Crock Potting

I love my crock pot! It's no secret but I don't tend to use it that much during the summer. That is why I was so impressed with this moms determination. Check out her Year Of Crock Potting! I was so inspired by her variety of recipes. I have already add a few to my menu for next week. I will have to post later on what I try and how we like it. It may be a little hard for me as we are now a peanut, egg and milk free family. LOL Thankfully I can use Lactaid to cook with.

Cooking Lessons

It is next to impossible for me to cook a meal now with out helpers. They love to be right in the middle helping. So, I've embraced it and look forward to them cooking dinner at least by age 7 while I lounge and read a book. (just kidding)

Menu: Spaghetti and Butter Bread Helpers: R and J

Sisters!

The Playroom

I have a confession to make. Our playroom for the last few months has been an abyss of destruction! The girl's never played in there. Why? Well, you could not walk into the door! Why? Because every toy they ever owned was on the floor! So, they would climb in pick a toy and bring it out in to the rest of the house to play. Then they would throw it back in the door way when it was time to clean up. Now, I will confess that this was my fault. I did not have the energy or drive to force them to clean it up. It need to to be organized anyway before they could clean up. Being in school full time and trying to keep up with the rest of life...the playroom was on the bottom of my to do list.


Now jump to this week. I'm no longer in school full time. My to do list has grown shorter and shorter daily so I was faced with the word, "PLAYROOM" at the top of my to do list!


So, I put on my big girl panties and jumped in feet first. The girls and I put every thing in the room in some kind of container and pulled it all into the living room. I then sent them off with Aunt C for the day. Thankfully she is more than willing to drag them all over town with her for the day. LOL So I could purge toys we no longer needed.


Once they left the house I sorted through each container and threw out trash and sorted out all the toys to be given away. My goal was to only put back 30% of what we had taken out. Then I started organizing all the toys I kept. I found these great bins at the Dollar Tree that were perfect for the shelf. I put all the doll clothes in the 3 drawer bin. I put all the stuffed animals in the hanging "tent"(a Lowes find)in the closet. Then I moved the shelf and doll house to give a little more room. The finial touch was the Dress rack and wall stickers. I think it turned out great and the best part is the girls are able to keep it clean! So, I no longer have to keep the door to the playroom shut when we have company over.


Here are a few before and after pictures:

Before:



Cleaning out the room:
After:





Dress up area which is between the book shelf and toy shelf:
The animal tent in the closet:

All the bright colored containers and wall stickers were purchased at the Dollar Tree. Really is there anything you can't find in the dollar store. :)

J's Boo Boo

While typing the last post...this happened to J!

She was playing and fell on the broken tip of the antenna of our portable CD player. She got a little hole punched into her cheek. It scared me to death because when I first saw it I though she would need stitches and have bad scar. Thankfully it was not as bad as it looked. I think she will survive with just a small scar. I may of been a Paramedic before the girls arrived but I declare when they are hurt it scares me to death! I called Daddy at work and sent him a picture on his phone so he could advise me if I need to take her to the ER for Barney Glue. What in the world would I have done with out all the technology we have today!?!?! I would've had to make a decision from his advice with just my description and that would never do. LOL

I'm glad to report that she is happy at Mema's making Strawberry Jam!

Lactose Intolerance

Lactose Intolerance is the new issue in our home. J has always suffered with bouts of diarrhea. She has never really had normal BM's. The first time we had 12 weeks of diarrhea at the age of 3. After tons of test, going milk free and seeing the Dr every few days to check for weight loss she was diagnosed with Toddler Diarrhea. The Dr said that one day it would just stop and it did. Then at the age of 4 we had another 13 weeks of diarrhea. We had all the tests done again and the only thing we found out was that her protein levels were low. So, we bumped up the protein and she started feeling better and poop was a little more solid. Now, at age 5 we have diarrhea again! Only this time is it so much worse. She can't hold it to make it to the potty. We've had her on lactose free milk since the last bout with this at age 4 but we still allowed her to eat cheese, yogurt and other dairy. Well, that has all stopped. J is now a lactose free kid! So, on top of reading labels for peanut and eggs warnings we are adding milk and dairy! Can I please catch a break in the food allergy and intolerance dept?!?!? Have you read a food label lately???? Do you know how hard it is to find a label that is peanut, egg and dairy free??? It's next to impossible! But I have one saving grace.... she is now old enough to use Lactaid. So, I'm off to buy some to add to our med bag we carry for N and all her Benadryl / Epi Pen Jr's.

Leann, You wouldn't want to move closer so you could supply me with some of your goat milk? Have you seen how much a 1/2 gallon of Lactose free milk cost!?!?!?!? Holy Cow...I mean Goat!