photo op.
Next they had to taste the cookies. They quickly decided that they weren’t actually all that good so now we’re stuck with a bunch of sugar cookies. At least they had a lot of fun making them.
I have to showcase the splatter cookies. These are the cookies that hadn’t been frosted when we heard the garage door go up and we knew that Hubs and Baby #3 were home. This is the “Oh crap their home- hurry hurry hurry” cookies.
Next up Hubs’ project. We had a bunch of doors left over when we had our cabinets replaced. I figured we’d just have the installers haul them away, but Hubs said that he wanted to keep them and do some stuff with them. That comment got my creative juices flowing. Baby #2 will be getting a Melissa and Doug birthday cake from my mom for Christmas and they really like to play restaurant so I thought that they should have a nice serving tray to play with. They can also color on them or do puzzles. There were only 2 doors that were the right size so Baby #3 didn’t get one (we’re saving for her therapy bills now). And truth be told she’s quite destructive so she’d probably find a way to ruin her tray if she had one. For now she’ll just have to borrow her brother and sisters tray.
When I originally thought about doing the trays they were just going to be blue and pink. A few weeks ago I was cleaning out a bunch of stuff and realized that the box tops to these games were really cute and perfect for the trays. I would have loved to put the Candy Land cards or some peppermints as a border for Baby #2’s tray, but they still play Candy Land and Baby #3 would find a way to pry off the peppermints and eat them so we figured that a ribbon border would have to suffice. I think that they turned out so cute. Hubs is much more detail oriented and anal than I am- that’s why he did it. I’m really happy with the way the turned out.
Now we have all these for future projects! I even managed to get some extra doors off our installers truck (those would be the normal looking wood doors).
Now I’m off to enjoy Christmas Eve with my family. Have a Merry Christmas.
12.11.08
Potpourri
I feel like I have a few loose ends to tie up around here. First off the Santa pictures. The scanner started working so here are my precious Baby #1 and Baby #2 with Santa:
I also came across two posts yesterday that I thought were great- and so relatable to how I’m feeling right now.
First there’s Shauna who’s daughter is in Baby #2’s class. I love finding people I know in real life that blog. I feel like she’s so right on it’s a must read.
Next is Laura over at I’m an Organizing Junkie. I’ve been following her for over a year and a half now and I really apprecaited her honesty. I can really relate to her too.
I also have to mention that yesterday I turned the computer off at 11:30 am and kept it off until Hubs got home that evening. It was so awesome. I didn’t feel the need to read blogs all day or check my email over and over again. It felt really freeing. I’m thinking that I need to start doing that more often. I spend way too much time on the computer these days and my main job, being a mom, has been moved to the back burner. Sad, but true. If keeping the computer off for most of the day is what I need to do to plug into my kid’s life that’s what I need to start doing.
12.09.08
We met Santa and survived!
I believe that I promised a post about our weekend. We had another good weekend. Our kids met Santa for the first time. Yes I realize that Baby #1 is 5 1/2 and that’s a bit old for the first Santa meeting, but what can I say we’re unconventional. To be honest if our only option was to go to the mall to shell out $20 for a picture than my kids would probably never meet Santa.
Thankfully there’s a real estate office in our town that hosted Santa and they took the kid’s picture with him and printed one out for a keepsake. Which is why I don’t have the pics for this post because I can’t get my scanner to work. They also had cookies and juice boxes for the kids- and the kids got a little stuffed animal to take home. It was a great experience- we’ll be going there next year.
Another reason we’ve taken so long is because we don’t push the Santa thing a whole lot around here. He’s never been a huge part of our Christmas so they kids never seemed that disappointed that they didn’t get to see him. It’s not that we’re anti-Santa- I just hate lying to my kids about anything- even Santa.
So back to the kids- they were all a little bit hesitent, but Baby #2 took the plunge first and did great. Baby #1 went next and had quite the list of things that he wants this year. Most he won’t be getting.
Baby #3 was not having it. She wanted no part of it. She wouldn’t even let me sit with Santa with her on my lap. I knew that it would take a Christmas miracle to get her to sit on Santa’s lap and it wasn’t a miracle we got this year.
The other big thing we had this weekend was our church’s staff/board members Christmas party. Since Hubs is on our church board we got to go. The best part is I liked everyone there! How often does that happen? Well I guess technically it happened last week when we had our home group Christmas party, but you get what I mean.
I have to admit that I was the rude guest that asked if we could watch the Cowboy’s game until more guests showed up. The party started at 4 pm and the game started at 3:15 and it was against Pittsburgh and we’re trying to make the payoffs people!! Funny thing is A (who hosted our party) thought that it was Hubs that made the request.
It was great. Good food, good fellowship- and the best part – NO KIDS!! They were at the church where they had their own party complete with pizza. So I got to go to a great party and I didn’t have to feed my kids dinner.
Thankfully that was our last party for the year. Since Hubs works for the city they don’t have Christmas parties. Halelujah!! I hated going to his work parties where I don’t know anyone. I’m terrible at small talk so I’d usually sit there and nod most of the night. And dream about the minute I could get home to get out of my really cute, but really uncomfortable shoes.
11.24.08
Girls’ Night Out!
