So.. embarassing moment today...

I realized AFTER I was done pumping in my office today that I left the shades open. I am trying to tell myself that no one walked by...

4 weeks down, 48 to go!

Well I am almost one whole month into the new year and so far one of my resolutions is still going strong.

When I get busy with life I kind of take one day at a time. This comes back to bite me in the ass quite often. I forget Alyssa needs to be to school early, there is nothing in the house for dinner or we missed another birthday party.

Now that I am back to work (boo hoo) now more than ever, I need to be on top of my game. Thus the need for my resolutions this year. The biggest are my Sunday tasks:

1) Check the calendar for the week- I have an AWESOME calendar system that someday I will share with you. Good thing I did this today, Alyssa has Girl Scouts tomorrow!

2) Meal plan for the week- I am really bad about not planning what we are going to eat for the week then by the time we get home it becomes a take-out night or a fend for yourself night. I feel terrible feeding my kids canned soup for dinner. I have been good for the past 4 weeks. This week looks pretty good and fairly easy:

Sunday - BBQ Hamburgers, chips and dip (not health food but YUM!)

Monday - Beef Taquitos, mexican rice and beans

Tuesday - CROCK POT DAY!!! This week is turkey breast, stuffing, mashed potatoes and roasted brussel sprouts.

Wednesday - Ribs, dilled potatoes and green beans

Thursday - Chicken lasagna

Friday - BLTs with baked french fries and sliced apples

3) Weekly grocery shopping - boy does it feel nice to start the week off with that done!

Now lets just see if I can stick to this plan for at least another month, lol. So far, so good.

What a difference a year makes

Last year at this time my prayers were answered. You see, it took me years of heartache to reach the joyous moment when I found out Alyssa would finally become a big sister. It took 3 and half long years to be exact.

In those 3 + years, I realized that I have some of the best friends in the world. Those years happened to be a ridiculously fertile time in my group of friends and it felt like something died inside me any time I heard another big announcement. Don't get me wrong, I was ecstatic for my friends but sometimes it was an awfully bitter pill to swallow. Nonetheless, they understood.


When it came to the point where I could no longer bare to attend baby showers, my friends understood. When I needed a hand to hold, they were there by my side. When I needed space, they gave it to me. Looking back I can't really even put in to words how much it means to me. I would never wish that journey on anyone.


Today I feel grateful and my heart feels healed. Sometimes I sit here staring at my girls and it brings tears to my eyes. Brian thinks I am crazy but I can't stop myself from being overwhelmed by how much I love these crazy kids. I am sure that in a few years I will need to read this again when Alyssa enters the teen years so I can refrain from strangling her. Until them, I will settle for being the crazy emotional Mom who cries just by watching her girls play on the floor.

Wordless Wednesday - Alyssa and Miley Cyrus, lol!

The life of a Brownie Girl Scout

Well this weekend was all about Girl Scouts! I spent what should have been about 10 minuets Saturday morning putting badges on her sash when it really took me about an hour. UGH!!!

Anyways... It was also time for the big annual Girl Scouts Father Daughter dance. Alyssa was so excited she could not contain herself. It was half cute and half annoying that she asked all day if it was time to get ready to go yet.

Brian was awesome and made a whole date night of it. They went to their favorite Sushi Restaurant (Sushi Tozai in Sebastopol), then the dance and then to Baskin Robbins afterward. He even got her a wrist corsage (thank you ETC Designs!). She was so exhausted when she got home it took her all of about 5 minutes to enter dream land.

I was only able to snap one quick picture before they headed out the door since it was that particular moment that Malia decided that it was her dinner time! She has some videos on her camera of her and her friends boogieing down (with the dads standing on the side of the dance floor). I will try and post them soon. They are pretty funny!

And this is one last plug for Girl Scout cookies. They are $4 a box and super yummy! They should be in the second week in February. And just in case you were wondering, they freeze well so go ahead and load up! You can go here to look at all of the scrumptious varieties.

Well, I have become one of "those" moms

You know, the ones who are far superior to other mothers, lol {insert eye roll here}. I have decided to make my own baby food. Really, I just wanted to give it a shot and see if I could do it. Well, so far so good!

I decided that since Malia got the all clear from her doctor to start solids, I would whip up some homemade applesauce. I have to say it is pretty yummy! I have since even made a larger batch for the rest of us. I even tossed some blueberries in for Alyssa. She loved having purple applesauce.

Malia recieved a pretty hefty Amazon gift card when she was born so I have been using it for stuff that I normally would not buy. I have been really lucky and bought a few things that were huge hits! A few of these things have been for this baby food making adventure.

The first is this AWESOME apple peeler, corer, slicer. I was able to do 5 pounds of apples in under 10 minutes! I found it here.


It makes these really cool spiral apples that are neat just by themselves. Alyssa has had them in her lunch the past few days and all her friends what to know where her mom bought the cool apples. I just cut down the side and it made them into slices which are perfect to throw in the pan.


It really was as simple as cooking them in some water for about 30 minutes. After that I cooled them down overnight in the fridge. I pulled them out the next day and pureed them in my Magic Bullet in a few batches. I spooned the puree into this other cool gadget. It is basiclly a fancy ice cube tray with a lid. I found it here.


From there it went into the freezer. The next day I popped the cubes out and stuck them in a labeled ziplock freezer bag to be used as needed. I can't believe how easy it really was.

I am pretty sure Malia approves!


Next up, sweet potatoes (or yams, if you will).

If I had a big sister I would want it to be Alyssa!

Malia is so lucky to have such a great big sister. Every day I am amazed by how lucky I got with these two. When it took us so long to get Malia, I was terrified about the age difference but, boy I would not do it any other way.

For only being 5 months old I can't believe how much fun Malia has with her sissy! Just take a look at a few of the shenanigans these two have been up to.

These are Alyssa's carpet skates that she rigged with her rain boots so that she could get them on Malia:

Alyssa wanted to get a picture of Leelee with her Barbies cause she said that Leelee loves them, lol.

And last, but certainly not least, Lissy wrapped Malia up like a Christmas package!

Who knows what these two are going to come up with over the years. I can't wait to find out. Oh wait... maybe I can!

Here are my sweet little birdies

Little Miss Malia (Leelee) is 5 months old and her big sister Alyssa (Lyssie) is 8! Where did the time go???