A day in my life....

I do not like to be busy! By that I mean the type of busy that leaves you exhausted & mentally frazzled. I try very hard not to overschedule, but somedays it can't be helped. Here is my day this past Friday ( it had its funny moments, so that is why I am sharing ;) ):

5:45 am.....Wake up and force myself out of the bed. Shower and get dressed all the while wishing I could get back under those warm covers.
6:00 am.........Make my homemade muffins (recipe below), make lunches, sign folders, drink coffee all the while wondering when I am going to get back into my workout routine
6:30 am......Wake girls and drag them out of bed. Make mental note to self that choosing the days outfit is REALLY better if done the night before. Fighting with 9 year olds over said outfit is not a fun thing to do early in the morning!!!!!
7:20 am......Having fed children, fixed hair, checked bookbags, etc, etc, it is time to drive them to school
8:45 am...... Drive Noah and myself to Walmart all the while wishing that I could go ANYWHERE ELSE!!!
10:20 am.......Leave Walmart $$$.$$ later ( enough said)
11:45 am.....Leave for a lunch playdate at Chick Fil A. Stop at Walgreens on the way for suckers since I realized in line at Walmart that I forgot them and there was no way I was getting out of line to go get some.
12 pm.......Chik Fil A.....mental note to self....Friday is not the day to go to Chik Fil A. Apparently every other mother in my town and their child goes on that day. It is a MAD HOUSE! We scarf down food and rescue our 3 year olds from the crowded play area. Promise them a quick trip to the park
12:45 pm.........Very quick trip to park.....realize on route that car is making weird noise. Brakes must need some work. Let Noah play for a quick 10 mins and then drag him to car only to find that he has decided that right then is the perfect time to have a dirty diaper!!!! YIKES! Change him in car and practically throw him into his car seat.
1:15 pm......After a mad race through town, arrive at girls school. I am sweating and have no lipstick on. Noah and I rush into Meredith's classroom so I can be the parent reader. I am anything but calm. One of her classmates taps me on the shoulder and says "hmmmm, I can see where Meredith gets her good looks from"!!! HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA! How many are willing to bet that this little boy has a flirty dad? Read to class. At one point, I was so out of it, that I read the same page twice. The class was too smart and it didn't slip by without notice!
4:30 pm....Make Madeline take a shower and then I blow dry her hair and get it fixed for cheerleading.
5pm....Drive though rush hour traffic so she can take a makeup group picture with the other cheerleaders. One of them was sick for actual picture day and they thought 5:30 on a Friday afternoon would be a good makeup time!!! WHAT?
6 pm.........Try to figure out where to eat dinner. Finally decide on Cracker Barrel. The best idea would have been for me to have something to cook at home but since I haven't cooked all week, why start now?
8pm......Frantically begin picking up house since someone is coming to look at it the next day. Tell myself to calm down, since it doesn't seem to make a bit of difference these days whether my house is clean or not.
10:30 pm.......Back in bed. Can I sleep all weekend?????? ( Fat chance!!! )

Prayer Request for a friend...

I got an email from my friend Judy in Mandeville. She requested to be put on any/all prayer lists and I thought of my blog as well. I wanted to ask all my friends to keep her in your prayers. She went to the hospital with gall bladder issues and they found a tumor on one of her kidneys and a possible mass on her liver. She has b/g twins that are a week apart in age from Madeline and Meredith. She is one of the nicest people you will ever meet. Anyway, I know that I can count on yall to petition the Father on her behalf! Thanks!

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins...

Sorry Christy, I am so slow!!! ;) These are our favorite muffins. I make them once a week at least! They are so easy and delicious. You can use healthy ingredients if you want. I use unbleached flour ( you could add a little ww), organic sugar, and Egglands Best eggs. If you want a little protein, try smearing some peanut butter on the muffin. It is sooooo good! I usually mix the dry ingredients together the night before and then add the rest in the morning. It is so easy. ENJOY!

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins ( from a friend of mine that I met on the web...screen name...SurferChick)

1 3/4 C flour
3/4 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
3/4 C sugar
1 1/4 t cream of tartar
2 eggs
1/2 C oil
2 mashed ripe bananas ( if they are small, I add 3)
1/2 C mini chocolate chips ( or you can do what I do and just "eyeball" it)

Combine all ingredients. Grease 18 muffin tins ( makes 18 small to med muffins). Bake 400 degrees for 15 -18 mins depending on your oven. Cool muffins on a wire rack. You can also just use this recipe and make bread. 350 degrees for 45 mins or so! YUM!

