Snow Day!!

So today we are having a snow day. Well, I had a snow day, the kids and Chef Hubby actually had a half day. Last night we chatted and decided that the kids would have a snow day too! Yay! Gotta admit, the whole sleeping late thing was very exciting to me :o) Typically, I have to be up at 6am and then get things ready to get the kids up and ready by 6:55 so that we can be out the door and in the car by 7:38. (I don't know why it's 7:38... it just always seems that that's the time on the dashboard about 98% of the time, so that's my goal now... lol)

So anyway, I woke up at 8:45... hehe. The girls were playing in Payton's room, and very well, I must say. I wondered to the kitchen and grabbed some coffee that Hubby had already set up. Asked them if they wanted breakfast. Both said they didn't want to eat, but wanted to play their Leapsters. Hey, why not.

Since I had the time, I decided that I would make a muffin tin for breakfast. I love muffin tins! I haven't been making them as much as I used to; probably due to time, but today I threw it together... hehe

grapes, corn bran cereal, mini pancakes, hash brown potatoe, ketchup, bacon

Payton has been slightly obsessed with the whole mini pancake thing lately, so I've been going with it. I use my mini cookie scoop to drop the batter and it makes it a lot easier. I also discovered that I can make baked mini pancake muffins! These totally rock for weekend breakfasts. I throw some mini chocolate chips in the batter, use my medium cookie to drop the batter into my mini muffin pan, cook for about 18-20 mins at 350 degrees and serve with syrup for dipping! mmm mmm... they come out super light and fluffy if you make the batter ahead of time and let sit for at least 10-20 minutes before portioning into tin. The same goes for if you are making them on the stovetop.

Well, I have tons to fill you in on, but right now I think I should go play a game, or start cutting some butterfly bodies for the girls to decorate for Valentine's Day. PBS Kids is entertaining and all, but hey, I need to make the most of our snow day, right?!

Little Girl's Christmas

So we went to the Christmas Tree Shop today to try to find some cute stocking stuffers, but Phoebe found something for her room that I couldn't refuse...

It's a 32inch pink christmas tree. It was 12 bucks and came with the pink beaded garland, a TON of pink ornaments and even the little pink star tree topper. She's in heaven!! As you can see, she found all of her pink toys and placed them underneath, because it's their "new home". hehehe

Muffin Tin - Halloween Theme!

I know it's been a while since I've last posted a muffin tin, but we still love and use them ALL of the time!! My grandparents watch the kids a couple of afternoons a week and Nana uses a muffin tin for snack just about every time... lol!!

Anyway, as I mentioned Sycamore Stirrings was having a Halloween Challenge this week. So here is ours:

Chocolate Graham and Cheddar Goldfish, multicolor ghost marshmallows, PB&J sandwich shaped like a pumpkin American Cheese shaped like bats, Pumpkin and bat pretzels, cheddar cheese rice cakes

Isn't it spooky... hehe! I had fun finding some of the items. I also bought some little pumpkin muffins, but Payton had already eaten when I got home to make to this for the kids. She had some of the snacks, but nothing major. The kids actually really enjoyed the muffins for breakfast this morning!

Another week, another trip to the doctor's office...

So Last month Phoebe had strep throat, then a few weeks ago, she had another infection. We still aren't sure exactly what it was, but there was some trace blood in her urine. This was supposedly indicative of a possible kidney infection, but my kids never show any signs of being sick other than the runny nose or vomitting. The doctor said she should have been in a lot of pain, etc. Oh well, she gets to pee in a cup Saturday and we'll know more - great! right?

So now both kids have colds. No biggy, right? Wrong, apparently! Payton has a really bad cough at night and then it goes away during the day. I figured it was post nasal drip and the fact that it gets worse when you are sleeping, but decided to get it checked out anyway. Yeah, well my happy little kid with what I thought was a common cold, has 2 ear infections that are "at least a few days old" and croup! So now I get to monitor Phoebe to see if she has a progression of symptoms. So far, so good.

