I’m in a bloggy mood today, two post in one day. But I have some things to say…

My son needs braces. Yep. This sweet child of mine has had some teethy problems. He can’t manage to get the baby teeth out before the adult tooth tries squishing in front of, behind, around, and through the little guys. Such bullies, those adult teeth are. So, I guess the $3000 that the braces are going to cost me is a drop in the bucket next to the cost of all the dentist appointments I’ve made to have the baby teeth yanked over the years. Next Wednesday he has ANOTHER appointment to have this bad boy taken out. $200. Cha-ching.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I got this awesome recipe for Crockpot Italian Mushroom Chicken from the lovely Meghan. Delish, y’all. It fed us for two days too! A mom can use all the leftovers she can get. Here’s the fam enjoying my new fave recipe, and the recipe, of course:

Ingredients:
5-6 large boneless/skinless chicken breasts (fresh or defrosted)
2 cans Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup
1 cup water
1 cup milk
1 package of powdered chicken gravy
1 package of Italian dressing mix
1 package (6-8 oz.) of fresh mushrooms
8 oz. of Cream Cheese
Rice (prepare separately)

Preparation:
Combine everything except cream cheese (and rice) in Crock-pot. Stir to mix it together. Cook on high for three hours. Cube cream cheese, add to mixture and stir. Cook on low for one hour. Serve over rice.

Even Nooskers loved him some chicken and rice. Yummmm!

With our dinner we had a yummy salad and, because we’re classy like that, we had cheesy garlic sandwich bread.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And just because it’s fun, we had dinner on the ground tonight. On Bella and Noah’s level. Dinner hadn’t been served just yet in this first photo and dinner looks to be all over Noah’s face in the second photo! Bella was thrilled to share her little Dora patio set with us!

(Yes, Bella is almost always diaper clad. I’ve got trouble on my hands. This girl hates clothes.)

“Oh, yes. Some more Mango Applesauce, please. Mango Applesauce is the bomb diggity.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I have a chihuahua named Penny, a.k.a. “Neeners”. Yes, we have some funky nicknames in this fam. I got Neeners in 2002, after I had decided that I was pretty darn infertile and needed something small to cuddle with to help me feel better about that. Poor Neeners. She used to have diamonds around her neck and pretty painted pink toenails. She slept with us at night, went everywhere with me, and was always in my lap. Then came Bella, then Noah. Neeners probably wants to eat herself some baby toes as revenge, but she’s been quite a good sport about settling as being my “other baby.” Some might think her ugly (even the camera didn’t want to focus on her), but she’s just a little doll to me! Jeremy thinks she’s fugly, in a Paris Hilton kind of way, but methinks her beeeeeautiful!

I’ve never really been one to judge a book by its cover. Yes, I confess, I am like a Magpie and adore shiney, pretty things. But, the exterior of things just never meant that much in the big scheme. When we bought our house, it was just plain fugly. I saw her potential. I knew she’d shine. With a bit of elbow grease, some paint, our entire savings, a mortgage payment for 30 years, and a talented husband– this humble abode became quite a beautiful little home. It’s still a work in progress, of course. But we’ve come a long way from the shag carpets and funky neon green wall paint.

When we moved in, the dishwasher that was here was old and raggety. But it worked so well that the dishes looked spit shined. We replaced the fridge and stove because they weren’t working very well. But, the new stainless steel appliances looked funny next to this awful looking critter! I wanted the dang thing to die! I did! Shame on me for hating her so, just because she wasn’t pretty. Shame on me.

She died. Let us pause for a moment and remember her…

Hooooray! It made my day. She is gone. Hooray!

Ahem. I mourned her loss for two weeks. Mostly because I had to wash the fargin’ dishes by hand. Oh my goodness. By hand!

As fun as it is to finally have the appliances match, I also love to watch my husband work. There’s nothing like seeing your man crawl around on his belly for you. The Power… It is wonderful! Mwahh-ha-ha-haaaa.

Of course, if I can have the humbling experience of laboring with and pushing out his 10 and a half pound newborn daughter, I think I DESERVE The Power to make him crawl around on his hands and knees once in awhile. Don’t you agree?

I’m also teaching Bella how to crack the whip. She needs to know about The Power too. Just doing my job. No applause necessary.