Brody's meeting with the county.....

We had our meeting with the people from "Child Find" for Loudoun County this morning.  Basically someone played with and observed Brody while I got a TON of more paperwork to look over.

At the end of the meeting they decided that we are taking the next step ie. another meeting.  lol  So we go back in early May for that meeting.  Before that meeting a social worker will apparently call me and get Brody's social/birth history which they explained to mean everything about his life up to now....my pregnancy, his birth, health history, social situations etc.  At that meeting in early May they will be doing a psychological evaluation and a speech/language evaluation as well.  Hopefully we will know what services (if any) he qualifies for after that meeting.  It could be as simple as speech therapy at Travis' elementary school or he could qualify for the county's preschool program 2-5 days a week.  We will just have to wait and see I guess!

Brody knows how to say most of his letters and a new numbers but he still has very few words.  He can say (and know what they mean/say them more than once lol) go, giggy for Tiggy, shoe and key.  I know key is a random word since we don't even use keys for our cars etc. but he has letter flash cards and the letter "k" has a "key" on the other side.  ;)

I will update in May when we have the next meeting but I'm sure by then he will be speaking sentences and reading books.  lol

2nd grade words? Are you sure?

I am still shocked at the words Travis comes home with every week.  Once again this week is no different.  I just wish they taught the kids what these giant words meant!  lol

Funny face!

Brody made this really funny face in the bath the other day--not sure what this face "means" but I thought I would share!

Video from the playground

Brody and I walked to pick up Travis from school today and took a long detour to the school playground.  The kids had a great time.  Hopefully we have many more spring days like this to come!  I really like spring--just not all the rain that normally comes with it.  ;)

Easy King Cake Knots- recipe review

Shocker I found another recipe on Pinterest.  ;)  You can find the recipe here.  On Tuesday we had a Mardi Gras inspired meal of red beans and rice with turkey sausage for dinner and I decided to make these "King Cake Knots" to go along it for dessert.  They were pretty easy to make like the title states.  A few steps were involved but they were easy.  The easiest part for me was the colored sugar at the end--I bought the 4 colors in one shaker thing at Michael's (I will be buying the other colors with coupons soon-lol)-took the top off-held my finger over the pink part and shook away!  All 3 colors were on there so fast this way!  This would also work well for other holidays in other colors etc. They were best the day off but like some bread products they were a little chewy and hard the next day.  Just an FYI.  :)   Here are my pictures-before, during and after--

On their way into the oven

Cooked up and look and smell good!

Mmmmmm sugar.......

This was the sugar container--the top can pop on and off and then you can shake whichever color/colors you want!

Do you use Target coupons?

The best part about the Target coupons is they can be used WITH manufacturer's coupons!  Everything in this picture cost me $13.  My savings for the trip according to my receipt?  $27!  If you need the link to the Target coupons (tc) you can find them here. Some of the other coupons were found in the Sunday paper (sp) and others on the web (webc).  If they were on the web I would have gotten them here but I'm not sure if they are all still available.

Kraft Homestyle Mac and Cheese- on sale $1.79 - $1 off coupon (sp) = .79
Welch's Natural Grape Jelly- $1.69 - $1 off coupon (tc) = .69
Up and Up 50 count ibuprofen- $1.77 - $1 off coupon (tc) = .77 (there was a 24 count bottle that would've been free with this coupon but the store was out)
Up and Up 50 count cotton swabs .99 -$1 off coupon (tc) = FREE
Quaker granola bars $2 per box = $8 - two $1 off 2 boxes coupons (sp) = $6 or $1.50 per box
Activia yogurt- on sale $2 each - $2 off 2 packs coupon (tc) and $1 off one pack (sp) = $1 for both packs!
Birdseye steamfresh veggies-on sale for $1 each= $4 - two $1 off 2 packs coupons = $2 total or .50 each!
Mars candy packs- on sale for $1.34 for the large boxes ($4.02 total) and .10 for the one pack - two $1.50 off 2 Mars seasonal products = $1.12 for all of the candy shown!

