InstaFriday ~ What's Wrong With This Post?

Before you even guess, I'll tell you...

Only four pictures this week.

What the?!  Something must be wrong, right?!  This is the least amount of pictures that I have ever posted in one week.  Something is wrong.  Keep reading, I'll explain.

But first, I just want to say how lucky my kids are that they get to spend the kind of time that they do with my parents while they are here in the month of February.  I pretty much don't see my children on the weekends (which was a blessing this past weekend, as I spent most of it sleeping).  They have a countdown to the weekends and when grandpa and grandma are going to pick them up.  It doesn't matter what they are doing with my parents, my kids have the BEST time ever!  I know they are making memories that they will cherish forever and I am so thankful they have them around.

 

So while the kids were playing with my parents all weekend, I began what is to date, my WORST migraine I have ever had.  It started on Saturday and hasn't fully went away yet.  It got so bad that on Tuesday I had to go to the doctor to get a shot to stop the pain.  The shot worked temporarily, but I woke up with another one on Wednesday.  What scares me the most about this round of headaches is the weakness on my left side.  From my neck and down my back to the tips of my fingers I can't really describe what I am feeling other than weakness and tingling.  It is very scary.  X-Rays showed that I do have a little bit of arthritis in my neck, but it shouldn't be causing this kind of pain.  They are thinking that I possibly have a nerve pinched in my neck and that is the cause of the symptoms.  The doctor doesn't know why my headache won't go away fully and prescribed muscle relaxers and pain medicine to try and make me comfortable, but I worry about functioning and teaching on those meds.  I do have an MRI scheduled for my spine and a CT Scan for my brain next week to try and see if that will give any answers.  Until then, this is probably the only thing I will be doing (hopefully not, hopefully it eases up sooner rather than later); snuggling with Betsy on the couch and reading yet another book, currently on the Kindle If You Stay (Beautifully Broken).

Cousins!  Joel was in town still this week and we were able to all get together twice for dinner!  The cousins LOVED every second of play time they got with each other.  Crazy how much they look alike!  Didn't really notice it before this picture, but see a lot of it above!

We miss Joel, Erin, Ava, and Brayden already!  They left to go back to Saudi Arabia (why does that field so weird to type?  Guess I never thought my brother would ever live there!) yesterday.  This picture will go in a frame in the house somewhere.  Love you guys BIG!!!

The Harlem Shake.  Have you guys seen this dance yet?  It is ridiculous.  For real, but my kids look ridiculously cute doing it!  I didn't even know what this was until this past weekend, where Chad enlightened me.  He might be more obsessed than the children.  Silly husband.

Okay, now you know why there is a shortage of pictures, hopefully this will be the last time that ever happens!  Happy Weekend to you.  It's the last one that my parents will be here for and I am trying not to think of how sad it makes me.  February flies.  Boo.

InstaFriday ~ Birthday Week!

This one was a busy one for sure, but man, was it a good one!

 

It was filled with birthday celebrations for not one, but two members of the family!  We kicked off last weekend by heading to the practice field to get the boys tryout ready!  Of course I had to get in a swing or two (or 50) in!  My goal was to beam the pitcher (it was my dad), and while I came up a big hitter, I was unsuccessful in all attempts!  Dad was saved!

After baseball, we headed to Arizona Frybread, Chad's choice for birthday dinner!  It was delicious and lots of laughing was had a the restaurant that took forever to make our food!

Happy Birthday Chad!!!  LOVE YOU!

 Saturday morning snuggles with Betsy before the BIG game!

Grandpa was there to keep Lola warm (it was freezing out)!

Kyan and Jax, two besties, played each other!  They gave each other the biggest hug after the game and immediately begged for a playdate!  Glad their competitiveness doesn't get in the way of their friendship!  

 Spent Sunday prepping dinners with my bestie!  We made 18 total meals in about 6 hours!  BOOM!

Most I have posted before, but the big one that we did came from a post by kojo designs, you can read it here!  Excited to be able to just pull out a bag from the freezer the night before and have dinner ready in the crockpot when I get home from work the next day, with no work left to do on my part except dump the contents of the bag in!

Looking forward to doing this again and again and again!

 Due to conflicts with game time on Saturday, we chose to opt for the make-up baseball tryouts on Monday.  Another freezing night!  I was one nervous mama watching my boy, but couldn't have been more proud of him!  His sister was proud of her big brother too and immediately gave him the biggest squeeze when he was finished!

