meal planning

Grocery shopping day is almost here and I've been busy searching store ads and coupon sites for deals. I also made a menu for the coming week, which is probably something most of you do. I should be more organized and sometimes I am, but often I end up picking three meals and then winging it for the rest of the week. I've come up with a good menu and am going to try to stick with it this time!

Here's what I have planned:
Thursday- attending class at church with provided meal (yeah!)
Friday- Fish with pasta and veggies
Saturday- chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes and green beans
Sunday- Pizza
Monday- Asian glazed drumsticks (I plan on using chicken thighs), rice and broccoli coleslaw
Tuesday- Lasanga, garlic bread and steamed broccoli
Wednesday- depends on t-ball practice, probably crab cakes and homemade fries
Thursday- cheese enchiladas, beans, Mexican rice

I didn't write out lunch or breakfast because those are somewhat easier to plan. The better I plan the fewer times I have to ask T to pick something up on his way home from work, although there is almost always the milk and yogurt stop on Tuesdays or Wednesdays.

Do you meal plan a week or month in advance? We have been eating less beef and I made a lot of chicken dishes last week and got tired of it faster than I thought. I try to keep a variety of pasta on hand for night where I need a quick meal of spaghetti or the like. Tortillas, cheese and frozen veggies for quesadillas or omelets or usually stocked up as well.

I'd love it if you would share a meal that is easy to make or keep the items on hand for. I almost always reach for pasta of some sort when I am running out of time or energy in the evenings. Share away!

Choosing the "or not" option

What you see in that picture are free range, natural chickens. They are never penned up, fenced in or fed anything other than the natural grasses and bugs that they forage for themselves. They don't lay eggs anymore and I'm happy to just watch them run around. They are "retired". So am I. At least from chicken keeping. That's right, we're not getting any chicks this year. I'm done for now. Maybe forever, I don't know, but I know I stopped enjoying it and we (T and I) have always had an agreement that if we stopped enjoying something out here then we'd let that go. Why do something that doesn't bring you happiness if you have a choice about it? We don't always have that choice in life about many things so if I can choose between 'chickens or not' then I'm choosing 'not'. I can focus that energy into other things. Things that are much more important to me right now. And I can always buy fresh eggs from the farmers market or get them from my family (if they decide to keep up the chicken thing).

I suppose that's all for now. There's really not much happening as far as farming goes. I did jump the gun and plant some green bean seeds yesterday. (I have to beat the grasshoppers.) At least I'll have some garden stuff to talk about soon!

da weekend

Saturday morning I discovered that I may have been a little too hasty (or lazy) with laundry on Friday evening. Usually I'm good about checking pockets for pens and the occasional $0.62, but unfortunately I missed the black ink pen this round. And it was load of light colored clothes. Our khaki pants and nice shirts weren't in that load, thank goodness! There are a lot of polka dotted undies, socks and white tees now.

We had our first t-ball practice Saturday afternoon. It went smoothly, T got all the assistant coaches he needed and a team mom (not me). For the first practice I assumed it'd be chaotic, but after everyone arrived and we made some introductions the coaches took the kids off in small groups and taught them base running, batting technique and fielding. From a parent's point of view it looked really organized! I met some other moms and Ry got to make a new friend his age and played catch with him. (He wanted so badly to go play on the field with D.) I think we're going to have a really good time with this.

Let's see... Saturday afternoon went really fast with the practice. Rose was out exploring the world with my mom and aunt and so we stopped by my Opa's house to visit with him. We didn't get home until around 6:30 and ate supper and I started reading The Hunger Games. (I had been reading it two pages at a time... not really able to fully get into it, but once I could read longer I had trouble putting it down.)

Sunday we went to church. We took Rose to the nursery and Ry decided he was at home there and we figured Rose would be okay with him staying with her. After about ten minutes (not sure if it was even that long) our little pager went off. I went off to rescue Rose and again stayed the rest of the service, although, this time I got to hear most of the sermon while in there. When we left Rose said goodbye to the other little girl and even gave the teacher a side hug. Progress?

We came home and T had some things he had to get done and I grabbed my book and read all day. I carried it around with me reading because I literally could not put it down! I finished it around 7pm (it's really good!)  and then took a short break and started reading the next book, Catching Fire, when I crawled into bed.

