Morning................

I am a notorious talker in my sleep.   No wonder I wake up so tired each morning, I must be cooking in my sleep.  Last night my hubby said I was say "I can't reach the powdered milk" and the night be for I kept saying "barbeque sauce".     LOL!!  I suppose that is better than my normal night mares.  I am not even reading cookbooks before bed.

I read almost 1/2 of Tending Roses last night.  It really is a easy read with a nice moral to the story.  It is about how our lives pass us by and we miss the most important small things, which we later regret.  I will have to share some of the journal entries in there with you.............

I am having a Midol morning, so I am a bit cranky, but still have to go to work.  ARGH!!  I am suppose to go to parent information meeting tonight about high school for Joshua.   I can't believe he is starting high school next year.  I cried so when he started Junior High, I can't imagine how I will do with High School.   He is growing up so fast, I don't want to miss those small moments. 

Well I am off to read my BookMoms email.  I am a bit behind, since we are all starting to post again.

OH Yeah...BTW, Thanks for the chocolates for my B-day Exclamation,  I have been savoring them!!  I will not allow myself to eat more than one a day!  I even have three chocolates left!    They are very very good!!!!!!

THANKS!  ** HUGS!!!

Hello Everyone..........

Monday...back to work.   But it was a nice back to work since it was unit retreat today.    That is always relaxing.

Sunday I finally got around to making a bunch of breakfast sandwiches for Joshua.  So he has egg Mc Muffins in the freezer for the next few weeks.

I was able to hit the grocery store, the bank, Sam's and the library today already.  I picked up the seafood for Valentine's day at Sam's.  I bought Lobster Tails and Snow Crab legs.  My sons love this stuff and like to go to Red Lobster every holiday!  That was getting too expensive so now I made the seafood at home and we enjoy it just as much!    Erik will say Red Lobster is his favorite restaurant.  I also have some shrimp in the freezer so I will give a shot at making Shrimp Scampi too.   I also will make a choc. Cheese Cake.   All big treats for my boys!

I made my menu out for the next two weeks so I went and picked up the few perishables I needed for this week. 

Then I stopped by the library to pick up to reserves my book group are reading.   Tending Roses by Lisa Wingate and Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver I got on talking books so I can listen to it while I drive.   So hopefully I can get both done relatively soon and join the discussion. 

I also want to look at Amazon for new cookbooks so I can see if the library has them or not.  I wanted to read a number of books from the UK and I was surprised our library has many, many of them.

Well that is about it....I should get the things I need to do online done and make supper.  We are having sausage hash brown bake. 

Watch  out Mommy, just got a roll of filmed developed.   The pictures in the swing are from just this week.  That is how I look at 15 months old!    (Love ya, Grandma!)   My grandma lives in another state, so this is how she gets to see me grow up, online!

Tommy doing his favorite thing, sitting in his swing!

TOMMY TRYING OUT HIS BOUNCY CAR FOR THE FIRST TIME!

Tommy with my brother, Harlan.

This photo had me just about peeing my pants laughing.  WHy you ask???   Take a look at my sweet little darlings little hand.  He is flipping me off.   I didn't notice it the first few times I saw the picture.  But when I did...ROFL!  I think he is stating his opinion about that 6 hour drive to South Dakota, not his favorite!

Tommy and Mommy at Christmas in South Dakota

Is it just my computer or what???  Have you ever tried to load a xanga site up while using Netscape and nothing comes up except the background???  This is what is happening to me.  If I go to my site using explorer, I have no trouble and my site is there.   Hmmmmmmmmmmmm...what is up with that!!!

good night all..........

Finally Xanga cooperated and I got my new heading up for Valentine's Day.  Just jumped on to say, MomMom2EandJ, the Creamy Italian Chicken is very good!!  That recipe is a keeper thanks!!!  Now i have to go wake up the baby so he will sleep tonight.

Saturday........YEAH!!   Well I was up early this monring. I am not sure why, it wasn't even the baby.  I just woke up at 6:30 and couldn't sleep anymore.  Since it is the weekend I have a bit of time to play around on xanga and of course it isn't working right for me.   I hit the Look and Feel button to do some more changes and it say page unavailable.   Why did I upgrade to premium again????  OH yeah and as you can tell I FINALLY figured out how to do the layered backgrounds thanks to clothedinjoy.

