The Most Magical Place on Earth...

Freezing! A first tooth... lost down the drain! Daddy to the rescue!

Super Dad building sandcastles!

THE KITCHEN SINK!

A WHOLE can of WHIPPED CREAM! Notice the triple chin action on Mom!

SHARKS!

New friends!

TV Dinner.

A New Favorite Ride.

Old Favorites.

First Class all the way! Thanks Dad!

After 9 fun, sometimes whiny, other times wet, and a lot of the time cold days is in Orlando we are back. We had a fabulous time after the kids adjusted to the 3 hour time change, we bought a stroller, and allowed them to eat the "Kitchen Sink" and room service. It was nice to travel just the 4 of us, and in some ways was more relaxing than any Disney trip we have been on before- hard to imagine Disney relaxing!

Vacationing...

Daddy surprised all of us with a trip to the "Most Magical Place on Earth", vacation starts this week. I the meantime I am working like a crazy person to clean the house before we go, staying on top of one child to get his homework done before we leave (I love his teacher), and preparing for a Junior League committee meeting.

Am I the only person on the planet that finds it necessary to leave her house clean from top to bottom, including clean sheets on all the beds and no laundry in the hampers? Or am I making myself crazier than necessary?

Not to mention obsessing about the weather once we get there...

I'm baaaaaackkkk!!!

October 2010

I have been a woman on a mission all week to get myself caught up the "busy season" at work, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas has left my life and house in shambles. While cleaning my house this week I realized that I don't remember the last time that I cleaned my tile floors. I did remember the last time that I thought about doing it and I am embarrassed to say that was a week before Thanksgiving, right before my sister's baby shower at my house (I also remember thinking that I rather do it after the party not before because it was raining). Does this week count as "after the party"? I think so! My neglected floors are thanking me, my shower no longer has that nasty black mold growing in it that I can only see when I have my contacts in, my refrigerator looks brand new.At work, my office is cleaned, files are updated, emails have been returned, calls have been made. This weekend I have some closets to clean and organize, Christmas boxes to put in the attic, and then one to Junior League projects. That may take all weekend. The good news is by Tuesday I am going to be me again! Now if I could just clear my schedule for a couple days of scrapbooking and watching Gone with the Wind and Ugly Betty Season 2 my life will be complete!

A Mean Mom at Christmas Followup...

I am not sure why I didn't think of this sooner...

The December 13th Behavior Report:

Jack- B+ - A bit of a temper tantrum because I decided that I did not feel well enough to go to a Christmas party yesterday. Overall Behavior is stellar! Abby- A - Christmas is this kid's thing, she won't miss out on receiving a present. That would be a fate worst than death!

I think I am going to have a call Santa and tell him that Jack and Abby have been extra good.

A Mean Mom at Christmas...

Naughty behavior is not tolerated at our house and for some reason every year between Thanksgiving and Christmas, my children choose to challenge my tolerance for said behavior to the extreme. This past weekend I decided that I would nip it in the butt because this mom could not take it anymore! I told both kids separately that if bad behavior continued I would go into the garage take one of their Christmas gifts out of hiding and then force them open it and then return it to the store. While it seemed like an empty threat and "I am going to call Santa" threat is no longer effective this seemed to have a great impact with both children. For a few minutes of peace and quiet I made them go sit and think about what I had told them and then come back and explain to me what I had told them and what they would do to keep from losing the elusive gifts, this was the key to my success.

Jack chose to test me within 10 minutes of the edict. When I entered the kitchen with the medium sized square box wrapped in red paper silent tears began to stream down his cheeks, and then a whimper of "I'm so sorry I lied to you Mom". I didn't have the heart to enforce my rule, how could you punish those blue eyes? I felt too guilty... I think I got the desired affect, I have lived with 2 little angels since Saturday.

I even shared my "mean mom at Christmas" punishment with my friend, whose children quickly snapped into order after the laying down of the law... guess what... it works... I am just saying... if you want to try it, I am warning you it will be hard on both of you, but you will obtain the desired behavior immediately! Good luck! And Merry Christmas!

Scared Heart...

Diet is a bad word at my house during the holidays, but after a traumatic holiday photo session it was apparent that Mom and Dad Kuhtz needed to do something... and 6 weeks of gluttony (2008 and 2009) was not it. Enters the Sacred Heart Diet... 7 days of soup, things that I will eat, and the guarantee of rapid weight loss. I don't know why I hadn't heard of this before because this is a diet that I can do and not feel deprived, seriously anytime I felt like eating I eat carrots or a bowl of warm soup (my favorite winter treat sans the slice of warm bread). Here is how it works: Make the soup, one pot will last 2 people at least 3 days of meals (lunch, dinner, and occasional snacks). Recipe: 1 large can or box of beef broth 2 cans of tomatoes- I like the organic 2 cans green beans- drained 1 large bunch of green onions, chopped 1 bunch of celery, chopped 2 lbs. carrots, chopped 2 green peppers, chopped- I used red, yellow, orange too! 1 box Lipton chicken noodle soup- the directions say 1 package but that didn't taste right to me Chopping is quick if you don't worry about how pretty they look, I like my chucks big. Salt and pepper. I added cilantro, jalapeno, and hot sauce. Start to finish the whole process takes me about 15 to 20 minutes, that includes the 10 minutes it is supposed to boil. The Week: Day 1- As much soup as you want and fruit Day 2- As much soup as you want and veggies, baked potato with butter once during the day, I added green onion to mine. Day 3- As much soup as you want veggies and fruit. Day 4- As much soup as you want, veggies and fruit. Bananas and skim milk. Day 5- Beef and tomatoes- this is weird. We just ate soup like day 3. Day 6- We cheated... it was Saturday. But is was supposed to be 10 to 20 ounces of beef- gag! One steak please! Veggies. This is a great day to eat out for dinner, how easy is it to find a steak and veggies and ask for no starch! Day 7- Brown rice and veggies. Eat soup at least once... we cheated... how can you resist pizza and Crumbs cupcakes? The Rules: NO SODA! You can drink sugar free juice, coffee, tea, and LOTS of water. Corn is a no-no. White beans no can do. The Result: Steve lost 12 pounds. Rachel lost 8 pounds by Saturday. My pants fit better, I feel better. After cheating for 2 days I do not feel bloated or gross like I usually do. No sodas or bread (pizza and cupcakes don't count) in a week and I feel great! I think this is a great diet to get you started on your real diet. Very doable especially this time of year when what we mostly eat it soup. We are planning to continue this week until Thursday and then figure out what our next step will be next Monday. The Holidays (candy, bread, parties, alcohol, etc.) kind of make it are to stick to the diet bandwagon. Wish us luck!

Blessed...

Abby asked me yesterday what I was thankful for, I simply told her I was thankful for her. But after some more thought I realized that I was thankful for many things.

We are blessed with...

• a beautiful house.
• a healthy family.
• jobs that keep us busy.
• laughter.
• two wonderful children.
• a sense of adventure, that every day is a new challenge and obstacle.
• friends and family.

For all of these things and more I am thankful.

What was Abby thankful for? "Flowers, the sun, the moon, my family, and my cat and dog."