why?

since announcing to the world (okay okay, my 11 blog followers) and a few people in real life that we are trying to conceive baby numero four, everyone has an opinion. which i expected. we're all human and i'm not at all upset that people have their opinions. but what surprised me is that for every person who has said "great! go for it!" there has been one that responded "why would you want four kids?" or "do you know how expensive that many kids will be?" while i don't think they are trying to be rude, and while they wish us luck i think they assume that we haven't thought this through. and i'm pretty sure that my expression could best be described as stunned.

i cannot even fathom as to why people would not want lots of kids. i'm not judging in any way, i just can't imagine. my entire life, i've wanted to be a mom. i've always wanted to have four kids. b is one of 6 siblings (well 8 if you count his half sisters) so it's normal to him. even before we had our own kids, i wanted to teach kids. when i met b, he was 20 years old and every wednesday night, he babysat for a friend who was a single mom. what 20 year old guy do you know who does that? he just loves babies! i have never questioned a reason to have kids, i just knew that i wanted them in my life, even if they weren't my own.

i guess one of the strongest reasons for wanting another baby, for me, is just that--i want them. i just feel like i have a calling i guess. some people know that they are going to be policemen or a doctor from an early age. i knew that i wanted to be a mom and if i'm blatantly honest, at the risk of sounding vain, i think that i'm pretty damn good at it! now if my current kiddos were defiant, had horrible manners, resisted change, were rude and generally drove me nuts, i would not want another. but they are good kids. no, they are GREAT kids. for being so young, they behave wonderfully. and i get told this daily on our outings. the way they hold my hand so well. the way they say ''please" or "thank you". how quiet they are, even after waiting 40 minutes to see the doctor. while some of this is their personality, i'd like to think that a large part of it are the way in which b and i are raising them.

when i force myself to think exactly as to why i want to have kids, or in this case another child, the list is too long! sure they go from seemingly small reasons like "they're cute" to reasons like "to bring life into the world". you get to raise and nurture and this tiny little person who is so much like you (or your partner) but so unique in their own little way. having a kid is like a tiny little part of you is constantly living outside of your body. what is possibly better than growing a family? what could possibly be a better gift for my boys than a sibling? sure "just" a playmate now but hopefully they will be friends for life! eventually they will become uncles to their brothers kids. they will have and become cousins and second cousins. when else do you an opportunity to make a bond like that?

having a kid, let's you be a kid again too. when else is it perfectly acceptable for a 25 year old to spend the morning watching 'scooby-doo' while curled up on the couch? think of all the wonderful things from your childhood: hide and seek, play-doh, freeze tag, coloring, sledding, saturday morning cartoons, sugary cereal. having kids makes all that perfectly acceptable again :)

having children allows you to see the world in a whole new light. have you ever watched a baby discover something...anything? the excitement in their eyes when when shake a rattle? the huge grin that covers their face when they walk for the first time? what about when those actions are that involve you...how about the amazing feeling you get when your toddler blows you a kiss for the first time. or says ''mommy...i love you"? it's almost indescribable. even words like ''amazing'' don't come close.

yes, i realize that a kiss won't heal everything forever. i realize that at some point, they will complain about hand me downs.  i know that they won't be little forever. sooner than i probably will like they will be in school, then sports. they'll want lunch money and clothes, and we'll be expected to provide that, for FOUR (hopefully!). i will have four teenagers under one roof. i know they will probably eat me out of house and home and complain about everything. i know that it may be hard. i know that there will be days where i look toward the sky and yell "why me!?".

but i also know that each stage of their life, no matter how hard or how wonderful won't last forever. each phase has it's pros and cons. yes the teen years may end up being hell. but when i'm in my fourties/fifties and they start having kids, i think that seeing my first grandchild, will be worth it. when i get to see my kids have kids, suddenly it won't matter that i didn't get more than 6 hours of sleep at a time in the beginning. it won't matter that at one point i had 3 in diapers. or that they drove me crazy as pre-teens and tested my patience throughout their entire childhoods.


i see the light at the end of the tunnel and i'm enjoying every stop along the way, good and bad. and that is why we are trying to have another.

