Thankful Thursday

I totally started not to do this today b/c it has been a really rough day. But I don't like to disappoint my readers (well, mainly Susan since she has told me she likes thankful thursday.)

**I'm thankful that after this morning's toilet incident, that I could take care of things myself and didn't have to call a plumber...cause it was a close call. I will leave the details with that.

**I'm thankful that my washer and dryer work because I have spent alllllll day washing clothes from the above said incident.

**I'm thankful that all of the laundry is now done and folded and I'm sure I can talk my hubby into putting it away since I had to work so diligently while fixing snacks, cups, lunches and breaking up fights to get it done.

**I'm taking food to a friend from church tonight. and the reason I'm thankful is that i'm only having my 3rd child and she just had her FIFTH. holy....

**I'm thankful that spaghetti cooks so quickly b/c i have to drive 20 minutes there and 20 minutes back and her food is supposed to be there around 6.

**I'm thankful my kids will have to go with me so I don't feel obligated to stay so I can get home and get supper cooked for my crew.

**I'm thankful that I have had the week off from keeping my house all museum like. But I'm hoping to return it to that state for the weekend for more lookers.

**Again, I'm thankful tomorrow is Friday and I get to go to work b/c the punk wreckers are making this mama a little restless.

**and finally...I'm thankful that I got to observe some of the wisest words ever spoken in all of moviedom today while folding said mountains of clothes..."wax on...wax off."

our first mini-talk...Boys

be certain that luke will kill me for this post one day...

yesterday luke came running into the living room telling me he was hurt. i was not surprised since all he and his brother do is fight these days (and seth is a pure punk.) however, this was a hurt my little luke hasn't experienced before and i completely felt terrible for him. he was "holding himself" and told me his teeter hurt. and i asked him what happened and he said "i don't know!" so i finally got out of him that sethy had hit him. so i had a brief discussion with seth about not hitting, especially there, and sent him to time out and then he had to hug luke. so i called micah and said "we have had our first teeter hurting incident so you need to be prepared to give a little boy talk tonight." and after telling micah what happened, he seemed hesitant, like he wasn't sure what he would say. but i reminded him that i didn't have one of those so i didn't know why they hurt. however, i would be happy to have the conversation in more detail if he wanted to volunteer to talk to Ally Claire when she starts her period.

I'm not sure what Micah said, but i know the talk was had and all is well.

Boys....i did want to take a minute to brag on luke. he gets treats at the end of the day if he has been good at school. there has only been 2-3 times in the last 2 years that he hasn't gotten one (and that's saying a lot for my kid!) he does really well. however, the last few weeks, i have noticed that he would bring home a tootsie roll for himself and then something that i knew he didn't like. the first week he brought home a butterfly tatoo and said it was for me. the next week he brought home an airhead candy. i asked him who it was for and he said "it's for sethy." and every week, he gets himself something and picks out something he thinks seth will like too. brothers can be sweet sometimes.

tasty tuesday-appetizer edition

i nearly forgot!! i thought i'd do a couple of appetizers since we women always have something to go to...or we at least find a reason to get together and have such goodness. i mean, seriously...isn't that the whole point of a shower or holiday party??

Chocolate Chip Cheese Ball

1 pkg (8 oz) cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter (no substitute) softened
1/4 tsp. vanilla extract
3/4 cup confectioners sugar
2 Tbsp brown sugar
3/4 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup finely chopped pecans
graham sticks

beat cream cheese, butter and vanilla together in a mixing bowl. gradually add in sugars. beat until just combined. stir in chocolate chips. cover and refrigerate for 2 hours. place cream cheese mixture on a large piece of plastic wrap and shape into a ball. refrigerate 1 hour. just before serving, roll in a mixture of nuts and mini choc. chips. serve with graham sticks. (this tastes like chocolate chip cheese cake and should be a sin!!)

