New SCHOOL Year Resolutions

What a week! It was the first week of Savannah's school and it has been a crazy one! Here she is after school Tuesday. It's the first year they are wearing uniforms and I wasn't so sure but I am really starting to love them!

I started writing this post called New SCHOOL year Resolutions about how we were going to stay on track, be super organized and be ON TIME --- I don't know how many times I checked Savannah in last year, but I'm pretty sure it was circled on her report card. I blame having

1. A hospital stay the first week.
2. a new baby the third week
3. Aforementioned baby in the NICU for a month
4. getting used to 2 babies in the morning trying to help Savannah get ready for school.

I can't really blame that anymore but it looks like the fates are giving me other excuses.
Day 1, Monday, was perfect. She had a great day and loved it! Day 2 we were all loaded up(see this post.) crank the Truck and... nothing. It's dead. The battery is dead! I have another car, a Lincoln LS that we are trying to sell because my fam has outgrown it. I try not to drive it much because we will get it dirty but yay for me having it this week! So just like in the post you went back and read ;) we change out carseats, go find keys, get ready to take Lincoln :( only we have to drive through the median and out the neighbors driveway to get my car-which is parked ahead of the Expedition --out of the driveway. make sense? That would still be OK if my neighbor didn't park her car right where I would need to get out while she went inside to get something. It's her driveway I get it. But not good timing. So on this 2nd day of school I am already checking Savannah in.
I am awesome though and didn't want to bother my husband. So I used my car and,for the 1st time, Jumped the truck off!!! Then went to Sears and got a new battery installed. Ready for the next day! Day 3, the next day... Kids all loaded up, ready Savannah's Stuff all together. We get just in front of the house and I hear the unmistakable sound of a flat tire bumping along. NO WAY! yes way. I get the truck where it needs to be and do the now customary switcharoo. Takes forever and you guessed it, I checked her in again. She even got fussed at :(
My husband has a friend who is a truck mechanic for a large trucking company and he was nice enough to stop by and fill up the tire between jobs. Thanks!!!
So we're all set now. We run errands on Wed and go to church and are ready to head out again this morning. I crank that truck early, check the tires, get all loaded and What's that noise? Emergency vehicles coming my way? (Maybe an escort to school? I deserve it.) Ambulance, Firetruck, police all stop at the end of my driveway for the house accross the street. No I am not joking. "Excuse me? sir? please? I know you are a little busy but...you see we have been late for school already and..." They move to let me out but want to ask questions about who lives there because no one is answering. (The dude's in a nursing home). I Squeeze out between the fire rescue truck and the lincoln (parked on the street just in case :) and they start waving at me. Oh No I am curious how they got a call to a vacant house, but I have to go! I wave back "No more questions right now" and head to school. I get a lot of honks but I was on my phone with Pirt and assumed they were fussing about that. Shortly I drop Savannah off and she has forgotten her lunchbox. UGH! As I pull up at the stop sign a mom stops me and tells me there is a lunchbox on my bumper. Ha! You know that is why the police were waving and everyone was honking. haha. I was the girl in the minivan commercial with the diaperbag on her van. hahahaha
Just for effect, here is a sample picture:

Now I am not really a believer in fate but seriously this afternoon when I loaded up the babies in that freakin truck again..guess what.. It wouldn't freakin crank! Are you kidding me? Have you seen a carpool line? Do you know the mad women that volunteer to stand out in the hot sun and deliver you your children safely? Do you know the looks you get when you are the last person there for pick-up???? This year better get better!
I am ready to go finish the paperwork I have put off until now. Savannah filled out a lot of it but I must do the rest. peace.

grab and go; a quick trip

I love my kiddos. I love being their mom. They are precious. Here is a picture to show how precious they are:





(do you know how hard it is to get small kids to take a picture and actually get a decent one out of 50 shots?)









NOW that being said. I need a can of crescent rolls. That's it. One can. They are at the grocery store. So easy to find and so convenient. However, I can't just go. I want to put on my jeans, throw on a hat, grab my keys and go for a quick trip. But Mom's of little ones can't do that. I would have to check diapers, dress baby, feed baby check inventory of diaper bag --- x2.


yes this stuff gets done during the day anyway, but not all in one swoop to go get a crescent roll. And you have to do all this for 2 reasons:

1. Your trip for crescent rolls will turn into a "squeeze as many errands in as possible" trip.


2. There is no way you do all that work just for a can of crescent rolls. You will make a list since you are going to be "out" and it's such a big deal. Then might as well knock out anything else because once you are back home you aren't going to want to do it again for a couple days. Sometimes in the mornings when I get back from taking Savannah to school I sit in the driveway and do a runthrough.