The house is in pretty sad shape this morning. Rose woke up at 5:15, Ry at 5:35 and D was up by 6. It's going to be a long day, but I'm going to take advantage of it and get things straightened up. How was your weekend? Do you keep up with all the housework on the weekends? I was, but I've been slipping lately. Have a good Monday!

ten happy things friday

one

Finally got the nerve to change our phone plan yesterday. Turns out all I had to do was chat with a representative online to preserve our mobile to any mobile plan without adding a data plan for my current phone. That was taken care of quickly and saved us $$$ on our bill...

two

Saving $$$ on our phone plan led to me upgrading T's phone and purchasing a data plan for him, making our phone bill almost exactly the same as before. (The awesome thing is that it doesn't mess up our budget.)

three

 I got really excited looking up t-ball drills and practice information yesterday for T. He doesn't have a lot of time during the day to look stuff up so I research things for him and bookmark websites for him to look over. I love doing research. Does that make me a nerd?

four

I appreciate Sesame Street providing entertainment for parents in the forms of celebrities and musicians... My favorites have been when Tina Fey was a pirate and declared that "pirates love F words" and Feist singing "1,2,3,4 chickens pecking at the door"

five

I love the way Rose says she is hungry- I so hungrin! 

I almost never correct this because it's seriously the cutest thing.

six

This post by Grace.

Great advice.

seven

 We had highs in the 80s this week. The kids spent a lot of time outside.

eight

Music. What would I do without music?

nine

Strawberries

ten

Having a supportive husband.

Have a good weekend everyone!

what's going on

Yesterday was long. Rose woke up at 5:30 and the boys were up by 6:30. They are usually up before 7, but yesterday they were getting cranky and more stubborn as the morning went on. This led to an earlier nap time that only Rose took part of. I have to give the boys credit for remaining in their napping spots and being fairly quiet. We spent a good amount of the afternoon outside enjoying the sunshine. Unfortunately by the end of the day I was a bit cranky, too. But, thankfully, I woke up in a normal mood today and am ready to conquer the world. Or just this pile of laundry, whatever.

Last night T selected the players for his t-ball team. Hopefully we'll have some parents that can and will volunteer to be assistant coaches. We also really need a Team Mom.

I decided to give up sweets for Lent. I am also going to limit my coffee intake to a mere one cup per day. If you hear some type of muffled screams later it's just me breaking up with my beloved golden oreos for a while.

I literally have several large boxes of clothing to take to Goodwill or some other place just sitting in our den waiting to be taken away. We'll get that done at some point.

I've started shutting down the kitchen after 10am. I don't really mind the kids eating frequent small snacks/meals since I am also a "grazer". However, it seemed they were in a bad habit of refusing to eat dinner so I had to enforce a strict snacking schedule. So far we've only had one meal refused (by one child who wasn't feeling well.) Basically they graze away until 10am and then eat lunch at noon, take a nap (or not- seems to be the new trend), have a small snack around 3:30 and then dinner at 6:15.

Yesterday a certain little lady got candy for going potty and after seeing the candy package this morning has gone twice for the reward of a single gummy lifesaver/per session. (Sometimes bribery is wonderful.) I decided to follow her lead on potty training for now, although I do ask and encourage going on the potty very frequently.

And I think that is all for now. Not exactly earth shattering, but it's what's going on around here.

our weekend

Saturday we picked up t-ball equipment and then I took the kids to my mom's so they could play with their cousin (her mama was at a teacher's conference). We ended up staying all afternoon and eating dinner there (we had planned that already). Sunday we went to church. I went ahead and took Rose to the nursery and ended up staying the entire service back there with her. She would not let me out of her sight. She sat down to color and I moved about ten feet away to watch/listen to the sermon on the TV and she completely lost it. So I've got a clingy, quiet toddler in the nursery and a fidgety, loud, don't-touch-me toddler in the church. Afterwards we came home and the kids napped while T and I measured, figured and discussed house plans. (I've been very quiet on our house situation, but plan on sharing some details soon.) T and the kids played baseball and jumped on the trampoline while I got the house to myself and made pizza in the evening. It's nice cooking in the quiet. Then we ate, put the kids in bed and spent a hour of our lives watching bad TV. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

That was our weekend. I've got to get busy around this place since I casually avoided all sorts of housework this weekend. Have a happy Monday!

ten happy things friday

one

today was grocery shopping day and I managed to stick to my budget!

