The tale of Wednesday's dinner.

So, from reading my previous post, you know that I am a single-mom in the evenings. Dinner, baths, pajamas, bedtime = me, singular. I get home from work with the kids at about 5:20 every night and all of this needs to be accomplished by about 8:00 for Isaac to go to bed and 8:30 for Evelyn. Let me tell you about last night's dinner fiasco....

So, I arrived home like normal, and had nothing really planned for dinner (I may have fallen asleep on the couch at 9:00 the night before and and therefore did not prep anything.) Anyways, I took this proposition of Evelyn taking a bath at 5:30 as an opportunity to take 30 minutes and make dinner. You normal people may be thinking 30 minutes, wow, what a quick dinner. But listen closely to my 30-minute meal situation, and you tell me if you still think Rachel Ray's 30-minute meals is still a show worth watching. A whole lot of not good stuff can happen in those 30 minutes of dinner cooking.

I got Evelyn situated in the tub and put the gate up in the hallway so Isaac didn't try to go in the bathroom and dive head-first in the tub - I learned that lesson the hard way.... Evelyn is a water-lover. She seriously would stay in the tub for an hour if I let her, so I thought yay, 30 minutes of cooking dinner time :)

I then moved on to figuring out what to do with Isaac while Evelyn was being Ariel and I was cooking. Of course, pretzels! What a way to ruin his appetite so he's not hungry for dinner keep him busy with a healthy snack!

Things are going great, I get dinner made and put in the oven for 20 minutes. During those 20 minutes, Evelyn finds the new soap I bought (and purposely took out of the bathtub so she wouldn't use it) and uses it to wash her hair, gets it in her eyes, and is screaming because they are burning. I go in there to help her flush it out. But of course she won't keep her eyes open for me to flush the soap out - so it's just 20 minutes of screaming. Two bath towels, 1 hand towel and 3 wash cloths later, the soap is out and Evelyn is in her pajamas. Cue Isaac reaching the bag of pretzels off of the counter, spilling them all over the kitchen floor and dancing on them. He thought that was pretty cool.

I get the pretzels cleaned up and pull the enchilada lasagna out of the oven, and realize Evelyn's hair is dry now, but looks so greasy it's glistening in the light...

Apparently when you use half a bottle of Suave Kids tear free moisturizing body wash as shampoo, it leaves a thick coating of grease or oil or something totally disgusting in your child's hair. Also, I didn't realize it actually says "tear free" on the bottle. This is NOT the case. I will never buy this again - lesson learned. If it leaves that much residue in her hair, imagine what it leaves on her body!

So I wash her hair in the sink with her actual shampoo, and it's still greasy this morning. I'll have to use my shampoo and conditioner and wash it again to get whatever it is in her hair, out.

We did eventually eat and Evelyn loved the new recipe. I think next time I'll pre-make it and add it to my list of freezer meals.

You can imagine my delight when this came through my email this morning: Kraft's 30 minute meal ideas. This, my friends, is an email that is going right to the trash.

Baby, it's cold outside.

So, we finally got some snow that stayed on the ground. This is a good and bad thing. Good because our little Evelyn loves playing in the snow. Bad because now we have to add boots, mittens and scarves to our list of things to put on the kids so the neighbors don't think we're horrible parents we know the kids are nice and warm before venturing out. By the time I get them both all bundled up, I'm exhausted.

Here is Exhibit A.

Isaac:

Please note that you have to put on the mittens before the jacket for optimum snow-prevention. And be sure to pull the snowpants over the itty-bitty boots. I'm pretty sure he could not bend his legs or arms.

Exhibit B: Evelyn

Notice the rosey cheeks on both of them? I think I need to add ski mask to the list of things to put on them. Evelyn's cheeks are still red!

Anyways, things I discovered from our first December snow day:

1. Isaac likes to go sledding, and is adorable while doing it:

2. The cat does not like escaping out the sliding door when there's snow on the ground:

3. Isaac does not like face-planting in the snow...

Unfortunately/fortunately I didn't learn anything new about Evelyn this day. I already know she doesn't like her picture taken, she insists on playing hide-and-seek EVERY time we go outside (even in the snow), and she hurts her butt when Andy pulls her over a big jump on her sled. But, there's always next time :) (Yes, that is my cheesy smiley face because I don't know how to make an actual one the in blogging world, so just enjoy the colon and parenthesis I put there.)

Also, I just discovered I can make my pictures bigger at the time of uploading them, but there's no way I'm going back and re-uploading them all. It is a big pain in the tooshy to get these photos dragged to their correct spot. So, I'll make them bigger next time, I promise! Anyone have an easier way of getting pictures to just load where you want them, and not at the top of the post??

Let's try this again.

So I'm starting over, starting fresh! Ignore those posts below - they're from 2 years ago when everything really was uncomplicated. But since then, we've added one more baby - he's 13 months already,

my husband has been through 3 jobs, currently works evenings,

and my mom got married and moved 2 hours away,

So who am I kidding, I know life has its complications. Just hoping that by blogging about the good things that are happening and the things I am interested in, I'll be able to look back one day (hopefully soon, for goodness sake's - haha) and the struggles of today will be behind us. Plus, I need a hobby - so you're stuck with me! Stay tuned for when I actually do something eventful and I'll be sure to let you in on it :)

Santa.

To Santa, or not to Santa - That is the question.

