We Can't All Be Glamerous

Sunday's coffee

{Sunday's coffee}

Today Jer had to take the morning off so I could go to the DMV and take care of renewing my driver's license. It had been expired for almost three months. THREE.

Afterward, I went to the dentist  for a tooth that I was absolutely convinced had a cavity. The dentist found no cavity, however. He did find in my file though, that I haven't been to see him since March. Of TWO THOUSAND AND NINE. 

For the record, he did call my teeth pristine and admonished me for only ever having one cavity in my life. Not to shabby for thirty, eh?

But really...2009???

Afterward, I went for bloodwork and nearly left because when Jer and I had talked just a few minutes prior, we agreed twenty minutes was an agreeable wait time. It had been 24, however, and the guilt of making Jer *even later* for work nearly overewhelmed me. To the point of leaving and coming back another time with all four of my children. OVER FOUR MINUTES.  

I eat 90% of my meals standing up and probably 75% off of a plate that wasn't mine. Another 20%, I just lean over the counter. After all, a row of Oreo's and a handful of Goldfish doesn't really require a proper place setting, now does it?

I frequently dust with baby wipes, hit restart of the dryer more times than I care to admit, and I often feed my children breakfast on Sunday mornings in their carseats and out of plastic baggies on the way to church. 

There is a continuous stream of brownish apple cores in my Suburban and a pile of muddy shoes on the garage floor that may see the trash before they see clean soles and don't even get me started on the last time I mopped the kitchen floor.  

But really and truly I had no idea the depths of which I have sunk until just the other night when Jer came into the kitchen after a particularly long and grueling day for the both of us. After leaning in for a kiss on my neck while I was elbow deep in dishes, he tried to make light of our previous heavy conversation by complementing my perfume. He told me that it was nice to to have me smelling sweet and that he really liked whatever new brand I was wearing and what exactly was it that I was wearing? 

It was with much chagrin that I finally came clean. 

Eau De Costco...aisle five.

 

What sort of craziness is popping up in {or on} your neck of the woods these days?

ZZZZZzzzzzz.....

Nap time for the big boys has come to a screeching halt and some of us are taking it better than others...

And as for the rest of us who don't have the option of passing out in the middle of the afternoon, well, we're finding ways to cope too...

At least it's whole grain, right?!

No Waste Apples-N-Cinnamon Oatmeal

If you're kids are anything like mine then they can probably come close to eating an apple for a snack...but usually there's just.enough.left.over that it seems wasteful to throw it. 

Does this look familiar? 

Besides being brown, the fact that it's been pawed by their grubby little fingers for most of the morning and that it's probably rolled around on the floor a few times too, makes it hard to pass off to any of the other family members {aka Dad}. So what's a mom to do? Enter homemade apples and cinnamon oatmeal. 

My kids LOVE it. 

The half eaten-brownish apples get eaten.

Dad can save his iron stomach for another day.

Everybody wins.

--------------------------------------

No Waste Apples-N-Cinnamon Oatmeal

First, start with a heaping cup of oats {old fashioned or quick-cook, no matter as long as it's not instant!}

Next, add one cup of milk. Stir and microwave according to the directions on your oats. Ours cook for 3 1/2 minutes.

 While your oatmeal is cooking, rinse your apples and cut away the brown or bruised parts.

 Dice remaining apples into appropriate size bites for your tots.

 Now's here's my favorite part! Take the steaming oatmeal from the microwave and crack an egg right over the top. Yup, I said egg. It's added protein and it makes the oatmeal creammmy! Your kids {or you} will never know the difference! 

Now add your diced apples.

And then the brown sugar and cinnamon! Mix and serve right away. It'll be a new breakfast fav, I promise.

What are some of your favorite tricks for adding nutrition and/or avoiding waste in your house?

Sew Very Happy

This past weekend, Jeremy rallied the troops while my sis, sis-in-law, and I headed out on a quilting retreat in hope of completing a quilt for the ALS Association. 

A weekend away, all the snacks we could eat, time with my sisters, and non-stop sewing=bliss! 

