No Regrets

Joy Moments: A mom reflects on birthdays past and present

2012-01-25T19:17:00.000-08:00

Once upon a time, a long time ago, I only had one kid {{okay, okay... it wasn't that long ago, I know}}.

I started the tradition of making her birthday cake. Every year she asked for another special cake from Mommy. {{Well, except for this year she designed her own cake and a professional made it for her. I was ditched. I know.}}

Then Mommy got a job... a husband... a house to take care of... and two more kids.

Mommy realized that all of this is a bit overwhelming... and Mommy decided to "say No" to homemade and time-consuming birthday cakes. {{Silly tradition.}}

Making the type of homemade cakes that I make {{with my little skill}} requires baking the cake two nights before the party and then dedicating an entire evening to decorating the cake on the night before the party.

Making the birthday cake has turned into a joy buster... a total project... that I do NOT have time for... until NOW!

This year, for the first time ever, making the cake was not about doing something crafty or fulfilling an obligation... it was a labor of love. {{Thank you Moms Club for this insight.}} As I piped every little dot and squiggle {{squiggle = technical term... hahahaha}}, I thought about loving him and all of the little things he does that make me laugh and smile. It was like four years of DVD replays were turning through my head... the whole time.

Wow! I didn't know that was going to happen!

So, my project turned into a therapy session. hahahaha!

What moment of joy surprised you this week?

It's another birthday

2012-01-21T06:49:00.000-08:00

This is the first year that Bro is inviting his friends, not just family, to his birthday party.

He is uber-excited about his Home Depot party.

I NEVER... in ONE MILLION years... thought I would be hosting Home Depot party, but I am.

This is the best party for my helper man. {{Oh the things we do for our kids.}}

Happy Happy Happy 4th to you my little man!
{{No, that is not a typo - the extra "happy" words are there for emphasis.}}

Yes. I did a photo shoot IN Home Depot.
Yes. I am making these little photos for each of the kids' birthdays... as a memory.
Yes. I know that first word is unreadable (I'm hiding his name for goodness sakes).

If you are thinking about a Home Depot party for the builder in your life, you need to know that only some of the Home Depot stores offer parties and scouting activities. This is on a case-by-case basis and at the discretion of the manager.

Since I live in the city... we have plenty of Home Depot stores to choose from. I was confident that we would find one that would let us have a party.

If your local Home Depot does not offer birthday parties, they most likely hold a kids workshop each month and these workshops are equally as hands on and equally as fun.

What is the craziest thing you ever did for one of your kids?

Your spouse?

buzz... buzz... buzz...

2012-01-17T11:53:00.000-08:00

Just the other day I was out shopping for the extras for Bro's Home Depot birthday party.

I buzzed in and out of Michael's craft store;
... in and out of Bath and Body Works (with a HUGE 75% off sale);
... in and out of Party City; and
... in an out of Franklin Toys.

Guess what? I didn't even buy one thing! Shouldn't I get some sort of award for that? I was so proud of myself.

I did run into this little gem in the toy store (see below).

Check out the new WOW toys toy line. Have you seen them before? I have not. They are just darling!

Look at this pizzeria guy on a motorcycle. Don't ya just want to take him home? I do!

Here's another motorbike set. Look closely.

Do you see what I see?

The lady is wearing a baby carrier!

Ha! I love it!

Now... I know what you are thinking... I agree with you... moms don't really ride motorcycles with their babies... I know... but you have to give this company credit for such a cute mom and baby!

What do you think?

Mom with baby in carrier - cute or not cute?

Angels???

2012-01-12T19:10:00.000-08:00

Here are some outtakes from the family Nativity play this past year.

To set the stage, all of the kids in the whole extended family select costumes and we re-enact Jesus' birth. Mkay?

So I had to crack up when Bro selected an angel costume...

... and Bri did too... kinda...

... and they posed for some pictures.

I'm being serious here - this IS the best picture of the two of them together. No lie!

Eventually they had to find some rest before the start of the show.

Bri found refuge in her sister's arms...

... and Bro found a nice cold drink.

SHEW-EE! Life as an angel is a tough job.

Dinosaur terrarium

2012-01-09T17:00:00.000-08:00

Dinosaur terrarium... also known as... the best time ever!

Ok... maybe not the best time EVER... but pretty darn fun for a Saturday in January.

We gathered our supplies...

... including the main cast of characters.

Big boy added one layer of rocks.

Here's the preserved sheet moss right out of the bag.

This is the preserved sheet moss after it was cut into a circle to fit inside the jar.

The sheet moss goes on top of the charcoal to keep the next layer (potting soil) from falling through into the charcoal and stones.

Big boy is placing the sheet moss on top of the charcoal...

... and adding the potting soil.

Finally, the first dinosaur was in his new home.

OH... here we have a certain boy declining to put the other two dinosaurs into the container now that Mommy told him he will not be able to play with them. WHAT?

Luckily, big boy gladly placed the last two dinosaurs in the terrarium since Mommy reminded him that we have one trillion more dinosaurs in the house.

Home sweet home.

Now we have the top on the terrarium and it is sitting on our shelf in the living room. More pics to follow. I just hope it lives. No one seems nearly as interested in it as I am.

Can you believe that I finally did it?

I Spy with My Little Eye

2012-01-08T16:50:00.000-08:00

This post was created especially for my grandmother.

She is loves those "I spy" books and the Gardens of Time game on facebook.

Ahem... you did NOT misread that last statement. Yes, I do have the hippest grandma on the planet and, yes, she is on facebook.

So... everyone, I hope, has that place in the house that collects stuff. Right??? Stuff stacks up on the counter, on the dining room table, on the foyer table... somewhere. You HAVE a junk spot - I know you do!

I do to.

Here it is.

And this is where we play the I Spy game.

I'll go first. I spy with my little eye:

a recipe binder
a cell phone
a bag of white flour
a bag of wheat flour
a half-full pasta box
a package from Amazon.com (for a certain birthday boy)
birthday wrapping paper
leftover terrarium plants
a croissant in a ziploc bag
a Christmas tray
... and so much more!

Holy hot mess Batman - yes I did just share this on the internet!

What's cluttering up your counter?

All New Low

2012-01-07T16:49:00.000-08:00

I hit an all-time low.

In my attempt to find something quick, easy, creative, and yummy for dinner...

I did this.

Yes. That is a ~~corn dog~~ hot dog in a corn muffin and baked in a flower mold.

Bro asked, "So mom? This is a hot dog in a muffin?"

Why, yes Bro, it is.

What? Did I hear you say that you want the recipe?

Well, sure I will share! {{Just don't tell anyone that I did this.}}

Recipe

Make corn muffin mix according to box directions. {{Yes, the mix was from a box.}}

Add cut hot dogs.

Cook according to box directions.

Enjoy!

Tip: Do not let hot dogs stick way out of the muffin tin or they will burn... like this.

Okay, so I know you didn't really want the recipe. The kids and husband loved the meal... just sayin'.

Corn dog muffins - gross or not gross?

Sanity Update

2012-01-05T07:13:00.000-08:00

I'm still without my moms group {{booooooo}} and I'm still doing fine – that is, I still have my sanity... as far as I can tell.

I'm still working towards my resolution of finding God's purpose for me... and generally concentrating on family and stuff... not so much baking and crafting (see New Year's Post circa January 2011).

Well, I haven't totally given up crafting. I mean... well... um... I did get my hands on a certain large pickle jar... so that I can turn it into a dinosaur terrarium.

Pop quiz: How long have I been planning to make a terrarium?

Answer: Since December 2009. True? Yes.

Why a terrarium? Why now? Why include dinosaurs?
I am a parent volunteer for the accreditation team for Bro's daycare. As part of their accreditation (renewal) each class needs something "living" in it. It can be an animal or plant. We decided againt an animal because they require so much upkeep and they might die and some parents don't like to talk about death to preschoolers. Personally, I think that a regular plant might be a bit boring so my goal is to make a terrarium for Bro's class and gift it to the daycare. I feel like terrariums are a bit more interesting and the addition of some dinosaurs in the terrarium might make it a bit more fun. Plus, the kids can help with the maintenance of the terrarium: misting it and making sure that it is not too dry or too wet. (See the yellowbrickhouse blog for a cute dinosaur terrarium example.)

The problem is that Bro really wants to grow something right now – I mean, he is a farmer at heart you know – and I am not quite sure that he will be open to gifting "his" terrarium to the class.

Moving On...

Normally I read all of my books through my e-reader. However, there are a few parenting and self-help books I have been wanting to purchase in paper form because I want to highlight in them, flag certain sections, and refer to them year after year.

Thanks to a certain Barnes and Noble gift card I received for Christmas (thanks Grand Matriarch), I own these new books in paper form:

One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp
Bringing Up Boys by James Dobson
The Five Love Languages of Teenagers: The Secret to Loving Teens Effectively by Gary Chapman

For the record... I will always treasure book giftcards... always!

What project are you finally tackling

that has been on your mind for YEARS?

Tebow Post

2012-01-04T11:40:00.000-08:00

Over the holiday break I read Tim Tebow's Through My Eyes book. You know who Tebow is, right? The Christian quarterback who is getting so much press lately. Is Tebow a great leader? Some people like him. Other hate him. I choose to like him. He seems like an alright kinda guy.

I bookmarked over 30 passages in Through My Eyes. Here are just some of the passages that caught my attention as well as my little commentary (in blue).

Tebow talks about Competition
Page 20

When parents tell their kids today, "It doesn't matter if you win or lose, as long as you have fun," I'm puzzled. ... That's just not how I'm wired. Bottom line, losing isn't fun. ... Of course, there is intrinsic value in playing the game itself and how well you play it, and always playing to the best of your ability, but at some point the actual competition has to be a piece of the analysis as well. After all, there'd be no point to the rules or keeping score if it were simply and only about having fun."

I just thought that this was funny. Tebow is very honest that he is just straight-up competitive. Every parents has used this line at one point or another.

Tebow talks about Hard Work
Page 38

And that's when I adopted one of my mantras for getting stronger and better for all my workouts:
Hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard.

This makes sense to me. Working hard has been my family mantra for years. If you work hard, then you can (possibly) come out ahead of those who don't work hard but have natural talents. Either way, you must work hard.

