Weekend Recap

We had such a nice weekend!

Friday night we cleaned a little bit and then I waited up for my sister to arrive into town for the weekend. She got home about 10:15pm but we had gotten so much snow that day that she couldnt get into the driveway, so I had to wake a sick sean and send him outside with Hunter to shovel and snow blow. I am very ready for winter to be over!

Saturday, my new friend Megan came over. She's a realtor who I met through work and in casual conversation about a week or so ago, I made a comment about wanting her to come over and stage my house. I wasn't happy with how I had furniture placed and wasn't feeling happy with the way the house was looking. We have also been in thoughts of moving- as we did about a year ago. We would love a three car garage for all of sean's gear and some other little things, but our house is fine if we choose to stay in it. Anyway, Megan came over and we went to work right away. I wished I had taken before pictures but will try to take some afters.

We started in the kitchen decluttering and moved on to the living room. All the toys went down to the basement in a closet and we moved a sofa table down there as well and rearranged all the furniture. She also placed my photos in a small cabinet and rearranged the decorative pieces on top of the media cabinet and fireplace. My living room looks huge now.

We rearranged the dining room as well by moving which wall the hutch and buffets were on. It made such a big difference. She also reorganized everything in the hutch and decorated a bit on top of the buffet. It is one of my new favorite rooms.

We didn't have time to move things around upstairs but she gave us a gameplan as to what we need to do in the bedroom with the furniture and will work on that this week. When we were finished, we left the house and went to a model home of a builder she wanted us to see (we had mentioned maybe selling and wanting to build). I loved it. You can do so much custom work- as opposed to when I bought my house originally. The house we saw was very nice, the rooms were bigger, the mud room was amazing. It is something we are strongly considering and now just need to meet with them to see exactly what it will cost us to build if we were to go that route. And- we would need to sell our house first, so...that is something we need to work on. We just need to declutter what we don't need and finish the stone work on the bar and we can put our house on the market. And- the fact is- if we don't sell our house for XXX, then we don't sell and can be fine where we are.

We rushed home from the house visit to get Hunter for his basketball game. My sister and I went and left Sean at home with the kids. I'm so glad I went too. Hunter's team won- and are the champions of his league. They went the entire season undefeated!

After the game, we had take out and just hung out at home. I felt bad that we didnt do anything more exciting with my sister, but with the babies, it's too hard.

On Sunday, we cleaned a little more, donated a bunch of stuff to goodwill and came back home. Sean's sister came over and cooked us dinner (a nice surprise) and that was it. Now on to the week ahead!

Weekend Recap

This weekend seemed to go way too fast, as they all tend to do. Nothing really special either. On Friday night, I caught up on the dvr while Sean prepped his fishing gear for his last tournament of the season. Saturday was a day of grocery shopping and cleaning while Sean fished. He got home about 4:30pm after finishing 11th out of 41 and then we rushed up to Hunter's basketball game. We brought both babies and it was a disaster. As soon as the game started, Quinlin started fussing so Sean took her to the hallway to run around. Of course, he missed Hunter scoring his one and only basket. The rest of the game, we took turns between watching the kids and watching the game. They discovered a play room and there was no going back into the gymnasium.

Hunter's team won and have now finished their season undefeated. He has a bye this weekend and will start playoffs the following Saturday. Hunter's grandpa, Jiddo, came to the game and took Hunter out to eat afterwards. We were going to attempt to take the kids to Dairy Queen for dinner and decided against that and came home and I just made brinner. Saved us money and the hassle of going somewhere.

Sunday morning Sean's parents came over. They got there about 10:15am and stayed until about 1:45 when the kids went down for a nap. I made crockpot cream cheese chicken and it was fabulous.

Crockpot Cream Cheese Chicken

Makes: 6 servings Total Time: 6 hr

What you need:
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts (I usually just buy like a package that equals 1.5 lbs or so)
1 stick butter
1 package Good Seasons Italian Salad Dressing
1 can condensed cream of chicken soup
1 bar cream cheese
1 pound gemelli pasta (this is the type I use but you can really use any pasta or rice)

make it:
In your slow cooker place the chicken, put stick of butter on top and pour package of Good Seasons Italian Salad Dressing onto it all. Cook on low for 5 hours.
Take out chicken and shred/cut up.
Add can of cream of chicken soup and bar of cream cheese into crockpot seasoning/butter mixture and stir. Add shredded chicken back in and stir. Cook on low for one more hour.
Serve over pasta (or rice).

Sunday morning we were awoken by Owen at 4:45am who sounded like a barking seal. Croup was back- though we didn't know if it was croup or RSV. We took him outside for the cold air, gave him a breathing treatment and then brought him to the shower. He went to the doctor at 9:30 where he was diagnosed with spazzmatic croup. Poor kid cannot stay healthy. Luckily they gave him a steroid medicine and he was good as new!

Sunday night Sean and I met my friends Kelli and Carrie at Harry Buffalo for dinner and drinks and then off to the Cavs game we went. Kelli had her boss's tickets to the game and invited us to come. The seats were split in pairs- two seats 6 rows back and two seats Courtside. So, for the first half, we sat in the 6th row, for the 2nd half, we sat on the floor. It was amazing. I was spoiled sitting so close (and felt like a Kardashian). So fun. Too bad they lost.

