Absolutely Kathy

Crafts with Virginia

2012-01-28T07:01:00.000-08:00

We have been keeping busy playing outside while the rain stays away for a few days. But during the rainy days we have been busy inside doing crafts. Last night I ran across this great craft blog called Kiwi Crate. I decided to try the watercolor resist painting with Virginia.

Supplies:

Watercolor paints

Paper

Contact Paper

Scissors

Luckily I already had all the supplies in my craft room. I quickly googled fish and let Virginia pick her favorite picture. Then I printed the image and taped it to the contact paper to cut out. All I had was sketch paper so that is what I used. When we do this project again I would like to get some good watercolor paper. I carefully peeled off the contact paper and stuck it down to the paper. I found it best to peel part of the contact paper off and stick it slowly down to the paper. That way I could make sure there was no air bubbles.

Next I got the watercolors set up and let Virginia go to town. I think she got a little confused at why her paint was not sticking to the fish. I told her to cover the whole page with paint and in the end there would be a surprise. Virginia is so silly, it took awhile to get her to paint the whole page. But after some pushing she got the whole page cover and then I carefully peeled up the contact paper and we were left with a beautiful fish painting.

The craft was a hit and I think I would even like to do one myself in the future. Hopefully I will pick up some Ikea frames next time we are down there and hang some of Virginia's paintings up in the play room.

Happy New Year

2012-01-01T07:08:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year! I have to say for the most part 2011 was great to us. I can't wait to see what 2012 has in store for my family and friends. Some things that I look forward too is the birth of my first nephew. Also getting to see Samantha and Virginia continue to grow up.

This year I plan to start doing a letter of the week Tot School program with Virginia. We have been doing it off and on. But this year I plan to stick with it. Virginia enjoys all the games and I love watching her learn. I am going to try my hand at the 365 project again.

My main goals, I won't say resolutions, are to keep on a better cleaning schedule. Also to try to create a family budget and stick to it. I have tons of projects and ideas in my head. Hopefully this year I will get my butt in gear and finish some.

Here is to a great year and fun adventures!

White Chocolate Cinnamon Pretzels

2011-11-30T11:17:00.001-08:00

When I am not blogging on my site you can catch me over on CentralPiedmontMommies blog. I am in charge of running their blog on a weekly basis. Today I blogged about how to make white chocolate cinnamon pretzels. So run on over and learn how to make a sweet and salty treat.

Getting in the Christmas Spirit!

2011-11-29T10:26:00.001-08:00

Driving Virginia to speech this morning I noticed all the wonderful Christmas decorations that my neighbors had decorated their yards and houses with. One house was fully decked out from the yard to the house. They had huge Christmas ornaments hanging on their trees.

Once I dropped Virginia off for speech I headed to the Dollar General to look around for some cheap Christmas decorations. I found a pack of 20 medium size Christmas ornaments for three dollars. Then picked up a pack of 175 ornament hangers for one dollar. I was ready to decorate the trees in our front yard.

Virginia was super excited when I picked her up and told her we would be decorating the trees in the front when we got home. This project was so easy that Virginia was able to help me. She grabbed the ornaments and put the hooks in and handed them to me. Then I had her help me pick the perfect spot on the tree to hang the ornaments. She kept saying, " I am a big girl mommy I can do it by myself ". She really is getting so independent lately.

The decorating took about ten minutes and when we were done we had a beautiful Christmas tree that cost only four dollars. Now once we get the rest of our decorations down from the attic I can string lights on the tree. I am ready for the holidays.

Love My Family!

2011-11-27T08:54:00.001-08:00

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving with their family and friends. This year we had Thanksgiving at our house. I was in charge of cleaning the house since well my cooking skills are not the best. Reiggin was in charge of the food. He cooked for days it seemed. All the food turned out great. We had so much food by the end of the day I just crashed on the couch.

I was a little down about not being with my family on Thanksgiving. But I was thrilled to have my sisters and niece come up and visit on Saturday. I know I have said this before, but my sisters are rock star aunts. And I love how close Samantha and Virginia are. Lisa got to the house first. I gave her the grand tour since it was the first time she had been to our new house. Then Virginia got her into a intense game of fishing.

As soon as Susan and Samantha got to the house, the girls went into Virginia's room to play. They dove into everything. But the hair dryer and beauty toys won out as the favorite. After a little play time we headed to Chili's for some lunch. During the ride, Lisa taught the girls some new vocabulary like chillaxing and some crazy dance moves. It was hilarious. It was nice to be able to sit down chat and catch up with both my sisters.

Once back at the house the girls went to play as me and my sisters played on the wii dancing to Just Dance 2. Again I stink at the game and got my butt kicked. It was great having family over to our new house this weekend. I am just thrilled to be able to host family and friends at my place now.

Softball Player in the Making

2011-10-24T12:39:00.000-07:00

The weather this week has started off beautiful. It feels like spring with a breeze in the air. This afternoon Virginia and I played in the backyard. I am loving the fenced in yard and being able to just sit on the deck and watch Virginia run around the yard. After awhile she decided to go to the front yard and play. She grabbed her tee ball set to play with. This makes mommy very happy. My sisters and I played softball growing up from 8 years old til the end of high school. Our dad was always our coach or acted as assistant coach. So secretly I am hoping Virginia will want to play softball as well. Here is a video of her hitting the ball off the tee. I was lucky I didn't get hit. Almost had a funniest home video on my hands.

Catching Up

2011-10-11T09:54:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone, I know it has been forever since I made a blog post. No real good excuse of why I have not been blogging. I have been keeping pretty busy and have lots of exciting news for you all. Since my last blog post we have moved, had a few birthdays, and found out that I will be having a new
nephew next year.

First up we moved out of our apartment and became homeowners. This is the first house we have owned. It was a little crazy moving and packing. Reiggin actually ended up moving twice in one day. He helped Donnie move out of his house and then move us into Donnies house. Yep you read that right we moved into our friend Donnie's house.

It has been so nice having our own place. Virginia has a bigger room for all her toys. We even have a third bedroom that once organized will be a playroom / craft room. We also have a large fenced in backyard. This is what I missed most when we were living in the apartment. Now we are able to sit on our back deck and watch Virginia play. Another bonus is we are just five minutes from our best friends the Medinas. We are slowly making the house our own.

We have celebrated all of our birthdays in the new house. Virginia turned three years old. It is hard to believe that my baby is now three. It seems like just yesterday that we brought her home from the hospital. She celebrated by having friends over for a bbq and family over for a get together. It felt so good to have our own house that we could invite friends and family over to celebrate with us. Virginia was just giddy at the chance to show off her room and play with everyone. She really is budding it a social butterfly.

