We've got two new things in our house. One I'm thrilled about and it's working great. One I'm not so thrilled about, but 'cest la vie.

The first thing is something I've wanted to implement for a very long time. I think I've been talking about it for almost a year now. It's a Monthly Dinner Menu. Anyone with 2+ kids will tell you that the hours of 4-6:30 pm are hectic at best and disastrous at worst. With one kid you can pretty much keep him happy while you're making dinner. But add another one on and things can get out of hand. Unless, of course, you have a loving and not-sleeping husband who doesn't mind running interference while you prepare a scrumptious meal. There's still a lot of whining and crying no matter how you look at it. At least in our house. And not always from the kids...

So, to make things simpler, I finally knuckled down and created a Monthly Dinner Menu. I assigned each day a genre of food and then came up with 4 recipes (one for each week) in that genre. It's working out fabulous so far. I can switch up the fare whenever I feel like it and I even have "alternates" or easy meals if we don't feel like having what I have planned for that night.

Here's my breakdown from my Excel spreadsheet:

Sunday: Roast
Week 1. Roast chicken
Week 2. Pot Roast and potatoes (or beef stew...same ingredients, different style)
Week 3. Pork Chops and cabbage - a staple meal in my family
Week 4. Salmon Fillets and pasta

Monday: Italian Night
1. Baked Potatoes and toppings
2. Lasagna and garlic bread
3. Ravioli and salad
4. Spaghetti and garlic bread

Tuesday: Soup/Stew night
Chicken soup (with leftovers from this week's roast chicken on Sunday)
Tomato Soup and Grilled Cheese Sandwiches
French onion soup and bread
Cowboy Casserole (ok, not a stew, but a favorite of ours with hamburger, tater tots, and cheese)

Wednesday: Chinese Night
Beef and Broccoli
Chicken Fried Rice
Orange Chicken
Steak stirfry with water chestnuts and mushrooms

Thursday: USA/Breakfast Night
Hamburgers and french fries
Oven pancakes
Hotdogs and tater tots
Blueberry pancakes and sausage

Friday: Mexican Night
Burritos
Taco Salad
Super Nachos
Breaded Pork Chops (not Mexican, but I've been trying to work it into the menu)

Saturday: Potpourri
inspired by Will Ferrell on Celebrity Jeopardy on Saturday Night Live
Tonight we eat whatever we want. Sometimes we order a pizza or we eat out. Sometimes we eat one of my alternates. Sometimes the parents are going out for a date, so the kids have sandwiches.

And that's it! I've got it made. Literally. I know exactly what to buy at the store every Saturday, which is when we do our grocery shopping. And I know exactly how much time it's going to take to make dinner. And I know how old those leftovers in the fridge are by looking up at the menu on the fridge door. No more complaining from the troops. "Sorry!", I say, "It's what's on the menu for tonight." And no more whining that we just had this meal. I can see how often we have something and can honestly say that it's been a month! Plus, I can sneak in salads and fish and healthier things to our meals. No more frozen pizzas or cold cereal every night for my hubby. Thank goodness. It was starting to show, if you know what I mean.

THE OTHER NEW THING:
The other new thing is the game "Rock Band". It's noisy, bulky, and time consuming...but the boys seem to like it. Dylan bought it with the extra money he made doing a random consulting job. He loves it. Whatever. I guess it's ok. Still, all that incessant tapping on the "drums" is starting to get to me.

Daddy and Abby hanging out on a lazy Saturday morning.


Abby and Mommy enjoying watching Seamus do his Easter Egg hunt on the Saturday before Easter.


This picture is for Mimi. Dylan had a hat identical to this one (a train conductor's hat) when he was younger, and being the awesome grandma that she is, Mimi found one for Seamus, too. When he wears this hat he says "All aboard the choo-choo train" or "All aboard the Shay-shay train", and marches around the house like a train. He especially likes it when I chug along behind him with Abby in tow.

