Dedicated to Nicole....

This post is dedicated to Nicole. :) On an earlier occasion, Nicole saw us out at a restaurant with a whole bottle of ketchup on the table. It was so sweet; she couldn't help but come ask why I had a whole bottle of my own ketchup on the table. To be honest, I'm sure I look odd bringing my own condiments and whatnot out to eat. Little man follows a very strict diet, and the majority of restaurants don't have ketchup that he can eat. I put things he can eat in my bag and take them along when we go out to eat.




So if you see me out and I happen to be pulling foods out of my purse....

In Ten Minutes...

Oh, Layton. He is just too much. In less than ten minutes he went from zipping himself up in a jacket hanging on a rack (and pretending to be a serious mannequin) to...



...posing like this beside the clothes...

Notice the holy jeans? He blew both knees out of these jeans in one day. For real. One day. Both knees. Holy tattered mess.

Ella has the right idea. See her in the background resting in a chair? Layton is so wild that his own sister has to take a break from his antics. 

Really?...Really?...It's Even More Redneck?...

Just when I thought the ultimate rednecky-ness couldn't be trumped.....




My old dishwasher got nicknamed Target Practice.

 

Update...

Hiya, gang! I'm down one more pound this week. Only...a bunch more to go. Ha! Hope you are all well. My newest obsession is turkey pepperoni. I love it. So yum. I'm also enjoying spinach salads these days. It's what I have been having for lunch every day. Word. 

We Tried....

A certain little boy wanted straight hair for Valentine's day. We tried. We slicked it back and put 15 metric tonnes of gel on it. We combed and slicked and combed some more and added a little more gel just to try to keep it straight. It almost worked.

 

People, I said almost. This picture was at 1:30, so roughly six hours after we finished trying to get the hair to slick down. By the time he made it home from school, it was back to afro puff. He loves his curly hair, and so do I. He looks adorable with his curls....even when he wants it straight.

Do Not...

Do not look at me like that.




Just a typical moment with Ella....

So Far behind...

People, I am so far behind right now that I am about to lap myself. There is no time for a clever blog post. I will get one done this weekend. I hope. Until I have a few minutes to spare, I will give you the gift of boring pictures. Like Ella's stack of books....with a Kindle stacked in the middle.



I haven't read a single one of the Dork Diaries. Are these books even appropriate for Ella to be reading? All I know is that when we went to the school book fair (read that as: pulling in on two wheels while eating dinner and calling out spelling words while on the cell phone with a work crisis. That's our version of stopping by.), she wanted two. I swiped my card and magically her books appeared.

Cannibalism...

J tossed a piece of boiled chicken inside the fence. It was consumed. Just let that sink in for a minute. Chew on it. Absorb it.

 

You can thank me for that feeling in the pit of your stomach a little later. :)

Sleep Sweet Boy...

Ahhh, sleep. I haven't gotten enough sleep lately. This little man doesn't sleep much either. Every now and then he will completely pass out in the car. It is so sweet.

 

I love to watch him sleep. 

Biggest Loser Update...

Hi, gang! I'm trucking along slowly but surely. I'll weigh in again this Wednesday. I'm also going to post my new favorite recipe for dinner. Yum!

Here lately I have been eating spinach salads for lunch. One day I will add mushrooms and carrots and the next strawberries. I also add a few pieces of turkey. Soooo good.

What are your favorite low calorie, healthy lunches?

Sitting Ball...

I am completely void of all creativity these days. Look at sweet Ella and pretend that I blogged something inspirational. Maybe I will get a post or two finished soon...


 

 

Rocket Good...

Nothing says Home Sweet Home quite like a rocket.

 

That was lame. I admit it. It still seems odd to me that of all places for the government to stick rockets Alabama was chosen. At this rest area, there is a rocket...and some cows in the field next to it...and it's only a skip, hop, and a jump from a trailer park....one of these things is not like the others. :) 

Take a Dip...Take a Bow...

People, we did it!! It's Friday and the work week is over for most of you! I will be slugging my way through some tax returns this weekend, but it won't consume the whole weekend. :) I'm determined to have some fun! In another couple of months we'll be able to take a dip....

 

...not yet though! Our local weatherman claims we might have some snow flurries this evening. I doubt it though.

What are your plans for the weekend?

Outtakes and Take Out...

Ella and I had fun coming up with what picture she wanted to use on her valentines this year. She selected the picture that I used on the actual card. I liked some of the ones that she didn't. Here are some of the outtakes....


She only makes this heart with her hands 50 times a day. No joke. It's so sweet though. 

All about the heart.

She also likes to do fish face. That's what we call it at our house. Fish face.

 

I'm also hoping for some take out soon. I'm sort of tired of cooking. Ha!

Happy Valentine's Day!...

