Big Win!

The Superbowl was pretty good this year. 

There were no wardrobe malfunctions during the halftime show (but how you could have a wardrobe malfunction with very little clothing? HAHA).... The teams played a solid game that kept me on the edge of my seat... the power went out at the stadium (how does that even happen?)... AND the commercials were pretty good except for a few.

Big win goes to all of the writers for every commercial aired.  I loved the Coca-Cola commercials with the "race" , the viva mas  Taco Bell commercials (come on, nothing cuter than 80-somethings partying and carrying on like that) but my most favorite was the Dodge commercial.

There was one where we all reacted with a huge, "EWWWWWWWWWWW, GROOOOOOSSSSS!!!!" with the rest of America... Thank you Go Daddy for your horrible on air kiss. Maybe MTV will give you the worst.kiss.ever. award.  I mean it was pretty gross but it got my attention. And any attention is better than none, right?

How many of you watched the Superbowl and you can remember the Go Daddy commercial because you were so disgusted by it, yet you don't remember what you had for breakfast on Saturday?

EWWW, seriously. Why must the Go Daddy commercial keep popping in my head. Hum...they are a local company. I wonder what they do. I should google them.

See what I mean? They got my attention and NOT in a good way...

Any attention is better than no attention at all... keeps coming back to my mind.  Kinda like with my kids... if one is getting attention, the other one will act up to get MORE attention because they will get in trouble and have a time out... and what happens is the good child will wait for me to come back. So, how do we resolve this idea --- "any attention is better than no attention at all"...

I am going to really work hard on giving positive attention and making it count and minimizing my time with negative attention... to see if it works.

I will PRAISE my kids when they do something kind for someone else... I will do it right then and there and make them know how proud I am of their choice.

I will NOT spend over FIVE minutes when a child has an outburst, and for time out I will put them in a spot where they cannot see me (or bug their siblings).

I will encourage good choices and reward based on that.  With Maddy, I will use more words like, "That was a great choice Madelynn... how does that choice make your heart feel?"  She is my toughest one when it comes to getting negative attention... maybe it is being the youngest, maybe it is her age... But she is very stubborn and she can have a diva-tude. She honestly will do ANYTHING to get attention (she will even lick random strangers, or pretend to be a kangaroo....)

I will look over homework with each child and acknowledge the good things they did and actively help them with their struggle areas and homework.

I will start speaking in Spanish with Alex to help her with it and to have something for just us to share.

I will be silly from time to time and dance in the kitchen with them while making dinner just because they LOVE being silly.

Just a few fun things to do to award good behavior and give the attention to each child in the manner he/she will appreciate it most.

So kids... they are like Superbowl commercials.  They just want your attention and they will get it however they can, even if they gross you out while doing it.....

PICKY, PICKY, PICKY!!! - The Challenge

Hello and happy Monday!

I hope your weekend brought you much joy.

The weekend at the Wenndt house tends to go by too quickly... A lot of times, if I don't plan out dinners for the week, I forget what I am making... I don't thaw the chicken in time... and we eat frikkin' pizza. 

Since we are on "live healthy" mindset, I wanted to be more thoughtful about meal planning and well... our lives in general. 

One of the HARDEST things for me to do is to plan out meals.  WHY? Because of picky eaters.  There is NOTHING wrong with being a picky eater, in my opinion (you know what you like, don't like), but when you have five picky eaters like I do, you have to find a common "food ground." 

So, instead of making FIVE different meals, here is what I started to do, and well...we are in week FOUR and it is totally working! 

So, how do I make this a fun activity for a 15 year old?  I get her to help me plan it out.  Every Saturday we sit down after breakfast.... after searching Pinterest for our experimental dinner for the week, we sit down together and build out our "weekly planner."  She helps me and we make sure that everything we make is lower fat lower calories and something that everyone will like.  Before we plan it out, we make sure that everyone has had input (like Maddy always wants cheese burgers or macaroni and cheese or a Mommy's special--- which is just a salad with ranch).

