Weekly Meal Plan 9-20-26
1 day ago
Thursday, August 30, 2007
alyssa's cute ramblings....
"I want sfeshal ne ne" can anyone figure it out? Translation: I want special candy. We offer it to alyssa at such times like going potty, or just to come when we REALLY need it...well maybe just I do that. Another funny phrase she says EVERY time we go to get into the van, "I sit da bruders" meaning...she wants to sit with the brothers. They sit on the back bench of the van and she sits on the middle bench all alone. I tried to squeeze her seat in with them and it just doesn't fit. I even moved hers back and Matthew offered to come up front, but she still didn't like her chair. I love the chatter of a 2 year old. She is also now offering up, "i super tired." But that doesn't mean she wants to go to bed....she seems too young to use descriptive words such as, super. It's really cute.
Michael's new work
I wrote about Michael's new job here, so if you want to hear about it, go see the link. What is so great is that he got to pick the equipment and flooring and do what he wanted to do here. The floor is rubber, and he'd always wanted this b/c it is better for his feet/body. He is on his feet all day. It really makes the place look cool and different. It's finally finished and the kids LOVED playing with all the stuff and squeeling at the fun discoveries. Michael delighted in their joy at his home away from home.
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
my daily minutes
I started yet ANOTHER blog! I have about 9 now:) Anyway, it was so much fun to document my day yesterday, and I am a hard core journaler anyway, I thought I'd dedicate a new blog to my daily minutes. Also, I found that since I was writing it all down, I was accountable, and thus wanted to be more productive with my time. I may not do this every day, but will for sure this whole week. Click on the link for my daily minutes.
Monday, August 27, 2007
A day in my life.....
Questions often come to a stay at home mom in the form of, "what do you do all day?" Some are offended by that, but I, too wonder what all my other stay at home mom friends do all day. Today was quite a busy day, so I thought I'd try to document this week to show that some days are really busy while other days aren't so much. This might be too lengthy for some, but I see this blog as a journal I'll print someday, so its mostly for me:) My sil did this on her blog, and I thought it would be fun, here we go.....
3:40 a.m. Alyssa walks into my room and tries to climb into bed...I tell her she can sleep on the pillow on the floor or go back to her big girl bed, she chooses the floor.
4:25 a.m. she tries to climb in again. I give her the two options and she now chooses her bed and expects me to walk her back, so I do. When I try to leave I again give her her options and she then decides to go back to our room.
5:15a.m. tries again. I must hold my ground.
5:55 a.m. My alarm clock goes off....in my worry to not wake alyssa sleeping on the floor, I hurry and push snooze and fall back asleep.
6:03 a.m. I wake up worried that I didn't wake up in time and go to the bathroom to get dressed. I hear drawers closing through the wall in the boys room.
6:05 a.m. I tell the boys it is way too early, but Tyler is so excited for the first day of school, he couldn't sleep. I tell them I'm running to the store and to keep quiet.
6:10 a.m Arrive at the HEB grocery store just a few blocks away. Bread. check. Bananas. check. pretzels. check. Needed basics for Tyler's school lunch.
6:45 a.m. Arive back home to boys sitting quietly in the pitch dark of the family room, startled by the brightness of the light I flip on.
6:50 a.m. Begin making Tyler's first day of school special breakfast: French Toast (needed the bread for that, too). Alyssa walztes out.
7:05 a.m. Our family all in the kitchen together getting ready for the day and eating breakfast.
7:25 a.m. Michael leaves for work, I pack the kids in the van to take Tyler to school.
7:33 a.m. Luckily find an open front parking spot in front of the elementary school, so we can walk Tyler to his class.
7:40 a.m. Take a picture of Tyler with his new 1st grade teacher, Mrs. Milburn. He then hands her the electric pencil sharpener that she requested (on the giving tree) on open house night. He has the cutest grin as she gives him a hug and thanks him.
7:45 a.m. My arm feels like its breaking off from carrying Alyssa to and from school and Matthew's hand in my free arm...I am VERY composed for dropping off my child at school.
