11/10/12 - Pulled Pork Sandwiches

Today was a pretty low key day. I spent the day picking up and hanging out with the girls. Christian spent the day hanging out Christmas lights outside with his friend from work, Lorenzo. The weather was pretty nice today, so we figured why not take advantage, and get the lights up now. It took them all day, but it’s done! Every year we add little bit more to our display – we buy some stuff on sale after Christmas. I LOVE Christmas lights, I can’t wait until our whole house is decked out!

The girls were pretty interesting today, they are far too smart for their own good. Here are a few examples, just from today:

Me: “Olivia, weren't you supposed to turn the light in the playroom off?”

Olivia: “Well, yes. But, then I'd miss the movie” (we started watching Tangled).

Me: enjoying some ice cream.

Amelia: “Mom, you gonna eat that?” as she dips her finger in my bowl.

Me: put a lock code on the iPad

Olivia: “This thing doesn't work anymore”.

Me: “Oh shoot, that's too bad”

Olivia: “Come on mom, you know what to do”.

Me: “Amelia, it’s bedtime, should we go to your bed?”

Amelia: “No, I'm good here”.

Ugh, they crack me up, and drive me nuts at the same time!

After the lights extravaganza and dinner, Christian and Lorenzo went out to grab a couple beers. I watched some TV an did a little online shopping. I ordered some updated photo prints for the house, I bought tickets to see Twilight on Thursday and ordered some Christmas gifts for the girls. Busy night!

Here are a couple shots I got today. The girls being cute, and daddy breaking up fights. Good times!

Pulled Pork Sandwiches:

Ingredients:

2-2½ lb Pork Butt

½ a Bottle of BBQ Sauce

1 Can of Diet Pepsi

Seasoning Salt

Buns

Sides:

Tater Tots

Mixed Fruit

Directions:

Generously coat pork with seasoning salt. Place in the crockpot and pour the pop and BBQ sauce over it. Cover, and cook on low for 4-5 hours. The larger the meat, the longer the cooking time. After 4 hours or so, shred the meat with 2 forks, and return to crockpot to cook in the juices.

11/9/12

Today was a pretty low-key day. Work was work – nothing out of the ordinary. Christian is pretty excited about the cubicle they’re going to build him at work – he feels pretty big-time now. It’s cute.

I picked the girls up from my mom and headed home for the night. They were pretty much off the wall all night long. This was my exact facebook post, from not long after being home (and, the picture that accompanied it):

KIDS FOR SALE!! 2 for the price of 1. They are loud, dirty and sticky. They could easily be toddler fight club members, and they love to talk back. They don't listen and have amazing selective hearing skills. They fall a lot, run into stuff all the time and often require bandaging. But, they're cute, funny and too smart for their own good, so you'll quickly forget everything else. Clothing optional – money saver.

And, that about summed it up. Just one of those nights. We made it through dinner and baths, and then Christian and I settled in to watch a little TV before bed. Ready for the weekend – Monday is a Holiday, so I have a nice long Friday ahead of me. Bring it on!

Now that it's getting colder, Amelia is wearing Olivia's old winter PJ's. I think one of the best things about having two girls, is getting to see all of Olivia's old clothes again. Every piece of clothing brings back so many memories. I love seeing everything all over again. It just warms my heart. I think that's why I have such a hard time getting rid of stuff, especially clothes - if we have another, and it's a girl, I'd love for her to wear the clothes again. See everything all over again. Kids - they'll make you emotional! Here's a shot of the girls, side by side. Except, Olivia was 23 months old, and Amelia is 27.

11/8/12 - Sausage Spaghetti Pie

Well, today was a quick, but long day at work. I know, that doesn’t make any sense. We had a big statewide meeting in St. Cloud today. So, I drive my 25 minutes to work, just to pack up and hit the road, 90 minutes up to St. Cloud. We held our meeting, grabbed some lunch, then made the 90 minute trek back. I worked for an hour or so, then it was right back on the road home. Of course, the evening drive is always much worse than the morning, and getting the girls out of daycare always takes some negotiating, so and hour later I was finally home. Too much driving for me – why is driving so exhausting? I don’t know how people can do that for a living.

