Something is Not Right Here.

woke up to this:

came home from school drop off to this:

found this when I got out of the shower:

and so it continued much of the morning.  ICE -- snowy hard ice falling from the sky. 

Yeah, I spent the better part of my day convincing Charlotte that despite the "snowy, snowy snow" it was NOT Christmas.  Silly Michigan weather, last Wednesday I had on sandals and took pictures of my kids wearing shorts.  Seriously.

New Life Weekend *By The Numbers*

64 - the number of pounds of pumpkins we purchased from the local pumpkin patch this weekend. 

3 - the number of pumpkins purchased (plus two pie pumpkins)

2 - the number of pumpkin patches visited, because our usual patch we struck out at!

13 - the number of cider mill donuts purchased. 

100 - the number of dollars spent on  the external hard drive to salvage the images off the desktop before having to "blue screen of death" it when it crashed this weekend. 

infinity - the number of dollars worth it to salvage the images. 

76,000 - the number of raw frames salvaged!

- the number of times Charlotte kissed and told us she "loved" her pumpkin baby

(okay it probably just felt like 76,000 times she loved her pumpkin, that's is the ACTUAL amount of images salvaged though.)

2  - the number of kids baptized Sunday morning

the number of doting Godparents in attendance

the number of GREAT grandparents in attendance.

Infinity - the value of having a new computer life to upload (and save!) images like the one above, new life in Jesus. :)

Friday Night Leftovers: The I'm a Winner Edition!

* Before we get started many thanks to the fabulous Kim.  The outfit above is seriously the cutest outfit we have ever had!

* I finally chose a color for the living room wall!  "London Coach" here we come!

* Sam was home sick quite a bit last week as a wicked case of strep throat seems to have ran rampant in the second grade.  He drew the picture above over toast and amoxicillan of Sister Brenda (his teacher) and Buttercup (the class rabbit).  I am in love with it!

* After much debate I finally got Teague's birthday invites around from THIS Etsy shop.  How cool are those for a movie birthday party?  (address and phone number have been removed for safety)

*I think the warm up is over. Highs are back to the 40s and 50s and I am okay with it.  I had to turn a fan on the other night to sleep, and that is just ridiculous!

* I bought the new Taylor Swift CD this week (no judging) -- Everything Has Changed is my favorite song.  Favorite. (at least today)

* Things are falling my way lately, and its not easy -- but life is suddenly do able and it makes all the difference.  I told the fabulous Kim I was in danger of becoming one of those happy, shiny people a la Grey's Anatomy this week.  I would be lying if I said I wasn't somehow waiting for the other shoe to drop though.

* There are 48 of the world's greatest pumpkin cupcakes in my kitchen at present made by my incedibly talented friend Kristen at Cakes By K Renee.  Don't just take my word for it - her work is being featured in Wedding Cakes Design Source magazine next month!  I can say I knew her when!

* Speaking of my incredibly awesome friends, another awesome friend, and blogger whom I have had the priveledge of knowing "in real life" is giving away an amazing mermaid tail photography prop (toy!) on her blog Little Mrs Sunshine.  

Finally -- I am amazed (shocked), and excited (elated!) to announce that I recieved word from Danifred over at Sippy Cups are not For Starbucks that I won a $50 gift card to Shutterfly!  Thanks Danifred, I promise to put it to good use!  Woo hoo to free money indeed!

How's This for Pictures Mom?

WE blew off all the nighttime practices and events today to enjoy what is likely the last 75+ degree day  until spring.   Molly, and her bestie Becca and I hit the park for what might be my very favorite photo shoot ever.

And no, I didn't pose them for that last one.  I had put the camera away.  That's just how they walked to the car when it was time to go. 

This is what I have been up to.

Yep--- that's how I have been spending my days.  Painting, painting, painting, yellow, yellow yellow.   I am so *Close* to finishing up that bathroom I Can almost see it!     I am anxious to give you all the big reveal.   (Which I promise is coming up as soon as the weekend is over!)  

My kid's teacher thinks I'm an idiot. (And other Monday morning confessions)

See that kid?  I'm pretty sure his teacher think's I'm an idiot. Before I confess my great many mommy sins, I should put the disclaimer out there that she is a lovely person who has never been rude to me, or did anything outwardly that made me think "yep-- she thinks I'm a moron"  But seriously?  If I were her, I would be mentally conjuring blonde jokes every time I saw me too.  (and I am not even blonde anymore.)

