We Be Steady Mobbin...

Yes, I realize it's already Wednesday...which is really not Monday

but I still am going to post our dinners for the week.

Super easy.

Almost all crockpot-ish.

{because I have a date at the ballfield every night this week}

(well, one of us does)

The kicker is,

I've only made one of these before.

So, it's a week full of new recipes.

Scary monsters huh?

...

last night was:

Salsa Chicken and Black Bean Soup

(it was yummy. 4 out of 5 liked it... Jack was not a fan..."I hate beans Mom!")

...

tonight is:

Pasta Fagioli

garlic bread

&

beach fruit salad

(haven't tried it yet, but it smells really good. Jack of course already knows he won't like it...

"I hate beans Mom!"...*Clearly I do not pay too much mind about what he likes. Don't worry, he still eats it...he just doesn't like it.)

...

the rest of the week is:

Chicken Soup

(this one we've had, and it's good)

&

blueberry muffins

...

Chile Verde

&

refried beans

...

Bobby's Baked Chicken with Dijon & Lime

Rice

&

Broccoli

(Trusting Gabby on this one)

...

and

of course

EASTER dinner

which is mainly jello

with a side of ham.

but that's another post.

*this photo has nothing to do with this post...I just think he's a handsome kid.
a handsome kid that is looking very old lately...

DVR'd Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution on Friday...
watched it Sunday night with Colin and J after the littles were in bed.
Nearly gagged watching him make the chicken nuggets.
(Actually I had to look away)
I was telling the littles about it before school yesterday...
about how he used the carcass,

ran it through the food processor,
squeezed it through a colander
and formed the mush into patties to make chicken nuggets.
They both listen intently...
and when I was done explaining...

Jack said-

"Whew...thank goodness McDonalds doesn't use those kind of chicken nuggets!"

umm...

yes...thank goodness...

?!?!?

or

NOT.

so yeah,

we completely missed the point of that discussion....

It's a good show though,

love what he's trying to do.

Not sure I'd go with coleslaw as an introduction to veggies for kids,

how many children eat slaw?!

But overall I think he's brilliant...

Turns out if you lose all three of your games on Saturday...
you will have practice on

Monday
and

Tuesday
and

Wednesday
and

Thursday
and

Friday
....
It's unfortunate they didn't earn points for being cute...
We totally had that one in the bag.

I asked the boys last weekend what they wanted to do over spring break...
They unanimously declared "Nothing!"They have all done a splendid job of doing nothing this week...

thanks so muchness...

house rule #1: No cleaning on the weekends.

(except for laundry and the kitchen)
That rule is primarily for me

{because I'm the one that cleans}

I'd much rather spend time on the weekends enjoying my boys

or doing nothing.

It's a long standing rule.

and one of my favorites...

So this weekend was nice. relaxing. lazy. and movie filled.

Our last

relaxing

lazy weekend

until the end of May...

We bought paint for the spare room.

It's going to be a color we've used since our days in the 'ville...

One of two colors we've used in almost every house we've owned.

{we like the color and as a bonus it reminds us of all our past homes}

I picked out some ideas for Jared's room, and some gray ideas for our bedroom...

Colin picked out a "Team color" paint booklet.

He is soooo helpful.

Secretly I would love my bedroom to be WI Badgers red...

how did he know?!?

The little boys have now requested

Cavs colors...no.

Bulls...no.

Titans...no.

ECU...no.

no. no. no.

Me: How about blue? no.

Needless to say, we are still undecided about our color choice for the little's room.

"That is not really true mom...you said it would just take a minute. It will take more like 30 minutes just to GET to the movie store" Jack

house rule #2: If you call your brother names you have to run errands with your mom.

Which is why Jack majorly regretted calling Jared a "crackhead" this morning.

(a crackhead?! really?!?)

So he went with me to return movies this morning and to get avocados.

The movie store that was close to us closed,

so it is a bit of a trek to get to the nearest BlockBuster.

{30 minutes is an exaggeration though}

*Anyone use Netflix? Do you like it?*

The second rule listed is not one of my favorites,

and

explains why I came home with

3 avocados

4 cadbury creme eggs

junior mints

gummy worms

and

beef jerky

...............

Cincinnati Chili for dinner

&

The Help waiting to be read.

Happy 1st day of Spring break!

yesterday was: almost 70 degrees out.

50s day at the little's school. Lots of little boys in white t-shirts and jeans,

and SUPER cute little girls in poodle skirts with scarves tied around their ponytails.

Coley & the new dance he learned.

Colin late night at work. Colten soccer practice. Jared home game.

Horrible parents from the other team. {The other team that was winning.}

When Colin asked the woman in front of us not to swear because our kids were with us...

she replied "like they don't hear it at home"...

and almost made me jump over the bleachers. but I refrained.

Kinder gentler me.

It was constant for the entire hour and a half though.