Easy Ham Ball

2 8 oz pkgs of cream cheese softened
1 pkg dry ranch dressing mix
1 2 oz pkg ham (i use the carl budding that is really thin) chopped
finely chopped pecans
club cracker sticks (or any cracker of your choice)

chop up ham and set aside. mix together cream cheese and dressing mix. add in ham. form into ball and wrap in siran wrap and refrigerate about 2 hours. before serving, roll in pecans. serve with club cracker sticks. (this is one of my favorites!)

Corn Dip

2 cans gold & white corn
1 can of rotel drained
1 cup shredded colby jack cheese
1 cup mayo
1/4 cup (real) grated parmesan cheese
tostitos or fritos scoops

mix ingredients together and bake on 375 until bubbly.

without further adieu...

Miss Ally Claire Tucker

Ally Claire posing for the camera

Ally Claire and her sweet profile

now that was crazy

Holy Smack! Now that was a little crazy!! Last week was a little insane for my taste. I have already posted what all happened between monday and wednesday to get the house shown and my doctor's appointment. Now, for Thursday on. Thursday I was a sick little girl. Still am. I have the sinus crud. however it feels like today it's not so much in my face, other than a snotty nose, but i'm thinking it's creeping down to my chest. hopefully in a week or so i'll be on the mend. Friday Luke has preschool and I have work and Micah's mom keeps Seth. It was a long work day for me, but luke had an awesome day at school and i guess seth was pretty good. on the way home micah said we had another realtor call wanting to come to the house on saturday. good news, only that meant i needed to straighten the house back up and vacuum/mop, etc...after my long day b/c like i said, thursday i felt like i had been hit by a truck so i just let the wreckers run wild. saturday morning i had a CEU class for my nursing license and micah and the kiddos were gonna go to the store while the house was being shown. and of course micah has them all ready and the realtor had forgotten to update her remote to get the keys out of the lock boxes, so she needs to come on sunday. aggrevating. especially when you have 2 kids and you are not wanting to be there when folks come. no problem. less i needed to do on saturday. only when i pull up in my driveway, i see a strange truck. and i called the house from my cell phone just in case i had missed something from micah b/c my cell phone was basically dead. apparently a man had driven by our house, pulled up, called our realtor and asked if he could just come in and see the house. what the??? who does that? (his son had bought a house down the road and he and his wife are interested in the area as well.) and after a look around, he wants to bring her back. oh, and the lady from wednesday who was in from out of town wants to come back in a couple of weeks with her husband as well. and then that afternoon at 3:30 another realtor called and wanted to come an hour later. which was fine b/c we were going to do a little obligatory registering anyway. sunday we had a few houses lined up that we were going to look at, plus the people were coming to our house. the ones from saturday liked the house but needed an extra room. the ones from sunday are interested and have us in the top 3.

now...my house hunting experience. seriously, i completely expected that people would have gone to the same trouble that i did in decluttering and making sure things were nice and clean. ummmm....no. the first house we saw was clean enough, but there was waaaaay too much work that would have to be done before i moved in (like pulling down mountains of wallpaper and painting.) #2 which from pictures we thought would be good, would have had to be completely repainted, there were some structural stuff, i would have replaced the vinyl, the bathroom was weird...NEXT. #3 was pretty good. it definitely had potential. i really liked the kitchen area and the rooms were a good size and there was an extra room for toys but i would have to repaint the kids bathroom and both bedrooms...and let's talk about the back yard situation. holy moses. i don't think they ever did a thing to it. we would have to completely redo the backyard plus fix the covered patio. so we would have to do some immediate work. plus, after talking at length about it, there just didn't seem to be room to grow. and did i say that it didn't look like they had wiped the counters, there was laundry everywhere (and by that i saw this woman's underwear plus there were shoes in the middle of the bathroom and pants left in the floor by the bed. i mean, when you have 24 hours notice, clean your house. #4 was the best by far. it had 3 bedrooms and a huge loft area upstairs. the bedrooms were plenty big enough that the boys could share a room when they are little (b/c let's face it...unfortunately this is not my last move.) there was a good amount of storage and room to grow. so it is a possibility at least. but we will keep looking. my fear is that our house will sale before we find what would be best for our needs. but i know God will work it out in the mean time.

and on an ending note, i went to Kroger to grocery shop last night b/c it seemed like they had a good sale. and i saved 25$. i was so stinkin excited. and it is actually 8:45 on monday when i type this and luke has had 2 time outs (one actually being sent to his room) and seth has had 3 (one actually sending him to his room as well.) i have mountains of laundry to do, so it will be another crazy day. didn't the Lord rest at least one day?

thankful thursday in a fog

it's that time of week again. and i am in the beginnings of the sinus crud, so bare with me.

