7QT Sponsored By Success Kid

1. Last night Husband and I stayed up late. Not intentionally. By all accounts we were tired and planned to go to sleep early. But we got into an intense and slightly heated debate about the difference between fundraising and charity. Thinking back I'm not really sure how we got onto the subject. I remember what was the jumping off point but not how the jumping off point came to be.

Please tell me we aren't the only couple to stay awake late debating topics that have little to do with anything related to their lives.

2. The big news at our house is that we filed our taxes this week. Okay. So that's not big news. But whatever. Go with it okay?

3. I started 2015 with a meal plan. Every week I write up a menu plan for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Then we shop for our menu. It's working for us. We have the groceries for the food we're going to eat. And the "Oh my gosh it's noon what should we have for lunch and do we have the ingredients oh my gosh no quick put some peanut butter on bread and call it good enough" lunches have gone by the wayside.

We still have peanut butter sandwiches though. Don't worry. It's just planned now!

4. C's new favorite song is "Something in My Shoe" by Raffi. He sings it all the time. My favorite part is when he sings "Wook it! Wook it! Woot it!" 

5. It's the big football game this weekend. I even know who's playing in it. I have exactly zero preference for who wins however. And we only might watch. Husband and I have a long history of sort've watching the bowl that is super together while really working on other things. 

We do have a plan to make some sort of football food though. Verdict's still out on what. 

6. I've been trying to find practical experiences to help encourage counting and fine motor skills. So far I've come up with cooking and baking. And so we have been doing that. 

It's really an everyone wins scenario! With Valentine's Day coming up we have Valentine's to make and that will be a craftier area to work on our skills. 

7. I have written a little about C and his extreme love of animals. He has figurines and could play with those all day! (And he does a lot of the days!) Well my mom made him laminated sheets of animal pictures from my brother's old National Geographic magazines and he loved those. He carries them around the house and won't go to sleep without them. 

So my dad got him a subscription to Nat Geo Kids and he's received 2 issues so far. He loves them. First of all, the pictures of the animals are great. But then I read him the blurbs and articles and I love that because I quite frankly stink at reading him non-fiction. Occasionally I'll read an article online but usually it's fiction up in here. 

Linking up with Kelly. 

Have a successful weekend. 

Bubbles and Books

Um... how is January almost over already? No really.

This week has been a whirlwind already. Monday we had a playdate. It was our first outing with no Daddy in 2015 and I think only our second ever. Man to man defense is just so much easier than zone!

If that sounds crazy, what's maybe worse is that Monday was completely centered around the playdate that started at 1:00.  I packed the diaper bag the night before. I laid out outfits. I planned it all out. It went fine by the way. I know you're shocked. I just like staying in my house bubble. I realize that's not super realistic either but for now it works for me. With cold and flu season I fail to see the benefits of massive outings. Overprotective mom award over this way!

Then yesterday I hosted book club. If you've been stopping by for a time it may seem like I host all the time. I really don't, this was my first book pick since last November. But my home has been the location for book club two more times since then because my friends live in small apartments and don't have the room.

We read The Pleasure of My Company by Steve Martin. I was a little nervous because it happens to be one of my favorite books of all time. But the group did seem to enjoy it. Or they were really nice to lie to my face and not ruin it for me.

In case you're wondering, the subject of why it is one of my favorite books came up. My reasoning is that this is a book I can pick up at any time and I know it won't disappoint me. It will always make me laugh and every time I read I am able to glean more from it. It is a witty book written very very much in train of thought style so it is easy to miss some of the little moments. The more I read the more the story makes sense as well.

So that's what this week has been all about so far. :)

And... a gratuitous baby picture from her 3 month shoot this weekend just for good measure.

Friday Quick Takes of Fun and Excitement (not really mostly)

1. Cross country travel

I got a package from my mom today. There wasn't a whole lot of importance in it but I was looking forward to getting it. My mom mailed it last Friday. Normally it takes 2 days for mail between us. We figured with the holiday on Monday that it would be here Tuesday.

Nope. According to the tracking my package went from my Mom's post office, to Saint Paul, to Mobile, Alabama, to Des Moines, to my post office and then to my house. The journey south added a few days to the delivery estimate.

I am just as perplexed as you why Mobile, Alabama.

2. Someone found her feet. 

3. Christmas will finally be complete

We like to stretch things out at our house. C opened his final toy yesterday. It had been unwrapped for some time but we opened the packaging so he could play with it last night. We made it almost a full month, not bad.

