gotta get back in the blogging mode

work has been so uber busy lately that i am constantly wishing there were more hours in the day.  by the time i get home from work; play, feed, bath and put my babies to bed; make and eat dinner...its usually after 9 o'clock before I can just......BE.  any other mommas out there like that too??  Last week my cooking suffered too.  I aim to cook about 3 meals at least a week and it was so busy and hadn't been to the store, I was just out of sync.  Hate that.  I am embracing the crock pot at least once a week though and I have really been enjoying that.  It is great to make it and forget about it until we are ready to eat! :)

My boys though thankfully are great these days...I think we are hitting a stride and things are getting a little, dare I say, easier?  Now that Markey is walking and talking (well you know what I mean, 1 yr old talking!), he and Z are actually "playing together!" Don't get me wrong, there is a lot of toy stealing and the occasional pushing going on, but there is more running around with each other and playing then there is of the other, and for that I am thankful.  It is funny to see M follow Z upstairs and hear them happily playing together in the game room.  Although today was my day off, I was on call for work and it was rather hectic at times.  I was so thankful that during the very busy moments, the boys were content to amuse each other!!  I think they are going to be the best of friends for sure ;-)

Not much else going on....I have yet to open my sewing machine from the box that I got for Christmas and have only been able to play with my Silhouette machine a couple of times too.  I have a bazillion of ides floating around in my head, supplies to make several of them, and yet no time to do any of them.  But have no fear, it will happen!!

Hope all is going well in 2011 for everyone so far.  I am praying for lots of happiness for many I know and love this year!! :)

New Crockpot dinner

The only good thing about today was dinner! Okay, it wasn't THAT bad of a day...but we had a com cast technician at our house for almost 5 hours.....Seriously??  O.M.G.  Not QUITE how I intended to spend my day....but I digress.  While the poor dude was trying to figure out what the heck was wrong with phone line, I threw some goodies into the pot and 8 hours later, a delish and healthy dinner!   I think it was one of our favs yet!

Here we go...
1 pkg chicken breasts chopped into 1" strips
14.5 oz diced tomatoes, drained
jar of quartered artichoke hearts, drained
can of mushrooms, drained
2 Tbsp Dijon
1/4 c red wine (i used Cabernet)

Mix it all together and let it sit!  I put mine on a 1/2c rice and had steamed mixed veggies for the side!  So good!  Chicken in the crock is really tasty and shreds so easily, delish!!  It may not look pretty, but it tastes darn good!  Try it out...what do you think?

Brothers

I just love these little stinkers!

And just for fun....everyone always says the boys look just alike....here is a pic of Zach @ 14 months followed by one of Markey.  Not so much, eh?  Maybe after M's haircut? ;-)

Whatcha think?

Happy New Year!!

Wow, I don't know about you but I cannot believe that it is 2-0-1-1?!?   REALLY??   My goodness time is just flying by!  We spent the night ringing in the new year with about 20 of my closest friends at a little local bar singing karaoke!  It was rather fun and I cannot even tell you the last time we have all been out together sans kiddos except for maybe our annual beach trip over Memorial weekend?  Wow, we have GOT to get out more!  ;-)  And I cannot say it enough but thanks as always to my parents for watching the boys, we are so lucky!

The boys slept at my parents' house and mark slept like a champ from about 8:30pm-9am...poor Z on the other hand was scared of the fireworks.  This is a new thing!  Just last week he was scared of the thunder one day and that has never happened before either.  Anyway, we spent New Year's day with my folks relaxing and dining on beef tenderloin and black eyed peas!  Lots of luck for 2011!

Well one of my goals for the new year is to BLOG more!  With working full time and 2 little boys, I often forget to sit down and write down what's going on!  I also want to be more aware and take more pictures!!  In looking at my pics the other night I realized there will be weeks with no pics sometimes and the boys can change so much so quickly.  And on that note, I need to make a 2010 book.  Something with pics to showcase and not have thousands of pictures just on my computer.  I remember growing up and looking through our photo albums and I LOVED that!

