It's back!

American Idol is back and I'm finally sharing my thoughts about it!! I absolutely loved the beginning of the very first show!! I knew it was Carrie Underwood speaking as soon as she started talking! I'm so glad that Ryan Seacrest decided to stay on as the host otherwise I think the whole show would be a lot different! It already is going to be different because of the judges, so it's good they kept at least one constant. It is also on ABC now instead of Fox, so we'll see how different that makes it. I think I heard that they are going to be showing more of the good auditions than the bad.

Big E was sitting on the couch beside me, watching along with me! I never thought this day would come!! I always thought that I was going to just have to show Big E and Little E American Idol shows from seasons past! So it is so cool that she can actually watch a new season with me! I'm not sure how much of it she will actually watch, but so far she made it 10 minutes into it!! I kind of got her to watch it because I told her how Kelly Clarkson was on this show and won the first season. She just said "That's not Kelly Clarkson!!" But then she proceeded to say "I have that song in my car," so I think she recognized the song that was playing. There are actually a few songs that play on the radio that Big E loves! Her favorite at the moment is "Thunder" by Imagine Dragons.

So far I have just watched the first episode of Hollywood week and I'm really digging this season. There are so many great contestants so far and I can't wait to see who actually makes it through to the first voting round. There is a girl who is a karaoke singer and has never actually performed in front of other people unless she is singing karaoke. There's a 16 year old named Layla that comes from a small country town and has a great accent and singing voice!! There's Noah who wants an alpaca if he wins.

I'll be sure to post occasionally about my thoughts on the show! I am excited the show is back and can't wait to see how this season turns out!! As I wrote about here I am also watching The Voice because Kelly Clarkson is a coach on that show. I have only watched 1 other season of the show (and it probably wasn't even the whole season), but I'm really getting into it because of Kelly!! Do you watch American Idol or The Voice? Who are some of your favorite contestants that have been on either show?

Update on Big E!

So I just searched by blog and the last time I did an update about how potty training was going with Big E was August of last year. I wish I could say that there has been a difference since then, but there has not. She is still doing excellent with peeing in the potty with only the occasional accident here and there. But even though she knows where she needs to go poo-poo, she still won't go in the potty. Most of the time when she goes, it's in her diaper so it is at least a little easier to clean up rather than it being in underwear. But I'm completely stuck with what we need to do in order for her to start pooping on the potty.

A year ago I was so sure that she was going to go still be in diapers in high school!! Like seriously, that's how rough potty training was going!! But sure enough, she's finally learned that she needs to pee on the potty and not in her pants. So I know that she will eventually start pooping on the potty. I haven't' been too stressed about it because I know it will eventually happen. She goes number 1 more than number 2, so I think it's more important that she does that in the potty. And we go through a ton less diapers with her than we used to!!!

What tricks do you have for getting your kiddos to poop in the potty? I'm thinking I may start finding some books about pooping and just talk a lot more about how we are supposed to go in the potty. Or maybe even potty videos might work since she loves watching TV. Or perhaps a potty training app? I"ll try just about anything right now!!

This...is American Idol!

For those of you that personally know me, you will know that I used to be obsessed with American Idol!!! Like seriously, it was my life!!! I watched it every week, voted, cut out pictures and magazine articles of the contestants, recorded TV appearances that my favorite Idols were on. I didn't start watching the show from the very beginning though. I had heard about the show right before the finale of the first season and instantly became a fan of Kelly Clarkson! Then I heard the show was coming back for a 2nd season so I watched the first episode and immediately became hooked!!

I watched every season up until season 11. After that, I can't even tell you the names of the winners from seasons 12-15. I did try to watch some of season 15 since it was the last season, but it just wasn't the same as seasons 2-11. I stopped watching because as I got older I got into other things and had more important things going on. Plus, there just weren't any people on the show that I felt connected to. Each season there were always at least 1 or 2 people that I found that I really liked!! Season 2 it was Julia DeMato. She is a hairdresser from Connecticut that I'm actually friends with on Facebook. She has an awesome singing voice! Season 3 I really liked Amy Adams!! I just loved her personality and her great voice!! Season 4 it was Anthony Fedorov!! I thought he was just so cute and loved his voice!! Season 5 was Kellie Pickler!! It was because of her that I wanted to get a job at Sonic Drive-In. She used to work there before she went on Idol and it was around the same time that they showed her audition on the show that we were getting a Sonic near where I lived. How ironic is that? She's just so bubbly and cute!! Season 6 was Blake Lewis, another contestant that I thought was cute! And the following season had yet another guy I thought was cute, David Archuleta! Danny Gokey was my favorite from season 8 and Aaron Kelly was my favorite from season 9. Season 10 I went back to having a girl as a favorite, Lauren Alaina and then season 11 I honestly didn't have a favorite contestant.

