Whatever...

It is the word I currently hate the most. Ashley has been using this word for the past few weeks in not a nice way.

As in I tell her to do something, and she says, "whatever". Overnight she turned into repressed teenage girl whose Mom let's her do nothing at all.

She has been punished every time she has said it. She has lost her scooter, desserts, and she has sat in timeouts. Eventually we will erase the word from her vocabulary if it is the last thing we do.

I mean seriously, SHE'S FIVE (okay, really almost six, but STILL).

She's knows it irks me and is disrespectful. And so help me if she says it to another adult, I swear she won't see the light of day for a week. Or two.

As far as where she learned it from?

Um, supposedly me, but I don't really remember ever saying it. I don't, but if I did, well then, my fault, but that doesn't mean she should say it either.

First week of school

Ray and I have decided we officially do not like the first week of school. Ashley is so freaking tired from being in the class all day and not on whatever schedule she was on previously that she is not fun to be around in the evenings. I gave her bath and read books and put her to bed right after 7:00pm last night. And she slept until her alarm went off at 7:00am.

But as far as liking school and first grade, she loves it. She is so a little version of me. I loved school, still do.

Homework starts next week for her because according to Ashley, the teacher is still trying to figure out what the kids can and can't do. And then Ashley started naming the few kids in her class that still don't know their letters sounds. Hmm, interesting.

We are happier this year too that Ashley no longer eats lunch at 10:20am, but at a more normal time of 11:00am. She is still starving when she gets home, but at least when I go meet her for lunch now, it won't be as bad to eat cafeteria pizza at 10 o'clock in the morning.

Stove Top Challenge - Week 2

I realize this was supposed to be posted last week, but hey, I try. I will post this week's tomorrow as we are eating it tonight.

I try to think of some non-chicken dishes to use Stove Top. I saw while perusing the Kraft Kitchens website a recipe with chili and cornbread stuffing.

So I adapted it to my chili recipe, and here it is:

Chili-Cornbread Stuffing Bake

Ingredients:
1 pound ground turkey
1 season pack of Lawry's chili seasoning (or whatever chili seasoning you use)
1 bottle of Heinz chili sauce, 12 ounce bottle
1 box of Stove Top Cornbread Stuffing
1 1/2 cups of water
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Directions:
1. Brown the turkey meat and drain. Add the chili seasoning and chili sauce and simmer for about 10 minutes.
2. Combine the Stove Top Cornbread Stuffing with the water.
3. In a 2 quart casserole dish, place the chili on the bottom and sprinkle the cheese on top. Cover with the Stove Top Cornbread Stuffing.
4. Bake for 30 minutes at 400 degrees.

The cost? I am going to have to guesstimate again, as I had all these ingredients on hand. I pulled these prices off the internet:
Ground Turkey - I am going to guess $3.00
Lawry's Seasoning Mix - $1.29 (per their website)
Heinz Chili Sauce - $2.49
Stove Top Cornbread Stuffing - $1.74 (price at Walmart)
Cheddar Cheese - $1.00 - (bought at 2 cup pack for $2.00 at Walmart)

So total cost of the meal? $9.52. Another economical meal.

Did the family like it? I actually served the kids theirs in a tortilla, without the stuffing. Yes, I tricked them into thinking they were eating tacos, but it worked. Ray liked it as well.

Tonight - Velveeta, chicken and stuffing....yummmm.

First Day

There's a ton I need/have to/want to blog about. I still need to load pictures from the 4th from my camera, as well as pictures from today, Ashley's first day of first grade.

And no, I did not cry, although it was hard. She has an actual desk, with workbooks and books and stuff, no more big table like she had in kindergarten. Audrey and I walked Ashley into her class today. It was semi-chaotic with it being the first day and the teachers trying to figure out what transportation the kids took to school and such. I helped Ashley load her stuff in her desk, and then helped another little girl who Ashley knows from cheerleading.

I left her coloring a picture and she seemed so big.

