My Little Helpers

This past week I had to make a cake for a lady at work. So on the evening I had to bake my cake, my little helpers heard me in the kitchen pulling out the mixer. They know what that sound means. When they hear the mixer being pulled out on the counter they know that good things are to follow! Brody my oldest LOVES to help me cook, it doesn't matter if it is something sweet and delicious or something he hates like meatballs. Either way he is in the kitchen with me watching and helping. His favorite thing to do is to stir the mixing bowl or anything else as long as he can stir something.

This is a photo of my little helpers in action. Marak is to small still to sit on the counter, and if he wasn't able to see what was going on he would stand at my feet holding onto my legs and cry until he was held up so he could see. And since he weighs a TON, he gets in the high chair.

And in case you were wondering this is what happens when your 2 year old loves helping and decides to help crack an egg! It was funny we all smiled and laughed. After that Brody didn't want to crack anymore eggs, the slimy egg creeped him out!

Weekend Part II

Last weekend we were really busy, and one thing we did was go and see my dear sweet friend Shelley and her new little baby Audrey. Shelley also has a little girl named Olivia who I believe is about to turn 2. So like us, she will have her hands full. After we had Marak, one thing that was really nice was all of the people who brought us food. It was really nice to not have to worry about cooking when we were just so desperately trying to survive with two kids and no sleep! So my friends and I got together and have been planning on making Shelley some food, we have been patiently waiting for her to have the baby. Shelley is a very remarkable lady, she was only in labor 3 hours, and didn't make it to the hospital in time to get the epidural. She had to do it all without any drugs!! She is a stronger woman than me, I don't know if I could have done it. But now her and the baby are doing fine, little Olivia seems to be liking her new sister too which is always nice.
My friends and I got together and planned out our meal for Shelley, with the help of her little sister Kelsey. Kristen made some very yummy brownies for desert, Amber made a yummy looking pasta salad, and I made calzones.
I used the Jiffy pizza crust mix because I was short on time, I usually try to make my own. With the boys being so small and needy I have been having to make some short cuts when cooking. I like the jiffy mix because it taste pretty close to being homemade. I decided to make her a supreme and a pepperoni & sausage. For the cheese I used fresh mozzarella, parmesan, asiago, provolone, & romano.

This is a trick I learned when I was selling pampered chef. If you have whole olives you can slice them quickly & easily by putting them in an egg slicer.

Here is what they look like when they are all chopped up. Doesn't that look easy? I love things that save some time. (and things you can do one handed, I am usually holding a kiddo while cooking)

This is what all of the veggies looked like when they were all chopped up and ready. I had green & red bell peppers, black olives, red onion, green onions, and garlic. I made WAY to much so for the rest of the week we used it in sandwiches, and omlets, it was SO good!

Here is all of the filling on the dough. After I made these I was watching Giada at home on the food network and she made some too, but on hers she used egg wash to seal them. I wish I would have thought of that while I was making mine, it would have made sealing them much easier, and nothing would have leaked out. Guess I will have to do it next time.

They are looking a little messy here, and not quite as cute as Giada's but they were still good.

And here they are all finished. I wrapped them in foil, and put them in a cute large bowl to take them to Shelley. Later she said that they really enjoyed their food from all of us. I know that she was probably relived that she didn't have to cook. Wouldn't it be nice if people brought you dinner every night once you had kids. That would be so much easier. But then your kiddo's would never get to experience your yummy home cooking.

This morning

This morning like most week day mornings started off with a bang! My oh so sweet little angels decided it would be a good idea to reset our alarm clock, so I ended up waking up an hour late!! I guess last night while my husband was putting up laundry they were conspiring against us. So as I wake up in a panic I frantically hop in the shower and get around. As I was finishing up Marak woke up crying, saying "momma, momma, mommma, mommma!" So I take Marak from Wes, just as Brody wakes up too! So Wes helps me take the kiddo's to the couch so that they can watch t.v. while I start on breakfast and making our lunches. When I tell Wes the time, his panic sets in and he too starts frantically getting ready too! In the mean time, I am starting breakfast, and starting our lunches. Marak finds the remote and turns off Dora, which make Brody mad. So I turn it back on, but instead of Dora I put on Diego (they are all the same, and I couldn't remember in my panic state which one he was watching) So as I am going back to the kitchen, I hear in a whine "NO, I not want it, I not want diego!!!!" So we compromised with a movie...UP" So as I once again try to get lunches made and some breakfast ate. Marak starts crying and wants to be held. So I ended up holding him all morning as I ran around frantically getting ready. Brody decided he wanted to eat my breakfast, then after I gave it to him he spit it all out back in my bowl with a "YUCK! Gross mommma, this is YUCKIE!!!) he didn't care for the nuts in my oatmeal, go figure! So then our neighbor came over and grinded us some coffee beans, and we made coffee....then she took the kids next door for daycare. Phew we made it I thought to myself! The kids left with kisses for momma, and some LUV U's too. Then I ran to the back of the house threw on some clothes (I have a rule to NEVER get dressed until you are walking out the door....too many mis-haps with the kids) ran to the kitchen, started looking for my ear ring in the fridge (ment to open up the junk drawer in the kitchen, but my panicked state made me open the fridge) couldn't find it. So I made my coffee in my to go cup, grabbed my lunch. Then got a kiss, hug, slap on the rear, and an I LOVE YOU from my hubby. And I was off to work, which by the way when I got here I found some oatmeal in my hair! Guess Brody felt bad for eating mine then spitting it back out in my bowl so he left me some for later! Couldn't imagine a better way to start off the day!

