Days 4 and 5, just a little behind...

So, technically it is day 6, but on day 4 I realized I had way too much Chicken and Stuffing left to move forward, so leftovers had to be eaten.

Friday was pizza day. DiGorno (sp?) Flat bread pizza. Once again, a little change. We were supposed to have Tuscan Chicken, but, instead we had Pepperoni with fire roasted peppers. That was yummy, although the pizza was a bit small. DH was happy with it.

Saturday was Sloppy Taco day. A lot like manwich. Half way through cooking it, I decided that I better make pasta for the girls. Good idea, DD1 would have turned her nose up at it..."Momma I don't like tomatoes..."

Well, tomorrow is Mac 'n Cheese night.

Day 3, I may be in this alone now...

As hubby was leaving for work today, I mentioned what we had for dinner last night. He got really excited and asked if there were leftovers. Which he took. Though a little skeptical about the ketchup. Another one of his things - no sauce...

Today, I made the Stovetop one pan chicken. They say one pan, what they don't mention is all the different bowls you need to make this. Mix the sour cream and soup in a bowl. Mix the Stuffing, water, and butter in a bowl, you get the picture. It really is good, but I can't imagine that it is all that good for you. Though I made some adjustments by using low fat and low sodium items. I think next time I will need to change the soup from mushroom to cream of chicken (get around that hubby thing).

At dinner time, I ate the chicken, DD1 opted for leftovers from the weekend. By the time DD2 woke up from her late nap, I gave in and gave her mini corn dogs. I will serve her some of the chicken tomorrow after the gym tomorrow.

Well, tomorrow is Sloppy Taco Night...

5 Meals in a Bag...Day 2

Hubby liked the first meal, after he picked out all the broccoli. Shocking. His suggestion, no veggies next time. Ha Ha. At least DD2 loved it.

Second meal, Cheeseburger Macaroni. Easy to make, but I think that buying Hamburger Helpers would have been the same. DD2 once again loves it, but then again, when I think of her I can't help but think of "Little Mikey" from the commercials. DD1, I had to make her plain macaroni, but then she wanted a little bit of the Velveeta on top. I did make a strawberry-banana smoothie to go with it. Big hit.

Well, tomorrow is, well I haven't decided yet..

Kraft 5 Meals in one Bag...Day 1

Ok, so they say you can fit all the ingredients in one reusable Wal-mart Bag. Who knows, I took my whole family shopping with me, so I never will.

Back to the beginning. Last week I received my quarterly Kraft magazine in the mail. Flipping through the pages I found an article, with recipes for 5 low priced family dinners. Alright, I'll bite. Why not? My loving family are the worst people to cook for. Hubby doesn't like anything usual. DD#1 lives on air (well, snack food) and refuses to eat at meal time unless it really catches her eye. DD#2, eats most of what I put in front of her, at least for now, as she tries to mimic her older sister, that will change. Me, I have a culinary degree wasting away. My new specialties are grill cheese, pasta with butter and cheese, and peanut butter, jelly, and banana crackers. Sigh!

So today is day one of my newest experiment. Of course, I am going out of order, but this was the recipe that DD1 agreed to.

Velveeta Cheesy Chicken Rice. It has some pluses, they like chicken, rice, and cheese. Negative, its made with Velveeta, a processed cheese, and broccoli (hubby hates broccoli). Well, if they like it I will have to tweek the recipe just a bit. I already changed the white rice to brown rice. Maybe, carrots and green beans instead of broccoli (although I love broccoli, don't think it will fly), and Low-fat sharp cheddar cheese.

So I made the recipe and it tastes ok, I think the changes will help and probably make it a bit healthier.

Another big thing today, I have decided to go back to school. DD1 is in preschool now and DD2 will be in Preschool next fall. Soon, I will be at home alone and I think its time to finish up school and get a career in place for when they are both in school. That way I can contribute to the family income. Hubby is actually ok with me going back to school, even though it is going to cost us some money that we really don't have right now, but when I explained where this was going in the long term he was like, ok, how much. So, over the weekend I started researching, and today I applied to Missouri State. I hope that I get in, they have a great Teaching School, but first I have to wait for the transcripts to arrive their and to hear back. Hope it doesn't take to long...