Other than that, I really don't have anything to report today. Tonight I made a Sausage Spaghetti Pie. It’s pasta, of course it’s a winner!

Ingredients:

• 4 ozs Uncooked Spaghetti

• ½ lb Smoked Turkey Kielbasa, diced

• 1 cup Spaghetti Sauce

• 1 cup Reduced-Fat Ricotta Cheese

• 3 Egg Whites

• 1/3 cup Grated Parmesan Cheese

• ¼ cup Shredded Mozzarella Cheese

• Frozen Mixed Veggies

• Garlic Bread

1. Cook spaghetti according to the package directions. Meanwhile, in a small nonstick skillet, sauté sasage for 3-4 minutes, or until brown. Stir in the spaghetti sauce.

1. In a small bowl, combine ricotta cheese and 1 egg white. Drain spaghetti, and add parmesan cheese and remaining egg whites. Press onto the bottom, and up the sides, of a 9” deep-dish pie plate, coated with cooking spray. Spoon the ricotta cheese mixture into the crust. Top with the sausage mixture.

1. Bake, uncovered, at 350 for 20 minutes. Sprinkle with mozzarella cheese, and bake for 5 additional minutes. Let stand for 5 minutes before serving.

Sides:

Directions:

11/7/12 - Cheesy Broccoli & Chicken Pasta

Oh man, oh man, oh man. Today I woke up, feeling like I’d been hit by a Mack truck. It brought back the horrible memories of the massive cold that took over my life for several weeks earlier this year. I felt dizzy, exhausted and like my head was going to explode. I managed to take a shower and get myself going, thinking it would help. I also had the bright idea to load myself up with cold medicine (which I never really take), trying to get ahead of the game. Got myself ready, got the girls ready – and then I started feeling really nauseous and sick to my stomach. I proceeded to lose every bit of medicine I took. I guess it was a bad combo, on an empty stomach. Oops.

So, off to work I went. I felt a little better as time went on, but just never felt completely recuperated. So, I took the afternoon off, got into my PJ’s and climbed into bed. The quiet, the dark, the warm blankets – definitely what the doctor ordered!

I did finally drag myself out of bed to make dinner. Christian picked up the girls and we had our Cheesy Broccoli and Chicken Pasta. This one COULD be good, but ours didn’t turn out too great. I think I used too many noodles – they soaked up the broth too fast and didn’t cook right. Otherwise, it did taste pretty good. After dinner, I just vegged out on the couch for the night, and went off to bed shortly after the girls. Hoping for a miraculous recovery, that’s all I know!

Ingredients:

• 1½ lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces
• 1 can  chicken broth
• 2 cups elbow macaroni, uncooked
• ½ lb VELVEETA®, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• 1 16 oz package frozen chopped broccoli, thawed

Side:

• Garlic Bread

Directions:

1. COOK chicken in large nonstick skillet on medium-high heat 5 to 7 minutes, or until done, stirring occasionally.
2. STIR in broth. Bring to boil. Stir in macaroni; cover. Simmer on medium-low heat 8 to 10 min. or until macaroni is tender.
3. ADD VELVEETA and broccoli; cook 4 to 5 minutes, or until VELVEETA is melted and broccoli is heated through, stirring frequently.

I was snacking on some Doritos when I got home from work, and Amelia decided to help herself. Then wouldn't give them up. Goofy girl.

11/6/12 - Carnitas Casserole

Warning! This is going to be a REALLY long post. And, it does include my political views and opinions from today's election, so feel free to skip over that section if you don't want to hear it :)

HAPPY ELECTION DAY! I’m not super political, and would never force my views and opinions on others, but I definitely need my one day to post my feelings on this year’s election. And, now that it’s actually over, I feel like it can’t hurt anything.