My head: Anything I need? I could leave them in their seats (with AC, duh) and run in and grab the diaperbag and a few things since they are already in there because once I get them unloaded I will not want to load them back up and get all prepared. Which is where I am right now, needing crescent rolls and not wanting the hassle. Just grab and go; a quick trip.

P.S. some of us do have awesome family/friends that will come over and sit with the babes so we can do errands misery-free. For me it is usually my MIL---Thank you Deb!

Lunch Ideas?

We have the hardest time thinking of new lunch ideas. And my family complains when they feel like they eat the same thing everyday. They are they same way about dinner :/
Savannah and I decided she should take her lunch this year instead of buying at school. I can still put money on her account for those days we are running late or she leaves her lunch in the car, etc. There will be many of those. However, for the most part we are doing it at home. So I am making menus. Not for everyday really. Just ideas in general. I love the idea of pre-packaged items; whether we stay up and do it or we buy it that way, it is a must! But NOT read NOT lunchables. Those are OK for Sara Faith but Savannah is like "Where is the rest?"


Now I usually compare prices so as not to spend way more on something that could easily just be made/devided up by us. For example, those crustable sandwiches are very good, but a little costly. And we pretty much got the sandwich thing down. In fact, because of a great idea from a friend of mine, Jane, who packs lunch for 3 kids, herself and her husband (Now those are the people you don't turn down advice from!), we make several sanwiches and freeze them. I don't know about mayo because her fam, nor my hubby like it and Savannah doesn't really care. So we just do mustard or pb&j.

We go shopping for Publix BOGO on bread. (on most things actually) I really like the pita flat bread but we use wheat too. It just wasn't on sale this week ;) We just go shopping and on Sunday night all 3 of us make a ton to last. Well, sometimes my husband helps but he goes to bed early. I believe Jane and her fam make their sandwiches for the whole month. We pack bags of carrots, trailmix, grapes, and apple slices (love the core slicer!) That little packet is ranch dip for the carrots. Otherwise there will be wasted carrots. Sad but true. Usually we have randoms things of ranch and honey mustard from like chik-fil-A or Arby's but not today. The pre-packaged Craisins and raisons are not anymore expensive so I just buy those. And I love those big bags of individual chips. She doesn't take them everyday but when they do, they will have choices. I am not a health nut so it doesn't bother me but at least I'm not sending her with a coke, right? I like to make myself feel better. Anywhoo.. another Lisa P. approved lunch is tacos. Sometimes we do taco Sunday from Taco Bell. SO? Savannah heats them up in the morning wraps them in tinfoil and they are perfect at lunch. You can see Jello in the pic and I really like to make the sugar-free kind. One of the few sugar-free deserts that really do tastes good --so take advantage you know? But I need to get some better plastic bowl/lids first. See the pb&j? She likes me to cut it but MY child likes the crust. So it stays. Some times I use cookie cutters to be fun and give the ends to the babies. They loves it!

I almost for about the pickles. My fam eats these a lot. I asked her if it made her lunch smell but she says no. so OK!

This little soup cup is awesome! When it starts getting cold we are some soup makin' people! Taco soup, enchilada soup, Chicken n dumplings, vege soup--- you get it. Heat the leftovers really hot in the morning and by lunch it is perfectly warm :) Throw in some crackers and a bottle water mostly froozen with a pack of crystal light. But of coarse plain is good too. These are what we have so far. I am trying to keep a better inventory than I did last year -- which was why we ended up with more bought school lunches. New school year = new school year resolutions hmmm?
What are your lunch ideas? healthy? quick? cheap? whatev!

new sig

Look at this cool new signature I got :) go here if you would like one... She walks you through all the steps. It's so easy and so very awesoem. I've been wanting one.....

kid-proofing.

