Day to Day With Mom

I love being a mom, with that said I have to admit I am at the end of my rope with my three year old! She will absolutely will not use the potty! I have been faithfully trying with her for over a year and this child will not use it!

Angelika is the baby of three kids which had me thinking that I would have this whole potty training thing beat hands down… I was so wrong. I mean seriously I potty trained a boy and a girl with no problems both before and around the age of two! My babygirl is going to get married wearing diapers!

I don’t understand how kids can be so different when it comes to talking, walking, potty time, sleeping patterns and even the things they eat. I read comments from moms on different sites asking other moms if their child is a slow learner b/c “jim bob” down the road is already doing this and that. NO MOM you are not doing anything wrong and your child isn’t running slowly it’s just sometimes they aren’t ready. If you as a mother are doing everything to help your child reach each milestone then just be patient and it’ll happen. I’m not real worried about my babygirl I know I’m doing everything in my power to have her potty in the toilet but she just isn’t interested in being a “big girl” at this time but who knows maybe tomorrow will be the day!

There is a really good article at http://www.gagazine.com/tag/potty-training that offers advice and tips on potty training for all those parents going through the ups and downs of it all like myself.

picture provided by http://www.morguefile.com/archive/display/176442

I explained once before that I had to cut my hours because my cat had eaten my headset. If you work from home and use the phone a lot as I do, then you understand the need of a good headset. Now if you have kids or pets then you also understand the need for a great noise canceling headset. I have tried several different headsets and none work as good as the Boom headsets.  I have called my mom and tried different screaming techniques out with my children and most of the time she can’t hear them.

I finally got the money to buy another pair even though I ended up spending more this time I’m happy that I have them and can finally schedule more hours. I had to purchase the a different pair because the set I had before was on backorder this time and I needed them quickly! These are really great though, they cover both ears which is really neat since my other ones only covered one. It really makes it easier to hear and I don’t get distracted by the sounds of my kids as easily either.  It’s unfortunate that you can’t see my smile over the computer screen but let me tell you I’m smiling!!!

If you want to check out a pair then head over to www.theboom.com they are certainly worth the money.

My son is on his way to his next to the last basketball game and I’m here at home once again. I can’t be upset because my daughter is getting better but until she’s 100% better I dont want to chance taking her out around everyone. I really hate missing the games though. Not only do I feel like I’m letting him down but I feel like I’m letting my fiance down too since he’s the coach.  Hopefully I’ll be able to make it to his last game on Saturday.

Next year will be a huge change for us sports wise because it’ll be Junior high sports. This thought scares me a little but I know my little man will do great! I am holding on to these little legue moments for as long as possible though.

Reading is a hobby of mine that I have enjoyed for years. I love to read and thankfully have passed that down to my kids and looking at the picture evidentally I’ve passed it on to my pets!

okay this whole time thing is messing me up it’s putting my blogs on the wrong days and I’ve fixed the time a hundred times so in my house it’s still tuesday and I’m doing my Tuesday post!

Conversation with a three year old:

We are sitting on the sofa watching TV when the husband kisses the wife….

Angelika: They’re kissing (smiles)

Mom: Yes they are

minutes pass by and she looks up at me

Angelika: that’s YUCK!

Now this is coming from a child that will call me back into her bedroom at least four times because I didn’t kiss her correctly. I kissed her cheek when she wanted me to kiss her lips or I kissed her lips when she wanted me to kiss her nose. I hope one day her husband doesn’t mind that she thinks kissing is “YUCK”

  Conversation with a four year old:

Brianna- Bubba made me sad

Mom- how did bubba make you sad

Brianna- I told him I don’t want to watch the dragon it makes me scared it isn’t funny he said it isn’t funny… I like Barbie I want to watch barbie… bubba said I can’t watch barbie… I tell you I want to watch Barbie so I can watch Barbie…

Mom- umm ok bubba won’t tell you to watch the dragon any more

five minutes later out of no where….

Brianna- Mama I do like Barbie…….

My poor baby has been sick for a while now, got better and now is sick again. I really think the cold is getting to her head!

Conversation with an 11 year old:

Brandon: Can I have money for the book fair?

