Mistletoe State Park

So this past weekend we loaded everybody up and went to a local state park. It was about 30 minutes from our house so it wasn't too bad of a drive. It was a beautiful park and had lots of walking trails, beaches, campsites, boat docks, picnic areas etc.

We started off by taking a hike in the woods. I was kind of skeptical that Olivia would be able to walk that far but she actually surprised me! Granted, she kept trying to pick up the pine straw/dirt and would trip over every tree root and wanted to wander off the beaten path, but other than that she did awesome!

Jetta loved it. Charlie let her off the leash after a little bit and it was awesome to see her get to run around and jump like she was. She doesn't really get to do that at our house so I'm pretty sure she enjoyed herself.

Ava was our leader, she did a better job on the way out than back but she had fun. She was mad she forgot her bird book and binoculars but I have a feeling we will be back soon. She is very excited to go back and do some camping and swimming there.

Charlie has now become all enthused to go camping again. After we got home he was on the computer for hours I swear looking up camping gear. He thinks we won't all fit in our tent and we need to get a bigger one! We'll see!

All the campsites were really nice too. They have around 90+ sites to choose from and many are located right on the lake. All of the come equipped with picnic tables and poles to hang garbage/lights as well. Only a handful don't have water/electricity, we probably would get one without because those were probably the best sites and the you couldn't see the camping sites next to you!

All in all it was an enjoyable day at Mistletoe State Park and everyone had a blast. Jetta and Olivia both napped on the way home! We can't wait for more adventures there!

I could not get her and the camera to cooperate while taking pictures so this is the only one I had of her face! On our hike!

 My little hiker!

 After Olivia got tired Daddy gave her a lift!

Ava enjoying our hike!

15 month checkup!

Olivia had her 15 month checkup today. I can't believe she is already 15 months! Seems like just the other day I was planning her first birthday! Anyways, she did great! Right before the doctor came in she shut her finger in one of the cabinets in the room and was crying when he walked in. After that she was real quiet and didn't fuss at all! Well, until her shots anyways!

So here are her stats:
Weight: 22 lbs even
Height: 31 in. tall
Head: 18 in.

She received her MMR vaccine and the flu vaccine. She didn't like those at all. When she was younger she would stop crying almost immediately, today she did not. She was pitiful. Hopefully her nap will make her feel better!

She is right on track developmentally and in general is the epitome of health! Love my baby! :)

 At the doctors office!

Waiting for her shots!

Fun day Monday

Well...not really. I decided that I needed to get a lot of stuff done yesterday, some of which was not fun at all! I figured Mondays are generally not fun anyways so may as well do not fun things and get them out of the way! So my day yesterday in a nutshell:

-Get up and get Ava off to school. Not always easy, she is not a morning person.
-Feed Olivia.
-Feed Charlie. (He was late for work but shhhh don't tell)
-Walk the dog and Olivia. This wasn't bad.
-Clean downstairs floors. That meant I had to pick up stuff(toys) while my toddler was still playing with       them so she kept putting them back on the floor. Not easy to vacuum that way. Swiffer vacuumed the hardwoods. Love that thing btw! It sucks up bigger things and gets all the small dirt in the disposable pad! Jetta hates this thing, she chased me around and kept running into barking. Doesn't make for easy cleaning either.
-Laundry
-Olivia went down for a nap.
-Mommy went out to mow the yard. I didn't get to it this weekend so had to do it yesterday.
-relax
-Olivia is awake from nap so now it is lunch time. Feeding times in this house are really long due to Olivia playing with her food, pulling it out of her mouth and putting it back in, feeding it to the dog etc.
-Showering while watching Olivia, she's gotten better. She no longer screams when I am in the shower...makes it a little more enjoyable.
-Dusting
-Cleaning the kitchen. I despise this. I love a clean kitchen...hate the process to get it clean. That meant I had to wash a lot by hand. Of course I had my little helper Olivia trying to unload the dirty dishes. Always fun!
-Ava got home from school. She did her homework and I put her in charge of some chores.
-More laundry.
-Played with Olivia and Jetta.
-Started dinner.
-Made cinnamon swirl bread. Which btw was totally awesome. I was a little paranoid making it. Just ask my mom. The minute I heard the timer beep I hung up on her to add my cinnamon and sugar for the swirl. I thought it was never going to beep.
-Reheated Charlies dinner.
-Made brownies.
-Made Charlies lunch.
-Watch tv.
-SLEEP!