I don't know about anyone else, but neither of my kids are willing to "take" medicine. It's a throw down and it's tiring. It's only two doses in and I'm pretty sure that I'm not going to have enough of the meds left to finish the entire series. She's taking a steriod and an antibiotic 2 times a day... can someone shoot me now?!?!

I made it!!

OK, so I made it through my crazy day... but not without a little extra stress. The personal trainer thing was awesome, so I decided to sign up for 2 sessions a week. It was a bit more expensive than I had expected, but you what, I'm worth it, right?!?! Anyway, so that starts tomorrow. I'm actually still a little sore from Tuesday, but I'm tough - I hope!

I got to the zoo late because instead of leaving the gym at 10:30 like I had told them I had to, I got in my car at 10:56... not good! Supposed to meet LH and EL at 11:00 at the zoo... EL wasn't able to make it, we missed her and the boys, but we rescheduled... lol. So LH and the girls went for a stroll. The weather started looking not so good, so when we finished up, we headed to the cars, fast!

I was able to pack lunches and shower and change before having to leave to pick up Phoebe at pre-school. Got there just as they were letting the kids and flew over to work. Of course, both kids fell asleep in the car AND it was downpouring!! I'm not talking a little rain... it was bobcats and coyotes!!! Anyway, I had to make the decision to wake them up and drag them through the rain half awake or run into the school, grab my babysitter and have her watch them in the car. Being the insanely paranoid mommy that I am, I chose to wake them... not good!!!!

When we got through the rain, after Phoebe fell in a puddle fighting to gain control of the umbrella that I was carrying, there were no lights in the school!!! The darn power was out and no one called me to let me know that all the sports had been cancelled! The kids could have stayed sleeping and woken up nice and refreshed... but no... that would have been way too easy!!!

So we made it home, dried off, had a picnic lunch in front of the television, and waited for Chef Daddy to come home. In the end, we all survived and both kids were in bed by 7:45pm... hooray! Well, at least until Payton woke up sick at 11:00pm, but that's another story... lol

Have a great night! I have an appointment with my trainer tomorrow morning, so I need some rest. Wish me luck!!

My 50th Post... woohoo!!

Phoebe is 4 yrs old now!! We had a big party and under direct order, had to have a doll cake!! So my mom decorated the cake, I decorated the cupcakes, and Chef Hubby put on the rest of the spread. All in all, everyone had a blast, left stuffed, and the birthday girl could not have been more thrilled!!

Aren't they pretty?!?

She was kinda bummed it didn't look like the box, but my mom convinced her that the doll on the cake box was a mommy doll and this is a kid doll... thankfully, she bought it!!

This was the whole gang... well, most of the gang! We missed you H and W!!!

Anyway, now she starts pre-school tomorrow!! I thought that I was going to be fine, but I actually feel a little nervous. I'm afraid that she's not going to like the lunch, or she'll be too shy to play with the other kids. I know I'm just stressing, but it's a little overwhelming!! I'll let you know how it goes! I also bought a new battery so I'll be able to get a first day picture and all that demented mommy stuff!

mmm... sleep!

So this morning I rolled over and looked at the clock... it was 9:45. Yes, 9:45! I freaked out. Chef hubby was just getting out of the shower and I asked him if the kids were ok. He said he thought so, but hadn't heard either of them yet. How could he have not at least checked on them? What if something was wrong? What if Payton fell off her little toddler bed and bumped her head on... I don't know, something?? They just don't sleep this late...

I jumped out of bed to make sure nothing was wrong! As I peaked into Payton's room, I saw that she wasn't in bed and neither were her blanket or stuffed bunny. She had crawled onto the cozy quilted rocker in the corner of her room and was "reading" a book to her bunny... hehe! When she saw me, she jumped down and ran over, "Mama"! It was cool.

Then we walked over to the other side of the house where Phoebe was sitting at her table, in her room, with a book and she had turned on her tv. Is it already that time where my kids can entertain themselves until I wake up, or is this a fluke?!?! I guess it doesn't really matter. In a few weeks, Phoebe is supposed to start pre-school, at least for two days a week, so we will be getting up earlier. I have to tell you though, after staying up to watch the olympics this week, this was a very welcome surprise!

