Spring Break Part 2 (and this week!)

We spent the second half of Spring Break like this:

We continued our potty training

We played outside!  We had wonderful, beautiful weather last weekend. 

 The big kids and I went to see Shrek the musical at our local theatre.  A friend from high school played one of the main characters, it was so fun to see him perform! And yes....that's root beer :).

We ate out for lunch pretty much everyday. The kids have several places they like to go that we don't go to often.  This boy loves him some Schlotzsky's pizza.  He is the one we struggle with as far as eating goes.  He's picker than the girls and just doesn't eat much.  When we find something he will eat, we remember!

 We swam at my brother in laws for the first time. Actually...they swam and I sat in the hot tub.  It was cold!  This little girl jumped off the diving board a dozen times!

Which brings us to this week.... I got a call that my pillows were ready! Here is my new bench seat and couch!

 I'm always amazed by how I can go to the store with a list of seven things and leave with a whole cartful of items!

 My sweet girl made a Will for herself this week.  I'm so touched by her kind heart.  I love this kid.

I will give my toys to Mexico, my clothes to homeless people and my heart to Jesus.  How great is that for a seven year old?

 My Gumdrop got her first haircut. She did not want to, but she did great!  I'm very proud of her.  I couldn't stand to let much of it go, so we just did a tiny trim to get her used to the process.

 Our big girl is doing great on potty training.  She's had one or two accidents a day, but they always happen after about 6 p.m. when she's tired. I'm hoping she doesn't get a cavity from all her sweet rewards!

Spring Break Part 1

We decided last year that its not terribly fun to travel during Spring Break. We've gone to Dallas, San Antonio, and College Station respectively in the past three years on SB. College Station was no biggie last year, we went to a family wedding and we had a great time showing the kids our old stomping grounds. However, Dallas and San Antonio the years before that were AWFUL.  Everyone vacates town and if you say you aren't going anywhere people look at you like you are really weird.  I didn't really feel too bad about staying home until I went to the Dr. and he asked where we were going and I said "nowhere."  He said, "You aren't taking them anywhere?  Oh my goodness, you are the worst parent ever!"  He was very much kidding but I did have a few moments of guilt.

I decided a few weeks ago that I was going to get this baby potty trained.  I'm sick of changing diapers and I know she's fully capable.  We are on the run so much with the big kids so I decided that SB would be the perfect opportunity.  We have had a LONG five days of potty training but we've managed to have some fun too!

My Boy wasn't very excited about SB. He'd rather be at school learning!

After a full day of training on Saturday and not leaving the house.....

Lollipop and I need pedicures on Sunday afternoon.  This is her favorite treat in the whole wide world. We don't go very often because I want it to be really special when we do.

 On Monday we decided that even though Gumdrop was having accidents quite often, we needed to get out of the house.  We had several Barnes gift cards we'd never used so we headed up there.  My Boy is my little readin' fool.  We got him an Ipad for his birthday last summer mainly to read on.  I bought him a few paperbacks last Friday on a whim and he finished two of them by Monday.  These aren't tiny books either, he's reading on a 7-8th grade level in 3rd grade. He picked out five more books Monday and has finished another since then.  Love my Boy!

 He reads everywhere!

 I'm still doing my 40 bags in 40 days challenge for lent.This has lead me to Pinterest, because, well I'm pretty well organized already.  I found some cute ideas.

How adorable is this?  It's an old first aid kit with post-it notes and crayons.  Fits perfectly in my purse!

 I also made a "survival kit" for my car.  I picked up a travel bag at Target and filled it full of...stuff we need! It has hand wipes, an emergency diaper, hand sanitizer, a pen, post it notes, a nail file, nail clippers, allergy meds, feminine products, tissue, insect repellent, ziploc bags of a few sizes, probiotics, cough drops, baby wipes, and a first aid kit.

