5 years ago today...

So five years ago today we pulled into our first home in Tennessee. When we pulled up to our house a not so shy 2 year old that lived next door said to us "let me give you a tour of your house." She helped her self in the house and gave us a tour it was cute. Today that girl is 7, it seems like such a long time ago. I love our first home, I could give you a list a mile long of things we would like to change or do different but I am grateful and proud of our first home. It has changed in 5 years it is now filled with so much "stuff" and kids. Emily was 3 months old when we moved to TN. She is now 5 and in Kindergarten.
We drove into Tennessee from a long night in Fort Smith, Arkansas. We just wanted to get to our new home. Michael, Emily, Killer, Martini and Emily were in our car. Michael's parents followed behind us in the "work truck" hauling their boat. We came to our house with our furniture not getting delivered until the next day. The house was so empty and now I wish it was not so full.
I am grateful to have a home a warm and safe place. We love living in Tennessee.

Wordless Thursday-Purple Cauliflower

Throwing in the towel

This week I have thrown in the towel,when it comes to dinners. It is only Wednesday but it is our first week of only having ballet at night and I must say I am enjoying it. I have made easy dinners that I know the kids will eat, not always that good for you but I am so tired of fighting with my kids, I will start fighting with them again next week.

Monday night I made chicken noodle soup which is not bad for them. Carrots, celery, and organic chicken broth. They ate it I made potsickers also for Michael and I the kids ate a few there is cabbage in those.
Tuesday night I made taco soup for me!! I love to eat I cook for me no one else you eat it great other wise starve!!! (that was mean but that is how I often feel.) Taco soup pictured above, it was good. I beinging a Mexican was reluctant to make something called "taco soup." It is not "Mexican." Chloe, Michael and I enjoyed it. I did not even offer any to the "other girls." Why bother they would say "no." Michael even said the "taco soup" was better then my chili.
So here is what I did for taco soup. Ohh the "other girls" they had nacho's chips with cheese and sour creme. ( I did not make them starve.)

I did 1 lb of ground beef (it says 2 lbs I was going to add ground turkey but it did not defrost fast enough.) I thought it was plenty of meat.

1 can of "ranch style beans" black can at Kroger they are pinto beans really. Also to add some water more soup like I rinsed the can of beans with water and dumbed in pot about half a can of water.
2 cans of tomato's I did one of Rotel you know with some spice.
1 packet of taco season
1 packet of ranch season
1 can of corn I drained the corn.
1 onion
Salt, pepper and chili powder to taste

Brown meat with onions. Add everything and simmer for 1 hour
I really enjoyed it.

Wednesday night is ballet at 5:30 I have to feed the kids before we leave. Quesadillas for the girls I had left over taco soup.
Will see what Thursday brings I am think spaghetti that is never a fight.
I am enjoying a week of not fighting with the kids at dinner. Next week will be back to moans and groans at dinner.

The Honeydo's

So most of you know Michael, the husband, is a handyman. He is handy for many people, but not always for me. Not because he does not want to but he is out of time, the girls want to spend time with him. Our house is half done on many things. I have learned to be okay with the half done bathroom, it still works, the not finished floors hard wood and tile. I have let it all go. I am grateful for what he does when he has time.
This past Sunday Michael had time!!! Well not really but our kitchen table is trashed!! We bought it used from a neighbor when they were moving. But it was a great table lots of chairs and seats 8 people. We always said we would refinish it. So lets see almost three years later and it was done this past couple of days.

SO the above pictures are of my new and improved table, I love it.
My dear husband has also informed me of other things on his own "honey do" list. It really warms my heart. Refinishing the island is next, and then re painting the down stairs bathroom. For the record the bathroom just needs to be re-done because our kids are messy and dirty. I love our downstairs bathroom, it just has to be repainted. I believe Ashley is the one who drew all over one wall with pen in there.
I will post some pictures when it is done. Ohhh I just thought of another thing our ceiling needs to be repainted in the living room too.
I really do love my husband, he works hard for his family. I am forever grateful for these days that I can stay at home with our kids. Even if I do feel like I am loosing my mind most of the time.

Tuesday's heart break

Today we were suppose to have Emily's first field trip as a "school" kid. But due to bad weather it was canceled, or should I say postponed. Emily was so sad the night before she prayed to God about 3 times for good weather. I admit I did too. I hate for a 5 year olds heart to break. She had been looking forward to it so much.

Well the day totally shifted with the call that is was canceled for today. Ashley did ballet, two little girls spent time with grandma.

