WATER SLIDE
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Our Trip (the drive) -- part 1
Last week we started our big trip. After Marcus got my new tires, alignment, and car cleaned top to bottom and inside out; the girls and I started our 2 1/2 week long trip. The first leg of the trip was driving to St Louis for our family reunion. I knew the girls would be in the car a long time so I tried to break the trip up a bit by going early. We stayed (once again) at my friend Lindley's house. She is so gracious to let us stay there AND give us lots of space to spread out. The kids REALLY enjoy playing together, and we love to sit, chat and catch up. We stayed at her house for 2 nights, and Saturday morning we packed up and headed to the family reunion. Rain was in the forecast but it held off just enough for us to enjoy the beautiful day and the awesome company. It was such a perfect time! The girls ran and played until their legs fell off (literally Kaylee's knee issues started creeping back up on her). Then we jumped in the car and were on the road for the 2nd leg of the trip. Oh yeah, Marcus joined us for the family reunion after an eventful trip up. My brother, his girlfriend, and Marcus were scheduled to ride up in the same car after Marcus got off work Saturday morning. They got a late start, and after being on the road for about 30 miles, one of the tires blew out. Thankfully the Jetta has a full size spare, so they didnt have to wait around for some podunk tire shop to find the tires we needed. They ended up making up some time in the car and arrived just a bit late to the reunion.
Back to our 2nd leg of the trip.......we said goodbye to daddy and Amma, myself, and the girls drove to Nashville. We stopped for dinner in Paducah. Oh yeah how could I forget, I told the girls they had to take a nap (these are the children that NEVER sleep in the car), next thing I know Kaylee has slept for 2.5 hours! I was shocked! She slept through potty breaks and everything! Let me just say that that single nap exceeds the total amount of time she has ever slept in the car in her entire lifetime put together, it was a pretty big moment for us! We rolled into the hotel at about 10pm I gave the girls a quick sponge bath and quickly threw them into the bed, no books, no "routine", just straight into the bed. And they LOVED it! Both were so pooped from being in the car they just wanted to go to bed. Dad booked a suite for us, so I put Ainslee in the pack-n-play in the main room, Kaylee and I shared the bed closest to her. Mom and Mary were in the other bed, and in the other room my dad and Mary's boyfriend slept on the pullout couch. I was able to take a shower without disturbing the girls, and quickly climbed into bed to get as much sleep as possible for the next days drive.
We had a nice breakfast at the hotel, before getting a late start the next morning. Our drive turned out to be much longer than planned, but I can NOT say enough how awesome the girls did in the car. Kaylee took another 2 1/2 hour nap that day as well. The ONLY complaining we heard from them was when we were about 30 miles away from the condo in Florida. And rightfully so we had just driven 1400 miles in about 84 hours! I think they were strapped into those car seats for like 22 hours, I was surprised (and relieved) they did as well as they did!
We made it to Florida about 10:30pm, in enough time to literally throw them into the bed again. Ainslee ended up sleeping until almost noon the next day! Since then we have been in the pool as much as possible!
I was going share a video, but I forgot I had to upload it to youtube first because it isnt in an appropriate format for blogger. So you will have to wait to see a video of the pool rats!
Back to our 2nd leg of the trip.......we said goodbye to daddy and Amma, myself, and the girls drove to Nashville. We stopped for dinner in Paducah. Oh yeah how could I forget, I told the girls they had to take a nap (these are the children that NEVER sleep in the car), next thing I know Kaylee has slept for 2.5 hours! I was shocked! She slept through potty breaks and everything! Let me just say that that single nap exceeds the total amount of time she has ever slept in the car in her entire lifetime put together, it was a pretty big moment for us! We rolled into the hotel at about 10pm I gave the girls a quick sponge bath and quickly threw them into the bed, no books, no "routine", just straight into the bed. And they LOVED it! Both were so pooped from being in the car they just wanted to go to bed. Dad booked a suite for us, so I put Ainslee in the pack-n-play in the main room, Kaylee and I shared the bed closest to her. Mom and Mary were in the other bed, and in the other room my dad and Mary's boyfriend slept on the pullout couch. I was able to take a shower without disturbing the girls, and quickly climbed into bed to get as much sleep as possible for the next days drive.
