Trying to fight this cold

One thing about being a mommy is that you always have to go to work. No. Matter. What!!!

I am trying so hard to get rid of this cold that I am getting. It's not even completely here yet but my glands are swollen and I am exhausted. I just feel so run down, I feel like I never get a minute to breathe sometimes. 

It's hard because as mothers we always have to be the strong one and the one who is up for anything and everything. I think it's really taken a toll on me though, I need to relax and slow down. Doesn't it just seem impossible though during the holidays? Parties, pageants, cookie gatherings, light shows, visiting santa, shopping, decorating, entertaining, wrapping, wiping dirty noses...the list goes on and on. It's all so much fun and we don't want to miss out on any of it. 

So far today I have taken a pack of emergenC, my normal vitamins, day quil, and two Zicam rapidmelts. Ugh!! I just want it to go away by tomorrow. Curt has back surgery tomorrow and I can not be sick for it! He has been in pain for years and this surgery is not even 100% proof that he will be completely healed. It's not a serious surgery but it's surgery. Hopefully he will be walking in a day or two after tomorrow but we will see! This week is going to be too crazy and I really can't afford to be sick. After Christmas his parents and family are coming on Sunday which will be interesting seeing how his sister is getting their kids a puppy and they are bringjng the puppy down for the 3.5 hr long car ride. Yikes. 

Happy Holidays everyone!!!

We have been trying to have some fun staying indoors as much as possible this weekend since everyone has runny noses and coughs. Kenny is on an antibiotic right now so he is doing much better! This past week was a little chaotic to say the least. 

Already playing rough with Kenny and be is loving every minute of it. 

Lots of naps!

We started our gingerbread village 

And we went for drives around Maryland looking at Christmas lights all the while staying warm in the car!

The girls loved the Gaithersburg lights they were oohing and ahhhing the whole car ride. I love how we have already made so many family traditions just this year alone! Looking forward to many more Christmases to come! Xo

The Nutcracker

This past Saturday I took Bella to the Warner Theater to see The Nutcracker. She absolutely loved it and was finally at the perfect age. I didn't take Vivi because I knew she would not be able to sit through it all and I didn't want to waste my money seeing as how their prices aren't exactly inexpensive. We went to the 2:00 show which was a perfect time. I was able to put Kenny down for a nap and Vivi was sleeping too. We called an uber ride with a car seat and we were on our way! I am loving uber in the city, it is so helpful and all of the drivers have been really accomodating and friendly. This driver put on kids bop, Bella loved it and sang the whole way there. She even told me during the show she couldn't wait to get back in the car again! Haha!!

We made it to the show in time and we had really great seats. We were on the bottom left stage area probably 8 rows behind stage. Yet it still wasn't close enough! Haha maybe next year I will try to get seats closer. The ballet was beautiful and of course I cried my eyes out throughout the show. This was more of a dream coming true for me. I always dreamed of taking my daughter every year to see The Nutcracker at that theater. One of the many reasons why I love my husband so much, I feel like so many of my dreams have come true because of him. 

We had so much fun, Bella was twirling and acting like a little princess the whole day. She would walk down the street holding her dress and men and women would giggle. Cutest thing ever.

She picked a little african american ballet dancer ornament (so precious) to take home with her.

Afterward we went to Chef Geoff's for dinner. She chose the steak and so did I. Bella is becoming such a sweet girl and she is fun to take out. She is 4.5 now so she listens to everything I say and is so much easier now. She rarely has meltdowns or cries while we are out. This is really the best year hahaha 2 and 3 can be rough!

Unfortunately Curt didn't have the best day. He stayed at home with Vivi who was pretty good but Kenny was so sick. He has had a fever now for five days so in a half hour I am taking him to the dr when they open at 7am. He just woke up at 5am with a fever of 101.5. That's the highest it's been all week but it has been at a steady 100.2 but we have been giving him advil and tylenol around the clock. I hope it's just a cold and not an infection bc I really don't want to give him an antibiotic, he hates taking medicine and cant imagine him liking anything.

