HELLO Again!!

I'm BAAAAACCCCCKKKK!! It's been two weeks, but it seems longer. I really missed blogging and blog world. WOW--we've been busy. Where do I start?

Maybe I will start from today and move backwards--haha. As of today, Aliyah will complete 1st grade. Just in time for the great weather that has come our way--FINALLY! We do her school year like this for several reasons: it's much easier to stay motivated in winter when not much else is going on outside, the busy season at work picks up about now and there's times when I don't want to delve into schoolwork when I get off, the kids need spring to run off all that built up energy--man they have plenty of it.
The girls went outside a couple of times on Thursday and jumped on the trampoline, climbed trees, etc... Aliyah had terrible "growing pains" in her legs that night. She hasn't had those since she was like 4. They are the kind where she wakes up just screaming because they hurt so bad. My mom told me that I used to have them when I was little just like that.
Oh yes, new developments in our home improvement projects!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The new cabinets and counterop are in and WONDERFUL!! It's amazing what a difference this makes in the kitchen. We call it our re-remodel. In 2005, we got new cabinets and a countertop to replace the horrendous ones that were there when we moved here. When we did it, we did exactly what we already had--no additional. Does that make sense??? Our kitchen is probably the smallest room in the house aside from the bath--what do I mean probably--IT IS! I could only have the bare minimum of stuff it seemed because there was so little space countertop-wise and cabinet wise. We added cabinets all along the very top of the existing ones, added wood valances across the window spaces, and have crown moulding. I have 9 new cabinets. Granted, many of them are tiny cabinets that go above cabinets, but they still hold stuff =).

This new kitchen change has given me an urge to make things I've never made. It has been so fun. Since Josh works a combo of 1st and second shift, there are many evenings where he isn't home. I don't see much of a need to cook a whole dinner for just myself and my two little bird eaters. He works evenings like 4 nights a week. This leaves 3 nights where we are home together. We obviously like to go out to eat, but that gets old really quickly especially when you get tired of the choices. We aren't exotic eaters by any means--kind of picky actually.
So, this week my two new dishes that I hadn't made before that we love to eat were lasagna and breakfast casserole! They were awesome--I was told by all of the family members eating =). The cool thing was, we had leftovers that the girls and I could eat when Josh was at work. There's more new things to come this week in the kitchen for us! The cool part about this re-remodel is that the tax refund paid for a big chunk of it--YAY!

Yesterday after work we left and went up to the burbs of Chicago. Yes, we've made it there at least once a month since August. This was our quickest trip by far. It reminded me of the days where I was coaching cheerleading and we had a Friday night game a few hours away. We had time to go to the stores we wanted to, eat at Changs, and be home before midnight. Man, we saw a TON of red/blue lights both ways. They were out on radar like crazy yesterday! We also saw tons of cars pulled along the side of the road with flat tires. I'm not sure why, but maybe there's just lots of junk on the road after a long winter--or maybe those horrendous GAPING potholes that are everywhere!!! We had fun that's for sure. Josh drove it on less than four hours of sleep and after his work for the day. Don't worry, I didn't twist his arm to go, I even told him that we didn't have to go, but he insisted. He stopped at Wendy's and got himself a GINORMOUS drink and everything was fine.

Speaking of GINORMOUS drinks, I have given up one of my little "addictions". It's called Dr. Pepper. I still love it, but it's not good for me. It's been almost two weeks now--YAY! We also purchased the Biggest Loser's "Weigh Loss Yoga". Yep, it's a tail-kicker, but we love it! I have no idea why Josh wants to do this, but he wants his arms and stuff to be stronger and more toned. That means, he will have a perfect body and I will move closer to normal I guess--haha. The coolest thing is that you could be shaking and your arms/legs cooking and you aren't sore after you do the workout. We also have a huge boost in energy. There's a 50 minute total workout, but we are at 25 still as we are working up to the 50.

Enough for now, this is really long. Off for a fun Saturday with Josh and the girls!!!