Monthly Archives: September 2013

When no one is watching…

Miss Rylee,

There are moments as a parent that will stop you in your tracks. Last weekend was one of those moments for me.

Ten, twenty, even thirty years from now you may not remember that day, but I will.

Your dad, sister, you and I piled in the car and headed over to Bend for Cousin Connor’s super hero birthday party. It was a great day.

Part of the party was a “super hero training course” where you had various obstacles to complete around their backyard. While all the kids were running around having a good time a “super villain” came out and dropped “bombs” on you guys. They were balloons and you had to run around and pop them as fast as possible to “save the city”. Everyone was having lots of fun running around making the “bombs” blow up.

There was a boy there. He was bigger than you. He was louder than you. He knew more of the other kids than you did.

You both went for the same balloon. You beat him to it. You popped it. You giggled in delight. He was mad. He threw himself on the ground and started crying, frustrated that you beat him to the balloon and that he didn’t get to pop it. You noticed him, but seemed to move on to grab the next bomb that was being dropped. You were having so much fun.

That’s when something extraordinary happened.

Instead of grabbing the next balloon, one of the last ones, and popping it, you rushed to grab it and you immediately ran over to that boy, who was still lying on the ground, and handed it to him.

When your dad was telling me this story, it was at this point that my heart stopped. I may have got a tiny bit teary eyed.

The truest test of one’s character is how they act when they think no one is watching.

Well, your dad saw this whole thing take place. You had no idea he was watching your every move, you were just doing what you thought was the right thing to do. As soon as it happened he called you over to him. He hugged you as tight as he could, kissed you on the top of your head and told you how proud of you we are.

You smiled at him and said thanks. Then ran back to the obstacle course to keep playing.

From the time you took it upon yourself to thank soldiers sitting in a restaurant for their service, now to this, I am continually amazed by your kind heart and your thoughtful, gentle nature.

You really are a super hero.

I am so proud of the little lady you are becoming.

I love you,

Mama

Taco Tuesday Remix: Pillsbury Taco Melts

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It hasn’t exactly been a secret that our {read: my} transition from summer to school year has been…rough. Things seem to be settling into a groove now. I think. I hope. It gets easier right?

Through this transition, I’ve found that there are just some things that are out of my control. Like how long Reese naps at daycare, for example. But other things, I have complete control over. If you’ve been around these parts for long, you know I’m a huge advocate for meal planning. These last couple of weeks I’ve added another aspect of meal planning to my arsenal: pre-prep. Anything that can be prepped the night before, once the kids are in bed, is automatically at the top of my list of recipes to try.

When I was perusing the different recipes on Pillsbury’s website, I had specific criteria in mind. It had to be easy, quick, something that could be pre-prepped and I wanted to have the ingredients on hand {sponsored post aside, we almost always have a can of Pillsbury biscuits in our fridge}. When I found the recipe for Taco Melts, I knew I’d found the winner. Anything that incorporates Taco Tuesday is a always going to be a hit in my house.

Anytime Rylee gets to use the rolling pin she’s all about helping with dinner prep! Plus it frees up my arms to hold a certain fussy one-year-old.

Since we eat dinner as a family 99% of the time, Ry & I were able to prep this meal as soon as we got home and then wait until Andy was close before we put them in the oven. Then we were sitting down for dinner just minutes after he walked in the door!

In addition to the taco melts, I also warmed up some refried beans and opened up a bag of pre-made salad mix. Doesn’t get much easier than that!

While I didn’t follow the recipe to a T {get it? T for taco!?}, I didn’t make many changes. The main thing I did was melt the cheese in with the meat and seasoning instead of sprinkling it on top of the meat before crimping them closed. I’ve found the melty cheese works well as a binder and makes them less messy for me to assemble. I also set aside some of the meat without the salsa to make melts for the girls since they aren’t so much into spicy things.

Overall, this recipe was great. Like I said, it was easy to prepare, it got Rylee involved and the whole family loved it {I totally ate the leftovers for breakfast the next morning}. Win-win-win.