Since I was up early this morning we headed to the KID R US in Burnsville.   MomMom2EandJ reminded me about the 5 day sale they were having.  I got alot of clothes for next winter for Tommy at 75% off.  Good deals.  They had Carter's blanket sleepers for only $4.44.  Works for me! 

I am making the Creamy Italian Chicken from MomMom2EandJ's site for supper tonight.  It smells yummy!!!!   So that is in the crock pot now.  

Hubby and I watched one movie this afternoon Captain Corelli's Mandollin.  I really enjoyed it.  I had tried to listen to the book on tape, but couldn't get into it, but the movie was ok.  The same thing happened with the book Snow Falling on Cedars, I couldn't get though the books on tape, but the movie was ok.   Yes, I can read and do, but I listen to books on tape while I drive to and from work and appointments.   I have a difficult time actually finding time to read a book otherwise.  

We have one more movie to watch, Score.  My hubby picked that one out.  Well I suppose I should do dishes and work on the laundry a bit while the little one is napping.  Also my wonderful smelling supper should be done in about 30 minutes!  Can't wait to try it...can you tell I am hungry!  LOL!!

have a great Evening!!!!!!!  I will drop in before bed hopefully!

Hello everyone!  I just finished visiting all your sites.  I don't always comment, but I feel like I missed something if I missed a post on a favorite site.  It is like missing a phone call from a Friend or something.....

Whew!  I am sure glad it is Friday!  I have been working a lot of hours and bringing work home.  Last night I worked on some reports/budgets until almost midnight.  I hate that...I want to spend my evening with Tommy and everyone.   Tonight Tommy is a bit cranky.   He is all ready for bed, Daddy is feeding him right now.

CUPOJAVA - your crazy if you think *I did the art project with Tommy...it was those brave Families First staff!  LOL!!  

Speaking of Families First I wanted to share a few of the things we have been discussing.   We discussed  recent article in Parenting titled "The New Way to Treat Ear Infections"  since one of the boys is having trouble and having tubes put in.  Interesting article.

We have also been discussing a lot about organizing, clutter and stuff like that.  We briefly discussed Julie Morgenstern's book Organizing from the Inside Out.  We actually are hiring a professional organizer to come teach a class. 

This Wednesday we had discussed a book called Train Up A Child :Giving the Values That Last A Lifetime by Rolf Zettersten.  The values are pretty obvious, but nice to rethink and reflect on.  The nine most significant values we can impart to our young are:

1.  Love and Obey God
2.  Love Others
3.  Be honest
4.  WOrk Hard
5.  Be committed to your family
6.  Respect your elders
7.  Attend church
8.  Avoid Materialism
9.  Pray and worship

The class on values ran over, so there wasn't a lot of time for discussing about the values, etc.   I think it could lead to some good dialogue.

KIMMIESMOMMIE - this is for you!  I had two tips that I discovered the other day that I found really helpful.  But I have a feeling one won't be much help to you and one I bet you already know....(you should have told me though) 

Tip #1 - Do you waste money on fresh herbs to cook with and end up throwing 1/2 of the chive or parsley whatever out??  I do and I read that you can cut to the herb and freeze in ice cube tray.  I did this, I filled each section of the tray with a tablespoon of the herb and add water to fill and froze.   I have great cubes of herbs now in freezer bags and ready for cooking!

Tip #2 - This is a baby tip....but very helpful for me!    Does your baby get that scaly skin (cradle cap) on their heads?   This can be especially bad in the winter months, plus their heads are growing so fast.  I find this really gross, always have, cant' stand it.  Tommy gets it a little bit only, but I didn't like it.  The baby books say to put baby oil on it and then wash their heads, well that wasn't getting it off really.  OK, finally here is the tip.  Mix about 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda with enough baby oil to make a pasty liquid.  (great terms, eh?)   Rub this on baby's head in the offending spots.  The baking soda works like an abrasive, and gets the stuff off, and doesn't hurt or bother baby's sensitive skin. 

**WARNING**

My roll of film in the camera is all used up time to take it to get developed.  Do you know what that means??  Tommy pictures galore!!!  LOL!!   You have been warned!

TOMMY IS 15 WEEKS OLD TODAY!!!!

Well I am tired, I am off to bed.....have a great weekend!