Chocolate Chip Pancakes, McDonalds, Bears, and Toys

Yesterday I got to spend the day with my kids. I worked 72 hours in 6 days so spent my time at home sleeping mostly. I missed them and they missed me. I love them so much!!! So Saturday, we let Daddy sleep in for a bit and I made them chocolate chip pancakes (I made biscuits and gravy for daddy and me). Then Daddy went to work and we went to McDonalds for lunch. They got to play on the playground for about an hour (a treat since we usually drive through) and mommy got a chance to relax and read her Kindle. We then went out to Grapevine Mills to see a movie...but we got there early so walked through the mall for a bit and then went to Build-a-Bear to get some friends to take to the theatre. Adreyn got a cute doggy she named Kate, Tristan got a black bear he named Kong, and Rehanyn got a pink bear she named Barbie. Then we went and saw Toy Story 3. Daddy joined us about 15 minutes into the movie. It was great having fun with the kids!!!!

5 question Friday July 23rd

I'm linking up to Mama M again, over at My Little Life


Rules for Five Question Friday: Copy and paste the following questions to your blog post, answer them (like, totally, duh!), then c'mon back to link up! If you don't have a blog, feel free to leave your answers in the comments of this post or any post along the way!


1. What were your school colors? Ummmm, is it bad that I really don't remember??? It was either Red, White, and Blue, or Maroon and something else....

2. What's the best compliment you ever received? well, I love getting compliments on how well behaved my kids are...and I also enjoy when I get compliments from the families of babies I take care of in the NICU. At work there is no better compliment to me than a parent telling me that they can sleep easy at night because they know that I'm taking care of their baby.

3. Do you buy cheap or expensive toilet paper? I never really thought of it that way. We buy Kleenex Cottonelle Ultra...is that an expensive one? We have always bought this brand since we've been married. I'm not really sure why....hmmmmmm

4. Have you ever had a surprise party thrown for you? Or have you had one for someone else? Jason threw a surprise party for me once, sorta...it was for my birthday. there were 5 of us there, I believe...one was someone I had never even met...it was a bit odd. I helped throw a surprise baby shower for a co-worker...that was fun.

5. What is one material possession that you "can't live without"? There's 3...my laptop, my Kindle, and my iPhone...pitiful, really. but as Jason says, I have an electronics addiction....I really want an iPad too :-)

cake

Here's the latest...

Yes, Spongebob Squarepants yet again...ugg...this is the 4th one I've done, I think.
I don't like SBSP and I don't let my kids watch the show
I'm just glad I'm getting paid to make them!

5 question Friday

I'm linking up to Mama M @ My Little Life


Rules for Five Question Friday: Copy and paste the following questions to your blog post, answer them, then c'mon back to link up! If you don't have a blog but would like to play along, feel free to leave your answers in the comments of this blog, or any blog along the way!

Questions for Friday, July 16th:

1. Do you collect anything? Does junk count? I have lots of junk that just sits around but I really don't collect anything in particular. Growing up I collected pennies...those got pretty heavy to carry around :-) My mom collects butterflies and my dad collects eagles (you should see their house!) but I've never found much that I wanted to collect. I have a few Noah's Ark things that I used for the nursery and one of my bathrooms is a lighthouse theme but I have no desire to buy anything else for either of those rooms. So, I guess my answer would be NO.

2. Name 3 celebrities that you find good looking. Let's see, everyone says Brad Pitt...but I have never liked him...he's always been a little "off" to me. I used to say Tom Cruise, but he is seriously weird lately. My all-time favorite is definitely Patrick Swayze...he was great...cute, built, and he could dance! Then I guess it would be Ryan Reynolds...he's adorable...and the view of him in "The Proposal"...awesome!!! The last one would probably be Geoff Stults from "Happy Town" he was also on "October Road" he is really cute :-)

3. Do you have any scars? If so, what's the story behind it (them?)? I have a scar by my left eye from falling off a bike and hitting my face on the handlebar when I was 8 or so. I got 3 stitches and my face swelled up like crazy. I have other random scars...like when I sliced open my finger by popping open a glass ampule at work without covering it with something first. But that is really it...no surgeries, etc...boring, huh.

4. What is a food that you like to eat, but others might think it's gross or weird? I am a picky eater (better though than I used to be) so I really don't eat anything weird. I'm pretty basic...I was raised eating meat and potatoes and I haven't strayed too far from that.

5. Have you ever seen a tornado in real life? Well, living in Texas we have lots of tornado warnings/watches especially in the summer. I can't say I've ever "seen" a tornado (because I'm a good mommy and I take my family into the safe room when there are tornado warnings) but last June (2009) we actually had a tornado go through our town...we were right in the path, and the roof overhang over our front door actually got picked up about 8 inches and moved over about 4 inches. Yeah, that was expensive to fix! Happily though, we didn't sustain any damage to the inside of the house. So, while I actually haven't "seen" a tornado, I've experienced one...

progress

*mountain of laundry....folded!!!!
*dinner started...gonna have chicken and homemade noodles tonight
*kids have been good today, not too many "I'm bored" comments :-)
* had breakfast for lunch...yum!
* jason is still at work...he says he's driven all over the metroplex today!

