Thursday, March 31, 2011

Phases

I often go in and out of different phases. I sort of have an excessive personality. When I like or do something, I really DO it! I look back on some of these with fond memories and some I look back and shake my head. What was I thinking?
Some of the phases I've been through are:

Scrapbooking - I made Gavin THREE huge books in his first year of life

Blogging - I used to blog about every little thing, now I'm lucky if I blog at all

Photography - I can't tell you how many times I've dressed up my kids to take shots of them at home. Glad that's over. Although, I do wish I took more pics these days.

Animal Crossing - Gavin got the game Animal Crossing for the wii last year. Slightly addicting, okay REALLY addicting. We played a lot. Again, glad that's over with.

American Idol - used to watch this show every single week, twice a week. I gave it up a few years ago. It was just too much with the kids. I was always shushing everyone and frustrated if I couldn't hear every last word. Can you say "Pathetic?"

Good Will Shopping - I still like to thrift, but I don't do it as often. Probably has something to do with our two story shop with no elevators. Not very stroller friendly if you ask me. While I love a great bargain, I really just brought home a ton of junk that I didn't need.

Some phases (obsessions?) that I am going through right now are - crocheting, making bread in the bread machine (yummo), washing all my clothes in Downy(the pink cap!) and my newest addition is minimalist living (more to come on this).

What phases have you gone through?

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Reading

Gavin is doing really well with reading. We finally finished the book "teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons." I quickly whipped up this cake to celebrate! I know it looks terrible, but I don't care, Gavin loved it!

He does not, however, love to read. He dreads it. It is such a chore for him. He gets discouraged because he thinks he should be reading as well as I do. Ryan gave him some BIG motivation by telling him that if he reads 100 books he will buy him a DS. We are at number 41, but it is kind of miserable. It's getting better, the more he reads the better he gets. I just don't know why he hates it so much . . .
Any tips, homeschool moms?

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Back to life, back to reality!

Ever since Chase was born, (okay, ever since I was about six months preggo with Chase) my wonderful and selfless husband has been doing the grocery shopping for our family. I know, I know. I hang my head in shame. He also does a lot of the laundry and always helps me cook dinner.

Anyway, now that you know I am a terrible wife/housekeeper, here is what this post is really about . . .
Ryan is doing another interim role for Starbucks. He no longer has one store, he has 13 stores (13 STORES!!!) to run for the next 10 weeks. If he does well, the job could be his. So, I figured it's about time I take the grocery shopping back and relieve him of this chore. I do have to say, he never once complained about it and didn't even ask me to start doing it. I'm pretty sure he would have happily continued to do it for me. But, I want him to be able to relax when he gets home and not have to go on the weekends. So, I am in the process of coming up with a list of 30 meals, complete with all ingredients listed. That way, I can pick out the meals I want for the week and head to the grocery. Sounds easy enough, right?

Not so fast!

I am having trouble coming up with 30 meals. Truth be told I think we rotate through the same 7-10 meals each week. Ewww. I'm in a huge rut.

This is the part where you all come in! Please post your favorite (easy-ish) meal for me so I can add it to my list. Once the list is completed, I'll post it for ya'll and you can copy it for your own enjoyment! You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours.

Thanks blogger bud's. I KNOW you'll come through for me. If not, I'll just have to hunt you down on facebook. :)

Friday, March 18, 2011

Charlotte

One Crazy Girl

Our late talker has now become our excessive talker. She talkes all the time. Possibly, she talks more than her brother - who also never stops talking. It's not very quiet at our house!

Charlotte does not love going to bed. She puts up a little fight every once in awhile with the hopes of staying up. Sometimes, I am just so tired that I just give her what she wants. The other night as I put her to bed and this is what the scene looked like:
She wanted to wear undies to bed but I insisted she wear a diaper (she hasn't woken up dry once). So we compromised a bit. She had on her diaper, her way too small Elmo jams and some undies over top of them. It was SO funny. Gavin was cracking up when he saw it in the morning.
Also in her bed were her standard items - her blankie, a tissue, her small pillow, her pillow pet, Pooh Bear, Minnie Mouse, her baby doll and a Curious George book. She never goes to bed without these items. This night however, we were adding things to the list - another C.G. book, another baby doll, several outfit changes for the baby dolls (complete with accessories) and a regular sized pillow. All that in a tiny little toddler bed. It was worth it though. Ryan and I got a good laugh out of it all, especially the undies!

Another great thing about Charlotte is that she will only wear 100% cotton. This girl loves to be comfortable. I have yet to wrangle her into a dress for church. She loves the way they look on the hanger, and will often choose a dress. Once it's on however, she HATES the way it feels and looks. She's a pants kind of a girl! Which is okay with me. I can't even tell you the last time I wore a skirt/dress - maybe last Easter?

She is one crazy kid and I love her more than words can say!!!