Monday Madness

Who didnt quite make it to bed for naptime today?

Spidey boy...he almost got another bite of that rice cake but instead, he surrendered to sleep. What surprise did we get for the kids today?

A metal ring?

A shiny piece of fabric?

Oh! It's a trampoline!!!

Boss and I worked for 2 1/2 hours getting this set up for the kids. It was SO much fun to see their faces. (and equally fun for me...I loved the neighbors trampoline growing up)

What is staring me in the face tonight?

5 baskets of laundry and a load in the washer and dryer.

two balls of yarn that Petey pulled apart (which may make it's way to the trash in a bit)

and a zillion hangers from our neighbor that I need to put away (Thanks, Tiffani!).

Oh our Monday was hectic but a super, fantastic, fun day! Hope yours was equally as great!

And that's how Suze sees it.

Friday Confessional

Is it Friday already?Actually, let me change that...Is it only Friday?The past 3 days have felt like an entire week. Not sure why, they just have. Maybe it's all this cleaning I've been doing.Or the dieting.Or the parenting of two crazy toddlers.

Anyway, I confess:

• I realized how much I baby my son today.
• 16 months old and he gets held with any little fuss.
• He has a hitting problem and today he hit his sister while he was on my lap.
• So I gently set him down to let him know that he wouldnt get to sit on my lap while he was making choices like that.
• He cried. A lot. But then he walked to his sister and hugged her.
• About 2 minutes ago (I stopped writing the above sentence when it happened), he hit his sister again.
• And I put him in time out for one minute.
• It seemed slightly ridiculous since he kept getting up and I kept setting him back down and he was laughing the whole time.
• But hey, you gotta start somewhere, right?
• I figure if he can start understanding and speaking sentences like, "I donno." "what dat?" "where dat?", etc, he can start learning about discipline too.
• Wish me loads of luck, please. He is just my sweet little baby and it's hard to take him seriously and discipline, even when he isnt making the best of choices.
• On another note, today was my cheat day on my diet. I hadnt planned on cheating at all (even though I'm allowed to) until I saw that we had a Totinos pizza in the freezer. I checked the calories...360 for half of the pizza...and I usually eat the whole thing.
• I honestly thought about it for over an hour and finally caved in.
• Now I feel slightly sick and have been drinking a Coke Zero to calm my stomach (not the best choice in drinks but it IS low sodium and 0 calories).
• I have so much guilt from that one small pizza...maybe because I almost never cheat. The faster the weight can come off, the better. But I do realize that if I want to have success, I do need to give myself an indulgence once in a while...maybe not a 720 calorie indulgence but an indulgence, nonetheless.
• I am down ten pounds now in two weeks. Huge accomplishment. So many people comment on how different I look already and it makes me realize how worth it this all is. I love myself but I need to be happier, healthier, and more in shape to fully love the person that I am.

And that's how Suze sees it.

Wild Wednesday - Finding the Love

I walked into my son's room this morning and the first thing I noticed [besides those adorable chubby cheeks] was the drool on my son's bed.
You see, he drools every night and there is always a small wet spot on his bed in the mornings.
I did not alter this spot in any way before or after taking this picture. He really drooled in the shape of a perfect heart.
I snuggled that boy in my arms for at least 30 minutes before feeding him breakfast. There was no complaint from either party (usually a hungry boy complains and overturns my snuggling decision).
It was the perfect start to a good day.

I truly hope you had a good day too.

And that's how Suze sees it.

Monday Madness

Who slept over last night?

Wilbur Force.What was the highlight of my day?

Watching my great Aunt Charmaine give my kids and my nephews rides on her walker.

Where did we go today?

The Phoenix zoo!

What is Petey's most popular reoccuring piece of clothing?

That darn tutu that she loves.How did our day at the zoo end?

With a blow out diaper---which resulted in a naked boy running around in the parking lot for a minute.

What did we have for dinner?

Homemade spaghetti with whole wheat pasta (one of the few "whole wheat" things that I love).

How was your Monday Madness?

And thats how Suze sees it.

How do I?

How do I organize food in a kitchen with no pantry?