 Gumdrop went #2 in the potty for the first time under her own initiative (normally we force her to sit and then she goes in her pants later). She insisted on green ice cream as her treat!

 We bought a ping pong table several years ago and never had the room to use it.  It has a place on our back porch now and My Boy LOVES it.  He puts one side up and plays against himself for hours.  Best babysitter ever :).

 Gumdrop announced she was flying "to the beach."

 We've also been practicing our art skills.  While she denies it and says this is Rock Star Beaver and bodyguard, I'm thinking it is really Justin Beaver and his bodyguard.

 This girl loves Subway but its not exactly an easy place to go with three kids.  We've braved it yesterday and she polished off a whole six inch BMT with chips.

 Today we went to another kid favorite that is not a Mommy favorite.  Aren't I nice?  Pickles and ketchup, anyone?

 Lollipop spent the night with her Nini Monday and I took My Boy to see Oz when his daddy came home from work.  Last night My Boy stayed with Nini and the girls and I went and bought new shoes!

Hopefully our stay at home, potty-training boot camp SB has more fun in store!

Promises, Promises

I promised like forever ago that even though I stopped doing Midland Morsels I would still post recipes on here.  I haven't lived up to my promise.  Today, I'm changing that!  Here is a dish that has stolen our hearts (tummies?).  This is spicy and yummy! I'm not really sure how to modify for the non-spicy eaters because the jalapenos are what make it so fabulous!

The Hubs sang "Suiza Stack" for days after the first time I made this.  Now, every time we have it he breaks it out again.  My Boy asked what suiza meant and I said, "I think it means Swiss in Mexican." Hey---I'm not smart all the time :)!  The Hubs cracked up and has been calling it the best "Mexican Swiss" meal he's ever had.

 *For the first one, I threw my chicken in the crock-pot for a few hours with about 1/2 cup of chicken broth, salt, pepper, and some cumin.  It was perfect!

Enchilada Suiza Stack

source:mixandmatchmama

1 pound cooked chicken breast, shredded*

8 green onions, chopped

3 cloves garlic, chopped

2 jalenpenos, chopped

2 cups either Green Chile Salsa or Tomatillo Salsa, divided

1 cup Monterey Jack cheese, shredded

1 cup Swiss cheese, shredded

6-8 tortillas ( I think I only used 4)

sour cream to garnish

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

In a medium sized bowl, combine chicken, onions, garlic and jalepenos with 1 1/2 cups salsa.

In an 8x8 inch casserole dish, spread 1/2 of your chicken mixture across the bottom.  Top with 1/3 of your cheeses (use both kinds) and top with a layer of tortillas.  Repeat.  Finish off by pouring remaining 1/2 cup of salsa over the top and topping with the remainder of your cheeses.  Bake about 30 minutes or until bubbly and brown around the edges.  Garnish with sour cream.

Look for another recipe soon!

March?

It is March?  Are you kidding me?  Where has this school year gone? I can't believe that Spring Break is next week!  We have no big plans, so I'm going to have potty training boot camp for Gumdrop.  She's REALLY stubborn so I'm thinking this isn't going to be easy. She's been doing #1 in the potty for quite some time but with no consistency.  EVERYTHING is a battle right now so I'm not sure why I'm doing this to myself, but I'm going to give it my best shot!

We went to Target on Monday and I let her pick out some big girl undies.  I cracked up when her #1 choice was not Dora, Tinkerbelle, or Princesses.  She wanted Jake and the Neverland Pirates (and Minnie Mouse :))!

I'm also planning on stocking up on stickers, because this kid (as I said last week) loves to stick! 

We needed a huge rug for our living room. After pricing ginormous rugs my friend Ashley recommended that we have carpet bound into a rug.  I think it turned out great, and it was a fraction of the cost of a rug.