Since her birthday Virginia has started the three year old speech program at the Mary Frances Wall Center. I was worried at first how she would handle the change of having speech at home to having it at a school in a class. The biggest change is that I am not allowed to go back to the class with her. But she proved me wrong and has been a champ every week. Not one tear was dropped the first day. It did make me a little sad to see my baby grow up so fast and realize we only have three years til I will be dropping her off for her first day of school. But the school has been great and Virginia loves going every week. She is the only girl in her small class. The boys are super sweet to her. The best thing is that the school is just five minutes from our house and our friend Meredith teaches there as well.

You can tell we have all been pretty busy. Life has been great. Fall is finally arrived and I can't be happier. Hope everyone else is doing great.

North Cabarrus Park

2011-07-19T07:11:00.000-07:00

We started our week off with a visit to North Cabarrus Park. It amazes me how many parks are in our area. I keep discovering new parks to take Virginia too. Virginia woke up and was ready to get outside. So I packed our things and headed out the door. Our first stop was at the bread store. I heard that there were ducks at the park that we could feed. (note: I have now learned that it is bad to feed ducks bread.)

I have great memories of going with my grandparents to feed the ducks. I knew that Virginia would get a kick out of feeding the ducks as well. Once we made it to the park, Virginia was ready to get out and play. I loved the fact that both playgrounds we saw were covered. With the heat of the summer, that has been our biggest problem is finding shade. One play ground was covered by a huge yellow tent. The second playground just had a perfect location by the woods that kept it in the shade. Another plus was some locations near the playground had metal large swings that the adults could sit on and relax while the kids played. On the smaller playground I was able to sit on the swing and still see Virginia from all spots on the playground. Which is a first for me, usually I am having to follow her around the whole playground.

After playing for a bit, we decided to go feed the ducks some bread. There were ducks and geese around the pond that was right beside the playground. I was amazed at how close the geese would come to us. Virginia loved tossing the bread to the geese. I kept a close eye on her in case I needed to scoop her up and run. I know geese can be mean at times. We walked further down to the bridge and saw tons of turtles and fish in the pond. There had to be like ten or more turtles just sun bathing on the shore. I did learn later that bread is not a healthy diet for ducks. I guess lesson learned and I did find healthy food to feed the birds when we return to the park.

Virginia was thrilled and pooped for the rest of the day. I call that one successful Monday. North Cabarrus Park is making a spot on our favorite parks list.

Weekend Rewind

2011-07-18T09:26:00.000-07:00

This weekend was all about family. Friday my sister Lisa came down to visit. She stopped in and we all went out to lunch at Mi Pueblo. The food was delicious. We visit Mi Pueblo a lot, it is our go to Mexican restaurant. The staff and owner are always so kind to us. This visit was no different, Virginia was wanting one of the adult beverages pictured on the table. The owner came by to check to see how our lunch was and noticed Virginia begging for the drink. Next thing we know the owner comes by and gives Virginia a virgin strawberry daiquiri with whip cream on top. Virginia was so excited and the drink was awesome.

After lunch we did a little shopping at Virginia's favorite store Target. I always enjoy going to Target and seeing what is in their dollar section. We scored a dry erase board with writing lines on it and dry erase markers for only two dollars. We also discovered that Aunt Lisa has a little shoe love affair. Lisa only gave me a minor heart attack as we were heading to the car. With Virginia in the cart and Lisa driving, you would have thought they were on the Concord Speedway. Virginia was loving every minute of it.

Once home Lisa only had a few minutes before she had to leave. We squeezed in some painting time and then said our good byes. Virginia was not ready to say good bye. All day she was asking when Aunt Lisa was coming back to play. I am so thankful that Virginia has two amazing Aunts that I know will play a huge roll in her life.

Saturday was just a relaxing day at home. Sunday we were on the road again. This time we were visiting MiMi and Papa up in Statesville. Once there Virginia was showering everyone with love including her favorite four legged friends. Virginia's favorite thing to do at MiMi's and Papa's is go swing. So we all walked out to the swing and Papa pushed Virginia to her hearts desire.

After the swing Virginia and I took a walk down to the barn in hopes of seeing the cows. On the way Virginia got to pick some tomatoes from Uncle Carey's garden with MiMi. The cows were to busy staying cool under the trees to come visit with us. But Virginia still enjoyed walking and carrying her prize tomato.

We ended the day with a delicious meal that MiMi cooked for us. Tossed the tennis ball awhile with the newest four legged addition Zena. Then it was time to hit the road and get home. This weekend was such a delight. We managed to spend good quality family time with both families. I love the fact that we live so close to both families that Virginia will be able to grow up knowing both families.

Bouncy Ball

2011-07-16T14:24:00.000-07:00

Virginia's favorite toy in the world is probably balls. When we are in any store she makes a bee line to those big bouncy ball stacks. Those quarter machines with the balls in them at the grocery stores also makes a little girl scream with delight. So I knew when I came across this super ball recipe that Virginia would be thrilled to try this with me.

In a small bowl mix together 1 Tbls. Elmers Glue and your choice of food coloring.

Mix well or in the end you will end up with a marble effect which is clue.

In another bowl mix together 1/2 tsp. Borax, 1 Tbls. cornstarch, and 4 Tbls. warm water.

Next pour the water mixture into the glue mixture. Mix these together and you will have a gooey blub. Dump out the liquid and start rolling the gooey blub into a ball. If it feels super wet roll the ball onto a paper towel.

In the end you will have your very own homemade bouncy ball. Now it doesn't bounce super high, but it is still lots of fun for the little ones. The mixture reminds me a little more of silly putty with a bounce. The ball will lose its shape after sitting around. No worries just roll it back up into a ball and your good to go. I would store the ball in a plastic egg over night to help keep the shape.

Balloons Away

2011-07-14T08:11:00.000-07:00

Lately Virginia has really been enjoying painting and stamping. Each morning she wakes up and watches cartoons. Then next thing I know she is running for her paints. To keep things interesting, we have been trying different methods of painting. We started with the simple paint brush and finger painting. We have explored lids, yarn, and now balloons.

First take a balloon and blow it up. I kept our balloon small since little hands were playing. Next place paint on your lid and let your little one press the balloon into the paint. We did purple, blue, and pink.

Note: I only said a few curse words under my breath as I was trying to tie that devil balloon.

Next press the balloon to the paper and lift. It is that simple. Virginia had a blast with the balloon. I even enjoyed the painting with the balloon. It is endless the amount of things you can paint with. Just a few ideas we want to test is leaves, rocks, and bubble wrap.