7:55 a.m. Arrive back home to grab a few things.
8:05 a.m. Arrive at the park to meet up with other ladies from church who also dropped their kids off at school.
8:20 a.m. Matthew is sad for 2 reasons: 1)none of his friends are at the park 2) he slid down the dew dripping slide and literally FLEW off and landed on his bum and got all wet (and probably knocked the wind out of him). He wants to go.
8:30 a.m. We head out...swing by the house to change his pants and on to the next stop
9:03 a.m. I sign in 3 minutes late for my dermatologist appointment. Matthew & Alyssa make themselves cozy in the waiting room.
9:15 a.m. Pin prick of a needle deadens my skin as the P.A. scrapes away flesh from 2 spots on my skin while my children watch while chomping on pretzels. I plan to get my moles checked once a year, and already had 2 done a few months ago...one was "slightly atypical" but nothing to worry about.
9:35 a.m. Already leaving ahead of schedule and I"m SO happy! Matthew, Alyssa, and I run into an HEB grocery store (a different location than my 6am run) to grab some flowers for a friend.
10 a.m. Arrive at my friend Becca's home to present her the flowers and our well wishes (see previous post about Angel Elena).
10: 30 a.m. Arrive at home just before our neighbor, Clair comes over with baby Violet. Matthew loves Violet. Clair watches my kids for a bit while I run over to the school.
10:45 a.m. Check into Tyler's school 10 minutes before his lunch begins...see his old classmates in the hall and smile as they remember me as, "tyler's mom." (i love that). Also gander at the large "25" photograph hanging in the hallway that I took last December.
10:55 a.m. Meet Tyler in the cafeteria with a huge smile on his face. He told me this weekend that I could come on Monday, but that he thinks he'll be okay on Tuesday and I wouldn't need to come. It's not that he NEEDED me to come, but that he WANTED me to come. He was excited to have me meet his new friends, and I LOVED getting to know some of the kids and trying to memorize all their names like I did in the first week of school last year. I sat next to him and hugged him, and he was just all smiles. It was so cute to see all the first graders wave to the friends in the other classes that were in their kindergarten class last year. He was just enjoying his day, and that made me SO happy! Still, no tears shed for me!
11:30 a.m. I head out of school, and catch a phone call from my friend Linda in Florida. She called to tell me of an email she read of another friend of both of ours in Kansas. Our friends husband has a brain tumor and they aren't sure if it is cancerous or not. We both freak out b/c this guy is only 34 or so, and we both know him well. Weird and somber at the thought.
11:35 a.m. Relieve Clair and thank her profusely. She is so generous and helpful.
12 lunch for kids Matthew gets a "just peanut butter" sandwich while alyssa wants jelly. They watch a show while I have a little computer time.
1-2:30 p.m. The phone seems to be ringing off the hook (Michael, Linda, Candida, Emily, Cynthia)...all welcome conversation as I am so tired, I can barely keep my eyes open.
2:35 p.m. Pack the kids in the car, off to pick up Tyler. As I wait, I read my new Self magazine that I just subscribed to.
2:55 p.m. After 20 + minutes waiting in the car pick up line, I am finally at the front. As I wait for Tyler to come out, the boy down the street, (affectionately called "big Tyler" by my kids) comes out and when he shakes his head "no" to the teacher on duty in the car drive up line, she realizes she's got the wrong tyler (they don't even say the last name, I mean, tyler is a fairly common name). I'm a bit annoyed b/c that means I have to wait even longer in this line as another teacher goes in to find the "right" tyler. I see in the rear view mirror, "my" tyler smiling as he walks to me. The 5th grader assigned to my car just stands there with Tyler next to him saying the door is locked when he barely even tried to open it. As I'm saying, "It's not locked" another 5th grader says, "Just wait, it's probably automatic." To which I have to roll down my window and try to say kindly to the virgin car helper, "it isn't automatic and it isn't locked!" After a few yanks, the door opens. Hallelujah, and who can I yell at about these two issues that plagued me in the car pick up line last year???!!!