Skinny Chicken Enchiladas-recipe feedback

Monday night I tacked a new recipe that I found on Pinterest.  Skinny Chicken Enchiladas that you can find here.  They were super easy to make and SO GOOD!  The recipe claims they are 148 calories per serving but my tortillas must have been a higher calorie/low carb tortilla because mine came out to be 185 calories per enchilada.  Everyone ate them-even Travis who refused to even try them at first.  They were also good leftover for lunch yesterday!  Definitely a keeper of a recipe!

Scrapbook pages from last Friday night.....crap now I have the Katy Perry song in my head

On Friday I had Cynde and Katie over to work on some pages.  I wasn't able to do anything really until Brody went to bed but.....I was able to finish these 3 spreads.  The top one and the bottom one I obviously created myself and the one in the middle was a kit.  The kits are all SO CUTE!  It's going to be hard for me to not go 100% kit.  ;)  Though the other 2 pages aren't terrible.  :)  More and more pages to come I hope!

Warmer than average temps = cleaning up the garage

On Saturday the temps were in the high 50s/low 60s so the boys and I went outside.  Most of the time Brody was being entertained by Travis and his 2 friends that came over so I decided to work on the garage a little.  Of course I forgot to take a before picture but just imagine the same space with a small path to walk through.  Yes we have too much stuff and yes we can get rid of some things and use the wall space and shelving better but at that moment it was the best I could do--since it meant me popping out every few seconds to see where Brody was--or trying to keep him in the garage with me.  ;)  I hope to eventually have enough stuff off the floor that we could park BOTH cars in the garage for once.  That has never happened in the 10 years we have lived here so we shall see.  ;)

More than just a tiny walking path!

Bulky things on the left--I need to get Evan to hang those cornhole boards since they take up a lot of space (they are behind the bike and to the right of the jogging stroller)

View into the house-that ladder is normally hanging on the wall but I wasn't sure which wall/hook

This brown box is our old kitchen trash can!  Travis broke the lid and it now has a new  job housing our tailgate chairs and table!

Brody is all boy

He loves to play with trucks and get mud all over him.  Yep he's all boy!  Here is a glimpse into my spring and summer!  LOL

Menu February 20-26

Next week will be a "eat whatever we have" week but this week we are doing some of that with the Let's Dish stuff and adding in a few new recipes.

Monday-  Skinny Chicken Enchiladas
Tuesday-  Skinny Red Beans and Rice and Easy King Cake Knots in honor of Mardi Gras
Wednesday-  Tennessee Bourbon Glazed Chicken from Let's Dish
Thursday-  Lemon and Sweet Basil Shrimp over Pearl Couscous from Let's Dish
Friday-  Breakfast for Dinner
Saturday-  Sesame Apricot Chicken with Jasmine Rice from Let's Dish
Sunday-  Crockpot Chicken Taco Chili from Skinnytaste

Acrobatics

I was able to catch Brody on video the other morning climbing out of his crib.  I was just about to change him into his clothes (which explains the diaper only look for him) when he popped himself head first into the crib.  I figured it was time to watch how he did his trick.  Since then I have seen him do it again and he is getting MUCH faster at it.  LOL  Hopefully you can view the video on YouTube here.

Big brother/helper

Travis was "helping" Brody eat some fruit salad at the party this morning.  I say "helping" because more than once it ended up with Brody having a HUGE piece of fruit in his mouth and me having to fish it out.  Travis doesn't really grasp the deal about Brody needing small bites.  ;)  BUT THE BREAKING NEWS HERE IS.....THAT BRODY ATE BOTH CANTALOUPE AND HONEYDEW!  He is the pickiest eater on the planet so this was awesome.  The only fruit he had been eating consistently were grapes/raisins.  Baby steps.....baby steps.

"I will help you"

"Stuff it all in!"

