Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!!

The girls all went off to school with their green on today so no pinching here! Excuse the baby's pj's-didn't realize he had no green until this morning so he celebrated pajama day too :)

We had our green pudding for snack after school-yummy and easy! I got the idea at JesseKate Designs. They wanted it again after dinner-should have bought two packs of vanilla pudding. I also got an idea for a great St. Patrick's Day scavenger hunt from her. The girls had fun and the older girls were real good about helping the younger ones. I was very proud of them when they decided to use their treasure to surprise their Nannie with flowers-we're not going to say who they are from. I'm hoping my husband can sneak over and drop them off. I let each of the girls keep a gold coin and the two oldest wanted to put theirs back in for the flowers-sweet.

JesseKate Designs had lots of wonderful ideas for St. Patrick's Day-as she did for Valentine's Day. If you haven't seen them, check them out to file for next year. Wonder what she's planning for Easter-hint, hint ;)

I just knew.....

there was a legitimate reason to keep m&m's in the house....

the peanut kind, that is....

Sometimes a handful of peanut m&m's- eaten in the closet... by myself for a couple of minutes- gets me through the afternoon.

and yes, I hide them from my kids.

This weekend at my son's birthday party, good friends of ours- who I have confessed to about searching in the cabinet, in a panic, for any m&m's on a tough day- gave me a present-a 5 lb bag of my favorite peanut candy-5 lbs-that's alot of happiness and yumminess!

Now, I could have hid those yummies right away but once night came it was time for my 6 year old to take her antibiotics-a horrible, yucky tasting antibiotic. It was her second day and she still hadn't taken a full dose. We had tried juice, doritos, anything I could think of to mask the taste. I looked online for some ideas. One was a reward chart but I didn't think that would help at that moment. Another one was to put chocolate syrup on the spoon and put the medicine on top of it. I would have tried that except I didn't have any chocolate syrup. Then I spied the m&m's. I gave her a handful, promised her a handful each time she took her medicine (oh yes, I'll buy more) and we went to work. We call it "m&m ing" up her mouth and it's been working. Still not easy peasy to get her to take the medicine but at least she's getting it and not totally miserable.

So, there's a reason to keep m&m's in the house-besides just for mom's sanity-and the next time I'm at the store and think "I really don't need those" I'll remember-I do need them-you know, just in case someone doesn't want to take their medicine!!

Have a great day!

Menu Plan Monday-March 9th

Wow-can't believe we're already into the second week of March! I'm dragging today-anyone else? I'm not sure if it's the dreary/snowy/rainy/cold weather, the time change or too many birthday cupcakes yesterday :)

The birthday party was nice. The kids had fun and we got to visit with friends we camp with but don't see that much in the winter. My 3 year old is still in the party mode-she's been using the gift bags and "wrapping" presents for the baby and myself all morning.

Here's our menu plan for this week......
Monday Leftover Ham (we had a spiral ham for the brithday party), potatoes, veggie
Tuesday Spaghetti and meatballs, garlic bread
Wednesday Potato Soup-I think I'll put some ham in it if there is any left
Thursday Chicken fajitas, raw veggies
Friday Homemade cheese pizza, salad

Next week I want to get back to trying at least one new recipe a week. Check out other great meal planning ideas at orgjunkie

Have a great day!!

Have a great weekend!!

We're busy getting ready for my son's 1st birthday party. It's beautiful outside so it's great-the kids are out playing and I'm in cleaning-hey, wait a minute......no really, works out well, they're happy and I can get some stuff done.

We had a crazy end of the week-we were at the doctor's office yesterday for an ear infection and an infected toe. I now have 3/5 of my children on antibiotics. We also had our first injury related nose bleed. The baby got in an accident with the Barbie volkswagon-he's fine-just a little stomach drop for me. The 5 year old was cited for speeding.

How to make your mom feel old.....

Us in the Honda on the way to school today.......

Girls: (hearing the advertisement on Radio Disney for the new Witch Mountain movie) Oh we want to see that, can we go see that?, what's it about (imagine the three oldest all talking at the same time)

Me: I'm not sure what's its about but there were two more before this one you might want to see.

Girls: There were two more? What were they called? What were they about? Can we get them?( imagine again-all talking at the same time)

Me: I think Witch Mountain and Return to Witch Mountain (I've since looked that up and I was wrong)

8 yr old: Is it the same people in the movie?

Me: I doubt it-those movies came out when I was little. I'll add them to our Netflix so you can see them.

12 yr old: (with a tiny bit of tween annoyance in her voice) Are they black and white?


This is as bad as when my 8 yr old asked if we had toilets when I was little :)

Have a great day!!!

Cue the Wild Applause......

I'm finished with Step 4 of the YCMT Make It Up As I Go Along Quilt !!!! My blocks are all squared up and ready to be put together pinwheel fashion. I wasn't really looking forward to squaring all these blocks up but I found it relaxing and satisfying. Hey, that's usually why I have ice cream at night-could this be my new fat free enjoyment :) I hope to start sewing them together soon and I'll be showing you my progress. Slowly but surely I move on!!!

I was tagged this week by Courtney over at Sister to Sister . She tagged me with this fun tag "Love Me Love Me Not". Here are the rules: I am suppose to write 5 things I love about myself, and 5 things I don't!

5 Things I Love

1. I'm dependable

2. I get along with everyone.

3. I'm creative.

4. I'm compassionate.

5. I put my kids wants in front of my own.

5 Things I Hate

1. I procrastinate.

2. I'm a perfectionist and often don't do things if I don't think they'll be perfect.

3. I'm not a big risk taker-which could be good like I don't like gambling but bad because of things like I've been in my house almost 12 years and the walls are still white with not much hung up (see number 2 on this also)

4. I'm not always the most patient person.

5. I have a temper.

Wow! This is a good way to take a minute and think about things you'd like to work on in yourself. A little fun eye opener. Thanks Courtney.

Lots and lots of ........

SNOW-waaahooooo!! It's a snow day!! Waaahooooo-no school, play all day, waaahoooo!!!

Oh wait a minute, I'm the mom, no day off for me :) We're going out to shovel and play in a few when the baby goes down for a nap. We've got some games planned and a movie. Good day for everyone to recoup from the weekend and maybe get rid of these colds that are hanging on. We might also make these great paper bag books from YCMT. I downloaded the directions during the summer and we never made them. My oldest daughter can sew them together and the younger ones will love decorating. My older daughter would probably also like to make a number book for her younger sister. Cute and easy and I have all the supplies. Thanks for the reminder Kris!

Here's my menu planning for the week..........nothing too new and creative, it's going to be a busy week with my son's birthday party on Sunday.
Monday Chicken parmigiana, salad
Tuesday Pepper Steak, brown rice, green beans (we didn't have this last week)
Wednesday My daughter's basketball pizza party and since I'm coach-pizza for the family!
Thursday Roast Chicken, rice, veggie
Friday Homemade mozarella sticks, sauce to dunk, salad

Check out more menu planning ideas at orgjunkie.

I finished all the basketball certificates and the cabinet-don't you love when everything is nice and neat and in it's place. I have about 7 more squares to finish up so I hope to show a picture later and move on to sewing-now that's worth a waaahoooo!!