She did what?

I have not posted in a good while.  One, I have been in class all week – yes, you read that right.  I will get to that shortly.  Two, the day I wrote my last blog post the crazy and unexpected happened.  Track with me on my journey over the last week and a half.

I wrote a blog post November 12 while the girls were napping.  When I finished, they were still napping and while checking email, I noticed that the Black Friday ad for WalMart had been leaked.  Oh yeah.  One of the most exciting times of the year for me because of Black Friday.  So what did I do?  I wish I could say that I didn’t look at it because I knew that I was going to have to leave the house soon and needed to get everything in order and wake up kids to get out the door.  But I did look.  Emerson woke up and I kept looking.  Then, 15 minutes before time to leave, I was still looking and decided that I really should get to the task of making snacks for the car, changing the diaper, putting on shoes, and the billion others things that have to happen to make it out to the car.  I rush around to do things fully aware that I was indeed running late.  I get the kids in the car and then realize I forgot something in the house (how many times has that happened to you?).  So I run inside, grab that something, and start to rush out the door…..until….I trip over the long, huge box (see picture below) that is sitting outside our side door into our garage falling down 3 stairs (lets just say missing all 3 stairs because I didn’t touch any of them) and rolling my foot which led to spraining it in the process.

It of course hurt super, duper bad and I of course start crying (my low pain tolerance didn’t help the situation), which leads Kinsley to start crying, and then Emerson.  I get up and hop over the car where Kinsley was and sit on the side to calm her while making sure I am not going to pass out.  I was panicked because it was hurting so bad and I knew I had done something really wrong.  Praise the Lord it was my left foot and I could still drive.  I was on my way to a playdate and decided it would be best to just go anyways as she could help me with the kids until Ed could come home.  My first thoughts were how was I going to watch the kids tomorrow while Ed was gone followed by how would i pack to leave town that weekend followed by would it be well for Black Friday shopping (ashamed to say that was at the top of the list).  Long story short, made it to the friends house, she had a gate that kept the kids corralled in her living room so I could stay off my foot, and then we left for home.

I am going to share what happened next because I now think it was super funny (though it is still not good my child did it) but I am aware some may judge our parenting style.  While its okay because we believe it is what the Lord has called us to, if you have questions, please come to us with them.

At our friends house, Kinsley had been super disobedient and had done many things that she knew wasn’t okay (jumping on their couch IS NOT something we condone…I mean seriously, do we need to go back to what you were taught when you were 2?).  So, I had already told her she was going to get a reminder when we got home.  The whole way home (20 very long minutes), she tried to tell me in this sweet, soft little voice why she shouldn’t get a reminder.  When we got into town, the traffic started backing and being that we were past dinner time, Emerson was fussy and decided to throw her pacifier.  My foot is killing me, Kinsley is still trying to tell me that she shouldn’t get a reminder in a super soft voice (mom, I just needed to rest when you said clean up the toys so I couldn’t clean them up….repeat…repeat….repeat), and Emerson is screaming.  I finally said rather loudly “Kinsley, you ARE getting a reminder when we get home for being disobedient and for pushing and you are not talking me out of it….if you want to keep talking to me, you are going to have to do it louder because Emerson is screaming.”  Very loudly, Kinsley starts praying “God, please help mom to be kind, help Emerson to stop screaming, and please don’t let me get a reminder.  Please, don’t ever let me get a reminder again because I don’t want a reminder.”  I don’t know if it was sincere or an attempt to manipulate, but I couldn’t believe my kid was seriously using prayer right then.  It did make me lighten up and smile, because at least she was praying, but it didn’t change her punishment.

To followup and bring it to today, my foot is still swollen but I am now able to walk on it.  We did travel to my parents that weekend to meet my new, sweet little niece Johana and for Ed to go hunting with my brother and dad.  We also left the girls there on Sunday and traveled to Asheville, NC to take an apologetics course as part of the seminary classes Cru requires for our continuing education.  We had to do LOTS of reading and work beforehand but it has been a great week of learning and I am so thankful for this opportunity.  When I first started reading all the material, I was like “Why did I sign up for this?” and while it has been a big adjustment to be in school again (it has been 6 years since I have taken a seminary class!), it has been so good to learn so much and such a great time to be refreshed and be able to go back home and give the girls more of us.  Big thanks to my mom and dad for keeping and handling the girls all week and making this possible!  We are excited to take all we have learned back to campus!!

Now bring on Thanksgiving and Black Friday 🙂

Randoms

When I was trying to think about what to post and what has been going on in our lives lately, I couldn’t think of anything.  Well, that’s not exactly true.  Plenty has been happening but not anything big or any overarching theme.  So, I decided to post a bunch of random things to show you all the craziness that has ensued at our house.

DIY Update:

I tried one new DIY project this month and a few new recipes.  They were almost all a success, which seems to never happen.  The first DIY project was to try using my own stuff to clean my smooth top oven.  While the cleaner for it isn’t that expensive, I have wondered if there was a cheaper, but still effective way.  I saw this link on Pinterest and decided to try it.  Check out the results for yourself (pictures are in order of before, during, and after).

My opinion:  It worked!!  While it does take longer than using the store-bought cleaner because you have to let it sit, it worked wonderfully and I have even done it since the first time!