Well, now I have to get my lazy butt into the shower so I can get ready for work. After waking up that late, there isn't much time left to get things done before heading out. Have a great day!

Commercial Break...

OK... so I am an athletic trainer. I get to help protect against injuries, as well as, care for all of the injuries that do occur at the high school I work at. I've worked in the collegiate level in both Division I and III... and I have to say, after seeing all I've seen, I can't figure out what sports to get my kids involved in!

I was thinking maybe soccer, but then there's year round soccer camps that I've had to cover, but not much equipment to buy. The same pretty much goes for volleyball and basketball. I love my athletes and think that girls should have the same opportunity for variety in sports... can we please get rid of the skirts in field hockey and girl's lacrosse though?!?! I mean come on, they have to wear goggles and mouthguards, they're tough sports, wear shorts!!

Then there's dance and cheering. Both are awesome physically, but dance has all these specialities and cheering has the bimbo stigma. Gymnastics is cute when they are little, with the tumbling and cartwheels, but Chelsie in the olympics was supposedly competing with a fractured ankle... what the heck is up with that?! I think this sport takes it a little too far. I mean, in China they take the kids away from their family when they are just 3 yrs old! Isn't the cruel?

Right now, I'm thinking that maybe I will put them both into Karate so at least they will always be able to protect themselves. I guess my big fear is that later in life they won't just be arguing over who stole who's shoes, but instead duking it out! OK - I guess that I won't be able to protect them from everything so I should just be thankful that football, at least in high school, is just for boys, and at this point, there are no rugby teams prior to college.

Am I alone in my concerns? I might just have different views because of my position on the sidelines for so long now. Who knows? All I know is I have 2 little kids with lots and lots of energy and at some point, I am going to have to chose an outlet for them to release it all!! Aaahhh!!

Getting Out with the Girls!

Today Elizabeth, Jenny, and I decided to get together for lunch because this is my last Monday off. Starting Monday, preseason at the high school starts and I get to work usual 5-6 day work week again... good and bad.

A major plus is that I don't have to be at school until 2:00pm instead of 12:30. That doesn't seem to make much of a difference, but it's HUGE!! I mean, the zoo doesn't even open until 10, so if we want to go, we have to rush in and out in order to get home to have lunch and do whatever needs to get done before mommy heads to work. I have to admit though, i am going to miss my three day weekends!!

OK, so anyway, we decided to meet for lunch. It sounds simple until I add the torrential downpours we had. I'm not even exaggerating! My camera decided to die on me so I didn't get any pics, but there were entire streets closed off due to flooding. Chef Hubby was in downtown and said that manhole covers were blown off by mini geisers. I wish I had picks!!

But we are diehards... we still got to lunch with the 4 kids in tow. We each had a helper though. Elizabeth came with her mom and I picked up Jenny on the way. It was yummy. Phoebe was sick, so she slept on the comfy bench while we chatted etc. Oh, for all of those people thinking I am an absolute horrible mom for bringing my child out in the rain while she's sick... She has a cold. She is a drama queen, and she was completely protected from the elements... I promise!!

We were able to chat and eat and enjoy the warm of the local diner. We like frequenting the local places, as opposed to the major chains, because it's usually cozier, cheaper, and the service rocks! Face it, with the big chains they don't care if they aren't going to see you again. They have so much money to put into advertising that if you leave, someone else will find them. It's just as important to support the local stores, restaurants, lumber yards, to name a few, as it is to shop at the local farmer's markets. Keep it in the area!! But always have fun!!

Something to Make You Laugh...

Ok, so I keep thinking that I should post some of the hilarious things that come out my kids mouths, but I always forget. Today I was websurfing and saw someone actually did just that, so I had to pop back onto my blog and type it out.

