Meal Planning Monday

I had all of the best intentions to do this first thing this morning, around 5:30, before the day got crazy. But then I overslept and the day was crazy the minute my feet hit the floor! Now, I only have about 5 mintues...but I know if I don't do it now, I won't do it at all...so here we go!

Monday:
Whole Wheat Spaghetti w/ Turkey meatballs

Tuesday:
I'm traveling and our house is showing (fingers crossed) so daddy is taking the kids to Grandma & Grandpas.

Wednesday:
Salad & Italian Dunkers using leftover spaghetti sauce w/ some added gr. beef

Thursday:
Zesty Crock Pot Chicken

Friday:
We are having a football party at our house! Well...its just me and the kids so I don't know if that counts as a party...but we'll have all sorts of finger food snackies like pizza rolls and cheese sticks. You know, totally healthy!

Saturday:
ITS FINALLY FOOTBALL SEASON!!!! Paul and I will be tailgating at the ISU/UNI game enjoying a wide variety of yumminess, and maybe a beverage or two! I know for sure I am taking these:



Ham & cheese sliders

Sunday:
Juicy Lucys w/ sweet potato fries!

Have a great week everyone!

God grant me patience. Please!

I feel like this might be a repeat post...but I don't have the patience right now to sift through my old blogs!

Yesterday was not my finest day as a mommy. My patience were running very thin and of course, those are always the days that the kids are on their finest behavior. Right? Uh...no.

Maycen is old enough that, save for the occasional meltdown, we really only deal with drama. Okay, by "drama" I mean, completely dramatic over reactions to every single thing that she doesn't like. And by "only" I mean, 7 or 8 hundred times a day. Maycen puts 100% into every emotion she feels. If she is happy she is ecstatic. If she is sad it is the worst moment of her life. If she is mad, she hates the world. You get it. Most days I can recognize it for what it is and let her get her emotions out but, unfortunately, yesterday was not that day. I sometimes find myself engaging with her at her level. I know it is ridiculous and I'm disappointed in myself when I let it happen, but it does none-the-less. We ended yesterday with one of these overly dramatic fights. When all was settled down I explained to her that part of the reason it happens is because she and I are so much alike and sometimes, when we are both having a bad day, it happens. She got a kick out of that and we hugged and kissed and shared "I love you's" and decided we would start over in the morning.

My two kiddos couldn't be more different! Brock is loud and destructive and rambunctious and ornery and not emotional at all one minute and a complete lover the next. He can hit his sister as hard as he possibly can and then as he gets sent to his room for the 100th time he'll look at me and say "mommy, are you happy with me?". There is no level 5 with Brock. He is either at a 1 (sleeping!) or a 10 (climbing the pantry while throwing things at his sister, literally!). This can be exhausting, and I know we are not the first parents to go through this. He is a 4 year old boy and I don't expect the unreasonable, some days it is just harder than others to remember that. Yesterday was certainly one of those days.

I absolutely hate the days that I spend more time disciplining my kids than having fun with them and I am thankful that we get to start fresh every day!

Today we have cleaned the house together, watched Tangled (twice!) and baked cookies. It is definitely a better day.

Thank you, God!

Wait...wasn't it just May?

(...this post will written as though my last update was at the beginning of summer, instead of in February!)

Hi Peeps!

Remember when you were little and it seemed like time moved sooooo sllllloooooowwwww? Especially when it came to Christmas, Birthdays and the first day of school! Remember how "old people" would tell you to enjoy it now because as you get older time goes fast? I've decided they lied. Time doesn't go faster as you get older. No...it literally disappears!

One minute it was Maycen's last day of 1st grade and an hour later she is one week into 2nd grade! I really don't know where the summer went...but I do recall a few bits and pieces...so here is a quick recap from May-August:

May
The big news in May was that Paul was finally promoted to Store Director!!!! Big Fat YESSSS! He has worked for Dahl's for a long, long time and worked hard. It was a well earned promotion and the best part is that he is still at the Ankeny store! We are so excited and I couldn't be more proud of him!

Maycen "graduated" from 1st grade with flying colors! She excelled academically in Mrs. Piper's class! The last day of school was followed immediately by her spring dance recital. It is always such a busy, but fun, weekend! Maycen loves performing for her family and showing them what she has learned from year to year. This was the best recital yet and I really don't know how next year will top it!

June
Happy Birthday Brock!!!! My little man turned 4 and I still can't believe it! Maycen also had her national dance competition where she did amazing! It was the best she had ever done her solo, and all of her groups performed very well! It was a great finish to another dance season!

July
What a busy month. Between the 4th holiday and Summerfest, the first two weeks just fly by! We celebrated the 4th at some old friends (old in relationship, not age!) and really enjoyed hanging out and catching up! Summerfest was a fun and busy weekend as always. The biggest thing that happened Summerfest weekend was that Paul and decided to go browse a few open houses while we were kidless...you know...just to see what's out there! Well, we all know what happens when you do that. We found a house that we fell in love with. At first we didn't think there was any way we could swing it, but after talking to a realtor and mortgage consultant we realized that if everything fell into place just right, we might actually be able to move into it! So, we spent the last couple of weeks of July using every minute of free time to get our house ready to go on the market. This included painting nearly every room in the house, swapping out doorknobs and hinges, fixing little things that we have put off, cleaning carpets, etc, etc! It was a lot of work and, in the end, we agreed that even if we don't sell our house we are very happy with the changes we made!

August
The first weekend in August we attended Paul's 20 year East High School class reunion. We got to spend some time with old (again, relationship...not age!) friends and had a great time. It was held in the same ballroom at Adventureland Inn that Paul and I had our wedding reception and it was fun to be in that room again! The greatest state fair in the country began the following week and of course we attended "East Side Night" on the first Friday. Saturday we spent a family day at the fair. It was the first time Brock has been and after 9 hours he was over it! I was supposed to go to the Sugarland concert on Sunday night, but woke up to news of the terrible tragedy in Indiana and the fact that the show had been cancelled. While I was disappointed it was impossible to be too upset after viewing the footage from the stage collapse. So sad. It was a blessing in disguise since it was the night before the first day of school. We had a wonderful relaxing afternoon and ran a few errands as a family and both kids were in bed early after a busy weekend!

That brings us to this week! I still can't believe I have a 2nd grader (pictures to come)! The first week of school went great and Maycen loves her teacher Mrs. James! On Monday Brock will officially start Pre-Kindergarten at La Petite and we are excited about that! We aren't sure if he will go to kindergarten next year or not, but either way this will be good for him!

Summer is certainly winding down and before we know it the leaves will be falling! I always look so forward to the next season and this year that is especially true as we have so many things to look forward to! Unfortunately the house we wanted sold, but fortunately we found a lot we love and are going to start building it while we continue to try and sell our house. It is in the Cherry Glen development and the lot we have picked out is huge and will never have anyone build behind it! I have so many plans for the house...I'm praying it all works out! Maycen told me yesterday that she can picture herself opening Christmas presents in that house...and that's all I needed to hear!

I am still loving my job! I continue to learn something new every day and, after being in the same industry for nearly 12 years, it is so rewarding. I'm making plans to hit the road hard in September, October and November and I'm excited to do it!

I just started to write about our September plans...but stopped myself! Because I AM going to do a better job of updating this little blog thingy! I promise. To try.

In the meantime I'm off to clean the house and get ready for the Reba concert tonight at the fair!

Much Love.