Cream Cheese Chicken (in the crock pot)

Got this recipe courtesy of Becky Duffield (who, by the way, has given me quite a few good recipes so when she suggests one, I listen!….unless it is peanut butter, which I strongly dislike).  LOVE IT!!  Seriously one of the best in a while.  I didn’t want to stop eating even though I was full.  Sorry I didn’t take a picture…I need to get better about that.  To my defense, my family doesn’t like waiting around once it is done!

Sliced Baked Potatoes

Recipe courtesy of moneysavingmom.com.  I was really excited to try this one given that she says her family has used it for a long time.  My verdict:  I couldn’t cut the potatoes right, which meant the seasonings and cheese couldn’t melt inside properly and because of the cutting, all the slices didn’t cook through completely.  So, maybe if I had been able to get it cut right, it would have been better.  All in all, not trying this one again.

The Best Pot Roast Ever!

Verdict:  Not too bad.  My family (specifically my husband) aren’t big pot roast or carrots fans, so this recipe he could do without.  If I had a roast again, I would do it, but would cook it longer than I did this time.

Candy Corn and Pretzel Bark

I am going to tell you something really shocking.  Are you ready?  This was the recipe I was most excited to try.  The verdict?  It most definitely didn’t disappoint.  In fact, it may be the very reason I didn’t lose weight that week.  I left off the dried fruit, but lets be honest, the chocolate was what we were all really after.  YUMMY!!

Oven Fried Chicken

Another recipe by moneysavingmom.com.  Verdict?  Another success.  It was fluffy and not too fried, but just enough to season it and set it apart.  Another keeper!

And now for the other randoms:

I love our small town.  We get the benefit of doing small town things even though we are near a big city.  For instance, Halloween the businesses in town hand out candy to the kids dressed up, Christmas they have a tree lighting, free hot chocolate, and free sleigh rides for the children, and they do fun things like Fire Appreciation Day with jump houses and fire awareness.  Ed recently took Kinsley to one of the firehouses and she had a blast!

Emerson trying one of her birthday presents.  She loves riding on the back of daddy’s bike.

Kinsley and Emerson spinning in the office chair.  I was gone for a meeting and this is what Daddy did with them while I was gone.  It is seriously funny to see Emerson get so dizzy and not be able to walk.  Bad parenting to laugh at your kid while she is dizzy and falling?  Maybe.

Playdates with lots of fun friends.  Another thing we love about this place.  Our church and friends are awesome and it is great having “family” without our family actually being here.

And what do we do during the days?  Put our kids in boxes.

 

Two things checked off

This year is flying by! I can’t believe we are closing in on Thanksgiving and Christmas already. With that being said, we checked off two things as having “been there and done that” this year.

The first check off is that soccer is officially over. Should I be sad? Maybe. Am I sad? Most definitely not!  While it was fun to watch the kids running around (when they were running and not “resting” on the sidelines), admiring the horse next to the field, getting caught up in the net, and giving each other hugs instead of kicking the ball, I will have to say that I am not one bit sad to see it go.  As for right now, Kinsley would way rather be entertaining people by singing and making up stories than playing soccer.  Maybe with time that will change.  Or maybe we will have to accept that our daughter doesn’t love the sport that we both grew up playing and loving (which is totally okay!).

We had our final hooray at Chick-fil-A this past weekend where the kids ate, got trophies, played in the play place, and got to say “go team” with their hands in the circle one last time.  If the kids had half as much energy on the soccer field as they did on the playground, we would have been way more successful scoring goals (yes, I know…it was 3 year old soccer and we were lucky they even kicked the ball with their feet rather than picking it up with their hands).  Here is a classic picture of what happened on the soccer field….Kinsley is playing “drive thru” with one of the other girls by poking her head through the net and asking her what she wants to eat.

The second thing that got checked off our list was Halloween.  We went around our neighborhood with Benjamin, our neighbor, and his mom.  Kinsley was a cowgirl and Emerson was a duck.  Both girls were cute, but Emerson’s duck costume was stinkin’ A.D.O.R.A.B.L.E.!!  I wish I had gotten a picture of her standing up in it as the tail and middle part were the cutest, but anytime she is standing, she is in motion and that’s a hard picture to get. We got these outfits after Halloween last year on sale for real cheap and they were well worth the $2 or $4 we spent on them!  Kinsley really understood saying trick-or-treat this year and getting candy, and she wanted to keep going and going and going until her basket was overflowing.  So who is eating all that candy?  Daddy, of course (and just a few pieces for mommy 🙂 )

Ed’s favorite part of Halloween?  Carving pumpkins.  My favorite part?  Eating roasted pumpkin seeds.  And thanks to my kind neighbor, I just got more to eat tonight which makes me a happy momma!  Ed had high hopes of Kinsley helping to carve the pumpkin but as you can imagine, she didn’t stick to it very long.  But, she did get to choose one of the designs which, as you may or may not be able to tell by the picture, was a Sofia The First (show on Disney with a little girl who is a princess) pumpkin.  Ed did a good job with it!

Now on to Thanksgiving, Black Friday (yes, its a big happening in my book!), and Christmas.  Fun times finishing out 2013!