Positively Positive

I have been a grump this week with a capital G! and I can't seem to snap out of it during the day. The only thing that makes it go away is Kevin walking in the door. I tried to spend some time this afternoon thinking about things that make me happy so I would stop saying things like, "You're making mommy really frustrated" or "That's OK if you don't want to do... (whatever), sometimes we still have to do things we don't like,"... "Just be quiet for one minute"... followed by a loud "NO!" toddler response. :) 

So here are a few positives from my week

1. I came up with the perfect way to unpack- sort clothes into piles, give Andrew an empty suitcase, have him fill the suitcase with one pile at a time and then deliver the clothes to their correct room! Then I can put the clothes away when we are playing in each room later in the day.

I actually had the kids' suitcase unpacked on Monday. Usually that takes a week. Mine might not get unpacked before we leave again soon... but I still made progress!

2. Ginormous Cate. Love this kid.

She sucks her thumb and fingers ALL. DAY. LONG. Buckets of drool. She has barely cried in the car all week which is AMAZING and a miracle. She doesn't want to be put down ALL. DAY. LONG either. I kinda love it... except when I am cooking and she tries to grab everything from me. Cooking = Cate screaming in her chair. As long as I am holding her, she is happy. I feel OK about holding her all day long since I'm making her sleep all by herself all night long.

I love her crazy hair + adorable smiles in the morning!

3. Uncle Scotter. Andrew worships him. Scott came into town for a work trip this week and he stayed with us last night. Andrew waited up so he could say goodnight to Scott when he arrived and woke up early so that he could play with Scott for 30 minutes before we had to take him to the airport. Andrew proceeded to cry or be a grump the whole drive home from SFO because he wanted Scott to come back to our house to play :(

Playing Kinect with Scott

4. Treats & Fun Activities with Andrew. We have done a lot of them lately... especially related to Easter. Check them out here.

Chocolate Cornflake Nests

Dyeing Easter Eggs

ABC Easter Egg Hunt 

Egg Puzzles

5. Food. I am famished constantly.  

My only goals every day this week were to... 

- clean the kitchen (mostly accomplished)

- do the laundry (need to work on the putting away part)

- go running/work out daily

- keep the little people happy

- EAT LOTS OF FOOD!

I have pretty low expectations for myself these days. My motivation for anything else was zapped when Caitlin turned 3 months old. I wish I could still be nesting and actually accomplish other goals. We did finally pick carpet today for our house though.

I have also actually been making dinner lately (that doesn't involve a microwave). Taco Soup is my ABSOLUTE favorite thing right now. I practically make bucket loads of it every week... and could eat it for one meal every day... if not more. 

Here's the recipe if you got hungry looking at this picture. I have all the ingredients in my food storage now, so if the big one hits we can eat this for a month.

Ingredients:

1 can stewed tomatoes

1 can kidney beans

1 can garbanzo beans

1 can black beans

1 packet Taco seasoning

1 can tomato sauce

1 can corn

1-2 cups salsa

Package of browned and drained ground beef 

(or double everything if you want to have lots of leftovers like I always do)

Dump everything in a big crock pot, mix it up, cook on high for 5 hours. EAT!

Extras to add once it is cooked:

Tortilla chips

Sour cream

Shredded Mexican cheese

Yum! I am just getting hungry typing this out. 

If you have other easy recipes like this. Pass them along. I don't have the motivation for making complicated dinners... but would love to eat stuff other than frozen pizzas, pasta roni, and chicken nuggets. 

Hopefully I can be less of a grump tomorrow!