I have a confession...

I am ADDICTED to Cadbury chocolate mini eggs. These little crackle shell heaven of a candy only come once a year at Easter. My friend Kelly introduced me to these sinful little devils several years ago and I look forward to them every year.

A couple of weeks ago Jimmy said to me "I can't believe you haven't bought any mini eggs yet." Well...I kinda of did, I told him...BUT Ginny came over and ate some and so did little Jimmy and there were not any left. Sorry.

Fast forward to the next Sunday and we are out to Sunday brunch with Ginny and family and Jimmy says to Ginny, "I can't believe you and Katie ate that whole bag of mini eggs." Ginny looked so confused and perplexed and said, "What, I just had a few." I had to come clean. I ate the whole bag (with the exception of a few) in ONE day!

I went a week without any mini eggs. Then I was running late back to work after a lunch meeting and thought, I should bring the office back some mini eggs. They would love it. I bought a bag at CVS and then shared some...not all...with my office mates. Then I ate the rest of the bag...THAT DAY. I am so ashamed. I have a problem.

Then last week I had $4 in Extra Care bucks to use and the mini eggs were on sale for $3 (The little suckers are expensive so I had to buy them since they were ON SALE, right?). So I bought a bag and a coke and only had to shell out a few cents for tax. I took them back to work and shared with Maria since she sits right next to me and would have seen me eating them. I am ashamed to say that I did not share with the rest of the office. However, this time I did not eat them all in one day but two. Seriously. There is something wrong with me. Isn't the first step admitting addiction? Luckily these little crack eggs come out once a year.

We did make a quick pit stop yesterday and bought some more and Jimmy and I polished them off pretty good.

NO more for me. My butt can't take it.

Horse!

Jimmy's class is learning about what lives on the farm. Yesterday they got to ride a "horse."

Sausage with Peppers and Pasta

Made this from dinner last night and it was so good and easy. I altered in a little-see parentheses.

Sausage with Peppers and Pasta
3 cups rigatoni pasta, uncooked (I used Penne)
1 lb. Italian sausage, sliced (I used turkey sausage)
1 each: red, green and yellow pepper, coarsely chopped (could also use an orange pepper or just green, colored peppers are expensive!)
1 can (14-1/2 oz.) Italian-style diced tomatoes, undrained
1-1/2 cups KRAFT Shredded Italian* Mozzarella-Parmesan Cheese Blend (I used a 2% Italian cheese blend)
1/4 cup KRAFT Shredded Parmesan Cheese (forgot to add the Parm on top, but still tasted great)


COOK pasta as directed on package. Meanwhile, cook sausage in large skillet on medium heat 10 min. Stir in peppers; cook 7 min. or until sausage is cooked through and peppers are crisp-tender. Stir in tomatoes; cook 2 min. or until heated through.

DRAIN pasta. Add to sausage mixture with shredded cheese; mix well.

TOP with Parmesan.

I served it with some garlic toast and it was YUMMY!

A Day in the Life

I haven't done one of Kelly's Show us Your Life Fridays in a while so thought I would take part in this one! Our days are certainly not typical lately and we have no schedule! Last night we were all in bed by 830pm while other nights it isn't until 10pm or after. Cecilia dictates our schedule lately which equals little sleep!

I work part time and job share. I work on Mondays, Tuesdays and half of Wednesdays, alternating mornings and afternoons.

Mondays
Jimmy takes both kids to my parents and leave around 730.
I got to work around 8am
Jimmy picks up the kiddos around 5 or 530.
I am home by 6 and hopefully there is something leftover from Sunday for dinner.

Tuesday
Jimmy has school on Tuesday so my parents come to my house around 8am and I leave to go to work.
They take Jimmy to school at 9am then do their grocery shopping (with C in tow) and other errands.
They pick Jimmy up at noon and then go back to their house.
Jimmy picks them up around 5 or 530.
Again, I am home by 6 and I hope I put something in the crockpot for dinner or can throw something together in 30 min or less.

