How long has it been?

Over a year! It's been over a year since I posted anything!!! How did I let this happen? Lots has happened in a year. C started kindergarten, and, although we had a tough transition (me more than him), he's had a wonderful year. I love his teacher and have been constantly amazed at his growth and maturity. I tear up everytime he reads to me. C is sweet, smart, and snuggly. A is getting bigger and bigger. I'm loving every second of watching his personality develop. He's funny, curious, and intense. While C is my negotiator, A is my little engineer. Those boys are my world.

They spent their spring break with my father and stepmother and just returned today. DH and I missed them terribly while they were gone, but we did enjoy the break (and the sleep!) They got back today and we realized C needed new shoes so I started out the door. The following conversation occurred:

Me: A, do you want to go to the store with me?

A: No, mommy, I don't have time.

Me: Are you sure? Can you make time?

A: I'm sorry mommy, my time machine is broken, I can't make time until I fix it.

We then spent 30 minutes building a time machine out of blocks so that we could make time for him to go to the store. Alas, though, the time machine broke again and we couldn't make enough time for him to go with me. These boys keep me hopping and I love every second!

Wishes

A couple of years ago, DH and I bought the book You Are My Wish Come True for the boys. It's a very cute story about how a mommy wished for a child and the child was born. It was a favorite for awhile, but later grew out of favor. C picked it up again a few nights ago for his bedtime story.

DH read the story and C asked him if God made C special just like He made the child in the book. DH told him that God had, indeed, made him special.

C said: Did you and mommy wish for me, too?

DH: Yes, we wished for you and for A. We wished very hard for you both and then you were born.

C: (after thinking for awhile) Daddy?

DH: Yes?

C: I really wish you hadn't wished for A.

Visiting Amelia

Wow, what a great weekend! Friday was DH's birthday and I planned a surprise weekend getaway. After work, I told him to get in the car because we had reservations. My plan had been to just get on the interstate and go, but he saw me hide a key (so my in-laws could watch the dog). So, he found out a little sooner than I had planned that we were going out of town. He wasn't thrilled at first, but he warmed up to it!

We spent the weekend on Amelia Island. It was wonderful! The weather was fantastic! We slept late on Saturday and then went to his favorite beach restaurant for lunch. It's a cute little place called "Sandy Bottoms." They have amazing seafood and it's right on the water. We sat and ate and chatted for awhile. I had forgotten how nice it is to have a full conversation with my husband without two kids interrupting.

After lunch we visited Fort Clinch (pictured above), an unfinished fort from the civil war. It was really amazing. I was, admittedly, not excited about going there, but once we were there it was fascinating. We saw the fort jail, barracks, hospital, quarterman's office, and the bakery. I love historical places like that, it amazes me that MY feet were touching the same floor that union soldiers' feet touched. Perhaps I'm weird...

We then went to a local bookstore and met an author of local ghost stories. She was sweet and signed a book for me. Then we got a nap, yes, a nap! After the nap we went to dinner at this cute little Irish Pub that DH loves. We wandered around town window shopping and just chatting. After getting back to the room we watched Frost/Nixon, which was MUCH better than I expected.

Sunday brought us back to real life and back to the boys, who I missed terribly. They had an awesome weekend with grandma, though, seeing a play, visiting the "train store", playing at the park, and playing train. It's funny, I didn't realize how much DH and I both needed a getaway. We're back now and more relaxed, which is good. As a bonus, my mother in law cleaned my house while I was gone!

Hope everyone else had an amazing weekend, too!

Not Me! Monday!

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

Gotta love not me! Mondays!

It was not me who cancelled a pest control appointment for this morning because my house was too dirty to let someone in. I always always always keep my house spotless and visitor-ready.

It's not me who moved into her new office last week and still has boxes to put up. I always unpack and organize immediately.

Finally, it was not me who borrowed my friend's card tables for Thanksgiving and continues to take them in and out of her trunk as she needs space. I always return things promptly. Seriously.

Menu Planning Monday

Hi all! I've been a bad blogger lately, but I'm going to do better. I know, I keep saying that! I'm stealing an idea from the OC Mama and planning my menu for the rest of the week. I'm sure she doesn't mind.....

Monday: Indian Butter Chicken, Brown Rice, Green beans
Tuesday: Ham, creamy ranch potatoes, broccoli
Wednesday: Chinese Orange Chicken, brown rice, salad
Thursday: Gordon Ramsay's Shrimp Pasta with tomatoes and chilies and salad (the boys will not eat this. They'll have buttered noodles and broccoli, probably)
Friday: WHOOOOOOO night out with the girls!