Anyways, Curt was exhausted when I got home. Kenny wanted to be held the whole time and cried on and off for me. Poor thing!

Time to get ready...

Finishing up with a little dirt!

Friday Fire's all day

Thursday night Curt had his holiday party so he left to get dinner and drinks from his office at 3pm which meant a lot of fun for him. Haha

I had a dinner scheduled that evening with some girlfriends to celebrate two birthdays. We went to Barrel and Crow in Bethesda and it was really good, we ordered fried green tomatoes as an appetizer and they were delicious, I've never had them before. Then I ordered scallops as my entrée and that was really good too. We had a great time having girl talk and catching up, it's always nice to have a dinner out without the kids sometimes to really enjoy a meal. 

Curt had off the next morning so we were able to get some things done around the house while the girls were at school. They had picture day with Santa. I told Vivi that morning that Santa was coming to visit their school and Vivi was jumping up and down in excitement, she could not wrap her head around the fact that Santa was coming to see her! She couldn't wait to tell him that she wanted a Jasmine outfit for Christmas!

At 11:30 we picked up the girls early from school and we took them out for lunch at Old Anglers Inn in Potomac. It's probably one of my favorite restaurants to go to. I love the atmosphere in the winter and in the spring, it's beautiful. They had a roaring fire going right when we walked inside. The girls loved it! They sat us upstairs and to get up there you have to go up a winding staircase that is pretty scary. It's in a very old home the girls kept saying "thank you for taking us to such a fancy restaurant." Bella was loving every minute of it. They were in their Christmas dresses since they had a picture with Santa. They just looked like adorable little ladies sitting at the table. They had chicken tenders and fries :)

When we left we found a huge fire pit. It was really a beautiful day we probably could have eaten outside if we didn't have the kids. 

Afterwards we went home had naps then had some friends over to make s'more in our outdoor fireplace. The girls loved it! 

Unfortunately Vivi had a little encounter with a friend but she was ok. It's so hard when they are young and some kids can't verbalize their feelings. She just looks sad because she has lines streaming down her face from the scratch marks. Poor baby. 

All in all though it was a pretty good day playing hooky. 

Thursday I dont like you.

This morning started out great, took a hot shower got ready with plenty of time before Daddy and I had to go to conferences for Bella and Vivi. After that it all went downhill. Fast. We were running late because we hit every single red light on our way to school. Then we messed up the teachers schedules because of our tardiness. The girlsare doing great minus Vivi and her tendancy to snatch toys and other things from the children. Then we went to Curt's office, I dropped him off because his holiday party starts at 3pm and is hitching a ride with one of his co-workers to a restaurant in dc so that he can have a few cocktails. My mom texts me that she is now late to open her salon so I am rushing home. Kids are great when I am home, Kenny sleeping girls playing so I say, "lets bake Christmas cookies!"

They of course agree and we have fun baking away which takes all of ten minutes because they are those premade sugar cookies from Giant with the Christmas trees on them. Anyways, we bake them and I get Kenny up. We play and I start baking lunch as I am getting that ready I notice it is much too quiet. I go to the hall bathroom and Vivi and Kenny are having a toilet paper party. Vivi I guess went to the bathroom and then wiped herself a million times then proceeded to clog the toilet. Awesome! I cleaned up all the toilet paper then got the plunger after strapping Kenny in his high chair and giving the girls their lunch plates so they were out of the way while I attempted to plunge the toilet. Of course I had no idea what I was doing so after I plunged I flushed and with my luck it overflowed. That lead to water all over the bathroom and going into the hallway. What a freaking mess! Why is Vivian always making such a mess in the bathroom??!!! Ahhhh

Cleaned up floor, cloroxed the floor then put all the towels in the wash. Finished feeding the kids, cleaned up two poopey diapers and then put them to bed. As I was taking a glass to the sink I dropped it bc of course I was carrying too much at once. Glass shatters everywhere. Cant vaccuum or the kids will wake up. Ding dong goes the doorbell. Kids crying! 

