Summer busyness....

OH wait, it's not ever summer yet is it?   It sure feels like it this week and I love it! We were 85degrees yesterday!  Emma and the childcare kiddos played in the sprinkler!  It was the first time of the season and they loved it!  We have been super busy with soccer and track... practically every single day of the week taken up by those events.  School is coming up to a close here soon, Emma is done with preschool on Friday and the big kids the week after.  Its hard to believe next year I will have a kindergartner, 7th grader, and 9th grader!!!  Emma will be going to all day kindergarten!  So it will be the first time since I have had children that I will be babysitting while not having a kid of my own here. It's gonna be so weird!!  Speaking of kids, the are yelling for me so I've got to go.  

I'm going to start blogging on my weight loss blog again.. I'm getting serious in that department again.  

http://jill-ahealthierme.blogspot.com/

Home

So we've been home for a few days and obviously I still haven't updated my blog.  I've been trying to catch up on the laundry and the household stuff.  Being away from my house just throws me off.  I feel like I get behind.  Alas I will need to be getting used to it though because with Bens mom moving only 3 hours away instead of across the country we will be taking long weekends out there much more often.  I am happy about it all though.  I can't imagine not seeing my mom for so long and I hope the two(hubby and mom in law) can build there relationship. 
Being away from home not only makes me feel behind on my household duties but apparently in the fitness area also.  While the hotel we stayed in had a workout room and I did use the treadmill 2 of the 3 days we were there(yay) I still ate like crap!  Seriously when we returned home my scale was up 10 pounds!  :(   I thought the next day it would look better....Nope.  2 days later and I'm only down a few ounces.  I have got to get back on the right eating track and keep losing!   I feel awful and like a fat slob and I hate it.   I need to learn to make healthy choices outside the home as well as in.  I can do pretty well when I'm at home but get me out to a restaurant and its a free for all.  Good thing we dont go out to often! 

Hopefully I'll be back with some pictures soon!

Ohio

Its 7 am and Im laying in a hotel bed waiting for the oldest 2 kids to wake so we can get our day started. I can never sleep well in hotels. This was a unexpected weekend trip and Ill tell you all about it once we return home. Were headed that way today. Until then heres a couple pics

Spills and sleepless nights

 Oh today is just not my day.  Last night Emma woke me up at 3am,,I do not know why she does this.  She's been doing it quite often.  She wakes up and runs through the house(sounding quite like a crazed elephant), stomp stomp stomp super fast in a dead run, so I know shes coming before she gets there. She has to come all the way across the house to get to our room.  Does she try to crawl into our bed?  NO.  She knows she not really allowed to do that.  She wakes me up(although shes already awoken me with her stomping run through the house) and says "Mommy, take me back to bed".   Now really, what is the point of that besides to just wake me up?   I know shes only 5, I know she has probably woken up and having trouble getting back to sleep, but all that just to make sleeping me get up and follow her back to her room and tuck her back in and turn on her music box.  This is almost a nightly occurrence.  I guess it wouldnt be such a big deal accept for once I get up and go back to bed I have such a hard time falling back to sleep.  I lay there dog tired but toss and turn and think of things,,things I need to do, things that are emotionally bothering me, last night it took me 2 hours, so from 3-5am I was laying in bed feeling bad cuz I wasnt very nice to her this time when I took her back to bed, thinking about the food I was going to make today to put in the freezer for  quick meals for the kiddos in busy times, thinking about missing my dad, wondering why he doesnt call or come around, thinking I need to be a better mother......seriously people my mind races.   And this normally doesnt happen unless Im woken up by the lovely Emma.  ugh...   Enough of that,, just so you know, I love her to pieces and I'm just venting because I'm tired and dont know what to do to make it better.

So fast forward to 6:30am,, Jess wakes me saying I need to write her a check for a yearbook,,I get up do that, send her off to school, hop in shower to get ready cuz fairly new babysitting girl is coming at 7:15 this morning.  Before I'm even out of the shower Emma is up,  once new girl arrives shes crying and sad,, She doesnt like her mom going to work and is having a hard time with it bless her heart, but it sure makes for a long day.  I hope this wont last long!
I didnt mean for this to be a day in the life post so lets skip forward to around 10am, I start my getting ingredients out for my marathon baking and spill almost a whole container of cocoa powder all over the kitchen floor,,, what a stinking mess!!!  That was not easy to clean up, especially when I have to tell a 1 year old to stay away and out 500 times while Im trying to clean it up and every time I tell him to get out he throws a fit.  (deep breath)  First I get the pancake sausage muffins done, then corn dog muffins, and applesauce bread!  I sure thought it seemed like more than it looks like here

LOL   the hot dogs in the muffins arnt really a surprise are they?

