Too Fast

Yesterday I was folding the huge mound of laundry on my bed {accumulated for a few days - oops!} and Michael spotted his underwear. He was very excited about this. While I was putting away Lydia's clothes he grabbed the pile of undies & walked into his room. I went in after him to find that he put the underwear in his top dresser drawer - TOP dresser drawer. I wanted to see him do it & he showed me that he could reach up to open & shut the drawer. o_o This morning he turned on & off his bedroom light - without using his drum stool. My little boy is growing up so fast - he's taller, talks more, observes more, he surprises & impresses me with something new everyday. He really loves going to school & wants to earn stars on his calendar. Yesterday he was sad - almost to tears, because he only had a smiley face & he didn't listen to his teacher. At first I thought it was great that he wants to do so well in school, then I wondered "why doesn't he want to listen to ME??".

Here's some pictures of the kids blowing bubbles the other day!

Twice a Month {or so} Cooking Part 2

When I left off yesterday I was going to the commissary to get the missing ingredients {TRIPLE check your lists!} and came back home to continue with the massive meal making. Unfortunately the afternoon didn't go quite as smoothly as the morning. I think for a few reasons. First off, the kids are in such better moods in the morning than the afternoon, second I had such a long break between cooking {about 3 hours} that I got out of my 'groove'. We had to break for dinner, which ironically was leftover pizza - yes, I was cooking all day long & we ate left over pizza! The kids were getting antsy & wanted to go outside so after cleaning up the kitchen & having them pick up their toys I took them out to blow bubbles and run around before the bugs ate us all alive. After the bubbles they were a mess so it was bath time and shortly after was bedtime. Earlier I figured I'd pick up cooking again once they were in bed but by that time I was just done. So I poured myself a glass of wine & relaxed.

These are the meals I finished yesterday: Tortellini & Garden Vegetable Bake, Crockpot Cranberry Chicken, Italian Sausage & Spinach Casserole, and Moroccan Chicken Stew.

While I was cooking the kids were playing with their toys, pretending all sorts of games & eventually I did put on a movie - I was desperate to finish.

This morning I grabbed my coffee & got cooking again. I made Pasta Primavera with Asparagus, Taco Meat, and browned meat for Sloppy Joes. Why didn't I finish said Sloppy Joe meat? Well, I didn't look closely enough at the seasoning packet while at the store yesterday so I didn't pick up tomato paste. I was going to start a crockpot of chili but found that I had everything but tomato sauce on hand - this wasn't one of the meals I had originally planned so it doesn't count as forgetting an ingredient. So it will take one more trip to the store and a quick afternoon of cooking before I'm done.

With all of the glitches, interruptions & setbacks I am still excited about cooking once or twice a month rather than every night. I'll be posting recipes later today or tomorrow! Hope you had a great weekend!

Twice a Month {or so} Cooking Part 1

I have finally done it ya'll. After months of knowing I at least needed to have a shopping list when I went to the store that ventured beyond milk, cereal, ice-cream, bananas, apples & bread - the true essentials in life - I started menu planning a couple weeks ago. I didn't participate in the meme because I didn't have time to write up a post on it. Do you know the time that can go into finding recipes, writing up a shopping list & then rewriting that list by department of the store so you aren't wandering back and forth for 2 hours. Well, that was such a success that I've decided to take it up a notch and cook several meals in one day, freezing most for us to eat over the next couple weeks.

With the menu planning I always knew I had something to cook, even if I didn't feel like cooking that night. Because of this I went to the store less often, when I did go I knew exactly what I needed (either my menu shopping or get more perishables like milk & fruit), and I didn't order out as often - I was at 2 times a week folks. I allowed myself the occasional mac 'n cheese night & left days for leftovers, with it just being me & the kids I really only need to cook half or 1/3 the meals I normally would have to plan for.

So far I've found the following to be helpful:

1. A pot of coffee, creamer & sugar on hand: If you're like me & don't enjoy cooking you'll need all the motivation and energy you can get. Plus if you started earlier than I did - and plan to next time - you'll need it!





