Imagination

Being 3 must be the very best.

That's the conclusion I've come to lately.  There's just nothing bad about it.  (I'm choosing to ignore the "How far can I push this button before she snaps? attitude" and the whining...)  You're not quite old enough to be set free, so you always have someone within arm's reach, but you're not so little that you're not trusted just a little bit more than you were this time last year.  It's just a glorious age.

One of my very favorite things about my very favorite 3 year old is his imagination. 

A.M.A.Z.I.N.G.

 That's what it is.

Reilly is never without a "friend."  It doesn't matter if someone is physically in the same room as he is...he can find something, somewhere to talk to.  And, I'm pretty sure they often talk back.

 I truly believe his very best friend is Dotty, his most treasured blanket.  We often hear things like, "Don't worry Dottie Girl--I've got you," or "Don't worry Dottie-Girl, I keep you safe and not let you get in the mud."  He talks to his trains, he talks to his trucks, he talks to himself...I often sit and watch and wonder how he's not 100% exhausted 100% of the time.  There must be so much going through that little 3 year old brain at all times.

99% of the time, Reilly's imagination makes me smile and my heart fill with happiness.  I, of course, don't like when his imagination brings him "monsters that chase me in my dreamies," or his new one, "dragons on top of boats!"  They are usually positive and help keep him entertained.

I always feel really blessed when I get to see his imagination in full swing.  Tonight was one of those nights.  We were on our way home and he spied the moon.  (He's always on the lookout for "That Moon!")

This is the conversation we had:

Reilly: "Mom, there's THAT MOON."  (You have to read THAT MOON with a lot of excitement!)
Me: "I see it buddy."
Reilly: "Mom, that moon is following me."
Me: "Why is the moon following you buddy?"
Reilly: "That moon loves me mom."
Me: "You ARE a pretty lovable guy, buddy."
Reilly: "Yea mom.  Oh no, Mom!  The moon went away.  He is hiding."
Me: "Where did he go to hide buddy?"
Reilly: "I not sure mom, I think he went to go find his phone."
Me: "He went to get a phone?  What kind of phones?  Where was his phone?"  (Ok, I admit, I ask a lot of questions because I love his answers!)
Reilly: "He got his phone so he can call me and say, Hello Reilly."
Me: "Has he already called?  What did he say?"
Reilly: "Mom.  Shh.  Be quiet.  I talkin' to the moon."
Me: "Oh, I'm sorry."
Reilly: (Overhead as he's talking to the moon.)  "Hi Moon.  You stay out of the clouds so I see you now?  Ok, Thank you.  I love you so so much.  Don't be late tonight, it's getting dark out and I need to see you."
Reilly: "Mom, I done talkin' to the moon.  What you need before?"
Me: "Oh nothing buddy."
Reilly: (As we're pulling into the garage)  "Good-bye Moon. I see you tomorrow.  You not let the bed bugs bite."

I'm telling you...being 3 has got to be the best feeling in the world.

I Pinned It, I Did It #3 Better Than Texas Roadhouse Barbecue Rib

Oh My Yuck!

My next installment of "I Pinned It, I Did It" did not go nearly as well as the others.  This is definitely NOT something we are going to be repeating at our house.  Like ever.

The recipe I found was called, "Better Than Texas Roadhouse Barbecue Ribs In The Crock pot."  With a name like that, what could possibly go wrong.

Everything.

My heart really breaks for the poor gal who made these, and according to her blog, makes them repeatedly.  She says her family really does believe they are better than Texas Roadhouse.  I feel like if these are the quality of ribs she got at a restaurant, where I'm guessing she paid a decent amount, she needs a refund.  Like STAT.  Not only do they need a refund for their meal, they need a gift certificate to go somewhere else that they can really enjoy dinner.

The recipe:

3lbs pork or beef ribs
1 cup water
1/4 cup cooking sherry
1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup barbecue sauce

Place ribs standing upright in crock pot.  Pour in sherry and water.  Sprinkle with Worcestershire sauce and salt and pepper.  Pour barbecue sauce over ribs.  Cook on low approximately 8 hours.

I followed the recipe step by step.  They were not good.  At all.

Because the ribs were standing upright, only half of them really got into the sauce, so the other half was dry.  I cooked them on low for only 7 hours, and they were very dried out.

This is not going to be a repeat offender.

