a few things last week: my new kitchen/coffee cart i got at a thrift shop near my home for $45. perfect condition. i am in love with it! // they say you dream even when you don't remember them... well, i definitely remembered that one! // elijah's lunch plate. heart PB sandwich (no jelly! we don't really do jelly very often), heart cheddar cheese, carrots and black olives, blackberries and blueberries, and plain yogurt with agave on top for dipping the fruit. // princess gracie // muh new hairs! cut and highlights. my hair was down to my booty and i chopped it all off. it feels so much better! // true blood cookbook. this book is amazing! it has a TON of recipes. AND, i see there is a second book coming out in june. pre-order now! // i love him, and he works hard! he deserves to sit up all night and play call of duty black ops 2... even if it bores me to death. // fresh juice // chai tea with a splash of torani caramel. I LOVE THIS STUFF! // dropping the mister off for drill weekend. night vision drivers training this weekend! // smoothie for one... me! // missing the hubs and watching brother bear with my littles. // i started weight watchers, A-gain... and this is the best smoothie i have ever made. // ended the weekend with my new favorite show GIRLS. woo hoo!
a few things lately: elijah wrote his name all by himself //custom order (more like a favor) of golden girls cross stitch from melissa plus one of her awesome zippered pouches //elijah in the toy section while we get a new tire //i'm a little indecisive... bojangles unsweet tea, chai tea, water, and diet dr. pepper // one of my favorite photos of elijah lately// more dr. pepper // riding... // antique chair i found at goodwill for $5. my mom is going to fix it right up! // phoenix and tyler getting along (it's like spotting a rare breed) //valentine's cookies for my little love bugs // super bowl fun with my crew who are not very interested.
it's been nice to just sit around the house and do nothing and that is exactly what we did this past weekend. the only thing i did was make a couple grocery runs. here are a few photos of our relaxing weekend via iphone...
1. i have been making elijah these special lunches during the week to encourage better eating...and it actually works! it even worked pretty well for phoenix and tyler this weekend, but they aren't nearly as picky as elijah is.
2. jason got a new ipad for christmas, so his old one went to elijah along with these headphones. i love how he wears them below his ears.
3. puzzle time. i picked up this fisher price little people box of six 24-piece puzzles for $1 on clearance at our grocery store. not the typical place i buy items of this sort, but when you see a price like that, you get it! he loves putting these together all by himself.
4. my emeals low carb turkey wrap dinner. delicious!
all i can say is that i have been busy! i don't feel like i have done a whole lot but have actually accomplished a great deal. lots of cleaning and rearranging, and a little purging of useless junk. the holidays are coming up and i know we will need the extra space. six kids + christmas = lots of new stuff.
oh, and i also reorganized our important documents safe. i usually try to do it once a year. and if you don't have a safe for your important documents, i suggest you get one! a fire or flood can happen to anyone.
we like to party hard around here.
be prepared this week for lots of new companies and products i am loving and want to share with you, including a new app. that i use for running. some may even make great gifts for the upcoming holidays! stay tuned!
if it hadn't rained yesterday, it would have been the perfect weekend. although the weekend didn't end like i had planned, it was still a pretty awesome weekend. saturday, we headed back out to the lake, down by the river, with some friends. the place was packed with people who were there to go kayaking, canoeing, and tubing down the river. we will so be doing that next year!
while at the lake, we semi celebrated tyler's birthday, that is coming up tomorrow, with cupcakes and cookies. the cupcakes had a rough journey to the lake and were pretty messed up when it was time to eat them, so i will definitely have to make up for that mistake!
later on we headed home and cooked hot dogs and s'mores over the fire pit and had a blast just chatting it up with rick and amanda.
sunday, we were going to make a trip to the beach for the day but a nasty storm all day prevented us from doing that...THE ONE TIME we decide to go to the beach all summer! go figure! but, overall, it was a great weekend and we are so glad we were able to hang out with friends.
we actually had another pretty good weekend considering we have been staying home a lot lately. however, we finally have ryan and jacob for a week now, right before they go back to school. jason and the rest of the munchkins went to get them on friday and gave mommy some alone time for awhile. i was able to throw in a second workout for the day and just relax. it felt pretty weird.
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saturday, my mom and i took the girls back to school shopping at the mall. i hate going to the mall, we almost never go, but they pretty much have everything they need for back to school, except for a few small things. i am so grateful that my mom helped me out this year with the girls' stuff. schools seem to be asking for more and more every year. not to mention, all the money put in throughout the school year. mackenzie had 3 field trips last year and each one came with a $80 fee to go. phoenix and tyler had several as well, including one that was an "in school" field trip that cost $5. what kind of crap is that?
