Muffin Tin Meal

Thanks to a friend, The Island Mom, I have been introduced to Muffin Tin Meals. I decided to take a leap and try it out for lunch yesterday. This was a first attempted, and I was not quite as prepared as I would have liked to be, but overall I would call it a success.
I was worried how J.J. would do, as he has a tendency to throw his food, but other than the muffin paper cups and a few apple chunks, he did fairly well. D. really enjoyed this lunch experiment, and ate up his whole muffin tray.
If you have not hear about Muffin Tin Meals, check out the blog below and give it a try. It was a big hit at our house for both boys, and I have a feeling this will soon be a daily request.
http://www.michellesjournalcorner.blogspot.com/

Please note: Remember I was unprepared, therefore, do not have the nicest muffin tins. New tins are on the shopping list for next week. Also, while the wine bottles are empty, I promise no drinking was done when parental duties are required!



From left to right starting with the top row:
Half of a dinosaur shaped peanut butter sandwich, apple chunks, frosted animal crackers. More apple chunks, pretzel squares, and the the other half of the dinosaur peanut butter sandwich.

IRiley

This weekend we celebrated R's, 8th birthday. It's hard for me to believe she's getting so big already. Friday was her actual birthday, so after school we loaded up in the van and headed to the mall to get her ears pierced. When I was growing up, it was a family and tradition that 12 was the year of piercings. After much thought, and a lot of begging on R's end, we decided that she was old enough and responsible enough to take care of this right of passage.
She was nervous while we waited as the jeweler set up, but she never wavered from her decision to do it. When the moment come, she grabbed my hands, crinkled her face and squeezed. Then it was over. Not a tear or a flinch was made. I'm so proud of her.



Saturday it was time to celebrate...
Normally, we have a family cook-out style party with a few of R's friends there to enjoy the fun. This time we did it a little different. R had been asking for a sleepover...ICarly style. So, four 7 or 8 year old girls come over to eat spaghetti tacos, make sculptures and do some random dancing...complete with a pancake and bacon breakfast the next morning.

Project Bye Bye Paci

Today started project bye bye paci for both my boys. As a rule D, is only allowed to have it during nap/bedtime, while J.J. still has his at free will. But it's not working. D. will go lay in his bed as an excuse to have it, or more often then not, just steals J.J.'s. Nap time went well, but I kinda cheated as we were out shopping a little later than expected. I ended up giving J.J. his in the check out line and he fell asleep in the shopping cart within 2 minutes (and did fine with the cart to car seat and car seat to crib transfer). D. fell asleep in the car without his and went right back to sleep in his bed without asking for it.



Bedtime was a little harder. Right after baths, they get to play in there room for a bit while I clean up the bathroom mess, ect. D. started right away! I told him that they were all gone. This caused a 15 minutes scream/cry fit. I picked him up and set him in his bed and continued with our bedtime routine, ignoring his tantrum. Within 5 minutes of lights out, D. was sitting in his bed, crying and asking for his pacifier. Nope...I stayed strong. I did sneak J.J. his though. At this point, I believe he still needs it to sleep. I just reassured him that he was a big boy and reminded him he slept without it at nap time. The crying and asking continued, but not as loud and not as often. And guess what...I did it, I did it, I did it. It took an hour and a half, but I did it!

D. has been asking for a fish for the past week, so I think we may head to the pet store as a reward if naps go well tomorrow.

Top 7 moments of the week...

In no particular order...


1. Try to reason with a 2 year old who is currently in his car seat; you are of course driving; and he's having a total break down that there is a dead bee in his sock. Any attempt to explain there is no bee IN his sock is lost, much less conveying how unlikely this is to actually happen.

2. Picture this: Daddy comes home...plays peek-a-boo with J.J. in the window...J.J. climbs up Daddy's leg until picked up. Daddy takes pacifier out to ask for a kiss, sees a messy cookie face that was hidden, jokes no-way and 15 month old grabs Dadda's face and and gives a big wet cookie kiss! Melt my heart.

3. Have you ever tried to change the diaper of an very active 1 year old? Its like a trying to catch a fish out of water. Flip flopping in ever which way, stiff-as-a-board back so you can't get him in to position. He'd do anything to get free...as he crawls way bare bottomed. Sounds fun, uh? Now do this 5 times a day (at least) times 2!

4. Actually leaving the house, kid-less, with no specified time to to be back...having some one play with your hair...More Wine? Ha, Don't mind if I do! Yep, Got to have 2 hours to pamper myself with a hair cut, waxing (of eyebrows) and lots and lots of wine.

5. The much anticipated park opened this week. As we drove by to confirm rumors, all three kids got excited. As the van continues to drive by, I get a very very very upset 1 year old. I pull into the parking lot and the tears suddenly turn into claps and "Wow"s.