We had a nice breakfast at the hotel, before getting a late start the next morning. Our drive turned out to be much longer than planned, but I can NOT say enough how awesome the girls did in the car. Kaylee took another 2 1/2 hour nap that day as well. The ONLY complaining we heard from them was when we were about 30 miles away from the condo in Florida. And rightfully so we had just driven 1400 miles in about 84 hours! I think they were strapped into those car seats for like 22 hours, I was surprised (and relieved) they did as well as they did!
We made it to Florida about 10:30pm, in enough time to literally throw them into the bed again. Ainslee ended up sleeping until almost noon the next day! Since then we have been in the pool as much as possible!
I was going share a video, but I forgot I had to upload it to youtube first because it isnt in an appropriate format for blogger. So you will have to wait to see a video of the pool rats!
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Blooming with Excitement
I am so excited I can barely contain myself! I'm sure most of you wont agree with me but a mini-miracle has happened right here at my house!
Me, the one with the blackest thumb known to man, the one with basically NO knowledge of how tokeep alive grow living things (other than children), the one who just wants to feed her family healthy homegrown foods, has SUCCEEDED! Well not exactly 100% yet, but I am well on my way! Call me crazy, call me nuts, call me whatever you like, but I have 2 cucumbers and 1 zucchini who decided to brighten my day (actually my week!). Here's what I found this morning when I went out to water my plants.
Me, the one with the blackest thumb known to man, the one with basically NO knowledge of how to
my little tiny cucumber!
here's the other cucumber
and the zucchini
I check everyday, sometimes 2 or 3 times a day to see if there is any activity on each of the plants. I have been watering them like crazy, they have been getting bigger, and flowering, but nothing has happened.......until today! YIPPEE SKIPPEE! In a couple of days, we will be feasting on 2 cukes and one zucchini, I am so excited! Now if i can just keep this good thing going and get a few peppers and tomatoes out of the deal. Oh, which reminds me, my tomatoes are flowering a little bit, but i have a feeling it will be a few more weeks until/if we see an exciting activity out of them.
Hope you all are having a fantastic Thursday!
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Amma's House
As I mentioned before the girls spent the night with Amma on the night of my birthday. Mom took Kaylee to VBS with her the next day while my dad and sister entertained Ainslee. Kaylee loved VBS so much that she begged Amma to take her the following day, which was Tuesday. I never did sign her up this year because I knew it would be out of the question for me to drive her in every morning for 5 mornings. But since mom works VBS and is a big part in it, she said Kaylee could come with her. So Kaylee spent the night with Amma AGAIN Monday night, while Ainslee and I headed home. Then Tuesday we were all three headed home to sleep and about 30 minutes before bedtime the power goes out. After 45 minutes of no power the temp had already climbed 3 degrees in the house, and I knew that there was no telling when/if we would get power back, so I packed the girls up and we all headed back to Amma's house. I got the girls straight to bed and then about 30 minutes later I get the news (from a neighbor) that the power was back on after 2 hours of being out. But I decided to stay anyways, the girls were both down already, and there was no guarantee the power would stay on all night. This was Kaylee's 3rd night staying at Amma's.
Wednesday night, I had already scheduled the girls to spend the night with Amma so I could go out to a Alumni Soccer Pizza Party. dont everyone stop breathing like I almost did, I know this is like my first girls night in like probably 4 years! I asked my mom to keep the girls before I knew about her watching them for my birthday, before I knew Kaylee would beg to spend a second night, and obviously before I knew our power would go out. So I felt kinda of bad about them spending the night again but I figured at some point I have to be a little tiny bit selfish about getting time with BIG girls. So I dropped the girls as planned, already fed, bathed, and dressed for bed, and enjoyed the rest of the drive to the partay with my friend Roni. I, by the way, had a fabulous time, chatting with all the ole timers, and meeting all the youngins. We made our own pizzas, i brought my own GF pizza. It was a great night!
I picked up both girls Thursday early afternoon, and headed home, it was really weird having both of them back in the house together after four days of craziness. You wouldve thought I had had the time to cook, clean, do laundry, etc, but the house was a mess, dinners were non-existent, and the laundry is piling up by the second. I am dying to get some energy back!
Wednesday night, I had already scheduled the girls to spend the night with Amma so I could go out to a Alumni Soccer Pizza Party. dont everyone stop breathing like I almost did, I know this is like my first girls night in like probably 4 years! I asked my mom to keep the girls before I knew about her watching them for my birthday, before I knew Kaylee would beg to spend a second night, and obviously before I knew our power would go out. So I felt kinda of bad about them spending the night again but I figured at some point I have to be a little tiny bit selfish about getting time with BIG girls. So I dropped the girls as planned, already fed, bathed, and dressed for bed, and enjoyed the rest of the drive to the partay with my friend Roni. I, by the way, had a fabulous time, chatting with all the ole timers, and meeting all the youngins. We made our own pizzas, i brought my own GF pizza. It was a great night!
