Birthdays are consuming my life

As a PSA to those looking to add another baby to the family, look at your calendar first. My children's birthdays are 17 days apart. I should have planned that a bit better. Right now, the minute Christmas is over, I go into birthday mode. And for the months of January and into February I am working on something for someone's birthday every moment of limited free time that I have.

Don't get me wrong, I love love love these kiddos so I'm WILLING to do it! I just wish I had a little space between. I'm a planner, this is why these birthdays consume me.

Moving on....my son turns 6 today (happy birthday big guy!). We needed a school treat yesterday to pass out to all of his classmates. And thanks to me being such a tech savvy mom - I have him hooked on pinterest too :) His pick? These INSANELY cute lego cookies (he loves him some legos!).



Here's the original link: http://cakecentral.com/gallery/2250165/lego-cookies

So, I got to work for my boy! I didn't see a recipe for this but it seemed self explanatory and I am BEYOND happy with the results. I got out my handy Christmas Sugar Cookie and icing recipes and rolled the dough out (they're below if you're interested)

Using a pizza cutter, I just cut the size and shapes of rectangles and square that I wanted.

Baked, iced, and then I fliped M&M's upside down for the bumps. Someone in the original post said they used regular sized M&M's, but in the future if I did this again, I'd use the mini's and make smaller cookies.

The final result for us:




Packaged and ready to go:




The kids loved them, they were NOT hard to make, and I think they look pretty darn cute!!

---------------------

Sugar Cookie Recipe (about 24 "normal" cookies, #'s will vary based on your lego sizes/shapes):

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon
vanilla extract
2 teaspoons baking powder
3 cups all-purpose flour

Preheat oven to 375°F. Cream butter and sugar. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Add baking powder and flour one cup at a time, mixing after each addition. Dough will be stiff and should NOT be refrigerated. Roll dough out 1/8 inch thick. Bake cookies on ungreased cookie sheet on middle rack of oven for 8-12 minutes, or until cookies are lightly browned.

Watch them close - 8-9 minutes is usually the best outcome in my oven

Icing Recipe:
1 cup confectioners' sugar
2 teaspoons milk
2 teaspoons light corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
food coloring

Combine in bowl, mix to consistency desired, add food coloring and you're ready to go! Icing dries HARD!

Multitasking Mom skills

Today, I accomplished multiple goals by doing on project. That's what I call multitasking :)

I should have cleaned the house, wrote a paper due for school tomorrow, started a stack of work I brought home with me, or done some laundry. But instead, I cleared out the dining room and set up.....MY NEW SEWING MACHINE!

My mom got me one for Christmas after I'd gotten some help from my mother in law on learing to sew and making a doll for my daughter for Christmas - and I mostly fell in love with all the possibilities I could do.

As an avid pinner, I've been stockpiling things to make to improve our homes and lives (that's what all my pins WILL do, right?) but hadn't really gotten the guts/time to get something started.

Until my sweet little boy who is turning 6 in a couple of weeks turned to me and said he sure would like a blanket sewed to match a handmade pillow his grandma made him last Christmas. And his final request? Sure would be cool if I could do it.

Grandma and I hit up the fabric store Saturday - and they were sold out of the EXACT fabric to match the pillow. We found the same family though. And thanks to a great pinterest link (Click here for the patten)- I was on my way.

It's basic and simple. It took about an afternoon to do. But more importantly - it was my first solo project. And it was for my little boy. And that moved it to the top of the list, here's the final result and I'm VERY happy with it!

Striped side:

Even got some fancy stitching on there!

The flip side is frogs and snails - perfect for my boy!

The goals achieved? I sewed something. I made something from Pinterest. And most of all? I made my son's day - before furthering my career or education, I'm still a momma loving to go the extra mile to make the memories we're both going to cherish :)

Look WHOOOO's one...

My sweet girl is turning one. And I'm developing an owl obsession. What a great time to combine the two right?

Lets start by saying, I handmade her invites. I'd post one, but I don't want you all showing up. Or stalking me. Or egging the house/ding dong ditching me in protest of my weak blog skills.