Tebow talks about making Choices
page 74

Choosing between the many scholarship offers I was blessed to receive really boiled down to relationships. As with most areas of our lives, whom we will work with and who will be our friends makes all the difference.

page 83

People often seem to think that when you're following the Lord and trying to do His will, your path will always be clear, the decisions smooth and easy. and life will be lived happily ever after and all that. Sometimes that may be true, but I've found that more often, it's not. ... When it comes to making decisions, the key that God is concerned with is that we are trusting and seeking Him.

I think that surrounding yourself with good people will help you to become a better person. You don't want people to drag you down or to get mixed in with the wrong crowd.

Tebow talks about Being Part of a Team
page 97

For me, more important than winning the quarterback's job was earning some playing time, being part of the team, building the trust of the coaches and my teammates, and being able to contribute. That's what I took so much pride in and what I wanted to accomplish. I hoped to carve out a role for myself that contributed to the good of the team in every game.

Fabulous. You can carry this thought into every walk of life. I truly feel like every person on earth who is contributing to society, no matter how much, is an important piece of the puzzle. You just have to be giving as much as you can give (with time/resources). No one is more valuable than the other... for the most part.

As people, we should hope to carve out roles for ourselves that contribute to the good of society.

Tebow talks about Waiting
page 99

... warming up to stay ready and then not knowing when your number will be called in. It was a "wait, then hurry up, and then wait again" situtation, like much of life. You never know when an opportunity to help, to do something good, to lift up someone, or some situtation will come your way. Always be prepared so that you can do your best when it's time.

Duh!

Tebow responds to a reporter about Losing a Game
page 105

"In everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."
(from 1 Thessalonians 5:18)

He seems like a kind-hearted man. I'm sure he's not perfect. I do believe that he has some great words to live by for believers and nobelievers. I hope you enjoyed some of these passages.

Which one of these passages speaks to you?

I like all of them. Today, as I search for my purpose in life, I keep coming back to "I hoped to carve out a role for myself that contributed to the good of the team in every game."

Grocery Goodness

2012-01-02T07:24:00.000-08:00

Some people have "road rage." I, on the other hand, have a serious case of "grocery store rage." {{I'm just being honest here folks.}} I don't particularly dislike going to the grocery store. I don't know why I am so impatient while I am there. Inevitably, there is a HUGE mishap that sends me running home with steam coming out of my ears. Ask my family - they will confirm this - it has become a running joke.

Today was the first grocery run of the year!

Two great things happened while I was there:

1. Almond milk makers finally came out with a single-serve, portable container of our favorite almond milk. I look for this product almost every time I am in the grocery store. Since many families and restaurants do not have almond milk (the only milk my two youngest children drink) on hand, there are times when a small, single-serve, transportable portion is extremely helpful! Lookie! Lookie!

2. I saved 19% on my grocery bill and walked out having spent less than $100 total. Yay! The goal is always to stay under $100 but that doesn't always happen. I used to save 5-10% on my grocery bills. Now I am saving closer to 20% (or a tad more) on a fairly regular basis and ~~sometimes~~ one time I even saved as much as 30%. The percentage savings has become like a game for me... a competition against myself. The very first thing I do when the clerk gives me the receipt is scan it for the percentage savings... without fail! It's like getting my "score" and the higher the score the better.

Oh my gosh - I just had a great idea. They should post your "score" over the grocery store door... and include a "top scores of the day" designation. Wouldn't that be great??? You would have to buy a certain number of items to place though. Like... it wouldn't be fair if someone came in and bought 1 buy-one-get-one-free set and left with a score of 50%. Not fair!

Caught My Eye:

You know I like to comment on the products that catch my eye.
{{you also know you have totally boring blog when you highlight grocery store products - sorry folks}}

Check out the new-to-me cereal.

According to wikipedia, "Krave is a chocolate cereal made by Kellogg. It was introduced in the UK in 2010, marketed under the slogan "Taste Unleashed", later "Here Choccy Choccy". The adverts feature the cereal pieces hunting blocks of chocolate."

Kelloggs says, "Satisfy your inner chocovore with Kellogg's Krave™ Chocolate cereal. Inside each crunchy bite hides a smooth chocolate center. So what are you waiting for? Get crunching!"

Krave does not look yummy to me. Have you tried it yet?

What was your last grocery store "score"?

score = percent savings on your total bill

2012 Resolutions

2012-01-01T11:41:00.000-08:00

How many blogs have you read about new year's resolutions? Hmmm...?

I have read several. Prior to today, I thought I was going to make a reading goal resolution and a "project" resolution. I even ran across a little spreadsheet to help me map out my entire year! I'm all about making a list of steps to help me stay on track.

Then, I went to church today. Wow! My goal to make a doll for my youngest daughter and send all of my kids to school with the best homemade valentines EVER went right out the window.

In my recent decision to make time for church and for the Lord, things in my life have been slowly shifting... my mindset is changing. Through my time in church, with my moms group, and reading Christian-themed books such as Through My Eyes by Tim Tebow, I am starting to remember that God has a purpose for me and I am searching for that purpose. {{A top 10 list of great things I learned from Tebow's book is forthcoming.}}

Today's topic in church was to search our hearts for God's purpose for ourselves. Among other things, they pointed us to Radical by David Platt (see the video below).

So, today, I am abandoning all of my previous 2012 goals for this one main resolution... to spend 2012 searching my heart and in prayer to discover what God has in store for me... my purpose... "what I am being called to do."

Right now, on day 1 of 2012, I have a feeling that my calling is related to children. Maybe I should be a Sunday School teacher or something. When I think of leading worship for children, two thoughts come to mind: (1) where am I logistically going to find the time to do this and (2) seven years in a leadership position with scouting has me burnt out (for lack of a better term).

On the positive side, working with children is a great way to give back to the community. Working with children is something that I am naturally good at. Working with children is something that I enjoy doing. Working with children often times allows me to participate with my own children while still in a volunteer role for others (which is a win/win situation for everyone).

I do not feel called to go on missionary trips, for example (I am not opposed to a missionary trip either), and seminary school is not shouting my name. I just feel like a volunteer role with kids and sharing God's love with them might just be where I am supposed to be.

So, stay tuned as I spend some time figuring out my purpose. I will try to keep an open mind, but I cannot fathom what else I am supposed to be doing with my time here on earth. I am not promising that my discovery will be anything Radical (sorry David Platt) but I hope it is life altering. I know this isn't nearly as fun as following through with great crafts and food, but I feel like it is the direction I am supposed to be headed in.

What is your 2012 resolution?

Please tell me that someone here is going to be crafting or baking!!!

Hello 2012!

2011-12-31T21:38:00.000-08:00

So... I am not one to stay up until midnight. Those days are looooong over.

However, I couldn't let Lulu ring in the new year by herself so we got all dolled up and celebrated in style! I was surprisingly awake the whole time! {{and I didn't even get a nap today}}

My favorite quote of the night?

Ahem...

As we helped ourselves to sparkling cider Lulu ran to get a "cocktail ring." She announced, "Always accentuate your large drink with a cocktail ring." I almost fell over when she said it. She told me that she got the tip from Style Network. Yikes!

What is your favorite quote thus far???

Happy 2012 everyone!

It is merry, isn't it?

2011-12-25T00:42:00.000-08:00

Check out the ornament that ~~I spent 4 hours making on Christmas Eve~~ Santa brought for the kids. I can't wait to give you a full report on our whole day. Until then, I leave you with this verse.

Luke 2:11

Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you;

He is the Messiah, the Lord.

My favorite Christmas verse is Luke 2:12: This will be a sign to you. You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. However, since you can't see the baby in this ornament, Luke 2:11 will have to suffice.

Merry Christmas!!!!

Sanity Update: Week 1 of 4

2011-12-19T08:45:00.000-08:00

My moms group met on Wednesday for our last get together of the year.
boo hoo hoo. {{please pass the tissues}}

I skipped the mom's group, for the first time ever, because there was a last minute email sent out (well, it came through on Monday) saying that the plans had been changed and the next meeting would include (1) a white elephant gift exchange and (2) snack to share. Since I got the email after the weekend had passed and I worked late on Wednesday, I was not appropriately prepared for the moms group meeting.

What did we do instead? We sat at the couch with a big ol' bag of popcorn and watched Survivor - one of our favorite shows. Some of us (ahem... me) have watched all 23 seasons. Yes indeed!

Are you keeping track of my week?
So far, we took out the moms group meeting but added in a tv night with the family. Sanity is still in tact.

Here's a list of other things that were working against me this week (don't worry - I will get to some good stuff):

Driving: This past week was especially packed because my oldest daughter (who spends two weeks with me and then two weeks with her dad) was with me this week. Cheerleading practice started up as well. I estimate that I spend an extra 560 minutes driving her to and from school and practices on the weeks that she is with me. I am not complaining. I am just stating where my time goes.

Volunteering: Each parent at church volunteers in Sunday School twice a year. This week was my week to volunteer. They needed help... in the baby room of all places. Um... I not real keen on holding my own babies much less someone else's baby. Babies are a lot of w-o-r-k. This experience was as pleasant as it could be. The facility is more than equipped to handle these babies... plenty of bouncy seats and swings and such to keep the babies happy. But, babies still eat and cry and poop and stuff. So, it was a very busy morning. Since Sunday School takes place during church service, I did not get to go to church. Yes, I could have stayed for the late service, but there was no time for that. No time.

So, we added in 560 minutes on the road and took out church and added in babysitting. You with me? Sounds like a recipe for disaster if you ask me.

School party: My youngest two had their school party last week. For 13 years, I have been making creative, fun, and special treats for school parties. I RACE to the sign-up sheet so I can sign up for something fun (cupcakes) and don't get stuck with something totally boring (juiceboxes). This year I looked at the list of things to bring and called Bro over to the list to see what he wanted for his party. Guess what? He picked CHIPS - Doritos in fact! SCORE!!!!!

So, we took out spending hours of time detailing cupcakes for preschoolers and added in one-bag-of Doritos! He was totally proud and excited about his chips! Chips = happy child with no effort.

Reading: I am reading a book for my book club, Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption, by Laura Hillenbrand, but NOT a parenting book that I had hoped to read. Either way, I enjoy reading and I am enjoying the book very much.

The highlight of the week was when we added in gingerbread house decorating at my mom's house. She totally did all of the work. There was candy everywhere when we left. The kids had a fabulous time! This is an annual tradition and the first time that Bro participated.

