Sticky Toffee Pudding

I have not been watching a lot of tv. I haven't been blogging either, makes you wonder what I have been doing, doesn't it?

Well, since you asked, I've had family in town. I have five brothers and sisters. One lives in Fort Leavenworth (in Kansas), one in South Carolina, one in Michigan, one in Louisville and one in South Bend, about an hour from me. We are nicely sprinkled around the US. So, when one comes to visit, it's a treat and it completely disrupts our lives as we know it, but we like it and that's okay. Some of the family from South Carolina came by from Thursday until today. We had a wonderful weekend of visiting. My parents live about 20 minutes from us and that's where my sister-in-law and her three kids stayed. Since last Sunday (the 9th) we have driven to my mom's 12 times. And in the midst of that, we hosted another garage sale!! We had such a good time visiting with family, we are all SO tired, I woke the kids up from their naps at almost 6:00 PM tonight, that's after trying earlier to wake them--sweet little things became so wore out just playing, what a life! I tried adding pictures, but it would only let me add 12 when I wanted to add 23, so I got frustrated. I'll try again tomorrow.

On Saturday night I finally turned on the television at about 10 pm and started watching a show on The Food Network. It was an ice cream challenge by Haagan Daz. Who could come up with their newest flavor. It was such a good show. It was two hours long, I was too tired to finish it so I "tivo'd" it and finished it last night. If you get the chance, you should watch it, it was really good, it's called "Scoop!." I was most interested in Sticky Toffee Pudding, one of the flavors, I can't stop thinking about it. I want it. Now. sticky. toffee. pudding.

Time

Where does time go? I know everybody has those moments where you look down at your children and can't believe that these walking, talking little humans belong to you. Or, you look up at your face and you can't believe that those wrinkles belong to you. Time goes by so fast, before our eyes. Tonight, I was reading Anna her nighttime story. It was a special book that Daddy had just bought for her. He took Anna and Noah to Wal-Mart tonight to pick up a few items and he bought them books. Anna's book is a Cinderella book. It's big and shiny and beautiful and she loves it. Loves. It.

I was about to read it to her when I honestly saw her life flash before me. I thought, we just brought you home from the hospital. You were so tiny. Now you can go poop on your own, tell me when your knee hurts and tell me that you're in charge with your hands on your hips. How did this happen? Not to mention that she understands flavors and scents and talk about them all of the time. Recently, I was putting a pony tail into her hair, she sits in the bathroom sink and she said, while covering her nose and looking annoyed, "what's the smell?" I said " I don't know. What is that smell?" (I really didn't know) She said "it smells like sandwiches."

And Noah is no exception. This child continues to blow me away with his development. He has changed SO much over the course of the past months. This morning, while eating breakfast, I asked Noah if he was done eating. He said "almost." "Can I have more blueberries?" what?!?! Did you just say almost? and you want more blueberries. Okay, yes. whatever you want. My darling, brilliant beautiful amazing child that was created and born and grew up all of a sudden. Anything you want.

Under arrest

Today was one of those days where you just clean and do laundry and it really doesn't hurt to do it, you don't mind doing it, infact, you secretly enjoy it. Must be the full moon, I almost checked myself into the hospital and God, if you could give me more days like that, I promise to be a better citizen. Although I did all of that work, I still have ALOT more to do, but don't we always? Life seems to be a big circle of works and things to accomplish. Like cleaning the bathrooms, I finally clean the bathroom, then I clean another, and God Bless America if they don't get dirty again. Like the next day.

I did all of that work and I had a Pampered Chef show to prepare for. It was what I thought was my last show, but no such luck. I now have 3 more. I can't turn down the money, so I'll just do it.

On my way to the show, I had a nice visit from a police officer pulling me over. I was a little confused because I was pretty sure I wasn't speeding, but I was on the phone, but as far as I knew, that is still legal, so I was confused. Well, Sergeant Hotterthanhot approached my vehicle, I forgot how to speak and looked at him blankly while blinking on occasion. He told me I had a brake light out. I asked him if he would take his shirt off...oh wait, nope, I didn't, but I wanted to. I stupidly told him I knew, in fact, even stupider, I SHOWED him the replacement bulbs sitting, collecting car dust in my coin tray. He was a little flirty, asking me about my age and pointing out that I was about to hit the big 3-0. (not appreciated, by the way) and he immediately told me that it wasn't a big deal, he wasn't going to give me a ticket or a warning, he just had to take my driver's license and registration and document him pulling me over. I wish I had my camera, I would have taken his picture and said the same thing "for blogging purposes I need to document what has happened tonight, you need to take your shirt off and and I need to take your picture, you understand, right?" It was a great experience. Sergeant Hotterthanhot, thank you for pulling me over. You made my night.

