Day 31

Wow....I cannot believe this is the last day of January. And I also can't believe I've kept my new year's resolution this long!  There were many days I struggled to make myself post, but I'm glad I did. Starting tomorrow I am going to try and follow a photo-a-day challenge for February.  We'll see how it goes!  Here is the list:

Day 30

Today I tried to hurry home to squeeze in some outside playtime before it got dark. I will be so glad when the days are longer again.Today was a gorgeous day---sunny and 65, on the next to last day in January.  The backyard was still muddy so we played in the driveway.

Here, Jack is showing off his talent of playing soccer, baseball and basketball all at the same time.

Elizabeth shocked me with her knowledge on how to shoot a basketball!  Good job coach Stickpin (aka Coach Thigpin)....she's actually listening in PE!

 And I loved this shot of the sun in the background.  Although it was warm today, when the sun went down it got cold quick and we headed inside.

Day 29

I usually steer clear of any seemingly in theory 'super fun' activities with both kids alone.  I have been burned too many times and swear I'll just stick to what I know will be manageable for me. Pumpkin patch=NEVER again.  Restaurants that require a waiter=better be someone REALLY important's birthday. My kids just do not do well outside of their predicable environment. Maybe it's my fault for not exposing them more but it's just never worth it to me.  So last night when Rachel asked us to come to 'Family Bingo' at our local coffee shop, I was hesitant. I declined last Saturday night, but Elizabeth was insistent to go this time.   Free bingo card with a 5$ purchase...sounded good to me, since I would need a giant caffeine IV to get the through the night from you-know-where- with my non sleeping, screaming 2 year old.

Well, I am happy to report that E LOVED it!  She was very serious and anxious when she couldn't hear the numbers being called (shocker!).  She won the 1st round and from a giant table of prizes including gift cards...she picks this Valentine monkey. She went right for it, like it had a spotlight shining on it.  Jack required lots of distractions, candy and trips to the cupcake display window. Thankful Rachel helped me out with that. Here is Clark and his Grandma (Nanny).  All in all a fun night!

Day 28

Katie and Maggie came over to play this morning....we LOVE having them over, because our visits are few and far between lately!  Jack and Maggie had a pudding date early on in the visit.  Yes, Jack is still in his PJs, because I really didn't and still haven't chosen to fight that battle.

Day 27

Tonight we went over to our neighbor/friends' house....Clark (in the leotard) and Elizabeth are BFF and would spend every day and night together if we'd let them. They have an awesome playroom and the kids love to pretend, dance, and have picnics in there!

We do not have a Wii, so Elizabeth loves dancing with Clark. He is waaay better than she is, and probably myself too.  Notice how he is a mirror reflection of the girl on the screen...down to the shoulder dip!  I love it.

Even Jack and Reid had a turn....

Day 26

Guilty mom me confession:  I love McDonald's. I love fast food in general, but really I love McDonald's. Tonight my wonderful mom (Nana) took Elizabeth to dance so Jack and I could spend time alone together. So we had a date at "Old McDonald's"

I think the reason I love fast food so much is because I never ate it as a child. My mom almost always cooked dinner every single night. Unless we were on a trip- we didn't go out to eat. I don't know how she did it....I need to get a hot and ready at least once a week to save my sanity. So when I went to Auburn...I was in heaven being able to go out to eat as much as I wanted to. McDonald's, Wendy's, Milo's, Mama G's...all within walking distance....Brand X just a phone call away. Oh..the good old days. I would rather go to McDonalds or Wendy's or Sonic or wherever than to Outback.  Secretly...I am jealous of Morgan Spurlock in Supersize Me.  I could TOTALLY do that!  Ridiculous?  yes.  True?  sadly.

Day 25

I love Pintrest.  Just like Facebook, I swore it off for a while, unwilling to get caught up in the Pintrest craze or fad. Buuuut, also just like Facebook, I got sucked in and am now addicted.  Tonight I made a recipe from Pintrest that was easy, yummy and cheap.  

