A Get Away

Oh, what fun we had this weekend! For the first time EVER (in 16 years) John and I got away for the whole weekend. (Thanks to those of you who watched our kids!) We've been away for a night-which was great, but a WHOLE weekend!

We decided to visit our vacation home a couple of hours away for some rest and relaxation. It was so nice to not have a "plan" or schedule. Our mornings started slowly as we had coffee (hot choc. for me)and read the newspaper--NICE. John even got out the patio furniture for the season and put it on the deck. We enjoyed the beautiful weather so much and John even got in some golfing...I went shopping instead!
Our teenager called us twice and told us to "keep it G-rated." Too funny! Jill

Green Grass

Our mower came back from getting it's "tune up" so Ben had a chance to mow for the first time this year. It's been so rainy here that the grass is bright green--a nice change from the winter brown grass. He was very talented and mowed around the dog's training flags (See earlier blog "Can old dogs learn new tricks")-well, he only hit 1 metal flag... I'm also beginning to see those yellow "flowers"in the grass that my daughter collects to give me..... Enjoy your weekend! Jill

Thankful

I had a chance to watch little bits of American Idol last night and I have to say that it was nice to see a softer side of Simon Cowell. I think he actually HAS a heart!

Watching the various segments on AIDs, Malaria and Poverty, I went to bed with an overwhelming feeling of thankfulness for the basics in life--enough food, clean water, a warm house, and especially incredible medical care. Sure, my kids whine because they don't have the latest "gaming system" but I hope by watching that program they, too, will be a little more grateful for the basics. Jill

What works for me........

Good morning! I'm constantly looking for ways to make my life easier- You too?
Here's something I found that helps our morning routine (with kids)run smoothly.


It's FROZEN Cinnamon toast waffles. The kids actually eat them right out of the freezer! Of course that means that there are no plates to clean up, no sticky syrup to deal with, no utensils and no crumbs!!!

What works for me........

Good morning! I'm constantly looking for ways to make my life easier- You too?
Here's something I found that helps our morning routine (with kids)run smoothly.

It's FROZEN Cinnamon toast waffles. The kids actually eat them right out of the freezer! Of course that means that there are no plates to clean up, no sticky syrup to deal with, no utensils and no crumbs!!! Now that makes a Mom happy! Jill

Anna's Diner

It all started when Anna wanted to have her kitchen set brought up from the basement. I happily brought it up and gave her the windex and some paper towels to "clean up her kitchen". She's such a little mother that she cleaned up her kitchen and then organized her pots and pans, silverware, etc. I thought that was cute...

I had an errand to run and when I came back, this is the scene that I found in our front room. Luke had gotten into the act and brought a few of his stuffed animals out and they prepared a feast for the animals. The menu consisted of hot dogs, hashbrowns, Soup, a Big Mac and fries. (Our McDonald's play food set) Sounds like a good and HEALTHY dinner, right?? Where are the fruits and veggies??? oh yeah, fries are the vegetable! Never a dull moment here!! Stay tuned..... Jill

Is it the rod or the shirt?

We enjoyed Beautiful weather this whole weekend--It was Wonderful. On Saturday, many of our neighbors were out mowing for the first time. It was fun to see them after a long winter of hibernation! John had big plans to do some yard work but I decided that Sunday was a day of rest for us...so we went fishing!! Here's a picture of our one and only catch. Do you think his good fortune came from his sister's pink princess rod or from his Bass Pro Shop shirt?? Jill

Can an old dog learn new tricks??

Yesterday morning I spent a majority of my time placing boundary flags for our new, wireless dog fence. As soon as hubby got home he helped me train our OLD dog (14yrs.)not to cross the "line". Well, she's hard of hearing so she's not hearing the beeps when she's in the boundary zone--that's a problem. (but hubby is trained very well!) Also, the collar is not giving her the small static shock when she walks over the boundary. Did I spend lots of money to have this dog fence sit in my garage unused??? Will she be able to overcome her age and learn to fear the flags??? Will she ever stop roaming off of our property to go potty?? I guess we'll pray for patience and work really hard this weekend. Will an old dog learn new tricks? I guess it's possible because I am now writing this blog!! Have a great, WARM weekend!! Jill

Could I offer you a side of Gummy Vites?

For many of you who know me, I LOVE to cook. It's important to me to have a nice meal on the table every night. Well, last night I fell a little short. I had planned ahead and had chicken breasts in the crock pot with some barbeque sauce and eventually made macaroni and cheese to go with it. The kids were starving and wanted to eat soon. Only one problem....there was no fruit or vegetable. Because I ran out of time (and patience) I decided to something I had never done before.

I served them plates of barbequed chicken, macaroni and cheese and 2 Gummy Vites each (their vitamin). Now that made me feel better! Everyone was happy; the kids didn't have to eat the peas that I had planned to make and they were still getting the vitamins and minerals they need. Silly Mom! It's amazing how creative Moms can be sometimes!! Enjoy the sun today!! Jill

What works for me....

