Thank you Lord

Every child is a miracle.  God created man and woman and he loved us so much he gave us the gift of being able to create life as well.  It doesn't matter if it takes 6 months or 6 years to conceive your child, EVERY child is a miracle.

I remember when I took my pregnancy test with Henry and I almost screamed at the top of my lungs, "My body did what it was designed to do!!"  You don't really know that your body is capable until you try having a baby and I was full of pride.  When I heard his heartbeat I felt the exact same way.  In fact, almost daily I would thank God that this amazing miracle was happening in my body and to me.  Words can't even express how amazed I felt that I had been given this awesome gift from my Lord.  When I saw Henry for the first time my mouth hung open so far I was catching flies.  Feeling him move for the first time I thought, "even though I can't see you, I know that you are growing and changing just like you are supposed to...amazing."
When my contractions started, and my water broke and I barely made it to the hospital to have him every moment I was in total awe that my body was doing this, that my baby was coming, that together my husband and I created a life from tiny cells.

I was looking at my kids today as I was getting them out of the shower and I was thinking, "Never have I seen something more perfect."  Callie's teeny, polka dot painted, chubby toes are perfection.  Henry's innie/outie belly button is the cutest button I have EVER seen.  Their fingers and tiny nails, their ears and lips, Callie's tubby baby belly and Henry's little muscles, I can't believe how perfect they are.  I can't believe that so much can happen starting as two tiny cells.  I can't believe that God loved me so much that he gave me the gift of giving them life.

Everyone doesn't feel this way of course.  There are people who are crushed when they find out they are pregnant or get pregnant by tricking their partner.  There are people who are selfish and never appreciate this gift, their bodies or their children.  There are people who think that these "cells" aren't life or that until they are born they aren't "people."  Anyone who has had a child.  Anyone who has lost a child in the early stages of pregnancy, the late stages of pregnancy or after their child was born, knows this isn't true.
I heard Henry's heartbeat at 10 weeks.  He was still as small as an olive but he was a person.  Don't tell me he wasn't, I was there.  From the moment I found out I was pregnant with both of my children, I fell in love and started planning, wondering who they would look like, what they would sound like when they cried, laughed and spoke for the first time.  Losing a child after a few weeks or many years is never easy and there isn't a point where, "you weren't attached or hadn't met them."

I have friends who have lost babies after they were born.  I have many friends who have miscarried and I even have a few friends who had to still birth their child.  Go through labor while they were grieving when it was supposed to be the happiest moment of their lives.  I also have friends who were lucky enough to spend years and years with their children before losing them.  All of these people are so grateful for the gift no matter how long or short a time they were given.  All of them have love, felt love and feel love for their child and from their child.

I have friends who have tried for months to conceive.  I have friends who have tried for years to conceive.  I have friends who have paid every cent of their savings, taken costly medications, given their spouse shots daily, had painful procedures and have prayed and cried and been excited for a moment only to be disappointed when they were not yet pregnant.  I have friends who chose adoption to be their route to becoming parents and having children in their lives.

All of these people will stand tall and proud when telling you that a baby is a baby, a baby is life, well before he or she sees the light of day.  If it weren't true why would they put themselves through this???  Physical pain, emotional highs and lows, feeling sick for 9 months straight, losing weight, gaining weight, bleeding and cramping and happy and sad tears?  No one would choose this unless they too knew the miracle it is to be able to give life to not just something but someone.

I pray all year long that the people who want children can have them one way or another.  I cry when my friends find out they are not pregnant...AGAIN.  I pray for my friends that have spent all their money and have to "stop trying" until they save up for more treatments.  I pray for my friends who have lost their children and know how amazing a gift they were given from the moment they knew they were pregnant.  I pray for my friends who have adopted children and appreciate their children in a way many cannot understand.  I pray for those adopted children who will grow up to ask questions about why they look different than their parents or question why their birth parents "didn't care or love them" and I pray for the moments that they realize that their parents wanted them so badly they went through everything they had to, just to hold them, kiss them and love them like no other.

I am praying for Melissa and Johnny.  I am praying for Jimmy and Teresa.  I am praying for Emily W., Amanda, Erika, Lisa Z., Julie and Tomi.  I am praying for Emily and Jeff.  I am praying for Lisa L.  I am praying for Laura R.  I am praying and sending love and respect for all of these friends and more that they know the gifts they have been given recently, were given once, will be given and were given for a short time.

I know I am lucky. I know it is amazing.  I know the whole process is perfection.  Thank you Lord.

Thank Goodness for Evenings at Home

I am really lucky that my husband has a job that brings him home in the evenings.  Last night was the perfect example of an evening well spent with my family.
Daddy got home from work and we all had a big dinner TOGETHER.  We talked about the things we did that day and about how we were going to decorate our Christmas cookies and all of the things we were super excited about with the holidays.
After we cleaned up the kitchen we started measuring and mixing and baking, TOGETHER.  We made a couple of different cookie doughs and got to work dyeing them appropriate colors and cookie cutting like mad people.  We baked and the house smelled great!  Decorating time!!
We got out all the goodies like colored sugars, M&M's for ornaments, crushed peppermints and icing, icing, icing!!  We of course taste tested EVERY SINGLE THING while we were decorating.
After decorating, the kids were a big sweet mess so I ran them a super bubbly bath and my husband and I tag teamed the washing, rinsing, drying and dressing to get them ready for their night time snacks.
We all had cookies and milk and watched one of their favorite shows, TOGETHER before heading up for story time and bed time.

Not only did my husband and I tag team the entire evening, we did it all together as a family and it was fantastic.  Nothing too eventful.  Nothing super exciting.  To the kids EVERYTHING was super exciting and eventful and to me it was just a perfect way to spend a December evening.

Birds of a Feather Fair

All Grown Up

This past week was such a long one and my emotions were all over the place.  My best friend got married on Friday evening and as excited as I was about that we had to get through some really rough stuff earlier in the week. 

Monday night we buried her grandmother, Wednesday we buried the groom's grandmother and finally on Friday we were able to celebrate with them, their joining in marriage.
It was such a super fun and fantastic event starting with the rehearsal dinner the evening before at her parent's place.  Then we had a day of pampering and champagne, champagne, champagne!!  All of us girls got together to spend the day with our bride and it was great.  Everyone looked fantastic in their purple strapless dresses and of course the bride was as stunning as ever.

The ceremony was perfect and I couldn't have smiled any bigger.  The flowers were gorgeous purples and oranges and reds.  They were married with a sunset back drop on a horse farm in the fall.  Can't get any more beautiful than that.

The reception was also an absolute blast.  Dinner and dancing and dessert.  My kids were on the dance floor from the moment the music started until we forced them to go home!  We all had such a fun time and went to bed way too late.

The next day however was a rough one as we left for Michigan at 6am to attend my Great Uncle's funeral.  This is the uncle who raised my mother and was the only father she ever really knew.  So we visited family while we were up there and did have a good evening with my Grandma Em and Uncle Steve and his lovely wife Janine.  We went back to our hotel and didn't get to sleep until well after midnight- kids included.