Wednesday
If I work in the morning, Jimmy takes them to my parents as usual and then I pick them up at 2pm. Hope that Jimmy will fall asleep in the car on the way home to get a little nap since he naps so rarely these days.
Try to do some of my schoolwork if they are both napping.
If I work in the afternoon, I take the kids to my parents around 11am.
Jimmy will pick them up and then I am again home around 6pm.
Wednesdays are the day that my job share partner and I overlap so we spend an hour or so on Wed catching up and briefing each other on work.

Thursday
Jimmy goes to school at 9am. I try to run errands like the cleaners, quick trip to the grocery store or maybe even Target (but try to avoid since I spend way too much money!). I also like to get some laundry, dishes, pick up the house, etc.
Pick Jimmy up at noon and then home for lunch.
Lately my mom has been coming over around 2pm after she gets off from the Robyn's Nest to help watch the kids while I work on school work for an hour or so.
I try to cook something for dinner and Jimmy is home from work around 6 or 630.

Friday
I like to try to go to the playground on Friday mornings. It has been cold lately so we have been spending more time inside. I try to arrange it so we can meet up with some neighborhood friends.
Friday is a hodge podge day and sometimes we will go out to dinner, eat in, hang with Ginny and Marty, go over to a friends house, or even sometimes head out of town.

Happy Friday!

Weekend in Atlanta

We had a whirlwind weekend in Atlanta! I like to call it Jimmy's college reunion tour. We went to Atlanta mainly to visit with Jimmy's grandmother Ms. Dot. She has Alzheimers and lives in an assisted living facility. We left on Friday around 10am with a car load of stuff and stopped in Macon to see Jimmy's friend David (or I should say half of David, he has lost over 100 pounds I am sure!) who recently opened a Mellow Mushroom. We had lunch at Mellow and visited with David.

We arrived in Atlanta around 4 and had dinner with Windham (Jimmy's college buddy) and his wife Tara and their three kids Ruthanna, Ford and Henry at the Wing Factory. We stayed the night at the Homewood Suites on Piedmont and I have to say a suite is key when traveling with kids. Jimmy slept on the pull-out couch which he loved and the whole weekend he kept asking to go back to the hotel room!

Saturday morning we went to see Jimmy's grandmother and his uncle Tommy was there as well. We had a great visit and although Ms. Dot didn't say much she definitely knew who we were and enjoyed seeing Cecilia and Jimmy. He showed her his Woody doll and helped push her wheelchair to lunch. He also liked looking down over the balcony and into the lobby at the residents waiting for lunch. I think they love seeing children. When he noticed they were gone he asked "Where did all of Grandmama's cousins go?" I guess he thought they were all related because they all were old and mostly in wheelchairs and looked like Ms. Dot! I just had to laugh.

I like this picture because it looks like they are talking to each other:




We headed to Addison and Krissy's house Saturday afternoon and had a fabulous time! Their son Harris is 6 months older than Jimmy and they had the best time playing together. Morgan and Diana Tiller (both PC buds) and their two girls, Mary Lawrence and Kate came over as well and the children all played while we caught up. We spent the night with Addison and Krissy on Saturday night, though little Jimmy kept asking if we could go back to the hotel room.



Harris, Kate, Mary Lawrence and Jimmy:



Sunday we had lunch at J.Christophers with Lynne, Ashley and her husband Gary. Lynne and Ashley are Jimmy's college buds and they are both preggers so it was fun to see them and their baby bumps! They both are going to be surprised so don't know what they are having. Can't wait to find out!

I wish I had taken more pictures but sometimes the last thing I want to lug around is our big camera!

Overheard

While walking to the playground this week my mom said Jimmy was talking but she really couldn't understand what he was saying and then she heard him say "everyone leaves me and goes to work." I just had to laugh or else the mommy guilt will get the best of me. If I was home all the time he would soon realize that he had a pretty good gig going on at Mimi and Papa Joe's two and a half days week. No oatmeal creme pies here!

Beautiful Mommy

Little Jimmy: "It is beautiful outside" (looking at the moon)
Little Jimmy: "The moon is beautiful just like you mommy."

He thinks I am beautiful!! I love it!!