The sun IS out today!

After days of rain and clouds, the sun is shining today! Wow, I haven't posted here in over a week! Life has been very hectic,busy, and frustrating all at the same time!!! How is that for a sentence? Monday morning, poor little Noah woke up with the stomach flu and we had a very LOOOONNNGGG morning! It nearly broke my heart to see my baby having such a hard day! Thankfully, it was over by afternoon and he is doing just fine. He went to school today, I got to run around like a crazy woman doing things that I am way behind on, and I even got to have lunch with a friend!!! It was nice to drink lots of Diet Coke and talk to an adult!!!! I feel a bit better now! Another huge accomplishment, is that Noah is FINALLY using the potty regularly. I literally have to sit him on it, but he goes and is very proud of himself. Amazing, what a cheering crowd ( 2 sisters,mom, and the cat constitute a crowd) and some m & m's will do!!! YAY NOAH!!! Our next step will be to wear big boy briefs instead of pull-ups. I think if he wears that consistently he will see how much more comfortable it is. I was really starting to feel like the worst mother ever for having a child that is over 3 and still in diapers. Bless her heart, one of his teachers told me today that her son was nearly 4 when he got trained. Can I tell you how much better that made me feel? ;)

When will the sun come out?

~ Warning ~ This is going to be a vent post!!!!! I KNOW that everyone has days like this. You know, the kind where you just feel a little blue and nothing (absolutely nothing) seems to be going your way. I am very emotional today, partly because I didn't get very good sleep last night. There is nothing like being woken from a sound sleep to your daughter crying that her stomach hurts!!! Yes, Meredith got sick and bless her heart, that is all we need ...another missed day of school! Oh well, at least it is no homework day so she shouldn't fall too far behind. Let's see, I am also about to pull my hair out because my cute little dude will NOT potty train. He is wearing pullups and occasionally I can get him to sit on his potty but I don't know how much I should force the issue. I mean, is it right to spank him for not sitting on it? We literally argue over this everyday and I have to PHYSICALLY sit him on it, only to have him pop back up after 3 seconds. WHY DOES THIS HAVE TO BE SO HARD? He is over THREE years old!!!!! I feel like the only mother with a 3 year old that isn't potty-trained. My other vent is WHY can't my house sell? It has been on the market for almost FIVE months. I have never in all the houses we have sold, had one sit for this long. I don't know if God is trying to tell us that it won't happen or if he is just wanting us to wait for some reason or other. I really don't know what to do and Greg and I go back and forth on leaving it for sale or taking it off until another time! Can I tell you, that once you put it on the market and you find something else that you love, and you get in the mindset of moving, it is VERY hard to think about just quitting!!!! If I have one more person come look at my house and tell me how well I have decorated it, I think I will scream!!! Doesn't that count for something? If they like the way it is decorated, why don't they like the house?
Now in order to leave this post on a higher note, I will attempt to be positive. I have SO much to be thankful for! I have a healthy family, a home, my husband has a good job, we have food and clothes, and above all I DO have a Savior! You would think that after 34 years of life experience, that I could totally grasp the fact that God sees the big picture and I only see a fragment! Why can't I pound it into my thick skull, that God's way and timing is higher and BETTER then my own( I am sure that he even has a reason for my son's delayed bathroom skills ;) )? So thanks for letting me rant! Blogs aren't always about the sunny, happy, and fun things! I am going to try to spend the rest of my day being Thankful and having some FAITH! We will now return to regular posting...........VENT OVER!!!

