Principals For the Day

It's been a choppy week.  So happy it is OVER because I am OVER IT!

There was one highlight from this week -- my big boys were Principals for the day at their school (I won it at an auction).  They gave the entire school no homework for the day so they made a lot of new fans. :)

This morning I went to my big boy's school - they let the parents come in for an hour to observe the class in action. The pre-k was cute, but 2nd grade was a big snoozer. Now I know why my son doesn't love it.  The teacher (a nun) said to the class "what happens when Sister isn't happy?" and they all replied in unison "we're not happy". Oy.

Looking forward to getting through the workday so I can get home.  I promised the kids we would do a game night.  I tried to get out of plans to go out tonight, but one of my oldest buddies told me too bad she is coming down anyway to drag me to my local watering hole after the kids are in bed.  Hopefully I can liven up a little!

Tomorrow we have my son's classmate's bday party followed by a dinner/playdate at my house for my big boy. I think we'll do make your own pizzas.

Sunday we have my oldest's piano recital and my husband is still figuring out what he wants to do for Super Bowl.  He mentioned his friend may come over so I am on call to shop/cook which is my favorite part of the Super Bowl. :)

Enjoy the weekend!

Someone was busting me about some of these quotes I have been putting up, so up this one goes to amuse myself. :)
Although I do love this post.  I hope one day when my kids are older and read through this blog they will be able to read some life lessons to remind them to live their life to the fullest!

Happy Weekend!

Someone posted this on facebook yesterday.  Words to live by!

Fun With Fruit

My 7-year old chef made snacks for his brothers.  He called the top one "sunburst" and the bottom one "volcanoes".   He did it all on his own - love the creativity!

Found a good article from HBR with easy tips to make your employees happier.  Enjoy!

Lemon Bars

I had two lemons I had to use up, so made lemon bars yesterday.  I don't think I have ever made them before and they were SO delicious! 

 

Had the day off today so took the little guys to visit my grandmother.  Then I went with the big boy ice skating -- we had a blast!

 

Trying to coach him on form. :)

 

Sunday Sauce

The roads are a sheet of ice so piano is cancelled for today.

I just put on a pot of sauce for the kid's dinner since I am going out with my husband later.  I have been buying organic ground chicken, but finally found organic ground turkey at Whole Foods yesterday - yay! 

Made some homemade breadcrumbs from leftover bread, shredded some carrots, onions, garlic and lots of fresh parsley and these meatballs are going to be devoured by my little men I am certain. :)

We are now hard at work writing out our thank you cards for all the wonderful birthday gifts.

Happy Birthday Baby Boy!

Happy birthday to my sweet baby Joe.  He started the day by stripping down to his birthday suit and refusing to wear his birthday shirt.  :)

My big boy was sick yesterday so I kept him home from school so the three of us went to the doctor for the little guy's annual checkup.

The little man's friend and his family came over to our house for pizza and cake this evening.  The mom was fine coming over since my oldest seemed good all day. 

I have a different friend who is so talented baking so I asked her to bake tonight's cake.  Check out the Baker At Boxwood Inn on Facebook to see some of her amazing baked goods. :)

Yesterday I went out with some mom's from school which was fun.  Tomorrow I am looking forward to a massage and in the evening going to a birthday dinner for one of my bffs.

Have a good weekend!

Birthday Party

My little man had so much fun yesterday at his birthday party.  Some highlights...



They each have their own birthday banner. :)

It wouldn't be a birthday without mommy's number cookies. Here they are cooling after coming right out of the oven. :)

They each have a handmade birthday crown and I swap out the number each year.  Looks cute in pictures when they are blowing out the candles.

Filled the piñata with individual gummy fruit snacks and individual bags of dark chocolate covered bluberry acai and dark chocolate covered pomegrante.  I just couldn't do that big bag of piñata filler with all the crap in it again and I was glad I didn't because they were thrilled with the goodies!

We did "make your own goody bags".  Once their bags were filled with the pinata goodies the girls got a make your own jewelry box and the boys got a paper airplane kit.  Better than all those junky cheap toys that get thrown away after a day.

We also played pin the nose on Mickey. They ALL cheated!! :)

They each have their birthday candle that gets burned each year.  The only thing missing from this pic is his birthday plate. I couldn't find his for some reason. :(



Even though the other two don't have their birthdays for a few months I ordered their birthday shirts from Chasing Fireflies so it's done.  I usually get them a # shirt as you see here, but the littlest guy is sooo fussy when I showed him the options online he rejected them all -- except for this one.  :)  He wound up wearing a mickey mouse shirt yesterday, so he'll wear this on his actual birthday which is Friday.

Already had a busy morning. Now off to bake their snack for the week, clean and then out to dinner because I need a break!

Snowy Friday in NYC

I read there would be wet snow, but I don't think anyone was expecting what came down this morning.  It was a mess getting to work.

It sure looks pretty from the view up here though. :)

Unrelated  - someone posted this yesterday and I liked it so wanted to share.

Looking forward to celebrating my baby boy tomorrow at his family birthday party. 

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Five Quotes That Will Inspire You to Work Your *ss Off

I love this article.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

Busy, busy over here with arts and crafts.  I even did a model car with them in an effort to keep them occupied so I get a break from the whining.  It's just that kind of day.

I  made these Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins (I cut the sugar in half) for their after school snack for the week.  They have already devoured two each (they are really good!) so I had to hide them. 

I have a chicken roasting in the oven for tonight's dinner; leftovers will be made into soup for tomorrow.   Goal is an early dinner and early bedtime - they are driving me nuts!

Happy New Year!

We invited friends over for dinner and poker on NYE.  For some reason (alcohol fueled, I am sure) instead of poker we wound up playing Cards Against Humanity -- that game is HILARIOUS!  

We had a nice dinner - we grilled a whole filet mignon, lemon oregano shrimp and I made homemade bread, string beans, roasted potatoes and a salad. 

The next day I ran up to visit my grandmother and then we had my husband's grandmother over for our traditional New Year's Day dinner.

Friday I took the kids to an indoor play space called WeeZee and they had a BLAST. 

Visited my grandmother again and then went out for drinks with two high school friends.

Today I spent the entire day organizing closets and have 11 bags ready for the donation bin. I feel accomplished!! Resting with the kiddies now and watching a movie. Although the amount of resting is debatable given I have already cleaned up hot chocolate which was knocked to the floor, water which was also knocked to the floor and popcorn is all over the place. Oy.

Tomorrow the big boys have piano and then I will get everything in order for back to school.  Hope everyone enjoyed the holidays!  Back to the grind!