I gave the kids some corn dog muffins for lunch along with some peaches and chex mix,, they really liked them.  Im hoping to put the rest accept for maybe a few cuz I know Gary is super excited to try out those muffins when he gets home from school today, in the freezer.  Soccer season is starting and things are about to get crazy here!
After I got the kids started I got my lunch ready, leftover crock pot fried rice and grilled chicken from last nights dinner.  Ben made sure to save me some so I could have some for lunch.  I was so excited,,, put it in the microwave(which we keep in the laundry room due to lack of space in the kitchen), got it out.  It smelled so good! I was carrying it out to the table and low and behold that bowl slipped right out of my hand and spilled all over the floor!  :(
I was so sad I could have cried.  I didnt even bother cleaning it up, the dog was already there enjoying what I was supposed to be eating... So instead I tried out the corn dog muffins I made and they were really good so I ended up eating 2.  Plus some hummus chips with hummus and raw carrots and grape tomatoes.  Over 500 calorie lunch that was only supposed to be around 300.  
Lets hope the rest of the day looks up,  ,I think we are going to Apple Bees for dinner tonight for a treat so at least I dont have to cook anymore!

And I hope you all dont think I'm a terrible mother now for complaining about Emmas sleeping habits.

Homemade poptarts

So the kiddos had school canceled Monday due to snow(Spring is here but the snow and cold weather are also still here :(  Anyways we have been talking about taking a try at making homemade pop tarts and I decided today was the day.  I am loving Laura's recipes and cant wait to receive her book I ordered in the mail! I mixed up the dough and let the kiddos help with the rest.  We decided to fill them with strawberry spreadable fruit and nutella! (notice the flowers in the background? Bennie was sweet and got them for me the other day, just because) 

Here's a few on the pan waiting to go in the oven.

Emma pressing the edges with a fork to seal them.

Enjoying the fruits of her labor!  Still not a low calorie snack but the ingredient list is all healthy and homemade so I feel better about serving these as a snack instead of the boxed poptarts.

And just because,, here's a pic of my girls..  I love when Jess helps out and acts loving with her sister :)

Soup and the Ballet

Remember that chicken in the crock pot from my last post?  Well from that one chicken I made a crock pot full of chicken broth that I froze some of, and then I turned the rest of the broth and leftover chicken that we didn't eat the night before into yummy homemade chicken noodle soup!  I kept it simple, chicken, broth, noodles, carrots, onions, and seasonings simmered on the stove for a couple of hours.  It was yummy.

 Saturday we were treated to the ballet.  My mom bought tickets for all of us(thanks Mom).  It was Cinderella, the girls really enjoyed it as did I.  The only problem was I had nothing to wear.  My old dressy clothes are way to big and sloppy looking but we managed to throw some pieces together and I didn't look to bad. :)  The shirt and skirt were some of my sisters old things,, mom had the skirt, it was what she had worn to her high school graduation.  New to me though :)

 They didn't let us take any pictures during the performance but I took a couple beforehand.  Jess and Emmas smiling faces

 And me and Amira :)

Afterwards we went out to dinner.  Yummy Mexican food!  I splurged on my calories and just ate what sounded good.  Yum

Just another Monday

Oh Monday how I loathe you. Today was a busy one too. I played catch up with the laundry( actually still have quite a bit of folding to do). Bens mom was here over the weekend! They came all the way from California and are moving to Ohio so instead of being across the country they will only be 3 hours away. So it will be a easy long weekend trip to get to see them. We are thrilled. Anyways I disnt really do any laundry owr the weekend.
I put a whole chicken in the crockpot this morning for dinner. A couple hours before it was time to eat I threw in some carrots. That was a super yummy and easy dinner. We also had baked potatos to go along with it.
I Made some pumpkin chocolate muffins for the kiddos. I only kept out a few and put the rest in the freezer to rtake out as needed for lunches. I also made some smoothie pops. Ill talk more about that later. We are really excited about them!
Then this evening we had a freshman soccer meeting for Jess. Even though shes not a freshman yet apparently they start conditioning tomorrow for next school year. Crazy!!! Im excited for her though and I know she is going to learn a ton and I hope she makes some great new friends and enjoys being part of this team.