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We have arrived.

Ok, so we arrived two weeks ago, but the point is that we are here! And couldn't be happier. Our new house is GI-NORMOUS. 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms. The kids have the entire basement for a playroom, and the laundry room, is exactly that. A room! So as to the home improvement goals I had. I have accomplished quite a few of them. We packed, moved, UNPACKED! and I am almost done with the Princess' room. The plan had been to get a light lavender color for her walls. One night we were at Lowes looking for a new plug in for our dryer. And I remembered that a GREAT friend of ours had suggested we look at their Oops paint selection. Sometimes you can get a bucket of paint for $5. I went and had a look and there was a gallon of paint that was a lovely shade of purple. Not as light as my vision, but still a great shade. So we went for it. I finally got to painting yesterday afternoon, its dark enough that we decided to just do her entryway and one large wall. The rest we will leave white. Target has these great butterfly wall decals so I picked up some of those and placed them on her walls. The Land Of Nod had these FABULOUS butterflies you can hang from the ceiling, so I got the pink one and the purple one. They look so fun hanging over her bed.

As soon as I finish edging and one more coat I will take some pictures and post them.

For the boys room, I think I am just going to do a mural of construction vehicles. As for the rest of the house, I will update as decisions are made!

And So The Crazy Begins

Eleven days people. Eleven days. Thats how long we have before we load em up and head em out. The kiddos and I managed to get through the weekend, which was really just a reprieve before the crazy begins. I had a Wedding I coordinated yesterday afternoon. It was a spur of the moment deal. The bride had called me the previous weekend, and I had stated I was available. Then a few days passed and I hadn't heard from her so I assumed either she had gone another direction or decided to just do it herself. Not the case. Thursday evening around, Oh, 10pm she called and claimed me and my services for her wedding day. Taking place 4 days later. Usually I am not one to take clients less than 6 weeks out, but I was promised it would be simple, I wouldn't even have to do the timeline. NEVER AGAIN. I won't go into a whole lot of detail here, I am saving that for a book someday.... But things did NOT go as planned. It was crazy from beginning to end. I felt like I was stuck in a bad movie, and was trying to direct everything with ear plugs and a blind fold.

Today a lot of time was spent figuring out logistics, changing our address, and making an appointment to have a tow hitch installed on our Durango. The Navy is moving us, in fact someone is coming out tomorrow morning to do a walk-through. However, we are getting a small enclosed trailer from U-Haul, (are they the ONLY company you can rent those from??) so we can take some things we don't want to worry about getting broke. I have a FULL tea service, and hubby and I have an extensive collection of Wedgwood. Plus clothes, bedding, the beloved Kitchenaid Mixer, and a few other things we decided we just couldn't live without for 2 weeks.

Next on the list, planning a 1yr birthday party for The Princess before we leave. Am I insane? I'd say there is a pretty good chance I am! So on top of preparing to move, I need to pick up party accessories, finish the High Chair Tu-Tu I am making for the party, as well as make all the food for it.
Here is the Menu:

Mini Chicken Turnovers
ooey gooey cookies
Monster Cookies
flowerpot desserts, flowers for girls, gummy worms for boys
Spinach Artichoke dip with pita chips/or tostitos
Cheese crackers
veggie tray
baby burgers on baguettes

Now you have to realize that I am doing all of this while hubby is gone to the Virgin Islands with his ship. You know to celebrate the 4th of July. There may even be a parade. There is no bitterness at all here. I love being the one who is single handedly organizing a move and planning a birthday party all while caring for our darling completely well behaved children. Oh wait, nope thats not me! Ok deep breath, going to my happy place... white beaches, crystal blue water, a cruise ship in the background, hard to tell... the sun is in my eyes, is that Royal Caribbean? US Navy?
Ahhh, I joke. I know its not hubby's fault. My opinion of the Navy has seen better days, but I am very thankful for all the ways God has blessed us, and part of that has been through the military and its benefits. I have an awesome hubby, a great marriage, and 3 healthy and sweet children. So while I may vent in anger sometimes, I know that God has placed us in this life for now, and for a reason.

Easy Summer Cooking....

I have to say on am with Bigmama on this one. Its hot and nasty outside, lets turn on the oven and heat up the house too. But since I have kiddos and a hubby who comes home from work hungry for more than just cereal, I have to. So here are some of the things we eat....

Home Made pizza
Now I know this sounds all kinds of involved, but its super easy and my boys LOVE LOVE LOVE when I do this because they get their own bit of dough to pat into a crust. Then they get to spread with sauce and top however they like, I make a bigger one for hubby and me and then I pop them into the oven for 10 minutes at 350 degrees.

Here is my pizza dough recipe:

In 1 cup hot water (in large mixing bowl) mix in 1 tsp salt and 1 pkt rapid rising yeast, stir with a fork.
Then mix in 2 cups of flour slowly. Have extra flour on hands to dust the dough and your hands to cut down on the stickiness and knead a couple of times to incorporate all the ingredients. Cover with about a tablespoon of olive oil and then cover the bowl with a clean kitchen towel and set in a warm place (which shouldn't be too difficult to find) and let rise for about an 30-45 minutes.

