Catch up

As I said in my last post, life has been pretty crazy around here in the last year.

Jeremy left the Navy in June and started his new job. That of course meant moving and that is always stressful. We found a nice house in a nice neighborhood. I am still getting used to it, but I think it will be nice.

I am now officially a Lamaze certified educator. I am still working on updating my class design and finding somewhere to teach. It is a lot harder than it sounds, but I am making progress in the right direction (or at least I hope so!)

The biggest shock of the past year was finding out I was pregnant in August. To say that we weren't planning that is an understatement. We are all very excited once we got over the shock. We found out just before Thanksgiving that it is another little boy. We are definitely done after this. As sad as it is to end this stage of our lives, I am looking forward to the next one.

Meal Plan Monday

My poor blog has been neglected for over a year! I wish I could say I can't believe it has been that long, but really I knew it. Between moving, Jeremy starting a new job, finding out I'm pregnant again, and just life in general I didn't have time to sit down and write. A lot has happened and I will try to catch up soon.

Meal plan:

Breakfast rotates between muffins, eggs, pancakes, cereal and the occasional Pop-Tart.
Lunch is usually leftovers, crackers and cheese, or dino nuggets.

Monday - frozen chicken parmesan
Tuesday - homemade mac & cheese with roasted broccoli
Wednesday - goulash
Thursday - grilled cheese and tomato soup
Friday - chicken casserole
Saturday - leftovers/fend for yourself
Sunday - ????

Meal plan Monday

It is another week of packing around here. Last week went pretty smoothly so I'm hoping for the same this week. I have a few meetings to attend this week and then on Friday I am treating myself to a punch needle art class. I've loved doing it for awhile, but want to improve my skills.

Our menu plan for the week is:

Monday - Aloha chicken

Tuesday - fish

Wednesday - homemade pizza

Thursday - chicken and biscuits

Friday - Catalina beef kebobs

Saturday - ribs

Sunday - roast beef in crock pot

Menu plan Monday

Here is our menu for the week. I'm not listing breakfast or lunch because they are usually the same three or four things during the week.

Monday - homemade mac and cheese

Tuesday - meatloaf, scalloped potatoes, and veggie

Wednesday - lamb steaks, hot crash potatoes, veggie

Thursday - chicken stuffing casserole

Friday - lemon honey turkey, mashed potatoes, veggie

Saturday - chili and cornbread

Sunday - grilled cheese and tomato soup

My poor neglected blog

My blog has been so neglected lately. The holidays really threw me for a loop this year. I just couldn't get into the holiday spirit. I was actually happy to take down the tree and everything. Very unlike me. It was a nice holiday spent with family and relaxing. The boys got spoiled terribly by "santa". I got spoiled by my husband with a Kindle. I am loving it. Reading is a big part of my life and the thought that he put into my gift meant a lot to me.

2010 is going a year of big changes for our family. Jeremy will be getting out of the Navy in July and where we go from there isn't known right now. We are going to be putting our house on the market in March. It is going to be a huge undertaking.

So because of the unknowns in our life right now I have decided to set monthly goals this year. I do have a few long term things, but mostly I am going to work month to month.

January's goals are:

• Do all the tasks on my Motivated Moms list each week. I used this system last year and it worked well till I started to slack off. I really need to get and keep this house is show shape so this is a must.
• Do everything on my monthly to do list.
• Pack up all extra things. We are in serious declutter mode with the house selling. If it is a duplicate or not absolutely needed in the next 6 months it is getting packed up.
• Work on my Lamaze certification. I have let it slide for awhile and really need to get back to it if I want to sit the exam in April.

I have some longer term personal goals, but I'm not quite ready to share them yet. I haven't worked out all the details yet.

I hope to post more on here with my progress and just tidbits about our life. I miss writing in here.

Meal Plan Monday

Here is a quick post for my meals this week.

