in which I discuss our weekend and then ramble on a tangent

This is what I've been doing the last week or so.

Yep, my cat, Chloe, does the perfect "sick Danna" pose.

Sleepy kitty is getting old.

I seriously worry about her dying while K is at work and the kids are at home.

I don't know what I would do, well, besides freak out and cry hysterically.

Today, when I caught her napping on our bed {naughty kitty!} I had to quietly watch her to make sure that she was breathing.

Insane a bit, yep.

{Has anyone else with an iPhone been seriously pampered with autocorrect? Yes, we all complain about the weirdo word mistakes, but I love that 99% of the time it correct my misspelling like iwth = with. I find that now when I type I have way more mistakes than ever before. Thank you autocorrect for making my life easier.}

Anyways, serious rambling going on today.
I had a post all typed up in my brain and then when I sat down to write it all of the other nonsense in my brain decided to spill out.

Sorry lovelies.

Okay, sleeping cat = perfect representation of me.

Right.

The weird thing about this sickness is how tired it made me.

I struggled with sleeping at night but during the day found it next to impossible to keep my eyes open.

I am so very grateful I got sick before school started.

Seriously.

To thank the kidlets for their patience while K and I were sick I decided to take them to our favorite cupcake place as a reward.
K was still too sick to go so I brought some home.

His request was either: something with lime or the grasshopper {mint} kind.

Billy Vanilly has daily special cupcakes as well as their everyday selection.

You never really know {unless you plan ahead and check on-line what the daily specials are, which I NEVER remember to do} what's going to be available.

The two pictured are the Mojito and Cosmopolitan.

sans alcohol

So yummy.

Okay lovelies, sorry for the ramble or as my friend, Jennifer, likes to call it Shiny Object Syndrome.

Insta-Friday

Hello lovelies!

How was your week?

Around here, well, it consisted of 3 healthy children and a sick me.

Allergies + pushing yourself too much = sickness

I'm feeling much better though, woo to the hoo, but was up a lot last night coughing.

{Although poor K is sick today, allergies + asthma = no me gusta}

I'm tired, but feeling pretty good.

Good enough to realize that this is the last Friday before school starts.

Hold me, I want to cry.

School starts in 5 days, FIVE DAYS.

So. not. ready.

Monday I dragged myself, properly caffeinated, and the kiddos to the store to get Adison's school supplies.

I learned from my mistake of waiting until the absolute last minute last year.

I was able to find everything she needed at one store.

Score!

This girl.

She slays me with her cuteness.

I want to bottle up her sweetness, I think it could finally bring about lasting world peace.

For real.

She was a cowgirl/ballerina.

What you can't see in this pic are her ballet skirt and cowgirl boots.

It was fierce.

We got rain.

For real, water falling from the sky rain.

I know that the majority of the U.S. is having a drought too, but when you see nothing but ruined crops it's heartbreaking.

It's someones livelihood, that brown, brittle corn.

While it rained I took the girls out to enjoy it.

Running and dancing ensued, as well as a rainbow hunt as the sun was shining too.

I *thought* I  saw a faint one, but can't be sure.

While doing Adison's school supply shopping I saw this cupcake.

It's supposed to make your locker smell good and seeing as I don't have a locker I decided to hang it in my car.

It smells a bit like chocolate bubble gum, odd but I'm going with it.

Um, yeah, this picture...I don't really have words for other than my girl is a massive goof ball.

These two, there fighting is what will turn my hair grey.

However, they will occasionally, very occasionally, have moments of peace and sisterly love.

Adison found a new game to play and Ainsley absolutely loved watching her play it.

Thanks Steve Jobs for bringing peace to what would probably be feuding sisters.

We don't have a Trader Joe's in our fair city.

Sad face.

However, the in-laws do!
Before we left their house on Sunday we picked up some yumminess.

I really love flax so these were a no brainer in my book, deliciousness.

They tasted so good with TJ's black bean soup, me gusta.

Pinterest yumminess- Crispy Edamame

Source: allrecipes.com via Danna on Pinterest

They were delicious.

I don't normally make the things I pin on Pinterest.

Probably because when I'm at the grocery store I usually have all three kids with me and chaos ensues.

Plus, shopping for a new recipe takes time and planning, forethought, something I don't generally employ before a shopping trip.

I'm more concerned with making sure the children are nice and full as well as making sure that I am properly caffeinated.

Priorities.

Anyways.

I saw this pin for Crispy Edamame and knew that I HAD to try it.

I love edamame, it's delicious.

I love parmesan cheese.

I love cheesy snacks, a little too much.

Crispy, cheesy snacks tend to be my downfall.

Yay gym, not.

These, while definitely cheesy were not so crunchy.

They were, however, delicious.

Everyone liked them, especially Abby.

K even tried them and he's not in the edamame fan club.

I think that next time I make them I will make sure to put some extra parm on top before baking and maybe mix in a bit of garlic.

You simply cannot go wrong with adding garlic, at least in my book.

Well, okay, you can go wrong adding garlic to pastries.

Lee just ran back to eat some more and declared them, "Yum."

Success!

Have you tried making any recipes from Pinterest?
Any delicious ones that your family loved?

Surprise!!!!

Last Thursday was my mother-in-law's birthday.

I won't share which one but say that it starts with a certain number between 5 and 7 and ends with a 0.

It's a big deal yo.

My father-in-law, Bob, and sister-in-law, Anna, collaborated in throwing my mother-in-law, Terrie, a wonderful surprise.

A surprise made complete with out of town family coming in town and her best friends.

She didn't know about it.

I was a bit worried as a confusing text convo between K and I led me to sharing secret info that I thought wasn't secret with my very talkative nine year old.

