Broccoli Chicken Skillet

Last week I tried a recipe I had seen in a magazine involving Campbell’s soup. And Oh Lordy let me tell you that it was the yummiest and easiest thing…you have got to try this! It is an excellent way to use up leftovers that you may have on hand which is exactly why I used this. Here is how you make it:

½ box linguine noodles, cooked according to package directions
1 cup broccoli florets
2 tbsp butter
1 lb. chicken breast, cubed
1 can cream of mushroom soup
½ cup milk
½ c parmesan cheese
Black pepper to taste

Cook the linguine and 4 minutes prior to completion add the broccoli to the pasta water to cook. Brown chicken in butter in skillet on medium-high heat. (If you use leftover pasta like I did, I just threw the broccoli in with the chicken to cook once the chicken was cooked). Once the chicken is done, stir the soup and milk and cheese into the skillet and cook until bubbly. Toss with the noodles and Voila! Its just that simple. The thing I liked about this recipe was that the soup makes it super creamy without tasking mushroom soupy. Also, its versatile…you could add any shape of pasta and a variety of different veggies…peas, carrots, asparagus, you name it. So it is a great way to use your leftovers in a new way that is super quick and easy.

Calvin's Dedication

Today we celebrated Calvin being dedicated to God and announced our intentions of dedicating our lives to raising him to be a fine young Christian. Boy I look at everyone around us and am simply in awe of how blessed we are. It was so nice to have our moms and dads there as well as my sisters, Nick's Aunt Bev and my Grandma Jean and of course Aunt Jaime...what a solid support system we have for our children!

Here we are with our sweet little boy

And here's our sweet little boy trying to eat my face

Here we are during the dedication

Here is Pastor Chuck dedicating Calvin to God

Chicago!

Last weekend we took the kids to Chicago. I was a little skeptical going as I didn’t want to spend vast amounts of money but I decided to let my frugal guard down and just enjoy the weekend. And boy did we have fun! We went to Ikea and did some shopping as well as Trader Joe’s before heading downtown. There we parked (Which by the way cost us a whole $.75) and went to Millenium Park and the Garden of the Art Institute of Chicago. We had so much fun! There were so many neat things to see and do and there was a fountain for Emma to play in…she loved it! The thing I loved about Emma playing in the fountain was that she didn’t seem to mind the scads of other kids surrounding her, lately she has been a little intimidated by other kids. Anyway, we had such a wonderful time! We look at one another on the way home from days like this and revel at all of God's blessings and wonder if there is a family as wonderful as ours. Um, I think not.

Here is a picture of the bean in the park...it is sooo neat! This is a picture Nick took of me at the beanAnd here we are inside of the bean...this is kind of hard to explain

This is the picture of the fountain...the pictures are of people in Chicago and they change periodically. It really is amazing! Here she is at the base of the fountain

Everyone Loves a Man Who is Free AND Easy

These pictures were from Father's Day...don't you just love my husband? I think he is the funniest person in the world...anyone who comes downstairs in a tanktop like this must have a sense of humor. He really is the best Daddy in the world. For Father's Day we made him a silk tie that Emma colored and I put their handprints on the back so they would always be touching Daddy's heart. He also got a camcorder, blueberry pancakes in the morning and stuffed shells for dinner. Oh and new dress shoes. I just love him so much and I am so grateful for him. I love you baby, even if you are Free and Easy...and hilarious!

Cute Pictures

I know you all check in here for pictures of the kiddies...who cares what Linds has to say, right? I hope you enjoy. I have no idea how we were blessed with such beautiful children but were were so...ha! Enjoy!
This outfit was Nicholas' confirmation/dedication outfit! Cal is so big I couldn't get it shut in the back but doesn't he look silly?
This is my all time favorite picture! Muddy feet from making Grandpa Marc's stepping stone!
Emma going fishing...she told us this was her boat and she was out in the water going "splash splash" she kept pretending to cast and then reel the fish in...ah, I love her.

All About Me

Okay I have seen other bloggies do this so I am going to take a shot at it; here are 100 things you didn’t know about me before. Enjoy!

