Phone post fail

I guess this is what your post look like when you do your first and last ever post via phone.
? l6? ^?Au8(?f???9?L ??t??N ?A????v?At?? ???n2??>?? t9Lv)??7??>??.

That is not what I typed at all.
It went more along the lines of...
I am going to call it a night. I am not feeling  so hot and tomorrow is a big day. I have cin. rolls to make and lots of family to see. Hopefully the little lady lets me sleep. That would be a great Christmas gift.
So I have a large cup of peppermint tea and I am going to crawl into bed and hopefully wake up all rested, with out a burning throat and foggy head.
Goodnight.
December 23, 2010

And to make things even worse I started getting texts from blogger about 11pm saying that my post was successful. I wrote and sent this post at 9pm.
Blogger could not just send me one text they had keep sending me texts every 15 minutes until I text them back to STOP.
By this time I was already out on the couch trying to go to sleep with a very unhappy little lady. Once I finally got her to sleep I grabbed my computer and checked my blog to see what my post looked like. All I saw wasnot one but two post of all those question marks and numbers. I quickly erased them so that no one would think that I completely lost it.
Then come to find out today when I finally had a few minutes to check my blog there was another one posted on there.
No thank you mobile blogging. You dont seem to work for me.
I hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas.

Love love love

So since my last post on Friday the little man and I have started tossing throwing up also. Now four days later we are all feeling much better.
And since I am already 4 days behind on the 12 days of Christmas I am just going to have to call it quits for this year.
I ended up taking the littles to the doctor yesterday to get checked out. The little man woke up with red, watery eyes and a cough. The little lady had a rash covering her chest and still had diarrhea. The results... we have Adenovirus. Its just as contagious as the common cold but each child can have different symptoms.

The little man has been much better today. He is still really mellow but his eyes are not nearly as red anymore.
My love for Hylands is growing. I found some tablets for Sniffles'n Sneezes. The are homeopathic (like all of Hylands products) and they did an amazing job at helping his cough and red eyes. I think that he still likes the Hylands cough syrup better but the tablets seam to work better.

The little lady still has a rash and diarrhea. My love for Elimination Communication is growing also ( I did not know it could grow more but it has) since she has been sick. I have still had to change a good share of poopy diapers but she has made it to the potty many more times. I dont think I would want to see how red her bum bum would be if she never made it to the potty.

My one more growing love is for soaked oatmeal.
If you haven't ever tried it, you need to.
All I do is soak some oats in some water over night in the fridge. When we up and ready for breakfast I just bring the oats to a boil and then I let it simmer for a minutes. Eat and enjoy.
This was the first food that we could keep down and it was amazing. I have some soaking in the fridge for breakfast tomorrow.
Maybe my shirt that I wore yesterday and today had a little something to do with the love, love, love post.

I am still living my life and loving it... no matter how unglamorous it maybe.

5th and 6th day of Christmas

On the 5th day of Christmas my true love gave to me five piles of throw up... four little hand prints, three Amazon gift cards, two orange purees, and one romantic date night.
I wont elaborate on this one. All I will say is the little lady is sick and I am filling my family full of vitamins and herbs so that none one else gets sick either.
On the 6th day of Christmas my true love gave to me six plus loads of laundry... five piles of throw up, four little hand prints... three Amazon gift cards, two orange purees, and one romantic date night.
Oh... the joys of all the laundry that comes along with being sick. Enough said.

4th day of Christmas

On the 4th day of Christmas my true love gave to me four little handprints... three Amazon gift cards, two orange purees, and one romantic date night.

We got together with my friend who just happens to have two little one the same age as my littles. Four littles in one house equals lots and lots of entertainment.
The older boys had so much energy we had to come up with a somewhat structured activity. The conclusion baked hand print ornaments.
They turned our really cute. We decided to bake them for slower and longer so that they would not brown too much or crack. So we went with 200 degrees for an hour but they were still soft. So after bumping up the heat and flipping them over. They finally got done when it was time for us to leave. So I ended up leaving our hand prints there since they were much to hot to transport.
If you are looking for a great handmade Christmas gift these simple cute hand prints should fit the bill.