 The other birthday in Roseland house this week was Lola!  She turned 5!  Time is a flyer!

She is sassy and spunky and sweet all rolled up into one tiny ball of fire!  She loves her birthday as much as I do and woke up with the biggest smile on her face asking me if I was ready to have a five year old in the house?!  

I took the day off of work, not because of her birthday, but because I had to see an endocrinologist for some thyroid issues I recently discovered I had.  Good news is they aren't classifying me as hyperthyroid just yet (although I am showing symptoms/signs of having it), my numbers aren't so outta whack that it is worth taking the medicine risk.  I assumed it was another pill I take, but it is a whole lot more complicated than that.  I do have familly thyroid issues on my mama's side of the family and those weren't taken lightly.  The doctor was able to sneak me in for ultrasound to see if I had something going on in there that she couldn't feel.  Sure enough, I have about 4-5 nodules that aren't exactly cause for concern yet.  They have to measure 10mm and the biggest one I have is 8.6-8.8, so I will have another ultrasound done in 6 months to check to make sure it hasn't grown.  If/When it gets to 10mm, a biopsy will be done and then decisions will have to be made as what to do next.  I go back in 3 months for more bloodwork (which I am sure will be a usual thing for me for a while).  Hoping that everything stays the same and that the labwork I had done on Tuesday comes back normal!  That is my guarantee I am off the hook for the next three months, in the meds dept. that is!

In between dropping off the kids at school and picking them up in the afternoon, I was able to sneak in a little bit of time with two very important people; my girlfriend, Camille and my baby brother, Joel, who is back from Saudi Arabi for the week!  He and his family are in town for a wedding and will be busy doing wedding stuff the majority of the time here, but I wanted to be able to just give him a hug before he left!

Where did Lola pick for her birthday dinner?  Her favorite place of course...Pei Wei!  

 I love making my kids' Valentines Day cards and this year they had their hand in picking out how they wanted me to make them!  

 Came up with this little printable last second for the kids' teachers!  Added on the tag with the picture above!  

 It is yours if you want to make them (for next year)!  I just dragged the photo onto my desktop and clicked print to make it work!

Valentine's Day was so special. 
My husband sent me the most beautiful long stem roses to work.  I felt like the most special girl in the world.  He is a keeper for sure.

The school dance is what made Valentine's the BIGGEST deal ever.  

We went as a family and danced the night away!

Kyan asked a little girl in his class to the dance and she said yes!  Kyan was so nervous (she was too, I talked to her parents at length), but they had the best time EVER!  They spent the whole night dancing in the same area, cutest thing ever!  Gave me a total knot watching my little boy (who is all of a sudden not so little) grow up right before my eyes tonight.

Happy Weekend.

InstaFriday ~ My Parents Are Here!

Of course, I don't have any pictures with them (they like to take them as much as my husband does), but just having them here just makes life better.  Promise to try and get a few with them this next week!

French braid headband on my girl.  Her hair is getting long and my skillz are getting good!

Early release at school for conferences meant that Kyan got to come home with me during lunch to check on Betsy.  He is such a good puppy owner!

Last Friday night we took Betsy to the vet for her first checkup and her 12 week shots!  She is healthy as can be and weighed in at a whopping 3 pounds on the dot!

 Saturday morning football was chilllllllly!  Played the earliest game on the schedule this week and froze!  The boys had to be there at 6:30 for pictures before the game, good thing daddy is helping coach and took Kyan so Lola and I could roll up right at game time!  We were in charge of snacks (which meant we stopped last minute to get them, which also meant Lola had to get the candy that turns her tongue blue, which also meant that I got a silly picture of us at the game)!  Was still cold though, silly pictures and all.

 Baseball Tryouts are coming up and all Kyan wants to do is "have a catch" (what he calls playing catch).  Don't mind if I do (I love baseball season, it is my favorite and I cross all fingers and toes that it will be the sport that Kyan loves to play most too).

Doggie Central over at our house Saturday evening when the parents got here!  They have two dogs (a min pin and a Jack Russel terrier) and are taking care of my brother's family's dog (an Italian Greyhound).  Betsy was so happy to have friends to play with and seemed to mess with Lucy and Bucca the most, despite what the picture above shows.

When my parents roll into town, Chad and I immediately become chop liver to our children.  They want nothing to do with us and everything to do with Grandpa and Grandma, including spending the night.  So Chad and I went on a date night - Red Lobster, TJ Maxx for some new clothes for Chad (it's his birthday today, so even though he doesn't believe in a birthday week, I do and it started last week for him), and the grocery store for a few things we needed in order to watch the Super Bowl properly!  We had such a good night together and it was nice to spoil him for a change!