1. When I was little I called Stickers by the yard, stickers by the lawn
2. I started eating sushi when I was 8
3. I liked it
4. Still do
5. Eel was and is my favorite
6. Nick introduced me to pork rinds
7. Still up in the air about those
8. The only reason Nick and I are together is because my roommate was catholic
9. I once ran over someone with a gocart
10. The ocean makes me smile
11. My high school boyfriend forced me to bungee jump
12. I secretly stalk Hello Kitty
13. Last I knew she was in Tokyo
14. I often tell Nick “I love you Aunt Polly”
15. Because Pollyanna is my favorite movie
16. I wish I had been alive in the 40s
17. Or in the Victorian Era
18. Or maybe the Edwardian
19. I collect stamps
20. And yes I do know that I am a dork
21. I quit ballet when my mom had cancer
22. I wish I hadn’t
23. I am the oldest sibling
24. I act like it too
25. Clutter causes me to have panic attacks
26. Pink is my favorite color
27. It’s the color of my kitchen
28. In our last place the pink kitchen was so bright it looked like the place was on fire from outside
29. I love goofy pens
30. I get a thrill by getting free things from the grocer with coupons
31. I have a sticker collection
32. I had braces for three years
33. I’ve never been to a Club
34. Because I am lame
35. Nick gives me butterflys in my tummy
36. Still
37. We had Emma’s name picked out since we started dating
38. I think watching sports is stupid
39. Nick thinks I am stupid for thinking watching sports is stupid
40. I am like a beautiful mind with all of my post it notes around
41. I plan what I am going to wear for the week
42. I love buying cleaning supplies
43. And office supplies
44. Christmas is my favorite time of the year
45. I love making sugar cookies
46. I don’t have a rolling pin
47. I am scared of squirrels
48. I used to have my navel pierced
49. Oh to be young again
50. I find French to be over my head
51. I like to talk about the meaning behind art
52. History is my favorite subject
53. Vietnam history to be more exact
54. I love the smell of scratch and sniff stickers
55. When I think of the fair I think of the song “Lady in Red”
56. I was engaged before Nick
57. Long story
58. I’ve always wanted to live in Manhattan
59. Now I want to live in Seattle
60. I think Hawaii is almost TOO perfect
61. I am Hawaiian
62. Nick says I act uppity sometimes
63. I’m not
64. I think I have the self confidence of a rock
65. And not of a rock star
66. or a rock like a diamond
67. Just a rock
68. When I was young, I collected unicorns
69. I dislike leftover meat
70. I also dislike when people breathe through their mouth
71. I used to be a lifeguard
72. Occasionally I will still run into people who call me Lifeguard Lindsay
73. I like chunky peanut butter
74. Mychildhood nickname was Pookie
75. I don’t like when people dress immodestly
76. I’m a recent convert on this
77. I need to go shopping
78. My closet is still full of immodest clothing
79. I have a dressing room, not a closet
80. Another reason why my husband is the best
81. My two children are my world
82. I feel like I can’t breathe when they’re not with me
83. I am a breastfeeding advocate
84. I don’t eat tuna that’s not dolphin safe
85. I don’t use laundry softener
86. My favorite restaurant is Maggiano’s
87. I miss my Indy friends
88. And our Indy apartment
89. In theory, but we couldn’t all fit now
90. I have a degree in Corporate Finance
91. I used to be in the Corporate world
92. Now I live in the real world
93. You get hit on a lot when you’re the only woman in your corporate world
94. Again, now in the real world
95. I am a genius in planning events
96. Or so I’ve been told
97. I could eat a jar of Nutella in one sitting
98. I love the Nutcracker
99. I danced with Mr. Kelly…the tap dancer
100. When I grow up I want to be a housewife and philanthropist…I think

Posting

I have had a number of beautiful friends let me know that their comment are not coming through. I think I have fixed the problem...I would love if you commented again...I miss my comments. Sorry for the mixups!

Back from the Market

Here's what I bought for 49.76

So I just got back from the grocery store and again it was like pulling teeth to stay on budget! How fruustrating. I think we are going to have to up the food budget as previously suggested; I just hate the thought of having to do that though, don't you? But anyway, I was doing some blog surfing this morning and I stumbled across a woman who could be my sister, weird huh? I can't remember the blog off the top of my head but when I stumble across the name I will let you know so you can tell me if I am right about this sister thing. Anywho she was saying that as hard as staying on budget is these days, at least we are still able to provide healthy nutritious meals to our family with organic foods and wholesome products. And you know, she is right? At times it may seem as though we are scraping by, but we aren't SCRAPING by. I am not feeding Emma ramen noodles or pork rinds for dinner. We have fresh fruits and vegetables (thank you Witwers!). We sit down as a family and have dinner every night. We truly are blessed beyond measure. I especially know how blessed we are when Emma prays for the dinner (albeit sounding like the old lady at the Griswald Christmas..."I pledge allegiance to the flag".) But anyway, pictured is what I got from the store. I should tell you that anything I buy from supplemental stores (read CVS, Walgreens, Target) is not factored into my budget. Here are some of the amazing deals I got:

Juice at Walmart for 1.00 each

Mrs. Meyers countertop spray at Kroger on clearance for $2.50

Muir Glen tomatoes 1.20/can...I used my 3 $1.00 off coupons off 3 cans and got each for $.20.

Kashi Granola bars 2.67/each...I used my 2 $2.00 off coupons and got 2 for $.67 each

Honey Bunches of Oats 1.98...I used my $2.00 off coupon and got paid $.02 to buy it!

YoBaby yogurt for Emma, originally $4.09, on sale for $2.09

A lot of these deals I wasn't looking for, they found me. Another way I am shown that God is watching out for us and is providing for our every need.

Oye

I found this on a wondeful website, http://www.livingfortodaymom.com/ I had to post this because I thought it was HILARIOUS!!! I am so doing this when we get a dog...okay not really. Well, maybe not really.

Say Hello to my Little Friend

This is our new camera...isn't she a beaut? For those of you who were unaware our camera before this one was huge...like takes two hands to hold big. I like to compare it to Zach Morris' cell phone. Yes that big! But now we have a cute midgety camera and I love it! Our old camera was slowly dying...sometimes the shutter didn't open and it was getting harder and harder to capture the children being adorable. So we upgraded and I am happy. No longer will you say "I hate this camera!"

Let the Screaming Commence

Things here in Beantown are going pretty well. Nick is adorable, Emma is cantankerous, and Calvin is hilarious. So everyone seems to be occupied with being fun and happy right now. Emma is in her terrible two’s and she has such anger issues. She reminds me so much of myself that it is kind of ridiculous. She has taken to yelling when she doesn’t like something. For example, naptime. Emma used to take her nap on the sofa. It involved a long process of me having to prepare her a cup of milk and then laying down with her until she fell asleep. Then I would have to get Calvin and go upstairs and couldn’t come back down for fear of waking her. Plus if Calvin cried at all, even a tiny bit, during her falling asleep, she wouldn’t fall asleep. I decided that it was just ridiculous to jump through the hoops anymore…especially since I found her one day watching reruns of “I love Lucy”…the squirt wasn’t even napping she was just making us suffer upstairs so she could have some alone time with the plasma. So we have taken to napping in our crib for nap time. She has been napping in her crib for a week now and everyday I put her in her crib with a cup of water and some books and her stuffed animals and explain to her that she doesn’t have to sleep but she needs to relax and can read books or play. And every day she cries and screams and then one by one I hear her throw her books out of her bed. And then her cup. And she screams “I will not take a nap in my bed.” Over and over and over. How fun. Last night while we were driving she was screaming at Nicholas for driving “Daddy not drive, Emma drive!” Yes okay, lets pull over and the two of you can trade places. I was shopping with her for Father’s Day and I kept saying I was going to tickle her; so she’s screaming “I will not be tickled!” So here’s my question…am I raising a spoiled bratty little girl or is this normal? Its hard to find some middle ground here. I don’t want to just let the screaming and demanding go unpunished but I also don’t want her to feel as though I am beating her all of the time. Do you know what I mean? Please, someone give me some helpful insight into this.

I've Got the Grocery Shopping Blues!

Has anyone else noticed how Grocery prices are stifling everyone? I went shopping last night and it was just gut wrenching! I was also just reading today that they are expected to rise even more! What’s a girl on a budget to do? Errr! I try to spend just $50.00 a week on groceries but lately it has been difficult indeed. One of Nick’s best friends Tony couldn’t believe that I only spend that. He said “but you guys make good food.” Yes we do, thank you! What has everyone else been doing to stay on track? I clip coupons, of course! But I also have begun shopping more creatively…cleaning supplies and personal care products will be bought at CVS with ECB and I have also been looking at Aldi. I must also mention that one of our saving graces is not getting everything at the supermarket: we get our fruits and veggies through an organic co-op with Nick's mom (thank you thank you!) and she also picks us up organic amish eggs. Now I should also make the disclaimer here that we do not eat frozen boxed meal crap. I do actually cook for my family on a nightly basis. Here is what the menu looks like this week:

