Ellen...

Unfortunately Ellen did NOT pick us to come join her on April 30Th:( We are all really bummed. Not sure how their process works but we requested tickets right away and still didn't get them. Myself and another gal wrote into the Ellen show so I'm still secretly hoping she'll surprise all of us with an all expense paid trip out there to celebrate our 30Th birthdays! Highly unlikely but one can still dream:)
So now the hunt is on to find another location (We are not going to California if we can't see Ellen!!). Some of our options now include Myrtle Beach and somewhere in Florida! As long as I have a beach, 80 degree weather and an adult beverage in my hand I'll be fine!
Happy Wednesday!

Early Mornings!

For those of you that are friends with me on Facebook you've already read this but I'm in need of some advice! Cash has been getting up at 5:30am for the day and will NOT go back to sleep. He and Pierce share a room so Pierce is also up that early! For the last few months we've been putting Cash to bed at 7:30pm because he's unbearable and tired! He was doing great sleeping until 7am but for the last few weeks it's been 5:30. We have been keeping him up until 8 or 8:15 at night but he still gets up that early (and quite honestly he's so crabby by 8:15 I don't know if it's worth keeping him up!). I'm dealing with two very crabby (and naughty) boys now ALL day! We all need a break!
If anyone has any tips and/or suggestions I would love to hear them!
Sincerely,
A Tired Mom;)

Weekend Recap

We had another great weekend! I'm still trying to figure out how they go so fast! Here's how our weekend unfolded:

After our fiasco Friday with Cash's elbow things calmed down and we had a relaxing night. We watched our nieces for a bit, I did spray tans, Travis made us a fabulous non-meat dinner of baked sway (fish)...the boys even loved it, in bed by 9:30, up early, cleaned the whole house, more spray tans, shopping with my mom (got some great deals!), church Saturday afternoon, Wildwood Saloon for Chris Brooks band (AWESOME), slept in on Sunday morning, had the boys playing outside in the gorgeous weather, naps all around, Heitman family supper (delicious), Oscars and we ended the evening with Pierce puking all over his bed:(

He was totally fine up until he puked and was fine after he puked. It only happened once and I'm not convinced it is the flu. We caught him in grandma Heitman's toy room devouring cookies so who knows how many he ate! I'm thinking he overdosed on cookies and that upset his tummy! Travis took the day off and got him out of the house so I can still have daycare. They are shopping in Iowa City this morning!

Hope everyone else had a great weekend!

Mother Of The Year

It's official...I'm out of the running for mother of the year;( I accidentally pulled Cash's elbow out of socket today!

It was lunch time and he was standing by his chair ready to eat, as he always is! I took him by the hands and lifted him up to his chair. He seemed fine until I went to pull his sleeves up to wash his hands and then he started bawling and clearly in pain. I watched him throughout lunch and realized he wasn't using his right arm at all. He usually eats w/ his right hand & he was getting upset because he couldn't eat!

He was really upset and I started to panic...okay I spazzed out! I was shaking and crying b/c I knew I hurt him. As most of you can imagine lunch time in a daycare isn't exactly calm! I had 2 babies in high chairs eating, two 3 year olds and a 2 year old finishing up and running around wild! Then there was me...freaking out myself and on the phone w/ the pediatricians office and sending a massive text to my daycare parents to come get their kids (I didn't want to make that many phone calls b/c I knew I'd have to explain how I had hurt my son! Thank goodness for texting.)!!

Luckily my parents are super close (my mom was here w/in 5 minutes). She stayed w/ the daycare kids until their parents came. My dad escorted Cash and me to the doctor! Poor kid was in pain and I felt terrible! There was no way I could have drove.

As soon as it was popped back into socket he was fine! Seriously..he was wondering around picking up books and laughing. She taught me how to pop his elbow back in if this ever happens again. I told her she was wasting her breath b/c I would NEVER attempt this! I made sure my dad was taking notes;)

We left at 12:30 and we were back by 1:45! Simple process and she claims this happens all the time! I think I'll believe her;)

He's good to go and everything is okay!