We had rough weather today a couple of warnings for tornado's. Emily said she spent time today in the hall for along time at school. I am glad she handled it well, I was a bit worried. But she is tuff. So Monday we try to do the field trip again.

Manic Monday

Monday was off to a rough start. I got an email on Sunday night from Emily's teacher asking if I was approved yet for the field trip. They do FBI back ground checks, now. I had not gotten anything yet. So Monday I went to the school to find out if I was approved. Let me just say I know I would be approved. Never robbed a bank, did anything to kids I am a good girl. So I find out I am approved after telling two people that my name is Michelle Martinez Lindsey not Jennifer Michelle Lindsey. Jenny is the famous sister-in-law, the amazing and talented photographer. But let me tell you I did think if I am not approved for this field trip I will pretended to be Jennifer Michelle Lindsey. I am a mother first before a "good girl."

Any way so got that taken care of, off to the bank and Costco with the two little girls. Costco does not open tell 10 I was there at 9:30 ugh, this is not shaping up to be a good day. So we killed time at Toys r us got two cute dresses for the little girls. Little light gold sweater dresses matching. Emily will be mad at some point I know.

Got to Costco they are out of the applesauce the girls love. Nicole and I call it baby crack. Apple sauce in a bag. I will post a picture of it the kids love it and it is good for them bonus!!! Got some other healthy snacks, I am always trying. Well not really always but I do try.

Got home Chloe napped this is a high in the day for me. Ashley is having a bad day with her bladder issues. We have used the bathroom every place we stoped today.

Krissy was sweet to watch the girls so I could help in Emily's art class since I traded Jenny Monday for Tuesday with grandma Cindy babysitting. If you noticed this is my second time back to the school.
Did some quick stuff at home started making dinner early because we were going to a play date at a friends in the afternoon. I knew we would end up there later and the kids would be hungry when we got home. I was a head of the game.

Raced back out the door to pick Emily up at school. So we could go straight to Lea's house. Parked at the pool walked the path which is beautiful right now. Reminds me I should tell Jenny. (pictures.) Get to the school and no sign of Emily. I see her teacher and she freaks!! "I sent Emily on the bus!" She calls out "what bus number?" and runs to see if she can stop the bus. I see a neighbor and stop her, tell her to grab Emily if she gets home before me since I am not home. I also left my cell phone at home. Not a great day. Yeah so I said I took the walking trail. Umm yeah so Ashley and I ran back, pushing Chloe. Ashley kept up pretty well poor thing. All I could think was Emily was going to be crying on the front porch because I was not home. Raced home, I figure if a cop tried to pull me over he would have to wait tell I got home. My baby is more important. I made it home just as she was walking up the hill, mid way on our street.
I grabbed my cell, and off to Lea's we went. The rest of the afternoon was much better. So three times at school in one day and a miss placed daughter. I was wiped out. Her teacher did call about 20 mins after I left school to make sure I had gotten Emily okay.
I have resolved that Emily is a bus rider for ever more I will not change things up. I will work around bus drop off. Yes this all happened in one day.

P.S. Don't judge me because I have pictures of apple sauce. You never know when you might need it for a blog post.

Ready, set, Church ready

So the girls are healthy, Michael and I are healthy so that meant Sunday morning we were going to CHURCH. We do not often end up going when the girls are sick or getting over being sick. We don't want to share. My kids don't like to share. (hehe) So here they are all cleaned up. Hair is all brushed, clothes are all clean, clothes are "nice looking." My kids look cute if I might say so. Chloe has her sippy cup with her name on it and her tooth brush she is ready to go.
Emily's pumpkin top is from my friend Dori. Chloe has a pumpkin bloomers on from Dolka Potz. I love them they are so cute. And cover her big 'ole bottom. Any way we were ready for a day at church. Hey Nana there is camel's on Chloe's dress.

Saturday night FUN.

Saturday night fun. We went the McDonald's for an early dinner with ice cream. I know we are so wild and crazy. We even did the play place. Kids would not play they said it smelled bad. Won't argue with that. We had planned to go to a nursery in town that has a pumpkin patch but by the time we got there they were closed. So Michael and the girls played when we got home. The girls all love to ride on daddy's skate board. The joys of having a former skater for a daddy. So here is a few snap shots from that dark night.

Good Game

Emily's favorite part of the game is at the end when she gets to hit hands with the other team and say "good game." Emily had her best game ever this week. She tracked the ball really well. I was proud of her, Michael too. She kept up running with the ball. This was a hard game the other team was yellowish and called them selves the Hornets. They sure did act like hornets trying to block goals. But all in good fun, good game.

