FREE!!

As of around 4:00 today I have been free of children! My wonderful family took my kids tonight so I can run errands early in the morning. I actually got to watch my shows in peace tonight. Sunday night is my night. Charmed, Desperate Housewives and Grey's Anatomy all in a row. The perfect night:) As happy as I am to get some time to myself I actually miss my kids. I know they are having a good time so I am going to make sure I do too.

End of an Era

Well...It is the end of an era for me. My favorite TV show "Charmed" is ending after 8 seasons. I am so bummed. At least I know I will always have the episodes on DVD but still....it is a horrible feeling for me. For the past 8 years I looked forward to a new episode weekly. I guess it had to end sometime.

Yesterday I went to KFC. I was craving it. I went to the Drive-Thru and ordered my usual 3 Colonel's Strips Meal with macaroni and cheese and potato wedges. I drove to the side and parked to eat. I realized I didn't get my biscuit. I sat there eating my entire meal contemplating whether or not I should go back and ask for my biscuit. I decided I had to because they are just way too yummy. No problems at all. They happily gave me my biscuit:) Exciting huh?

Rain, rain come again

I think I need to move to Seattle. Seriously. I LOVE rain. I am motivated by it. It makes me happy. I am not a big fan of the sun. Sure it comes in handy on days when we want to go swimming but for the most part I want rain. For some reason I am automatically in a good mood when it starts raining. Well except that one time we were going to the zoo and the rain ruined it. But anyways...I truly believe my house would be cleaner all the time if we lived somewhere it rains all the time.

OK...don't you hate it when you have certain shows you watch every morning and then they change up the programs? I used to watch HGTV everyday. Well I haven't in a while so imagine my surprise when I turned it on this morning and my usual shows weren't on. I really wanted to watch "Country Style". I guess that is what I get for neglecting my HGTV for so long. Well I am off to clean!

Edited to add: I am losing my mind. My show did come on. It wasn't time for it this morning when I thought it just wasn't on.LOL. I really am losing brain cells with this pregnancy.

Being a parent

I was thinking today about things I have learned from being a parent.
1. Always have a well stocked medicine cabinet. Everything from band-aids to Benadryl.
2. The bathroom has great lighting for reading a magazine in quiet.
3. A day when you get to take a 5 minute shower IS a good day.
4. Food is still edible after falling on the floor.
5. You can never have enough cleaning products.

Motivation

OK...I am typing my to-do list up for motivation this morning. When I am done cleaning I will post some pics.

* Vacuum ENTIRE house
* laundry(at least 5 loads)
* clean in girls room
* kitchen
*dining room
* bake brownies
* living room

One day at a time

Today we didn't really do that much. Went to visit the in-laws and then I went grocery shopping. The highlight of my day is that Super Nanny is coming on in 20 minutes! I know. I'm a dork but I am ok with that. The house is a mess again. I cleaned like a mad woman yesterday and it is already in shambles tonight. I have got to get more organized.

I want to be one of those moms who has everything down. All the way from a weekly menu plan to daily activities with the kids. I am SOOOOO far from that right now it's not even funny.

How ironic

Isn't it ironic that the one day I am in a cleaning frenzy and actually getting things done my vacuum cleaner breaks on me AGAIN. I was in the girls room vacuuming and it started acting up again. I think something is stuck in it but I can't see it or reach it. Figures.

I've been in hiding

When I was about 12 I wanted to be a chef. I was a pretty good cook for my age. When I got older I started hating to cook. I still hold that I hate to cook but anyways...I made a homeade lasagna one day for a family dinner at our house with the inlaws. My father-in-law still goes on about it. He tells me now he knows I can cook. And I can. I am quickly discovering just how good I really am. Tonight I made pan fried chicken. My first try. Not too shabby. My kids threw their entire dinner on the floor but they pretty much do that with any meal. So there you have it. I am NOT the ignorant woman in the kitchen that I am sure so many thought I was. I'm coming out of hiding. Now my hubby is going to expect a good cooked meal every night. UGGGGGGG!!!!

I got some cleaning done today and.....are you ready for this? I scrapped a whole page!!!!! YEAH FOR ME!! Tonight I plan on folding some laundry and scrapping some more. Finally after a month of not getting to play with my adhesive, pens, eyelets, patterned paper and so much more I am back in the game.

Surprise for me!!