Lucky for you, I used the same template for some decorations, so envision these owls with a square on their belly with the party info:

From there, I made her Happy Birthday Banner and first year time line:

A Banner with her name:

Some sweet little owls:

Grandma made her a special dress for the event too!

A little smash cake and my greatest cake to date! I'm no Cake Boss or anything here, but not too bad for a suburban mom!

And with that, we had a super party with all our family, lots of super fun presents, and a great time. Its bittersweet when your baby turns - especially when she's your last baby. But with every day her personality comes out more and I get more excited for all the fun I know we're going to have and smile at the memories we already made. Happy Birthday to my sweet Lizabeth Alma!

WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE! (but we didn't...)

Well the sick baby led to a sick mommy. And a sick daddy. The only “perk” to the situation is that my son was with his father for the weekend and able to just stay there an extra day to avoid the situation.

I saw a link about how “fun” it is to look through decorating books, read, watch tv, take warm baths, and try to relax on a sick day. You know, “make the best of it”. If I hadn’t been completely exhausted from suffering from a horrible case of Montezuma’s revenge while taking care of a baby in similar form – I’d have doubled over in laughter.

Read a book? Take a long bath? I was just glad my husband was rinsing out the bathroom trash can after he had to commandeer it MacGyver style in a moment of panic at 3 am!

The truth is, for any parent that gets sick when their child is sick, there is no relaxing or bathing. Well, maybe for the child. She was getting 2 or 3 baths a day thanks to her situation and I finally realized Monday, I hadn’t seen the shower since Thursday. I’d been consumed by poo and puke.

I read books I suppose. We read “Where’s My Puppy” until I puked. Literally. Then we spent the rest of the morning rotating “Brown Bear Brown Bear, What Do You See?” and “Hug”.

Think about decorating the house? I did lay on the couch with the sick baby passed out across my chest noticing that my dining room paint color was matching her diapers. I did decide if I lived through the illness that I’d like that changed. Only because I never want to see that color again. Not because I spent the morning comparing paint chips and valences on Martha Stewart’s website.

And watching TV? Do you know what is worse than having to endure hours upon hours of Elmo and his grating voice singing his stupid songs while you’ve got one foot in the grave and the other helping you care for a sick kid? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. I might have healed FASTER if we didn’t have to watch that.

So whoever wrote the article claiming you CAN possibly enjoy a sick day is way off base. I’m guessing this is a person who has no children, lives alone, manages to only work 40 hours a week, and has time for actual hobbies that could actually benefit from a few hours of down time when available. I suppose that a Mandy Moore character is most likely the author – although it’s possible that it was a Jennifer Aniston one. Whatever the case, it wasn’t a real person in the real world with real problems who has ever been real sick.

Really.

No judging

Have we all noticed a pattern? I update then disappear then eventually come back. I'm busy,k? Deal with it.

Today,however, I am pinned in a chair with a sick baby snoozing on my lap (the flu is brutal) so I am being forced to slow down. And here I am.

Going into 2012 I didn't make a grand resolution - if you think I suck at updating a blog imagine my resolution success rate. But I have been thinking its time for some change. Most notably with my weight. I'm not overweight by any means. I'd say I'm the higher end of average (I AM good at rationalizing). But I don't like what I see in the mirror. I have done atleast 15 serious structured diets in my life. The problem is that I get tired or sick or just plain bored and the wheels fall off the train. And don't get me started on exercise.

So while most people want to lose "x" amount of pounds I just want to find a healthier lifestyle that o can get behind and stick with. In my lazy and overextended life. And maybe I can sneak it onto my family also. A little. What kind of wife and mother would I be if I did this alone.

Step one, I have decided, will be the exercise portion. I cannot afford nor do I have the time for the gym. This is me on my own. And being in the upper Midwest...I am stick in the house until at least April (I don't do cold...don't even ask). So what do you suggest? Yoga has been good to me in the past and I am hoping to start back into it.

Any other easy to stick to ideas?

Bullied at work - what's a mom to do?