They played the wizards so I was very focused on John Wall. Hunter became obsessed with the John Wall song (and dance moves) and got Owen into it too. So- of course, I was entirely preoccupied watching him.

It was a fun night, nice to get out. And today- nothing special planned here. I have dinner in the crockpot (bbq beef) and that's it. I did get a nice "hand" bouquet from Owen... Happy Valentine's Day.



Weekend Recap

Low key is the best way to describe our weekend. Friday night Sean ended up working later than normal and then had to drive his snowmobile to the far east side to get fixed. I decided to celebrate Owen's half birthday with some happy half birthday cupcakes.

He loved them- I just felt bad that we "celebrated" without Sean. He didn't get home until about 10pm so I spent my time catching up on my dvr once the kids were in bed.

Saturday morning was nothing worth noting, except for Owen's creativity. The babies were eating bagels and all of a sudden Owen started talking about how his bagel was shaped like a moon (in the crescent shape) and then like a dinosaur. Then- it looked like an elephant and he started making little elephant noises with the "trunk". So creative- and clever.

My parents came over for lunch and to see the kids and then headed home early to avoid the bad weather that was coming. The weather got so bad, my friend Megan had to cancel a jewelry party she had planned. Selfishly I was glad she cancelled because Hunter had a basketball game and I didn't want to miss it. I missed last week's because his dad's side all came to the game so I felt like I could skip it. His team is now 5-0 and won on Saturday 41-21. Hunter had his best game of the year as well- 4 points, 2 assists and 3 rebounds. He had been the only kid on his team to not have scored yet, so when he made the first basket, the crowd erupted, the kids on the bench stood screaming, the coaches arms went to the air. I was so excited for him. The same reaction happened with his second shot too. After the game, everyone was congratulating him- calling him MVP, etc. He was thrilled.

Superbowl Sunday consisted of me venturing out with the three kids to Target because I had a return to make. I was there for about 40 minutes, 40 minutes too long. 35 of those minutes looking for Hunter throughout the store and at the end getting nervous because I couldn't find him and had to have his name called over the overhead speaker system. He was in the electronics- where I knew he was and I kept walking by, but he was at an end cap so I couldn't see him as I strolled back and forth in front of the department. We then rushed out of there as Owen was in full tantrum mode because he saw a toy cat that he wanted but that I had no urge to spend $20 on.

stupid purring cat caused a tantrum the entire car ride home.
Sunday Owen and Sean played outside while Hunter, Quinlin and I watched.

And then Sunday night Sawsan & Mike along with Jennifer came over to watch the Super Bowl. We let Hunter off his grounding to watch as well and we all had a great time in the basement watching. The game itself, was better than the commercials. And- the Packers won so it made it even better.

Weekend Recap and the big Par-tay!

I had such a nice weekend- but was afraid it wouldn't start out that way. I got a call from daycare (go figure) that Owen had a temperature of 100.5 at around 11am. Just a warning call- but I knew it was coming. At about 3:45pm, I got the call saying to come grab him. I got there and he was just miserable- using Donna like a pillow while watching the other kids play. he was very whiny and said he was sick. I brought him home and attempted to comfort him and kept thinking- he couldnt possibly be sick, we just got off our antibiotics on Tuesday night. Well- I couldn't let his sickness stop me, so I left the babies with Sean and my sister, Hunter and I went shopping to get ready for the party. We bought all the items I needed at Giant Eagle and then zipped off to Target for party supplies. I had no theme, just wanted a nice party. Originally, I was going to do pink, green and purple for the decor, but went to target and found some really cute white and black damask patterened plates and napkins. Mix a little pink and perfect for my baby girl. After Target, we went to dinner at TGIFridays. I dont think we even got to eat until about 10pm. It was really nice hanging out with them together.

Saturday morning, I rushed Owen into the pediatrician's office after a rough night that night and he was confirmed to have Strep. Are you kidding me???? I couldn't believe it. So- he was put on zythromiacyn (sp) and he reassured me that he wouldn't be contagious and that I could continue on with my party. So- I brought Owen home and attempted to get things done for the party. I did text our invitees to let them know in case they weren't comfortable attending. I only had a few cancellations. My sister came over and started decorating for me and then that night we went to Hunter's basketball game. They won- again- and Hunter had a great game too. He didn't make any baskets but did have about 3 assists, a rebound and did have a few attempts. I was really proud of him.

Hunter and his Tia!

Sunday morning, Owen was feeling much better and I felt even better about going on with Quinlin's party!

First- the decor/set-up

The plates and napkins that became my inspiration

The cake and smash cake

Birthday girl was sleeping when the party began, but saw her guests and after coming off her initial shyness had a great time playing. We had invited a few close friends and their kids- Quinny turned into a hussy- all little boys to play with!!!

Time for cake! I stripped her down, but because of all the boys, told her to not show off her boo-beys too much!

Time for presents! Though Quinny girl had no interest in opening them

At the end of the day, she was zonked- which meant success!

Owen, on the other hand, couldnt get enough. Loved the balloons and her new blanket!