Here's a pic of the last batch of chicken and noodles...yummy!!!!!

more dots...

* made porkchops for dinner (had a meeting so Jason made velveeta mac and cheese to go with it). I got rave reviews :-)
* had a great support group meeting at work tonight
*Jason is starting his second job in the morning...it looks like they will be pretty flexible and let him pick up work as he is available.
*Adreyn has been doing a great job helping me with the laundry...(still have a mountain to fold but that is what I've planned for tomorrow)
*I need to find recipes for easy lunch ideas...
*I wish the kids weren't so picky
*I need to go to sleep :-)

dots...mostly about food...hmmmmm

*I'm working 5 shifts this week (yes, I'm trying to kill myself)
*We are trying to save money so have extremely limited going out to eat (so much that the kids have really noticed)
*Jason is getting very tired of cooking (He's doing more than me this week due to the 5 shifts)
*work is getting busy again...Yay! (that's why I've got the 5 shifts)
*I have a mountain (no I'm not kidding) of laundry to fold...really I should be doing that instead of posting
*Jason is taking the little kids to work with him again today (2 days in a row)...he's not very happy about that!
*we still haven't been able to have the dishwasher fixed so dishes are still being done by hand (mostly Jason's hands)
*The kids are ready for school to start (so are their parents!!!)
*Jason made bread last night (frozen dough loaves)...it is sooooo yummy!!!!
*I've gotta decide what to make for dinner tonight so I can get the meat out to start thawing
*I would rather go out to dinner :-(

so, yeah...

There hasn't been too much going on here. I'm back to work (and it's finally starting to pick up again...it's been slow enough that someone was being cancelled every shift) and while I enjoy working and love the people I work with, I miss the time with my family. And it's getting harder to shift back into nightshift mode, lately. The kids are handling time off school okay...of course I routinely get the "I'm bored" speech and look but other than that they are doing okay. Jason and I got to go to a movie last night. Thanks mom for watching the kids! Jason is looking at picking up another job to do the first couple of weeks each month and his current job keeps losing business. Ugg...hopefully this can get better. Anyway, that is about it...

5 question Friday

I'm linking up to Mama M...Click on the link above to go see the other 5QF posts :-)

Rules for 5QF: Copy and paste the following questions to your blog post. Answer them, then c'mon back to link up! If you don't have a blog, but would like to participate, feel free to leave your answers in the comments of this post, or any post along the way!

1. What is one thing you miss the most about childhood?

Definitely the way we could just play without worrying about strangers and getting hurt, etc. The fact that these Texas summers seem sooo much hotter as an adult than they did when we were kids. Being able to play four-square for hours on end as long as your friends were there. Just living and enjoying and letting our parents do the worrying for us.

2. Are you still friends with your friends from high school?

Well, thanks to Facebook I have reconnected with several people from high school. Let's just say that I am friends with the few people I want to be friends with from high school. Others I am more "acquaintances" with and there are definitely others that I want nothing to do with. My high school was a private high school and would definitely be considered "different" so let's just leave it at that. I'm very happy to have found those friends that I consider friends, again, though!!!!!

3. Is there a catch phrase, cliche, or word that just drives you bonkers every time you hear it?

The one bugging me the most lately is "good deal". Here it is in context: My text to a friend, "okay, let's meet monday at 9:30 am at the movie theatre" The text I get in return is "good deal"....hmmmm, what the heck does that mean???? It is also being used in normal conversation (not just texting) and it is still just as confusing. Another one that it really on it's way to bothering me is "that's what she said". I mean, I know it's from a TV show and at times it is pretty funny....but when it is constantly said it gets a bit, oh, I don't know...DULL????

4. What is one thing that you think symbolizes America...besides "Old Glory"?

Would have to say the Statue of Liberty...We went to New York on a school trip and got to take the ferry to the island and walk around the island but didn't get to go up in the Statue of Liberty...That is one thing I regret...It wasn't my decision but I really wish we could have made that trek...

5. What are your 4th of July weekend plans?

Oh, the life of a healthcare worker...did you know that hospitals don't close on holidays? And that people keep on having babies even though it's a holiday??? My mom is a nurse and yet she never made sure I realized how my becoming a nurse would mean that I don't get to be home with my family on the holidays (Just kidding Mom!!!) Actually, I love my job and enjoy spending the holidays with my NICU families and babies (but I really miss spending them with my own family). We usually make some type of card for our families (utilizing their baby's hand or foot prints) for each holiday so that is my plan this weekend. I'm thinking a firecracker with their open hand prints as the "sparklie/boom" part of it....whatcha think????

It's done!!!!

Well, the NICU Reunion was Saturday. It was great fun and wonderful to see all the NICU graduates! We had 400 or so again. We spend about 60 hours decorating (in total) and it turned out great...but I forgot to take pictures of it so I am waiting for my friends to send their pictures to me. Then I'll post them :-) What was kinda sad is that all the decorating that took so long to do...well, it came down in about an hour. Anyway, we had a great time and I got to see some of "my" babies that I hadn't seen in a while...they are getting soooo big!!!!