The Story of Tonight

Okay, let me preface this story by saying, Tim left for China last Sunday and will be gone for 2 weeks.  So... I've been a single Momma to my two precious toddlers all week.  And this week has been my first week back to school, my car battery died so I had to find a way to get it to the dealership (I mean, what if it was the alternator?) and then a way to pick it up when in fact, it WAS just the battery.  Needless to say, with all that crazy going on this week, I just didn't get to spend the quality time with Kennedy and Graham that I wanted too.  And we were all missing our days of summer when we spent all day together.

Friday night with nothing to do but dinner and a bath, we had lots of time to relax and have fun!  Life was good until bath time...

Kennedy was fighting me, she did NOT want to get out of the bathtub.  So I got her wet and slippery little self out of the tub and she was fussing because she wanted to "refill the fish" (her squirt toy) and I really didn't want to get her semi-dried body wet again.  Then she started fussing because SHE wanted to put the lotion on herself, and push the pump to get the lotion out.  Fine.  So I let her do her thing and got Graham out of the tub (by the way, he came out easy as could be and let me dry him off and do the lotion thing...)  In the meantime, when I tried to use the lotion for G, Kennedy pulled it back and hit herself in the face with it, so she started really crying then!  Calmed her down, then got her ready to put on her pjs.  No "Kinny do it!" when I tried to help her put on her panties.  Sigh.  Fine.  Then she started crying because she wanted my help.  Sigh. Okay.  Then she started fussing because I wanted to help her put on her pj pants.  "NO, KINNY DO IT!"  Sigh.  Okay, fine.  Then she had trouble so she started wining because she needed help again.  SIGH.  Okay, no problem.  All the while, poor Graham was doing great getting his pjs on by himself- good thing or he would have been a popsicle by the time I'd gotten to him to get him dressed!

Finally get back downstairs just in time for Tim to call, and the kids were so excited!  While we were chatting with Daddy, Kennedy let me know,  "Mommy, my pants are wet!"  Sure enough, she had peed a little in her panties.  So we got her a night diaper (almost time for bed at this point anyway) but "No, mommy!  I go peepee on the potty!"  okay, fine.  She can go by herself, so I let her go in while Graham and I talked to Tim.  Literally a minute later Kennedy came in and said "Mommy, it's all wet!"  Huh?  Kennedy had tried to "clean" her toilet and spilled some on the floor.  SIGH.  So we put her diaper on and she went off to look for her my little pony.  Graham and I were telling Daddy how he was being such a good boy while I put his diaper on.  Then, a crash.  Crap, Tim we'd better get off the phone!  I ran into the bathroom where the source of the crash originated- there was water ALL OVER THE FLOOR!  Ummm....  Kennedy had decided to clean the floor and filled the potty bucket up with water from the sink- this kid must have filled it all the way up.  I mean water. ev. ery. where.  SIGH!  Of course at this point my Kennedy girl was a hot mess, water/pee all over her legs and crying hard.  And then I feel a little tap on my leg.  I looked down and Graham had the towel that was by the back door for the dog's feet.  "Here Mommy, I clean it."  Precious boy!

So we wipe up the mess, to be thoroughly cleaned up after the munchkins were in bed.  Drag Kennedy back to where the wipes are to give her an impromptu bath and she is really cranked up now.  I mean, sobbing hard.  I felt bad for her, but I was so frustrated too!  Got her cleaned up and pj pants on and she kept crying for her Minny and JoJo dolls.  I told her "Kennedy, if you're so crabby and going to keep crying, why don't you just go up to bed?!?"  (don't judge...)

In the smallest, most dejected, hiccup-crying voice she said "o-o-okay" and picked up her dolls and headed for the stairs.  Well, I felt like the worst Mom in the world!  "Oh Kinny, I'm sorry.  You don't have to go to bed."  So we cuddled for a few minutes.  Poor girl!  Poor mommy.  Sweet Graham.

