Havin' fun & takin' names

Have you ever seen anything so stinkin' cute? Well now you have.

This girl is the happiest little person I've ever seen. All you have to do is look at her and she'll burst into smiles and laughter. Tanya said something the other day, that I want to write down.

"It doesn't matter what that Paisley is doing, she's going to have fun."

 I hope that attribute will stick with her! Such a happy spirit, she is.

Circus fun

Jayda finally decided it was time to ride an elephant. The entire first half of the circus she kept begging to ride the elephant. So when the time came we ran over and were first in line, then the stage fright kicked in and she changed her mind. "I'll just ride the ponies Momma." Uhm no. We can ride ponies any night.

Thankfully a co-workers son (who is a year younger) walked up and asked if she wanted to ride with him. "YES!" she said and off they went. {weird!} That is him in front of her. He'll also be joining her at Headstart next year, so she was pretty excited to meet a new friend. I'm pretty sure she was totally scoping him out and sizing up his boyfriend potential.

It was a nice evening, perfect weather and good fun. Just Jayda and I went and it was really enjoyable to spend time just her and I. She was so good through the whole thing and sat there like the good little girl I know lives deep inside {somewhere}. Someone behind me actually said to their daughter, "please sit down, see how nice that little girl is sitting." I definitely smiled a little on the inside. Ok, and on the outside!

We had a good conversation on the way home, and it was almost like she had matured about 3 years, in one day. There were no snotty remarks or talking back. Refreshing!

She's doing much better with her bladder control and hasn't had an accident in over 2 weeks. I think her  (2nd) bladder infection is cleared up, and maybe. . . just maybe she understands the importance of keeping dry. She's so excited to tell me she didn't have an accident, when I pick her up every day. I'm equally excited!

Another princess picture

Picture

CLick on the above link to see more from the Fairy tale Princess day!

Lashes

I am always on the search for the perfect mascara, and may have found it here. This Covergirl Lash Blast mascara is fantastic. I generally use Clinique mascara, which is also a great product, but slightly spendy for mascara. I was drawn to this orange tube because it'll be easy to find in the makeup isle the next time I'm frantically speeding through Wal-Mart with two whining kids. I was pleasantly surprised at how well it works, and actually does add thickness to the lashes and perfectly separates them. {Sigh} Now I can spend 2 minutes less in the AM, trying to get perfect lashes! I secretly, wish I could put it on Jed's lashes just for fun. It's so completely unfair that God gave a man such ridiculously long and thick eye lashes. What gives, God? Well, as long as he passed them on to his daughters, then I'll let it go.

tea and your solids vs. liquids lesson of the day

This is my super cute cup, I told you about earlier. It keeps my iced tea super duper cold and I love it for that. Lately the iced tea at work has been super duper good, which makes me incredibly thirsty for more!

While we're on the Iced Tea subject, I thought I'd share with you some ex-waitress common knowledge that may not be common knowledge to non ex-waitresses out there, or non ex-waiters for that matter. Ok "server" is the proper term. Whatever.

Have you ever ordered iced tea at a restaurant and then found most of the ice is melted shortly after it arrives at your table? It probably pissed you off a little, and you may or may not have cursed the "server" for not putting enough ice in your glass. If you are like me, you like TONS of ice in your beverage of choice. I blame my mother. You can blame her too, she won't mind.

Well it turns out that the really good iced tea is hot brewed. Thus when it is made it is very hot and sits in a stainless steel thingy until it is poured into a glass. So if you're lucky enough to order iced tea when it's been freshly made, it is still slightly warm and hasn't had the chance to cool to room temperature. Servers are trained to fill the glass completely full of ice then pour the tea into the glass. Obviously a hot liquid will melt some of the ice during this process. Busy restaurants will go through tea rather quickly, making it nearly impossible to allow the tea to cool.

So the next time you think your server is being a jerk, realize that you just got served GOOD tea that was freshly brewed, and simply ask for a glass of ice, if ice is your vice. Or you can just order that raspberry junk and try to choke it down. Whatever floats your boat  ice.

Coke free

The above picture is about how many cokes I DIDN'T drink during the month of June. Roughly about 16 cans of Coke were cut out of my diet in the month of June alone. So far this month 8.