I love looking at the pictures of Bro squeezing out the icing...

... compared to the pics of Lulu squirting out the icing. Clearly, there is a difference.

Then we have Lulu's roof...

... compared to bro's roof. It just cracks me up!

One of my favorite parts might be the before shot and after shot of Bro's front door.

Here is the "before."

And, here is the after. He kept insisting that Santa belonged in the house. Since none of the adults would help him get Santa in the house, he did it himself.

I adore Lulu's sweet cottage of pink and green in her winter wonderland.

These houses are so festive and I know that Christmas is almost here when I see gingerbread houses displayed at home.

Sanity Week 2 Schedule:

Moms group: Nope.

Family event: Lights on the Bay on Wednesday

Reading: Still in my book club book – need to move to a parenting book.

Cheerleading has been cancelled for the week. DOUBLE YAY!

I need to wrap the teacher gifts. Easy enough.

There are a few things purposely missing here because I don't want to stress myself out.

~~make nativity ornaments for each child~~

~~make a stocking for Bro and Bri~~

~~set up Bro's leappad so it is ready to play with when he opens it~~

Our gingerbread houses are so sweet.

What holiday event in your life

signals that Christmas is nearly here?

Blue or Beige?

2011-12-14T09:02:00.000-08:00

I started the baby Jesus ornaments.

The clips come in packs of 12 so I am making 12 Jesus babies.

The template was for a light blue blanket. The craft store was sold out of blue so I went with a beige. Baby Jesus is never wrapped in a blue blanket anyway. It's always beige or white.

Someone... ahem Grandma... suggested that perhaps his mother made him a blanket from the same material as her dress, which is often portrayed as blue.

Bee and I travelled to the fabric store (not the craft store this time) for some light blue felt.

Note: Felt is way cheaper at the fabric store than at the craft store. Just sayin'.

I started making some babies with blue blankets and soon realized that I did not like blue blankets at all. To me, throwing the blue blanket on baby Jesus felt like I might as well give him a Mickey Mouse print blanket. The baby in the stable did not have a blue blanket!

I got this far and couldn't decide what to do: keep making blue blankets or go back to making beige blankets.

I did what any reasonable person would do... I asked my facebook friends to decide. This is how they voted:

What? Look at all of those blue votes! I was shocked at the number of people who voted blue. Really?

It's a good thing I asked. I would have finished in beige.

What is it about the blue that is so appealing?

Clearly I am in the minority.

I think I can. I think I can.

2011-12-13T08:55:00.000-08:00

It is no secret to those who see me often that I have been in a phenomenal mood for the past few months.

I can only think that this new found attitude is a result of (1) going to church on a regular basis and (2) attending a weekly Growth Group ~~support group~~ for moms of school-age children. I don't know exactly why these events make me feel better but I do know that these two events recharge my soul and keep me motivated throughout the week.

Specifically, the moms group has taught me so much about being a better mom. I cannot pinpoint why this is so helpful. We are a group of about 15+ moms who get together weekly and discuss a topic of interest. The group leader selects the topics and usually gets a mom to come in and speak to us about the topic. We also have small-group discussions about the topic and moms bring in snacks. I sooooooo look forward to this meeting. I leave this meeting so full of energy and inspiration.

Most recently we discussed "Joy." The speaker for Joy, whose children are now in college, could relate to me (and the other moms in the room). She started off with, "I know you are all dragging. I know you have lots of gifts to buy. I know you have lots of obligations. I know the laundry is piling up. I know that your kids have been sick and not sleeping through the night. I can hear your colds and see your tired eyes as I am standing here." Hello! Does she spy on us when we are at home because she totally hit the nail on the head.

She led us into a discussion about Joy, the joy of mothering, and a discussion about joy busters. You know what joy busters are. Waking up with your kid in the middle of the night is a joy buster. Chauffeuring the kids to all of their events is a joy buster. You get what I'm saying? However, we talked about joy busters and ways to make them more positive or think of them in a more positive light. Talking with other moms about ways to bring joy to some of our least fun experiences is highly motivating.

This speaker also remind me to "be present" with my children. "Being present" does not involve browsing facebook while the kids watch tv. "Being present" involves actually sitting with them and sharing with them and being present with them. Do you know how "present" I have been with my kids since this mom's discussion?

Another example of "being present": Lulu, my teen, asked if she could straighten my hair. This came at a time when I had one million things to do. Nonetheless, I spent a half hour in the bathroom with her while she straightened my hair. She loved straightening it and chatted the whole time. Do you have any teens at home? Do you know how difficult it is to get them to talk to you? I feel like this half hour in the bathroom with my teen just chatting away was a mini-miracle. In the end, I came out with a gorgeous new look {{my husband actually said that it was sexy}} and I had great bonding time with my teen. None of this would have happened if I was browsing facebook.

So you see... finding the positive side of joy busters and "being present" are just two great mothering tips I took away from my moms group.

This bring me to the point of my post. That is, I just came to the realization that moms group is taking a break for the holiday and will not be meeting until mid-January. UGH!

I feel like an addict... or maybe a person who was just told that their therapist is going away for a month. I'm more than a little bit apprehensive about how I can function without my moms group.

I'm made a Moms Group Break Survival Plan. This survival plan involves (1) taking the time that I would be at moms group to ~~browse facebook~~ do something fun and special with my family and (2) reading some of the suggested parenting books that I have not had a chance to read because I have been so busy.

Moms Group Break Survival Plan

Wed, December 21 - Drive through Lights on the Bay with the family.

Thur, December 29 - Go to the movies with the family. Maybe get a sitter for Baby Bee. {{Sorry Baby Bee}}

Wed, Jan 4 - Go to local coffee shop or library to do some reading.

Daily: Continue to read my parenting books.

The object of my plan is two fold: (1) create special memories with my family and (2) continue to be inspired through the suggested parenting books. I really think that I can make it through the break if I have this little plan in mind.

Here is the list of suggested reading from my moms club.

Note: The list was created from a little widget creator on goodreads.com. I'm not sure what will happen if you click on it. Maybe it will link to goodreads.com or amazon - not sure.

Moms Club Recommendations

Which one should I pick first?

I don't know which one to read first. The 5 Love Languages of Teenagers and 5 Conversations that You Must Have With Your Daughter are calling my name. I feel a sense of urgency to get these started. Parenting with Love and Logic will help with all of my kids, not just one.

Many of you could benefit from Boundaries by Drs. Cloud and Townsend. It's not just for moms.

What is a joy buster in your life?

How you can make it more positive?

Do you have any suggestions for my

Moms Club Break Survival Plan?

Baby Jesus Ornament

2011-12-09T05:51:00.000-08:00

Yay! I am so proud of myself!

Look at the baby Jesus ornament!

Idea from:
http://jennicanknit.blogspot.com/2011/11/baby-jesus-ornament.html

Now I just need to make about 11 more.

I almost forgot to tell you. I'm also going to make this ipod holder for Lulu too.

You are right - I don't think I'm going to have time to make the cookies. {{sad face}}

Dear Husband and I are going to finish Christmas shopping tonight!

How much shopping do you have left?

She's Crafty!

2011-12-02T07:28:00.000-08:00

Yay!

Have you heard that Christmas is coming? Yes! Great!

I have a few crafts lined up. Tell me what you think?

1. I need to make one additional large Santa Sack per kid.

What's a Santa sack? It's a large fabric sack that Santa puts his gifts in (you can make them or buy them). The kids set the sack out on Christmas Eve and Santa fills them while they sleep. The Santa Sack is not only ecofriendly but it really keeps down on the clutter and mess to clean up after opening the gifts. Providing Santa Sacks for Santa to place his gifts in is a secret that needs to be unleashed. We will always provide sacks for Santa. There was a noticable difference in our morning because of the lack of mess, paper, and general clutter. Plus, this makes it much, much easier for Santa to "wrap" the presents Christmas Eve {{wink, wink}}.

They are selling Santa Sacks at ~~Michaels~~ your local craft retailer for less than $3 each. Get one!

2. I want to make these Nativity cookies. I might make a plate of each set for my aunts for Christmas. I'm not sure how well they will travel in the car. I think I could "glue" them in place with icing and the scene would still be presentable after a 2-hour car ride. Right?

This picture and idea comes from CatholicIcing.com. She made her own colored sugar (simple and thrifty) and still captured the essence of the characters without piping in all of the details with icing. She's my kinda gal.

3. I also want to make this baby Jesus ornament. Instead of hanging it from the tree, I am going to put a clip on the bottom so I can nestle him atop a tree branch. Yes, I am making extras. {{Yes, I am sending one to you Grandma!}}

jennicanknit.blogspot.com made these adorable ornaments and took this picture.

4. Lastly, I have all of the pieces to make these Nativity blocks.

I have not put up my tree, pulled out our elf, or hung any lights. I have a lot of work ahead of me, I know.

My craft ideas might be overambitious and I might not get to them all.

Which one do you think I really must do?

1. Santa Sacks

2. Nativity cookies

3. Jesus ornament

4. Nativiy blocks

NABloPoMo Recap

2011-12-01T07:26:00.000-08:00

On November 1, I set a goal to blog once a day in November, as part of National Blog Post Month (also known as NaBloPoMo - who thinks of this stuff?).

I didn't quite make my goal, but I almost hit an all-time high of November blog posts (see chart).

What happened in 2010? I had a new baby and was somewhat recently back to work. I guess I was really busy. I can't really remember - it was a whirlwind of a year.

Clearly, things are running a bit more smoothly now. Thank goodness!

Thanks to everyone who came in and checked on me (RooLily) and for the new friends I met... ahem Pursued by a Bear. I had great fun. Let's do it again next year. Shall we?

Tomorrow: Come back tomorrow and see what crafts we are prepping for this season.
Coming soon: Parenting book recommendations for moms with school-age children

Best Buy Ever

2011-11-30T11:22:00.000-08:00

Wow! I ordered this preschool busy bag a few weeks ago. It was on some crazy sale and I had been wanting to create something like this for Bro, but the time and expense to make it would probably not be worth it. So, I ordered it.

The busy bag includes 20 preschool-friendly activities to keep your preschooler busy. I imagined that we would use the bag: on a rainy day, to keep Bro quiet during church, on a long car ride, and so on.

