Great day!

Today has honestly really been great.
With the exception of me being a zombie for a little while after I woke up, and feeling like I couldn't get my butt up and moving, anyway.

I should start by re-iterating to those that don't know, that we live with my parents. This was a mutually beneficial decision that came about after my emergency C-section in 2009. I had to be out of work and on strict limitations for at least 6 weeks, and my husband couldn't take much time off work. My dad also has a back injury and some other health problems. So I helped out my mom with cooking, cleaning, etc. My husband helps out around the house, with yardwork, etc, things that are painful or difficult for my dad to do.
All in all it's worked out really well. Especially when my mom watched Logan for me when I went back to work, and had to leave for work at 5:30am! No waking kids up and dragging them to a babysitter :-)

Anyway, my mom left today, she's taking care of a relative for 2 weeks. And is it weird if I say I was nervous? Don't get me wrong-they are MY kids, and I primarily take care of them. I'm not some young teen mom leaving her kids with her parents all the time going out and partying. We live in the same household, but that's all. Of course they change a diaper now and then, or make them lunch, the occasional bath. And they babysit sometimes too of course. But it's not like they are my kids caregivers.
But, nevertheless, I've been nervous. Its us 4, my mom, dad, and my 2 brothers currently living here.
I pretty much do all the cooking, dishes, vacuuming. My mom primarily does the laundry though. She does everyone's together, we don't separate or everyone do their own. It'd waste too much water. So I'm stuck with all 7 of us's laundry for 2 weeks. And I don't fold. Not the specific, particular way my mom does. So I'm not even going to bother. Anything I fold that's left when she gets back would drive her OCD self nuts anyway, and she'd re-fold it I'm sure.
Anywayyyyyyyyyyyyy, today was good.
I got 2 loads of regular laundry done, and 3 loads that containing Matt and I's bedding (2 comforters, fitted and top sheet, 2 pillow cases). I have a few dishes left to wash, but kept up pretty good all day (our dishwasher is currently broken). Took BOTH kids with me to run some errands, dropping off bills and running into Kohl's to use my Kohl's cash and find a present for a birthday party we are invited to this Sunday. Then Logan was asking for chicken nuggets from Burger King (yes, I let myself and my kids eat fast food sometimes- I don't need a lecture, but thank you for your concern). So we grabbed lunch, then he wanted me to go get "mommy juice," so I treated myself to a mocha frappuccino. We came home, pottied/diaper changed, and I let the kids play a  little while. Then I put Logan up for a nap, with minimal fighting, which is saying a lot lately. He hasn't been into wanting to take a nap without a real fight recently. I came down from putting him for his nap, and closed the drapes, turned off the lights, and put Meredith in the pack n play with the tv on very quietly. She laid down, so I did too! We both took a really nice nap!! It was wonderful. I woke up, Logan was up shortly after, I got dinner started : http://www.ourtableforseven.com/2012/08/baked-pierogi-casserole.html
Both kids ate pretty decent AND with really minimal mess!! It was a breath of fresh air!! Logan was fully using utensils by the time he was a year old. I don't know what happened, but now at 3 years old, it's hit or miss, and I swear he is messier now than he ever was as an infant!! Meredith is a different story all together. She is a messy eater and gets a little sassy attitude. She will purposely throw food on the floor when she doesn't want. Not dropping it, not tossing it, but with attitude-THROW it.
But tonight was good! Got both kids all washed up, pottied and diaper changes again, and I told Logan we could have a snack and watch a movie if he was good. So he wanted to watch Cars (a nice break from watching Robots every day the last like 3 weeks!), and I made him some popcorn. The kids played and watched the movie for a while until it was pajama time, at which time Logan informed me he wanted to have a "dance party." He asked to have one a few times this week. It's so cute.
I kind of started up this dance party thing a while ago, where we watch the music videos we have On Demand on our cable, and be silly before bed. So we got all ready for bed and had a short dance party.
Then when I was putting him to bed, and holding him for a bit in the glider, I said something about what a great day we had. And he starts listing everything we did today!! It was so cute. He starts saying something like:
"i pay games", "go shopping",  "get Boo Kig", "mommy juice-a", "do puzzle", "have dance pawty"

(I play games, go shopping, get Burger King, get mommy juice (starbucks), did puzzles, and have dance party.
It was adorable. I wish I could've recorded it.
One of those moments I hope to remember forever.