Needless to say I was exhausted. I didn't get everything done that I wanted. I'm trying to work on those today. Need to clean bathrooms and I did manage to vacuum 2 rooms upstairs. 2 more to go. Ahhh...but I did enjoy my bread some more today. Maybe next time I will sprinkle some more cinnamon and sugar on top. That would be so yummy!

Happy Tuesday!

Salami Mozzarella Calzone=Yummy!

So last night for dinner I made homemade calzones. They were fabulous! They weren't even that hard or time consuming to make! I paired it with a salad and it was the perfect little meal. Thank you Food Network for this little beaut of a recipe! Ava enjoyed hers, but I think she liked her salad more...strange a kid that likes her veggies. I'll take it! Charlie thought it could do without the lemon in it. I thought they were perfect the way they were. You try it and be the judge!

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchens/salami-mozzarella-calzone-recipe/index.html

PS. I did substitute the pickled veggies for some arugula/baby spinach mix.

Enjoy!

Smarty Pants

My eldest.
My first drama queen.
Yep. That would be the one and only Ava.

We went to her parent teacher conference this am. Mainly I heard good things, a few things we need to work on as well though. What stands out most though is that the teacher wanted to recommend her for the gifted program! You heard right! My oldest baby is little miss smarty pants! Music to my ears! This isn't going to happen now though. Her teacher said she would have to change class and they weren't going to do that now. BUT, at the end of the year she was recommending her for the gifted program! I've always said she was too smart for her own good!

For example, she scored a 79/80 on her word recognition...they have to know 150 by the end of the year...think we got that one covered! She also said she was a great reader and wrote very well too. Mrs. Panke (her teacher) said she new things at the start of the year that she wasn't expected to know, such as counting money, punctuation marks and identifying commonalities in a group of words!

Of course there are the things we need to work on. She reverses some of her numbers, but that is apparently pretty common at this age. I was told she is moody(just like her daddy, but you didn't hear that from me!) and a bit dramatic and she tends to bossy people around. She told the teacher she didn't like herself. Mrs. Panke asked why and she said it was because her room was messy and she wouldn't get to play that day because she had to clean it. Really. I don't know where she gets this from. I mentioned that Ava didn't talk about friends from school and she said it could be that she hasn't found anyone she can identify with yet and maybe when she gets to working with gifted program it might get better.

My homage to my smarty pants!

 Fun at Grandma Boo's this summer!

 Goofing off!

 Her mischievous face!

She lost her third tooth!

Drama queen! Crying because the grass was making her itchy!

She's a good kid. God love her! I know I do!

Homemade Carrot Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

So a few days ago Charlie asked me if I would make some cupcakes for the guys at his work. Apparently they were jealous of his cupcake I had made and had put in his lunch. Of course I agreed, no big deal. I wanted to come up with something really yummy and found a recipe out of a Southern Living baking magazine I had picked up. It was perfect. Who doesn't like carrot cake with cream cheese frosting.

Me being the procrastinator I am, waited until the last minute to make these cupcakes(through no fault of my own mind you). I finished decorating them last night around 1030pm. Oh well. I bought the wrong flour at my first Wal-Mart run. I bought all purpose flour and assumed that the recipe called for that, I was wrong. I needed self rising flour! Ugh! After I put the girls to bed I was able to make another run to Wal-Mart.