Driving home, everything seemed to hit me.  I am all grown up.  When I visit Michigan my family is no longer all in the same town.  My Grandfather passed away last year and now when I visit, I can hardly stand to see their house because it makes me so sad to not have him sitting in his chair.  My grandma still lives there but can't be by herself right now due to a knee surgery so she is staying with my Uncle.  Driving through the old town makes me sad.  Everything has changed and times aren't as easy and fun as they used to be. 

My cousins have all moved away and have their own families.  People I looked up to and admired turned out to be just regular old people who struggle and have faults.  I know this is all part of growing up but some of these changes I just don't like or want to handle. 

Maybe I am being a big baby about it, or maybe I am now truly realizing what being a grown up means.  It means sleepovers with the cousins, jokes with your grandpa and weeks on the farm have ended.  Now we have less visits, less people to visit and there are family members that we don't really even know.  There are funerals and headstones to visit when there used to be people to see.

Like I said, this has been an emotional week that has been like a roller coaster for me.  I am so happy on one hand and on the other, completely devastated.  Being a "Big Kid" is much harder than it seemed when I was little and looking up.

A Stay at Home Mom Day

Today has been a busy stay at home Mom day.  Let's see, we ate breakfast, made an octopus and a squid out of clay, glittered ornaments for Mommy's shop, played with the dollhouse and barn, drew pictures, played a few board games, had lunch and oh, Callie fixed her hair!

Family Emergencies

It's funny once you have kids, what becomes a family emergency.  "AHHH we are out of milk!!" or "We're on the last diaper!"  These things become very serious very quickly.

Last night, while I was at work, there were two emergencies at my house and of course my husband called to tell me about them as they happened. 

Emergency Number One:  2 year old takes big poop in the bathtub!!  As soon as it happened, and it was completely unexpected, Jon whipped the kids out of the tub.  The kids just stared at the mess and cried standing beside the tub!

Emergency Number Two:  4 year old kicks his foot down and gets stabbed by a bobbi pin that fell between the couch cushions.  This one was totally different and the phone call was to make sure he had up to date tetanus. 
Callie and Henry were laying next to each other on the couch and all of a sudden Henry starts screaming.  Jon is trying to figure it out when he sees blood, alot of blood.  When Henry sees the blood, of course, he is screaming even more and when Callie sees the blood, she starts to cry with concern.  I am so touched that she was so sweet and compassionate toward her brother.
Jon takes the kids into the bathroom to wash and sanitize Henry's puncture wound and as he is wincing in pain, Callie starts making faces to try to make him smile!

Even though I got a couple of "emergency" calls last night while I was working, I was so proud of my little girl and her empathy and compassion for her big brother.  She loves him so much and the two of them are quite the team.  I absolutely adore these children and their Daddy who knows how to handle every situation whether Mommy is here to help out or not.

All Hail A Taxi!!

I packed the kids and the husband up and sent them on their way to Hawesville, Ky where they will be visiting our friend, Alex, who is in town from LA for a movie he made that is being featured this weekend.  I have to work all weekend but didn't want them to be stuck here just because I couldn't go so off they went on their road trip with Daddy this afternoon.

Of course this is bittersweet for me because I miss them already, but it will be fun for them and I will get to sleep in tomorrow (when is the last time that happened).  About 15 minutes into the trip I get a phone call from Jonny and I am wondering if the car broke down or Callie puked (yup the little one gets car sick) when he tells me that he just called to tell me that a road trip isn't as much fun without me.  It made my day he was so sweet.  We promised to chat later after they arrived and before I had to go to work.

On my way to work, driving Jon's car the gauges became possessed by the devil himself.  They were all over the place bouncing up and down and stuff.  The car was still going in the direction of work so whatever.  I did call Jon to tell him about it with the hopes that it was just a simple fluke.

**NOTE**  We drive old cars.  We refuse to have a car payment and just buy cars with cash.  The car in question is a 1996 Neon.

So I am almost to work and finding a parking spot and decide for poops and giggles to turn the car off and try to turn it back on...no go.  The car is not making any noise and not starting but hey at least I got to work.  The car is broken down in the employee parking lot at my work!  This is the car that Jon has to return to work with on Monday! 

All in all, I wasn't even mad.  So I have to get a ride home from work.  So my Mom has to drop off a car for me tomorrow.  So Jon has to spend the rest of his weekend, once he returns home, figuring out and fixing the problem.  Remember after all this, I still get to sleep in tomorrow!

Loving the Fall

I have always had a fun time doing anything and everything to prepare for Halloween.  I love the fall and everything about it and Halloween seems to be the time to kick off the fall.
I love the pumpkin patch and bonfires.  I love leaves and jumping in them, the smell of them, raking them.  I love all of the scents of fall; warm apple pie, spiced cider and cinnamon.  I am getting giddy just thinking about all of it!

When we started chatting with the kids about Halloween I thought I could predict what they would want to be, based on their current obsessions and I was right 100%.  So we got to planning.  Our son, Henry, who is 4 1/2, is all about plans and authenticity.  He sketched out pictures and we talked about how to attach things and how to make this costume look "real", up to his standards.

We went to several stores to collect all of our goodies and got started on costume making.  Callie is just 2 1/2 so she didn't have quite as many "plans" but she picked the colors of her costume and helped make it as well.  It was a super fun evening with cutting and pinning and ironing and sticking and then of course the grand finale DRESSING UP!!

Henry is an Octopus complete with a beak and a tilted head.  Callie Anne is a puppy and as soon as she was in her get up, she stopped talking and went straight to barking!

I can't wait to take them out trick or treating.  They have been practicing what they will say to get a treat and what they will say after they get their treats and they are so super excited about it.  Now if I can just figure out how to rig up 8 candy bags on little Henry's tentacles, we will be in business!

Henry-isms

My little guy is full of them today!!

As he hands me a seashell he says, "Mom, back in the day, I thought this was a pearl."

Back in the day!!!

Right before bed he comes up to me and says, "Mom, I have a cut on my favorite finger!"

His favorite finger...ahhh he is making me laugh today.

There are Worse Things

Cravings have always been a thing for me.  When I am pregnant they are super serious.  I can't stop thinking about what I want until I get it and I need almost immediate gratification.
With my son is was chicken noodle soup...until it literally made me sick and I haven't had it since (canned chicken noodle soup) I will only eat it home made.  I also had a "problem" with Granny Smith Apples (about 3 a day) and with Lucky Charms (a box every other day) and then there was the $1 plain vanilla ice cream from McDonalds which would still be a problem if I had cash on me at the moment!
My adoring husband would call and ask me if he could pick anything up on the way home from work.  Thank goodness he had to pass 1 McDonalds and a Kroger every night on the way home!!

Not as much with my second pregnancy but I still had my little things.  A bowl of ice cream a night was pretty important and I LOVED peppermint tea.

