snow days

We had a large snow storm hit Ohio last week that you may have heard about.

Since most people around here still flip out at the prospect of a few inches of snow the University closed early on Tuesday and I took Wednesday off of work we had time to play in the snow!

Jeff, Carah and Brady posing for a Kessler family shot.

Carah is holding a snowball maker.

It is the lazy persons way to make a perfect snowball.

We have two.

Me and my trusty snowball maker.

Playing on the swing set in their snow suits was the highlight of the afternoon.

We took a break from the snow and Brady decided to catch snowflakes on his tongue. After I pointed out that he was inside and that snowflakes fell outside the house he swiftly put me in my place by telling me that he was doing it anyways.

My favorite shot of Brady...he is attempting to sneak up on me and fire that snowball at me.

I totally spotted him.

Earn $$ for your school and a Kroger gift card for you

The simple act of cutting out part of a label can earn money for your school!

Box Tops for Education has raised over $300 million and they arent stopping there.

Many of the items you have in your house has boxtops available to cut out and turn into your child's school.

As I stated here the Kroger family of stores is giving you the chance to earn even more bonus Box Tops. By just scanning your Kroger card after you register at www.rewardyourschool.com you can earn Bonus Box Tops on the items you are already buying for your family.

And thanks to General Mills and My Blog Spark I have one $25 gift card to the Kroger family of stores to give away!

Want to win?

1. (mandatory) Leave a comment telling me your favorite Box Tops for Education product

2. Bonus Entry - Become a fan of There Are Two Sides To Every Schwartz on Facebook then come back here and leave a comment letting me know you are a fan

3. Bonus entry - Subscribe to There are two sides to every Schwartz, then let me know.

All entries must be received by 11:59 pm EST on Friday, February 19 to be eligible. The winner will have 72 hours to respond to email notification or check and respond to the post with the winners name published or another winner will be chosen.

**all information including the gift card giveaway, box tops and general mills were provided by General Mills and My Blog Spark, I also received a gift card for the Kroger family of stores**

no more struggles at dinnertime

The kids arent really old enough to care what their dinner is going to be ahead of time.

Which is good for me because then I get to make whatever I want!

They eat the typical kid fare...hot dogs, chicken nuggets, grilled cheese and anything Jeff and I are having that I think they'll dig. (people still say dig, right?)

They eat pork chops, meatloaf, spaghetti (a house favorite) and they have a love of tacos as well.

Most nights our struggle with the kids during dinner seem endless.

Carah likes to take an hour or more to eat.

Seriously an hour.

Why?

She is 6 and she is good at it.

She talks.

Constantly.

She is 6.

I shutter to think of her phone usage when she gets older.

And Brady is excellent at being 2 1/2.
In fact I believe he is testing the very definition of 2 1/2 currently.

Some days he eats in 15 minutes...some days over an hour.

Depending on his mood of course.

He has a recent tendency to store food in his cheeks during dinner.

After 6 or so bites he resembles this:

And while it is adorable we constantly have to push the food back onto the other side of his teeth so he can chew and swallow!

Then they drop their food, knock the milk over, elbow in the ketchup, sneeze in their sandwich...its never ending.

Where does the easy, no struggle part come in?

Here.

The one time that Jeff and I have found where the kids eat willingly, without prodding and hour long meals and act like angels is when we have our special family picnic nights.

In November we started having family picnics every other week.

Yes, we still live in Ohio.

Where it is 19 degrees out currently.

And snowing.

So we lay down a blanket in the family room, we all get in our pajamas and we eat our dinner as a picnic.

Only inside.

We generally put on a kids television show as a special treat (the kids dont watch much tv at our house) and we all have a great time laughing at that crazy Lily on Hannah Montana or dancing to the Mickey House Clubhouse song 'Hot Diggity Dog'.

It may not be the structured meal that we typically enforce but it also lets the kids know that Dad and Amanda can let the rules slip every now and then for some family picnic time.

Plus we try and use paper plates which makes it easier on me come dishes time!

This is what works for me...see what works for everyone else here!

resolution recap 2009, what did I accomplish?

Tomorrow is the first day of the rest of my life.

I am sure that this is the common thought around New Years Eve and sadly I am no different than the rest.

I want to try and better myself in the new year.

Which made me think of what I promised myself in January 2009...