in a blogging funk

the last couple of days i've just kinda been in a blogging funk. i'm tired. i figure i'll just write all the crap i'm thinking in my head and call it a post. today i had to go in for blood work to see if my cholesterol has gone down any since my last appt. i hope it has. i have really tried to pay attention to what i'm eating. i started using egg whites for my scrambled eggs, eating only whole grain bread, pasta and cereal. i've upped my water, fruit and veggie intake as well as being a little more active. during the time that bubba is at school, pooks, peanut and i walk around places. the mall, walmart, target, the pet store. walk. walk. walk. i've done a few wii workouts,  i've been taking the medicine that dr.s gave me, i just really hope it's down and stays down. i'm 25 years old for pete's sake, lets get this under control. i won't find out until next week though.

i have to take peanut to the doctor in a few minutes, he's wheezing again. he shows no real signs of having an upper respiratory infection (the usual trigger for wheezing) and we've been using the neubulizer for 3 days now--he's still wheezing. i don't know whats up. the only other thing i noticed was a rash on his chin and neck. i thought it was from teething but we shall see. he's getting so big! in the last 2 days he's started blowing kisses, saying 'yes' while shaking his head up and down and saying 'nuh-nuh-nuh' while shaking his head sideways. he insists on walking, hates being carried and gets so mad if i hold my cup for him to take a sip. he wants to do everything and anything lately. the kids all got their haircuts today and they just look so big! i'll try to post pics later. i need to go wake up the kids to go to the doctors. hopefully they aren't too mad!

apparently it's going to rain and soon!

this is what the moon looked like just a few minutes ago. while i knew it was{obviously}a halo around the moon, i googled it to see what exactly this phenomenon was called. yeah, not that exciting as it's called a lunar halo. according to the farmers almanac, it's actually quite common. folklore says "a lunar halo is the precursor of impending unsettled weather, especially during the winter months." or if you've seen the sandra bullock movie ''practical magic'' it means that trouble isn't far behind...

hmmm...a, b or c??

sigh. why me? why can't i just be normal? it's me, venting again. warning: no cute and cuddly pics with this post. in fact, quite the opposite...get ready for bold blogging!

so remember back here when i had to quit nursing peanut because the pain from my endometriosis was severe? remember how doing so was suppose to help me "manage" the pain. yeah well, it's been almost 5 months and guess what is no longer working?

the pill.

the last few weeks, i've been in an increasingly amount of pain. cramps, headaches, sharp stabbing pain that makes me keel over, and despite being on a pill that is suppose to stop my period, i've had three so super heavy that i feel like i'm dying periods. i can't take it anymore. i'm sick of feeling like crap, i'm sick of feeling like my body hates me. i sick of buying "feminine hygenine" products like they are going out of style. i'm just over it.

remember how in my new years resolution post i blogged about having baby fever but b wasn't 100% on board yet? well after many a long talks about it, he's starting to come around. he sees how much pain i am in and knows that i can't hold out forever. the issue has never been whether or not we will have another, but when we will have another. which as it turns out, may end up being sooner rather than later.

today i put a call in to dr. P's office (aka- ob/gyn); i wanted to discuss what my options are as far as managing this pain and what to do about my birth control pill essentially ''not working'' anymore. (don't get me wrong, i haven't gotten pregnant on it but it's not exactly helping me out pain-wise). after talking to his nurse, her talking to dr.P and then her calling me back, there are 2 options--the same 2 options that there have always been.

a)surgery or b)pregnancy.

i could go in for a laproscopic surgery now, scrap away/burn off tissue and be relatively pain-free for maybe six months. or i could opt to have laproscopic surgery to remove my remaining ovary and tube and essentially be sterile and hopefully pain-free (but without the recovery period of a hysterectomy, which would likely come later regardless). or we could try to get pregnant now, have the baby, and then nurse until the pain returns. when the pain returns i would then have the ovary removed and/or hysterectomy rather than going back on the pill.

so given those choices, there is really only one answer.

i'm obviously not going to have my ovary removed right now... we know that we want another kiddo.

given that we do want another kiddo, do i really want to have surgery now and try to get pregnant as the pain returns (in about 3-5mos)? or avoid the surgery completely and just try to get pregnant now...

ding! ding! ding! we have a winner! we had already talked about what changes would/would not be occurring if we had another now. after hearing my options from a medical stand-point, we've decided to go for it!

yes we realize that it may take awhile (or it may happen quite quickly).