Amazing to me what youth sports does to some parents.

today is: lazy first day of spring break. sleeping in. cinnamon rolls. video games. cleaning some. laundry lots. ASU baseball game tonight for Jack and daddy. Claire coming over for a movie tonight for Jared. Still have nothing for dinner... so grocery store at some point.

tomorrow will be: ?

an entire free day. I'm so excited. ♥

Hope your weekend is lovely friends!

xoxoxoxoxox

......

"Have a baby by me, baby, be a thousand-naire"
(What my husband sings to me to the tune of 50cents Baby by Me)

Just got off the phone with my BFF from high school.
We can talk for hours.
Sometimes this is a bad thing.
Like when I need to clean my house.
Now
I'm updating the blog
drinking my third cup of coffee
and eating green chocolate covered popcorn.
The house is still being neglected. Poor house....
I had a follow up appointment yesterday...
and was happy to learn that my ob/gyn actually has a sense of humor.
I was unsure if he did prior to yesterday,
my "now it's a party" comment was not well received my first visit.
(upon the doctor AND nurses arrival into my closet sized room with me wearing what I'm fairly certain was one paper towel)
But he did find it funny when I thanked him for explaining the photos from my little scope to me. He sent the photos home with colin
who explained like this ...
"I think this is"...
"I'm not even sure what that is"...
"I'm pretty sure this is"...
Apparently ob/gyns enjoy when husbands don't remember these things.
He laughed.
Frankly I think to be an ob/gyn a good sense of humor would be most helpful.
but
what do I know...
2 out of 3 of my boys were naughty bad last night.
I won't mention any names, but they both start with the letter "j"...
Today is the last day of school before spring break...
Which I'm quite giddy about.
Things I want to do over spring break: replant Joe the cabbage plant (Jack's plant), deal with the trees bushes in front of my house, paint 3 of the bedrooms, take photos of the boylies, maybe go to the diamond mine, rent lots of movies, stay up late, play some tennis (Jack has been asking), read and sleep in...

sleep in.
☺☺ ☺ ☺ ☺
{Insert happy face song here}

and I leave you with the scariest photo I have taken in a
long
long
long
long
time.
horrifying really.
for safety reasons
please remain seated while viewing this....so so frightening to me... you have no idea.

Jack had a great hit last night. They lost by one though. I'll do a proper baseball post went it's more baseballish out...last night I was burrowed under blankets. Brrr-rrr.
Jared didn't wear green today and got pinched. I warned him.
Jack's soccer practice did not go well tonight. He informed me that he is "quitting his team"... when I asked why, he told me he doesn't like his coach. {Colin is his coach}
Breakfast for dinner tonight. I don't make corned beef and cabbage.
I pretty much just dye all our food green.

.......................

Shirley Temples have curative effects...
I'm sure of it.
Well, I'm pretty sure.
I'll just keep drinking them and see...
I am fine
I didn't mean to be mysterious
Just girlie stuff...
So.
I am fine.
Actually really good.
{Aside from being a horrible blogger}
Things are getting back to normal around here.
We left for school this morning
and got down the road before my son realized he forgot his shoes.
Yes.
His.
Shoes.
That would be Jared.
Sigh...
I have nothing else to say about that one...
It's Spring which is by far our craziest time of year.
Soccer AND baseball season.

NutsO.
I made this recipe for chicken tikka masala for the first time last night.
It was delicious.

I mean really good.

Everyone liked it, even the Jack.

Although all the boys {x4} sifted the tomatoes out,

so I'm going the crushed tomato route next time.

Tonight Jack has a baseball game...

I think I'm going with a friend's facebook status

and bringing some popcorn with

butter

parmesan cheese

and garlic salt.

Sounds all kinds of yum to me.

Maybe I can convince the boys that counts as dinner?!

Yeah...

probably not

....................

before I head back to the sofa...

318.
the number of photos I took this weekend.
12.
the number of photos I feel like posting at this current moment.
some favorites straight from the camera...

favorite goofy Jack (pre-ball-in-the-face)

favorite baseball snack - cheese friesfavorite baseball player
(post-ball-in-the-mouth so it looks like he has chew in his cheek, but it's much better than first thing that morning)favorite father-son photofavorite Coley photofavorite Jared photofavorite note from my birthday boyfavorite monster truck photo (such a happy nine year old with his race flag and cotton candy)FAVORITE birthday photo
(*love that he wore that hat from the monster truck show in all of them...adorable)favorite yo-yo-erfavorite photo explaining why you shouldn't put your Gatorade bottle in your shorts pocket
(Jared and I laughed until we cried on Sunday during this game...Silly Coach Colin)favorite thing in my house to look at right now(thanks Gabby, Mikey, Ev and Maxxy)

and last but not least...
my favorite thing overheard in recovery:
Nurse "Now you might be a little nauseous after surgery,
so no greasy or fried food to eat for the rest of today"
Patient on the other side of my curtain
"I can't even think of anything to eat that's not fried or greasy"
Only in the south.
that has made me laugh lots...
xox

darn it!
obviously I didn't quite get back to post
soccer & projects
and now
bedtime
tomorrow I'm having a little surgery
so...
I'll have some fabulous Jack birthday photo fun later this week
oooh....
and some baseball shots.
you all know how I feel about little boys in baseball uniforms by now right?!?...
just loads of cuteness.

throw some good thoughts my way around 2 tomorrow...
and I'll be back soon.
xoxox

So this was what I was going to post yesterday...
With a little message about my sweet baby turning nine.

