Reason # 4,5 and 6 living with Nana and Papaw is good

So life has brought me full circle back to my hometown. After trying to get out of here right after high school and living in Austin, Baton Rouge, Houston, just to name a few, my husband was blessed with a job right here in the big D. He is thoroughly enjoying his new job and the girls and I are enjoying getting to hang out with my parents once again...and when I say hanging out with my parents, I mean LIVING with them! That is until our house down South either sells or leases. But life is good. I am starting to reconnect with old friends and most all of our other family lives around the area also. While I miss friends and familiarity of our home near Houston, I am soaking up the benefits of living here once again. Of course the kids are loving living with Nana and Papaw. They are already putting Papaw to work and have somehow convinced him and my mom that the old playhouse needs to be revived. It's amazing how much fun a backyard can be with tons of acorns, shade trees and an old playhouse that hasn't really been touched in years. So far they have moved a wall to open up the inside of the house, put in some new hardware to make it more sturdy and replaced the floor on the inside. And of course a new sign has been hung on the front. Future plans include new paint, new inside walls, some chalkboard paint and anything else the always inventive Savannah can come up with!

Living here has been nice....I cook dinner and my mom cleans up the kitchen (LOVE this!!), I can run to the store with only ONE kid while mom watches the rest, and I have someone to hang out with when Bruce works late hours and extra days. Some days are more challenging than others. I feel bad when my kids are screaming, fighting, and otherwise interrupting my parent's normal daily routine. I feel guilty when my mom does our laundry even though she says I shouldn't. I'm not sure how much I need to help out around here but know I want to help out bunches in order to not take advantage of the situation! Each day we learn a little more and I for one know that this is only a season in our lives. Soon we will be moving into our own space again...the challenges will be forgotten and the girls will be missing Nana and Papaw again. The good news is we'll be just a few miles away....

It's been a year

My youngest is a little over a year old and I am finally feeling as if life isn't QUITE as chaotic as it once was. The school year has been going wonderfully this year. Interestingly enough, adding a new student, Brooke (4) has made our days even more organized and fun! I love teaching preschool and as Savannah (9) gets older, there is less singing and crafts. Not to say that there isn't any singing or crafting going on with Savannah, just less of it! Savannah is my little author. She has written 2.638 words on a great book she titled, Popcorn. I actually really look forward to reading it as she writes more. There's something special about it and maybe something will come of it....
Brooke is learning more and more each day and amazes me with her keen memory. She remembers everything she sees and hears...good and bad!
Madelyn is becoming more and more like a toddler and less like a baby each day. Entering that fun stage where it is hard to go ANYWHERE with her! More fun times ahead!

Impromptu Tea Party-Girls Only

The Princess

The day before Brooke's birthday Savannah decided Brooke was to be treated like a princess and could choose to play anything she wanted. Being the girly girl she is, she obviously chose to have a tea party. The fact that my Brooke loves all things pink and tea parties does make me smile. She is the toughest and most aggressive little girl I have. She will surely be my beauty queen/athlete daughter. It was so cute (and rare) to see my girls getting along so nicely that I couldn't pass up the moment to roll Madelyn out there in her highchair and allow her to join in on what I think will be the first of many sister tea parties at our house. I imagine they will evolve over time to be progressively more mature and sophisticated. But for now, how precious was this site on a gorgeous Spring day?

The Hostess with the Mostest

Brooke is 4!

My sweet middle daughter is officially four years old. Brooke has been anxiously waiting for this birthday to arrive for some time now, even telling us she's five. Something about the number five is magical to her. But now she is actually four and seems to be pretty proud of it! We had a pretty low key birthday for her this year. We went to a precious little girl's party just last weekend which was an "Eloise at the Plaza" theme (I wish I had brought my camera. It was absolutely divine! My nanny, Eloise, would have thought it was the bees knees!). Before we arrived I had to explain to Brooke that Mariah was turning five and that is why she was having such a big party. And when she turns five we can have a blowout extravaganza too! But our little family affair was just as special. The night before the big day I made cupcakes so we could have them with Daddy. He would be at rehearsal late the next evening. I made a delicious batch of chocolate chip cupcakes and I had to share the recipe just in case someone looking on google for a really good double chocolate and dairy free cake recipe could use it! I realize I currently have like three followers (one being my mom and the other my daughter) but still. You never know! Here's the recipe:

Seriously Good Double Chocolate Cupcakes (or cake)

Can be made with Dairy or without

2 cups sugar

3/4 Cup cocoa

1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

1 cup milk (I used rice milk)

1/2 cup oil (I used coconut oil)

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 cup boiling water

1/2 cup chocolate chips ( I use Ghirardelli semi-sweet since they are milk-free

And here's Madelyn trying icing for the first time

Awesome Giveaway

I was searching this morning for some type of giveaway for the incredibly awesome Go Gaga diaper bag. I did discover a giveaway for the strap on Supermom Central's blog. Of course I entered (praying to win......"Lord, I know I never win contests such as this, and there's obviously a lesson in this lack of winning, but I really like this bag. Amen.") Well, I then stumbled upon another sweet giveaway on this blog. Seeing as I am always wearing my baby....(I thought they were supposed to be disconnected from you after birth....I digress)....I thought this giveaway would be a delight to win (repeat above prayer). Here's the link
http://supermomcentral.blogspot.com/2010/04/giveaway-lillebaby-baby-carrier-and-i.html