Alright kids, here we go. Am I just a mom who struggles with kindergarten and keeping things off the living room floor? No. I’m a working mom with career goals. Over the years have they changed? Well yeah. My priorities have changed.

Do I want to rule the world? Well, I already do. I’m the final say on the outfits in our house. On the tv shows, when friends can come over, when friends must go, who gets a bath when, how much food “counts” as a dinner, and a plethora of other items.

Do I want to rule another world? Not so much anymore. But I wouldn’t mind managing a small corner of it or at least being treated like I’m not an idiot. See? Change in priorities but completely doable, right?

So I’ve got a real problem with people strolling into my corner of the office (note: not my corner office) and trying to tell me how to do my job. Not so much if this is an actual boss or executive – but when you’ve worked here for 3 months and 2 years experience? I really don’t need to hear it. In fact, when I get these lectures from the new kiddo – who I shall refer to as DB from here on out – all I really hear is blah-blah-blah.

I know this Is a male dominated industry, but it still gives DB no right to speak to me or anyone else as if we’re inferior idiots to him. Most of what he says is wrong or at least slightly off base. He needs help with simple tasks non-stop. And answering a question once isn’t enough – we have to answer it at least 4 times a week, every week. There’s no learning when you know it all already, right? Not sure why he’s asking so many questions if he knows it all though….perhaps that’s part of my idiocy.

I have loved this job and my work at this company for the duration of my time here. Yes, there’s been hiccups along the way, every job has them. But now, to be degraded daily and spoken to like a child (did I mention I’m college educated in this industry with 10 years experience?) is disgusting. To get no assistance from any level of management in correcting this when dealing with it personally didn’t work is disheartening.

My choice from the execs? Sit here and take that – or I can be demoted to another department. One where my brain will slowly rot and my co-workers will wonder, what on earth happened to me? I’ll keep my pay but ever moving up will be even more of a challenge.

Do I swallow my pride and continue being treated like garbage?
Do I just leave the situation and stress for something I can do in my sleep?
Do I try to find another company and job I’d love like I’ve loved this one?
What do I tell my kids if I take the demotion?
What WOULD I tell my kids if this were them?
What would you do?

Granola doesn't mean death!

I don't recall if its been mentioned but my son, who is five, has life threatening allergic reactions to any peanuts, some of their legume cousins, and tree nuts. Its a bit of a double edged sword. On one hand, these items are easy to work around in my kitchen. He used to also be allergic to dairy, eggs, soy, all legumes (I'm talking green beans, peas, etc), and cinnamon. Having outgrown most of those, working to cook without nuts and peanuts is easy.

Finding food "off the shelf" or visiting restaurants? Still sucks.

So its my mission in life to give him variety. And a semblence of normalcy. And to understand that he needs to be vigilant, but we can deal with this.

With school starting up, I wanted him to be able to take a granola bar to school with him along with his juice, sandwich, trail mix (another homemade safe recipe!) and fruit. I want options for him, not just the same old lunch every day. However, the next time you're in the granola aisle at the store - spend 45 minutes reading every box from every granola bar maker - you won't find one he can eat.

Thankfully, I'm determined :) And this was really an easy recipe.

B-Safe Granola

Ingredients
2 cups rolled oats
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup wheat germ
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup raisins (optional)
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup honey
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Generously grease a 9x13 inch baking pan.
2. In a large bowl, mix together the oats, brown sugar, wheat germ, cinnamon, flour, raisins and salt. Make a well in the center, and pour in the honey, egg, oil and vanilla. Mix well using your hands. Pat the mixture evenly into the prepared pan.
3. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes in the preheated oven, until the bars begin to turn golden at the edges. Cool for 5 minutes, then cut into bars while still warm. Do not allow the bars to cool completely before cutting, or they will be too hard to cut.

I'll say, cut them while they're a little warm yet - but LET THEM COOL before you move them. Seemed to break less for me. B has never had granola before and thought they were ok but could maybe use some chocolate chips. Hey, I can oblige that - the rest of them IS pretty healthy. So we're trying them again this week with chocolate chips and I'll let you know the outcome!