Weekly ramblings

Well...Were in the midst of yet another fun run of sleepless nights in the Sweet household. When Scarlett wakes up at night, instead of getting her out of her bed/nursing her/etc., I've been laying her back down, saying "lay down", and walking away. Over and over and over and OVERRRR again. It is HEART WRENCHING, seriously. She cries like she feels so hurt and abandoned. It breaks my heart but I'm not going to continue nursing a 14-15 month old 6-8x a night anymore and I don't really feel that the crying it out method is for us, SO, in a nutshell -- this is a compromise. The last two nights she's cried until approximately 2 AM on and off. At about 2, she finally passes out til 7 or so from sheer exhaustion. 

I'm a walking zombie. Doing lots of smart things like sticking metal in the microwave, turning the microwave on for 20 minutes instead of 2. I've been battling a cold/sore throat for a week and on top of that I'm in the midst of a squat / plank challenge (thanks, Ni-Ni.. For the inspiration.) so I can barely walk. I'm limping around SO slowly. In other words, I feel AWESOME ;) ha.. 

We went to Fall Festival this weekend. We were a little disappointed because they didn't have some of the things that they did last fall, that we were really looking forward to (face painting, horse back riding, etc) and we stupidly went during the kids nap time so it was slightly crazy.. When will I ever learn to not take my children out in public from 12-2? J mean really.. 

Monday Ty had the day off so he and the girls carved pumpkins. Kinley even drew her own face on hers! (Mommy cut it out, though.) we lit them and sat them on the front porch and then took a (sweater blanket- duh) wagon walk up and down the street to check their hard work out. While walking down the street we really noticed how some of the leaves are turning colors. We've got some super red and orange ones in our neighborhood already. Ahh :)

We had an impromptu trip to Freddy's for ice cream. Seriously, guys. Andy's is over rated. Freddy's has the BEST ice cream. K got a dirt cup. Ice cream, crushed Oreo, gummy worms. (Mainly only consumed the gummy worms, of course.) and S got her very own big girl cup of (plain vanilla) ice cream. She must have felt really big because she completely refused help eating it. That was fun to clean up. 

The weather has been right up my alley. Super cool, crisp mornings. Now if only we could get a good thunderstorm I would be set. ;) 

Kinley had so much fun carving pumpkins that we decided to get little ones and...  what's better than carving?(not to mention, more kid friendly?) that's right, paint. ;) I just got the little $3-4 pumpkins in the produce section of wal-mart, stripped the kids down and let them go to town with washable kids finger paints. Highly recommend to my mommy friends.

 Tuesday we had ballet, and a little girl fell down during class. Out of 11 little ballerinas, Kinley was the only one to check on her. She ran across the room, helped her up, rubbed the little girls arm and asked if she was ok. She makes me so proud. She really is so beyond her years and such a truly compassionate kid. All of that dancing must have worn her out because she fell asleep on the couch the second we got home. Tu-Tu, shoes, the whole bit. I carried her upstairs to her room and tried to sneak the tu-tu and shoes off but she wasn't having it. So I let her be. It was pretty hilarious seeing her hot mess, bed head roll out of bed in her whole ballerina get up this morning.

Well, Ty just signed us up for netflix and I've got two big sweater blankets calling my name. So, good night, friends. 

Apple Pie Cookie Recipe

Ok - if you're looking for a yummy and fun twist on apple pie- this is it. Plus, they're so cute. It's a must-try.

What you'll need is:

-Pillsbury pie crusts (if you prefer store bought - otherwise you can make your own)

-Caramel sauce 

-Apple pie filling (again, you can do this the from scratch method if preferred.. This is the quickest/easiest way to do it)

-2 eggs

-Cinnamon sugar 

-Nutmeg

-Apple Pie Spice

-round cookie cutter

1. If you went with store bought dough, take a rolling pin and flatten the dough as much as you can to increase it's surface area.

 You may want to put flour down to avoid the dough sticking to the counter tops. 

2. Apply just enough caramel sauce to cover the dough with a thin layer 

3. Finely chop up the apple pie filling and layer on top of the caramel sauce. 

4. Flatten the remaining dough with a rolling pin and cut into thin strips for your basket weave crust top. I personally think the smaller you plan to cut your cookies, the thinner strips you need to slice for your basket weave top. 

