Spontaneity

My man decided to buy some weights on "craigs list". His plan was to drive up (they happened to be about 2 hours north of us) after his Saturday class and pick them up. Since he would only be an hour from there at that point. Long story short... he couldn't pick them up until later that night because of the original owners schedule. So he booked us a room (which happened to be a condo.. and he did good!) and we decided to make it an adventure. Our neighbor happens to go to class with him, so he drove our car home and the kids and I met him at school and we headed north.

The condo was great and a huge hit with the kids! They ran around it exploring as soon as we walked in. http://summitresortnh.com/accommodations.shtml I recommend it if you visit Laconia & the lakes region.

 plenty of room for our crew

Unfortunately "Muggins" & "Missa" aka... K & B. Both ended up with fevers on our way up. They both still wanted to swim and we figured the pool would do them good, they perked right up and were ready to go. They fully enjoyed every bit of the pool! Of course E & I had plenty of fun as well!

I had to add this one of Daddy and "Beamer" (as he calls her) it is just too sweet...

Some of my pictures ended up a little fuzzy because my lens was steaming up in the pool room ;)

After the pool the plan was to take a ride to pick up his weights, stop in and say hello to some friends of ours who live in the area & go have some pizza. This portion of the night ended up being cut a little bit shorter due to fevers coming back and two little ones not feeling so great :(
We did manage to get the weights and our friends happened to live practically right at the other end of that street. (very convenient) ;) So we were able to say hi to them. However the pizza portion turned into ordering take out and a quick trip into the drug store to grab some more children's meds. We took the pizza back and the two little's were more interested in laying down... before we knew it they were both out on the pull out sofa. Poor babies... but they looked so sweet.

Thankfully both fevers came down with the meds and they both slept really well that night. Once they were out the big girls enjoyed the jacuzzi tub in the master bedroom almost as much as they enjoyed the pool & water slides! Then they got to hang out in the "big bed" and watch some "late night TV" on the Disney channel for a bit ;)

before getting tucked into their very own beds, in their very own room (they thought that was pretty cool!)

It was a great, spontaneous way to spend our weekend. Despite the fevers everyone did have a good time. It's been a bit of a roller coaster of fevers since then... with one at the pediatrician this morning and one being picked up early from school (well, technically both girls got dismissed early, since there was only about half hr left anyway... wasn't making another trip, or sitting in the parking lot with a car full of kids who didn't feel good)

Everyone's sleeping (at the moment) and I'm praying for a more peaceful night then last.... They were all a bit happier at bedtime tonight... I will take that as a good thing! We almost made it through the winter without any sickness... until the stomach bug hit and now this... BUT it is fun weekends like this one that keep us all going! Love our family!!!

right, left...up,down!?!?!

I'm not really sure what direction I'm going in today? All of them maybe? Crazy morning.....
Tonight I am going to a Celtic Women Concert http://www.celticwoman.com/the-music/. My In-laws bought me a ticket for my birthday. My mother in-law, 2 sister in-laws, my girlfriend, her mother & I are going. It is going to be a fun night. We are going for appetizers and drinks before the show & possibly a late dinner after. Really looking forward to it.

In the mean time, this house is a ZOO! Of course the big girls have the day off from school, so I am trying to get everything done and get ready to go with all 4 kids running circles around me. (we are leaving at 4:30.... my husband get's home around 4:15) Still have a million things to do and still haven't tried on the new outfit I got (which I probably won't wear... so I'll need to put something else together) .... isn't that how women work??!?! Ha-Ha. So WHY not sit down and blog about it!? Well.... I do need to eat you know... so I'm multi tasking, blogging and eating lunch.... and trying to keep children from climbing up my kitchen stool every two seconds.
Oh well... it might be a birthday present, but I promise I will not go in my birthday suit. I WILL find something to wear!