"Chorpocks" for dinner!!!

Logan has been ridiculously cute today.
When we were getting ready to go in the car for a car ride, he ran into the dining room, where he's got a little treat box from his birthday party filled with some rando stuff. And in there he was 2 "credit cards" we jokingly call them. They are 2 old starbucks giftcards with no money on them. And he grabbed one and insisted on bringing it with us in the car.
He already started calling starbucks/coffee "mommy juice" and will sometimes insist we go get mommy juice after we are done shopping or running errands. Well today he told me to go, and thenas I was paying with my gold card (you can transfer any/all gift card balances to this card, and it has certain perks. So I transferred the balance on the gift card my sister got me to my gold card, and in turn gave Logan the 'empty' card to play with.) Well he's babbling something from the backseat, and lo and behold, I turn around and he's holding out "his" card. He was being so cute, and I asked "Oh, are you paying for my mommy juice?" He said yes, and insisted on "paying." I just pretended to give the cashier his card, and then thanked Logan a bunch of times. It really was the sweetest thing ever.
Then when we got home, I told him to tel grandma what we had run in front of the car on the way home. (A deer ran across the street in front of us.) And he told her a zebra, lol.
Then for dinner we had porkchops, which by the end of dinner he was calling "Chorpocks" or something that sounded like pork chops all scrambled up, haha.

Yeah, yeah, yeah

Yeah, I know. I lied.
Instead of blogging more, I blogged less.
Oh well. It happens.

Been VERY busy (as always).

Kids just keep seeming to get sick over and over and passing things back and forth constantly.
We had Meredith's first birthday party on March 31st.

We also have consulted with her ophthalmologist and she will be going in for eye muscle surgery on May 21st. Not looking forward to that at all :-(



I've been working on getting back on track with meal planning as well.
We were doing really good there for a while, but then I got lazy, and busy, and just totally fell off track.
I'm working on not only getting a home-cooked dinner on the table most of the time, but also trying new recipes I've pinned on Pinterest, pulled out of magazines, and printed off the internet. We've got a lot of picky eaters here, so it can be quite a challenge. I basically told everyone though, we are going to be trying new recipes. TRY THEM. If you don't like them, that's fine. I'll guarantee nobody is going to like every single new recipe we try. There's always grilled cheese, a pb&j, or something out of the freezer if you don't like dinner that night! You'll live!

So I started a little bit at the beginning of this month, and then on Monday/Tuesday I went ahead and finished writing up a meal plan for the rest of this month and the month of June.
I threw in some "Free" days here and there, or "Grill" days. We can use the free days to shift meals forward or backward if needed, just get takeout, or grill out if weather permits. Same idea with the grill days, if the weather works, we can always grill something. Kind of hard to figure that out too far in advance though, due to weather.

