~What a week it was~

Last week was CrAZy!!!!!

Monday started the week off on what seemed like a good note. We had a showing on our house! Score!

Tuesday: The showing went so well, they came back again! Short notice, but we pulled it off!! My parents, who happen to be my bosses, left for a work convention in Las Vegas. Made it through the day at work just fine and no problems. We got the boys picked up from school and daycare, had dinner and they played afterwards. 7 o'clock hits, time for bed, or so we thought!

Somehow in the midst of hugging wrestling the boys fell over from a standing position.....Clayton fell backwards and hit his head on the fireplace wall.....

Off to the hospital we went. Luckily we didn't have to wait long. I think the thought of going to the hospital was the worst part for him. (**WARNING** IF YOU HAVE A WEAK STOMACH STOP HERE!!!)

They numbed his head up 

and then put in a single staple to hold it together

(warned you!)

Wednesday: I had to take Clay ibuprofen to school and then ended up picking him up early due to his poor little head throbbing so much :( Due to the staple, there was no gymnastics for him all week or his meet that was on Saturday. He was less than thrilled over this.

Spoke with our mortgage lender and found that we could close on our new house on Thursday, no wait, Friday, no Thursday, might be Monday. NO for sure going to happen Thursday....emotionally exhausting!!!!

Thursday: Clay's not feeling the best in the morning, his allergies are acting up. Get him to school. Get in contact with our Realtor and mortgage lender....we are apparently missing information! We didn't get the closing settlement until 30 minutes before closing (which was already pushed back yet another hour!! This all started with the extension of our first closing date of March 14th!!!!)

In the mean time, I get a call from the school that Sir Clayton has a wonderful temperature and needs to come home. Praise God for my grandma since my parents were out of town! She let him come over and lay on her couch while we did closing.

We get to the Title Company online to find out that our closing funds are to be wired in and not in the form of the cashier's check that was in my hand! Ugh!

While waiting to sign paperwork we found out the people who looked at the house on Monday and Tuesday had gone with a different house. What a bummer! We closed the day with a new (to us) house, a sick kid with a staple in his head and a very tired little brother.

Friday: Clayton still has a fever and was up and down most of the night. Carson is off to daycare and Wes goes into work for a bit. We trade out taking care of our sick kiddo and I'm able to go to work for about 2 hours. Get home so Wes can go back to work and find that Clay's temp has gone up to 102.6....lovely. Tylenol fixed him up but his little tummy is still "not feeling right" according to him.

Saturday: Time to work on the "new" house. Clay's better, woohoo! I took the boys to surprise my parents at the airport when they landed. Back and forth to the house working and playing.

Sunday: Up and at it at 7:30, again, back and forth from Walmart to the new house. Finally, dinner at Chili's with my parents (our Sunday family dinner tradition). Home, bed, we made it through the week, finally!!!!!!!!

Trying to sell is hard!

Trying to sell a house is hard work! It's exhausting actually. Especially when you don't have the cleanest family in the neighborhood world. I'm hoping this process of HAVING to keep the house clean will help the boys to be tidier than Wes and I have been are.

We have had several good showings that have even included a second look. You'd think that we would have figured out how to keep the house ready to be shown at a moments notice, but no! I think the floors constantly need to be swept and there is ALWAYS something that needs to be put away. I'm pretty sure I currently have 2 loads of laundry jammed into the dryer together because I haven't had a chance to fold/put them away yet.

Every time we get notice of a showing, we have to race home, do our little mad rush cleaning dance and then take our dog over to my parent's house. For some reason people aren't big on your dog being there and them possibly attacking them or running away on them. LOL!

We are under contract to purchase a house, but it has been delayed in closing since the middle of March, so in hindsight it's good we haven't sold because we wouldn't have a place to live (other than moving in with my parents....that's a entirely separate post of it's own when you work 40+ hours a week together too!)  I have faith though that the right people are out there and they will buy it just at the right time. God always provides and hasn't let us down yet.

