And the Countdown Begins...

17 more preschool days to go! And not a moment too soon. I am ready to really focus on blog design, invitations and my new summer goodies I'll be debuting soon. And things are getting wild with my (lack of) time management skills between lesson plans, preschool days and business hours....so I AM READY!!

The boys are getting ready for summer, too. Both kiddos are enrolled in a fun one-day a week program in Belton called "Children's Day Out". A bunch of their comrades from our church also attend this program and have said their summer stuff is super fun! Benjamin is signed up for a boys' gymnastics class at Texas Tumblers here in town. He can't wait! I asked him if he wanted to do tee-ball or gymnastics and he said "I just need to tumble, Mom." Point taken.

Swimming lessons sign ups will be April 25th. This year we plan to get there at the crack of dawn. Last year, we noted that sign-ups started at 10. When we pulled into the parking lot at 9:45 and saw the line wrapped around the recreation center, we realized this was apparently a pretty big deal. We were soooo thankful to our wonderful friend Jennifer who gave swimming lessons to Benjamin and his church buddies (especially since we were the dopes who were too late to get a spot on the list in town).

As our friends up in Muleshoe emerge from their Arctic Tundra of a weekend, we have already been feeling a whole lot of spring down here. Crazy what a climate difference a few miles (okay several hundred) can make. The grass is starting to green up and tonight we even dined al fresco! Happy 17 Days of Preschool Left!

Goodbye, Spring Break 2009!

The good news is...at this very moment no one in my house has a fever or is throwing up. (Disclaimer: that's not to say in the next day or so that won't happen). It just looks like we are hopefully on the downhill slope.
The bad news is...we totally had to cancel our SB plans to make a trip out to Pecos to see Grandma & Grandpa D. and hang with the cousins.
After seeing the doc Monday afternoon, she advised us to stay in town in case Jonathan's fever spiked again. Of course, at the exact moment we bring him to the doctor, he has no fever. But they were so thorough with him that I felt good about it. His bloodwork indicated he was viral. And it looks as though this entire month long ordeal has just been a series of viruses back-to-back. We had a few rough nights (and crazy mornings) the beginning of the week, but J-man has finally re-emerged and had a great week ending!

Slippers with daddy's socks...quite the fashion statement.

We basically quarantined ourselves for a few days and hung around the house...bummed about our situation, but glad to have a week off of work, even if we had to stay put. We did manage to squeeze a few things into our week. We had planned originally to paint our bedroom when we returned from Pecos, but we scrapped that idea and tried to just put some finishing touches on our kitchen.
Since we are planning in the next 2-5 years to sell our house to move to the Belton area, we want to enjoy any fix-ups we make before we sell it. So, room by room, we are slowly banging it out. We would love to sell right now, but are terrified of the market. Our neighborhood has so many homes on the market that have been that way for over 200 days! Scary. Since we're not in a huge hurry, we are just hanging out.



Later this week, my dad came over to install my belated birthday gift-- recessed lighting in my kitchen! It may sound like an odd gift to you, but my mom always requests to know what we all want for our birthday. She does not like to shop without specifics. When I told her, "lights", she made a funny face. But, I knew my dad would be excited-- he's a project kind of guy.
Previously, I just had a hanging fixture over my island. Great for when I was working at the island. Very shadow-y when I was trying to work on any other countertop. So, can lights are in! Oh, and the kitchen is now yellow, too! I will do an actual post with "finished product" pics soon...I just refuse to take pics until I mop the floor. It's bad...as in no amount of Swiffer Wet Jet touch-ups will do the job any more. It is an all-out bucket, mop, Pine-Sol, lather, rinse, repeat sort of situation. It's embarrassing, people.
I also "decorated" for spring....as in went to Hobby Lobby and bought a new nest to set out. My spring decor is pretty minimal. As in almost nada. But, this little buffet set up does make me smile. I just wanted to share it with you, since so many of my fellow bloggers have put up gorgeous "Spring Fluff" posts. You guys are very inspiring! Makes me want to spend a weekend at Canton and do it up right!

HAHA! I left the tag on my new nest! I just now noticed that.

So, happy spring to all! Oh, and Happy Birthday to Uncle Sam! Welcome to the thirties, dude!

We love us some Italian food around El Rancho Dominguez. And I am always excited when I find a new low-fat recipe that works well with the POINTS system. This week I thought it would be fun to share our new Italian fave around here....mangiamo!

Parmesan Baked Chicken Breasts
(from the Weight Watchers Annual Recipes for Success 2007 Cookbook)


1/3 cup Italian-seasoned breadcrumbs
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 garlic cloves, pressed
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 (6-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
Cooking spray
Pasta sauce (favorite homemade recipe or store-bought will work)

1. Preheat oven to 425.
2. Combine first 3 ingredients in a shallow dish.
3. Place garlic and oil in a small glass bowl, and microwave on HIGH 30 seconds or until warm and fragrant.
4. Dip chicken in garlic oil; dredge in breadcrumb mixture. Coat baking sheet with cooking spray and place chicken on pan. Coat chicken with cooking spray (makes it crispy).
5. Bake for 25 minutes or until done and golden. Serve with pasta sauce.

POINTS value: 7 points per chicken breast.
---
We actually serve this over whole-wheat pasta and with a side of veggies.

One cup of whole-wheat pasta is 3 points. 1/2 cup of (most) pasta sauce is 1 point.

I love to add Molly McButter (as pictured) to our veggies for a little extra something.

Does anyone else's pasta sauce make this mess? Bubble, bubble, splat, splat.

Weight Watching TIP OF THE WEEK:
I think it's fun to try new things and think outside of the box. My WW pal, Jennifer, told me about these bagels and since then they have become my everyday breakfast. Hold onto your hats... they are only ONE point per bagel. And taste great. You can find "The Alternative Bagel" (from the Western Bagel Company) in the refrigerated section at Walmart...right next to the cream cheese.