Reese's

I ALWAYS wait until last minute to do a lot of my holiday candy shopping (Valentine's, Halloween and every other holiday!). Not this time!! I'm actually on my game and got all the Easter candy already! The only reason for this is because Reese's only comes out w/ the peanut butter egg once a year and I HAVE to have them! I seriously dream about these eggs;) They are so much better then regular Reese's Peanut Butter Cups.
Don't worry...I got a cart full and only one of my children can eat them (darn peanut allergy!) I'll have to help Pierce out;)

I'm just hoping they last until Easter....

Chicken Enchiladas

There are a few meals I could eat every day for the rest of my life...my mom's chicken enchiladas are one of them! Every year we get a "birthday" meal and for the last 15 years or so mine has been chicken enchiladas!

Unfortunately my husband does NOT like them so I rarely get to make them! It makes a big batch and it's way too much for me to eat alone! I haven't had them for a while and I got a craving so I decided to make them for supper!

It took me a few years to attempt them myself because I thought it would be hard to make. Turns out they are the easiest things to prepare and bake!

The boys and I loved them! I also took a container out to my parents for them to enjoy also!

Sour Cream Chicken Enchiladas:

-10oz sour cream
-1 can cream mushroom
-1 can cream chicken
-2 10oz cans chunk chicken
-1 small can chopped green chiles (optional...yes please!)
-Onions (optional...not here!)
*Mix and put small amount on bottom of 9x13 greased pan
-Combine: 16oz shredded cheddar, 16oz shredded mozzarella & small can sliced black olives (optional).
-10 flour tortilla (I could only squeeze 7 in)

* fill 2Tbsp cream mix and 2Tbsp cheese mix in tortilla. Roll and put in pan. Cover with remaining cream mix and cheese mix.
*Bake @ 375 degrees for 30-35 minutes!

Family Photo

It's official....we hung our first family photo on the wall today! Okay, so Travis did but I swear I was right behind him instructing;) Like I would let him do this alone!!

I have pictures galore of the boys but up until now we haven't had one family picture out on display! A friends cousin took the pictures (for free!) and she did an awesome job! I ordered the print for $7.99 from KodakGallery and used an old frame I had! I've had the pictures since December...not sure what took me so long! Oh well, it's done and I LOVE it!

The 'H' on the wall was a house warming gift from my sister and the 'Heitman' blocks were purchased at a little shop (Wood Cellar) in Hampton, Iowa. The pictures on the shelf were taken by a friend from Rosey J Photography: http://rosiejphotography.com/

Weekend Recap

We had another great weekend! It was a busy one but that's the way I like it:) Here's the rundown:

Spray tans, getting together with friends for dinner & drinks (I was out WAY too late!), sleeping in until 9am (AMAZING!), more spray tans, laundry, lunch date at Carlos O'Kelly's, Von Maur, Walmart, beer butt chicken on the grill (sounds wierd but it's so good!), family time, going to Travis' favorite place..TJ's in Parnell, getting up early w/ the boys (6am!), church, breakfast, 3 hour nap (it's official..I'm old! I can't go out two nights in a row!), a family trip to Theisen's, brats w/ kraut for supper and ending it with a movie with the hubs!

A lot of my daycare families are off tomorrow so I only have 1 extra kid coming! Another great day is in store! Happy Monday everyone!

YAY For Fridays!!

Sadly these darn germs will not leave my house:( Two more kiddos out again today! I only have 4 kids total today (two of them are my own!) and it's like a vacation day. Pretty sad that 4 kids is a vacation day! Needless to say we are having a pretty laid back day! The weather is awesome so I sent the older boys outside! Fresh air never hurts and they had a blast!!

Busy night at the Heitman household tonight! I'm doing 12 spray tans all before 8pm! Someone is hosting a spray tan party here so it's a $10 spray tan night and the host gets one for free!! If anyone wants to join in on the fun get a hold of me for a spray tan!

After the fun spray tans I'm going to help a friend move schools! I know I'm showing up late but I guess it's better late then never...right?! Maybe there will be a few adult beverages after it's all said and done;)

Happy Friday to all of you!

Ellen DeGeneres!

My friends and I are all turning (or already have turned) 30! We decided to take a girls trip to California to go see Ellen DeGeneres! The process of requesting tickets has been quite long... 1st you have to discuss all your different schedules and come up with a time you can all be away! Once we decided on dates we have to wait until the date we want to be at a taping comes up for grabs then you have to request tickets. If you don't hear from a producer within two weeks that means you didn't get chosen and you need to pick a different date. Well that's not going to work for us!