I found a quote on a blog that just rung true to me this week, " It is not about the end product but the process." I am learning to just let Virginia go for it and do what she wants. Letting her explore her creativity with no limits.

Spin Art

2011-07-10T07:22:00.000-07:00

Lately I have been in a super crafty mood. Virginia and I keep coming across great craft blogs that have fantastic art projects. I came across Putti PraPancha from PinInterest and her spin art project. I loved how simple the project was and how my daughter would enjoy it since she doesn't have to get her hands dirty.

First choose your paper of choice. I love the Ikea art paper roll. I think it was like maybe five bucks for a huge roll. I rolled it out the length of our coffee table and taped it down. Second find one eager child that wants to paint.

Next get a plate and put a small dot of each paint on the plate. I used crayola finger paint, super cheap at Walmart. Also grab a cup of water to keep your brushes clean.

Next grab a round object. You could use paper plate, cd, baby food jar, or butter lid. Really any round surface is perfect. Put a dot of paint all around the lid.

Next flip over butter lid and let the child press their hand in the middle. Making sure the paint is touching the paper. Then spin the lid a couple of times. Then lift the lid and be amazed at your beautiful art work!

A fun little extra art technique we discovered is taking a piece of yarn and dipping it in paint. Keep one end clean so the child can hold it without getting their fingers wet. Then just drape the yarn across the paper any way you desire. This makes some great unique art. In the near future I want to do a painting with Virginia using baked spaghetti.

Slime Time

2011-07-09T06:39:00.000-07:00

Last week at the library as we were searching for books on apples. I stumbled upon a science experiment book called Science Rocks! It is a huge book full of science experiments for all ages. It ranges from the material world, forces in motion, energy in action, electricity and magnetism, and the natural world. I thought it would be a blast to do a few of the simple experiments with Virginia. First up we did Slime Time.

Fill a cup with cornstarch and pour it into a bowl.

Slowly add some water, stirring all the time. Keep adding water slowly until the mixture turns into a sticky paste. Don't add too much - you probably won't need more than half a cup.

Add food coloring until your mixture changes color, stirring it though until it is all blended in.

Then you have Slime! Pick the mixture up and see how it behaves. What happens if you squeeze or pull it? If you throw it on the floor it will stick together like a solid, but if you leave it there it will turn into a liquid puddle. I add a blast playing in the slime. The texture is amazing and feels so funny turning from solid to a liquid. Sadly Virginia wanted nothing to do with the slime. Slowly I will make my little clean freak into a messy two year old girl.

Warning: Your hands will be tinted the color of food dye you use.

A is for Apples

2011-07-07T09:47:00.000-07:00

Ais for Apples.

This week I decided to start the Letter of the Week with Virginia. I wanted something fun and educational to do each day with her. Something that we both could enjoy with the TV off. Less TV time this summer is my goal.

My BFF Lisa told me about Confessions of a Homeschooler, a home school blog, that shares tons of printable activities for kids of all ages. Most of the activities are free printable files and some are for sale. Luckily for me most of the Letter of the Week is free.

Tuesday we headed to the library for the books about apples. The library is always a great activity for the summer. Virginia enjoys the puzzles and games. I enjoy getting out of the house and picking out some cute books. Most of the books for the letter A that Confessions of a Homeschooler recommends was checked out. I guess the letter A is coming back into style. The wonderful Kannapolis libarian helped us pick out some new ones. We ended up walking out with Apples to Oregon by Deborah Hopkinson & Nancy Carpenter, The Lady with the Alligator Purse by Nadine Bernard Westcott, Johnny Appleseed by Steven Kellogg, Down the Road by Alice Schertle, and The Apple Pie that Papa Baked by Lauren Thompson. Some of these books are a little long for Virginia so I plan to break them up reading half in the morning and half at night.

So far we have read The Lady with the Alligator Purse which is adapted from the poem. This book is pure silly and Virginia insists on reading the book at least 100 times a day. The poem is about a little baby that gets into lets of trouble taking a bath. This is a cute book and short. We also have read Apples to Oregon. This book is longer and tells the story of a family making their way to Oregon with all of their prized apple trees. They get into all kinds of trouble and adventures. I was amazed that the story kept Virginia's attention til the end.

Wednesday was the first official day of Letter A. The night before I sewed a magnetic apple. The apple was very simple to create.

First take a strip of red fabric. I used red cotton fabric, but you can use any fabric. Next take a mug and fabric marker. You will trace a circle onto the fabric using the mug.

Once you have traced the circle, you will want to fold the fabric up like an ecordian. This way you will only have to cut out the circle once. Also this method will make all the circles the same size.

Next I took two of the circles and placed a square of poly-fil traditional batting between them. I didn't pin the layers together, but it is a good idea to pin. Next take the layers to the sewing machine and sew around the circle. Leave just a small space at the top open so you can sew in the stem. If you don't have a sewing machine you could always use fabric glue or even a glue gun.

Note: After I sewed the layers together I thought about putting in magnetic discs. So I took three magnetic discs and placed them on tape and slid the tape inside the apple. In the future I would tape the magnetic discs to one of the layers before I sewed them together.

Next you will trim very close to the edge of the apple. Then take some brown felt and free hand a stem. I took the stem and placed it in the open space of the apple. I took the lazy route and quickly sewed up the opening along with the stem on the sewing machine. You could also hand stitch the stem into the apple. Next take green felt and cut out a leave. I did hand stitch the leave onto the apple. Now you have your very own magnetic apple. Beware of fish that are looking for a snack.

Every apple needs a tree don't you think. Ok so I went a little over the top and made an apple tree for our fridge. My husband was surprised when he came home Tuesday night. Virginia woke up Wednesday and walked into the kitchen and just froze. Virginia said, " tree mama." She really enjoyed placing the apple on her tree. The tree is very simple to make. I took some left over green fabric and cut out the tree top. I just took a fabric marker and free handed the top of the tree. I took brown felt and cut out the trunk of the tree. Next I took velcro and attached the top and trunk of the tree to the fridge. Simple as 1, 2, 3.

My plan is to create a magnet for each letter of the week. Wednesday we continued with some more apple activities that we found on Confessions of a Homeschooler. There are so many to choose from. All the prints are free. I picked the activities that I felt would be best for Virginia's age. I would recommend downloading all the files and taking it somewhere to print. If you print at home you will use up alot of ink. I plan in the future to print all the activities onto card stock and taking them to get laminated.

