Friday Five-My date with PW

Last night I met PW (obviously since I am in a picture with her).  She was as nice as I imagined she would be and as expected about 1000+ other ladies in Tulsa also feel that they should be besties with her.  So today's Friday Five is all about my date with the wonderful Ree Drummond.  And just so you know...her and I really would get along fabulously (both OSU fans, both love her cooking, she homeschools and I am thinking of homeschool, the list could go on and on).  So here goes, five things to know before a PW book signing.


1.  When you go to a Pioneer Woman book signing be prepared to wait a very, very, very, very long time.  PW takes time to talk to everyone who is there and is happy to take a picture (or two) together, and sign your book (or books in many cases).  If there are babies involved it will take even longer as PW held lots of babies. 

2.  If you are lucky enough to be at an event where they are serving food from her recent cookbook you must try the Pots de Creme.  Pronounced Po de Krehm.  If they don't have any, you should go home and make some.

3.  Do not practice over and over what you are going to say to PW, because then when you actually do say it, you sound like a MAJOR dork.  At least that is what I have heard.

4.  Take a friend with you.  See #1.  It would have been nice to have someone to chat with during the three hours I was there.

5.  If you are standing less than six feet away from Marlboro Man try not to stare too much.  I was for reals that close to the MM himself and didn't even realize it.  Once I did, I noticed I kept looking at him.  There is something about a good looking cowboy in boots, starched shirt and cowboy hat.  Speaking of cowboys, I also got Cowboy Josh to sign my book!  Don't know who MM and Cowboy Josh are?  Here are a couple of pics.

Cowboy Josh

Marlboro Man

I had a great time and am glad I waited the three hours to get my books signed.  I took both cookbooks and Isabelle's Charlie the Ranch Dog book.  My obsession continues!

Embracing Lawson

I think this might be the first picture of Lawson and me together since he was born.  Pathetic, I know.  It is just so hard to take pictures with three kiddos.  I don't know how Emily does it with seven!  Anywho....here we are at the zoo.  He did amazingly well considering how long we were there and how cold it was.  He is a pretty great baby.  I am one blessed momma!

And while I realize that it isn't the greatest picture of Lawson, I am so glad that we took the time to get a picture together during his first ever zoo trip.

Do you embrace?  You should.  Check out Emily's blog here.  She is one amazing momma and her blog is great!



Zoo Fun

This past Friday, my sister, her kiddos and I took my kiddos to the zoo. I was a little nervous about the trip considering the last time we took Isabelle to the zoo she was less than impressed and I think we left after about half an hour and one tantrum.

This time was much better. Everyone had a great time. And while it was a little cold while we were there, by the time we left there was an insane number of people and cars waiting to get in to the zoo. I was glad we froze rather than waiting forever in line!

Here are some pics of our trip.

Isabelle before the zoo opened.

Molly (who refused to look at the camera) with my beautiful sister.

No matter what we did, we could not get Isabelle and Molly to both look at the same time!

See what I mean?

We could, of course, get them both to NOT look!

We decided to buy a family membership this year and I am glad that we did. I see many more trips to the zoo in our future.

Lawson at Two Months

Hard to believe, but Lawson is two months old (actually two months and two days)!  These last two months (and two days) have pretty much flown by.  Much more so than with Isabelle or Molly.  Having three kids has moments of pure joy and pure exhaustion.  Some days I want three more, other days I want to return the three I have.  Pretty normal, I think.

Here are some facts about Lawson at two months.

Weight: 10lbs 4oz.  20th percentile.

Height:  22 1/2 inches.  35th percentile.

Clothes: 3 months with a cloth diaper....otherwise could probably still do some newborn

Diaper size: 1, but we mainly use cloth

Eating habits:  Eats every two and a half to three hours during the day, but will go 4-5 hours at night.  Typical night involves eating at 10 p.m. and then again between 3 and 4 a.m., and then back up at 6 or 7 a.m.

