Jump, Jump!

Saturday we celebrated my niece Mikayla's third birthday at the YMCA & it was an absolute blast for all adults & children involved! Everything was soft, cushy & bouncy; including the entire floor. How fun is that?!







There was this awesome deep pit of foamy cubes that we were able to jump into off a trampoline.



Cam & I swam through the sea of cubes & it was no easy task since the pit was so deep & it was impossible to reach solid ground.









Mike had a chance to hop in with Cam & they had a great time even though he looks like a disgruntled baby in this picture.



My mom & sis had to try it out too...



And my mom took a leap into the sea of cubes too!



There was even a rope you could swing on as a way to get into the cubes... of course my brother had a ball with that.



Cam & I spent a lot of time in the bounce house after all the other kids were done & occupied with something else. He was the youngest one of the group so there was no way I wanted him jumping with the big kids. The only big kid allowed in with Cam was me!! And boy did I have fun!



Told you I was having fun...





After the hour of playing in the gym, we all went into the party room & enjoyed some pizza, cake & presents. The YMCA ended up being the perfect spot for a kid's birthday party & I definitely plan on looking into it for one of Cam's birthdays. There were two young YMCA employees that led the group & completely helped out; no muss no fuss involved. Check it out if your little one has a birthday coming up!

Jack of all Trades!

A couple of years ago Mike asked me if I'd start cutting his hair for convenience & to save some money. I didn't mind, so I gave it a whirl & eventually got pretty decent & comfortable with it. Funny thing is though, I typically have to bug him to let me cut his hair. Like he's doing me a favor! Uh, don't think so, scruffy!



Anyway, now that there are two boys living under our roof, I am the cutter of two heads; one very blond & one very dark!



One would not expect Cam to be a good hair cutting customer because he is always on the move. However, he is amazingly good at sitting still & cooperating the entire time. It's the same way when I have to trim his finger or toe nails.



So we ended Cam's Friday evening with a haircut. Problem? I remembered I wanted to cut it after his bath & after Mike had already put lotion on Cam. Lets just say he had to take another dip in the tub since he looked like Sasquatch after his cut.



I love that I'm able to serve as my boys' hair stylist but there's one issue I'm faced with. I've yet to get a tip!!!

What's For Dinner?

If you love buffalo chicken & macaroni & cheese (and who doesn't?!), why not combine them into this delectable dish? Click here for the recipe; you won't be sorry! And just an FYI, plan on serving a lot of people with this dish or having a ton of leftovers. I made this on Sunday with the help of my friend Matt & we served four adults & two children & still ended up with major leftovers. Perfect for dinner or lunch the next day or freeze it for another time.



Tonight I whipped up falafel which is a Middle Eastern food that can be eaten as an appetizer or an entree. Normally it's deep-fried but I pan fried it for a healthier spin on the dish; click here for the recipe. We served it with wheat flat breads & topped it with cool, tasty tzatziki sauce & had a salad on the side.





So tasty topped with tzatziki sauce! We normally buy a tub of tzatziki sauce at Sam's Club & put it on sandwiches or use it as a dip for veggies & chips. Since we didn't have time to get to Sam's Club, Mike just picked up an order of it at a local Greek restaurant. So yummy!



The dish was Cam tested & Ally approved!

Stop! Hamper Time!

Cameron absolutely adores helping with the laundry. He does an excellent job of spewing clothing all over the living room as try to do my folding. And he gets quite the kick out of unfolding & knocking down piles of clothes I'm attempting to organize (and failing miserably).



But hey, he's happy & that's all that matters, right? I mean, I don't need to get anything done at a fast pace so I can actually relax after the stinker goes to bed, huh? Nah! What my baby wants, my baby gets!



Who knew laundry could be this much fun?!

Hawks Win, Hawks Win, Hawks Win!!!

Moments ago the Chicago Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup finals with a score of 4-3 with a goal from Patrick Kane in overtime!!!! UNBELIEVABLE!! It's been 49 years since their last win in 1961 so this is an AMAZING moment!!! I may have moved from Chicago 5 years ago, but my roots will always be there!!

Way to go, Chicago!!! We are so proud of you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Time to celebrate!!!!!!



Wooooo-hooooooo!

What's For Dinner?

For some reason I have not cooked in what seems like forever. I used to cook so often & enjoy the heck out of it; it's such a stress reliever for me since it's pretty much the only time my mind is quiet & I just focus on the task at hand.

So tonight it was my goal to make a meal without any fuss & without stopping for any groceries. I went into it with no plan, checked the pantry & decided to make a "Mexican lasagna." I sauteed up some cubed chicken we had leftover in the fridge with olive oil, salt, pepper & a quarter bottle of beer to give it some moisture. In the meantime I drained corn, Rotelle spicy tomatoes & spicy chili beans & added it to the chicken. I stirred in a bit of ranch dressing to cool it down a notch & give it some creaminess. Then I layered a couple of flour tortillas in a casserole dish, spread half of the chicken mixture over them, topped that with two more tortillas & topped that with the rest of the chicken mixture. Finally I topped that with cheese & baked it at 350 for a half hour.



This dish took me a grand total of fifteen minutes to make & I had to wash only the pan I used; no chopping or anything. Mike was so excited to come into a house that smelled of a home-cooked meal & raved about the dish, so I'd say it was a successful weeknight meal.



So many things would have worked in this; had I mixed a cream of chicken soup into the mixture, it would have made for some tasty enchiladas. It always feels like an accomplishment to make a meal using just the things you have on hand.

HILARITY!!

Sometime this week Cam picked up some pretty sweet dance moves from, I'm assuming, daycare. Every time he does it, I laugh so hard that my face & stomach hurts! That child of mine is absolutely, positively one of a kind!

To White Noise or Not??

Recently we had an out-of-the-blue rough couple of weeks of Cameron sleeping terribly for some unknown reason. After a night or so of letting him cry it out for about twenty minutes, he's getting back to his normal sleep habits. Praise God because I do not have the patience or tolerance to be getting up in the middle of the night with an almost two year-old who had previously been sleeping twelve hours a night.

Anyway, even with Cam sleeping through the night he's still been getting up earlier than usual; maybe 6:30 vs. 7:15-7:30. But last night, I decided to turn the portable fan on in his room to create white noise since I knew I'd be juggling garbage that needed to go from the garage which borders the wall of his room. I kept the fan on through the night & he slept until 7:20 this morning. It was the first time in what seems like forever that I've actually woken up to my alarm vs. a crying Cameron. It could be a fluke, but I'm thinking the white noise from the fan had a little something to do with it.

Cameron's bedroom is at the front of our house & there are many sources of noise that might interrupt his sleep. And I know that I'm a very light sleeper who wakes up at the slightest sound; hence me wearing earplugs to bed for the past 10 years. So, it's gotten me thinking that maybe Cam is also a light sleeper & a bit of white noise would do him good. Problem? Mike is afraid that he'll come to depend on this & have trouble sleeping for the rest of his life if he doesn't have it.

And I can only imagine what's going on in Mike's brain.... What if Cam's traveling when he's an adult & has no source of white noise & can't sleep?! Then his insomnia will eventually lead to insanity & he'll end up in a mental institute & we'll have scarred him for the rest of his life!!

Okay, well, maybe it's not that extreme (although, you never do know), but either way, he's concerned that putting the fan on in his room each night will lead to issues that affect his sleep in the long run.

Help! What should we do? Put the fan on in his room to help him sleep better or keep it off in hopes that he'll adapt to the noises around him & sleep through it?? Any input would be appreciated!