Of course there are a ton of other contestants from the show that I love now!! Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, Lauren Alaina, Jordin Sparks, and Kellie Pickler would definitely, hands-down have to be my favorites!!!

I'm so excited that the show is coming back!! Yes it is going to be a lot different now not only because it is on a different network but because I'm a lot older watching it now than I was the last time it was on. I'm excited that I get to introduce my kids to the show! They would have heard about it eventually, but now I get to watch it with them! I'm sure Little E probably won't care about it and maybe Big E won't care either, but I think she will at least watch a little more of it than Little E. She loves music so I'm sure she'll watch some of it!!

I've recently been on a Kelly Clarkson kick because I love her new album that came out and am looking forward to hopefully seeing her in concert this summer!! The other day at lunch, I heard Big E singing part of a Kelly Clarkson song!! I can tell I've been playing a lot of her music recently and my little sponge is taking it all in!!

We're so close!!!

*Spoiler: Don't read unless you have watched the episode of This Is Us from January 23rd.*

We are so close to finding out how Jack died on This Is Us!! Ever since the first season I, just like the rest of the This Is Us fans, have been sitting on the edge of our seats waiting to find out what exactly happened to Jack!! For most part of this season though, I've been pretty content without finding out anymore. I was just enjoying the storyline and didn't care that they weren't telling us any more.

But then they started giving us these little clues here and there like they did in the one episode when they forgot to get batteries for the smoke detector. And then in the preview for next week Kate said it was her fault. My theory is that the reason she was hesitant about getting the dog at first, is because maybe Jack went back into the house for her dog and that is why he died.

One thing I love about this show is how they allow you to put little pieces together and try to figure it out for yourself. I can't remember watching any other show that is like this. We know that Jack died but they haven't told us yet. And I kind of like it that way because it's like solving a mystery.

The one thing I'm not super excited about is that the next episode isn't on until Super Bowl Sunday and us not having cable means that we have to wait until the next day to watch it. Well, my hubby leaves for a work trip the day after the Super Bowl so that means we have to wait until that Friday to watch it!! So until then, I'll just have to do some more thinking about what I think is going to happen next. Tell me, what are your thoughts on This Is Us? I wanna know!!

This Is Us

*Spoiler- make sure you are all caught up on This Is Us before reading, as this post contains some spoilers*

So I don't know about you, but when I first saw a preview for the show This Is Us, I was so excited for this show!!! My hubby and I watched Parenthood on Netflix together and this show looked very similar!! Well, NBC definitely did not disappoint with this show. I look forward to watching it every week. The other week my hubby was away from a Tuesday-Friday, so we had to wait even longer that week to watch that weeks' episode!!

Every week I'm on the edge of my seat and am looking for more clues as to how Jack died. I keep wondering "When will they just tell us already?" Well, for the first time ever, this past week I didn't care one bit that we wouldn't be finding out how he died or even get anymore clues. If you're all caught up on This Is Us, we all know that Kate had a miscarriage. They told us at the very end of an episode and then dived into it deeper the following week, which was last Tuesday's episode.

One in 5 women will have a miscarriage, which is more people than you actually think experience it. The reason we think not that many people experience miscarriages is because it isn't something that is talked about a lot. I personally don't know what this feels like first hand, but I have read many stories of women who have gone through this. I applaud NBC and the writers of the show for discussing this issue. It isn't a happy issue to talk about at all, but I'm sure that this episode has helped some women in some way.

I'll admit, up to this point I've never shed a tear while watching the show. Yes there were tons of other sad parts in the show, but none of them were powerful enough to bring me to tears. I guess being a mother and the fact that I've been pregnant twice before, it just hit me a little harder than the other sad parts it. As I already said, I've never had a miscarriage and there's no way I could ever know what someone who has is feeling, but there's just something about this episode that made me tear up a bit. I can't even begin to imagine how heartbreaking it must be to lose a baby that you've never met before. No matter how long you carry a baby inside you, it is still your baby and it has got to be one of the worst things in the world to lose that before you even get to meet him or her.

Again, I applaud NBC for shedding some light on this issue that is so hard for us to talk about. I hope this episode helped at least one person out there!

Another month has (almost) come to an end...

I feel like it was just yesterday that I was writing a post about how June was coming to and end and July was starting. And now July is ending soon and it will be August!! Where has this summer gone? I feel like we've done so much this summer but there are still so many things I would like to do!! Here are a few:

1. Get ice cream from the ice cream truck!!

2. Visit my husband's aunt and spend the weekend there. (She has a pool!)

3. Go to a carnival!

4. Hangout with my 17 year old cousin.

5. Enjoy more time outside.

Last summer I said that we would be spending so much more time outside this year than we did last year. Last year we couldn't be outside that much because Little E was only a few months old and couldn't be out in the sun for very long. But now that he's a year and is walking and as long as we lather us all up in sunscreen, we're good to hangout outside a lot more!!