I picked up both girls Thursday early afternoon, and headed home, it was really weird having both of them back in the house together after four days of craziness. You wouldve thought I had had the time to cook, clean, do laundry, etc, but the house was a mess, dinners were non-existent, and the laundry is piling up by the second. I am dying to get some energy back!
Friday, June 10, 2011
Cosmic Coconut and Cleanse
A grade school friend of mine just opened an Organic (Vegan) Juice Bar and Cafe called Cosmic Coconut. I have been dying to get in there and try it out. I am not wanting to go all vegan or anything but I have been trying to figure out how to develop more healthy eating habits. I would like to throw in a meatless Monday or a fish Friday (or both) to our weekly routine, but I know the chances of our family going too crazy with food is out of the question.
On the way to get our weekly allergy shots last week, I told the girls we were going to stop at a special place first. After a little prodding from them, I told the girls that we were going to go get "healthy drinks." I had looked on the website a little bit to narrow down my choices, but I was still really unsure about which drinks to order. My main goal was to get the girls something with veggies in it, so i wanted to stay away from a FRUIT smoothie. I can make them fruit smoothies at home, and i do pretty regularly. I wanted some added nutrients, foods that they dont usually eat. So I went with a "Peace Love Pear" smoothie for me, which I was obviously prepared to share. And i got them a "Star Student" juice (reccommended by an employee). The Star Student is not even listed on their website, but it was celery, sweet potato (supposed to be carrot but they were out of carrots), lemon, and something else that I forgot. It was pretty good, the celery was the dominanting flavor, and if I had to do it over again I would have asked for it served on ice. Kaylee drank most of this one, and when I wasnt looking Ainslee pretty much sucked all mine down. Mine had pears, bananas, chard, and coconut milk. It was really tasty. I am really excited about this place. I dont drink coffee, or spend money on stuff like that, but i can totally see myself making this a regular weekly stop. I felt so full and satisfied after drinking those drinks too, never once did it make me feel sick. I was really scared about that because of how nauseous I have been lately, but it actually made me feel MUCH better. Plus I felt good mentally because I was getting good food into my body. I know that I am eating enough, but I feel like I could be eating better at this stage in my pregnancy, its just the nausea that holds me back. I plan on incorporating these types of drinks/juices into our everyday routine too. I cant wait to try other ones. Oh and I have to tell you what Ainslee said when we walked in.......the lady asked us what she could get for us and Ainslee responded "healfy drink please." I just laughed!
I have been following a strangers blog for probably over a year now. I cant even remember how I stumbled upon her blog, but I love it! And it is so shocking that I love it considering I dont even know her, AND she is totally into fashion, which I am clearly NOT into! Here is her blog if you care to take a look. Anyways so her name is Bethany, and she recently did a 7 day Cleanse, through a friend of hers business. did you follow all that?
As I read each day of her progress with the cleanse I knew that I wanted to do just that! Like I said before I have been wanting to incorporate more healthy eating habits, and I thought "what a better way to get started". The business is called Rooted Wellbeing. I have already spoken with the owner/starter of the business over the phone (a free chat that was offered to Bethany's blog readers). I am very excited about starting the cleanse and learning more about eating healthy. We decided that because of my current state of pregnancy/sickness and our upcoming vacation schedule that it would be best to postpone my cleanse until we get home which will be sometime in the middle of July. So stay tuned and you can read all about my 7 day cleanse. I am so stoked because Katie (owner of the business) is also offering DTWSLD (blog title) readers a 30% discount on the price of the cleanse. So now I have gotten a free phone chat with a health professional and a 30% discount on my cleanse program. I am so excited!