I can NOT seem to get myself together this fall.  Schedules, lists, organizers, cell phone reminder alarms, nothing seems to *quite* be enough to keep on top of my game.  Add in that Jason has returned to school and well.. we have reached a point of holding it together - but barely.  We're holding up with scotch tape and make shift cardboard parts.  Which brings us to these little gems:

Monday Morning Mom Confessions 

* It is not I who has failed to send my kindergartner with a show and tell three out of the four weeks thus far.  

* I do not perpetually forget to fill my kid's lunch account. Nor am I totally incapable of tracking how much money is on it. 

* I ALWAYS remember to pack a separate snack. Who forgets that?!

*On the snack note it's also not me who has "owed" the class snack bowl three snacks for weeks.  I'm on the snack ball.

* Gym clothes?  Sure, we always have them ready by Sunday night!  What kind of parent is on a first name basis with the office people by October for all the times they have to run in lunches let alone gym clothes!

* I never, ever, ever, shurg my shoulders hand my kid a little debbie and say "sure that can be breakfast, now go watch Dora because Mommy simply HAS to finish editing this job."

* My week long, easy on the budget bathroom renovation would never balloon into a pricey two month extravaganza.  That's not what "with it" people do. 

* On the same note, I certainly wouldn't paint said bathroom twice because I couldn't bring myself to decide on a color until I saw it all rolled out. Never.

* I never said to my fifth grader "Seriously?  You don't feel good.  You know if you stay home you're doing chores right? What ?  You feel just tired?  Think you'll make it at school?  Great!"  Never, ever.

* I did not drag poor Jason to Lowe's to "help me" pick out new hardware" for the cupboards only to say to him "when I said help I meant corral the kids while I choose.  If I wanted your opinion on hardware I'll ask for it.  Don't hold your breath."

* I didn't feed my kids leftovers for dinner and put them to bed at 7:30 on a weekend before ordering take out and eating dinner just Jason and I alone because I simply couldn't stand the SOUND of them fighting another minute.  What kind of parent does that?!

And finally...

* I did not break up the boys literally trying to beat each other in the living room by yelling "Alright!  If hitting is on the table, I'm game!  Who wants to be spanked?"  But if I had -- I wouldn't have actually done it, but it would have felt nice to threaten it.  :)  

Seriously?!  And people wonder why I try to stay busy?  

Wordless Weekend Post.

Friday Night Leftovers

Yep it's still Friday in my world.  You can't convince me otherwise. So there.

See how beautiful that is?  That's why I live here.  In the land of cold, windy, wet days.  

I went on a hot date last night with the ever busy Jason.  Molly was kind of enough to take a picture of my current fashion show. LOL.  I still have a ways to go in the weight loss, but we are making progress. 

Charlotte is into braids, and Peppa Pig.  That show gives my two year old an english accent:

"Mummy, I would like a pie please!"  So cute.

My entire neighborhood is obsessed with "Afro circus, polka dot afro circus"  We bought the DVD this week (Madagascar 3)  to occupy Sam while he was home sick. 

I am telling myself that this is not mini Molly.  I cant do this again. 

Speaking of Molly she forged my signature last week for school.  Needless to say she is grounded.  WHY does it have to be so difficult sometimes?

If the bathroom doesn't get finished this weekend I am going to loose my mind for REAL.  Also I need a new dryer - stat.  

Something yummy for dinner.

Want to get a reaction like this at the dinner table?  Wanna spend pretty much no time on it?

Yeah, make this. 

CROCK POT CHICKEN AND NOODLES

Toss 4-5 boneless skinless chicken breasts in your crock pot (I used four big ones), add in 2 cans of cream of chicken soup and three cans of chicken broth, and a stick of butter.  Then stir in 2 dry packages of zesty Italian dressing seasoning.   Set that sucker to low and let it sit 5-6 hours.  Or you know - until you're about 45 minutes before you want to eat.  

When you've got about 45 minutes until dinner open up the crock pot and  shred the chicken apart in the sauce with a fork, it doesn't have to be perfect, just shredded up into pieces.  The sauce is gonna look super thin here and I was worried I would have to thicken it -- don't be it'll be fine.  Then stir in one bag of UNCOOKED egg noodles, egg free noodle substitute, you get the idea.  At this point you could just let it cook another 30-45 minutes until the noodles are fork tender.  I chose to stir in a bag of frozen peas and a bag of frozen carrots because my kids eat veggies better mixed into stuff.  Do what you like there.

This is yummy, comfort food at it's finest and everyone loved it.  I will warn you it makes  HUGE batch and there will be leftovers.  (We feed a small army here and even we had leftovers.)  But it's worth it, because eating this at just one meal is not enough. ;)