My "Moost" Favoritist Place

It's a really good thing I'm not loaded, because if I were I would also be SOOOO stinkin' fat right now. A month or so ago we got a coupon flyer in the mail for a place called Maggie Moo's. I hadn't heard of it before but it had pictures of ice cream and cows. I like cows pretty good and I'm always down for some ice cream so I saved the coupons until they made good on their "opening soon" promise.

We tried to go there for Joshua's birthday, but it was so crowded we couldn't even all get in the doors.

We tried to go after lunch the next day, but there wasn't enough time before all our parents had to leave. So that night we ventured out there again. It was still really crowded but we were staying this time. I wanted some Maggie Moo's ice cream!

So first of all, if you had a choice between a sandwich at Subway or ice cream from Maggie Moo's, well, I think we all know the clear winner here. In my opinion, Subway wasn't too smart to open up right beside ice cream heaven.

Here it is - the spectacular Maggie Moo's sign and the words "open now". If you ever see those purplish pink letters you should STOP YOUR CAR IMMEDIATELY!!!

We've yet to see the place not filled with people.

John and I have a hard time deciding on just one flavor so we get two and share. This first one is dark chocolate ice cream with strawberries, fudge chunks, almonds, and hot fudge all in a waffle bowl.

This next one is banana pudding ice cream with banana chunks, caramel, and hot fudge.

John David got some kind of strawberry ice cream with fudge chunks in it and I don't know what else (I was too busy staring at mine to care what was in his).

I think Joshua knew he was getting the boof. He ate all his yogurt, but I definitely saw some resentment in his eyes.

It was all super delicious (refer to picture below) and I'm pretty sure I would eat there every day if I could afford it!

Are You Sure It's Not Monday

'Cause if it were Monday, the kind of day I had would make way more sense.

Do you know what I did? Do you KNOW what I did???

I ran into our garage door.

With our van.

Our brand new garage door.

I'm feeling very, very stupid today.

No, I was not drunk. And no I was not on my phone - that was John's first guess.

I just thought I had already put it in park and then took my foot off the brake. I reached down to get the windex - I had just washed the car - and quickly realized I was moving. I hit the brake as fast as I could, but it was too late. I had hit the garage door. Two ladies were walking by at the time and I think they were laughing at me. How rude.

John was in the house and heard the crashing sound and came running out. He was so sweet and calm. I think it might have been easier if he had yelled. Well, maybe not.

The end result is a van that looks the same as before and a garage door that looks dented in a couple spots. I suppose it could have been way worse. But seriously, how annoying. We just paid for them and now we have to pay again, or at least pay to get it fixed.

Stupid, stupid, stupid.....

I'm Raising a Monkey

Joshua has learned a new trick. It requires that we now put up the bunk bed ladder during the day when he's awake. I'm glad I saw him doing this and didn't find out the hard way!

Mimi's House is the Best!

This morning we went back over to Mimi's house for blueberry waffles and homemade syrup - "popo syrup" the family calls it. I think when John's mom was little, she couldn't say "maple" and it came out as "popo".

We've had the waffles many times before, but today was Joshua's first time to have them! He loved it and when I put him down for his nap he smelled like waffles and syrup. So sweet - literally!

Joshua's First Birthday

Joshua, you were a surprise but what a gift you have been. My favorite part of the day is going in your room when you first wake up. Your happiness is so contagious. I love the way you study my face and when I'm holding you close you put your chubby hands on my cheeks. I love your little body and your red hair. The way you get excited and say my name when I get you out of the car is so wonderful. You, my precious boy, make me a very happy mommy. Happy Birthday!!!

The birthday party wasn't quite what I had planned it to be, but it was a celebration of my baby boy's first year of life so it was great!

We were supposed to eat at Chili's at 2:00 and then go to Maggie Moo's for his cake afterwards. The people at Chili's told me wrong on the phone and we ended up not getting a table for close to an hour (not a good thing with little children in the mix) and Maggie Moo's was WAY too crowded afterward. Gran saved the day by running into the store and getting a cake and Blue Bell ice cream and we went back home instead. All our family was in town and we were all together so in the end, it was all okay. My Martha Stewart-ish wanna-be-self got over it!

