'You can go about your business...Move along'

Nothing to see here on this post because once again we were sick.
There were plans, fun to be had, memories to be made, all squashed because of germs making a home in the three inhabitants of this house.
I cannot tell you how sick I am of taking care of a sick kid and then getting sick myself and having another big sick kid.
My poor MIL got sick on Friday while watching D, who stayed home from school.
I love paying for daycare and not using their services.

This is it, I pledge to over dose my child with vitamins purchased at the health store this weekend.
We will win this winter war with colds.
I have lost the battle but I will win the war.
Ok now, as I hack over my computer screen, my head is spinning and I'm getting drowsy.

'Me and my overalls'

Just passing some time as the water filled the tub last night.
Daniel hasn't had overalls on since he was about one and he found them interesting, but refused to put them on this morning. I may have scarred him for life and he'll never wear overalls again. Some woman will thank me for that one day.

A little cookin'

I have been into cooking lately, mostly trying new recipes that I pick up at our local grocery store. I was tired of cooking the same old thing so I've been exploring.

Ry has enjoyed all new dishes so far and a popular comment has been heard when he gets home "look at you babe, cooking and stuff, alright now". Should I take that as "thank the Lord you have ventured out beyond chicken soup and spaghetti because I was ready to leave you" or "I have enjoyed everything you have ever cooked, but a couple of new things are OK too"???

So far, I have made the following new things:

1. Jambalaya (review: both boys loved it)

2. Hoppin' scallops (review: not too good, the black eyed peas were not a hit, Daniel ate Mac n Cheese instead. Ry and I picked the scallops out)

3. Salmon stuffed with crab cakes (review: loved it)

4. Chicken breasts with Monterrey jack cheese, slice of tomato and herbs (review: loved it)

I have a little helper in the kitchen most evenings (when there are no left overs or frozen pizza). He keeps me moving by shouting "Eat mommy" or "Come Play", both leave me dropping things on the floor as I try to hurry up.

I happily oblige to play time as well.
Our new picture in our bedroom is a keeper. The one in the bathroom, still not sure.
Is the weekend here yet?

Weekend

The above picture sums up our weekend. It was our ride from the pediatrician's office on Saturday morning. Both boys passed out as I pulled up to fill D's antibiotic prescription for another sinus infection.
UGHGHGHGH!
The 3 of us have been battling a cold since last week. I swear, this winter is the worst, D brings all the germs from school and we suffer as he runs around the house with snots, happy as can be. Since we were feeling under the weather we did nothing.
We watched some football today, when I say some, I watched the first 7 minutes and knew it was gonna be ugly. I went shopping while Ry endured the game as D napped. When I got home it was the last 3 minutes and although it looked promising for a total of 20 seconds, the Bears just bombed.
We're Cubs fans so this is really no big deal.
We have so many projects to complete at our house that it's overwhelming but we got a couple things done this weekend.
I found a picture for our bathroom and our bedroom today. I always find good decor stuff when I'm not looking for anything. I'll post some pictures soon.
We started organizing our basement on Saturday. It doesn't seem like we made a dent at all, to top it off the dust left me congested and cranky. We have a few boxes for donation and a few bags of garbage. It felt good to get it started but we have a long way to go.
I envision a few years from now our basement with dry wall, an awesome laundry room (you know the kind that has a picture that says "laundry" and a cute rug in front of the washer and dryer) and even a reading chair because if I want to get away I'll go down there and pretend I'm busy doing laundry and just sit there. I love the sound of a running washer and dryer so I know it would be relaxing. Right now it's just gross down there but one day Ry will have his sports stuff all hung up on one side of the basement and I will have my chair and crafty area on the other side. A girl can dream.

Nothingness

I got nothing.
Except that we're all sick.
I'm not planning to do any house work. Ok, maybe just swiffer, and that's it.

I'm off to watch The Office and have some hot tea!

Happy Friday!