~*Brag Alert*~

This is primarily for Sue-Sue to see! The twins both made the honor role again for the 2nd nine weeks!! WOOHOO!!! I am one happy, proud, & relieved parent. Third grade is hard ( Jennifer is probably laughing at me ;) ). Seriously, this is the first year that we have received actual grades as opposed to the S for Satisfactory and M for Mastered! Also, the amount of homework and test taking has increased dramatically ( get ready Bridgett!). Also, I was especially worried this report card because both girls were very sick during the week of final testing. They missed the reviews for EVERY subject leaving poor mommy to fret and pray that they would somehow remember all that they had learned. So, I can now breathe a sigh of relief and put my feet up!!! JUST KIDDING! Tonight, Madeline had to study for 3 tests and Meredith had 2! There is NO rest for the weary! :)

Meredith... ( my basketball player)

It is rare that I get to post separate pictures of the twins. They are usually involved in the same activities. However, this year they are doing Upwards and one is in basketball and the other is doing cheerleading. I am so proud of Meredith. She had a wonderful time during opening weekend. She scored a goal and her bounce passes were the best on the team ( of course I am a little bias). I informed my husband that since my father and both brothers are excellent basketball players, it is no wonder she inherited some of the "Chase" genes!!! I can't believe that Meredith is growing up so quickly. Even though she is my "2nd" born, I often think of her as the oldest. She is like me in alot of ways. She is the one who is usually in charge of things ( my siblings refer to this as bossy), and when Noah was a baby, she would frequently point out the things that I wasn't doing correctly! Meredith is a people pleaser. She is kind to everyone and she tries very hard in school and on the soccer field. I think being a twin is harder then it seems and Meredith tries hard to distinguish herself from Madeline. Do you know how hard it is to get asked "which one are you" on a daily basis? I see many wonderful qualities in Meredith and I hope that 2007 will be a year that I as her mother, can be her biggest encourager! I Love you Meredith and I am so blessed to have you for a daughter!!! :)

Our Quick Trip to Houston...

There is nothing like a *little* jaunt to Houston, Tx for one night!!! Yes, we got up EARLY Sat morning and drove the 7 hours to attend Greg's cousins wedding! The drive over wasn't bad and we made really good time. The wedding started at 4pm and we were in Houston city limits by 2:15. Two problems though....we stopped to go through a drive thru and didn't realize it would take 20 MINS to get a burger, and we underestimated the traffic in downtown Houston! We checked into our hotel, threw our clothes on and tried to get to the church. The streets in Houston are pretty tough to navigate though. So, you can call us the fashionably-late Tyre family. We tip-toed into the wedding at , oh, 4:15 ish!!! But hey, we did get there, right? The wedding was beautiful. Greg's Aunt Ola Mae attends a lovely Episcopal church and it was still all decorated from Christmas. It was so pretty and I bet the bride will be thrilled with her pictures. After the ceremony, we all drove to a dinner reception and that is where the real fun took place. The food was awesome and the drink wasn't too bad either ;) ! There was dancing and lots of laughing. Noah even took a tumble down the stairs!!! I posted a few pictures from our evening! The first one is my SIL Brenda and me! The second is beautiful Madeline! The third is Meredith and her cousin Trent. Do you see how thrilled she was that her mom took a picture of her dancing with a BOY? Noah got into the action too. In fact, I am told that he was out there break dancing at one point. That boy is an energizer bunny!!! He also danced with daddy, Uncle Ike, mommy and anyone else that would spin him around! The last one is of course, Greg and me! Don't we look cute? We had so much fun dancing. The music was mainly country ( we were in Houston of course)! I was surprised at how many songs I remembered from my days of loving country music. We literally stayed on the dance floor through the last song! All in all , it was a fun night. The next day we attended a family reunion and then loaded back in the car to come home. Unfortunately, the fun stopped at that point, and it was a VERY long trip home. I am happy to say that the weary travelers are planning to stay put for awhile. If someone wants to see us, they can come here! We have a very nice guest room! :) *Disclaimer....none of the pictures were taken with my new camera. I didn't want to lug it around so I brought my p & s. Madeline and Noah each took their share of pictures too. I had to go through and delete all of Noah's since I really didn't want a picture of the floor and the waiter's backside!!! ;)

Mexican Lasagna

This is a great recipe from one of my favorite healthy cookbooks...'The Moms Guide to Meal Makeovers'. We have liked just about everything I have made from it. This was our dinner last night, along with a green salad and cornbread:

Mexican Lasagna


1 pound lean ground beef (90% or higher)
1 large carrot, shredded (about 1 cup)
One 16-ounce jar salsa
One 15 1/2-ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed
One 10-ounce bag or box frozen corn kernels, thawed (about 2 cups)
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
Five 8-inch flour tortillas, cut in half
One 16-ounce container lowfat cottage cheese
1 1/2 cups preshredded reduced-fat Cheddar cheese ** I USE MORE
Cook the meat and carrot in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat, breaking up the large pieces, until no longer pink, about 5 minutes. Drain excess fat. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Add the salsa, black beans, corn, chili powder, and cumin to the skillet and stir to combine. To assemble the lasagna, arrange a third (about 2 cups) of the meat mixture in a 9 x 13-inch baking dish. Layer half the tortillas over the meat, allowing them to overlap. Spoon half of the cottage cheese and 1/2 cup of the Cheddar cheese over the tortillas and spread evenly.
Place 2 more cups of meat mixture over the cottage cheese. Layer with the remaining tortillas and cottage cheese. End with the meat mixture. Top with the remaining Cheddar cheese and bake uncovered until the cheese melts and the lasagna is heated through, about 25 minutes.

What I am hoping for 2007!

These are not resolutions or anything like that. I set myself up for failure when I post those. Instead, I am just going to write some things that I am praying will happen this year! Let me preface them by saying that I believe that God is sovereign and in control! I hope to be able to look back at these and see how he chose to answer!

1. I would like for the twins to breeze through multiplication! ( My family is not known for its strength in math!)

2. I would like to sell my house and move into a home that we can live in for a long time!

3. I would like for my parents to move closer.

4. I would like for Noah to potty train ( can it be easy too?)

5. I would like to have a full understanding of how a MAC computer works and not have to email Greg's cousin with tons of questions.

6. I would like to start teaching ballet again ( part time of course).

7. I would like to find a church that we can really grow in and be apart of ( and I would like to be there for a LONG time).

8. I would like to be able to take really GOOD pictures.

9. I would like to get my entire house organized ( I mean having everything in a place, labeled and sorted so that I never have to wonder where things are).

10. I would like to end 2007 being able to say that I grew in my walk with the Lord and truly saw his hand work in my life throughout the year.

There you have it. Some of these may seem silly, but they are all things that I desire. I probably forgot a few things so I may have to update later. I am the type of person that has to write EVERYTHING down. It feels good to plan and dream! You should try it! :)

I am TIRED today!

For the first time in I don't know how many years, I actually stayed up past midnight on New Year's Eve! I was quite proud of myself. I am very tired today, but it isn't just because I didn't go to sleep early! Let's back up to New Year's Eve morning:

We woke up to our regular Sunday morning routine. I got showered, dressed, made breakfast, got kids ready, etc. As I was putting on my makeup, I thought to myself that I would just leave the beds unmade since we haven't had anyone look at our house in 3 months and it certainly wouldn't happen today. I would just clean and get ready for a last minute NYE get together with neighbors, that afternoon. Well, that is when my cell phone rang. SURPRISE SURPRISE....someone wants to come look at the house at 1pm!!! WHAT? Of all days and of all times, they want to come when my house is a disaster area. Greg and I decided to take two cars to church. I left a little bit early and RACED home. I ended up cleaning my ENTIRE house in an hr and a half. This was no small feat. My girls room was a MESS. They had Christmas toys everywhere and you couldn't even see the floor. I probably spent half my time in their room alone. I don't normally break a sweat easily, but I was so hot that I had to turn the ac on! I ran around throwing things in drawers and trying to make our home look as appealing as possible. As I was cleaning, I kept telling myself not to overdo it. I have gotten it ready for a showing before and spent so much energy and time, only to have the people take 5 mins to decide they hate my house. I finally managed to get everything in place, "stage" my house with appropriate lighting, and blow out the candle I had burning for a pleasant scent. Did I mention that I tackled all of the above, while wearing my tall brown HIGH heeled boots? I pulled away from our home about 12:40 and not five mins later, the realtor called asking me if they were too early? I had just made it with hardly a minute to spare. I have absolutely no idea if they like my house. The realtor called me with a few questions that made it seem like they were interested but I have been down this road before , and I don't want to get my hopes up.

So back to today, I am very tired and my muscles hurt from cleaning my house in boots! We did have a wonderful New Year's Eve. We enjoyed some of the ham ,that is my husband's yearly Christmas gift from his boss. We also had appetizers and the last of the Christmas sweets. My kids had a blast running around the house and staying up way too late. I enter into 2007 very thankful and even though I have to deal with last minute ordeals ( like above), God always works them out for his own glory! HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL OF MY FAMILY AND FRIENDS. May 2007 be an incredible year!