Tomorrow, our final present will be delivered. My parents got a us a new dishwasher. As someone who hates doing dishes and gave up paper plates for Lent last year, know that the past few months with no dishwasher has not been super swell. We are going to have all the messy foods this next week because I'm not going to be doing the dishes!

4. In Other News

I am officially a grown up! My Saintly parents, much to their chagrin and me draggin' my feet, had kindly kept me on their phone plan since August 2010 when we got married. But as of yesterday I moved off of the family plan and now have one of my own.

AND Husband finally after 5 years got rid of his flip phone and moved into smart phone territory. He has the phone I want. So I just use his sometimes and try not to covet.

5. Same as her bestie

Okay so they haven't met, yet, but I think M and Katharine  (take 5) look like they'd get along just dandy.

6. Sleep Strike

Someone (namely the 2.5 year old) has been on a sleep strike. Staying up late. Refusing to nap but falling asleep anyway then refusing to wake up! So today I planned an activity and movie during "quiet time" and we'll see how night sleeping goes. I will GREATLY miss the nap if it's gone but in the choice between a nap or a good night sleep I'm taking the night sleep all the way! 

7. I Read A Book! 

Not that reading is particularly newsworthy but I read a really good book this week! And I think you'll like it too! Look out for a review coming next week!

Linking up with Kelly because apparently that's what the cool kids do. 

Time Flies

New

One

Two

Three(ish)

Her official 3 month old shoot isn't until this weekend so this one will have to do for now. :) 

It's going so fast. I just love this little girl. 

Lucky

This morning I ate a really crappy bowl of cereal.

While I am not clear on the specifics of why exactly, Husband poured the end of a box of knock-off Life cereal into the cereal saver with the new box. (A contraption that I didn't know I needed until I got one and no longer had stale or humidity-made soggy cereal.) The result of which is that pouring a bowl of cereal now consists of tiny little horrid particles that turn mushy very quickly and sneak into every bite.

It was not an enjoyable cereal experience. But life isn't fair. That has been made crystal clear in the goings on of the blog world this week.

Unimaginable losses. Mingled in with immense joy. Because life isn't fair. And there is nothing I can do about it.

It's inexplicable.

I am dealing with a really crabby little boy because he stayed up last night until 10:43! And woke up at his normal time. He is incredibly clingy and tear filled. So far today he has been upset by:

1. The fact he wanted his diaper changed.
2. That I dared to change his diaper.       
3. He finished his banana at breakfast.
4. He knocked over a lap.
5. I told him crayons were not food. 
6. I asked him if he wanted to watch Purple Minions or Vector. (Despicable Me 1 or 2) 
7. Grandpa wasn't taking him fishing today. 

And I love it. It means he wants extra snuggles and kisses and reassurance that everything is okay. I can't do much to cure the world's pain but I can dole out kisses and hugs and say "you're okay." 

Soggy cereal makes me grumpy. But today, given the circumstances of late I have decided to make like Elsa and let it go. 

So if you need me, today I'm just going to snuggle my babies and not feel bad about it. We probably will stay in pajamas all day. And we're thankful for it, not everyone is so lucky to have snuggles or an extra 3  hours with their little boy last night. Heck, some people would LOVE my soggy cereal.

I can't change the injustice of it all. But I can be thankful for what I have and that is the greatest power of them all.

I Had A Dream

Yeah. I went there. Happy MLK Jr Day!Whether it's a day off or just a regular Monday with no mail or garbage collection I hope it's a good one for you. 

But seriously, I had a dream. Well really it was more like a bucket list thing. I am not one with a giant bucket list but I do have a few things on it. Kind of the things most people have on their bucket list or even in the back of the mind as a "like to do." Travel and experiences mostly. 

But one that has been on there for seriously ever is Cher in concert. 

Yeah. I know. I can't really explain it. But there it is. Top of my bucket list. When she was just in residence in Vegas we debated going one weekend but ultimately decided not to. 

Now to better understand this next part of the story, you need to know that we live in legitimate flyover zone. We do have an arena but no one ever really comes here. If you want to see A-list bands and concert tours you need to drive to Des Moines, Chicago or Minneapolis. 

Except Cher announced her D2K (Dressed to Kill) concert tour with special guest Cyndi Lauper and THEY WERE COMING HERE! 

Only the date was October 22. And I ultimately decided not to buy tickets because M's due date was October 12 and I thought there was no way I'd be able to go. Which turned out to be a good decision because my 10 days late baby showed up on October 22. 