1. Save more money. I need to be dilligent about this. It is always ruined by car trouble, bills or a great pair of pants I saw that I needed to get. (I really didn't do this at all...if anything I am spending more now since after I wrote this post last January 2 I crashed my car and had to buy a new one!)

2. Take a couple of Florida trips. This seems to be the year of Florida for us. I won a free trip to Naples Bay Resort and it has come to our attention that we are desperate to get out of Ohio, if even for a long weekend. We also may visit my moms new Florida house for the Christmas holiday this year. Which would be a fantastic change of pace for us, plus we would get to see the Florida side of the family, always a bonus. (This is one thing that did work out for us. We took two trips to Florida and at a minimal expense to us!)

3. Try out new recipes each month. My rotation of dinners got a tad stale near the end of the year as to be expected, since I didnt put much thought into it. I have too many recipes saved up to try to even begin to count so I am going to breeze through them this year, adding to my culinary expertise. (So I didnt stick with trying something new every single month...I really think I only missed 1 month now that I think of it. I am calling this one a victory.)

4. In keeping with the traditional 'I want to watch my weight and eat better' resolution I am goign to list a few ways in which I am going to do this. One of them is #3, another is limiting quick meals (frozen pizza, and other frozen meals to heat and eat) to only once per week - and less if we can do it, we both have hectic schedules so this will be a good one to work for. Another is to limit fast food to once per month. This one will be a bit harder and it will force me to plan ahead with my meals. (This was a total success for us! In 2008 we would have at least 1 frozen pizza a week, sometimes 2! We cut this down to *maybe* 1 per month and we didn't rely on fast food or other unhealthy options! Of course there is always room for improvement.)

beating holiday weight gain is SO much easier when you have the flu to help you along the way

To celebrate getting over the flu last week and puking out most of my non-essential organs for 11 hours I had McDonald's twice in three days.

Besides getting over the kind of hangover where you want to punch baby river otters in the face because it may help you feel better, McDonald's is great when you need to load up on calories.

And for dinner when you don't feel like cooking.

And for late night french fry runs.

And for Shamrock Shakes.

We felt that after surviving my family in Florida for 5 days in extreme proximity to each other we deserved a treat. The kind of treat that causes heart attacks.

Spending Christmas in Florida with the family I never see during the winter was great. We had great food, quality time and I gave everyone a weak version of my flu!

Nothing like spreading the holiday cheer to remind us all why the Ohio relatives (me) should stay there.

While the snow was blowing and gusting in Ohio we were on the boat, frolicking on a sandbar in the Gulf, wearing shorts at Busch Gardens and seeing Avatar.

Totally worth it.

I mean Avatar was totally worth it.

Seriously, its a bad ass movie.

Go see it.

There is nothing like a blue alien species with hair that can communicate with their planet to make you realize how much you love your family.

So now I spend the week at work...bored and mostly without essential work to complete all so I can save up my vacation time in order to go to my only favorite girl cousins wedding in August in Telluride.

I think she promised we would see celebrities and be chauffeured by limos the whole week.

With lots of mimosas.

WFMW: holiday elves and Santa paper

As I have stated before, the holiday season is my absolute favorite time of year.

I have an obscene love of Christmas/holiday music.

I love buying gifts for other people.

I even wait until after the holidays when all of the holiday colored and patterned ziploc/hefty plastic baggies go on clearance and then I buy them all. Seriously, all of them. I STILL have like 5 boxes from last year. I like to use them year round...makes life more fun, right?

And I have a natural and healthy love of shopping that keeps me hopping.

I wouldnt even mind living in a Christmas town...you know where everyday was Christmas. And it was acceptable to sing Christmas Carols all the time, where you can always taunt kids with the gift of coal if they act up and pout over nothing, and no one judges you for watching holiday movies everyday, and eating fudge everyday and cookies everyday and pies everyday... And there would be little elves around to do the dirty work like the dishes, clean the oven (you know, from all of the pies and cookies), and pester people to let me know if they want anything...b/c I hate guessing what people want and I hate forgetting people too. Little elves would be perfect at this. Plus, I would have them shave my legs for me - you know, just one less thing.

So naturally I have a slight tendency to sometimes go overboard during November and December. I have a few tried and tested tips that have helped me make sense of the chaos that can be the holidays...

