30 March 2008

Ribbon Project

One of my very close friends gave me this ribbon holder for my birthday. It was a great afternoon project for me and Anna while Carter napped. We sorted by color and then pulled them through the holes. Thanks C!

29 March 2008

I don't know if you can tell how hard they are laughing

Giggles one and giggles two


28 March 2008

Am I the only one

with a list like this >>

Hair

Girls day was me Anna and Candi all getting our hair done together. If only we had brought a bottle of wine!


26 March 2008

I'm not the only girly girl

Anna won't wear jeans anymore. And she's letting me do her hair again, so it's been pigtails and pony tails for the last few days. Today she wore tights and a skirt.

My little girly girl.

24 March 2008

Bad Dog Tassie

If you've read the book Bad Dog Marley then you know exactly how Tassie is. Just replace the child Cassie with Anna and replace Baby Louie with Baby Carter. And replace Marley with Tassie.

Here is her latest damage. Bad Dog Tassie.


22 March 2008

Happy Easter To You

Yesterday Anna and I colored eggs while Carter napped.






The Easter Bunny came last night and left a trail of eggs and candy from Anna and Carter's rooms to downstairs where the baskets waited. He also hid eggs outside.





Hunting Eggs



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Yesterday was my bday - I'm officially 31. That qualifies as "in" my 30's. So far I'm ok with it. But all the carrot cake with cream cheese icing, cake and ice cream at my parents, appetizer pasta and cheesecake at Macaroni Grill and more is not helping my 6 pounds in 6 weeks goal. But it tastes really freakin good.

Carter's First Easter Egg Hunt






Thanks Zach.

Friday.

My mom calls to say that her and my brother Zach, who was in town to go to the NAIA games with my dad, wanted to meet me at BR (that's Banana Republic for those of you who should shop more), to buy me a bday present.

Who am I to say no?!

Trip to the plaza, another gorgeous day (little windy). He bought me the cutest bright yellow Mr Rodgers cardigan sweater which was on sale. I can't wait to wear it with a navy tank I have and dressy-denim skirt. Not sure which shoes yet. I think I need some shiny yellow patent leather flip flops or something.

Then on to Lillibelle which is this adorable kids store on the plaza. They have very rocker-like t shirts for the boys and the cutest dresses for girls. Little pricey. But very original.

I got a Peanut Shell sling I have been pondering for months. Now that Royals season is approaching I need a better way to carry a 25 pound child through the parking lot and up and down stairs. And I really could have used it at Disney on Ice the other night as we waited for 10,000 people with three year olds to go up a single stairwell at the parking garage. I definitely think my right bicep is bigger than my left. I think it's going to work out great. Can't wait to use it.

Thanks Zach for my new sweater! Hope you had a safe ride home.

Road Trip

One of my best friends had a FABULOUS idea this week. Road Trip. Day Trip. Drive to the Osage Beach Outlet Malls and back in a day.

Thursday. We dropped the kids off at daycare, got some starbucks and hit the road, an hour later than planned. Drive down was great - great conversation, great music, very little traffic. I used my cruise control for the first time in years.

We got there, visited the info booth to get our extra VIP discounts, and maps. We then ate lunch and made our plan of attack. After all, we needed to be efficient in our few hours. People were laughing at us as we marked our maps with pens and prioritized our stores.

I did some damage at JCrew but got some EXCELLENT items. A dress to wear to my brother in law's wedding next month, plus cardigan, two pair of flip flops with polka dotted ribbons (so cute), a sweater, a cute tank for summer even if it does show a lot of boob, a tshirt, plus pants and polo for kevin.

We proceeded to hit BCBG MaxAzaria, BR and Gymboree. It rocked. We only wished we could have stayed longer to also hit the Tommy Hilfiger Kids outlet, Carter's and Osh Kosh.

It took longer to get back than to get down there. We made it there JUST IN TIME to pick up the kids from daycare before they closed. Whew!

A great day with a great friend. Loved it!

18 March 2008

Goal Update

It's been about 10 weeks since I started towards my goal of 125 by May 1st. I have about six weeks to go. 130 was really nice to hit, but somehow this weekend I gained 3 pounds back. wtf? delayed reaction from the brownie bling pothole I suppose.

So back on track yesterday and today.

Fruit for breakfast, regular coffee, no starbucks, frozen meal or tuna-to-go for lunch, snacks choices are cashews or microwave popcorn, regular dinner, no ice cream. Back to 131 today.

6 pounds to go. 6 weeks. BRING IT!