two

we brought home a bag of clothes from my cousin for Rose

it's really nice having people to swap/share kids clothes with

three

yesterday afternoon went smoothly and the kids were great the rest of the evening

four

it's raining again

five

I have rubber boots

my brother gave them to me for Christmas

I've been so happy to have them lately!

six

homemade baked macaroni & cheese

seven

appreciating things we often take for granted:

electricity, indoor plumbing, clean water

eight

my pillow

nine

cook books

ten

we found out who will be coaching D's t-ball team

I already have a crush on him. (wink-wink)*

have a great evening and weekend!

p.s. unless I wasn't as clever as I thought I was, T is the coach 

and yes, I still have a crush on him.

They probably just miss sunshine

 Normally after a morning like I just endured I would avoid blogging, but this is supposed to be some kind of sanity saver for me so excuse me while I vent or not. I'm really not sure where this is going today.

The boys woke up around 6:30 this morning and for some reason (although I have my speculations) they were quite quarrelsome. They were also incredibly rude and defiant with me. There were a lot of bad tempers (theirs) and short tempers (mine) and it led to some crying (both parties). They lost some cherished toys for an undetermined amount of time while I consulted the leftover cupcakes for parenting advice. (The cupcakes were sweet, but offered no real help.) By noon I was dangling precariously from my extremely frayed nerves and my patience was registering on the empty side. Fortunately I caught sight of the clock in time to gather my nerve endings and give myself the "it's almost the blessed event of nap time" pep talk. One harsh demand of a grilled cheese sandwich almost completely unraveled me, but I collected myself once more and marched onward. Nap time unfolded itself in the beauty of a white flag of surrender (I think; I haven't checked on any children to make sure they are actually sleeping). (In fact, I know one of them is NOT because he just came out of his room with multiple excuses for not being able to sleep. No, sir. Nap is a requirement today.)

In other news, T has been dubbed Head Coach for D's t-ball team. The email that I found yesterday with this unexpected announcement congratulated him and said he was "a blessing to be volunteering". (He was volunteering for assistant coach, but apparently they really need him since they had so many kids sign up.) He has to attend the "draft" tonight where all the coaches get together and pick the players for their team. Serious stuff.

I'm going to go knit my nerves back together and hope they are strong enough to last the long evening ahead of me. (at least I have my good humor intact, right? lucky.)

p.s. I think it may be a lack of vitamin D in their systems... we've had quite a bit of cloudy weather lately. Yes, I think I'll definitely blame the weather.

yes, I'm sharing food pics & where are my advisers at?

The kids loved their "valentimes/balentimes" pizzas and strawberry topped vanilla-coconut cupcakes. I made the cupcakes from scratch, which is something I don't think I've ever done before. The icing finally, after many years and attempts at making it, turned out perfect. It's my favorite icing of all time. My mom has been topping chocolate cakes with it since before I can remember and it was always what I requested my birthday cakes have on them. (Unless my Oma was making my cake and then it was either German chocolate or orange with real orange pieces with cream cheese icing and chopped pecans on top.) Anyhow, I was really, really happy that it whipped up the right way. I would be lying if I said I didn't do a real happy dance.

Shrimp linguine was super easy to make and was delicious. Sorry, I have no pictures because we ate it before I remembered to take any. I gave T his card and he kept asking why I put "intentional" on it. He never questioned "superhero".

(yo, all you people reading this are now officially my advisers and your comments would be really helpful in easing my psychotic research freak out tendencies.) 

I am still figuring out about getting smart phones with data plans (because you can't get one without the other anymore). Does anyone use their phone's service to blog or read blogs? How much data do you use in a month and what do you use it on? I need all the information I can get. So help me out. Pretty please?

Well it looks like I better be going. It sounds like someone is doing some unsupervised and unauthorized demolition in the living room.

i really splurged this valentine's day

Okay, so it's Valentine's Day and we are sort of celebrating. T gave me a card this morning which was very sweet.... I avoided the card aisle this year so after he left for work I racked by brain to come up with something remotely cute. I scrounged around and got all 4th grade and made a magazine word collage card. It's about as crafty as I get. I had to use scissors AND glue. I even made the kids little cards I was feeling so creative. Then I googled Martha Stewart cupcake recipes. (What exactly was in my coffee this morning?) I'll be making the kids individual heart shaped pizzas for supper and shrimp linguine for T and I. (I've never made linguine before.)