Stars & Stripes Forever

(whoa...two posts in one day.)
So what if my Independence Day post is one week late...better late than never! I'm sharing our Fourth of July pictures. we took the kids to a parade. Once we finally started watching it, Noah was not happy and he was ready to leave. Anna, on the other hand, loved the parade. We accidentally sat at the end of the parade route, so where the parade was supposed to start at 11am, it started at 11:45am and by then all of the performers were tired and well...didn't perform. But, luckily we got to hear 30 minutes of sirens. that was great. (Anna calls sirens "aliens.")

Our fourth was VERY quiet. We went to the parade, had lunch at my Mom's house and then we went home and stayed there all night. We cleaned the garage, mowed the lawn, I mulched, we ate pasta, gave baths and then it was bedtime. Noah, who is turning into his mother, has an incredible fear of fireworks. Terrible...don't even say the word because the kid will go into frenzy running all over the place until he lands in your arms. It's crazy because we were so close to some in June, and he was fine at first and then suddenly he realized he could be scared, so he was....very strange. As a child, I was absolutely terrified when it came to fireworks. TERRIFIED. I would go hysterical when my family would light them off outside. I thought for sure someone would die, I feared them so much. I have one memory in particular, where my Dad was outside lighting fireworks for my five other siblings while I was inside screaming, clinging to my Mom. The funny part is that it was daylight outside and I was still that stinkin' scared.
This year, on the 4th, when it got dark, Anna and I shared a chair and a blanket in our front yard and we watched the fireworks going off in the neighborhood, while Noah slept peacefully. Daddy came out and stood by us. Anna said "Daddy, will you hold my hand," and he did. It was very nice.

Happy to be at the parade!

Happy to be holding an umbrella...not so happy to be at a parade.



Happy with her umbrella, too! (my Mom!)

A woman came by and gave Anna a head piece with ribbons attached to it! She loves it! She still wears it almost every day!

My McDreamies



gotta love parade toys.



My favorite part of the parade.



Anna's favorite part.

My Mcdreamy

Brian made pancakes this morning. They were made after I (finally) had an amazing night's sleep and they were made on a morning where my weight was incredibly low. My Mcdreamy.

Our garage sale went SO well. It went so well, we are doing it again next Saturday. We raised just over $800, we raised a ton of awareness and we recruited an affliliate team. Someone who lives in my little city has a son with lymphoma. They walked last year at the same location as we did, they even remembered us being there, this September we will be walking side by side. I am so excited about this. We all agreed that we were absolutely meant to meet yesterday.

I was so tired yesterday, I took a coma-like nap for about 45 minutes after 4pm. I then showered and we went to my cousin's daughter's graduation party. We have seen this extension of family maybe 2 times in the past five years. It's quite sad, but you know how life can run away from you. This girl is a special girl, I used to babysit her when she was a baby. She has grown up to be beautiful and smart and so kind. She was voted homecoming queen this year, she's just a great girl.
We arrived the same time as my parents and it was a very emotional reunion with this family. We were all so happy to be there. They just built a brand new, massive, beautiful home and had just finished their huge in-ground pool. My cousin's husband works for a liquor distributor, so liquor was in abundance. The coolest thing was that they had a slushy machine (and Olive Garden!). I thought the kids would LOVE slushies! But even better, it was a margarita machine. Oh my heaven, it was beautiful. I am typically not a fan of margaritas, I don't order them when I go to restaurants, but this margarita was divine. (I talked to my cousin and she said it's new from Jose Cuervo...she said her husband had "the guys" over one night, they were playing cards and drinking beer, well someone broke out the margaritas and the group of men tossed their beers aside and shamelessly drank their margaritas. They're THAT good.) I had two and drank them fast. They were strong and so tasty and oh so cold. I had to ask about them, because while drinking them I thought I had to have a margarita now everyday for the rest of my life. If today weren't Sunday, I'd perhaps go buy some, but the law prohibits me from doing so. I guess I'll start my drinking tomorrow.

Between my lack of sleep over the past week and the two margaritas, I was literally in pass out mode all night. I tried to fight it, but I was losing my battle. I brushed my teeth and was in bed by 10pm. A record for me. I watched TV for an hour, rolled over and slept for 10 blissful hours.

Anna Banana

I dedicate this post to my baby girl. Around 11 am this morning, we realized she felt warm, very warm. We took her temperature and it was 105.1. I almost panicked, called the doctor, we put in her tub and it went down to 101. It hung around 102 all day and night. She was very tired today, laid around alot, which is not like her and didn't eat much at all. She also wanted her Mommy to lay down with her all day long. Sweet little thing. Tonight, before bed, her fever was down.

We have one more day until the garage sale. I am sick, but hopefully I'll be 90% tomorrow!
Oh and I hit Lifetime today with Weight Watchers. I don't weigh in until some time in August and I never have to pay for meetings again. I am very proud of this milestone and I am certain I can do this...forever. Thank you to Christy, Penny, Sara, Tracy, Tracey, Jenn, Lara, Lois, my sisters and my Mom for all of your support during my weight loss journey. It has made all of the difference.
Anna is waking up....

Smores--what a treat! Anna and Noah had never had smores before! (or mashmallows) Noah didn't even try the heavenly treat, Anna had a couple of bites, but she was much more interested in her new love affair with the marshallows.