Right now, NOT pregnant, I have a new addiction and I can't get enough!!  I love a spinach salad.  Always have, always will.  I don't even care if there is anything to go with it besides the spinach and the dressing.  I have always loved Italian dressing and really have never liked another as much.  I can do ranch occasionally, I can even do a vinegarette, but I stick with my Italian. Until NOW!  I can't get enough Poppy Seed dressing!  Not Lemon Poppy seed or Bacon or anything else, just plain old Poppy seed and I want about 4 salads a day now that I have found this miracle dressing...so that I why I say, "There are worse things."

Sometimes Even Superman Needs Help From His Friends

I am curious if all women feel this way...  I am always looking for ways to improve myself, my life, my family, my home.  I embrace change and I actually enjoy change.  I always thought that was a good quality in my self and now I am wondering if it means I am fickle?  Do I change my mind too often?  Do I hate to follow through?  Do I know how to follow through?  Am I dissatisfied with my life.

All I have ever wanted to be, for as long as I can remember, is a mother.  I had motherly instincts of love and care and responsibility from a tender young age.  I was always looking out for the underdog.  I was always able to relate to older women in conversations about life.  I loved taking care of cousins younger than myself and I loved babysitting once I was old enough to be trusted and certified of course.  I always wanted to have children of my own to love and help grow and take care of, so much so that I had alot of trouble declaring a major in college.
I wanted to be a drama teacher, but they dropped my major.  This sent me into a crazy tailspin of all kinds of considerations from a social worker (too emotional for this deep feeler) to an interior designer( except I didn't give a crap about all the different kinds of chairs out there) to eventually settling on Art Education where I could teach children and help them appreciate things that I appreciated about art.  I still have a love affair with art.  I still create and consider myself an artist.  I have a fascination for cubism and Picasso.  I adore Gothic Cathedrals.  I had this dream, as a young twenty-something, to pack my backpack and travel Europe to see the amazing cathedrals I studied in Art History classes throughout college.  It was my dream vacation.  Of course now as a mother of 2 and wife to my sweetheart husband the thought of all of us having that kind of vacation sounds like no fun, too many logistics, too much traveling. Bring on the beach!!

Anyway, one thing that has never been in question is the fact that I wanted my babies.  I have always wanted them and they are perfect and they are mine.  I have really high expectations of myself though and my struggle is, not only do I want to be a great Mom, which I believe I am, but I want to be the BEST Mom.  Like EVER.  In the whole history of the world!  This in turn makes me have Mommy Guilt constantly for every little thing I do or don't do for my kids.  Guilt about not spending enough time with them on one isolated day, not taking them on enough outings one week, not sitting down to play and enjoy them enough.  People have always complimented me on what a good Mother I am.  Telling me how much they can see I love my children.  Telling me how it seems like I do anything and everything for them and I am a super Mom.  I love to hear these things, I love to give to my children and do things with them, teach them and show them my love.  But I have been struggling.  I have been struggling with thoughts of not being good enough.  I have been feeling terrible about anything and everything and I have, at times, felt like I can't be a good Mom for my kids.  I work too much, I don't get enough sleep, and in reality I have lost who I am when I became their mother.  I define myself by being their mother and although there is nothing wrong with that, what good can I be to them if I am not taking care of myself and my own needs???

I have found this to be a very taboo topic among mothers that many do not talk about and do not share.  The feeling of inadequacy as your child's mother due to the stresses and responsibilities of life in general.  The full time job you have raising your children, running your household and being responsible for your family all the while holding down another job as well.  Why don't we talk about this?  Why don't we share?
I have always been jealous of the Mom who seemed to be able to keep the house clean, stay organized and never seems to have an off day.  Guess what? This Mom doesn't exist!  All of us have off days, messy house days, sweatpants days and cereal for dinner days and that doesn't mean we are careless, irresponsible or don't love our children. 

It is so hard for us to ask for help, to admit we need help.  We have put our needs to the side to be everything and everyone for our children because of the love we have for them.  I am admitting that I need help.  I can't do it all.  I don't want to do it all.  I want girlfriend's who will chat about this with me and keep it light so I can laugh at some of these times.

I am reaching out.  I am writing about it.  I am talking about it.  I am not "super mom" all the time and I can't be.  It doesn't matter how much I want to be, I can't be.  It has been really hard to come to grips with for me.  I am a perfectionist who has way too high expectations of myself.

I was talking to someone who said to me, "There is no question IF you love your children.  The question is Do they FEEL loved by you?"  This question broke it all down for me and hopefully for you too.  I can honestly say that in all my moments of impatience or weakness, being tired or fed up, my babies KNOW that I love them and they FEEL my love for them each day and no matter what that will never change.

Local Business

Thank God for local business owners.  We are in an area that had many local business owners of plenty of non-franchise businesses.  Family businesses.  In fact I have a few that are favorites and a new one to boot.

There is Gramer's Market in Erlanger. Family owned small grocery and butcher shop/deli.  This was where I held my first job as a cashier at the tender age of 15.  The store was entirely run by family Jim was the butcher, Jane ran the grocery and did the payroll, their daughters even helped out at the store evenings and weekends and then there were a few of us who were honorary family for awhile.  They run their store with integrity, respect and care for their community.  Go there for your steaks, a decent sandwich or cup of soup and lottery tickets!

Then there is Lee Hartke Auto Body.  The mechanic and auto body shop who even after winning the lottery continue to give top service to the community with their quick service and honest workers.  Go there when you have a fender bender.

Last week our oven element went out. Broke in half in my husband's hand when he was investigating the problem.  I use the oven daily.  For food and for a kiln for my clay work.  We CAN'T live without one.  I was devastated and expected the worst.  We headed up to Hagedorn and Sons, the local family owned appliance store that is literally right up the street from our home.  We walked in with our broken element and without saying a thing they knew what we needed, got it off the hanger on the wall AND brought the extension we would need to fit it into our oven.  It was a fair price and way cheaper than I thought it would be, and they handled us quickly and with knowledge about what we needed.

When we left the shop my husband told me that this is how things should be.  We had an in depth discussion about how big business has taken away the helpful attitude that dealing with a family owned business gives to the local economy.  We started talking about how differently things would have gone had we entered another big appliance shop or home store.  No one would know that subject matter, it wouldn't have been done easily, it probably would have had to been ordered and who knows if the order would even come in correctly and then we would have been out of an oven for the amount of time to figure out the problem. 

Local businesses are something my husband and I respect and prefer.  We like the small hardware store, the local mechanic, the grocery where OUR clerks know OUR names and OUR children.  We like the small town feel of the small family business and prefer to do our business with those folks.  We go to the smallest library in town because we know the librarians and they know us.  We head to the mechanic shop shared by 2 brothers who's names we know and who are familiar with our car.  Hagedorn and Sons is another local business that we will turn to for our appliance needs even if they are a bit more expensive (which I don't know that they are or not) we will head up the street to our local business owners where the importance of providing for their own families by opening a business runs over to the customers they are serving who are made to feel like part of the family when they are dealing with the business.

Under Construction...

