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Thursday, May 28, 2009

Big Poppa

You think we're silly for having four children? Gotta love this big daddy who has 21. Oh, and he's 29 years old. I wouldn't even want to sit next to this guy, never mind go for a roll in the hay.

Saturday, May 23, 2009

Special Hugs and Kisses

Naturally, there's been a lot of recent talk at our house about how babies are made. The boys are very curious about how I got a(nother) baby in my belly. We said that mommies and daddies give each other special hugs and kisses to make babies. (Special thank you to Amy who told me this story about her own son asking questions. . . I probably would have gone into some horribly inappropriate biological discussion!)

Yesterday Chris was giving me a hug before I left for work and Henry walked into the kitchen. He froze with this horrified look on his face and said, "WHAT are you doing?!" We just looked at him and he said, in his deep voice with total seriousness, "Uh, you bedder stop doin dat. You're gonna get anudder baby in your belly!" Chris and I cracked up. And stopped. You can't be too careful.

Friday, May 22, 2009

Five for Friday

1. School's out! Let the camps begin for the big boys and the afternoon painting and chores begin for big daddy. I'm sure Jack will be a huge help to him.

2. We told the boys we're having another baby. Henry said, "I fink we got enough babies around here. Maybe we could get anudder grown up instead?" GREAT IDEA!!!

3. Our babysitter was taking the boys to the park on Wednesday and called me at work. She asked if I knew that our registration for the van expired in March. Oops. I swear that paper said May. . . This particularly irritates me, because I'm a very organized (read: anal) person. And the state of TN mails you a renewal form over a month before you need to renew. And you can do it THROUGH THE FREAKING MAIL. The boys and I took care of it yesterday. In person, not through the mail. (Even though I still think that's a "man job" along with cutting the grass and taking out the garbage. Why is it my responsibility, in addition to everything else? That's another post. . . )

4. Are you doing anything fun for Memorial Day weekend? We're going to do some yard work. Woo hoo. Hopefully something fun too, although we have nothing planned. I kind of like having nothing planned.

5. We have been playing outside all day, every day with this great weather we've been having. Yesterday my boys were out literally all day, until they fell asleep in the car on the way home from my parents' house. They went over to their house while I got my hair cut, and I think swam and ran around the entire time. They are ALL still asleep at 6, which never, ever happens. I love summer.

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Crayon Initial Teacher Gifts



This is what I made for teacher gifts this year. My friend Candice made these about a year ago, and my friend Melanie made some this year. I have to footnote this to add that they are both FAR craftier than I am. They both make some amazing things. I've had a lot of people ask me how to make this, so here is how I did it.

  1. I started with a $1 5x7 frame from Dollar Tree. This is my favorite of all of the dollar stores. Yes, I have a favorite. Don't judge. Anyway, I bought 4 frames, as each boy has 2 teachers. Next I bought the 120 crayon box of Crayola crayons for $6 at Target. You could certainly get less expensive crayons at Dollar Tree if you're on a tighter budget. I had card stock and a glue gun already.
  2. I printed on bright card stock the first letter of each teacher's name and cut the page to size to fit into my frames. I suggest a simple, basic font.
  3. Next, I cut the crayons to size to fit over the letter I printed. I cut the crayons with a box cutter, and it was a very easy way to make a clean cut. I then glued, using the hot glue gun, each crayon piece to cover the letter.
  4. I put the glass from the frame behind the letter to give it some stability, and also so the teacher can use the frame later for a photograph. Super easy, and can be done VERY inexpensively!

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Jon & Kate

OK, I think this whole Jon & Kate affair scandal is ridiculous. They're probably both having affairs. She seems like a nasty, controlling bitch, and he seems like a wimpy, spineless moron. However, she normally looks pretty cute. Minus the weirdo hair she's got going on. She knows that they're all over the tabloids, and that there are going to be cameras when she goes out. And this is what she chose to wear yesterday? Not a good choice, Kate. Not a good choice.