I am thankful that after a very stressful week, my house finally got shown for the first time and that it's over with. (see posts below for further details.)

I am thankful that while walking through Walmart, even though my kids say they want everything they see, they are not the kids who feel the need to reach out and actually try to get everything. Concussions avoided for now.

I am thankful that when I am sick, my kids are plenty happy with peanut butter on wheat Ritz and accept that or cereal and an applesauce as a completely rounded meal. (of course, as picky as Luke is, he thinks that's nearly all there is to eat anyway.)

I am thankful that I am not beyond letting the TV babysit my kiddies for a day while I play mommy hookie with a few magazines and a box of Kleenex plus lotion.

I am thankful that my hubby understood, eventhough he has had a terribly long week himself, when I sequestered myself to my room last night b/c i could feel the ickiness coming on.

I am thankful that my stress headache that I had since Sunday is gone. (i am very unthankful that it is now in my FACE!!)

I am thankful that I have a close group of girlfriends that when I am feeling like a worn out mommy, wife and Christian, they let me know that they are in my boat, but still can find a way to encourage me.

I am thankful that we have Best Buy cards from Christmas and Micah's birthday so that micah can go buy our printer/scanner today while it is on sale and that i will finally be able to post a picture of what I am most thankful for. (cause let's face it, for the time being, she is seriously the easiest to take care of !)

I'm thankful that I can still manage the brain power to be thankful for something when i seriously don't feel like being thankful at all!!

22 weeks 4 days

holy messness...that was a looooooong morning. first off, i got a call yesterday afternoon (when i already had my kiddos strapped in the van at 3:30) that they wouldn't be able to show my house at 4 b/c the people had something come up. they had driven by on monday and definitely still wanted to come look before heading out of town. (good sign, right?) so i had to keep my completely immaculate house as good as i could for the next 16 or so hours. so they came this morning around 1130 or so. today being wednesday, that means it's luke's preschool day and i also had a dr.s appointment in which i was taking seth with me. we needed to do another ultrasound today b/c last time she was too little to see everything we needed to look at. (and all i cared about at the last one was her "femaleness". so at 9 a.m. i head out to take Luke to preschool. Then i swung by Micah's office to get him (b/c he comes to all appointments unless there is seriously a reason he can't.) Then we head on off to the Women's pavillion. Sethy looked super cute as he just got his new bug back pack and he likes to wear it on his back. I got called back to ultrasound and of course, she is all curled up in a ball...meaning her legs are over her head!! We did get another face shot and another "girl" shot, but the heart is really what we needed to see. She just was NOT into cooperating (definitely my child.) so she said i would probably have to have another on the next visit. so i go over to the other side to have the rest of my visit (vitals, tummy measured). while waiting, and sethy is starting to be a booger and he and micah have to go back out to the waiting room) i hear my doc say he needs to run deliver a baby. that doesn't bother me. it happens. so the nurse comes in and gets my tummy measured and says to wait in the waiting room for a minute b/c they may can try to u/s me again so i don't have to make another trip, or worse, go to birmingham. (let me state now that they didn't ever thing anything was wrong, they just couldn't get a clear view.) so we waited another 15 minutes or so and went to a different u/s machine. when i got in there, apparently Ally Claire was all stretched out and they saw everything and she was perfect looking and we even got a pretty little profile picture. By then, my doc was back and he still wanted to see me, so he measured me again and said everything was fine. My BP is good and I measure just right. No weight gain (which means i'm still in the negative) and he said "you're still eating, right?" and i wanted to say "like a linebacker!!"