Weekend Part I

This past weekend was a busy one. My husband and Brody went down to the farm. He had to help his mom with some plumbing, and Brody had to see all of the cows. So they left friday night and left Marak and I to spend the weekend together. Marak passed out early Friday night so I started baking some calazones for my sweet friend Shelley, she just had her second child, a girl named Audrey. I will elaborate more in another post because I have pictures for it. So I stayed up late baking on Friday evening. Saturday Marak and I got up and had breakfast then rushed around the house to be at one of our favorite little cousins soccer games.

This is Jaycie she is on the 4 & 5 year old team. I think her whole team is all 4 years old. The game was 20 - 1 and our sweet little Jaycie made the only goal for her team!! We were so proud of her! She did such an amazing job. The other team had to have a 5 year old on their team because this one little girl (the one who scored all 20 points) towered over all of the kids and anytime she got the ball it was going in. It really wasn't fair! But our little Jaycie stepped up and put us on the board and we could have been happier about the game!

While the game was going on Marak sat in the wagon and played with Jaycies big sis Jadynn and her little sis Jenna. I love it when the boys play with the girls, they are all so cute. It reminds me of when I was little and I played with their dad Johnny. Johnny is about 10 years older than me, but when I was little I just loved playing with him, and he always took time out to play with me. He was so sweet, just like his girls are.

This is a photo of the gang! Too bad Brody wasn't there, he LOVES the little girls. What a great day at the soccer field such nice weather. What a beautiful day. After the game we went to see the new baby. I will continue on about it in the next post.

Slinky Dog

This is Brody and this little dog is his Slinky Dog.

Brody LOVES Toy Story and so for his birthday he got lots of toy story stuff...including this cute little dog from the movie!

This is by far Brody's favorite toy. He got it for his birthday this year from his Nana. At the party he wouldn't put it down, he had to hold it while blowing out his candles and even when he ate his cake. Since his birthday back in January he has to take it everywhere and even has to sleep with it. We play with slinky dog and he goes everywhere with us.

Hopefully this little dog will be the only dog he will ever want....but I doubt it. I am sure like most kids he will come home one day and beg for a dog, but I hope not. It is really hard to say no to that cute little face.

Crock Pot Rotel Chicken

We had one of our favorite dinners tonight. Crock Pot Rotel Chicken. It is one of my favorite things to make because it is SO easy and you can put it on anything!! Here is how you make it:

5-6 Frozen chicken breast
1 pkg. taco seasoning
1 can rotel

Mix the rotel and the taco seasoning, pour over frozen chicken (while in the crock pot) turn crock pot on low, and walk away.

My low setting is 10 hrs. so I normally set and and leave for work, then when I come home I take a fork and stir it together, then you have the best chicken fajita mixture. You can put it on chips, tortillas, pitas, or anything else you can think of. My friend Deana from work gave me this recipe about a 3 months ago and I think we have had it about 4 maybe 5 times since. My husband loves it. Tonight I had mine on a pita with pinto beans, black olives, sour cream, cheese, rotel cheese dip (because you can't have enough cheese), and mango salsa. You talk about yummy! Wes had pretty much the same thing but he put his on chips, and so did my neighbor Zoeanne. She came over to drop off the boys and smelt the yummy goodness so she had dinner with us.

Here is what it looked like in the crock pot, after I stirred it with a fork. It looks kind of icky here, but I promise it isn't.