Mom: Didn’t you just get a new game, money to go on a trip in which you bought drum sticks, and I still have to buy you a shirt for your dance concert.

Brandon: So am I getting money for the book fair?

Mom: UGH here is $15 spend it wisely

He comes home with two pencils, a pencil sharpener shaped like an ipod and one book about poisonous animals!

Mom: How much did you spend

Brandon: oh about $14

Mom: SON YOU’RE KIDDING

Brandon: But they are pokemon pencils!

OHHHH that’s why you spent $14 on something that you could have bought for five bucks at a normal store! What was I thinking that just explains it all and here I was thinking you got ripped off!!!!!

OH the joys of parenthood!

I’m tired of eating the same thing over and over and over again! I love finding recipes and even thinking about making them, but the actual buying of the ingredients seems to stop me in my tracks. I decided to try to find some recipes that would add something different to my meals but that I could make with ingredients I already have in the house. Seems simple enough right…

Okay first I found www.mealsmatter.org and the site’s name caught my attention because meals definitely matter in my house I don’t know about yours!

Lemony Chicken Piccata (seems promising enough)

• 1/2 cup All-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp. Salt
• 1/4 tsp. Black pepper
• 1/4 tsp. Garlic powder
• 4 Boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (about 1 1/3 lbs total) defrosted if frozen
• 1 tbsp. Vegetable oil
• 1 Lemon
• 1 tbsp. Butter
• 1/2 tsp. Honey

Combine the flour, salt, pepper and garlic powder in a shallow dish and set aside. Place the chicken breasts, one at a time, between 2 sheets of wax paper or plastic wrap. Pound the breasts with several whacks of a meat mallet or rolling pin so they are an even 1/2-inch thick. Peel off the paper and cut the breasts in half lengthwise. Heat the oil in an extra-deep 12-inch nonstick skillet over high heat. Meanwhile, dip the chicken pieces into the flour mixture to coat on both sides, shaking off any excess. Add the pieces to the skillet and cook until lightly browned, about 2 minutes. While the chicken cooks, cut the lemon in half. Cut one half into th in slices and set aside. Squeeze the juice from the other half into a small bowl (picking out any seeds that fall in) and set aside. Turn the chicken and saute until lightly browned and cooked through, another 2 minutes. Remove the chicken to a platter. Add the butter to the skillet and reduce the heat to low. When the butter is melted, remove from the heat and stir in the lemon juice and honey. Immediately drizzle the lemon mixture over the chicken. Garnish with the reserved lemon slices and serve.

Believe it or not Chicken is the one meat I always have plenty of around my house so here’s another recipe that looks like it may be a yummy one and I have the ingredients laying around making it a perfect fit in my recipe book! The recipe is from www.cdkitchen.com and it feeds six hungry folks and that’s perfect for the five hungry faces I have to feed.

Impossibly Easy Itlian Chicken Pie

1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 1/2 cup cut-up cooked chicken
1 1/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano leaves
1/2 teaspoon dried basil leaves
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 can (6 ounce size) tomato paste
1/2 cup Original Bisquick mix
1 cup milk
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 eggs

Heat oven to 400 degrees F. Grease 9-inch pie plate.Sprinkle Parmesan cheese in pie plate. Mix chicken, 1/2 cup of the mozzarella cheese, the oregano, basil, garlic powder and tomato paste; spoon over Parmesan cheese.Stir Bisquick mix, milk, pepper and eggs until blended. Pour over chicken mixture.Bake 35 minutes. Sprinkle with remaining mozzarella cheese. Bake 5 to 8 minutes or longer or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 5 minutes.

Here’s another recipe to use as a side dish from www.cdkitchen.com the only ingredient I may have to pick up is the scallion but I think I can manage that.