We have all decided we want to go to the Ellen show on April 30th so if we don't get tickets the trip is a no-go:( As soon as we hear we got the tickets then we'll book our flights. I'm sure flights would have been cheaper a few months ago but we wanted to make sure we are going to see Ellen! So come on Ellen....humor a group of us from Iowa and let us come!! We're a really good time...I promise!

On Tuesday (FINALLY) April 30th tickets became available! We requested the tickets and still haven't heard anything! I have been taking my phone everywhere...including the bathroom and dead center of our table at Red Lobster on Valentine's Day:) I do NOT want to miss that call! I'm hoping and praying this all works out b/c it's been my dream to go see Ellen DeGeneres!

To be continued....

Sleeping!

For those of you that know me you know our youngest, Cash, has been sleeping in our room for 14 months! As much as I love him....it was time to go! We have tried a few times to have the boys sleep in the same room but something always came up...sicknesses that kept them awake at night (then we'd have both boys up!), teething that kept Cash up. You know all that stuff;) Once we had them sleeping together for a whole week then the weekend came around and we decided Cash slept in later in our room so we had him sleep in our room again and he never returned to Peirce's room! Oops!

So this time I told Travis I was sticking to my guns! They were going to sleep together from here on out! They have actually done really well. We need to fine tune a few things... like the fact that Cash goes to bed at 7:30 and Pierce goes to bed at 8:30. I feel like we've taken the usual night-time rituals away from Pierce. We still do them in the living room though! Also the fact that Cash wakes up at 6am and then wakes his brother up....AAAAHHHHH! It's okay during the week b/c I have to be up anyway but I am NOT getting up at 6am on the weekends!!

Naps are going okay but I know there's days Cash would sleep longer if Pierce didn't wake up and scream he "HAS TO GO POTTY!" Getting Pierce to get out of his bed on his own is a whole other blog! He's 3 1/2 and will NOT get out of his bed unless one of us comes in! Seriously?! When he had his own bedroom it was nice but now I wish he'd get up (quietly) and pee when he has to!

In any regard this is still the best thing ever:

In his crib and out of our room;)

Things I LOVE!

1. All 3 of my boys!!

2. Date night w/ the hubs...and no kids!

3. Being tan...of course w/a spray tan;)

4. DVR..I don't think I'd survive without it...no joke! I'm a little obsessed!

5. Lazy Saturday mornings doing nothing!

6. Family time playing cards.

7. Pizza Haus pizza...BEST PIZZA EVER!

8. Ellen DeGeneres... of course she made the list b/c she's a great person with a big heart!

9. I love me a girls night out!

10. And as you all know from a previous post I love a fully stocked diaper cupboard!

There are probably a million things I'm forgetting but these top-ten things came to mind right away! I hope everyone has a great Valentine's Day! I plan to with supper at our favorite restaurant...RED LOBSTER! Trying to find a sitter for Pierce & Cash...anyone, anyone?! Darn...guess they're coming with us!

Homemade Baby Wipes

You will need: an old container to store the wipes (old coffee can, old cleaned out Clorox container or an empty wipes container), Viva paper towels, 2Tbsp baby soap/wash, 1Tbsp baby oil and 1.5 cups water.

-Boil water and cool to room temperature.

-Cut the Viva paper towels in half (husband decided a saw worked best for this!)

-Organize paper towels however you're going to store them. If you use a coffee can or Clorox container you can just pull the cardboard out of the middle and pull the inside of the paper towels to start the roll.

-Mix all liquid ingredients and poor over wipes.

-Turn upside down for 10minutes to get all paper towels moist.

-Flip over and they are ready to go!

They smell SO good:)

Oh Weekends....

Why do they go so fast?! We had a jam packed weekend....I loved it:) It beats sitting at home all weekend!! Here's the weekend breakdown:

Spray tans, fun game night w/ my girl-friends, early tax appointment, shopping at the outlet mall then grocery store run, more spray tans, 5 loads of laundry, naptime (favorite part of the day!), our niece Kaylynn's 7th birthday party, family time, church, Valentine's Day lunch, more spray tans, Phase 10 with the family...I did NOT win;( , Pizza Haus w/ my sister and her family and ending it watching the Grammy's!