 And finally, I've been spending hours on my Junior League placement.  I'm re-writing our bylaws, policies, and procedures.  I have a committee where we discuss all the changes we want to make, and then I write it up. Finding the time to re-write these has been ever so challenging with a two, seven, and nine year old. I've been getting up at five, staying up late, sneaking a few moments in during naptime (which happens infrequently) and using my few hours of Gumdrop's equivalent of Mother's Day out. It's been a really worthwhile process, even though very time consuming.  I'm definitely going to be a knowledgeable President in a year and a half!  I'm also officially President-Elect-Elect so I've been averaging about 5 meetings a week. We are doing budgets, meeting with committee chairman, etc.  I've been a busy girl!

And finally, last weekend we took a much needed trip to Dallas.  It's probably a little dorky, but I love going to Whole Foods when we are in a big city.  I can walk around for hours looking at all the options they have an feeling very envious.

It's probably not a very inspiring dream to some.....but I wish we had a Whole Foods.  If we had one and my kids were all in school I would get a job there. I would work happily stock peppers by color and size. Doesn't that sound dreamy?

Poor kid!

My sweet Lollipop woke up this morning and said she didn't want to eat breakfast because her tummy hurt.  She's been coughing and sneezing for a few days so I figured it was allergies and drainage. We had 50-60 mile an hour winds yesterday, it kinda makes sense!

She was sluggish all morning so I asked if she needed to stay home. I said, "Do you feel like laying in bed all day?  'Cause if you stay home, thats what you are doing."  I had three (yep, three) League meetings this morning so I wasn't exactly pushing staying home as an option (not that League is more important, but I wasn't sure of the severity of the illness :)). She said she really wanted to go to school, so off I sent her.  At 8:20 the phone rang and the nurse told us to come get her.  She was running a 101 fever (way to go mom for not checking) and was feeling puke-y.  The Hubs was still here so he volunteered to go get her and take her to the walk-in clinic at our pedis office so I could go to my meetings.  I have a hard time letting go of such things, but I decided he's as much her parent as I am, so I let him.  She vomited all over the waiting room floor and was diagnosed with ANOTHER stomach virus (the second one this month if you are counting). She went with her daddy to the bank and to the post office for work and then mommy rescued her.

We are also struggling with a syndrome called trichotillomania with her.  Basically, she's pulling out her eyelashes and eyebrows.  I'll discuss more on that later, I'm not up to it now....but that's why she looks a little "weird" lately.  I feel so bad for her.  She's the sweetest girl.  A girl who makes and writes things like this for her friends birthdays:

 I don't know if you can read it or not but Maddie "codit" be a better friend :). I love my sweet baby and pray that she can catch a break soon.

In other news:

Stickers are a major hit these days!

 New rug and new curtains!  So excited for the rest of our stuff to come in!

 I'm doing 40 bags in 40 days for lent again.  Here's my new and improved pantry!

Instagram pics this week

Here are my Instagram uploads from the week!

We had a very "two" year old day yesterday.  New shoes didn't help our attitude!

How cute is her bobbed haircut?

They love their brother!

Valentine's Day and Such

Last week we were happy to be out of the house!  After a week of being sickies, it was nice to get out and about!  I'm Lollipop's room mom so I had a great time planning her class Valentine's Day party. I really savored My Boy's party because it was his last organized classroom party (I think). He will be in 4th grade next year which is Intermediate school and I'm not sure he will have "classroom" parties per say.  It's bittersweet to watch him grow, but I love the person he is becoming!

My Boy's party

Lollipop and Friends

This girl gets in on all the action!  

We took the front crib rail off Miss Priss' bed last week and she's been roaming the house freely at night.  Here we are reading books in Mommy's Bed!

Transitioning to a big girl bed!

Sneaky Cheddar Bunny stealer!

We had a basketball party at Gattieland, he got the Most Improved Player Award!

House stuff!  I ordered a rug and pillows for my living room and pillows for my bedroom. These are a few of my fabrics.  I'm so excited and not feeling patient, I want it all done and in place now!