yes we realize that our house is not a pop-out camper that is magically going to grow in square feet over the next year. we know that the boys all 3 fit into one bedroom quite nicely AND that they like sharing a room. we are used to having a crib in our room. so if we do get pregnant soon, that gives us 10 months (give or take, hopefully) plus the fact that the baby would co-sleep in our room for a yearish--we're looking at 22months that we could realistically continue living here. is it perfect? no. but it will work. our landlord doesn't raise the rent on existing tenants so financially, it's the smartest solution. will it be cozy? sure. but if growing up in a small house allows me to stay home with the kids, allows us to complete our family, then we'll take it. besides, it only really feels cramped in the winter. the rest of the year we are so close to the park and walking trails that we hardly notice!

so, here's hoping i have good news to share--and soon!

bad hair day

peanut woke up this morning with some interesting hair. it stayed like this all day despite me combing it. twice.

but by dinnertime peanut figured out a way to tame it down all on his own.

yeah, he takes initiative like that. natural born problem solver i say.

frozen food challenge

we have 3 freezers in our house. i mean, we have the one in our kitchen, we have a small deep freeze and we also have a fridge in our garage (most people buy these for beer, ours is full of dr.pepper, juice and soy milk); hence, three freezers.

yesterday i was getting into the deep freeze for some ice and i thought ''holy heck do we have a ton of food in here''. i mean, a TON of food. then i opened the other freezers and while they weren't busting at the seams, they were pretty full too. i am a bargain shopper, i stock up on items when they are on sale* or i have super good coupons, and then freeze them til i need them.
 *when i say ''sale'' i mean giant bargain; like getting 5 bags of shredded kraft cheese for $1 or getting 4 bags of Reames egg noodles for $1. i try to combine awesome store sales with coupons to get the best deal
not only does this save us money, but it also keeps us prepared in case of a major storm or emergency. not only are our freezers stocked but our pantry (aka giant lazy susan) is too. well i decided to challenge myself, i wanted to see if we can eat only the things in our freezer and pantry until payday, thursday the 28th. i mean not purchasing anything in addition to what we have (unless we run out of peanut's milk). so the first thing i did was make a list of everything in our freezer(s). for the sake of keeping myself organized as well as possibly inspiring someone else to do the same, i'm going to share that list:

meats:

1.5lb boneless skinless chicken breast tenders

1 lb. sausage

1.5 box of chicken nuggest

1lb bag of beef ravioli

1.5lb pork ribs

veggies:

3 bags of broccoli, 3 bags broccoli with cheese

1 bag corn

1 bag peas and carrots

1 bag frozen hashbrowns

1 bag chopped onion

1 bag chopped onion/celery/carrot mix

meals:

homemade chili

homemade potato soup

homemade chicken noodle soup

2 frozen pizzas

other:

5 pkgs kraft shredded cheese

1 bag frozen biscuits

2 bags of egg noodle

2 boxes of Cheerio

fruit:

2lbs strawberries

1lb peaches

9 bananas

whew! i told you it was a ton of stuff. so after listing everything out, i started looking in the pantry as well and mentally putting meals together. once i realized how well my pantry was stocked, i started another list. one list for dinner meals and one list for lunches. here are those. keep in mind that i literally have everything on hand needed to make these meals:

Meal #1: Chicken Fried Rice

-l.5lb blsl chicken tenders

-2 cups of peas and carrots

-a couple eggs

-rice

Meal #2: Breakfast for Dinner

-1lb sausage &

-1 bag frozen biscuits to make biscuits and gravy

-1 bag frozen hashbrowns
-scrambled eggs

-fruit smoothie using strawberries/bananas/peaches

Meal #3: Ravioli

-1 bag beef ravioli w/spinach and cheese

-spaghetti sauce

-1 bag broccoli w/cheese

Meal#4: Pork ribs with Rice

-1.5lb pork ribs

-rice

-1 bag frozen corn

Meal#5: Chicken Nuggets and Fries

-chicken nuggets

-french fries

-fruit salad

Lunch#1: Potato Soup

-thawed homemade potato soup

-fruit salad

Lunch#2: Homemade Mac & Cheese

-kraft shredded cheese

-mickey and pals shaped pasta

-milk, butter, velvetta

-1 bag frozen broccoli

Lunch#3 Pizza

-frozen pizza

-applesauce

-corn

Lunch #4: Soup and Sandwiches

-thawed chicken noodle soup'