WHY?!

I am really looking forward to dinner tonight with my girlfriends! Thank God for martinis on days like today.

This is me trying to use the bathroom while teeny tiny hands try to come in. Why can I not pee in peace?!

The calm before the storm.

Drink please?

Thanksgiving: Pumpkin pie and Apple pie recipes 🎃🍎

This Thanksgiving was probably one of my favorite's because I finally satisfied my very difficult family members who are incredibly picky about food! I made two pies, one apple and one pumpkin pie both recipes I found online and LOVE! 

The apple pie was a little more difficult because I made a lattice pie crust but it was certainly delicious. I am not much of a pumpkin pie eater but I did taste it while baking and after I was done and I have to admit it tasted pretty good. I used all organic ingredients along with lots of love! You can thank me later! I am also writing this down so my kids can use this recipe when the time comes. 

Quick pictures from our Thanksgiving

Here they are...you can thank me later

Dough:

I just used a simple recipe I found online to make the crust for the bottom and the top of the pie crust. I made three batches of dough so I wouldn't run out and it was perfect. 

Pumpkin pie: 

Get an organic pumpkin (mine was from whole foods) sweet pumpkin. Cut it in half and scoop out seeds on both sides. Put it on a pan covered with aluminum foil face down and bake in oven at 400° for 40 min or a little longer until you can poke it with a fork and it's very soft. When it's done let it cool. Then scoop out the insides into a blender or food processor until smooth. 

Preheat oven to 375°

Ingredients:

3 large eggs, lightly beaten

1.5 tsp cinnamon

3/4 tsp ginger

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1/4 tsp ground allspice

1/8 tsp salt

1.5 cups heavy cream

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup granulated sugar 

2 cups of pumpkin purée 

Combine spices in a small bowl and sput them aside.

Put eggs in a bowl and beat slowly add cream slowly and then add sugars. No lumps.

Add puréed pumpkin to a medium saucepan and stir in egg mixture and spices. 

Stir constantly for about 10 min until it starts to thicken up on low heat. Check with thermometer to see if it reads at 150.°

Pour mixture into pie crust and bake for 40-45 min test with a knife to see if it comes out clean. 

Then serve with ice cream or whip cream! 

Apple pie-

Ingredients:

1/2 cup unsalted butter

3 tablespoons of flour

1/4 cup water

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

8 granny smith apples, peeled, cored and sliced.

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Melt the butter in a saucepan. Stir in flour to form a paste. Add water, white sugar and brown sugar, and bring to a boil. Reduce temperature and let simmer.
2. Place the bottom crust in your pan. Fill with apples, mounded slightly. Cover with a lattice work crust. Gently pour the sugar and butter liquid over the crust. Pour slowly so that it does not run off.
3. Bake 15 minutes in the preheated oven. Reduce the temperature to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Continue baking for 35 to 45 minutes, until apples are soft.

It's been practically a year! Thanksgiving blessings

So finally I am getting back into the swing of things and it only took me a year. 

Kenneth Robert Cannon was born on January 7, 2015 and he is taking up much of my time along with the highly energetic girls. 

Right now I am sitting at ballet class watching Bella hold hands with her girlfriends, smile and dance. It is so sweet watching her grow to be such a beautiful, kind and smart little girl. It's nice to have these quiet moments where I can reflect on everything going on around me and be thankful. I hope I am able to write more for my kids. I have been taking many many pictures of all of them this year just so they can have an idea of what their lives were like as small children. I know some days I am not at my best but I try to make them better and better myself for them. I hope one day they realize that everything I do is for them and for them to have the best life we can possibly give them. 

It was a beautiful Thanksgiving full of love, yummy food and sweet laughter!