3:10 p.m. Arrive home in a bit of a haze from the dull headache that I've had the past few hours. Try to excitedly (with smiles on my face) ask tyler about his afternoon as he hands me his folder full of junk I have to go through and figure out what things I need to keep and fill out.
3:30 p.m. Lay on my bed with a little Access Hollywood to get caught up on the "world news" that happened over the weekend.
4 p.m. The kids have joined me in my room and play on the floor and on the tread mill while I continue to lay there. I love them playing around me, even if I don't feel very available to play. Fortunately, they understood I wasn't feeling well and let me rest.
4:15 p.m. Make a cake from a box, per Tyler's request for our Family Home Evening Treat on his first day of school.
4:25 p.m. put the cake in the oven and plop again for a few more minutes.
4:45 p.m. read a few books to the kids and insist that tyler read to me even though he didn't feel like it....I actually fell asleep for a few seconds while I held the book. He had to call my name for me to snap out of it.
5p.m. cook hamburger, boil noodles, heat sauce, make garlic bread, heat peas for tonights spaghetti dinner.
5:35 p.m. Michael comes home and we all sit down to dinner. It is SO nice to have him arrive home at the same time every night so we can have some consistancy.
6 p.m. Family Home Evening begins, and we continue on our 13 week journey to memorize the Articles of Faith. We were on article #5 tonight. The boys continue to impress us with how well they are doing, despite their immediate frustration from learning new concepts and big words. We know that having these memorized will help them throughout their lives, as well as have opportunities to share the gospel by the things they know.
6:30 p.m. We eat the vanilla cake with chocolate frosting decorated with reese's pieces...with a little vanilla ice cream (well, i didn't eat, but thats another story). I realize the egg carton I bought that morning was hiding under another bag of cereal--whoops.
7:10 p.m. I do the dinner dishes while Michael helps the kids get jammies and brush teeth. We read scriptures, and pray. The boys are sent to bed with 10 minutes to play/read then lights off. 8:27 p.m. I start typing this while Michael is on a jog and Alyssa plays with her "babies" next to me. The boys walk out with some excuse to which I start counting and they run back to their rooms.
8:38 p.m. As I walk Alyssa back to her big girl bed, I am happy that the boys are quiet and probably sleeping. I sit on her floor in the dark for 5 minutes and she is sound asleep. Yay, all asleep!
8:46 p.m. Start working on this photography session and finish it up. Organize a different photography order. Chat online with my cousin in law (and fellow photographer) Angela.
9:29 p.m. Go to bed b/c I am completely exhausted (one hour earlier than normal)!
3:40 a.m. Alyssa walks into my room and tries to climb into bed...I tell her she can sleep on the pillow on the floor or go back to her big girl bed, she chooses the floor.
4:25 a.m. she tries to climb in again. I give her the two options and she now chooses her bed and expects me to walk her back, so I do. When I try to leave I again give her her options and she then decides to go back to our room.
5:15a.m. tries again. I must hold my ground.
5:55 a.m. My alarm clock goes off....in my worry to not wake alyssa sleeping on the floor, I hurry and push snooze and fall back asleep.
6:03 a.m. I wake up worried that I didn't wake up in time and go to the bathroom to get dressed. I hear drawers closing through the wall in the boys room.
6:05 a.m. I tell the boys it is way too early, but Tyler is so excited for the first day of school, he couldn't sleep. I tell them I'm running to the store and to keep quiet.
6:10 a.m Arrive at the HEB grocery store just a few blocks away. Bread. check. Bananas. check. pretzels. check. Needed basics for Tyler's school lunch.
6:45 a.m. Arive back home to boys sitting quietly in the pitch dark of the family room, startled by the brightness of the light I flip on.
6:50 a.m. Begin making Tyler's first day of school special breakfast: French Toast (needed the bread for that, too). Alyssa walztes out.
