Baby chef cooks semlor

Baby Chef





Fat Tuesday Buns (semlor)

I got it maid

Emma loves to help out around the house. Here she is washing dishes, or "bubbling the dishes" as she calls it.



Her and Eden will usually fight over who gets to do this. In fact, they compete almost daily over who does more cleaning for mom so they can climb their ladder faster.



I made this paper ladder with velcro on the rungs. Each child has a picture with velcro on the back. When they do a chore, they get to climb the ladder. Once they are at the top, they get their allowance (which is a set amount that we agreed on). When we first implemented this, we thought we were going to go broke paying those two little girls! We joked about not having enough money to pay the bills and Eden said, "Well, I'll pay them then." HA! She's so sweet. I was actually begging them to STOP cleaning because I didn't want them to take all the money I had in my purse!

We used to use the bead method. Each girl had a jar and every time they did a chore or something nice to deserve a reward, I would put a bead in their jar. Once the entire jar was full they got $20. But that quickly lost it's luster. Even though they could see their progress and how much more they would have to do before they got their money, it took too long. Kids need quicker gratification. The ladder method rewards them much faster and they can count how many more chores they need to do instead of just an eyeball guess.

Here's a picture of my baby girl, all dressed up to go have sushi with mom, gram and the aunties.



A bit washed out soc, but no time to edit.

Journal Junkie

This is my bedside table



And yes, that is 8 notebooks/journals sitting on top of it. I noticed the large pile last night and decided I should take a picture of it

I am obsessed or addicted or whatever you want to call it, to journals. I write EVERYTHING down. The problem with that is, I can NEVER find what I'm looking for, when I need it, because I have too many important notebooks that I write in on a daily basis. Everything from recipes, to exercises routines, to shopping lists, to to-do lists, nutrition information, "diary" style entries, ideas, photography notes, you name it. I wish I was more organized about it. One notebook for each category maybe?

It's fun to write stuff down. I like the mental sort of release it gives me - like I'm emptying my brain onto paper so I don't have to try and remember it all. But still, I will inevitably forget what I've written and where I've written it. I even like the feel of a pen gliding on paper. It's relaxing.

Here's another funny thing. When I get a pretty new journal, I almost hate to write in it. I don't want to make it less pretty. Or I'm afraid I'll use it up, have no more paper to write in, and will never find another one as cool. As if it matters. I'm starting to realize that I may be a little more of a headcase than I originally thought. (mad laughter)

Lizzy Bear underwear

Yes, Lizzy is wearing underwear. Poor dog is in heat. And my floors....you don't even want to know. She was honestly bleeding so bad that we had to keep her in her room/my laundry room. And we felt so bad for her having to be locked away from the rest of the family that we came up with a solution.

Underwear. And a maxi pad. Don't laugh. It's actually working. It looks ridiculous and it's disgusting, but we have to do what we have to do I guess.

I was dreading (seriously dreading) the day when she would go through her first heat. I knew it would be a giant pain in the YOU KNOW WHERE. But, as per our contract with the breeder, we had to let her go through one before we got her fixed.

I wonder if they sell dog diapers at PetSmart?

You better believe that as soon as this is over, I am sprinting to the vet with Lizzy and screaming "FIX HER! FIX HER NOW!"

quit watching tv

I totally want to redo our foyer to look like this. It's possible. I mean, with the layout of our house, it could totally work. Of course the only drawback I see is that we'd have to completely overhaul our ENTIRE house to match. Because it would look a little odd to have this marvelous, open, polished foyer walk through to the grand, bright, window area....and then everything else in 90's decor. Oh and the fact that it would probably cost as much as buying a house.

But wouldn't it be lovely? Isn't the thought of redoing, redecorating and remodeling your home such an exciting thought?

Man I hate it when I watch HGTV.

Great blog

I just found an AWESOME, and I mean AWESOME, blog post today.

It's about Valentine's Day. And this is EXACTLY what I would have said if I had the brains and talent of this young woman.

Click to read

I agree with every word.

Lizzy is 1 today!

Dear Lizzy,

Happy birthday! And congratulations for making it to 1 year....haha. I honestly don't think that I could say my life is better with you in it, but I do love you. You are sweet. It's just that you add a lot of extra stress to my life that I wasn't too eager to take on.

You've chewed up my rugs, my stairs, my couch, my sunglasses....many more items, too numerous to count. You've peed and pooped and bled all over my floors and carpet. You are smelly, you shed too much, your fur is all over everything, you steal food, you make it impossible to cook without a dog sitter nearby. I can't even go to the bathroom without locking you up for fear that something might be destroyed.

We have scratches and holes in our clothes. We trip over toys and slip on your drool. I need to conjure up super human strength to be able to hold you when we go for walks so you don't lunge at passing joggers.

I've heard that having a pet is shown to decrease stress. I'd like to challenge that study! LOL

I know I complain about you a lot. And I'm sorry. A mom's life is stressful sometimes. I will try to be better. I will try to show you more love. I will try to be more patient. But I can't promise anything. It's hard to change who you really are. And I'm more of a cat person ;)