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after sitting down and planning my grocery trip on sunday, i suddenly got the urge to get out of the house...more so that going to the grocery store. so, a spur of the moment trip to the lake turned out to be a super fun day for us. we actually only live about 15 minutes from the lake, but we ventured over to the dam area where there are hiking trails, a playground, and river access. we hiked up to the top of the falls lake dam and back down to the water's edge, let them play on the playground and then hiked back down to the river where an impromptu swim session took place after tyler fell face first into the water. we clearly weren't dressed for swimming but no one seemed to mind. i will be sharing more photos of our adventure throughout the week, but for now, check out this video!
on our way home, we decided it was best to end our day of fun with hot dogs and s'mores on the fire pit. we already have plans to go back sometime soon.
how was your weekend? tell me something awesome you did!
what a fabulous weekend we had! it was also a rather bittersweet weekend as well, because my little monster turned 3 saturday. he seems so far away from that baby he once was and i miss that baby i once had. i still try to rock him to sleep sometimes, and i always enjoy the cuddles he gives me when he is tired, hurt, or just needs his mommy, but i know that soon those cuddles will fade because hugging and kissing mommy will be uncool.
saturday was also a day of growing up for mackenzie, as she went on her first date with her boyfriend josh. i was a little hesitant at first, but finally gave in to her attending a chaperoned lynyrd skynyrd concert. jason was much more worried than i was and was even plotting with my best friend matt if anything were to happen. you know, the typical "i'm gonna get my shotgun" routine dad's have to play.
the weekend kept us busy for the first time in a while. we ended up shopping for toys, at another restaurant, and ended our weekend at the farmer's market, getting a super awesome deal on corn. $10 for 60 ears? yes, please!
i have really gotten into my workouts every day, even if the second i wake up, my first thought is "oh damn, i have to work out"! today is 15 days that i have worked out in a row. to some, that may not seem like a lot, but for me, it is a HUGE step. i have gotten so lazy and depressed lately, and just felt like crap in general. and then, suddenly, i woke up, and had this giant change of direction. i guess, i just couldn't stand to look at myself in the mirror any more. i was pretty much disgusted with myself. this is a big accomplishment for me and i am so proud of myself for finally sticking with it.
the rest of my weekend was like always...just some family time at home. i am going to have to say that this summer will definitely go down in our record books as the most boring summer EVER. i won't even drag on this paragraph to tell you how boring it has been. haha! I NEED A VACATION!
oh my gosh, you are going to think my life sucks! once again we were stuck home this weekend. we went to walmart to pick up a few things including a brew-your-own coffee attachment for our keurig. i love the ease of popping in one of those little coffee packs but they can be expensive (we don't miss a single day of coffee drinking unless we just don't have any). this is the year our money has definitely been tested and we have been able to see how much money we waste as a family. we are finding so many ways to save money and that little attachment will definitely save us a ton of money in the long run.
i think the most exciting part of our weekend is that elijah has been going out in public with underwear on. last thursday was actually the first time we did it and he didn't have a single accident. he is also continuing to successfully poop in the potty and we have also been putting him in undies at night as well. he hasn't had a single accident. holy crap he has caught on so quickly! we aren't even really using the sticker chart any more either. he has completely lost interest in that.
the rest of the weekend was spent getting caught up on yardwork and housework and enjoying some delicious foods.
our weekend started out with a bang! friday, i got a big surprise in the mail...$1000! actually, i won it from carmex a few weeks ago and it arrived just in time to sky rocket my rotten mood in a better direction. originally we thought..."yay, a vacation!" then, "well, maybe we should save it?" then, finally, we decided to spend it.
on a new refrigerator.
our refrigerator finally bit the dust and we chose the grown up thing to do...buy the stinkin' refrigerator instead of making monthly payments on one.
we also finally got serious with elijah and started potty training him once and for all. i must say, i was a little inspired to do so right after i read chelsea's potty training series. we went to target, bought a chart and some stickers in the dollar section and came home and went to it.
since we chose to potty train, we pretty much stuck to home the rest of the weekend.
how was your weekend? what would you do if you suddenly had an extra $1000?
just another lazy weekend. it's starting to become a routine for us. it was just too hot to do anything outside that didn't involve water and, unfortunately, we don't have access to a pool whenever we want. that's country life for ya (i hate it out here)!
the kids did spend some time outside with the water hose getting wet, but other than that, our weekend involved lots of movies and air condition. all of us here in NC aren't used to 105 degree temps! i swear mother nature is punishing me for being so whiny about those ridiculously cold days back in the spring.
is it hot where you are? what have you been doing to keep cool?
it has been low key around here again this past week. thursday, we let mackenzie choose where she wanted to eat out for her birthday and she chose moe's and then frozen yogurt over at sweet spoons. i pretty much ate the most i have eaten in years and promptly went to bed when i got home. (yes, i ate so much i felt sick. way to go me!)
friday evening, mackenzie, phoenix, and tyler were supposed to stay the night with their grandma and jason and i were to have a quiet night with just elijah. however, shortly after dropping them off, we got a call that phoenix was throwing up. what the heck? i can't even tell you the last time phoenix was sick, it has been THAT long. of all days to get sick, right? we still had a good night with just the two kids and some beer and sushi on the side. philly roll and bud light platinum...yum!
saturday, we took the kids to burger king to try out the new bacon sundae and to take mackenzie and phoenix shopping with their birthday money. first plato's closet, then old navy. if you have a plato's closet near you, definitely check it out. you can get gently used name brand clothes (juniors-adult) for amazingly reduced prices.
how was your weekend? what kind of adventures did you have?