7:05 a.m. Our family all in the kitchen together getting ready for the day and eating breakfast.
7:25 a.m. Michael leaves for work, I pack the kids in the van to take Tyler to school.
7:33 a.m. Luckily find an open front parking spot in front of the elementary school, so we can walk Tyler to his class.
7:40 a.m. Take a picture of Tyler with his new 1st grade teacher, Mrs. Milburn. He then hands her the electric pencil sharpener that she requested (on the giving tree) on open house night. He has the cutest grin as she gives him a hug and thanks him.
7:45 a.m. My arm feels like its breaking off from carrying Alyssa to and from school and Matthew's hand in my free arm...I am VERY composed for dropping off my child at school.
7:55 a.m. Arrive back home to grab a few things.
8:05 a.m. Arrive at the park to meet up with other ladies from church who also dropped their kids off at school.
8:20 a.m. Matthew is sad for 2 reasons: 1)none of his friends are at the park 2) he slid down the dew dripping slide and literally FLEW off and landed on his bum and got all wet (and probably knocked the wind out of him). He wants to go.
8:30 a.m. We head out...swing by the house to change his pants and on to the next stop
9:03 a.m. I sign in 3 minutes late for my dermatologist appointment. Matthew & Alyssa make themselves cozy in the waiting room.
9:15 a.m. Pin prick of a needle deadens my skin as the P.A. scrapes away flesh from 2 spots on my skin while my children watch while chomping on pretzels. I plan to get my moles checked once a year, and already had 2 done a few months ago...one was "slightly atypical" but nothing to worry about.
9:35 a.m. Already leaving ahead of schedule and I"m SO happy! Matthew, Alyssa, and I run into an HEB grocery store (a different location than my 6am run) to grab some flowers for a friend.
10 a.m. Arrive at my friend Becca's home to present her the flowers and our well wishes (see previous post about Angel Elena).
10: 30 a.m. Arrive at home just before our neighbor, Clair comes over with baby Violet. Matthew loves Violet. Clair watches my kids for a bit while I run over to the school.
10:45 a.m. Check into Tyler's school 10 minutes before his lunch begins...see his old classmates in the hall and smile as they remember me as, "tyler's mom." (i love that). Also gander at the large "25" photograph hanging in the hallway that I took last December.
10:55 a.m. Meet Tyler in the cafeteria with a huge smile on his face. He told me this weekend that I could come on Monday, but that he thinks he'll be okay on Tuesday and I wouldn't need to come. It's not that he NEEDED me to come, but that he WANTED me to come. He was excited to have me meet his new friends, and I LOVED getting to know some of the kids and trying to memorize all their names like I did in the first week of school last year. I sat next to him and hugged him, and he was just all smiles. It was so cute to see all the first graders wave to the friends in the other classes that were in their kindergarten class last year. He was just enjoying his day, and that made me SO happy! Still, no tears shed for me!
11:30 a.m. I head out of school, and catch a phone call from my friend Linda in Florida. She called to tell me of an email she read of another friend of both of ours in Kansas. Our friends husband has a brain tumor and they aren't sure if it is cancerous or not. We both freak out b/c this guy is only 34 or so, and we both know him well. Weird and somber at the thought.
11:35 a.m. Relieve Clair and thank her profusely. She is so generous and helpful.
12 lunch for kids Matthew gets a "just peanut butter" sandwich while alyssa wants jelly. They watch a show while I have a little computer time.
1-2:30 p.m. The phone seems to be ringing off the hook (Michael, Linda, Candida, Emily, Cynthia)...all welcome conversation as I am so tired, I can barely keep my eyes open.
2:35 p.m. Pack the kids in the car, off to pick up Tyler. As I wait, I read my new Self magazine that I just subscribed to.