Tuesday: Smoked Ham and Asparagus on Toast
Wednesday: Roasted Chicken with Rice and Corn on the Cob
Thursday: Stuffed Shells and Garlic Bread
Friday: Chicken Piccata
Saturday: breakfast blueberry pancakes; lunch BLT’s; Dinner: Stuffed Chicken Breasts
Sunday: Lunch: Corned Beef Sandwiches with Horseradish; Dinner: Leftovers
Monday: Fritatta

As you can see we eat nice well balanced meals. Emma loves avocado so she has that with dinner, too. Does anyone have any suggestions? Anything to add?

Adios Amiga!

Friday evening we went over to my Grandma Jean's house to say good bye to my Aunt Jan. She is on her way home to Maryland and I miss her so much. I am sure she is getting caught up with all of this blogging I have been doing. Thought I would post some pictures from our fun times together. I love that the women posted in the picture are the shopping buddies. We all have fun together. I love that we span four generations...you can have fun no matter how old you are! I am going to miss you Aunt Jan! Have fun, live life to its fullest in Maryland, I think of you multiple times each day and I can't wait to see you soon!

Jon and Kate are Geniuses!

Last night I watched Jon and Kate plus 8. Usually watching that show helps me to feel as though my life is so calm compared to them. This episode however caused me to feel that I have things more jumbled up than they do. The episode was discussing parenting and discipline techniques. They talked about the various ways they punish the kids and how they need to fine tune their ways for each individual child. At the end Kate said that all you can do is love them and just try to let them know that you love them. And how true is that? I think that I often times get so wrapped up in the act of having kids and raising kids that I forget what the point is. I am overly micro-organizing and under macro-organizing as we would have concluded in the corporate world. I get so wrapped up in play dates and cooking organic foods, and making sure Calvin is visually stimulated enough, and making sure we read to Emma enough, and on and on and on, that I lose sight of the big picture…all of these things are done because I love my kids. And yes I know that I do these things because I love my kids. We have playdates so Emma won’t be socially challenged and will learn how to share; I feed the kids organic foods so they aren’t consuming high fructose corn syrup, red dye 40, and pesticides; I stimulate Calvin so he will be a genius; I read to Emma so she will have a love for books. I know that all of these things I do out of love, but how often do I stop taking myself so seriously and just love my kids?…not very often it seems. Jon and Kate have this so simplified and I need to take their lead it seems!

Kelsey Graduated!

Yesterday my baby sister Kelsey graduated from High School! Yeah Kelsey! So we spent yesterday afternoon at commencement which was well, hot. Thought I would post some pictures from the day! Enjoy!
Here are Emma and Calvin right before we left for the Joyce. Emma decided to be a bull...
Then she decided that Calvin should be a bull too!
The proud graduate with her nephew. My baby sis with our baby.

Sisters (and all my fab kids (I say ALL like I am herding them around or something!))
Me with my sis', kids, and Gram. I don't know what I was doing but doesn't it look like I should be saying "holla' back yo, yoo, yoo"?

Emma and Kelsey...so cute!
This is what Emma did during the commencement ceremony! It looks like she is reaching for the football which is just precious...high aspirations.

God's Faithfulness is Never Ending

Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father;

There is no shadow of turning with Thee;
Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not;
As Thou hast been, Thou forever will be.

Great is Thy faithfulness!
Great is Thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see.
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided;
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!

Summer and winter and springtime and harvest,
Sun, moon and stars in their courses above
Join with all nature in manifold witness
To Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love.

Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth
Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide;
Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow,
Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside!

5th Wedding Anniversary!

No you can't get all excited yet. We haven't made it there yet. But we are planning on making it to our fifth wedding anniversary in a few months...provided we don't kill one another (and please no one take that literally). Anywho, I thought I would post so hopefully someone could give me some nifty ideas for celebrating our fifth wedding anniversary. We could renew vows but thats out. There were no toasts to reminisc over, no people in attendance at our wedding (except for the pastor and his wife), so ideas are a little limited. I am having my fabulous cousin do a photo shoot of us, but besides that I have no ideas. Can anyone give us some advice? Much appreciated, thanks!

