supper planning sunday aka meal planning monday!

Yeah, so I didn't get this posted yesterday. And I really don't want to make up a meal plan, because I would rather have a baby instead, so these are my thoughts for the week.... they may or may not come to fruition and the chances of them being fixed in the order I post them are slim to none! Just being real with ya!

Sunday-

Left over roast, mashed taters and corn on the cob

Monday-

Baked pasta w/ fresh basil from the farmer's market this weekend (freeze half pan for after baby)

Tuesday-

Chicken w/ broccoli and cheese and brown rice or go out (bubbie's first t-ball game!)

(cooking chicken in the crock pot for two recipes this week)

Wednesday-

Homemade Margarita Pizza w/ fresh tomatoes and basil

Thursday-

BBQ chicken quesadillas w/ left over shredded chicken from Tuesday

Friday-

I quit!! I would like to have a baby by then!

chili pot roast from faithful provisions - super easy!!

One of my favorite blogs to read is Faithful Provisions. She hooks me up with great coupon tips that I check weekly before I grocery shop along with other great steals and deals! Well tonight she also hooked me up with a great dinner!

The picture above is her chili pot roast, but mine looked pretty much just like it! I made mine with mashed potatoes and green beans and since I'm not suppose to be on my feet and cooking, I cheated and we just had crescent rolls. This dinner was super easy to throw together and was delicious. And even better, we have enough to have it again this weekend! Although if you didn't want the same dinner twice, she posted another post showing how to turn your leftovers into enchiladas. Click here to check out that recipe.

Here is her recipe:

Chili Pot Roast

favorite pot roast, flank steak, or other beef
1 jar chili sauce
1 large onion sliced

Throw it all in the crock pot on low for the day.

If you aren't already a reader of hers, I suggest you subscribe to her blog. It's a wealth of money saving info!

wordless wednesday - back to school

nothing's better than having your big bubbie walk you in our your first day of preschool

can you hear me now??

This weekend I went into false labor. Discussions of bumping up my c section, putting me on bedrest, dilation, so on and so forth went on. And I became impatient. I either wanted to have a baby NOW or wait two more weeks, but hated the limbo of being in between and just not knowing. To top it off my parents are leaving town tomorrow until Sunday and my Dr. is leaving town Thursday until Sunday. I have declared that I am doomed to have this baby while some of the most important people to me are not going to be here.

Fast forward to tonight. Sass and I went to dinner at my mom and dad's while Bubbie and Super Dad went to T ball. We got home late so I quickly threw her into the shower and brushed her teeth and was ready to rush through our Bible story. I asked her which devotional she wanted to read out of and she picked her God's Little Princess Devotional Bible. I really wasn't in the mood and was just wanting to rush through it. I hastily flipped through and just landed on a story and started reading. Ha! God had picked that story for me! That's when God said "can you hear me now"?

The story was from Luke 1. It was about Zechariah and Elizabeth and how they wanted to have a baby but were to old. Zechariah didn't believe and lost his ability to speak but Elizabeth rejoiced it to all. They obey God and named the baby John and God gave Zechariah his voice back. John later became known as the famous prophet John the Baptist.

Following the story was the "lesson". Um... can you hear me now???? Here is what it said (taken directly from the devotional):

"Do you have a hard time waiting for good things? God has his own schedule, and we need to follow it. When you find yourself in a hurry to get your own way, ask God to forgive you. Ask him for patience to wait on him. God's timing is always perfect and brings the greatest blessing."

Uh, yeah.... can you hear me now?

It amazes me that I can be too busy to spend time with God and yet He will still find a way for me to hear him. Tonight He did it through my 2 year old's devotional.

Yes God.... I hear you now!

and the winner is......

J MOM!!!

Congrats! You have won the six piece soap bit sampler from Wee Essentials! I have your email already from you comments so be on the look out for an email asking what 6 scents you would like to try!!

not my kid monday

We are putting a spin on Not Me Monday this week. You get a week off from confessing your own "sins" as a mother and get to rat out your little ones and all the things they did not do this week! Head on over the My Charming Kids to join in on this fun blog carnival today!