OK..so I don't have a cropping program on my comp. and you can see my thumb and the wall in the pic but I still had to share. My hubby went out with his bro last night for some guy bonding time. He came home and told me he brought me a surprise. My favorite artisit is Amy Brown. I LOVE her work. Well he found a shop yesterday that carried a bunch of her stuff along with other fairy prints, etc.

He was going to buy me an Amy Brown print but then he saw this one done by another artist. He thought I would love that she is a pregnant fairy and so he got me this one instead. I LOVE it:) The best part about it is that it is going to match all my new scrapping storage boxes and tins perfectly when I get my space redone. I was so happy last night. It was just what I needed after a long day. I still can't believe that he picked that one. He said he left the store and said he would be back but when he got back they were closing early but he convinced the sales woman to let him come back in and buy it:) Now I have something really special to remember my last pregnancy. I can't wait to frame it.

I am declaring today cleaning day. I know..I say it all the time but today I REALLY mean it. The sooner I get the house in order the sooner I can enjoy life. I did get a lot done yesterday but I still have a ton of stuff that needs to be worked on. Wish me luck!!

"But it was calling my name honey"

We were out of milk today so I told my hubby I was running to the store to get some. We have this little store pretty close that we can do quick runs for milk and simple things. I informed him I would be going there to get milk. Now it has been a very trying day and so I couldn't help myself when I drove right past it straight into McDonalds parking lot. I got a hot fudge sundae and enjoyed it while sitting in my car with no kids, no hubby, no distractions. It was wonderful. I just forgot that DH had a ton of things he needed to do when I got back. I already had my story figured out when he asked what took me so long. I was simply going to reply:

"But it was calling my name honey."

Luckily for me he didn't even notice the extra 15 minutes it took me to get back. I got the milk and came home. But hey..I deserve it right. I am beyond frazzled. I feel like everyday that goes by when I should be making progress with cleaning and so much more that I am actually being set BACK. It is a truly sinking feeling. Of course it could also be hormones right?

Speaking of all things wonderful that come with pregnancy....What is up with me being so freaking thirsty all the time? I swear I could drink 18 bottles of water and still feel like I hadn't had a drink all day. It is really getting annoying.

My goal tonight is to finish cleaning our bedroom. Laundry and all. I have this great new furniture from IKEA for my scrap space that has been sitting in boxes in my living room since February. I need my new furniture. I am done playing around. It is truly crunch time for me. I just need the motivation. I think the thought of actually scrapping again is motivation enough for me. I NEED my scrapping time back. I must have it.

BIG thanks!!!

First off...A BIG thanks goes out to Shawna and Sheri for making me some awesome blog banners. Shawna: I went to save yours so I could alternate between the 2 of them and I can't seem to pull up the link again. If you see this post can you link it again for me. I loved them both you guys. THANK YOU!!!

Today is already a crappy day. I don't feel like dealing with the house, kids,etc. It's just a bad day already at 9:17 a.m. I can just imagine how well the remainder of the day will go. I have so much to do and everytime I attempt to get anything done the kids mess it up before I can even turn around. I just want to go outside and scream so loud that I make all my neighbors come out of their apartments to see what is going on. I need a vacation. My oldest dd has decided to wine about EVERYTHING. If she lays down and can't get comfortable she screams bloody murder. If she doesn't get her way she scream bloody murder. Right now...can you guess what she is doing? Yep, you're right. She is screaming her head off because she couldn't get her sandal on. I just want to go back to bed and not deal with it today.

Blog Banner

This is the picture I want for my blog banner. I just want it to say: Crazy-life-of-mine in big letters and then under it in smaller letters I want it to say: Just my everyday crazy life with toddlers

If anyone can help me I would be SO grateful:)

So far today

DD has a doctors appt. later on today. So this morning has been crunch time for me. I have already:

* Vacuumed living and dining room

* picked up toys, shoes,etc. from those rooms

* started 2 loads of laundry and put one in dryer

* unloaded dishwasher

* reloaded dishwasher

* swept and mopped kitchen

I am on a roll already:) I still have a ton of stuff to do today but at least we will come home to a clean house this evening.