We had an older computer that didn't run very well, so you would have to reboot it a LOT. I went into the den (now it's Phoebe's room) and started working on it while the kids were playing in the other room. As usual, it froze and I had to shut it down. Immediately after I shut it down, Phoebe came in, looked at the computer and in the most serious little voice said, "Mommy, are you all done pretending to do something?" I didn't know what to say!

Figured that I would make your day - hope it worked!!

At That Point...

I'm at the point where my baby is becoming a big kid and although I thought I was, I'm not quite ready for it.

Payton has been showing off her climbing skills and recently climbed out of her pack-n-play with ease. She's almost 21 months old and I know it's normal for the age, but Phoebe never escaped "confinement"... lol. This is entirely new to me. I switched Phoebe into her "big girl" bed when she was almost 2 yrs old, but that was because we were expecting Payton and I was not about to buy another convertible crib. Fortunately, the first was a gift from Chef Hubby's grandmother. I also, wanted to do it well before we were going to actually need it for the baby so Phoebe didn't think she was kicked out because of the baby (I know, she was, but she didn't have to know that!!)

Anyway, so back to Payton's big girl bed... Chef Hubby picked out the crib and it's beautiful and sophisticated BUT it's a 2 step bed. This means it converts simply from a crib to a full size bed. We recently ordered the conversion kit, because the crib had been discontinued and we had to contact the company, etc etc, but I wasn't ready to put her into a full size and risk her "cracking her skull". That's one of my favorite sayings, BTW. "Don't climb on that, you're going to crack your skull!!" or "Don't throw that, it's going to crack Payton's skull"... lol!! I think it's cute!

Can you tell I have the attention span of a flea today?! Sorry about that... So Payton slept in her bed and part of me was cheering inside!! Yay! All that's left now is the potty training and the baby stuff will be gone... yippee!!! But then a little part was sad. my baby girls are growing up. Phoebe is going into preschool this year... seriously! OMG!!

Phoebe is going to go to school and I won't be there to make sure she actually eats, or shares, or doesn't get her "skull cracked". I won't be able to kiss her boo boo if she falls. It's kind of scary and I never thought I would feel like this! I'm not the overprotective type. I have the high school kids babysit and my grandparents and my mom. Hubby and I are going to visit my brother for 5 days without the kids and I'm ok with that (mostly!). What is my problem?

Anyway, I'm gonna go hug em tight and figure out what we are going to do today. I already made two loaves of bread this morning so my house smells super yummy!! I made a Blueberry Banana Bread that I found in the Taste of Home magazine (you can never go wrong with these, even though they are $10!!) I have never bought one and not wanted to try at least half of the recipes!

I also made a loaf of Blueberry Streusel Bread. I used the blueberry muffin recipe from Mrs. Letourneau's blog. It looked yummy! Then I topped it with some crumbs that Chef Hubby had made.


I should get going and see if the girls are ok - they are being very very quiet... in my room. Never a good thing... lmao! I will post the recipe for the Blueberry Banana Bread as soon as I find out if it actually tastes good!!

Summer Days

Is it just me or does everyone go into summer thinking "OK, it's summer and I'm gonna eat a bunch of fruit and salad because it's fresh and yummy, and it's about time I get in shape", but instead end up eating the comfy summer foods... You know what I'm talking about:

Ice Cream

Cupcakes

Adult Beverages to make the summer not feel so hot

Chips and Dip or Salsa

Any of this ringing a bell?!?!

Well, I'm not the only one. We had a friend over for dinner the other night and she brought over dessert. Cupcakes AND whoppie pies. Isn't she sweet... she couldn't remember what I liked for dessert, so she brought both. You'd figure that after being friends for over 15 yrs she'd remember that if it's dessert, I LOVE it!!! hehe Actually, in all fairness, I was a strict "do-gooder" weight watcher for so long that now when I totally splurge, people think it's weird. It's just so sweet... lol

Well, as I was saying, it's not just me... Here's what Payton though of the cupcakes...

And then came bathtime!! Aren't these towels great?!? I got them at Kohl's for super cheap, the day after Thanksgiving... hehe!!