2:55 p.m. After 20 + minutes waiting in the car pick up line, I am finally at the front. As I wait for Tyler to come out, the boy down the street, (affectionately called "big Tyler" by my kids) comes out and when he shakes his head "no" to the teacher on duty in the car drive up line, she realizes she's got the wrong tyler (they don't even say the last name, I mean, tyler is a fairly common name). I'm a bit annoyed b/c that means I have to wait even longer in this line as another teacher goes in to find the "right" tyler. I see in the rear view mirror, "my" tyler smiling as he walks to me. The 5th grader assigned to my car just stands there with Tyler next to him saying the door is locked when he barely even tried to open it. As I'm saying, "It's not locked" another 5th grader says, "Just wait, it's probably automatic." To which I have to roll down my window and try to say kindly to the virgin car helper, "it isn't automatic and it isn't locked!" After a few yanks, the door opens. Hallelujah, and who can I yell at about these two issues that plagued me in the car pick up line last year???!!!
3:10 p.m. Arrive home in a bit of a haze from the dull headache that I've had the past few hours. Try to excitedly (with smiles on my face) ask tyler about his afternoon as he hands me his folder full of junk I have to go through and figure out what things I need to keep and fill out.
3:30 p.m. Lay on my bed with a little Access Hollywood to get caught up on the "world news" that happened over the weekend.
4 p.m. The kids have joined me in my room and play on the floor and on the tread mill while I continue to lay there. I love them playing around me, even if I don't feel very available to play. Fortunately, they understood I wasn't feeling well and let me rest.
4:15 p.m. Make a cake from a box, per Tyler's request for our Family Home Evening Treat on his first day of school.
4:25 p.m. put the cake in the oven and plop again for a few more minutes.
4:45 p.m. read a few books to the kids and insist that tyler read to me even though he didn't feel like it....I actually fell asleep for a few seconds while I held the book. He had to call my name for me to snap out of it.
5p.m. cook hamburger, boil noodles, heat sauce, make garlic bread, heat peas for tonights spaghetti dinner.
5:35 p.m. Michael comes home and we all sit down to dinner. It is SO nice to have him arrive home at the same time every night so we can have some consistancy.
6 p.m. Family Home Evening begins, and we continue on our 13 week journey to memorize the Articles of Faith. We were on article #5 tonight. The boys continue to impress us with how well they are doing, despite their immediate frustration from learning new concepts and big words. We know that having these memorized will help them throughout their lives, as well as have opportunities to share the gospel by the things they know.
6:30 p.m. We eat the vanilla cake with chocolate frosting decorated with reese's pieces...with a little vanilla ice cream (well, i didn't eat, but thats another story). I realize the egg carton I bought that morning was hiding under another bag of cereal--whoops.
7:10 p.m. I do the dinner dishes while Michael helps the kids get jammies and brush teeth. We read scriptures, and pray. The boys are sent to bed with 10 minutes to play/read then lights off. 8:27 p.m. I start typing this while Michael is on a jog and Alyssa plays with her "babies" next to me. The boys walk out with some excuse to which I start counting and they run back to their rooms.
8:38 p.m. As I walk Alyssa back to her big girl bed, I am happy that the boys are quiet and probably sleeping. I sit on her floor in the dark for 5 minutes and she is sound asleep. Yay, all asleep!
8:46 p.m. Start working on this photography session and finish it up. Organize a different photography order. Chat online with my cousin in law (and fellow photographer) Angela.
9:29 p.m. Go to bed b/c I am completely exhausted (one hour earlier than normal)!
Remembering Elena Christine
A year ago today I had the very special priveledge to meet an angel. Angel Elena. Her life here on earth was very short, but those that knew her will be forever changed. I had the opportunity to photograph her with her family and capture the love they share. Through a photographer friend in Utah, I helped their family get in contact with a girl, Heidi, who lost her baby with the same condition, Potter's Syndrome, as little Elena. Heidi has launched a site that I really wanted to share. Information for families with angel babies. Click here to go her site. My friends knew at their 20 week appointment that sweet Elena's organs hadn't developed properly, but some parents don't know when they confront the death of a child. The site is helpful for both groups.