Happy hearts and hugs! I hope you all enjoy your day of love! We (J and I) don't actually celebrate V-Day, but our children love to give and receive valentines. This year I decided to do something a bit different. I took pictures of the littles and printed cards instead of buying cards. Hadley seems to be too mature for valentines. :)





Layton taped gum to the back of each of his cards. Get it? Chews you? I thought it was cute. 

Ella taped suckers to the back of her cards. Sucker. Hahahahah. The codependents are so punny this year.

 

 I hope their friends at school like suckers and gum!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Meals at my House...

Hello! I weighed in today and am holding steady where I was the week before. That's better than gaining! Ha!

 I wanted to discuss meal planning. I plan our dinners a week at a time. I put the menu at the bottom of each day in my calendar. After I figure out what I'm going to prepare each week, I make a grocery list. On the nights when I make something that Layton cannot eat, I make a separate dinner for him. He loves cheeseburgers (just the meat and cheese, no bread), so I keep patties in the freezer for him. I'll throw one or two on the George Foreman grill while I'm making the main dish for the rest of us. Planning for him is easier than you would think. Every couple of weeks, I'll buy a pound or two of beef; pat out the patties; put each one in a quart size freezer bag; and Ta-Da! Dinner for the little man.



I'm a little anal about my grocery list. I map it out by section. Meats, Dairy, Frozen, Fresh Veggies and Fruit, etc. It makes it easier for me as I walk through the store each week. I can mark off the items I need as I place them in the buggy. 

 

I would really like to expand my meal planning to cover two or three weeks at a time, but I am reluctant because I like to use lots of fresh ingredients. I've been tooling around with the Once a Month Mom website.  I would love to give it a try. Does anyone use it? Does anyone plan their meals a month at a time? I'm looking for feedback and helpful suggestions. But seriously. I don't know if I have the ability to take care of a month at a time. Thoughts?

Sticky Fun...

Check out Layton's ipod. He has a case for it, but he loves to take the case off when he's playing with it on his bed or the sofa. Look at all the sticky, little boy finger prints. I promise; he washes his hands. He's a boy though and gets dirty and sticky as fast as I can get him clean.

Ewwwwww.

In These Hands...

I am putty. 

I'm a Bad Girl...

Yo, friends! I failed to weigh in. I will do my weigh in on Wednesday this week. I have been doing better about my food choices. Actually, I think I will do an entire post Wednesday regarding meal planning, and how I manage it for my family. I'm sort of obsessive about the way I grocery shop, but I figure putting it out there will keep me motivated. :)

The Sun...at Last...

I love beautiful days. I love the sunshine and slightly warmer temperatures. 

When it is just warm enough to play outside and take a rest in the grass...

When there are smiles a plenty...

These are the days that I love.

These are the kinds of days that fuel my soul.

Branding?...Mine is Crazy...

Last week a few of my twitter friends had a conversation about branding. That's not something I think much about. I'm not creative or artsy, so I am lacking a brand. Do I even need a brand? Does this little ole blog need a branding campaign? Probably not. If I were to attempt a brand for my blog....



-Do you ever have one of those days when anyone who gets near you is in danger of being decapitated by your sarcasm? Yeah, I'm on the verge of committing a felony.

-How much is too much to write about another person? See, there is this one person that I have been dying to blog about for a long time. Like, years. I wouldn't use his name, but I would lay down the basic details of the story. Dude is the creepiest of the creeps. He seems very normal though. You would never guess that he is not right in the head. I didn't know it either...until the ill-fated day when he said the creepiest of creepy things to me, and I made the connection that dude might try to enjoy my liver with a nice chianti and some fava beans. So what I'm asking is...how much is too much to say?

-I convinced Layton to get a hair cut. This is how he felt about it. I think he looks better now that the fro is sort of under control. We saw my friend John while we were at the salon. He was getting a haircut as well and had the pleasure of being seated across from Layton. John no longer wonders why I seem frazzled all the time. Just so you know...I pulled out my phone, pointed that sucker at Layton, and asked him to give me a "good smiley face." This. This is what I got instead.

-Hadley got highlights. I am going to try and get some decent pictures of how it turned out tomorrow. She looks fabulous!

-Earlier this week I had either a stomach virus or some seriously bad food. It was the most unpleasant Wednesday I have had in ages. No, it was awful. It was bad enough that I had to wake up J and ask him to take the kids to school. It was bad enough that I had to ask him to leave work early to pick the codependents up from school. Even when I had a kidney stone, I drove the kids to and from school, so it had to be awful if I asked J to take over for me. BUT.... My coworkers are not buying it; that is what happens when you joke about being a functional alcoholic. The people you work with start to believe that you actually drink as much as you joke about drinking. Then again, these people have met my children, so they probably assume that I have to drink just to make it through the day. See the picture above for further clarification.



...It's sort of obvious that my brand is Crazy. One of you should come up with a clever way to brand that for me.

A Star...

 

This little lady is my star.