I’m already thinking of ways I can incorporate this style of recipe into more of my meals…next up? Ham & Egg melts. Who doesn’t love brinner? YUMM! For more ideas, they’ve even put together a free downloadable recipe book!

Thanks to Pillsbury for helping make my transition back to school a little bit easier!

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective. The content and opinions expressed here are all my own and are not indicative of the opinions or positions of General Mills. Compensation was provided by General Mills via Clever Girls Collective.

Scenes from the Weekend

How I wake up each morning…

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Monday: Fuuuuuu….how is it time to wake up already!?

Tuesday: Ugh. Tuesday. At least it’s Taco Tuesday.

Wednesday: HOW IS IT ONLY WEDNESDAY!? I am so tired. Why am I always so tired on Wednesdays?

Thursday: Holy crap, it’s Thursday already!? Where has the week gone!?

Friday: Hooray for Friday!!

Saturday: Saturday…glorious Saturday. Welcome back.

Sunday: Woo-hoo I still have all day today too!

I am not even kidding you, these are almost the exact thoughts that happen each morning. The Wednesday to Thursday leap is funny to me, especially considering I’m the one thinking it every week. I know…I don’t get me either. This is the first weekend I haven’t had to work in a while. I’m looking forward to some much needed family time. And laundry time. And clean bed sheets time. And sweeping time. And vacuuming time. And sunshine. Lots of sunshine.

But first? Girls night.

Seriously…T-G-I-F.

And also? Cheers!

New School Year Transitions

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I know what you’re thinking…ugh, here she goes again…complaining about back to school.

And I’d like to tell you you’re wrong. But you’re not. You’re 100% right.

I don’t know what it is about this year, but I swear this is the worst year yet for the back to school transition. I’m having a tough time with it. Not in the “oh my baby is just starting kindergarten, she’s getting so big, where does time go, I think I’ll cry” kind of way. But more of the “holy crap how is it already 6 PM and we are just getting home and Reese only wants to be held and holy crap she’s tired and how am I going to make dinner like this and what time is Andy going to be home” kind of way.

I end every night completely exhausted and I wake up the next morning the same way.

Now we’re talking about signing Rylee up for soccer. Can I tell you a secret? I have purposefully avoided any kind of organized group activity thus far. No gymnastics. No dance. Nothing. Hardly even an official play date with friends. Not because I don’t want my girls to join organized activities, but because with all that we juggle as full-time-plus working parents and property owners, I couldn’t imagine willingly adding one.more.thing. into the mix.

But here we are.

When the flyer about soccer sign-ups was sent home with Rylee last week, I asked her about it. She said she didn’t want to play. I silently cheered and let out a sigh of relief.

But is that really it? No. It’s not. At this point am I doing her a disservice by just accepting her meh “no” and moving on? All because I selfishly don’t want to have to figure out how soccer practices during the week and weekend games will fit into our already hectic lives? How is she going to know whether or not soccer is her thing if she never even tries it.

{Personally, I don’t think soccer will be her thing. She’s very athletic, and quite quick actually, but not particularly aggressive. I think volleyball or softball or even track will be more her style, but I suppose only time will tell.}

So I’ve made a couple of phone calls. First we’re going to see if her after school care place is going to put together a team. They did it last year and the kids practice in the after-school hours instead of later in the evening. Of course we’d still have to fit in weekend games, but that’s much more doable. If that doesn’t work out, we’ll likely sign her up for soccer at her elementary school. That will mean evening practices and quite a little more schedule juggling.

Am I ready for all of this? No. Not in the least bit. But if it’s what’s best for Rylee and what she wants, then I guess we’ll make it work.

Looking ahead to our future? I can’t imagine what it’s going to be like once both girls are in school.

I swear I’ve heard from somewhere that it gets easier. So…when exactly is that?

Somewhere In The Middle

Mostly Average Accounts of the World's Okayest Mom.