I forgot to mention that after the Easter Egg Hunt, Seamus did exactly what I used to do when I was a kid. He went and re-hid the eggs so he could find them again. We had made Easter Bunny Ears with Mimi that morning, so he put them on and pretended to be the Easter Bunny hiding his eggs. Then he'd take the ears off and find them again. It was too cute. This kept his attention for the better part of an hour. The best part was that he was hiding the eggs in the almost identical places that the Easter Bunny originally hid them. What a smart kid.

"Where the heck have you been?", you ask. Busy.

Much like Heather we've had people visiting and since we don't get too many visitors we want to spend as much time with them as we can while they're here. We love visitors.

My sister came back from New Zealand last week and coincidentally the same night Dylan's parents came for a visit. They were both here for Easter Sunday and both stayed until Wednesday/Thursday. We had a fabulous time that we didn't document with pictures at all. I don't know why we didn't pull it out, but for some reason that camera just stayed on the shelf the whole time.

We started out kind of rocky, with both kids sick. We thought Abby might be teething since she was snotty, drooling, fever-y, diarrhea-y, miserable, fussy, and chewing on everything. She's since recovered, but we haven't seen any teeth yet. For three days she wouldn't let anyone hold her except for me, and she was up 5-6 times a night. This was a huge change from the 0-1 time a night she had been waking up, and it tired me out quite quickly.

Saturday we did our Easter Egg hunt and baskets. This was for two reasons. First, I didn't want Seamus all hopped up on sugar when I dropped him off at Nursery at 10 am and I didn't think that he could wait until after naptimes to hunt for eggs. Second, he needed to use his basket to hunt for eggs, and it seems silly for the Easter Bunny to hide eggs one day and to come back the next day with chocolate.

So, the Easter Bunny came while Seamus was sleeping on Saturday afternoon and hid about 30 plastic eggs. I think we'll try real eggs next year. Seamus had a blast finding all of his eggs and Abby liked being outside and watching him. We had beautiful weather (like 60s) for Easter Weekend so it was really fun. Dylan followed him around with the video camera, so at least we have video of it. A few hiding places were too challenging, so we gave him some hints. Like starting to sing the "Itsy Bitsy Spider" to direct him towards the egg lodged in the drainpipe.

We had a great time with Dylan's parents and with Susanna. Sannie left Wednesday morning to drive across the country to DC and then down to North Carolina where she's moving in with my oldest sister. They're getting a condo together and are pretty pumped. She's doing pretty well driving on her own so far, although she has been pretty sick. I would hate driving on my own across the country 9 to 12 hour days by yourself just don't sound like fun. Although I wouldn't mind some peace and quiet while I drive. Driving nowadays is like trying to herd cats with two rambunctious little ones in the back seat. If I have to say "I'm sorry you dropped it, I can't reach it while I'm driving, we'll pick it up when we get there!" one more time I may have to do something drastic.

We didn't do too much while the family was here. Mostly hanging out and taking it easy. It was sort of a mini-vacation for them. We did some shopping and went out to eat a few times, but mostly slept in and played at home. It was so fun!

As a "twist" ending I fell off of a curb on the Thurston's last night here and twisted my foot pretty badly. I was holding Abby and trying to grab Shay's hand to walk out into a parking lot when I fell. The curb in front of the White Elegance store was about 3-4 inches taller than most curbs and there was a large pothole directly in front of it. Since I was holding Abby I couldn't see in front of me and I was more focused on keeping Seamus safe from the big SUV that was heading our way instead of watching where I was going. I count it as Motherly Instinct that I didn't drop the baby when I fell because I fell hard. Kathryn managed to grab Abby from me and juggle her purse, her dress she had purchased, Abby, and Seamus into the car and then come back for me. I didn't think too much of it, I was more embarassed than in pain, so I got into the car and we drove to meet the menfolk for dinner. I really started feeling the sprain as we neared the restaurant and I chalk it up to providence that I was able to park the car safely.