5.Weave the dough on top of the pie filling.

6. Use round cookie cutters to cut them out! First batch I did bigger cookies (approx 6-8) and second batch, I used a smaller cookie cutter to get smaller, cuter cookies. (12ish?) Simple enough. 

^ I could have probably cut those thinner and they would have been prettier to look at. I suggest slicing the dough with a plain old pizza cutter. 

5. Once your cookies are all lined on the pan ready to pop in the oven, use the 2 eggs for an egg-wash. Just a light brushing is all they need. 

6. For this step, I combined all of my spices into one old salt shaker. Saves from having to use 3-4 different bottles on each cookie. So, if you have an old salt shaker on hand, I recommend you just throw the cinnamon sugar, apple pie spice, and nutmeg all in together and sprinkle ontop of the egg wash. 

7. Toss in the oven for 20-25 min at 350* and there you have it. 

Feels like FALL!

Finally, finally.. It FEELS like fall! We had a very fun weekend enjoying the beautiful weather. 

Friday, we had "Girls Day Out".. We started the day off by getting manicures with Piggy Polish (if you have a little girl - get this stuff) it's great. It's non-toxic so it's great for little ones who suck their thumbs etc. and it's washable so they can get hands-on with it. Ours consisted of lots of pink, sparkles, and flower stickers .. Obviously. ;) 

We then ran inside and whipped up some kid friendly sushi before going out for the real deal. It's SO easy to make. And great if you've got a picky eater like Kinley. 

1. Remove crust from bread.

2. Flatten bread with rolling pin.

3. Apply PB&J.

4. Slice into thin strips with pizza cutter. 

5. Tightly roll them up. The PB&J will act as glue and hold them together. 

Sooo easy, right? I just threw them in some Tupperware, tossed it in the diaper bag and voila. Instant toddler happiness. We took it with us to entertain the kids at the restaurant. I'm pretty sure Kinley and Caroline had them consumed before our edemame even arrived. AND they were asking for more. Success in my book. 

Now, onto the real deal. Scarlett was scarfing the sushi down and saying "mmm" the whole time. I like this kid. 

After sushi we went to the park and stopped for some ice cream. The girls had a blast and we have a pretty exciting play date in the works for next months "Girls Day Out".. Can't wait! 

We went to Nixa Saturday night after Ty got off work and woke up and celebrated in true fall style all day Sunday. Pumpkin coffee - straight from the gas station, might I add ;), orange hoodies-leggings-boots, AKA, best outfits known to mankind, baby cardi's, Ty and I love dressing the baby like a grandma. Is that mean? ...aaaand lots and lots of time in the kitchen. Baking apple pie cookies, Halloween themed chocolate chip cookies. (Kinley 100% picked this out and specifically asked to bake them on her own.) I like this kid, too.

The apple pie cookies were a lot of fun. I totally recommend them! It's a great thing to make for all of the family get togethers coming up this holiday season. 

We let k completely go to town with her own "pie". Whatever she wanted to add, she could. She ended up with blue frosting, fish sprinkles, banana sprinkles, cinnamon apples, and caramel sauce. Ummm yummy? ;)

Were back home now, so time for some unpacking and laundry. The girls are having a screaming contest in their pajamas. Crazy life I live, I know. 

Hope every one has a good week! 

Impromptu STL/Zoo trip

Well today we had some pretty boring plans to clean out the garage, go grocery shopping, get cars washed, etc. I felt bad, thinking that I could do that stuff any day Ty's at work and didn't want to make the girls suffer through the boringness. Is that a word? 

Anyway, as we were leaving breakfast and heading to grocery shop I said "we should just take them too the zoo.." Next thing you know, were heading down I-70 to STL. Needless to say, Kinley was stoked. When we would peek in the back seat she would whisper (because baby sis was sleeping) "I'm so excited!" .. So cute. 

A last minute zoo trip, that's 2+ hours away is about as spontaneous as we get anymore. And I'm ok with that. ;) 

And OBVIOUSLY, we couldn't leave the zoo without one of these little gems..

We did a little sight seeing while the kids slept..

And we finished the night up with a princess-style pizza party and splashing in mud puddles in the rain. Successful day if you ask me. 

  

Today was in the mid 80's. Yuck! Where are you, October? But by Sunday were supposed to have lows in the 30's. Oh, home sweet, bi-polar Missouri weather, home. 