Audrey moves classrooms this week as well at her school. She is moving to the Preschool room, and this is where the learning really takes off. They work on one letter of the alphabet a week. She gets to move up with her best friend at school, so she is happy.

So onward to posting. I need to fill everyone in on my running, me getting to attend Blogher in Chicago later this month for free, the poison ivy I have once again, but this time on my arm. I need to post some Stove Top recipes, and a few giveaways on my review site. Seems like this Tuesday is going to be a busy day.

OBX

Here are some of my favorites from last weekend at the Outer Banks. I am off today from work, Audrey's school is closed, but Ashley is at camp, so Audrey and I are going to have a Day-O-Fun, just her and me, which I can't think of a time when this has happened.

Audrey giving some turtle love at the Aquarium at Roanoke Island.

Jockey's Ridge, before we started the climb.


And yes, we made it all the way up that big dune. Without any whining, crying or complaining!

A very rare shot of me, I was afraid I was going to actually drop my camera, so Ray had it. We were on the top of Currituck Lighthouse.

Terrible Three's

I don't believe in the Terrible Two's. They don't exist in my house.

It's the three's.

I had a good friend tell me once the halves are worse than the wholes. Meaning, 3 1/2 would be much worse than 3.

And how freaking true in my house.

Audrey has been a little bit of a pill lately. When she wants something, she screams. I mean really screams. I am attempting to talk to her in a calm voice to get her to stop. Sometimes it works, other times people look at me like I have three heads.

Like at Walmart last night. I mistakenly went past the display for the fruit snacks. Stupid on my part. We refuse to buy those baby-crack items anymore since when we have them in our house, that's all Audrey wants. So of course she saw them and wanted them. And started to cry. Really, really loud.

I just kept pushing the cart telling her she could pick out another snack - how about some Goldfish? Crackers? Cheetos? (Yes, I realize the nutritional value in Cheetos is probably much worse than fruit snacks, but still).

She started to calm down. I explained to her how to ask nicely if she wanted something, not to scream.

And then I went into the ice cream aisle. I think I left my brain at home for this Walmart run. But they had ice cream things like Dippin' Dots for $1, so I let both the girls get one. After asking nicely, and not in the whiny, crying way that Audrey had been speaking in, they both got some ice cream and were happy.

How hard it is to get back to work...

I really didn't want to come back to work today, no offense to my coworkers. Just a few days at the beach, and a Tuesday return back to work was not what I was looking forward to.

The beach was great - pictures to be posted later this week. We visited old stomping grounds that we used to go to on our annual treks to the Outer Banks each year. We ate ice cream, went for runs on the beach, bought beach jewelry, took naps, read books. We took the kids to Currituck Lighthouse, climbed the sand dunes at Jockey's Ridge, and went to Roanoke Island.

We normally pack alot of things in our vacations, but just remember, my kids are early risers. We spent from 11:00am to 4:30pm on the beach on Saturday where we witnessed two girls getting "rescued" from the lifeguard (the riptide was pretty strong, and they weren't really in trouble, but the lifeguard went in after them anyway), saw crabs, had some crazy lady say she saw a shark, and just had fun. Audrey was great - at one point she said she was tired, so we told her to lay down and take a nap. Which she did.
Yesterday on our way out of town, we stopped by Roanoke Island and went to the NC Aquarium there. Where we literally ran into the man who was the best man in our wedding. Seriously, we haven't seen this guy in about 8 years, and we run into him at the beach. Not to crazy though since his parents own a house in the Outer Banks. But still, the chances? So emails were exchanged, kids were introduced and then we were on our way.

And now we are officially one week from the start of first grade for Ashley. She is in another Girl Scout camp tomorrow through Friday. This time, she is in it with a few of her friends, so she is really excited. I still need to take her school supply shopping and I promised her a new outfit for the first day of school.

Off to the beach...

Off we go...to the Outer Banks for a long weekend.

I am turning off all electronic devices. Well, except for my phone. And I may still possibly check email on it. Maybe.