Ramblings of a Working mom! Crazy week!

So first of all thanks for sticking with me through my first month of blogging!! I AM LOVING IT!!! and you guys have been a GREAT audience!! I am always looking for ideas of things you would like to hear about so feel free to leave me a comment if you have a post idea!!  I have big plans for my blogging future but first I need to get through a crazy week! Although my week seems boring in comparison to those poor people in the lower states who have lost everything! I find myself being drawn to the TV watching the devastation and it is making me realize that in ten seconds your whole life can change....ten seconds, a blink of an eye and your whole world comes crashing around you, makes me wonder if I am equip to handle something like that! Is my faith strong enough? and I a strong enough person to have to start over completely from scratch? UGH! I know for a fact that I definitely am not but that God is and I believe he will spend the next months and years helping those poor people pick up the pieces to their lives if they let him! In the mean time I am praying for them and I hope you are too! My week as already consisted of a sick child, a flat tire, more roof damage, lots of cleaning, forgetfulness, and a very messed up pool!!! BUT the rest of the week is going to consist of making grocery lists, and lists of what we need for our new camper, getting it stocked up, making new curtains while my mom makes new seat cushions and just getting organized! This weekend my husbands family is coming from all over for a family reunion and we are going to camp with them!!! SO EXCITED! I will be back tomorrow with another new recipe!! This time for an appetizer! You won't want to miss it!! Quick, easy and delicious it is another family favorite!! After that I will be absent for a few days!rest assured I will be back soon with stories or our adventure!!! HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY EVERYONE!!!

Ten things my parents DID NOT warn me about when I was becoming one!

10.That I would tear up, clap, and wrap a box full of presents, over a bowel movement,  ( a child's not my own, well maybe my own after the delivery!!)
9. That it would be years before I would be able to start and finish a new novel without having to reread the same chapters over and over again maybe only progressing  a page or two at each attempt because A. I fell asleep, B. the baby cried, puked, pooped, was hungry or maybe was doing all of these things at one time, or C. I fell asleep 
8.  That even after my kids started sleeping through the night I would never be able too again because they may be cold, warm, or stolen making me get up to check at least once or that  I would need to pee and get my own drink.... and so sleepless nights continue :)
7. That I would need to develop A.D.D. to keep up with my children and husband.....
6. Wait what was I doing again????
5. That I would develop an insane protective instinct and I would feel really ugly feelings toward anyone who attempts to criticize my children, they may be spirited and busy but by golly they are mine and you better not say one negative word about them, I definitely have a bad case of mama bear syndrome!
4. That I would one day sound just like them!!! ( maybe they did warn me of this and I just didn't hear them...hmmm seems familiar!)
3. That our sex life would be forever changed(can I say sex on my blog?? just being real here people!)....or wait did I ever have one of those?? I have seem to forgotten...
2. That my idea of a fun night out would include sending my kids to my sisters, donning my jammy pants and cotton t-shirt, re-reading those chapters of my novel and falling asleep by ten......

and the number one thing my parents forgot to warn me about is.................

1. That I would develop the language skills of a 2 year old, the attitude of a 5 year old and the mental capacity of man in order to cope  embrace the joys of being a working mama!!!!

2 year photoshoot meet the "true" giggling girls!

So I am about two months behind schedule on our two year pictures :) but hey she is going to be two for the whole year right??? LOL! Oh the pressures of motherhood! Make sure they are fed, bathed, clothed, loved, played with,  don't forget to take pictures with your camera all the time and by golly don't forget to make sure and schedule those professional pictures at 3,6,9,12,18, & 24 months! along with Doctors appointments for each of those milestones as well! Throw in your second kid and then it gets even trickier because those milestone months may be a couple of months off from each other and you have to make the decision on which kid has to wait!!! oh the demands of motherhood! ANYWAY Auntie's photography to the rescue as usual!! Here are a few of my favorites!!

looking a bit windblown!! We didn't realize how windy it was until we started our impromptu shoot!

AND THE TRUE GIGGLING GIRL'S!!! These are the ones that will be gracing my fireplace!

We are here to Graduate, cause we learned alot!!!