Here is Virginia coloring in her A is for Apple coloring page.

Virginia is matching the apple halves together by color. This was her favorite game.

In this game Virginia had to match the upper and lowercase a's to the apples on the tree.

For this game I printed the file and then cut and pasted one half of the apple onto construction paper.

Virginia insisted that her apples be purple. Here is the coloring page and the child can trace the upper and lowercase A's at the top of the page.

Upper and Lowercase Matching Game.

Here is the large floor numbers. I took the magnetic apple and let Virginia place the apple on the correct number that I called out. I hope in the future to make ten apples. That way she can place the correct number of apples on each card. All the activities were lots of fun and kept Virginia's attention. Thursday she woke up and ran into the living room asking for Apple Game. Hope you enjoy and make sure to pay Confessions of a Homeschooler a visit.

Something Spicy!

2011-07-05T11:04:00.001-07:00

If you are like me, you may be sick of hotdogs and hamburgers after the Fourth of July weekend. Why not add a little spice to your weekly meal plan by adding chicken empanadas. I love this dish because I have a small love affair with mexican food. Also this dish is pretty quick and easy for little fingers to eat.

First take three cups of chicken and cook it in a pan on the stove top. I used a package of chicken tenders. I just cut each tender into bite size pieces and seasoned with salt and pepper. In a large bowl combine the cooked chicken, one ( 8oz. package shredded Colby and Monterey Jack cheese blend, 4 ounces cream cheese, softened, 1/4 cup chopped red bell pepper, 1 jalapeno, seeded and chopped, 1 tablespoon ground cumin, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper.

Unroll one piecrust onto a lightly floured surface. Roll into a 15-inch circle. Cut out rounds, using a 3-inch cookie cutter or use any round mug or object you have. I used a hamburger patty maker. Re-roll dough as needed. Repeat procedure with remaining piecrusts, making 12 to 15 circles total. Arrange one round on a clean, flat surface. Lightly brush the edges of crust with water. Place 1 heaping teaspoon of chicken mixture in the center of the round.

Fold the dough over the filling, pressing the edges with a fork to seal. Repeat with the remaining rounds and chicken mixture. Place the empanadas on a greased cookie sheet to bake in the oven at 400 degrees F. for 15 minutes.

Note: You can freeze the leftover mixture for up to one month for future meals. I ate my leftover mixture within one week. It was that yummy!

Happy Fourth of July: Flag Cake

2011-07-03T10:08:00.000-07:00

With every holiday, my whole family likes to get together for a meal and good times. 4th of July is no different. We all pack into our cars and drive up to Hendersonville, NC to have a BBQ at my Aunt's house. We all bring some sort of dish to share. I usually always bring a dessert. This year I wanted to challenge myself and decided to try my hand at a three layer cake. I couldn't just do a simple three layer cake, but decided to try to make a Flag Cake.

Take three 9-inch round cake pans and spray them with cooking spray and then lightly dust them with flour. Note: I learned in the end that my pans were not 9-inch pans and one of the three were not the same sizes.

I used two white cake box mixes to make my cake batter. Separate the batter into three bowls. Then I used food coloring to dye one layer red , blue, and leave one layer white. You will have leftover batter that you can make cupcakes with. Then follow the box directions and bake your cakes. Note: You will end up using a ton of food coloring. I have been told that food coloring gel works better.

Once you have allowed your cakes to cool in the pans for ten minutes, carefully remove each cake from its pan. Once removed and allow your layers to cool for an hour, use your cake lever tool or a knife to remove the hump in the middle of the cake. This will help make the stacking go easy and keep your cake level. Also use the cake lever and cut the red and white layer in half horizontally.

Note: It is best to bake the cakes the night before you wish to assemble and serve the cake; the overnight rest in the fridge makes the individual layers very easy to cut and frost. I learned this after I made the cake.

Now take one of the red layers, white layers, and the blue layer. Stack these layers red, white, and blue. Use a large mug or bowl and place on top in the middle of the blue layer and cute around the mug. You will end up with a small circle of red, white, and blue. Save the blue layer, the one with the middle cut out. Save the small circles of red and white layer. You can discard the rest of the red and white layer.

Note: Once you cut the layers, there is quite a bit of "waste" involved with this cake. But! Do not throw it away! You can save it and serve it, cut into pieces, with ice cream.

Now take the white layer and ice the top all the way to the edge.

Note: place your white layer on the cake holder or plate that you tend to store the cake in.

Next stack the red layer on top of the white layer. Then ice the top of the red layer all the way to the edge.

Next stack the blue layer on top of the red layer. You will want to use a spoon or small knife to ice the inside of the blue circle. Then place the white circle inside the blue hole. Then ice the top of the white circle and place the red circle on top. Try to make sure once the circles are in the blue hole that the top of the cake is level. As you can see I has some problems with this. Once you have all the layers together ice the whole cake.

I think I accidentally did a crumb coat on my cake. Because once I iced the cake I realized that I had tons of crumbs in my icing. So I put the cake in the fridge for a bit. Then took it out and iced the whole cake again. This helped to clean my cake up. Then I took a knife and cut a slice out so you could see the american flag design. Mine was a little messy, but I think I learned my mistakes and my next three layer cake will be even better. Happy Fourth of July weekend everyone!

Cooking: Joy or Chore

2011-06-30T08:17:00.000-07:00

Lately I have decided to step up my game in the house. I am not quite the domestic diva as many of you know. Lisa can tell the story of me adding water to the spaghetti sauce in college. Reiggin can share the time I melted a spatula while making him a grilled cheese sandwich. I am sure there are more stories that I could share.

I decided to start my domestic diva training by creating a cleaning routine and having my BFF Lisa be my support system. Lisa is improving her cleaning routine as well so we decided to keep each other on track. I took Monday and Tuesday and tackled my biggest problem areas, the kitchen and the living room. I also confronted the mountain I call our laundry. Once I got all these areas taken care of I sat down and assigned each day a cleaning task.

Monday: Cleaning all the bed sheets and do a rough vacuum of all the floors.

Tuesday: Clean Virginia's Room and My Bedroom

Wednesday: Clean my bathroom and tackle the laundry

Thursday: Free Day ( just doing small de-cluttering )

Friday: Do another vacuum sweep of the home.

Sunday: Create a weekly meal plan

Weekends I try to keep open to enjoying family time. Of course each day throughout the week I will be keeping the kitchen clean. Making sure all the dishes are put away and cleaned. I also make a point now before I head to bed to pick up the living room. Now that Virginia is older I am getting her involved and having her pick up all her toys before her bedtime. This has helped a ton. Those little toddler toys can add up and over take any living room. Laundry is mixed in each day, but I am trying to make it where I just tackle all the laundry on Wednesday. Sunday is the day that I create the weekly meal plan.