-grilled cheese sandwiches                               

Lunch#5: Chili

-thawed chili

-jiffy cornbread

-fruit

that is 10 meals, made completely from on-hand ingredients. while i am a pretty frugal shopper already, even i am amazed that we have enough food to feed a family of 5 for a full week! breakfast is usually cereal, yogurt and juice so that is taken care of as well.  typically i spend about $70 a week on groceries, sometimes more depending on the cost of produce. that means that this week i am saving $70+ and we're clearing out overfilled freezer. the great part is that we're still eating fairly healthy and balanced meals. thank goodness i stock up on fruit and veggies during dillons' 10/$10 sales!

so without sounding to bossy, i encourage you to check out your cabinets and freezers...you might just be amazed!

paging the doctor?

dr. pookie that is...apparently this morning mickey mouse was sick.

pookie told me that "his heart hurt" so he listened to mickey's heart while bubba checked his ears.

they consulted with each other and then looked in his mouth. it was decided that he needed medicine.

the medicine worked! mickey feels ''weally good" again!

and little peanut? well, his advice is more like his mama's....

you know, put the lime in the coconut and call me in the morning?

homework.

my not-even-four-year-old is sitting at the table doing his homework.

not. even. four.

he is lovingly and carefully coloring only the items that are the color red on his worksheet. he is doing this, by himself and he correctly colored only the heart, apple and strawberries red.

his teacher said that they only need to do the 'homework' if they want to. it's more about teaching him the responsibility of remembering to take his worksheet home and bring it back the next day. if he brings it back tomorrow, he'll get a sticker.

so, bubba is doing his homework.

ahem.

yep. no matter how many times i say it, it still just seems impossible.

bubba. doing homework.

it's a bird! it's a plane!

no, it's the super brothers!!

well, the boys' superhero capes are finished! i started them about 9pm last night and didn't get done until 1:30am due to several mishaps. mainly, the material that i chose. while it's nice and flowy for a cape, it's not nice to sew! it's some sort of polyester (no i didn't look at what it was, i just let the boys pick the colors) and my machine hated it. i mean hated it. it kept pulling and as it sewed my machine was making this clicking/clanging noise. hated it. so while i had originally planned on just using the serger overedge stitch to finish the edges, my machine did not like that idea and i ended up having to use bias tape. thankfully i had 2 unopened packages of a golden yellow, double folded bias tape and it was exactly enough for bubba and pooks cape.

 the design was very simple. i decided that i wanted it to fasten with velcro so that pooks could do ''it all by myself''. well after deciding on velcro i kinda realized that essentially a cape that velcros is a backwards bib. i mean it fastens exactly like bib but because it's a cape, it gets longer and wider and is drastically longer. here they are all laid out and finished.

peanut's cape is different. since i knew he would be growing out of his so quickly, i simply put his together using the leftover material from his brothers thus making his reversible. when he's a bit older (and taller) i'll make him one just like his brothers. he really likes it though. he watches bubba and pooks run, then he pulls on the bottom of his cape and follows. as if to say ''hey, i have one too!!"

as an after thought, i quickly made an eye mask out of some leftover yellow felt. it was a no-sew, three-minute add on that bubba insisted on. you know ''so people can't know that it's me". they ran around for about an hour this morning, rescuing, jumping and bumping into things.

  

 

total cost of the project was $10.66 (for the material). 3 capes for $10 and a few hours work? score! i already had the bias tape, thread, velcro and even the scrap yellow fabric for the tabs. i think it was a success! bubba did tell me that he wants lightning on the back of his, so we'll work on making up an emblem.

all yours for the low low price of...

$10.00?

no, not the cookies but the super cool Wilton cookie cutter set that i purchased yesterday. and when i say cookie cutter set, you have to read between the lines. what i'm really saying is "a huge ass box of 101 cookie cutters for any and every occasion and maybe even some that you will never actually use''. whew! seriously, i bought this little gem at wal-mart for $10 even. i'm not even kidding folks, these are all the cutters:

have you ever been in the middle of making cookies and thought ''damn, where is my fish shaped cookie cutter?". yeah, me neither. but now we could make fish shaped cookies, if we wanted too. or we could use 3 different heart cutters as well as the x and the o, and make a batch of valentines day cookies. a month early. which we did, today. the boys were super excited.

as you can tell by the cookies and the older boys' place-mats, we don't waste anytime moving on to the next holiday. it helps that i ♥ valentine's day. okay, really there isn't a holiday that i don't like and unlike my neighbors who are annoying the crap out of me by still having a scarecrow hanging on their front door we are pretty festive; we even have a valentines day sign on our front door.