6. Arguing with an "almost" 8 year-old (because if I say she's 7, I'm wrong) that her red, white and blue dress does not go with the bright pink and silver striped leggings she thinks she should wear for the first day of school. And then hearing, in the same conversation, that I am too old to know about fashion these day. Nice!

7. Hearing the sweet, shrill voice yell "UP, Momma...Momma UP!" in your sleep...that is until you realized it's not a dream and there is a 2 year old standing beside your bed. This follows with a glance at the clock, only to discover that it's 3.30am. Yawn!

Back to school

The last week as gone by so fast...with a lot jam packed in. We had weddings, school shopping, birthday parties, a bruised knee, play dates and a dislocated shoulder.

We spent the majority of last week getting back into a school routine, which is not easily done with a almost 8 year old. The result: A very hectic first morning of school, complete with fashion lesson. She just wouldn't get up! R., was sent to bed around 9 last night, a half an hour later than last year, but still at least 2 hours earlier than she had been going to bed during vacation. She came stairs at 11.20 because she couldn't sleep and after some negotiations, she was tucked in again by 11.30.



J. and I are both suffering form injuries. I swear we are walking around the house like we are 90 years old. My occurred while walking in the store to get a gift bag for a birthday party, because of course, I forgot to get this when we bought the gift. As it always is, I had my hands full...holding D.'s hand and carrying J.J. We made it through the first set of doors and slipped on the wet floor, twisting my hip/thigh and landing on my knee...all while still keeping hold of J.J.

Of course, As I was consoling myself over my injury, I received a phone call from J. has he was heading back from a mountain bike trip in Pittsburgh. He was complaining that he fell and hurt his shoulder. Now, normally, I take his injury complaints with a grain of salt...he tends to over exaggerate and milk them for all they are worth. But when he got home, I knew right away that his shoulder didn't look right. After a ER visit, it was confirmed that he dislocated his shoulder. So, now I have a husband out of commission (lifting babies is NOT allowed) as I hobble around the house being super mom.

Needless to say, our last week had put us all in quite a funk...and there is now better was to lift the a funk filled house than with a sweet smell of baking. We did ice cream cone cupcakes and the kids helped me with the frosting of course. Though, as an after thought, next time I'm going to give them all away so I don't eat them all!

Then, as we were coming home from my mom's(Pamama), we took a quick detour to see if the playground was finished yet. After 2 months, they finally took the yellow caution tape down and we were allowed to play! We have been anticipation this all summer as very kid friendly. The old one is not baby friendly, though D. does very well. J.J. is just to small. The new one however, is an "all ages" play heaven complete with a train whistle, which is D.'s favorite. J.J. got very upset when he thought we were just driving by and then started clapping when we pulled into the parking lot. We are headed there this morning, and I'm going to try and get some pictures, of what I'm sure will be a daily visit.

And just because they are so darn cute!

Chunky monkey

I was looking at old pictures last night (getting ready print and frame some more recent ones of the kids) and I came across a few of J.J that really shows how much of a chunky monkey he was.







He's really slimmed down since he has been moving and grooving. Yesterday, I walked out of the kitchen to find that he had slid the dining room chair out, climbed on it and was sitting on the table. Oh, boy! He's just getting so big!

WOW! I can't believe it's almost been two weeks since I posted anything...
Let's see, We had my sister's graduation party here at the house on August 1st, so a lot of prep went into that. I can now consider myself a semi-pro gardener. We did a massive amount of weeding the back yard, and I finally got some flowers in what had been a dirt filled flower bed. I'm hoping to post pictures in the next couple of days.

The party went really well. We had many friends and family to share in the celebrations. We served ribs, my dad's famous macaroni salad (and guess who got the secret recipe?!), and corn on the cob. Some good 'ol picnic food. The biggest hit for the kids was the bounce house, provided courtesy of my sister's boss and R's gymnastics coach!





My birthday was last week too! One of my best friends offered to babysit so that J. and I could go out and do something. We decided to see a movie after we had some cake and ice cream with my parents. We went to see INCEPTION...and if you have not seen it yet, I highly recommend it. It's has the visual effects of the Matrix and an awesome, complex story line. Plus, Leonardo DiCaprio is the main character, and the love I had for him in high school is still strong, not to mention he is an A+ actor.

Speaking of my birthday, my birthday present for J. finally came today (backorder) and I'm so excited. If you read along, you will know I'm a Driod nerd, as my loving brother in law has puts it. This is what J. got me and I couldn't be happier!


We also had a day trip on Friday, but I'm saving the details for the next blog. I hope to get one that later in the week. In addition to a full on terrible two toddler, a attitude filled 7 year old and a teething baby...I'm surprised I'm still kicking!