The not so Happy meal.....

In complete honesty I was somewhat shocked when I read this article about banning toys from kids meals. I am all for kids eating healthy and what not but I also think the responsibility for an obese child should fall directly on that child's parents. Taking away a toy is not going to stop lazy parents from feeding their kids fatty meals morning, noon and night. I am a full time working mother who probably once a month stops by the drive thru of the golden arches and gets my kids a happy meal because I'm either too exhausted to cook or I don't have anything defrosted. My kids are perfectly proportioned due to the fact that I do make sure they eat healthy meals but once in a while I think I deserve a break and they deserve a treat. Most fast food places have choices in terms of drinks and sides that can be substituted for fries and soda. My children typically get one Happy Meal to share (my youngest is only 1) that is one hamburger, a chocolate or regular milk (depending on my oldest's mood) and whatever the fruit selection is. They are both extremely active children who eat well every other meal. Taking away a toy is not going to make for less obese children it's just going to upset some that they can't have a toy.

Sticky sticker situations

If you, like me, are the parent of a little girl age 3-6 chances are you most likely have an abundance of stickers in your house. Not because I buy them because that would just be dumb but because she gets them as gifts, samples in mailings I get, or there were several in her Easter Eggs from the church Egg hunt. She has developed a tendency to put stickers everywhere but on paper, they are covering her step stool, plastered on her walls and even made an appearance on the toilet seat. So in my OCD state I HAD to get the stickers off of the walls and at least the toilet seat but how to do it? I found myself thinking back to when I worked the Customer Service counter at our local Menards in high school and many times had to get a sticker off without ripping the packaging the item was in and it hit me to use the blow dryer. To remove stickers from places you don't want them simply take your blow dryer and turn it on the lowest setting and hold far enough away from the surface that you don't ruin the paint or start some peeling wallpaper if you have that and gently use a butter knife or your nails (if they're long enough, mine aren't!) to peel the sticker off. And that's what works for me in sticker situations. Head on over to Kristen's to read more What Works for me Wednesday and learn some tips you may not have thought about!!

I am not indestructible.......

....as I once thought I was. There was a time where I could do cartwheels for ages and not feel a single muscle crying out in pain, there was a time when I could play on a swing set for hours and not feel any different, there was a time when I could spend eight hours sitting in the dirt pulling up weeds from their roots and not feel sore three days after the facts, oh wait no there wasn't. That's what I did all day on Saturday from 8 am to 4 pm and I'm still feeling the effects of said activity on Tuesday morning.

Welcome to yet another edition of What I learned this week hosted by Julie at Inmates here

I learned that after weeding out the front area of my house for the above mentioned 8 hours I was having a hard time following along to the sit and stand instructions at church

I learned that when pulling weeds I should not position myself directly below my son's room since he can see me from the window and will shrilly screech "MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!" in the hopes of getting my attention to come and get him up from the no nap he's taken

I learned that my two children will have a pushing and pulling hair fight over the shovel (of which we own 4 identical ones) until one of them gives up.

I learned that my 4 year old will find the soap and water mixture in the spray bottle that I've been using to spray my buds to keep ants off of them and will promptly decide the porch needs cleaning and spray down the grill then proceed to attempt to wipe it up with toilet paper....it just makes a mess.

Finally I learned that my 4 year old will kiss the top of my head and say "I'm a big girl momma I'll put myself to bed" when I'm so sore I literally can't get up....

What did you learn this week?

Etiquette in a world where there is very little.......

I have an etiquette question. Last Saturday (April 17) my daughter turned 4. She had several gifts shipped to her seeing as how the givers were unable to travel to our house for her actual birthday. Should I have had her immediately call the givers to thank them for the gifts or should I have painstakingly sat with a newly christened 4 year old and helped her "write" out thank you notes? Any insight would be appreciated as I always thought that receiving thank you notes was the proper thing to do as long as they were sent out within a week of receiving the gift but maybe with the way modern technology is I'm wrong.....

31 going on 85

Welcome to my first edition of Not Me Monday hosted by mckmama where we total perfectionast mama's can admit to non-perfectionist moments.....

It was totally NOT ME who walked all over the parking lot for 45 minutes looking for my car and was getting ready to call the hubby to tell him it had been stolen before it dawned on me that no kids were around and that meant that the sedan was what should have been looked for not the mini van. Nope I totally didn't do that.

It was absolutely NOT ME who cruised through the DD drive thru to purchase two dozen donuts for snack for Sunday school because I forgot to make cupcakes the night before for Em's birthday.

And it is definetely NOT me who is walking around like I'm 85 after spending some quality time clearing out weeds because I am in so much better shape than that.....

So what did you NOT do this week? Head on over to Mckmama's for some more Not Me Monday quips here....

Comfort from a 4 year old

Welcome to yet another edition of WILTW hosted by Julie over at Inmates to Playdates, I am posting this seriously late but I have totally a good reason for it. On Saturday we celebrate Em's birthday, on Sunday we learned that our neighbor was mourning the loss of her husband the very same day. What I learned is one very simple thing: Children are the most empathetic breed out there. My darling adorable 4 year old walked out our front door and walked over next door and simply hugged the grieving widow. Nothing more than just that simple act. The simplicity of knowing that something wasn't right but not knowing exactly what to do about it and letting her actions speak so much louder than her words.

Head over here for more What I Learned This Week

What wonders a belly button can do.......

Seriously belly buttons are an enigma to kids. An exploration to how far they can push their little fingers in there in hopes of finding hidden treasure or an amusement for a 15 month old for 20 minutes plunging his finger into his sister's belly button and making her laugh like the Pillsbury dough boy and making him giggle in return.....