A little later, we were getting ready to head up to bed, and I noticed the tv remote was not in it's spot.  Uummmm.... crap.  So we went on a scavenger hunt for the stupid thing.  We. Looked. Everywhere!   Couldn't find it.  Graham decided it was probably upstairs, so we went upstairs instead to look for the remote, snuggle in bed , sing songs and read a book.  Kennedy went to bed first, then I walked Graham in his room to put him to bed while Graham was "looking".  Then it as time for G to head to bed- with a new book and truck he'd picked up on his remote hunt  ::eyeroll::  We climbed into his bed and I asked him "Graham, do you know where the remote is?"  (he's very good at hiding things in obscure places, it wouldn't be beyond my scope of imagination that he had put it away).  "yep, it's downstairs."  Right.  Get in bed, G.  Then I asked him "Graham Michael, what am I going to do with you guys?!?"

"Um, take 'em back!"  I laughed so hard!  Then I told him I thought the 90 day return policy was expired and I was stuck with them.  But that's okay, they were stuck with me too.  "Yeah Mommy, stick with us!"  I will Boogaboo, I will!

Moral of the story, my kids are adorable- even when they are being stinkers, crabby or tired. :)

p.s.  after looking all over for the remote- I mean tearing through drawers and toys and bags and anywhere else you could imagine, I decided to give up and go clean the bathroom floor.  There it was, on top of the toilet paper holder!?!?  Not sure about how it got there (though I have my suspicions) but I'm glad I found it!  I really didn't want to watch Disney channel for the next week.

Introducing- Kennedy's BIG GIRL room!

Welcome to our big girl's room!  Does this wreath look familiar?  It was one of my first projects of the summer (it doesn't seem that long ago... where did summer go?!?!)  I've been working all summer on getting Kennedy's big girl room finished- and I'M DONE!  well, don't hold me to it.

Anyway, come on in!

remember the curtains I made for the nursery?  I put so much love and time into them, they are never coming down, EVER!  :)  So I wanted to incorporate more purples and pinks and purple and purple into her room, but keep the yellows and greens that were already there.  

Kennedy loves her tree!  I made it with vinyl- I drew a tree on a huge piece of butcher paper as a stencil and then cut it out of the vinyl.  The flowers are via our most amazing Cricut.  (what would I do without it?  I shudder to think about it!)

the flowers are actually 3-dimensional, the petals are coming out of the wall!  I absolutely love the way they turned out!  

Just another angle :)  You can see her toddler bed, which will eventually become a full bed when she's ready.  Insert purple Lindsay butterfly quilt from Pottery Barn here.  But for now she's using the precious baby quilt her Grandma Cleda made for her.  

Oh, I love this little girl's room!

I got some of these ideas from Pinterest, of course!  But as always, I put my own flair to it :)

Love the shadow box idea- buttons for the body of the butterfly!

I made the frame- it has a clip at the top so we can switch out pictures very easily!  And this is one of my favorite pictures of the kids together- it's so sweet!  And I will make them sit on the couch together and look at it when they are fighting... just sayin'

I decided to make the frames all a little different, so Tim helped me "distress" this one.  Butterflies!

 And more butterflies!  These are made from paint chips I stole took from Home Depot

It's hanging on a curtain rod!  When she's a little older, I'll hang a beveled mirror for her, but this is a sweet touch and still looks little girl enough for her :)

These might be my favorite, and I'll keep them forever.  When Jill and Kinley visited earlier this summer we had a painting party and the girls made butterflies with their cute tootsies and hands.  They turned out PRECIOUS!  I'm in love. 

LOVE

I painted this pot and filled it with butterflies and flowers I've been collecting.  They make me think of Kennedy's great-grandmothers who also loved butterflies, and probably would have bought every butterfly they saw for her ;)  (I miss those sweet ladies like you wouldn't believe...)

 And then, I found these cute butterfly mirror decals at Target (woohoo!).  They are the perfect finishing touch!  

I'm sure Miss Kennedy Rae will want to do different things in her room as she gets older, but for now we both love it just the way it is.  And Graham and Daddy both really like it too :)

Happy Buhrday Daddy! YAY!

Like I said in the last post, this past week has been busy HECTIC!  But in a good way :)  We've had dance class, swim lessons, Daddy's birthday, softball, a Thirty-one Party for a good friend, and that's all before Father's Day rolled around!  WHEW!  But we definitely didn't forget about Tim's birthday.  Especially since his b-day was softball night and Thirty-one party night, we wanted to show him how happy we were he was born, so we did it BIG!  On his birthday, we snuck to the store and got stuff to make him TWO birthday cakes!  He'd requested carrot cake when we asked him what kind of cake he wanted for his birthday but we surprised him with cheese cake, too!  (those are probably his two very favorites ever...)  