On the way to get our weekly allergy shots last week, I told the girls we were going to stop at a special place first. After a little prodding from them, I told the girls that we were going to go get "healthy drinks." I had looked on the website a little bit to narrow down my choices, but I was still really unsure about which drinks to order. My main goal was to get the girls something with veggies in it, so i wanted to stay away from a FRUIT smoothie. I can make them fruit smoothies at home, and i do pretty regularly. I wanted some added nutrients, foods that they dont usually eat. So I went with a "Peace Love Pear" smoothie for me, which I was obviously prepared to share. And i got them a "Star Student" juice (reccommended by an employee). The Star Student is not even listed on their website, but it was celery, sweet potato (supposed to be carrot but they were out of carrots), lemon, and something else that I forgot. It was pretty good, the celery was the dominanting flavor, and if I had to do it over again I would have asked for it served on ice. Kaylee drank most of this one, and when I wasnt looking Ainslee pretty much sucked all mine down. Mine had pears, bananas, chard, and coconut milk. It was really tasty. I am really excited about this place. I dont drink coffee, or spend money on stuff like that, but i can totally see myself making this a regular weekly stop. I felt so full and satisfied after drinking those drinks too, never once did it make me feel sick. I was really scared about that because of how nauseous I have been lately, but it actually made me feel MUCH better. Plus I felt good mentally because I was getting good food into my body. I know that I am eating enough, but I feel like I could be eating better at this stage in my pregnancy, its just the nausea that holds me back. I plan on incorporating these types of drinks/juices into our everyday routine too. I cant wait to try other ones. Oh and I have to tell you what Ainslee said when we walked in.......the lady asked us what she could get for us and Ainslee responded "healfy drink please." I just laughed!
I have been following a strangers blog for probably over a year now. I cant even remember how I stumbled upon her blog, but I love it! And it is so shocking that I love it considering I dont even know her, AND she is totally into fashion, which I am clearly NOT into! Here is her blog if you care to take a look. Anyways so her name is Bethany, and she recently did a 7 day Cleanse, through a friend of hers business. did you follow all that?
As I read each day of her progress with the cleanse I knew that I wanted to do just that! Like I said before I have been wanting to incorporate more healthy eating habits, and I thought "what a better way to get started". The business is called Rooted Wellbeing. I have already spoken with the owner/starter of the business over the phone (a free chat that was offered to Bethany's blog readers). I am very excited about starting the cleanse and learning more about eating healthy. We decided that because of my current state of pregnancy/sickness and our upcoming vacation schedule that it would be best to postpone my cleanse until we get home which will be sometime in the middle of July. So stay tuned and you can read all about my 7 day cleanse. I am so stoked because Katie (owner of the business) is also offering DTWSLD (blog title) readers a 30% discount on the price of the cleanse. So now I have gotten a free phone chat with a health professional and a 30% discount on my cleanse program. I am so excited!
my birthday
I am another year older.......boohoo!
Marcus surprised me this year, my day started off with my usual Sunday routine of getting to sleep in. Marcus and the girls woke me up and he wanted to take me to breakfast, so he got the girls AND himself ready (which I think is a first) and we drive into Cville. We called my parents and sister on the way and asked if they wanted to join us and they did. We had a nice LATE breakfast and then headed home for the girls to nap. Actually we ended up ALL napping, which was quite nice. Then we had a birthday party for the girls to go to, which was at our neighbors house. It was fun, and super tiring for the girls, and Amma appreciated that when we dropped them both at her house so we could have a date night (which was also a surprise for me). Thankfully we decided to call the restaurant ahead of time because we learned that it had closed! So we drove around for AN HOUR trying to decide where to eat. With all my food "issues" and sensitivities it was not an easy decision! We finally settled on Shogun, a Japanese restaurant with hibachi grill. I was craving salad, and while they don't have the best salad they have the best ginger dressing! Also the rice just sounded really good to me, so that's where we went. We started off with a sushi roll and a giant salad, with extra dressing. Surprisingly I wanted the sushi and LOVED it too. Then we moved into the hibachi section of the restaurant and had our dinner, but by that point I was getting full and only ordered rice. I could barely put a dent in the humongous pile I had on my plate, but it was yummy!
Marcus was begging to go to a movie after dinner, and I just couldn't do it. We agreed to get a redbox on the way home and watch in the comforts of our home. Which ended up being perfect because I started feeling really sick and nearly lost my dinner on the way home. We watched "I am Number Four". I was skeptical at first but it turned out being ok.
I picked up the girls the next day from Amma's and they both thoroughly enjoyed my left over ginger dressing and fried rice! It was such a great day!