Ingredients :

1can refrigerated crescent rolls

40 slices pepperoni (or a whole bag if you eat 3 to every 1 you use while preparing like I do)

4 pieces of mozzarella string cheese, cut in half

garlic powder

pizza sauce

Preheat oven to 375.

Unroll crescent rolls and separate into 8 triangles.  Place 5 slices of turkey pepperoni on each crescent roll.  Top pepperoni with string cheese half and roll up.  Sprinkle crescent rolls with garlic powder. 

 Place rolls on baking sheet and bake for 12-15 minutes, or until golden brown.  Serve with a side of warm pizza sauce.

I made a few without pepperoni for the kids....they were a hit!

Day 24

Trying my blogger I-phone app...its finally a nice day so we are taking advantage of it at our church playground before bad weather starts again tomorrow.

Day 23 wake up call

Well we started the day at 3am with strong storms...tornadoes very close by.  Both kids were up by 3:45 terrified.  Luckily, there are Fresh Beat Band Episodes on Netflix!  No more tears! For now anyway...I may shed some before bedtime tonight.  At least Jack gets a nap at school.....

Day 22

I love grocery shopping.  Well, I love shopping at Publix by myself.  I love going with a list and a zip-lock full of coupons. They have great sales, the store is incredibly clean, it is well stocked and every employee is friendly and knowledgeable. If they are out of an item, they give you a rain-check for up to 4 more. If they don't carry an item, they'll order it for you. They will order items in bulk for you.  My kids get free cookies from the bakery and coloring books and crayons at the cashier. They carry out your groceries for you. I could go on and on singing their praises. Here is the stash I got today with some of my coupons. This group of items would have cost 33.80 without coupons/sale but I paid 9.22.  Is this all I bought today?  no....but I did stay well below my budget with meal planning for the week.

Day 21

What better way to acknowledge pulling the plug on our cable....than getting a bigger tv and having it wall mounted! :) :)  That's the way we do things around here.

Day 20

Today is the 100th day of school....SO exciting for a 5 year old!  Today she is headed to school dressed as a 100 year old lady.  She is very excited about it, but has already asked that I walk her to her class. Deep down she's worried that she's the only one dressed up.  And I can say with certainty that I passed down that nervous gene.

Day 19

Ok....so apparently Elizabeth colored a picture for God.  Sweet?, yes. Precious?, yes. But I'm pretty sure she's got him in the same category as our Elf on a Shelf, Mark. She made this picture/note yesterday ("I luv you God I miss you God to God Frum Elizabeth ") and this morning asked WHY didn't God take my picture?  I made it for him!  Why didn't he write me back??  I thought you said he is here with us all the time!  He can do ANYthing, right?


such innocence- gotta love it. Any suggestions on my reply would be helpful, thanks.

Day 18

This post is dedicated to my dear friend Katie....without her generosity in introducing me to it, this post would not be possible.

I RARELY buy cleaning products. Well, let me rephrase that...I rarely spend money on cleaning products. If I can't get it for free or close to free with coupons (which is very easy/common to do) or can't make it myself cheaply, I don't use it. I started making my own laundry detergent and dishwasher detergent and will never buy those again. But for the rest of my house, I will only use this:

And seriously...I ONLY use this!  I use some Clorox in the potties, but in between and on every other surface in my house, I use this. IT IS AWESOME.  It smells wonderful, works great, and is all natural and safe on EVERY surface.  wow..I'm  using a lot of all caps in this post, sorry!  Here's the fine print:

It's only sold at Target, and is pretty cheap-2 or 3$ and worth every penny.  You will LOVE it!  Now, hurry to Target and get some, and let me know if you love it as much as I do!  :-)