Only Cher got sick and delayed her tour. She rescheduled to January! Well, I could do that. So I asked for tickets for Christmas. And my wonderful supportive mother, who I am certain thinks that wanting to see Cher is weird got me tickets for Christmas. For tonight. 

Only Cher's doctor decided that she needed more time to heal and she canceled the remainder of the tour. 

So tonight I will not be celebrating MLK day with Cher, probably a lot of gay men and Cyndi Lauper. I'll just be hanging out at home hanging onto my tickets. Which I am totally keeping because if something were to happen to Cher before I get a chance to see her, I can feel better knowing I was going to. Not really crossing it off the bucket list but it wouldn't be a glaring incomplete either. 

If I could turn back time... I don't know how that would help exactly but that's okay. 

I will get my chance to see the feathers and the glamour and the whole thing. Just not tonight I won't. 

Quick Takes. (There may be 7...)

Let's just dive right in shall we? 

1. Today is ACTUALLY Friday

All day Tuesday I thought it was Wednesday. 

It wasn't. 

This misconception continued for the remainder of the week. 

But I have checked my calendar and I am quite certain it is actually Friday!

2. Weekend Plans

Last weekend we traveled to the Husband's side Christmas celebration. It was surprisingly good. Except for it took up the entire weekend. I will tell you that life with 2 has gone really well. But I will also tell you that I NEED my weekends now. I need the recharge and my husband to be around to talk to etc. So I am very much looking forward to a typical weekend over here! Our big plans include grocery shopping and cleaning. We'd better watch out, the cops might shut us down for having too much fun! 

The drive I will not be doing this weekend. 

3. Babies in bows

I of course am not going to wax poetic about how my baby is going to be 3 months old next week and how that brings me to tears because she's so big already. I will however say that I love putting bows on her. She has more hair now than I had at one year so I am sure I'll get to do real hair soon enough but for now I am loving the headbands. Gah, I just love this little girl. 

4. The excitement of the week

We lost power yesterday for about an hour and a half. It wasn't too bad. It was daylight. The computer was fully charged and has a built in air card (thanks to Husband's company) so I reported it immediately and was still able to be online. Everyone put on a sweatshirt and the house only got down to 64 so not too shabby. That was about the most interesting thing that happened this week.

5. The other highlight of the week

We own M free and clear! Now I am kidding a little because I know they don't come and repossess a baby but it sure felt nice to pay off the hospital bills this week. I am SO glad she was all within 2014 and that the deductible didn't start over. (Because it went up $250 in 2015!) M cost a whole heck of a lot more money than C did. Like 11 times more than what we paid out of pocket for C. Yikes! Needless to say it was a huge relief to hit submit and know that it's all done! 

You'd think with the cost per paycheck it would have actually covered some more of it. 

6. The Book That Never Came

Ever since my sophomore year of college it has been my favorite task to try and buy textbooks at a cheaper amount that the bookstore. I got pretty good at it. I have continued this tradition and find my brother his books now. I ordered his books on December 20. By New Year he had all but one. That one which supposedly shipped on December 22 never arrived. I have never had that happen before. When I checked in with them about the location of the book last week before he went back to college they told me it was in Minneapolis on December 26 and would be to my parent's house shortly. My parent's live 21 miles from Minneapolis. So... I call BS. 

I ordered a new copy last Wednesday with Prime shipping and it was at the house 2 days later in time for him to go back to school and start his new semester this week. Today I am going to file a complaint and get my refund. The thing is I am so careful with Amazon Marketplace companies. I won't buy if they have a lower than 95% positive rating. But at least my brother had his book for his first day of classes! 

7. Go Link Up With Kelly 

I ran out of things. That counts though I am pretty certain! 

Morning Muffins

I could tell you about the amazing amount of housework I accomplished yesterday but I am not going to bore you with that. Let's just sum up yesterday by: a really good day in which C would not take a rest and got to the "I'm not going to listen and just run around because perpetual motion is the only way I am staying awake stage" around 7:15. I took him up and got him in pajamas and he promptly went to sleep. 

Also, we found this ridiculous Netflix movie (is it still a movie if it's an hour long, probably.) called Kitten Party. If you do not have a toddler who loves kittens or animals you'll probably not care about this one bit, but C LOVED it. One of the breeds of kittens who come to the party are the Ragamuffins. I like to say that word so I did. And someone thought that meant he was going to get a muffin. 

Well I was ill prepared to make muffins. I had literally just baked a cake and recently finished lunch so I told him he could have muffins today. He sure held me to my promise. 