This was our stash. In.Our.Room. Like I said plenty of snacks...

Courtney learning the delicate lesson of, "As ye sew, sew shall ye rip!"

 Don't worry though, we found a great frustration fixer: Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups. I think I was guilty of sewing a few crooked seams just for the excuse to indulge a couple more times :)

 Two days and approximately 964 peanut butter cups later, our finished quilts!

And here is our whole group who collectively made 30 quilts to donate in honor of our late sister, Karen!

Wordless Wednesday: Boredom Buster

Fridge Art

This weekend, while Baby J napped, The Deuce and I tried our hand at an actual arts-n-crafts project. To date, we've yet to venture out much past coloring or finger painting; although we did try glue sticks once. Curious taste buds quickly brought that little endeavor to a close though! Two and half is tricky age! Just old enough to be eager to try. Just young enough to have the attention span of a gnat. With daddy home to help bail us out should the need arise, we forged ahead though. The end result? A wonderful mess, a beautiful batch of fridge magnets, and simply too much fun.

Refrigerator Magnets 
Original dough recipe found here:  
* 1 pound box of baking soda
* 1 cup cornstarch
* 1 1/4 cups water

In a saucepan, combine baking soda and cornstarch. Gradually add 1 1/4 cups water and stir until smooth. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture is thick and dough-like. Knead the clay and flatten. Let your child use cookie cutters to cut out shapes. Allow the shapes to dry overnight. Help your child decorate the shapes with {WASHABLE!}paint, or glue and glitter. Glue small magnets to the back of each shape with super glue! Save or if you can part with them, share em' someone ya' love!

The Big 2-8

I celebrated my 28th birthday this last weekend and I must say that I simply cannot remember a birthday where I felt so pampered and blessed by those I love! My sweet family pulled out all the stops and showered me with lots of gut-busting time together and all sorts of birthday goodies! Nothing compared to these beauties though...

They were a surprise delivery from my sis that seriously had my entire family sitting around the coffee table at ten o'clock at night sampling.each.and.every.one. From Pumpkin to Butterscotch, Birthday Cake to German Chocolate, we got our chow on. Boston Cream Pie {upper right hand corner} won all of our affections, though. DI-VINE!

Thanks to my momma and Mark, our UPS lady dropped this off as well. Would you believe it if I told you that for the last few years we have had to heat up our coffee in the microwave just so we can drink it hot! For real. I'm glad they took pity on me because I was obviously stuck in a brew-and-nuke rut. Here's hoping that in my twenty-eighth year of life I acquire the gift of coffee etiquette!

And last, as a gift to myself, I bought these yard sale jewels. Aren't they pretty woody?! I actually bought them from inside my car, on my way to an appointment that I was running late for, and from a house in our neighborhood that we have affectionately come to call, "Cajun House" {for all reasons that can be inferred}! Because of my haste, I even agreed to pay $17 for the them, which breaks down to $4.25 a chair OR $4 a chair too much in Jer's opinion. They are in bad, bad shape, people. So bad, in fact, I couldn't even bring myself to take a picture of them pre-hosed down, hence the two-tone in the picture. I actually found a piece of floss tucked between the cushion and the wicker on one of them! And even tonight, as my prized yard sale gems sat dripping drying in the front yard, we watched as a young couple rode by on their bikes, laughing and pointing all the while. 

I wonder what they'll call our house...

I  will not be deferred though. I have a vision and I love a good challenge.

Sweet Success.

And in case you're interested in your having a little of your own sweet success; original recipe here!

Please...

...excuse the mess! And the random pictures at the top of the page! I am currently amidst a blog overhaul, DIY style! {If it's not one renovation, it's another!}Things may will look out of sorts for a few days until I get all the kinks worked out but at least this new format allows me to post BIG pictures of our three beautiful boys. And I know that's all you really come here for anyway...

In the meantime, can you guess what we're doing in this picture?!

Bubbles

Our go-to bubble recipe!

1/2 cup dish soap

1 1/2 cups water

2 teaspoons sugar

Mix, add bubble toys {ours are from the dollar bins at Target}, and try not to float away from the fun!