It looks like we will be having a dinosaur birthday party for my daughter. She is obsessed with Jurassic Park 3. She walked in on it one day and she loved it. I tried to turn it off in time but she saw it. Since then I have heard about that movie everyday. Today she convinced me to let her watch it by telling me it's not scary. She loves it. She keeps asking for more dinosaurs. I can see it now. I will be shopping for a dino party in the near future.

This is what my living room looked like after Easter baskets. It is clean once again:)

Peeps and jelly beans for breakfast

Yesterday morning started with my kids eating Peeps and jelly beans for breakfast. They were so excited when they opened their Easter baskets and naturally they went straight for the candy. It was a great day. We went to my aunt's house and everyone was there. The girls hunted Easter eggs and had a blast. Nothing like 2 toddlers throwing boiled eggs into a basket together. Crack. Crack. Crack.

Today I have some major clean up to do since I have Easter grass all over my living room. Nothing the vacuum cleaner can't handle.

Happy Easter!!

HAPPY EASTER!!!!
Hope everyone has a great one:)

This bunny is done!!!

I just finished my kids Easter baskets. Here they are:)

Cookies!!!!

We finished the cookies. It was not easy trying to control 2 toddlers obsessed with the flour and rolling pin but we got them done. Here they are. These are just a few of them. We made about 16.

Tomorrow is Easter!!

So tomorrow is EASTER!!! Today is a busy day. I have a ton of stuff I need to do.
1. Clean our house

2. Clear memory card in camera so I can take pics tomorrow

3. Make cookies with the girls

4. possibly go to in-laws house to visit since they just got back from their trip

5. Get the girls Easter baskets ready

6. Hang up their dresses ready to go for tomorrow

I have a lot to do. I don't know if I will get to it all but most of it HAS to be done today. I love Easter. It is a beautiful time of year. The kids have a fabulous time hunting down eggs hidden by the Easter bunny and opening their baskets. Plus it is always another opportunity for some fabulous pictures. Yep that's right. It's all about the pictures for me:) I'm only about 500 pics behind in my scrapping so why not add some more? I really need to find the time to sit down and scrap until I fall over. Well gotta go. Too much to be done. Good luck to everyone else out there trying to do a billion things in preparation for tomorrow.

Today's grocery outcome

I didn't do too bad today with our budget. I got everything we needed for under $80. This included:

Pull-Ups
Diapers
wipes
batteries for fire alarms
a weeks worth of groceries

Not too shabby. I'm not too sure what we are going to have for dinner tonight but I do know that we will be cracking into the yummy Watermelon I bought today. I couldn't resist. It just smelled WAY to good. Now I just have to get everything ready for Easter. I promised the girls we would make cookies tomorrow. What was I thinking? That is not going to be easy with 2 toddlers. Wish me luck.

Moving forward

We are moving forward with the decorating process as far as the kids room. My mom found some adorable wallies today at Michaels. She got a pack of HUGE flowers and a pack of smaller flowers and butterflies. I am so excited to get them up and really make their room look brighter. :) Their rug should be in any day now.

I didn't make it to the store today so it looks like tomorrow I will be going shopping. At least it gives me time to make a list tonight. Tomorrow I will post how I did on my budget. I was bad today. I started craving Jack in the Box curly fries so we had that for lunch. More $$$$ I should have saved. Shame on me.

Ready for Fall

It isn't a secret that I absolutely hate summer. The only good thing that comes out of it is swimming. I hate the heat. It's just not for me. I am already wishing it was fall again. When I burn candles in the summer I burn fall scents. My all time fav is Yankee Candle Vanilla Cookie. So to keep me happy I am going to make a list of the top things I love about fall/winter.

* Babies in warm pj's

* kitchen filled with baking smells

* the holidays

* much lower electricity bill

* fall leaves

* the clean, crisp air

There is so much more. I barely get through the summer every year. My girls love playing outside in the pool and I love taking pics of all their activities. That is what helps get me through this time of year.

Ok enough ranting about the seasons. I have to go grocery shopping today. I am really challenging myself to bargain shop and get more for my money. So far I have been doing better but there is still room for improvement. I am going to start cooking meals every night. I hate to cook so this is a challenge for me. We will see how I do.

Pink, pink and more pink??

Right now my whole life is pink. I love it that way. That is why I am hoping and praying for another girl. Don't get me wrong now...I will LOVE a little boy. I really will. But I have always pictured myself a mom to all girls. I was looking online today and found the PERFECT baby girls bedding. I have to have it. With this bedding I can carry any theme I want into the girls room. I really hope I get to buy it!!