So, I'm completely and totally obsessed with Steph and her slow cooker blog. (I'm not a stalker, Steph, really! Just totally digging my crockpot right now and your recipes are great!) I'll be making the butter chicken, creamy ranch potatoes, and Chinese orange chicken in the crock pot. The butter chicken and the orange chicken recipes are right from Steph's blogs. I'm tickling myself by calling her "Steph" like I know her or something. Really, I'm not a stalker.

Thanks, Check-out lady

This weekend I made the much dreaded trip to Wal-mart to buy groceries. If any of you are "facebook friends" with me, you know that I strongly dislike Wal-mart. I really despise shopping there. However, with our grocery bill going through the roof, my DH has asked that I do the grocery shopping there instead of Publix. So, off to wally world I went.

It was a gross experience. Dirty floors, yucky looking veggies, and VERY crowded. I made it to the check-out line and as the woman who was checking me out scanned my bottle of white wine (HEY, I needed it. I went to WAL MART...ok, really it was to make a Gordon Ramsay recipe that I am itching to try...more on that later), she asked for my ID. This made my day...seriously. Made my day! I said, "Thanks!"

Then......well, SHE said...

"HAha, oh, well, it's not that you look 21. It's that you don't look 40, yet."

So...thanks, check-out lady.

Oh, Hi there!

Phew, it's been awhile, huh? I'm not sure if anyone even reads this blog anymore, I hope you do, though! What a holiday season, in some ways it went SO fast, and in other ways, I'm just glad that we all survived it! This Christmas will go down as the Worst. Christmas. Ever. in my book. I mean, seriously, the worst. Even worse than the one where our house caught on fire on Christmas Eve. Yup, worse than that. For the first time in my life, I was happy to take down my Christmas tree and decorations, happy to box them away, and happy not to think about the holidays for awhile.

It all started late Christmas Eve. My family arrived at my house for the opening of first present (it's always PJs), and the preparation for Santa's arrival. On the way in, my grandfather hit our brick curb with his car and immediately got a flat tire. At this point, my mother-in-law said, "it can't get any worse than this!" Famous last words.

My grandparents brought their dog, Annie, to our house. She's been there may times before and she and our dog, Princess, have always gotten along fine. They got along fine this time too...until...who knows what happened. I didn't actually see it, but, by all accounts, Princess attacked Annie. (However, Annie has a history of fighting with other dogs.) My grandmother, who sees Annie as her baby, threw herself in the middle of the dogs fighting. She ended up with a finger that was severed at the bone. So, Christmas Eve, we not only had family visiting, but an ambulance, EMTs, a police officer, and animal control.

My grandmother went to the ER, and was released Christmas morning, but is now back in the hospital to get a pin placed in the finger. They are trying to save it, but are not hopeful.

The whole incident was awful. A is traumatized, there is a lot of family animosity right now, and i'm at a loss about what to do with the dog. We love Princess, and she hasn't shown any violent tendencies towards the boys. Then again, she hadn't shown any towards Annie, either. I really wish that I could evaluate the situation better, and that I knew more about dogs so that I could determine what the risk is in having her around the boys. I'm really struggling with the decision.

I hope all of you had a wonderful holday season. Here's to a great 2010!

Life According to C.

**Side note: Ok, wow, so I totally failed the posting every day in November thing. Sorry! We had waayyyy too much going on including Thanksgiving, A's birthday, a trip to Disney World, and several friends' parties, just to name a few.

Ok, on to life according to C:

Me: Uh oh, mommy made a bad choice.

C: WHAT!>?

Me: Mommy made a bad driving choice.

C: Not a really bad choice though, right? I mean, just a little bad choice? You're not going to have to go to women's prison are you?!?!

Not My Child! Monday!

It was not MY child who tried to show me how to "pee pee" standing up, and then, after hearing an explanation of why girls (including mommy) do not stand up to pee pee, loudly pronounced to anyone who would listen "Daddy doesn't have a penis, he pee pees like mommy!"

It was also not MY child who had to be carried out of the dollar tree kicking and screaming because he could not have a piece of candy. It was also not my child who used a noise maker (like at a football game) in the middle of that same store. My children always behave like little angels in public.

Finally, it was not MY child who had a choclate covered doughnut for breakfast today because mommy was in a hurry to get to work. They always eat well-balanced meals. Plus, I wouldn't actually buy chocolate doughnuts.

Yay!

Yay!! Toys R Us reopened! Our local TRU was closed after some storm damage and there were questions as to whether it would reopen at all. Well, it did! Phew! We've been doing our Christmas and birthday (A turns 3 on Saturday) shopping at Target and Walmart and the selection there isn't great. Would you believe we don't have any other toy stores? It's crazy!

DH and I met at TRU today over lunch and, except for ONE thing, we finished the boys' Christmas and A's birthday shopping!! Yay for us! The bad thing is, we haven't purchased anything for anyone else. Boo! I'm going to get right on that and order my mom's gift. I can't say what it is, because I think she reads this sometimes :) Let's just say it's amazing, I want one, and it's sorta kinda blog-inspired!