Feel free to try them.  Just don't say I didn't warn you.  :)

I Pinned It, I Did It #2

I know I'm behind in blogging.  But, we're 3 weeks into the New Year, and I've maintained my New Year's Resolution. 

I put it out there that I was addicted to Pinterest.  Nothing has changed.  Well...maybe I've become more addicted.  But, it was bound to happen.   Might as well have been sooner rather than later. 

This next trick that I learned on Pinterest has evidently been around for EVER.  And, everyone in the surrounding Michiana seems to have been using it for years.  Everyone but me that is.  I had never heard of it before.

But...I do LOVE it!  It really does make my life simpler.  And that's really what it's all about.

I don't know about you, but I always get grossed out when you are cooking something that is going to have leftover grease  (hamburger, bacon, etc.)  I go back and forth about what I'm supposed to do with the grease.  Throwing it down the drain isn't a good idea.  Letting it sit in the pan starts to smell up the kitchen.  Throwing it out in the grass kills the grass and attracts bugs.  Trying to successfully get all of the grease out of the pan and into a can or cup for proper disposal always causes spills...Ugh.  Such a pain.

This new little trick has changed my life.

You simply put foil in a bowl...make sure it's lined all the way up the edges.  Make sure it is a large enough bowl that you won't have any spills while dumping.  Pour all of the grease into the bowl.  Give it about 2 hours, it will have set up hard.  Simply wrap the foil into a ball, trapping the grease inside and throw it out.  Simple. As. That.

Life Changing. 

This one is a keeper for sure.

Winter Break 2012-2013

I chose to be a teacher for many reasons.  Mostly I love kids and want to do everything I can to help them learn and grow.

But honestly, a little bit of it had to do with getting summer, winter and spring breaks off!  :)  (There's no denying it.)

Before anyone goes all crazy with the "Teacher's shouldn't get paid on their breaks business," please take a minute and remember how HARD we work during the year...we deserve it!)

A very important lesson I learned very quickly after Reilly was born was that breaks were made to spend with families...making memories.  Yes, I've done school work, probably more than I should have, but I've also spent A LOT of time being a mommy and I'm so grateful that I have been given this opportunity.  This year, we were extra lucky that Dave got to be home for all but 2 of the days with us!

We tried to make the best of every day we had together.  16 of them to be exact.  We didn't let an opportunity pass up by where a memory could be made.

I don't know about you, but here's just a glimpse of what we've done the past 16 days as a family...(in no particular order!)

• We spent the day at Splash Universe--it's always fun to play in the pool as we watch the snowflakes falling outside the window.
• We went tubing at George Wilson Park--twice.  The second day, I was so proud of Reilly for conquering the hill by himself, many times.
• I read 1.5 books.  Just for pleasure.
• I spent some quality time on Pinterest.  It's always good to be inspired.
• We went sledding at Elm Road School--Reilly was a champ hitting the ramp, flying through the air and landing with grace.
• We spent Christmas Day up near Chicago with the Moroni side having fun, playing with cousins and opening presents!
• I cleaned THE corner of the basement.  You know the one, where everything gets shoved, but you eventually need something that is in the far distance...
• We took time to have lunch with friends.  So important, our daily schedule unfortunately doesn't allow us to many of these luxuries.
• We went to the Wakarusa Dime Store in Granger and played Life-Sized Candy Land.  I didn't win, but I still got a prize!  Yippee!
• We spent a day with the dinosaurs downtown South Bend at the Century Center.
• We snuggled on the couch in our jammies.
• We scrubbed the shower.  You know, like scrub, scrubbed it.  Well, actually, Dave did it and I supervised.
• We watched movies.  Finding Nemo, Toy Story 3, Cars 1 & 2 and Thomas the Train Christmas Special--each about 100 gazillioin time.  We also managed to fight the three year old for the TV and got to watch Ted and Magic Mike.
• We played.
• We stayed up late and slept in!
• Dave and I snuck away and got to have fun at an Ugly Christmas Sweater party.
• Reilly got to go to "Big People Church" for the first time on Christmas Eve.  They even gave him his own candle which he was very responsible with.
• We went to the Notre Dame Hockey Teams Practice on the Pond at Merrifield Park.
• We spent time with family.

I wish I could post pictures of our memories here, but blogspot isn't being cooperative.