This is everything we used to make our yummy mexi-goodness. This cheese is my favorite, it is made by Tillamook (it is actual real cheese, not the processed kind in the stores) I highly suggest the real cheese in anything you make, it makes a huge difference. The salsa is also one of my favorites, Newmans he just makes the best stuff.

And here is what my plate looked like, I poured the rotel cheese dip on top with the mango salsa. As Rachael Ray would say "yummo"

Hope you try it, if so let me know I would love to hear how you liked it.

Date Night!!

Last night my mom and dad watched the boys for us. We don't get many nights off but when we do, it is so nice. We started off the day by dropping the kids off at grandmas around 8:00 in the morning. After we gave them a thousand kisses, we left them there with the grandmas to watch them.. I think my mom and grandma were going to be watching them most of the day, then they would go home with my mom? So after my mom made us leave (it's just so hard telling them bye) we decided to go get us some breakfast, and then run to the bank so we could deposit some moola, and open up Marak his Moola Moola account. *at our bank a Moola Moola account is just one for kids, I think they get little gifts when they deposit money?* So Wes and I ate breakfast at Carl's Jr. it was so nice to eat to actually eat when your food is still hot! We didn't have to listen to kids talking 90 to nothing, whining, kids not eating their food, or kids playing with their food. Wes and I were so giddy people probably thought we were weird. So then it was off to the bank. At the bank we ran into a good friend of Wesley's, they have known each other since kindergarten and have been best friends since. So we stayed and talked to him, the boys made plans to get together the weekend after next. So it was turning out to be a great trip. Then we went home to do some stuff around the house that is impossible to do with the kids home. I rotated the kids clothes and got together a bunch of clothes to donate. Wes fixed our gate so that we wouldn't have to worry about dogs coming into the yard or kids leaving the yard. We got to eat another quite lunch, while it was still hot. I made us some really yummy nachos (I should have taken a picture but they were so good and I was just too excited to eat it while hot, that I forgot)After lunch I started making these really cute little birds nest for our Easter get together today. I will have to post a picture of them later. Then we just kind of piddled around the house and relaxed and then decided to go out to eat! How nice out to eat, and no kids snot on my clothes too!

This is us after we got done eating. Wes kept on laughing at me cause I would take a picture and post it. He's not as techy as me.

After we ate we had to go to Walmart and get a few things for the house. We decided to just walk around and look at stuff, because we never get to walk around and look with the kids with us. Usually it is in and out fast. So we stumbled upon some bikes, we can't wait for the boys to get a little bigger so that we can all get some bikes and ride them around our island. The little boy in the background was really cute he rode that little bike all around the toy area. I told Wes to take a picture of me on the bike and he said I don't think you can ride them around the store. My mature response was..if that little kid can, so can I!

After Walmart we ran and rented some movies, Sherlock Holmes and the invention of lying. We watched Sherlock Holmes last night but were to tired to watch the other one. We will watch it today. So this was our wild and crazy date day with out the kids. It was SO nice! Thanks mom for watching those boys hope your not too tired!

Fishing in the potty!

I have a love hate relationship with dryer sheets. I love how good they smell, and how soft they make our clothes. I love that they remove the clingy static that loves to stick on our clothes. You can rub dryer sheets on your skin to keep the bugs off of you in the summer time. They have many good uses, however....I hate how we always seem to have a million used ones left in our laundry basket. I even find those things under our bed, or dresser (we fold clothes in our bed room(most of the time)) And on the rare occasion that we fold laundry in the living room, I find them stuffed in the couch cushions and underneath the couch. Our little boys like to pick them up and walk off with them, and then place them in strange places. It even seems like when you go to throw them away they always seem to miss the trash can. They are such a mess, but I keep on using them, the soft good smelling clothes always make me come back to them.

Tonight as I was doing laundry, Brody was helping me, so I asked him to take the heaping pile of used dryer sheets and stick them in the trash (our boys LOVE it when we ask them to throw things in the trash...weird I know...but they do!)Here is how this played out...

Me: Brody can you take this (heaping pile of dryer sheets)and throw them in the trash NEXT to the potty please.

Brody: OKAY Momma!!
(he then runs to our bathroom and before I can stop him....he throws them in the potty)

Me: Brody this is trash..it goes in the trash can NOT in the potty! ONLY pee pee and poo poo go in the potty!

Brody: Okay Momma!

So gross!! This is one of those things that if you would have asked me 3 years ago if I ever thought I would have to fish out dryer sheets from the potty, I would have said Heck No! But fast forward 3 years and here I am fishing out dryer sheets, and trying really hard not to bust out laughing (laughing would have only encouraged him to do it again!)He QUACKS me up!