Moral of the story, one day our house will sell and one day we will own a different house. God's timely will be perfect whenever it happens and I'm not going to worry. I might have to rush like a crazy person to keep cleaning up for showings, but I'm not going to worry!

Creativity or Not

I so wish I was a creative person. Fact is, I'm not and as far as I can remember, I've never been.

I found out about Pinterest oh about a year ago. I'm addicted. By addicted I mean to pinning things not actually doing them :O That would take work, that would take time, that would take following through. Ha! Me, actually do one of them? It's just laughable!!!

Okay, truth, I have made some of the recipes I've pinned. My family has to eat somehow! I so long to be someone that can just throw items together and make a creation that I can pin myself and take full credit for. Guess I'll just have up wait on my mom to make something and I will take credit for it! (She doesn't blog, I'm not so sure she even reads blogs. Lol)

Here is one of my success stories from Pinterest. Brownie cookies aka Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookie n’ Oreo Fudge Brownie Bar......these were made with chocolate chip cookies on the bottom, Double Stuffed Oreos in the middle, and brownies on top. Delicious and rich! For the hubs' b-day next month I'm making them a bit different because he loves peanut butter. So, he's getting peanut butter cookies on the bottom, Reese's in the middle and brownies on top. Can't wait!!!!!!

Until next time, follow me on Pinterest and see if I find something YOU can make for me :)

(See my original post here)

Blog Party? Did someone say Party?

Blog Party....hmmmm it has the word party in it so it can't be that hard, right??

I've never participated in a Blog Party before, so I'm excited yet oh so nervous about this!

Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Tiffany, a wife of almost 9 years,

a mom for 6 years,

a daughter, and a full time security sales person. I also sell Thirty-One.

I've got a LOUD laugh and personality that I just can't help. My friends tell me they love it, but deep down they are probably saying, "whoa girl, calm yourself." :) I love shopping and singing and most of all hanging out with my family. I really enjoy coffee and sweets. Oh I'm a sucker for anything sweet....it's my big downfall really.

I blog about life. What happens with my family, the things I'd like to do, the things I'd like to make, and my friends. My sister friends are an incredible part of my life and I'm so grateful to have each one of them. Check out their blogs (they really are awesome!!!) Elizabeth, Alisha, and Allison.

The Moon Matters

What is it about a full moon that makes people go crazy? I mean really. There's got to be something inside of us that just can't handle the scientific things that happen with it. 

Yesterday Clayton had a bad day and by this I mean he just couldn't get his act together to get ready for school. He was whiny, cranky and so tender-hearted. He couldn't get out of bed. He couldn't get dressed. He couldn't decide on what to eat for breakfast. Finally, something clicked inside of him and he got in the car and walked into school. He came home from school and watched some wrestling with his daddy. I thought all was good. Until he walked in the kitchen and discovered we were eating something new for dinner. Apparently I make the most disgusting dinners he's ever had. (This is becoming more of an occurrence.) He cried and tried everything possible to not eat his dinner. This went on for just over 45 minutes! Yes people I said 45 minutes!!!!!! He finally gave in, once again, and ate his dinner. Originally he only had to eat one bite, but by the time 45 minutes passed he had to eat all 4 bites I had given him. 

Today.....wow! What a difficult day he had. He got to go to the office this morning. He did all he could to mess with his brother and drive him up the wall, along with everyone else in the office. He came back to the office after school......boy ate 3 fried eggs, two whole boiled eggs made into deviled eggs, grilled cheese sandwich, a 100 calorie fudge striped cookie pack, mixed berry juice AND strawberry chocolate milk!!! When it was time for gymnastics, he didn't want to leave, not without a fight anyways. Once at home, it's time for dinner....he decides his belly hurts too much and goes and lays down in bed and doesn't eat dinner, his favorite, Mac & Cheese and baked cod fillets. Man this kid doesn't feel good. Yet once bedtime comes, it's a no-go, again.......

Carson has been clingy and emotional, more than normal for an almost 21 month old. Our sitter even noticed that he cries anytime she leaves the room......