Here is angel Elena shortly before she returned to her Father in Heaven:
Here is angel Elena shortly before she returned to her Father in Heaven:
Friday, August 17, 2007
gymnastics
We did this for the summer with a group from church and got a "homeschool rate." The boys loved it and it was great to have something fun to look forward to every wednesday. Alyssa was too young, but we socialized with moms and other little ones or ran an errand. On the last day we got to join in. I'm too cheap to continue it throughout the year.
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Matthew--what are you doing?
Whenever matthew's hands are not busy doing something, this is the assumed position....in the corner of his eyes, just resting there. Often his fingers in a "V" form with each end on either eye corner. Is that what it's called, the eye corner? Not sure, but this is too funny I have to show several different angles for you to get the full effect. He is watching TV here, but he does this at dinner, scripture time, when he's just relaxing. I try not to draw too much attention to it, or point it out to him so he won't be self conscious about it. It's a fun little quirk. 
Sunday, August 05, 2007
Michael's time trial
Prepping for the big day, the kids helping him degrease the bike.
Take off and waiting:
At the end:
Michael has done a ton of triathlon's, but this was his only BIKE race he's done. It was even unique in that it was a time trial. He bought his bike used about 10 years ago from a guy in Provo, Utah. He says now that it's been a "stallion" that he's really only replaced the tires in that time. He's added a few fun accessories such as aero bars and a clock speedometer. He went from biking in a t-shirt to wearing cycling shirts with pockets on the back that zip up in front and special socks for cyclists. He's been saving his pennies for a "suped up" bike, but he just can't justify a new one when his current bike works well for him. I also think it is like a baby to him and he will be sad to part with it and the memories.
His race was in a small town near Houston, so after staying at my parents house, they joined us and the kids on a hot August day to cheer Michael on....the kids are still chanting, "Go Daddy Go" because Michael told them the louder they cheer, the faster he will go. Cycling isn't the most spectator friendly sport, as we basically saw him take off and then an hour later he finished, but it was still lots of fun! My parents were a great help with the kids so I could document and help Michael out with odds and ends.
Take off and waiting:
At the end:Monday, July 30, 2007
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Tyler lost his first tooth
About 2 months ago it was first brought to our attention that Tyler's first tooth was loose. He was in Houston at Grandma's and I was at our home in Austin. I was terrified he'd lose it before I got to him the next day. Well, it took a while to come out....mainly because his new tooth was already emerging and we couldn't wiggle it that way. Finally, daddy tied a string around it and did a little yank (it almost made me queasy) and it came right out. Very exciting, look at this proud smile! I need to dig up the video of the yanking process.
Monday, July 23, 2007
Scenic Puerto Rico
It's usually hard for me to take a picture without people in it....but I managed to get some fun ones.
Ok this is a painting I saw in our hotel, but I loved it!
Ok this is a painting I saw in our hotel, but I loved it!
Sunday, July 22, 2007
My birthday in PR
Michael always does a good job of making sure my birthday starts out with a bang. This year, he and the boys cut up a whole bunch of 7's and taped them all over the room for me to wake up to. I do love the number 7, and this year, it was 07/07/07. He also gave me a charm and necklace with the number 7 (went to a jewelry store and everything). My shirt does not specify my age, although I wish (well, maybe not 17 with three kids).
Then he found me a starfish while snorkeling....
Then we went to an Old Fort on the corner of old San Juan where I posed with my 3 sisters that I've gained through my brothers.
and of course the brothers
Then there was a little party in my honor back at home....
And my final wish was all the adults play a conversation game at the end of the evening to which I fell asleep on Michael's shoulder at the end...I never fall asleep, I was just worn out!
Then he found me a starfish while snorkeling....
Then we went to an Old Fort on the corner of old San Juan where I posed with my 3 sisters that I've gained through my brothers.
and of course the brothers
Then there was a little party in my honor back at home....
And my final wish was all the adults play a conversation game at the end of the evening to which I fell asleep on Michael's shoulder at the end...I never fall asleep, I was just worn out!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
