Weekend Recap

We had a busy, but fun weekend.  Friday, after school, I took Mia to sign up for gymnastics.  It was so fantastic!!!  She loved it and I loved watching her. 

Saturday, we had our March of Dimes walk, which I will recap tomorrow.  Saturday afternoon, we took the kids to the library for the first time.  Mia told her teachers she had never been to the library a couple of weeks ago so I felt terrible.  I can't believe I hadn't thought to take her....so, we took a trip as a family the kids got library cards.



Sunday, we went to church and Sunday school.  After Sunday School, Mia had her first "drop off" play date with her friend, Ella from school.  Paxton and I stayed home.  After Paxton's nap, I picked Mia up and we headed to Chris's softball game (he plays on our church league).  The kids had a great time playing in the dirt, rolling down the hill, and throwing the ball.

I hope you all had a great weekend as well! 

12 for 2012 Summer Bucket List

Everybody seems to know how to make cute graphics except me.  Oh well.  My list will do just fine.  I wanted to put this out there so that I will hold myself to it.  This is my Summer "to do" Bucket list.  I want to do each one of these things as a family before September 1st. 

1.        Fly a kite

2.       Go on a nature walk/scavenger hunt

3.       Have a picnic on the beach

4.       Build a sandcastle

5.       Go on a wagon ride

6.       Set up the slip and slide

7.       Play Frisbee

8.       Sidewalk Chalk

9.       Ocean City

10.   Catch Fireflies

11.   Visit the local farmers market

12.   Make Popsicles

Ditzy Burnette?

For most of my life, I've been called ditsy, dumb blond, etc (I had natural blond hair until I got pregnant).  I am book smart, but there are times when I have lacked in common sense.  I try hard to overcome this stereotype, but....there are days, like Monday when I proved people right yet again.

I wrote yesterday about how I butchered a recipe and served raw chicken.  This is a recipe that the lady in my carpool lady gave me. 
Specifically, she said:
put chicken in a 9x13 pan.  Add one cup of cream of chicken soup and 1 cup of milk.  Then, in a separate bowl, mix stovetop and 1 stick of melted butter.  Put this mixture on top of the chicken and bake on 350 for 30 minutes. 

I followed these directions to a T.  When it was a big fat failure, I was stunned. 

So, yesterday, on the car ride home, I asked what I did wrong.  I repeated her directions back step by step.  Well, apparently, you are supposed to "cook" the chicken first.  Seriously...would you all have known that?  Am I the only one who assumed the chicken would cook itself in the oven?  Please tell me I'm not alone here.

So What Wednesday...

I'm linking up with Shannon again for So What Wednesday.  This week, I'm saying so what if...
1.  I'm the worst cook ever.  I made this chicken casserole Monday night and I didn't realize the chicken was not cooked.  Unfortunately, I ate it.  My husband had to tell me the chicken was still partitially raw. 
2.  I let my daughter sleep in our bed last night.  I'm just too tired to fight her at night.  I just want to go to sleep just one night before 9pm.  I know that sounds so pathetic. 
3.  I cleaned out my purse yesterday and found 1/2 of a 2 day old peanut butter sandwich that I had made for Mia. 
4.  I keep saying I'm going to sign Mia up for gymnastics, but I've just been too lazy to do it. 
5.  I cut my bangs last week...and yesterday decided to let them grow back out.  I should have waited just a little longer. 
6.  For mothers day, all I want is to lay in bed, sleep, and catch up on shows on my DVR. 

My style: Making it mine....

In an effort to save $$, I'm trying to recreate some of the outfits I've seen on pinterest with clothes I already have.  This one was kind of easy. 

Although the picture is not the greatest, here's how I made it mine:

Dress:  The limited

Sweater:  NY and company (maybe 2-3 years ago)

Shoes:  Charming Charlie ($14.99)

Bracelet:  The limited (on sale for $7--though you can't see it)

Weekend Recap: haircuts, birthdays, and baseball

We had a fun but busy weekend.  Friday, I had my first (yes, you read right) facial.  I have to say....thank goodness for Groupon.  It was nice, but not $90 nice.  After that, we relaxed on the deck while the kids played. 
Saturday, we went to my BFF Renee's daughter Lizzie's 2nd birthday party.  Saturday was another reminder of how much I really miss my friends.  Two hours away may not seem like a lot but when you have kids, it's hard to travel that far as often as you'd like.  It was great to hang out with Renee and my other BFF, Amanda.  I've been friends with them for 20+ years.  The kids had a great time too.

 This is Mia and the Birthday girl, Lizzie. 

Mia and Paxton playing together.

Saturday evening, Chris has his first softball game.  He plays on the church softball league.  I was so proud, he got on base his first time up to bat.