Sleeping: several naps during the day, and sleeps from 10 p.m. until 6 or 7 a.m. with one feeding in there somewhere

Likes:  being held (mostly by mom), chillin' in bouncy seat, playing on playmat, eating, sleeping and pooping

Dislikes:  the carseat, tummy time, being mauled by his sisters

Other fun things to know:  Lawson has stopped pooping as much....PTL.  He only goes about once a day now.  And we have really only had one serious blowout which happened yesterday.  He has started smiling (his first was on March 6th) but doesn't smile unless he really has a reason!  Of all my babies, Lawson is the smallest so far.  I know he will catch up, but it is an interesting fact nonetheless.  Lawson has started taking a bottle when I am gone, which is nice because I can be gone for longer than a couple of hours at a time. 

Being a mom of three is pretty crazy.  There is never a dull moment.  While I do think that it was harder to go from one to two kids than it has been going from two to three, I also feel much more tired and mentally exhausted.  Maybe I felt this way before, I just don't remember.  And while I felt like a bit of a rookie initially, that feeling has passed.  The thing I think that is the most different this time around is me.  I am much more relaxed about my parenting (not sure if that is good or bad).  I am not so concerned if Lawson falls asleep in the bouncy seat, or in the floor, or wherever.  I don't wake him up during the day to eat like I did with the girls.  He isn't on a regimented schedule and I don't seem to worry as much about every little decision.  If he sneezes, I don't call the doctor.  In fact, I haven't had to call the doctor about anything for Lawson at all.  Mostly, I don't have the same amount of time that I did with Isabelle and Molly to worry and fret about things.  I am trying to take just as many pictures and write down just as many pieces of information in the baby book, but it is harder.  Getting anything done around here is harder.

Regardless, having Lawson is pretty spectacular.  He is precious, and I love him.  The end.

Adventures in Cooking

I think I may have mentioned the new Pioneer Woman cookbook and how excited I was to get started cooking my way through her delicious recipes a few days ago.  Well, we have already had three of her recipes and I am excited to tell you about them.

First up, Lemon Blueberry Pancakes.

To be honest, Jason made these bad boys, not me.  I just ate them.  They were so yummy.  Jason made them exactly according to the recipe and for some reason ours turned out much thinner than they appear in the picture.  They were still very good.  Jason did say that they were quite a lot of work for just pancakes and that he preferred her sour cream pancakes better.

Next, Knock You Naked Brownies.

You must make these.  Like now.  Seriously.  Go to the store, buy the stuff, and make them.  Today.  They are delicious. 

Easy to make.  Easy to eat.  I would only change a couple of things if I made them again.  First, being that I would use slightly less caramel.  Second, I would use more chocolate chips.  But, if you are a mega caramel lover and don't want extra chocolate, don't listen to me.  I just found that the bags of caramel at the store contain 50 not 60 (like the recipe calls for) caramels and I don't think it would have made that big of a deal to have 10 less.

Lastly, BBQ Chicken and Pineapple Quesadillas.

We had these last night for dinner and I was in love.  The kids, not so much.  Jason liked them, but I don't think he was in love like I was.  I did leave out the jalapenos because we were making them for the girls also, but who knows, maybe next time I will add them in and see what I think.  I normally do not like anything quite that spicy, but I would be willing to try.  I think that perhaps this meal would be better to make after we have had bbq chicken for dinner and use leftover chicken rather than grilling a chicken breast just for these quesadillas.  All that to say, I loved them and would eat them over and over again.

I love PW and I love the new cookbook.  In the next couple of weeks I will be making her sloppy joes, beef and bean burritos, and her mexican rice.  Can't wait!

ps. all photos are pw's from her website.  if you click on them you should go right to the recipe!

Pinterest Fun-Cloud Dough

I found this recipe for something called cloud dough on pinterest and thought it looked like a fun activity for the girls.

So this morning after breakfast I whipped up a batch and let the kids go wild.  Okay, not wild really, but I did let them have fun. 

