Thankful Thursday

Today has been a relaxing good day.

1. I am thankful for eating treats, drinking coffee, and chatting with a great friend.
2. I am thankful for Mater's Tall Tales that helped avoid a Striepling post nap mutiny.
3. I am thankful for the DD coffee that I am hoping Brian brings me home.

Of course 3 is more of a wish, and hopefully although I know Brian is super busy, he will find some time to read my blog before he leaves work. Which is highly unlikely because he doesn't do personal business while at work, but hey a girl can wish right?

Let's try something else.
1. Today I am hopeful I will get some DD coffee.
2. Today I am hopeful that in the next week I can find my motivation to lose weight. My playdate with Swift blew that out of the water. We had french breakfast puffs, which include rolling the baked goods in melted butter and coating in cinnamon sugar before consuming. Since nobody else came it was me her, the kids, and the baked goods. Bad news.
3. Today I am hopeful that I will have the drive to go through with my veg. garden plans. I know that with all of the hard work, it can bring some enjoyment, and awesome educational opportunities for the kiddos.
4. I am also hoping that the kid in my street riding the skateboard doesn't crack his head open. He is the only person that finds use in our badly paved street. Thank you city of ____________.

Wordless Wednesday

The Trying Three's Begin.

"No I's not"
 "I no like that Mommy"
 "No I can't"
 "It's too heabie"
"Because I just want to"

We hope to buy this swing set by the end of the month for the kiddos. Lainey really has no idea what is going on, but the thought of getting a swing set has worked wonders for Ellis' new "3 yr old" "I's a big boy" attitude. He has actually been eating his dinner, because his seat faces the back yard so we tell him where we might put the swing set if he is on best behavior. Which is good, because for I week I was sure he would starve to death. There is no consolation snacks if you don't eat your dinner in this house. There are starving kids, that get to eat the same thing everyday and are happy to have it.

 He didn't want to hang his laundry up this morning, I mentioned his behavior in relation to getting a swing set, and amazingly the shirts got hung in a speedy fashion. He is trying to be big and independent, and trying to shake any guidance from his momma dearest. I want him to have freedom to choose, but only as long as he knows I am the boss (oh and Brian too, I guess, but I am grand supreme boss, just kidding, not really). I have no intention of raising children that are not contributing members of society, and think that everybody should give them what they want just because the want it. I want to give him freedom to choose, but teach him that we don't always get what we want, and to be thoughtful of others. Plus he is a member of this family, and will contribute to chores, or whatever work needs to be done. I see qualities of entitlement and laziness in many of my peers and it is disgusting, I don't want my kids to be this way.

***With that being said if you are my friend, then I don't see this in you, because otherwise we wouldn't be friends :)

Oh Ellis, lets get through this stage sucessfully. The parenting books give a lot of advice, and often worry over squashing your spirit, whatever. I feel the most useful place for those is on top of a papertowel, on top of carpet cleaner, on top of a puke stain. I will tell you this, I will be patient through this phase, but I state this now, don't push it too far. I will try to be patient parenting, but the first sign you are turning into a permenant pill, not just a quick episode,  I will go dictator on you. I am the first Great and Grand child on my mother's side, and the bossy older sister. I know exactly what it feels like to get my way, and although with maturity I have left those ways behind me, I am sure they will come back if needed. I hear you son, I know you are a big boy as you say, but big boy or not "I's the momma".

Test Driving the Leaf

Saturday I was able to test drive the new Nissan Leaf, which is a completely electric car. It was really neat. We first got to learn more about it, and Sharon and I decided that we were in the smart class. We were in a group of people that had great questions because they had done their research.

I have to say I am pretty excited about the technology, and the car is very affordable considering how new it is. To turn on the car you just hit the big power button, and it is on, but you can't tell. There is no noise it is just on. There is also no transmission in the car so it doesn't shift while driving, and you don't feel the vibration in the gas petal you would from a regular car. It was pretty fast though, and much more spacious than I thought it would be.

This is the battery that powers the car.

The charging dock that you can have installed at your house.

Good sized trunk.

Two hot babes doing the test drive.

You move the knob down and the car is put into drive, hit the p button and the car goes into park.

The power button.

The green light lets you know the car is on, otherwise you wouldn't.

Some cons are that the battery life is only 100 miles. I am excited to own one one day for sure, maybe in the next few years!

Weekly Menu 3/28 thru 4/1

Really easy menu this week. I may wind up working a lot.


Monday 3/28: Pinto Beans and Cornbread

My kids love pinto beans. I think it is the meal that between the both of them they like the best. The eat and eat!

Tuesday 3/29: Spaghetti and Garlic Bread

Guess it was good :)

Wednesday 3/30 left overs
Thursday 3/31: Mexican Casserole
Friday 4/1: Grilled Chicken, vegetables, and rice
Saturday 4/2: Red Beans and Rice recipe
Sunday 4/3: Grilling out or Spinach and Ricotta Stuffed Shells

Thankful Thursday

I am really glad that I finally quit being so stuck on my ideas and started blogging. It is for one therapeutic, as many people say. But my main reason for doing it is much more. I want documentation of our life, when you think about it a blog can almost be like a scrapbook, and I so don't have the time to do a real one. We don't print pictures anymore, we show our loved ones the pics on facebook, we don't write letters, we email. We don't call, we text. I don't scrapbook, I blog, and it is so much easier. I want it to be honest, I don't flutter around all day making magical childhood memories for my kids all day, but I try. Sometimes I look at my kids and see two blonde hair blue-eyed terrorist. Sometimes I see two beautiful angelic kids. You know, it is what it is.