Big day, for the world really, but especially here in the United States. This year I definitely got way more into politics than I usually do. I am nearly the definitely of an independent voter. I do not, and would never, follow one political party blindly. I hate that people do that, I think it is a HUGE downfall of our political system. I do my best to really look at the issues, especially those important to me and my family, and I vote on the person, and what they stand for, not the political party that backs them. I wish with all my might that more people would do that. Unfortunately, in the last few presidential elections, I feel like it’s really come down to voting for the lesser of two evils. I really wish it weren’t that way. I would say more often than not, I tend to lean conservative in my political views. But, this year was definitely different for me. Much to my own dismay, I did vote for Obama this year. While I did NOT 4 years ago, and I don’t necessary agree with a lot of his past/current performance, I do feel he is the right choice for our country RIGHT NOW; especially when his counterpart is Mitt Romney. I could never, and would never, vote for Romney, especially as a woman, after everything that came out during his campaign. All of his “Freudian” slips that gave view into what he really thinks. I’m no feminist by any means, but to me, he would have set us back a good 50 years, and I think that’s just “where he comes from” – and most definitely not right for our country. I was actually a really big fan of Rick Santorum. Had he received the republican nomination, there’s a good chance I would’ve voted for him. Similarly, if Hilary Clinton would’ve received the democratic nomination 4 years ago, I wouldn’t have hesitated to vote for her. So, you see, there’s no party consistency with me – I prefer topics, agendas and history vs. party and blind leading the blind. In the end, as we all know, Obama did win his 4 more years. While I don’t think this is PERFECT for America, I do think it was the best in this situation. So, YAY for that! And, his acceptance speech was humbling and definitely showed his true, all around character, and I liked that.

Here in Minnesota, it HUGE year. We currently have a democratic Governor. After this election, the democratic party also rule our house and senate. So, I think we’re up for a very different upcoming 2 years than the past two. It will be interesting to see how that pans out. See if things actually get done in this state now (whether I necessarily agree with those "things" or not). Maybe no shut-down this year?!? Again, I’m definitely no democrat, but I like the POTENTIAL idea of some peace and harmony in our government.

We also had 2 MAJOR amendments up for vote: an amendment to our state constitution regarding marriage, and a voter ID amendment:

1.      The marriage amendment was a complete disgrace. Basically, they want to amend our constitution to define that “Marriage will only be between one MAN and one WOMAN”. Obviously, that is what the law is currently here, and that is not even up for debate right now, nor has it ever been here. Apparently, people want to be pro-active in their hatred though, and they want to push this amendment through so that it never can be up for debate. It truly disgusts me – and, as I read that on my ballot and PROUDLY colored in that circle as dark and perfectly as I could, it saddened me. To think there were so many close-minded, selfish people in this state that were going to be marking yes, made me want to cry. I just can’t fathom, with any part of my being, why people care so much about who somebody else loves and wants to spend their life with. It doesn’t affect you; it has absolutely nothing to do with you, so why do you care? Why should you have any say in who somebody else marries? Basically, if you don’t agree with gay marriage, don’t get gay married. If your church (because, of course, church and bible are the ONLY arguments the “vote yes” side has on this issue – and, apparently the separation of church and state is no longer valid) does not accept or recognize gay marriage, then your church does not have to perform same sex marriage ceremonies. It’s really, truly as simple as that. Have YOUR morals, beliefs and opinions. But, understand that they are YOURS, and YOURS alone. You do not have the right to push them onto anybody else, you do not have the right to discriminate against somebody else and take away a freedom that EVERYBODY should have, especially in our state constitution, which should be protecting such freedoms.  I just think, what if Christian and I weren’t allowed to marry. Because he’s Mexican and I’m American, because he speaks Spanish and I speak English, because he was raised in Mexico and I was raised in the United States, because he has black hair and I have down. Sounds ridiculous, right? Well, it’s really the same concept, and it’s sad. In the end, this amendment was voted down, THANK GOD! I've never been so proud to be a Minnesotan, and pray that the sad 49% that voted yes on this bill can one day open their hearts, and their minds if an issue like this ever comes up again.