Soon after I ordered the bag, I had buyer's remorse. I envisioned this ratty bag showing up at my door with lackluster appeal and mediocre artistry. I could not have been more wrong.

Note: If you have a preschooler in your house then this is the busy bag for you.

Each of the 20 activities is perfect for little Bro: counting activities, letter activities, color activities, lacing activities, sorting activities, pretend activities... and more and more. Each activity comes in its own ziploc bag with easy instructions for mom and dad. Every bag contains all of the items needed for the activity. The lady who put them together even took the time to round of the edges of the papers and laminate the cards that would clearly get lots of use. This is such a sweet set. It is clearly handcrafted and I love that part too.

I went so far as to order a Christmas bag from the same lady because it not only includes Christmas activities but has some "winter" activities as well. I am hoping that this will help get us through some tough days that we are stuck inside the house, hiding from Old Man Winter.

We took our busy bag with us to an evening doctor's appointment.

We were sorting...

and lacing... as we waitied. We had great fun!

The lady who makes these bags also holds a busy-bag swap each year. The idea is that each mom makes 30 sets of one bag and mails them in. When the lady gets all of the sets, then she divides them up and sends them out to the families. Cool huh?

How do you keep your kids occupied at the doctor's office,

while you make dinner, or on a rainy day?

Thanksgiving Recap

2011-11-28T11:57:00.000-08:00

I did not blog over the Thanksgiving weekend. However, here is a quick photo recap for your viewing pleasure.

Thursday, November 24

The kids had a great Thanksgiving. Bro asked for "more turkey please."

Friday, November 25

Bro did not play while we were outside. When we went inside to eat lunch he started screaming and fell to the floor with stomach pain.

We took a visit to the ER which has its own pediatric wing. Yay! It's new and I forgot all about it until I got there.

They said that his colon was probably spasming. They gave him Motrin and a popsicle. He watched plenty of SpongeBob too.

Saturday, November 26

We went to the Smithsonian museums. I was so delighted to see that the Air and Space Museum has a baby changing station in the men's bathroom. Yes, this is the only picture I took all day long.

Sunday, November 27

Pioneer Woman's Turkey Tetrazzini is a great way to use leftover Thanksgiving turkey.

What did you do over the break?

JUICE!

2011-11-22T18:43:00.000-08:00

My little Bro-man is rather inflexible at times.

For example, he gets a sippy cup of juice each morning. There is hell to pay if he does not get his juice immediately when he arrives to the living room. I'm not kidding here folks.

Recently, we were out of juice. I was giving Bri her bottle and Bro was still sleeping.

While I feeding Bri her bottle, Bro walked out into the living room. I could feel the hairs on my neck stand up. I knew what was coming.

"I want my juice Mommy."

I was in a predicament. Bro was gonna have a fit if he did not get his juice, but Brielle was going to have a fit if I sat her down in the middle of the only bit of cuddle time we get each day.

I know I can multitask but I cannot make juice and feed a baby a bottle at the same time.

So, I took a gamble and asked, "Bro, Mommy needs to make new juice. Can you give Bri her bottle while I make juice."

He replied, "Yes" and he did.. and Brielle didn't fuss. Oh my gosh - he even let me TAKE HIS PICTURE!!!

This is his I-just-woke-up face, not a grumpy face.

He really is mommy's little helper.

Don't the kids just surprise you sometimes?

Books

2011-11-21T18:33:00.000-08:00

Recently, I spent a few days sitting around the house holding his little gem.

She threw up all day long. Good times!

Actual picture of terribly sick baby Bee.

The best part was when she was supposed to be taking a nap and instead stood up at the corner of her crib and threw up into the basket below... the basket that holds 4 of her favorite baby books.

What did I do? I'm not kidding folks. I rinsed them and set them in the bathtub to dry.

Is that awful or what?

At $9 a piece, we are looking at about $40 of books here. These are the bulk of her favorite board books. We cannot live without them. Luckily, the Barney lift-the-flap books were not in the basket. They are out of print and the replacement cost is not in our family budget. The Barney books are her top favorite books and she asks for them by name.

Was I able to save the books? Well, Brown Bear, Brown Bear was beyond saving. {{sigh}} It has been part of our collection since Lulu was a baby. {{tears}}

Please tell me that someone reading this blog would have tried to save the books.

I couldn't just throw them away.

Paper Hornets

2011-11-20T18:21:00.000-08:00

Lulu is learning the art of creating and shooting paper hornets. We have hornets and targets all over the house. It's best to both hit the target and leave, gaping hole, and make a loud noise.

Here is a small paper hornet and rubber band launcher.

She informed me that you can make 14-20 paper hornets from one piece of notebook paper.

She learned this technique during school on Friday. The kids who take Spanish were on a field trip and this left the few French and Chinese language students in school for the day. The science teacher let them make and shoot paper hornets... including setting up barricades in the classroom. She says it was a great day!

She's teaching every member of the family to shoot paper hornets.

What wholesome activities are you enjoying with your family?

Do It All. Who me?

2011-11-19T19:47:00.000-08:00

Wow! What a night!

First, Lulu and I went to the movies together and saw Footloose. It was the bomb!!!! That is, I really liked it! I couldn't stop smiling almost all night long. The dancing and music were great. I think I never saw the original Footloose, but the music from tonight's movie seemed like remakes from the first movie. I'm not really that into music, but I'm sure I would love to have the soundtrack to listen to. It really was great!

What was my favorite line from the movie? "A parent's job is to worry." {{Geez. Isn't that the truth?}}

After the movie, we stopped into Barnes and Noble... one of my all-time favorite stores. I saw this Do It All Mom calendar for sale.

I had to immediately walk away. I've taken a Zen-like approach to life lately. Well, I'm trying to be calmer, okay? This calmness doesn't come easy for me. Chill.

Is it just me or does this Do It All Mom calendar make you feel pressure to be perfect? Admittedly, the calendar was cool; but the title is awful. I'm sure they will sell tons of these calendars because every mom wants to feel like she can do it all. Here's a tip: You don't have to do it all. mkay? You will feel tons better if you stop trying to do it all. mkay? I promise.

Next Lulu and I buzzed through the beauty supply store. We found Justin Bieber's perfume set – front and center in the middle of the store. Did you know he has his own perfume now?

Apparently Taylor Swift has her own perfume too. Who knew?

To top of the night, when we got home we opened a letter saying that Lulu was accepted into National Junior Honor Society. ~~Everyone else~~ most of her friends got their letter on Friday. So, we were starting to assume that Lulu didn't get accepted. Seeing the acceptance letter was a nice surprise and a great topper to a wonderful mother/daughter night out.

Finally, I need to take care of a little blog update. So, here goes.

Speaking of the do-it-all motto. I was attempting to be a do-it-all blogger for the month of November. I'm sure that on November 1, as on previoues November 1s, I promised to blog every day for the month of November. I don't think that I have ever made this goal and it looks like this year will be no different. However, you might notice that I am on track to blog on more days in November than any other month in 2011. So, I think that's a bit of an accomplishment... only a few more blog posts left to go. I think I can do it.

Do you feel like you need a Do It All calendar or

does it create too much pressure?

To be honest, I probably would have bought the calendar if I had seen it 6 months ago. No offense to you if you have one. I'm learning to set boundaries. One of my boundaries is that I don't have to be perfect. Is this starting to sound like my own online therapy session? I apologize.

Pumpkin and the Power of Stickers

2011-11-14T07:18:00.000-08:00

Oh gee! I promised that pumpkin was ONLY for October. Then, my mom gave me some pumpkin butter from Trader Joes.

I had no idea what to do with pumpkin butter until I found Tis the Season for Pumpkin Butter on a Trader Joe's cooking blog.

I made both the Harvest Glaze Carrots and the Pumpkin Turnovers. The carrots could not have been more of a hit. It's no secret that I prepare vegetables for every meal. In return, no one eats the vegetables. They rot as leftovers in the refrigerator. Then, I throw them in the compost pile. Repeat.

Not this time. My whole family inhaled the harvest carrots. Bonus: they are crazy easy to prepare.

Run to Trader Joe's and grab a jar of Pumpkin Butter. They are running low and will not restock again until next year.

Speaking of Trader Joes... it's amazing what kids will do for a sticker. Teachers use stickers as rewards. The doctor hands out stickers after the visit. Even Trader Joe's offers a sticker station for the kids to visit on the way out the door. My kids never complain about going to Trader Joe's with me because they know they will get a sticker before they leave.

Why are stickers so powerful?

Naps and Ninjas

2011-11-12T06:51:00.000-08:00

Sometimes the starts align and I get to take a nap.

Napping is my favorite activity EVER. My best days are days I take a nap.

Bri will still take a nap but Bro has given them up.

So, I set him up with some TV and his favorite toys. I make sure he is well fed AND has gone to the bathroom... and then I settle down for a nap.

I use the term "nap" loosely here. Let's face it, I can't get a deep sleep with a preschooler running around the house... even if he is "quiet as a ninja" (as he puts it).

Inevitable, he sneaks into my room and leaves gifts for me on my ~~child's school desk~~ nightstand. It is hilarous to listen to him sneaking in to leave these gifts.

Today, I turned over to find this little gem waiting for me.

Oh my gosh - I could just squeeze him for being so thoughtful!

So, I didn't get a nap, but I did get a delicious snack to share with my little guy.

How do you unwind on the weekends?

Bounce Zone

2011-11-11T06:50:00.000-08:00

Wow! I asked a friend of mine for suggestions of activities for my two youngest kids on a State Holiday when the daycaare was closed.

I am finding it hard to keep the two of them occupied as the weather gets colder.

My friend suggested a local indoor bounce place specifically for little kids. I have been to the bounce places for older kids and I knew that would not work for us.

We met some friends at the bounce place and both of my little ones had a great time.

You know what happens when you try to get the kids to pose for a picture at a place like this?

You get the backs of their heads!

Someone with a winter birthday (poor guy) wants to have a Bounce Zone party this year.

Do you have any suggestions for a winter birthday party?

Humanity

2011-11-10T10:29:00.000-08:00

I sleep. I do not stay up late.

However, I was in shock and awe about why PennState University students were supporting Joe Paterno.

The support and adoration of Paterno after everything that has been disclosed and his own statement that he "should have done more" has sickened me. I was physically ill after hearing and witnessing the support. This has never happened to me before.

I prayed that I would hear and read some different stories in the morning.