• buy your gifts early in the year during sales and clearances so you don't have to struggle at the last minute to find something - which always leaves me stressed out b/c there is no such thing as 'quick' when it comes to shopping with the masses during this season
• get everyone in your office/group/club the same thing. You'll save money doing this, it makes it so much easier on you and no one will feel slighted in any way.
• don't overextend yourself. Its perfectly okay to say no to parties and other invitations. Part of the joy of the holidays season is being at HOME...doing nothing...well maybe watching It's a Wonderful Life on DVD while decorating the Christmas tree...drinking too much wine and eating far too much of the pumpkin pie you made 'just to see how it would turn out'.
• the one thing that has made wrapping gifts for the kids SO much easier is having 1 roll of wrapping paper from Santa - it is always covered with faces of Santa...this paper is available everywhere so I am not going to suddenly have an issue with this. Santa's wrapping paper has Santa on it - so we know its from him. And then I buy whatever the hell I want for our wrapping paper. But the kids always know which gift is from Santa. Stupid but means something to them. Plus it helps to even it all out and make sure Santa brought enough for both of the little boogers.
• Have a go-to dessert or appetizer. You forgot that you are going to see your long lost ex-coworker who you really don't keep up with much but you feel bad you don't have a gift for them...in comes your go-to dessert or appetizer. Make them up a batch of your super special holiday cookies and even if they are in a holiday ziploc bag it will be such a great gesture.

This is what works for me during the holidays...go HERE to see what works for everyone else!

the weird kid brought the flute again with three calling birds and two french hens

• Last Saturday was one of the best days that Jeff and I have ever had. No, we aren't engaged (yet). No, we aren't buying a house (yet). No we aren't pregnant (yet). But it was absolute bliss. Oh, and we went to Biaggi's and it was good too. Oh, and my dream was even better in real life!
• I jacked up my knee walking somehow. Just plain old walking. Not even running or skipping, just walking. Not sure when my knee started to self destruct but it is apparent that the process has begun. When did walking become such an adventure sport for me?
• I heard a block of Christmas music on the local soft rock station today. This station plays 24 hour Christmas music from Thanksgiving through New Years. Seems they are already starting to sprinkle the good tidings and cheer on us now that November has landed. I, for one, am all for it. I am in love with the holiday season. LOVE. Big, fatty holiday season love. And the music is just one more way that I love to go totally overboard for the season.

• Jeff is truly amazing. Seriously and wonderfully amazing. He is my rock. My comedian. My cuddly teddy bear. My strength. My other half. My reacher of things on tall shelves. My opener of containers. My lifter of heavy things. My own personal giant. I love you~

• Best new TV show? Modern Family. Hands fucking down. Love that he broke it~

I'm a slave...for the work website

Fabulous Friday.

Shit!

First thing I see in my work email is a voicemail from the boss.

When is that ever a good sign?

Thoughts race through my head...shit, what did I fuck up yesterday? Maybe he's giving us the day off...okay not likely...shit what the fuck is it?

Turns out there are issues with the webpage.

Many issues.

Issues that he told me to clear my entire day for.

I am dealing with said issues.

So there isnt any much time to dilly dally part of my day away.

While I slave away to create the perfect alumni webpage for the U you can catch up on my amazing thoughts on playing candyland, drinking without having your kids judge you, watching tv and being a 'model' parent during Aiming Low's 3 Day Weekend HERE.

WFMW: nightly prep work

I am a huge believer in prep work to make the next day run smoothly.

At night I can be found spending 15 minutes to prepare the house for the next morning.

Morning.

Its almost a 4 letter word in our house.

But it has 7 letters.

So its a 7 letter word in our house. Probably in your house too. You can't change that I guess.

We have two non-morning people in the house. They like to sleep. If they don't get enough sleep they are cranky. I don't like cranky. I don't put up well with cranky.

Well, I like to sleep too. But if I didn't get up then no one would get up. So I have to get up.

At night during my 15 minute prep I can be found...

In the kitchen packing Carah's lunch for kindergarten...setting out Brady's and Carah's breakfast...packing my lunch and Jeff's lunch

In the kids bedrooms getting their clothing out for the next morning...

In the bathroom giving it a quick once over...

In the family room picking up any stray toys that didn't make it into the toy bins during clean up...

In me and Jeff's room setting the alarm, setting out my clothes for the next day...

And in the mud room setting out Carah's backpack and shoes (and jackets if need be) so they are ready to head out the door in the morning.