If you have the lack of a pantry in your home, I really hope this helps you. We have been living in our home for three years now and have had two kids in that time who are both now eating regular foods. It always seems like there are boxes or bags of food stacked along our counters because there are only 3 cupboards in our home that we can use for food. This week, I saw a post on Brown Paper Packages that I decided to try out. I bought these bins at Target for $2.50 each (I am seriously addicted to Target $1.00-$2.50 bins). It worked perfectly since they only had 4 red bins and red is my favorite color and also one of the colors in our kitchen. :)
I designated two bins for Boss and the kids filled with cookies, crackers, bagels, raisins, etc.

And two bins for me, filled with my 90-100 calorie packs. (this has been a HUGE help for my snacking on a diet)

We actually already had a basket on our counter that was used for all kinds of miscellaneous snacks. I designated it for the kids bagged chips, crackers, pretzels, etc.

On a side note, today I am proud to announce that there is not a single dirty dish in my kitchen! I worked hard most of this afternoon to get the kitchen organized and clean and am happy that I got it done!

And that's how Suze does it.

Friday Confessional

I confess:

• Petey is potty trained...
• But mommy has been having a rough week...
• So Petey has been in diapers for 3 days.
• Mommy is a lot nicer when Petey doesnt pee on the floors.
• This only happens once in a while but Mom couldnt deal with it this week.
• Tonight is my "cheat meal" on my diet. Date night with the hubby to Cheesecake Factory or Texas Roadhouse or Macaroni Grill (still deciding) and I can eat whatever I want!
• I havent really cheated much on my diet and I really deserve tonight's meal.
• I saw Petey and a couple of other kids running toward the street at the park today and without thinking, just popped up and ran the speed of light to get to them...
• Not really the speed of light, but as I was running, I was wondering how the heck my feet were moving that fast.
• My friends and I laughed for a good 15 minutes after that because EVERYONE was surprised my body was moving that fast.
• The coolest part was, my body didnt hurt and I wasnt too out of breathe after running like that. I guess my working out faithfully is paying off! I love when I can actually feel my body getting healthier.
• A couple of weeks ago, I accidently shaved a bald spot into my son's head...like really badly...the hair dresser (my friend) says we would need to buzz it to fix it and since I'm a mean mom and cant live without his red, curly locks, I decided to just let the bald patch grow back and not buzz his hair. He can live with it for a month or two. :)

And that's how Suze confesses.

Mother, Daughter

I have been in a blog funk for a couple of days.

I would look at my blog and think, "I should write about the food I cooked this week." or "I should probably post a Wild Wednesday post." or "I should probably blog about the 9 pounds I've lost." but I just didnt feel like it.

Oh well.

I'm back today.

A conversation in the car today with Miss Petey:

P: "I love my sister."

S: "Petey, you dont have a sister."

P: "But daddy has a sister, right?"

S: "Yes, Aunt Juli is daddy's sister."

P: "Well, I'm a princess."

Ok...? It made me smile. Her being a princess pretty much trumps anything we are talking about. If she gets confused, bored, upset, etc., she will just remind me that she is a princess and the conversation is expected to be over.

I have a love/hate relationship with her growing up. She is constantly surprising me and making me proud with the new things she learns and I love seeing her personality grow. But I hate realizing that she is no longer my baby and that she wont be saying these cute, quirky things to me forever. I hate knowing that someday, she may not want to kiss or hug me or let me hold her and read her books. I hate knowing that she wont always want me to pick out her clothes and do her hair...not because I dont want her doing her own hair but because I am going to miss that time I get to spend talking to her while we get her ready in the mornings.

There is such a special relationship between a mother and a daughter that cannot be replaced by anything else. I feel so very special that I was chosen to be her mother.

And that's how Suze sees it.

Monday Madness

What did we do on this fine Valentines Monday Madness?
Petey and George played stream roller in the morning.

Petey has a Valentine. Her little friend got this stuff for her for V-day. So adorable!

I went to lunch with my friend, Leyla.

And Boss fed my leftovers to Spidey.

I played card games with George.

