Weekly Happenings March 1-8

1.  You know that saying, "Less is more"?  I hate it.  Why you ask?  Because I figure out what is too much when it's too late!  I struggle with the happy medium.  Cake decorating is the perfect example.  Too much icing/decorating looks tacky, but not enough looks plain.

With that said, I've looked at my shamrock handprint canvas since I finished it and kept thinking I wanted to tweek it some.  The clover leaves looked too small (compared to my stem) and my "ucky" looked puney.  I questioned if I should just leave it alone.  I wondered if trying to add to it would make it look worse, but I decided to just do it!

I'm soooo happy I decided to change it! My clover looks more like a clover and my "lucky" looks more consistent! I'm happy with my final, finished, result! :)

2.  I tried a couple new recipes this week! Both were a success but I need to play with one a little more.  The one that was a huge hit was red mashed potatoes with peeling! Kevin declared them as the best potatoes I've ever made.  They are some of my favorite too!  I'll post the recipe in a few days!

3. I joined Weight Watchers this week.  Our summer vacation will be here before I know it, so I'm hoping to lose most of the weight I gained the last two pregnancies that I'm still carrying around! I like the weekly weigh in and accountability!

4.  Allie has been eager to help me in the kitchen so I am trying to think of things she can do to help me.  I want her to love cooking and baking as much as I do!  She learned how to butter rolls this week :)

5.  Austin tried out the bumbo seat for the first time this week.  He was still pretty bobbly headed but I think he liked it!

Weekly Happenings February 22-28

1.  I'm thrilled to report that almost every night, Austin slept at least 7 hours!  He slept as long as 8 hours one night!  The least he slept was 5 1/2 hrs and that was just one night.  More sleep makes for a much happier and usually more productive momma!

2.  Austin turned two months old on Wednesday.  He had his check up this morning.  14lbs 14.5oz (93%) and 25inches long (99%) {Hayden was 14lbs 3oz, and 23.75inches, so Austin is bigger than he was}!  He smiles from ear to ear whenever I talk to him and he's trying to "talk" back to me.  Lots of adorable Oooos and Aaahs. 

CeCe was watching our 2 month photo shoot :)

Before his appt today - I knew he wouldn't be smiling after his shots!

3.  Me and the kids made a canvas for St. Patrick's Day.  (I had bought a two pack when I made our Valentine's Canvas, so I thought it was only appropriate to make one for March!)  I was super happy with how Austin's hand print turned out because he always has his hands in a fist.  It was not easy painting his hand, holding him, and trying to open it and stamp it on the canvas!  I ended up with more paint on me than he had on him!  The other three liked getting their hand painted and they were excited to show daddy what they made.

4.  I hosted a small family dinner on Tuesday.  I cooked that morning and Kevin took care of the kids and did the dishes.  Everything was going smooth as silk, and I was working on my last dish.  Hayden was sitting on the couch and ever so casually said "Hey mom, I just threw up."  I turned around and thought did he just say he threw up?  So I asked him again what he said, and he told me again he threw up.  I was in disbelief because he hadn't acted sick.  He did mention his belly hurt before breakfast and 95% of the time he's either hungry or has to pee, so I didn't think about it again.  After getting everything cleaned up we waited to see how he felt.  He was his normal self all afternoon so I sanitized the house.  He kept wanting to eat, so I'd give him a little at a time, and he was able to keep everything down.  He was annoyed with me asking him so often how he was feeling.  I let everyone know what had happened earlier because that seemed like the right thing to do.  Everyone came, ate, and visited and seemed to have a good time!  

5.  I learned a lesson this week. I've got to back up my phone. I do every 6 months or so (at least that's what I thought I was doing).  Wednesday I woke up at 5am to feed Austin and I decided to do the new update on my phone.  My screen turned black and it never came back on.  We spent the entire morning on the phone with Apple Support and then at the AT&T store.  They had to restore factory settings, which meant I'd lose all my pictures, notes, & songs.  I'm most sad about all the pics I lost (most were pics from Austin's first two months,; several from the hospital and first few days home).  I'm a picture nut so every couple days I'd go back and look at my "gallery".  Lesson learned.  Now go back up your phone so you aren't ever in the same position! (This explains my lack of pics this week!)

Here are some pics from my camera that I never took time to add - it will make up for the lack of pics this week! (The first is actually from my phone!)

 These are from my dad's work retirement party (2/21/14):

Her face when I told her to say "cheese"!

 These are from the Father Daughter Dance (2/7/14):

Kevin wanted to give her something special before the dance, so he bought her pearl earrings.