I found these great quotes online:

•Colleague Mark Schlabach: "Finally, adults with backbones and courage made a prudent decision at Penn State. Paterno was fired because he failed miserably while making the biggest decision of his life."

•The Philadelphia Inquirer's Bill Lyon: "The irony is, the tragedy is, in trying to keep his beloved school from suffering harm, Paterno had a hand in causing that very harm. When the scandal was brought before him, he reacted, but it was only the bare minimum, superficial, a shocking cover-up that flew in the face of all that he, and Penn State, had come to stand for."

Then saw these two posts from friends on facebook:

As a Penn Stater, this entire thing is sickening and heartbreaking. And it's about those young kids. They did not deserve that abuse and will have to live with it for the rest of their lives. Paterno, and every single one of the administration that knew about what Sandusky did needed/needs to be fired over this. And charged under the law. That small portion of the 45,000 students up there rioting does not represent MY university. Not one of my fellow alums thinks Paterno et.al should stay. This is not about football and wanting a winning football team. When it comes to PaternoStaters get that and are sickened and upset just like you are. It's that 1% that can't see beyond the confines of their own small world and/or can't articulate their anger that do these stupid things. And of course, the media finds them.

as well as,

To add to what Shane said, there are very few things in big-time college football or in life for that matter that are good and true. And, up until a week ago, Joe Paterno was one of those things. If people are upset, it's because it is har...d to accept that Joe Paterno, the pinnacle of all college football coaches, could let everyone down like he did. It's another sad example of a hero taking a terrible, yet deserved, fall.

Today I am thankful that there are

some loving and sympathetic human beings out there;

I was starting to get scared.

Not Here

2011-11-09T18:45:00.000-08:00

This Napmom is not posting today because she is at her mom's club.

However, I leave you with this snapshot from my evening.

This is Brody, running an errand to the grocery store, with me, to get milk.

He says that he is Spiderman and Spiderman can carry heavy things. However, he informs me that Spiderman does NOT smile for the camera. So, this is the best I can do.

Nighty-Night.

Finds

2011-11-07T17:04:00.000-08:00

This isn't a very long post but I have to share my latest grocery store finds.

First up... allow me to introduce "Gripe Water." The name just kills me. It makes me think that I should give this to my kids every time they start to gripe, complain, or whine. Hey! Maybe I should buy a few cases of this stuff? Can you overdose on it? {{Just kidding.}} You have to admit though... wouldn't it be great if they had medicine to keep the kids from whining? "Fusspot Elixir" = Give me some!

Alas, Gripe Water is for infant "stomach discomfort & gas." Oh.

Secondly, please say hello to Peppermint Sugar Cookie dough. {{Hello!}}

I had it in my hand, and then I put it down.

Then I had it in my hand, and then I put it down.

What silly items have you seen in your grocery store lately?

Prayer

2011-11-06T18:09:00.000-08:00

Time for a little honestly. You wanna know something? I pray with my eyes open - all of the time - even in a crowd - no matter what. I have always done this. There are times when I try to pray with my eyes closed but I get distracted by the "stars" in the dark of my eyelids. If my eyes are closed, I have no idea what the prayer is because I can only think about... having my eyes closed... it's so weird. So, I pretty much stopped trying to pray with my eyes closed. I just bow my head and look down. So, now you know.

Also, Bro taught me a neat little prayer that we have been praying each night. It is to the tune of Frère Jacques and it goes like this:

God our Father. God our Father.

Once again. Once again.

We thank you for our blessings. We thank you for our blessings.

Amen. Amen.

So guess how excited I was when I saw this post on facebook this week.

What if you woke up today

with only the things you thanked God for last night?

I was worried at first. Wow! But, then I remembered our nightly prayer - "We thank you for our blessings" - and I was like COOL - dude - I don't have anything to worry about. Right? I just thanked Him "for my blessings" - that means all of them right? Sweet! {{Do a little happy dance here.}}

Ok. In all seriousness, I am very strict about my requests to God. It goes like this... you see... you might believe in Him and you might not. Either way... I don't want to wear out my welcome. You know? So, when the time comes that I REALLY need something... I don't want him to think... Who is that? oh is that YOU again? What do you want THIS TIME??? I need Him to take my request seriously. Right? I know I might not get the answer that I am looking for {{thus I have not won the lotto yet}} but at least I want Him to know that I am serious.

In fact, I am so serious about this that I did not ask God for a single request, via prayer, for 36 years {{up until about 3 months ago}}. The ENTIRE time I was young I had the same nightly prayer. "Dear God. Thank you for this day. Amen." What I really meant was, "Dear God. Even if today was awful, I am going to thank You for it so You can remember this in the future if I ever come to You with a real need. mkay? Amen."

Then, I grew up and had kids. I am ever-so-blessed that I still do not have a real need. However, I know people who are seriously struggling; thus, I find that I do have to throw some requests into my prayers nowadays. Mostly I am praying for Peace. I know that God is going to do whatever He is going to do but I really pray that those who are suffering can find peace with the outcomes in their situations. I prayed for these friends this week:

I have a friend of a friend whose husband just died in Afghanistan.... wife... 4 kids. Ugh.

I have a friend who was stationed overseas and had to have an emergency evacuation to come back to the states for exploratory surgery on several lumps in her breast. She has a toddler at home.

I have a friend who has fostered 2 brothers for the better part of the past year. The brothers came from a home that we would all probably consider to be awful. The brothers have been and ARE part of her family... and just this past week they transitioned to a new home. My friend, her husband, and her biological daughter miss them terribly. The details of this story pull at my heart strings.

So, I pray that these women, men, and families can find peace. This is awful stuff... can someone please just give them the peace to get through this? Please!

Since I am starting to get the hang of this prayer thing,

feel free to send me an email or comment below

if you want me to pray for you.

Sunday Activity

2011-11-05T08:18:00.000-07:00

Some of you may know that I made the decision to start going to church again over the summer. This post is a little update on the church that we are going to, how it is working out for us, and other little tidbits about our new... ahem... Sunday activity.

History: Many of you {{being strangers and all}} do not know that I was raised in a Christian home. No one forced me to be Christian any more than they forced me to eat spaghetti and like it. Christianity was just part of what we did. I went to a religious-based school and I was raised by my grandmother who was the church organist, and treasurer, as well as a Sunday School teacher. "Church" was just part of every day life.

Somewhere along the way I went to college, got married, and had kids {{not necessarily in that order}}... and stopped going to church because I was too busy.

Sometime during the late summer of 2011 the Spirit moved me {{well... more like hit me over the head with a club}} to start going to church and this is probably the single best parenting decision I have made EVER.

Although I was raised and baptised Lutheran, we allowed our teen-aged daughter to find a church for our family. We felt like one of the main requirements was that she needed a place with peers whom she felt comfortable with and so we let her have a big say in where we went to church.

She found this Baptist church right down the street from our house and it has been the great fit that we have needed.

Here are some things that I like about our church, in no particular order.

1. The songs are great. They use real words that we all know. They are catchy. They are thought provoking and inspirational.

2. The sermons, albeit 30-45 minutes long, are inspirational as well. The pastor is a great speaker and I walk away with good information every single Sunday. My apologies to my past pastors - I am sorry for the glazed over look I had during your sermons; you started off great but always lost me mid-way through - sorry.

3. The kids can go to Sunday School WHILE I go to church. This might be the single best thing about this church and the main thing that keeps me going back. I don't have to work to keep my kids quiet during the service. They have their own Sunday School lesson while I get my lesson and we all leave recharged and re-energized at the end of the service. SCORE!

4. My kids -- all of them -- enjoy going to church on Sundays. Let's face it, it's no fun dragging your whole family out of bed bright and early for a bummer activity.

5. Our church offers tons of activities during the week to share with other Christians. We have traditional Bible study as well as a runner's group, a knitter's group, and so on. My kids and I all participate in the Wednesday evening activities. They have youth group and kids club while I... wait for it... go to a Mom's Group. The purpose of the mom's group is to encourage and equip moms to be the best moms that we can be. We have guest speakers, good food, and plenty fo tiem to chat. I feel like such a rejuvenated and re-energized mom when I leave my mom's group. Think about it? How do you feel on a mid-week night at the end of the night? Worn out? Exhausted? Tired? Like giving up? I used to feel that way but now I am totally re-energized for the rest of my week.

6. Over all, I feel a different vibe and a different energy in my home. There is a greater sense of calm and unity and fun that is just a tad bit different than it was before. We are spending more time together as a family... laughing and playing... it's just great. I don't know if all of this wonderfulness is a result of going to church but I'd like to think so.

So, now you know a little bit more about my church and how going to church is impacting my family.

Does Dear Husband go to church with us? No. He does not. He was raised in a very strict Catholic church; although he does not want to go to a Catholic church, he says that this contemporary church feels more like a cult than a church. Ouch! He says that he would compromise and go to a Lutheran church. I still pray that he will attend church with us every so often.

Any advise on how to coerce my husband

into going to church with us is greatly appreciated.

Halloween 2012

2011-11-04T05:35:00.000-07:00

Halloween was such a hit! Everyone had a blast and it wasn't too cold outside.

Lulu - She was an amazing shufflebot. She was uber proud of her costume which also included audio of the songs that the shufflebot dances to. While all of the adults thought she was a robot; the kids new exactly who she was! Score!

Bro - What can I say about Bro? He is the perfect age for trick-or-treating. Here are the highlights of his night:

~ He talked in a deep Spiderman voice all night long.

~ He greeted everyone with "Happy Hallo-sneakers!" and would look at his candy and exclaim "for gosh sakes" each time he got candy.

~ If the home owner was not positioned outside with the candy then Bro would walk up to the door, stare at the home, and shout "NEXT!" It was hilarious!

Bri - Well, we packed a stroller for Baby Bee, but she didn't need it. She waddled around in her tutu, going from house to house, all night long. She was extremely cute and definitely got tons of compliments on her cute costume.

I'm loving that I am blogging every day this month. I would like to thank you all for confidence that I can start to lose some weight. The Halloween candy in the house is NOT helping my efforts though.

What do you do with your leftover Halloween candy?

Let them eat... pie???

2011-11-03T10:44:00.000-07:00

For those of you who are still eating pumpkin... I made this pumpkin goody for a dinner party I went to.