Then we left for lunch. We were running a good bit later than we expected, sethy was beginning to be even more trolly, and i had to fly like the wind to get micah dropped off and get to luke's school by 1. but we are home, people are in bed, and my house got shown as evidenced by the card that was left on my table. I hope it was worth their wait!!

i will get micah to scan and email me the u/s pics so i can post them as part of thankful thursday tomorrow. and i will try to finally get a belly picture up. warning...i'm still not very big at all, so i have to wear a certain dress to make it look like i am!!

Tasty Tuesday

(this recipe is from the Taste of Home Winning Recipes Cookbook)

i haven't tried this yet, but it is on the list.

CHEESEBURGER SOUP
1/2 lb ground beef
3/4 cup chopped onion
3/4 cup shredded carrots
3/4 cup diced celery
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried parsley flakes
4 Tbsp butter divided
3 cups chicken broth
4 cups diced, peeled potatoes
1/4 cup all purpose flour
8 oz velveeta
1.5 cups milk
1/4-1/2 tsp pepper
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup sour cream

brown beef, drain and set aside. then in same pan, saute onion, carrots, celery, basil and parsley in 1 Tbsp butter until tender. add broth, potatoes and beef. bring to a boil. reduce heat, cover and simmer for 10-12 minutes or until potatoes are tender.

in another skillet melt remaining butter. add flour. cook and stir for 3-5 minutes until bubbly. add to soup. bring to a boil. cook and stir for 2 minutes. reduce to low. add cheese, milk, salt and pepper. cook and stir until cheese melts. remove from heat and blend in sour cream.

makes 8 servings.

(tambo, i'm sure if you just used all of the low fat stuff, this would make a good WW soup. you could probably get away with omitting the butter and flour and adding in a tbsp or so of the LF gravy mix like in WW potato soup.)

not made for this...but it's good!!

i got a call from a realtor at about 3:30 saying they had a client interested in seeing our house (along with about 3 others and that ours would be next in line.) she wanted to know how soon they would be able to come and i said 5pm (since i DO have 2 kids that were still napping and i needed to do a last minute wipe down of the place.) and she said that she'd call back b/c they could also come tomorrow. so about 430 when everything is all spic and span, they are coming tomorrow at 4. fine with me. now i can make things shine. i think i'll go throw up now. i don't think my nerves can handle this.

a little miffed plus updates 1 & 2

UPDATE 1: i emailed the realtor's secretary (who is the one who actually choses and posts the pictures) and told her that i wasn't happy with the quality as some were mislabeled and looked dark and you couldn't see the color of the room--and as someone who has painted this ENTIRE house while pregnant, it was that important to me!). she gave me the dementions of the ones they use and said she would use what pics i wanted. (i mean, i didn't expect any less since they will get 5-6% of the sale...HELLO!!)

UPDATE 2: this is the email i got back after resizing and sending my pics:
Becky you are right some of yours are much better! We will change them tomorrow, Glenn (computer expert) has dental appt this afternoon and won't be back today. We can only use 6 pics but will definitely change to yours that are better tomorrow. Thanks, Martha

so i told you that our realtor came this past saturday to take pics of the house. well i get a call from his secretary yesterday saying she deleted all the pics and that he needed to come back out this morning (when i wouldn't be here and my MIL was here with seth) to get new ones. (this came after micah called and asked how long it took to get pics up.) well i looked at the pics and they completely suck and at least 2 pics are labeled wrong. what the crap? it has luke's room labeled as the master bedroom and seth's as room #2. i told micah if we had no bites this month then i'd sell the danged thing myself as my pics look 100% better. and elmo and friends are in the pic of my living room.

thankful thursday-valentine's day edition

**i am thankful that micah is the bestest daddy in the whole world. my children absolutely adore him and he does them. he takes care of them (not "babysits" like some dads), he plays with them, he gives them their bath at night time so i can have a break.