I was finally able to kick my morning breakfast habit, by switching to iced tea or water. Jed's sister, Amy gave me a super cute insulated cup for graduation, and since I don't drink coffee, I had to put it to work some other way. So now when I get to work, instead of popping 50 cents in the Coke machine, I fill up my cup for FREE with water or tea and work on losing the love handles that have quite the grip.

I didn't go completely cold turkey though. That's just not my style and not very realistic. Everything in moderation right? Right! I allow myself pop on the weekends, as my guilt free reward for doing well during the week.

It's so crazy how easily some habits are formed {bad ones usually} and how hard others are to get into {exercise}.

I was on such a good walking streak, until haying started and Jed isn't home until 8 or 9pm. I could take the girls with me, but I really enjoy my walks as my quiet, alone time. Plus I'd have to bathe them in bug spray and pack snacks for the distance I like to go. Sort of takes the enjoyable, out of the walk. Such is life though, and when your options are limited, you gotta do, what ya gotta do. Maybe I'll turn the iPod up real loud and drown them out. Or run really fast with the double stroller and listen to their giggles. . . . and then clean up their barf. Better throw in the wipes.

Weekly Menu

Alice Springs Chicken & baked potato (if it sounds familiar, you've probably had it at Outback)

Hamburger helper (again)

Cheeseburgers, watermelon & pineapple, lettuce salad

Grilled stir fry veggies with grilled steak added


Note there's only four days worth of planning, since we'll be going to the local circus one of these nights. Undecided whether it'll be Faith's or Lemmon's. I'm leaning towards Faith's since I have only been to the drive in ONCE {yes ONCE} this entire summer, which is sick and wrong. They are only open from May 1st until September, so it is vitally important to my sanity to get my fill of their food before the winter sets in and my body disintegrates into nothing. Hmmmm, ok so that's how it plays out it my head, but not so much in the real world.

Click on the Alice Springs Chicken and Grilled stir fry veggies above, for recipes! See ya next week. Same time, same place, same food, wait. . . . .no. . . Different food. . . I hope

Fairytale Princess Day

Jayda got to go to a salon and have her nails painted, her hair done and spend some time with her cousins. A local salon hosted a fairytale princess day for little girls to get pampered. What a cute idea! I wasn't able to go, but hopefully her aunts took lots of pictures and will share them with me.

In hindsight this may have started something. . . princess Jayda is going to think she needs a pampering day more often than not.

Can't blame her. I do too

Poop in a pool

Last night was incredibly nice out, so the girls and I were playing outside when I got home. Paisley was sick of sitting in the stroller watching Jayda have all the fun, so I let her take a dip in the pool.

She'll never be the same

She loved it so much, I could hardly catch her to get her out. Jayda couldn't believe her eyes when I ripped Paisley's diaper off and threw her in the pool with her dress on. I had to let some water out, since Paisley decided she could actually swim. She'd dive in on her belly and try to float. Swallowed a little nasty pool water that our dogs have slobbered in. Yum

I would post some pictures of the excitement, but when I sent Jayda in the house to get my camera, Paisley did a job in the pool. So when there's poo in the pool, the fun is over.

We re-filled and we'll try again this weekend!

Weekly Menu

Sorry that it is Wednesday and I haven't posted a menu. I'm sure you're all starving by now, anxiously awaiting to see what'll be on my table this week.

Monday was a holiday, and a freebie. I wish there were more holidays.

Tuesday- burgers and broccoli. I'm sure you're all as jealous as Jayda was happy. Paisley on the other hand ate more than her share of the broccoli. She was lovin' it.

Wednesday Grilled cheese sandwich and watermelon. I know this sounds super lame, but Jed is now in the hay field and does not come home until 9ish. So look forward to our meals being very non-fuss for a month. . .  or two. And I have a bunch of cheese I need to use. The Peterson's tricked me. Ryder left before I could serve him more cheese, and Reanna eats NO CHEESE. What the?

Thursday  Tacos

Friday Some sort of hamburger helper entree. What? They were 5 for $5. Leave me alone.

I maybe should have done this menu when I wasn't so tired. . . .  or maybe just hungrier?