But I'll admit, we haven't been outside as much as we should be. I am limiting the amount of time that I let Big E watch. She's definitely watching less than she used to. She either gets to watch it in the morning before lunch for a little bit or right before dinner. If we don't have anyone coming over to our house or if we don't go anywhere, then we have been playing with the wooden princess dress up sets, our play-doh made with essential oils, doll house, or coloring, just to name a few activities.

I'm going to get into doing some learning activities with Big E in September. I'll give her one more month of just play and then school will be in session! I've decided that I'm going to go back to substitute teaching but only 2 days a week. So that still gives me 3 days a week to do learning activities with Big E. And unlike last year, I'm going to dedicate more time to it. Now that Little E isn't as little as he was a year ago, he doesn't need my attention as much as he did then so I'll be able to take some time out of the day to focus on doing school stuff with Big E!

Have a great week everyone! Look for my post on my Home Chef experience coming soon!

The Bold Type

While I was at my mother-in-law's, I got to watch one of my shows, The Fosters, live instead of watching it online after it aired. After that was on, there was a 2 hour premiere of a new show on Freeform called The Bold Type. This show was inspired by the life of Joanna Coles, the chief content officer of Hearst Magazines, which produces magazines such as Cosmopolitan and The O Magazine. It follows the lives of the people responsible for the global women's magazine Scarlet.

There are 2 actresses in this that I was especially excited to see! Aisha Dee, who plays Kat, was previously in the Freeform show Chasing Life which I loved and was so sad to see end! And Katie Stevens, who plays Jane, came in 8th place on season 9 of American Idol!! I knew as soon as I saw her in the show and then saw her name appear, that I knew her from somewhere, and of course it was American Idol!! For those of you who don't know me personally, I used to be super obsessed with American Idol!

But anyway, back to the show The Bold Type. I am now obsessed with this show!! The three main characters, Jane, Kat, and Sutton work for a magazine called Scarlet, which is similar to Cosmopolitan. Jane is a newly promoted write for the magazine, Kat is the social media director, and Sutton is an assistant. It is just great to watch these 3 friends work together and the show explores issues such as sexuality, identity, love, and fashion. Freeform (formerly known as ABCFamily) has been producing great TV shows for a while now and they definitely didn't disappoint with this show!

What I'm watching

So for about 6 years or so we haven't had cable and just use Netflix and Hulu. We also have Amazon Prime so we have access to movies and TV shows on there. With it being Summer, pretty much all of my shows that I watch are on hiatus until the fall. I especially can't wait until This Is Us comes back and I just saw yesterday that it comes back September 26th!! Grey's Anatomy comes back September 21st!! My sister-in-law got me hooked on that show years ago and I caught up one summer before the next season started. It isn't the same since you-know-who died, but I can't stop watching it.

My husband and I started watching Designated Survivor but we only got through the first 7 episodes. So somehow (and someday) we will have to figure out how we're gonna catch up with that show. I doubt it will be anytime during the summer because we're busy watching Shameless and the latest season of Orange is the New Black. Oh, and we also have to finish watching Breaking Bad sometime. We got into that, but then we had a bunch of other shows that we got into and didn't have time to watch Breaking Bad.

Right now the only show I watch that has new episodes is Born This Way on A&E. It follows a group of young adults that have down syndrome. This is a show that my step-mom got me hooked on and it's pretty good!!

June 28th is the premiere of season 19 (19!!) of Big Brother. I may or may not watch it, I haven't decided yet. My hubby and I used to watch it together but now he doesn't like watching it because it's on too many times during the week (3).

On Netflix, I've been watching Gilmore Girls, The Fosters, and Parenthood, all for the second time. Hubby and I watched Parenthood together and we absolutely loved it so I just had to start watching it again!

What shows are you watching? And what are some shows on Netflix that I should start watching? What about Amazon Prime? I really haven't been taking advantage of the shows and movies on there. It mostly just gets used by my daughter to watch Daniel Tiger.

Do you hear that??

If you were in my house right now, you would hear silence! And let me tell you, that is a pretty rare thing to happen at 2:00 in the afternoon! My oldest normally naps from noon-2 but we met a friend for lunch so we got home a little later than normal so she is still napping now. And my youngest has been awake from about 8:30 this morning until about 1 pm, so he is napping as well!

I'm hoping that eventually both kids will always nap at the same time so I can get some free time to myself during the day. This is probably only the 3rd or 4th time that this has happened to me so I'm still trying to figure out what to do with this time. Do I take a nap? Do I clean? Do I catch up on my TV shows? Do I crochet or sew? There's just so many things to do and so little time!! What are some things you enjoy doing when your kids are down for a nap?