16 March 2008

March Madness

The boys are crazy excited for March Madness (although I still think my best March Madness experience was when we were in Vegas for Sam and Candi's wedding. Why aren't we in Vegas this week?)

www.webdesignduo.com/bracket if you want to play. We have several who mail their entries just give me a heads up.

And it's a good week because - it's only a 3 day work week. We all took off Thursday and Friday this week just because. And my birthday is Saturday. Easter is Sunday.

Oh - and this week we are going to Disney on Ice Princess Wishes at the Sprint Center. You know you're jealous. I haven't told Anna yet. She's going to flip.

15 March 2008

Crash

That's what we'll be calling Carter for the next week.



While the kids were playing outside in the leaves at my parents house on Friday afternoon Carter pushed on the plastic cover to one of the window wells outside the house and it shattered and he fell head first into the window well hitting the concrete. Surprsingly only one person asked me what happened to him today when I had him at Target and the grocery store.

Spring Fever

We definitely have spring fever at our house...

Can you tell from our meal planning list what Kevin got this week? A new gas grill.

I'm thinking about planting part of this garden plan on the north side of our house and part of this garden plan in the front area of our house, after it warms up.(not sure if those links will make you register to see the layouts).

And spring always makes me want to do some organizing around the house. Just purchased these magazine file folders in chocolate brown plus this hanging file folder box to hold my filing that has piled up for way too long. There is a special Daily Candy 50% off these items which makes them a fabulous deal!

AND tomorrow is the beginning of March Madness because the brackets get released.

13 March 2008

Chicken Pot Chicken Pot Chicken Pot Pie

So the recipe turned out great (link at right from Paula Dean)! I didn't cook and chop the carrots I just added one cup frozen carrots with the frozen peas. And I didn't use individual bowls, I just did one casserole. I also only used one puff pastry sheet, which was enough, not sure why this calls for four. I changed the cooking time from 5 to 13 minutes since I didn't do individual bowls. The only change I would make next time is to add at least one tsp salt. Kids LOVED it. And Kevin and I enjoyed it. I would make it again.

My friend Molly recommended edamame as a side item. I've never had this! She said it's delish and only takes a few minutes to boil. Then add kosher salt. Something about shelling them with your teeth to eat them that's fun - might have to pick some up on my Sunday grocery trip to try it out.

I also recommended a side item recipe I learned from Candi. Cook couscous (also very fast) add chopped cucumber, tomato, feta and olive oil. Refrigerate for a few minutes to cool down. This is great in the summer when we have grown too many tomatoes and I'm eating them with every meal.

Art by Annika

This is one of the first family pictures she has drawn. Kevin says this is a development milestone when she started drawing heads with legs. I also love how the eyes have eyelashes and everyone gets some spike hair. I am the one in the middle, Anna is the lower left and Carter is the lower right. Daddy is on the back for some reason. Not sure who the peanut gallery is in the top left.


This one I love because of all the colors, letters and little circles.


This has been her big passion for the past two weeks or so. She is VERY into coloring and she now stays within the lines. When she tries to tear them out of the coloring book it usually rips the picture in half, so she says she has to make me another one. I probably get at least 3 a day. The book we have is mostly dinosaurs and reptiles apparently.


This one I love because she wrote her name at the top. And one of the N's isn't quite right. So cute!

12 March 2008

Happy Thursday to You

Big day off tomorrow (Thursday). Kevin is having 7 cubic yards of dirt delivered. I'm taking my car to Volvo for a recall fix. Woo hoo.

What's new?

I have a new Account Coordinator at the office. She is helping me tremendously.

Started Prednisone tonight to begin to get rid of this cough. It sucks when you can't breathe. Sort of a necessity.

Today was picture day at daycare. Today Anna also fell off the playground equipment and landed on her back. They called me an hour after it happened to let me know she was still crying about it. I decided since she wasn't having trouble breathing and they had waited an hour to call me that it couldn't be that bad. I think it is just bruised, although you can't see anything on her back.

Anna's job this week is the flag holder. I really need to get her version of the pledge of allegience on video. It's hystercal. "I pledge allegent to the flag of the united states of comerica."

Oh Carter has a new tooth - a big one on the top right. And three more coming in. No wonder he's been such a grump. Did you know they make Orajel in Q-Tip swab form? You break one end of the QTip to get the medicine to run into the other cotton end and then rub it on their teeth. Genius. This is so much better than putting it on your finger and putting your finger in their mouth so that they bite you.

I celebrated reaching 130 pounds by enjoying a Brownie Bling Pothole Concrete from Sheridan's Frozen Custard. Yum.

