Kitchen Fun

I made the mistake of calling my parents while I was fixing dinner tonight.  Fixing dinner around here is not a quiet affair.  I was in charge of the quiche, and my daughter was in charge of the biscuits.  Our 2 year old was interested in the biscuit making, and our 7 month old usually just wants to be wherever most of us are, so I spent half the time on my phone with my parents saying, "What did you say?"  Or "Henry!  Put down the egg and walk away!"  Or "I'm sorry, Mom.  Hold on a second....."  ugh.  ;-)  My Dad said he was trying to picture all of us in the kitchen trying to work around all the commotion, so I took pictures....
Here is our stylish biscuit maker in her Starbucks apron and what she called her chef's hat.

After awhile, we finally diverted our biscuit apprentice to some water in the sink with a dinosaur and Goliath.
Here's Lydia cutting out her biscuits.  Me, being the control freak I am, I HAD to ask her why she just didn't cut out the biscuits in circles, like *I* do.  HA!  The Christmas cookie cutters are so much more fun.  ;-)

Here's our cutie patootie that followed us everywhere we went in the kitchen.  I think she's chewing on a stopper from a sippy cup. 

Time With Dad

Today Jack went to work with his Dad.  He has not been willingly doing his chores or schoolwork, so on Tuesday morning, before he left for work, Darin said, "If you don't get your chores done before lunch, you're gonna have to come to work with me tomorrow."  That's right.  I mentioned this to Darin as a possible alternative to everything else that hasn't been working.  I like calling in the Big Guns, man.  Dad has an influence that I just can't match.

My guess is that is exactly what Jack wanted and NEEDED.  As soon as Darin walked out the door, Jack didn't do one more chore.  He played until lunchtime (I'm not gonna beg him to do his chores....he's old enough to know what to do without me sitting on him).  After lunch was over, I sat him down and he did schoolwork until 6:30ish, when Darin came home. 

So I made a nice, long list of things to do for Jack to take with him.  He sat and did schoolwork in Darin's office all day.  Darin says that it didn't seem to offend Jack at all.  He did everything on the list without complaint and was so good.  I honestly think that Jack just needed the extra time with his Dad, even if it was just sitting in the same room with him all day, doing schoolwork while Darin worked.  We do take the time to spend time alone with each of the kids, but I'm sure it's probably never enough.  :-)  I can't wait to see what happens tomorrow....if this day has helped him to settle down.  That would be nice.  ;-)

In other news, look what else we're tackling these days......FUN!  ;-)

Exercise Challenge

Man, this blog is quiet!  ;-)  I do think about it every now and then.......hopefully life is about to slow down for us and I'll be able to get back into a groove - you know, actually make a PLAN for my time, rather than just run from one fire to another....

ANYWAY.....With life slowing down at work for my husband, Darin, I am sorta catching back up with a lot of things (no, not laundry) and exercise is one of them.  I walked only a mere 3 miles this past week, but it's certainly better than the last few weeks of nothing!  I am really looking forward to getting back into a routine with it.  Ya know when you're working out and you feel so fit, even if you're not dropping even one pound?  At least I feel that way.  It also goes the opposite way with me.  When I'm not working out I feel extra flabby.  So more than anything, I want to stop feeling that way.  Bleh.

I know we've all been off our normal routines with fun summer stuff going on.  I hope you guys are getting back into your routines with exercise as well!  Sign-in with Mr. Linky and let me know you were here!

To read about this challenge, go HERE.

Exercise Challenge

It was more of the same for me last week.  My Husband worked and worked and worked.  We are both worn out.  His is a mental worn out while mine is a physical worn out.  I honestly don't know how a single mom gets by.  I did a lot of praying for all the single moms that I know while I was trying to keep up with things.  Goodness knows I have nothing to complain about.  My Husband is wonnnnnnderful.

So while I didn't get to officially exercise, I did make the extra effort to do things that made things more of a challenge.  I took the stairs two at a time, did some vertical crunches.....every time I bent over to pick something up (I think my abs are getting sore ;-).  First and Only Husband thinks this week should be better.  I'm not holding my breath.  We're just gonna have to see.

I hope you guys were able to get more done than me! 

Brush! Brush! Brush! Brush!

