194

194 pieces, we're pretty proud of ourselves.This is the one thing I have found that will keep Parker busy and engaged that doesn't involve jumping like a spider monkey from the furniture.
Thanks Santa and family for buying him lots of new Lego sets.

Monday stuff

Oh how I wish my kitchen was this clean all the time...

We had a house showing on Saturday (in the middle of Parker's first basketball game and exchanging a clothes dryer at my mom's- she is upgrading hers so I received her new-old one) that lasted an hour and a half! Seriously. The realtor was pulling into the driveway as I was loading up my dog and dog cage so we could disappear for an hour while nosy people came to look at our house. By the way, she was 15 minutes early! I know because I left Parker's basketball game early to come back and get the dog and cage. Note to realtors, do not come early to showings, people need every minute to get ready for showings!!!

So we went to lunch and came back when the lookers were supposed to be gone and they were still here, for another 30 minutes! Big tall hubby and I parked at different sides of the street to wait for them to get the heck out and they emerged with two small children (hubby says maybe 2-4 years old). Now, let me just tell you, their realtor called to book the showing at 7:30 PM the night before. What do you think I did from 7:35 to 1:30 AM? That's right, cleaned and decluttered my butt off. Then like I said, had to get kids ready for basketball and dryer mania, and get dog and blah blah blah. My poor kids, I had wanted to have a relaxing Friday night of games and a movie, it was Zoe's birthday after all, but no, inconsiderate jerks call to see my house and give me like a minute's notice and THEN do not have the decency to call my realtor to give her feedback. That is the kicker that is making me so mad.

The big meanie heads were here, in my house, for 90 minutes with two small kids doing gosh knows what, and they haven't called my realtor to let her know what they are doing?! How rude. Seriously. I am so tired of this house nonsense. Not to be complaining or griping, but wouldn't you at least let the homeowner's realtor know something? I am convinced they just let their kids play with my kids' stuff while the grown ups sat around and discussed things. This whole episode just ruined my whole weekend. I know it shouldn't but it did. I was emotionally, physically and mentally drained. Ergh! I am glad it is Monday and my house is kind of messy, makes me feel like the whole thing didn't happen.

Don't even get me started on the water company people who just put a note on my door about a leak somewhere that may require them to tear up our yard... by the way, they did not even knock or ring the bell, just left a note! What is wrong with people?!

my menus for this week:

cheese tortellini and spinach stew

spaghetti (we haven't had this for two weeks, I think it is time)

tacos and taco salads

chef salads

turkey rollups and soup

my things to do this week:

hang new curtains for Zoe

drop off Goodwill boxes

finish my last thank you notes (3 or so to go)

sort my coupons, they are a mess!

Happy Birthday to Zoe

My little girl is 8 today.

Holy cow, seriously, 8, I cannot believe it.

Zoe is such a sweetie. She is so smart and talented, I can't imagine what she will be like in a few years.

She thinks she looks like Taylor Swift today. So cute.

It is breaking my heart to see her grow so quickly. When she was born (sunny side up- I might add! Yikes, not fun) her eyes were totally wide open and her arms were spread wide in a perfect cheerleader "v". That is how I picture her, I swear. Or I think of her chubby toddler arms getting a tea party ready for me. So cute. Now I have to deal with her watching teen shows (not allowed) and how to handle boys' attention at school. Ugh, those tea party days went too fast.

Anyway, I am super proud of her and I can't write anymore or I'll be a blubbering mess. She has requested McDondald's for dinner and I am happy to oblige. We will also be visiting Build-a-Bear in a week with one of her friends and celebrating with our family in a couple weeks.

Baby, baby, baby, oooh (sing like Justin Beiber please)

Don't you just love it when babies play with baby dolls? (Is it ok to still call Tanner a baby since he is officially two years old?)

Big hugs for this one, so cute.

The baby dolls are making some serious rounds at my house lately, I'm not sure why. The kids are dragging them out (all 25 of them) and making beds for them, playing doctor, reading them books, watching movies with them and of course taking them in the car everywhere. It is so fun. I thought that most of the baby doll days were done even though Zoe does play with her American Girl stuff. I am thrilled to see them all learning how to be caregivers and more loving.

watchin' my weight Wednesday

Ick!

This is my fringe right after Christmas. I swear it is full of the worst junk on earth. I am so ready for a sugar and salt detox. I tried to be good on the holidays and only eat healthy stuff but the bad stuff just kept finding a way in. I normally do not crave much sugar (or salt) so I am thinking those few times I induldged set off my craving -meter. Is that possible? Kind of like I fell off the wagon or something. So anyway, beginning, today (!) I am writing in my food tracker the emotions I feel when I am eating and hopefully I will find a pattern that will set me up to change some behaviors. (example: I crave sweets around 2:00, is that because I am sleepy and need to move more? hopefully I will find out.) I am proud to say the sweets and any lingering unhealthy stuff are gone, I dumped them all yesterday. Now I need to hit the grocery and restock the good stuff.

