Cooking with Kids 101

So, yea, I ditched the recipe blog. I made one and even posted once but I decided to just put recipes on this blog for now. It's just too much trouble to have two different blogs at once when you have a husband, three kids, six dogs and six fish. ha!

With Griffin being as sick as he was, we weren't about to go anywhere this past weekend. Not even outside. There's only so much I can take of the Wii and all the "it's my turn to be first player!!" screaming that goes with it. At lunchtime on Saturday I decided to let the boys make themselves a mini pizza(and Reece too!). I just gave them an english muffin, some pizza sauce, cheese, black olives(yummo!), some pepperoni and let them have at it! Of course I took over when it came to the baking part.

They turned out really yummy!

And then we made a cookie pizza! Pilsbury sent me an email with the recipe and here it is!

Ingredients:

One roll 16oz chocolate chip cookie dough

One cup mini marshmallows

1/2 cup salted peanuts(I didn't use these!)

1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1/3 cup carmel topping

Preheat oven to 350. Grease 12 inch pizza pan. Mash out the cookie dough evenly onto the pizza pan. Bake 12-17 minutes or until light brown. Then you just sprinkle the marshmallows, peanuts, and chocolate chips. Drizzle the carmel on top. Can I just say that I didn't measure any of that??? I just let the boys put whatever and I LOVE carmel so I put alot! I didn't use the peanuts because of Reece but I am sure they would have been tasty!

Be sure you listen to the boss!

xoxo

Not Me! Monday

Monday's roll around way too often if you ask me! Head over to MckMama's to find out how you can join in on the Not Me! Monday fun. It's great therapy, especially for those who have children. You know when you have those "I did not just let my child do that" moments!

Here are my Not Me's! for the week, in pictures, no less!

Baby Girl does NOT have a new habit. This habit does not include two passy's in her mouth at one time! How would they both fit?!?!

While taking this pic I was NOT driving down the road. I am married to a police officer for crying out loud! After taking her pic there was not someone else bouncing around in the back seat wanting his picture taken as well....

Griffin having pneumonia did not keep us all cramped up in the house alllll weekend which inturn did not spark Cooking with Kids 101. There is not a post coming on that later today or tomorrow!

These are not rocks from one of my neighbors flower beds that our boys did not decide to line up on our window! And that was not about two weeks ago and we have not just left them there because we have not had time to do anything with them!

When I went outside to take the above picture I did NOT almost step on this:

That's right.......frog poop! There is no way that a frog could poop that big! I know that is not what you are saying! Trust me...it came from a big ole' bull frog that lives in my flower bed. I haven't been able to take his pic yet, but I will. And I hope he lives there for a very very long time. He sits out there at night and eats bugs and by the looks of things, he's doing a great job! ha!

Hope everyone has a happy week!

xoxo

Pneumonia

Sigh.

Sweet Griffin has the nasty pneumonia. :( It's no fun. He's just laying around watching cartoons and has no energy whatsoever.....VERY unlike him! He won't eat, not even Taco Casa. He can't sleep because of the cough. He is very on edge about everything and moody as all get out! Don't look at him wrong, he may bite!(not really!) I really hate that he is sick, but I am loving the fact that he just wants to pile in my lap all the time right now! Hopefully the anibiotics will kick in today and he will feel better by tomorrow. I know that if he is not better by Sunday he may be admitted to the hospital so let's all hope and pray that he is better quick!

xoxo

Man oh man....ONLY me!