Last week was our official last week of summer as preschool starts tomorrow. We packed our week with fun which lead to some great funny moments. Here are a few highlights:

I have recently taught Bubbie how to unhook Sass from her car seat. Once the new baby arrives they will both be in the back of the van and I will need his assistance in this for carpool. As he was helping her out he most definitely didn't squeeze her tiny little thighs and tell her " you need to go work out at the gym, your legs are all squishy"! (good thing he hasn't seen my thighs up close lately!!).

Sass just completed her third week of "nymnastics". She has a mind of her own and does what she wants most of the class but the teacher doesn't seem to notice because she is one of the only ones who doesn't wander off so while the teacher is herding back the others, she is doing her "nymnastics" her own way. The teacher has recently been working with them by gently raising their toes up to the bar while they hang from it. Well little monkey girl absolutely did not pull her feet up all by herself and then do a full back flip while holding on the bar totally unassisted not once, but twice, while no one was watching her!


Bubbie also started t-ball this week. Wouldn't you know that the night it is suppose to start the rain started to come. Not being much of an athlete I had no idea really what to expect when we got there. I should have realized lots of red dirt would be involved, which turns quickly to mud once it gets drizzled on, but what did I have to worry about Sass HATES being dirty. She would never sit in this damp, red dirt and play and play and play all while wearing a white outfit. Not my priss pot! And she certainly would not have enjoyed it!

While we are speaking of Miss Sassy Sass, remember all our potty training debacles? Well they are still going on. She knows what to do and will do it when she wants to but there is no making her. I still put a cloth diaper on her at nap and bedtime. The other day I walk into her room after nap and before I could say one word to her she did not tell me her first "lie" ever!! Not my child! At not even 2 1/2 she would never be deceptive enough to say " mommy that is NOT pee pee in my diaper, it's just some water." ( and I would never have to turn my face to not laugh at such a story!)


And lastly, one confession of my own.... as we had a false alarm thinking our newest baby would be here this weekend which ended up just landing me on bed rest, I most definitely did not allow my two year old to nap with me downstairs instead of up in her bed just so I could get a little more snuggle time with her before she wasn't the baby anymore. Nope, not me!

wee essential soap bits giveaway

I am so excited to share this fun and yummy giveaway with you today!! I "met" Candice on Twitter and she makes these super delicious all natural/ 99% natural (depending on the soap) soap bits and she wants to share some with one of my lucky readers! YAY! She has a great etsy shop called Wee Essentials. I knew we were meant to work together when I saw her motto was Green Living for Moms and Babies!

What do you do with a soap bit you ask? Well, lots of things! If you cloth diaper, you can dissolve one bit into a cup of hot water, let it cool and you have a great wipes solution. I have been using it on Sass this week, who has the worlds most sensitive skin and it's great! She is super soft and no rashes from it.

I also made foaming soap with some of the soap bits that Candice sent me. If you double up your bits to water and dissolve and then refill one of those foaming soap bottles, you have a much less expensive, much healthier for your skin foaming soap. I will admit, I was skeptic when I read that this could be done. I didn't think it would work, but it did! I am so excited to because my kids are much more excited about washing hands with foaming soap and I didn't like any of the brands on the market because none of them were natural.

You can also use your soap bits in you child's bath, when you travel, or on a soap dish as "one guest" use soap! There are tons of yummy scents to try out to. Candice let me pick a few to try out and I chose snuggles, baby love and cherry vanilla. I expected cherry vanilla to be my favorite but actually I have fallen in love with baby love. It smells so clean and fresh! I can't wait to use this solution on our newest arrival instead of chemical laden baby wipes!


Here is what her site says about her soaps:

All undyed Essential Oil soap bits are 100% natural. All other fragrances are made with high quality phtalate-free fragrance oils, but since they are synthetic, the final product is only 99% natural. As well, any of my FDA-approved dyes will lower the percentage another 1%.

Candice wants to share some soap bits with one of my lucky readers! By entering our giveaway you can win a soap bits sampler!! You will get to choose 6 scents to fill 6 small jars. One small jar holds about 15 bits, so you are getting a lot of fun soap! I was amazed at how many bits fit into a jar and how little you have to use to make your soap solutions at home. This stuff will last!