 Chocolate chip cookies get make on special occasions, Super Bowl is a definite qualifier.  Made several dozen and actually froze some dough this time.  Trying to restrain ourselves from eating the dough outta the freezer so we will be able to make a batch of cookies when we need them, but it is not working so good.  

Lola made it until about the third quarter of the game and then crashed hard, despite her threats that there was no way she could fall asleep with all of the noise.  Kyan watched the game from start to finish.  Made me realize that he is growing up way too fast!  

We have hosted a BIG Super Bowl Party for the past two years, but this year decided against doing so.  Was definitely a different way of watching the game, but nice.  I LOVED the half time show!  

 Randoms from the rest of the week: 

If you know Lola, you know that girl is in mad love with Justin Bieber.  A sweet friend, and co-worker surprised Lola with some stickers of JB and she puts a new one on each day!  

Had my blood drawn on Tuesday for a second round of Thyroid testing.  First off, they hit a nerve and I am now on steroids and an antibiotic to prevent any infection.  Second, the test results came back and confirmed that my thyroid is in fact out of whack and I have to see an endocrinologist next week (someone cancelled and I just happen to call at the right time). 

Kyan slipped me the sweetest note on my desk yesterday.  Melted my heart BIG time.

Busted the two of them feeding Oreo, Kyan's hamster, pieces of the Pop Tarts!  The giggling was hysterical and Oreo was in sugar heaven!

 They are my favorite.  And so is this picture.  I love them BIG!

Special Happy Birthday to my boo today!  Love you Chad (do you even read this blog babe...I think so?)!  Can't wait to take you out for your special birthday dinner and spoil you some more. 

InstaFriday ~ Where did January go?

 Lola had a PJ day last Friday in celebration of her classroom's study on hibernation.  She was so excited to wear her PJ's and ask her to tell you about hibernation sometime.  It is adorable!

Kyan, on the other hand, sported his new Pink Mouse T-shirt!  He bragged all day that he had an "uncle" who was a t-shirt designer!  Can't wait for Pink Mouse Inc. to put out a kids line!  They are Kyan's favey fave shirts to wear!

Saturday we celebrated our Winter Supper Club (Menu post coming soon) with friends.  The food was delicious, now if only I could get my husband to smile normal?!  I beg each and every time, but this is what I get!  Goofy.

 Sunday morning I took Kyan to Urgent Care to see what was happening with his throat.  As soon as he starts complaining that it is sore, we head to get it checked out, as 99% of the time it ends up being strep.  Sure enough, he had strep.  

Progress for Lola.  She has been afraid of Betsy and her nibbles, but is slowly but surely gaining confidence and now considers herself an "owner"!

 A typical morning before school.  Both kids on their ipads, Kyan snuggling with Betsy. And Lola , a breathing treatment.

Being silly with grapes!

Dress Wednesday. Something that I started to do with students of mine that I taught.  The name kind of says it all, on Wednesday we wear dresses!  Each year we kept it alive and the tradition was passed down to the next class.  Well, obviously I am not at Wigwam anymore, but this makes me still feel connected to the place and all those pretty young ladies I taught!

 With new boots in my wardrobe, it opened up a whole new set of clothes to wear for Winter.

 Betsy met Skippy (one of the two mascots in Kyan's classroom).  He comes in a cute backpack, where you have to journal  things that you do with him. Let's just say that Skippy loved Betsy's ears!

Betsy has taken over my Snuggie.  She thinks it is hers. 

 

Justin Bieber has a new acoustic album out and Lola is even more in love with him than before.  I downloaded it for her (and let's be honest, me too) and she was crying happy tears while listening to the song.  Ridiculous.  I am pretty sure she is 13, not 4.  Ugh.  On a side note, the album is really good.  Excited to replace the Bieber Christmas album in my car that they are still listening to no matter how hard I try to get them to stop!

Happy Friday!  

My parents roll into town on Saturday for the whole month of February and I can't wait to see their faces!!!

InstaFriday - Birthday Boy!

It's Friday Ya'll!  Woohoo!  You know what that means?!   

InstaFriday and a recap of our week!