2. A playlist with music you enjoy: Mine is on the computer, I have a mix of slow & upbeat songs & really like the combo. Next time I do this I want to have my mp3 player situated so the kids don't have to listen to my blaring music if they don't want to. Also, choose your music carefully. If there's a song that you love but it could bring you to a tearful breakdown, you may not want to hear it while chopping onions, measuring ingredients or reading a recipe. But if you don't mind the teary therapy, like myself, let it play.
3. Double Triple check your shopping list against your recipes before heading to the store. I started pulling ingredients out for my first meal only to find I didn't have all I needed. Take note if you have to go to a specialty store for a specific item & if there's something you aren't familiar with take a look on the internet & see if you can find a substitution in case you can't find it. Like quick warm tapioca can be replaced with cornstarch - a more common item you'll use again. This time around I have 4 recipes that are missing at least one fairly important {at least looking} ingredient. One of the meals I completed was missing lemon juice but it wasn't much so I decided it wasn't important - I could be wrong.

4. If you can, get the kids out of the house. Mine have done pretty well so far but I'd have rather had them occupied outside of the house & more importantly the kitchen. Lunch was kept simple - as it usually is - and I used that time to wash pots, measuring cups, spoons, knives, etc.
5. Pull out all of the ingredients for each meal so it's all at your fingertips as you go through your recipe. Also, taping the recipe to a cabinet/wall/window - anywhere eye level helps. That way you don't get the paper dirty, lose it or catch it on fire - I did NOT do the last one but ya never know. If you're cooking from a cookbook of course you can't tape that to the wall but having one of those little prop stands would be helpful.


6. Use & abuse your crockpot! That can be your meal for the night of massive meal making or you can use it to make stews, soups, chili, etc. to freeze later. If you cook it on a 4 hour setting you could get 2 or 3 meals to freeze throughout the day while you are cooking other meals. More bang for your time & most crockpot meals are low prep and simple ingredients.



And now I'm off to the commissary to get the forgotten ingredients and finish my massive day of meal making. I'd rather have been cooking this whole time but lesson learned for next time. Have a great day & stay tuned for Part 2!

Confessions of a Preschooler

This conversation took place after I told Lydia to lay down on Michael's bed so I could change her diaper, that was just a little over full:

Michael: "No, not on my bed!"
Mommy: "You guys smashed goldfish all over the couch so I can't change her there."
Michael: "No, Lydia did that on the couch" {insert pause} "I just smashed them on the floor."

I hadn't even asked about the mess on the floor. I can only hope he'll continue being so honest & forth coming with information as he gets older. It's a stretch, I know, but I can hope!


I don't know what it is lately with the kids making messes with food, more than just normal messes while eating. No, they have a growing obsession {read: plan to get me} with making messes with food all over the floor. Yesterday when I got out of the shower I found that Michael got into the fridge and decided that he & sissy should share some shredded cheese. Not only did he split it between two little bowls he got out of the dishwasher {which I'm pretty sure was dirty} but also divided some among the couch, floor, table & dining chair. Good thing I didn't scrub the floors yesterday I suppose!

School is in Session

It is strange that a month before labor day school started. When I was in elementary school we didn't start until after labor day and went until mid June. Here k-12 started last week, pre-k started yesterday. Michael was going to a part day preschool program on post before we went on vacation. It was a great program, he loved it & I would have kept him there if the elementary school in our area didn't have a preschool program. But they do, and it's five days a week, and it's FREE. The $40 a month I was paying for him to go two mornings a week was WELL worth it, a great deal! However, he really loves school & I love that he loves school so how could I deny him five days a week?? Really, it's all about him - *nothing* to do with enjoying a quiet nap time, make phone calls, mop the floors, eat an early ice-cream treat or whateverIfeellikedoing without interruption. All of that is just a wonderful benefit to him getting an early start on his education! He had a great first day of school and seems to have a sweet teacher. He is in the afternoon class, I was hoping for mornings, but am making good use of the afternoon time I have. He's been asking when we would go to his class for the last week, was disappointed that we didn't stay after orientation last week & was very upset the other night when we went to the commissary instead of his school - at 7:00 at night, lol. So yesterday was his first day & of course I took pictures. :D

I Need a Vacation from my Vacation

va·ca·tion

–noun

1.	a period of suspension of work, study, or other activity, usually used for rest, recreation, or travel; recess or holiday: Schoolchildren are on vacation now.

2.	a part of the year, regularly set aside, when normal activities of law courts, legislatures, etc., are suspended.

3.	freedom or release from duty, business, or activity.

4.	an act or instance of vacating.

–verb (used without object)

5.	to take or have a vacation: to vacation in the Caribbean.

