*

* This week has been crazy, with appointments or commitments every day, and really, this weekend is not much better. Ah well.

* I've been using MyFitnessPal to lose weight. It's a great site with a free calorie counter and you can track exercise, calories eaten, etc. There are message boards too, though I don't use those. I started off great. I lost 7 lbs and now I'm down... 7 lbs. *sigh* When I get stuck, I get discouraged. Seeing the same number on the scale over and over is ALMOST as bad as seeing a higher number.
Tomorrow is the next weigh in for a weight loss competition I'm in and I fear I will still be down 7 lbs. I find myself wondering why I'm exercising as much as I find time for, and depriving myself of calories and desserts and such, if it's not working! blah.

* This morning, after the crazy school-morning dash, I had all 4 kids loaded in the car, buckled in car seats, and the dog was eagerly waiting in the front seat. (she rides with us to drop d off at school, and pick him up)
It was 7:50, and school starts at 8. The van would not start.
I wish I had discovered it BEFORE I got all those darn car seats buckled.

* On Tuesday, I took the 3 littlest on O's field trip to the pumpkin patch. It was fun! I was skeptical about how it would go with me vs 3, but it was fine.

On the hay ride, after picking their pumpkins.

* D & I went on a lunch date today, if you can call it a "date" when you have to carry a sippy cup and gold fish and baby wipes in your purse for the baby, who tags along since she's not in school. I still call it a dte because 2 on 1 is much better odds for a good lunch than 2 on 4.

* I leaned back in my computer chair just now, and totally went ass over teakettle. When I looked up, the children were all looking at me with wide eyes and Miss L peered down at me and said, "K?" (I'm fine.) heh

You have to make this

 I saw this recipe from Smells Like Home, (on Pinterest, of course) and although it's for a tart, I just changed it up a bit. I used my bread machine and made a focaccia dough. Then, I spread it out, rubbed garlic and olive oil on it, added basil, fresh tomatoes from our garden that were sprinkled with garlic salt,  and topped it all off with mozzarella cheese. It was delicious!

It baked at 400 degrees for about 15-20 minutes, and then I put it on a high broil for a minute or two. Look at that delicious browned cheese! MMMM!

Focaccia dough:
1 cup water
1/3 cup olive oil
2 tsp sugar
1.5 tsp salt
2 tsp Italian seasoning
3 cups bread flour

2 tsp active dry yeast

Add first 6 ingredients to the bread machine and then add the yeast last. After it's fully mixed, let rise in a warm place for about 20 minutes.

Topping:
Minced garlic to taste
olive oil
basil to taste
sliced tomatoes sprinkled with garlic salt
low moisture mozzarella cheese

Bake for 15-20 minutes at 400 degrees. Put on high broil for the last minute or two to get a nice brown top! Enjoy!

HIGH To low

On Monday I was still flying high from a fantastic weekend, and it's amazing how far you can fall in only 48 hours; isn't it?
Turns out that what C has is hand, foot and mouth and it also turns out that by Monday O had it too and yesterday Miss L got it and although there are definitely WORSE viruses-- stomach bugs, I'm looking at you --
it has been miserable.
It has affected each child the same at the onset; a fever of about 102 for a day, where they are miserable and crying and sleeping, then that night the fever suddenly breaks and they are up half the night. So, Saturday night, Monday night and last night, I got very, VERY little sleep. Last night was the worst because it's the 3rd night of this, and because Miss L is still little enough that she doesn't get it and cries and wants to get up and walk around watch Rio for the nine bazillionth time instead of laying quietly in her (or my) bed until she falls asleep.
Then comes the rash and - thank my lucky stars - O & C got that very mildly. Just a few spots on their feet, and knees and red, sore throats. O's was a bit worse than C, with bumps on his tongue that wouldn't let him eat or drink much at all until last night.

 

Miss L got the short end of the stick because her rash is absolutely horrifying. Her thighs, knees, ankles, and elbows are covered in angry red bumps and blisters. Thankfully the rash is not itchy, but the blisters do hurt when they're touched - which is pretty much unavoidable if you like to walk/sit/climb/sleep or get your diaper changed or, you know, wear clothes. *sigh*

Sadly, it's also contagious for awhile so we're all quarantined for the week except D & d, who are at work and school, respectively.
This means no preschool today, or tomorrow. No play dates. Did I mention it's rained every day as well? That is probably not helping my mood. I'm stir crazy over here!
I think I'm going to go hit up Pinterest and find a project using some old crap I have sitting around the house.

Fabulous, Darling. Simply Fabulous.

This weekend was fabulous! On Friday, D came home early and Tracy and I went on a little trip. A kid free night away was my birthday present.  It's the one thing I asked D for, for my 30th birthday.


KID FREE.


We went shopping at a great outlet mall, where I bought some adorable clothes for the kids (ok... mostly Miss L) and some Christmas presents.  We ate a fantastic dinner at the Cheesecake Factory and even though we split the dinner AND the sinfully chocolate cheesecake - neither of us could finish it.

I couldn't resist this one, even though L doesn't really need any more Fall clothes. It was on super sale too.

only $5!

These were totally not sale. 

We stayed at a fabulous hotel where we soaked in the hot tub, slept all night and got up when we wanted and had a yummy breakfast and coffee. We did some more shopping on Saturday, but the best part? A pedicure. I haven't had a pedicure in years, sadly. My last one was just so-so but this pedicure was so fantastic that I would drive an hour and a half just for that. Massage, scrub, lotion, and the best part? A hot stone massage. Ahhhhhh. It was heaven. My feet have never been so happy!