Other things I'm doing today would be trying to figure out if we should upgrade our phones to smart phones. It's one of my most dreaded things to do. It's all so confusing and frustrating. I could potentially use my phone to connect my laptop to the internet and eliminate the monthly broadband card... but how do I know how much data to get? Will it be cost effective? I know I freak out way to easily about these things. Anyone have any advice?

I'm also muttering some not very nice things under my breath every ten minutes because so far no one thinks nap time is sacred right now except for me. Children, don't you want your mother to bake you cupcakes and then be able to shower?

On that note, I've got to be going. It is much later than I thought it was. Yikes. Have a splendid rest of the day!

our weekend

Saturday started bright and early with T-ball tryouts. It was actually mid morning (10am) and bright, but windy and cold. (D is in the blue jacket right at the front.) He was so shy during the tryouts! Some of the kids were trying out for their second season and new the drills already. It always takes D a little bit of time around new people or a new situation to warm up and be himself. This time it took a little longer as there were a ton of kids running around and adults speaking to him that he didn't know. I can imagine he felt a little overwhelmed.  Anyhow, apparently he saved all his skills for the final drill- throwing. I didn't get to see it because I was watching Ry and Rose run around since they were a bit restless in the bleachers. T said D stood at the pitchers mound with his hand in his pocket (glove on the other) and walked oh so casullly over to field the ball and then turned, stepped and rocketted the ball to the coach at first base. Apparently everyone did one of those collective, "Woa!" He had the best throw. We are proud.

After that we picked up some baseball stuff so we could play at home as a family. D had a lot of fun during tryouts and was all smiles (especially when T was bragging on him). T and I talked about sports and our kids and we are firm on the stance that this is all for fun and making friends. They never have to play if they decide it's not something they want to do.

Sunday we went to church and got there early. Rose will be visiting the nursery next week. I really enjoyed what I got to see and hear before I took Rose out of the sanctuary. I wasn't alone in "my child is being too loud and squirmy" situation as there was a mom with a 3 year old little girl in the cry room with us and her daughter would not stop talking. (She was amusing, too.) After church we got the kids happy meals (I couldn't believe us either) and went home to relax.

We had a really nice weekend and I managed to only wash one load of laundry and do the bare minimum of cleaning. Despite my lack of real effort over the weekend it looks like it will be a fairly easy going day. I hope I don't have to eat my words in a few minutes when we all get going at full speed. How was your weekend?

ten happy things friday

1. fridge decor

2. new shower curtain

3. $4 bling

4. johnney jump ups

5. like mama like daughter (finally someone to eat salad with me)

6. Daughter- Loudon Wainwright III

7. Honeypot- Bob Schneider

8. Pumped Up Kicks- Foster The People

9. Ecstasy Of Gold Remix- Ennio Morricone

10. My favorites

Happy Friday!

p.s. the aforementioned songs bring out the crazy/silly/dancing in the kitchen side of me. Easily some of my favorite mood lifters.

at least it smelled good (body wash sniff test: fail)

This morning I went to the grocery store. I know, it's all very exciting. I really thought I had things together and was patting myself on the back. Grocery list, check. Money, check. Mail for the post office, check. Matching shoes & hair brushed, check. Ha. Ha. That's when I reached for my phone and remembered I left it charging. For some reason it's only holding it's charge for like six hours (if even that) at a time. It wasn't so bad as I was with my mom and she volunteered to watch the children while I went to the store alone (!!!! happy dance !!!!). My mom made me take her ancient phone and when I finally figured out how to text T to tell him I didn't have mine I wanted to go all Office Space on it. (Please, someone know what I mean by that.) I sure hope she gets a new one soon. I also hope I never forget mine again.

So I grocery shopped without my entourage, peacefully picking out the best apples and joyfully placing chips into the cart without having anyone trying to crush them into crumbs. It was nice. I even got the kids those fruit snack things they like so much and out of season strawberries. I managed to get everything on my list without having to backtrack through the store. I am so very thankful that I am able to leave the kids at grandma's occasionally and do that. I am glad she suggests it, too. Otherwise I would feel guilty asking her.