Here's the birthday boy eating some pizza at Chili's.

I thought he should have ordered some baby back ribs. Oh well....

He was quite entertained and happy for awhile.....

....but we did have to break out his present from Uncle Maka and Aunt Kara. It was a bag full of yummy snacks! They know their nephew well - he loves to eat!!!

Back at the house, he was not at all impressed with the party hat.

We had to talk him into not crying during his birthday song too. (We actually sang it a couple of times so he wouldn't be screaming when it was time to blow out the candle.)

He didn't know what to think at first.

He soon realized the chocolatey goodness.

The piece of cake didn't stand a chance! He squished it to smithereens.

I have to admit, it looked fun. Kind of like squishing your feet into mud.

Here he is licking the plate. Yeah, that was good cake.

Gran and D bought him his very own rocking horse. He loves it - as do his siblings.

Thanks Gran and D!

Aunt Kara and Joshua

Uncle Maka and Joshua

Mommy and Daddy with their boy!

My parents got him a new high chair too. He so needed that! Thank you Granmamma and Dodie!

Trapped

The other day I heard Aulora calling out to me in a panicked voice. I started my way down the long hall, poking my head into every room trying to find her. Finally I got to our bathroom and this is what I found:


She had gone in there and closed the door and couldn't get back out. She was quite distressed. I told her to wait there while I got the camera though. Poor girl.

(What's up with that dirty looking shower floor? It doesn't look like that in person. Really it doesn't.)

I'm Losing Myself in the Black Hole of Internet

Holy cow, I've found facebook. Seriously, there's just not enough time in my day for all the things I want to laze around and do! Tv, blogging (reading others lately, not updating my own obviously), eating, reading, searching craigslist, etsy, and ebay, and now facebook. How absurd. I can't even keep up with that on it's own, let alone the stuff I'm supposed to be doing.

So if you're wondering where I've been, I've been tending sick kids, enjoying company over the weekend, housewife-ish duties, settling in more, and learning the ropes of facebook. John has advised me to forget facebook and tend to my blogs. I think he's irritated with my lack of posting and rightly so, I'm sure. I'm annoyed with myself at my lack of posting.

I know I shouldn't put it off until tomorrow, but I've already used up my computer time with those things mentioned above. So here's to tomorrow (or the next day....hahaha) - a new day in blogworld.

Coming Up For Air

I think we may finally be getting past all this sick stuff! We were almost done the other night and then Joshua got the virus. I won't bother to post all the beautiful details I'm sure everyone is dying to hear about. (I don't have the time anyway.)

Pedialyte is wonderful.

A clean house is impossible with constantly sick kids.

Finishing laundry is also impossible.

Valentines are being done today. We already made the box and the girls' cards.

Company is coming in tomorrow evening. (Ahhhh!!!!)

Joshua's belated birthday celebration is on Saturday.

I have a sore back.

Aulora just came into the room naked. This post is done!

In case you were wondering....

I've been cleaning up throw up, horrible runny poo diapers, pee off the bathroom floor (because one child didn't flush a job and the other couldn't bear to go on top and didn't have time to get to a different potty), battling huge carpenter ants (that should be leaving anytime now, according to the "bug man"), doing laundry, ironing for Ebay, holding babies, wiping snotty noses, giving baths, giving medicine (and having that medicine immediately thrown up on me), and watching endless episodes of Dora and Backyardigans.

Motherhood at it's finest, I'm telling you.....

Poor Babies

Both my babies have ear infections - terrible ear infections. I feel so sad and so very, very bad! Their little ears were apparently about to rupture it was so bad, but I had no idea. Well, I had an idea and that's why I was trying to get them into a doctor, but I had no idea it was this bad. =( They are both so sweet and easy going and I never dreamed they felt so bad. How can anyone act so sweet when they feel so bad???