This is the best 3-POINT breakfast...yummy when toasted. If I am in a salty mood, I use the 1/3 Less Fat Garden Veggie Cream Cheese (2 tablespoons). But if I am in the mood for something sweet (90% of my mornings), I go for the 1/3 Less Fat Strawberry Cream Cheese (2 tablespoons). The spread adds 2 points.

I would have never tried these on my own. But, I am so happy my friend found them. Since then, I have branched out and found a few new low-point things on my own. Just try something new! The tip? Think Outside the Box!

Spring Break Kick Off

I kicked off SB '09 Friday night doing one of my absolutely new favorite things...shopping the preview sale of the Belton Mamacents Consignment Event. I was worried that it was going to be a little disappointing because it was much smaller than the Austin sale I usually attend. But it did not disappoint. Since shopping consignment for the boys the last few years, it is now just a "cycle". I basically just buy the coming season's wardrobe for Benjamin which gets handed down to Jonathan later. And I consign the stuff that Jonathan has outgrown. We do get a few new things here and there, because hey, everyone likes to have a few spiffy new items to sport. And because I think it is fun to have them match sometimes...while they are still young enough to not complain about it.
But the deals were aplenty in Benjamin's size! Lots of brand new (with tags) Gymboree, Janie & Jack, and Gap loot, along with much, much more. I actually detagged everything immediately and threw it in the wash over the weekend, so I only have a "sampling" of our deals.


Tickled to find mAtChInG Gymbo shirts for the boys today at the sale (yes, I went back for the 50% off day after church...never gotten to do that before when it was all the way in Austin)! I couldn't believe that they had both of their sizes in this Bugs! print!


One of my FAVORITE things was not a clothing item, but rather this canvas-wrapped print for Jonathan's big boy room (debuting summer 2009). I got it for just $10! So thrilled with this.


I think it will go perfectly with the "Hit the Road" bedding I already picked up for him at Tar-jay. Have I ever mentioned that's my favorite store? It is. But I am no longer allowed to do the grocery shopping there...it leads to coming home with a lot more than just food. You can see a little bit of the bedding in the above photo, but here is the shot I yanked off the Target site:

In other news....
Baby got a make-over...not sure if I should take measures to resolve this. I always fear that every wash will be his last. I am terrified to open the washer and find him in a hundred pieces. He is definitely well-loved.


Our spring break plans are now on hold. I hate actually typing this out, but believe it or not, something is up with Jonathan AGAIN. I noticed toward the end of the worship service, he looked super tired and put his little head down on David's shoulder (SO unlike him-- he is the king of the pew on most Sundays). He just looked a little droopy. But, with no fever at the time, he readily went to his new, big boy Bible class and was Mr. Happy again when I picked him up. But when we got home from the sale and were getting lunch ready, his fever popped up over 100. After a Motrin-induced-high this afternoon, he started running a little fever tonight as well. I will be on the phone getting him an appointment first thing in the morning.
What is going on with our sweet boy? Could this be allergies? Do you run fever with allergies? We looked back on the calendar today and realized he has been under the weather (on and off) for an entire month. He has been to the doctor twice. And yet, it keeps happening. I am a nervous wreck about him and just want this to all be over, for his sake. I just hope this isn't something major, just maybe a series of bugs. Please pray for our sweet Jon-Jon and that his little body will work all of this mess out. I always feel weird when we "re-emerge" after a bout of this and everyone asks if we're all well. I am so hesitant to say a word because obviously, this keeps happening over and over. And over. I'll go ahead and do a mass apology now to the moms of the kiddos in his Bible class as well as Miss Kylie who shared a bag of cereal with the boy this morning before we realized anything was up. I hope all of those sweet babies don't get a smidgen of this.

One Way to Make Preschool Exciting

As if teaching preschool isn't already a whirlwind...add picture day and fire alarm/evacuation to the mix and it takes it to a whole new level.

After our class's pics, we headed to the library for music class. I joined my bunch towards the end of their time with our music teacher, Mrs. Rebecca. As soon as I sat down, we were startled by, of all things, the fire alarm. 

Our building is pretty large, it is after all, our church, too. Rebecca and I corralled my 10 kiddos and headed down the hall and quickly got the word to head straight outside. I did panic a bit, but tried not to let it show. We were met in the hall by several other classes. And then all of the tops of their little heads began to look alike. I did a head count about 20 times before making it all the way to the parking lot. 

And as we stood outside in our 'spring pictures' outfits in chilling temperatures, we quickly turned into popsicles and had to pile into other teachers' cars in the parking lot. My kids piled into Mollie's suburban and warmed up pretty fast. It was at least 20 minutes that we hung out!

We heard the sirens. Two firetrucks, an ambulance and another vehicle or two rushed over and checked it all out. During the entire time, I could see Benjamin and his class, so I knew he was fine. I wondered where Jonathan's class was...but I knew his sweet teacher would have him well taken care of. The whole ordeal was still very nerve-wracking.

After we got back into class and back to normal, Mrs. Kristi (there are THREE Mrs. Kristis at our preschool...weird, huh?), Jonathan's teacher, came down on her break for a visit. She told me that the alarm outside her class was the one that set it off. Then she informed me that their class was out in the hall at the time. Hmmmmm.

Tonight I chatted with her again and we have deduced that it was either that Dominguez kid or his BFF or the two of them working together.

Scary to think my two year old may have been at the heart of evacuating the entire preschool, church office staff, the private school also housed in our building as well as all the other people there today! 

Scary. 

My sincerest apologies to the Belton Fire Department.