The weekly meal plan is the thorn in my side. I wish I could say that I am that housewife that has a warm and delicious meal on the table every night for my husband and child to enjoy. Reality is I try and I do feed my family each day. Some nights are going out to eat, which I hope to cut down. Other nights are just not that healthy like hotdogs, hamburgers, and mexican.

I want to work and improve my cooking skills. I want to be able to walk into the kitchen and whip up a delicious meal that will impress my husband. A meal that my child will want to lick the plate clean. Also hope to make cooking less of a chore and more joy. Reiggin will tell you my main mistake is not sticking to the recipe. I tend to drift from the original recipe and do what I think is right. I know, big mistake when you are starting off. My next mistake is not making a detailed grocery list. I always start a meal and realize I am missing ingredients. Last night I was making chicken tenders and macaroni and cheese. I thought I had everything, but I was missing bread crumbs, a few spices, and frying oil. I thought I would be smart and crush croutons up for the bread crumbs and this some what worked. I was ok on the spices and just substituted. I had half the oil I needed and did find more, but lets just say the expiration date was questionable. In the end the meal turned out fine with the help from my husband and my family cleaned their plates.

Now I am reaching out and asking for help. Please share your recipes and tips with me. Share your favorite weekly meals that you enjoy making for your family. Hopefully with your help I will be able to add the cooking jewel to my crown.

Picky Eater

2011-06-28T09:52:00.000-07:00

Growing up I can remember many nights of sitting at the kitchen table all by myself. I would be at the table for hours just staring down my green beans. I would wish for them to disappear, push them around my plate so it seemed like I had taken a few bites, and wish our dog was an inside dog. But none of those solutions really helped me. Eventually my Mom would come in all red faced and mad and tell me to just leave the kitchen.

Back then I thought my parents were the toughest parents around. Forcing me to eat my vegetables and try new dishes. I never understood why they just couldn't let me eat what I wanted too. Now that I am a parent of a two and a half year old little girl, I would just like to say, " Sorry Mom and Dad." Call it pay back or just part of growing up, but my daughter is a bit of a picky eater as I was.

But her picky eating is silly things and changes day by day. The kid won't eat spaghetti, grilled cheese, or a hotdog. Her mood can change with the day. One day she will try a grilled cheese sandwich and the next she will look at me like I am crazy. This makes meal planning a little challenging. I want my child to have a healthy meal and grow up strong. At the same time I don't want to be a short order cook either.

Reiggin and I have started to take the approach of allowing her to choose what she wants to eat for breakfast and lunch. Dinner she has to eat what we put in front of her or else go to bed without dinner. The going to bed without dinner at first was tough for me. I hated the idea of my child starving laying in bed dreaming of food. I quickly realized that I was being silly and that my child would eat when she was hungry.

At lunch time today I asked Virginia what she would like to eat. She surprised me by saying a sandwich. I did my best to hold my excitement in for fear she would change her mind. I quickly grabbed out the ham, cheese, and bread. I kept the sandwich simple and even cut the crust off for her. I remember how my mom use to take cookie cutters and cut our sandwiches into fun shapes.

At first Virginia just stared the sandwich down. Trying to figure out what she was suppose to do with this thing in front of her. Finally after some coaching and cutting the sandwich into squares and a mini photo session.

Virginia ate more the half of her sandwich. I was screaming with joy and doing the happy dance all around my living room. It is little accomplishments like these that make being a mother awesome.

I just hope that this continues and that Virginia will continue to try new things. So Moms please tell me how you handle your picky eaters.

Weekend in Rewind

2011-06-27T06:05:00.000-07:00

Wow, what a weekend I have had! Saturday, Virginia and I made it out to the CentralPiedmontMommies Yard Sale / Vendor Fair going on in Kannapolis. We browsed the yard sale items and then made our way inside to scope out the vendors. I knew I wanted to check out the Scentsy booth and the Spoiled So Sweet Boutique booth.

I ended up grabbing a catalog at the Scentsy booth since I didn't see a warmer that I was in love with. Virginia was not being miss patient either. We moved onto my friend Angela's booth for Spoiled So Sweet Boutique. She has the best bows, bottle cap necklaces, and tutus. I mean the bows she makes just blow me away. We ended up getting two necklaces and one drop dead cute tutu for Virginia. Virginia wore her tutu out to the parking lot and everyone was saying, " oh she is so cute." Virginia was loving every minute. She did a few turns and smiled.

Then we were off to grab a quick present for a birthday party. After snagging the present we stopped at Walgreens for a bag for the present. As I am grabbing the toy out of the trunk and putting the present in the bag, I manage to lock my keys in the trunk of my car.

I felt like hitting my head on my car in frustration. I am known for locking my keys in the car. My best friend Lisa and I have locked my keys in the car almost three times in one day. But I had been so good and it had been so long since I had locked the keys in the car. To make things worse no one knew where the extra key was. I had to call a locksmith. The locksmith takes almost 50 minutes to get to me and then I just wanted to scream when I saw the bill. I got in my car and got home to relax and forget about my afternoon.

That night we went to CiCi's for a family night out and Virginia ate her weight in pizza. We made a quick stop at Pet Smart. Virginia loves the fishes, dogs, cats, birds, well pretty much every kind of animal. I think the fish and the birds are her true favorites.

Sunday brought the major event of the weekend, Sarah and Norman's wedding. Two of my best friends from high school got married at Carrigan Farms in Mooresville, NC. Virginia and I drove up for the wedding and the location was gracious. The back drop was a quarry with a pond and tall trees. The guests were seated on a sandy beach area where Norman and Sarah were standing on a rock surface looking over the pond.

Sarah was breathtaking in her lacy wedding gown. The ceremony was wonderful and even made me laugh watching Noman and Sarah dance back down the aisle. Really showing both their fun loving personalities. Virginia spent the whole ceremony playing in the sand. She was as happy as can be as long as she was digging in the sand.

I also was thrilled to see one of my friends from high school, Brad. It had been nine years since I had seen him and his family. Since then him and his wife have had a baby boy, Wyatt. Wyatt is just the cutest thing ever. He was so well behaved for a such a little boy, I think he is 13 months. Virginia on the other hand was not such an angel. She was wired and wanted to do her thing. Between jumping on me, knocking tea on the table, and insisting on playing in the sand she was just not her well behaved self.

