Almost spring cleaning and giving back

This past week I decided I really need to clean out my closet and start getting rid of clothes and shoes that I never wear. I cleaned out all of my clothes first putting in categories of what to give to friends who need things and what I can give away to charity. Every day I pass a Women's shelter on Greentree Rd. in Bethesda and decided I would really like to give my clothes to the women there. In high school I actually put hours in after school to help the children there. Some women who had children were there after school and needed help with homework or just to play with. It was a great place to help out and I had such great memories from there so I really wanted to give back. I had a lot of work clothes, some maternity clothes and some really nice suits with jackets. I hope with some of those clothes women will get jobs so they can hopefully leave the shelter. 

This morning I packed everything up  and headed out since Kenny decided he did not want to nap. 

We dropped off the clothes and shoes then went to the grocery store. I was shopping then I looked at Kenny's pants and they were completely covered in urine! I don't even know how he leaked he never leaks! I quickly finished shopping and just took his pants off in the car, changed his diaper and pulled his shirt up. Poor kiddo!

He ate lunch in the carpool lane while we waited for the girls to get out of school. 

Pointless trip to the mall

Today I took Kenny to the mall with me and I was on a hunt for jeans and a new top. Kenny slept from about 8am-10:15am this morning so that left me with about a half hour to find these two items. HA! Yes, of course I walked away with nothing! I even shopped online before I went and found a cute pair of jeans at The Gap but of course when I got there they didn't have them! I then went to Express to look for a nice top, Curt and I have plans to go out for his friend's birthday on Saturday and since I haven't bought anything for myself in Forever I figured I could splurge and buy a shirt...no way...didnt happen. I feel like it is so hard to find anything these days. Maybe I am getting old, maybe I am too conservative, I have no idea but I could not find anything that was remotely cute. So I went to Gymboree to use a gift card, walked away with a pair of adorable overalls and took Mr. Kenny to lunch. He ate spaghetti and meatballs then we had to rush to school to pick up the girls. Maybe I will try again tomorrow but it's pretty hard shopping these days with kids. I feel like I never have any time for myself. Some moms complain that they never have any time for themselves and they have nannies but I literally have no time for myself because I watch my children 24/7! I love my kids to death and would never trust or want anyone else watching them because I love being with them but there are times like this where I wish I just had a few hours to myself just to get a few things done. 

I can't believe my parents live across the street from me and literally never watch or offer to watch my kids. I get it...they have lives. They work ALL the time and they are incredibly busy but I wish they would sometimes help me or offer when they could. It's not easy. 

Tomorrow Vivi has swim in the morning and then Bella has a birthday party afterwards. Then it's nap time so I will have to stay home to watch them while Bella is at her party with Curt. Ugh. Never  enough hours in the day. 

Life is hectic and I know it will only get more crazy as they get older. I guess it's just up to me to figure out how to manage my time better. 

Happy Friday everyone, have a great weekend and try to relax!

I love you.

Relaxing weekend at home

This weekend we had a lot of naps, snuggling up near the fire, making s'mores, cleaning, ordering in and watching movies. It was so nice!

I love my little family of mine. We rented a movie for them and they watched it a few times this weekend. Curt and I rented Cake but that was pretty depressing and Jennifer Aniston did not look her best. Curt took Vivian to her swim lesson on saturday and then to target. On Sunday we went out for breakfast and ate delicious waffles with fresh strawberries on top!

It's so nice to have down time with my family. There are so many weekends where we are constantly on the go and we never sit down to relax. Maybe this is why we have been sick now for over a month. I think finally we are all feeling better and I hope we stay on this track. 2016 started out really rough but I am optomistic that it will be a good year for all of us! I plan on keeping healthy by eating fresh food, exercising more and staying on budget (buying less). 

We have a wedding in the fall of 2016 that I have to go to and I dont really want to bring the whole family to mainly because it is right when Bella starts her first week of kindergarten. 

We wanted to take the kids to disney this year but Kenny is still very young so we are unsure. Then we might stay a week in Emerald Isle during the summer like we always do. 

Im not sure if these are really new years resolutions but I want to stay on track. I think we are doing a pretty good job so far! 

Sunday breakfast at The Original Pancake House

Bella not smiling :(

Kenny giving hugs and he even gives kisses on demand!

Thry love their daddy 

Blizzard 2016

Teeth galore coming in!

Relaxing after sledding all morning!

I kept the kids home today. We had the biggest snow storm ever! We had about 20"+ that came last friday. It's been a week and we only left the house twice. It has been so nice to spend time with my family, good quality time. Curt took the kids sledding almost every single day and they loved it! I of course had to stay home with the baby, as expected but I loved it!

Curt and I went to dinner on Monday night then on Wednesday night the girls wanted to go out to dinner too. We went to Rock Bottom both nights! I am in love with their wings and beer so we indulged. Then on Wednesday night the girls wanted to go there too. It really is a kid friendly bar/ restaurant with great food for the kids. Bella had chicken tenders, Vivi had her own pizza and dipped her crust in the ranch dressing haha and Kenny had a grilled cheese sandwich along with a little bit of chicken and french fries. 