It was delicious and easy. I used regular pancacke syrup from my refrigerator instead of the "pure maple" that the recipe called for. I added the spider web design from melted chocolate in a ziploc baggy. Since Halloween is over, you can skip that step.

I also made these to-die-for blueberry pie bars for my mom's birthday. Yes, they taste as good as the picture looks. Also, this makes lots of pie bars. The recipe made enough to: celebrate with my mom, leave her with leftovers, have leftovers for my house, and share with the church mom's group as well.

Baking season is upon us!

My only regret is that my homemade vanilla extract is not ready. boo-hoo.

Halloween Part 1 and Vanilla Extract

2011-11-02T21:20:00.000-07:00

We made it through Halloween. Someone was going to be Taylor Swift... but at the last minute opted for Shufflebot instead. Why does she always do this to me? Can't we just go out and buy a costume like the rest of the world??? The Shufflebot is the mascot of a hot teen pop group right now. It is a person who dances in a robot costume. She informed me that she needed a "rock star" shirt with the words "Excuse me for Party Rocking" (in a certain font) on it, and she also needed the robot head.

Luckily, I read more than my share of craft blogs. I decided to use the "freezer paper stencil" technique to stencil the correct text and font onto the shirt. There are tons of freezer paper stencil tutorials online. Basically, freezer paper is paper on one side and plastic on the other side. You draw your stencil onto the freezer paper and cut out the center as necessary. Then, iron the freezer paper stencil to your shirt. Color in the letters (or picture) and then peel the paper off. It works like magic!

So, here we are with the freezer paper stencil on a black shirt and Lulu is spraying silver glitter paint onto it.

While we waited for the stencil to dry, I dove into the Madagascar vanilla beans I ordered on the Internet. Yes, this is Dear Husband and I splitting vanilla beans while the Halloween shirt dries on the ironing board. I made him take a picture of my hands covered in vanilla. I was really touching the insides of the beans from Madagascar for crying out loud. It was uber-cool!

So, back to the vanilla beans... I am making my own vanilla extract. Why? Because I can. Ok - well, it is a fraction of the cost of store-bought vanilla extract and I am also going to give it away as gifts this Christmas. It is important to start now because it takes two months for it to finish. After that, the vanilla extract supposedly just gets better and better with age and makes your home-baked goodies taste extremely yummy!

Next time, I am going to make the extract from rum, not vodka.

Stay tuned as we show off our Halloween creations tomorrow.

Weight

2011-11-01T19:19:00.000-07:00

I've been getting some pressure to lose the... ahem... baby weight that I gained with my last two pregnancies. I get it. I need to lose some weight. I also have some very good excuses why I am still a ~~ton~~ wee bit overweight.

1. I have a desk job. That is, it is my j-o-b to sit on my bottom all day long.
2. Since I work all day long, I spend my free time with my kids... not at the gym. Don't get me wrong - I totally love going to the gym. I am just NOT going to go to the gym in lieu of playing with my kids. End of story.

Oh, there is this other little issue too. It is called, "I love baked goods."

In all honesty, I found this picture somewhere online and saved it for myself. I really laugh an audible laugh every single time I think of this picture because it TOTALLY represents the voice inside of my head!

Not sure where I found this pic,
but I would love to give proper credit if anyone knows where it came from.

~~Christmas is coming~~ baking season is upon us. I do not have any delusions that I will lose weight any time soon.

Speaking of baking, I have so much to share with you... like I am making my very own vanilla extract. Oh gee - so much to say! I hope you stick around. I've been challenged to post every single day this month. Yikes! I don't know if you really want to hear from me that often, but I intend to be here if you need me!

Is it really possible to lose weight during baking season???

2011-10-26T05:45:00.000-07:00

Someone we know is learning to ice skate. Daddy bought him a pair of hockey skates. We have since learned that it would be easier if he learned to skate while wearing figure skates because they have the toe pick for stabilization, stopping, and pushing off. Either way, he's still doing very well. Below is a portion of a clip that Dear Husband filmed when he and Bro recently went ice skating.

Note: I hope this video loads correctly. If it does not, I will try again and repost later.

One of Bro's classmates (now age 4) had an ice skate birthday party. It has been my experience, after 13 years of being a parent, that ice skate parties are not successful because there are typically several kids who can't skate and just aren't going to get it. The party is a real bummer for these kids. However, in the most recent case, the skating portion of the party was a lesson from the rink instructor. FABULOUS idea!!! Bro and his classmates did sooooo well with the instructor. After seeing how well Bro did with the instructor, Dear Husband decided that maybe Bro would learn better in a class setting.

We hope to have more ice skating info for you in the months to come. Bro is eager to learn so that he can be on a hockey team. Hockey??? Really???

Pumpkin Patch

2011-10-23T19:28:00.000-07:00

hmmm...

Our annual family trek to the pumpkin patch had its highs and lows this year.

I like the annual visit to the pumpkin patch because:
1. this is where I get some of my most favorite pictures of the kids;
2. everyone (little ones, teen, and parents) is guaranteed to have a great time;
3. it's ~~cheap~~ inexpensive (the only cost is the pumpkins); and
4. it is one of our last opportunities to have fun outside before it really starts to get cold.

Let's recap our 2011 visit.

Goal 1. Get a great family picture. FAIL. See evidence below.

Goal 2. Pretend to live in a pumpkin house. FAIL.

Goal 2 has now been changed to:
Plank in the pumpkin house windows. SUCCESS.

Goal 3. Pick the perfect pumpkin. SUCCESS!

Goal 4. Have fun pushing wagon. SUCCESS!

OK... so they weren't into taking pictures this year. That's cool too. Maybe next year.

Fall Activities

2011-10-20T11:00:00.000-07:00

Interesting story about my life. Everyone in the family has decided what they want to be for Halloween. Most of the costumes are ready.

Lulu = Taylor Swift (complete with blonde wig and guitar)
Bro = Spiderman (Remember: you must refer to him as Spiderman - not Bro - when he is in costume)
Bri = a bumble bee

Dear Husband has suggested costumes for us as well. It goes something like this:

Dear Husband = party... covered with balloons and holding a fun drink
Me = all brown. Thus, he is the "party" and I am the "party pooper."

Are you laughing? I fail to see the humor in this. {{smirk}}

Speaking of Fall, we have been outside enjoying the wonderful weather.

Someone has decided that she can climb up the ladder to the slide all by herself.

We also utilized Fairy Grandmother's apple slicer. Bro thoroughly enjoyed using his ~~big boy~~ dull kid knife to cut the apples.

He even shared some slices with his sister which I just thought was precious.

We are going to a pumpkin patch this weekend.

How 'bout you?

Pumpkin Martini

2011-10-13T06:48:00.000-07:00

More notes from the Pumpkin Pantry!

You KNOW I have a pumpkin passion. Yum! Over the weekend, Dear Husband and I took a few days to celebrate our anniversary. During that time, we went to a great dinner overlooking some very quiet views...

and a little bit of a sunset over the clouds.

When the waitress took our drink order, she mentioned their signature Pumpkin Martini!

WAKE UP!

Did she say Pumpkin Martini???

She did! It was great!

Here is their recipe:

     Equal portions of:

     Fulton's Harvest pumpkin liqueur

     Vanilla Vodka

     Bailey's Irish Creme

Tip: The bartender recommended putting in a splash less vodka and a splash more of the pumpkin liqueur than the recipe calls for.

Are you enjoying

pumpkin recipes this fall?

Fall Festival

2011-10-03T10:28:00.000-07:00

I'm a bit of a lover of Fall, but I think I don't like Fall as well. I don't know what's wrong with me. You know, I think I like everything about Fall except for the cold weather. Yes - that's it! Fall = awesome. Cold weather = yuck! mkay?

This past Saturday... and at the very last minute... we found out that Brody's swim lesson was cancelled. We sprang into full-fledged Operation-Fall-Festival action. We were out of the house within moments and headed to a Fall Festival at Greenstreet Gardens, a place that we had never visited before.

Yay for being spontaneous!!!!! {{clap, clap, clap}}

At the start of the visit we took a somewhat spooky hayride to the festivities. This is my only complaint of the whole day and I hate to start of with a complaint but here goes. To be honest, the staff disclosed that the hayride was spooky, but it also seemed that the hayride was the ONLY way to get to the fall festival from the main parking location. Without going into all of the logistics about what I saw and didn't see, the conversation with the staff went something like this:

Me: (holding toddler and standing next to preschooler) I see that your sign says the hayride is spooky. How spooky is it?

Older-ish Man: Somewhat. Aliens and monsters and stuff.

Me: (willing to skip the hayride) OK. Where is the corn maze and moon bounce and stuff that are advertised on the brochure?

Older-ish Man: Over that hill back there.

Me: Cool. How do we get over the hill?

Older-ish Man: Take the hayride.

I did not want to take the spooky hayride but could not see of any other way to get to the festival nor was the guy offering up an alternative. So we climbed aboard. In short - the ride was spooky and on the verge of being too scary but we made it through just fine. Everyone at the festival was either under age 7 or over age 35 (that is, parents and small kids). The spooky hayride was unecessary and you could tell that the parents on the hayride were not pleased. A simple well-placed sign like this, would be sufficient and make everyone happy, since they offer a hayride back to the parking lot and it is nonspooky!

Parents - This hayride is spooky. However, you can walk over the hill to the festival and take a nonspooky hayride back at the end of your visit. Thus, your kids don't have to go through the spooky barn but they still get to enjoy a nice hayride.

There was tons of fun at the festival and it totally delivered. They had a hay maze for the little ones and Bri totally made it out all on her own, which made me laugh out loud!

Bro's favorite part BY FAR was the corn kernel sandbox. He would have played in this corn kernel box all day long if I let him. This was a genius idea and all of the kids just loved, loved, loved it! I am tempted to fill ~~his~~ Brielle's sand box with corn kernels next summer. It was that fun.

Lulu found the perfect mini-pumpkin in the patch...

... and she was such a great mother's helper too. Let us be real clear here, I would not have gone if I didn't have her with me!

All in all, it was a great day. I highly recommend the Greenstreet Garden Fall Festival for small children. Many fall festivals have games and stuff, but they require waiting in line to get into the action. Greenstreet Gardens was great because there was plenty for the little kids to run and play and do! To be honest, it might be my favorite fall festival location for families with young children.