I am a horrible mother (or so I am supposed to believe...)

Right now, Ali is sleeping on a self-made bed on the floor in our basement. She fell asleep watching her favorite show while I was reading a magazine on the couch above her. Luckily, I looked down in time to catch Maddie crawling up to her sister to grab her and take her upstairs. Time to change that diaper. Then I sit down to play with Maddie who begins to rub her eyes. Time for you to go down for a nap too my dear. So here I sit writing as my littlest one is in the final stages of CIO (cry it out). Yes, I know, what am I thinking traumatizing my baby by leaving her in her room. But, it works I say. Since I spent two months undoing the damage a move did to her sleeping patterns. She only wanted to sleep in our bed, but then she couldn't sleep because Mommy and Daddy were there. So then Dave had to move to the couch or he wouldn't get any sleep and Maddie would be fussy. This would continue until I finally said enough and put her in her crib (which had to be a new one, since of course the old one was damaged in the move). At least I leave her with soothing music and her paci. Oh wait, was I not supposed to give her the paci, hahaha, don't worry I will be taking that away around December. 18 months old is my cut off. Hopefully it will go as well as Ali's did, but I know it may be more of a challenge. She has a different personality and gets very upset when that paci is missing. Sigh! Oh well, guess I will go off and work on my online calendar for the vacation...

Off to the Dentist...

Today, we took Ali to her very first Dentist appointment. Now, mind you that I have been prepping her for this for weeks. Its a good thing too. We took her in, Dave had his appointment, I kept sending her into the room so that she could watch what was going on with Daddy. She's 3, attention span is just not there. Anyway, during this time she had a little potty accident because she refused to use the potty there because "its too big." Of course, she didn't tell us about this, and I noticed that her dress was wet, after she sat on my lap. LOL! Wet pants, joy. Anyway, her time came up, and we thought that she was going to get right in the chair because she was really excited. That was when the Ali we knew kicked in and she started running off. So, into the chair I went. (This is when I find out about the potty thing) She wanted to sit in my lap almost the whole time. Well, Dave had to take her to get changed for her ballet class, so I got a little break. I finished up, with no cavities (woo hoo!!!!) I sat back down and got Ali to sit on my lap (in clean clothes this time), and the dentist came over. No, not going to open up. But Ali, didn't we practice yesterday. Open up and say Ahh! Thats what it took (and the dentist not using anything sharp). They counted teeth, cleaned a couple that had raisins on them, and we were done. She was so excited, she went out into the waiting area and told everyone that she had 10 teeth on the top and 9 on the bottom. Yep, still waiting on one tooth, oh well, it will come in its own time.

Off Ali went to ballet school with Daddy. Probably a good thing I didn't go, I was still fuming after last week's incident with the lady from the Opera office telling me that my baby was making too much noise and she couldn't make phone calls. Sorry, a few minutes before lunch and my little girl was teething. Sorry, still bothers me! At least Ali had fun!

I got Maddie home, fed her, and put her down for her nap. It was nice and quiet. No one demanding my attention. Ahh, if I could have a whole day like that!!

No nap for Ali, no afternoon nap for Maddie...oh well...off to swim class anyway.

After swim class we went to try a Pappas style Greek and Italian restaraunt on the square here in Ozark. Yummy. Going to have to take the inlaws there. They will love it. Plus, they can get a drink there too.

Ali has a full day of school tomorrow!! I can get some rest, but will probably find something to do...

Amber is a Cyborg...

First of all, I love my aerobics class. My instructor, Amber pushes us past what we all think we can do, and we find that we can actually do a lot more than we thought. That saying, the class has decided that she is a Cyborg (she likes the title "Daughter of the Devil). LOL!!! Anyway, today we had two guys in class (amazing, since most of the time the guys come and then never come back because it hurts too much :) ), so we knew it was going to be a tough class. She admitted last week that she makes the class tougher when there are guys there, just for the fun of it. Well, today she was asking us about how it went and different people were just trying to come up with answers. My response was "its just all a blur." That generated a laugh. We have been conditioned to take it I guess cause "we go out and tell people that they have to come join us..." Hey at least when I look in the mirror, its starting to work, though I don't think anything short of a tummy tuck is going to get rid of this "Mommy Tummy."