After the smores, we decided to go to the beach. It was the perfect night, warm and calm and I knew the sunset would be incredible. We took the kids to the beach one time last year and Anna loved it. She was very excited to be there once again.

Noah, on the other hand, hated it. Well, to be fair...he hated sand. Once he sat on the blanket and wiped the sand off of him, he was fine, watching the water and the people, he never made a peep, but he was not interested in the water and when he had to walk in the sand again, he was pissed!!



All better.

"I'm so happy!!!" This picture was taken when her shorts were just slightly wet. We didn't put them in bathing suits because we didn't INTEND to go into the water.



wetter...

loving life

She loved that I took a picture of her feet.

even wetter

really wet





okay, at this point I'm just trying to figure out what I'm going to do with this wet child. No towels and no clothes.

All I cared about what this child loving this moment. I loved it, too.







I can't wait to take her back to the beach. We were planning on returning the following morning, but it was storming all day.









so goofy. I remembered I kept an extra pair of pants and underwear in the car, in case there ever was a potty accident. They certainly came in handy!

Garage Sale Hell

I REALLY want to blog, I've taken alot of pictures lately, we've done alot of things, I have things I want to brag about, things I want to complain about, but I just don't have time. I'm in garage sale hell.
For those that do not know, I am hosting a fundraiser garage sale at my home on July 7th & 8th. I have asked people to donate their items, and although not that many people have, the people that did, DID. Trying to sort, wash, tag, fold, hang and display is soooo much more complicated than I had thought. Originally I figured I could set up my 2 card tables in the basement and utilize our ping pong table to help organize....no. I now have a table in my bedroom, 2 eight foot tables in my garage, one six foot table in my garage, two poles beautifully hung, thanks to Brian and boxes upon boxes in my garage. I'm in garage sale hell. Fortunately, I am so excited about the sale I could spit. Each item I tag, I think about the donation that it will bring in and that makes it all worth it. Truly. Sooooo, tomorrow, I'm off to pick up a few more items, yes on the fourth and then I can continue on with this garage sale business until the doors open on Friday at 8am.

Happy Fourth!

Is there a flag hung at your house? Just curious.

Target hates my boobs.

It's true. My newly diagnosed small bra size is not available AT ALL at Target or Target.com. Why do I want to buy bras at Target? Because they are $10.99.

Speaking of smaller boobs. I am in my last week of maintenance for Weight Watchers. Next Wednesday, I hit my lifetime goal, and that means no more paying for meetings. I am so excited about hitting this huge milestone and I'm pretty sure I can keep my weight off, even though for lunch today I had pizza at Chuck E. Cheese's and for dinner I had pizza delivered to my door, goes to show, if you want to eat healthy, better go to the grocery store.

With that in mind...I am also sad. I was on this journey, for over 18 weeks, with so many friends and I had so many supporters and I KNOW I WOULD. NOT. BE. HERE. without them, and somehow, they're gone. I still have support, but there was nothing like feeling like I was walking arm in arm with these girls to the gym or to my meetings, or feeling like they were cheering me when I'd throw french fries in the garbage disposal rather than throwing them down my throat. But, I know, deep down, they're with me. Sometimes, in instances like blogging, I make my posts sound all buttery and delicious, when really feeling like a stale crouton, sometimes it's okay to let that crouton make an appearance.

I'm also a little grouchy lately, obviously. I'm preparing for a huge two day fundraiser garage sale that is being held at my home next Friday and Saturday. It's consuming my free time, what little I had and the donated items are consuming my square footage, in my bedroom, garage and basement. (Thank God for the basement!) But it's all for a good cause, I can't wait for the day to arrive and to feel the success of a job well done. It's just getting there that's the problem.

Blogging news...I'm working on switching my blog to another blog host, I would like to know if I can switch my blogspot files to my new blog...hopefully the move will take place within the next few weeks!

One of those horrifying moments

Today, I was on the phone with my sister who is 35 weeks pregnants. She had just gone to the doctor and was giving me a report on her appointment, she was in her car on the way to get lunch. All of a sudden she started yelling or maybe even screaming. Yes, she was screaming. I had no idea what she was saying. She then said "I just got hit! I just got hit. I have to go!" oh my God, it was awful. I asked her where she was hit and she said on the passenger side. Thank goodness. I told her to call me as soon as she could. It was an agonizing few minutes. Poor girl. :-( I'm talking about me! It was torture, I knew everything was okay, but I didn't know. I kept replaying the yelling in my head, I tried to busy myself with laundry, but that didn't work. I just thought about how useless I was at home, 300 miles away. She called me back, just a few minutes later in tears. Poor girl. And yes, I do mean her. She's a trooper though. Once the report was filed, she treated herself to a hot dog and a root beer float.

Here's some pictures of a "photo shoot" I took of the kids last week. The first one is of my feet.

I love summer.








Noah acting like a pirate, he's saying "argggghhhh!"



Can you even take how cute he is? Me either.

























so cute