Going crazy

I keep looking around the house and wondering how I am going to get everything done before the baby is here. There is a ton of crap to do. I'm not even sure where to start really. My biggest concern is getting the kids room organized and decorated the way I want it. I am turning their closet into their toy storage so it will free up a bunch of space in there. I got this rug to go in there. I had to find something to cover up the entire bottle of V8 Splash that they poured on our tan carpet the other day. I tried everything to get it all out. Not happening. I loved this rug. I have the green/blue one in my living room. Best part about it: It's stain resistant and only $20. It is also pretty big. I can't wait to find out if we are having a boy or girl. I can really start planning then.

So anyways.... I am really going to have to kick myself into gear to get everything done. I hope I can do it. I have to do it. I would just prefer to accomplish everything without losing the rest of my sanity in the process.

Zoo pics

These are just some random pics from our zoo trip.

Shopping day success!!

I am happy to say that I got a ton of stuff for a little money today:)

6.5 lbs. boneless skinless chicken breasts
80 french toast sticks
a HUGE container of Strawberries
32 bottles of Aquafina water
all the girls Easter basket stuff
cheese
bread
snacks
and some more I can't even think of for : DRUMROLL PLEASE......

Less than $50!!!! YEAH ME!!!!

Just to remind myself

Since the past few weeks have been especially trying I wanted to get down the things I am so thankful for. I really am blessed and sometimes I just need to remind myself of these things.

1. my family and friends
2. my dd's hugs, kisses and " I love you's"
3. My dh for supporting our family
4. My huge stash of scrapping supplies:)
5. My girls giggles and smiles

The Zoo and other ramblings

Today we went to the zoo and we had a blast. I can't wait to print out all of the pics from today. I got the most incredible shot of a beautiful turtle underwater in a tank. I turned the flash off, hoped for the best and went for it. It is GORGEOUS!! Hopefully I can post it soon. Our USB port is broken so I have to wait before I can get to a working one. It was a perfect zoo trip.

So I have now realized that I have got to start shopping wiser. I don't pre-plan meals. I don't like to buy stuff that takes a long time to make. I don't like to cook. Basically I spend a fortune on mostly non healthy food. I have to change this. Time to get creative and organized in the kitchen. I'm hoping I can just get in the habit and start cooking dinners more. DH is just going to have to learn to take leftovers to work.

These bites were made for poppin

This week has been a tough one. Kids driving me crazy, housework piling up, you name it. When my friend asked me to come over for pizza today I was all for it. The girls and I got to get out and have some fun. We tried one of the cheesy bites pizzas from Pizza Hut. The verdict: The bites have way too much garlic on them but other than that they are ok. After we ate we spent a good hour blowing up their new little kiddie pool. We couldn't find a pump so we did it all ourselves. Man our jaws hurt by the time we were done. They had a BLAST though. Her dd and my 2 all together. All 3 of them had the best day. It was worth the time it took to blow it up. They spent about 2 hours in there. This was the day we all needed to de-stress.

Major props to Super Nanny

Imagine my shock when DH turned around from his computer to watch parts of "Super Nanny" last night. He even made comments about things we should try with dd. It came as an even bigger shock when this morning our toddler got up way too early and instead of yelling he got up, gave her some more milk, walked her back to her room and comforted her. I was about to have a stroke. It worked! It actually worked. We both stayed calm with her and even though we had to do it several times it still worked!! This is a MAJOR break through for our family because we have been at our breaking point with her for quite some time. Both DH and I are already amazed at how well she is responding to Super Nanny's techniques. So major props to Super Nanny!! Just a few minutes ago she took her sisters toy and so I made her go in the corner. Immediately she started hitting the wall and telling me to leave her alone so I calmly walked over there and put her back in the corner. She got the hint, did her time, and then apologized to her sister. Man that woman knows what she is doing. I guess that is why she has her own T.V show and I am usually stuck here pulling my hair out.