Day 17

Tonight I decided to try and get ahead of the game and decrease some of my stress.  My kids are hungry coming home from school, and immediately want a snack. Which would be fine, IF they could survive on only 1 small snack before dinner...which turns into a never ending battle of "I'm still hungry! PLEASE, just ONE more!" and then end up not eating dinner very well at all. So it is just easier to go ahead and start cooking dinner as soon as I get home and say no completely to snacks altogether. I eat lunch or "brunch" as I like to call it at 10:45---we are the 1st class though the lunch line. Needless to say, I am starving as well by the time we get home. So...we eat dinner around 5 at the latest usually. And since I've cut out the after-school snack--the kids are usually under my feet begging for dinner to be ready, and usually leads to Jack melting down to tantrum mode in front of the oven/fridge=stressful!  Looooong story short, I decided to cook up a bunch of ground beef to freeze for different dinners, cutting down on defrost/cook time.  I bought enough to separate into 5, 1.5lb bags, to cook/season/freeze. I made a taco, italian, and generically seasoned one before THIS happened

 UGH....almost all the seasoning fell out when the top came off accidentally.  I tried to salvage it...went ahead and cooked it, and tasted...um not gonna work.  Sooooo I only ended up with 3 bags. Oh well, that is 3 less stressful dinners to make, right???

 

Day 16

This morning Elizabeth asks: "Now why don't we get to go to school today?"
I corrected her with "you mean, why do we get to stay home today? Well remember it is Martin Luther King's birthday, do you know who that is?"
E: "oh yes, mommy- He's the one who changed the world."
I am impressed now..."how did he do that , sweetie?"  
E: "well, he taught everyone to talk it out with words, and not with their hands. He thought we would all be happy if we didn't fight. He is dead now, but he is still an angel and still wants us to be nice to each other.And I know this is a true story because Mrs. Colburn read us a book with REAL pictures.
Perfectly said my sweet girl....and Mrs. Colburn gets another star in her crown.

ok on to the picture.....

Today Nana and the kids and I went to United Textiles to shop for a rug for my living room.(thanks Susan for the idea!) Taking out the carpet increased the noise decibel level to intolerable....so I needed a sound barrier of some sort. This place was awesome!  It was room after room of wall after wall of hanging rugs and carpets.  As mentioned in a previous post--my daughter gets her lack of decision making honestly.  I think I probably scrolled though hundreds of rugs, and after an hour they honestly all started looking the same and I didn't even know what I liked or didn't like anymore.  The kids were good for a while--then started hiding between the hanging rugs and jumping out at each other (aka other customers).  So I just decided to go home with the last one that I thought I liked, and I am pleased with how it looks.

Day 15

It was a beautiful afternoon, after a week of rainy, cold weather...so we finally got to spend some time playing outside. Clearly, Jack was excited about that :)  Please try to overlook the florescent green laffy taffy in his mouth

Day 14

Well, the transition to no cable begins.....Today Jerry installed a flat antenna and a Roku to our living room TV.  I was very skeptical of this antenna, recalling the giant rabbit ears on my grandparents' TVs that picked up virtually zero reception.  I was definitely pleased with how it looked...

and the astonished at the reception!  We were able to get all of the network stations, 2 PBS stations and 4 random country music channels---about 18 channels all together, and in HD!  This was more and more acceptable as the minutes went by!  It can be wall mounted, painted, etc...and here's the best part- it costs $20.00!!  amazing.


Next, he installed the Roku-a tiny black box about as big as my hand. (www.roku.com) 

Although we've had it for a while, I've never actually used it.  Roku connects  to your TV and wireless (Wi-Fi) network at home and accesses all of your streaming videos like Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, etc...whatever you already have a subscription for.  It also has it's own channels, you tube, etc.I haven't done much on it yet except watch a few Netflix videos and let the kids search things on You Tube. Do not ask me about the R rated Disney Princess clip I unknowingly started then walked away ... (Ariel and Prince Eric-no clothes-next scene-Eric holding a baby that looks just like him). I couldn't get to the remote fast enough.  