Thursday, May 3- Creamy Parmesan & Sun-dried Tomato Chicken Penne- Very Good, everyone liked, even my dad, and he's a tough critic- for this reason I have put this recipe on the menu a few times.
Friday, May 4-Kraft FreshTake Cheddar Bacon Chicken- Always an easy meal and everyone seems to like it.
Saturday, May 5- Grilled Balsamic Flank Steak- Pretty Good, not QUITE as flavorful as I had imagined.
Sunday, May 6- Pulled Pork and french fries
Monday, May 7- Frozen lasagna
Tuesday, May 8- Crispy Cheddar Chicken, Cheddar Broccoli Rice, Stuffing, Broccoli with cheese sauce- Very Good, fairly easy, everyone seemed to like the chicken and the sauce that goes with it.
Wednesday, May 9- Sweet Basil & Oregano Bruschetta Chicken with Angel Hair- Just okay, Everyone said they'd eat it again, but again, not quite as flavorful as I had hoped.
Thursday, May 10- Italian Sausage meat sauce & pasta
Friday, May 11- Breaded pan fried pork chops
Saturday, May 12-Chicken Piccata with Linguine
Sunday, May 13-
Monday, May 14-Stew Beef and Egg Noodles
Tuesday, May 15- Herbs De Provence Roasted Chicken & Potatoes
Wednesday, May 16- Garlic Pork Roast
Thursday, May 17- Eggplant Parmesan & pasta
Friday, May 18- FREE DAY/GRILL DAY
Saturday, May 19-Braised Beef Ragu with Pappardelle
Sunday, May 20-Creamy Parmesan & Sun-dried Tomato Chicken Penne
Monday, May 21- FREE DAY- Maybe fast food or takeout. This is Meredith's surgery day and don't know how long we will be at Akron Children's
Tuesday, May 22- Not sure. Finding something easy in case Meredith isn't doing so great.
Wednesday, May 23- Drunken Pork Chops
Thursday, May 24- Chicken Kiev
Friday, May 25- Pasta with Meatballs
Saturday, May 26- Baked Ziti (use leftover pasta sauce)
Sunday, May 27- FREE DAY/GRILL DAY
Monday, May 28- Memorial Day-possible Grill day
Tuesday, May 29- Parmesan Pork Roast
Wednesday, May 30- Ham
Thursday, May 31- Ham and Potato Casserole
Friday, June 1-Crispy Chicken with Creamy Italian Sauce and Bowtie Pasta
Saturday, June 2- Ravioli with sauce
Sunday, June 3- Pork and Green Pepper Stew
Monday, June 4- Meatloaf with Roasted Onion Carrots and Potatoes
Tuesday, June 5- Brinner
Wednesday, June 6- Chicken Broccoli Supreme
Thursday, June 7- McCormick Slow Cooker Hearty Beef Stew
Friday, June 8- Chicken Piccata
Saturday, June 9- McCormick Thyme Crusted Pork Chops with Sauteed Onions
Sunday, June 10- FREE DAY/GRILL DAY
Monday, June11- Ravioli with Sauce
Tuesday, June 12-(Kraft) Hearty Tuscan Herb Chicken
Wednesday, June 13- Brinner
Thursday, June 14- Pot Roast or Roast Beef-TBD
Friday, June 15- Cuban Pork Tenderloin
Saturday, June 16-Baked Sweet & Sour Chicken with Fried Rice
Sunday, June 17-
Monday, June18- Eggplant Parmesan and pasta
Tuesday, June 19- Chciken White Wine Scallopine with Orzos
Wednesday, June 20- Ham
Thursday, June 21- Chicken Piccata
Friday, June 22- Brinner
Saturday, June 23- Double Crunch Honey Garlic Chicken
Sunday, June 24- FREE DAY/GRILL DAY
Monday, June 25- Basil Pork Chops
Tuesday, June 26- Italian Sausage meat sauce and pasta
Wednesday, June 27- Creamy Parmesan & Sun-dried Tomato Chicken Penne
Thursday, June 28- Beef Burgundy over Egg Noodles
Friday, June 29- Asian Pork Linguine
Saturday, June 30-

 I've got a couple blanks. Mother's Day, because I think someone mentioned possibly going out to eat. Meredith's surgery day and the day after. I'm a little worried about how she will recover or how fussy she may be, so I don't want to tie myself down to any intricate or new recipes.
Father's Day is blank because I suppose I should ask the dads what they want. And June 30th is my birthday, and maybe if I get lucky my husband and I can go out to dinner and movie? We'll see.
 Hopefully I can pretty much keep to this schedule.
For our family, the hardest part seems to be just DECIDING what to actually have!! No one can ever pick, or decide what they are in the mood for.
So wish us luck!!
And hopefully these new recipes turn out worthwhile!




OH! and we also had a TINY family only celebration on Meredith's actual birthday, 2/24:

8/28/11

Got to sleep in today a little. Matt watches the kids this morning for a bit. It was nice because I'm usually up pretty late with Meredith for her last feeding of the day.
We got a bunch of eggplant at the Farmer's Market yesterday, so I spent several hours peeling, slicing, breading and frying them up. My mom is bagging them up to freeze as we speak. They were a great price, and now we'll have eggplant all ready to go for eggplant parm all winter.
We had NY Strip steaks for dinner, baked potatoes, broccoli with cheese sauce, garlic butter noodles. Delicious. I am stuffed. Although I'm sure it won't last long.
I went on a diet right after I delivered Meredith. I actually landed at 10 lbs less than I was when I conceived her! So it's great to weigh LESS than you did before you got pregnant. Except at that time I was still packing on baby weight I never lost from Logan. (We conceived Meredith when Logan was 11 months old. And I hadn't done a very good job of trying to get the excess weight off from his pregnancy.)
So while it's nice to be a little lighter than I was last summer, it's still nowhere near where I want to be. I would like to lose at least 25 more pounds. I think I can do it by next spring. I'm not rushing myself like I have in the past. I did good right after I had Meredith but over the summer I've really been doing a ton of snacking. Staying up late hasn't helped. I'm a night person to begin with, so the late night eating is definitely helping me stay chubby I'm sure. Oh well. It sounds crazy to diet over the winter/holidays, but I'm really really going to try to do it. Especially because even if we have another baby, it won't be for another couple years. So it would be nice to be thin/healthy for a couple years!! So knowing we won't consider having another baby for a little while, I won't be able to talk myself out of dieting, haha.
I'm hoping to get some nice down time and relax this evening. It's almost Logan's bedtime. He goes to bed about 9pm. And typically he'll sleep until about 8am-9am. So it's almost time to get him all suited up and ready for bed. Then hopefully Meredith will behave and play nice and I can get a chance to watch one of the Netflix movies that we've had here with my mom. It's either Angels & Demons, or Limitless. I think I'd prefer to watch Limitless, but I'm going to let mom choose. We watched the Da Vinci Code together like, gosh, over a year ago, and have been meaning to see the second one since then. I'm not sure if she's interested in watching Limitless or not. So if she isn't I'll just watch that whenever. Nighttime is usually when my mom chill out on the couch and cut our coupons and watch tv/catch up with our DVRed shows. Hubby gets up early for work, so he usually goes to bed at like 9pm. When he's home that is. He works a second part time job, and sometimes he doesn't get home from that until 10-10:30. So on those nights he comes right home, showers, eats and goes to bed. It's great to have a man that works hard for his family.

8/27/11

I can never think of titles for my blogs. So I might just go with the date as a title.
Well, we've been slacking the last 2 days on making dinner. Didn't make anything last night, it was kind of a find leftovers in the fridge, or grab something frozen or a sandwich kind of day. Same goes for today probably. Matt has to work until late, so he won't be "here" for dinner at dinnertime anyway.

We went to the Farmer's Market on the square/International Fest today. The Farmer's Market is every Sat, 9am-1pm in the summer. But that was combined with the Festival today that was from 9am-7pm. We just kind of went to get our usual produce, and to check out the stuff at the International Fest again. We went last year too. I decided next year we will save up some money and really make a whole day of it and go. You could blow some serious cash there if you wanted. Between all the craftstands and goods they sell, and TONS of food vendors and foodtrucks. I would like to try a lot more food next year! I got some delicious Tomato Basil Foccacia Bread from one place, it's SO good. We also got some kettle corn. Tried some free samples at a few stands. And then we bought our red peppers and eggplant. We cut and freeze (we have a vacuum food sealer), our own peppers. And we (mostly me)m LOVE eggplant parmigiana. So we have found you can peel, slice, and bread/cook the eggplant, and freeze it! So then during the 'winter' months, we just pull out a bag of eggplant, and layer it in the pan with the sauce and cheese and it's ready to go!! It takes a while doing all the peeling, slicing, breading and cooking all the eggplant. But it's SO worth it for that fast delicious dinner later on. And we found one great stand that had the best look eggplant AND it was the cheapest. Crazy, but awesome. They were only a $1 each, and at least a pound and half each. They wanted over a $1 a pound at the stores for them. Same with the peppers. We got our red peppers for 50 cents each. The store is selling reds for like $3.99/lb! Insane.

Other than that today has been a fairly blah day. Logan was on a 10 day round of antibiotics because it seemed he has a sinus infection. He finished it yesterday. I'm not convinced it's gone though :-(
His nose still doesn't look so great (It was REALLY red and sore, and he had thick, dark, drainage coming out of it), and he's still crabby as all heck.


*Sidenote-Logan just pretended to eat the pie off the tv, on Pajama Party episode of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. So cute.*