I also got a silhouette machine AND a sewing machine for Christmas.  I have rather lofty plans for making use of them and have several projects in my head...not to getting actually made!

The last goal is to DE-CLUTTER!  I started over the weekend.  Cleaned out my closet. Cleaned out some random basket on our dresser.  Cleaned out my nightstand.  So much stuff, lots of it just old and worn or not needed.  Must not be that important of a piece of paper if its been buried in my nightstand for 2 years, right?  We have a long way to go, but I will get it all done!

What about you? Any goals that you have made for 2011?  Besides the regular losing weight etc which is always on the list...

Guess I better get the Christmas tree down next! ;-)

I read this article this week and found it so interesting!  So funny to think how quickly times are changing and technology especially!  Anything you can think of to add to the list that our kids will never know about??


30 Things Babies Born in 2011 Will Never Know by stacy johnson


If you think the world hasn’t changed in the last 10 years, then you’ve been living in a cave. Technology has changed the way we work, relax and communicate. Here are some things that are part of your life that won’t be recognized by the next generation...


Huffington Post recently put up a story called You’re Out: 20 Things That Became Obsolete This Decade. It’s a great retrospective on the technology leaps we’ve made since the new century began, and it got me thinking about the difference today’s technology will make in the lives of tomorrow’s kids.

Video tape: Starting this year, the news stories we produce here at Money Talks have all been shot, edited, and distributed to TV stations without ever being on any kind of tape. Not only that, the tape-less broadcast camera we use today offers much higher quality than anything that could have been imagined 10 years ago – and cost less than the lens on the camera we were using previously.


Travel agents: While not dead today, this profession is one of many that’s been decimated by the Internet. When it’s time for their honeymoon, will those born in 2011 be able to find one?


Books, magazines, and newspapers: Like video tape, words written on dead trees are on their way out. Sure, there may be books – but for those born today, stores that exist solely to sell them will be as numerous as record stores are now.


The separation of work and home: When you’re carrying an email-equipped computer in your pocket, it’s not just your friends who can find you – so can your boss. For kids born this year, the wall between office and home will be blurry indeed.


Movie rental stores: You actually got in your car and drovesomeplace just to rent a movie?


Adult book stores, 900 numbers, and movie theaters: Nobody knows where anonymous sexual stimulation may be heading, but it’s a safe bet it’s not back to pay-by-the-minute telephone services or public venues.


Watches: Maybe as quaint jewelry, but the correct time is on your smartphone, which is pretty much always in your hand.


Paper maps: At one time these were available free at every gas station. They’re practically obsolete today, and the next generation will probably have to visit a museum to find one.


Wired phones: Why would you pay $35 every month to have a phone that plugs into a wall? For those born today, this will be a silly concept.


Long distance: Thanks to the Internet, the days of paying more to talk to somebody in the next city, state, or even country are limited.


Newspaper classifieds: The days are gone when you have to buy a bunch of newsprint just to see what’s for sale.


Dial-up Internet: While not everyone is on broadband, it won’t be long before dial-up Internet goes the way of the plug-in phone.


Encyclopedias: Imagine a time when you had to buy expensive books that were outdated before the ink was dry. This will be a nonsense term for babies born today.


Forgotten friends: Remember when an old friend would bring up someone you went to high school with, and you’d say, “Oh yeah, I forgot about them!” The next generation will automatically be in touch with everyone they’ve ever known even slightly via Facebook.


Forgotten anything else: Kids born this year will never know what it was like to stand in a bar and incessantly argue the unknowable. Today the world’s collective knowledge is on the computer in your pocket or purse. And since you have it with you at all times, why bother remembering anything?


The evening news: The news is on 24/7. And if you’re not home to watch it, that’s OK – it’s on the smartphone in your pocket.