Carleigh,

Today you graduated Pre-K, I can't believe you are already done! .It seems like just the other day I put that bright colored back pack on your tiny 3 year old back and it almost touched the ground it was so big compared to you. Today you were a head taller than every single kid on stage! You have lost your baby look and are looking more grown up everyday. You have learned so much this year, from handwriting your full name to memorizing your address and phone number! You count well and you can can tell me your numbers and your full alphabet! You have learned all the sounds and how to identify capital letters and lower case! You have mastered pattern's and are getting really good at rhyming words! You are a very happy, social little girl and you make your teachers smile and laugh! You love all things art and the smart board is one of your favorite things to do at school!! Last year you wanted to be a Rock Star when you grew up, but this year that changed to a hair stylist! You have lots of years to decide what you want to be and we can't wait to see what you choose!!! Your daddy and I are so proud of the sweet, smart little girl you are and we can't wait to see how much you grow and learn in kindergarten!! We love you Carleigh Lou!

Love, Mommy and Daddy

Our All Time FAVORITE family receipe!

In the blog world other bloggers do weekly features that you can link up with, This week I am linking up with Kelly over at Kelly's Korner! She is doing "Show us your life-Main Course Dishes" Oh yeah baby!! I LOVE FOOD! This was the prefect chance for me to share a little bit of comfort food love with ya'll! ( side note: I had every intention of making this dish and taking pictures as I went along but my husband failed to pick up my ingredients at the store and I didn't realize it until it was too late! better luck next time! Ha! )
     The dish I am about to share with you is one that I have been eating since I was tiny! In fact it is a dish that many of my family and friends have probably had at one time or another at our home :) and the best part about it is that it is SUPER easy!!! I MEAN SUPER!! So do you have your pens handy?? Let's start with a grocery list! When we make this meal I always pair it with mashed potato's, green beans, and applesauce :) and then we like to use the sauce on top of the mashed potato's like gravy!!!!

Chicken and Crescent Rolls

What you Need : 2 cans crescent rolls (any brand!) 1 bag Colby jack shredded cheese, 2 cans cream of chicken soup, 2 large cans canned chicken (or you can shred your own boneless skinless chicken breasts, or use the rotisserie chickens that you can get cheap at the store and shred those!! I have used these all and my preferred method is the canned chicken but the other ways work too!) , and salt and pepper

9x13 pan and a mixing bowl and a fork and you are all set to go!

First you are going to take 3/4 of your bag of cheese and dump it into your mixing bowl, then you are going to drain off your cans of chicken or shred your chicken breast, dump the chicken in with the cheese, add a dash of salt and pepper, and mix it together with a spoon. Next you are going to open your cans of crescent rolls and split them up individually and put a heaping spoonful of the chicken cheese mixture into the center of the crescent and fold the edges around the mixture, so that the mixture is tucked securely inside, then lay it in your 9 by 13 pan. Repeat this step until all of your crescents are full. Next your going to open your cans of cream of chicken soup, pour into a bowl and mix with 1 to 1 1/2 cans of milk, stir, and then pour over the top of the crescent rolls, sprinkle with the remaining cheese and bake at 350 until the crescent rolls are golden brown!  and then ENJOY!!

The other great thing about this meal is that it can be frozen and then pulled out and cooked at a later time!

How did I get here?

Do you ever have those moments where all of a sudden you stop and think to yourself, How did I get here?? How did I get to this exact moment in my life? I had one of those tonight, I was doing my night time routine with my girls and all of a sudden it stopped me dead in my tracks and I thought to myself, How did I get here already? How am I already the mom to a five year old and a 2 year old and a wife of almost 8 years, How am I already helping to plan my ten year high school reunion, How in the world did I grow up so fast? I love all of those things but tonight I was thinking man I grew up so fast! Those years of being a kid, they went by really quick...I loved my childhood, I loved my school, my friends, the guy that I spent four years of my life chasing, I loved working at the Christian bookstore, I loved living at home with my parents and siblings... I loved walking to church on Wednesday nights for youth group and then going to the park across the street and swinging and talking until curfew, I loved laying on the grassy lawn of my best friends house and looking at the stars and laughing for hours all of those moments shaped me into who I am today....it is so strange to me now that all those years ago all I could think of was wanting to be to the point in my life that I am at today. I wanted to be a wife, a mom, to have a house filled with giggles, a lawn for my kids to play on but wow how in the world did I get here already? How can it be that I am already 28 years old and working to create awesome childhoods for my children like the one that was created for me..... How is it that my girls are already 5 and 2 when it was just yesterday that they were fresh and new in my arms, I am determined to relish in there youthfulness, to cherish each stage and each moment (okay maybe not the moments when they are melting down in the middle of the grocery store or killing each other) because I feel like the more days that past the faster my life is going and all to soon I am going to be looking at my girls and instead of graduating Pre-K they will be graduating college and I am going to be wondering... How did I get here already.........