I believe that one of the requirements when one has a daughter is long hair.  I have spent many hours sitting on the floor in front of the couch while my daughter sat behind me with a spray bottle with water, a brush, a comb, hair barrettes and pony tail holders.  She would spray my hair until the water was running down my back in rivers.  Then my hair would be so thick because of all the water, she would jerk my head back with every stroke of the brush.  Pain!

We have cut countless ponytail holders out of my hair.  I have begged her to start brushing from the bottom and work her way up rather than starting at the top and creating huge knots that had to be cut out.  I have been embarrassed to walk out to the mailbox for fear the neighbors would see me.  I mean, come on, how many ponytails can one head hold?

Long hair is great with a niece as well.  I used to keep my niece and when she outgrew the afternoon nap thing, while the others were napping, I would recline on the couch with my hair hanging over the end (how nice for me) while my niece brushed and brushed and BRUSHED my hair.  She would go on forever!  I have naturally curly hair and by the time she was done, I usually looked like the bride of Frankenstein.  Really, I'm okay with that.  ;-)

Today I was sitting at the computer doing somethingorother with First Daughter when she started fixing my hair.  I thought, "Oh, man.  What hair style will I end up with today?"  ;-)  But I was pleasantly surprised.  A pretty braid down the MIDDLE of my head - as opposed to the side or top.  My girl is growing up!  Learning how to do hair!  I never thought I would miss those days when she was yanking my head around with the brush, but I did get a little nostalgic today.

Exercise Challenge

Well.  Once again I was unable to exercise this past week.  My Husband worked late every night but our date night.  He does so much to help me out around here.  His absence left a huge load for me!  He has been working so many hours, I know that when he finally finishes, we'll both finally have a nervous breakdown and sleep for an entire week.  HA!  I doubt we'll get any extra sleep, but it will be nice to be back to normal.  Hanging clothes out on the clothesline at 11 at night is for the birds.  So is going to bed without First and Only Husband being here.  Yuck!

So I'm going to see how things go this week.  The big project that he is working on is due on Tuesday.  He already told me he will be working late tonight.  After Tuesday....who knows.  He is a web guy, and will be pre-launching a new website for his company.  After his bosses see what he has done, they'll come back to him with a huge list of things they want to do completely differently from the way they had him do it to begin with (what a cynic!) and he'll need to finish all those changes by a certain date....ya know, it just is what it is.  I would love it if First and Only Husband were here at 5:30 every night.  HA!  What a dream.  ;-)

Anywho, let me know how you did with the Challenge this past week.  :-)  To find out more about this challenge, go HERE.

P.S.  Happy 7th Month to my Little Button!  Don'tcha just want to SQUISH her!?!

And Happy 10th Birthday to my Sweet Girl!

REAL Grilled Cheese

Imagine my surprise when my 12 year old son appeared in my room the other day when I was nursing the baby and he tells me he's fixing lunch.  Grilled Cheese sandwiches.  Groovy, man.  But then he tells me they are REAL Grilled Cheese sandwiches.  I thought, "well, what else would they be?"  No.  He meant that he was grilling them on our new grill.  And you know what?  They were the best grilled cheese sandwiches I've ever had.  They had that far out grilled flavor that was perfect.  I slurped up the broth from our chicken noodle soup with my sandwich- which he also warmed up on the burner that is attached to the grill - and was in Heaven.

I'm finding that I like having this older kid around.  He's finally starting to get productive ;-) and now, in addition to spontaneous lunch making, one night each week he cooks dinner for us.  That one night is such a blessing for me.  I could literally go and go and go.  There's always so much to do around here.  So First Son taking care of dinner for me once a week has freed me up on those evenings to get some other things done.  Here's the latest thing he made.  So good!

Stromboli Sandwiches

2 lbs. ground beef
1/4 c. finely chopped onions
1 c. ketchup
1 c. tomato sauce (we just use the entire can - I mean, what are we going to do with what's left???)
1/4 c. grated Parmesan cheese
1 t. garlic powder
1 t. dried oregano
1/2 t. fennel seed
1/2 t. italian seasoning

Cook the beef, drain, then add in the rest!  We serve this just like sloppy joes and everyone thinks it tastes better than sloppy joes.