and the best part? the cookies were pretty yummy too!

my little superheros

lately bubba and pooks have been obsessed with superheros. they love to have me tie on a blanket on them and they run around the entire house saying things like ''to the wescue'' and ''i save you mommy''. they absolutely love it. and i love it! it's great seeing their imaginations at work, saying things like ''teamwork'' and pretending to save their youngest brother. even watching pooks climb up onto the sofa only to jump off again is cute.

the fact that bubba feels the need to wear his glasses while he's a superhero is adorable (he wears them because he doesn't have a mask, apparently).

wanna know what isn't cute and fun about this whole superhero fetish? tying and retying the blanket every 2.6 seconds per kid. it doesn't matter if i'm cooking dinner, changing pooks...they need it fixed and they need it fixed now!

after searching etsy and finding capes for $20 each (plus shipping) i realized that while $20 isn't bad, for 2 capes we're looking at $40 just so i don't have to re-tie a blanket? i think not.

so folks, it's that time again. much like the aprons and the i-spy bags i'm going to bust out my sewing machine and (as pooks says all the time) just "do it all by myself." i already have it all planned out in my head as to how i'm going to do it and i'm planning on running to jo-ann's tomorrow to get the fabric. i'm thinking either a satin or a polyester satiny type (which might be easier for this amateur to sew).

i'll hopefully have something worthy of sharing in a couple days!

punk juice

actual conversation between myself and bubba yesterday after school.

bubba: i ate all my snack at school today mom!
me: cool, what did you have today?
bubba: um..a banana, cwackers and punk juice. it was super yummy.
me: a banana, crackers and what kind of juice?
bubba: punk juice mom.
me: hmm...what color was it?
bubba: it was red punk juice, just punk juice mom, yike fruit punk juice.
me: oh, you mean fruit punch?
bubba: yeah...fruit punk. it was so super yummy!

i just ♥ that kid!

wordless wednesday

peanut moved out!

well out of our room and into his brothers' room that is!

after 14mos of co-sleeping and sharing a room, it became apparent that this little arrangement wasn't going to work much longer. peanut has always woke around 6am for a bottle, which it used to be that i'd give him a bottle of water (or milk/nurse when younger) and he would fall right back asleep. well B is now getting up earlier because he has to be at work a little earlier and apparently when peanut knows that daddy is up, he won't go back to sleep.

now i will admit, i hate mornings and i love to sleep so getting up this early with him was a challenge for me. plus he was loud enough to wake the other boys up before they were truly ready to be up. but the the problem was in fact that peanut himself wasn't really ready to be up yet! he thought he was, we'd go downstairs and eat breakfast and suddenly he would morph into this whiny, fussy, fit-throwing baby; it wasn't even 8:30am and he was ready for a nap.

um...in a word, no. not going to happen. it used to be that we ran errands in the early morning so that we'd be home by 10am for his nap then lunch. so napping from 8:30-10/11 won't work because it threw off is nap routine for the entire day and made for an extremely fussy child by 4pm. and it especially won't work now that bubba is in preschool!

the logical solution was to get him to stop waking at 6am (or at least stop him from thinking that it was time to get up). and since B can't change what time his workday begins, we had to move peanut so he wouldn't know that B was up. we actually made this transition last week and so far, it's gone pretty well!

okay, that's a lie.

the first nap with all 3 in the same room led to laughing, talking, singing, getting in and out of beds and general mayhem for over 2 hours before they FINALLY fell asleep. i was at the absolute end of my rope wondering if they would EVER sleep. but they did.

the first bedtime took about 45 mins...but after that, the newness wore off and now they usually all settle down within 10-15minutes. luckily (at least so far) they haven't woken each other up in the middle of the night. (sometimes pooks has to go potty, or peanut starts fussing, etc).

i have to say that i am very glad that our 2 bedroom house, has 2 pretty big bedrooms! they fit perfectly and they love it! here are a few pics from the doorway.

peanut's crib the the curtains on the closet that i still have not lengthened. eh, someday i will...or we'll move and i won't need to!

the the left is pooks' bed, a bookshelf and you can't see it here but at the foot of his bed is their toybox

bubba's bed

and a {kinda crappy} view of the whole room

by the giggling and talking that i hear at bedtime, i think it's like a little sleepover for them, every night!