Growing up sooo fast

Friday night I got together with a couple of ladies from the parent council that I am on for D's daycare. We met at Panera and tried to list changes we would love to see on the daycare's website. It was fun and productive.
Saturday morning we ran out to Home Depot to get a spark plug for our snow blower, that decided to stop working. It still didn't work and Ry had to drop it off.
We took a trip to our library for the Smarty Pants Balloon Show (video is not from our visit). It was free and lasted 45 minutes. It was long enough for our baby to scream, count, eat and get cranky.
He loved the red octopus because there is an octopus in one of his favorite books Shoe Baby.
After that show mama enjoyed a hot stone massage. It was a gift for my birthday from Ry. I had to go all the way to the city but it was worth it, the massage was wonderful. (that's not me below :))
While mommy was getting a massage, daddy didn't get a break because D refused to nap. Ouch!
By the time I got home both boys were ready to pull their hair out, it was time to get out of the house. Sine we're so adventurous we went food shopping.
Sunday, D stayed at my sister's house while mommy went out to shop. I got a few things for D's birthday party at Michael's. His party isn't until March 26th but you can't beat dollar bins for crafty stuff.
The theme of the party.....drumroll....CARS! Surprise I know!

It was time for D's walls to get marked up, with his new height!
You can't see the difference but in 6 months it was about an inch and a half.
Don't mind the mac n cheese stains
Our big boy!
Daniel admiring daddy's superman shirt (future superman, a comic book thing, don't get me started).
Time to play
That was our weekend.
Oh yeah I forgot to mention.......WE'RE GOING TO DISNEY WORLD!!!
My in-laws were nice enough to offer us their time share from April 30th through May 7th. They will be joining us but we'll have separate one bedroom condos. Not that sharing wouldn't have been nice BUT this makes things even nicer.
Will we fly or will we drive??? Decisions, decisions.

Spreading the word

Tears were flowing as I watched this video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvoKTDMhpVs

I've become obsessed with Kelle's blog. She expresses herself in such a way that I could only dream of.
We're contributing to Nella's Fund. Every little bit helps.

ABC's

I got this from this blog, super fun.

A is for Age: 31 (YIKES!)
B is for Beer of choice: Blue Moon
C is for Career: Senior Business Analyst
D is for favorite Drink: Apple Martini for alcoholic and plain water
E is for Essential item you use everyday: My daily planner
F is for Favorite song at the moment: Never had a favorite song, too many good ones out there
G is for favorite Game: Connect 4
H is for Hometown: Mount Prospect
I is for Instruments you play: None
J is for favorite Juice: Peach, mango, banana
K is for Kids: Daniel who will be 3 in less than 3 months
L is for Last kiss: This morning when I dropped off D at daycare
M is for marriage: September 18th, 2004
N is for full Name: Yolanda Marron (no middle name)
O is for Overnight hospital stays: When D came into this world
P is for phobias: Mice/Rats, anything with a long tail
Q is for quote:hmmm, too many to list
R is for biggest Regret: Not going away to college
S is for sports: IF I had to choose, baseball
T is for Time you wake up: Anywhere from 5:15 to 6:15
U is for color of Underwear: Mostly pink, nude (color) or black
V is for Vegetable you love: Corn
W is for Worst Habit: Biting my nails and worrying too much about the future
X is for X-rays you’ve had: Teeth
Y is for Yummy food you make: My spaghetti and meatballs and chili
Z is for zodiac sign: Virgo all the way