This little experiment is a win-win.  Everyone knows what we are planning out for dinners and they have a moment to veto it before it is printed out.  AND when I go food shopping (such a New Jersey term, FYI and one of my favorites)... I know exactly what I am buying for the week, which cuts my spending down.  For our family of five I spent a total of $120 at the grocery store this week for our meals for a week--- that includes snacks, breakfast AND lunches.  Which to break it down is less than $3.50 per person per day for food.  Not too shabby.

A visual reminder of activities, workout schedule for Alex and I (I like that because I feel as if I am bound to the agreement by putting it in writing... LOL), AND meals.  A great way to plan for a large family.

Here is our planner for the week.  It is on the side of the fridge so everyone can see it as they walk by.  It is in a great location and now that we are in week four of the planning, it is become a habit for us to use it. 

 

 So here it is.... Our planner.  It has been a great way for us to stay organized!  (yes, I do NOW see that my OB appointment is there---oh well. It is for my annual boob smashing... er mamogram. LOL)


Have a fantastic week!  I challenge you to try to "organize your meals"!!!

Shit I Want to Say....

but I don't.  There are so many snarky comments I want to make on a daily basis, but I always think before I speak and I take the high road.  And then there are those times I want to say something to someone, but I stay quiet because I know they have to walk down that road on their own, and if I try to persuade them in one direction... they will not listen to me anyway... so I have to just sit by and watch.... waiting to pick up the pieces.

Have you ever had a day where you just wanted to say whatever came in your mind during conversations and well... be able to get away with it without any fall back? 

I want one of those days... but knowing that there are always repercussions to actions, I will NEVER EVER say the mean things I want to out loud... SO I thought I would take a moment to share those random bitch thoughts with you. 

(I used two cuss words already and you are like, Meli--- you had me at shit.... lol)

The random shit I want to say, but I don't....

To the young boy at Wal-Mart with his pants down below his butt:
"Oh honey, I really think you should look in the 'boys' section to get a pair of pants that fit you (these really look way to big) and the underwear section is right there.... they have undies there without the brown stains like yours."

To my child screaming at me in the car....
Me, SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM Louder than her....

To the icky old guy at the gym who keeps checking women out and it is just disgusting (after I have done 1.5 hours of cardio/circuit training combo)...
"baby... why you be trippin' up in here lookin' at all these young fine thangs when you can find you some chick more like you, who will take your skanky ass with the lazy eye down at the bingo hall..."

To my husband's ex-wife after she said she was a better person that most:
"Bitch please... fiction is in the next aisle... this is biography."

To my child having a temper tantrum at home over something he/she wanted to do but couldn't (pick your child.. they all do it):
"OH. MY. GOODNESS.  I am so overwhelmed by your tantrum because you didn't get your way.  If that is how you want to act, just go ahead and do what you want. SAID NO RESPONSIBLE MOM.... EVER. Now, clean the bathroom."

To my teenager at the store in front of the "hot guy":
"Like, OMG, I think that boy is SO HOT for you, KWIM? ROTFLMAO, He is checkin' you out... TTFN, I am outtie... I gotta hit the Preparation H isle."

To anyone who asks me if I understand:
"No.  NO COMPREDE INGLES, ASSHOLIO." In a horrible Spanish accent.

When asked by my neighbor if his naughty 7 year old grandson can come and "play" at my house:
"Sure thing dude. I welcome a snot-nosed-asshole-kid-who-isn't-mine-and-I-can't-make-him-clean-if mouthy-because-I-am-fucking-nice-like-that-and-you-look-like-you-need-a-nap...how long have you had THOSE circles under your eyes?"

When asked the following question by anyone--- "do you have a minute?"
"hello no, Cheeto... I gots fahhhhsizzles in muh nizzles."

When asked by someone about Barack Obama:
"Who is she again?"

When told, "Melissa... Your kids are so good...."
"Yes. They are. We started incorporating electric shock therapy last month. It really helps. (then do the electric shock movement with my head, you know when you do the buzz zzzt with your head to one side....you just did it didn't you!)