Have you noticed yet that the kids like to help, especially when we're baking in the kitchen?  I don't have pictures of them actually baking this time, but I have pictures of them helping me "clean up"  

I remember when my Grandma Cleda used to let me lick the batter off the beaters when we were done, and it's still one of my favorite things to do when I bake.  I thought I'd start a new tradition with the kids- I think they like it :) 

Wiggle Wiggle

My first project in making Kennedy and Graham's non-baby rooms Big Kid Rooms was to make wreaths for their bedroom door.  I've been itching to make them for a long time, so I couldn't wait to get started!

I found a great idea to use foam insulation tubing instead of the expensive foam wreaths from the craft stores.  Two tubes together cost me $3.00 at Home Depot!  So I cut them the length I needed and then duct taped the ends together- viola!  A wreath!

my sweet little helpers- puppies and all :) 

 And this is where the "Wiggle Wiggle" part comes in.  K and G insist the wreaths were hula hoops, which they call wiggle wiggles.  A glimpse into the mind of a two year old: what do you do with a hula hoop?  Put it on your hips and WIGGLE WIGGLE!  But I digress...

Kennedy's Wreath
Kennedy's room is a fantastic, neutral baby's nursery but we definitely need some work to make this a little girl's room!  Her favorite color is PURPLE with pink being a very close second, and she "just wuvs butterflies!"  So what can a momma do but try to please?  So I'm going to be working very hard to add pinks, purples and butterflies to her room that already has yellow walls and yellow and green window treatments.  

Kennedy is very girly-girl, so I decided to use different ribbons in yellow, green, purple and pink to make a ribbon-wreath.  After I wrapped the hoola-hoop wreath form in strips of white remnant fabric, I started tying ribbons into knots... 

I was just a little short of white fabric, so I ended up leaving a little strip unwrapped, knowing the large ribbon I was using to hang the wreath would cover it

... and tying, and tying... 

and once I had covered the entire wreath with more ribbon than you could imagine, I decided it needed something more.  So I made a dash to Michael's and grabbed some Martha Stewart paint and added a little more of Kennedy style. 

Now THIS is a wreath that says "little girl's room" don't cha think?  It's fun, sassy and full of color just like my K. And let me tell you, she absolutely loves it.  

Graham's wreath

Okay, so now how do you make a wreath- which let's face it, when I think wreath, I think flowers and ribbons and chica- into a something for a little boy's room?

By adding baseballs :)  Kennedy and Graham REALLY wanted to help

Graham's room is Cardinal's baseball (does this surprise you?!?) so we had to go with Cardinal red!  I couldn't find any remnants that matched my color theme, so I got a few quarters because I had no desire to stand in the mile-long line in the fabric department.  And I wanted baseballs, but I didn't want something that was really heavy or would knock against the door when we snuck in to say night-night so I decided to go with foam baseballs I found in the summer toy section :)  It was tricky trying to get them away from the kids, they were ready to play!  

 wrapped up and ready to go

to make sure the balls stayed in place I pinned them, then hot glued and allowed the glue to cool down.

 I just had to add this.  Graham's new toy obsession is his water gun, which he calls his Buuujsh.  I can read your mind, you're thinking "HUH?"  Another glimpse into the mind of a two-year-old: what sound affects do you make when you're squirting a water gun?  "BUUJSH, BUUJSH!" right?  Sooooo, it's a buujsh.  So while I was working on the wreath, G was excited because Mommy had a Buujsh too!

Mommy's Buujsh

 So once the glue was dry, pins came out and wreath went up on little man's door!

Graham also loves it, and every time we go into his room he points it out and says "G for Graham's room!"  and then he adds in "Let's Go Cardinals!"  :)   Sorry Grandma Cleda, he's a die-hard Cards fan!!  He is definitely his Daddy's boy.

We have a lot more we're doing for the kids' rooms this summer, so check back in soon!

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

We've been a very busy, crazy family lately!  But I have the summer bug- I can't wait to spend time with my munchkins this summer and do tons of fun projects with them.  I have a HUGE to-do list, and I really can't wait to get started.  There seriously is a reason that teachers have the summer off.  We need to recharge our batteries and live a life outside of school for a few months; get ready for the new students and add new things to our bag of tricks.