B is for boring weekend recap

This weekend flew by and we really didn't do anything exciting but it was nice just to relax. Friday night D went to my mom's for a sleep over while I had dinner with a friend of mine, it was long over due. She is due in June with her first baby so most of our conversation was about labor and being a parent.
We were able to sleep in on Saturday morning and get Ry's closet organized with the new elfa shelves I got from the Container Store. It turned out great. Since our closets are fairly small we needed to be a little creative. I'm sure the color arrangement that I did for him won't last too long but it just made my day. I'm next!
We picked up D from my mom's around noon and by that time he was ready for a nap. While going to my car to put D in the car seat I realized I can't carry a 40lbs child like I used as slipped on the fresh snow and landed on my knees while protecting D in my arms. A couple of bruises haven't killed anyone.
D wearing the boots that almost killed me. If you notice, right by D's left arm is a little timer that goes off every 35 minutes for him to go potty. I'm drained at thinking of ways for him to get it. He goes when we put him on but rarely does he tell us himself. We've done stickers, continue to reward him with M&Ms. Any ideas???? Everyone tells me it will just click and continue to do what we've been doing. I told his teacher on Friday, who ever there makes him get it, I'm buying lunch.
Continuing on, while D snoozed I went food shopping, that was pretty much our day.
At night Ry and I seperated, I retreated to our bedroom to watch Curious Case of Benjamin Buttons and Ry played his new spider man game. My movie was great but also 3 hours long!!!
I realized it was long when I was still up at 1:30am.
At my old age I don't stay up that late and I paid for it today.
We had to be at church at 8:30am because today we officially became parishioners. The first hour was learning about the great things going on at the church while feasting on delicious donuts and orange juice. The second hour was mass, where we got to introduce our family in front of the entire parish, we were then blessed by the priest and everyone in attendance. It was special, especially when D yelled out to the priest "Hi", "Holy Spirit, Amen".
I can't wait to get involved with more things at church. I'm especially excited about their "Married and Dating" seminars they have once a quarter. It's like a date night.
He was so exhausted, he passed out in the car even though our drive home is 5 minutes.
OK, we all passed out (not in the car, when we got home).
Before I passed out I threw in some ingredients in the slow cooker for my first chili of the winter. Half the pot is already gone.
The day went on as we lingered from room to room, watched some football, played with a slinky, rolled around on the floor and colored.
This is from Friday. Daddy is in charge of grooming in the morning and I just get a kick out of his slicked to the side hair-do every time. Daddy has perfected where to part it just right. It used to be a comb over.
Hope you had a great weekend!
Oh, I ordered Ryan a mouse pad for work with pictures of D on it and I just had to have one for myself.
Mine has pics of D and me and Ry's has pics of D and him with some family ones in there as well.
If you're snoring from this boring post, sorry, I warned you.

TGIF

And I look like that too!
This week has been crazy for me at work.
Tonight D is going for a sleep over to my mom's and I'm heading out for a girls' night out!
Hubby is one happy man!

Randomness

Daniel's latest love is to beg daddy to show him any CARS videos on you tube. He has many favorites. Thank goodness the CARS movie came out with CARS Toons to keep kids happy and parents broke. You see the characters from the original movie become characters that dress up in different costumes in the Toons version, each dressed up character then lands on the shelves of Toys R Us and keeps kids wanting to add to their collection. Marketing geniuses I tell you.

We had a visit on Friday from D's sitter. She brought us breakfast and we took her to a very expensive restaurant for lunch.

So expensive that D got a paper car out of it.

We're settling into 2011 just fine. No major accomplishments yet but things are in the works around the house.

Back to the grind and to-do list

It's back to the grind tomorrow. I'm ready to get back into the swing of things.

A few projects that need to happen sooner rather than later:

1. Reorganize our closets and make a trip to the container store for inspiration. (Half of this is done, I made the trip and got some things to make Ryan's closet more organized. Mine is next and that requires more creativity as I have an attic entrance in my closet!)
2. Baseboards need to be touched up in the remaining 3 rooms. (Anyone that is putting up new baseboards, it's pointless to paint them before installation. I learned the hard way).
3. Our bed needs to be fixed as someone (most likely me) threw out the piece of wood that the slats for our mattress rest on. Our mattress is on the actual floor now with the bed frame around it. Hey 3 moves, cut me some slack.
4. Closets (entryway, family room) need some help as well with organizing.
5. The closet doors themselves need to be secured.

Why is the theme of this list about closets?!

I went over for some tea to my sister's house and saw her gorgeous new blinds, which reminded me we need those as well.
Once all the expenses started to add up, our vacation started slipping away.
The longer I stayed over there the more the list of things we needed grew. By the time I left I wished I had a drink instead of tea!
We may settle on taking off a week over the summer and plan to do something fun each day, while saving some money and buying a shed or Daniel's play set for the back yard. The choices!

2011 is off to a busy start.

Hello 2011

We welcomed 2011 like most parents with kids, we went to a local party place for kids and had a wonderful time.
D enjoyed games, a magician and a balloon drop at 8:30pm.
This week we attempted to take D sledding in the front of our house but with repeated requests to "get off" we gave up.
Here he is storming off into the garage with both cameras still on him because it was hilarious. I'm too lazy to post the video of him but take my word for it, it was funny.
Mr. D went to grab a toy that was way too small for his puffy clothes that mommy dressed him in. He got stuck several times.
We can't wait for 2011 to make new memories.
We wish all of you a happy and prosperous New 2011.