Okay, there is a funny little story for you. This is what happens when you feel like you can stop and smell the body wash because you don't have a ticking time bomb on your hands comprised of antsy children. I needed some body wash and of course flipped the top open to smell them. (Never would have slowed down long enough to do that with the kids.) The first and second choices I passed and I reached for one I've used before and wanted to make sure I remembered how it smelled. You guys, before I knew what had happened I inadvertently snorted body wash up my nose. Not a little dab, either. I didn't even squeeze the bottle! I threw it in the basket and hurried out of the aisle I was unfortunately sharing with several other customers. If they noticed then I hope they had a good laugh and learned a lesson at the same time. I spent the next ten minutes wiping body wash off of my nose and sniffing... I probably looked like an addict of some sort while I was selecting which bottle of generic zyrtec to buy. Mmm hmm. Just be careful when your snorting sniffing the body wash next time. Smell it from a safe distance or just take a gamble that you'll like it and don't sniff at all. I certainly learned my lesson.

I am home at last and need to get with the afternoon Oreo ritual. Oops, I mean laundry and supper planning. See y'all tomorrow!

let me explain...

1. My daughter is wearing her brother's outgrown fleece pajama pants, boots and coat. She does, in fact, have a closet full of gender appropriate clothing, but these happened to be the closest things I could reach. 

2. Ry cannot by any means avoid getting mud on himself. I'm not joking. Everyone else managed to play outside for the hour without getting any mud on themselves or clothes and Ry immediately sat down on ground and then crawled under the trampoline while I was helping Rose down the steps. I guess he can't help it since he has told me several times that mud puddles are his favorite.

3. D insisted on wearing his cowboy hat even though I warned him if he decided to take it off I would not hold it for him. During our walk he kept asking me if I wanted to wear it for him. Um, no. When we came inside for nap time he exclaimed, "Finally, I can take my hat off! I've been wearing it forever." Dude, it's only been an hour. Chill. 

Now I am on a mission to clean up around here since it sounds like all the children are snoozing. This is amazing and I must make the most it while it lasts.

some random things from today

Not much to say as I felt like I was in a fog all day. I woke up tired and it never really went away despite popping vitamins this morning. I had planned to try to take a nap while the kids did, but never got the chance. T suggested I ride the (stationary) bike this evening and what do you know? I felt pretty good, if not totally out of shape, just in time to take a shower and wind down before bed.

In other news, I ordered some I Spy books for the boys to look at when they get bored in church and caved to the "buy one get one half off" sale on the Hunger Games books. Apparently these books are so popular they have a movie coming out based on them? I don't usually read the bestsellers while they are a big deal, but I was able to read a chapter online and it kept my attention so... you know what I did. Has anyone read them or have anything good or bad to say about them?

One more random thing. Supper tonight was "what can I make with sausage and rice?" Here you go: Make 2 cups of rice. While rice is cooking chop some onions and red and green bell peppers (about half a cup all together) and saute in butter for a few minutes. Add one can of crushed tomatoes, a can of drained red kidney beans and two links of sausage that have been diced/cubed. Season with creole seasoning OR seasoned salt, cayenne pepper, chili powder and garlic powder. Simmer for 5-10 minutes allowing flavors to develop and serve over rice. T said he really liked it, so it's hungry man approved! And it's budget friendly. Win-Win.

I'm off to bed now. Have a delightful evening everyone!

the weekend

All around we had a good weekend. Saturday we took the car in for inspection and then thanks to the Payless BOGO sale we got new shoes. T and I rarely buy new shoes but we each desperately needed a pair of brown shoes and luckily found them in our hard to find sizes. The kids were sporting very worn sneakers so they got new ones. The checkout was miserable because we hate spending money, but I reasoned it out with the cost for all us of with the BOGO sale was equivalent to buying one pair of shoes from a department store. Or a pair of Nike's on sale. T and I literally wear our shoes until they absolutely fall apart. I mean soles flapping around while we walk, do you think you can super glue my shoes together, falling apart. It was a good investment.

After that we hung out at home and then that evening went to a going away/congratulations party for T's cousin. That was interesting and we got to talk with one of T's cousins we haven't seen a while.