I FINALLY got a second to get in the shower at 12:45, B napping and the big kids sitting quietly is how I did that. Of course I get in and the quiet ends. The elephants immediately began their stampede through the lower level of the house. I yell in a whisper as quietly/loudly as I can for them to stop. They come in and tell me "MOM.... K said a very, very bad word!!" ... "What did he say?"..... "STUPID" .... "OH for crying out loud go down stairs!!!!"

They did, shutting the bathroom door behind them. About 5 minutes later I notice the bathroom door wide open and my towel in the hall way. Seriously!?! Do we have trolls that like to be naughty with the kids when I'm not looking? SO... I quietly beckon for one of my big girls to come up stairs, put my towel back in the bathroom, shut the door and quietly walk back downstairs. "BOOM,BOOM,BOOM,BOOM!"

Apparently that translates into "run as loudly as you can and wake the baby in the process!!" Thankfully baby slept thru it. She was very tired from her busy morning... started off for her with a timeout. The other day i watched my friend little guy, so I had our pack n' play set up in my bedroom for him to nap. I decided to use it for her timeout since it was still up. (I used to do that with the big girls when they were her age) Well, I didn't consider the fact that she was no longer in a crib because she climbed out... but then again, I also thought it might be harder for her to climb out of the pack n' play. Guess not.... I went back in to find her sitting in the rocking chair, jammies half off, applying daddies deodorant to her belly. Good grief! 

Decided since my big kids ate their lunch I would give them some nutty buddy ice cream bars (you know the nestle cones with hard chocolate shells and little nuts all over them...yum) I took the liberty of taking the first bite of each... to help them get through the hard shell of course. I am only trying to make life easier for them!

SO here I am blogging...... lunch is gone.... I need to figure out the outfit situation for tonight and get that laundry done! 

Is it 4:30 yet!?!?!  :)

Addicted!

Hi, my name is *** and I'm addicted to Pinterest. There I said it. I just can't help it.... i go on there for what feels like 15 minutes, but in reality turns out to be 2 hours! Lately I have found it to be a great place to find new recipes. I just love that I can save them all on a food board and know exactly where they are... just click on it and go right to the step by step directions. Perfect!

So I don't usually blog about recipes and food, but what the heck, there is a first time for everything right?! I have been having so much fun trying new recipes and making meal plans. I found a few good make ahead crock pot recipes. So a few days ago I decided to make a few of them and freeze them. It kind of snowballed and I ended up having dinner ready for that night, the next night, and then of course all the ones I stuck in the freezer. As I was getting them all together in the kitchen I couldn't help but start "thinking in blog"... you know, thinking in sentences as if I was sitting here blogging about it. That's when I decided, well, I should take a few pictures so I can actually put it all together.

Chopping up all my veggies and meat and getting it sorted into freezer bags and filling the crock pot for the next day. Made some lasagna roll ups for next week too since I was "on a roll" hahaha. yeah ok lame, but it's getting late, I'm allowed.

So after getting all my meals set up, ready and into the freezer. I decided to try out a new chocolate chip cookie recipe. I am always looking for recipes that will have an end result of, puffy (as opposed to the flat turn out I usually get) I just want a nice thick and chewy chocolate chip cookie. I do have a recipe that has worked fairly well for me that involves some vanilla pudding mix. It is a good one, but I am always interested in new ones. This particular one called for corn starch. These cookies are PERFECT! 
SO soft and chewy, and definitely not flat.

 YUM!!!

They are just so prefect, cooling on the counter, looking so delicious and moist....And then your 2 year old does this....

Oooops :/

So yes I am addicted... but it is all for the good of my family and their dinner time well being. There are so many more recipes I want to try. It makes meal plans a little more fun, and makes my shopping list a lot easier when I know what I am making. Instead of spending way too much money on food that I have no idea how I will use. Saving time and saving money. It's a win-win situation really. I spend less time making the food because I prepare a lot ahead, and I have more time to look up other fun stuff on pinterest ;)