I hope that everyone had a fabulous weekend and that you are marking things off of YOUR Christmas list as well. 45 Days left!

Brownie Bake-off

Well...we didn't win :( But, that's ok, we had a blast! It was so much fun and it was for a great cause, so what better way to spend the afternoon? We also had some repeat customers (one family came back 4 times to buy brownies), so I know that they were good. I'm going to post the recipe anyway :)

Sunkissed Brownies

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened and divided
4 eggs
2 teaspoons pure orange extract
1 teaspoon grated orange zest
4 blocks of semi-sweet baking chocolate
Nuts, if you like them in brownies. (I don't)

Grease a 13 by 9 by 2-inch pan and set aside. In a mixing bowl, stir together flour, sugar, and salt. Melt chocolate with half a stick of butter over low heat. Add chocolate to flour mixture. Add remaining butter, eggs, orange extract, and orange zest and beat with a handheld electric mixer until well blended. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 30 minutes, or until brown and set. When cool, ice with sunkissed icing (below).

Sunkissed Icing

1/2 stick butter, room temperature
8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
4 cups powdered sugar
3 tablespoons orange juice
1 tablespoon orange zest

Beat the butter and cream cheese with a hand mixer until fluffy and light. Add the powdered sugar and beat until combined. Add the orange juice and zest and beat until thoroughly combined

***Note: This recipe is an adaptation of Paula Deen's orange brownies

A quickie!

In keeping with the NaBloPoMo or whatever, I have to post today, but i'm swamped, so this is a quickie.

Wish us luck! My mom and I are entering a charity brownie bake-off tomorrow. We are making orange brownies w/ cream cheese frosting. YUM! Our team name is "orange you glad we're here!?" We're so corny.

If it turns out well, I'll post the recipe :)

Taking Deep Breaths....

How stressful is it when a family member goes too far in their 'advice'? Even when they don't MEAN to be harmful, it can be. Very. A member of my family has been VERY vocal with me regarding the H1N1 vaccine, and insists that the boys should have it. While I very much appreciate the concern for my children, I'm beginning to resent the implication that I cannot intelligently evaulate the situation and determine what's best for my kids on my own. I really DO have that ability. In fact, My husband and I made a decision about the vaccine after conversations with the pediatrician, a nurse practitioner, and our own research.

The resentment has been building over the past few days because I have recieved daily emails with additional information from this family member. Today's email takes the cake. Let me share with you just a few lines:

"I came across this study on handwashing/prevention of disease in children under 5. We should be able to reduce the number of incidences of illness with A and C during flu season by being slightly more diligent."

"Here is the copy/paste from the Lancet on handwashing (not trying to imply that your/our house has conditions like rural Pakistan at least not on most
days!)"

"Handwashing with soap prevents the two clinical syndromes that cause the largest number of childhood deaths globally-namely, diarrhoea and acute lower respiratory infections. Handwashing with daily bathing also prevents impetigo." (From the article).

Try as I might, I am really having a hard time with this. I want to express that the email crosses a line with me, but I don't want to step on any toes. GGrrrrr. I'm so mad!

Life According to C

C: Grandma...please stop talking. They are focusing on you and people should be focusing on me.

******

This morning:

A and C: Can we have a peice of trick or treat candy?

DH: Yes, AFTER you eat your breakfast.

A and C: Ok.

A few minutes later.....in comes A, chewing.

DH: What are you eating?

A: MMHHsie LLLLL (read: tootsie roll)

DH: Are you eating your tootsie roll?

A: **nodding** (after all, he has a mouth full of tootsie roll)

DH: Didn't I tell you that you could have your candy AFTER breakfast?

C: I unwrapped it for him, daddy. I know what's best for my brother.

*******

The other day we were at a stoplight and I was searching through my purse for makeup. The light turned green and I didn't go right away.

C: Mommy, you shouldn't go through your purse when you are stopped at a light. The light might go green and you might not go in time.

Me: You're right, Connor, I'm sorry. I won't do that again.

C: OH! You don't have to apologize, mommy! Just don't do it again.

Sometimes I forget he's just 4.

College Night

Tonight I get to venture out of the armpit of Florida to participate in a perspective student college night in Georgia. Wesleyan College, my undergraduate institution doesn't have an admissions rep available to go, so I get to go as an alum. Last year was my first year participating, and I love it. The best part is that another alum will be there too, and it's always great to relive the glory days!

Wesleyan is a women's college, and attending was the best decision I have ever made. I truly grew so much in the four years that I was there and am now part of a wonderful sisterhood that spans many generations. I love going out and meeting future Wesleyannes and talking to them about my experiences. Some scoff at the idea of attending a women's college (I did!), but one visit to the campus and most are hooked. It's truly an amazing place.