And some more of what I learned this week

I learned that playing outside never gets old....it makes you want to forget that you are an adult and ignore the chores that need to be done to go outside and play catch with your kids

I learned that being a parent is great in so many ways but mainly in the fact that it allows you to be a child again.

No matter how many times I ask my kids what they want for dinner the answer is always "chicken, french fries, and ketchup" but what I learned is that they enjoy it so much more having a home cooked meal and reliving their day for me play by play (I have an almost 4 year old who LOVES to talk)

I learned that having a 15 month old who is having serious teething pain is enough to rip my heart out but I secretly love that he wants to cuddle up with his mama and no one else because it won't be long until I'm going to have to tackle him to get a hug.

I learned that almost 4 year olds keep NOTHING to themselves. Like when said almost 4 year old gulps down her oatmeal in under two minutes and then rides in the car to church it will decide to come back up. In the church parking lot. And then she will tell her teacher all about it. Luckily she doesn't know the difference between a parking lot and a driveway. I didn't correct her.

I also learned that little girls will change their mind on a daily basis on which Disney Princess they want their birthday cake to look like and will choose the one that we haven't seen yet (Princess Tiana from the Princess and the Frog). Mommy is trying to persuade her to want Snow White since Mommy thinks it would look cool.

Well that's about all I learned this week, how about you?

Head on over to visit Julie at From Inmates to Playdates to check out what other people learned....

Menu Plan Monday (on a Tuesday......again)

I swear I don't know where all the hours in the day go. I think if I just had a few more hours or if I could clone myself like the movie "Multiplicity" I would totally be ahead of the game. But before I digress much more here is my menu plan for this week:

Monday: Salisbury steaks, mashed potatoes, gravy, mixed veggies. I LOVE this meal because it's relatively simple and easy and gets a fair amount of nutrition into my children't bellies.

Tuesday ~ Daddy's cooking since he's home all day and he better not be cooking leftovers or take out

Wednesday ~ Baseball stadium food night!!! I love this night and I love baseball so the two go hand in hand....Beer Brats sauteed to perfection in a bottle of Killians then finished off on the grill to get those cool grill marks on them, french fries or tater tots (whichever I have more of or we may make some homemade oven fries YUMMY!!!) and carrots.

Thursday ~ Chicken tacos, fixin's, and rice and beans. My almost 4 year old (GASP!!!) loves taco night.

Friday ~ Veggie Tart Experiment night (I really hope this works) Pillsbury.com has a great recipe for a vegetable tart that sounds delicious. It's puff pastry, ranch dip mix spread across it and your favorite vegetables spread around. I'm thinking of making a Mediterranean one with olives, tomatos, artichoke hearts, and feta cheese and an "American" one for the kiddos with their fave veggies....I'll let you know how it turns out.

Saturday ~ ALL ABOUT EMILY DAY!!! My daughter Emily is turning 4 on Saturday so it will be her choice in every meal and then of course we will top it off with cake and ice cream....

Sunday ~ Pasta night. My kids are simple they like pasta and tomato sauce. We'll have the sauce simmer all day so it's awesome by dinner time.

What are you eating this week?

Head over to An Organizing Junkie to find more Menu Plans and get some great ideas and link yours up too!!

Happy Eating!!!

What I learned this week.....

Julie from Inmates to Playdates is now hosting the fabulous What I Learned This Week, I love this because it makes me reflect back on the previous week and see what I may have missed when taking life too quickly....so without further ado here we go:

1. I learned that as much as I try to explain the spiritual aspect of the cleansing of the feet on Maundy Thursday service that my 3 year old WILL FLAT OUT REFUSE.....

2. I learned that at 31 while I am still physically able to climb the dogwood tree in my in-laws front yard to retrieve the 6 year old neighbor who climbed up too far and could not get down, I will feel the after effects still on Tuesday.....

3. I am the worlds worst person at keeping caught up on pictures and it will take one of my sister in law's to nag point out that I have been back from NYC for almost weeks and still have not shared my pictures (it's now been done)

4. I learned that Easter Egg dyeing NEVER gets old. At 31 it's still one of my favorite things to do....

5. I learned that I have a very respectful 3 year old. When the Easter Egg hunt started at church and there were eggs a plenty clustered all together she only took one from each "station" so that other kids could according to her "get some too"....LOVE HER!!!

6. I learned that my mother in law runs faster than anyone I've ever seen when a baby (mine, of course) decides that he needs to me outside and opens the porch door and starts walking down the steps......Thank goodness for her speed as she got to him when he was only down one step since it ends in concrete.

7. I learned that HUNDREDS of people go to church on Easter Sunday but if you go to the Easter Egg hunt first you don't have to wrestle with someone to get your regular seat....

8. I learned that sometimes there is nothing better than sitting outside on a BEAUTIFUL day sipping beer and spending time with family.....

What did you learn this week???

Head over here to check out more

NY's "Fat Tax"

Absolutely unbelievable. NY State is in a deficit. In trying to keep the state in the black, David Patterson (our governor) has instituted the "fat tax". He is taxing sugary sodas and now is going to tax people who the state deems are overweight. According to the state that means the average weight of a man should be 185 pounds and the average weight of a woman should be 140 pounds. For every pound that a person is over they would have to pay $10 per month per pound. I am 5'8 and I weigh 147 pounds, but according to Patterson I am technically 7 pounds overweight, that means I would have to pay an additional $840 in state taxes for the fat tax. This is ludicrous. Especially coming from a governor who has a probe going on for spending $600K on Yankees World Series tickets that came from state fiscal funds. Get your head out of your you know what and do your job. Stop taxing me because all it's going to do is put more of a burden on the state when I have to work solely to pay my taxes and then have to go on welfare.