I'm so thankful that our school year is designed to give us this time to break away from the madness and just be with our families.

I wouldn't have traded the past 16 days for all the money in the world.

I Pinned it, I Did It #1

I'm still within week one of my resolution...and I'm right on track!  :)

I actually made these little goodies on Wednesday for a snack, but just haven't gotten around to blogging about them until today.

I decided to make the "Mozzarella Bites" for a mid-afternoon-hopefully-won't-have-to-make-dinner snack.  (There's always an ulterior motive!!)

Easy-Cheesy-Lemon-Squeezy.

All I needed was...(there's supposed to be a picture here...but I can't get Blogspot to work!)

• String Cheese
• Garlic powder
• Refrigerated pizza dough

That's all.  Simple!

I cut up the string cheese into bite sized pieces, wrapped a glob of pizza dough around them, formed them into balls, sprinkled garlic powder on top, cooked them, and wa-la!  A homemade mozzarella bite of sorts.

Yummy!

I'm No Farm Girl...

Last night, I went to pick up my sister and nephew for a little outing.  It should not have involved farm animals...but then again, the greatest adventures are often those we don't plan.  Or so they say.

Before we headed down to Nappannee, we had to stop for the eggs.  If you're wondering what that means, it means just what it says.  We had to stop and collect the eggs.  From a chicken coop.  From the neighbor's house, since they were out of town.  No problem.

Only it was. 

A problem.

A rather big problem really.

Here's the story.

Kim sent Brady and I in to the chicken coop since it was icy.  Something about the door being broke, so we had to go through the fence, which is where the horse (among other animals) are.  However, at the time, we thought the other animals were already in the barn.  We've got this.

Only we didn't.

Brady and I make our way over the ice, unlock the chicken coop, manage to keep all of the chickens from escaping out the door and safely secure it back in place.  We were inside the chicken coop, with some not so happy chickens.  And two, LOUD, COCK-A-DOODLE-DOING roosters, too.  Have I mentioned how disgusting and smelly chicken coops are?  They really are.

Brady methodically checks all the "pens" for eggs.  Nothing.  Nada.  Zero.  No eggs to be seen.  We're stuck in a smelly chicken coop and there aren't even any eggs to collect.  Wonderful.

Then...We see it.  The chicken who is refusing to move off her roost.  And Brady spies the egg.  Three eggs actually.  Jackpot.  Except, that chicken was not moving.  Not budging.  Not scooting for all the chicken feed in the coop.

I manage to stick my head out the coop, to ask Kim (who thinks the roosters are rather amusing with their loud chorus of COCK-A-DOODLE-DO'S) what we do if the chicken won't move.  Her reply..."Try to move her."  Oh yea.  Easy Cheesy.  Let me just move the chicken who is protecting her triplet chicks that will never be.  I've got this.

And so I start poking.  Have you ever tried to poke a chicken butt?  It doesn't make them happy.  At all.  I finally poke her enough that she gets annoyed, but in the process, dive bombs Brady's head who almost falls into a pile of chicken poo. 

This adventure is just getting better and better.

Brady and I finally make it out of the smelly chicken coop, only to hear Kim talking to someone one.

Two horses, a mule, a donkey and a goat to be exact.

Right outside the chicken coop door.

Brady manages to use his stealth like ability to get out of the fenced in pasture, and I was also well on my way back to the safety of the fence, when Kim and Brady start yelling, "You didn't close the coop, You didn't close the coop."  Seriously.  I didn't close the coop.

Awesome.  With a capital A.

I managed to get back to the coop before any of the feathered friends realized they were a step away from freedom.  I turn around and I'm not kidding...there are 5 sets of eyes staring me down. 

5 sets of eyes who thought for sure I had treats in my pockets.  So sure in fact, they just decided to look for themselves.  I was pinned against the fence, just outside a stinky chicken coop with two horses, a mule, a donkey and a goat staring at me, getting closer by the second.  One even had the gall to try to eat my sweatshirt strings.

I should have stayed calm.  It probably would have helped. 

But I didn't.

In my state of panic, I may have started to squeal.  Loudly.

Kim and Brady started to laugh.  Loudly.

I'm sure they only had me pinned (and I use the word pinned to really mean they were standing in close proximity to me and I was being a baby) against the fence for less than a minute, but I was sure it was hours.