Monday - grilled cheese and tomato soup
Tuesday - out after swim lessons
Wednesday - leftovers
Thursday - scalloped potatoes and ham
Friday - early Thanksgiving dinner
Saturday - Not sure, depends on what time I get done with my hair appointment
Sunday - turkey stromboli

Meal plan Monday

I know I've been neglecting my blog. Hopefully it will get better soon. We've just been so busy with school and activities and travelling that I haven't had a moment to breathe. Now that soccer is over hopefully life will calm down some.

Here is the meal plan for the week. I am trying some new recipes so no recipes yet.

Breakfast will be a mixture of cereal, muffins, pancakes, and eggs.

Lunch with be salad most days and leftovers.

Monday: stuffed pork chops, hot crash potatoes, and peas

Tuesday: sloppy joes and salad

Wednesday: couscous and Italian dressing marinated chicken, some sort of veggie

Thursday: pasta bake from Cook yourself thin

Friday: BBQ chicken salad

Saturday: chili and cornbread

Sunday: chicken wraps

Meal Plan Monday

I'm posting from a different computer so no meal plan picture today. School starts this week so it will be crazy around here.

Monday - turkey breast, potatoes, veggies

Tuesday - stuffed peppers

Wednesday - out for first day of school

Thursday - lasagna roll ups

Friday - Turkey stromboli

Saturday - grilled cheese and tomato soup

Sunday - goulash

Meal Plan Monday

I am really trying to get back in a groove with school coming up and what better way to start then with menu planning.

Monday - tuna noodle casserole
Tuesday - chicken packets
Wednesday - pasta provencale
Thursday - hawaiian turkey burgers
Friday - pizza roll ups

Recap on the past month or so

So life has taken over around here. I haven't had much time to sit still never the less write a blog post. I've had ideas floating around in my head for awhile, but I haven't had much luck getting them on on "paper".

So to recap the summer so far:

We've been travelling to my parents about once a month to help out and visit. My dad is still going through chemo. He is doing as good as can be expected. He is tired and the treatments make him sick, but he is getting through.

Jeremy's parents came out of a weekend and helped us do some work around the house. We put laminate flooring in the living room/hallway, new crown moulding, and baseboard. We also fixed the garage door and did a few other small projects. We are almost done with getting the house ready to sell.

Jeremy has been enjoying his day staff job. It is so nice to have him home every night. With all the schedule changes softball has been iffy at best. It was sad to have him not be able to play as much, but that's the way the world works.

I finished up my course design and handed it off for review. I haven't heard anything back and it's driving me crazy. I can't find a place to teach yet or a way to observe births, but I am trying to work on it.

Cooper is pretty much potty trained. It has been a trying experience to say the least. He is a stubborn child, but I think we finally broke through. That means he can start pre school in the fall. I am scared to death about that because of his nut allergy. I know that it will probably be harder on me than it will be on him. I am still trying to get everything set with them.

Cody is enjoying his summer break. I will be sad to see him go back to school. I love having him home. We've been going to the library a lot for their summer reading program. He is getting better, just needs some more practice.

Colton is growing by leaps and bounds. He has two bottom teeth and knows how to use them. He refuses to crawl because he hates being on his tummy, but he is an expert bottom scooter. He can get to things faster than you think. We've been trying to solid food, but he isn't too interested most of the time. I'm all right with that though since it is less work for me.

I think that covers most everything. I am hoping to be back to regular blogging soon. We've got some things coming up, but once September comes things should settle down. Of course then soccer, swim lesson, gymnastics, and school start so I guess it will still be hectic!

I swear I will be back soon with an update. Life has been crazy around here and I've just not been in the mood to update. Hopefully things will calm down soon and I will have the motivation to post something!

Book Review

Recently I was asked to review the book "if your kid eats this boo, everything will still be okay" by Lara Zibners, MD.

I was excited to check it out because with three boys I figure I will end up in a situation where I don't know whether to it is ok to wait or head to the ER.

