Things that get high kicks from me

Like all moms, I am constantly searching for things that make my life easier amidst all the chaos. Out of that comes my obsession with any and all appliances. I admit that I am an appliance snob, but nothing makes me giddier than finding something that cuts my time doing housework or cooking. As mom there a few things that I swear by: my Dustbuster, my Dyson, my Shark and my crockpot. All of these things help me spend less time cleaning or cooking and give me more time to do things with the boys or relax when they're asleep.

And, now I will add a good washing machine to my list. Why you ask? This is why...

Do you see that? A $32 water bill. Our average bill is between $80-85 a month. This is our first water bill with the new Energy efficient washing machine (Whirlpool Cabrio). Thats a $50 difference from last month to this month. LOVE. If this pans out, than could mean an additional $600 a year. That deserves a high kick if I do say so.

Ok, so back the crockpot, my friend, Jill, came up with this Chicken and Wild Rice Soup that rocks my world! Besides being low cal and low fat, it is SIMPLE and that is a plus. Really it's so good that I thought I'd do a shout out here as well as on my recipe site. Look below...

You know you want some.

Ok, so here's the recipe:

1.5 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped carrot
1 cup chopped celery
3 cans RF cream of chicken soup
4 cups FF chicken broth
1 boxes long grain & wild rice mix with seasoning


Place chicken on bottom of crock pot. Add veggies, rice and seasoning packet from rice. Pour liquids over the top, cook on low 6-8 hours. Shred the chicken and stir well. Makes 12 cups.

Nutrition Info per serving:
Calories: 144
Fat: 3.14
Fiber: 0.9

If you like it and want more recipes from Jill, just take a look to the right under Blogs and find Culinary Creations by Jill. :D High kicks, Jill!

Happy Halloween from the whole gang!

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Monster Mash

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Halloween Rap

Halloween Celebrations Galore

Halloween isn't until this weekend but that's not keeping us from celebrating. Starting last Wednesday, we've had 4 Halloween events/parties and we still have 3 more to go before the big event. The kids are having a blast dressing up and enjoying all the fun that comes with it. Here's some quick pics of our fall fun.

Pumpkin Carving/Storytime at W's preschool

Pumpkins that moms and dads carved with the kids.

Ours is the 2nd to last one. It has "spooooky eyes."

Class picture. There are some really cute kids in W's class.

Notice anything out of the ordinary in this picture?

Seems like someone has a crush on W.

However, I'm not sure the feelings returned by the look on his face. BAH!

Mom's Club Halloween Party

I recently joined a MOMS Club. I've always had a small circle of really close friends but over the years we somewhat grown apart due to life circumstances and I really miss the closeness that friendship with other women bring. I had been leery about joining one, but let's face it, now that I'm not working I really don't have a lot in common with my friends who do. This gives me an opportunity to be with women who are going through many of the same things I am. Plus it is a great opportunity for W and G to meet new kids and develop their social skills too! Speaking of W, he did not make this particular event because he was in school. Poor bubba!

Hi, mama!

Sliding is a lot of fun!

Playing with our neighbor and buddy, E.

Hanging with a new friend.

Painting pumpkins.

I really love painting!

I know I'm biased, but I think this the cutest little face!

Mama & Me Bible Study

Not too many pictures here. Mainly because I forgot to take out the camera. However, here's a quick pic of W dressed as a Thomas train conductor.

G's School Halloween Parade

Both W and G's respective school have a Halloween parade where all the kids come dressed in the costumes and then are marched out in front of their giggling parents and one or two grandparents who "oooh" and "ahhh" over them. G's parade was today while W's parade is on Friday. Unfortunately, most of my pics turned out blurry. Not happy about that, but here are a few that would have been super cute had they turned out better.

Walking around the gym with a local monkey. ;P

Happy to see his mommy!

Realizing that he wasn't going to mama, but back to class.

These types of faces kill us mamas.

Blurry October

I can honestly say that October has been a big, big blur to me. We have been going non-stop and I am T-I-R-E-D. On Sunday, I think it reached a frenzied peak and I had to admit to S that we were waaayyyy over-committed. We've averaged around 4 commitments every weekend this month. It's just so hard to say "no" sometimes. You don't want to let others down and maybe we all want to feel a bit "super-human" and be able to do it all.