So I stayed off of my feet yesterday (which, as any mom will tell you, is nearly impossible when you're taking care of kids) and I've been icing it and wrapping it in an ace bandage. I can't remember the last time I twisted my ankle. It happens to be the same foot (the right one) that my broken toe was on a few months ago. This poor foot. I swear, fate just doesn't want me to use my beautiful new elliptical machine.

Anyway, it was a great week and we had lots of fun. The kids looked beautiful in their Easter clothes, even if they had runny noses and cranky dispositions. And Dylan and I looked beautiful in our new Easter clothes, too. :)

Never has this phrase been so true as it was today.

I've never been to a professional photographer (ok, a few times when I was a kid, I guess, but not since I can actually remember). Looking at the prices alone make my throat constrict and my palms get sweaty. Sitting fees, printing fees, appointment times, and portrait packages make me balk. I'd much rather try my luck with my own camera. We had Dylan's dad do our engagement photo and they turned out great. We did have a professional come out for the wedding, but she was inexpensive and I got what I paid for there, too.

Today I got the kids all dressed up in their Easter outfits and took them to Kiddie Kandids in the mall. The place boasted "no sitting fees" and a guarantee that you'd like the pictures. The kids are only young for awhile and I wanted some good pictures. So, I bit the bullet and tried to make it work. The kids looked beautiful, but for some reason I couldn't keep Abby happy. Seamus was awesome and tried to smile while his sister cried beside him. As soon as I put her down her little face would scrunch up and tears would start forming. Then for some reason, the photographer (a 19? year old girl) would get down in Abby's face and start making this high pitched trilling sound. I wonder if this works for any kids. It sure didn't work for Abby. It totally freaked her out and she cried even harder. If I actually got her smiling, then Shay would be looking somewhere off in space and not smiling. If I got them both smiling, then the photographer would be waiting for some inexplicable sign and not snap the picture until Abby had lost it.

I finally had to put her on my leg, support her back, and let the photographer do a close-up while trying to cut me out of the shot. Every 10 seconds Abby would grab my shirt and clutch me while burying her face in my front. It wasn't like she was tired...I had just gotten her up from a nap and nursed her before we went. I have no idea why she was freaking out so much. Needless to say, we didn't get much we could work with. Maybe one of Shay by himself. I have to go back later and check out what we actually got. The nice thing is that if I don't like any of the shots then the whole experience just cost me an hour of my life that I won't be getting back. You get what you pay for, folks.

Abby had her 6 month check-up yesterday and she's "5 by 5".

In radio speak that means she's doing great. She's 15 pounds and 27 inches long. She's only in the 25th percentile for weight, but she's in the 85th percentile for height. I want to know where all of these fat, short babies are that are skewing the charts their way. I thought Abby was getting chunky, but she put on almost 4 inches in the last two months, so maybe she's trying to even out.

She's been sleeping so well! She goes to bed at 7 each night, and she's more than ready for bed at that time. For the last while she's been sleeping all night. Usually until 7 am. This morning it was 8 before I went in to check on her, not having heard a peep in 13 hours. She was on her tummy playing in her crib. What a sweetheart.

Abby has been doing girly push-ups for the last week or so, but she can't seem to tuck her knees up. When we tuck her knees up for her she squeals with delight and rocks forward and back. I can't believe how fast time is flying and how advanced she's getting. She likes to squeal to get my attention. I'm hoping this is a phase that she's going to outgrow soon. It's earsplitting. She is in the clinging-vine stage, which I'm also hoping will end soon. She doesn't like anyone but me right now, and she wants me all the time. Isn't it nice to be wanted...?