The book is full of really good information. It goes through a lot of the common (and some not so common) problems you run into as parents.

There are also chapters on airway, heart, head, eyes and ears, nose, mouth, throat, tummy problems, "the plumbing", body, skin, fever, allergies and bites, poison, bumps and bruises, and major trauma.

I like that she talks about newborns in a separate section because of their unique situations.

She covers everything from a minor little bump on the head to a major trauma and everything in between. I really liked that it was broken into chapters by parts of the body. It made it really easy to find what I was looking for quickly.

The only thing I didn't like about the book was the style of writing. It wasn't really talking down to you, but for me I didn't appreciate her brand of humor.

All in all this book is a great reference book for parents to have around. I would still go with your gut instinct in reference to your own kids, but this is a good book to have around just in case.

Meal Plan Monday

Starting this week I am going to try and plan out all our meals. With Cody out for the summer we will be trying to have some sort of structure to our day. And I really need to get back on track with my budget so hopefully this will help.

Monday:

B: panackes, berries

L: cheese, crackers, pepperoni D: out

Tuesday:

B: muffins, fruit

L: sandwiches, veggies D: bacon cheeseburger pasta

Wednesday:

B: cereal

L: mac & cheese

D: BBQ chicken sandwiches

Thursday:

B: eggs & toast

L: leftovers

D: beef kebobs

Friday:

B: french toast

L: out

D: hot dogs and hamburgers, potato salad

Saturday:

B: eggs

L: picnic

D: ribs, grilled veggies

Sunday:

B: pancakes

L: leftovers

D: goulash

Swagbucks

I found this cool site on another message board I'm on. It is search engine and certain things you search earn you swagbucks. You can trade the bucks for other things like Amazon gift certificates and other cool stuff. You use it just like a regular search engine. I've earned 31 bucks in about a week, but I don't search too much. If you want to join use this link http://swagbucks.com/refer/3cboysmommy or click on the banner on my side bar.

Happy searching!!

Teacher gift

I finally had a chance to do something crafty a few weeks ago. I would love to say that it is going to happen more, but I doubt it. Right now I am knee deep in my Lamaze course design. It is fun, but very time intensive also.



Anyways, on to the craftiness. I found the idea on this blog http://creativeholidaygiftideas.blogspot.com/2009/05/teacher-gift-framed-crayon-letters.html awhile ago and thought it would make the perfect end of the year teacher gift.



It is super simple to make and didn't cost me anything put a piece of paper and the frame.

Meal Plan Monday

Now that life has calmed down a little bit I am hoping to get back to Meal Plan Monday each week. My grocery budget was so much better and we didn't have that horrible what are we doing for dinner discussion every night.

Monday: chicken wraps (based on a recipe by Sam the Cooking Guy)

Tuesday: chili and cornbread

Wednesday: pork loin, baked potatoes, and veggies

Thursday: bacon cheeseburger pasta

Friday: hot dogs and beans

Sorry about not updating (LONG)

Sorry I haven't updated in awhile. Life has been very interesting and hectic around here lately and not always in a good way. I'm going to try and sum everything up in this post, but be aware it will probably be long and not always light hearted.

In March we found out that my dad has colon cancer. He had surgery in April and started chemo in May. It has been and continues to be a long road. He is doing as well as you can on chemo. We've been going down as often as we can which leads to a lot of travelling with three kids.

In April my uncle passed away suddenly. It was my mom's only sibling. It came as quite a shock and sadly we weren't able to be there for the service.

On a happy note I started my training to become a Lamaze certified educator. I attended a seminar in Buffalo the first part of June. It was awesome and I will dedicate another post to just that. Needless to say I am super excited about doing this.

Yesterday I found out that my dad's brother passed away. He had been sick for awhile and had some complications in the past week or so. It is hard because he is in Florida and no one had seen him for awhile. I'm glad that he is no longer suffering, but I feel for all of the family that is left behind.