This event taught me that with a toddler, you have to have a game plan. You need water in your bag for them to drink during the hot summer. You need snacks to keep their bellies full and happy. Having a distraction toy such as my DS is also a good idea. If you don't have said items you will find yourself sitting on a rock eating dinner while your child plays knee deep in sand.

But the night was beautiful and Norman and Sarah said their I Do's and both looked gorgeous. Virginia and I made it home in one piece. Worn out and exhausted both our bed's made for a nice ending to an amazing weekend.

Luck be a Lady

2011-03-27T07:40:00.000-07:00

Well Luck came to me in the form of The Mommies Network this week. My local chapter CentralPiedmontMommies held a contest for our members to win Cirque du Soleil. I was not lucky enough to win the first contest. But lucky for me The Mommies Network held another contest just for the moderators and managers. One day only, we had to pick a number from 1 to 1000. I am usually so bad at these contests and never win. I had a number in my head and was about to submit, but at the last moment I switched to 248 and the winning number was 234.

I got home from bowling and checked my local moms site to read the post announcing me and Brandy the winners. I believe I screamed and did a happy dance all around my apartment. My husband wasn't sure what was wrong with me. I told him I won and he was kind enough to let me take my good friend Faby while he stays home and watches Virginia. He isn't a big Cirque du Soleil fan. I believe I was on cloud 9 the rest of the weekend.

My weekend also included a sleep over at the Grandparents. After a nice, well little chilly, park play date. Virginia and I packed our things and hit the highway to Grandma's house. Samantha, my niece was also sleeping over. I am always so excited when Virginia and Samantha get to play. They are only 4 months apart and already super buddies.

They spent the whole night playing and getting the grandparents to push them around the house on their favorite tricycle. I just laugh watching my father with the girls. I will be honest I believed my father was going to be a little bit of a grumpy grandfather. But he has proved me wrong, he is super grandpa. The girls love him and he loves them even more. He will do anything to make those girls happy.

Even with a rainy Saturday, Virginia and Samantha were able to find some fun. Grandpa moved the car out of the garage and the girls had a blast. One thing I love about kids is that they can find entertainment in pretty much anything. My mother has a Christmas ball hanging from a string to help her know how far to pull the car into the garage before hitting the wall. Well the girls saw this has one big t ball set. They took some plastic 2 liter bottles and swung away. Giggles and screams filled the garage.

Sunday came and Lady Luck was not done with me yet. I woke up and checked my email and saw I had a few messages on Bloggers. So I went over to check my profile and check the newest topics in the forums. To my excitement I was one of the bloggers editor's pick of the day. Now I will admit I don't really know how the editor's pick and most likely may be random. But hey I will take it and I will be over the top excited. I can't say enough good things about Bloggers. I ran across the site by random. I saw a button on one of my friends blogs. I checked out the site and within a couple of days my blogs traffic was up and I had found some new blogs to enjoy as well. Bloggers has been one big loving community for me. I always enjoy finding a new blog and Bloggers is one site that makes that easy for me. So if you have not checked them out, don't wait another second and go make your profile.

Well that's all folks, I am off to get ready for my girl's afternoon out to go see Cirque du Soleil. This is hoping that Lady Luck decides to stay awhile, I believe we could be best of friends.

One Minute-What Can You Do?

2011-03-21T13:24:00.000-07:00

One Minute- What can you do? Well I can write a blog post in one minute. I was browsing the forums on The Mommies Network when a post caught my eye. It was titled Do you like to Blog, well of course I do! Turns out one of the mommies started a blog where a team of moms create one minute blog posts each day. Each day a topic is posted and each mom creates a post using that topic. I love how easy and quick this idea is. What is even better is that I get to know each mom a little better each day by reading their posts.

The mom got the idea from The One Minute Writer, I believe. This blog does the same concept and at the end of the day a winner is picked. I have gotten addicted to this site as well. You will find out it doesn't take to much to capture my interest sometimes. I enjoy searching the web finding a new blog to follow or a new craft blog to read. I am one of those people that have like 50 blogs in their reader.

You all will have to visit One-Minute-Bloggers and browse the topics and leave some love in the form of comments. Here are the posts I have made so far. I may have spent one or two extra minutes an a few of these posts, I was just on a roll and couldn't stop.

Socks

I can go both ways on this topic. I do love me some socks, but really only doing winter. I love fun colorful socks and especially the holiday socks. But usually I have the white gold toed cotton socks. I really don't enjoy socks most of the time. It always feels like my feet are struggling to breathe. I love going bare foot as much as possible. I believe the worse socks are the toe socks. Yes they look all cute and funny, but those things are like prisons for my toes. I always look forward to spring and summer so I can sport my flip flops and my feet are free. My golden rule is as soon as I walk though the door off comes my shoes and my socks.

Routine

I would love to eat a Chick Fil A Banana Pudding milkshake daily as my routine! But then again I may gain like 100 pounds if I did that daily. My morning routine is quite lazy. I wait to hear the sound of my daughter's door opening and then she comes into our bed room and hands me my glasses and cellphone from my night stand. We head into the living room in our PJs to watch some morning cartoons. Most of the time it is either Nick Jr. or Disney Junior. I will grab her some milk and most mornings mini pancakes.

For myself, I usually eat whatever I feel like. Lately it has been cream cheese bagels. Once we have our food and drinks ready we crash on the couch for a bit. While she is watching cartoons, I surf the web, catching up on email, facebook, centralpiedmontmommies, and TMN. I also start looking around seeing everything I need to be cleaning and wishing the magic cleaning fairies would come out and clean for me.

But alas no fairies have appeared so usually I wait till after lunch to really kick it into gear and clean house. We live in an apartment so there is never to much space to clean. But I try to keep the kitchen and living room cleaned each day. And I always start a load of laundry, even though there are only three of us, it seems like my laundry pile never goes down.

Not sure why I follow this same routine most days. I guess it is just comfort and I am lazy. I will admit my routine at the moment doesn't work, because well I am lazy. I am working on creating a better cleaning routine where I clean certain areas each day. That way it doesn't add up and I find myself cleaning all day on Saturday, right before the in laws come over.

Sports

I basically lived and breathed sports growing up in the south. I remember the smell of the dugout, concession stand, and sunflower seeds. Being the father, of a family of three girls, my dad made up for not having any boys by encouraging us to play sports.

My sisters and I all played softball since we were eight years old. You could find us on the softball field year round. In the winter you could find me on the basketball court being a little more rough then in my daily life. Sports played a huge role growing up, most people identified me as the athletic one or the artsy one. I played one form or another of a sport until I had my daughter at the age of twenty-six.