Sunday we went to church. We were a few minutes late (my fault) and Rose decided she would display some major timeout type of behavior. I took her to the cry room, which wasn't what I expected it to be so I ended up walking around with her outside in the cold for a while. She was being a typical two year old, screeching if I tried to assist her with anything, back arching while holding her, trying to rip my earrings out, beating me up while I gave her "looks" and then stopped making eye contact because it only encouraged her. Normal? T didn't exactly have it any easier as I learned that Ry started squirming excessively and would not simply sit up like a normal human being. D, of course, was an angel, which made his sibling's behavior seem even worse. I was not as prepared as I was last week and in an effort to avoid this I am already packing an activity bag for next Sunday like I saw all the other smarter parents had done. Then we had to stop by the store for sugar, earache drops and hair product afterwards which was a lot of fun. I ran in and stood in line for 10 minutes with five items while a creepy guy kept staring at me. Awkward.

We came home and ate lunch and I threw wings in the crockpot, had chips and salsa, root-beer floats, and pizza. There was a lot of food to be eaten. We watched the super bowl and cheered for the Giants. Impressive there at the end. I may have been jumping up and down and shouting during the last 3 minutes. The commercials were funny, too and I didn't care for Madonna. T said she needed to just stand there and "sing" because she was surely going to break a hip while she was walking around on the bleachers and trying to do assisted flips.

That's about it. Now I have to tackle the dishes that I didn't notice last night (did they multiply while we were sleeping?) and stand in the sun for a while. I haven't seen the sun in days due to this rainy, cold weather that I am certainly not accustomed to. I hope everyone else had a good weekend!

ten happy things friday

Making blueberry muffins with D at 6:30am because he woke up early and hungry. Plus, he remembered that "blueberries make you smart!"

Ice cream.

Going on a walk yesterday.

 Homemade "chimichangas" for lunch. (I made up this simple version a few days ago: spoon taco meat into flour tortilla, roll, place seam side down in hot oil, fry both sides until golden and crisp, pour queso over. Eat. Be happy.)

Our Brita water pitcher. Otherwise I'd never drink water. Ever. Unless it was SmartWater because that stuff is amazing. (also, I must have three drops of lemon juice per 10oz.)

After a very hard day with the potty trainee yesterday (I'm talking outrageous temper tantrums for even walking into the bathroom and stiff legs so as not to be able to sit on the toilet), this morning she has gone three times: twice she told me and once with me asking.

Possibly going to the store tomorrow and maybe finding a new pair of dressy shoes that hopefully will be under my strict budget and miraculously fit my flippers.

Chilling out, relaxing and watching the Super Bowl on Sunday. I really don't care for either team, but I dislike the Patriots more than the Giants.

Towels that are still warm from the dryer.

It's Friday!!

what I do all day (part 2)

I believe I left off at nap time. I didn't write anything down yesterday afternoon so I am writing this from memory and it probably won't be as detailed as yesterday morning.

[2:15-3:00] I have to put Ry back in bed 3 times and finally I'm fairly confident that he is actually going to sleep. D and I go outside to practice catching (he is signed up for t-ball) and play in the front yard for about 10 minutes before he gets distracted and want to show me where he planted an acorn in the back yard. We walk around to the back yard and Ry (who is supposed to be napping) pops up from laying down in the swing. I get a little ticked off, but simply pick him up and take him back inside and stay with him until his eyes are very droopy and I'm so sure he'll be asleep in five minutes. I leave his room tell D he can watch Arthur and I clean the kitchen (again).

[3-4] I get the kitchen clean, search coupon websites and print some out, change our car insurance policy online and print new cards. Open the freezer to discover I don't have any tilapia and will have to come up with a different plan for supper. Oh joy. Sweep dining and living room. Ry comes out of his room and joins D because he "can't fall asleep". Rose wakes up, take her potty. Turn TV off, kids complain and then go play with their Thomas trains. I pick up all the dirty clothes in their rooms and put them in the laundry for tomorrow.

[4-5:30] take Rose potty and get nothing, remind the boys not to leave their toys all over the dining room floor or I will step on them, hand out some more snacks, fill up sippys, fix Rose's doll stroller for her, watch the boys play and guess which animal they are being, T calls and says he is on the way home, our plans for going to grocery store and park change to Thursday night, I start supper and find some painters tape to make a hopscotch game on the floor.

[5:30-6:45] pasta is boiling, put frozen green beans in oven to "roast" (I didn't like this method), clear off table and chug some water, take Rose potty and she flips out and tells me to go potty, fine with me so we trade places and she tells me I did a good job and hands me ONE square of t.p. (she is so generous). Oh, man I have to get the pasta out and look, Daddy's home! I dish up our suppers and almost get the hopscotch squares done, but it's hard to accomplish when the kids are already hopping on my hands, try to take Rose potty but she insists she doesn't need to go. Sit down to eat, break up arguments, tell T about our day.