Memorial Day Weekend

Oh my goodness, may I just start out saying how much I love our little family and all of the time that we get to spend together. We had such a fabulous long weekend together. Saturday Jaime and I hit the Old2Gold sale at Notre Dame which was incredible! We arrived at 6:10, the gates opened at 7 and we were wrapped around so we were standing on the other side of the stadium. I had such a great time with her, she got a bike, I got clothes, and I haven't laughed that hard in I don't know how long.
When I got home we started planting. We got all of our plants in the ground and also got some seeds planted. I don't have high hopes for the seeds, but Emma loved planting them. Maybe she will finish her dinner if she knows where it all came from...um, yeah right, that's a long stretch!
That night I was singing and bouncing Cal around and he started laughing. Not just laughing but belly laughing...the cutest noise in all the land. Nick and I were just in awe! He has such a low cute voice too and he was just having the time of his life...man I love that kid!
The only truly awful part about the weekend was that I got hit with a massive cold...the same cold that Nicholas has been battling and is continuing to battle (on a sidenote, Nick is one of those weird wussy people that is always sick...for like months on end with the same cold. I guess it isn't weird as he doesn't take anything to get better, no medicine, no vitamins, just a lot of whining...just teasing about the whining...kind of). Anyway because of the illnesses inflicted upon us we skipped church Sunday but then headed out to the park. If my mom were reading this she would say if we were well enough to go to the park we were well enough to go to church...kind of but it is a lot easier to blow your nose in the park than it is in the church sanctuary. The pictures above are of the park and right as we were leaving for the park and oh my gosh how I love that picture of her. She was all dressed for tennis, which we tried but she was much too involved in the new contraption, the tire swing, to care...maybe next time.
After the park I decided it was just too beautiful out to spend the day cooped up, so we went home for clothes and diaper changes and then headed to Fernwood Botanical Gardens...what a perfect day. Emma had a blast and we all had a blast just hanging out and being together in God's beauty.
Monday we did a whole lot of nothing which was spectacular! Monday evening we had a cookout at my Gram's. Had to post this pic of Cal and Maime in the swing...you know you love me! By the way I wish mine would sometime act like a UB but the element of caring is just gone...insiders on the inside know...ha! So that's my weekend in a nutshell "help I'm a weekend stuck in here in this shell"...how was yours?

Firsts Around Here

Emma got her first tricycle for her Birthday and this past weekend she took it outside and took it for a spin...she did pretty good and was so excited and proud of herself. It was just too cute!
Another first this past week was that Calvin began eating cereal! He didn't seem to like it very much at first but has since seemed to warm up to it more as the week has progressed. He is just so cute! Emma didn't like the idea of Cal sitting in her high chair until...We introduced her to her new booster seat! Check out the pink! She is doing so good in it and really seems to enjoy eating at the actual table. Another first this past weekend was that I got my sink shiny as the flylady plan suggests. As you can see I am such a dork that my pink kitchen does in fact have pink dish soap and pink hand soap...I know, I know, I'm pathetic!

Dell Should Give Me Royalties...or something!

Whenever I see a Dell commercial I think I should be getting some type of compensation from them! Errr! My senior year of college, one of the MANY exit projects I had to do was an analysis of a top company and make recommendations. Believe it or not but this two-hour presentation was one of the easier ones considering I had to give an investment portfolio restructuring recommendation to the CFO of one of the State's largest hospitals...yikes! (Now your silly exit papers don't look so hard, do they college kids?) Anywho, this was back in the day when, if you wanted a Dell computer you called Dell or went to their website. One of the recommendations was to make Dell computers available in stores. And are they available in stores now? Why yes they are! Another recommendation? Have a Dell representative there for a more personalized buying experience. And do they have Dell reps? Why yes they do. Here's another one: Dell should start making printers as that was the only thing they were outsourcing in their bundles. And do they make printers now? Of course because I'm a genius! Normally I would think that Dell is just clairvoyant and somehow knew the ideas, except our professor mailed them the project including a tape of the presentation. Do you think they thought "geesh, these people are geniuses?" I have this idea that maybe some grunt in the mailroom at Dell stumbled upon the package, opened it and decided to make the ideas his own. He probably changed the names on the presentation and walked up to the ivory tower with all of these ideas. Maybe he is some bigwig now. But I am sure it didn't happen like that. I am just sure they came up with those ideas all by themselves...right!