Over the past week or so I've visited a lot of different blogs. Many of those blogs have a theme on different days. On Wednesdays, for instance, some have "Wordless Wednesday" or "What works for me". I've chosen "what works for me" on Wednesdays because I believe I'm supposed to share any "Mom knowledge" that I have to help other young Moms. I hope these days (Wednesdays) will be a blessing to you......

Spring is here and the baseball season is upon us. With that comes paperwork galore--game schedules, snack schedules, team rosters, etc. If you're like me, paperwork could take over your kitchen counter! A couple of years ago I had an idea and ventured to Target to implement my plan.

Here are 2 storage containers with drawers that I keep in my laundry room(out of the kitchen) to store lots of paperwork, etc. for the kids. Each child has a drawer-even Mom and Dad. So, when these papers come home, we read them, record any dates on the calendar that we need to and just plop them into their "box". When we need to find a phone number of someone on the baseball team, we just go to the drawer and find it. Although, sometimes we need to "dig" through it to find it!! hee, hee Happy Wednesday! Jill

Magic Kingdom or Dentist??

Several weeks ago our family took a trip to Disney World in Florida. I couldn't wait to take Anna to see the Magic Kingdom and the Princess Castle!! After riding the tram from the parking lot, then to the monorail and then walking to the park we were all frustrated, just wanting to get there. Low and behold, there it was......the princess castle. After a few photo opportunities, we squeezed our way through Main Street, while tiny little bugs flew into our faces. Anna thought the castle was really pretty but those buggies were bothering her.

While in the Magic Kingdom, I said " I would rather go to the dentist than come back to this busy, crowded place." John said...."I'll ask you later about that." Well, today is the day--my trip to the dentist to get my teeth cleaned. You might ask, "Would you rather go to the dentist today or the Magic Kingdom?" My answer remains the same. Dentist. (Sorry to all of you Disney fans) Jill :)

Heigh Ho, Heigh Ho, it's back to curves I go......

Good Morning to you all!After 2 years, I took a break--a 1 month break--from Curves, that is. It started so innocently. First a week of illness at our house, then a Florida vacation for a week, then
a week to recover from vacation :) Now here it is about a month later and I haven't been back to Curves. Today is the day! Why is it that exercise is not a priority for me??? I try to disguise it as a walk with my hubby around the neighborhood, or playing tennis with my family; but to get out there and jog for a half an hour is not my idea of fun!

I pulled up to Curves and noticed there weren't any cars near the entrance. Hmmmmmm. Then I noticed a sign that said they had moved to another side of the strip mall. OK. Well, I walked in and found that they had moved to a bigger space-a wonderfully inviting space that had comforting lavender walls and lots of ladies exercising and talking. Needless to say, I had a good workout and I've decided it's much more fun to exercise with a friend....and I'm glad that I went!! Feel free to leave comments on how you make exercising fun.....I would LOVE it! Jill

Do you think they had fun???

Today is the last day of Spring Break and Anna had a friend over for the day. It looks as though they had a GREAT time!! What do you think???? Enjoy your weekend! Jill

It's "Snow" Disappointing

Hello! Well, according to the weathermen, we have 6 inches of new snow. As you can see, the wind blew it around so much that it looks like only a few inches. Our temperatures stayed around 32 degrees so it was a really wet and slushy snow. As of yet, no one has been out to sled or snowboard.

We spent most of yesterday Spring Cleaning..... mostly going through the toy closet downstairs and decluttering the boys closets. As a good friend of mine says "Pitch and Chuck" came to town. One garbage can is already full in the garage and trash day is next Wednesday!!


I was up before the kids this morning and decided to make biscuits and sausage gravy as a treat for breakfast (they usually have frozen cinnamon toast waffles-and eat them frozen.) Our cousins from Missouri introduced us to this yummy and filling breakfast. By looking at their plates, it looks like the only one who didn't like it was Anna. She preferred the biscuit with strawberry jam--imagine that. Our big plans for the day may include making some returns to the mall and/or seeing a movie. Woo Hoo! Jill

Waiting for the Snow...

Well, so far so good--not much snow. Unfortunately, there are 8-10 inches on the way! Here is a picture of our patio this morning; I'll update the picture tomorrow!




So far I'm surviving the week with 4 kids home on Spring Break! They were bored yesterday so I took them to a craft store and we loaded up on craft activities and I decided THEY would be cooking dinner. To my amazement they were excited to cook dinner! We dined on Turkey Brats and fruit salad--YUM! They did a super job! Do you think they would be willing to cook tonight?? hee, hee.

I was the last one awake this morning and I wandered into the kitchen and found 4 kids at the kitchen table painting, hot glue gunning and having a blast with all of the new craft activities. Except they forgot to put down newspaper to protect the table. EEK! Anyway, no harm done...

We'll be dragging the snowpants out and sharpening our snowboards this afternoon.......
Happy Wednesday! Jill

Easter

We had a really nice Easter visiting family in Iowa and Illinois. We encountered a few snow showers on the drive home.....so much for being on Spring Break! Now we're expecting 6 to 8 inches of snow tonight!! EEK! I guess the kids can go outside and snowboard that way!!! Here is a photo of our family on Easter morning at Grandma & Grandpa's house.