So, I sort of ran out of gas this morning. You see, I am VERY dependant on my low fuel light. I rarely get gas until it comes on.(I'm a woman, don't hate!) Yesterday, I noticed that the gas was getting low and that I hadn't got gas since before we came home from the beach on Sunday. Most of you would have high tailed it to the nearest gas station---not me, that makes too much sense people! The light wasn't on, I was good to go! This morning I was on I-359(busy, busy!) headed to drop Peyton and Reece off at school when my car/truck/whateveryouwanttocallit started s-l-o-w-i-n-g down. I thought, "Oh no! Something is wrong with my car!" I pulled to the side of the road, turned the flashers on, said a quick prayer that we didn't get run over and called the hubs.

ring ring ring
Griffin: Hello.
Me: I need to talk to Daddy quick. It's an emergency.
Griffin: Oh Mom! Ok!
Griffin: Daadddddddddyyyyyyy, it's Mom, it's an emergency!!!!
Josh: Hello.
Me: Hey babe, we're ok, right now. My car, not so much. It just quit! The check engine light is on and some red light is on. I know my gas was getting low, but the light wasn't on!
Josh: It's ok. Just turn it off and then try to turn it back on.
Me: Please Please work! And it did! Phew! I will just putt putt to the gas station and go ahead and get gas, maybe it's just freakin it's freak because it's low.....
Josh: Probably so.(I know he was thinking, "Women."and probably rolling his eyes!)

I drove along to the gas station which wasn't very far and put 22.5 gallons of gas in it! By far the most that I ever have!! So, yes, technically I ran out of gas!

I will never depend on that light again, ever!!!!!
xoxo

I said I wouldn't.....

....blog about Jon and Kate. Or Kate Plus 8 as it's going to be now. I haven't watched last nights episode yet(it comes on too late so I have to DVR and watch it later), so my opinion may change after I hear what they have to say. BUT, I do know one thing, before people start doing all these fertility drugs and yayaya...they really need to think! Now those EIGHT kids are in a broken home. That is really sad to me. Jon should have thought about Kate being a bossy crab before he married her and before they had babies. That is her personality and that is how she is. Not that I agree with her talking to him like she does/did or "wearing the pants" like she does but he really needs to think about what he is doing and how this will affect his children.

I'm sure there will be more on this tomorrow!

xoxo

Summertime Fun!

I love Summer...except for this Alabama humidity! And I especially love the beach. Never would have guessed, would you?! I decided to listen to Motherly Instinct this trip and take all the things she told me to take. But, then I forgot to take them! Geeze! And, you guessed it, somebody got sick. Shocking, I know! Griffin ran a fever Saturday afternoon/night. The boys rarely get sick...just when we are out of town. So, we bought medicine and left it at the beach crib this time...along with the third bottle of Aloe that we have bought this year! Photography by April was closed for the weekend! I did not take one. single. picture. Can you believe it? Josh took a few Sunday when we were beaching it with my parents, little sister and little brother...that aren't little. Did you catch that?
This is not my little brother building a sand castle on his body! Geeze Kody!

I'm pretty positive that she is the most beautiful little girl eva!

Notice her hair getting blonde??

Finally putting on a little weight!

And, who knows what Master P was doing here!

xoxo

Fun in the Sun!

There's a park with a splash pad 3-4 blocks away from the preschool that Peyton attends. Today his teacher decided that they would walk to the park and play all day! She has been trying to do lots of fun stuff with them since the church(where he attends preschool) would not let any of the preschoolers attend VBS this year!!! Can you believe that? "they didn't have room" Do you know how big that place is?!?! Needless to say, the parents are ticked...especially when we pay as much as we do! Off that tangent....

When we were on our way home yesterday Peyton asked if Griffin could come too. How sweet is he?! So Josh and Griffin tagged along. They had a blast. I called around lunch and took them some Five Guys...yummy! I didn't get out of the car because I was checking rental property with Allison and already smelled like a dirty rental house...didn't want to add sweat in the mix! Here's a pic from the car....the boys didn't even know we were there....nor did they care!

We're headed to the beach again tomorrow! I can't wait! So, you probably won't hear from me again until Monday.......HAPPY FATHER'S DAY to all you daddies out there!
xoxo

All things baby....**updated**

**Updated at the bottom**

Our baby wall is complete....for now anyway!