Cloud dough is easy to make and provided a lot of fun for my kids.  Truthfully, they would have played for much longer, but their mom was beginning to break out into a full on sweat thinking about how big the mess was.  The recipe calls for 8 cups of flour and 1 cup of baby oil.  If I had given it any thought at all I wouldn't have made it.  After all, is there anything messier than flour and oil???  About 4 cups of it ended up on the floor.  Or, maybe if I had thought about it I would have taken it outside, but I didn't.  So, I cleaned up the mess and put a lid on the tupperware and said we could play again tomorrow.  If you have toddlers it is a fun little activity that your kiddos will love!

Embrace the Camera March 15th

Two weeks in a row???  What?  I can hardly believe it.  Of course, last week's pic and this week's pic were taken during our trip to Little Rock, but who cares?

My sister is a pretty amazing gal.  One of the many amazing things about her is that she is a runner.  A marathoner to be exact.  I attempt to make it to all of her races and this time we traveled to Little Rock to watch her run and get a HUGE medal.  It is the biggest finisher's medal EVER.

Here we are after she completed the race, picked up her medal and drank her chocolate milk.

I honestly have no idea why I am standing like I am.  Maybe to try and hide my still huge self while standing next to my incredibly skinny sister.  It didn't work. 

Anyway....She is pretty awesome.  I am blessed to have her as my sister.  She rocks.

Do you embrace? You should.  Check out Emily's blog here.

Some things

I have six recipes from my new Pioneer Woman cookbook picked out to make in the next two weeks. 

Isabelle has developed a new funny habit of getting very upset about the smell of her farts, or Molly's farts, or Lawson's poop.  She gets so upset she is almost crying and begs us to, "make the shooey go away."  It is hysterical.

Molly's pinching is on the decline.  Belle has no new scratches.  Not because of anything I have done, just luck I suppose.  Luck and prayer.

I joined twitter.  I felt a little left out.  Everything these days seems to be on twitter. 

For some reason with Lawson I really get the phrase, "they get big so fast."  I didn't feel this way with Belle or Molly, but with Lawson I really do feel how fast time is going by.

When you have two kiddos in cloth diapers, and you only bought enough for one child, you wash diapers A LOT.

Molly is ready to be potty trained, but her parents have no time to do it.  Sad story.

I am having a hard time finding a way to teach my kids about Jesus/God/the Gospel everyday.   I am hoping that pinterest has some ideas.

I have officially started getting ready for the upcoming OSU Scrub Run.  It is on April 14th and my goal is to be able to jog (not run, not walk) the whole thing. 

My weight loss is at a standstill.  I am beyond frustrated.  Hopefully starting to work out will help things along.

Lastly, it is insanely warm for march here in OK.  85 today, high 70's and low 80's the rest of the week.  I hate it.

Just a little sisterly love



since taking this picture she has actually acquired ANOTHER scratch



Molly has become quite the combination pinch/scratcher lately.  She is taking out her vengeance on her sister's face.  Sweet Isabelle does not retaliate.  She screams and cries and acts like it's the end of the world, but she doesn't pinch or hit or scratch back.  I would if I were her.  Pretty sure that as a mom I should not encourage her to pinch her sister back.  However, I wonder if that wouldn't put a quick end to Molly's reign of terror.

At the current moment I have no idea how to stop Molly.  I have literally tried it all.  Standing in the corner, going to her room, and other things which I think if I posted them on the internet could result in a visit from child services.  KIDDING.  I think.  I am not sure if spanking is still legal in OK or not.  Different topic for a different day.

Anywho....all of the pinching and scratching and hitting and screaming and yelling and punishing and crying has left me a little...tired.  So, if you have a brilliant idea for how to stop the madness let me know.  My mom already gave me one suggestion.  I am going to try it today and see what happens.  After all, not sure how it could get any worse.   

Happy Friday!

Embrace the Camera-March 8th

I'm embracing the camera.  Woot woot!  I can hardly believe I got in FRONT of the camera for a change.  Still not with a kiddo, but I am making improvements. 