Now I am back on the sports wagon playing in a bowling league. Don't laugh, after bowling three games in one night I find myself quite tired. I have my average up to 136 and rising. I believe playing sports growing up taught me discipline and leadership. Sports also brought me some of my best friends in life.

I cross my fingers that my daughter will follow in my footsteps and find a sport that she enjoys. But I will be happy either way. As far as watching sports, I enjoy watching any sport as long as I am watching with someone. I am not big into watching sports on TV by myself.

And the best way I know to close, for it's one, two, three strikes I am out!

A Little Homemade...

2011-03-18T07:20:00.000-07:00

Lately I have been bitten by the crafting bug. I have a ton of project ideas in my head that I want to get done. Also my late night web searching of craft blogs have given me a crap load of bookmarked projects that are going to be perfect for Virginia. St. Patrick's Day was the perfect reason for me to do a few sewing projects.

Like always I waited til the last minute to find a cute St. Patrick's Day shirt for Virginia. I guess Target doesn't believe in selling St. Patrick's Day shirts a week before the holiday. The shirts I saw at Walmart were just not what I wanted my little girl wearing. So I got a wild hair and decided to make my own. I knew I wanted work with felt and wanted a design of a pot of gold with a rainbow.

So I searched the web for a picture to reference and made a trip to AC Moore for supplies. Once I had everything I got home and started to make my game plan. Of course I waited about two days before the St. Patrick's Day party to make the shirt. I used a pink shirt from AC Moore. I wanted a green shirt, but they were out. In the end the pink worked out better. I had never worked with felt or sewed with it either so I called my good sewing buddy Susan Roberts for advice. She told me the right way of doing things, but of course I went about things a little different. I didn't have any fabric glue so I knew I had to come up with a different solution.

First I blew up my image to the size I needed. Next I cut out each shape from the felt. Once I had all my shapes cut out I laid them out on the shirt. This way I could see what I needed to sew first. I started with the rainbow. Since the rainbow was made up of different colored strips. I hand sewed the bottom part of each strip. That way they would stay still once I started to sew on the machine. At least I had hoped they would stay still. I found out quickly that felt moves alot. So next step was to hand sew the top part of the rainbow.

A problem arose when I started to sew on the machine that the rainbow was starting to arch up. A quick fix come to mind and I grabbed the scotch tape from the kitchen and just taped down the strips after I ripped the top seams open. So I sewed on the machine and slowly took off the tape as I went up the rainbow. I decided to sew lines horizontal all the way up. It gave the shirt a quilted look.

Next I did the pot and then the gold. Last I decided to hand sew on a four leaf clover. It looked more like a small green ink spot. I just had no luck in cutting out a nice four leaf clover. The whole shirt came out great and Virginia was in love with it.

St. Patrick's Day came and I realized I didn't have anything green for Virginia to wear. She had a strip of green in her shirt, but I really wanted green pants for her. I searched the web and ended up on my favorite craft blog MADE. First I thought I would make a skirt for Virginia, but I just didn't like the fabric I had on hand. But I saw a tutorial on how to make pants and I thought this would be perfect since it was a little windy outside. Again I wasn't sure about the fabrics I had laying around.

Then the light bulb went off in my head. I could use one of Reiggin's old shirts. I looked though his closet and found the perfect long sleeves cotton shirt. It was a little thick, but not to thick that it would make her hot. Crossing my fingers that it wasn't one of his favorite shirts. I am pretty sure it wasn't since I have not seen him wear it in like three years. Slowly I will get rid of the 300 shirts he has in our closet.

I was nervous about sewing pants at first. This was my first attempt at pants and my past attempts at making Virginia clothes have not been the best. Luckily MADE had a pattern that was just Virginia's size. So I printed out the pattern and taped it together. I laid the pattern out on Reiggin's shirt and used my fabric pen and cut the front and back pieces out. Since I was using a shirt, when I cut I already had both the front two pieces and back two pieces cut at at once.

The tutorial was simple and clear cut. I love tutorials that are like that and that have great photos to follow along with. I am a visual person and photos help me out alot. Also sense I am still learning my sewing terms. I was thrilled with the end product, the pants fit perfect. I did a little happy dance around the apartment and we were off to Chick Fil A to celebrate. This gives me hope that I will get better at making more clothes for Virginia this spring and summer. Who knows maybe I will even make something for myself.

Side note I did make a sweet bowling shirt this week as well. My bowling team decided to all wear green. Well knowing me you all know I could just wear a simple green shirt. I had to do things the hard way and I knitted a design on the back of a green shirt of a strike scene. It was time consuming and I knocked it out in one day just in time to wear to bowling. It gave me good luck and we won 2 of the 3 games. And I was above average on all three games, I had a 140, 143, and a 148.

Next on my crafting agenda is a easter skirt for Virginia and a fishing hole for her to play with. On the back burner is a super hero cape. I believe I will be keeping busy for a bit. But I love to see what I can create.

Here are a few pictures from the St. Patrick's Day Party.

Girls Sleepover

2011-03-14T19:01:00.000-07:00

This weekend was a blast. Saturday I got up and quickly got everything together for Virginia's Pull-Ups Potty training party. My wonderful friend Faby was kind enough to allow me to have the party at her house and to give us a ride. Once at Faby's house we started putting things together and getting all the food out. I knew that it was going to be a small group coming. I was happy about that because with small groups you get to know people better. I was expecting two moms, but only one showed up. The party was great, the kids played and had pizza. Faby, Karen, and myself sat at the table eating our pizza and having great conversation. I couldn't have asked for a better party. I had planned to have the party end at 2pm. Before I knew it we were talking away and I looked up at the clock and it was like 3pm. We called it a day and quickly cleaned up and said our good-byes.

Virginia and I had more fun prepared for the night. After quickly getting food for Reiggin to prepare his dinner, I packed our bags in a hurry and Virginia and I were on the road again heading to Grandma's house. I was so excited to be having a girl's sleepover with Grandma, Grandpa, and Samantha. It was the first time Virginia and Samantha had spent the whole night together.

We finally arrived and Samantha was thrilled to see Virginia. They played all night long. Kept Grandma and Grandpa busy playing here and there. Or should I say Up and Down because the one thing those girls love to do is go upstairs to play with all of the toys that Grandma uses with her students.

They had their baths and Grandma read them their bedtime stories and we were ready to begin the battle of bedtime. I was hoping that they would sleep in the same bed together. That way I could have a bed to myself and I just imagined them sitting up at night giggling and goofing off. But for whatever reason Virginia was wanting to sleep with me. Samantha fell asleep pretty easy after Grandma laid with her for awhile. And after I assembled the bed rail for her bed. Susan I will be sending you the bill in the mail.