I am hoping you noticed but in case you didn't, I am doing some work on the blog.  I have changed the pages that used to run across the top to labels on the right of the blog page.  This will allow me to continue adding information to share with all of the readers about these topics and to add more as they come along.  It will be more organized for myself and easier for you to access as well.

I will be doing more research and making more changes to make the site more accessible and user friendly along the way and will keep you updated.

For those who hadn't visited the pages before, the articles are posted below as "new articles" so you can read them.  If you have kept up and read them before, then you can refresh.  I will be updating information, posting new articles and photos soon.

Thanks for following and staying tuned...

Recipes on the Cheap

This is going to be a page or pages of recipe's that we have begun to work into our menu due to our budget changes. I am hoping that even if you are great in the kitchen or horrible in the kitchen you can do these recipes!!!  You really can. They are easy and I will give a breakdown of the cost of the meal.  I have spent tons of time on changing up the menu at our house and am happy to be able to share with other friends who are "living debt free" or just looking for some family food.  Will begin the recipe posting soon. Thanks and stay in touch!!


Before we get started with the recipes I have a few tips for lowering your grocery bills.  We have added these certain tricks to our household to save the money and they work!!

*  cut the bacon in half in the package before serving.  This makes the package work for two big breakfasts.  It also reduces the waste of making the whole package. Make MORE eggs to fill up the tummies no one needs 8 strips of bacon!

*  use canned biscuits.  They are 38 cents at Aldi (where we shop) and they can be used in tons of recipes.  Use them as biscuits, make donuts with them, make dumplings, make mini egg and cheese sandwiches for breakfast.

*  Buy a whole chicken.  For around $4 you can have at least 3 meals from a whole chicken. I make one every two weeks.  The day I make the chicken (in the crock pot so no work) I serve a big dinner with potatoes and stuffing etc... Then I add water and boil the bones to make stock.  Leftover chicken after dinner makes chicken salad, chicken quesadillas, omelets and many other types of meals.  I usually make chicken salad for the next days lunch.  The stock I keep in the fridge until I need it but usually make chicken and dumplings, chicken and rice or chicken noodle soup with it.  That is 3 meals and there is always leftover soup too so even more than three meals.  It is some work but not alot of work and for $4 that is a bunch of meals!!

*  Buy ground beef in bulk and freeze.  Sometimes I get the meat when they have marked it down so much because it needs to go today or will go bad.  Usually I can get 5 lbs for $5 or less just by watching for the stuff that is "ready to spoil if not FROZEN TODAY"  Saves a bundle. Bring it home divide it up and put it in freezer bags individually so I have at least 5 meals out of it.  perfect and cheap

*  Start using chicken legs.  The are $2.39 for a bag which usually had 8 legs. Make em like wings, make em like oriental style, make em Italian style, pour BBQ sauce on em and throw em in the crock pot.  This is at least 2 meals for my family and they are so inexpensive that I grab a couple of bags.  Much more flavor than breasts and a 3rd of the cost or less.

*  Bagels for breakfast and drink your coffee at home.  6 pack of bagels $1.39.  2 6 packs is breakfast every morning for Jon who is running out the door and eating in his car and 2 extra that I can use during the week for whenever.  Coffee at home was a hard one cause coffee CAN be cheap but can be pricey depending on where you go. Make it at home take a to go mug and $5 gets you a big can that lasts us about 3 weeks or so.

*  When the fish is on sale buy it and freeze it.  Good deals come by with fish all the time and even if you won't eat it for awhile your freezer keeps it for a long time and it doesn't take up much space so even if you don't have a deep freeze-which I don't- you will be OK stocking up a bit.

*  Cream of soups!! Cream of mushroom, Cream of chicken and Cream of celery are stocked up at my house all the time.  good for a casserole, good for soups, good to flavor chicken or beef in the crock pot and serve with noodles (also cheap) egg or spaghetti or any kind of noodles.

*  Taco night!  This is great cause taco seasoning is nice and cheap too.  Put in the crock pot with ground beef, ground turkey or chicken breasts.  By the time it is cooked the chicken can be easily shredded.  Crunchy or soft shells are a good price and you can make them as cool as you want or as basic as you want.  Meat and cheese in a shell or the works.  Oh and always put an onion and green pepper chopped up in the crock pot too if you have them.  Nachos, burritos or tacos/taco salad.

RECIPES

STRAWBERRY CREPES

(for the beginner)

Anyone can make these crepes and these were my first attempt EVER. Let me know how it works for you!!

Crepes: 

1 cup pancake mix 

2 eggs

1 3/4 cups milk

3 tbs melted butter

Topping:

6-8 strawberries cut up

1/2 block cream cheese

2tbs milk

1 cup confectioner's sugar

1 big squirt of honey (to taste- no measuring necessary)

Make topping first.  Put all things in blender, blend till thin and put in refrigerator for about 15 or so while you are working on your crepes.

Crepes- mix all ingredients in large bowl.  This will be thin, so thin you think "how will this possibly every make a pancake?"  Crepes are not actually held together by the pancake mix but by the eggs so even though it is thing they will cook up beautifully and be flexible for your folding later.

Cook em up!  I always add a couple of tbs of oil TO THE MIX not to the pan, this will help em keep from sticking.  Works for regular pancakes too- old tip from my Dad!  I use my soup ladle and 1 scoop is 1 large crepe.  Cook until top looks bubbly but dry.  You can always check under the crepe with your spatula to see that it is browned- the mix holds together much better than pancake mix actually. Brown em on both sides and make a stack of them as you cook to keep them warm.

Roll them and put them on plates, drizzle with the topping and enjoy!!  I put fresh strawberries on them for a pretty picture but the topping is enough for sure.  They are tasty and easy for the kids to cut and eat.

CRESCENT ROLL SAMMIES

1 package of crescent rolls

8 slices of lunch meat

2 slices of cheese

Using packaged crescent rolls, unroll each triangle and put 1/4 a slice of cheese, 1 piece of lunch meat rolled and roll crescent roll into shape.  Put on foil on cookie sheet and bake for 10-12minutes at 350degrees.

I use all different meats and cheeses.  Good way to use up some stuff if you are low on one kind of cheese or only have a couple of pieces of turkey left.  You can make them with tomato soup as a twist on the regular grilled cheese or just make a plate of them with all the sides baby carrots, fruit, chips or something along those lines.  I usually call this lunch a snack and just make one big plate for everyone to share!