Very thankful for IG filters and picfx to make my self portrait better than when it first started!  That second picture is proof that Chad loves our new pup Betsy, just as much as the kids and I do!  He likes to tell the story that he went to Vegas for the weekend and came home and there was a dog!  Both of which are true, but he totally knew about the dog before we bought her, I swear.  And for the record, we chose Betsy's name way before I saw that one of the Teen Mom's on MTV named her French Bulldog Betsy.  Technically she was first, but that episode didn't play until this past Monday, so I claim that we were first! 

 Saturday morning football.  Thank goodness this one was much warmer!

Snuggle pup, she loves our faces.

Tired boy.  Couldn't eat his dinner his head and mouth hurt so bad.  I assume it had something to do with all the crazy stuff he had going on in his mouth from his ortho appointment last week.

 The Oversized Growth Chart Ruler that my friend Meghan made me for Christmas finally got hung and I love it!

 Birthday Boy!  My baby turned 8!  I remember his birth like it was yesterday (sucker for a birth story?  You can read his here, it's an emotional one).  He woke up feeling refreshed!  No headache at all!  His present from us this year was Betsy (it is Lola's present too, they agreed before we bought her) and he is SO good with her!  We also didn't do a big birthday party this year (dog again, she was quite pricey), however we did head to ChuckE Cheese's together as a family.  Kyan and Lola had just as much fun together playing games as I think he would have had with friends.  They have such a bond and it is so fun to watch them together.  After a late lunch/early dinner, we headed home to eat ice cream cake with grandpa and grandma Moffitt, Auntie Rae and the cousins, and the Adair family.  It was so special for Kyan and he kept saying over and over that he didn't want his day to end. 

 Cooked a little something old and a little something new this week!

Salmon Patties (they look like cat food to me): One 15oz. can Red Salmon, One egg, Crushed Crackers, and Creole Seasoning to taste.  Mix it all together and make 4 patties.  Cook on stove until the outsides get crispy!

Cilantro-Lime Chicken Bake: NOT my recipe, but a recipe that I found on pinterest and knew I had to try as it has two of my favorite things to cook with in the title of the dish!  You can find the recipe here.  I didn't use the cilantro-lime rice that her recipe gave, instead I used this one, I had made it before and loved the taste, so I decided to not change what I knew worked!  She said she also bought fresh mango salsa at the grocery store.  I looked and didn't find any so I made the mango salsa that I use for our California Hot Dogs, you can find that here (you just have to scroll down, that is a long post about how to throw a hot dog party)!

InstaFriday ~ Puppy Love

 Meet Betsy, a french bulldog, and the newest member of our family.

 Sleep.  Eat.  Pee/Poop. Repeat.  Kyan is good with each part of the cycle, Lola, notsomuch!  She just likes to snuggle and for whatever reason is scared o the tiniest puppy ever.

 Oh man, had to go back to school and leave Puppyville Land, but still smiling!

 Kyan has been reading like crazy on his iPad!  He'll often choose his book over playing a game.  You know my love for reading, so this makes me over the moon excited!

Crazy kinda wires in his mouth this week at the ortho, but good news is the braces and expander come out next visit and a retainer goes in its place.  Not sure what his mouth is going to look like without those bad boys on there!?

 I have spent every single lunch at home since we got Betsy.  She is a baby (almost 9 weeks) and needs attention.  We come home right away after school, so I have been quite backed up with grading.  While the bachelor was on, I graded.  Paid for doing nothing over the weekend.

 I love stuffed bell peppers.  When I make them, I always make more stuffing than what is needed so I can eat it while the peppers are cooking.  Wanna know how to make 'em?  See below!

So out of nowhere, Monday night Lola's cough started back up.  We started breathing treatments (so scared to get pneumonia again) and called the pediatrician, who got us in yesterday.  Turns out she has a nasty cold and an ear infection.  She looks super happy in that middle picture, but I had to convince her to step foot in the office today.  She is so sick of taking medicine and psyches herself out the first time she takes a new medicine.  In the last picture she said, "Just give me a minute to think about it mom!"  Ten minutes and a lotta tears later she took it.  But it had to be on her terms or it wasn't happening.  So I just had to wait it out. 

It's an important weekend around here, Kyan turns 8!  

Happy weekend to you!

InstaFriday ~ On Time!

Happy Friday y'all!  

Woot!  Woot!

Not 35,000 pictures and three weeks worth of news to catch up on, so this should be a nice and easy read!