today was the day!

for bubba's first day of preschool!

after giving it a couple of days (since this post) to really let it sink it, he was super excited to start school! he went to bed last night knowing that when he woke up he'd get to go to school.

here he is enjoying his breakfast

(usually we have cereal but since today was special we had scrambled cheesy eggs, potatoes, banana, yogurt and orange juice)

we went ahead and dropped pooks and peanut off at nanaw's house to play before heading to school. (i knew i'd have to fill out paperwork and with peanut walking now, well it just wasn't gonna be easy)

here he is outside of the building, and yes his eyes are closed because of the sun shining in his face but i still thought it was cute. he was really saying ''cheese''!
yes, i did the ''first time mom dropping off kid thing'' and took more pictures. judge all you want but it was a little bit emotional. i've never dropped bubba off anywhere (other than nanaw and papa's house) so i knew this was a bit hard for both of us.

here he is outside of his ''wee wigglers'' classroom

and a close up of his cuteness!

as soon as we went up those little stairs, while hesitant, he was excited. i started filling out paperwork while he explored. he immediately found a fire-truck and book about construction that were pretty exciting. i told him that mommy needed to go and he said ''stay just for a minute'' so i talked to his teacher a bit about what their ''day'' is like.

during drop off time, it's free play. once everyone is accounted for they head to the circle rug for story time and phonics. after that they do an activity/craft, then snack time and then a game/song or they head to the gym. while talking to Ms.Deb, bubba came up to me again. at this time some of the other moms were leaving so i told him that it was time for the mommy's to leave. i told him to go play and to listen to his teacher, he gave me a big hug and never looked back.

surprisingly we both took it very well :)

i ran a few random errands while he was in class then went and picked up pooks and peanut. see, here's the thing...bubba was excited and hesitant to start school. pooks however wanted nothing more than to go to school and he couldn't. i was nervous about how drop-off/pick up would go with pooks then seeing the classroom. in my mind i imagined a tantrum of epic proportions when bubba got to stay and pooks had to go.

so i decided that i would take pooks to pick-up bubba first, so he would see all the kids cleaning up and lining up to leave (rather than during free play during drop off). it went quite well. he did ask to play a few times but he stood by me and held my hand. Ms. Deb said that bubba did really good, he was really quiet but seemed to have fun and behaved well. this week is pretty laid back, just getting the kids used to the class and teaching them how to line up, where toys go when you clean up, etc.

when we got to the car i asked bubba if he had fun. he responded that ''yes, i played and it was fun. i not talk to other kids though, i just was shy." while he wasn't like "we did x, y and z today'' he did talk about it once i prompted. for storytime they read ''If You Throw a Pig a Party" and then (in his words) "we made the puh sound too. just yike da letter P". he also got to play basketball and they had a snack. after repeating "waisins and gonola wars'' i figured out it was raisins & granola bars.

overall it was a very positive experience and he is excited to go again tomorrow! my little guy is growing up :)

me and my big boys

in honor of bubba starting preschool tomorrow, i wanted to do something special today. he's much much more excited about going, he talks all about reading and painting but i thought we'd go out to breakfast {just me, bubba and pooks} for a big-boy breakfast and talk about school. so we waited until peanut went down for his morning nap, left him with a tired and cranky B, bundled up in our winter coats and hats and headed out.

bubba was so excited, he loves the local breakfast place more than i do, i think. pooks was equally thrilled, as he's excited about anything involving food. on the way over there, bubba was telling me all about how he wanted potatoes and ''one of them big rolls mommy''. after some careful thought, i realized he wanted a big biscuit. so i ordered the biscuits and gravy plate, while the boys split ''the usual'' or scrambled eggs, potatoes, toast and bacon. normally they order off the kids menu but for what they wanted, this was easier (and cheaper!). they actually wanted to drink water (and i thought for sure that they would want chocolate milk so chocolaty it looks black) but they surprised me! they looked like such big kids eating this adult meal and drinking water out of coffee mugs...pooks insisted.

see for yourself via these crappy photos because the lighting was horrible and my flash was off :

bubba trying to decide what to eat first...

pooks (of course was wearing his hat) excited about his bacon!

aren't they just so stinking cute??