Moving on.....I think I will survive this no cable transition. I may have to pull a few DVR all-nighters---maybe I'll have a DVR party!

Day 13

Friday the 13...Didn't start out too well-My car died at the biggest intersection in Alabaster on the way to work today, but revived itself after a minute of turning it off, praying furiously and promising Elizabeth we wouldn't have to walk the rest of the way.  Now I have a check engine light on....great!  Luckily, the day went smoothly after that, and now, I'm ready to join this sweet girl in dream land.  Goodnight!

Day 12

Elizabeth loves school. She was born for school.  She talks about it waking up, going to bed and misses it terribly on the weekends. Christmas break almost killed her.  I couldn't be more thankful for this....and I know that I can give most of the credit to the BEST Kindergarten teacher on the planet.  Elizabeth has morphed from a PAINFULLY shy 4 year old in August into a confident, talkative, brave 5 year old.  She amazes me on a daily basis with how much she is changing and maturing. Today she refused to let me check her folder until after we got home. Then, she made me sit on the couch as the 'audience' and perform The Mitten.   She re-told the story with great detail, and even took a bow afterward.  Precious!

Days 11

Here is day 11's picture and an explanation of why I forgot to make a post.  I loooove my Kindle Fire.  I got it a little before Christmas, and haven't put it down in a free moment since. Not that I have many free moments...but I am flying through some books on there. I love being able to read a few chapters, close that window and check Facebook, read a few chapters, scroll through Pintrest,....you get the picture. Currently I am reading the 2nd book in the Wortham Family Series...http://www.leishakelly.com/wortham.html  Anyways...I was too wrapped up in it to remember to make a post on here until I was already in bed.

Day 10: time for an intervention

Guilty mom confession:   My kids watch too much t.v.  There are many statistics published regarding children watching too much TV. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends children under two should not watch any TV and children over age of two watch no more than two hours per day. The reality is the average two-to five-year old spends 4.5 hours a day watching TV or DVDs.  So on a positive note, at least I am under the average--but not by much. Especially on the weekends. I am very restrictive on what they watch (PBS or preschool DVDs only- no big kid nickelodeon, no sponge bob, no Disney past 8am, no commercials, etc), but not very restrictive on how much.They say children who watch a lot of TV during their early years are at an increased risk of childhood obesity, lack the ability to focus, have poor learning development and show aggressive behavior. I am a teacher!  I know this! I seeeeee these kids every day with these issues. Yet, day after day, it is just easier to turn on the TV because they are entertained and quiet. Walking through the living room taking this picture did not even seem to phase the 'zombie-like' state they were in. 

 I mean, LOOK at Elizabeth! She looks like she has been given 2 doses of Benadryl!  ugggghhh....I am going to make a real effort to restrict or schedule TV time.  Jerry threatens to pull the plug on our cable very frequently...maybe I need to let him.  (After I catch up on my DVR'd Grays, Private Practice, Intervention, Hoarders, Castle, First 48 and Modern Family...)

Day 9

Well the cloudy night sky and full moon are really neat tonight, and I tried to capture that for a picture...but no such luck. Turns out I need a lot more instruction on night time settings, etc.   So....I'll keep practicing.  For tonight, I'll leave you with this shot I liked of our giant elm tree in our backyard.  I thought the contrast colors were neat behind it....

oh and this beauty in our next door neighbor's yard....just for fun :)

day 8: I live in a zoo

although technically not a 'live' zoo...but if it were possible, Elizabeth would be all over it. She loves loves loves stuffed animals. It is a revolving door of stuffed animals at our house. She would rather walk through the thrift store isles of old, nasty stuffed animals that people probably buy for their dogs than shop anywhere else. Probably, if she paid close enough attention, she would see that 1/3 of them were probably sneaked out and donated by the Smith family.  She plays school with them, dance class with them, daycare with them, and lots of dramatic scenes enfold.  Here she is with the current collection:

 And here is a shot of 'naptime' at Smith's Child/Animal Development Center.....