Big People, Little World

I love this photograph I captured last night while Emma and Daddy played. She was making food for him; she kept giving him soup and he kept saying "soup is nice but I want some real food!" so she gave him more soup. What kind of soup you ask? "Pink soup" was Emma's answer...apparently the girl likes to serve borsht to her guests. I am so blessed to have such a wonderful husband to be such a terrific Daddy for our children.

Random Thoughts during my Day off...

The following are random things I have thought of during the day...geesh I am silly:

Is it pronounced Eether or IIIther?
I am wondering why we have 8 spoons for Calvin when they come in packs of 5?
Do you know the muffin man?
Will I ever stop finding shredded cheese under our kitchen table?
Do you have our two missing spoons?
Do you often times find your nose running but cannot blow anything out so only a kleenex shoved up your nose works?
Are you grossed out now?
Calvin had his first poo today!
Now you should be grossed out.
I would give $50.00 right now to just be able to go take an uninterrupted shower...$100.00 if I could shave my legs
Do you ever wonder if ants have boyfriends? Do they date? "Hey I've heard good things about this new crumb pile...wanna go check it out?"
Now you are grossed out and affirmed that I am weird.
I love Nick...I love knowing that he was the one for me.
I think Nick is the normal one of the family...his family that is
Thats some weird normal
Why don't they make the sink stoppers easier to clean out?
When you are losing weight do you go to buy clothes or do you just wait?
How long do you wait?
My pants fell off...maybe nows the time to shop.
I used to hate zucchini
Now its okay
Nick still hates zucchini
I can't frenchbraid hair
Everyone thinks I look like Kimora

First Boyfriends

My sisters (you can read it as My sista’s if you so choose) were over yesterday and little Kelsey brought her new boyfriend. This is basically the iconic first boyfriend for her and I couldn’t help but wax a little sentimental when she had left. Do you remember your first boyfriend? Remember the butterflys you got in your tummy when he was around or all of the minute details of actually asking you out that seemed so important at the time? Remember how you would talk to your little girlfriends about it and all of the questions “did he touch your hand like this or like this?” First boyfriends are instrumental in your life: they allow you to dream, and imagine, and create moments in your mind. They allow you to relish moments and feelings within yourself and keep thoughts and key events locked in your memory so you’ll never forget. First boyfriends are also a good lesson for that one day when you have a husband. You learn to understand body language and when to lay off and when to nag, when it is worth it to fight and when to just drop it, and etc. Who was your first boyfriend? What do you remember? What sticks out in your mind? My first boyfriend was a guy named Ryan. He was about 2-3 years older than me and I remember talking to him on the phone for hours at a time. Hours. And I remember the way he smelled like dryer sheets. So anyway, now you just HAVE to comment to tell me all about your first beau.

Just a little Thank you God, Thank you God!

Do you ever look at your life and think, how did I get here? That’s the way I felt this weekend. I know that I have done it before, with the forethought being, how did I get so old? Why do I live here? What was I thinking when I thought I could pull off this mom charade? But this weekend, the thought was more along the lines of “I can’t believe all of the wonderful things/animals/furniture/transportation/basic bodily functions/rooms in our home that God has blessed me with.” Do you ever have those moments? I just look around in wonderment…God has taken such good care of me, in spite of everything. In spite of my horrid, horrid, wicked sins, God has forgiven me and blessed me beyond measure. That is what Grace is all about. There’s an acronym for Grace: God’s Riches at Christ’s Expense. Isn’t that just so true? The pastor preached on joy yesterday in the sermon, and oddly enough we learned about the same thing in Sunday School; we talked about how Christians shouldn’t be downer people. You know what kind of downer people I am talking about: the kind of people that complain about every thing, that always have something wrong in their lives, that bring the whole room down when they are there, and that just drain the emotional life out of people they are around. I don’t want to be one of those people. We should be so full of Joy! At everything that God has done in our lives and the forgiveness he has bestowed upon us! I want to be a joyful person!!! I am so blessed, we just can’t understand why he loves us so much! Help me to be one of those people, PLEASE! When I am whiny, or complainy that my amazing husband did one thing stupid (well, stupid to me at least) once in his life, just smack me upside the head and say something gospel-like, such as “be filled with the Lord Jesus Sista!” You have to, its required. Because like the song says I’ve got the love of Jesus, love of Jesus, down in my heart!