Be honest, should I put corn kernels in the sand box next year?

Book Review

2011-09-28T07:44:00.000-07:00

OK. So, I have been reading but I haven't done a book review in awhile!

Here goes... I'll start with the good stuff first!

Graceling by Kristin Cashore (5 out of 5 stars)

This is a young adult fiction book. I loved it in the same way that I loved The Hunger Games series. It did not grab me quite as quickly but I got to the point that I could not put it down. Amazing! Fabulous!

From amazon:

If you had the power to kill with your bare hands, what would you do with it?

Graceling takes readers inside the world of Katsa, a warrior-girl in her late teens with one blue eye and one green eye. This gives her haunting beauty, but also marks her as a Graceling. Gracelings are beings with special talents—swimming, storytelling, dancing. Katsa's Grace is considered more useful: her ability to fight (and kill, if she wanted to) is unequaled in the seven kingdoms. Forced to act as a henchman for a manipulative king, Katsa channels her guilt by forming a secret council of like-minded citizens who carry out secret missions to promote justice over cruelty and abuses of power.

Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin (4 out of 5 stars)

Great story, but not a happy story. It was depressing actually... while captivating at the same time. There were so many messages in the story. For me, the message that spoke loudest was a message of seeing what happens when we start to treat people like outsiders just because they are a little bit different than us.

From goodreads.com

Tom Franklin's narrative power and flair for characterization have been compared to the likes of Harper Lee, Flannery O'Connor, Elmore Leonard, and Cormac McCarthy.

Now the Edgar Award-winning author returns with his most accomplished and resonant novel so far—an atmospheric drama set in rural Mississippi. In the late 1970s, Larry Ott and Silas "32" Jones were boyhood pals. Their worlds were as different as night and day: Larry, the child of lower-middle-class white parents, and Silas, the son of a poor, single black mother. Yet for a few months the boys stepped outside of their circumstances and shared a special bond. But then tragedy struck: Larry took a girl on a date to a drive-in movie, and she was never heard from again. She was never found and Larry never confessed, but all eyes rested on him as the culprit. The incident shook the county—and perhaps Silas most of all. His friendship with Larry was broken, and then Silas left town.

More than twenty years have passed. Larry, a mechanic, lives a solitary existence, never able to rise above the whispers of suspicion. Silas has returned as a constable. He and Larry have no reason to cross paths until another girl disappears and Larry is blamed again. And now the two men who once called each other friend are forced to confront the past they've buried and ignored for decades.

Throwaway by Heather Huffman (4 out of 5 stars) FREE for nook users.

Throwaway is touted as a modern-day version of the hit movie Pretty Woman and it is.

It was extremely good... especially because it was free... it's just hard for me to give it a great rating right now because I am just coming off of reading Graceling. It did evoke all of the same feelings as Pretty Woman and makes for a good beach read.

From goodreads.com:

When society deemed Jessie a throwaway, she didn't let it stop her from finding the sunshine in her world...

But that world is threatened when she finds herself undeniably drawn to the mischievous glint in the eyes of a man unlike any she's ever met before.

What starts as a simple crush will lead them both on a journey they could never have anticipated. From a vibrant St. Louis neighborhood known as Cherokee Street to a cave in the Ozark Mountains with a 120-year-old mystery to hide, Jessie fights organized crime, corruption and her own fears to reclaim her life and leave her mark on this world.

In conclusion - if you liked The Hunger Games then you will also like... ahem love... Graceling. Give it time. It will not grab you like The Hunger Games did... but it will eventually grab you -- I promise!!

What are you reading?

Reading Challenge: Spoiler Point of View

2011-09-25T08:46:00.000-07:00

I'm going to be honest here. I don't like surprises: good surprises or bad surprises.

If you have a good surprise for me then TELL ME! Let me get excited too? The anticipation of a GREAT THING is REALLY FUN! You are denying me a better experience by keeping something great a secret from me. I cannot think of any surprise that is best kept as a secret. It is always better to know ahead of time... and get excited about the upcoming fun!

You should also know that I do not like surprise book endings. Authors who string you along and feed you bits and crumbs and then slam a surprise ending on me infuriate me! You wanna know something? {{you know, since we are being brutally henst here}} I read the endings to Nancy Drew books before I read the book. I have been doing this for YEARS!

Alas, there is a new study out that suggests that Spoilers Don’t Ruin A Story, They Make It Even Better.

University of California, San Diego psychologists Nicholas Christenfeld and Jonathan Leavitt say in a study published in Psychological Science that knowing the ending of a book before starting it may enhance the reading experience.

I think this goes for ALL aspects of story telling. You know when you are telling someone a story and they are like, "get to the point"? Well, I {{very recently}} started telling the end of the story first... so that the people I am talking to have a frame of reference as I share my experience.

For example, let's say that I do something and my boss totally blows up at me about it.

I could either say:

"I did all of these things {{enter long story here}} and then guess what -- my boss blew up at me."

or

"My boss blew up at me because I did {{enter long story here}}."

See the difference? For me, there is a clear difference. Long boring story about your day is just a long boring story. It is gets interesting because your boss blew up at you. Give me that part in the beginning... mkay? "What? Your boss totally blew up at you today? What could you possibly have done? This MUST be a good story!"

How does this apply to books?

Well, now when I read a book I go online and google "{{enter book title here}} spoiler" and read the spoiler. This makes the books so much better!

I just read Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter. Yes, I read the spoilers ahead of time.

Do you think that reading spoilers

enhances or ruins a book/movie?

Here is my challenge for you: Read the spoilers before you start your next book. Let me know what you think?

Summer Bucket List

2011-09-25T08:08:00.000-07:00

Lulu made a summer bucket list. We completed many of the things on the list, such as make our own frappucchinos, for example.

By the very last day of summer we had crossed everything off of our list except for "go to Alexandria." Luckily, the stars were aligned and I woke her up on the very last day of summer and asked, "Hey, do you wanna go to Alexandria today?" She jumped out of bed and raced to get ready! She confessed to me later that she assumed we weren't going to get to go at all.

I very much want to be my teens best friend. It is hard for me to see her laughing and giggling with her friends while I play the role of "homework enforcer." I know that I am not here to be her friend... but to be her parent. I mean, let's face it, parents can be friends too but it's not the same thing.

However, the day we went to Alexandria was a day that we got to hang out and talk and relax... as friends. It was chicken soup for this mom's soul to be honest.

She had a blast and she loved strolling down the streets of Alexandria. Most of all, she loved sitting by this fountain with her Starbucks drink.

Really -- it was a fabulous day!

We just chilled, and strolled, and talked... and hung out. Can you see how happy she looks? I will forever cherish this spontaneous trip with Lulu. Moments like this cannot be planned. They just happen!

It was the perfect ending to an almost perfect summer!

I read that parents cannot create bonding moments with teens.

We can only make ourselves available ALL OF THE TIME

and wait for them to come to you.

Do you agree?

Mr. Fix It

2011-09-23T08:08:00.000-07:00

We all know that my Dear Husband and is also known as "helper man." I love love love that Bro is a helper too. He calls himself a "helper man" actually.

Our neighbor gave us a hand-me-down pedal tractor for kids. It didn't work so Bro and Daddy set off to fix it.

I had the best time watching these two guys hard at work.

Play Dough

2011-09-22T11:11:00.000-07:00

I'm not one to make cookies. They are way too time consuming in my opinion.

And I certainly do not make cookie cutter cookies.

So, I don't know what possessed me to make some bee, dinosaur, and apple cookies for back-to-school for my kids. I did.

Bro really got into it. He begs and begs to make cookies.

Instead of making cookies everyday, I remembered a play dough recipe that I saw online and we made some at home.

It turned out great.

Since fall is here, I even added cinnamon to bring out the sense of apple pie. It was such a hit -- it smells so good!

Every time we get out the play dough we have to get out all of the materials to go along with cookies. Bro always asks for sprinkles and I always say "no" of course.

Finally, I gave in. Who cares? Just let him add sprinkles!

See the large blue water bottle? It is a "rolling pin," mkay?

Oh-oh. What's going on here?

Oh - we are eating sprinkles now? Hmmm... Don't you know that you are supposed to do that when Mommy isn't looking?

Ta-da!

What did we do with the play dough now that it has sprinkles in it? Well, we balled it back up and put it in it's container. I'll let you know how it turns out when we take it out to play with it again.

Gift Idea: You know, a play dough bin would be a great gift for a kid that is hard to buy for. I found a play dough bin example here. What do you think?

What would you do?

Do you let your kids put sprinkles in the play dough or not?

Bargain Bug!

2011-09-22T07:54:00.000-07:00

Yay! More thrifty shopping! I have the thrifty shopping bug. I hope you don’t mind.

Keep in mind that when I thrifty shop I only buy things we need and already use.

Today’s find? Rash guard swim shirts from Land’s End. These are the swim shirts that the kids wear over their bathing suits to keep the sun off of their skin. Tip: Buy the shirt a size larger than necessary. Rash guard shirts seem to run small anyway and they are even harder to get on and off when they are both small and wet. Buy a larger size and you won’t be disappointed.

Here is what I ordered. The before and after prices are listed together.

1 rash guard shirt for Bri: $24.50 for $4.99
1 dress for Bri: $34.50 for $9.99
1 rash guard shirt for Bri: $24.50 for $4.99
1 rash guard shirt for Bro: $19.50 for $6.99
1 pants for me: $49.50 for $24.99

Total Price Could Have Been: 152.50 + 13.00 shipping = 165.50

Subtotal was: $51.95 + $13.00 Shipping = $64.95

However, I had a promo code for 25% off and Free shipping. Thanks Money Saving Mom!

Final Price: $41.27 shipped CHA-CHING!

I found this deal from Money Saving Mom. You can also follow her on facebook.

What blogs are you following to find deals?

Wings!

2011-09-21T08:18:00.000-07:00

It's the start of football season. You know what that means? We will be eating lots of yummy football food!!!

First stop is wings!

Both Bro and Bri loved the wings!

See!

Okay. Well, Bri didn't really eat wings. She slurped the ranch dressing off of a celery stick.

Bro ate the wings. He loved them. He says they are "man food."

If you are looking for wings for your family to enjoy. These honey bbq wings from the Greene Turtle are delicious.

What is your go-to football food?