Pat it down, and make as many crusts out of it as you like! Top as the mood strikes you!


Italian Meatball Quesadilla

This is so good and very easy.

1 bag frozen meatballs
1 c marinara
Tortillas
Mozzarella

So follow the directions on the meatballs, to heat in oven. Slice in half, set aside
Take a tortilla, spread a little sauce on one half, sprinkle cheese, place meatballs on top of cheese. Sprinkle more cheese on top, and place in a preheated oven 325 degrees until cheese is melty. Remove from oven, fold in half, cut like you would a quesadilla and serve with sauce on the side for dipping!

Enjoy!

And be sure to stop over at Big Mama's for more summer cooking ideas!

Last One For The Day, I PROMISE!!

Man, I am post happy today. I completely forgot that I wanted to share with you all my ETSY page! See, I have big plans when we move. Big surprise there, right? I own a business right now doing event planning. And I truly enjoy what I do. Somewhere in the midst of wedding and event planning, I fell head over heels in love with baking. Its something that I have always enjoyed, but just did for fun. But after having The Princess, and hubby being deployed, I started playing around in the kitchen. Creating new recipes and tweaking old ones.
And after much thought and prayer, I felt like God was pulling me in a new direction. Not that I would completely abandon my Event Planning business, but just put it on the back burner until later. So anyways, as things happen and we move along towards our goal, I will update and reveal certain things. So please, visit my Etsy page and tell your friends about it too! I will slowly be adding more things to my listing as I have time. Since we are preparing to move in OH, 19 days!

How Much More Home Improvement Can You Get?

Woo Hoo!! Boomama is hosting this whole Before and After Home Improvement thing-y, a Carnival if you will. And since we are about to experience the ultimate in home improvement, I wanted to join in too!





The idea is to post your goals of what you want to accomplish before July 25th. And then posting your link to your goal at Boomamas. Thus putting yourself and your hopes and dreams at the mercy of others to hold you accountable!

So here is my goal, its a lofty one so hold on to your hats. If you are wearing a hat, otherwise just sit there and wait patiently, I guess.

1. Get packed
2. MOVE
3. Paint new home (Princess's bedroom, boys bedroom, and living and dining room, and kitchen.
4. Unpack a substantial amount of stuff.

Now, I realize the likelyhood of painting everything I want to, is slim to none, but it is my goal. We are finally going to be someplace where we can paint. And last night I found this cool website by Behr paint. It helps you pick a color, coordinating colors and then you can upload a pic of the room to be painted and SEE how the colors would look in there. I know, crazy, right?
The Princess is going to have a lavender and butterfly themed room, the boys will be shades of blue, with a construction theme. Well, once I find bedding they like they will have a construction theme. I want to do a color called Frosted Pomgranate in the living room and dining room areas, and then Banana Split in the Kitchen with cream accents. If I even get half this done, I will feel accomplished!

So what are your home improvement dreams??

The Not So Magic Word

As kids, we were all taught that there were magic words. And no, not Abra Cadabra, or Ala Kazaam either. I tried those, and never got anywhere! I am talking about the word Please. Please tacked onto anything will get you what you want. Or so the story goes. There is even a Backyardigans song that tells you "Please and Thank you will get you practically anything you want with a smile."
And Train Junkie believes it with his WHOLE HEART! Cuz ya know, they wouldn't be able to put it on TV if it wasn't true! He will ask for cookies in the morning, and being the good mom I am, I tell him No.... and then sneak one myself :) And TJ will then throw himself on the floor whining, (I know, its so odd for a 4 yr old to whine) "Mommy, I said PLEASE!!" Which he did, but that does NOT mean he is going to get it. OH! the TEARS and the ANGUISH. He is really going to be good at the whole Teenage angst thing, I tell ya.
Being polite is important, I want the kids to say please and thank you, your welcome, and no thank you. We are not however, going to lead them to believe that by saying "Please!" they are entitled to whatever they ask for. So now, we are working on teaching them to handle disappointment with grace. Hard to come by in a 3 and 4 year old. What I find funny, is that Little Guy is better at handling being told no, his response?
"Oh BARNACLES!"

Stranger Danger

Since we are moving to a new and very large city I decided the other day in the car educate the boys in the ways of avoiding, and getting away should a stranger ever grab them. Not that we want them to live in fear, but so they know they have the power to get away, and not be scared to do whatever they need to do. I explained to them, that should they ever wander away, or get lost and someone, OTHER THAN A POLICEMAN, tried to grab them, they were to kick, hit, spit, pull hair, and scream as loud as they could until the "Stranger" let go, and then to run as fast as their little legs could carry them.

Well, since we had that conversation, now they want to know if EVERY single person they see, is a stranger. Even on TV. Every Character, "Is that a Stranger?" "Is that a BAD stranger?" I am glad they are so aware of whats out there, but FOR THE LOVE!! make the questions STOP!