Hi Auntie Mimi!

Of course all the pics are out of order. I always forget to load them backwards.

Wyatt learned how to ride a two wheeler this weekend! Huge event here because he's been begging for us to help him, but he hasn't really ridden his bike recently. We wanted him to familiarize himself to it again before we took his training wheels off. Finally Troy just did it and he took off after just a few passes with Daddy's help! So now it's all about riding his bike for Wyatt! He's been so determined that he can now take off all by himself..that was the toughest thing for the girls to learn.

Maddie

So I should probably just write my blog as if I'm writing to you Mimi. Would make my writing more purposeful instead of self appreciating ! And the disjointed manner, type, photos, type, photos, absolutley fits the way I think LOL

Wyatt

Sophie

So here all the kids on Easter Sunday. It was such a relaxing day. Just my parents and us, we sat outside for a few hours enjoying the weather and each other. The mood was awesome-no one to compete with for conversation, no one-up-manship from anyone, just great!..The only thing missing was you Mimi!

The kids head back to school tomorrow. Today I've spent time getting them ready-laundry, cleaning rooms, did some math practice with Sophie. She's grounded today and usually has to be in her room but since she worked well on her math, I'm allowing her one tv show. Then it's back to her room!

Hitting the fridge and narrowing down dinner choices for the week. Many will contain ham(that's what we had for dinner on Easter) and hard boiled eggs LOL.

MPM

The two dishes I looked forward to last week I didn't get around to making! So Chicken & Dumplings will be back on the list(and in the same spots!) along with the Honey Hoisin Pork Loin.

Check here for more recipes and menus!

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Sunday-Spaghetti

Meatless Monday-Pancakes and Eggs with applesauce- I'm making extra pancakes for breakfast this week.

Tuesday-Sloppy Joes with Corn

Wednesday- Buffalo Chicken, oven fries, & broccoli

Thursday-Fend for yourself/Leftovers

Friday- Chicken & Dumplings

Saturday-Honey Hoisin Pork Loin with Rice

random photos

The first 3 photos are what I used on our Christmas card. I usually like a group shot but the kids were less than cooperative this day and I was lucky to get the few I did. I put the photos into a college and called it a day...

Maddie is on the right. The boy in the middle is the guy all the girls are going gaga over. Not a great photo, but he was being a little sheepish with the girls

and I was trying to be fast with the camera. Much to Maddie's dismay(and delight I'm sure) their friendship has been made into big news at school. Wugh is all I have to say. I am so not ready for this. And the big guy turns 5! Wyatt's birthday is actually on Wednesday but we had the family over this weekend to help him celebrate. Lots of Legos were given and tons of food was eaten. In fact I finally got my MIL to try my caramel popcorn. She refused it over and over during the holidays there will be refusal no longer! She ate the majority of the bowl!

Sophie. I had to edit thephoto a bit because it was pretty dark, but wow! I can finally see a bit of myself in Sophie..I know there is a resemblance but as a parent, it's hard to see yourself in your kids. And check out her highlights-Beautiful!

Menu Monday

Yay! Head over here for more menus' by some awesome cooks!

I'm making a slight shift in how this meal planning/meal cooking thing is done here. I have already established a Leftover/Fend for Yourself night every week which I look forward to every week, but now I want to simplify things a bit more. So I am establishing "Meatless Monday"! Our Monday meals will now be sans meat. This will allow me to stretch our food just a bit more which is always good! I am also really looking at our scheduled activities for the week and making meal choices that make sense on a particular day. For instance, Friday is Troy's firt day off so I like to have a little heartier (and hot!) meal for us that day. But we are also doing indoor soccer on Fridays, so this week I am making Chicken and Dumplings in the crockpot. It will be prepped earlier in the day, and will be ready to go when we get home.

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Sunday-Tacos and fresh fruit

Monday-Homemade Macaroni & Cheese and peas( Meatless meal & PTA meeting)

Tuesday- BBQ Beef Sandwiches, roasted potatoes and onions & applesauce

Wednesday-Chicken Fingers,

Thursday- Leftovers/Fend for Yourself (Scouts)

Friday- Chicken and Dumplings and french bread(Soccer)

Saturday- Hoisin & Honey Pork Roast, steamed broccoli and rice.

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I have the recipes for the last two items on the laptop so I'll pop back on and link it up.

(re)discovering reading

(re)Discovery

Books. I decided last year that I wanted to return to my love of reading. As a younger girl , I used to spend hours reading at home, the library, school. I began reading adult nonfiction when I was in the 8th grade because I had basically read all the Young Adult section of our public library. First it was Stephen King then Danielle Steele(!) and Dean Koontz. Oh and lots of autobiographies. My love of reading continued on through high school, but once I entered college and moved out on my own, there were more interesting things to do than sit and read LOL

So last year I began my path back to reading with the Twilight series. I had totally resisted the earlier hype but finally had to see for myself what it was all about. And in doing so, I rediscovered my passion for reading! Getting lost in characters and time passing so quickly because a book doesn't leave my hand till it's finished=AWESOME.

Troy actually paid attention to this and decided to invest in my "new" hobby and he bought me a Kindle for Christmas this year. I quickly downloaded 10 free books and a couple of $5 reads and have been making my way through them since.
I actually cried when I opened it. Silly, huh? I'm not sure why, really. I didn't talk about wanting one constantly, maybe mentioned it in casual conversation how cool it would be to have a Kindle. But never in a it's- all- I- want- for- Chrismas- kind of way.

Perhaps I cried because he had paid attention to a change I had made. And after 16 years, him noticing something new was important to me,was like a gift itself.

I kind of think he might regret it though. I keep hearing him say " are you going to put that thing down and talk to me?"

Menu Plan Monday

Week of Jan 2, 2011(wow!)

Cheeseburgers, chips, pears

General Tso's chicken, rice, broccoli

Roast with veggies

BBQ Beef sandwiches, roasted potatoes, green beans

Creamy Chicken over Rice, sauteed zucchini

Enchiladas, refried beans, fresh fruit

and always a night of leftovers!

As always, check out mpm at orgjunkie.com for hundreds! of menu ideas!

Going to bed late, getting up early, no schedule, very little time away from each other...the kids are ready to go back to school tomorrow! And I'm ready for that as well...I can finally clean my floor and keep it clean for more than a day!!

New Years Eve 2010

The last day of the year. And I'm sort of ambivalent LOL. Not sure why that it is. Maybe because we don't mark the closing of the past year with partying and silliness. We just hang out at home, eat something yummy(tonight enchildas made for us by my MIL), play video games with two of the kids(one is going to a sleepover) and make a toast to our family and future at midnight. Not such a bad way to close out the year.

But I do feel like something is brewing as I go into the New Year. I want to make changes in myself and how I do/handle things. I want to remember the strong, confident person I used to be. Somehow,I've allowed motherhood to own me, to define my entire self. While being identified as a Mom isn't entirely bad, losing faith in myself and my abilities is not so great. Well this year I plan to change that. I intend to rediscover the things I've allowed to lay dormant over the last decade. Now I have found some things in these past years that I really enjoy, like papercrafting and photography, and with those, i plan to push myself and discover how much further I can push them.

So with that, I declare my One Little Word of 2011: (Re)discover.