I had to buy new frames for the boys' pictures so that all three would match and last night the hubby got them all hung! And, yes, there's room for more. But not right now....BECAUSE IT'S MY SISTER'S TURN!!!!!!! I'm sure you have all figured it out by now but we couldn't officially say anything until today....after her first doctor's appointment. So, around Valentine's Day, I will be an aunt again...holding a sweet little one in my arms!

Sweet Tiny Reece

Everyone wants it to be a girl and everyone has their own reasons. My reason is selfish...so Reece has a playmate. If it's a boy, she will still have a playmate but Griffin and Peyton have each other so we need another girl. And I need somewhere for all these cute girly things to go!

But, when everyone got to the office this morning....we ALLLLLL had on blue! How did that happen? (for those of you who don't already know, Allison and I work together) Anyway, be it a girl or a boy, this little one is coming into a family with a ton of love waiting on it!

Update-I just realized that it sounded kind of funny saying that Reece needs a girl playmate and I already have a sweet baby niece,Elaina. I absolutely have not forgotten about her...it's just that Allison and I are together ALL THE TIME so this baby will be around Reece all the time too!

xoxo

Clueless

Well since we are apparently giving clues...here is MINE!

xoxo

Happy Not Me! Monday!

That's right folks! I fell off the Not Me! Mondaying band wagon...but I am SO back! Head on over to Mckmama's blog to see how you can join in on the fun! She hasn't posted just yet, but give her some time, it's NOT like she has many small children to take care of that are priority...I so don't know anything about many small children! hee hee!

Speaking of my babies....this weekend I did not go through all the boys' toys and get rid of eight, that's right eight, bags full of toys! What kind of mother would I be getting rid of those sweet boys things???? I'm so NOT planning a room makeover for them anytime soon and I am so not going to blog about it along the way! And since I didn't do any of that I surely did not bribe Master P that if he will keep said room clean "Dad and I will TALK about getting a Guinea Pig". Seriously people, WHAT am I thinking???? Do I not have enough to take care of???

Last night, after a breathing treatment, Zyrtec and lots of love, I did not resort to giving my sweet Reece Tylenol because she was just plain miserable and could not sleep for coughing. The Tylenol did NOT do the trick and she did NOT sleep for FIVE straight hours!!! That's huge people!!!!!!! And I do not feel like a brand new momma today after all that sleep!

This morning while getting dressed I realized Griffin had moved my brush from our bathroom to his bathroom.......and when I walked in there to fetch it......I so DID NOT see his underwear from the day before HANGING ON THE AIR FRESHENER! He would never do that!

Last Friday my sister and I absolutely positively DID NOT call Celebrations Bakery on our way there and order two strawberry cupcakes......and we didn't sit in the parking lot and lick the icing off of them before we ate that yumminess! Oh heavens!

Last, but not least, I have not been keeping a secret from my bloggy friends!!! That is NOT the reason I have not posted since last Monday! The big reveal will be sometime this week so stay tuned! And, no, I am not pregnant...at least not to my knowledge at this time. But don't you think we need justonemorebaby???!!!

xoxo

Giving Back

As you can imagine with two children in daycare we do not have much money for giving back/donating. In fact I will straight up tell you that our daycare bill is $1000 per month! Yikes, I know! (That is the ONLY reason I am excited about Peyton starting Kindergarten!) I have found a few ways to give back without necessarily spending money.

The biggest thing I do is collect box tops for Griffin and now Peyton's school. The school gets 10 cents per box top. Sometimes products will have up to three box tops on them. That is 30 cents of your purchase going straight to the school! Since 2002 the school has earned $20,161 just from box tops! Last year they earned $2903. A little bit can go a long way and you are just cutting the tops of boxes! Go here for a list of products that have the tops. And, if you don't have a child in school, I am sure that there is a local school around you that would LOVE to have them or send them to me! No excuses people, NONE! I have friends that give them to me all the time! Now scurry off to your pantry, I'm sure you have about 10-15 in there that you don't even know about!Here are my tops I have collected over the past few months....

Uh-huh, that's $10.20!

