Eventful Day Today

I said in a recent post that I was going to try to get out of the house more.  Well I did today and it was quite eventful lol!

I actually was dressed and showered before 11am crazy!  And I had done a load of laundry by then too. Wooh!

I went to a kids consignment store to shop for Tony some clothes for our camping trip.  He needed a raincoat and some warmer clothes for the night since the forecast is looking rainy and cold at night.  They were having a $5.00 bag sale so after I got everything I needed for Tony and even things I didn't I stuffed the rest with short sleeve onesies for Rico.  I crammed that bag as much as I could.

Then we got in the car.  Tony put the keys in the ignition and then I started the car and turned on the AC.  I then put Tony in his seat shut the passenger door and walked around to the drivers side.  It was locked, and so was the passenger side!  Tony had locked it when I didn't realize...what a blessing I turned on the AC before I shut that door.  I called Isaac and he was going to ride his bike over to bring me the spare key...only to realize 10mn later that the spare was in my diaper bag, in the car!  So the fire department and the sheriff both came!  They kindly opened my door for me.  After they opened it Tony got a huge smile on his face and said "keys!"  I am grateful for the firefighters who opened the door for me.  

Then I decided to take Tony to check the mail and play on the playground.  There were actually 2 other kids there so Tony got to socialize ( :  The Mom's of one of the kids asked me if I was looking for a double stroller.  Well I am so I said "yes!"  I have been on the look out for one.  All the one's I have looked at have been too big to fit in the trunk of our car.  So I checked it out and it was sooo nice!  It was a $500.00 stroller and she was selling it for $150.00, she was moving soon.  I could not pass up such a good deal and it fit in my trunk!  What a blessing ( :  It is actually a swedish stroller, she is swedish and just moved here recently and the stroller is only 8months old.  We researched the stroller and how much it cost and with the bassinet attachment it was worth 500 us dollars.  It even came with a bassinet attachment and weather attachment.  I am so excited to use it!

Anyways that was an exciting day for me  ( :

Chili Cornbread Casserole

So I am in the process of rebuilding my recipe book.  I had a recipe book that I made right out of high school before I left for college that I have accumulated a lot of unorganized recipes and thrown them in there.  So I am making a new one.  I am trying new healthy recipes and when I find one I like I will put it in my recipe book.  So that I can have a whole book of useful, yummy, and healthy foods ( :  I will post the successful recipes here!  I'm always looking for new recipes to try so I figure it would be useful to others to share ( :

Tonight I tried Chili Cornbread Casserole.  I made it as an alternative healthier option to a dish I used to make.  The cornbread actually has wholewheat flour in it.  Anyways here is the recipe.

 http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/chili_cornbread_casserole.html

My criteria for a good recipe is healthy, budget friendly, yummy, and simple. This matched it well ( : I also like recipes that last for 2 days so I don't have to cook everyday.  We definitely have leftovers!

Typical Day

Being a stay at home Mom can be very isolating, especially right now.  We are living in a new area that is dominated by the elderly retired folks.  So making friends has been a bit of a challenge.  I have zero Mom friends or really any friends to hang with right now unfortunately.  All my friends are spread across the country.  However I have met a few people at church that don't have permed gray hair and am going to get up the motivation soon to invite them over to do something!  (p.s nothing against old people ( ;  they are better to live with in an apartment complex than partying college kids)  

I just hit my 3rd trimester!  Woohoo!  But no wonder I've been feeling drained and unmotivated lol.  Somedays I just don't have the motivation to leave the house.  It is exhausting taking Tony out.  Just getting to the car is an event, and I am trying to not carry him as often because it's been straining me to carry a flailing toddler around lol.  However staying home all day makes me almost go crazy sometimes.  

Here is what a typical stay at home day looks like:

• I hear Tony so I wake up.
• I go to get him from his crib and we play with his caterpillar and bear while he is still in his crib and have them kiss lol.
• I get him out of bed and sit on the floor until he decides to lay down for his diaper change.  I'm too tired to fight about diapers in the morning so I just tell him I won't play or get him food or milk till he has a new diaper on.  Usually doesn't take too long for him to cooperate.
• Lately he actually doesn't want milk in the morning so we go and stare at the pantry until something looks good lol.  Usually we eat dry cereal while watching cartoons.
• Then we play with trains or guns.
• At 8:00am we wake up Daddy!  Tony get's his phone time while I crawl back into bed while Isaac is waking up.
• When Isaac gets up he and Tony have Daddy/Tony time while I nap ( :
• I wake up eat and then get dressed for the day.
• Then we turn off cartoons and play and play and play and play lol we are usually playing with trains or guns.  When I get too sick of pushing trains in a figure 8 circle a million times and loading up amo in guns then we eat something again and may watch another cartoon.
• More play time!  I do believe we have too much free time lol.  Isaac pops in and spends time with us when he takes breaks from job hunting, hw, and his Beachbody coaching.
• Isaac and Tony play a video game together and I get a break, woohoo!  Tony no longer naps unless he falls asleep in the car.  So it is nice to get a little break.
• Sometimes we do chores and sometimes we don't.
• Then it's more play time.  I load more rounds of ammo and again push trains round and round.  Sometimes we play with blocks, I build stuff and Tony destroys it lol.  
• On a good day I make dinner and Tony actually plays by himself sometimes or plays with Isaac.  He usually pushes his truck around or vaccums.
• Eat.
• Then the house usually looks something like this ( ;