I do not remember believing in Santa. I'm sure my parents told us there was a Santa, but I do not remember anything about ever believing in him. Maybe it was because with 3 older siblings, they ruined it for me and just told me it wasn't true, maybe it was because at a young age I had other, more important things to worry about (unfortunately.) Who knows. But now, having a 20 month old daughter I am wondering if there is a rule that you MUST tell your child there is a Santa? I know the advantage of having them believe in Santa - especially around Christmas time - is that it is a great threat, "If you do not listen to Mommy, Santa will put you on the naughty list!" But isn't it sort of a lie? What happens when they realize you have been lying to them about who brings those presents? At what age do you tell them it isn't true? Or do they just stumble across it at school one day when the class bully shouts out "There is no Santa!" And then they come home and ask you about Santa's existence.

Now I love, LOVE Christmas. Birth of Jesus (yay!), family, giving gifts, 24 hour Christmas music on 102.9. But really, who wants to stand in that darn "Picture with Santa" line anyways?

This post is dedicated to Twon - my #1 fan - lol!

Where Does the Time Go.

Oh my gosh, it has been so long since I have written anything! I actually have been really busy. I feel that if I just download everything I've been busy with from my head onto a blog, I can feel less overwhelmed and possibly start to make some posts on a more regular basis, instead of wondering where to start. So bear with me as I make a seemingly boring list of the fun things I've been doing! Dumb, I know, but who else will listen? lol.

I've been busy making some Christmas crafts, such as Crayon Rolls, Purse Notebooks, Clothespin Magnets, Pillowcase Aprons, and starting Evelyn's Quiet Book I am hoping to have done in time!

Also, Andy and I have been making Evelyn her very own playhouse down in her play nook in the basement. What started out as maybe some wood and fabric has turned into a full framed in-sheet-rocked house complete with a door and windows. It's been so much fun decorating her little house for her! I hung up some leaf garlands for autumn, a flower box full of flowers and a little welcome sign (all on 80% off clearance at Michael's, of course!) We moved her play kitchen inside of her house, naturally, and I found an extra rug we weren't using to make it a little more "homey" for her. With the addition of some pictures hung up w/ extra clothespins on a ribbon, a homemade chalkboard made from an extra picture frame and chalkboard spray paint, a hanging book basket and an old decorative sign I wasn't using anymore, it sure is looking cute! (Photo courtesy of Evelyn)

Now that Andy has switched hours at work and is working a lot more weekends and nights, that leaves Evelyn and myself looking for fun things to do to pass the time while he is at work. One Sunday, we ventured to the Children's Museum with my sister, her 3 kids, the neighbor girl, My sister's sister-in-law and her little one. Uff da! If you've never been there, here's a side note: do not drive your sister's huge SUV with luggage racks on top - it is too tall for the parking ramp.... Anyways, Evelyn had a ton of fun. Her favorite thing, of course, was playing in the water with all of the other little toddlers. She did not like it very much when we had to move on to the next exhibit though....

After the Museum, we decided to bake some cookies together - for the first time! Now that Ev is so old, she can actually help me do things, isn't that amazing? I wish I could skip the baby stage and just have "helping" toddlers, oh wouldn't that be so nice? Evelyn was so excited to get to lick the beater, and I was so excited to see her enjoy doing one of the things I used to do as a child as well. It was one of those little life moments that makes you stop and think of how fast time goes and how quickly your little ones grow up. It reminded me that sometimes you really do need to just stop and lick the beaters!

Crafting on Hold.

As you may have noticed, my little crafting projects have been abruptly been put on hold. This is due to the finding of two baby mice IN my craft room! There is no way I am going back in there until the situation has been resolved by my husband (who thinks it's no big deal.) So, in the meantime, I will leave you with a yummy recipe for the world's easiest chip dip. I recently brought it to my friend Jenny's Uppercase Living Block-making party and it was gobbled up quite quickly. Seriously, the world's easiest recipe. I didn't really use the measurements the recipe gave me, so I'll just write the way I made it. Ready? You probably don't even need a pen.

Yummy Dip:

2 Bars of Creamcheese

1/2 Cup Miracle Whip

Wah lah! You just mix these two things up until well blended. The toppings to put on this are endless. Here is what I topped it off with:

Tomatoes

Red Onion

Cucumber

Sliced Black Olives

Feta Cheese

Other ways to top it off could be a Taco-type dip with salsa, lettuce, and shredded cheese. Or you could do some sort of Spinach w/ Artichokes and maybe some parmesan cheese with it. The possibilities really could go on and on. So try it out and top it with whatever you like!

P.S. I did double this batch for 7 girls and 2 hungry boys. It made a lot more than I had anticipated, there was still some left after we all chowed it down! I probably could have stuck with the one batch.

Life's Little Pieces - Take 2!

Here we go! I now have a picture of the finished top piece of the t-shirt quilt. Isn't it cool? We have gotten a lot of inquiries about these quilts since we have finished this one, and have decided that we will actually make these for anyone who is interested! I am definitely making one of Evelyn's baby blankets, clothes, newborn hats, curtains, etc ASAP! How adorable of a bedspread would that be for her big girl bed that is soon to come?!? Okay, so not that soon, but like 6 months, plenty of time to finish I suppose, life gets busy..... Lots and lots of ideas for these in my head. Do you/someone you know have a million t-shirts from high school sports? Are they just sitting in a box, in storage somewhere. Well, why not actually get some use out of those and be able to look at the memories from them every day by having them made into a quilt, helloooo! Or, on a less cheerful side, a loved one passes away, and you are left with their clothes. Don't box them up for Goodwill - have us make a quilt out of them that you can use all the time and remember that person with: you don't even have to wash the t-shirts first if you don't want to, that way it will still smell like them! Kids going off to college? Adios, that's the last you'll see of them until Christmas; chop up their t-shirts that they leave behind so you can remember the good-old-days when they used to be around-haha. We are going to put up some info. at local fabric stores due to inquiries there, and if you have any questions or are interested, let me know! We're excited to start doing this!!