"I do it myself"

Dex 1 Brody 0

Earlier this morning Brody was hitting Dex.  (he learned this bad habit from Travis)  I told him "nice touches" about a million times and showed him how to do that.  Well a few minutes later Dex sat on Brody's letter flash cards.  Uh oh.  Brody reaches in to pick up one or some of the cards and.......WHACK!  This was the aftermath:

About 20 minutes later it looks better but still not great.  Thankfully he was quick to close his eye!

He napped anyway--LOL

Earlier today I wrote about how Brody was getting out of his crib.  Well today like every day I put him in his crib at 1pm for his "nap" and waited to see what happened.  About a minute later I could tell he was out of the crib.  I heard Brody was walking around in his room....turning on the lights...."talking" and playing with toys and then I heard silence.  After a few minutes I tip toed into his room and found this......

It's a good thing he always throws his blankets and stuffed friends out of the bed before he gets out!  LOL  I had to wake him up to get Travis at school and then I saw this....

This was his first nap since Saturday.  I guess he needed it.  :)  I guess a toddler bed is in our future since the bed rails for his convertible crib aren't available to order right now.  <grrrr>

My days of peace from 1-3 are apparently over.....

Brody has figured out how to climb out of his crib and therefore skip his nap.    At first I thought he was using the table that was next to his bed for his escape--so I moved it away from the bed like this

And maybe 2 minutes later he is walking out of his room like he was never in the bed.  UGH!  Since then I have put a child lock on the inside of his door so he can't get out--Mommy needs at least 15 minutes to take a freaking shower people!  lol  So we are going to have to put together his big boy bed sooner rather than later.  Mostly because if I left him in there and he got tired he can't get back into the crib but he could get back in bed with a big boy bed.  It really sucks though since before I could just pop him in his crib and he would read a book or talk until he fell asleep.  Now I feel I will find him asleep on the floor more often than not........

and yes putting the monkeys on his wall before he was born made this an omen--Travis said yesterday "Brody is only half human"  me-"Really?  What is the other half"  Travis-"monkey!  duh!".  LOL

Super Doubles week at Harris Teeter!

I went this morning and got a decent amount of stuff for $24!  Though I have since looked at my receipt and she missed or dropped a coupon and I don't know which product it was for but I know it was .75 which they would've doubled.  So my total really should be $22.  Oh well.  Here is what I got and a basic description on the pricing.  Some things I had paper coupons, a sale price and an e-vic coupon or some combo.  If it was a coupon from the Sunday paper it will have (sp) and if it is from a site like coupons.com it will say (webc).

Oops my finger seems to be in the picture but you get the idea.  This was mainly from the dairy section.

Cinnamon rolls 2/$4 plus an e-vic of .40 and a .40 coupon that doubled to .80 = 2/$2.80
Activia yogurt $2.89 and I had a $1 off coupon (sp) that doubled to $2 = .89
Gogurt yogurt 4/$9 plus a .75 e-vic and a .75 coupon (sp) that doubled to $1.50 = 2/$2.25
Yoplait greek yogurt 10/$10 plus an e-vic of .50 and a .50 coupon (sp) that doubled to $1 = 2/.50
Yoplait light yogurt 10/$6 plus a .40 e-vic and a .40 off 6 coupon (sp) that doubled to .80 = 6/$2.40

Granola bars $2.39 each plus a $1/2 coupon (sp) that doubled to $2 = $1.39 per box
Fruit snacks 2/$4 plus .50 e-vic plis .50 coupon (sp) that doubled to $1 = 2/$2.50
Chex cereal 2/$5 plus a $1 off coupon (webc) that doubled to $2 = $2/$3
Nilla wafers $2.99 plus $1 off coupon (webc) that doubled to $2 = .99
Welch's grape juice 2/$6 plus $1 off couppon (sp) that doubled to $2 = $1

Crock pot liners $3.69 plus $1 off coupon (sp) that doubled to $2 = $1.69 -this is still a lot but I love these liners!
Romano cheese $2.99 plus $1 off coupon (sp) that doubled to $2 = .99
Yoplait smoothie $3.99 plus .75 e-vic plus a .75 coupon (sp) that doubled to $1.50 = $1.74
Kikkoman soy sauce $1.59 plus a $1 off coupon (webc) that almost doubles = FREE

That was it.  A lot of these things (like the yogurt and granola bars) are staples around here.  So it's a bonus to get a sale price/coupon deal on things like that.  I may be searching some of the Internet coupon sites to see what other coupons I can use.