The chocolate incident

Well sure enough this morning my 2.5 yr. old woke up, walked ever so quietly down the hallway into the kitchen, climbed onto a toy and reached up onto the kitchen counter to grab all the chocolate I had to take away from her sister. I didn't even realize what she had done until I opened my eyes just in time to see her running back to her room. I immediately knew she was up to something. I asked her what she had done and she told me " I ate chocolate." My first thought was "Oh $hit!! I asked her if she gave any to her sister and she said yes. I panicked and ran in there but she hadn't given her any. Then tonight I must have overlooked a stash of hers in her room from this morning because she had chocolate on her face. So I ran back in there to find my youngest eating a little piece. I didn't panic. I just calmly went to get the Benadryl just in case. I dosed her up to make absolutely sure she was fine. I read on the box again and it said it may contain peanuts. I think it is ok though since she didn't react. She had to have come in contact with it in their room this morning somehow anyways and she was perfectly fine. So we dodged the bullet this time. Time for our ultra strong, screw in the wall baby gate for the kitchen.

Stupid Peanuts

It is a constant battle to keep dd#2 away from nuts. Just when we think we have it under control another holiday has to come up and ruin it for her. Almost all of the chocolate out there is manufactured on the same equipment as nuts. Today the girls opened their Easter gifts from MIL and FIL since they are going on a trip to England tomorrow. DD was so excited to see her little plastic filled eggs with candy in it. Well unfortunately I had to run into the kitchen and empty everything out into our cookie jar before I could let either one of them have it. I am so afraid dd#1 is going to one day sneak her sister something with nuts in it w/o me knowing. It is not easy knowing that I may one day have to use an Epi-pen on my child. It scares the hell out of me. I know there are children that have a more severe reaction to it than mine does but with every reaction it gets worse. The thought of one day shipping her off to school is terrifying. What if a classmate brings peanut butter to school and dd comes in contact with it?

It just isn't fair. My poor baby can't even eat at Chick-fil-A because they use peanut oil to fry everything. No one in either side of our families has an allergy like this. Hers just developed. I really wish I could have it instead of her. When she gets older and a boyfriend gives her a box of chocoloates for Valentines she is going to have to kindly tell him she can't eat it. I just can't help but worry ALL the time about it.

Victory!!!!!

So I was exhausted by 4:00 yesterday evening. I could barely stand from not getting any sleep the night before. Even my girls were walking around like little Zombies. So I had this idea to put them to bed WAY early and see how it went. Well they layed down happily around 4:20 with no problems. Even dd#1 didn't get up and fight me. The completely zonked out. Guess what time they slept till? DD#1 slept until 6:30 a.m and dd#2 slept until 8:00 a.m. She would have slept longer but her sister finally woke her up. So we all got to catch up on sleep. YIPPEE!!!

The doctor, shopping, lack of sleep and groceries

Yesterday my girls both had well check appointments. It went pretty well except they both had to get shots. Let me tell you that it is NOT easy to keep 2 toddlers entertained in the doctors office while you are waiting. The waiting room was pretty easy because there were other kids they could see, toys and a movie. Once they got us back in the actual room the fun started. All they wanted to do was climb and keep opening the door and running down the hallway. I did survive that though.

So then we go to my inlaws and she has to go pick up my niece for my BIL's visitation. So we decide to go with her. It took us about 1.5 hrs. to get there. Luckily my kids slept on the way there. Well on the way back my MIL decided she wanted to go to an outlet store that was up there. So we took all 3 girls into the store with us. MISTAKE!!!!We had a blast buying tons of stuff and the girls got a ton of stuff too but it is not fun to keep running after a 5 yr. old, 2.5 yr. old and 20 mos. old. We were THOSE people. You know the kind. The ones you come home from the store talking about their bad parenting skills. First my oldest lost a shoe and we couldn't find it. Then she kept running under clothes racks and crawling all over the floor. It was horrible. By the time we got back in the car we wanted to die. So about 4 hrs. and $130 bucks later we got back home and stopped to pick up a quick bite for dinner. We were so tired we just decided to spend the night at my MIL's. That would also prove to be a mistake.

My dd kept me up ALL night long. Every hour or so she would wake up, tell me she was scared, ask for milk and then not want to go back to bed. So I didn't get much sleep. I ended up taking her to Wal-Mart with me today. She was really good there but I was so tired I could barely push the basket. What a weekend already!! I am counting the hours until bedtime.

Oh I almost forgot. The fun on our little trip got even better when my dd and my neice started biting and scratching each other. One would start it and then the other would get mad and try to finish it. Kids!! It is amazing we were still alive when we got back to the house.