Lola had a much better visit at the doctor's office last Friday than she has been getting!  While we had to spend the rest of the weekend at the house, making sure we were ready to go to school, her wheezing was almost all the way gone and she just looked healthy!  The doctor couldn't believe the difference just two days made in her!  It really was a huge difference and as much as it pained me to do NOTHING but stay at home all of break, I think it made the difference.  No pushing to go here or there, just resting.

While Lola rested the weekend away (and by this time was going stir crazy), Kyan finally got an account with Club Penguin!  He has been playing for free forever and I gave in and played the monthly fee so he could upgrade his penguin and the igloo (can you say like father like son?).

 Cilantro, it's my favorite ingredient to cook with.  Oh, and limes!  Prepped dinner and Monday's lunch using lots of both!  The kids pitched in with dinner too and daddy taught them the art of patty makin'!  They were like puppies, hung on every single word he said and followed him out to the grill when it was time to put them on!

 Monday morning meant back to school and back to reality!  It was the first time Lola had seen that many people in a long time!  She was so excited, popped right out of bed in the morning!  Kyan begged to sleep in just a little bit longer (signs of him getting older, he'll be 8 in just 9 days...I can't believe it)!  It also meant I couldn't lay around in my favorite ASU sweatpants anymore.  We were excited to be back!

Hoop Art.  Hope anchors the soul.  Hebrews 6:19.  

I crawled out of my crafting slump and made a gift for a friend at school (we draw names for birthday's, hers was over break so when we got back it needed to be ready and she requested handmade).  She is a woman of faith and her son serves in the US Navy, when I saw that she had this quote pinned, I knew I had to find a way to make it for her somehow!  I put burlap in an embroidery hoop and then cut out the anchor and the bible verse with my Silhouette.  It was next to impossible to stick on the vinyl and I had to hand place most of it, but the end result was worth it.  The little flowers on there were handmade as well, just rolled pieces of double sided scrapbook paper.

 My wall-o-frames got a little makeover with a new banner from a bloggy and IG friend @itsjustemmy! She had one, I begged for one.  Look what is hanging on my wall?!  She sent along some fabric and I made her a pillow cover and shipped it back to her.  Having crafty IG friends is great!  We had family pictures done back in October and finally put the new ones up of the kids!  I like to keep a little old and new, so not every frame (that has pictures in it) was updated, but four were!

 That same IG friend that made me that banner, does this cool thing on her feed where she gets to know her peeps.  She posts fun questions and then we answer.  Well, wouldn't you know, I was her peeps and the questions above were things she was dying to know!  Wanna know the answers???

Dream Job?  I wanna spend my day at home, crafting.  I also want to get back into my photography business.  Teaching a new grade level this year has sucked all of my time and I have had less and less to take on new clients.  I miss it.

If I could have a dinner party with 3 celebrities who would it be?  Channing Tatum, Justin Timberlake, and Adam Levine (not in any particular order).  Very superficial, I don't care.  I probably wouldn't eat, just stare and drool.  Yep, lots of staring and drooling.

How did I meet my man?

At a bar, through a friend of a friend on my 21st birthday.  If you ask him, he will tell you I wasn't very nice that night.  I will tell you that I thought he was hot, but he is right, we didn't talk that much.  Fast forward two months later, head to another bar across town (it sounds like I spent a little too much time there back in the day huh?!), we "re-met" and he fell in love!  We became inseparable and two years later we were married.

Now I have a question for you?  Do you watch the Bachelor/Bachelorette?  I know it is horrible and the producers do dumb things to plug ratings, but man, I can't take my eyes off of that show.  A new season started this week and you can bet I am hooked!

Mama's Chili.  We didn't eat much at home, but there were a few things my mom could make and her chili was one of my favorites (sorry mom, I realize that I am kinda putting you on blast here...love you.  To make you feel better, I will blast myself, I am NOT a good cleaner.  There.  Feel better?).  Anywho.  Her chili is simple and delicious.  1lb ground beef (brown it and then add the rest of the ingredients), 2 cans Mexican Style chili beans, 1 small can tomato sauce, 1 packet of McCormicks chili seasoning packet, and chili powder to taste.   Boom.  Done.  Told you it was easy! 

Thursday Night Lights.  Kyan had his first scrimmage game of the season and he'll have his first game tomorrow.  It was cold last night, but worth freezing out booties off to watch him doing what he loves.  It is going to be cold on Saturday.  I must find a portable heater or something before then!  I have no idea how I lived in Nebraska for 18 years.  It drops below 60 degrees here and I feel like I might die. 

That is it, pretty simple week.  Excited for the weekend.