Wish me luck in recruiting tonight!

Not Me! Monday!

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

Gotta love not me! Mondays!

It was not me who took a phone call in a bookstore this weekend leaving my DH to lead a very frustrated and very LOUD two-year old away from the train table in the kids' section. Not me!

It was not me who had to run to the toy store 30 minutes before a birthday party started in order to buy a gender-neutral gift for the birthday....kid, because I didn't know if the child was a boy or girl even though they've been in A's class for six months. Not me! I know the names/ages/genders of everyone in both boys' classes!(The answer: BOY)

I also would NEVER take a few minutes to read a book before going to my in-laws house when A, C and DH left a few minutes before me and I said I'd "be right there." I always enjoy family gatherings and rush to join the fun!

It was also not me who used "I need to dye my hair" as an excuse to be late to the in-laws. I'm never late anywhere. Ever.

Finally, it was definitely not me who let the boys wear their Halloween socks three days in a row because we were late and I couldn't find any other matching and clean pairs. My children are always impecibly dressed, matching, and clean. At all times.

National Blog Post Month

Ok, so I'm taking the lead from Nat and Steph and taking part in my very first ever National Blog Post Month (NaBloPoMo). I'll try to post every day in November. Nobody even dare mention that I didn't post yesterday, thus already failing at posting every day. I'll post two today to make up for it....ok?

So, since I JUST decided to do this, i'm going to give you some bullet points of my thoughts at the moment:

~I just moved offices and the Shift key on my keyboard sticks. It is maddening.

~I am SUPER excited about a family trip to Disney World for A's birthday in three weeks.

~I miss my brother, but I am really really proud of him for tackling and succeeding in medical school.

~I am SUPER psyched about visiting him and his wife in December.

~I need a new job.

~My husband is fabulous, even when I've not been the best wife as of late.

~I love getting to work early and having a quiet office all to myself.

~My car is a level three disaster.

~I need to have a garage sale.

~I started a new diet again today for the 3424th time. Even I am sick of me.

~Both of my boys were batman this year for Halloween, even after I went all over town and poured over the internet to find a Diego costume for A.

~I want a new couch, the old one smells like dog.

~I have a newly formed addiction to La Croix water. Connor says it "tastes like pee pee"

~My office is no longer quiet so I need to work.

Life According to A

A is hilarious. He seriously makes us laugh all day long. He has a mix of a wonderful sense of humor and a very serious side which makes for some zingers that come out of his mouth.

A is almost 3 now, and not potty trained. In fact, up until yesterday, A had NO interest in the potty. I learned the hard way with C that you can't force the issue. When they're ready, they're ready. When they're not...well...they're not.

Last night A informed me that he wanted to use the potty. Great!!!! We clapped and praised and helped him out of his pull-up. Then he insisted he had to be "nakedheimer" in order to use the potty. Fine, no problem! So, we helped A get "nakedheimer" and he sat on the potty. And sat, and sat, and sat. 25 minutes later, still sitting. Nakedheimer.

Finally, we heard a little toot. A jumped up and looked in the potty. Then, he very very seriously said: Mommy, there's no poop in there! I guess my fart didn't work!

Not Me! Monday!

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

I did NOT make a modified version of MckMama's version of redneck caviar and eat the entire thing with my husband. I also did not become so addicted to the stuff that I made it three times this week for dinner and stopped at the grocery store with two screaming kiddos to get the accompanying fritos. Not me! I always cook and serve only well-balanced meals, never only chips and dip. Not me! (In my own defense, *if* I had done that, the kids would've eaten better than that, *if I did it, which I didn't....)

I did not go out to dinner with my husband and his coworker and her spouse only to order something that skeezed me out so badly when looking at it that I couldn't eat it. Especially at a nice restaurant, especially at a work dinner. Not me! I always enjoy fine dining and am always willing to try new things!

Seriously now, when learning that my in-laws (who I love!) were looking for a house to rent, I did not tell them that there was one 3 houses down from us causing them to rent it. I would never overlook the possible problems that may cause in the future. Not me! I always think ahead.

I also did not forget that C spilled a whole container of chickfila milk in the car leading to choruses of "EWWWWWw..what's that SMELL" when we got in the car this morning. Not me! I always clean things up immediately. It's also not me that now has to pay for a shampooing of the smelly car. Not me!

Life According to C and A...

C: Mommy, can we go to the museum today?

Me: No, C, I'm sorry, but we have to get home and get dinner and have tubby time. We can go back this weekend.

C: You NEVER EVER EVER EVER let me do ANYTHING!

A few minutes later:

A: Mommy, can we stop at McDonald's (pronounced Mik-a-donalds)?

Me : Not today honey.

A: Don't you never ever ever ever let us go to McDonald's!!! It makes me sad.