The Results

This is how our garden turned out! This is a picture from last week. Since that time we've added a few flowers to the pot and the beds to attract pollinators. Newer pics to come soon. Hopefully with luscious vegetables growing in abundance and bright and beautiful flowers attracting butterflies!! Ok, maybe not quite that extravagant but a girl can dream

The Long Awaited Vegetable Garden

I've been talking about making a vegetable garden for a couple of years now and this Spring it finally happened! Of course I needed my hub's help in doing this, and this year, much to my delight, he was ready and willing! Maybe it was because it was a beautiful day (last weekend!!) or maybe it was because I had also mentioned going downtown to the zoo. Perhaps staying around here sounded much better than a big trek to the zoo. Nevertheless, we did it. What started with an afternoon trip to Home Depot ended with what I hope to be a fruitful garden! We started with a few bags of soil, "poop", and peat moss.We picked out tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, bell peppers, parsley, lavender, and cilantro

The Girls helped a lot. Brooke helped mix the soil and kept saying "I'm digging in poop!" Only my Brookey Baby would get a kick out of this!

You bought a new WHAT?

My sweet husband calls me up a few weeks ago and says, "I did something kind of stupid". You can only imagine what was going through my mind at that point. So when he tells me bought a new camera I was surprised yet relieved. I was just learning how to use our other Nikon on manual mode. I haven't learned how to properly use the new one but even on the auto setting and with no photoshop adjustments the pictures look pretty good! I snapped some this morning of my two youngers. Brooke is wearing a cute ensemble she put together to go grocery shopping- red tights, black dress shoes that are a couple of sizes too big, and a summer dress with blueberries on it. Pick your battles, right?
So here's the pics....

Dairy Free

So, one of my goals with this crazy blog is to bring in ideas from other moms who may home school or be dealing with some of the same issues I do! One "issue" I deal with daily is a milk allergy. My middle daughter has a severe milk allergy that we are praying will go away soon. Judging from the hives she got from eating Mcdonald's fries the other day, I am thinking it's not going anywhere soon. Who knew McD's fries had traces of milk!!! I am always looking for ways to cook without milk AND for the food to actually taste good. After preparing meals this way for three years I have gotten pretty good. I also love to get new ideas from others. I am going to post a dairy free cooking idea every once in a while. If someone takes a look at this blog and has a yummy recipe they would like to share, please do. I am off to make star shaped cookies. My daughter goes to church on Wednesdays and they are learning the verse "When they saw the stars, they were overjoyed". They will be eating star shaped cookies which most likely will contain milk or normal butter. I will be making sugar cookies using Earth Balance butter. It's dairy free and tastes pretty good. Also, it's organic and is free of yucky additives and preservatives. Be sure to use the regular spread not whipped if you decide to try this out. Happy Dairy Free Cooking!

Moms Cleaning Club

I had to post a fantastic idea I came across today as I am constantly striving to get my homeschool life in order! There is a facebook group called Moms Cleaning Club. I found it to be particularly interesting because each day you can print off a list of "chores" to be done that will help your house stay in shape without trying to do it all on one day. Just another helpful way to get organized. I also read an email from the lady who uses this and she sets a timer for an hour. Everyone has certain tasks that are theirs on the list. They strive to get it all done before the time goes off then begin school. I like this! I printed the lists today. I will see if it works tomorrow! How fantastic would that be for all of the cleaning stuff to be done before school even begins!!!

The Chocolate Bar

Well I died and went to chocolate heaven today. It's called The Chocolate Bar and I'm sure it's nothing new for people around this area. But I had never been there so it was a must for my birthday. Thursday I told my hubby, "Just FYI, Saturday is my birthday and I want to go to The Chocolate Bar". So we went. Baby screamed the whole way there but it was still worth it. I chose the hot chocolate. Not normal hot chocolate. We're talking sipping chocolate, people. YUM!! I had two choices. The small which was the size of tiny bathroom dixie cup or the regular which was about the size of a Starbucks small. Of course I chose the bigger one. After all, it is my birthday. Even though the chocolaty goodness tasted like pure bliss topped with whipped cream, I couldn't begin to finish it. Next time I will order the tiny one. Lesson learned. Baby screamed the whole way home but still totally worth it. When we got home we had dance lessons. Brooke didn't want us to put her ear drops in so I told her I would do a really crazy dance for her when she was done. Somehow that did the trick and when she was done I proceeded to show her my "kid n play" dance moves. Then came the roger rabbit and even some combo hip hop moves straight from my middle school cheer camp. How do I remember this stuff? After that all of us girls were in the dancing mood so I made my hubbs get off the computer and show the girls he knows how to two step. After much coercing he finally gave in. How sweet it is to see a daddy dancing with his girls. I think he enjoyed it too. Overall, an amazing day!!! Thank you God for giving me another year and an amazing family!

Birthdays and Welcome

Welcome to day one of the blog experiment. Today's my birthday and I had kind of "forgotten" how old I was until I just viewed my profile and it said "31". Where does the time go? It's ok though. Life's just beginning, right? I decided to finally try to reach one of my goals in life which is creating a really cool blog like other people's I have browsed. My nine year old daughter has one. Why has it taken me so long? And as I nurse my five month old as I type with one hand, I realize, this is why! I've never been one to back away from a challenge though. So join me as I attempt to juggle it all while trying to share photos, homeschool fun, self-deprecating humor, and hopefully, a cute story or two about my average but unique life as a mommy.