I then realized my blunder and tried to fix the situation only to have said nine year old blurt out a top secret information to Terrie.

Thankfully she didn't catch the info and somehow didn't question what Adison said.

It's probably because our family of five showing up around dinner time with three children that have been packed into the back of a sedan for over an hour is the blessed culprit of said information being glazed over.

The next day we layed low.

I slept until 11 thanks to feeling super run down, yay allergies {sarcasm}.

We watched some Olympics.

Yay {no sarcasm} as we don't have cable anymore so I had missed all of it.

I watched some swimming, track, volleyball, water polo, fencing and trampoline.

Seriously, trampoline?
Is this new or have I somehow been unaware of trampoline being an Olympic sport.

P.S. I also heard that they also have speed walking now, can anyone confirm that for me? I am feeling slightly confused, what other Olympic sports do I not know about?

So.

Back to the story as I got completely sidetracked by all. things. Olympic.

We went over to Anna's house about 20 minutes for Bob and Terrie were due to arrive.

Snap, I just realized I forgot to tell you the cover story:

We were dressed up to go to Terrie's fav Italian restaurant for a celebratory dinner.

Beforehand though, we were going to go over to Anna and Isaac's {her hubby} for drinks and appetizers.

End cover story.

The house was all decorated and everyone was fancied up.

We were all hiding in the living room.

Terrie was so cute talking to Anna about how fancy the house was all decorated, still not having put it all together.

She walked through to the living room when roughly 40 people started singing Happy Birthday to her.

She cried and so surprised.

It was so much fun.

I got to meet K's cousin's new baby boy, catch up with Tiffany and meet her little girl, make some new friends, celebrate life and marriage and birth and so so so much more.

We stayed up late and talked and talked some more.

I had to share this precious pic of Miss Abigail.

My niece, Ada, made this little hat.

Mr. Darcy ::sigh::

Okay, so last night my allergies decided to go haywire and left me feeling kinda bleh.

I have been exceedingly lazy today and for my sake the children have complied and I have been reading even more Pride and Prejudice lately, I just cannot help myself.

Jane Austen knows how to do romance.

Not the sleazy, horrified if someone caught you reading it kind of romance, but pure romance.

The interactions between people, the subtle nuances and such.

I haven't been just reading Pride and Prejudice lately but have stumbled upon a wealth of post-P & P books, sequels if you will.

::sigh::

The other night I watched {for like the 1,000th time} the 2005 version of P & P.

I love all of it.

Every single one of the characters is so perfectly cast in my mind, the actors are flawless.

The acting supreme, it is hands down, by far my most favorite movie/book of all time.

I think this is a neat video montage and the song is one of my favorites.

What is your favorite movie/book of all time, what do you love about it?

Please share, I'm always on the lookout for a new book/movie!

Have a blessed weekend my lovelies!

Stream of thought

Ainsley is a goofball, much like her parents.

Last night my friend Jennifer and I took our younger kids to the library for some Pinkalicious fun.

They had cupcake decorating, magic wand decorating, flower making, face painting and balloon animals.

We skipped the face painting as the line went on for miles and Lee had bluntly told me earlier in the day, "I don't want to have my face painted."

Duly noted my dear.

Her ability to know her own mind so clearly is impressive to me.

As a child I was pretty passive with things, I was a huge people pleaser.

Still am to be honest, it annoys me at times.

I would often go along with whatever and then not be happy.

I remember going clothes shopping with my mom as a child.

She would show me something, I would agree that I liked it {even when I didn't} and then when we got home I wouldn't want to wear it.

As a parent, I can now understand how annoying that must have been. 

Yesterday morning I enrolled Adison in school.

4th grade.

It's crazy.

She said that she's kind of ready for school to start again, she wants to see all of her friends again but isn't ready to give up our laid-back summer.

I understand as I'm ready for our schedule to resume yet am not ready to hope back on the busy train yet.

I got the school calendar yesterday and started entering everything into my phone.

I've already agreed to join two committees, I was on them last year, but am not going to be taking anything else on.

I just don't want to get as worn down as I was last year, it's just too much.

We finally got some rain last night.

It was so very necessary.

The grass is almost completely brown and the trees are already losing some leaves.

It's just too hot for it be so very dry.

Okay lovelies, that's all I've got for today.

Does anyone have any prayer requests, if so please share!

xo, me

trying a new tactic

A reoccurring issue, nice way of saying all-the-freakin'-time issue, is that I have to repeat myself over

and over

and over

and over

and...you get the idea.

I get tired of hearing the sound of my voice and repeating myself.

Believe it or not I get sick of talking, shocking I know.

For me, one of the most frustrating things is having to repeatedly ask my kids to pick up something.

I think they are just too used to the fact that I will in the end pick it up so why should they?

Well, kiddos, no more.

This mama is going to attempt something new.

What you say?
Well, I saw something online a while ago and for the life of me I can't remember where.
Update: my friend, Jennifer, found it! Thanks friend! I knew I had seen it somewhere!

What happens is this~
I will ask for something to get picked up.

If it does not get picked up when I ask it will become mine.

I am planning on putting said confiscated toys in a basket or something.

To retrieve said item an *extra* chore will be chosen at random.

Once the extra chore is competed the confiscated toy will be returned.

As you can see in the picture above I made extra chore cards.

I have since cut them and am currently trying to find something to put the cards in as well.

I did something like this before with behavior.

Bad day at school = 1 toy going in a storage tub

Good day at school = picking 1 toy out of the storage tub

I'm really hoping this will work.

It will be interesting to see how it goes, I will keep you posted!

P.S. Since writing this but before posting it, Adison came home, went through the cards and picked some chores to do *JUST BECAUSE* 

Praying this continues!