When asked, "What's for dinner?"
Run around the kitchen.... startled as if the world is ending and say, "I have no idea. Who does the food stuff around here? YOU (shake kid a bit) or YOU (shake the other kid)??" then sit on the floor pretending to pound my fists in the floor saying, "HOW DID THIS HAPPEN TO US? WE HAVE NO DINNER...."

When one of my kids tells me he/she has to use the restroom...
Stand outside the door and do my impersonation of Sheldon from Big Bang Theory, "Kennith?" (pound pound pound)... "Kennith?"  (pound pound pound) until he comes out... neener neener child.... see how it feels to NOT pee in silence.

At Wal-Mart when my 3 year old is screaming for a  toy at the check out lane and the cranky old lady mutters under her breath "Just give her the damn toy and she will stop screaming"---
"Hi, I will be happy to buy her the toy so she can be rewarded for being not only NAUGHTY but RUDE.  The toy is like $2, but then she can go home with you until she is 18.  I am sure this lesson of getting a toy for being naughty will be AWESOME when she is 15 and wants something more expensive."


To my daughter about the boy she is "dating"... when he cancels on her again, or he wants her to walk to his house in the freezing cold instead of him walking here...
"Honey, you deserve better.  You deserve a boy who will walk up to your house and back, deal with your crazy family, and still want to be around you.  You deserve a boy who will honor his commitment to you regarding a date, versus canceling on you to hang out with his 'boyz'... You deserved to be honored, respected, and loved as much as your dad loves me. I know you are only 15 but don't settle. You are too young and you have way too much to offer to someone."

To my 3 year old when she is crying because her body hurts and she doesn't know why:
"Mommy doesn't know either, but we will figure this out together" as I cry with her.... Usually I try to stay strong and I don't breakdown.

To my 9 year old son when he wants to see his biological dad but cannot:
"Honey, sometimes a child has two dads.  One who is a dad and was there when they were born and he still loves you very much and misses you... and one who is here and raises you and tells you every day that you are special. When you are older you will understand more and until then please know that you are loved so much you have two daddies instead of one."

To my husband when he is sad,
"I know I cannot fix everything, and I don't have all the answers. I know I will make mistakes, and vice versa.  Of all this I know, I know I love you with all of my being. This will never change... When you signed that marriage certificate you signed your life away pal. You are stuck with me.... FOREVAH."


Have a fantastic week.

Doctors, Doctors, and WAIT...MORE DOCTORS

So, a lot of you have been following for a while and know that we have been battling some medical issues with our little Madelynn... the battle still continues.

So this is my Madelynn update.


Maddy is so funny for a 3 1/2 year old and she is so smart. I think this is what my blessing is because I can only trust my mom-gut so much.  Maddy is very in tune to her body and things that are going on and she can communicate it with us (which not only flabbergasts Phillip and myself, but also the doctors).

Great news first...

We now can drop the gastroenternologist.  His job is done. Maddy is pooping well and she doesn't need to go back to him again. PRAISE GOD.

The other news...

Maddy is scheduled for a kidney function test on Jan 22nd.  However, she has had another serious UTI, and was on antibiotics for 10 days. Thank goodness they tested her to make sure the antibiotic would work on her infection before they gave it to her. So, the test, and the nephrologist afterwards to talk about her kidneys....

Then a check up with the endocrinologist to make sure she is on track with her medication for Hashimoto's Thyroiditis (hypothyroidism).

And then to a rheumatologist.... and a cardiologist... so many "ISTS" I cannot even fathom.

At Maddy's last check up, her heart murmur is getting louder and her blood pressure is high.  Something is not right. My mom-gut is telling me that her hypothyroidism is a symptom of another autoimmune disease (such as diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus).

So, based on my mom-gut-tuition (that is my term for mom intuition) I told the endocrinologist she sees that her heart murmur is getting worse, her BP was high, she constantly complains about her bones "hurting"... and she is exhausted all the time.

I would take her place... a million, gazillion times. I have said this before.  There is NO REASON a 3 1/2 year old should be FINE with getting a blood draw.  SHE KNOWS SHE DOESN'T FEEL WELL.  She has a constant cough and we get no answers.