3rd day of Christmas

On the 3rd day of Christmas my true love gave to me three Amazon gift cards... two orange purees and one romantic date night.
I dont think that I have ever talked about this here but just over a month ago I started using Swagbucks.
Swagbucks is a search engine and so much more. When you search sometimes (not every time) you can earn Swagbucks (FREE money). The Swagbucks can be used to buy many items in there store like gift cards.
So in the past month I have gained enough bucks to get three $5 Amazon gift cards. Just for doing what I always do plus answering the daily poll and doing a few surveys, I got $15 in Amazon gift cards and you could do it too. Just for using there tool bar you get a buck a day, its that easy.
I have heard from many that the best way to earn bucks is by having referrals. By getting people to sign up under you earn every search buck that they do until they reach 1,000.
If you are interested in signing up with Swagbucks please use this link and sign up under me. I would greatly appreciate it and you can start earning FREE money also.

1st and 2nd days of Christmas

On the 1st day of Christmas my true love sent to me one romantic date night.
This weekend the hubby and I went out for dinner to celebrate six years of marriage. We had a gift card to a restaurant that we had never been before so we figured we should check it out.

We dropped the littles off at the in laws and off we went, just the two of us.

The atmosphere was nice but the food was just ok. We were very thankful that we had the gift card. I dont think that we will ever go there again but it was fun to try something new.

Afterwords we walked around downtown for a little while in the rain. We checked out a used bookstore but found nothing. Our night was cut short but that was fine. It was fun to get out just the two of us but I was glad to see these two when we got back.

On the 2nd day of Christmas my true love sent to me two jars of orange purees... and one romantic date night.

Tonight's dinner was not as fancy but much more tasty. I made Spaghetti pie with two different orange purees in it.

I started off with leftover spaghetti noodles and sauce but it could be easily made with fresh made pasta and sauce.

One cup shredded mozzarella cheese

One egg

One jar of squash baby food or half cup pureed squash

One jar of carrot baby food or half cup pureed carrots

Preheat over to 350
Put everything in a large bowl (leaving out half the cheese) and mix well. Spray pie pan (I had too much leftover spaghetti to fit in a pie pan so I used a 8X8 glass baking dish). Put mixture into the baking dish and top with leftover cheese bake for 30-40 minutes (I cooked mine for almost an hour because I like it extra crispy).

The hubby even had two helpings, the little lady like it... but the little man still did not want to eat. He will eat when he is hungry, right?

 Proof that he does eat. Eating the heart shaped snognog (eggnog) french toast the other night.

Fails on Friday

I can write a whole list of reasons for not posting very much on my blog lately but I am not going to. I am just going to start from today.

Today started out like any other Friday.
I dropped the little man off at school. He was very excited to wear his police coat and hat.

Kisses were exchanged and the little lady and I hoped back into the car. Instead of heading home we kept driving until we made it to Ikea.
We found a parking spot right away. I started gathering my items together and I noticed something was missing. My wallet. REALLY! I could not believe it. FAIL
I started thinking and I could picture in my head exactly where it is sitting at HOME. How am I going to get the Christmas gifts that I took this trip out here for?
Then a light bulb came on. I have some CASH in the car. I was very excited to see these crisp green bills.
I ended up having just enough for ALL of the items.
So maybe my Friday was not a total fail.

Can you guess who Santa is in this picture of the littles?

Did you guess?
Yes it is who you think it is.
The hubby.
The little man said tonight at dinner 'Daddy is Santa.' Yes little man the hubby does make a pretty good Santa.

Father daughter dance

Last day of November

I cant believe that in just a few short hours it will be December.
December is such a fun but busy month.
The hubby and I will be celebrating our 6th year of marriage, the little lady will turn 9 months old (sigh), we will be going on our first winter camping trip, we get to celebrate the wonderful holiday of Christmas and we will say goodbye to the year 2010.
There were so many things that I needed to do today but none were as important as spending some time with the littles.
So today we went on a magic adventure in our very own living room. We turned off all the lights in the house and switched on the Christmas tree.

 We hunted for berried treasure and found a box full of treasures from Christmas's from years past.

 Five or more years of Christmas cards. Sometimes its good to be a pack rat.

 The littles had fun looking at all the pictures. The little man thought that it was fun to go hunting for people he knows in the pictures.

 We played make believe. The little man drove the lift truck with daddy inside and the two of them put up all the Christmas light on our tree.

 By now the little lady was getting tired from all of the fun play.

 Until she finally gave in and the two littles napped peacefully under the twinkle of the Christmas tree lights.

And I was able to tip toe away and get a few of the house hold chores done.