**i am thankful that micah sees that i need girl time. i only ASK on occasion. usually i just announce that i'm going out for supper or shopping or something with a friend. but he never blinks b/c i think he gets that a happy mommy is one that is exposed to estrogen from time to time.

**i am thankful that micah has a good job that completely supports us and has good insurance and that he is so smart and does well an is valued at that job. it allows me to stay home with the kids. and as hard as that job is, i wouldn't trade it for anything.

**i am thankful that micah takes care of himself. he sees the importance of physical exercise so that he can be here for us longer. (now i won't get into his eating habits, but we'll stay positive and say we are glad that it all evens out and that he has good genes lol!!)

**most of all, i am thankful that he comes home to me and the kiddos every day. a lot of men see their career (or someone else) as more important, and i know without a doubt that we are the most importantest in the world to him. and that is just fine by me!

i love ya babe!

Tasty Tuesday

My Mama's Chicken Casserole

(this makes a large, full 13x9x2 casserole pan. good to take to potluck or if you are having folks over.)

2-3 cups cooked chopped chicken
2 cans cream of chicken soup
1 can each drained:
potatoes
english peas
carrots
corn
(green beans optional...i personally don't like them or use them)
8 oz sour cream
1 box of chicken in a biscuit crackers
1 small pkg nut topping (found in baking section)
butter

mix all ingredients together (except crackers of course). bake at 350 for about 25 minutes or until it is bubbly. crush as many crackers as you need to cover the top of the casserole. mix in the nut topping and melted butter. sprinkle over the top and put back in oven until golden brown.

house pics

my house is pictures if you can stand it. i didn't get pics of the kids rooms, though!!

kids bathroom, except the floor has been replaced now

view of my bedroom from the bathroom

MBR view from LR



freshly redone master bath

kitchen view from laundry room

kitchen view from opposite end

view from front door

my humble little house

movin' on up....

well, we hope so anyway!! we just put a sign in our yard and it is officially up for sale. i am nervous and super excited. our realtor is a close family friend from where we used to attend church and we got sooooo much positive feed back. (makes me feel good that all that hard work paid off and the first impression was a great one!) please keep this in your prayers b/c actually the quicker the sale, the better!!

thankful thursday

1. i am obviously most thankful that the storms with the tornadoes didn't come through my area on tuesday. micah and i sat up and watched just in case.

2. i am thankful that my friends the Tate's don't live in Memphis anymore!!!

3. i am thankful that my mama is on semi-retirement and is home so that i can call her every single day...which i basically do.

4. i am thankful that the realtor is coming on saturday (even though i feel like i'm completely not ready) b/c that means we can get the ball rolling and hopefully move before the baby gets here...hopefully.

5. i am thankful that where we are moving to, my in-laws will be close enough by that when bad weather comes, i can gather the kiddies and jaunt over there and get in the basement. the thought of a tornado scares me to death!!

6. i am thankful that micah seems to be on the mend from his surgery. (however i am NOT thankful that he is still leaning to sleeping on his back!!)

7. i am thankful that my friend Brandy invited me to go on her women's retreat in march. nothing like 24 hours with women and Jesus!

8. i am thankful for the wonderfulness that is a 1/2 benedryl. on nights like tuesday night when i sleep 2 hours, it sure helps me sleep hard enough not to even get up to potty on the next night.

9. i am thankful that tomorrow is friday and that i get to go to work for adult interaction, luke will go to school, grammy will keep seth, and micah will be home for the weekend. it's been a looooong week!

10. i am thankful that in 2 weeks i get to have another picture of my baby girl!!

Tasty Tuesday

i'm kinda late in getting this done, but i'll give it a whirl. also, there is a previous post where dana tagged me and i'm never one to step down from a challenge, so scroll on down after this.