South of the Border Rice

butter-flavored cooking spray
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 cups canned no-salt, no-fat chicken broth
2 cups raw instant rice
1/4 cup shredded carrot
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 cup thinly sliced scallion

Lightly coat a medium nonstick saucepan with cooking spray. Add the onion and saute over medium heat until the onion wilts, about 4 minutes. Add the broth and bring to a boil.Stir in the rice, carrot, cumin, and cayenne pepper. Cover and remove from heat. Let stand for 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork and serve with a sprinkling of sliced scallions

My baby turned 3 today! I’m not sure if I should be jumping for joy or crying my eyes out. I can’t believe how time has passed by so quickly. I mean this is my baby! I love all of my kids but the baby… well she’s the baby. I feel like I need to protect her always but the funny thing is she’s turned out to be the one that needs me less then the others. She’s such a strong little lady. I’m proud of her more and more each day with every new thing she learns and I can only pray that God allows me to share more of these times with her and my family for many years to come.

Tomorrow is my youngest daughter’s birthday. She’ll be three. It’s amazing at how time flies! Her father spent all day yesterday looking for the perfect birthday presents and ended up coming home with one diego backpack, I wasn’t impressed. After shopping on ebay and not having the items shipped quickly enough (I’ve been waiting since the tenth of Feb.) I decided that I would go do what I’m good at and find my daughter some presents. I explained to her sister that she couldn’t go with me because she needed to stay here and keep her sister busy but I did however take my son… he makes me feel safer then if I’m by myself. I’m not really sure why I guess it’s because I know if anything was to go wrong as long as I have him I will be in mom mode and do whatever to protect us and if something were to happen he has the brains to think about answers to situtions that I wouldn’t ever think of.

Anyway after shopping for a little while I found her a set of disney princess dolls, a dora dart board (not real darts just balls), a farm set, and littlest pet shop items. This on top of two shirts and the three things I ordered off of ebay. It isn’t much but it’ll keep her happy. 

When I got home the first thing out of my middle child’s mouth is “where are chubbies (yes that’s my baby’s nickname) toys?” 

UMMM hello hush child!   

I told her Brianna we canceled your sister’s birthday. I of course didn’t think my baby had heard me but all of a sudden she yells

WHAT CANCELED MY BIRTHDAY!!! and pokes out her bottom lip as far as it’ll go and crosses her arms across her chest. Boy my baby was mad!!   I laughed and so no baby I was joking and her response…. THAT’S NOT FUNNY!   kids are funny

I have to admit that I am addicted to auction sites like ebay. I love bidding on clothes and toys for my kids the excitement of winning is the only fun I get for myself on some days! Yeah it doesn’t really take much to amuse me. Really, I love the fact that I can spend sometimes no more then a dollar and get my kids a few really cute outfits or toys. Of course there are times when the price goes higher then I like but that’s fine I just let that auction go and find another one. I usually try not to pay over a dollar or two and do free shipping. 

It’s not just auction sites that bring me joy though… I love a good yard sale or flea market! I was raised waking up on Saturday mornings hitting every yardsale in town. I love it and don’t even get me started on freecycle.com! Nice toys and clothes for my kids for free! People don’t know how many times those items have helped us. 

So can you imagine my happiness level when I discovered that goodwill has a website. I really never knew that they had a store online where you can bid on items. How great for them and for people like myself. I haven’t had time to really look it over but I will definitely be checking it out later tonight and hopefully find my little ones something nice.  In case any of you are out of the loop like I am here’s the website if you want to check it out:  http://www.shopgoodwill.com/  

We have a dog next door that has been coming to our house everyday since she was only a month or so old. Her name is Sheba and I have to admit we love her as our own.   My youngest daughter fell in love with her the first day we saw her as a little ball of fluffy fur, and I really believe at that moment she became my baby girl’s “pet”.

She’s a really smart dog and unlike our dog she actually sits in our yard and plays with the kids or sits on the porch with me while I read a book. She’s just really laid back while our wonderful dog is full of energy and will not stay in the yard to save her life! We love them both though.

It just struck me that things change so quickly in life that I really needed to write about Sheba so the kids can remember her if anything were to happen to her. I know my son being eleven remembers everything but I want the girls to remember how much fun they have with her just in case tomorrow doesn’t bring her to our door.   Which usually she is waiting at her house until she sees the school bus coming down the road and she races it to my son. I have to whistle for her to come inside our house every morning or she will actually get on the bus with my son. 

Pets are amazing but when you allow them to become your family they are even better. Here’s a picture of my two babies sharing a nice nap. They are definitely family and I suggest you don’t try to tell them otherwise…