Wednesday night I had the opportunity to go out to eat with two of my favorite people H and L. It was L’s birthday so we wanted to go out and celebrate. We hit the Olive Garden- which was fine with me. I pretty much knew that I’d be eating all of my points for the rest of the week in that one dinner, but I’d sit back and enjoy it – and I did (I just realized that my life now revolves around WW!).
H started us out by ordering our lemon cake- first. Which is brilliant! You always want dessert, but are usually too stuffed to actually enjoy it, but you choke it down anyway because you paid for it. I’m not normally a big fan of lemon anything, but the lemon cake rocked!
H even some how managed to get her drink and the cake for free! I guess it was all the flirting with the waiter. Totally kidding- she actually said that she felt old because the waiter was so young he reminded her of what her son will probably be like when he grows up. Nothing like that to make you feel really old.
We got our food, we laughed, we cried (from all of the laughing) and had lots and lots of girl talk. I realized while we were talking that I am surrounded by some of the most brilliant woman. I always learn something that makes me a better wife and mom when I hang out with my friends. God has blessed me with some of the smartest, wisest women ever (I would name names, but then I’ll have mommy brain and forget someone and their feelings will get hurt- so if you’re a woman and you’re my friend- YOU’RE BRILLIANT and I love you!!).
H did her best to try to get me to sign up with Facebook. I’m probably the only blogger on the planet that doesn’t have a Facebook page and I don’t Twitter. I’m practically in the dark ages! I believe she may have even said “Everybody’s doing it.” Too bad I’m 31, not 11 or I might just have caved. I can barely keep up with my blog- I can’t imagine having to maintain a Facebook too. I do have a lot of friends that do have a Facebook page, but they’ll just have to continue to communicate with me via email- like I said- dark ages.
The best part is we decided that we would get together once a month so that we can stay better connected (Hubs- I think that I may have forgotten to mention that part to you). Although we all live within 5 miles of each other and email/talk we don’t really get to talk and connect like we’d like to. I can’t wait until our next girls’ night out.
11.19.08
Because I know that you’re hanging on to the edge of your seats…
I thought that I’d give a little WW update since I had weigh in last night. I lost another 1.2 pounds!! I’m really happy with that considering the fact that this is the time of month that I weigh a little more. Ahem. I’m sure that that 1.2 will be right back on by the end of the night. My friend H and I are taking our friend L out for her birthday. The choices are Abuelos or Olive Garden. Something tells me that neither restaurant is point friendly, but since L is so sweet and such a good friend I guess I can eat the awesome food and help her celebrate. I’m such a good friend.
07.18.08
Doin’ Life
I was thinking today about how blessed I am to have the friends that I have. Over the last 2 years or so God has brought me a group of women to surround me and do life with. I cannot even begin to tell you what a tremendous blessing this has been for me. It’s not like I didn’t have friends before, but I didn’t have the really deep spiritual friendships that I have with these women.
Today for instance my friend J emailed me to make sure that I was okay because I haven’t blogged much this week. She wanted to know if there was anything I needed help with. I love that! I explained that this has just been a pretty boring week (which is okay with me- I’ll take boring) and I’ve also been lazy. My blogging (as you’ve probably noticed by now) kind of has an ebb and flow. Sometimes I have a lot to say- others not so much. So I’m fine if anyone else was wondering- I’ve just been kind of lazy.
I’ve also started really bonding with my neighbor. We’ve been doing a kid swap thing every week where she takes my kids for 2 hours and I take hers for 2 hours. This has been working out great, but I haven’t really had time to talk to her and she’s so cool- I really wanted to get to know her better. Luckily for me she mentioned that she’s been getting up at 6 am to walk. So I basically invited myself to come with her and we’ve walked 3 miles every morning this week. Let me just remind you- she’s like 4 months pregnant and I’m trying to keep up. When I was 4 months pregnant I was a slug. I swore off exercise and dug into the junk food. I was the picture of health.
It’s been so nice getting up before the kids and getting my exercise in early. Some days I go to the gym in the afternoon too just to get out of the house (and hopefully catch up with my excercise buddy H). I’ve been doing a lot of mystery shopping lately for a certain fast food chain so I have to do something to off set all the hamburgers I’m eating. I mean I could just take a few bites to evaluate it, but I feel like I need to eat the whole thing just to make sure that it’s up to par.
So that’s what’s been going on with me this week. I get by with a little help from my friends. Sorry I couldn’t help it.
05.26.08
Our Son The Fisherman
Today we went out to the lake to visit some good friends that are staying there in their RV. They invited us to come out and since we’re never ones to turn down time with good friends we were there. On the way we had to stop and buy fishing poles for Baby #1 and Baby #2. I knew that the Disney Princess empire was huge, but I never guessed that they had made their way into the fishing pole business. So Baby #2 opted for a Disney Princess fishing pole (it was a real toss up between that one and the Barbie one) Baby #1 got a Transformers one and we were on our way.
I love this sweet picture of Hubs fishing with Baby #2:
It’s a good thing that we weren’t counting on Baby #1’s fish for lunch today:
My sweet girls:
Tomorrow it’s back to reality. We had a jam packed weekend and I’m ready to get back to normal.