I took my brother to the library to concentrate better on his homework.

And we ended our night at the mall.

What did you do on this Valentines Monday Madness?

How do I?

How do I create cute Valentine's hair do's on Petey?

If anyone is looking for a cute hairdo for your little girl, look no further...or do. Ours are pretty simple but we like simple around here lately.

This was actually today's V-day hair do but I accidentally put these pictures up first. Start by sectioning the front part of the hair to the side and put a pony tail right in the middle of her head. Do a backwards pull through (link to the pull through is below in another hairstyle) and split the hair into two pieces.

I'm only going to show you one side of her hair in pictures..mirror to make the other side match. I just kept braiding the pieces and attaching rubber bands to make it shape like a heart.

Here is the finished product. It is a squared out heart, not perfect, but still adorabl!

This one, we tried was on Thursday. I took all of her front hair and put it in a pony tail and then did a pull through. I then sectioned two pieces and braided them halfway down. I grabbed another section of hair below the pull through and attached the two ponies together, leaving the braids really lose.
They kind of shaped like a heart when I did this. It wasnt my favorite do but it was my first attempt.

The biggest problem was that the bow covered almost the entire heart (and I dont normally do hairstyles without bows on my girl).
So on Friday, we tried again and tweaked it a little bit...

I took a section (this time off to the side of her head) of hair and did a backwards pull through (see how the hair is pulled through and pointing towards her face?).

I split the two sections again and braided them.

And then I took another section of hair and attached it all together, remembering to make sure the braids were loose. (exactly the same thing but with a backward pull through). This one was shaped a lot more like a heart and stayed that way all day. It also looked fine with a bow in it. The heart was still visible!

A cute picture of Petey with her "snake heart hair", as she called it. I guess the braids looked like snakes?

And that's how Suze does it.

Friday Confessional

I confess:

• Most days of this week, I've felt like I'm running around like a chicken with it's head cut off.
• Today is my last day of watching G and then I'll only be "working" in the afternoons. This week was too crazy working some days morning and afternoon.
• On Wednesday, Petey shoved her brother onto the tile floor in our home---so I punished her by not giving her a bath. I know, I'm weird. But it was the only thing left we had to do for the day that she loves.
• Dont worry, I bathed my kids on Thursday.
• After making the awesome dinner I made last night, I called my mom to see if she had eaten [and she hadnt]. So I brought my dinner to her. It was too good not to share.
• I weighed myself on the scale today and it said I lost 10 pounds in 3 days...but since we're being honest, I never weighed myself in the beginning and the # 172 was just a guess since that's what I weighed a month ago. I don't really think I lost 10 pounds in 3 days. But still...the scale said I weighed 162 and that's lower than my weight when I GOT PREGNANT with Spidey so I'll take it!
• I am so excited to get out and take some awesome pictures of my kids with my awesome new camera today.

And that's how Suze confesses.

Tasty Thursday

I dont even know what you would call this delicious taste of heaven. Salsa dip? Pico de gallo with a twist?
Anyway, I have a delicious recipe to share with you. All ingredients are pictured below so let's get started!1 packet of Good Seasons Italian dressing. Prepare packet as directed. (You will be adding water, vinegar, and oil)

Add 3 large tomatoes, diced.

Add a bunch of cilantro, chopped.

Add 4 green onions, chopped.

I can of black beans, drained and washed.

And last, add one can of corn, drained. Mix together and enjoy!

The first time I had this, it was at a party used as a dip with some chips. It also had avacado in it, which I am allergic to (yes, I ate it and had an allergic reaction) so I didnt add the avacado.

But tonight, I enjoyed mine with some lean ground beef on some corn tortillas. Delicious!

Petey enjoyed the tortillas more than the salsa mixture. Oh well.

Spidey enjoyed it all!

On another huge, happy, moment, I am so grateful for my amazing husband. He did the very nicest thing for me for Valentine's Day this year (I know, abit early). He sold some things that were very special to him to buy me a new camera...nicer than the last one I broke.

I am so lucky to be married to such a wonderful guy.

And that's how Suze sees it.