*************

Goal Update

Today: 130
Goal: 125
Pounds Lost: 8
Pounds To Go: 5

10 March 2008

The newest addition to our family

Is the Poker Table that Kevin built.


It is lovely. And it doubles as the perfect Settler of Catan Cities and Knights game table. It has also given us a new reason to spend time in our basement.

Love it!

**********

Goal Update

Today: 131
Goal: 125
Pounds Lost: 7
Pounds To Go: 6

Over half way there! It's been the only good thing about being sick for the last 10 days. Carter had an ear infection, me and the kids all had the flu and Anna even had double pink eye to top it all off. I lost my voice and still have a cough that makes it hard to breathe. But overall we're on the up and up! Knock on wood.

04 March 2008

Flower Girl

So after finally finding a flower girl dress for Anna that I thought would look nice with the bride's dress, and getting bride's approval, I went to purchase the dress last Saturday.

Drove to the store (about 20 minutes away). I had just been there two weeks ago.

Store empty. Sign on door about "being good on orders" etc. Uh, great.

So after looking for it online I found a store with it. It said it was $99 but when I added it to my cart it was $129 plus tax was like $140. Uh, little more than I wanted to pay. Contacted them, it should work if it doesn't call us bla bla. Yea that would be great if you were open at 8:45 pm when I'm trying to order. I don't have time to deal with this during the day.

Found it on another site tonight, for $79. Yea! So I paid extra for four week shipping so that just in case something is wrong with it I might have a week or two to figure something out. This will also give us any time to do alterations.

Cross fingers! I have tights for her. Now we just need shoes for her.

My Starbucks Barista just emailed me that the Stride Rite at the Legends Outlet opens this month so I'm going to see if maybe we can get something out there. Carter will need some shoes to wear to the wedding too.

I have the cutest outfits for him to wear to the rehearsal dinner and wedding!

The House of Sick

My health went downhill on Sunday and yesterday Anna and I laid on the couch all day with the curtains drawn and the lights off watching movies and cartoons all day while letting Carter do pretty much anything he wanted. We all took two naps and felt a little better today. No fevers for the kids, yea! So everyone got drugs this morning and went to school and work. But we are all coughing up our lungs and dealing with snot faucets for noses. Anna's eye is draining now. It's weird, I don't think it's pink eye because the whites of her eye seem white, but the skin below it is all puffy and red. She said it doesn't itch so that's good.

Can I find a positive in all this sickness?

Yes!

Goal Update

Today: 132
Goal: 125
Pounds Lost: 6
Pounds To Go: 7

02 March 2008

The morning after

Had a really great girls night out. Dark Horse Tavern, Dueling Piano bar, One 80, America's Pub. I had never been to any of these places - it's been years since I went to westport.

We didn't make it to the pole dancing class - I was in bed shivering with a fever and waiting for my drugs to start working. I totally have whatever Anna and Carter have given me, which I think is the flu. I wish I felt better today so I could enjoy the 70 degree weather outside, even though it is really really windy. I have just been very lazy and trying to feel better since I have the whole house to myself and Sonar right now. It is so quiet!

Crazy girl pics to come later - they are on Candi's camera.

01 March 2008

8

The number of days everyone was healthy.

After Anna and I got our nails done on Thursday the daycare called saying Carter had a fever. Got him home and it was 102. Then after dinner Anna started running a fever. Yesterday it got up to 103.5.

Her and Kevin are still making the trek to Rolla today for his brother's couples wedding shower. Sorry everyone who is there, I'm pretty sure she is still contagious so enjoy that cough and fever. I meanwhile am staying in town to go to a co-worker's bachelorette party since we are not going to her wedding because we are going to Kevin's brother's wedding. Unfortunately I can't be in two places at once.

I have caught the cough from Anna and Carter, but I'm determined to party it up on my one girls night out for the year! We are starting the night off with a pole dancing class. Should be entertaining to say the least.

Carter has so much congestion it is coming out of his eyes. It's pretty gross.





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Goal Update it's been awhile since I posted

Today: 134
Goal: 125
Pounds Lost: 4
Pounds To Go: 9

I was stuck at 133 for about a week. Then I had a few bad eating days this week. Thursday went like this: free McDonald's burrito, McDonalds for lunch, Taco Bueno for dinner. Yesterday my mom brought donuts, after I had just had to slices of cinnamon raisin toast, lunch was a chicken gyro, dinner was Papa Johns pizza. So now that I have gorged myself maybe I can get back on track today ??