The best part about the weekend was just the fact that I didn't have to worry about putting children to bed, or feeding them, changing diapers, or doing any of the million things that you have to do when you have kids.
It was very freeing.
The last time I went away for a night was about a year and a half ago, and I took Miss L with me, since she was a wee babe. This is the first time D has kept all 4 children overnight alone. I have to give him major props actually, because he also took all the kids to soccer on Saturday morning and it's a chore with both of us so I am VERY grateful that he handled it so easily, and didn't complain about it a bit. The house wasn't even a disaster when I got home. He did mention how long it took him to do anything, and how much he missed me. So, that was nice too!

C actually got sick while I was gone, but D had planned on taking the boys camping with friends when we got home. I ended up staying home with C and Miss L and it was almost like having 2 days of vacation since I only had half the kids and one was fever-y-lay around sick but not vomiting sick. He even "slept in" till 6:45. 

So, great weekend, great company, and a much more relaxed mama. Simply fabulous.

Pinterest Successes

I'm having a ridiculously good time with Pinterest lately, and I wanted to share some of the things I've tried and loved!

First of all, I've tried a bunch of recipes, but there were a few that were my absolute favorites of the new ones I tried:
Crispy potato makes a great lunch!
Lime infused, honey-crusted chicken. OMG - to die for!
Best brownies ever. Different, and worth the extra effort.
Oh yeah, and try this if you're desperate for some chocolate in a hurry. 

No pictures, unfortunately. Just trust me when I say they didn't stick around long enough to get their pictures taken.

I've also been feeling very crafty lately, and Pinterest really came in handy when I threw a baby "sprinkle" for my friend Tracy. It was so much fun to get ready for and also made me so happy to celebrate her and her soon-to-be-here little one! Here are some of my decorations along with links from where I got the ideas:

I made the diaper cake with the shoes next to it, and the taggie blanket. I don't actually have a link for this one, I've made diaper cakes before, but I just wanted to show you. ;)

craft/game for the shower. Before.

After most of them were decorated. They turned out SO CUTE. Link.

Puff balls! So easy, so cheap to make and super cute decorations. Two of these are now hanging in Miss L's room.

I also attempted these paper circles, but my mind does not work great with puzzle-type things and this, to me, was a puzzle. Mine turned out more... egg shaped. Still cute, but I only made one.

I also made a diaper wreath, which I somehow did not get a picture of. It was so cute! Very easy and it looked just like the one at the link except I used white ribbon and a much smaller bow.

---

Other stuff I've tried:

Fridge snack station. I LOVE THIS. The children in this house are mostly big enough to open the fridge, but not big enough to open any cabinets and they are constantly asking me, "What can I have?" and it drives me crazy after awhile. SO, I put this in the fridge and if I say they can have a snack, they can pick out of this box. It's so much easier for everyone involved!

School station. They each have a basket for their back pack (all at school except the baby when I took this picture), lunch box, and anything they need to take to school. The bulletin board is strictly for school stuff because I have another one on the other wall for grocery lists, doctor's appointments and various other things.

We used an old toddler bed rail to make this drying rack for our laundry room:

We did this craft with a modification but also plan to do it using crayons at some point:

I made sugar scrub, salt scrub and bath fizzies for gifts and also some lip balm which isn't pictured (for myself):

So, blame Pinterest for one of the reasons that I hardly remember to blog anymore. (That, and 4 kids, school, homework, soccer and regular life in general.)

bullets

What do you get when it's been over 10 days since you posted? Bullets of course!

* On Monday, I turned 30! We celebrated with a few friends and D surprised me with a birthday cake. It was very nice. It does still shock me for a second every time I remember that I'm now 30.

* The little boys started preschool this week! They go 2 days a week for 4 hours each day and it's so very nice. They love it, and I love having a few hours to do errands with only one car seat to buckle and unbuckle instead of 3 or 4.

* d has homework every night, and it's a surprising amount for a first grader. Spelling words, reading, math and sometimes sentences to write. Between, school, homework, and soccer, most of our evenings just slip away.

* Speaking of soccer! The first soccer game? Oh my. d's team was short one jersey so he didn't get one and it threw him for such a loop that he spent the entire first half of the game pouting and refusing to participate. As in, sitting on the sidelines and throwing a fit. o.m.g. Embarrassing. NO amount of reasoning (or threatening. ahem.)  would convince him. Finally, he decided he would play after all and was fine from there out. Stubborn child.
O&C are on the same team and d's team played first so they were sort of "over" soccer by the time their game started. They mostly said they were hungry slash tired slash thirsty slash bored and/or wandered around aimlessly. Good times.

* I'm in such a crafty mood lately! I've been making things for a baby shower, for family birthdays and just for fun. I blame/give credit to Pinterest - best time suck ever.

* My favorite time of year is coming!! September = Fall in lots of places, but here in the South, it's still hot for awhile yet. Thankfully, the last week or so has been so cool that it's like Fall is already here! It's been Heaven! I'm getting so excited for Halloween! The kids are completely obsessed with the costumes we bought LAST Halloween on clearance for $2 or $3 so they are going to be Super Man, Iron Man, Batman and we bought Miss L a Wonder Woman costume so she could match. Adorable.
D is going to be Clark Kent and I'll be Bat Woman.

* I confess. I've started Christmas shopping. You know it's going to sneak up on us.