Mirror Mirror on the Wall. . .

This is not great quality and is dark because it was on my phone in bad lighting but it is worth watching!!! This is life with Caylee!! I have blogged about Carleigh and was waiting for the prefect Caylee thing and I am glad I held out!!! She is so funny, she talks well and says all kinds of cute things but to capture her true personality you have to be paying attention because she does the funniest things when she thinks your not watching! She was sitting in the living room rocking chair by herself when she started doing this and I came to check on her and grabbed my phone to video what I witnessed!!

You know you need to see your hair dresser when. . .

Your five year old draws a picture of you that reflects your highlights growing out!!!!

Ramblings of a Working Mom Weekend Review

Mother Nature Sucks, just saying! The weather was crappy and horrible all weekend long and then boom wake up Monday morning to get ready to head for work and what do a I find but cloudless bright blue skies, yes indeed Mother Nature Sucks.....obviously her children are grown and she has forgotten what it is like to corral children indoors ALL WEEKEND long....so we did the only thing a responsible parent would do, we dressed our kids in warm clothes and spent from 10- 4 Saturday afternoon playing in the rain, and the mud and the puddles while Tim power washed off his grandma's house and I helped her with her landscaping, we were drenched, covered in dirt but happy :) It was a good day! The kids had a blast! and I didn't take any pictures because come on people it was RAINING!! and well I just don't think we need proof of how dirty we all were.......yeah it was bad! LOL! Okay now I am blogging out of order but on Friday night we rented Ramona and Beezus, and The Switch!!! I give Ramona and Beezus 5 stars! It was an adorable, funny, cute, kid friendly, didn't bore mom and dad, all around good movie!!! and The Switch was a fun date night movie! We ate popcorn with the kids, tried to make homemade ice cream which was a bust when the container wouldn't freeze fast enough, tucked them in and then had a movie date! Great Night! :) and now lets see that leaves us with Sunday! Oh yes Sunday ummmm I started it off with attempt number 5 of potty training Caylee...yeah that isn't going to happen anytime soon :) Sweet stubborn little darling that holds it until I let her get up off the potty and then starts peeing down her leg....She is only 25 months :) No hurry, last baby, she can where diapers until she is five, it is all good :) She has awesome bladder control, last weekend she held it for three hours until I put her diaper on for nap time....yup she is Tim's kid :) umm not about needing a diaper for nap time...about being stubborn HAHAHA!! Carleigh found Mr. Crab, in my bedroom, hiding by the bookshelf in my bedroom, which is a miracle itself....Lucky for him I had cleaned it last weekend! or else he may never have been found alive..... I read Karen Kingsbury's new book Leaving it was AWESOME, I finished it in a 24 hour time span which use to be the norm for me but anymore that is exceptional, Great book definitely recommend, and I made chex mix which means for the next few days my children will not eat any good solid meals because they will choose to exist on chex mix alone..................The End.

Because every post needs some cuteness ;)

Dear Mr. Hermit Crab........

Mr. Hermit Crab I am very disappointed in the way you are acting right now! We saved you from captivity, we have given you hermit crab food and water and even treats of fresh fruit! We let you out of your home every night for a nice run around the rug and the girls check in on you a few times a day! But your behavior this week has been unacceptable! Mr. Hermit Crab I fear if you don't show yourself soon you are doomed to a ROTTEN life and that is going to make my girls and I very sad. You see because a rotten life is not only going to be extremely unpleasant for you but it is going to leave a very unwelcome stench in the air of my house.......So please Mr. Hermit Crab show yourself soon and while you are enjoying your travels outside the walls of your little pink cage please remember we will  leave the light on off for you so that maybe you will show yourself soon.............................