2.      The Voter ID amendment was a little different. Personally, I do think it’s odd that you don’t have to show ID when you vote, so I kind of like the concept of it. But, this Amendment was mess, with too many holes and issues that were not thought through. It makes it incredibly hard for the elderly, handicapable or active military to vote. It makes it impossible to register same day, which SO many people do, especially for college students, the newly eligible voters and people who have recently moved. It required that the state provide free ID to the citizens, yet FREE does not mean FREE as the money to produce and provide the ID's has to come from somewhere. It would be very costly to the state – where was that money going to come from? Again, definitely a “vote no” situation, and this one was also voted down. Happy day!

So, that is my one and only post regarding this year’s election. I’m happy. I know many aren’t but I hope people are able to move on and come together as a country to unite and make this a better county.

As far as the rest of the day! I took a long lunch break to head into the doctor for my yearly check-up. The appointment went well. She was ecstatic about my weight loss, my blood pressure was great and everything looked good. I do need to get my cholesterol checked, but since I have to fast before it, today was not the day for it. I had to pick up a prescription in the pharmacy after my appointment, and that just about pushed me over the edge. There was a family in the waiting room BLASTING some mariachi music on their phone, singing along like they were having a little fiesta. There were two other people on their phones, talking really loudly, but kept losing reception – so their phones kept ringing and ringing, and dropping calls and dropping calls. The wait took forever, then they proceeded to mess up my prescription, so I got to wait some more. It was seriously the pharmacy trip from hell. In the end, I did get the cough drops I was buying for free for having to wait so long, so I guess there is a silver lining in everything! LOL.

I made my way back to work for a few hours, then I was off to go vote. I picked the PERFECT time to vote, I literally walked in, signed in, and headed to my booth. No wait at all, perfect! I stopped into Walgreens after to pick up a couple of free prints I had, then picked the girls up. They spent the evening playing in/destroying their room while I made dinner and laid my sick butt on the couch. I most definitely have a full on cold, and it’s no looking good. Congested, hot, couch, sore throat and exhausted. NOT a good start to late fall/winter, that’s for sure. Christian seems to be getting better though, and Olivia is still fine. Amelia still seems OK, and no fever, but her teacher said she was really quiet today, which is not like her at all. I guess her little BFF at school, Niko, is out with strep throat, so hopefully he didn’t have it last week when she was there…

Once the girls were in bed, I dragged myself from the couch, to bed. I watched a show, then flipped back to check the election results just in time to see them project Obama the winner. Most of the Minnesota races were still too close to call, so I called it a night at that point. Gross, colds – I’m not ready for that fun to start up again yet.

Tonight’s dinner was a Carnitas Casserole with Rice. YUM, YUM!

Ingredients:

• 2/3 cup All-Purpose Flour
• 1/2 Cup Yellow Corn Meal
• 3 tbsp Granulated Sugar
• 1 tbsp Baking Powder
• 1/4 tsp Salt
• 2 tbsp Vegetable Oil
• 1 can Diced Green Chiles
• 1/3 cup Milk
• 1 Egg
• 1 can Cream Corn
• 2-3 cups of Carnitas
• 1 cup Enchilada Sauce
• 1 cup Shredded White Cheese (I used mozzarella)
• Fresh cilantro

Side:

• Box of Rice-a-Roni (prepared according to the less-fat package directions)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400.
2. Mix the flour, corn meal, sugar, baking powder and salt in a bowl and whisk together. Stir in the oil until the mixture makes soft crumbles. Whisk in the milk and egg. Add the cream corn and green chiles, and stir until just combined.
3. Spray a square baking dish with non-stick spray, and layer the mixture into the dish. Bake for 25 minutes, or until set. This will be more of a tamale-base than dry like cornbread.
4. After 25 minutes, remove the dish and poke holes in the crust with a fork. Pour the enchilada sauce over the crust. Arrange the shredded carnitas over the crust, and top with the shredded cheese.
5. Reduce the oven heat to 350. Cover the dish with foil, and bake for and additional 20 minutes.
6. After 20 minutes, remove the foil, and continue baking for 5-10 minutes, until the cheese is melted and bubbly.
7. Top with cilantro and allow to cool for 5 minutes before serving.

This was really, REALLY good. Christian LOVED it and we'll definitely make this one again. Though there are a lot of ingredients, it flows really well, and is really easy to progress through. YUM!

11/5/12 - Italian Chicken, Green Beans and Potatoes

Starting off another week! Christian still has his cold. Amelia still has her runny nose, and was really tired tonight. She first complained her mouth hurt, then her legs hurt, then her tummy hurt. Hmmmm. Maybe just tired? Hopefully. I do still think those molars are giving her trouble though. So far, Olivia and I seem to be OK – fingers crossed!

Christian actually had the day off. He still has a decent amount of leave time to use up before the end of the week, but it’s really hard for them to actually take time off. I guess his boss told him to take today off – I think Monday’s are their slowest day of the week, so it’s the best time to be off. He ended up spending the day packing up the rest of the “outside” for the winter. He took everything off the deck, packed everything up and tarpped it under the deck. So, at least we’re kind of ready for winter…

Work for me was OK. I had a nice long meeting mid-day to help speed the day along. It was off to work a WHOLE Monday though, I’m so used to leaving early to do my shopping. LOL. I am fairly certain I’m coming down with something though. Pretty sure the cold is making its leap to my system now. I just felt off all day. Warm, tired, headache (still) and my throat was bothering me. Hopefully it doesn’t get too bad.

I sent Christian on a mission to buy some Carnitas I need for tomorrow’s meal, so I picked the girls up after work (he usually picks them up on Monday’s, when they’re at his parents house). I chatted with his parents for a bit, and then we were on our way.

The girls were both pretty tired (residual effect of daylights savings time, I believe), so I sat them on the couch with a Tinkerbell movie. Amelia even sat there and watched it, and she NEVER watches TV. She was acting ill – looked worn out and really subdued and cuddly. But, she didn’t have a fever or anything. She refused to eat tonight; she just laid on the couch with her juice and apple, then went straight to bed when we finished dinner. Poor thing. Olivia ate, watched a couple videos, then was off to bed herself. YAY for earlier bedtimes!

Rico Update – Rico has been doing well. I've got a bit of a routine going with the cats now. I still have Rico set up in the kennel, with a litter box, bed, water and his food at meal time in our bedroom. He’s really adapted to that, and runs right into it when it’s time to eat, so that’s good. Chloe is still set up in the entry way of the house, and is NOT liking being on a schedule. LOL, diva. I feel them in the morning before work/when we get up. Rico stays in his kennel all day while we’re gone – I hate to do it, but he seems OK with it, and he actually eats all of his food throughout the day, which is great. I still don’t really see him going to the bathroom, but he doesn’t seem to spend as much time in his litter box as before, and still seems like he’s doing well and looks good, so hopefully everything is OK. He hasn’t had dry food for quite some time now, and seems to be adjusting to everything well. He’s back to fighting with the dog and running around, he still follows me around everywhere I go. So, we’re really happy right now. I do need to call this week to schedule his follow up appointment. Then, I guess we’ll REALLY know how he’s doing.

Tonight’s dinner was Italian Chicken, Green Beans and Potatoes. SUPER, SUPER easy one.