I am very much anticipating busting out boots, leg warmers and fuzzy blankets this weekend. But until then I'll settle for snuggling my sleeping baby on this couch. Good night. 

Rainy day blog rescue

Well, I thought once we moved to Jefferson City I would have all of the time in the world to blog and keep my house immaculate and .. HA!! It's honestly been a real challenge moving here. I'm "single-parenting" more than ever and everything gets pushed to the way side just so that we can all survive the day. 

Usually, on Saturdays I'm running around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to get stuff together for a family of 4 to make a chaotic, quick trip down to Springfield. We do this almost every single weekend and it's a LOT of work, extremely exhausting and stressful but I will continue to do it as long as we live here. Kinley absolutely lives for going to her grandma and papa's house. 

However, they are calling for quite a bit of rain tonight and I don't feel safe traveling in it. No, not even in my brand new, all-wheel drive Pilot, babe. ;) I don't trust all of those semi trucks slipping and sliding around the interstate so carelessly. So, as long as the rain continues to fall.. We will stay here tonight. The lack of packing I had to do, gave me time to bring a little bit o' life back to the poor old neglected blog. 

Today's consisted of lots and lots of coffee, cleaning and Halloween DVDs galore for the little ones. And maaaybe I squeezed in a little time to check out some etsy goods for our Branson stay-cation this winter. Makes for a good Saturday in my book. 

Happy weekend, everyone. 

Monday comedown.

Every Monday I get a case of post weekend blues. Why, you ask? "But you stay home, you don't go to work, etc etc" you may say. Yes, I do. But I'm not "home" right now. I'm in Jefferson City and this is SO not my home. 

Everybody around me is trying to instill in me a positive attitude about the current situation. While I appreciate their encouragement, and truly do understand why we're here, I am tired of pretending. It's only been 2 months but its felt like so much longer. 

Having kids makes it all so incredibly different, too. So many things about Jefferson City have made our lives so much more stressful. For example, since moving here, Kinley refuses to nap in her room. Something that she did no problem, at home. She's scared of the upstairs, so she wants to nap in our bed. Shes scared to be alone period, shes clinging to me EVERY SINGLE SECOND OF EVERY SINGLE DAY. This makes attempting to give Scarlett naps, tons of fun. Since I can't ever find any peace. The combination of not seeing people I care about every week, and having no space from the kids here, with their new suffocating behaviors, and Ty's longer than ever days has me in a bad downward spiral.

   We have new construction spiders, and I can't even tell you the 48 hours of living hell we went through because she found one on her leg. I don't have help when I grocery shop, and for anyone who wants to make light of this. Please, I encourage you to go shopping alone with my two kids alone. The day Ty was supposed to get off (Mondays) he no longer has off. So we rush home late Saturday night, hang out Sunday, and rush home early Monday morning so he can get back to work. We're limited on when we can travel with the kids, because Scarlett absolutely hates her car seat. So we have to travel late at night or early in the morning when we *KNOW* she'll sleep. We feel cramped being at my parents all week. We miss our friends and the weekly play dates we had. We miss familiarity. Nothing about this town makes sense. From its drive throughs to its stores. Everything's back wards, and flip flopped and upside down. And I'm sick of it. 

I'm sorry if this post is not much fun to real but it's the reality of the now in my life and reality isn't always pretty. 

When it comes down to it, I'm really afraid I'm becoming extremely depressed. I want to go home. Now. That is all I want to do. I have to fight with every ounce of strength I have to do normal every day life, every single day. I couldn't figure out why for a long time. But it's slowly hitting me, that living here is truly making me unhappy in my heart. It's stealing my joy. I miss my home town, I miss my family and friends and I just want to go home. 

I feel like the fact that I'm trying to be so happy and put on such a big show for everyone is making it all so much harder on me. I want to be real. I don't want to be fake. I guess I figured where better to be real than on my own blog. So there you have it.

Before moving here, I absolutely loved and adored almost every second of motherhood. I felt engulfed in mommy is 24:7 and truly loved what I did. But here, I'm so suffocated by the kids being afraid of the new place, the lack of help, the lack of socialization, and the lack of seeing my husband with his new longer shifts, that I feel myself every single day wanting so, so, SO desperately, a break.. And never being able to have one. It's getting very hard.. 