Marcus surprised me this year, my day started off with my usual Sunday routine of getting to sleep in. Marcus and the girls woke me up and he wanted to take me to breakfast, so he got the girls AND himself ready (which I think is a first) and we drive into Cville. We called my parents and sister on the way and asked if they wanted to join us and they did. We had a nice LATE breakfast and then headed home for the girls to nap. Actually we ended up ALL napping, which was quite nice. Then we had a birthday party for the girls to go to, which was at our neighbors house. It was fun, and super tiring for the girls, and Amma appreciated that when we dropped them both at her house so we could have a date night (which was also a surprise for me). Thankfully we decided to call the restaurant ahead of time because we learned that it had closed! So we drove around for AN HOUR trying to decide where to eat. With all my food "issues" and sensitivities it was not an easy decision! We finally settled on Shogun, a Japanese restaurant with hibachi grill. I was craving salad, and while they don't have the best salad they have the best ginger dressing! Also the rice just sounded really good to me, so that's where we went. We started off with a sushi roll and a giant salad, with extra dressing. Surprisingly I wanted the sushi and LOVED it too. Then we moved into the hibachi section of the restaurant and had our dinner, but by that point I was getting full and only ordered rice. I could barely put a dent in the humongous pile I had on my plate, but it was yummy!
Marcus was begging to go to a movie after dinner, and I just couldn't do it. We agreed to get a redbox on the way home and watch in the comforts of our home. Which ended up being perfect because I started feeling really sick and nearly lost my dinner on the way home. We watched "I am Number Four". I was skeptical at first but it turned out being ok.
I picked up the girls the next day from Amma's and they both thoroughly enjoyed my left over ginger dressing and fried rice! It was such a great day!
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Gardening Update
My little "garden" is coming along ok so far. I am sad that I haven't harvested one thing yet.......not ONE thing! But I am hopeful! I have the blackest thumb known to mankind, so it is a surprise that there is anything still living.
Remember this year is a sort of test year to see if I am able to actually do the whole big garden thing next year. It was all last minute and I decided to grow everything from seeds (organically), so things have been moving along quote slowly. I have to admit I was never able to get my tomato seeds to do anything. They would grow to be a couple inches and then just STOP, I read a little about this and decided that it was just too late for me to continue trying this year. So my dad gave me a few plants that grew in a random flower bed at his house after throwing out a tomato last year that had a bad spot on it. You see he can grow things without even trying! Anyways so my tomatoes will not be technically organic, but they will be chemical free after being in my care. The tomato that he threw out was probably sprayed with chemicals as well as the seed before it was planted, but I am trying not to think about that, and hoping that most of the residue from those chemicals are gone. My pepper seeds did the same thing as the tomato seeds and they just stopped growing, I am still hoping though that they will somehow keep growing, its probably a lost cause. So my dad gave me a couple extra pepper plants, he bought too many for his garden, so those will not be organic either.
here are a few pics of what I have going on in the backyard.......
Zucchini
grown from seeds 100% organic, I am excited about these, I have been craving squash and zucchini lately. These were the first seeds to sprout and were the fastest growing until the cucumbers I planted weeks after these took off and are going like crazy.
Cucumbers
they are doing wonderful, and since the girls could eat a cucumber a day EACH, I am hoping these plants are able to produce some serious cukes. These are 100% organic and grown by ME from a seed. (can you tell I'm proud?)
the pretty little flowers on the cucumber plant
Not-so-Organic Peppers
i thought these little babies would be doing better by now, but for some reason they aren't, hopefully they will produce something worth mentioning soon
Not-so-Organic Tomatoes
I was totally surprised these made it through the transfer. I don't think my dad dug far enough down when he got them out of the ground for me, so there wasn't much of a root system. I will be even more surprised if they actually produce anything
Basil
Again these were grown from a seed 100% organic, and doing good, just slow! I should probably go ahead and harvest a few leaves to stimulate the growth a bit, maybe I will do that for our dinner tonight.**
I have been watering non-stop! It is so HOT out there, and being upside down, they need more water more frequently than tradition gardening, which is why I want to install the drip irrigation in my more permanent garden next year. I have added a little organic liquid fertilizer to each of the plants a couple times, and probably in another month or so I will have some usable compost that I will attempt to work into the soil a bit, for some added nutrients. All of the plants you can see are still fighting to grown up towards the sun, and you can tell when they need water, because they give in to the weight of the plant and start drooping down more. As they get bigger and heavier they will be unable to hold themselves up and gravity will take over.
**dinner tonight is gluten free veggie lasagna, made with polenta substituted for noodles. I just hope that it turns out edible, and considering I haven't cooked a proper meal in like 2 weeks, hopefully the fam will appreciate my effort even if it isn't good!
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