Ingredients:

• 3-5 Thawed, boneless, skinless chicken breasts (I did 3 since the girls split a breast, but I think I’d do at least 4 in the future)
• 4-5 Potatoes, cubed
• Green Beans (I used frozen. They recommend fresh or canned – they would probably work OK too, but would worry about them getting overcooked…)
• 1 packet of Italian Seasoning Mix
• 1 stick of Melted Butter (I think you could get away with ½ - 1/3 stick)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Spray a 9x13 baking dish with nonstick spray. Layer your green beans along one (long) side of the dish; your chicken next to the beans, then your potatoes along the other (long) side – so, you end up with three rows of food in your dish. Sprinkle the Italian seasoning over everything, then pour the melted butter over that.
3. Cover with foil and cook for 1 hour
4. DONE – one pan, no mess, easy!

Christian LOVED this one, and Olivia ate it well too. Italian isn't my all-time fave, so I wasn't raving about it quite as much, but I loved the ease, and it did turn out well.

11/4/12

Today, was one of those “Rockstar Mom” kind of days!

Today we “fell back” for daylight savings time. The girls were basically up at their usual time. I made them stay in their room for a while after they woke up, so that gave us some time to wake up and gear up for the day. We had breakfast, and I got to work on my Sunday chores right away. Picked up the bedrooms, living room, kitchen and entry. Did the dishes, swept the entry, cleaned litter boxes. The usual. I did laundry throughout the day, and actually got it all done! WHAT?! I planned our menu for the week, and Olivia and I ran to the store to do our shopping. They had some pretty awesome samples today too, so it was definitely a score!

By the time we got home, Amelia was napping. Olivia had a quick lunch, and went down herself. During naps, I did some final cleaning, folded some laundry and watched some TV. We finally woke the girls up around 4:00 because we had somewhere to be, so who knows how late they would’ve slept. Now that it starts getting dark around 4:00, I think that made them want to stay asleep. Maybe a little bonus this winter!

We got them ready and were on our way…tonight, we were spending some time at Bella’s house with her family. The girls had a blast running around and causing chaos all night long. We all ate dinner together and watched the Vikings game (a horrible loss…again). They had a couple other friends over and they all played some dance game on the Wii – it required way more coordination than I have, so I was just a spectator. It was a fun night though, good times!

We left at bedtime and got the girls down for the night. I did the last of my folding before bed, while Christian passed right out. With that, the weekend came to an end. Always a sad thing.

The girls took their shot at Wii dancing tonight, and it was too funny. Amelia won, LOL, she can really shake it!

11/3/12

Today was a fairly low key day. Amelia was again up way too early for some reason. So, again, no sleeping in for our house. I’m a little worried about what that means for tomorrow’s daylight savings switch…

After a little “waking up”, and some breakfast, I got the girls dressed and we spent the day together. Christian and his friend, Lorenzo, spent the day hanging out Christmas lights outside. NO, we do not turn them on right now…that excitement is reserved for Thanksgiving night, when we “flip the switch” as a family. YES, we hang them around this time, because it’s not quite freezing yet, and there’s no snow. It took them pretty much all day, and a trip to the store, but it’s done. YAY!

The girls weren’t quite as trying as they were yesterday, but naps were still a welcomed relief. I did a little picking up, and rested while they napped. I’ve had a small, nagging headache pretty much all week, so it’s been wearing me down.

It was just about dinner time when the boys finished the lights, and the girls woke up from their naps. We treated ourselves to some Noodles and Company for dinner (always exciting for me, because I can actually have SHRIMP in mine, YUM). Christian and Lorenzo went out for a while…so I had the house all to myself once the girls went down. Love my alone time!