**one package of crescent rolls makes 8 sandwiches**

Best Highchair

This will be an ongoing list of products that we parents love, where to buy them, why we love them etc...
Please email me with anything you would like to see added to the list at Amy@thethriftygift.com

BEST HIGHCHAIR

This highchair is FANTASTIC for so many reasons and I didn't even know it until my second baby came along!  I accepted freebie high chairs from a couple of friends only to learn WHY they were FREE.  I never had a good one and I didn't want one that took up so much real estate that we couldn't walk around our eat in kitchen.  Then I found this gem.
1.  folds flat after use for storage
2.  cloth is completely removable and machine washable
3.  seat is shallow from front to back so it is easy for the new upright sitters
4. affordable at $39.99
5.  Fits up to any table so they can eat at the same table top you are eating at

I have no complaints and this is by far the BEST purchase I have come across as far as baby furniture goes!
Find this highchair and other products like this at http://www.ikea.com/

Household Budget Tips: Laundry Detergent

In October of 2009 my husband and I took a pledge to become debt free.  We joined up with Dave Ramsey through his website, radio show and book, "The Total Money Makeover" to "live like no one else so later you can live like no one else."  All cliche's aside, we decided that we were tired of living paycheck to paycheck and playing the game of "creative financing" to get all of our bills paid.

In order to really achieve this we had to cut budget EVERYWHERE.  We never had cable so that wasn't an issue but we honed our grocery budget, planned meals, found alternative ways to find and make cleaning supplies, we planned everything down to the most minute detail and because of that we are down almost 40k in a year and a half!  It has been really difficult and although I read books and researched, I would have found it helpful to hear from someone else some tips on just how to do this.  That is what this page is dedicated to doing.  I will put some of the tips I feel were most helpful, some recipes and if you email me and share your own tips/successes I will post these too.

This page is always a work in progress so keep joining us for more useful information

This page is not for grocery tips so much as household tips that will help you eliminate some extra costs here and there.  One thing I always hated trying to work into the budget was laundry detergent and supplies.  We are a family of 4 and there is constant laundry and the detergent, even the less expensive kind is such a break to the wallet.  I researched and talked to folks and started making my own.  This sounds like a HUGE chore but I assure you it is NOT.  In a year's time I have made only 2 batches and you can do this too.

LAUNDRY DETERGENT RECIPE:
1 clean 5 gallon bucket (lowe's, home depot, walmart, auto parts store etc...)
1 cup Arm and Hammer Super Washing Soda (this is not baking soda and it is found in the laundry aisle- it contains sodium bicarbonate)
1/2 cup Borax (also in laundry aisle- and inexpensive with so many uses)
1 bar of Fels Naptha Soap (or a bar of your choice)  You can find this at Meijer regularly stocked or online

Put 4 cups of hot water into a sauce pan and add your bar of soap shredded (I got a cheese grater at the dollar store for this and this only) 
Stir until mixture is smooth with no big chunks of soap.
Fill 5 gallon bucket 1/2 full with hot water and add soapy water mix to the bucket.
Add super washing soda and borax then fill to the top with hot water.
Put lid on bucket and let sit overnight.  It will turn into a gel and with mixing become smooth enough to pour into your container.

KEEP YOUR OLD CONTAINERS THEY ARE GREAT FOR THIS.

Fill detergent container 1/2 full your finished soap mixture and 1/2 full of water.  A 5 gallon bucket makes 10 gallons of soap!!
**Note**  this detergent works for regular machines as well as High Efficiency- it makes very little suds and bubbles but works like a charm.  You can add essential oils if you want certain scents I leave mine alone to keep it FREE for the kids laundry.  Any questions??? Email me at :Amy@thethriftygift.com

When it Rains...It's Really Raining!

Life has been taking some large and unexpected turns lately.  As we have always thought "bad things come in threes" we kinda thought we must be on the up and up with life, yet...

I have been working full time or close to full time to try to make up for the weeks that Jon won't be paid while he is on leave recovering from surgery.  It has been hard but I now feel adjusted to the fact that I work most nights during the week.  Jon has had to adjust to taking care of the kids every evening on crutches and handicapped but we are all making it and things are going ok. 
Tonight to make up for the fact that I will be working for the next 3 nights, I thought I would make a casserole so Jonny didn't have to worry about making a plan for dinner.  I put the dinner in the oven as I was leaving only to get a text message that read, "the oven still isn't pre-heated"  after AN HOUR.  So obviously something is wrong with the oven- which is a much used appliance at my house that I can't live without. 
As he is trying to google a troubleshooting plan to figure out the issue the laptop takes a crap and won't do ANYTHING. Blue screen of death. 

For real??  So they ordered a pizza, he played around with oven trying to figure it out, I called Dan to help with the computer and all the while I am about to just laugh because it is all I can do.  It's not funny but it is crazy how much I am supposed to be handling right now.  Just crazy.

Hi Ho! Hi Ho!

We are in week 4 of Jon being home and recovering from knee surgery and boy is it wild.  It is a terrible reason to have him home but I am so glad he is here and so are the kids.  We are all getting so used to it, it is hard to think of him having to go back to work eventually.  While he has been home though I have been working more and it has been so hard leaving he and the kids.  I have always worked evenings and stayed at home during the days with the children but now that we are all home together, leaving for work is even more difficult.
I think it has been a healthy does of perspective for all of us that this has happened though and in the beginning I definitely couldn't see the silver lining.
Jon has learned that he wants to spend more time at home with the kids and me and he really likes being the one the kids ask for first thing in the morning and they all have a fun time with the new routine.
The kids are enjoying Daddy time so much that they don't wish either of us to have to work EVER and they think everyday is the weekend.  In a way it has been like everyday is the weekend and especially in the fact that I can't keep track of what day it is!!!  I am lost!!  We all wake up together everyday and that even confuses the Mama as for what day of the week it is :)
It has been great for me to let them all have this time even though my role has dramatically changed for the time being.  There is something so safe and happy about knowing they are with their Daddy when I leave for work.  I have this piece of mind that I haven't realized before.

So as we work to rehab Jon's knee and get him back on his feet and back to work, we will all just enjoy a few more weeks, days and hours of being together as a family for as much of our days as possible.  Course I am off to work and I can't stand it BUT tomorrow we will all wake together and have the whole day ahead of us, TOGETHER.

Happy Birthday To ME!

Another birthday has come and gone.  I have turned 29 again and it was an amazing day.  The kids and Daddy spent two days designing, baking and icing a cake for me as a surprise.  It was PERFECT.  They have never done anything like this for me (usually my husband is working 55hours a week so there isn't much time for planning) but as he is off work with this knee surgery, there was plenty of time and they made my day!

It was so funny to me, looking at this later that I am the "Mom" this cake is made for!

I always try to make each person's birthday as special as possible.  We celebrate all day long from sun up to sun down.  They pick their favorite meals, they choose what we do for the day, they design their cake and help with their parties. So the fact that they were all about Mommy this whole day and took the time to design a cake for me and execute it while I was mowing the lawn means SO MUCH.  In fact, they will probably never know how special this birthday really was to me.

Announcement!!!

Household Budgeting Class will be held on September 20, 2011 at 7pm at the Florence Branch of the Boone County Library.

Sign ups are available online or in the Florence Branch.

The class will be filled with ideas and tips for cutting your grocery budget without using coupons, cutting your household product budget, recipes for your family that are easy and budget friendly as well as a giveaway that you must be in attendance to receive!!!

Join me and other locals who are interested in cutting the household budget in order to free up money for other fun things you can do with your family.