I guess I'm ready for the week to start...I don't really have a choice;)

TGIF

Enough said;) Today was a really good day! You never know what you're going to get on Fridays with kids (a lot of times they are W-I-L-D!) but today was a perfect day! Please keep them coming!

Looking forward to a few spray tans and a girls game night tonight with my besties!

Hope you all have a great FRIDAY!!

Lauren Conrad

I'm normally not a big reader...lets be honest who has the time?! But while going through my sisters closet (getting hand-me-downs!) she had these two books by Lauren Conrad...LA Candy and Sweet Little Lies. She read them and loved them so I took them home. I opened the first book that night and couldn't put it down!

It's probably something I would have never bought myself. It's about a group of girls in their 20's on a reality show. If you know Lauren at all you know she was on Laguna Beach and she was the star of The Hills....so these books weren't too far fetched.
Lets face it...I'm a married 30 year old mom.... Escaping to Hollywood every night was like a getaway! She definitely knows how to captivate her readers b/c I was hooked with one chapter!
I continued on to the second book...Sweet Little Lies and now I'm on the third...Sugar and Spice. Her fourth book in the series (The Fame Game) is released on April 3rd, 2012! I'm looking forward to that date:)

Since realizing I really like the books (and her) I've started following her blog and even checking out her clothes at Kohls!! She's an amazing person and great role model. I want to thank you, LC, for writing great books and giving me an excuse to go to bed at 9pm to read!

Diapers!

Please tell me I'm not the only one that gets a warm fuzzy feeling when the diaper cupboard is full!! I'm a little over the top and freak out if I don't have at least 25 diapers in stock so we get plenty at one time!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE Diapers.com and order all my diapers, ointments, baby shampoo (have to have the special eczema wash!) and baby wash through them! I'm currently waiting for my first order from their sister site...SOAP.com! If you spend over $50 it's free shipping and you get it the next day! Hello...who wouldn't do this?!

PS: it doesn't hurt our UPS delivery guy is easy on the eyes:)

$10 Spray Tans

Every few months I like to do a $10 spray tan night. You get the same great tan for 50% off! In honor of Valentine's Day I've opened it up for 4 days: Thursday, Feb. 9th thru Sunday, Feb. 12th!

I start tans at 5:15pm and go as late as people need me!

The best way to come is freshly showered, no makeup, no lotion and no deodorant! You can wear whatever you want to get spray tanned but I suggest wearing dark, loose fitting clothing after your tan.

The tan usually lasts 7-10 days depending on your skin type!

Get a hold of me today for your tan!!

Oh, kids....

WARNING: we have pink eye in this house!

I sent Pierce off to a birthday party Saturday and he was just fine. When I picked him up he had lots of green boogers in one eye. The host of the party said she had to wipe it out 3 times....I swear he was fine, SWEAR!!!

Anyway, his eyeball never once got pink or red but his eyelid was all puffy and his tears were seriously burning his face and leaving marks! I had leftover pink eye drops (don't worry they don't expire until Feb. 2012..promise!) so I started them right away on Saturday. And as you can see from my previous post we didn't go anywhere so hopefully we didn't spread the germs!

He couldn't even open his eye this morning so I decided it was time for a doctor visit! He was so excited daddy came home from work to take him (it's easier then me finding a sub for this crazy house during lunch!!).

Doc confirmed it was pink eye AND ear infection! Oops...feel like a horrible mom b/c I didn't know! Geez kid...speak up;) Doctor said I was okay to have daycare b/c I was smart and started the drops on Saturday! Glad she wasn't mad I was using old drops!!

So hopefully no one else gets it b/c I hear pink eye as an adult is pretty rough!

All in all a good Monday though!

Home Bodies

We did not have any plans all day Saturday! Most people would think this would be nice but it drives me crazy! I am home all week and sitting at home on the weekends is the last thing I want to do! We watched numerous episodes of Billy The Exterminator...thanks to my husband and the boys played all day. My husband, Travis, and I watched The Help when our boys went to bed. It was a really good movie and I can see why it's getting so much Oscar buzz!

Thank goodness we have Super Bowl plans today w/ great friends...otherwise I might go nuts in this house!! Not that I care about the Giants or Patriots but it will be nice to get out and eat delicious appetizers! And the commercials are always funny too!
I guess we can label today...SUNDAY-FUNDAY