Anyways. These cupcakes looked and smelled delicious! Gotta love the way baking makes your house smell so good. While the cupcakes were cooling I was working on the frosting and let me tell you that was messy! I told Charlie last week I wanted a stand mixer for Christmas. Maybe I will get one :) Half the frosting ended up on me and the floor.

 Mmmm...look at all the cupcakes!

 The frosting was soooo messy but soooo yummy :)

 Told you it was messy! My belly caught a lot of the frosting!

 Look how pretty!

 mmmmm....

Ready to be delivered!

In the end though they turned out great and everyone loved them! Charlie told me the guys thought they were store bought! Such a compliment! I got to try one tonight and it was amazing! Pat on the back for me! Gotta run...more cupcakes to eat!

love/hate relationship :)

Consignment sales. Love 'em for the bargains but hate 'em for the lines! Anyone else feel that way?

Olivia and I went to one this morning. I was so excited...the thrill of the hunt was just moments away. When I arrived I quickly perused the big items to make sure I didn't need any of those before they got away. If you haven't been, the good(and decent priced) items go fast.

Moving on to the clothes I faced a dilemma. Who do I shop for first? The oldest? The new baby? Or do I start with Olivia? I decided to go with Olivia. I found a lot of cute things, some were way overpriced(for a resale anyways) and some were just crappy. I found my selection of good used clothes and moved on to shoes for her. BTW...I do try and keep items under $5 if I can help it. Any more than that may as well buy new. Shoes were my downfall for Olivia...4 pairs. Oh well. A girl can never have to many shoes :)

Next we hit the big girl clothes. I do tend to have a hard time with Ava and clothes. She is developing her own tastes which are different than mine(naturally) so I only picked out 1 sweater, one long sleeved shirt and a pair of jammies for her. Hopefully she will like it and not push it to the back of the closet.

Of course I had to buy some things for baby #3. No we don't have a name yet, still working on it. I picked her out some winter jammies and a few outfits. Come on, Olivia was born in June, I had to get some new season appropriate clothes! Don't want the baby to freeze on the way home from the hospital!

All in all I think I did well for myself. I think my grand total was around 125 for all my items. Quick round up : 8 long sleeve shirts, 8 jammies, 7 outfits, 1 dress, 1 warm up suit, 1 sweater, 4 pairs of shoes and a jacket.

The worst part of the day? The 45 minute line I had to stand in for checkout. This is why I HATE consignment sales!

The best part of the whole day? My little shopper was a trooper, she did get fussy while at the store but mommy forgot food and drink for her...my bad. However, she did fall asleep on the way home. That is priceless!

 So sweet!

 My loot! All this for $125!

 Favorite shoes! Only $3!

Cute jacket from the GAP for Olivia! Only $7!

Its the little things in life...

Yes. I am excited. I admit, I am a dork but... I hung my first wall decorations in my house! I no longer have barren walls! I've actually had these sconces for a couple of years but never had a good spot for them...until now! Our house is coming together...slowly but surely. Until then...its the little things in life that make my day!

Weekly Meal Plans

So lately I have been creating meal plans every week. It helps me when I go to the store to only buy what I need and to make sure I have everything I need for the week. So far it's been working. It's definitely not saying its saving me a ton of money but hopefully in the long run it will.

Not only am I doing the meal plan I am making a lot of my meals from scratch...hence it's a little more expensive that way. I have been combing through recipe sites, cookbooks and friends blogs to come up with these meal plans. I honestly will say we have not had the same thing more than twice this past month(and that is usually hamburgers/brats). What can I say, I have a picky family who likes variety to their meals. :)

Anyways, just wanted to share with you some pictures from my dinner yesterday...I made homemade french dip sandwiches with au jus and sweet potato french fries.  I got to smell this bad boy cook for 7 hours in my crockpot yesterday. Yum is all I have to say. What we didn't eat...went in the freezer for another day!