Mia cheered saying:  Go Daddy, Go Team, and Go Friendship (name of our church).  She was such a cute little cheerleader.
Of course, watching the game lasted about 15 minutes before the kids were bored so we headed to the playground.

They now refuse to go down the slide properly.  Awesome.
Paxton learned something new this weekend as well (though I have not been able to get a picture yet).  He now climbs up on our bar stools and onto the counter.  He is going to give me a heart attack one of these days with his crazy acrobatics. 
Lastly, last night Chris gave Paxton a hair cut.  He desperately needed one and going to Pig Tails and Crew cuts gets expensive every 4 weeks.  I think we may need to start going back again though :).  See for yourself. 

I don't think he likes it.  It was supposed to be a faux hawk.  We'll try one more time before we go back to the kids salon. 
Hope you all had a great weekend as well!



Baby Steps

I have some good news to report.  Paxton played with play doh yesterday!!!  While that may not sound like a big deal to most people, for a kid with sensory issues, it's huge.  We try to celebrate every acccomplishment with him, no matter how small.  We've been in occupational and speech therapy now for 4 months and we are finally making progress with speech and touch.  We are still having issues with feeding, but hopefully, we can learn some new techniques after our consultation at the Kennedy Krieger Institute next month.  In the meantime, I hope everyone has a great weekend!

My 3 favorite books

It is no secret that I love to read.  I have so many favorites, it is hard to narrow them down to just 3, but here's my list:

1.  I Love You Stinky Face.  I LOVE this book.  I read it every night to Paxton.  It is so sweet and one of my favorite children's books.

2.  Same Kind of Different As Me.  This book is an amazing true story of friendship.  I loved it.  I can't say enough great things about this book.  The story is so inspiring.

3.  Unbroken.  This is another amazing true story.  This guy is an inspiration!  He has been through so much and is truly a survivor. 

Honorable mentions:
Lone Survivor by Marcus Lutrell
90 Minutes in Heaven by Don Piper
Heaven is for Real by Todd Burpo
50 Shades of Grey by E.L. James
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

What are your favorite books?

Pinterest: Been there...Done that: Recipe Edition

These were supposed to be vegetarian wraps, made with tofu, but I substituted chicken and it. was. delicious!!  Seriously, some incredibly good that I packed the leftovers for lunch and ate it for 3 meals in a row.  



This was also really good.  It was seasoned well and a great easy recipe that requires very little work (which is what I look for). 

Last week, I tried this recipe for Chicken Parmesan.  It was super easy and pretty good.  It does not get much easier than chicken that is already cooked. 

Do you have any quick, easy recipes that you found on pinterest?

My Doppelganger...well...sort of...

I'm linking up with one of my favorite bloggers today, Raven for "Who's your Celebrity Doppleganger".

 I have to say, I'm NOT happy with a couple of the answers I got.  I realize I'm not 20 something anymore, but seriously...I'm getting compared to 50 somethings.  I don't look that old, right?
I downloaded this celeb look alike app on my iphone and these were the results.  Ready for this???
Best match?

Joan Allen.  This woman is 56.  To make matters worse, I don't even know who she is!  I do know, I do not look like her.  See for yourself. 

Me:  (sorry, this is from last year, but it's the only picture I had available from this computer)

and this is Joan Allen:

Ok, maybe we have the same shaped face and similar hair, but it definitely ends there. 

The second on the list of look alikes (courtesy of the look alike app) was Keri Russell. 

While we are around the same age and I do think she's very pretty, I do not think we look anything alike. 



I decided to then take it a step further and ask a few friends.  These are their answers. 

My mom says I look like Helen Hunt.  Really?  Honestly, I do see it though.  We both have ginormous foreheads.  Have I mentioned that people actually have called me 7-head cause my forehead was so big?  True story.  Our noses and hair are similar too. 

Most flattering is the actress from National Treasure. 

My former co-worker swore I looked like Diane Kruger.  You may remember her as the blonde in National Treasure.  I don't see it, but I took it as a huge compliment.  Link up with Raven and tell us who your celebrity Doppleganger is. 

Weekend Recap: the good, the bad, and the ugly

Friday was horrible.  It started by me getting dressed in a cute outfit for my new drivers license picture...then spilling coffee on  my shirt, then Paxton's yogurt exploded on the rest of my outfit.  I then spent 2 1/2 hours at the MVA trying to get my license renewed. Side note: never go on a Friday.
After that, I took my husband to get a Vasectomy.  Yup you read right.  Needless to say, I was on kid duty for the rest of the weekend.