The Best Conversations

I love to have conversations with our son, Henry, who is 4 years old.  He is so smart and he is so inquisitive about EVERYTHING.  We aren't just talking the "WHY, WHY WHY???" He really thinks about things and wonders about things and he knows how to find his answers.

It started with his love of books at a young age. We go to the library every Thursday and have since he was an itty bitty boy.  One of the first moments I was so proud of him was when he said to me, on the way to the library, "I think I need a book about snowmobiles, I don't know enough about them."  So we got a book about snowmobiles and I was so proud that he realizes where and how to get information!

We have looked up various things robots, outer space, comic books, spiders, bug guides, drawing books, transformers, crabs and lobsters, octopus, anything and everything.  Today in the car we are talking about exoskeletons and going through every animal and talking about if their bones are on the inside or the outside and my daughter says "dog?"  Henry goes through his entire reasoning, "well reindeer are covered in fur and they have bones on the INSIDE.  Dogs have hair on the outside so they must have bones on the INSIDE too!  Yeah they don't have shells so they don't have exoskeletons!"  He was so proud of himself and so was I.  I was absolutely so proud of him and of the fact that because of how we have made the library a priority we can have these super fun conversations!!

Trading Places

My husband, Jon and I have often spoken about how he will never understand what it is like to be a Mom and housewife all day long and THEN go to work 8 hours at night, going on constant lack of sleep and trying to do so many jobs at one time.  Just as I will never understand what it is like to be gone from the house 55 hours a week to come home exhausted and have to be Dad for the last few hours of such a long day.

Well, we should of been more careful of what we wished for because we are about to switch roles and it will be a HUGE adjustment for our families but will hopefully give us each some insight as to what each other does all day.

Jon injured his knee last week and will be having surgery upcoming in mid-August.  He will not be able to go to work until after the surgery and recovery is well under way.  This will be about a month off for him or so.  I, in the meantime, will be picking up as many shifts at work as possible days, evenings, nights whatever I can to make up for his time off and our medical expenses.  We won't be using our babysitter at all because Daddy or Mommy will ALWAYS be home.

I am scared and nervous.  I am a mess really.  I don't like seeing my husband in pain and I am scared of him going into surgery.  I don't know what we are going to do with the kids on the day of surgery.  I don't know how I am going to get out of bed tomorrow but this may be a good change for us.  Both of us have been looking for ways to improve, ways to get closer to goals we have set and such, maybe this will be the "blessing in disguise" that we need. 

Will keep yall posted about all the new adventures and my new work as a woman back in the full time work force!  Oh Help Me!

Dinner took FOREVER, but never tasted better :)

Tonight to keep the kids out of Daddy's hair, I had them come and cook every bit of dinner with me.  Although it took much longer than if I had just done it myself, we had so much fun and there really were so many "jobs" they could help me with.

They washed and dried the zucchini and squash then as I sliced they put the slices into the pan.  My son sprinkled the salt and pepper on them and with a little butter they were ready to go.  They each took turns "painting" the pork with the brush and some BBQ sauce which was their favorite part of course!  For dessert they made pudding and the did every bit themselves.  Henry helped measure the milk and pour it in, they both took turns whisking and then we put chocolate chips in their for a surprise. 

They loved making it, they were proud to eat it and to have Daddy eat what they  made and they ended up loving the pudding the most (shocker).  It made my daily chore of making dinner so much more enjoyable and I didn't have to fight anyone to eat because they made it.  I realized that I need to do this more often and treat it less like a chore cause that was the best dinner we've had in a long long time.

Trust Me, You Need a Reminder

Just a reminder to all the parents out there.  All the Mommy's and Daddy's and anyone raising children these days.  Every home gets messy.  Every kid eats a bowl of cereal or peanut butter sandwich for dinner sometimes and that is ok.  My kids had peanuts, bananas and hot dogs for dinner just the other night, and CPS didn't visit and the kids lived to tell about it the next day.
The other parent's you compare yourselves to, they have bad days.  Their dishes pile up and their laundry is ready to go again before the last load is folded and put away.  Everyone gets tired.  Everyone feels like having a lazy day.  Of course their house "always" seems clean- cause they were expecting you SO THEY CLEANED UP!!
I often need reminders like these and I have alot of "self-talk" going on with myself about parenting.  I know I don't make ALL of the right decisions, I know that I am not the BEST parent ALL of the time but I WANT to be and that makes a difference.  I get lazy and tired and just plain sick of the house sometimes or the battles or the laundry or how much I feel like I spend my entire life in the kitchen, but I want my children to know I love them and I always loved them every moment of their childhoods and entire lives.
 
I need a reminder that while that "other Mom" might be the neatest neat freak and not even a hair seems out of place, I am a much more interactive story teller than she is.  I need to remind myself that even though I may have forgotten a tad bit of sunscreen on my daughter's little neck, she loved that I jumped right into the baby pool and pretended to be all kinds of silly water animals with her to brighten her day.  I have to be reminded that even though we had pizza twice this week, they loved it both times and would eat it again tomorrow if I talked it up one more time.  So we ran errands and she had jelly all over the front of her shirt, she thought my peanut butter and jelly on homemade waffles was the most fun lunch EVER!

Everyone has overwhelming days, hell weeks and sometimes longer.  Every person in charge of raising a little person gets stressed, feels like the worst parent ever at times, gets too tired to be patient every minute of the day and just wants to escape life for a little while and pretend that there aren't so many responsibilities.  I need reminders from myself, from other parents, my husband and especially my kids.  I know they aren't trying to be insulting when they say "I don't like that for dinner, that's yucky" to a meal they have eaten a zillion times. I know that when they are upset about being disciplined and they say "Dad, GO TO WORK!!" they don't really want him to leave.
I also know that when I am not feeling well and my son makes sure my water glass is full all day long so I can "drink fluids to get better." He is not only being sweet but reminding me that he listens to what I say and he cares about me feeling better.  The fact that each of my kids smile EVERY morning when I get them out of bed, like they can't believe I have showed up AGAIN after all these mornings, that I am the luckiest Mommy in the whole world and they are overlooking my faults just as much as I am over looking some of theirs.

Have a great day parents and remember to take in the reminders.  Remind yourself and your children how much you love them and you love this life, no matter what.

Duct Tape, is there anything you CAN'T do???

Talk about the end all be all product.  This stuff can handle almost all home repairs, screens, pipes, woodwork, metals, car parts.  Shoot duct tape is holding half of the homes together in the ghetto and rural places on the map I am sure of it!  I don't mean that in a bad way either, this stuff is amazing.
There is a book about all the great things you can do with it.  Kid's are making wallets and prom dresses out of this stuff.  Their are fashion designers making all kinds of wearable things out of duct tape.  Have you seen the printed duct tapes???  Crazy!