Seriously, there should be something we can put over their heads or their eyes or something to stop this ding dang reaction to the full moon!

If you have suggestions or thoughts, I'm open to just about anything. I'm currently trying a glass of wine, for myself that is :)

Menu Planning

I hate to admit this, but I completely and totally suck I'm really bad at meal planning. My family can go weeks if I'm not careful on frozen chicken strips, mac & cheese, spaghetti, and other easy to throw together at the last minute meals.

I hate that I'm this way. I certainly didn't grow up like this. My mom always planned out our meals and had an idea of what she was going to do....at least until I go into high school and then I wasn't home, so why bother planning meals for just 2! My parents were always awesome cooks. They can throw together a meal with the simplest ingredients and you'd think you were eating from a world class chef. Amazing cooks I tell you!

Then you have me....Oh crap it's 4:30, I'm at work and I have to feed these people who live in my house! Good thing there's frozen chicken nuggets and boxed mac & cheese at home! I'm so tired of that and I really want to be more like my parents were with meals when I was growing up (not like they are now because they go out almost every night and split an appetizer as their dinner!). The first step in being able to get creative in the kitchen (at least in my eyes) is to be able to plan dinner out!

So, I talked with my friends and one of them, Elizabeth, suggest a menu planning app that she used to use all the time. Menu Planner. This thing is AWESOME for me! I can import recipes from the internet, add in my own (not many there!! YET!), I can track the canned goods in my pantry, the items in my fridge etc. LOVE IT!!!! I went through last month I went through and put in all meals for every day of the month for March. This was good in theory. 

My problem.....opening and using said app. Seems like an easy concept, but when you race out the door in the mornings to get kids to school and "day care", get myself to work at a reasonable time and then work all day, it's easy to forget something as simple as laying out dinner. I have to get better at this. My friends hold me accountable....you need to get better because reminding me at 3 isn't too helpful since I'm at work! I kid, I kid....not really, but you know :P  

I made a decision over the weekend to fix new recipes this week. So far I'm 2 for 2. We'll see how the rest of the week works out :)

Here's my meal list for this week: (we do have a veggie at every meal, I'm just not listing it.)

Monday

Monterey Chicken Tortilla Casserole

Chips and Queso

Tuesday

Philly Cheese Steak Sloppy Joes

Roasted Potatoes

Wednesday

Baked Cod Fillets

Mac & Cheese

Thursday

Slow Cooker Asian Glazed Chicken

Rice

Friday

Leftovers  (I hate throwing out good food!)

Saturday

Hot Dogs with Pushcart Onion Sauce

Potato Salad or Cole Slaw

Hello Again

So we meet again blogosphere!

It's been well over a year since I last logged in. A lot can happen in a year. Last time we talked we had decided to not move and redo parts of our house. Yeah, well that changed again! Our house is currently listed for sale and we are in the middle of purchasing a home on roughly 2.5 acres.

We took some time and decided we really needed to take the leap of faith now, before Clayton is with his friends for several years and has an even harder time moving away from them. If you know him, you know he doesn't like change and he needs to know what is going on every step of the way. My experience has been that you wait until you absolutely HAVE to tell a young kid what is going on with such a decision. With Clay, he needs to know what's going on. Otherwise he doesn't feel safe, he feels out of control of the situation and his anxiety kicks in and we have problems. Like getting out of the car and walking into school on his own because he worries what's going on with me or with his daddy.

Clay has lost 2 teeth since starting Kindergarten this year and Carson has gained all of his ;) We got rid of the ding dang binkie aka pacifier almost a month ago now and he's doing wonderful without it. Talking up a storm now! his most recent change is his awesome interest in the potty. He goes every time before he gets in and when he gets out of the bath. Our sitter is even helping him go during the day while she has him.

As for Wes and I, we are still working as normal.....although my longing to work from home is even greater these days. Maybe one day, just not yet. 

If been a long time, so I don't want to "over do it!" with this post :) LOL I'll be back soon, Promise!!!!