I'm Still Alive!

It's been a crazy month, or so, around here.  It is always like this at the beginning of the school year.  It makes me absolutely crazy, but I'm finally beginning to feel like I can breathe a little.  Of course, with the beginning-of-the-school-year craziness I haven't been cooking a lot and I feel absolutely sick about it.  Next week I will be back with my "What's for Dinner?" posts, but until then guess what happened today???...

Caroline lost her first tooth!!!! 

She's growing up way too fast and she's totally excited about it.  Her Mom and Dad, not so much.  :(

Things I'm Loving {Right Now)

You can tell a lot about a person by the things that they love and enjoy.  Besides my family and friends, here are some things that I'm absolutely loving right now.  

I'm loving pretty cupcake liners.  I'm loving Glory at Glorious Treats because she is always making yummy cupcakes in pretty liners.  How fabulous is this display of her cupcake liners collection?  I'm loving that, too!

Source for image: Glorious Treats

I'm loving Pinterest.  It's a great way to catalog fabulous things that you find online and it's VERY addictive!  If you haven't been pinning, you must check it out!  If you need for me to send you an invite (it's an invitation only thing), just leave me your e-mail address.  Be sure to follow me! 

I'm loving Paper Mate mechanical pencils.  I was getting Caroline's school supplies today and I had to pick up another pack because the colors were a little different from the 2 dozen that I already have at home and in my classroom.  I seriously have a pencil to color coordinate with every outfit in my closet.  SAD!

Source for Image: Office Depot

I'm loving Happy Hour Cranberry Limeades from Sonic.  With the blistering hot temperatures that we've been experiencing, a Cranberry Limeade makes it all okay.  During the school year, I reward myself with a Cranberry Limeade if I leave school by 3:30.  Talk about motivation to get out of there early!

I'm loving big, funky rings!  For a couple of years I've been wanting to wear more jewelry (considering I usually only wear my wedding rings), so I just jumped right in there and started purchasing big rings.

 Image Source: Etsy

I'm loving my Tervis Tumbler.  I drink so much more water when I use one.  You really can't go wrong with these cups because they have a lifetime warranty and if you buy them from Bed, Bath & Beyond you get them a little bit cheaper by using one of their coupons.  

Image Source: Tervis 

What's for Dinner? {August 1-7}

I've been a bit of a slacker.  Last week I didn't post WFD, and it showed.  I can't even tell you what I cooked, or if I even cooked.  Pretty sad!  So, I guess my weekly WFD posts make me accountable.  I do better when I'm held accountable, so I'm not going to be able to slack off anymore, even if only for the sake of our wallets. 

Monday - Take out from Deno's

Tuesday - Parmesan Pork Chops, wild rice, and salad

Wednesday - Night out with some girlfriends at Bonefish Grill.  Pizza for everyone else.

Thursday - Italian Pasta Bake & salad

Friday - Chicken Enchiladas {can't wait to try this recipe... looks delicious!}

Saturday - Salmon Croquettes, grits, and something green

Sunday - Amy's Graduation Party and dinner at the lake

Oh, and I wanted to mention that Christopher qualified for speech!  I'm so excited, because I think he needs a little bit of a boost and he'll be on his way to having us {and everyone else} understand him... well, at least what he is saying.  :)

Funny Cookie Cake

What happens when you have a Groupon for a cookie cake and no occasion to use the cookie cake for? 

You get this...

A few weeks ago I received a friendly reminder to use my Groupon because it was about to expire.  So, I sent Will out to have a generic looking cookie cake made and this is what he ordered.  You see, our sweet Lily has been using the term "stinky eye brawl" for the past few months.  She'll tell her sister in an instant that she has a stinky eye brawl or that she will kick her in her stinky eye brawl (not so nice).  I asked Will what the teen taking his order for the cake thought, and he said he got a kick out of it even without an explanation.  Needless to say, I didn't volunteer to pick the cake up.  There was no way my face was going to be connected to this cake.  I'm sure the next time Will walks by the cookie place in the mall, he'll be remembered as the Stinky Eye Brawl Man!

Christopher & Speech Screening

Christopher and I got to spend the day together because he had his speech screening today and I didn't want the girls to be in the way during his evaluation, so I took them to our childcare provider.  After we dropped the girls off, we ran a few errands {shopping}and then met up with Will for lunch.  Afterward, I rushed home hoping to be able to put Christopher down for a short nap before the evaluator came, but she ended up calling shortly after we got home to let me know that she'd be a little early {BOO!}.  All in all, Christopher did a great job (no major meltdowns) while she was here, even though I know he was tired.  I think he did beautifully showing off his motor skills, but when she got to the speech portion there was point where she only understood 15% of what he said in a given period of time.  Christopher was so frustrated by her not understanding what he was "talking" about that he turned his back to her and walked away with his hands up in an "I don't know" fashion.  The evaluator turned to me in the most serious way and said, "Well, he sure does try!"  It's not very funny seeing it typed out, but the way she said it makes me laugh every time I play it out in my mind. 

I think Christopher enjoyed being the only child, even if only for a day, because when we got ready to leave home to pick the girls up he began shaking his head so hard that I was afraid it would pop off of his little neck.  After a bit of a power struggle he ended up falling asleep on the way, but when he woke up to find Caroline and Lily in the car he cried hard for a few minutes.  Bless his heart. 

We'll know on Wednesday if he qualifies for services or not.  Keeping my fingers crossed, because I know {as his Mommy} that he needs some help. 

Traces & Silhouettes

You guys already know that I love America's Got Talent, especially this season with the Silhouettes in the line-up.  If I was betting woman, I would bet that they are going to win the competition this season.  The other night the Silhouettes performed and I was amazed, yet again.  Last night we found out that they are moving on to the next round, and I couldn't have been more thrilled!!!  To top that good news off, there was a guest performance by a wonderful acrobatic group called Traces.  As were watching them we were all yelling, "OHHHHH!"  Caroline even busted out saying, "Oh my goodness, I think I'm going to poop!"... meaning the performance was intense, in a good way. Wonder where she got that from?  ::blush::  Seriously though, those guys were doing things that I haven't ever seen acrobats do.  LOVE THEM!

Please enjoy the performances by the Silhouettes and Traces below.  Be sure to double click on the videos after they begin playing, so that you can see them full screen.

Yummy Chocolate Chip Cookies

I told you guys that I was in a baking mood, so I baked Award Winning Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies last night... about 72 of them.  I was totally out of control tasting a cookie from each batch that I took from the oven.  I felt like I was doing Christmas baking because the amount of cookies that this recipe made was PERFECT for gift giving.  I ended up putting several cookies in a couple of goodie boxes, and gave one box to my parents and another box to our neighbor.  There's plenty more to give away, but I'm not sure I want to share anymore.  I had been going back and forth, debating on whether or not to try this recipe because one ingredient was throwing me off...PUDDING MIX!  The pudding mix must be the key to these cookies being so yummy and soft.  I'm glad I gave it a shot, because it was totally worth it!

Do you use any recipes that call for pudding mix?