Well, I digress.  This blog is about a little taste of summer, and a little taste of Mexican!  I have become a Pinterest Queen, I love stalking the boards for new ideas and recipes.  One of my favorite things to eat is Mexican food- when I was pregnant I wanted Mexican every day (poor Tim!).  So today was the perfect day to try out a new Mexi recipe.  :)

Tonight's dinner menu:
Tim's Famous Guacamole
Turkey Enchiladas
Tomalitos (Chevy's Corn Cake/Mush)
Margaritas!

We'll share the recipe for Tim's guacamole in another post... if he's willing to give up his secret!

The enchiladas were amazing- I have to give you the recipe I concocted!
note: Tim's stomach cannot handle super spicy food so I didn't put in as many spices, onion and garlic as you might want to add.  I doubled the recipe because we have lots of mouths to feed right now, and I like to have leftovers for busy weekdays!  So if I changed the amount of ingredients when I doubled the recipe, I made a note.

Turkey Enchiladas
Ingredients:
1-1/4 cups frozen corn (2-1/2 cups if you double)
1 cans (4 ounces each) chopped green chilies (3 if double)
1 cup fresh cut cilantro
1/3 cup half and half
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
garlic salt to preference


1 pound ground turkey
1/3 cup chopped onion (1/2 cup doubled)
1 garlic clove, minced (2 tsp doubled)
3/4 cup salsa (2 cups doubled)
1 tbsp cornmeal
2 tsp chili powder (3 doubled)
1-1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp dried oregano
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
6 flour tortillas (8 inches) warmed
1-1/4 cups shredded Mexican cheese blend

Directions:
1. place the first seven ingredients in a food processor; cover and pulse until blended
2. In a large skillet, brown the turkey, onion and garlic until meat is no longer pink.  Remove from heat and stir in salsa, cornmeal and seasoning.
3. spoon 1/3 cup of the turkey mixture down the center of each tortilla.  Top with 2 Tbsp of cheese.  Roll up and place seam side down in a greased 11x7 glass baking dish.  Spoon the corn mixture over the top.  Sprinkle with the remaining cheese.
4. Cover the dish with foil and bake at 350* for 30 minutes.  Uncover, then bake another 10 minutes longer.

Tomalitos (aka Chevy's Corn Mush) modified from AllRecipes.com
again, I doubled this recipe to feed the masses.


4 Tbsp butter, softened
1/2 cup masa hanna (this is a finely ground corn flower, it makes a big difference)
2/3 cup white sugar
2/3 cup water
4 cups whole kernel frozen corn, thawed
1 cup cornmeal
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
8 tsp milk

In a medium bowl, mix together the margarine, masa flour and sugar until light and fluffy.  In a food processor (or blender) blend together 2 cups of the corn, water and cornmeal until smooth.  Stir it into the masa mixture.  Add in the remaining corn, baking powder, salt and milk until batter is smooth.

*the recipe I used recommended to cook the mixture into a double boiler and cover tightly with aluminum foil and steam for 50-60 minutes.  However, I didn't want to wait that long for the delicious, mushy corn cake-stuff.  I placed it in a glass bowl and covered tightly with saran wrap.  I cooked for 7 minutes on 30% power in the microwave, then another 5 minutes on high power.  Mix before you serve.  If it is still too moist, cook without the saran wrap for another 2-3 minutes on high.  Serve in small scoops... or eat the whole thing with a large spoon right out of the bowl if you can't wait long enough to get it onto your plate!

yummy dinner! 

and some fantastic Margaritas to go along with the spicy enchiladas and sweet corn- 

the Grand Marnier was a perfect touch

"waistin away again in Margaritaville..."

After dinner we went into the backyard with the kids to play with bubbles- it was a nice, breezy evening, perfect for playing with the kids and sipping icy margaritas.

Kennedy is concentrating so hard!  I bet she's going to be a competitive sports player...

Graham is lovin' it, he's having so much fun!

We stopped chasing bubbles long enough to give Daddy some kisses.

they are very sweet kiddos

What a fun day!  Happy Cinco de Mayo!