Fiesta Dish (one of the mexican casseroles)

1 lb hamburger meat, turkey or chicken
1 pkg taco seasoning (optional if you don't like things too spicy)
1 pkg yellow rice
1 can cream of chicken (or mushroom if you prefer)
1 can rotel
8 oz velveeta
doritos

brown hb meat (or turkey) and drain (if using chicken, i use 2 cups cooked chopped). add in taco seasoning and a little bit of water. in a seperate bowl, make the rice according to the microwave directions. heat the velveeta, soup, and rotel in a bowl until melted. mix all of the previous mixes together. pour into a baking dish and put crushed doritos over the top. heat just until warmed (don't burn the doritos!! everything is already hot.)

10 things i learned from being a mom

1. a good coat of paint covers a multitude of sins...or snot or cheetos handprints.

2. all the things you say will come back to haunt you and you never know where you'll be when they do!

3. i can take care of anyone or their kids, but please Lord don't let mine get anything more than a cold. i'm not equipped.

4. when they say that picky eating is just a phase, no one ever met luke tucker. he is their king since he has eaten the same things (which is a mighty short list) for 3.5 years. phase my hiney!!

5. boys are boys from conception. they cannot hear nor can they ring a toilet bowl.

6. on becoming a parent, i can cry at anything nearly on command. i cannot handle seeing or hearing anything that has anything bad to do with kids or animals.

7. when you are a stay at home mom, after that first one, you are always outnumbered most of the time, so the addition of one more can't be that much harder, right?? (we'll find out!)

8. moms who work outside the home and then come home and still have to do everything i've had all day to do (tammy english is my hero), just rock my socks. i am convinced God gives them more super powers than the average mom.

9. God did NOT mean for anyone to parent alone. that's why it takes 2 to make a baby. people who are single or even those married but don't have the help they deserve all need a weekly spa day. i am most greatful for my superdad hubby!!

10. i will never ever be adequate enough or qualified to fill the job position that i have been graciously given. it is the bestest, hardest, most precious, most infuriating job i will ever have and i wouldn't miss it for the world!!

i now tag kristen, amy, meredith and tammy

my first baby gift

"the professor" (as i refer to her for my hubby's sake), sent me the cutie-est patootie-est most delicate baby girl gift. watch out kids. the professor is crafty!!

thank you so much tiff!! i can't wait to put it in her room!!

on a seperate, but related note...I just bought this!!

monday menus

so i'm not original and i stole the heading, once again, for this post. so sue me. but it could be helpful none the less. i sat down about a month or so ago and made a list of 30 or so meals complete with their sides. i absolutely hate to menu plan, grocery shop, and even cook most days b/c i live with some picky eaters. one is completely severe, so i feel like i'm always in the kitchen and cleaning it up. but i thought i'd post my big list in case any of you need any ideas. this is not all we eat, but it was the first 30 meals that came to mind. it has definitely saved me time. You can let me know if you want any recipes. unfortunately my kids don't eat most of this!!

BBQ meatballs, rice, salad, rolls
Pineapple Teriaki Pork chops, yellow rice, stir fry bell peppers
Chicken spaghetti, corn
Ham & Cheese quiche, hashbrowns, fruit salad
Chicken quiche, mashed potatoes, english peas
Lasagna, Salad, garlic bread
Rotisserie chicken, squash dressing, butter beans
fajitas, rice, refried beans
Potato soup
Grilled fish, oven fries, cole slaw
Hamburger/Turkey Hobo with onion potato and carrot, corn on cob
Breakfast pizza, fruit
Creamy Chicken, buttered noodles, salad, crescents
Meatloaf, mac-n-cheese, purple hull peas
Cheeseburger soup
Chicken Divan (contains broccoli and rice), rolls
Smoked Pork chops, hashbrown casserole, okra
Roast, carrots, potatoes, rolls
Fettuccini Alfredo, salad, garlic bread
Mexican Casserole (i have a jillion variations)
Chicken Enchiladas
Hamburger Steak, French onion rice, butter beans
Chili
White chili
Tammy's veggie soup
Taco Soup
Spaghetti
Hotdogs
Chicken Casserole, peas, cream corn
Philly sandwiches
Quesadillas
BBQ chicken, baked beans, mac-n-cheese or potato salad
Chicken RollUps, green bean casserole, corn
Pizza Casserole
Chicken & rice, veggies