I love this time of year..

When every channel on TV has a Christmas movie on... call me cheesy but I still watch the Lifetime movies :) I love jumping in the car with the whole family and listening to all the wonderful Christmas songs on the radio, sipping a peppermint mocha and looking at the beautiful Christmas lights and decorations. I love it. I love seeing Gavin's face when there is a house with a ton of lights all over it... He gets so excited. And it makes me smile. And he has been singing 'Santa Clause is coming to town' all month. It's pretty cute :)

Well Kenna is super sick with bronchitis, RSV, and an ear infection :( poor baby. It makes me so sad. She hasn't eaten baby food in three days now and she is very rarely nursing. I guess she just doesn't feel up to eating. So much for getting her weaned at six months!!!!! She is on an inhaler to help her breath and antibiotics to get rid of the ear infection. I took her to the DR Thursday and she seemed to be feeling a little better today.

I sent out Christmas cards last week... Hope you all liked the pictures of the kids. I finished up my last bit of Christmas shopping today and I am officially DONE buying gifts and wrapping gifts. Tomorrow we are staying in and baking all kinds of cookies and cupcakes all day.

Then we'll be ready for next Friday :)

Deeeelicious Italian Meatball Recipe

So let me start off by saying I make a mean meatball :) BUT I was looking for a recipe using ground beef yesterday and came across a meatball recipe that EVERYONE was raving about so I decided to try it. Plus, it was easier then the recipe I already had and with very little cleanup. Anyway, here it is... Try it out and let me know what you think! Now before you try it I want to let you know this is not the original recipe, I used that as a base but tweaked it to my tastes. I also doubled it since we have a lot of meatball lovers in this household so you may want to half it when you make it. Its super easy, so give it a try..

3 lbs Ground Beef
2 large eggs, slightly beaten
1 cup grated parmesan cheese
2/3 cup italian breadcrumbs
3 cloves minced garlic
2/3 cup milk
1/4 cup italian seasoning


Combine all ingredients together in large mixing bowl. Shape into meatballs and place in a pan WITH SIDES. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. (My husband likes them a little crispy on the outside so if you dont like them that way I would only bake them for 25-30 minutes.)

Delicious!

What is it with my kids and puking?

Granny Ma'am - CAUTION. I know you have a very weak stomach!

I took Gavin to Going Bonkers the other day. He demanded he have a sour apple slush.... I finally gave in and got him one. An hour later, we come home and I see that one of the dogs got sick and pooped on the floor. As I am laying Kenna down and getting ready to go get toilet paper to clean up the mess, I say to Gavin... "Watch out, there is poop on the floor, don't step in it!!!" Not even a minute later I hear Gavin screaming "Ahhhhh!" So I rush downstairs saying "Whats wrong, whats wrong!" He goes to me.. "I have poop on my fooooooooooooot!"

He stepped in it.

I'm like... "Okay, its okay we'll clean it off." So I run over and clean his foot off and the whole time I'm doing this, Gavin is just gagging (the kid has a weak stomach). I tell him... "Gavin, if you're going to throw up... RUN to the bathroom!" He assures me he is fine and he is not going to throw up. Two seconds later I hear a splat on the floor. I turn around to find puke right by his feet. At this point I am COMPLETELY disgusted and feel like puking myself. But it doesn't end there. I get his puke on the floor cleaned up and find out he has puked two more times, but this time not on the floor.... ON THE COUCH!

Oh my gosh, I could have killed the dog that day for pooping on the floor and causing this fiasco. I think Gavin's weak stomach was a combination of smelling poop, stepping in poop, AND the gross sour apple slush he drank an hour before. Poor kid, no more slush's for him.

So all that happened about four days ago. Then yesterday, I'm feeling pretty good because Kenna has FINALLY been eating baby food so I'm not having to nurse her every two hours or force her to take formula. Well we had had a long day and got home around 6pm after sitting in traffic for an hour, listening to Kenna scream the whole way home (she was hungry and I think she's teething). We get home and I nurse her, thinking she'll go to sleep for an hour and I will finally have some peace and quiet.

Well she had other plans... no nap time for her, no peace and quiet for me.

An hour and a half after I nursed her, she started acting like she was hungry again so I got her some sweet potatoes (her favorite) and started feeding her. She was SCARFING them down until the last bite. I got up to put her bowl and spoon in the sink and what happens.... She starts VOMITING, I mean PROJECTILE VOMITING. Every ounce of milk she had before, and every bite of sweet potatoes she just ate... It all came right back up and into her lap. SO GROSS.

I have had my fair share of cleaning up poop and vomit, I mean having four dogs and two kids will give you that. But in four days..... gross. I would rather clean up poop than vomit!

Tis The Season

Can't believe Kenna is five months old today. Seems like just yesterday we were coming home from the hospital with her! But what is even more hard to believe is the fact that I have been able to nurse her this long. I'm ready for that to be over, but there is no end in sight. Kenna REFUSES to eat ANY sort of baby food. She spits it out at me and has just recently started swatting the spoon away from her mouth... greaaaaaaaat. She absolutely hates formula and will only take it when she is at my Mom's and she knows she has no other option. It is quite frustrating.

Gav is doing wonderful. He is very into tattoos at the moment (the rub-ons of course). And all he talks about these days is CHRISTMAS! Every morning, afternoon and night he says to me... "Mommy, its almost Christmas time!" It is adorable. He also lets me know every day that he wants a red motorcycle for Christmas, and that he is going to tell Santa that. I think this is the year he will absolutely love and really understand Christmas.

He loved Halloween this year! He had a birthday party to go to that day so he got to wear his costume, and got his face painted (for the first time). Then we came home and went trick or treating, yes, he actually did it this year. Last year I think he got to our neighbor's house and that was it. He was not into it at all so we came home and he passed out candy. This year he didn't want to stop trick or treating, and he woke up the next morning saying... "Can we go trick or treating today?" So cute.

The countdown is on! We are going to see Curious George Live on the 21st! Gav is super excited about it! Then we've got Thanksgiving, our Christmas party, Christmas, and New Years! I love this time of year and all the Holidays :)