I've been released from the Activity Days calling (where I was doing activities twice a month with the 8-11 year old girls in my ward) and have been called as the Compassionate Service leader for the younger women in our ward. We have lots of older women (60 and over) and younger women (35 and younger) but not a lot of women in between. That's why we have two CS leaders, one for each group. The leader for the older women does a lot more visiting nursing homes and checking in on the older, lonely women in our ward. I'm in charge of getting 3 nights of dinners for the new moms in our ward and making sure any of the sick younger women are taken care of. It's a bigger job than it sounds, seeing as how we have 7 women in our ward due to deliver in the next 4 months.

It has finally warmed up here, at least for a few days. We've been spending a few glorious days outside taking walks and soaking up the sun. With daylight savings time firmly in place, Shay and I went to the park last night for an hour after Abby went to bed. It was awesome! He's so much fun to be with. He cracks jokes and teases me. He runs around being silly and shows me the neat rocks or pine cones he's found. He makes up his own games, but is sure to include me in them if I want to play, too. Last night one of the screws on a toy came out, so he got a screwdriver out of the drawer, found the screw and fixed his toy himself. Then he spent the next 1/2 an hour taking the screws out and putting them back in. My little engineer.

Ooh, I decided to spend part of our rebate on a new double jogging stroller. I don't do much jogging, but I do a lot of walking and I love taking the kids with me. I decided, that since this is an "economy stimulus rebate" that I ought to stimulate the economy with it. I spent about as much as one kid netted us, so I'm hoping for an awesome stroller. I did about a week's worth of research before finally choosing this one: It's a Schwinn Free Wheeler 2 2008 Sport Double Stroller

Talk about an awesome stroller. This one has it all. Swivel/locking front wheel, huge sun canopy, separate and reclining padded seats, big wheels, and a parent console for your drinks/phone/keys by the handlebars. Oh, and it measures 31" across...small enough to fit through most doors.

It should show up in the mail tomorrow, and I'm soooo excited for it to come. I can't wait to try it out.

Seamus and Abby love playing together. He's the only one so far who has been able to make her belly laugh. He never forgets to kiss her goodnight and say "See you in the morning, Abby". I have a feeling these two will be very good friends.



Wait until you see the adorable outfits they got for Easter. Seamus's is a vest, shirt, tie and pants. Abby's is an adorable white/navy dress with a navy cardigan. I'm planning to get Easter Portraits of them, so stay tuned for pictures of that.

Ok, so maybe no death, but our 2007 Taxes are done!! Whoo hoo!!!

I finally got them finished and approved last night after receiving the 1099-Misc from Dylan's dad for his consulting work with The Thurston Company. I was quite surprised to find that we actually got money back this year. Surprised, that is, until Dylan reminded me of what changed...see the picture below.

















That's right, this little girl netted us about three grand in tax returns this year, plus the "economy stimulus rebates" that we'll be getting on top of our return. Hooray for child tax credits!!

















Seamus feeding me edemame while Abby watches. I think she wants some.

Plus, (bonus!), she's fun to play with, too. She's getting so big...see her lifting her head and feet off the floor in this shot? Yesterday was Abby's 6 month mark. I swear, I blinked my eyes and six months went past. She's rolling over now and trying to lift her whole self off the carpet. She can get most of her torso down to her waist up in the air. Now we just have to work on tucking those knees in. As I recall, Seamus never really got that concept and army crawled around for the majority of his infancy. He may have crawled for real for a week or two before he started walking. His shirt fronts were constantly dirty from rubbing on the floors. Here's hoping Abby doesn't follow in her brother's "footsteps". (ha, ha!)

Dylan went out to lunch at IHOP the other day for their free pancake giveaway day. When he came out to his car (the mini cooper) he saw a note under his windshield wiper. He panicked, thinking someone had hit his car and left a note apologizing for the damages, and raced over to read it. When he picked it up he found this written in chicken scratch:

"If you are a girl
my number is 801-616-xxxx.

If you are a guy
How much do you
want for the car? :)

Email= xxxxxxxxx.xx@gmail.com

AWESOME Car!"

How come I've never gotten a note like that on my Subaru Forester?