I wasn't able to get them into a doctor (offices closed due to ice, busy office anyway that's almost impossible to get into, coverage ended January 31st), but a wonderful nurse practitioner from our church who is also a dear friend of Sandy's, came to our house last night with her equipment. She immediately called in a prescription and now those babies are on the road to recovery. What a HUGE blessing she was!

Now I have two kid-free hours to get some things done since all are in school except Joshua who is napping. Better get busy!

A Look Inside

Yesterday I did something I've been wanting to do for quite some time. I'm not saying I invented this idea or anything, but I'm proud I did it. I took some pictures because I was so pleased about it!

Behold, the beautiful produce drawer:


I bought lots of different fruits (and some vegetables too, just not as many! baby steps, baby steps) and washed them all up, then bagged them all in little snack size baggies. There's watermelon, strawberries, grapes, blueberries, broccoli, carrots and cucumbers. (There's also apples, bananas, and pears on the counter but I didn't think they would fare too well being cut and bagged.)

The whole idea was for the kids (well, me too) to eat more fresh stuff. It's working for all of us except one and I'll let you guess who the hold out is. If you don't know then you obviously haven't been reading my blog for very long. It feels so great to munch on a bag of blueberries rather than cheetos. And it feels even better to see my kids eating things from that drawer rather than junk. I'll definitely keep doing this!

I'm wondering though, do you think the Dr Pepper and the container of cookie dough right above the produce drawer hinders my effort at all?

Nah, I didn't think so either.


See that thing covered in foil in the picture below? Do you know what that is? I can only tell you because you don't know where my house is now, otherwise I fear people would be breaking into our house to get to it.

That, my friends, is a homemade blueberry waffle. There was a whole stack of them, but John David and I both LOVE them so you do the math. Mimi makes these heavenly treats and wraps them individually and brings us a batch at a time. Normally we freeze them, but I got smart. They cook faster in the toaster when they're not frozen and since there's no way they last long enough to go bad anyway, they now reside in the fridge. Everyone should be so lucky to have a Mimi!

And while we're looking at this picture, take note of the gargantuan bottle of parmesan cheese in the back left corner. I inherited it from Sandy who I believe inherited it from a big spaghetti dinner. At any rate, how in the world will I ever use all of that? My conscious won't allow me to throw it away, but we don't even use it. Not ever. Should I host a big spaghetti dinner myself in the hopes of using it all up? Or I could stand at the doors of Walmart handing out cupfuls to shoppers as they exit. I could try to sell it on Craiglist. How much would I ask for it?

Do you see the package of croissant rolls there on the right? I bought those the other day because I was planning on making chicken salad. I took these pictures last night before I made it so I can't show it to you. It's a thing of beauty, my chicken salad. I've been making it for a number of years now, and I have to say that it's getting better and better. Tonight's might have been the best ever and since I'm in a generous mood I thought I would share. I don't use exact measurements because you just kind of do it to your own liking, but I can give an approximation.

• 2 cans of chicken ground up in a food processer (not to a pulp but just until it's not in huge chunks)
• 2 large apples chopped up very well in food processer
• About 2 cups red grapes (you guessed it) chopped up in a food proceser
• Chopped pecans or almonds (or not, if you don't like nuts - but nuts give it a nice little crunch and add to the flavor)
• salt and pepper
• mayo or miracle whip (a few globs)

Mix all of the ingrediants really well and put it on your croissant roll and you're ready to go! It's also pretty good to add some romaine lettuce and a slice of tomato if you want.


The drawer on the left is where all the juice boxes, yogurts, apple sauces, jellos and puddings go. It's so much easier to just reach in and grab one. Underneath is the long cheese and meat drawer, but there's just not anything interesting there. Just some cheese and meat. Maybe I'll add it later when I have nothing else to post. That would probably really boost my blog's ratings - a picture of meat and cheese. Please don't steal my idea....

I'd love to see what all of you have in your refridgerators too! Be sure to leave a comment telling us you're playing along. Pretty please with chicken salad on top???