Didn't get a chance yesterday.
Friday night Jack took a bad bounce into his face before his game...
he didn't cry, and seemed fine, but told me it hurt and that his expander went into his cheek.
Jack woke up yesterday morning
and as we were singing "Happy Birthday"...
he burst into tears...
His cheek was huge and swollen...
After a quick trip to the orthodontist,
some phone calls to the pediatrician...
a prescription for an antibiotic
and some Tylenol with codeine...
Jack was feeling much better.

He played two more baseball games,
(because really an infection in your cheek can't stop you from playing your game)
watched some soccer,
ate some cake,
and went to the piece de resistance
the highlight of the day
the much anticipated
and asked for
the MONSTER TRUCK show.
Ah-yeah...
where
let me tell you
the $2.00 earplugs were priceless...but that friends is a post for another day.

I'm going to try to get on later with some photos of his birthday.
It was crazy and busy
(and a little stressful)
but overall it was happy...
I love my little man.

Happy (day after your) Birthday Jack Banana!
we all LOVE you like crazy
♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Fistful of Glitter

Last night Colten came out of his bedroom to remind me to he needed to wear his DARE shirt to school because "tomorrow is Wednesday"...
umm....Wait one second...
Wednesday?!?
I for some reason spent the better part of the day yesterday thinking it was Monday...
Well, clearly the whole day, because it was bedtime when I realized it was in fact Tuesday.
And somehow I lost a day...
Which is a problem, because I already feel like I have a ton to do this week.
Isn't it funny...
Last week felt like two weeks in one, and this week is flying...

The littles have huge projects due on Monday.
We've been working on them since last week,
I was hoping they'd be done by now because Jack's birthday is Saturday,
and he has a baseball tournament,
and Colten has soccer games...

Summarizing a book.
Is this hard for all 8 year olds? Or just mine...?!?
"Mom says I'm almost done, but I'm only on page 37"
Yes, because he wants to retell the whole story...
page, by page...
So that's been fun...

Colten is working on a Civil War project...
the subject is right up his alley,
the work...
not so much.

Between the two of them,
I may lose my mind...
Also...
three out of five of us have head colds...
I am one of the three.
Which is lovely timing...

I have things I want to post about,
but no time to post anything requiring thought...
Tara is trying to keep me creative...
love her for it...
so we're doing a photo-a-day this month.
Which I'm doing,
but lacking time to post said daily photos.
Although,
as you can see,
my photos from Monday were not what one might refer to as creative...
I had planned on taking some photos outside of the boys at practice...
didn't realize it was FREEZING outside...
so Jack and I were waiting in the truck for Colin to pick him up for baseball,
Colten was outside at soccer practice.
I was just pointing my camera at him without looking and taking photos.
We were horribly amused by this...

Now I'm off to make Jack a cupcake liner disco ball for his birthday decor in brown...
I decided if I make one for each birthday,
eventually I'll have a whole ceiling full and it will look cool.
Of course they'll be like eighteen then,
and will frown at cupcake liner balls hanging from the ceiling...
probably not so cool then.

happy WEDNESDAY.
hope you're all wearing your DARE shirts...

the end.

You Da Bestest...

Lunch in a box.
My boys don't really love sandwiches.
At least not 5 days a week.
Ironically,
now that Jack is no longer allergic to peanuts,
this is the first school we've been at that's peanut free.
So.
No pb&js....which is kind of funny.
But, not really.
So,
cheese quesadillas,
leftovers in the thermos...
chips and salsa...
soup...
and I've caved, and let Jack have Chef Boyardee mini raviolis.
(Colten will have nothing to do with the chef-boy-R-deeeee)

This is a conversation that took place when I picked him up after school:

Jack "Mom you forgot to pack me a spoon in my lunch!"
Me "Silly Mom. Sorry....Did you just get one from the cafeteria?"
Jack "What?"
Me "Did you just ask the ladies in the cafeteria for a spoon?"
Jack "No... I just used my hands"
Me "Wait...What?!? No really....Did you get one from Miss Kim?"
Jack "I used my fingers, I just picked them up Mom"
Me "Seriously? Are you kidding me?"
Jack "What?!" (In that tone that implies I clearly am overreacting)

Yep.
That's my boy.
Rocking table manners.
I swear we use utensils at home...

That's all I've got today.
The power company was doing something in our neighborhood today.
Resulting in the power being out/on/out....
I ran errands...
and the boys had soccer and baseball tonight...
Actually Jared won't be back to school until 1am.
Quite the away-game, eh?