Most Adults can't open the cabinets at my house. When Sara Faith was born, Savannah was 6 so nothing was baby-proofed. But we didn't even think about it again until SF was moving around. Then the husband went a little overboard (as with everything) and proofed EVERYTHING. When it is time for us to move I don't know what we will do with all this. SF got to where she would open and shut the hall door *SO annoying! So he gets the baby-proof handle. Now no one could open it so we ended up having to take the whole doorknob off!

I don't even remember what all we got, but it was a lot! I guess your typical stuff is

1. cabinet locks,
2. those door handle things,
3. plug covers,
4. and of coarse the potty lock.

Really I have never seen anyone with one of those. We just got in a good habit of shutting the door. I love the scene from Baby Mama where Amy Poehler pees in the sink

We have had no major mishaps but we are NOT the standard for anything parental. Well, actually, this one time... hahaha

Savannah was taking piano lessons so that would be 4 years ago :( when she was in K4. She had this keyboard in the dining room for practicing. I was making dinner and she said it stopped working. The plug was bad about falling out so I told her it probably fell out but hold on and I'll fix it. Savannah doesn't hold on. Even now. She seems to miss those words. Anyways there was a flash, pop and the power is out. Savannah screams "Mom! That plug just took a BLUE picture of me!

I'm not saying don't baby-proof. Just parents (new ones) get over zealous about it. And that's OK. It's all super important!

But I think equally as important is --- babyproofing your things. so they are safe from baby!

Seriously, everything we own pretty much has no value except for the function it provides. Maybe yardsale quality now. SF just this morning brought me the letter 'I from my laptop. It popped right back in place but is a little crooked. I can't go through everything but I am so glad my couch is not white! Kids can be a little sneaky so I learned about most of it when we were analyzing the house top-to-bottom because we were getting ready to list it to sell. Coloring behind doors. Savannah's grafiti on the windowsil behind her bed. (which is still there)

It is hard to read but says "SavannahILov" She used to write that all the time in K'garten. Or she would write "MomILov" Weird, but sweet therefore still there.

They look so innocent But the little one is the worst. We usually call her "The Little Destroyer!" or lately "Stinkerbell" which is unrelated but too cute :)

No-Go BlogHer Blog Hop

I know about the BlogHer convention going on from the news actually and have seen it on a couple blogs. I think it is a great idea but I'm like most people. Not going. So this is a cool idea to see other bloggers. The No-Go BlogHer Blog Hop. Want to join? Just click that badge up top and answer the following questions:I'm ready to start reading them now!

When did you start blogging?
Oct 8, 2008 was my first post

Why did you start blogging?
When I would update my status on Facebook everyone would say "you're so funny, you should write a blog. But then I felt pressure and wouldn't post any status' for a bit. Mostly it was posts about funny things Savannah said. Then My mom was like I hope you are documenting these things somewhere other than facebook because one day you will want to remember it." Thus, I created my little blog.

What is one thing you are going to do this week that is WAY cooler than going to BlogHer? The obvious answer is taking sweet Savannah for her first week of third grade! The not so obvious? Starting back at the gym Monday morning for the first time since the summer. I have an age milestone in Sept and I'm not saying which one. But it is goood motivation!

Share a post that you think says a lot about you or is your favorite. (share the link in YOUR post so we all can see) This will be hard!
I don't know that I have a post I feel describes me but I have 2 I want to share. Is that against the rules????
This one shows a major event in our household that happened during my blogging hiatas. It explains what my fam is dealing with right now.

This is a little more light-hearted and shows the craziness that resides in our household. crack me up!


Thank you so much if you came from there to read here! I welcome any comments!

Let's talk about Boobs.

I warned you about the subject so it's your fault if you're offended or a grossed-out relative. Just know that.

Wednesday I ran so many errands with my girls. So many. The kind that put you in a bad mood and you say NO to everything your kids ask you without really listening to the questions. Not to mention the temps were in the 100s. This was earlier in the day and when I got home I go straight to take a shower--So sweattty!! gross! and Savannah had her 3rd grade orientation that night. I look in the mirror and my cute pink shirt had.. a.. oreo handprint right on the boob. If you have kids there will be many moments like this. Accept it . I have. I remember giving her that bribe cookie 3 stores before that moment and it explained a lot of stares that I credited to my cute pink shirt :(

So by the afternoon I have been chasing kids and the dog and tripping over messes, burning dinner.. you know.. my life. I realize I am running late as I crack open the diet coke and rush to my vanity to blow-dry. I try to drink while doing this and it didn't work out too well. Of coarse I was wearing a white shirt and might be kicked out of the PTA for the "design" the coke left on my chest.

change, turn around, hear a scream and a cry... diet coke is missing.