Before he left for the night, I got this picture of the girls, making him pretty. It was so cute, I couldn't resist. Nothing quite like seeing your husband let his little girls do his hair and get him all dolled up :)

11/2/12

OK, so I finally made up for the last few lame weeks of dieting, and I lost 2.6 pounds this week, for a total to date of 39.2 pounds down. However, I’m still definitely not on track. I haven’t worked out for WEEKS, and have been slacking on my walks at work. I don’t really log my food anymore, BUT, I do feel like I have a good handle on it. I know the right decisions to make – and when I make the wrong ones, it’s usually intentionally, and knowingly. My new mission in life was to be more on top of keeping the house clean/picked up, REALLY cooking and getting out of the “box” rut that I’d been in and really taking some time to myself to wind down at night. Of course, all of that meant literally NO time for working out. I want to continue all of the above, but I just don’t know how to do that, AND fit in my workouts. If I can get the girls to bed ON TIME, every night, I can get myself into bed, watch my 2 shows to wind down, and get to bed at a decent time. Then, get up a little early (or, maybe even just ON TIME) and do my workout then. Otherwise, I just need to go back to doing my workout right after I put the girls down and just get back to being diligent about it. Time to get back to it!

Amelia was up WAY too early this morning, so there was no sleeping in on my “day off”. But, we did get in some quality time before Olivia woke up, and all hell broke loose. They were pretty much at each other’s throats all day long, and not listening to anything, so it was a really frustrating day. It makes me SO ANGRY! Yes, ANGRY! They are so good at school, and they are SO good when you are with them, one on one, but as soon as they’re together, it’s like two colliding tornados. I don’t get it. I just DO.NOT.GET.IT. There has to be some solution out there, I just wish I knew where to start.

I did manage to get them to eat, got them ready and we made our way to Target. We needed a few things to get through the weekend, and I picked up a few clearance Halloween items. We didn’t get to decorate this year for Halloween, because our storage area is jam packed with stuff we moved out of the spare room a month or so ago, so hopefully next year we can get back on it!

Once home, it was time for lunch and naps. Finally, some peace and quiet! I spent nap time catching up on the DVR and my super out of date blog. I started dinner shortly after they woke up…we repeated last month’s Sweet N Sour Chicken and Fried Rice, Take-Out Fake-Out meal, and it was again, delicious! YUM, one of our new faves for sure.

Christian and I were both pretty tired by the time the girls went to bed. I had a long, stressful day with the girls; he had a super busy day at work. One of our local casino’s is going to start selling alcohol (I think they were the only one that didn’t), and Christian’s work is their distributor, so they’ve been swamped this week getting them started. That’s a great, HUGE new client for them, pretty exciting.

Nothing else interesting really happened today. The sky was really eerie on my way home tonight, so I snapped a picture of it...

11/1/12

How can it possibly be November already?!? I cannot believe how quickly the time goes. I mean, Halloween is already over, all of our fun Fall Festivities, that I feel like I was JUST planning, have come and gone, Thanksgiving is just a few weeks away, Christmas is already on my brain. MY BABY TURNS 4 IN TWO MONTHS! What?!? It’s truly amazing (and, quite sad) how time speeds up year by year. Hopefully, that’s a sign of a life well lived and experienced!

We were all up and at em’ pretty well this morning. I was pretty tired, but the girls seemed refreshed after their busy night. Amelia has been rocking a runny nose the last couple of days…I’m hoping the last of her molars are coming in, and it’s not a sign of illness looming. Christian has had a cold all week – nose, sore throat, cough – the real deal. Let’s see how many of us that has to fly through! Hopefully not me, because I don’t seem to be very good at shaking illnesses once I get them!

Today was my Friday at work, so it was pretty busy, as usual. I picked up the girls after school, and they had another successful week. Olivia’s little friend Jayla gave me a picture she colored, which was pretty cute. They were both pretty sad to see all of the fun Halloween decorations down though. Sorry girls, back to reality!

Our evening was pretty low key. We had tacos for dinner – Tacos have always been a fairly weekly staple in our house (YUM), but my new goal was no repeat dinners (except leftovers) for a month, so it’s been a LONG time since we had them. Otherwise, we just took it pretty easy tonight.

I got this cute shot of Olivia in the car tonight, she's such a happy thing!