CDs: First records, then 8-track, then cassette, then CDs – replacing your music collection used to be an expensive pastime. Now it’s cheap(er) and as close as the nearest Internet connection.


Film cameras: For the purist, perhaps, but for kids born today, the word “film” will mean nothing. In fact, even digital cameras – both video and still – are in danger of extinction as our pocket computers take over that function too.


Yellow and White Pages: Why in the world would you need a 10-pound book just to find someone?


Catalogs: There’s no need to send me a book in the mail when I can see everything you have for sale anywhere, anytime. If you want to remind me to look at it, send me an email.


Fax machines: Can you say “scan”, “.pdf,” and “email”?


One picture to a frame: Such a waste of wall/counter/desk space to have a separate frame around each picture. Eight gigabytes of pictures and/or video in a digital frame encompassing every person you’ve ever met and everything you’ve ever done – now, that’s efficient. Especially compared to what we used to do: put our friends and relatives together in a room and force them to watch what we called a “slide show” or “home movies.”


Wires: Wires connecting phones to walls? Wires connecting computers, TVs, stereos, and other electronics to each other? Wires connecting computers to the Internet? To kids born in 2011, that will make as much sense as an electric car trailing an extension cord.


Hand-written letters: For that matter, hand-written anything. When was the last time you wrote cursive? In fact, do you even know what the word “cursive” means? Kids born in 2011 won’t – but they’ll put you to shame on a tiny keyboard.


Talking to one person at a time: Remember when it was rude to be with one person while talking to another on the phone? Kids born today will just assume that you’re supposed to use texting to maintain contact with five or six other people while pretending to pay attention to the person you happen to be physically next to.


Retirement plans: Yes, Johnny, there was a time when all you had to do was work at the same place for 20 years and they’d send you a check every month for as long as you lived. In fact, some companies would even pay your medical bills, too!


Mail: What’s left when you take the mail you receive today, then subtract the bills you could be paying online, the checks you could be having direct-deposited, and the junk mail you could be receiving as junk email? Answer: A bloated bureaucracy that loses billions of taxpayer dollars annually.


Commercials on TV: They’re terrifically expensive, easily avoided with DVRs, and inefficiently target mass audiences. Unless somebody comes up with a way to force you to watch them – as with video on the Internet – who’s going to pay for them?


Commercial music radio: Smartphones with music-streaming programs like Pandora are a better solution that doesn’t include ads screaming between every song.


Hiding: Not long ago, if you didn’t answer your home phone, that was that – nobody knew if you were alive or dead, much less where you might be. Now your phone is not only in your pocket, it can potentially tell everyone – including advertisers – exactly where you are.

All I Can Say is.....

God Bless Grandparents!!  The crew decided to try for a kid free NYE this year...and since we had kinda decided we would be out on a kid/adult gathering anyway (M can be hard to put down where there are a lot of people around unless at our house), we were definitely up for an adult night out!  However, I wasn't sure if we would have a sitter.  My parents have helped out SO much with the boys lately with all the holiday social gatherings so I wasn't sure if they would want to spend their NYE with the critters.  Well I think after hearing the rest of the friends had sitters, mom decided they would once again come to the rescue! Thanks again SO much mom and dad, what would we do without you?!?!?!

I think we will head to dinner and then out to a local bar for a New Year's Night of KAREOKE!  This will be our first adults only New Years in 4 years! :) 

Saturday we will head back to the parents' house to collect the boys and eat lots of black eyed peas and cabbage to ensure that 2011 is off to a good start!

One of those moments....