Valentine's day at the Ross house

Started out the day with heart shaped waffles for breakfast

Then got the "heart attack" idea from Pinterest and decorated the door in the mud room

Decided to use kitchen shears to make our biscuits into hearts for dinner

Pasta pomodoro and biscuit pac men...I mean hearts.  lol

Valentine's dessert--just cut a Twinkie in half!  :)

Motivation

I have hung one of my bikinis in the pantry.  Soon I will be adding some type of fit body picture to the door and a picture of me at my heaviest as well.  I am also going to switch out the bikinis occasionally so I don't get bored with seeing the same one and let it blend into the background.  ;)

Last night it actually stopped me from getting a snack.  It was like it talked to me.....it said "STEP AWAY FROM THE COOKIES B*&%$!"  lol

How are you motivated?  :)

New scrapbook layouts

I got together with Judie on Friday night and got a few more pages done!  Woohoo!  I am on a roll!  Getting together with Cynde and Katie on Friday night as well.  :)

A kit for Grandma Margaret's 93rd birthday party.  The blank spot on the right will be some journaling that I have to print out.

Brody's surgery page with the band aid stickers added in

The rest of our day at the birthday party with the 2nd cousins.

Snow kit with the pictures added in

The rest of my snow pictures--lol

Have you washed a sticker on your kids' clothes?

Apparently Travis' favorite hockey jersey went through the washer and the dryer with one of the ice house "free skate" stickers on it.    When it came out of the dryer it looked MUCH worse than the picture below.  I had picked at the sticker mess and picked at it to try to get it off but this was the best I could do.

Then for some reason it dawned on me to use the hair dryer on it!  It works on the stickers that are on picture frames right?  So I used the hair dryer on hot for about 30 seconds and then rubbed the fabric with my finger and it STARTED TO COME OFF!  Eventually it looked like this--I will work on it a little more but I am nervous to have the high heat near the lettering on the jersey for too long.  So if you ever happen to wash/dry a sticker and have that gooey mess in the end now you know what to do!

Menu February 13-19

Monday- Leftovers of the Obama Family Chili Recipe
Tuesday- Pasta Pomodoro from Let's Dish
Wednesday- Skinny Chicken Stroganoff
Thursday- Pretzel dusted chicken tenders from Let's Dish with green beans and mashed potatoes
Friday- Breakfast for dinner
Saturday- Pantry/freezer day
Sunday- Skinny Chicken Enchiladas

Videos from the belt test

Some form and the 1 second that Travis broke his board.  LOL

The "Clean Blinds" Project

Two days ago I decided to start this project for what seems like the millionth time.  You see I have all wooden blinds in this house and not one thing I have bought in the past to make cleaning them easier has ever worked.  Those swiffer looking things for blinds don't get but maybe 1/2 the dust and closing them and wiping them down only gets some of it.  

The only way to really get them clean is to do one slat at a time.  O M G.....this takes forever.  Which is why I have started the "clean blinds" project so I tackle one room at a time with this crazy slow method.  It took me almost 30  minutes the other day to do the 5 blinds in our kitchen--but they are dust free now!  You may be asking what do I use to clean them?  Just a plain old white cloth.....why white?  I like that it's white so I can see how much crap was on the blinds and that the time I am spending is worth it.  ;)

Today I am tackling the family room--maybe I will be done in a week--maybe not but at least it's getting done....right?  ;)

Cute but destructive

Brody was crawling all over me last night while I was attempting to eat dinner.  So this......