It takes constant prodding to get the kids to stop entertaining each other during breakfast and actually eat before they have to go out and face the world. But with these simple steps I take at night to prepare for the day ahead it makes the morning go a LOT smoother.

What works for you?

Check out what works for others HERE.

how do you wake up?

Morning.

Slap the snooze button.

Ugh.

*yawn*

Ha ha, thank you Mr. Snooze button, I have 9 more minutes to close my eyes and pretend it's Saturday.

Two minutes pass.

Brady bellows from his crib...Na-Na! (his cute name for me since he cannot say Amanda yet)

I pull the pillow tighter over my head.

If I cannot hear him he isn't calling for me.

Na-Na!

Only seven more minutes to sleep.

He can wait seven more minutes.

Na-Na! Poopies in there! Wet poopies in there!

Yeah. I am up. I am up.

I am questioning whether he is telling me his diaper is full or that the crib has poopies in it which means a diaper malfunction. Or maybe I am still dreaming and the crib itself has pooped.

Who the hell knows.

I stumble up the stairs and find that thankfully the crib has not pooped (imagine what that clean up would be like) and it turns out that the crib is clean.

Good.

I hate starting my day with disgusting laundry.

We just have a full diaper.

A full diaper first thing in the morning is always fun.

Especially when he tries to touch it.

By it I mean everything down there. His junk and the poopies.

Why not, right?

Ah, boys.

It makes it all worth it when he says Thank you Na-Na.

Two year olds...a gift from heaven.

this gift bites

Most people have a vision of the post office that includes smelly, half dressed people waiting in line to ship 4 bottles of bathtub moonshine to Uncle Zeek while the people behind the counter typically have as much enthusiasm to carry them through their day as I give a shit to hear about how someones cousin had a tooth fall out from eatin' some bad jerkey.

Not to mention that most USPS stations havnt been updated in any way since 1974. Not that they need to drop money into making it nicer than the Hilton but at least as nice as a HoJo would be great.

But somehow something as simple as a package or a small letter mailed from these typically seedy establishments can bring such joy to another.

And sometimes anthrax it seems.

I am not talking about bills or junk mail.

I am talking about cards from friends and family. Sex toys you ordered off of the internet. Coupons for free items at the grocery store. And birthday gifts to celebrate your life.

I have a group of friends who live on the corner of 3th and 5rd. We like to send gifts and goodies to each other.

I received this beauty just last night...

she made me a custom gift tag with a fork tied to it.
The fork reads...I heart Forks. Hehe...

Clever bhc, clever.

The magic inside was so much to keep inside that I screamed.

Loud enough that Carah came downstairs to see what hapened.

Here is said magic in all of its glory.

If you are not a Twilight fan of any sorts then this is all totally lost on you.

If you are a fan then you'll understand how awesome my friend bhc is to make me such an amazing gift.

The covers of the 4 books were adorning the white boxes...filled with m&m's.

And she even stuffed coconut m&m's in there. My new favorite.

She obviously loves me.

And a beautiful new label to a Jones Soda.

An apple. How fitting...

And a custom mix CD from all of Stephenie's favorite songs she listened to while writing the series.

Last but not least...bandaids.

To protect my precious, precious blood.

Thank you sofuckingmuch for my gift. I love it!

Cheetos is a food group in my house

When you have children in your life you learn a lot of information very quickly.

-That you'll never sleep again

-How to change a diaper without being covered by the goods that your babies ugly bits produce

-How often your baby spits up

-How much spit up covered laundry you do each day

-The weekends are no longer yours. Unless you have a sitter.

But the most important of that information includes...

-How much wine or beer you need to get through that last hour of Candy land

-The absolute earliest you can put your child to bed so you get some peace and quiet (or more time to drink without them judging you) without them waking up at 5am wanting to play

-How many days you can go without washing the dishes or laundry without your house smelling

-How to explain to them that No, they cannot watch TV...but you can anytime you want.

-How to explain that Yes, adults can have snacks whenever they want. You = cannot.

-How to do the least amount of work possible and still having your children think you are the do-it-all mom type parent they think you are

-That load of laundry will not fold itself, but it can sit there for three more days while you catch up on Gossip Girl and 90210 after work

-Peanut Butter & Jelly totally works for dinner. With Cheetos.

-How to work in that small amount of me time into your day while still 'paying attention' to the kids

Of course there are many more to round this list out.