Here's to eating healthy!! or maybe not...

So cute!!

Payton was playing quietly in her room, so I got nervous... lol. When I walked in, I knew I had to get picture. This is my little baby...

She was actually looking at the book and talking as though she was actually reading. It was so adorable!! My babies are both getting so big!!

I am definitely not going to miss this age, though!!! Maybe these moments, but NOT this age!!

Little Girl Growing Up...

Phoebe is almost 4yrs old and I know she's growing up, but the other day she blew my mind. She had me fix something in the living room and then stated, "Mommy, you're busy, so I'm gonna make my own peanut butter and jelly sandwich". OK, I figured that she would go into the kitchen then call me because she wouldn't be able to actually do it.

We could hear the fridge open, the stool sliding and the rattling of utensils, so I had to check.

She needed help getting the bread, but she had everything else out. Oh, and I had to open the jars. Then she got to work... Jelly

Apparently, she needed to clean the knife before she started with the peanut butter - yuck!

Now the peanut butter... choosy moms choose Jif... right?

She doesn't like crusts so we use the Pampered Chef cutter to make our own little "encrustables"

See - perfect!!

So when it was done, she ran off and ate it - sorry... but I think we know what that looks like!!

The Wonder of Kids

Has anyone noticed that whenever you are away and call to check on the kids, the sitter always says something like, "They are being so wonderful" or "I haven't had any problems at all today", or my favorite," As soon as you left, they both just fell asleep". Why don't they do this stuff when I'm home?!!

No, when mommy gets home, they suddenly realize that the sippy cup is empty and they NEED juice in it RIGHT NOW!! Or they suddenly forgot how to play independently and I'm stuck making the same puzzle over and over again, or reading the same book.

Don't get me wrong, I love my kids. I love spending time with them and "molding" their little brains, but sometimes I'm glad that I have to make supper... or run downstairs to do the laundry. Two whole floors away - Daddy can cover for me!

Well, I just had to rant a little - ever had one of those days?! Now I need to go "wipe some boogahs".

Phoebe's TinkerBell Room

So Phoebe is 3 1/2 yrs old and we decided to move her into her own room about 5months ago, because the kids started waking each other up at night, after not letting each other fall asleep, and then getting up early. I couldn't take it anymore!! So we rearranged the living room in order to fit the computer armoire in it and turned the den into her room. I think it turned out pretty cute, huh?

I don't know if you've ever redone a room, but it can get costly!! My mom are I have pretty much redone her entire apartment (downstairs - very convenient... hehe) and have been working on mine for some time now. So fortunately, we have stock piled quite a bit of stuff... thank goodness! AND I found so many awesome deals!

That border was discontinued, so I got it half price. The bottom wallpaper is some that my mom had bought and never used, so it was free! I bought the paintable wallpaper and the purple paint, but we had all the primer, rollers and paste left over from other projects. The ice blue ceiling paint was leftover, so that was free. The sheets and comforter were on sale at K-Mart and the curtain was made using the flat sheet (I hate making beds so we never use the flat sheet)

The words I had bought some time ago when they were discontinued, and the Tinkerbell appliques were at lowe's on sale... hehe. This was so much fun.

The baker's rack was from my mom's kitchen before she moved here and it was in the basement for the past year... I thought it was a pretty cool tv stand, though, huh? The dresser was a hand-me-down from memere. I replaced the wall light for $15, all by myself... I was very proud. And the night light on the dresser, also Tinkerbell, was on sale online, then I got a discount code on top of that!! Oh and can't forget the hopscotch rug that you see on the floor - it was also on sale at Walmart.

This is my very favorite thing in the whole room though. It's a dragonfly clip made of copper. I bought about a year ago at a little craft fair at a church. Isn't it adorable?!? Well, I think that the room came out pretty cool, if I do say so myself. I'm not quite done with Payton's room or the bathroom, but I can't wait to show the progress. Hey, maybe it will give me some motivation to finish them, right?