Quick update from the weekend. All of the Girl Scout cookies have been sorted and passed out. Whew! That was the main focus of the weekend.

Friday 2/20:

This is Bueller. One of the cats. Usually he sleeps in my desk chair. If I'm sitting in the chair, he hops into my lap. I have to maneuver around him.

Saturday 2/21:

Snuck in to get a photo of Georgia sleeping. So cute how she has her hands up by her face. Personally, I don't see how she sleeps with all of those stuffed animals and blankets, but she loves it!

Sunday 2/22:

I made a photo collage of the kids riding the carousel at the mall.

Tuesday, February 17th:

Georgia has been practicing tying her shoes for a few weeks now. She had success tying both shoes on Sunday and I was able to document it today when she was getting ready for school. She is so proud of herself. I love the little smile on her face.

Wednesday, February 18th:

I found someone hiding in the fridge! Well, not really, the door wouldn't close with her standing there. Reminds me of when she was an infant and would pull herself up into the fridge anytime she could:

(Irelyn at 10 months)

Thursday, February 19th:

My house looks like a "cookie forest" according to the girls. I am surrounded by Girl Scout cookies! I really had no idea what I was getting into when I agreed to be Cookie Mom for the Troop. I didn't realize all the paperwork, special cookie training, and stress involved. I keep telling myself it's for a good cause and will be over soon. My co-leader, Debbie, and I went to pick up all 899 individual boxes of cookies this morning. Then I began the sorting process. Of course I miscounted somewhere along the line and had to go back and recount all the cookies. I spent a good 5-6 hours sorting and counting cookies. I'm sure counting and collecting the money will be yet another adventure! Wish me luck.

I had Baked Potato Soup on the agenda for tonight, but I forgot that I would be working when I was planning the meals for the week. Doh! Anyway, I got the soup started by baked the potatoes for R and then he did the rest.

Verdict: He and the girls really liked it. I will be having it for lunch tomorrow.

Here's the recipe:

Baked Potato Soup

All the flavors of a loaded baked potato come together in this rich, creamy soup.
4 baking potatoes (about 2 1/2 pounds)
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
6 cups 2% reduced-fat milk
1 cup (4 ounces) reduced-fat shredded extra-sharp cheddar cheese, divided
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 cup reduced-fat sour cream
3/4 cup chopped green onions, divided
6 bacon slices, cooked and crumbled
Yield: 8 servings (serving size: about 1 1/2 cups soup, 1 1/2 teaspoons cheese, 1 1/2 teaspoons onions)
CALORIES 329 (30% from fat); FAT 10.8g (sat 5.9g,mono 3.5g,poly 0.7g); IRON 1.1mg; CHOLESTEROL 38mg; CALCIUM 407mg; CARBOHYDRATE 44.5g; SODIUM 587mg; PROTEIN 13.6g; FIBER 2.8g
Cooking Light, OCTOBER 2002

Preheat oven to 400°.

Pierce potatoes with a fork; bake at 400° for 1 hour or until tender. Cool. Peel potatoes; coarsely mash. Discard skins.

Lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Place flour in a large Dutch oven; gradually add milk, stirring with a whisk until blended. Cook over medium heat until thick and bubbly (about 8 minutes). Add mashed potatoes, 3/4 cup cheese, salt, and pepper, stirring until cheese melts. Remove from heat.

Stir in sour cream and 1/2 cup onions. Cook over low heat 10 minutes or until thoroughly heated (do not boil). Sprinkle each serving with cheese, onions, and bacon.

Had to do this tonight after work since today was CRAZY busy (more on that tomorrow). Just threw together a little of this and a little of that. I really like it, though, and hope you do, too.

The LOAD challenge is great! I'm using up a lot of stuff and also purging stuff that I (now) realize that I will never use. So liberating!

On Friday the 13th, R and I dropped the girls off at my parent's house for a sleep-over. Mom & Dad were going to watch the girls so we could have our Valentine date night and then we would pick them up on Saturday around 3pm. We were very excited about the prospect of sleeping in on Saturday! Sad, I know, but that's life AK (after kids). We had a pretty leisurely Saturday - I slept until 9:30! Had breakfast and pretty much just lounged around until about 1:30 when we headed to Lowe's to pick up a new ceiling fan for the bedroom. We picked up the kids and took this picture for the day:

My cute mom and my girls. We love you!

Sunday was a dreary & gray day so we just hung around the house again. R made the girls pink heart-shaped pancakes for breakfast and then spent about 2 hours installing the new fan.

Today the kids were out of school (again) for President's Day. We started the morning at the library where I was approached by a woman who wanted to know where the Dewey Decimal system was. I pointed her to the computers and told her how to search there. She was amazed that it was all computerized now. Must have been a few years since she'd been in the library. My girls chose some books and I picked up 2 for myself: Queen of Babble in the Big City and Boy Next Door. I've read a few of Meg Cabot's books before and find them very funny. Check her out if you get the chance.