But I am a fan of doing the least amount of work possible and reaping the rewards that come with doing 'everything right' in the eyes of the children.

The quality time with my children that we all love most is me sitting on the couch while they color and I watch a movie on HBO. Quality time is very important for the nurtured upbringing of happy kids.

wondering what to do with leftover dryer lint?

It is extremely easy to tell when we have a crabby and tired 5 year old girl on our hands.

She's awake. (rim shot)

No, no. She is typically a joy to be around and has a zest for life that is contagious.

She loves to play with others but has been doing so great at learning to play on her own over the past few years.

But as all almost 6 year old children do...she gets tired.

Then whiny.

And likes to stall and complain.

It is genetically programmed into children to go off about 20 minutes before bedtime and around this age marker.

Lucky us.

Saturday night was one of these nights.

She was brushing her teeth and then asked for 'some mosquito bite stuff' to help with the itching. The stalling took center stage.

I poked my head into the bathroom to find dad applying 'that mosquito bite stuff' to her back and she was crying (tired crying of course). So I tried to alleviate her complaints by throwing her off track.

It went something like this...

Me - Carah, your blood is just too tasty. Those mosquitos love to bite you. You have to learn to tell them no.

Carah - Ugh.

Me - Just start eating foods that mosquitos don't like.

Carah - Like what? (her mood starts to turn around drastically)

Me - Pickles and mustard.

Carah - GROSS!

Me - Okay, onions and garlic.

Carah - SUPER GROSS!

Me - (spent a moment thinking of an oddball combination) Aha. Ive got it now. Fingernail clippings and dryer lint.

Carah - (looks at me as if I just called her best friend Lucy the doll a whore and kicked the smile off her face) (I didn't) (this time) Um...what?

Me - Yeah, I think we have some lint in the dryer still! (grabbing her hand) Lets go!

We proceed to run to the laundry room where we make a large ball out of the dryer lint from the recent load of fluffy towels that just finished drying. Fluffy towels makes for super fluffy dryer lint.

Me - *whispering* take this and pretend to eat this in front of dad as a joke.

Carah - Okay!

Carah runs into the family room where dad was waiting for our nonsense to end and she pretended to eat the dryer lint to get rid of the mosquitos.

We learned this weekend that we need to work on our pretend eating.

Yup.

She put the lint in her mouth.

IN HER MOUTH!

Yuck.

I grab the lint from her hand and take a chunk off of her tongue. She then starts to cry, drinks everything in sight she can find and the 5 year old bedtime moodiness sets back in.

As soon as she had drank her body weight in water she was done crying and her mouth was lint free...and yet so dryer fresh!

I said my goodnight, told her to not eat lint anymore even though it would get rid of the mosquito bites and she looked at me and said...'what was the other thing you said?' 'Oh, yeah! Fingernails'...then pretends to bite her nails.

Only she didn't pretend.

Lordy be.

I can't wait to break her bad habit I helped her to start over the next few years.

The true test will be if the lint and fingernails actually helped repel the mosquitos this week. This just may become a weekly snack. And a green way to dispose of dryer lint.

you get to share a room!

What it feels like for a child to be told they are getting a new sibling...

Watch the hilarity HERE.

You wont be sorry.

WFMW: breaking the rules

We always sometimes have a house of order.

Bed time is at 7pm at 8pm for the munchkins.

Dinner time is near 6pm-ish.

Naps on the weekend are just after lunch.

You are not excused from the table unless you have finished chewing that last bite in your mouth and your milk is finished.

If you do not eat all of your dinner you dont get dessert.

Brush your teeth.

Take a bath.

Toys and all other kid-centered stuff has a home...keep it there when it is not in use.

No running in the house.

You catch my drift.

Of course there are those times when we have plans or there is a mini disaster and we get way off track from our original plan.

When that happens we just make the best of it and hope everyone ends up with full bellies and a pillow under their head when they crash.

The best way to keep the rules is to break your own rules every now and then.

Let them stay up late to watch the end of a show or movie or to finish that game with you.

Let them have ice cream when they didnt finish all of their chicken at dinner.

Have breakfast for lunch or dinner.

Make dinner a potluck of (healthy) snacks instead of a traditional meal.

Showing your children that you can bend is the best way for them to respect the rules. They understand then that the rules are important and that they are meant to be followed and it also shows them that the adults in the family know how to have fun still too.

