That’s kind of our family motto. So it should come as no big surprise that when asked at school, Carter was able to put some pretty big dreams down on paper. They are as follows:
My dream for myself….
Beat Mario Wii
My dream for my family…
To never ground me from the Wii
My dream for my school…
Never points off.
Seriously, big dreams.
Oh, and we don’t really have a family motto. If we did, it would probably have something to do with food.
I gave Ben a haircut a few weeks ago and took some “after” pictures to document it. I meant to just take a little bit off so I didn’t have to keep tucking it behind his ears. But it turns out he’s really not very good at holding still and after a few pretty serious mistakes, I busted out the clippers and went with the good old buzz cut. It turned out shorter than I had intended, but I still think he’s pretty freaking cute. You can decide for yourself.
Please disregard the sticky fingerprints on the chair. When we are done with it we will most likely burn it.
I always love to see what the latest and greatest finds are among my friends. Having had a few things stand out in my mind as being pretty dang great, I thought I would share some of my favorite finds.
This one was a Mother’s Day gift. Honestly, I wasn’t super excited about it at first. Then I had to use it. And use it again. And again. And again. See, my kids like to turn on the lights inside the car and leave them on. On top of that, my battery hasn’t loved the cold weather. I’ve used it to jump start my car more times than I can count. I’ve used it to jump other people’s cars as well. There’s nothing like a woman in a mini-van coming to a man’s aide. I’ve also used it to pump up a flat tire. Honestly, this was one of the most useful gifts I have ever received. I feel much more secure having this in my car.
UPDATE: Mine is a Peak brand jump starter with inflator. You can find it here. Mike got mine on at Sam’s club.
Ok, so I’m not a crockpot queen by any means. But when I do cook in it, I hate scrubbing it. Mine is black and it never seems to come clean. Then I found these babies and let me say that they are worth every penny. If you ever use a crockpot you need to get these. Seriously. Amazing.
These next two go together.
Fleece sheets
Heated mattress pad
At first, I was thinking that the fleece sheets would get too warm. Then I remembered that I live in Wisconsin and decided to go for it. I will never go back. Fleece sheets are amazing. They are so soft and they don’t get cold. Flannel sheets are great, but these are probably at least 98 times more cozy. Carter got some for Christmas and I don’t think I’ve seen a happier boy.
The heated mattress pad really just takes the cake. I could stay in bed all day. I turn it on before I brush my teeth and wash my face and by the time I get into bed it’s a toasty little piece of heaven. The king size comes with separate controls, so Mike doesn’t even have to turn his side on and I can leave mine on all night. I can’t recommend this one highly enough. FYI, they are sold at Kohl’s 
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This last one is kind of random, but it is my favorite organizational tool lately. I found this at www.motivatedmoms.com. It’s basically a chore list. The premise is that if you do the daily chores, your house will stay clean and you won’t ever have to deep clean because it’s all broken up over the year. It also reminds you to do things like plan for birthdays, change furnace filters and water plants. It’s a pretty intense list, and I have had to get over my need to have everything checked off, because in all honesty, I rarely get it all done. But it has given me a routine of daily jobs that if I get done, will keep my house looking good. You do have to pay for it, which is a downside, but I think it’s been worth it. They do have an app as well, but it needs some work before it would be worth the money for me.
And last, but definitely not least are these Munchkin snack traps:
You can find them at Target. I love these things. I can fill it up with animal crackers and it will keep Ben happy for hours. He just carries it around and snacks. The lid keeps them from falling out and keeps him from shoving 20 crackers in his mouth at once. We give Ben one at the beginning of church and it will get us through at least 2 hours. They are great for the car as well. The only downside is that crumbs will still come out when it’s banged on something, so it’s best with less crumby snacks. The Stauffer’s animal crackers from Sam’s club are my favorite thing to put in these.
Those are some of my favorite things lately. What are some of yours?
We had quite the storm last night! It had been talked up for a few days – “the storm of the decade”, “snowmageddon”, you get the idea. We were supposed to get up to 20 inches or so of snow. They were saying that if you go out on the roads, make sure to have a survival kit because if/when you got stranded, you wouldn’t get help for a while.
The wind was insane last night and before we went to bed we saw lightening and heard thunder, which typically means that it’s going to dump. So imagine our surprise when we went out this morning and saw this: 
The driveway was almost all cleared! The wind had just blown it away. Oh, wait. The wind dropped it all here:
And here. You can’t see it very well, but that drift running across the front lawn, sidewalk and driveway is at least 4 feet deep. 
What happened to the snow blower? I guess it doesn’t work quite as well when the snow is 3 times taller than it is.
Mike spent an hour and a half clearing snow. I spent another 2. Where is the masseuse when you need one? 
