Laundry, it's never-ending!

Do you ever feel as though you're constantly doing laundry? Do you ever feel that as soon as you finish 5 bazillion loads, fold and put the clothes away, that the 5 bazillion loads immediately start all over again? Please say you do...it will make me feel better! 

Because, this is how I constantly feel!

Here is the classic sign in our house that someone is slacking in their laundry duties:

Nope, not the overflowing basket of clothes, towels and bedsheets. That's way too obvious!

It's Lola, one of my pooches, who has made a nice little bed for herself right on top!

You know what? She truly has been laying there all.day.long like a big, flashing red light screaming 'fold these and put them away'. 


Good thing Pat took care of that!  Because, like I said, it all starts over tomorrow! 


Good grief!

This morning.

As we were getting ready to start our day, I played Taylor Swift's song, 'Today Was a Fairytale'. Yes, I like me some Taylor Swift music and it is actually something I can listen to with the boys besides their Music Together songs. 

Anyway, in between getting our shoes and jackets on, we started having our own little dance party (which we often do in this house, especially, to the GLEE soundtrack). As the song would end, Jack would ask, "one more time Momma and that's it", which happened five or six times. There is a line in the song that says, "it must have been the way you kissed me" and each time Jack heard that, he said, "Momma, I'll kiss you!" Of course, I obliged and kissed my Jackers, PB & J lips and all!! 

I want to remember this forever.

There will come a day when Jack will be mortified to see his mother dance or dance with his mother or 'god-for-bid' kiss his mother on the lips.
That's why I want to remember this forever.

Water.

These two boys love it...they are slightly obsessed.

As the weather gets warmer, I am sure we will be seeing a lot more of this.

Owen going in for a taste!

Ohhh...but, it's so cold!

Actually, really cold!

Ahhhhh! But he likes it...he really like it!

O debates.....should I go in for more?

Of course he does!

Jack enjoys making lakes in his sandbox with water.

But then decides he needs to join O's water drinking party!

If he can...like I said, Owen is obsessed!

Watching him makes us all just laugh!

After a little diversion, we get Owen away from the water spigot.

Jackers goes in for a drink!

And when there is water around, these two run and hide! 

Max is conveniently under the chair.

But, Lola....oh Lola!

Lola is currently obsessed herself.  

She is obsessed with a bunny nest located just on the other side of our fence. 

Lola is too busy to worry about the water because she is devising a plan of how to hightail it out of our yard and straight to those bunnies.

Hmmmm? 

She's got a lot of work to do!

Wordless Wednesday

This kid.

Makes me laugh to no end.

All I have to say is, "Jack, would you like to ride your Gator?"

He provides the get-up all on his own!

Chicago in firsts!

I have found a positive to living in Michigan, besides the beach, it's the "two-hour drive plus you gain one hour" road trip to Chicago! Love this! We headed down there this weekend to meet up with Tami, Ray and the girls! It was a quick 24 hours, but totally worth it to see Jack giddy with GLEE for the entire 24 hours he spent with his cousins. He was so sad to leave the girls this morning, poor little man cried and cried. With three older girl cousins, Jack and Owen get the royal treatment, literally, as they are treated like little princes. We had a great time and I am so glad we went. I can't wait to go back!

I wasn't able to take a lot of pictures, but here are a few memories I was able to capture.

Chicago in firsts.

First trip to The Field Museum.

First look at Sue, the T. Rex.

First feel of dinosaur teeth.

First loves Owen gave to his cousins and lots of them...lots of kisses.

First climb on a dinosaur thighbone.

First ride on a motorcycle and with a boombox on the back!

Other firsts included seeing Woolly Mammoths, heiroglyphics, planets,
and learning all about evolution (well, not so much learning).
The boys were exhausted.

First "taxi-car" ride as Jack called it. 

I think he rolled the window up/down about 25 times.

Good times for a 3 year-old!

First time riding in a car while not being retrained...Owen's dream come true.

First time sitting in a hot-tub and actually, first-time staying in a hotel when you can say the word 'hotel' and think/talk about what that means.

On our way to Chicago, Jack kept asking, "Momma, what is a hotel?"

First picture with a ginormous frog.

Owen was TERRIFIED of this frog just like he was with the Easter Bunny.

Jack doesn't look so sure of him either.

Rainforest Cafe = huge hit.

My favorite picture of the weekend.

The first word that I think of when I look at this picture is wonder.
Jack is so full of wonder about everything in his life. He is truly 110% excited about life and constantly asks why/what/how/when/where!

Wonder: 
The emotion aroused by something awe-inspiring, astounding or marvelous.

Mode of Transportation

I hope I don't live to regret Jack's new mode of transportation!?

But look at that face! Priceless!