Made this mark in my dip......for some reason I just couldn't use my dip anymore.  (it was a hosin/mayo dip for the tilapia)  LOL  Tonight I will be sure to eat at the table--who knows what would happen if he did that with spaghetti!  :)

I LOVE Gym-Pact!

I am getting PAID to be at the gym!  For those that haven't heard of this handy app/website yet you can see the website and read the info HERE.  I heard about it at the gym about a month ago from one of the instructors and did some research before officially signing up.  (ironically she doesn't have a smart phone so she isn't using it)

Basically if you have an iPhone (or an iTouch or Ipad and wifi at your gym) you check into your gym when you get there and check out when you leave. On the website or on the app by Sunday night you commit to a pact for the week--my current pact is 6 days a week at the gym and my "stakes" are $5 a missed day.  You can change your pact weekly in case you know things will be different from week to week and you can also put your account on hold if you are on vacation etc.  So if you make your weekly pact you get a portion of the money other people had to pay because they missed their pact--but if I missed  my pact by say 2 days I would have to pay $10.  This app/website incentivizes you to use your gym membership you already pay for!

I am on week #3 right now and in the first 2 weeks I made $6.  Now I know it's only $6 but it's $6 I wouldn't have made without the app.  lol  I figure at this rate I can make enough money to buy something at the Lululemon store.  :)  (my favorite workout clothing store)  Oh and the money can be withdraw once you hit $10 via Paypal.

Right now it only works for iPhone but they are currently working on an app for Droid users as well.  You can email them to be a beta tester for the Droid and they may reach out to you.  As more and more people start using this......the more money you can make!  I love it!  :)

There are a bunch of articles out there on the app/site but here is one.  If you are already going to the gym you have nothing to lose!  And if you are one of those people that need the incentive to get to the gym--this is a GREAT way to do it!  The people behind the site are VERY responsive--I was having issues with the app checking me out (it says you are being naughty for leaving before your workout is over) when I was still at the gym.  They emailed me back saying they increased the radius of the gym and I haven't had an issue every since!

Pinterest is beyond addicting!

Have you been as obsessed with pinning things as I have?  If you aren't pinning things yet.....you should be and can find the link here.

I love that you can make your own boards aka a place to find those pins later.  At first I had just a "recipes" board but then I realized I needed a board for apps, breakfast, main/sides, desserts, adult drinks and so forth!  And yes I have separate boards for all of the holidays......Yikes--lol.

There are people who just like to pin things and then there are people that actually follow through why trying things that they pin.  I have done a bunch of crafts that I found there and made a bunch of the recipes as well.  I just love it.  Though I did find it helpful the other day to clean up my boards since I had some dups and some other things I probably would never have made, done etc.

I also learned the other day how to "quiet" some people's pins from my "feed".  What do I mean?  Well for instance a few of my friends are teachers and they obviously pin things on boards labeled things like "classroom ideas".  Well I'm not a teacher so I went to a few pages and just clicked "unfollow" to that particular board.  So I still see all of their other boards like recipes, crafts etc just not the classroom/teacher stuff.  Is it necessary to do that?  No but I liked that it cleaned up my feed into things that I might re-pin and so forth.

Here's to a successful pinning day! I wonder what recipe, craft, idea I will find there today!  :)

Brody is still a letters guy

We got some new letters in the house yesterday and Brody immediately wanted to open them.  They are the type that stick to the walls of your bathroom--you can find them here.  It's the whole alphabet of course and numbers 0-9.  He is getting super interested in numbers as well so I thought this was perfect.  Tonight is a bath night but for now he plays with them like this:

New scrapbook pages

These pages are the last few of 2010....aka my last 8 1/2 x10 pages and the 1st few of my new 2011 book which is 12x12. :)

Christmas am

More Christmas am

Christmas am at my parents house (with the flash)

The same one without the flash--I should just force the flash on so the pages look better   ;)

More Christmas

Neighborhood NYE Progressive Dinner

The 1st page of my new 12x12 album--I ran out of those letters but I got more--it will read "the monkeys"  LOL

Brody's ear tube surgery--I will be adding some band aids or something eventually