And for all my other readers who want to try out Wee Essentials Soap, Candice is being so sweet to offer FREE SHIPPING on all orders over $15!! Use the code FREESHIP when you check out. This makes for a great deal being that a small jar is only $3 and a medium jar is $7! Think about what one bottle of foaming hand soap cost and you can see the savings!

Here's how to enter: (remember, for each thing you do, leave it as an INDIVIDUAL comment to count as a chance to win!!)

1. Check out Wee Essentials and leave me a comment telling me what scent you would like to try

2. Become a follower of GreenKiddos and leave a comment (or let me know if you already are a follower!)

3. Follow @greenkiddo on Twitter and leave a comment (or let me know if you already do!)

4. Follow @weeessentials on Twitter and leave a comment

5. Tweet this giveaway and leave a comment with the link

6. Blog this giveaway and leave a comment with the link

7. Add my button to your blog and leave me a comment with a link to your blog


I will draw a winner using random.org next Tuesday, so share this contest all weekend long with your friends!!

not in the mood

That about sums up how I feel this week. Between Bubbie being sick, me being a gazillion months pregnant, and the humidity and heat here in the hot south raging, I have not been in the mood to do much of anything this week. So blogging has been on the back burner. I am officially in count down mode. I am ready to have this baby and get back to normality, or at least our new normal. I am ready for the kids to start preschool next week. I am ready for routine. So I apologize my dear readers for my lack of enthusiasm these past few days. I just have not be in the mood.

On another note..... A super yummy smelling contest is coming on FRIDAY!!! Be on the look out! I might not be blogging about much this week, but you don't want to miss this! I have been "testing" out this yummy surprise all week and am so excited to share it with you! Check back soon!

not me monday - sick day at home

Not Me Monday is brought to you by one of my favorite blogs, My Charming Kids. This is a place where blog mamas can unite together and confess all their imperfections as moms, you know... all the things we would NEVER really do! ;)

Today Bubbie woke up with a fever and yucky nose. I did not use this as an excuse to allow my children watch entirely way too much tv and lay around on the couch. I also did not let them eat a cereal bar for breakfast, and again right before lunch knowing good and well that then they wouldn't eat much real lunch.

And after hearing of my friends going through one of our favorite drive throughs tonight, I did not scrap our dinner plans of a home cooked meal so we could chow on some really yummy chicken fingers. And I absolutely did not polish off those chicken fingers with a few girl scout cookies that I discovered stashed in our garage fridge the other. And I would never be complementing just going off and finishing off the box so they don't tempt me any more!

I most definitely have not been bribing my four year old with some "coke bottle" gummies every 4-6 hours to get him to take his medicine. He happily obliges to taking medicine with no prompts from me at all times.

And lastly at no point in this past week did I allow my two small children to have at it with a Little Mermaid sticker book just so I could have a few minutes to myself. I would never let them do this to themselves just so I could get some things done!

end of summer surprise

What could lead to a smile like this?

Or a look of pure surprise like this?

Why when Super Dad shows up on a Friday afternoon with a swing set for our backyard!

and that leads to smiles like this!

and lots of giggles!

and being creative!

and squeals of summer time joy!

friday favorites - loopy do inserts

I am a pocket diaper lover. They are my favorite because once they are stuffed they are as easy as an AIO and with the right insert they can be super trim yet absorbent. It took me a while to find an insert that I liked, but lo and behold loopy do's are my all time favorites!

Loopy Do's are a hemp/ microfiber combo. The micro fiber absorbs quickly, where the hemp is super thirsty and holds a lot all while keeping the insert super thin. They also are sewn in a loop so dry time is minimal! Normally these inserts are $6.95 a piece, but right now Kelly's Closet has the 1G inserts for only $3.95!! And as if I needed one more reason to love these inserts, they are pre washed and prepped, ready to go!!

After trying out loopy do's I purchased a couple super do's for night time and they are bullet proof! So if you are on the hunt for a new insert to try, I highly recommend these!

Hurry now to check out these inserts before they are gone. They will go quick at this price!

Click here to visit Kelly's Closet

precious

Psalm 139:13-14

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's
womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and
wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.