Last night I had one of those moments with the Z Man....you know, one of the times where your heart all swells up and your throat gets all tight and perhaps even a little teary in the eyes!  You know I have a love of books of all kinds and have some childhood books specifically that I have such fond memories of.  Up until now, Z has been hard to sit through real books, more interested in pictures or finding things, etc, a typical 2 year old...but over the last couple weeks, we had noticed him being more into the "story".  So Sunday night we were sitting on the couch and I saw Alexander and the terrible, horrible, no good very bad day poking out from the the shelf and asked him to bring it over to me to read to him.  He plopped into my lap and was just mesmerized all about Alexander's day and his brothers too.  After we finished, he asked for another so I pushed my luck for another big kid book and got Corduroy (one of my all time fav books...the little girl's name IS lisa after all! ha!) and read that one too.  He was so into it!  I figured it was just a fluke and just enjoyed the moment....

But then last night, he brought ME the same 2 books again and wanted to read "the bad day and the bear book again"!  Awwww!  Enter swelling heart and closed throat!  I love books so much and have been anxiously awaiting to when we would get into the stage when he could read more than Sandra Boyton and look and find books (although the Going to Bed book will ALWAYS be one of my favs).  At the end of Corduroy, he exclaims how he always wanted a friend and Lisa replies "me too" while they hug....and Z turns as says something like, "I want a hug now too Mommy just like lisa and the bear!" Oh how I love this little boy!  Matt was watching the whole thing and was chuckling at the end cause he could see me getting all mushy over there.  I may not have a little girl who wants to watch Princess movies and Sound of Music and other musicals with me....but I hope I can at least share with my sons my very great love of reading!!

We wish you a Merry Christmas....

and a Happy New Year!  Figured I better get that happy new year part in now since I am late on the whole Christmas wishes!!

Christmas has come and gone in a flash and I miss it already!  I noticed I didn't take near enough pictures, definitely need to work on that!  I get so into everything that I forget to stop and snap some pics!  We had a fun and busy Christmas as I am sure anyone with young children does.  Matt's mom arrived Christmas Eve and it was so nice to spend the holiday with her again!  My mom was getting over stomach bug so we headed on to Christmas eve service without my parents.  We went to the 6 o'clock family service and it was quite a hoot to see the kiddos in action for the service.  Matt and I chuckled imagining Zach and Mark being shepherds and farm animals in a few years!  They were sweet to see but I do miss the traditional midnight service.  One day we will do that again but for now I shall enjoy the sweet hearts of the children.  We still close with Silent Night which gets me every time.  Such a beautiful song and always one of my favorite parts of Christmas is singing it in the candlelight.  We headed home and enjoyed a yummy dinner of enchiladas!!  My dad was able to join us for that and I was happy for that!  The boys went to bed pretty easily and then it was off to work as Santa's Elves! :)

All Zachary has been asking for the whole month was "a football helmet with a star on it", and seeing his little face at the top of the stairs and exclaiming "wake up everybody, Santa was here!"was surely one of the highlights of the day.  He definitely "got" Christmas this year and that has been so fun.  He was really good about passing out presents, sharing toys with brother and loved trying out everything he opened.  We all enjoyed seeing the boys in action!!  My mom and dad were there at like 730 so they could see all the action and my brother and sister in law came over in the afternoon for lunch too.  All in all, it was a great day!

Matt's mom headed home Sunday and Matt's dad and step mom came to visit today to see the boys and do presents and lunch so we have had a full weekend!!  unfortunately I have to head back to work tomorrow....why didn't I take this week off??  UGH!

Some of my favorite gifts I received were my sewing machine from my parents (more on that later), an AWESOME shutterfly book my Aunt Ginna made of the boys from this past year, a book charm from Matt for my bracelet and a cool cupcake carrier from Manda!

Anyway, I vow to myself to do better on the updating in the new year.  It's probably going to be a busy week at work with this cold weather all over the country so may not see many posts....but I will try!  We are tossing around the idea of doing a kids free NYE if we can find sitters.  Its been several years since we have done that so that could be fun if we can swing it!

Hope you and your families had a very blessed Christmas and looking forward to a new year!!

Zoo Day with friends

Dylan & Lilly's 2nd Birthday