Virginia stayed up pretty late rolling around and playing with me in the bed. I must say that Virginia is not a good bedtime buddy. I don't know how such a little kid can take up so much space. I woke up about 5am to the sound of Samantha calling out for Mama. Then shortly Virginia woke up as well. Grandma got up as well and was kind enough to stay up with the girls and let me go back to sleep. It was heaven to sleep til about 10am or so. I did miss out on the huge breakfast they were going to make if I had gotten up early.

After I woke up and got dressed we all headed outside to enjoy the nice spring day. Samantha and Virginia had a great time running all over the yard. Grandma and myself sat on the swing and talked. Grandpa had steps duty, keeping an eye on Virginia and Samantha going up and down the steps to the deck. I don't know why but the small deck is the favorite spot for Virginia and Samantha to play. After alot of playing and riding their tricylces the girls both crashed for a good nap. Samantha ended up on the couch holding her cup of goldfish. Virginia fell asleep on the floor in front of the tv watching Nick Jr. I think they slept for almost 3 hours.

Susan came home from her trip to Pittsburgh, just in time for us to celebrate her birthday. We hung out for a little while and then it was time for Susan and Samantha to pack up and head home. Virginia and I did the same a few hours later. We got home and pretty much crashed. I couldn't have asked for a better weekend. I got to spend time with my family and friends and Reiggin got some much needed peaceful down time.

Princess Super Powers!

2011-03-09T12:38:00.000-08:00

Doesn't every little girl or boy deserve a Princess crown or King's crown? It seems that all little kids enjoy dressing up and pretending to be someone they are not. So I decided I wanted to make Virginia a princess crown and cape. Well it started off that I was going to make her a super hero outfit. But then I came across we wilsons craft blog when I did my google search.

I landed on her Nicholas Crown Project page. Then I read more about Compasio and how we wilson is sewing crowns for the children at the orphanage in Thailand that is funded and ran by Compasio. We Wilson is even going further as to ask all her readers to email her the name of a child that is sick or having to deal with death or a hardship that may be in need of a crown. We Wilson is sewing a crown for every child that is emailed to her by May 4, 2011. Some of her kind crafty readers are also helping by sewing crowns and shipping them to her. I am hoping to maybe get better and ship a few crowns her way to help her project.

I sat down today and started Virginia's crown. I allowed Virginia to pick the template she liked best, which was the princess crown. Then I laid out all the fabrics that I had and she picked her favorite. After she picked her favorite I picked the fabric for the back of the crown and the accent pieces for the front. I knew that I was going to have to get Virginia over her fear of the sewing machine. If I was going to ever get any project done during the day. For some odd reason Virginia has developed a fear of the sewing machine. She tells me it is because the sewing machine is so loud. It drives me nuts because if I try to sew during the she is run screaming and crying to her bedroom until I turn the sewing machine off and put it away.

Today I was determined to sew her a crown no matter what. She did her usual running and screaming to her bedroom. But after a few minutes came out and was still crying just a little, but once I turned on the cartoons and she realized the sewing machine wasn't going to attack her. She was happy to see the crown taking shape. I am still a very beginner level sewer. But this project was super easy and was perfect for my level. I had lots of fun and can't wait to make more.

If you would like to make your own you can visit We Wilsons for the tutorial and template.

Saturday Night Oh Yeah!

2011-03-06T11:04:00.000-08:00

Nothing to do with blog post, but no post is complete without a photo.

Ahhhhh, I feel so refreshed after my Saturday night out with my husband. Did you hear that? With my husband. Yep, we went out kid free. We headed up to Statesville to visit the in-laws and my mother-in-law was so kind to offer to watch Virginia while Reiggin and I went up to Hickory for the night. Virginia got entertained and went to Chick-fil-a with PawPaw and MiMi and then back to their place to play with her best furry buds Sadie and Zuzu.

I will admit I was a little nervous about leaving Virginia and letting the in-laws drive her around town. I wasn't worried about their driving skills, but more-so that Virginia would act crazy or just cry once we left her. I know I am silly and I am totally a helicopter mom at times. But it was extremely nice to jump in the car, just Reiggin and me, and hit the road. We made our way up to Hickory with the plans of going to the consignment store to get clothes for Virginia. I know, I know... even on our night off we are still doing something for Virginia. We ended up skipping the consignment store and went to Ross-for-Less. Reiggin scored some great deals on work clothes. Which I love because really I feel like I am washing his work clothes every day. So now he has more work clothes which means I can space out my laundry load each week.

I didn't find much there for Virginia. There just wasn't any 2T's and it seems like it is that way at lots of places. And I didn't look for myself, I just don't enjoy looking though the racks. I am the type of person (aka lazy) that needs clothes laid out for me and even put together on a mannequin for me. I have no fashion sense what so ever. I would be happy to wear jeans and a t-shirt everywhere I went. If anyone wants to apply to be my personal shopper, please email me. Can't promise the pay will be any good.

After Ross, I hit up Michael's. I love me some craft stores. I was looking to get Virginia some more paints and paper. I came out with a cute $1.00 reversible craft apron for her instead. Yep, you heard right: $1.00. After browsing all the aisles we headed out to figure out what's for dinner. This is always tough because the "whatever you want honey, no whatever you want" conversation begins. But tonight we halved the role and I suggested two places and Reiggin choose the winner.

Red Lobster came out victorious and I was very happy. The cheese biscuits there are heavenly. I ended up getting stuffed tilapia and was stuffed myself by the end of the meal. After dinner we hit up Toys R Us to see if there was anything good for Virginia there. I was disappointed that we didn't find anything there either. She really is in a between stage where she isn't old enough for some of the electronic toys but too old for the baby toys. But I am going to Walmart today to get paints. That seems to be the winner with her lately. I hope to drive down to Ikea also today to get their $5 drawing paper roll. Also to let Virginia play in their play area for the first time. And as always when going to Ikea you have to have some meatballs.

A night away from said kid and just a night with my husband was just what the doctor ordered. We don't go out just the two of us enough. Mostly because I just can't bring myself to pay a babysitter 10 bucks or more and pay for dinner or a movie. That is a ton of money. Call me cheap. So usually we have to drive an hour either way to the grandparents. Which I don't mind doing because Virginia loves seeing her PawPaw's and MawMaw and MiMi. Next on the date night schedule is going to have to be a movie night. It has been forever since we have been to the movies.