• So now we clean up Toys.
• Then bedtime routine.  Isaac and I choose who wants to do dishes or who gives Tony his Bath, then it is diaper, family prayer, milk, scriptures, brush teeth (he is so good, he open the toothpaste and everything by himself, he doesn't like help!)  Then I chase him around the house literally, it's like a game we do I guess lol and when I catch him then I put his jammies on ( :  Then we say his personal prayer and read Green Eggs and Ham while he holds the flashlight.  We sing songs and talk about his day.  Finally it's bedtime 7:00pm and he is in bed.
• That's when I get my time to just have some me time.  I don't do chores after bedtime.  Any chores that need to be done I do during the day or save them for the next day that way I can unwind.
• Since I am a night owl and so is Isaac we usually go to bed around midnight.  We are working on going to sleep earlier but it's our only alone time so going to bed early hasn't been very successful yet lol.

Sometimes I wonder if our days are too boring for Tony but a picture speaks a thousand words right, lol...looks happy to me ( :

Everyday I don't stay home all day but alot of days I do.  I just worked on making a list of free things to do outside the house in our area.  I found a lot of cool activities for toddlers at 3 local libraries and some neat outdoor places.  So next week I am going to try to get out of the house and do something everyday, even if I'm feeling unmotivated.  Because when I get out I feel so much better about life ( :

Here is some pictures of when we actually get out:

Tony thinking, what are you doing Dad? lol

Tony giving it a try

Florida Moss!

Isaac is great at distracting Tony to come to the car!  He got him to carry this moss on a stick and then before you know it we are at the car lol.

Dad came too visit!

I had a great weekend!  My Dad came up to Florida too visit because there was a family reunion going on for my Grandma's side of the family.  So my Dad came and stayed with us on Thursday and most of Friday.  Saturday we went down to Dade City for the reunion.  It was a lot of fun to have my Dad here.  I miss him often.  

Thursday afternoon he got here, and spoiled us with bread sticks(they are the best donut things ever and are only made at Olga's)! We went down to the lake and then too the playground afterwards.  After that we went out too eat at Outback. Yum!  My Dad got to see lot's of Tony's fits, especially since it happened to be a day that I couldn't get him too nap!  Tony knew how to say Papa very well, he loves his Papa!  It's makes me happy to see them play together and see Tony so happy with my Dad.  I am so glad they got time to spend together!

It's always tough to get Tony still for a picture so he actually did pretty good ( ;

Friday after breakfast we decided to go to a trail to take Tony out on his bike.  It was nice and in the 80's!  On the way home we stopped for cupcakes and Tony was out cold!  So we came home and napped.  Then went to Olive Garden for lunch!  I was very well fed by the time my Dad left ( :

We saw a turtle.  Tony was very excited about it and got off his bike to get closer.  Then the turtle moved quickly to hide under his bike!

Isaac saying "I'm gonna get you!"  Tony from then on kept wanting to play "get you!"

Saturday we went up to Dade City for the family reunion.  It was good to see people I havn't seen in a while, most of who remember me when I was around Tony's age!

I love my hubby!

Tony's face in this one makes me laugh!

At least My Dad and I look good in this picture lol

My Grandma Guy and I.  I love my Grandma, she is one of the sweetest ladies I know!

All in all this weekend was a great one!  I really enjoyed quality time with my Dad.  That is something I loved about growing up, me and my Dad did lot's of activities together.  I miss that time with him so I was happy to get to have some Daddy daughter time and get to see him and Tony have fun together!  He is such a great Dad and Papa!  I wish I lived closer to my parents and siblings, I miss them so much!  It would be so fun to live near them since we all have kids.  But I enjoy the time that I do get to spend with them.  It's nice that everyone tends to come up to Fl to visit.  So I see family more often here than when we lived in Idaho!

David and Goliath FHE

Today for Family Home Evening I got a little extra creative!  I was reading a blog for ideas and came across David and Goliath, however the activity was to throw paper rocks at Daddy, lol.  Well I didn't think that would teach Tony something positive so I remembered when I was little we had the FHE lesson of this giant goliath that a Brother from our ward drew and we would throw rocks at it.  So I made my version of Goliath....anyways we had Isaac act as David.  I read the story of David and Goliath as Isaac acted it out.  Then afterwards we all through the paper rocks at Goliath.  I'd have to say it was one of our more successful FHE's...FHE with toddlers is always well..."interesting".  I was going to post a video but I can't figure out how to do it because it says there is an error...oh well.

Cleaning and Fish

I finally got around to organizing Tony's room.  He had lot's of toys that he never touched simply because, toys like rattles just aren't exciting for toddlers.  So I boxed up all his baby toys and organized what was left.  His room feels so nice now and all the toys out he uses ( :  Then I had Tony finger-paint fish and glue on paper eyes to hang above his bed to add some color to his room without spending any $.  Tony loves fish.  

Early Valentine's Surprise

After I cleaned off the table today I was thinking it would be so pretty to have a nice centerpiece on the table.  Coincidently, shortly after there was a knock on the door.  It was flowers from Isaac, for me!  They are so beautiful.  I was really surprised because we haven't always been very good about making holidays special.  But that's the good thing about marriage, we keep improving to make it better and better.