It's been about a week since we got home from vacation - sadly not #5 definition ;) & I'm still not in a routine. More like a rut, everyday I feel like I'm catching up on stuff around the house, scrambling to finish this or that & not ever getting to all that I was hoping to. I have started making to do lists & that has helped some but I need more structure. I was thinking about this the other day & remembered that sometime way back when I had the household chores assigned to a day(s) and a general daily routine for the kids & I. I could be flexible with it when needed/wanted but I had a schedule. I remember liking it but I don't quite remember how I did it. I can look at the spreadsheet I made that has the schedule {yes, I'm that anal} I just can't picture how it went. I have to do something about it though, being scattered during the day has left projects/tasks/errands unfinished & keeps me up at night which makes for a more challenging day following - exponentially each day is more overwhelming because I'm more tired & feel more out of control. :SIGH:

I've had some comments about the vacation I took, most common is that it was 5 weeks and how did I pull that off? Basically it's because my husband is gone. Not to say I wouldn't go visit family while he's home but it certainly wouldn't be for 5 weeks, ideally it would be a long weekend & he'd go along too. 5 weeks is definitely a long time to be away from home but we went before Michael started daily pre-k & I don't have a 9-5 job to take time off work. In fact, my work goes on the road with me & since the kids go with me too the only thing I had to get taken care of was someone to mow the yard & keep an eye on the house. Similarly, to the last vacation I took I wanted to make the time spent worth the effort getting there. This time traveling took less time but was just as tiring, and there's the expense for the decreasing convenience of flying. For just over what I had planned to spend on a trip to California & back the kids and I ended up going to New Mexico also & I even made a detour {on my own!} to Dallas. Being so far from family & close friends we really only see them once, maybe twice a year so it was nice having more than a quick weekend to visit.

Now with Michael starting school & Lydia turning 2 soon {read: no more free airfare} I'm not sure how often we will make it out. Not only that but traveling with two kids on my own really isn't too fun. So I've told family & friends that it's their turn to visit us. Since moving we've gone to California & New Mexico twice so someone else can visit next. Though I'm not sure I should blow up the air mattress just yet as I was told {by someone who will remain nameless, **cough, cough, SHELL, cough, cough**} I would get a visitor under three conditions:
1. I got married {obviously I won't be sending out invites anytime soon}
2. I had a baby {again, no announcements going out anytime soon - if ever}
3. We moved somewhere more interesting than Kennessee {Kentucky/Tennessee}

Since the first two are out & the Army is in control of the third we may not ever need that air mattress. Ah well, the kids can visit when they're old enough to drive and/or buy their own plane ticket. ;) LOL

Updated to add: Yes, Rachelle, I do in fact have an air mattress - queen size & sits higher off the ground, even has a built in air pump {which is totally useless for blowing up a pool btw}. ;) AND there are almost always good concerts going on out here - I'll check it out & forward the info to you so you can plan for one during your visit of less than 5 weeks. ;)

I also wanted to add that what I said about family/friends visiting us next was only because it would be fun to have them out - not trying to make anyone feel bad here. I realized that it could have come across that way. Traveling can be hard for anyone these days between balancing kids, finances, schedules, work, etc...lots going on & the airlines aren't exactly making people want to jump on board with high ticket prices, cramped seats, little to no food & very limited luggage allowances. I know Shawn wants to make trips out to California & New Mexico sometime after getting back & there will likely {90%} be another deployment even if he doesn't reenlist, in which case I'll be toting the kids around during the summer at some point I'm sure. :) Though if I had visitors we'd see each other 2 or 3 times a year rather than 1 or 2. :D {again, no guilt trip}

Sunday Scrappin #39

I came back home earlier this week. It was a lot of fun visiting family & friends in California, New Mexico & Texas even! But it was a long 5 weeks & it's good to be back home. I'm still not quite back into routine, in fact this morning I'm struggling to get moving & stuff taken care of. I don't know if it's because I'm not sleeping well or being overwhelmed with everything to take care of, either way I need to snap out of it.

Anyway, on with the scrap! So before leaving New Mexico my stepmom & I made time to scrap again. I did the pictures I was struggling with the last time we scrapped and finally used that fruity paper - does it still count as completing a challenge if it's a couple weeks later?? Either way, it's one more spread done for the album and one less stack of photos for me to think about getting done. I'm happy with how it looks, not sure if the buttons really 'work' or not but they are there. On the second page I did a mini flip book, the photo of Michael on the motorcycle ride (upper left corner) has 2 or 3 photos under it and attached with staples. I liked too many photos & couldn't crop them all so it works. I still have the journaling to do but other than that here is my tada:

My todo's: I'd like to finish the journaling on all of the pages I did over vacation & make sure I have dates on each of them. If I get really ambitious I want to organize my scrappy stuff. Not sure that I'll have time to scrap this week but if I do then it will be bonus.

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