There is no one who specializes in EVERYTHING but I refuse to just stand on the sidelines and wait. I know, I am not a doctor. I know this.  I am a mom.  I know my kids. And I know when something is really wrong. 

My blessing? A doctor.  Our family doctor.  She honestly is a champion of our health and will FIGHT with us to get the answers we need.  So with her help, the prayers and healthy thoughts from friends and family... and God above...

So that is my Maddy update.  After more than 5 months of searching for something, I feel as if we will have answers soon and my baby will be on the official mends. 

New Year Resolution... or NOT???

Question for you? Do you set any new year resolutions?

Like, you won't eat chocolate, or you will eliminate caffeine out of your diet. OR wait, YOU PROMISE THAT THIS YEAR YOU WILL DEFINITELY GO BACK TO THE GYM!

A lot of these use to be my kind of resolutions until I realized that:

A) I love chocolate... why give it up when I can just eat it in moderation.

 

B) DUDE, no coffee with caffeine? NO nice Melissa. PERIOD. END OF STORY. BRING ON THE caffeine (and as a medical side note: caffeine is said to delay Alzheimer's so it is important to drink it---BONUS).

 

C) I will go back to the gym but if I miss a day here and there I won't punish myself.

So, why set a resolution when I KNOW I am going to break it.  Instead, I set a word goal.  Thanks to a fantastic website http://myoneword.org/ I was able to truly set a goal to impact others by picking just one word and living that word daily. 

My word for this year is thankful.  I decided that through all things... the good, the bad, and the funky... I will continue to be thankful.

Even when the going gets tough... I want to be thankful in the process.

So my first step was to set up a "2013 work goodies" jar.  In this jar, I am going to collect all of the fantastic goals I accomplish or nice things that happen at work. So when I am having a rough day, I have a reason to be thankful. I can pull out a piece of paper and be brought back to that amazing moment so I can have reminders at work to be thankful for what I have.

And I don't know about y'all but sometimes work can get SO BUSY that I get overwhelmed. So instead of getting caught up in the "overwhelm" I am making a conscious effort to be thankful for the amazing job I have.

What I did:
I took an old mason jar from the pantry, sticky notes, and fun butterfly bling stickers.

I cut the sticky part off of the sticky note so I had some little slips of paper I could easily write a note down on and toss it into the jar (with the date).

Easy cheesy.  Now, It is just up to me to fill it.  The more I do for others and the more I meet my goals, the more paper I get in that little jar.  I would LOVE to have 2013 papers by the end of the year, but that I think is a wee bit overzealous (LOL) so maybe I will go for 300. 

Challenge: find your own word to live by for the year.  Get creative with how you will make that word come to fruition in your life. 

Have fun with it!  Be creative! Get silly!  POST YOUR WORD BELOW (please)

 

Recipe time: Chocolate Covered Cherry Martini

So, I am not a huge drinker at all, but it is New Year's Eve after all so I thought it was time to post a drinky-drink on here!

I went to the grocery store last night, and found "Pinnacle" brand vodka on sale.  It is regularly $15.00 but it had a $5 off coupon, so I thought... why not try it.  I started looking and they had all kinds of crazy flavors... chocolate chip cookie dough, marshmallow, whipped cream (yum), whipped cherry, pumpkin pie... and the list goes on.  So, while standing there in awe, I decided to pick up the whipped cherry and thought that it would either A) make a nice gift or B) make a kick ass cherry Coke.

So, I continued to walk around the Hy-Vee (grocery store) and started thinking about what I could make with that bottle of vodka... And it came to me, a chocolate covered cherry. 

So I whipped out my phone and text my husband to see what we had at home to make this fantastic drink.

Chocolate syrup? CHECK
Whipped cream? NO (so I grabbed it)
Half and half or cream? NO (so I grabbed that)
Then I went to look for Maraschino cherries.  NOW, I would NEVER think a store would be out of them, but this store was (err, it was December 30th after all and 9 pm at night)... So I started to think... what could I use for cherry... and then it hit me... CHERRY PIE FILLING!