Dave had some free time at work and came up with the plan that we were all going to the movies. What was I thinking saying yes. The girls needed naps, I wouldn't have minded one too, but I really wanted to see Harry Potter. Two girls under the age of 4 = me only seeing half of the movie. At least I got to see the begining and the last 10 minutes, other than that I couldn't really tell you what happened.

Family photos were next on the agenda. The family part went great, the girls were having fun and taking direction well. Then it was time for Maddie's pictures. All wanted to be in them, then she didn't want to sit still, then she wanted the flowers. Let's just say I only got one picture of the two of them together, and they are not really together. Maddie was just as bad. She didn't want to let go of me. I have come to the realization that Maddie feels the same way about getting her picture taken as I do. Keep the camera away. At least we got a few good shots. Can't wait to see them in person in a week.

From pictures onto swimming class. A little playtime first, then onto class. Uh-oh, where is Mel. What do you mean she is not here. The little ones were not too happy about that. But the teacher they had seemed to jump right in and have fun with the kids. Good thing too, Aaron was pretty busy with the level 2's today. Of course, a swim class wouldn't be a swim class without an Ali meltdown. She wanted to play afterwards, but I wanted to get her home since she was shaking from the cold. Which meant that she went screaming into the parking lot. Well, that insured that we were going straight home.

And to think, Wednesday is actually my busy day...

Just another boring weekend...

Honestly, there isn't much to talk about. I spent the weekend with my girls, while Dave had baseball games.

We took the girls to the pool on Sunday so that Ali could get some practice time in before class on Monday and Maddie could get some time in the pool just getting acclimated to it.

Saw a recipe on Food Network today for Pulled Pork. Going to try to make it sometime this week, if I can get around to picking up the ingredients.

Maddie's new car seat is at Wal-mart and I have to remember to pick it up. Its just like Ali's, so she will be able to grow with it. Its rear and forward facing and breaks down to a booster seat when she is bigger. Nice thing was that Maddie received a gift card and cash for her birthday and I was able to use that towards her car seat.

Well, wish there was more, many a joke or something funny, but like I said, just another boring weekend....

Swimming Classes...

Dave is home!! Now he can help, lol!

I got Ali to swim class yesterday, sigh! Aaron, the aquatics director wanted to give Ali one more chance at level 2. Ok, I'll try it, but, after Wednesday, and not wanted to get in the pool, I was skeptical. It was a no go. I walked over with Cheri to watch her son, Doug, and it wasn't 5 min before she was running around again. IE, mommy better get away from the fence. Well, I moved away to where I couldn't be seen and to let Maddie run around. As I was walking to the playground, I look up and here come Aaron and Ali. Guess who isn't with her class. After a short talk she is sent back out. I wait 5 minutes, check again. Here she is swinging on the pool ladder. Alright, I've had enough. "Aaron, its not Brendon, please just take her back to level 1 with Mel. She needs someone with a firm hand." Thats just my little girl. So off to Level 1, and back to her friend Doug. Look, Mel got her in the pool. But, she wasn't going to jump off the diving board. Her fear of heights got the best of her. Oh well, maybe next time.

Dave sent me some really beautiful flowers (for my birthday). Wasn't his fault they were late, the florest decided that I had to be home to deliever the flowers.

Friday...
Maddie had her doctor's appointment this morning. Everything looks great - head and height are 50 percentile so that is great, weight is only about 4%, but Dr. Sears isn't worried since the other two markers are right on target. She is just going to be a thin little girl. Four shots. She fell asleep in the car on the ride home.

Thank goodness, another birthday overwith!!

Well, yesterday I turned 32. Yep, 32! Thank you to those who say I look like I'm in my twenties. Wish I felt that way. :)

Yesterday, the girls were true to form. Ali wanted to throw tantrums to get everything. Maddie was teething. I had a women actually tell me to keep my child quiet because she was working and trying to make phone calls. See if I ever donate to that organization. I have a friend who sure won't be after I told her about it. My husband said I should have walked over to the school and demanded my money back for Ali's Ballet Lessons for that kind of treatment. Well, maybe next week I will just sit outside her office and let Maddie cry. Considering I was only outside her office for two minutes when she came out, and it was almost lunch time, too. I spent most of the time outside with her, but I had to come back in to get Ali.

