Snapshot Sunday

From my summer fun board on Pinterest



The chase is on....

Hitting himself in the face with the wet sponge, goof ball!

For quite time, I broke out this activity.  He LOVES it.  He's asked several times to play it, but I insist it stay a "quiet time" activity, this will hold his interest in it longer, making it seem special.  This is a Haba Pegboard.

Lazy Housewife

For dinner tonight....

Best Burger Recipe;  Changes I made:  I caramelized onions instead of using the onion powder.  I used a mix of ground beef and ground turkey because that's what I have in the freezer (we buy both at BJ's then mix them together.)  I don't think I had 2 lbs of meat, so they had a hard time staying together, since I didn't adjust the amount of bbq sauce (D'oh.)  Just the larger ones crumbled, the medium/smallish ones stayed together just fine.  Lesson learned.

Did my crew think these were the best burgers ever?

They got rave reviews!  I tweaked Four's burger (ya know, all those damned allergies!) but he got cheese, caramelized onions, salt and pepper and declared his burger the best ever!  This makes a mama happy.  The Punk and the other kids thought they were YUM-O!  We'll def do these again.

I also made homemade "fries."  Just cut up your potatoes, toss them in a bowl with salt, pepper, olive oil and bake on a cooling rack.  :)  Simple, and yummy.

Two For Tuesday

Play At Home Mom

Kindergarten Common Skills

Manic Monday

Summer is making my Monday's not so manic.  :)  It's nice.

My Zumba instructor is on vacay this week, so there was no class today which allowed me to spend some time at the park with people I really like (you know what I mean...there are always people you spend time with that you don't REALLY like.)  I hope they read that...lol

TMI:  Today is the 2nd day of my period, and it's been atrocious.  I had to will myself out of bed this morning, as my body kept insisting that NO we did not need to get up.  I spent time at the park, came home, had lunch, put Four down for a nap and collapsed into bed.  I took some meds, and feel better this afternoon.  I have been eating horribly as well...I made funfetti cupcakes for the kids (yeah, for the kids *wink wink*) on Friday and well...I think I've eaten more than all of them combined.  You shouldn't make cupcakes when you have PMDD, just FYI.

Anway...since I've been eating so badly, I knew I needed to work out, but look back at the info I've given you about how I felt today...it was not really something I want to do.  But, we were just talking at the park about being fit and losing weight, so I felt doubly bad about it.  Honestly, I'm 5 lbs from my goal, and it is SOLELY because I work out-especially when I don't want too.  I have zero will power when it comes to food, so I KNOW I have to work my ass off-literally.  I'm in a size 4 for the first time in a decade, and almost to the weight I want to be at.

So, what's a girl to do when she really doesn't want to work out but NEEDS to burn calories?  Tabata to the Rescue.

http://www.shape.com/fitness/cardio/tabata-4-minute-fat-burning-miracle-workout

It's 4 minutes.  I did it.  YOU can do it.  Now.

Snapshot Sunday

The boys shucking some corn from the neighbors garden.

Playing in the sink.

Spy training.

Playdough with new alphabet cookie cutters I scored from a buy/sell/trade board.

Sidewalk paint.

Painting in a bottle.

A good week, it was.

Flashback Friday

This week has been fun!

Monday was the girls last pottery class, and Three and Four spent that time at the park with Ms. Linda (the childcare lady at the community center.)  Two didn't attend the last pottery class because of a mystery rash (we're thinking Fifth's disease, but possibly just poison oak.  *shrug*)  One and Two have spent the week with their dad...which is a blessing and a curse.  I miss them, of course, but I don't miss the fighting and constant bickering.  Monday evening, my mother-in-law made an impromptu stop over on her way back home from a trip up north.  The boys were so happy to see her!

Tuesday morning we spent with Grandma, since she was leaving in the afternoon.  The morning consisted of doughnuts, and thrift store shopping.  :)

Wednesday morning was spent with friends I hadn't seen in awhile for some backyard play.  The boys played in the wading pool, with water guns and on the slip-n-slide.  It was a blast!  They came home worn out.  I like it.

Thursday we were spending the day at home, so I decided to do something fun for the boys from my "Summer Fun" collection.  I taped paper streamers back and forth across our hallway for "spy training."  My boys like all things better if they think they are "training."  Jedi training, ninja training...spy training!  They absolutely LOVED this activity.  They played for a long time, just going back and forth, coming up with new ways to navigate the maze.  It was fun to watch.  They didn't want me to take it down, so our hallway was blocked for several hours.  Three was impressed with mom and dad's spy skills, too, since we had to navigate the "lasers" as well.  Three has already asked if I can do this for them again.  :)  A neighbor came to play for awhile, and then Three went to his house and played in the slip-n-slide for awhile, and he later joined The Punk, Three and Four at the pool with his dad.

Today, Three and I ran to the store for some supplies.  For today, we NEEDED paintbrushes.  I had told them we would make some sidewalk paint, but all our brushes are small.  We made a trip to the dollar store, and I got a 4 pack of good sized brushes for $1.  We mixed up the paint, and had a great time painting.

DIY Sidewalk paint

While we were there, I picked up some supplies for other things:  Sponge balls.  "Moon Sand."  Fly Swatters to use to paint.  Glow sticks for a glowing bath, AND maybe some glowing bubbles (they are usually asleep before it's dark...but maybe on the 4th of July.

Tomorrow we will be shopping for new bunk beds for the boys. Yay!!

Lazy Housewife--NOT.

I'm making a special lunch for the boys!  Corn dog muffins, and a corn-free pigs in a blanket type muffin for Four.

For the Corn Dog Muffins (inspired by a Pin...yep, I'm so addicted to Pinterest,)  I'm making this:

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/golden-sweet-cornbread/  and putting in our kosher all beef hotdogs. :)  Yum.

For the pigs in a blanket, I'm using my Homemade Baking Mix, which I made allergen free for my boy.

http://kitchensimplicity.com/homemade-bisquick-mix/  and putting in apple maple chicken sausage.  More Yum!

Neither is very complicated, honestly.  Even the laziest of housewives could pull this together.  I mean, I am doing it after all.  ;)

(Also, I'm feeling WAY less lazy lately.  I think this is a combination of exercise, eating better, sleeping more--Four has FINALLY slept through the night, every night for the last week!--and taking my vitamins--mostly Bcomplex.  Whatever it is, I'm loving feeling energetic.)