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Wow Wednesday

I was going to title this post "Hump Day" since it's Wednesday, but decided that wouldn't be appropriate. Why? Because. . . . we're having another baby! Before you ask, no I'm not kidding. I expect the little one to arrive sometime around the end of December. I'm due in early January, but will have another c-section so will deliver probably 2 weeks before my due date. It will be a busy holiday season at our house as we become the Simpson Six!

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Hysterical Mother's Day

I woke up yesterday morning (the day before Mother's Day, for those following along at home) and Chris said, "Good morning! Here you go." and handed me a card. I looked sort of strangely at him and opened it. It's a photo card, with a picture of the boys at Easter. I opened it up and the boys had recorded themselves saying Happy Mother's Day. It was cute. I thought it was funny that he gave it to me a day early, because he's notoriously not great at remembering Mother's Day at all. He made such an effort to make sure he remembered, he did it a day early. Then I read the card. It says:
With a million hugs and kisses
and a lot of love to spare
for the very nicest grandma
that there could be anywhere!
I almost wet my pants laughing so hard. I still laugh out loud each time I think about it!!!

Mother's Day Tea, Part 2

I cannot believe I forgot to mention this in my earlier post regarding the Mother's Day Tea! Each class makes a class cookbook. The teachers ask the children what they want their recipe to be, and the children provide the ingredients and cooking directions. They said that each year there is, of course, one really funny one. I'll give you one guess to figure out from which family the funny one came this year. . .


Here's David's:

This is so classic David. He's obsessed with pancakes, and he doesn't mess around. He's very literal, and I'm sure took this task very seriously.

And Henry's:

Beer? His teacher was so concerned that I was going to be embarrassed. I guess because maybe she thought we're big drinkers? The funniest part to me about the whole recipe is the beer. We don't even drink!

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Mother's Day Tea

The boys had a Mother's Day tea this morning at their preschool. The teachers' all made the lunch, the kids performed, and they had loads of goodies for us. It was so cute!


Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Free 8x10 TODAY ONLY!

Walgreens has a coupon good for today only for a free 8x10. I saw this on Money Saving Mom, which is a great site. I've been needing some 8x10s to change the pictures we've got in our kitchen, so I'm particularly excited about this offer. You can only use one coupon code per Walgreens account.

New Food Find

I'm always on the lookout for a new Weight Watchers friendly food. Specifically a snack. Individually packaged makes me even happier. I found this at Target yesterday.

It's Smartfood cranberry almond popcorn clusters. A little sweet and a little salty, which is my favorite combination. And only 2 points per package. Is this made by the same Smartfood that makes the yucky white cheddar popcorn that smells like dirty feet?? If so, they've upped their game! These also come in Chocolate Cookie Caramel Pecan clusters and Honey Multigrain clusters. I only saw the cranberry almond at Target when I was there, but I'm on the hunt for the other two. Definitely worth trying!

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Tuesday Twelve

  1. It's Cindo de Mayo! We're not Mexican (duh) but we're having chicken posole with corn muffins for dinner. Ole!
  2. I think Jack has a sinus infection. I'm normally pretty lax about taking them to the doctor, but he's had a snotty green nose for over two weeks, and a fever of 101.something for two days. I'm currently trying to get through to the doctor's office. I'm pretty sure he's got swine flu. ;) (Updated to add: he went to the doctor, and does have a sinus infection)
  3. I have gotten so much accomplished while the boys were at school today!
  4. I'm STILL waiting to hear from the insurance adjuster about our flood at work. The claim was just assigned yesterday and they will speak to the landlord first because it's the landlord's insurance, so I'm assuming we won't re-open at this rate on Monday. (Updated to add: I finally, after calling the landlord three times, heard from him. We're meeting Wednesday at noon. . . )
  5. Jack is allergic to penicillin. The pediatrician asked me twice while I was there if he had any allergies. I told her twice he was allergic to penicillin. She laughed each time and said, "Oh, it's noted twice in his file!"
  6. Then she wrote him a prescription for Augmentin. Since I'm not a pharmacist, doctor, nurse, etc. I didn't know that Augmentin is an amoxicillin based drug. And he's allergic to it.
  7. I didn't get this information until after dragging my two exhausted and one sick child around Target for 30 minutes while we waited for the prescription.
  8. In that 30 minutes I had to buy a sling to carry Jack, because he was so upset and wanted NOTHING to do with the shopping cart. I can't push that cart with almost 100 pounds of children in it, and carry Jack. I'll be returning that sling this morning.
  9. Also in that 30 minutes, David asked the woman behind us at the pharmacy, "Why does your fat belly stick out so far?" He didn't ask this in his inside voice. . .
  10. Once we got back to the pharmacy, the pharmacist told us that Jack is allergic to the medicine. Are you kidding me? It was 6 o'clock at this point.
  11. She called the pediatrician to get a new prescription.
  12. I'll be picking that up in the morning. . .