Love, Your Family

Future Puppeteer or Bully??? The verdict is still out!

This is our very first video on our blog!! I hope you enjoy it!!!! Carleigh performed this for me at Muffin's for Mom's on Monday! More on that later but for now here is a sneak peek at our day!I love the different voices that Carleigh uses as she makes the puppets talk!! She was doing a puppet show based on one of the Minivera books I think!

http://youtu.be/fH_rrEwJkSA

I am trying to get a video of Caylee but she isn't cooperating very much! LOL! so maybe I will just have to post one of her acting her ornery self!!

A Date at the Drive In!!

On Saturday Night we took our little ladies on a date for pizza at JuanCarol's (Carleigh's name for DiCarlo's) and to their very first Drive In Movie!! It was so much fun and we highly recommend Rio!!!!

I was pleasently suprised with how inexpensive the treats in the snack bar were and it was very affordable to get into the theater too!! The girls stayed awake for the whole show and loved the singing birdies! Carleigh was confused at how the whole thing was going to work but then once we got the car situated and they lit up the big screen it was lots of ohhhs and ahhhs!! We had a great weekend filled with lots of fun! Mother's Day was great and I would love to do a post on it but I was super busy all day and never stopped to take pictures!! But pictures or not I got in a a lot of good time with my girls and am so blessed to be their mommy!! I remember those Mother's Day's when I wondered what the path to motherhood was going to look like for me and I remember thinking that I was going to accomplish being a mom no matter what path it took to get there! So to all you ladies who are wanting to be mommies and just aren't there yet! Hang in there and be determined!!  The journey may be long and hard but the destination is well worth the wait!!! In the mean time I am praying for it to happen for you sooner rather than later!!

Ramblings of a Working Mom

Does anyone else's husband unload the dishwasher this way???? (yes that is all clean Tupperware that  someones husband didn't put away while unloading their dishwasher!Glad I am not that woman...HA!) sigh......

I bet your husband never buys a bazillion apple cinnamon oatmeal bars that you have no place for either! Not to mention they are something healthy! Seriously couldn't he bring me home a big ol' bulk box of twix bars!!! Thanks honey..............

And while Carleigh decorated the house with her art work, and mommy cleaned (This is our family, I was told not to touch it because she needed to add more people to it tomorrow)

She made this flower at school and decided it deserved a real place of honor in my bedroom! (precious!) (Man I need to straighten that picture of Caylee!)

Caylee decided to............... well lets just let her explain

This is her going Goth on me  putting on her yipstick (lipstick)  sigh................... Thank goodness for non-toxic Caroyla markers!!

Did I mention that I took the girl's out to dinner and while we were waiting for my parents Carleigh may have accidentally knocked down two metal chairs that made an extremely obnoxious clattering noise that turned the head of every single person in the restaurant  while her darling little sister used her plastic bowl and metal spoon as a drum......or that Tim and I spent a mere 2 hours  destroying our house looking for our lock box keys  
That my friends is why mommy is ending her day this way!!!!!!


Okay okay it is just a pretty glass of Sprite but if I would have had the real thing I am pretty sure I would have deserved a glass!!!!!!!!

A moment in History

Tonight our country is claiming victory over the death of Osama Bin Laden, I feel that this is an important piece of history to document on our blog, it will be many years before our daughters will even have a remote understanding of how monumental this night is but should they some day look back and wonder what they were doing I want them to be able to see!

Sweet Girls,

Tonight is a moment in American History, Today an evil man was killed, Osama Bin Laden was the man who orchestrated the 2001 Twin Tower Attacks in New York City, Over 3000 innocent people were killed that day and tonight those families have a small piece of closure. Tonight while President Obama was making this announcement you were sleeping soundly in your beds, safe with full belly's, no worries and with the comforts of all the things that being an American brings you, you are free to worship Jesus, you have freedom of speech, and you have so many rights that so many children around the world will never have. Tonight a moment in History was made and you were right where you should've been, dreaming sweet childlike dreams without the worry of war and bombs and so many other things that we can still shelter you from. Tomorrow you will wake up and the most important thing to you will be whether or not it is a "going to Meme's day" or not. Today I am so Thankful that we are Americans and that we are able to raise you in the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave.

Love,
Mommy