The other thing I am about to start doing is Tide Loads of Hope. Tide will donate 10 cents of every purchase to the program which basically goes to wherever disasters are and does laundry for people in need....like during hurricanes and such. Be sure to buy the yellow cap Tide! I hope this one works out for us, the hubby's skin is very sensitive to change. I'm hoping since we already use Tide(just not yellow cap), it'll be fine!
xoxo

I'll blame it on the President!

Nope, this is not a political post! I watched the NBC Special last night "The Obama White House". It was really interesting and if you missed it, part 2 airs tonight. It was just kind of the day to days of the White House staff and the President. Towards the end of the show, the President "escapes" and has a run to.....FIVE GUYS! I've been staying the heck away from that place for about 2 months now...so proud of myself! Then as soon as I saw him take a bite of his Little Cheeseburger....my mouth started to water! Man oh man! I need one of those right now! So, today, I will fall off the band wagon and eat there.....and blame it on Mr. President!

P.S. He didn't eat ketchup on his fries..so he obviously missed the memo on putting malt vinager in your ketchup there....maybe I should email him!

Oh and one more thing(I just can't shut up today!)....if you watch The Bachelorette you must go to I Hate Green Beans...this girl is so funny!
xoxo

We're Back!

We had so much fun! And, yes, we're trying to figure out when we can go back! Once a month for the year, THAT is the plan!

Here is a little run down for you! With pics of course! Have you figured out that I lurve taking pictures?

I left work around 11:00 on Friday and ran home to pick up Josh and Griffin and finish up packing. My motherly instinct said get the thermometer and some Tylenol. I ignored. We loaded up and headed to pick up Peyton and Reece. Once we had them in tow, we headed south! I drove so the hubby could sleep--he had to work the night before. Lucky for me, all the kids fell asleep too. Ahhh, quiet time to myself. It was great...until my cell phone rang. It was my sister, telling me that she did not get pregnant last month and that the stupid nurse seemed to believe that she didn't ovulate either. That quiet time turned into my worst enemy once I was off the phone with her. I didn't know anything to make her better. I am a fixer. And I can't fix things for her...that really makes me mad! I can not do anything or say anything to make her feel better. I cried. And HEAVEN FORBID I accidentally get pregnant while she is trying so hard. It wouldn't be an accident, it would be a blessing--any child is a blessing, but you get my drift! Anywho, after I got over that, we were smoothe sailing again! We arrived at the house around 4:30, flipped on the hot water heater and the water and by 5:00 we were on the beach!

We stayed on the beach all day Saturday. By that night we could tell that Peyton wasn't himself. We took the kids to a park down the street that has a really cool playground and a pier that you can fish from. He was just sitting around, not really doing anything. We thought he was just tired, until 1:30am Sunday morning rolled around! Remember that motherly instinct telling me to grab the Tylenol and thermomter? I should have listened! He woke up saying that his neck was hurting. I felt his head and he was burning up! Josh jumped out of bed and ran to the drug store to grab a thermometer and some Tylenol. Baby boy's temp was 102. Ughh. His neck was hurting and I was paranoid about meningitis. I know, I know.

The next morning--really the same morning, technically--he was feeling much better and wanted to go back to the beach, so off we went! Finally around 2:00 we decided that we better head back to the house and clean up because we needed to be on the road by 4:00 because Officer Josh had to go to work!

I took Peyton to the doctor yesterday morning and he has a sinus infection and an infection in one of his lymph nodes.

Basically, that's it in a nutshell!

What do you do when your daughter refuses to take a pic with you?

Throw her in the air a few times, she'll forget she was being stuck up!

Then, get some sugar!!!!

And she still didn't look!! ha!

My three boys fishing....

I wanted to take pics, she wanted to do this....

They were not into taking pictures that day.....

The love of my life!!!

Sweet G!

Pey getting the heck away from Griff...

She dug a hole!!

See that little curved line thing...that's a fish in a sand bucket!

So cute!

xoxo