Preparing for Christmas

We have been busy around our house getting ready for Christmas. The little lady does not know what to think of all preparations. She keeps wanting to eat the lights on the tree.
I have been working on my Christmas cards and I wanted to share.

Red Revamped Christmas Card

Shop Shutterfly for elegant custom Christmas photo cards.

View the entire collection of cards.

Share your Shutterfly card project on your blog and you could get a $25 Shutterfly credit also.
Follow the steps here to get this amazing offer.

Turkey day 2010

We started off our Turkey day with the breakfast of champions.

Turkey hand print cookies.

I came across this hand print cookie cutter at a garage sale this summer and I thought that it would make some cute turkeys. Mini chocolate chips for the eyes, M&M's for the beak and waddle and a little colored coconut flakes as the feathers.
Then we were off to my dads house for the family dinner.
The little man watched Toy Story 3 while the guys watched football.
My mom and I worked together in the kitchen and it would not be Thanksgiving with out a little mishap. This year it was just a few burnt marshmallows.

The little lady enjoyed her first Thanksgiving dinner also.

The little man did not want to eat a thing.

I am so thankful.

Snowed in cooking

With all this fluffy white stuff on the ground just makes me want to spend all my time in the kitchen and not being able to run out to the store has made me be a little more creative in my cooking.
I dont measure when I cook so I am not the best person to write a recipe but here goes.

What you will need-
About 5 cups of soaked dried beans- I used  1 cup red beans, 1 cup black beans, 1 cup kidney beans and 2 cups of pinto beans. I did not remember to soak them over night so I quick soaked them in the morning. Canned beans would work also just omit the bean cooking step.
2 cans of tomato paste- any tomato product would work.
1 package of ground turkey- any ground meat would work or just omit the meat.
Lots of seasoning- Taco, chili powder, garlic, onion powder or even a little hot wing sauce all work great.
The ingredients that you dont tell the kids or the hubby that you put in the chili!
1/2 cup diced green bell pepper- I used frozen.
1/2 cup diced onion- I used frozen.
1 cup pureed carrots- I used two jars of carrot baby food. I started with one and then thought it needed more. Shredded carrots would work also just add them while the beans are cooking.

Start by cooking the beans in a large pot with about 12 cups of water over medium low heat until almost tender (about two hours). Once the beans are cooked add the two cans of tomato paste, the seasonings of your choice and the cup of carrot puree (or baby food). I also added a little more water but not too much because the hubby likes a thick chili (about 4 cups). I cooked them on medium low for a few hours until it the beans were nice and soft.
In a large skillet brown the meat along with the onion, green pepper and celery. Season with pepper if you like. Once everything is brown and tender add to the chili pot.
Let everything cook together for 20 minutes or so.
Serve with cornbread and a green salad.

I made this for Monday's dinner and Tuesday I served it over homemade macaroni and cheese and green beans. I dont think that I will use it in tonight's dinner but you never know. You can always put the extra chili in pint size canning jars and place in the freezer until the next time you are craving some Snowed in Chili.

Snow day

It started snowing Sunday while this guy

was putting Christmas lights up at Church.
And it never really stopped snowing on Sunday.

My not so good attempt at getting a family snow picture.
Good thing I finished the little ladys snow hat just in time for her first snow.
I kind of followed this hat pattern. I wanted to use some worsted weight wool yarn that I had and also size 4 needles. So after two froggings I ended up with this hat. Its a little big (it even fits the little man) but it will do. I added a chin strap and bottom to help keep it on her head.
Monday it snowed most of the day and the littles spent some time outside enjoying it.

The day could not be complete with out a few snow balls.

Today is going to be a whopping 26 degrees. Brrrr. Even though its cold the sun is shining today and who knows how much longer the fluffy white stuff will be here so we are going to get outside and play.

Playing in the kitchen

Most days I feel like I spend all day in my kitchen. Most of the time it is a good thing. I am not the greatest cook but I do enjoy making my family mostly healthy meals that we get to enjoy together. It it is even more fun now that the little man wants to help me. He climbs up into his learning tower and helps me cut celery or kneed dough or do whatever I need help with.

I have a sign in my kitchen that reads 'A messy kitchen is a happy kitchen.' That is very true about my kitchen. Most of the time my sink is full of dishes, the floor is littered with crumbs and you can hardly see my counters. Dont get me wrong having a clean kitchen makes me happy also but when my kitchen is messy I know that I just got done creating something that I hope my family will love.
We dont always just cook food in the kitchen. Some times we make play dough or paint or just splash in the kitchen sink.