Monday, May 4, 2009

Monday Monday

Oh Monday. . . and still raining! We got spoiled by the beautiful weather we had been having, and now it's been raining for days. We had a huge flood at work last weekend. A toilet over flowed after a party on Saturday, nobody knew it, and it overflowed all afternoon Saturday, all day Sunday, and the person who opened the gym on Monday was met with four inches of water in about a quarter of the building. I wasn't there on Monday and got a frantic text message while I was at the doctor with the boys that there was standing water and they needed the landlord's phone number. They called a carpet cleaning company who extracted as much water as they could and said that the next morning it would be dry. . . Um, notsomuch. The next morning the floor was still soaked. And the water had been sucked up into the drywall, ruined the wood floors in our dance room, etc. It's been a NIGHTMARE. And, of course, our insurance doesn't want to pay and neither does the landlord's. They're duking it out right now to determine who is responsible. We were closed all week last week, and will be this week as well while the cleanup and drying out is completed, flooring is replaced, holes in the walls patched, etc. The only nice thing has been that I was off this weekend!

Saturday we went to the Farmer's market, and out for lunch. I love the farmer's market! We got some lettuce, radishes, kettle corn, and the boys got fried pies. Yes, we hit all the healthy stuff. I really want to go strawberry picking this week, so I passed on the strawberries. It was very difficult to do!

Yesterday the boys played outside in the mud and I cleaned up the house. I also went to get a baby gate, because Jack is into everything. We could really use about 4 more, but we'll have to make do with one for now. Nan and Gramps came over to visit for a while and got the boys tired out from playing so much. Love that.

Today we're picking my dad up at the airport. He was in Massachusetts for the weekend. We'll also do some laundry, go for a walk, and I think make some banana bread. I also need to start thinking about teacher gifts for this year, because we've only got a few weeks of school left. Any good ideas?

Thursday the boys have their Mother's Day tea at school. That should be fun!

I'm going to post our menu for the week and put some clothes away. Have a great week!

New Summer Favorite

I've made these burgers twice already, and we all love them - even the boys. That's rare! I found the recipe in the May/June 2009 issue of Weight Watchers magazine, and for fellow WW followers, a burger with bun is 7 points of deliciousness.

Cheddar- and Pickle- Stuffed Burgers

  • 1.5 lbs ground lean beef (7% fat or less) (I use ground turkey.)
  • 3 oz. low fat sharp cheddar cheese, cut into 1/4 inch cubes
  • 1/2 C. seasoned dried bread crumbs
  • 1/3 C. dill pickle slices, drained and chopped
  • 1/4 C. chili sauce
  • 1/2 tsp. salt
  • 1/4 tsp. black pepper
  • 6 whole wheat hamburger buns
  1. Lightly spray a large ridged grill pan with nonstick spray and set over medium heat. (I make these on the grill or inside on the George Forman grill.)
  2. Mix the beef, cheese, bread crumbs, pickles, chili sauce, salt, and pepper in a large bowl just until blended. Form into 6 (3/4 inch thick) burgers.
  3. Grill the burgers until an instant read thermometer inserted into the side of one burger registers 160*F for medium, 6-7 minutes per side. Place the burgers in the buns.

Enjoy!