I left the store with one mission... to make the best damn-tastic martini with cherry pie filling... EVAH.

Ingredients:

Whipped cream

Chocolate syrup

Cherry Pie Filling (transferred into a bowl large enough to dip your glass in)

1 shot of Pinnacle Cherry Whipped vodka

2 shots of half and half

Finely crushed graham crackers (I used 2 whole graham crackers, or you can buy the box of crushed graham cracker at the store)

 

 

Directions:

 

1) take martini glass and dip it in the bowl of cherry pie filling enough to lightly cover the rim of the glass in the cherry goodness (sauce) 

2) Then immediately place the glass rim (covered in cherry ooey gooey yummo) into the finely crushed graham crackers. (I used a paper plate to make sure I could coat it all).

 





3) Decorate bottom of glass with chocolate sauce and sauce from the cherry pie filling (I even added a couple of cherries to one drink)

 

4) mix together 1 shot of cherry whipped vodka and cream in a shaker and shake it... SHAKE IT RREEEEAAALLLL GOOD!

5) Pour into glass, top with whipped cream, sprinkles of chocolate flakes, cherry sauce and chocolate sauce. ENJOY!

 

The Best Holiday Gift EVAH

So what is the best holiday gift you received this year? Snow? iPad? Food? Air Hog? Barbie dream house? Time together as a family? (YEAH RIGHT... hahhaaaa)

I mean, time together as a family is great, and when someone asks me about the best part of my holiday I always say, time with my family.  Which is great, but after about 1 day of the kids all being together it turns into bat shit crazy.  MOM, MOM... mommy... what are we doing today? Can we go somewhere? What can we do? Can we do this? Mom.... MOOOOOMMMMM????  Mom, he's touching me... Mom, why can't Maddy stop farting?

So, while the time together is precious and wonderful, and well... rather UNIQUE we all truly look forward to receiving a gift under the tree.  I don't care how non-materialistic you are, you like to have a present to unwrap.

This year, I received the best gift ever. And to some people, it may not mean anything and it may be super silly... but to me it is an amazing gift.  One that will keep on giving.  One that melted my heart and truly is the spirit of Christmas...

So, last winter I started a photo wall project.  It started with a blank wall, and then I purchased a wall saying from my friend, Jessica (Simply Said representative) and put it on my wall.  It says, "A smile lasts a moment... the memory lasts a lifetime." Well, for about six months it was just there... all by itself. My plan was to get different photo frames and put different candid moments from the kids, Phillip and I and put them up on the wall.  BUT I wanted vintage, funky frames. This would require me to shop Goodwill and Stuff, Etc (a local consignment store) and I just don't have that kind of time.  At month six, we received two large prints my friend Sarah Sample took of Kennith, Madelynn, and Alex.  My husband put them up on the wall.  And the wall still sits.... Like this...

My dream is to have these different photo frames with pictures surrounding the saying, but the photo frames have to be different shapes, sizes... That is my vision.  Create an art picture wall for our family room.  I take pictures all the time, I just don't have the "time" to find the frames.

So for Christmas, my husband and kids gave me the gift that will keep on giving. My husband went out and shopped for the frames for my wall.  Each one individually wrapped and waiting for me.  All I have to do, is put the pictures in them and hang them on the wall.





 Something so precious to me, for I don't have a lot of time between work and family to get to a Goodwill and hunt for funky frames, yet my husband knows it is my heart's desire to get this wall done... so he sacrificed his time and found them. Perfect, funky frames with my name written all over them.  He gets me.

Gift giving is not about the money spent... it is about the thought behind it.  This gift really melted my heart.  My husband knows me.  He knows my likes... and my dislikes... and he is so thoughtful.  He always is thoughtful.  He gave me the best gift ever... a true place to collect the hidden moments with my kids.  So, of course... after getting the frames, I ordered prints for the wall.  First one? Serina's senior picture that is the same size as Alex's and Kennith/Madelynn's.  Then all kinds of random pictures taken of our moments together.  Moments I treasure.... and now, moments I can see when I am having a tough day... all gathered in two different places.  The wall and my heart.

 Forever.