What a wonderful weekend! I know it's snowing up in IL right now. Bummer for all of you northerners! he he he

Since our painting last weekend, Rick and I were determined to have a low-key weekend and that it has been. My mom kept Karys and Titus last night, but Colin fought sleep until 7:30 and that's when Rick got home from work. I did make PW's Chicken Pot Pie last night for dinner and there was some work involved with making that homeade pie crust, but Rick LOVED it! I thought it was okay. Yeah, all that work for just an "okay". My husband said that was the only chicken pot pie he would eat from now on. Hmmm...coming from a man who says he is very simple and easy to please. Can't I just go back to that super easy Bisquick one? (he said no) I also made her Comfort Meatballs, but those were another "okay".

Dinner this week will be:

Blueberry Beef (didn't make it this past week)
Shrimp Kabobs on the grill (tonight)
Stuffed chicken breasts (filled with cheese and asparagus)
Homemade Minestrone soup
Roast chicken

I have a really busy week next week and I love being busy, but I do get a bit overwhelmed sometimes. At least the weather will be nice most of the time. Oh, and it has been determined that our walls do in fact need a second coat. I'm not happy with how it turned out. So, once I am recovered mentally (and financially), then we will be having yet another painting party. *sigh*

Dinner menu this week:

-PW's Chicken Spaghetti (already assembled and in the fridge to be put in the oven this afternoon)
-PW's Chicken Pot Pie (homeade crust)
-PW's Comfort Meatballs
-my friend's recipe for Blueberry Beef


***Rick LOVED the Chicken Spaghetti.***

Today is going to be a BEAUTIFUL day! I'm looking forward to it and this is being said by someone who loves the cold! I am sick of my family being sick though. It got old the second the stomach flu decided to invade certain members of my household. I have sprayed Lysol so many times around my entire house (even my air intake vent!) so I am really baffled that anything could have lived through 3 rounds of disinfecting. But, alas, those cold germs were a little more determined than me and won the battle. I am just so sick of dealing with sickness. Of course, it could be a LOT worse and I am grateful that these are germs that will go away over time. But, Rick has gotten hit pretty hard and he has now lost his voice so I have to stay home today to take care of the boys so that Rick can take it some-what easy since he has no more option days at work. For the entire year. So, regardless of how he feels tomorrow he's going in. I'm dropping Karys off at my mom's house this morning so she can go to church and then she'll spend the day with my mom.

Do any of you have trouble with your children having ungrateful attitudes? Karys never wants to be home. Ever. She'll be gone at school for the entire day and I'll go and pick her up and as soon as she gets into the car she says, "Where are we going?" Me: "home." Her: "I want to go to somebody's house." Yesterday, I sacrificed my alone-time and took her with me to turn my errands and we were gone for over 2 hours and I told her that we were going into this store and then home to eat lunch and she said, "I don't want to go home." I told her that she needed to be happy that she had a nice home to go home to and that she needed to be grateful for that. God wants her to be happy about her home.

I got my baseboards painted yesterday! Ugh, that was something that I was really, REALLY dreading. Actually, I was dreading the taping part. I really wanted to get all of my baseboards done since I had the paint out and everything, but it was stressful enough trying to keep my kids aways from every single wall downstairs (except for bedrooms and the bathroom) so I was a little relieved that I didn't have the whole house to worry about. But, during naptime today I am hoping to get my window sills done, because they now look really, REALLY gross now that the baseboards look all good. I also need to do the door frames, as well. As I was painting Rick asked, "are you just painting over the dirt (on the baseboards)?" Me: "um....yes." I have tried to wipe them down before and it was a lost cause so I just painted right over the dust. Now, if the dust was really bad (like it was behind the secretary piece that I have) then I did wipe it, but the paint covered the dirt well! I bought a high-quality paint that also had primer in it so I was thrilled that it covered so many marks and scuffs. If only it could stay looking this nice and clean. At least I have the option of wiping marks off when they do happen and now that I know that painting them wasn't that big of an undertaking then I won't cringe at the thought of doing it again.

So, painting party for my walls this coming Saturday. I am really ready for the end result! I am ready for my house to look better and most importantly, feel CLEAN. Since I will be staying home today I will be mopping and vacuuming and getting some laundry put away. I'm looking forward to the end result of all of this, too. If only that end result would last longer than an hour though. :)

This has been one VERY rough week for me and to think it's only Wednesday! Fortunately, Rick got home at a decent time tonight. First time since last Thursday. I'm definitely not complaining, per say, but long hours do wear on a mother (and father) after numerous days in a row. But, it'll be "all good" when the paycheck reflecting these hours hits the bank account!

I took Titus to the doctor last Monday afternoon, because he was still having tummy issues and I knew he wasn't still sick, but he just wasn't getting back to normal with food agreeing with him, if you will. The doctor gave me a prescription for Immodium for kids and another for a powder that I sprinkle on his food (probiotic). Titus had lost a pound or two from being sick 2 weeks ago so he was 38 lbs. and 39 inches tall. He's in the 90% for both and I have no doubt that he would have been in the 100% had he not lost some weight. So, my MIL can stop saying that "he's too skinny!" and finally be quiet about it (which she should be anyway).

I also had Colin weighed while I was there, because I had some worry brewing inside of me, but he has gained weight again! Woo hoo! He's 18lbs.12oz. which you would NEVER guess if you saw him. He was also 28 1/2 inches long. His weight was in the 5% and his height was in the 15%. I'll definitely take those percentages since he wasn't on the growth chart for so very long! He's in age-appropriate clothes so he may just be an average Joe when he grows up. Poor little guy is going to be constantly comparing himself to Titus aka "Goliath". I think I would rather have that feud than two girls and the whole "she's prettier than me" thing! Yep, I will definitely take the size thing that is FOR SURE!

I canceled on my plans for tomorrow, because I desperately need to stay home. I'm incredibly exhausted from being busy each morning/afternoon this week and my house has suffered. It looks..alright, but I have 7 loads of laundry that need to be folded, vacuuming to be done and a bathroom that is disgusting! (one out of three ain't bad!) I do have a playdate at my house on Friday morning so hopefully my children will have some mercy on me and take it easy on the 'ol house. A girl's allowed to dream, right?