Kim was finally able to call them off, through her laughter, and I could quickly escape to the other side of the fence.

Brady, meanwhile was laughing so hard, forgot about the ice, slipped into a rather arabesque move into the air, lost control of the container of eggs and fell onto his butt. 

2 eggs did not survive the fall.

Seriously?  I went into a stinky chicken coop, almost lost my life to 2 horses, a donkey, a mule and a goat and we only had 1 egg left to speak of???????

Awesome.  With a capital A.

If ever I considered it...I've decided I'm not cut out for farm life.  Ever.

Addiction

So...some may say I have an addiction.  I've tried to deny it.  I've tried to make light of it when people call me out on it.  I've tried to prove otherwise to the people who believe it's true.

However, I'm in a place in my life where I just like to tell the truth.

This may come as a surprise to some of you...but it's true.  I have an addiction.  I figured there was no time like the first day in a new year to come clean.

Hi, my name is Kori, and I'm addicted to PINTEREST.

There.  I've said it.

Admittance is the first step, right?

I find myself spending minutes hours on that dang site.  I just can't help myself. 

The other day, Dave even caught me in the bathroom with the iPad, pinning future meals, projects, time savers and quotes.  (Ok...to be fair...the bathroom is one of the few places I ever get alone time...and I can't always count on it, so I have to grab it when I can!)

To date, I have 388 pins.  Give or take a few.

However, sadly, of those 388 pins, I've only ever done 33 projects or meals from them.

This, I find completely unacceptable.

Something needs to be done.

So here it is. 

My New Year's Resolution.

I am resolving to do at least one new thing from Pinterest per week.  AND, I'm going to blog about it.  I hope.

There are so many amazing things out there...why am I not putting them to use and making them a part of the Woods Family pleasures?

The insanity ends today!

I have an addiction.  And, I'm pretty proud of it.

Reilly-isms

So as most of you have figured out, I'm in love with my three year old.  He is the greatest joy that I've ever experienced, and all those people who told me "There's nothing like being a mom," were spot on.  Nothing compares.

One of my favorite things to do is just sit in a quiet room and talk to Reilly.  I never, I mean never, know what is going to come out of his mouth at any given moment.  It's always a surprise, and 99% of the time, it has me laughing until my sides hurt.

There are phrases that Reilly tends to use often.  He uses them at the most random times, but they always seem to fit into the conversation.  For the longest time, I tried my best to remember all of them, but let's face it, my memory isn't great.  Heck, it's not even good.

So then I got smart.  Or at least a little bit. When he would spout out one of his many random things, I would stop what I was doing and put a quick note into my phone so I could always remember it.

I figured it was time to share some of the most common Reilly-isms.

• "I not able to go turbo mom, I just too tired."  --this usually is said when I'm asking him to quickly do something because we are running late.
• "You do it RIGHT NOW."  (Insert my meanest mom look here...) "I mean, you will do it pretty soon, mom?"
• "Hi there!"  This does not have to be directed to anyone we know.  Random strangers at the grocery store are some of his favorite victims.
• "I think I need some help here."  This is said when he doesn't want to do something by himself, or he has gotten himself in a predicament he cant get out of.
• "Relax!  Be quiet."  This is said when he is getting in trouble and either Dave or I have our voices raised to get our point across.  It is often accompanied by putting his hands on our cheeks.
• "You hurt my feelings."  Every time he is told no, he sticks out his bottom lip to extreme locations and fake cries with this statement.  It's really quite pathetic.
• "Whoa.  My hair is blowin' off."  When we are outside on a windy day.
• "My nose is drippin' off."  This is what he says when he needs help wiping his nose because it is dripping.
• "My belly is talking,"  this can happen at one of two times...either he has farted and would like you to know, or he has to go to the bathroom.
• "Just keep swimming, just keep swimming."  We'd like to thank Dori on Finding Nemo for this phrase.  It comes out at random times.
• "This is my favorite toy forever."  This can be about any toy he is currently playing with, or holding at that particular moment.
• "I love you so much.  Forever I love you."  This is one of my favorites.  He usually says this when one of us has told him that we love him.  Or he uses it when he is in trouble.
• "Mom.  I love your smile.  I see it now, mom?"  He uses this when he knows he's doing something wrong and he's getting yelled at.

There are so many more...these are just a few of our favorites.

I love this kid!  So so much.  Forever I love him.