So I heard that they are also an "unauthorized" way to kill warts.  I know this is gross but hear me out.  I have one that has turned into 3 on my thumb.  I have tried all the over the counter, over priced crap that is offered.  I still have this wart...we are talking years folks!  I went to the doctor and had him use the super sub freezer on it and all it did was hurt like hell, make my entire hand throb in pain for days and guess what??? WART!
I am now on day 2 of duct tape therapy and I am going to keep you posted.  I hear that it takes about 6 weeks.  So if you ask me about my silver gray band aid on my thumb...  I will let you know how this goes people and if it is worth it :)

Backyard Wildlife

Our yard is full of backyard wildlife.  You would find it hard to believe we are in the suburbs with all the types of birds and nests we have.  We also have families of bunnies that seem to stick around even though they are too close for their own comfort and the groundhog...well he never seems to leave except to hibernate.  The squirrels don't even skitter away when the kids are out and we also have some snakes.  Nothing too out of the ordinary (except the creepy groundhog of course, I think we are the only ones with a backyard pet like that)

So I wasn't surprised when we went out today and found this.  The kids just love all the nature we have here and I am always teaching them about all of the creatures we find.  This cicada really threw them for a loop though.  They just couldn't understand that it is NOT ALIVE, it is just the shell.  After I held it for a few and showed them where the bug actually split out and left the shell they were a bit better and now he is safely sealed in the bug catcher so we can show him off to Daddy when he gets home.

Scariest toy in the UNIVERSE

I'd like to thank Luke Skywalker for getting rid of this guy and I would like to kick my husband's butt for bringing this toy into my home!!  I found him last night tucked into bed next to me when I went to lay down and nearly hit the ceiling.  This is the freakiest and scariest toy EVER MADE and I am so grateful (dripping with sarcasm) that my MIL saved it all these years so it can now live with me! AHHHHH!!
I refuse to let it sleep upstairs, it has to go back to the basement every night, yet somehow he always makes it back up here during the daytime.  Luke I need you!!!!

The very frightening
Rancor Monster

Wapakoneta Kamping- July 2011

Just back from another wonderful camping trip with the family and this has definitely been the best this year!  After the trip where Jon and I got dripped on with icy rain the entire time and the most recent where Callie put her head through the camper screen, this one was definitely the best so far! :)

The set up for our weekend getaway

We met Lofty (Jon's brother) and his wife Nancy and their two boys Arthur and Howard in Wapakoneta, OH at the KOA there.  Why Wapakoneta?  Simply because it was a halfway meeting point.  There is nothing in Wapakoneta except farmland and this KOA- which was super nice by the way- and we didn't need anything else.  We were able to get all set up before Lofty and the family arrived which was perfect too cause then we could help them unload and just love up on those adorable nephews who I have been saving up kisses for, for about 7 months!



Arthur making a Rock Sandwich



It was super great because the place was loaded with shade and our campsite was connected to their camping cabin so it was like one big sprawling estate!  We got right down to it setting up our kitchen and walking the grounds to check everything out and familiarize ourselves with our new home away from home.  It was determined early on that Lofty and I would be the Gourmet's for the weekend (which is not too much of a chore since we both have fun cooking).  While we were getting things ready in our "kitchen" Jon took the kids to the park- located on the surface of the sun- and they made him "lunch" of bowls and cups of rocks. YUMMY!

The cousins all got along great and fell right into step with each other.  Arthur running around after Henry, Callie running around after both of them and all of them equally concerned at where the others were at all times!  Henry and Arthur played more games with rocks than I thought were imaginable and never grew bored of that gravel!

Meal times were good and we pushed that kitchen as far as it would go cooking for 7 people at a time!  Lofty and Nancy brought a TON of fresh fruit and we munched on it the entire time we were there.  Michigan blueberries, raspberries and cherries and the kids tried their first apricots too!  We were lucky enough to spend Howard's first birthday with him and celebrated with a Yummy cake! (it was a week early but we all know that when the opportunity presents itself, you gotta party!) 



Howard appreciating some of that cake!

We threw Howard a Pirate Party- since no where in Wapakoneta do they sell party hats! The kids loved it and it was definitely good for some photos ops!!











That afternoon we headed to the pool with Henry and Callie.  I was so proud of them!  Henry swam the length of the pool with just arm floaties on and no breaks!!  Callie was jumping in off the side and didn't even want me to catch her!  Both of them were so brave.  Arthur, never having been in a large pool before, watched from the fence and asked his Mommy a zillion questions, "are they allowed to splash all that water OUT of the pool??" Which is so cute cause you definitely can't do that in the bath tub!!

Pool play and park play and running around had all the kids and parents tired but all attempts at normal naps failed horribly.  Jon, Nancy and I took Henry and Callie to the family swing and THAT is where we had to swing for about an hour and let's just say that my butt wasn't the only thing that fell asleep!

Overall we had a fantastic trip and enjoyed getting together so much that we are already talking about the next trip.  The kids were adorable and enjoyed the campground so much.  The play ground and pool were obvious hits but the parade and hayrides were also super entertaining and the birthday party was just "icing on the cake."  Catching up with our siblings was also much needed and appreciated.  We had such a good time it was hard to say goodbye.  Thank you to Lofty, Nancy, Arthur and Baby Howard for a lovely time.  We can't wait to see you all again super soon!!

Plumber

Jonny's Lunch

Old Blue Eyes

















Callie and Howard

Uncle Lofty feeding the baby

Arthur, sleepy after a long weekend





 

Cleaning up...Daddy Style

We are headed out of town this weekend and I have learned my lesson about leaving the house messy!  I try to make sure we are good to go with laundry and clean up so I don't come home to twice as much work.  My husband will help unload the car and then that is where he stops the "unpacking" process.

So in an effort to run around like a chicken with my head cut off and get things done, while getting things packed up, I ask the kids to clean up the puzzles.  The puzzles that they took every piece of and put in a basket then threw around the room, while I was folding a load in the bedroom.  In the meantime, my Dad calls on the phone to check in, my husband calls to see what he needs to pick up from the store and all the while I am telling the kids to "put the puzzles together and on the shelf or else!!"  My Dad must have heard me say it about 13 times in one conversation!

They apparently did not think they had to listen to me and this could be A: because they were superheroes today and superheroes don't have to listen to their Mommies?  or B: Mommy took a phone call so she doesn't really mean what she is saying?  Either way, I meant it!

My final order to them (maybe it was a plea) was "Do you know what Daddy is gonna say when he sees this??  This is your last chance to clean it up before he gets home and when he gets home he is gonna make you cry AND throw the puzzles away!!"  (now normally I pride myself in not having to use these tactics and handling situations myself, but sometimes you just need some ammo at the end of a day of taking care of kiddos and diffusing all the bombs that go along with a day in the life)
Sure enough Daddy comes home and tells them to clean up.  Of course, they listen right away.  They are cleaning up, Daddy is helping them clean up and then he comes to me and says, "wanna see my big finish??"  They have cleaned up and put all the puzzles together and he is still getting the garbage bag!!

They are shocked, Henry is crying, Callie doesn't know what to do and I am secretly smiling to myself at how satisfying it feels to let them know I am dead serious when I say, "CLEAN UP OR I WILL THROW THIS STUFF AWAY!!"