The little lady even had her first taste of play dough this week in the kitchen.

We even have toys in the kitchen. The littles favorite is the leapfrog letter magnets. We have two of the toys that make the letter sounds and one that you use to create three letter words.
*Just a side note* WOW after seeing the prices of these items new I am really glad I did not buy them new. They are great toys dont get me wrong but 65 bucks just for the lower case letters is a little crazy. I got the two readers and the upper and lower case letters at a garage sale for 4 bucks and the word speller with a few letters at the thrift store for $2. If you are interested in these letters check used like Craigslist before buying new.
The little man is enjoying learning how to create different words. He thinks that it is really neat that we can spell mom, dad and cop. We even spelled arm and pit the other day and he thought that was real funny. The little lady just likes to chew on the letters and take them off the fridge.
And no matter how messy or dirty my kitchen floor is it always looks amazing in black and white pictures. Dont ya think?

Getting ready for Christmas

41 days till Christmas.
Really!?!
I am bound and determined this year to send out Christmas cards unlike two years ago. So when I heard that Shutterfly was giving away free photo cards to those that blog about this amazing deal I knew that this deal was for me.
I first started using Shutterfly when I got a $20 gift card when I was pregnant with the little lady.
I have have spent hours looking over all the great holiday card styles that they have on there site.
I have not taken our Christmas photo yet this year but there are many styles to chose from for whatever style of picture I end up getting of our family.

I really like this one if I can end up getting a great picture of the four of us all looking at the camera.
There are also many others to choose from if one photo does not turn out the best and I choose to use more than one photo for the card.

They even have cards that give back.

When you choose this card or any of these 10% goes to the lung association.

Or if you like this card or these better 10% from it goes to the LIVESTRONG foundation.

There are so many choices to choose from that I am going to have a hard time picking the one that I feel is just right for our family.

So if you are interested in getting free Christmas cards also just click here and fill in the blanks and have fun creating.

The trail

We were all in the playroom playing. The little man was sitting at his table playing legos and the little lady was chewing on toy on the floor. I got up to take care of some laundry.
From the time that it took me to move the clothes from the washer to the dryer the little lady had made it all the way down the hall. When she meet me I knew what she had done.
She had pooed.
Oh and did I forget to mention she was not wearing a diaper or pants.
So there was a nice trail coming from the pile that was left in the playroom, through the room and out the door. It was just like a slugs slime trail.
There was not a trail down the hall because she does not like to crawl on her knees on the hardwood. So she got up onto her feet and crawled that way all the way until I picked her up.
I stripped her down and got a bath going for her. Luckily the bathroom is right across the hall from the playroom so the little man watched her in the bath while I got to cleaning up the floor.
I am so thankful that I found the Seventh Generation carpet cleaner. It is amazing. It gets everything out of the carpet. It says that its active ingredient is hydrogen peroxide, so I am guessing that you could mix up your own very easily. I got this cleaner for an amazing price of $1.50 at Big Lots.
And speaking of home made cleaners, I made my own dishwasher soap this week also. I ran out of dishwasher soap this week but instead of running out to the store to get some I made some of my own. It was really easy to make, it cleaned pretty and it was super cheap. It is just equal parts borax and baking soda. That's it. Place a few table spoons in the soap dispencer in the dishwaher and press start.
I dont know if I will use the homemade dish washer soap everytime but I am glad that I learned how to make my own for the next time I run out of soap.

Rainy day fun

The little man informed me today that he does not like the rain. I am sorry kid but it rains a lot here.
But the rain is good for this...

We have been trying to keep our rain filled days full and busy.
The little man is really getting into learning about letters so I picked up a alphabet poster today at the dollar store.
He has learned that every word starts with a letter. So after most words he will stop and ask me what letter does it start with. 'What letter does blanket start with?' What letter does car start with?' What letter does poo start with?'
He has also learned how to spell his name. He is still working on writing it but that will come soon.
We have been playing games together. We have a number of 'kid' games and he is just now getting the idea of taking turns and following directions.

It is so amazing to watch him learn.
** I had a couple of you ask what park we were at back in this post and it was Steel Lake park in Federal way. Sorry it took me so long to answer your questions.