I'm Pretty Fly

So I was reading blogs yesterday as I tend to do every day and I stumbled upon this one website called FlyLady. The website starts you out on Baby steps to getting your house clean and decluttered. I think that clean isn't so much my problem as cluttered. My confession is that I think I had run across this one before but thought, "who doesn't have time to clean their house?" Well the answer is now me. I really need to follow a schedule. And as much as I love my new schedule it would be nice to be told when I should be cleaning certain things in the house...like sheets. How often are you supposed to change your sheets? Anyone? So my question is, does anyone else belong to Fly Lady? Do you like it? Do you hate it? I JUST signed up so I will be shining my sink as the instructions suggest. I am hoping a shiny sink will be the start to a shiny weekend!

Family Dinners

I love the idea of having Sunday Dinner after church. You can read all about it here. The gal that wrote this blog is from South Carolina. Which is weird because when I saw Sunday dinner I immediately thought about my own family in South Carolina. When we were down visiting them I became enamored by their ritual of Sunday dinner. Everyone comes from everywhere, the church and inland from the beach mainly, and they all sit down around my Aunt Patsie's table for Supper. She always makes chicken and rice and there is always gravy on everything. There is always a cobbler on the side table. I want my family to know the stability and love wrapped up in this family tradition. Plus I love the thought that there is so much food so guests are always welcome. How homey! So go on now and plan yourself a nice supper for after church this Sunday.

The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly

Okay so this is not an attractive picture of me (hence I am the ugly one!). But I thought this was the funniest picture so I just had to post it. I guess I am humble or something. In Youth Group we used to say that you can't have fun unless you are humble; and thatis true, isn't it?

Anyway, Emma is the Good with her princessy fairy wand, granting Mommy all of her wishes. Poof, stop being ugly! And then there's Calvin. I love the Devil baby glare he's giving the camera, all swaddled in red. So uncharacteristic of him and yet it was captured at the same time as Emma looking angelic. I just HAD to share as I thought it was hilarious.

Thursday Schedule Update

So I will have to let you know how my new cool schedule works tomorrow. This morning my alarm didn't go off so I woke up 10 minutes before I was supposed to be at work...yikes! Plus we have a doctor's appointment for Calvin this afternoon and then errands to run so I won't be home this afternoon for chores during naptime. After that we are going down to the Witwer Manor for dinner and then my 7-8 cleaning time will be dispelled as well. So I will let you know how it runs tomorrow...sorry!

My Wednesday was Wonderful...kind of

So today we went to Shipshie, which for those of you who don't know is actually pretty far away from my house. We set out this morning and were supposed to meet my Gram and Aunt Jan there at 10 but ended up not leaving our house until about that time. Jaime came over to ride with me and thank the Lord that she did, she was such a big help! I think she was about to lose her mind though with all it takes to get two kids out the door with extra outfits and snacks and cups and at the last minute Calvin needed fed before we left. Exhausting. Then, probably about 3/4 of the way there, poor Emma gets car sick and pukes Oatmeal all over herself. You know who your best friend is when they are on the side of the road with you peeling puke clothes off of your kid. Thank you so much Maime! Back into the car, cleaned up and ready to go. By the way thanks to the EverGreen guy who stopped to see if he could help as he was the ONLY person to stop to see if two women with two kids needed assistance...what has our world come to? At Shipshie it was raining like none other so we only shopped the Mercantile which was so much fun! I decided to splurge and buy new sunglasses...they are more expensive than I spend on anything but Happy Mother's Day to me, right? You can see them here: I think I like them the best on Calvin but that's just because he reminds me of that old bald guy that used to dance on the Great America commercials...do you know who I am talking about?

After that we ate at Essenhaus which was fabulous as always! I got a chef salad with ham and soup, which was originally for Emma but she wouldn't eat it. Supper was followed by Peanut Butter pie and a cup of coffee...yum! Another Giada moment!

It was wonderful to spend the day with the girls! I am so happy my Aunt is back in town and it was fun with Jaime driving with me...we had such a blast!

One of the things I saw I really wanted to buy when I was out and about were candles. But I didn't buy any. I have a million and two candles at home and just about that many candle holders that makes it just seem silly to buy more. I love the way candles look and the way it changes the environment within the home. Whenever we go to Bean's house she always has tons of candles going and it always looks so nice. So I am going to try to light candles every night before dinner. Here are the candles I lit last night to disburse through the house:

I think it will create a relaxed atmosphere which I should be creating for Nick to come home to after a busy day.