Yesterday I gave Bubbie a little dry erase board and marker to use during rest time. He is usually not big into drawing or coloring but when he came down from his rest he was SO proud to show me his creation. The above picture is our family. He was quick to tell me that the first person was him, the next was me, then Super Dad and then Sass. At first I didn't notice one more person in the picture, a tiny little detail, but he made sure to show me. Look carefully at me...... do you see new baby? He included new baby in our picture! How stinkin' precious is that?! I was completely tickled by this not only because he added new baby to the picture but I have never seen him draw full people with bodies like that. So cute!

wordless wednesday - not so good at being wordless!

two bitty babies

reading books

in matching dresses

what a wonderful way to spend the day

crockpot mexican chicken

Yesterday was Super Dad's birthday ( isn't that a great pic of him? One of the kids took it!!) . He didn't want to go out to dinner but couldn't really tell me what he wanted for dinner either. I had no idea what I wanted to cook either, I just knew that I didn't want to haul to kids to the grocery store with me in the 8 million degree weather, so it was creativity time!

I took a package of chicken breasts from the freezer and tossed them in my crock pot. I added two cans of cream of chicken, a jar of salsa, a can of drained black beans, half a bag of Trader Joe's frozen roasted corn and half a bag of Trader Joe's frozen tri color bell peppers. All of these things are favorites of Super Dads. I let it cook all afternoon and once the chicken was good and cooked and pulled it out and chunked it into bite size pieces.

I threw my new concoction on top of some brown rice and topped it off with some cheddar cheese. It was really yummy and super duper easy! The other good thing is it made a TON of food. I sent Super Dad to work with a serving for lunch and froze two dinner size portions for us to eat after baby comes.

Here's the weird part. I KNOW I took a picture of our yummy dinner last night before putting it all away, yet it is not on my memory card this morning.... maybe the camera ate it??

[update - superdad's computer consumed the memory card and then formatted the card and put it back into my Nikon this morning] here's the pic.... yum! it was tasty!

gro baby contest winner!!!

Congrats to SARAH J!

Lucky number 13!! Random.org choose your number! Please contact me at greenkiddos dot com @ gmail dot com with your mailing address and I will get your diaper right out to you!



Thanks to everyone for such a great response! I hope to have another giveaway in a week or so. If you are ever interested in having your product given away just let me know!

not me monday..... wedding edition

Not Me Monday is brought to you by one of my favorite blogs, My Charming Kids. This is a place where blog mamas can unite together and confess all their imperfections as moms, you know... all the things we would NEVER really do! ;)

Bubbie was asked to be in his first wedding this past weekend. In celebration of this milestone, I thought it would be fun to do a "Not Me Monday - Wedding Edition"! Enjoy!


Bubbie looked precious in his tux. He was thrilled to be part of the wedding and while waiting for the festivities to begin he was on all his BEST behavior. He certainly was NOT wandering through woods, playing with sticks and dirt just moments before the ceremony. No, not my precious boy!



During the processional, Bubbie had to walk down only about 30 million concrete steps to make it into the gardens. I was NOT holding my breath the entire time. I knew with out a doubt that he would do EXACTLY as he was told, you know being a four year old boy and all!


And during the ceremony I NEVER once had to give him the "eye" to make sure he stood still, and didn't bop any one with the pillow. He absolutely didn't try to hand off the pillow to the Bride numerous times while she was being given away and didn't make a single silly face at me through the entire sacred time. Not this sweet boy!

While we are discussing what angels my children were through out the entire wedding, obviously completely due to my wonderful parenting skills.... let touch on this little person for a minute.


See that sweet little angelic face..... not one time did I have to tell her to be quiet during the ceremony. I absolutely didn't keep handing her things like fans and water bottles in attempt to keep her seated and silent. And it wasn't me who finally resorted to pulling out my Iphone so this tiny little one could play Tinkerbell just to keep her from throwing a massive fit during the vows. What kind of mother would resort to that? Not me! My children always sit and be silent when asked!!

As a matter of fact, my children were perfectly posed through the entire event. I never once worried that they would knock over the cake while running through the reception, or that Sass would have an accident in her beautiful white dress. In fact when we attempted to get a picture of the two of them, they immediately stopped running around like little monkeys and posed beautifully, just like this:


It would never take me jumping up and down and bribing with lollipops to get timeless, cherished shots that I will hold onto forever. And I would never trick them into a photo that they will both hate me for one day just so I could have a precious memory. No, not me!!