This past weekend J, Lawson and I went to watch my sister run in the Little Rock marathon.  We had a great time and the weather was perfect to be outside with a little one.  I had never been to Little Rock and must say I was pleasantly surprised.  I think I might even like to go back again for a weekend away without kids!

Here is a pic of me and J in the car on the way over.  My hubs is so handsome.

Do you embrace?  You should.  Check out the details on Emily's blog.

Oh, Isabelle

Have you ever had one of those days?  You know, the day where you want to push a restart button?  That was me, yesterday.  And the thing of it is, no one ever told me parenting would be this hard.  I understand that I would not have listened.  I probably would have laughed.  But, at least I would have been warned.
 
I doubt that I will ever forget yesterday, but I thought it would be a story I would want to tell Isabelle some day.  When I am telling her about what a stubborn, hard headed, strong willed child she was I think this story will serve as the perfect example.  I am sure that eventually all of those qualities will serve her well and will be used for a purpose other than making me crazy, so I am trying not to get too frustrated with them now.  Trying being the key word.

So J and I got home late Sunday night from Little Rock just in time to put the kids to bed.  Isabelle had complained about her butt hurting (we call everything a butt because..A. I don't know what else to call it and B. I am not telling her the actual names).  Turns out she hadn't gone to the bathroom AT ALL since that morning when she woke up.  Since you can't force a child to go pee (and believe me I gave it my best effort) she went to bed without having gone.  I figured she would wet the bed and it things would go back to normal.  NOPE.

The next morning she still refused to go.  So I loaded her up on milk and water and figured if I didn't mention it she would go.  NOPE.  So I called the doctor to find out how long a kid can go without urinating and turns out over 24 hours is a pretty big deal.  I scheduled an appointment and  tried to use that to get her to go.  She is not a superfan of the doctor so I thought she would go to avoid having to see the doctor.  Again, no.   Our day continued as it normally does but at naptime she was incredibly uncomfortable.  She could not walk or sit still without pain.  Her belly was sticking out and was hard as a rock.  Our appointment wasn't until 2 and it was only 12:30 pm.  So, I called the doctor back and we got ready to go in.  She recommended putting her in warm bath before we came in to see if that would make her go, but that didn't work either. 

We got to the doctor and just as I expected they would do, they put in a catheter.  I wish I could describe how horrible it was to hold her down while they put it in, but I can't.  It took multiple tries and she was not sedated at all so you can imagine how fun it was.   My sister offered to go with me (by this point J was out of town for work) and I should have taken her up on it.  During the whole horrible ordeal while she was crying she asked me to say a prayer.  She was crying, asking me to pray.  It was heartbreaking.  I was crying, she was crying, it was pretty bad.  After what seemed like forever, the catheter was in and holy toledo.  It was really no wonder why she was in so much pain.   After they were done draining her out we had to wait for cultures and do xrays.  We both wanted to go home.

The doctor is looking for a cause.  No UTI, nothing wrong with her bladder.  I know what the cause was/is...stubbornness.  She got it in her head she didn't want to go and she didn't.  The doc does not think she could be that stubborn.  I should have invited her to our house. 

Anyway, today she is fine.  In fact, she was fine after we got home yesterday.  Back to #1's and #2's like a pro.  I don't know what caused her to decide not to go, but hopefully we will be able to avoid it in the future!

Anyone else have any hard parenting moments lately?  UGH.

Interview with Isabelle

Isabelle, age 3

What is your favorite food?

Mac n cheese

What is your least favorite food?

Dirt and grass

What is your favorite color?

Red

Favorite TV show?

Gabba

Who is your best friend?

Caitlin

Favorite Toy?

Bear Bear

Favorite Book?

Cat in the Hat

Favorite Snack?
Vitamins (they are gummy vitamins)

What do you want to be when you grow up?

Doctor

What does mom do all day?

Homework

What does dad do all day?

Homework

If you could change your name, what would you change it to?

Isabella (they always call her this at church......so irritating)

Who is the coolest person you know?

Caitlin

Favorite Song?

Hero ( a song on a church children's cd)