Of course, it is not in the trash, just the basement and out of the way for awhile.  Maybe that is what we need to get them to appreciate it.  Might sound mean but hey, it works every so often.

Oh Cabana Boy

For us parents, organizing a trip to the pool can be a nightmare.  There are so many things to remember and if you are like most of us, your children outnumber you so it can be equally terrifying as it is a pain in the butt.  Bathing suits, swimmies, swim shoes, sunscreen "Where did I put the sunscreen??"  Snacks, lunch, drinks, towels, hats, sunglasses, swim diapers, dry clothes, bag of beach toys...the list goes on and on.  That is why this Mom recommends the "private pool" at your own home.

Now, this is the kind of "private pool" everyone can afford and this is the kind of pool everyone needs.  When we were looking to buy a home I didn't want any kind of pool.  I don't want the cost, the work involved and the danger of my children so close to such a large body of water simply terrified me to no end.  When we shopped for a baby pool for the kids I made sure to put in my 2 cents.  In fact, I got exactly what I wanted!  If I am gonna sit out there and monitor the children in the pool, you best believe it better be big enough to cool down a Mommy too.

We went with the Step 2 Big Splash Center.  A large rectangular pool with a plug (very important feature) and two seats (for little butts) at one end.  The step 2 slide even snaps into one end to make your own water park.  Now this is the type of pool I can handle.  You don't have to have giant muscles to empty the disgusting water at the end of the day cause there is a plug.  It is large enough that the kids and jump, splash and play however, while Mommy sits at one end of it sunning herself-while monitoring activities of course, and stays cool.

Today was a wonderful day in our "private pool."  We washed the car with squirt guns and watered some flowers with them too.  We laid out our blanket and our snacks and enjoyed the mid morning sunshine.  No one fights the sunblock at our "private pool" and everyone listens to Mommy about the rules- cause time out in your private bedroom is just seconds away if you don't.  I brought down some popcorn that I had to devour first cause once wet pool hands got ahold of it, it turned into bird food fast like.  We had some apples and some ice water and got nice and brown.

It is funny how the kids FREAK when you get water in their face during bathtime but at our "private pool" this doesn't seem to bother them one bit! Weird!

If you are lucky a worker man may stop by your neighbor's house to take care of their phone line say, this guy may even check you out as you are playing in your pool.  Who knows if he thinks you look like a fool or not, you know you are the smart one!

If you are like me and you are always looking for ways to beat the heat, get yourself one of these "private pools" and install IMMEDIATELY.  You too can have a pool boy, that is your 4 year old son who can't stop appreciating that we are having popcorn and apples for lunch.  You can also have a bathing beauty, that is your 2 year old daughter who mysteriously lost her bathing suit bottoms somewhere at this pool but still keeps it covered with a swim diaper- cause she is classy.

Quick Dinner? Grill a Pizza!

Yeah that is what I said, "Grill a PIZZA!!"  All kids love pizza and pizza night means EASY dinner on Mom and Dad so this is the latest favorite in our house and it is easy and QUICK.  A parent's dream come true for dinner.

Put the grill on LOW HEAT (this part is very important)
Use the ready made dough and brush with oil- put dough oil side down for about 5 minutes then brush with oil and flip to other side.  Spread your sauce, fixins and cheese on there and cook another 5-7 minutes checking the bottom to make sure it doesn't burn.  Pizza is DONE!

It really is that easy and takes no time at all.  In fact, we still haven't figured out how to do it without BOTH us parents cause it all happens so quickly that you can ruin it in seconds.

We love these and although we were skeptical in the beginning (as you will be) you will be pleasantly surprised and everyone will love it!

Mini Mansion in the Woods

Took the family and our friend's family camping in the woods this past weekend.  We had a great time but ONLY due to the company.  We were at Kincaid Lake State Park and while it was last minute and a close campground, we wont be visiting again.  Here is the review:
Thank goodness for great company of great friends!!  Arriving at the 2pm check in I was pleasantly surprised by how friendly the staff were and it felt like we were off to a great start.  Then we started setting up- in the blazing heat cause there was absolutely NO SHADE.  The sites are on a hill or RIDGE really so there was no where for kids to ride bikes or play really without being right in the street. Ok we'll make due.

Got it all set up and then looking for something to do we decide to head to the pool- until we realized that there would be admission into the pool for everyone in the group.  Yes even the people camping had to pay to swim. What the????

So we take the kids on a hike down to the lake.  Thank goodness there was a dirt trail and shade down there.  We arrive at the bank and there is a mud sculpture, sitting on a log, of a giant penis.  What did she say?  Yup giant dried mud clay penis.  Nice.  Travis karate kicked that down so we had somewhere to sit and the kids chucked rocks and skipping stones for awhile while we grown ups enjoyed the shade.

We all head back to the campsite to cook Brats and Mets and corn on the cob roasted in the fire only to realize that I forgot the tongs, flipper and any tool of any kind that will be useful to take things out of a fire!  I make friends the neighbors quickly and borrow some of their tools to cook on the fire with:

While us grown ups are making dinner in it's various stages, the kids are enjoying the screen room and talking about butts- for real they are in there saying the word butt as many times as humanly possible and it is nice to know that no matter what age you are, butts and farts are funny!

Everyone ate a yummy dinner and the kids did surprisingly well at finishing what was on their plates- which all parents know is a touch and go situation.  Next comes the campfire with the overpriced, wet wood.  Being the boyscout that my husband is, he douses the thing with half a jug of lighter fluid and tells everyone to stand back!!  Ha ha ha!  I always think he is going to blow himself up but he walks away with all the hair on his arms and face that he originally arrived with!!  The kids got in their chairs with their important belongings and enjoyed the fire and gave us parents a break for a few.  It was the first time they slowed down ALL day.

The night was good and the dinner was great and after the sun went down it actually got cool and the fire was a nice gathering.  Once bed time hit, we parents knew we were in the clear.  The Wilson kids went to bed with some funny shadow puppets and they were quiet and snoozing in no time.  The Durham kids went down quietly but are so NOT used to sleeping together that it was loud in no time.  Then was the ripping sound. What is that ripping sound???  Jon and I run into the camper to find Callie, our 2 year old, ripping a zipper down off the window!!  AHHHH!!!  Jon immediately grabs the pack n play, revoking her privileges of using the bed in the camper while hollering "You are destroying my camper!!!!" (which everyone thought was hilarious)  Callie sees the pack n play and immediately throws her head back to have a fit and puts it THROUGH THE SCREEN, almost flipping out of the camper!!!  This crap can only happen to us!!

After all the hub bub is done and the kids are quiet it is time for grown ups around the campfire.  Of course at this point I am so zonked and just DONE that I head to bed and we are all asleep by 1130!
Still it was a fun time and soon after the "destroying of the camper" we were all laughing about it.  Of course, the next day when we planned to head to the pool and have a fun day, we all decided to pack it up and head home.  Thank you Kincaid Lake for a lovely trip. :)