Waiting for muffins to bake!

They're done!

Mid-process enjoying.

I am just glad we had Bisquick! That recipe is good when you have no muffin mix and don't have time to make America's Test Kitchen's blueberry muffins. Don't get me wrong, those are great but incredibly time consuming. These Bisquick  ones are way more like a muffin mix in flavor and take only a few more minutes than a mix. Perfect for those muffin promises you're always making.

As Long As You Did Your Best Right?

My goodness. It's only Thursday.

Wait. That's wrong. It's Thursday!! Tomorrow is Friday!

Yeah I'm not buying it either.

But for a moment let's rejoice in the good things okay? First, it's just cold today instead of extremely cold. That's moving in the right direction. Secondly, I was, after 3 days of thwarted attempts, able to clean my living room and playroom.

Those are the toys he was currently playing with. That's it! Amazing. 

Clean enough to vacuum. I was pretty impressed with myself. And to add a little whipped cream to my awesome-sauce sundae I even started doing the dishes.

I just love unrelated pictures of smiles

I know. That is like some C+ domestic-ing right there. But it worked for me this week. Husband had a business dinner both Tuesday and Wednesday night and depending on how a meeting goes today he may have another one tonight.

Now don't get me wrong, in actuality the days have gone very well. The kids were very good and even nap time/bed time haven't been too bad. But long days and short nights have made for one tired mama. 

Blurry because he is dancing/singing "Happy if you're a room without a roof."
 I can always appreciate a toddler's take on lyrics.

Anyhoo that's about the entirety of scoop around here. We had a lunchtime feast of crackers, cheese, apple and yogurt. It has recently started to snow some more. But I'm inside so I don't really mind.* I'm feeling so good that I may even do a load of laundry and just maybe I'll take out the garbage. Wow. Did that give you chills? Yeah. Me too. 

Have a wonderful Thursday.

*Of course later when it is time to shovel I'll be humming a different tune possibly.

Sleigh Bells Ring! Are You Listening?

In the lane snow is glistening. A beautiful sight, we're happy tonight, walking in a winter wonderland. Aren't we lucky?! No really, I am about as not a fan of snow as anyone, really. But we made it to January without significant snowfall!! According to the weather service we got 6.7 inches. I'll buy that. When I shoveled last night we were at about 4.5 and there was a good 2 inches this morning yet.  

Our school district is quite large and has some rural areas so it's a snow day here! With all the wind chill warnings we have going on I'm going to go ahead and call it for no school tomorrow too due to the cold. 

Mini Miss over here is fully content to stay in footy pajamas all day and snuggle. It is really not all that different than most days but typically she wears an outfit during the day. While I did change her into this outfit this morning I picked one with feet because keeping socks on babies is a losing battle and it's too cold to not have something covering feet. 

Apparently our children communicated to each other that they should be snuggled because it was cold outside because for a chunk of last night all four of us were in our bed. And we are not a co-sleeping family. Needless to say, neither Husband or I feel particularly rested today. 

Other news around these parts is our winter clean out extravaganza. We've been sorting through boxes and figuring out keep/throw/donate piles to try and declutter. We've also been rearranging furniture and making plans. It's not the most fun work but it sure is exhilarating when it's done! Just feeling the weight of stuff lifting off your shoulders would be a drug if you could capture it. (Poor hoarders who don't know that feeling.) 

If you need us, we'll be here cleaning and keeping warm! 

Off to a Pretty Good Start Already

2015 has begun. After 9 nights and 10 days away from home we triumphantly returned to our humble abode yesterday. Husband is back to work today but it's Friday so that is a good ease into into real life I think.

We had a lovely Christmas where we were blessed by the generosity of family. Husband and I spent some time after bedtime sorting older toys to the basement to make room for the new toys. We of course are still in that stage of coming home where random things live on counters and things don't feel settled yet but we'll get there.

The New Year rang in with the cops knocking on the door because we were too loud, But not really because we played Scrabble and Cards Against Humanity and had some snacks. It was certainly fun but about as low key as it gets. We did all cheers with sparkling cider so you know, it was a real party.

I haven't yet figured out any specific resolutions but I have decided the word of the year is going to be "Self." It sounds very Oprah but I am hoping to make a better self this year. By stretching my boundaries in some ways, limiting myself in others. I have some ideas but I am kind of taking the year one step at a time in a non-AA kind of way.

I will post more soon but I have a baby to snuggle, a toddler to engage and I am anxiously awaiting the delivery of a week's worth of mail!