Here are some pictures from our blizzard of 2016!

The calm before the storm

Before

After!

Pretending they are Cindy Lou Hoo

Drew a picture at Rock Bottom of Jade and Bella. First time she has been there since the summer!

Playing independently 

Taking a picture with my snow bunny

Breakfast!

Mommy got busy in the kitchen during nap time

Silly girl

Loving her chocolate chip cookies in milk

Lots of mimosas in our snowy glasses!

BLT's for lunch

So much snow!

I wonder if we will get more?! Eeeee

Rest? HA!

This morning I woke up feeling like I am coming down with a cold! Ugh!!! Curt came home last night coughing and he was a mess...so of course I now am getting it and want to cry. I felt so run down all day but I also felt like I needed to get a lot done around the house. Tomorrow I will most likely pay the price! I cleaned the whole kitchen, like deep clean from cleaning the cabinets to cleaning the stove to scrubbing my kettle with baking soda :/

Then I made my way to the hall bathroom cleaned that, cleaned the dust off of the wainscoting. Cleaned the girls jack and jill. Cleaned my bathroom and did two loads of laundry. I felt like I had so much time because Curt dropped the girls off this morning and even picked them up! Kenny was able to have a good long uninterrupted nap and I was able to clean! I feel like when I drop the girls off every morning it doesn't leave me much time to do deep cleaning. You have to be in the mood! I cant believe I was seeing as how I feel like I am getting sick. I haven't coughed but my body feels weak. I hate hate that feeling, all I have been doing is drinking tons and tons of water. I had my morning vitamins, ate breakfast and took an emergenC. I had a good lunch too. Hopefully I feel better tomorrow, wahhh!

Ok stop complaining Lynn.

Snow is coming!!! So exciting, there is a lot to do. I went to Target yesterday and then realized I am not even sure if the girls have snow boots that fit them. God it is such a pain every year we have to buy more snow boots for one big snow storm and then thats it! Anyone else have this problem?! Haha!!

I plan on making some beef stew on Friday night or maybe Saturday. Last night I made a really yummy meatball soup, Rachael Ray had a show yesterday where she made a meatball soup and it looked so filling and comforting so it was perfect since Curt was getting sick. 

It was really easy to make too.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/rachael-ray/mini-meatball-soup-recipe.html

Here is a picture of what it looked like in the end. I would highly recommend to use lean beef so it is not greasy.

I tweaked the recipe a bit and skipped the cheese to make it a little healthier. 

Happy prepping for the snow everyone!

Kenny's 1st Birthday celebration

Last Friday night we celebrated Kenny's birthday since Curt had a dinner meeting on Thursday night the day of Kenny's birthday. 

I made chicken pot pie and a football cake for him. We were supposed to have family over on Sunday for the game but since everyone including Daddy were sick we decided to stay in and have a quiet little celebration for him. We still have a football theme and the girls were so excited they made me put my jersey on and they put theirs on too. 

We ate our yummy dinner, had cake and ice-cream and had a family movie night. It was a long week of colds so we were all happy to sit around the TV with the fireplace on and snuggle. 

Kenny was adorable, he loved his balloons, his food and his cake! He even smiled on demand!!! We couldn't love him more. He has had such a growth spurt this past week, he has a total of six words as of today they are: mama, dada, hi, no, bub (bubble not really a word but im happy!) and go! 

He learned the word go because he always climbs up the stairs and goes so slowly bc he doesn't want it to end do I say "go, go, go!" He started repeating after me haha

Here are some pictures from the day! 

Picture for Baby Kenny "our family" love, Bella

Bella took this, its dark and the picture is messed up (kenny's ear and jaw) and my shoulder haha but still cute. Hey, a 4 yr old took it!

Bella took about 35 pictures of these balloons so I figured I should save one!

Mommy's chicken pot pie

Happy 1st Birthday sweet boy. We love you! 

Funeral

On Friday I went to a friend's funeral. I knew her from high school and we were facebook friends. We lived in the same area but never got together. She was only 32 years old and died over a medical condition, what? I do not know and did not want to ask the family. 

I felt so bad for her family members to lose someone so young, a beautiful girl who had not married or had any children. It is just so sad. It was nice to see some friends from high school some her age, some my year and some girls a year above me. I think it's just nice to know that some people care enough to come to your funeral to show your love and sympathy for the family. It's never easy going to a funeral, in fact I really didn't want to go and I wasn't close to her but I felt in my heart that I needed to go to give the family my condolences. 

I think her mother appreciated it.

I know I would have.

Life is so short, enjoy every minute of it and be thankful! You never know what card you will be dealt. 

That morning I was driving home from dropping the girls off at school and I heard the song "tiny dancer" by Elton John and it made me cry for some reason. It's never made me cry before but it spoke to me. I turned up the radio and sang along.

Then after the one person (her boss) spoke about her at the funeral he ended with 

"And I would have liked to have known you

But I was just a kid

Your candle burned out long before

Your legend ever did." By Elton John