Also, I do realize that Jack's helmet does not fit him properly as it is practically falling off.

Child helmets, of what I have found so far, either come in size 3 or size 5. 

One is too small and one is obviously too big! What's a mother to do?

Just like I am currently regretting my mode of transportation!

You know you are a mother, when not only do you drive a van (currently reevaluating this), but you drive this van around town doing errands with a disgusting diaper on top! 

Oh yes, I did this for two days. 

I only realized the diaper was still on top of my van by seeing it in the mirror as I drove through the car wash today.
 Yuck...thank you car wash!!

How I learned to eat...

and truly ENJOY salmon.

And it was all from my mom!

I have been trying to eat salmon for a couple of years. Trying...I know, weird. It may be chock full of good stuff , but it can also be a little too 'fishy' tasting for my liking. Actually, come to think of it, I never even started eating fish, of any sort, until I met my husband.

Anyway, when I eat something, I want it to be good for me and taste yummy! I need both! I thought salmon was an acquired taste for my pallet kinda like beer was in college, so I kept on trying it on various occasions. After two years, no acquiring was happening...none. I wanted to like salmon, I really did. Plus, I wanted to set an example for my boys and teach them about all these yummy and "so good for you" foods that are out there that don't contain high fructose corn syrup, frosting, and sprinkles. They are so young and now is the time!

Well, on one of  my mom's visits to Michigan, about a year ago,  she made salmon for us and I have been lovin' it ever since! We now actually try to eat salmon for dinner every week. My boys eat this right up, with a little tartar dipping sauce, of course. 

My mom tells me she learned of this recipe from the Food Network, which I then searched and found tons of variations of.

Grilled Wild Alaskan Salmon with Mango Salsa

1.Wild Alaskan Salmon filet-this tastes the best.

2. Sprinkle salt (pretty thick) on both sides of salmon filet

3. Place filet in bowl of ice water

4. Soak filet for about 15-20 minutes

5. Take filet out of water and rinse off. Rinse bowl and fill with cold, ice water. Place filet back into the ice water for another 15-20 minutes.

6. Grill salmon filet, skin side down for 10 minutes.

7. Take salmon off grill and peel skin off. 

8. Place salmon on your plate with a heaping scoop of Mango Salsa on top! 

9. Enjoy!

Mango Salsa

This salsa can be made so many different ways. If you like spicy, add jalapenos. Sweet..add orange juice. Of add a little of both. I don't like red onions, so I used a sweet vidalia onion. Or add cilantro! So many options!! 

Here is what I did!

 

 

It's finished...finally!

Yeah...Yipeee...Thank Goodness! 

It's done...it's done!

It's definitely not perfect, but it's cute and I like it.

Oh and did I say, it's done!

I bought this bench about 3 years ago in the Global Bazaar (no longer exists) section of Target!!  It was super cheap, I can't remember exactly how much, but I do remember it was like 75% off. When I bought this bench, I always intended on giving it a DIY transformation.Well, two (state) moves and two babies later and this darn thing is still staring at me in all it's ugliness! 

U-G-L-Y!

A couple of weeks ago, I decided I couldn't take it anymore! Well, what I really thought was, "I can do this..I can..how hard can it be..perfect first DIY redo project." That's what I love about all these amazing blogs I have been reading, they have given me the confidence to just go for it! And that is just what I did, I went for it!

I took the bench all apart. 

Sanded, primed and spray painted it an antique white. 

This process took me awhile, longer than I would have liked.

I first missed the primer step and so I had to go back and start all over.
Then I attempted a distressed look on the wood. 
Well, that didn't look so good, so again I had to start over.

By the way, what a messy garage?!?

Today, during the boys nap/rest time, Pat helped me add this fabric, that I love, to the bench.

Thank goodness I did this when he was around, it was definitely a two-man job. 

He helped me during the Master's  and there were zero complaints. 
I think he actually enjoyed the whole process.  Yay, he's a good guy!
Let me just say, that this was the absolute hardest part of the bench redo. 
Lots of pulling, tugging, straightening, stapling, trimming and huffing and puffing!
But, we made it through and.......

Ta-da!!

Are you wondering why.....

Owen is making this scary silly face?

Come on, I know you are!!

Just yesterday, Owen had his first taste of a Macintosh apple.

The apple was so yummy, soft and sweet.

Just the perfect afternoon snack for little O.

He may have eaten the entire apple if I had let him.

He was a yummy mess! 

O looked delicious eating that apple.

And then these two showed up!

Hence the face! 

At 15 months old, Owen already knows these two are scavengers!!

I'm pretty sure he's thinking, "this apple is MINE".

But, he decides to share with the doggies...he always does.

Hence, why they are scavengers!

And sharing is always more fun!