Then we headed to Toys R Us because Georgia wanted to spend the $5 she got for Valentine's day. She chose the Crayola Color Surge pack. Toys R Us had about half the store on clearance it seemed and everything that was on clearance was an extra 20% off and also lots of buy one get one free deals. Irelyn chose a Littlest Pet Shop pet and then Georgia picked out another one since it was *free* and then I picked up the Cranium game - Balloon Lagoon for $7 (after extra discounts)!! And took this picture after we checked out:

The girls like to "pretend" to ride the coin operated rides. I actually had the change on me to let them ride them, but they chose to just pretend. Crazy kids, but hey, we saved $1.

Tuesday, Feb. 10th:

enjoying takeout from Chili's for dinner. Big Mouth Burgers. Oh yeah!

Wednesday, Feb. 11th:

New bench and wall shelf for the foyer. I have been waiting for this to be delivered for a month! I'm so excited to finally have a place to put the backpacks, mail, artwork, etc..... R did a great job installing it, too!

Thursday, Feb. 12th:

Just the girls playing on the trampoline they got for Christmas. Probably the best gift of the year!

Friday, Feb. 13th:

R and I celebrating Valentine's Day a day early with a dinner date to the Cheesecake Factory. Dinner was great (and almost free because we had a gift card to use) and having the alone time as a couple was fantastic.

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Other things keeping me busy this month are the LOAD challenge and the beginning of my new Library of Memories class. I cannot wait to get a better system for scrapbooking my photos (and seeing what photos I have that need to be documented). Lesson One is all about sorting your already printed photos - about 5 years worth and setting them up in storage binders. I spent about an hour and a half today going through all of my boxes of printed photos and grouping them by year and then by quarter (Jan - Mar, Apr - June, July - Sept, Oct - Dec). Next step, setting up highlight folders for all of the digital photos that haven't been printed yet. Wish me luck, there are thousands!

Here are some of the layouts I have completed for the LOAD challenge.

This is another catch up post. Life is too busy sometimes!

February 3 (day 34): Tuesdays are usually spent at home, doing housework. Today was no different. Here is a full basket of clean clothes that need to be folded and put away. I dislike that part the most. The funny thing about these clothes - they sat around for a couple of days without being folded and put away. We built a fire in our fireplace and the clothes got all smoke-smelling so I had to re-wash them on Friday. Fun!

Day 35: One good thing (Netflix movie - Wanted) amidst all the junk mail.

Day 36: Georgia has decided to make her class valentine's this year. I gave her sheets of red and white construction paper and a mound of foam shapes - hearts, butterflies, glitter hearts, etc... She wanted to do it all on her own, so I gave her the class list and she got to work. She actually made all of the cards at one sitting and they are really cute. Irelyn, of course, wanted in on the action so she made a big valentine, too.

Day 37: A visit to the Gyn office was the big event of the day. I will spare you the photo of the bed & stirrups!

Day 38: We had a 10am soccer game, then went to lunch at Zaxby's. Afterward, we went to the Benjamin Moore paint store to pick up some color swatches and fell in love with a color scheme for the office. Avocado & Sea Haze. We picked up the color samples to see how it looks on the walls. Also chose some color swatches for the master bathroom. Let the redecorating begin!

Day 39: We drove down to the TECO manatee viewing center near Apollo Beach. It was such a gorgeous day. There were at least 50 manatees in the water that day. It was so awesome to see that many and the girls really enjoyed it. We also saw some small bonnethead sharks, huge tarpon, and some spotted rays. After we had spent about 2 hours there, we headed down to Ellenton to eat at the Roaring 20's Pizza & Pipes restaurant. So fun!

Looking into the bay to see manatees.

Day 40: After school today we met Georgia's BFF and her mom & brother at a local playground. We've all been great friends since Georgia was an infant. Here is a cute, but blurry picture of the girls.

This evening we went to a Girl Scout campfire and had s'mores. Lots of fun!

One of my scrappin' friends is hosting a giveaway to celebrate her blogaversary! Go here to Little Bit of Life and follow the directions for a chance to win some awesome stuff! Good luck :)

Day 32/365. R took GA to play miniature golf for a daddy/daughter date and took this picture as the photo of the day:

Day 33/365. Groundhog Day! Georgia was so excited about this day. She kept telling us the history of Groundhog day and they got to watch Punxsutawney Phil look for his shadow today. Apparently, he saw his shadow so 6 more weeks of winter. However, today in FL there were no shadows to be seen so we are having an early Spring according to Georgia. The picture of the day are the ingredients for Chili. A perfect meal for a cold & dreary day:

Here is what you need and how to make Kari & Robb's Chili:

1 lb. ground beef

2 cans kidney beans (do not drain)

1 can whole tomatoes - squish them and take the cores out

1 8 oz. can tomato sauce

about 1/2 an onion, diced (I only had red onion so I used that)

2-3 cloves garlic, minced

1 tbs. cumin

1 tsp. ground mustard powder

1 tbs. paprika

1/2 tsp. oregano

2 tbs. chili powder

Brown the beef & drain. Add in onion and garlic. Add in all other ingredients. Simmer for 45 minutes. Taste for seasoning. Add salt and more spices to taste.

Add some shredded cheese to each bowl and enjoy!

Irelyn has a rare bath by herself while Georgia is at soccer practice on day 30.

Day 31 - last day of January and 1 month into Project 365!

R & I watched The Chronicles of Narnia - Prince Caspian.