SF has apparently taken it while I was changing and now she has spilled the whole thing down her freshly washed and ironed (I never do that!) outfit. And it's time to go. I drop her and a change of clothes at my Mom's and S and I head to school.

After church that night I am talking to a friend and my toddler wants to roll on the rug and I don't so I am holding her, she is crying and pulling my shirt WAY down. I didn't even realize it until my friend said "Oh, My Will does that all the time." If she is reading I apologize. That is quite an eyefull.

I will say after children I just don't get embarrassed anymore. I was the most modest kid EVER! I couldn't change in front of my sisters. One of which preferred to walk around in her skivies. I don't think she ever used her door. It was your problem if you had a problem with that. And I usually did. In college I used to drive home at lunch to go to the bathroom. In highschool I couldn't but I held it! Then something happened. I had a baby. And another. And another. One day I want my bathroom time back. One day I will get to go potty alone. And take a shower alone. I JUST know it.

I have talked enough about that. Almost. When I was a teen I had a regular babysitting job at my neighbors. I loved their girls and will always remember them and that time with them. One day I was rolling around on the floor with Gina and she looked at my boobs and said "Why do you got those big bones?" ha!!!!! I was quite blessed and her mom was admittedly F-L-A-T (even though her hubs was a plastic surgeon) so when I laughed and told her about it she said it must have really been confusing for her.. Then she said during a trip to the grocery store she had on a padded bra and noticed people staring so she looked down to find Gina double palming and squeezing them! She had no idea. Love it.

Hey, I ran out of walls, Can I paint at your house?

Our friends Manny and Miranda are having a baby and it's a boy! Yay! They already have a precious little girl Ali and now they are getting ready for Kaden. (he is coming soon!)

How gorgeous is this girl!?!?! Just think how cute little Kaden will be :)

I offered to help decorate the baby's room because I have a sick obsession with anything design --not that I'm good but I like it anyways-- Miranda said I could and I am so excited! Project..

Her sister is hand-making the bedding and Miranda is headed to her family's in TN this weekend and will bring back the material for the bedding. I kinda already have a color in mind so I hope it matches or her sister will have to redo the whole thing and I would hate that! haha of coarse I'm kidding but I DO love this color.

It's called Coventry Gray. Isn't it gorg? I hope it shows well here. I will have to find a reason to use it in my house although I have no blank walls left. FYI if every room in your home is a different color, don't get rid of your paint. Because when it's time to do touch-ups, it sucks to have to buy every color again!

I can't wait to get started and mostly can't wait to see Kaden!

don't text or call :(

And Sara faith decided my phone should go swimming too. Now it will be bathing in rice all night/day. Thank goodness for email and facebook!

pool time steals my functionality.

We went swimming yesterday and today -proof:
see, I haven't been a total no-fun-mom this summer.


























It's usually way too busy around here for that but...sigh... Savannah's school starts back Monday so we are trying to make the most of it.



Sara Faith was so funny! She wanted to get dunked over and over. here you see. sorry about centering and the stupid water drop right in her face the whole time that I knew nothing about. geez! but you can't redo this masterpiece!

Oh and listen to this:

We didn't get home until after 7 last night. I was tired and the battery in the Expedition was D-E-A-D so my husband jumped it off but not until about 9:30. He says to leave it running for 10 minutes and off to bed he goes. No prob, I can watch a little TV, maybe clean the kitchen...(I didn't) while I wait. I was so exhausted and at 3:30am when SF wakes up crying (screaming!) for Apple juice and Mommy's bed. She got the juice but we are really sticking to it about her not sleeping with us. She has her own twin bed and we put a rail on the other side of Savannah's dbl bed so she can choose. But she always points to MY bed and says "Saaa Sais bed" nope..not giving in!

ANYWAYZ, she is screaming so I take her outside where she can't wake up the whole family and I find...... the truck still running. yep, I forgot. My husband has only said a few words to me all day. Is it OK if I blame it on being tired when what I'm tired from is a long no-stress day at the pool?