what is possibly more adorable is the following conversation:

me: bubba are you so excited about starting school tomorrow?
bub: yes mommy, its going to be so super fun. i get to play?
pooks: me go when i'm free [three] and me play too!
me: yep, pookie will go after his birthday and bubba will go tomorrow. you'll have a lot of fun playing and making new friends.
bubba: i not have any friends at school mama, i not go yet.
me: bubba, you'll make friends.
bubba: me not know how!
me: you just tell the other kids ''hi, i'm [bubba], what is your name?"
bubba: me not say that mommy. no. i just gonna be shy.
pooks: me do mommy! me do. my name is [full firstname and last name]....and me go 'hey kid whats ewe {your} name?'
me:(lol) that is your name pooks, and when you go to school you can say that too.
bubba: i just gonna have fun mommy, i yike {like} school.
pooks :me yike school too!

seriously, it was like the cutest conversation ever...i cannot even convey how bubba sounded when he replied ''i just gonna be shy''.

it was a great breakfast and the boys were perfect. seriously like 3 waitress and 4 random patrons around us all complimented me/them on how well behaved they were. they did great and i kid you not they ate almost every single piece of food on their plates. bubba ended up eating 1/2 of my biscuits and gravy and then pooks ate everything on his plate (minus 1/2 a piece of toast) and then he ate the rest of bubba's eggs. i don't think that i have ever seen them eat so much! bubba told me as we were leaving that he "ate so many potatoes he was going to turn into a GIANT potato."

bubba, i believe it!

3 boys + 150 mega blocks =

easy entertainment for an entire hour!!
now granted, there was still some fighting, pushing and yelling but overall, it was nice. everyone had fun, there was some sharing going on and while they destroyed my living room, it only took about 30 seconds to clean up.

working together to fill the back of the dump truck

racing around the front room

and i must mention that while pooks is wearing his winter hat, we did not go outside today. they didn't even leave the house today. he enjoys wearing it. indoors. all day.

Easy-Peasy Cheesy Potato Soup

bubba and i ♥ potato soup. love, love, love it. there is a local eatery that has a potato soup that is wonderful! after months of eating that every other week (or so) and a few attempts at emulating it at home, i finally figured it out! and because i'm nice, i'm going to share it all with you. i don't actually measure anything so sorry if you're a stickler for measurements, just eyeball it and go with what you like.

you will need:
24-32oz shredded hashbrowns
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/4 block of Velvetta (or more, personal preference)
water
onion
garlic
salt
pepper
cooked bacon/diced ham/ hamburger
small amount of olive oil or butter
*milk

1. on medium heat, using either EVOO or butter, sautee a little minced garlic and chopped onion until translucent in your soup pot (personal preference as to how much...if you don't want to do this, your probably don't have to)
2. add the whole bag of shredded potatoes then add water, just to cover the top of the potatoes. bring to a boil.
3. while waiting for that to boil, cube up your velvetta, open your cream of chicken (i assume cream of mushroom would work too!) and dice up your bacon or ham.
4. once the potatoes are boiling, turn the heat down til it's at a high simmer/low boil. cook until the hash-browns are completely thawed (about 7-10mins)
5. when your hash-browns look like this, you're ready for the next step. (you want to be able to squish them against the side of the pot and have them mash up a bit.
*optional step* if you want to mash up your hash-browns a bit, do that now using a spoon or potato masher. i like to mash them just a little bit so they aren't so 'stringy' but the place that originally makes this soup, doesn't seem to mash theirs at all.

6. add your cream of chicken soup, velvetta and meat.
7. stir until melted into soup. add salt, pepper and if you have it, onion & herbs mrs. dash is good too! let simmer on low low heat 5-30mins depending on when you want to eat. *if your soup is too thick, you can thin it down with a bit of milk. if it's too runny you can always add more velveeta!
7. tada! you're done! you can top with shredded cheese, green onions, more bacon, etc or nothing. i like mine super cheesy so i add more cheese.
doesn't that look so yummy? it makes alot. typically we have enough for all of us to enjoy a bowl, plus 2-3 servings leftover. (and it freezes really well. i actually like it better thawed from the freezer). we usually enjoy ours with a bit of crusty french bread. it's so easy (no peeling!), it's cheap (you totally can't tell if you use store brands at all!) and we usually have everything on hand. perfect for this cold weather!

* you might be able to make this using a reduced fat cream of chicken soup and the reduced fat or 2% velvetta if you're worried about calories--i'm not sure how it would turn out, but you could try!*