My Wonderful Painful Exhausting Day

The day was going great. The babies played at their cousins. I went to my sisters birthday lunch. We went to visit Grandma. Then home for the babies naps. While they took their naps, Samantha watched Tangled and I washed my huge truck. When I was putting everything away I clumsily knocked the nozzle into my shin. It hurt so bad, but I went on with what I was doing. Then I made the mistake of looking at it. YUCK! That's when I freaked out. I took pictures so my husband would believe me and then iced it. Sammy was my helper while I rested. She ran around getting me an ice pack, pillow, meds and drink. When she was elevating my leg with a pillow she said, 'Easy, easy, careful'. So cute!!! What a sweetie!!! It looks much better now, but yikes.

I'm super excited that my truck is finally clean (even though I got hurt). LOL!!! That monster hasn't been washed since I was 6 months prego with baby girl, so that would make 9 months. Way too long, but I can't do anything about the weather or the fact that it doesn't fit in a regular car wash. We'll see how long it takes me to wash it this time. LOL!!!

Brotherly Love

Max is constantly taking care of his baby sister. This morning we were going through the usual routine... breakfast, baths, getting dressed, a nap or two for baby girl, yadda, yadda, yadda. I made a couple bottles for them and set them in the livingroom. Then I went to the kitchen to make my breakfast. That's when Maggie started to cry. Before could get to her, Max had brought her bottle to her. She was totally fine and he'd already moved on to playing with his musical card. These kids are ridiculous!!!

Day of Errands Turned to Afternoon of Play and Sweet Naps

Poor Max was not happy about running around town in the car. I COULD NOT get him to smile.

As soon as he realized I stopped the car at the park he started to scream for joy! I'm so thankful the rain stopped for a little while. We stayed till his fingers were cold, which took a while. We ended our adventure with one of his favorite movies 'Bolt' which they both fell asleep to. Awesome day!

Hurry and Play Before the Rain Comes

Today was slightly warmer that the last few have been and it was partly sunny. We had to take advantage of it. In the past month we've been stuck in our house because of rain, snow and sickness. So before the rain came this week I was determined to get these kids to the park. We were so happy my sister and her kids could join us. Can't wait for spring!!! We really had a great time. Max LOVES his little sister so much!

Never thought I'd refer to my childhood as 'Simpler Times'.

I remember when VCRs, cable and satellite weren't in every home. There was no internet, cell phone or ipod to be hooked on 24/7. On Sunday night my family would pile in front of the TV after dinner. Mom or one of my sisters would make popcorn or homemade potato chips and we'd all watch the Sunday night movie together. I think there was only 5 or 6 channels at the time. It was so fun! There weren't many options and no complaints. Of course this all seems wonderful to me 25 years later, but you get my drift. Tonight I felt a little bit of that in our little house. We had a wonderful Sunday at church with friends and family. I mean one of those days where the spirit is just following you around, awesome days. We came home, made food and turned on a Disney movie for our handsome little boy. Not on his TV... on the BIG TV. Dad's TV. LOL! Our sweet little man was still dressed in his white shirt, tie and slacks. He found his bottle and sat 3 feet from the TV and was glued. When 27" TVs were considered big, I'd be the one sitting 3" from it. I'm not the brightest star in the sky. LOL! So 3 feet from our huge TV would be about the same, I think. So, I sat on the living room floor while holding Maggie so I could watch Monsters Inc with Max. I decided not to sit super close to the TV this time. ;0) Max came over and scooted his little body right into me. So there I was with both of my kids, trying not to mess this moment up, when Max decides he needs to be in both my arms. So I pass Maggie to Daddy (he didn't mind a bit) and cradled Max in my arms. He then proceeds to reach up and play with my hair. It went on like this for about 20 minutes while I held my breath. I'm telling you all... my babies are RIDICULOUS!!! Once he realized he'd been sitting in the same spot for more than a second, he decided to play. About 5 minutes later I found him in Daddy's arms petting his arm hair. LOL!!! So, Wes was holding both our babies and this went on for about 20 minutes till Max fell asleep. We both had the pleasure of snuggling with our babies and kissing their sweet heads without them pulling away. I know this won't last, but it sure made me think about my parents and all the times I did this with them and my siblings. Families are wonderful! I'm so grateful that I had such great teachers!!!

Snow Day

This is how our day started out. Maggie's getting better and better at sitting up in her Bumbo. Today she got to play with her new teething toy for the first time. As you can see, she loves it.

Because of the snow, we all slept in till about 10:30. Because of that, the snow was almost all gone. We decided we wanted to go for a walk because it didn't look too bad outside and it sounded like fun. It took a while to get everyone showered, dressed, fed and packed. By the time we were walking out the door it was snowing again. Snowing hard. We went anyway and when we got home, this is what we found. More beautiful snow to play in.

It was Max's first time to play in the snow and Maggie's first time to see snow. We had a lot of fun. Max kept yelling 'No, No!' to us when we threw snowballs at him. It was sooo funny!!! Good times!

My Fear of Cooking Something New

I have a fear of trying new things in cooking. All growing up, my sisters or Mom cooked the meals. I was great at baking. That's easy. If I wanted something sweet, I'd have to make it. Besides that, I find baking FUN! Savory dishes... not so much. They're intimidating for me.

When I got married I used my handsome husband as an excuse for not trying some recipes. Recipes with onions or mushrooms in them. My goodness! It's so difficult to find a recipe without onions. He helped me kick that bad habit. It was only an excuse, so he said he'd eat it if I made it. That was about 7 years ago. I'm not saying I haven't tried it here and there, but I really haven't pursued getting over this fear till now.

The drive really started for me in January. Wes bought me my second slow cooker. I have potpourri going in one pretty frequently, and in the other I usually try a casserole for dinner. It takes so little time and tastes SO GOOD!

The next step, I decided was to make something that I've been putting off. Like something with mushrooms. I picked this because it's something I love. I would go to Noodles & Co. everyday for their stroganoff if I could, but that would be ridiculous (and yummy! LOL!!!)

On Monday I picked up some mushrooms so that I would no longer have an excuse. No more saying I don't have the ingredients, or giving them away because I've chickened out. Today was the day. After playing in the snow with my sweet little family and putting the babies down for a nap, I did it... without a recipe. Like always it seems, I look and look and I'm unable to find a recipe that I really like. So I use parts of some that I've found and like the most.

Creamy Mushroom Stroganoff

1/2 lb - pasta

8 oz - sliced mushrooms

1 1/2 cup - heavy cream

1/2 cup - 2% milk

3/4 cup - parmesan cheese

Season with:

ground black pepper

onion powder

garlic salt

1)  Cook pasta and drain.

2)  Brown mushrooms in a large pan in butter and

olive oil (don't crowd the mushrooms).

3)  Add remaining ingredients and simmer for 10 minutes.

4)  You can then either mix the pasta together or top

each plate of pasta individually. Both are going to be yummy!

Now, on with my goal of beating this fear. I've printed out some recipes that I've decided to try. I'll probably end up changing them a bit, because that's what I do. That's OK though. Here are a few of them...

• Cherry Vanilla Oatmeal
• Curried Chicken Salad
• Wendy's Chili
• Rosemary New Potatoes
• Soda Roast

I'm making the Rosemary New Potatoes tomorrow along with a the Soda Roast. I've actually made a soda roast before, so the potatoes are my 'something new'. I'm super excited to see how this goes. So far, so good.