I just..

WANT.

TO.

GO.

HOME.

Transitions

I've been so bad about updating my blog. But honestly, life has been so crazy lately. We've moved to Jefferson City (against my will) and have been here for about a month. It hasn't grown on me one bit. I miss my home and my friends and family. And to be brutally honest, I'm just not happy here. At all. It takes all I have just to function and accept it some days. The great thing though, is that there's beauty in just about every situation in life, really.

And although I may find myself as a whole unhappy with this Jefferson City situation, it really has allowed me to "put things into perspective" with my life and I've found that I'm finding myself becoming more appreciative for what I DO have. My healthy, happy, beautiful kids. My hardworking and selfless husband. Honestly, he's probably one of the most selfless people I've ever met. My family, my home, the fact our bills are paid and were able to eat. Because as cheesy as I'm sure it all may sound, it really is true. It's what matters the most. This definitely is not my home, it never will be, and I will NEVER make it my permanent home. But for now, it will do. And we will try to embrace it, and be thankful for the opportunity we've been given with Ty's career.

Being here has pulled me out of my social life, and while I definitely miss my friends and all of the play dates we used to have, and the fun things we used to do. I'm finding myself becoming a better mom. It's like I have time to perfect my parenting, so to say. Which should have always been priority #1, and it was. But I'm just more reflective on myself now. As well as more honest with myself. And that combination is allowing me to change methods of my parenting I'm not happy with, and mold it to what I feel works for us and our children better. I'm watching what I say more, and trying to carve out more one on one time for my kids.

It's also made our marriage better. And here's why, neither of us are happy here. Ty's better at hiding things than I am. But he has opened up to me and expressed to me that he isn't happy here whatsoever and he's doing what he has to do from a financial stand point for our family. And for that, I do respect him. He's a very hard worker and I'm proud of what he's doing and how far he's came since I met him. And how well he holds it all together under all of the pressure. We've been there for each other and being honest and open with how we truly feel about the move, and being there for each other regardless of all of that has really made our marriage grow stronger and happier.

We've celebrated 2 years of marriage, (6 years of togetherness), taken a trip to the beach, our oldest turned 3 last month, our youngest has gotten 3 teeth and is in the beginning stages of walking, I mean what's there not to be happy about?

Week without daddy

WELL, this is a big week for our family. HUGE. for many reasons..Ty left Sunday night for his business trip, and is gone all week. It's my first time being away from him this long, as well as the girls. We're about to knock out night number 2 (it's almost 10 PM) and I am SO incredibly ready to have him home. I have a lot of help, being that my parents are nearby. The girls and I spent majority of the day there. Did some grocery shopping, and Kinley got some goodies to keep her preoccupied this week. Bath crayons, a new play dough set with animal shapes, couple new movies. Basically, this girls ready to rock-n-roll for a week without daddy. We're keeping her busy, and although I really don't wanna jinx it, she's being a little trooper. She had a little bit more of an emotional morning than she usually does, and did ask for daddy once in the middle of the night but otherwise, she's happy and busy and were hanging out and counting down the days til we can see him again.

No, seriously.. Ty and Kinley made a countdown on a piece of poster board, and he explained to her that every morning we get to mark off another "night" on the board. It's really precious. She x's it off, and tries to hold up the number of nights on her little fingers.

And although the girls are doing ok, I miss him. A lot. Like, a lot lot. This is great for us, though. He's getting to get out and experience big city life, and learn all about his new job. And from what I understand its a pretty intense course. I know he is going to do so great and pass with flying colors. I can't say enough how extremely proud of him I am. This is a position/promotion he's wanted for 3 years. I've seen him grow from practically a kid (and a punk one at that) ;) to a hard working, supportive, loving partner and honest to God, the best dad you could ever imagine. Him being gone, has made me realize how much I do really lean on him for support. I have found such a rock in him and he's making me happier than he'll ever know. We had our rough patches in the years past, as do all couples ... But I'm truly seeing him grow from a kid to a man, right in front of my eyes. Of course, we have our arguments. We're polar opposite on just about everything you can possibly imagine. But I feel so completely blessed to be his wife, and so thankful for all he does for us. He's sacrificed so much to put us first and to give us the life we have.