This has worked in our house in the best way. The kids know to follow the rules but they also know that we are able to bend them when necessary.

her first trip to her new favorite place

Last Sunday we took Carah to Cedar Point.

Jeff and I love Cedar Point.

We promised Carah that when we thought she was ready mentally we would take her and have the most exciting day ever.

Why did I say mentally?

Because Carah is tall.

Her parents are freaks of nature.

They are giants.

They are both over 6 feet tall. Jeff is 6'6".

Shit, right?

So she has been ready according to her height for quite some time.
She is not even 6 years old and she is nearly the same height as me.

I am only 5'1''.

I am afraid of what happens to that child during puberty.

My new idea is to ship her away for a few years because the cost of new clothes and shoes that fit is going to bankrupt us I think.

Back on track...Cedar Point.

We took her for her first trip on Sunday. She freakin loved it...

she read in the car on the way there

she loved her first ride.

She drove me around in this yellow Jeep-ish creature.

We rode on a kiddie size lazy river

We had a lunch at Johnny Rockets that blew our food budget out of the water.

But they did give us a smiley face.

That totally makes up for it.

And what did she get to eat?

Peanut Butter and Jelly.

For over $6.

When she got bored in line she made up her own games.

She drove me and daddy around in a car.

And she is totally ducking under the low bridge.

I think she's going to clear it...

We found her favorite ride - The Matterhorn

We rode Lucy's Hot Air Balloon ride.

It spins.

A lot.

Like I got so dizzy I was happy we didn't have to stand up right away.

Because I would have fallen over.

Her second favorite ride

The Frog Hopper

We took a kiddie swing ride

We rode the Jr. Gemini.

Shortest. Roller. Coaster.

Ever.

Carah enjoyed her afternoon snack - a chocolate chip

cookie ice cream sandwich as big as her head.

After the water rides she and dad pose for a shot to show me how wet they got.

(we brought dry clothes in the car to change into for the hour ride home - I totally planned ahead on that one)

We took cheesy Cedar Point pictures

Carah hung out with Chuck

Jeff, Lucy and Carah caught some time on a bench to rest.

Sally, Linus, Jeff and Carah waited for the Great Pumpkin to appear.

And once we remembered it was only August 2nd, we told them we'd be back.

Then on the way out of the park

(we did the water rides last so we were not wet all day)

she caught sight of these fountains and just HAD to play...

It was a beautiful day. And there were hardly any lines on the kiddie rides.

And Carah was a saint all freakin day. No whining. No complaining. No pouting...Well, Jeff and I also put the fear of God into her that if she did any of them we would just leave and not take her back until next year.

It totally worked.

WFMW: in the prep work

Now, I do not have kids of my own.

Yet.

I do have two great kids in my house who live with their daddy 1/2 of the time and with their mom the other half.

I have been living with and caring for these little boogers angels for over two years.

I have been there through the bottle feeding, up 4 times at night, crying because they are worn out, the baths, the hair pulling, the crying, the happy tears, the devious looks....all of it.

And even though they are not my kids...I treat them as if they were.

And they know it.

I do all of the grocery shopping in my house.

I prefer to.

If Jeff went to the store we would have plenty of chips, pretzels and frozen foods like bagel bites and toaster strudel. This isnt what keeps us healthy and happy. Well...happy but not healthy.

I make sure that the kids are happy and healthy with their food. I try and do the same with Jeff and myself.

I am also a semi-novice to the couponing game. I have been getting loads of items for free or near free. I stock up on items we frequently use and need so we have them on hand.

We have food that will last for months.

But I love to have fresh and homemade meals available to my family. I also have a fulltime job. And the cleaning and cooking to do.

So I dont have hours to cook meals and hours to make sure the family is eating healthy foods. But I do have the time to cook great food so we dont have to rely on frozen pizza and chinese food all the time.

I have found that I am able to do this through my prep work.

I go to the grocery store with a plan...buy healthy foods and make sure we eat them before they go bad.

When I get back I put all of the food away and get meals ready for the week.

A simple way to prep is to make sure healthy snacks are available for the munchkins to grab when they (or I) need to.

Have fruit ready to eat.

I section grapes out into baggies so even if they want them for a meal they just grab a bag. Have pears and apples out and washed.

Some of the kids favorite snacks I make sure are ready to go to save the time during the day with them...

cheese slices

raisins and other dried fruit

crackers

And in regards to meals...most of our lunches are leftovers so we do not waste any food and then dont have to pay for lunch out somewhere.