Happy Birthday to Tanner, part 2

Well I posted on his actual birthday about my baby turning 2 but I was too frazzled to get any photos up to show everyone. So here today, a couple weeks later, I am sharing with you.

We celebrated on Christmas Eve (his birthday is the 27th) because some of our out-of-town relatives would be here and we thought he's two and he won't really mind. I, however, did not count on having to do so much cooking and cleaning and all the bru-ha-ha that goes along with a party. You'd think I never did this before. Anyway, I was about to drop but we had a sweet party and it was really nice to have everyone hear on Christmas Eve.

Here is his Elmo cake. I am so proud of this one. I used the ball cake mold (from Parker's basketball party) to make this giant head. (When Zoe had an Elmo party, I ordered her cake from the bakery and it was so cute but at least $30 so this time around I decided to get creative.) The night before the party as I was decorating the cake I realized I didn't have a way to make his eyes and nose "pop." So I thought, I'll just get some mini donuts, like munchkins from Dunkin. Well, let me tell you, Dunkin is not open late, despite that guy's claims to be making donuts all day and night. So I found a beer drive thru that was open who had mini Hostess donuts. Why, you ask did I have to go through a drive thru? Because I had on jammie pants, that's why! Yes, I broke one of my cardinal rules, that is to leave the house in my pjs, but seriously, I thought Dunkin Donuts was open all the time and we have one right down the street!!! The guy at the drive thru of course had to comment, "nice pj pants" I swear I wanted to deck him. Trauma aside, I think the eyes and nose looked cute. It was like torture to cut this cake, I felt like Charles Manson or something, poor Elmo.

Tanner was an expert candle blower-outer. We were shocked, we figured he learned this from his big sister and brother. He also could not keep his little hands out of the icing on the cake, we were all stained red from the icing by the end of the night.

He loved opening all his gifts, he took off every last piece of paper and couldn't wait to get his hands on the goods.

I made him a "2" shirt but he didn't really want to pose for me. Don't you like this look on his face? He's like, "seriously mom, fugettaboutit!"

Big brothers and sisters are the best birthday helpers.

This picture is cracking me up. It is impossible to get more than two people to look right (see my half closed eyes!) in a photo and we are absolutely no exception. The thing that is cracking me up is that my big tall hubby is totally bent over and I am standing straight up, we are the same height. Ha. So crazy.

Well, Tanner is showing his true two year old self, by throwing fits in the store, screaming while I am talking on the phone and insisting we watch Elmo every time we turn on the tv. Yep, 2 year olds, gotta love them.

Holiday Recap

Wowzers, that was a couple of crazy two weeks or so... good for you blog ladies who are all up to date, already sharing your photos and stories and talking about resolutions. I applaud you. I don't know what the heck is wrong with me, I am way behind and just trying to take it one moment at a time.

I told myself I would not be stressed and to take it easy, take great pictures, eat and not worry about it, not scream about toys being left ev-er-y-where, not feel guilty about all the food we wasted or trash we accumulated, but none of that happened. I only lost it a couple times and in my defense it was really bad and losing it was really appropriate!

Here are a few Christmas highlights... (I tell myself every year I am going to get some great pictures of the kids but in all the craziness, it never happens!)

Christmas Eve jammies

Cookies for Santa, don't you like Zoe's flags!? The one that says "do not touch unless you are Santa" cracks me up!

Tanner, first thing after seeing all the Santa gifts. His version of "what the he** is all this stuff doing in my house?"

Favorite Gifts:

Zoe and her Zhu Zhu pets

Parker and the ginormous Nerf gun, doesn't he look so tough? Cracking me up.

Tanner liked everything but he likes Parker's drums best of all

Big tall hubby likes his new watch

Max always gets so excited on Christmas morning. He climbs over all the presents like a billy goat until he finds his and then he unwraps it and takes it to the corner and is happy for the rest of the day! It amazes me that he remembers what to do year after year. Animals are so much smarter than we give them credit for!

I got a new camera to keep in my purse. I am excited to have that and hopefully will get lots of good shots in places besides my house!

We also went to the Krohn Conservatory in Cincinnati to check out the holiday displays. If you are ever in the 'Nati, stop by here, it is free and so beautiful. We had a teeny bopper boy take our picture, don't you love how he got our legs and cut off my big tall hubby's head? So funny!

We did not take any photos on New Year's. I know, you are so bummed. But really, we all watched "E.T." in our jammies and then the ball falling, so it wasn't really picture worthy.

I am glad that everyone is going to be on a normal schedule but it was so hard to get out of bed today! Holy cow, I couldn't believe I had to get up and get everyone ready for school again.

My menus for this week:

I really have no clue, because we have been eating so much high calorie, rich food, I am thinking I may have to fast this week (not really) but salads have never sounded better!

My things to do this week:

• get out "regular" decorations (things we put away in December)
• clean out my fridge (throw out the sweets!!!)
• make treats for Zoe to take to school for her birthday (Friday)
• write thank you notes
• store/sort/purge wrapping paper and supplies

Have a great week everyone and Happy New Year!!!