Then Ali didn't take her nap. Which of course meant that she was no good for swimming lessons at 6 pm. What was I thinking signing her up for a 6pm class, she is no good after 6pm either way. Next time it will be a 5 pm class. Well, you better believe that girl is taking her nap today. I wasn't taking "no" for an answer.

Dave made it home yesterday. He brought me a jersey from the All-star game as my birthday present. I guess I am supposed to get flowers (they were supposed to be here yesterday), haven't seen them yet. I think Dave is working on getting some of his money back on this. "I ordered those flowers days ago, they should have been delivered."

After we got home, Ali wasn't much better. So I put Maddie to bed and left Ali with Dave and went to Wal-mart to get groceries. I got a text and two phone calls while I was away. Ali went #2 in two pairs of underwear, and clogged up the toilet with what was left in her. And she was still awake. Then Dave needed shaving cream (I know, boring, right?). But the 2nd call was totally worth it. He got an email from Disney giving us a great discount for our vacation in October. Free Dining with stay. Well, we played with the discount, and came up with a 8 day/7 night trip for $2300 that includes all the meals, 5 day park hopper pass (cause with two kids, and the travel days, more than that just isn't worth it). Then, we spent $550 on airline tickets. So that made for a really great birthday present.

Then of course, I can't forget the present my Dad brought up two weekends ago. My little sports car. My 1988 Pontiac Formula Fiero. Isn't it pretty. And it's all mine.

Gotta thank my Mom and my MIL for the money for new clothes. Gonna need it for that vacation!!!

Wish it were Wednesday, I think...

Monday night wasn't any better than Sunday night. My "sweet little angel" was in her usual form. "No mommy, I don't want to" or "Mommy go get me a drink." Am I her Mom or her personal assistant. Sigh! How much longer until she is 4. I want my sweet little baby back. :) I even told someone this morning that I thought about calling Child Services - cause I was a bad mommy and didn't know how to take care of my 3 year old.

Enough self-pitty.

Made it to the gym today for my body blast class. Amber, my instructor is now being called a cyborg. She is the little energizer bunny (you get the idea). I did ok keeping up, but would have to say this was not my best class. I just don't think I put my all into it today. I really need to work harder - the end of October will be here faster than I know, and I would like to look nice for my 1st real vacation in 5 years. Anyway, going to go back tomorrow and try to workout for 30 min on the elliptical tomorrow.

Well, at least tomorrow Dave comes home from St. Louis and he can help with the girls tomorrow night. Too bad the Cards come back to town on Thursday. I could use a day to rest. LOL!

I want to send out positive thoughts to Julie as she gets ready for her first round of Chemo. Good Luck Julie!

Here I go

Ok, so I've decided to try this out. Maybe it was time, or maybe I just need to have a place to put my thoughts down. Thoughts I usually keep to myself.

I made it to the gym today. Good for me. 30 minutes of working out sure helped my stress level, which had blown a hole through the roof yesterday. Dave's been out of town for two days, Maddie is teething, Ali is suffering from Croup, so no one was really happy. Ali kept asking for her Daddy, and I got so fed up I said, "When Daddy gets home, would you like me to pack up and leave, and you can have Daddy all to yourself?" Unfortunately, she said yes. Oh, that helped. I just wanted to cry. But later she told me she loved me, so I guess she's forgotten about getting rid of me, for now.

Maddie's teething has gotten worse today. Her top front teeth are coming in, and until I tore apart my makeshift medicine cabinet (i.e. the space under my sink), I had nothing but tylenol to give her. Thank goodness I finally found those teething tablets and gave in and gave her the pacifier. It took a few minutes but she was finally happy enough to lay her head down on my chest and stop crying. Oh, how I hate to hear her cry, its so pitiful.

Dave is off having "fun" at the All-Star Game. Don't really want to hear about it. I wish it were me. How I would enjoy the hard work versus Mommy time. The break would probably do me good.