Cooking at Home

I know it sounds silly, but I really am trying to make sure we are eating more meals at home this year!  This is not only for health reasons but also money.  It can be expensive to eat out as a family of four even when there is no alcohol involved.  When we do eat out I usually make my kids share a meal or share with us because let's face - kids meals are expensive and they very rarely finish them.

I am happy to say that in the last 7 seven days, we have only had 1 dinner out.  This guys is huge for me and our family.  And that dinner out was just hubs and I in which we used a gift card!  Can you say "winning"?!?!

Well now that my "squirrel" moment is over - back to the real point of this post - what I cooked!!

The other night I wanted something that I could "throw" in the crock pot so it was just about ready when I got home from work.  In theory this is a great idea, however poorly executed on my part!

White Chicken Chili

I used this recipe https://www.theslowroasteditalian.com/2018/03/crockpot-white-chicken-chili.html and tweaked it for the mess up's that I made!!  All in all it was delish!

I think the biggest game changer for me was using my kitchen aid mixer to shred the cooked chicken! Mind blowing!!

I dare you to try it if you haven't!!

I hope to share more recipes / things that I cook at home as the year continues!!

Birthday Month

I love birthdays!! I think birthday's should be celebrated multiple times in the month! September was my birthday month as well as Kid Clammy and it did not disappoint!!  We started the month off celebrating Kid Clammy!!  We had a party at the local bike racing track and to say it was a hit is an understatement!  Family and Friends came to ride, eat and play - everyone had the best time!

  To keep the celebrations going for Kid, we went to mini golf with Sissy and Grammy, bowling with just Sissy and I and breakfast at our favorite place Eastbound!  The night of his actual birthday we let him pick what he wanted - Kid Clammy picked dinner at Black Angus!

My birthday celebrations included bingo three different times! The group changed each time which made it even more fun!  While I didn't get to yell BINGO - there were still laughs and good times!!

It was a great month! We saw Jason Aldeen in concert, my birthday was packed with many birthday wishes - on facebook, instagram, text, calls and cards.

One thing my bestie started last year and I copied her idea once again is starting a donation fund!!  We are at the age where we don't need people to buy us gifts - sure they are nice - but why not put some of that money toward a charitable foundation.  One that is near and dear to our hearts is Team Parker For Life.  So on my FB I raised $200 the week of my birthday for this great cause!!

Hubby took me to the steakhouse at one of our local casinos - yummy!! I think I was in a food coma for two days recovering from my birthday!

I didn't take as many photos as I would have liked -but you get the idea!! It was a good month of birthday celebrations!!  

How do you like to celebrate your birthday?

The Hair Cut

As a mom - I do the best I can.  Sometimes I have #momfails sometimes I get things right!!  Other times - I am just trying to keep these humans alive!  Just when I think I started to get a handle on things...Sissy goes and throws me off my game!! 

We all hear the dreaded horror stories of our precious children cutting their own hair!!  Now don't get me wrong - I wasn't thinking that this wasn't going to happen to me - but I was surely hoping that it wouldn't!! And then it did!!  Just when I was thinking - man we made it to 4-3/4 years old with Sissy and she hasn't cut her hair once.  Maybe we will be one of  the lucky ones and she never will!!  This mama thought way too soon!!

It all started two days before Christmas.  We were hanging out at home, kids playing, getting ready for the holidays, probably doing a load or two of laundry.  Sissy asked if she could watch Disney as it was getting close to bed time.  I turned on the t.v. in our bedroom and off I went to switch clothes to the dryer or something.  A bit later I can back in the room and something caught my eye.  Something did not look right!!  That's when I noticed!! In complete and total mom panic- I asked - "Did you cut your hair?"  In which Sissy responded with hiding under the covers.  Well if that isn't a giveaway I don't know what is!!  

I will admit my reaction was less than stellar - I freaked out!!  Especially when I saw how much of her hair she cut!!  It was the back, the sides, and the bangs - oh the bangs!!  I lost it - I cried, she cried, my husband thought we were both nuts!! It was a very traumatic evening in our house!  

Below are the pictures of the haircut!!  

The first photo being what her hair looked like a few days before!

(not the greatest but it will give you an idea)

And now the new hair cut!! 

After these photos - I did my best to fix it up as much as possible! We cut off the one long strand in the back to make it even and did a little touch up on the sides.  It took about a full day before I could laugh about it and say it was only a matter of time. 

A few weeks later at the start of EAK in January.  

Fast forward to 9 months later and we have made progress...

I know that I am not the only mama out there to go through this!!  Do you have a funny story to share?

A Day of Firsts...

So it's no secret that I am terrible at consistent posting (or posting at all for that matter).

Many times I feel like I want to or need to write a post but then I think - what would I write about?  What would I share? So I think it needs to be more about remembering.  I am terrible about writing things down about the kids - things they do, things they say, accomplishments, failures - so many things.  So we will start with last year's (yes one year ago) First Day of School!!

Sissy - had her last 1st day of preschool.  She was wrapping up her time there to move on to EAK in January of 2018.  We loved her preschool - she had the same teacher as her older brother.    

Kid Clammy - he is headed to First Grade.  How can this be!?!?!  I know everyone says "time flies" - but it really is no joke about how fast it really does go!

We were very excited for Kid Clammy to have his same teacher from Kinder!! She moved up to 1st grade this year and we are very happy about it!!

2018

To start out 2018 Sissy headed to EAK - Early Admission Kindergarten. She was very excited to start school.  This meant a new school, new teacher and a new haircut - that she gave herself.  (hopefully a whole other post coming on that).  

Sissy had a great time in EAK.  She loved her teacher, made new friends, and learned a bunch!! She is ready for Kinder - although I am not sure that I am.  

Fast Forward to September...

Moving on to a whole new school year... Kid Clammy is in Second Grade and so far we are off to a great start!  A new teacher this year that I think will be very good for him.  Sometimes we struggle with behavior in school (and out) so here's to hoping that a new teacher, new classroom management and probably a new teaching style will be a good thing for this guy!

This girl - my heart aches for how fast the time goes.  Can't believe my baby girl is an official Kindergartner.  She was so excited that her teacher from EAK was moving to her new school (same school as her brother).  She was even more excited to see a few familiar faces of her friends from EAK. 

Here's to a great school year my darling babes!!

BurgaBox

Hey Friends!! Happy Weekday!!!  

Man o man am I lame!! I was all excited to come back to this space - and then I spaced and haven't been back in forever!!!  

Today though I am back - and one of the main reason's why I am back is to share with you about BurgaBox!  Have you heard of it?  This is not a paid ad - I just think ya'll should try it at least once!!  I came across this from Christina over at Carolina Charm.  When I first looked into I passed because the shipping was too high for me.  However recently they started offering free shipping so I went for it.

I order the Whiskey Tango Foxtrot burger, the buffalo blue fries and pulled pork mac n' cheese!! You guys I kid you not it was so much food and so amazing!!!

They send you everything you need to make / assemble this delicious feast!!  

I just had to stop in and share!!!

Check them out...

https://www.burgabox.com/

#burgabox