SAHMs

Photo courtesy of Sarasota Memorial Hospital

Why do I get so jealous of stay at home moms? For some reason when I hear that someone is a stay at home mom, something inside of me bubbles up and I get so irritated, it is just unbelievable. I feel almost as a child when they want something that is simply unattainable, "but I want to be a Stay at Home Mom too!" And yet when I stop to think of it, I don’t want to be a stay at home mom. I tried it once and went out of my cotton-freaking mind! I am definitely not cut out to be stay at home mom. I need my day to have structure and I need to interact with other adults about things other than the number of bowel movements in a day and the latest rice cereal on the market. I also became incredibly depressed and anxious when I was at home with the kids full time. Now I only work part time and I must admit that I love what I do. I am not married to my job or anything but I definitely feel a sense of accomplishment when I leave work. I wonder if I am jealous of the stay at home mom’s financial position; that they can stay at home, because honestly we couldn’t afford for me to stay home all of the time. But on the other hand, I don’t truly know the financial position of these stay at home mom’s. Maybe no one in the house can afford to eat meat or dairy products because she stays home. Maybe they are charging everything to their credit cards so they can look affluent. I am not trying to be mean, but it does help to sometimes remind myself that things are not always as they appear on the surface.

Vacationing without Going Broke

This is a good article about going on a vacation this year and saving some money. You can read it here. I know we are looking for ways to save money on our vacation this year. One way is we buy a valued visitor card or an Entertainment book. There are coupons for free gifts, 2 for 1 meals and percentage off at certain stores and hotels. Every little bit helps I guess.

Sleep Deprived Mama

So Nick and I were talking this weekend and as we are talking he made me realize that I have been surviving the last few months on only 3 hours of sleep a night. 3 HOURS OF SLEEP A NIGHT! A light went off in my head when I realized this: this would explain why I am so grumpy, and unmotivated, and unorganized, and... Not only am I stumbling through the day but I think my brain is just shutting down at certain points of the day. So I am making a declaration and saying no more! I am going to get more sleep (I'm making the drastic change to 4 hours of sleep a night) and I am going to have a schedule for myself so that I am no longer found in the kitchen staring blankly at the counter...just standing and staring. Here is my schedule for myself:

4:30-5:00 Swiffer house and mop
5:00-5:45 Get ready for work, do devotions, pump (breast milk, not iron, teehee!)
6:00-1:00 Work, work, work!
1:00-2:00 Eat lunch and play with kids
2:00-3:00 Naps for the children, cleaning and household chores for me
3:00-3:30 If children still napping, downtime for me!
4:00-5:00 Play with kids, prepare dinner
5:00-6:00 Prepare and eat dinner
6:00-7:00 Open for playing, relaxing, whatnot
7:00-8:00 Cleaning!
8:00-8:18 Storytime with Emma before bed
8:18-9:00 Alone time with Nick
9:00-9:30 Shower or take bubble bath
9:30-10:00 Get ready for bed, get outfit ready for next day, set coffee maker, etc.
10:00 bed time!

So if I were to go to bed at 10:00 I would get 6 hours of sleep (actually 5 with 2 feedings with Calvin through the night). However I am realistically going into this knowing it is going to be more like 11:00 before I get to sleep most nights, but a girl can try! I know this is a pretty strict schedule but I don't have to follow it to a t, its just a guideline for me. There are so many things to do that I don't know WHAT to do...does that make sense? So I will let you know later on in the week how my new schedule is going.

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all of you mommy's out there! Nick brought me breakfast in bed and now I am spending some time alone, which is what I asked for. I thought I would post a picture of the kids so I can relish how lucky I really am to be a mother. There are so many hardships that come with being a mother: having absolutely no time to ones self (practically), not having any time to get ready, being puked on, being pooped on, the tantrums, the sleepless nights. But all of the good outweighs all of the bads. Not only am I lucky to be a mother, but I am a mother with Nick as my children's father. I don't think there is anything better that I could have asked for. He is such a great husband and daddy. He is my support that is always there for me and always reassures me when I am convinced that I am not good at this whole Mom thing. I am so lucky to be celebrating Mother's Day with the people I am with right this very moment!