 

Weekly Happenings February 15-21

1.  This past Sunday we made a wreck out of half the house switching sleeping arrangments for the kids!  We moved Allie out of the room she was in, and into Krissy's room, making it the "girl room".  We took Austin's crib out of our room and moved it into the "boys room".  It took a whole day to move beds and furniture, and another day to get clothes moved.  I was nervous on night #1 wondering how the girls would do and how well I'd sleep with Austin out of our room.  It all went really smooth.  Both girls went right to sleep.  Allie didn't wake Krissy up when she got out of bed.  I slept with my noise maker off just to make sure I'd hear Austin, and I did :)  It's been a really good change!  Now comes the fun part of decorating the rooms!  (It will probably all be cheap and DIY, but fun none the less!)

2.  Sunday morning we had cereal for breakfast.  I was pouring milk on my cereal and realized it was expired-  by 6 days!  I had been drinking it the last several days with no problems.  I decided since it smelled fine and not sour, it would be fine to drink (and I also hate wasting things).  Later that afternoon my stomach was so upset.  I kept feeling like I needed to throw up but couldn't.  I couldn't stop burping horrible awful burps and it was so miserable!!!  It took about 36 hours for it all to get out of my system and trust me, I learned my lesson!  If it's expired it's going down the drain!  A $2 gallon of milk was NOT worth two days of total discomfort!

3.  Austin hit two big milestones this week!  He moved into 3-6 month/6 month clothing!  The kid is so big!  These bigger clothes really aren't even that big on him.  I'm anxious for his next check up at the end of the month to see how he's comparing to Hayden's stats at that age.  The most wonderful milestone we hit was he went 8 hours between bottles on Tuesday night!  I went to bed at 11pm and Kevin rocked him to sleep.  I woke up at 2am with Allie (leg pains) and thought I'd be up soon with the baby, but I didn't get that wake up call until 6:06am! :) Oh, and he also smiles ALL the time.  All I have to do is make eye contact with him, talk to him, and he's grinning ear to ear!

4. My mom put together a surprise retirement party for my dad Saturday night.  My sis and her family were able to come in town for the celebration.  The party was a lot of fun and dad was really surprised!  I took pictures at the party and made cupcakes for dessert!  

5.  A little past due, but after I had already posted last weeks post, I received beautiful roses from Kevin for Valentine's Day!  We had agreed not to do anything, but I did buy him a card and his favorite pack of gum.  I really expected nothing!  He gave me a card, chocolates, a teddy bear (that Allie has claimed as hers), and the surprise roses!  He definitely outdid himself.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Although I'd rather be spending the day with my Valentine, I'll settle for spending the day with these four cuties!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Trying to get everyone to look at me{with a happy face} and smile {naturally} - I think it's an impossible task!

Then there's the goofy pic... pretty hard to mess that one up!

My second favorite - 3 out of 4 isn't bad!

Weekly Happenings February 8-14

Happy Valentine's Day to you!  This is my favorite holiday of the entire year!  Whether you have a Valentine or not, I hope you enjoy the day!  

Here are some highlights from our week:
1.  We booked our condo for Florida!  We didn't vacation last year, so we are really looking forward to this trip!  (Thank you, tax refund, for making this possible!)  We are staying at Hidden Dunes again since we loved the resort and private beach last time!  The kids are already getting excited and I'm already collecting beachy things to fill their Easter baskets with :)

2.  Austin is consistently going 5 hours between bottles at night.  I'd like it to be longer, but it will be eventually, and at least he's consistent!  He is still so so so easy going.  He may make a whimper now and then but the kid just doesn't get upset about anything (and I know that will change as he gets older).  There's so much noise in the house (usually from my two beauties) that I really appreciate a quiet baby!

3.  We took Hayden and Allie to an IceMen game at the Ford Center.  It took them awhile to get into it, but by the time we left, they were dancing to the music and screaming "Go IceMen!"  It's not cheap entertainment (almost $60 for us just to get in), so we aren't going to make a habit of going.  I'd also say it's questionable entertainment for my kids with the fighting that goes on (all week Hayden had been showing me the punching moves he saw), and the "Hey, you suck, we're gonna knock the puck out of you" chant (which {thankfully} my kids seemed oblivious to - I was just waiting for Hayden to ask what everyone was saying).  Kevin and I think its entertaining (he's dying to be on the jumbo tron) so we'll probably try to go to a game or two every year, but we probably will be leaving the kiddos at home.

 

4.  I recieved a sweet package in the mail this week from my sis!  It was filled with candy, pens, paper (my kids 3 favorite things), and an adorable wristlet for ME!  I don't have anything like this, AND it's my favorite color, AND it's personalized!  Unexpected gifts are the best!!!