Cooper was retested for his nut allergy yesterday and the results weren't good. He is still allergic so I guess we will spend the rest of our lives in a constant state of concern whenever he eats something or goes somewhere. I am grateful that it isn't something worse, but it is still a hard thing to live with.

On one other good note Jeremy is now on a day staff job! This means a consistent schedule and most weekends off. He will have to work a few late nights and a weekend here or there, but nothing too bad. I am so grateful to not have to do anymore night shifts.

Overall it has been a very rough 6 months or so. I am grateful for the good things and trying to deal with the bad. I am hoping to get better about updating my blog with some fun lighthearted stuff in the near future.

For those that are still reading, thanks for sticking around!

Tomato dumplings

This is a recipe that my MIL gave me when we got married. It is my husband's favorite meal and his request every year on his birthday. It is super simple and quick which I love.

Tomato Dumplings

2 c Bisquick
2/3 c milk
1 68 oz can tomato juice

Pour tomato juice into large pot and bring to a boil.

Meanwhile, combine Bisquick and milk. It will be a little dry and lumpy looking.

Once the tomato juice comes to a boil, drop dumplings in. Usually the bigger dollops you put in the less "sinkers" you have. I usually get 8-10 dumplings per batch.

Lower heat to medium and let boil uncovered for 10 minutes then cover and cook for 10 more minutes.

Let cool slightly and serve.

Careers

When I was little I always wanted to be a teacher. I used to play school with all the books and papers and everything. Then as I got older I decided that I really didn't want to have all the extra stuff that goes along with being a teacher. So I was looking for a new career path.

In high school I was always the shy kid (still am really). I didn't join in much and hated speaking in public. I even failed my high school speech section. As I was looking through the course catalog for college communications caught my eye. I know, sounds weird for someone that hated public speaking, right? What drew me to that major was the options I had. I didn't have to pick a specific major right away.

I eventually chose Public Relations and while the professor wasn't anyone I really wanted to see again, the projects were great and I loved the writing aspect of the courses. I figured I would end up working in PR in the sports world somewhere. Then I took a public speaking course. I found out that I wasn't half bad at it and I had dealt with my fear. I competed on the forensics (speech) team and placed at every meet I went to except Nationals. I had found a new love.

After college I had a hard time finding a job in my major. I ended up working as an assistant to the Maintenance Supervisor at a pharmaceutical company. It wasn't my intended job, but I loved it. I am still heartbroken that my old boss lost her battle with cancer. She was such a huge inspiration for me and the guys that I worked with became like a second family to me. Sadly, when the Navy moved us I had to quit my job. I found out just after that I was pregnant. Because of Jeremy's job we decided that I would be a stay at home mom. It has been tough at times, but something that I wouldn't trade for the world.

Now that Jeremy's job is a little more stable (or as stable as it can be in the Navy), I have decided to pursue my career again.

I have decided to turn my love of public speaking, my desire to teach, and my passion for natural childbirth into a career. I am in the process of working on my certification to become a childbirth educator. I am really excited about this new opportunity. It is scary to kind of start all over again, but I am ready and hope that things work out for the best.

Necklace holder

I'm not a big jewelry person, but I do love wearing necklaces. I have quite a few that I rotate around. I have a really nice jewelry box that hubby got me when we were dating and I love it..for everything except necklaces. Those stupid little hooks and doors always got everything tangled and just annoyed me. I started just laying them on the dresser, but then the cat would play with them and they would get tangled or lost.

I looked forever to find something that would work and just wasn't finding anything. Then my MIL was making message boards and I had a light bulb moment.

It was so simple I can't believe I didn't think of it sooner. All I did was take a small piece of foam board and covered it with fabric and batting. Then I bought small hooks and screwed them into the foam board. I have a picture hanger on the back. I will probably add another one because I have a few heavier ones that make it tilt if I take them off. It works so well. I can see all my necklaces and they don't get tangles or lost.