Saturday, we stayed home and took it easy.  We had friends over for dinner Saturday night, which was a lot of fun.  Mia loved playing with her friend, Gavin from church.  She keeps asking to kiss him.  This is not what I want to deal with at age 3 :).
Sunday, we went to church and Sunday School and then Mia and I went to her friend, Ella's bowling birthday party.  So much fun.  Mia loves to bowl. 

After that, we went to get Pedicures.  This was her first trip to the spa and she LOVED it!!

Sunday evening we ate out on the deck.  Paxton made amazing progress last night.  He fed himself a pea!  Ok that probably sounds silly and probably does not sound like a big deal, but it was huge for us (even if he didn't see the pea on the spoon).  He likes to practice feeding himself, but only if nothing is on the spoon.  If there is food, he tries to feed one of us.  Anyway, the pea was stuck to the bottom of the spoon and he ate it.  He gaged and was mad, but he ate it!  I'm considering this progress.  It's a stretch I know, but I'll take it.
I hope everyone else had a great weekend!

Friday Fashion Finds

There are so many adorable spring outfits out there right now.  I wish I was rich as I would buy ALL of them, but here are just a few pieces that I hope to pick up this year. 

This is from Old Navy and can be a skirt or a dress.  Super cute.

I love these 2 dresses and skirt from modcloth.  Perfect for spring!

I absolutely LOVE these mint skirts from H&M!  I will have one of them before summer. 

These bangles from Forever 21 are a steal!  So cute for spring and summer!

Have you found any great deals this spring?

Pinterest Project Success!

Natasha, one of favorite bloggers (and the 1st one I started reading) recently did  a post on how to dye hair with chalk pastels.  http://www.littlepinkmonster.com/2012/03/20/how-to-dye-hair-with-chalk-pastels/.  It washes out and is totally safe so I thought this would be a great project for Mia and I.  It turned out great.  Only problem for us was that she hated the flat iron as it made her hair hot.  Check out the before and after pics.

Before:

After:

She loved it and it was a great way to spend some one on one time with my little princess. 

Motherhood is hard

Sometimes being a mom is just hard.  I'm not complaining.  It's the hand I was dealt and truthfully I'm just thankful to have healthy happy children, but once in a while, I just want things to be easy.  We've had a lot going on this week.  I finally got an appointment for Paxton at the Kennedy Krieger Institute for a feeding evaluation.  Today, he had speech therapy.  He's doing better with his speech.  He has a few more words now:  Go, Pop, Mama, Dada, Nana, Night Night, In, Boo...and maybe a couple more that I can't think of right now.  While his speech is improving, his feeding/eating is not.  I have so many questions.  Is he getting enough food/calories?  It's hard to measure when he is still eating baby food.  How can I help him feed himself or better yet, chew solid food?  It is so frustrating when you see your child struggling with something and you don't know how to help.  How can I send him to a learning center/preschool in the fall if he can't feed himself?  I just feel helpless sometimes.  

While Mia does not have any issues with speech (other than backtalk and sassiness), she does have potty issues.  My 3 1/2 year old refuses to poop on the potty.  We've tried everything--rewards, potty charts, prizes, putting a diaper in her potty, giving her privacy, etc.).  She said she is scared because it hurts.   Once again, I don't know how to fix the problem.  We've read all of the books and even gone as far as to offer to buy her an ipad if she starts pooping on the potty.  Yes, we are that desperate.  

Is there anyone out there that has experienced any of these issues?  Is there anything that worked for you?

My Style: Makin it mine...

I saw this outfit on Pinterest and knew that I had all of the pieces to make it mine.  So, this past weekend, I wore it out on my "Mia and Mommy" shopping date. 

This is the outfit on Pinterest.  Cute, right? 
This is how I made it mine. 

Shirt:  Target

Jeans and Belt:  The Limited

Shoes (not pictured)  Lauren by Ralph Lauren:

Best accessory....an adorable 3 year old

Happy Easter

I hope everyone had a fantastic Easter.  Ours was great.  We started by going to the 8:30am service at church.  Mia and her cousins Emma and Aidan went up for the children's moment....

Paxton had fun in the nursery

After church we went to Chris's brother's for brunch.  The kids had so much fun playing outside...

They played ball, played on the play set, and Emma took Mia on a go-cart ride. 

After brunch, we posed for pictures..... 

Cousins

Our family

and then hunted Easter Eggs...



I hope everyone remembers the true meaning of Easter!  To quote my favorite old hymn:

"I serve a risen Saviour; He's in the world today.

I know that He is living, whatever men may say.

I see His hand of mercy, I hear His voice of cheer,

And just the time I need Him He's always near.

Chorus:

He lives! He lives! Christ Jesus lives today!

He walks with me and talks with me along life's narrow way.

He lives! He lives! Salvation to impart!

You ask me how I know He lives? He lives within my heart."