[6:45-7:40] play hopscotch, play "ball in the boot" where you try to bounce a ball across the room and have it land in a boot, send pouting child to sulk in their room for a while, pouty child is back and somewhat happy, (I win our game- 2-0), I wash the supper dishes, Rose still hasn't gone potty even with us taking her.

[7:40-8] announce it's time to get ready for bed, lots of whining and complaining, Rose pees, in the dining room and is not happy about it. Dang it. I clean it up while T gives her a quick bath, get the kids in pjs, find their cups and give them water, kiss them good night, cover them up again, put Rose in bed, kiss, lights off, goodnight! Collapse on couch to watch Wednesday night TV (really the only time we watch TV during the week.)

[8-9] watch TV, laugh, eat. (Every night except Wednesday this chunk of time is my time to read blogs and do whatever without anyone interrupting me while T works out... we have ourselves a nice little system.)

That's it. (Obviously we take showers and go to bed, but I thought you could figure that one out.) Every day is different, but I can always count on cooking, cleaning and lots of coffee. What are your days like?

what I do all day (part 1)

[5am] Alarm wakes me up I quickly silence it, radio also comes on (our morning playlist), T gets up and gets ready for work

[5:30] I get up, make coffee, scramble eggs, eat and talk

[6:15] T leaves for work, I read some blogs

[6:30] Rose wakes up crying, I go get her and hold her

[6:40] Since I decided last night that I am seriously potty training today I sit Rose on potty and we get our first success of the day and I put her in training pants (not a pull up, basically a thick pair of panties), give her some yogurt

[6:50] Ry wakes up, coughing and stuffy nose. I wrap him up in a blanket and let him watch cartoons, give him allergy med and a throat drop, Rose wants one too so I give her a gummy vitamin

[6:57] T calls and talks to me for a few minutes until I have to hang up due to my voice echoing over the line so bad I can't hear him talk.

[7:05] I have made it this far writing this post, Rose is sitting at the table coloring

[7:07] Ry and Rose argue about who can wash their hands and why, Rose takes this badly and throws a tiny fit about not getting her hands washed. Ry gets some yogurt.

[7:12] D wakes up, gets some yogurt, Rose gets a cheese stick

[7:31] For reasons I can't fully explain I check Facebook. I can't stand Facebook and yet, I can't bring myself to deactivate my account. (T would argue that I'm still on FB because I'm a compulsive eavesdropper and this a way to do just that.... whatever.)

[7:32] Curse the fruit flies. Why are there so many fruit flies in the kitchen!? They are driving me up the flipping wall and I can't figure out how to get rid of them.

[7:48] Slather 6 pieces of 100% whole grain bread with butter, sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon, declare it a semi-healthy breakfast and pop it in the oven. 

[8:04] Eat some cinnamon toast, choke down the rest of my cold coffee, realize this post is going to be way too long if I keep this up.

[8:10- 10] Put laundry in washer, get everyone dressed, put all the dishes in the sink to be washed, took Rose potty (nothing), swept kitchen floor, printed Little League volunteer form and filled out most of it, ah! first accident, make Rose oatmeal, boys eat rest of toast, I'm feeling really hungry, too so I eat some chex. I want to postpone potty training day- we have another accident, but we also had a success! We can do this. Text with m-i-l, check electric bill- rejoice that it's not a million dollars, start planning grocery trip.

[10-12pm] played restaurant with the kids, did a "good enough" clean in Rose's terribly messy room, two more potty success trips! Hand out snacks (goldfish), peeled 2 bananas, let kids watch Clifford, come type this up and see if Old Navy has any good sale prices, am completely shocked at the price jump from toddler clothes to "big boy" clothes, start making lunch, wash plates for lunch, pour juice into cups, yes, you can have a cheese stick- wait, did you already have one? Too late. Feed dogs, decide on fish for supper.

[12-2:15pm] lunch, washed remaining dishes, switch clothes to dryer, potty success, potty fail, help boys clean up their room and get ready for nap time. Put Rose down for nap, got to talk to T during his lunch, put Ry down for nap, and now I'm posting this because it's getting long!
 
D and I are off to play catch!