We had a little scare with S tonight. I was holding her and slipped on a little spot of water on the bathroom floor -- we went down HARD. She slammed her head on the corner of the bathroom counter. This poor baby's fell off a bed, a couch, and now this incident. You could say I feel like a failure of a mom. I've got her laying in bed next to me and I keep stirring her up from her sleep to check on her. Props to all the single mommies out there. I have help, but there's really nothing like the comfort of having your husband home. 4 nights left, but whose counting? ;)

Operation: NO TV UNDERWAY

Ok, well first off let me clarify the title of this post. When I say "no TV".. I don't mean no TV, ever. And I don't mean I'm going to become a TV nazi and say 30 minutes a day, and you're done. Because that's not it either. It's just that it does need to be monitored and limited. For example, today.. The TV didn't come on until 5:30. And when it came on, it was so I could give Scarlett a bath and know that Kinley wasn't hanging from the ceiling or anything of that nature. I don't think there's anything really wrong with TV. In fact at this age range especially, it really can be educational.

It's so great to be able to see Kinley growing every day and become more and more interactive with me, the older she gets. We have so many hilarious conversations. She really is a funny little kid. We had fun experimenting with our time, and finding ways to fill the day without TV, innotab, iPad, mommys iPhone, etc. we started the day making banana pancakes and scrambled eggs, ate breakfast together, she helped me do dishes. Well, technically she made a huge mess out of water and bubbles while i did the dishes. I really think its a great thing to teach kids young to be domesticated. She loves to help me cook and bake, too. We colored pictures for daddy, we did puzzles, we made gummy bear Popsicles. Huge hit, and super duper easy! Glow stick baths.. A lot of it was stuff we would do any other day, but it was nice to not have the tv noise running in the background.

It's so important to be engaged as much as you can as a parent. Especially at this age, their minds and imaginations are so absorbent and its vital to be present. Communicating with them, letting them know you see what they're doing (coloring a picture, doing her summer sault for the 100th time, picking up their blocks, etc) whatever it may be - that you see it, and that you think it's great. Children need that validation. Some more than others. Being extra involved and hands on all day with Kinley just reminded me that as mothers, we really are equipped to so more than we think. I juggled a baby, deep cleaning the house, and being 100% present in Kinley and her activities. I don't say that to brag, at all. I'm saying it to encourage other moms to try and do the same. If I can - you can, believe me. Turn the TVs off, get creative - use your brain. Or wait, who needs brains nowadays -- there's Pinterest! ;) I promise your kid and you will thank you for it at the end of the day. It may take a lot more effort than sticking them with some form of technology for them to zombie out to. BUT I promise, you'll save that much extra energy from the lack of fits, whining, meltdowns etc. keeping 'em busy and acknowledged will change their behavior 100x over. It's especially important this time of year - when were stuck inside days on end, and it feels like winter has lasted an eternity to dig deep into your mommy brain and make the most out of the cabin fever filled days.

All about S.

Scarlett is becoming quite the little character. It's crazy to imagine that at one time, we were just a family of 3. She may only be 6 months old, but she has such a big personality. She's so loving - always hugging and kissing. Yes, already. She is rocking back and forth on her hands and knees, so she'll be crawling any day. She loves, and I mean LOVES her big sister. The crazier, and louder Kin acts - the better. She's always getting S all riled up and can make her laugh harder than anyone else can. She absolutely adores her big sister. She waves, at everything. It's pretty hilarious. She waves at all of us, at pictures, at people she sees on tv, at toys.. It kills me. Bouncing.. Oh my gosh, bouncing. This kid is the bounciest thing I've ever seen. Loves her jumperoo. Will be sitting on her bottom, and can bounce so hard she can stand up.. Scares me half to death. She obviously can't stand up on her own yet but she can bounce her way there.. Then a face plant ensues. She bounces all around when she sees Ty get home at night. She's a funny baby. Much like her sister, she isn't a fan of fruits. It blows my mind. I don't understand how a kid doesn't like fruit. Bananas is about it
She thinks that naps are for the birds. She doesn't nap often and when she does, it's maybe 15 minutes tops. Makes for one tired mommy combined with her waking up multiple times a night. Guess that is what I get for bragging about how she slept like clock work from 9 pm - 5 am from 3 weeks on. Ugh.. Ya, those days are over. Around 5 months old she started sleep regression and so far, I am not seeing a light at the end of the tunnel Zzzz..