I also like sharing thoughts and ideas, and occasionally make my friends laugh out loud. Actually I like making my friends laugh a lot, when Alisha first looked at my blog and we both started laughing so hard we were crying, I was hooked. Lets also stick in a little raw honestly in this, sometimes being a stay at home mom can be isolating. I have friends, playdates, and activities, but it can become lonely sometimes. And sometimes, I like the validation I get from my blog. Sometimes it can make you feel seen and heard.

Mostly I want the documentation though. I like to think that one day I will have some of these printed for my children, and they can see pictures and stories of themselves when they were little. I like to think that one or both of them might want to look up a recipe one day, or want to know how I handled something. Maybe when we are going through the teenage years and they feel like I am the enemy they will look at this and see just how much I love them, and how much my energy, prayers, and hopes go into them. Or maybe look and see that even though they think I am their lame-o mom, that I am a person with thoughts and dreams too. And although I don't like to think about it, if something were to happen to me before my time, they would have this blog to remind them of me.

So anyway today I am thankful for:

1. Blogging
2. Digital Cameras
3. Computers

So So Sad

Okay you know you need a pedicure when:

1. Your 3 year old is watching a movie sitting next to you and he asks, "Mommy what happened to your nail"

2. Then he loses focus on the movie trying to fix your nail.

3. Then he says "Wait I need a tool"

4. Then he just doesn't go get his plastic pliers, he gets his battery operated saw, and works on it for like 2 minutes which is forever for a three year old.

5. Lastly, he declares it unfixable.

So so sad.

Wordless Wednesday

Dr. Visits

Well the Striepling babes had their 3 yr, and 18 month checkups today. Which included some shots, and Ellis had his finger poked. The good news is that Ellis was calm and managable, I guess it is his new found 3 yr old maturity, and Lainey was a minimal diva. They were both a little concerned in the waiting room though.

All was well though. Ellis has weighed in the lower percentiles since he was 12mos, but now his height has dropped. He was 50th, now his is 30th. Up until 9 months he was 90th percentile everything, and Lord knows both of my kids eat and eat. I guess he might have inherited the Barnhill height from his Daddy's side, who knows he might shoot on up??? Lainey is tall and skinny 80th percentile height, 20th weight. Tall and skinny, pretty much like Ellis was at 18 months. Why can't I be tall and SKINNY? Maybe I shouldn't have ate so much mac and cheese last night.

Anyway because I am insane and a glutton for punishment I took the kids to CEC after the Dr's for lunch. They were pretty good, and I wanted to treat them. It was a bad idea that resulted in a ripped shirt, and made the trip to the grocery store afterward even more tiresome. Yawwwnnn. But they had fun.

By the way my skinny child ate 3 whole pieces of pizza, and wanted another but I said no.

Just shoot me now.

So far it has been a good day, Ellis limping out of the Dr's office and all. (He is just like his Daddy, the thought of the shot and he was sure a limp was necessary), and I now think that Lainey has fallen asleep, finally, so I might shut my eyes for a minute or 30.

The Striepling Menu: March 20-March 27

The title sounds so fancy, I know. I follow a blog and she always makes these super fancy meals and does her weekly menu, I read it and conclude that by the time I get all of the ingredients together the children would be in the process of burning my house down. But I do love to cook and share recipes, so I will attempt to share my weekly easy momma menu, since I always have it together anyway. Plus Brian can look at this and see what he will be eating for dinner ; )

Sunday March 20: Grilled hamburgers and french fries (what it is my birthday)
Monday March 21: PW Macaroni and Cheese Mac & Cheese Recipe

Yummy!



Where is lightning?



Not what was for dinner, but Brian brought it home. Good husband :)

Tuesday March 22: PW Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup soup recipe

This ain't your momma's cooking, how did people cook before laptops?

I didn't know how to cut a whole chicken, so I just googled it and watched a youtube video. How nice. Please don't reject me as a southerner now, we aren't all perfect.

Yummy

REVISION YALL I HAVE MACARONI AND SOUP COMING OUT OF MY EARS, WEDNESDAY IS LEFT OVER DAY!


Thursday March 24th: PW Sour Cream Noodle bake bake recipe

Green onions on steroids.

Yes mom, I was making sure that he didn't shred his fingers.

Cooking is no easy thing around this house with the monkeys and all.

This was really good, and tasted like mom's lasagna. Weird.

Friday March 25th: Grilled Pork Chops, Roasted Green Beans, and a carb of some sorts bean recipe

We ran out of gas for the grill, and I had already prepped the chops for grilling, so I had to improvise. Slapped some teriyaki on them, and used some green onions from the night before and it was good

Saturday March 26th: Cream Cheese Chicken  cream cheese chicken recipe
Sunday March 27th :Garlic Chicken/corn on the cob, and rice chicken recipe

Corn!

Yummy!