I will say...I can tolerate these better than some ridiculously inappropriate dolls/toys I see on the girl isles of Target/Walmart: take these gems for example
http://www.target.com/p/Bratz-All-Glammed-Up-Cloe/-/A-13321827
http://www.target.com/p/Monster-High-Spectra-Vondergeist/-/A-13668406#?lnk=sc_qi_detaillink

....I'm good with stuffed animals.

Day 7

Early morning pic using my zoom lens...I love the raindrops still on the branches. And I love watching birds.  If I could, I'd have multiple bird feeders that I could watch all the time---but I don't really have a good place in my yard that I can see from any windows that would look ok to put them.  The year that I lived in Florence, I took a birdwatching class at UNA.  Soooo random!  It was me and 15 grandmas and grandpas and after our first 'outing'  in a 15 passenger van equipped with high tech binoculars to look for bald eagles....I never went back.  I think I'll just stick to my yard and my camera.

Day 6: Before and After

Our house was build in 1992...and while there are still many things about our house that are great and fully functional...there are also MANY things that need to be replaced, updated, etc. Soooooo...this has been the year of many home improvements for us.  We got new appliances in the kitchen, a new roof, new deck (see an earlier post) and today we got hardwood floors in our den.  Here is a before pic of the heinus, stained, horrible carpet that was here before....this pic does NOT do it justice---the stains were BAD

This is what I came home to today...Woo-Hoo!  They are not an exact match to the existing hardwood in our foyer/hall/kitchen, but I am happy with the results. Big shout-out to Carpet Outlet of Pelham..they did a great job.  Next in line....replacing our a/c unit before summer arrives.  :)

Day 5

It's Dance night!  Jerry has always taken E to dance class (probably because it's free wi-fi, he takes his laptop, and no other moms try to talk to him).  Well now that the new semester is about to start at UAB, his class is on Thursday nights, so I get to take her. While I am thrilled to get to watch those sweet girls through the 2-way mirror/window....this also means I have to take Jack and entertain him for an hour at a dance studio.  If tonight is any indication of how it will go...NANA, HELP!  He ate someone's Oreo off the floor from God knows how long ago; dumped a bag of crayons into a middle school girl's dance bag (she was not impressed), whipped open the curtain on someone changing clothes (again, not impressed), and gave a chewed up starburst that he no longer wanted from his mouth to another mommy and said "here you go. I not yike lellow ones". WHEW!  He wears me out.....

Day 4: awwww

" I will obey my mommy every time because I am going to be good."   Ok folks, it doesn't get much sweeter than that. This girl has my heart....my first born and my shadow.  I couldn't love her any more if I tried.

Day 3

So excited about our new deck!  It's bigger, nicer, and has a gate!  I can't wait to put some furniture and a grill out there!  Still needs to be stained, but that will come when the weather warms up :)

Day 2- a double post.

Today was the last day of Christmas break for me.  The kids go back Wednesday, but I go back tomorrow. So I can't think of a better way to spend it than with a play date with our friends Katie and Maggie. As you see from the picture, Jack and Maggie are in love, and Katie and I are already planning the wedding. 

And because I couldn't resist sharing this picture, here is a bonus for today. Elizabeth earned 2$ 'helping' Nana this morning. So I took her to Dollar Tree this afternoon to spend this hard earned money. Elizabeth is notorious for not being able to make a decision (wonder where she gets that from?) and we spent entirely too long trying to decide. How about this coloring book? No.  Jump rope? No. Look at all this candy you can get! No.  Then... like a mirage in a 5 year old's eyes is the ceramic figurine display. I try to steer her towards the make-up....no.  So this is what we go home with: a BEAUTIFUL ceramic flamingo, and this exquisite silk rose in a glass vase for Mrs. Colburn, whom she has been trying to purchase gifts for at every shopping trip to Publix.  Clear a spot on your desk Mrs. Colburn......you've got an after-Christmas surprise coming.