Sometimes, I look at others who are in our same life stage and I wonder how they do it nonplused. I admit I feel a bit harried most of the time, and I do it myself mostly. I just want the boys to see, feel and experience all the world has to offer. I want them to know that life is a roller coaster...it may make you feel a bit queasy at times but it can also be a thrill ride. Then again, there is something to be said for slowness. It allows for you to absorb the fullness and richness of life. I hope as winter approaches we can slow down a bit and really enjoy it.

Today, I want to do a little spotlight on baby G. See today, he is 19 months and really isn't much of a "baby" baby anymore. He's running and talking and giggling and full of mischief.

Weight: Around 26 pounds

Height: 35 inches tall

Eats: Loves spaghetti, cheese, corn, yogurt, grapes, french fries, not a big meat eater

Words: "Peas" - please; "Deuce" - juice, "Pee-pa" - pizza, "cheeeez" - cheese, "shus" - shoes. "boo" - book or button or plain old boo though each one in hte right context. Yesterday he said his first phrase "Bye-bye, da-dee".

About G: He is a daddy's boy. W is my mama's boy. I chalk it up the fact that G has been with me since day one so daddy's a bit more of a novelty. With W, I worked so I was the novelty. He loves to read. In fact, he will chase you down with a "Booooo" as he calls it and repeat "boooo..." over and over again until you read him the story he desires. He loves buckles and buttons. He wants to buckle things over and over. He doesn't have the ability to unbuckle yet so he'll hound you with a "buuuu...ble" until you release it so he can buckle again. Can you tell by the above two things that he persistent? Sometimes, it can drive me bonkers because I can't easily refocus him like I could with his older brother, but overall, it's a really good characteristic to have.

He likes doing crafts. His teachers were bragging on him the other day. They had done a little artwork where they used a cut-out of his arm and hand as a tree base and then dipped his finger into paint to make "apples" on the tree; however, they were amazed that after they did it once, G knew what to do and actually did the rest of the painting himself! (They usually have to keep dipping the child's finger in the paint to dot the apple repeatedly, but with little G they didn't because he understood what to do. ) Color me proud.

Loves to sing "e-e-i-ooooo."

Helping mama blow out the candles.

By the way according to W, I"m 6 years old. God bless him.

Cake is good.

Gonna ask Santa for some wheels. G love this thing.

Total Randomness

Just a few random thoughts that have been going through my mind:

1. Probably *not* a good thing to give W M&Ms at 8:35 at night

2. I saw a lady driving a Mercedes with a "Wifie" tag. I wondered what my personalized tag would read if I had one. The first thing that came to mind was "wornout." (I was just have one of those days at the time. Bah!)

3. Before kids, I wholeheartedly believe the only 2 things you can count on for sure in life were death and taxes. With kids, I revised that to death, taxes and laundry.

4. As my birthday approaches, I'm really missing my mom. I still can't believe she's gone. I look at my boys every day and wish she could see them now.

5. Where has my willpower gone for dieting/exercise? It's straight up disappeared.

6. It's probably not normal to bribe your kid to eat chicken by offering him broccoli. But. hey, since my kid actually likes broccoli, it works for us.

Am I in a weird mood or what?

Ok, so we've been on the party circuit this month. The first 2 weekends alone, we had 4 birthday parties. No parties this past weekend, but W's got 2 more invites for the weekend of the 22nd. Holy number of birthday parties! But, out of all those parties, I snapped this dance footage at my nephew's birthday party.

Up until this month, W has been very reluctant to get on inflatables. I always thought it might be the noise of the pump since he's not crazy about loud noises. But, something happened this month. He discovered he loves playing on them and little boy is making up for lost time! Little G, on the other hand, has NO fear and if he can get it up, there is no stopping him.

All my boys going down the big slide.

We've also been taking advantage of this glorious weather and been hitting up the parks like crazy. A couple of years back, the town I grew up in put in an awesome park and even though it's a little bit of a haul to get there, I like to take the boys out to it from time to time. Here are a few shots of our last trip.

Follow the leader.

Look at me, mama!

Hi.

Despite the look of terror on my face, I'm actually loving this!

Wheeeeeee!

(Though a bit blurry, I love this picture.)

How you doin'?

Friday Fun: Trikathon and Transportation Week

Today, W's school held his trikathon and kicked off Transportation week. It was a gorgeous day and the kids were ADORABLE on their bikes, trikes and ride-on cars. Here's a few pics of the event. :D

Getting ready to line up

Ready set go!

Sheriff's version of McGruff.

Police motorcycles & cars

Fire Engine & Tow Truck

Race cars

Monster trucks

Little G technically wasn't an official participant but there was no stopping him.