Soccer Monster Ashley

Coach Jesse and the team. Ashley, Maddox, Ali, Will, Hazel, Daxton, Garrett.


So here it is Ashley's last soccer game. It could be her last forever I don't know if Michael and I have it in us to do it again. Ashley is wild, and not wild about soccer it would seem. Which blows my mind because when she was a baby or smaller she always wanted to play. She got her trophy at the last game, that is the best part for Ashley for sure. Also I included a picture of Emily's coach holding Chloe. This was huge Chloe was so not sure about JV this whole season. But he was patient and in the end he had success.

Can you say busy?

So a friend told me that the during the day stuff was easy but the school stuff is what made her day hard and busy. I am feeling the affects of the school stuff. I know I put A LOT of it on myself. I made above cookies for Emily's class for Friday. It was scarecrow day so I made a special treat for the kids. Emily is in a peanut free class, plus there are egg allergies and dairy allergies. So these cookies were peanut, egg and dairy free. Skittles are the eyes, not m&m's, m&m's are made in a facility that processes peanuts. Frosting (for glue) I got lucky and was dairy free, I did not know about the dairy free kid until I got the treats to school.
Now I did good on the fact that I did not STRESS out about how to dress Emily for scarecrow day. We already had a cowboy hat(good enough). I bought the plaid shirt a few weeks ago knowing about scarecrow day, I got purple to please the girl. Had to buy new jeans this kid is growing like a weed. Michael did say after she left for school she looked more like a cowboy then a scarecrow. Ohh well I tried.
So Ashley, Chloe and I went to have lunch with Emily on Friday take a picture of her and her friend Nyah and drop off treats.
But we did go to the park in the morning before school, played with some friends. And had our last soccer practice that Friday night.

Loving the weather

Can I just say that the news last night was complaining about the weather that it is not cool enough. Ugh HELLO this weather is perfect. My kids want to play outside with no force from me. I also love that Chloe Love is now adventures enough to go out and play with the girls. I am listening to them laugh and play right now. This weather is perfect. Chili in the morning, warms up nice during the day and cools down at night again. Perfect, we are headed to soccer here in a bit I will take sweaters and enjoy the evening. I wish it was like this all the time!! So I still say the news has no idea what they are saying. I know it is fall but this is the best kind of fall.

Soccer....

I am excited to say...we made it through soccer season with NOT buying new soccer shoes!!! Wooo hooo, this is big for us, I always feel like feet grow during this time. But the Lord has blessed us and we have made it. I did have to buy new ballet shoes this week for Ashley, hers were getting small. I think the soccer shoes are bigger and that is why she has not out grown those. Because Ashley's feet have not grown in over a year. She is now a size 9, she is such a peanut to us, even though I know she is not.
I always have mixed feelings at the end of soccer. We meet great people have great friends on the team and that ends. The weather has been so good this year I can not believe it. I love the girls coaches they have been wonderful to them. They have also put up with my DIVA girls too. Thank you coach JV and coach Jesse. Will see you on the field!!

Wordless Thursday

HELP!!

So the way the pictures load here is my after pictures first. This is my "tornado" closet. You know the place I am suppose to hide if there is one. Not much room for my family. It is filled with crafts and other stuff...etc.
Another picture of toys I am getting rid of at the Christmas toy sale, at a Consignment shop.
Here it was before. Now I said ETC. earlier, it is my catch all. Toys Christmas presents, gift bags, you name it we could find it in there.
Scary isn't it? Well cleaning this out means there is now new piles through out other parts of the house. But at least it is a step in the right direction for me. Today I also cleaned the catch all counter spot I have too. Big day for me. I should rest now but now it is feed the kids and race out the door to ballet. Soccer Thursday and Soccer again Friday.

Sleep tight, wild girl.

SO here is a picture of Ashley's bedding. It is kind of wild just like her. Leopard and zebra with black and hot pink. The pictures says so much about her. No shirt on because she is that kinda girl. She likes to go topless. Sleeps side ways, much like her mother and Nana.

She is my child, my dad visited in the summer and said every time I look at her it takes me back 25 years. My aunt says the same thing. My mom with good reason seems to have forgotten all about it. With good reason I hope to look back some day and not remember a lot of it too. Just the good parts when she told me today "I don't know how to ride Emily's bike properly." Or she falls just walking jumps up and says "I am okay." Or every time she asked me "what are YOU going to be for Halloween?" I respond with "a mommy." She does not get it.
She is my little, little girl, so strong willed and always has a smile on her face.