Dinner is almost always semi-prepped before the meal. If I am going to use onions or green peppers or cucumbers I make sure and chop them when I have the time so I can spend my time with my family instead of stuck in the kitchen.

I also found that cooking 2 meals at once is an easy thing to get into plus it cuts down on stove and oven time in the hot Ohio summers we typically have.

After dinner I place our leftovers into containers and put them right into our lunch bags in the fridge. In the morning all you have to do is grab your bag and you are ready.

This makes it so much easier in our house.

I plan on pre-packing lunch for Carah when she starts kindergarten this month.

I try and do as much as I can at night so that the mornings are a little less hectic.

This works for us...what works for you?

rare form or proof I have a brain

My semi-clumsiness appears to be getting worse with age.

Last October I was fortunate enough to save numerous orphans from a fire...but injured my foot in the meantime and had to deal with this.

5 weeks in the boot was so much fucking fun I can hardly stand to think about it now without peeing myself a little.

I had managed to go over 7 months without some sort of injury without counting my tonsillectomy.

Then last Sunday night Brady took care of that one for me. Brady is a month away from being 2 years old.

2 year olds have heads of steel and stone.

Its a fact. Look it up.

Don't be fooled by this adorable little man...he is like a savage beast when confronted...

Sure, that's a flat out lie, he is truly all smiles and rainbows and loves giving kisses to puppies and cats.

Fine, so I was in the process of putting him to bed on Sunday when tragedy struck. I was holding him and he leaned his head waaaaaayy off to his side and I asked for a hug/kiss goodnight then..........WHAP!

He freakin head butted me! Not on purpose. No.

Well? No. Two year olds don't hold grudges, right? Because I did eat that cookie I promised to him last week. Think he remembers that?

With the top of his steel and stones head he hit me near my ear...long story short I went to the doctor and was diagnosed with a concussion...then had to get a CT just to make sure that he didn't seriously injure me. (He didn't)

I am just fine.

Except for the ear pain.

And the dizziness.

And the nausea.

And the fact that sitting upright or standing is constant work.

But other than that I am feeling just fine.

So my clumsiness streak was defeated - not by me this time but by this adorable monsters head. Looks so unassuming doesn't he?

Little did I know the dangerous position I put myself in just sitting next to him on the Pooh couch for this picture. I will be thinking twice before doing this again. Or be on FULL alert of where he swings his rocky head.

Now the question that everyone has asked has been...

'But, is Brady okay?'

Yes. That little punk is just freakin fine.

Seriously.

Not even a bump on his head.

I hope you people believe me that their heads are like concrete.

Watch the fuck out!

a waste of perfectly good snack crackers

It has been two week since we returned from Naples and I am really missing the relaxing atmosphere of the resort, the two swimming pools, the fact that I didnt have to work at all, the potential for seeing manatees in the waterways below.....but most of all I miss the maid service!

OOoops! I dropped a handful of Cheez-Its on the floor and there are crumbs everywhere!

Oh fucking well.

Well, I wasnt totally mean, I did pick up the larger crumbs.

And when Jeff shook out his bathing suit to find a million and a half tiny shells and sea creatures had taken up residence in them...he cleaned some of it up too.

We are completely nice when we travel.

We even made friends with our waitress, Eileen, when we ate at The Mangrove Cafe in Naples. They had the absolute best deal ever....any two entrees from their dinner menu PLUS 1 bottle of wine - all for only $25. And it was the best fucking meal we had when we were down there.

Here, Eileen has taken a lovely picture of us after we had stuffed ourselves on pork tenderloin and veal.

And since we've been home it is right back to business as usual.

Brady lazily spent one afternoon on his Pooh couch reading book after book after book.

If you notice he is reading this one upside down so we arent too sure how much he absorbed. But hey, he's trying. And he's not even two. So we cut him slack. Lots of slack.

And we are back to spending hours upon hours on the swingset. The perfectly free swingset. My moms neighbor gave it to us. Seriously just gave it to us...and it is in wonderful condition too! Totally the best deal we have gotten for house equipment!

And our lot is large enough that the kids have tons of room to run around.

Here the monsters adorable children are - posing for a picture - its what they do best.

But other than the normalities of life...things are either bat shit busy or paint drying boring.

Happy Monday~