5.  Hayden lost his 2nd tooth!  Kevin tried to quickly pull it before work on Tuesday but he was in a hurry and the string wouldn't stay on Hayden's tooth.  Kevin promised him he'd get it out in the morning.  After Kevin left for work, Hayden asked if I'd try to pull it.  I was a bit queasy trying to pull the first one (Kevin ended up doing it because I couldn't), but I agreed to give it a try.  It only took one try and it popped right out with out much effort.  The toothfairy gave him a dollar with glitter on it, and he thought that was pretty cool.  He also wrote her a note asking to keep his tooth.  It now sits with his other tooth in my pewter shoe for his teeth.  I have no clue what to do with these teeth as he gets older, but I'm thinking I will make it into an ornament in the future?!  Baby teeth hanging on a Christmas tree - why not?!

6.  I ran across an adorable pair of little boy shoes on Craigslist!  They look like they were never worn, still have all the original packaging, and I got them for $5!  I can't wait for Austin to grow into them! 

Weekly Happenings February 1-7

Sorry I'm a day late!

1.  Austin had his one month checkup on Monday!  I was anxious to find out his stats!  He weighs 12lbs 13oz (92%) and 23 1/2 inches long (100%)!  In four weeks he will have his 2 month check up and I am excited to compare his stats with Hayden's! I think he's going to be bigger so it will be fun to see how he grows!

2.  Kevin took Allie to the Father/Daughter dance last night at church!  We decided to have Krissy wait one more year before she goes.  Allie didn't go till she turned two, so it seems fair.  I'm excited for this event every year! Allie felt like a little princess :)

3.  My SNL told me JCPennys had a nice sale going on.  I went Sunday afternoon and found 3 tops for $17!  I'm still in that awkward in between stage where none of my clothes fit and it's depressing to wear maternity things, so it's nice to have a few new shirts!

4.  I ordered a dress pattern for the girls Easter dresses!  I'm so excited to make them again!  I know I want a knit material (Allie hates cotton - says its itchy) but I'm having a tough time deciding on colors.  I am hoping they can wear these dresses to the beach this year too!  Here are my two favorite choices... Dots or chevron.... What do you think?

5.  I had a friend bring some cookies over after we had Austin.  They were snickerdoodles, which I like, but normally never make.  Kevin tried one for the first time and raved about them.  (We actually fought over who got the last few!)  I decided I'd ask for her recipe, but I had a feeling it was a secret family recipe that she probably wouldn't give out.  She quickly replied to my text message and I was so surprised she was willing to give me the recipe and I was even more shocked to find out these cookies were a box mix!!!  I took them to a Super Bowl party.  They were a hit!  I listened to everyone rave about them for awhile and let them think I had an amazing recipe and I slaved in the kitchen all morning.  I eventually confessed my secret, and everyone was shocked that box mix cookies could be so good!

Easy Veggie Soup

The base of this soup is a great start to building your own version of vegetable soup!  I'll tell you how I made mine, but feel free to add a ton of other vegetables (a total of 5-6 C) to satisfy your taste buds!

Ingredients:

1  1/2 to 2 lbs. beef stew meat

1 large onion, sliced

7 cups V-8 vegetable juice

7 beef bouillon cubes

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. seasoned salt

1 tsp. black pepper

1 tsp. garlic powder

1 Tbs. Worcestershire sauce

6 C water

3 red potatoes, diced

2 large carrots, peeled and cut 

1 can lima beans

frozen corn

3-4 handfuls of uncooked egg noodles (I added noodles because I didn't like all the other veggies the original recipe called for {green beans, celery, tomatoes, okra}.)

Directions;

• Heat soup pot, spray with cooking spray, and brown stew meat until browned on all sides.
• Add sliced onion to beef and cook until onion is soft.  Once the onion flavor had been added, I picked all the onion out (the original recipe calls for it to be diced and left in).
• Add V8, bouillon cubes, salt, seasoned salt, pepper, garlic powder, and Worcestershire sauce.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and cover.  Let simmer for 2 hours.
• After 2 hours, add water and vegetables (and noodles if you want to be weird like me), and bring to a boil again.  Once the soup starts to boil, reduce heat to low and cover for one more hour. 

My whole family liked and enjoyed the soup!  It had a great flavor and was a perfect meal for all the cold days we've had lately!  It's really easy to make the veggie changes that suit you!  If you try it, let me know what you think!

Weekly Happenings January 25-31

1.  Austin turned one month old on Sunday.  This makes me happy because the older he gets, the more he sleeps, but it also makes me so sad how fast he's growing!  Here's my favorite snapshot of him this week!

2.  Austin had his first official tummy time!  I'd say it was a success!

3.  We got Harry a kitty water fountain.  We are fairly certain he has kidney issues like Holeshot had (but I have no plans of spending several hundred dollars to confirm that).  Staying hydrated is the best way to manage the disease and since he only drinks water out of the sink, we felt like he needed it.  It was $30 and he loves it.  He's started acting more like his old self and I credit the kitty fountain for making him feel better!

4. Seeing my kids play together and snuggle together warms my heart like nothing else!  They all got along so well this week.

5.  I found this heart shaped felt garland at the Dollar Tree!  It feels really festive to me!