Christmas in September

2011-09-19T10:15:00.000-07:00

Maybe I don't handle this task of parenting several kids as well as some others do. I often feel overwhelmed. Nonetheless, I feel the need to start my Christmas shopping now so I am not unprepared for the season. It happens!

My teen has not asked for any gifts yet and she is hardest to buy for. She says that she is "strategically only putting a few key items" on her list to ensure that she gets exactly what she wants. Since when does she not get exactly what she wants? Nonetheless, she informs me that iPad and a new cell phone are on her wish list. Wow! I'm not sure that Santa has that kind of a budget.

Nonetheless, my toddler doesn't need anything but clothes. I'm not sure what she will ask Santa for Christmas since she already has lots of toddler toys at home from her brother.

Bro, my preschooler, has lots of wants and.. ahem... NEEDS. Plus, he needs Christmas gifts and then has a birthday right after the New Year. So, this past week I started getting some stuff together for him.

The problem is that I am not one to keep secrets and surprises.

I fear that Christmas might go something like this... this is me talking... "Okay kids... I have good news and bad news. The good news is that I bought you a boat load of gifts for Christmas. The bad news is that... we already opened them and played with them... so hope you liked them."

Let's see how I am doing so far.

I preordered The LEGO Ideas book along with a LEGO Star Wars Minifig Catalog - for a 41% savings off of full price. We opened the LEGO Ideas Book this weekend. We had a great time building with LEGO bricks. Lulu and Bro are building houses. Bro asked if I would build him a church, so I am working on it.

I bought Cars Squinkies and Marvel Super Hero Squinkies... of which we played with them... ate with them... and slept with them all weekend long. They were a HUGE hit. However, we've lost almost all of them at this point and we saw the family dog eat several. Normally he does not go near our stuff. I guess a small squinkie (the size of a grape) is too good to pass up.

I desperately want baby Bri to enjoy reading books. So far, she still will NOT sit still for even the shortest book... no matter what. So, I tried this little interactive selection by LeapFrog. Yes, we read it. Um... she kinda likes it more than other books. She just has NO ability to sit still for any length of time. It's totally frustrating.

Bro wants a pirate ship with "with a plank." I did some research and found two that seem to be great buys. One is selling for $79.99 on Amazon and I snagged it (new in box) for $9.93 on ebay. I might have to see if Fairy Grandmother will store it for me until Christmas, lest we play with this before Christmas too. Argh!

Shopping early means that I have the wiggle room to look for and wait for deals to come along. Money is not growing on trees at my house and we need to save as much as possible. Ya know?

I found What's In the Bible Volume 1 on sale for 5 bucks at my local Christian bookstore. Have we watched it already? Of course we have. That's okay. We can still ask for volumes 2-6 for Christmas. Right?

In the coming months, you will find that there are lots of religious items on our Christmas lists. After 13 years of parenting, it has all of the suddenly occurred to me that since my kids are going to public school, I am chief-in-charge of spearheading their religious education. We have some catching up to do but it is better to be late than never, right?

My hope is that my teen can get up to speed quickly about some basics of the Bible as we start to teach the basics to my preschooler. That's the immediate plan anyway. We'll see how it goes.

Oh - so... you want my opinion on What's in the Bible? hahahahahaha! Believe the hype! It was fabulous! We sat down and watched both parts of volume 1 as a Friday Family Movie Night. We laughed... we all laughed... it was great. My son asked to watch it again on Saturday. My only tip is that it was a tad bit overwhelming to watch both parts in one night. Next time, we will probably divide it up into two movie nights. Nonetheless, it is a great buy and we are looking forward to getting more episodes.

So... tell me...

do you open Christmas gifts early

or are you totally okay with hiding them 'til the big day?

A Visit to a Famous Landmark

2011-08-09T10:54:00.000-07:00

As many of you know, I live in the DC metropolitan area.

Recently, my mom, Lulu, and I took advantage of some down time to visit a famous DC landmark.

We didn't visit the type of ~~famous DC landmark~~ national monument that you might be envisioning.

We went to Georgetown Cupcake of TLC's DC Cupcake fame!

You know??? The cupcake show from the tv station TLC. {{Work with me here folks!}}

We had such a great time!

Here is my list of what you should know before you visit Georgetown Cupcake:

1. Know where you are going. Navigating in and out of DC can be tricky. Luckily, my mom went with me and she knows her way around DC. You can also visit their Bethesda, MD location, however, I really wanted to go to the site that is actually on TV... just this once.

2. Dress for the weather and be prepared to wait in line outside of the bakery. This is not a bad thing. Everyone in line is super fun and super excited to be at Georgetown Cupcakes. For me, waiting with all of the fans and locals was part of the experience. Nonetheless, bring an umbrella or bring your coat if you need to because you will be waiting outside.

3. Check out their website and be aware of which cupcake flavors will be available during your visit. Seriously, this line moves fast. If you happen to arrive at a time that there is a short line, you need to know what you want.

Also, some cupcake flavors are available every day, but only by special order. You need to check the flavors menu, available online, to see which flavors need to be preordered.

You can find a complete list of Georgetown Cupcake flavors as well as their flavor schedule on their online menu.

4. Know the "secret flavor of the day." The "secret flavor of the day" is announced daily on Georgetown Cupcake's facebook page. It is a FREE (ahem... FREE) cupcake, one per customer, for the first 100 customers who ask for it by name. It is not a flavor that will be on the menu for the day. If you do not have access to facebook while you are standing in line, then ask an employee about it and they will probably tell you what the day's "secret flavor of the day" is.

5. You can preorder your cupcakes and skip the line if you are in a hurry. Check their website for details.

OK... and now for the highlights of the bakery.

After entering the bakery, we waited in line next to all of this yummy goodness.

Someone took our order. {{Yes, I did just take that picture right in front of her. Obvious???}}

And these guys filled our cupcake boxes.

We totally acted like tourists...

... as we checked out the proper way to ice a cupcake.

Best of all, we walked away with one dozen delicious cupcakes.

Yummy!!!!

Item # 28 on my bucket list reads:

28. Taste the food of a television food celebrity (either visit a restaurant or go to a show taping).

I'm crossing off my bucket list items.

How about you?

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

2011-08-03T11:09:00.000-07:00

Growing Mammoth Sunflowers reminds me of the phrase, the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.

Allow me to introduce the good. Look up to the top of the picture... waaaaaaay up there... do you see it? Yep, that is a mammoth sunflower standing majestically tall! Nice! Right???

Allow me to introduce the bad and the ugly (apologies for the cell phone pic).

Do you see the brown heads drooping in the middle of the mammoth sunflowers and all along the dwarf sunflowers at the bottom?

After three months of coddling my sunflower babies, I went out of town for a week (while Dear Husband was at home) and I then arrived home to large, brown, droopy sunflower heads.

I was furious. Deflated. Frustrated.

I was sure that the droopy heads were due to lack of water... because maybe someone (my husband) didn't water them while I was away. Perhaps! Maybe???

However, I found this little tid bit about droopy sunflowers and it made me feel better (and got my husband out of trouble).

From a forum:

"If you are referring to the head drooping, that is normal, they are starting to make seed, you will see the inside of the head, sort of shedding small petals the head droops, the coating in the the inside fall off and the seed start to form. You need to feed it through out its life, until you harvest the heads. Simple blossom booster will work well. Miracle grow makes this but there are many brands. Once all the petals fall off and the lower leaves start to brown it is time to harvest your heads. Cut them off with enough stalk to be able to hang them to dry. Once dry the will easily fall from the blossom, and you can soak in salt and bake or harvest for your birds.
If you leave them on the stalk to dry with out cutting, you may loose your seeds to the wildlife.

If your leafs are what is drooping, this is caused by too much water, towards the end of the season the plant requires less water, the roots are actually slowing down. Pull back on the water and allow it to dry well in between.

I have these beautiful flowers all through out my garden. I am growing some to eat but most for the birds. Mine also have reached 12 feet and plus! are they just too awesome!"

The moral of the story is: when you see the heads turn brown and start drooping, do not put your husband in the dog house. This is not his fault. This is nature's way of providing home grown sunflower seeds for the birds to feast on this winter. mkay???

So, what was once lost is now found again... and I am now thrilled (proud actually) with my bold and brown drooping sunflower heads. Aren't you?

Did you know that the sunflower heads would turn brown and sag?

Why didn't anyone tell me this?

Carrots

2011-07-14T10:18:00.000-07:00

This is the summer of the carrots, of course.

I might have mentioned a certain little boy...

who happily announces every night that The Carrot Seed is his favorite book.

Have I mentioned this little boy before?

Well, he finally pulled up a carrot. I wish that I had taken video, but the pictures might be even better.

You see, here is the correct way to pull up a carrot... if, you are a preschooler.

Check your carrots to see if they have grown.

When you notice some growth, try to be patient and leave the carrot to grow some more.

If that doesn't work, pull the carrot with all of your might.

Give it every bit of muscle that you have.

Announce, "That's a BIG carrot, as you fall back into the grass!"

Examine your carrot with all of the seriousness of a great scientist.

Yes, growing carrots is very serious business in my house.

He immediately ran into the house and washed his carrot himself.

Later, Mommy was reprimanded for cutting the carrot into sticks. Apparently, someone wanted to eat it whole. Oh -- now I know.

This post is part of the KinderGARDENS series.

Click here to join or for more information.

What do you see?

2011-07-13T07:33:00.000-07:00

Someone sent me a message on facebook, it said, "Napmom? Where are you?"

I'm here! I promise. I. am. here.

Lookie Lookie!

So, my mom kinda got me to dip my toe in the water of the crazy couponing world. Seriously, not to offend any crazy couponers out there, but the women on those tv shows are not people I would be friends with. I see them as pushy and abrasive... and even sometimes rude and snooty. Disclaimer: This is only my opinion and I haven't watched that many shows, to be honest. I am sure that some of them are sweet, demure, and... ahem... humble.

Nonetheless, I am following a couple of coupon blogs and I made my first run to Target (coupons in hand) and came out with some FREE or almost free back-to-school stuff. My loot? 10 papermate pens for 2 cents, 3 free rolls of scotch tape, and a free sharpie. Plus, I saved half off of some facial products that I needed and earned a $5 Target gift card towards my next purchase. Admittedly, it was time consuming to chase down the coupons and I had to work with the cashier because everything didn't ring up correctly at the register, but in the end, it was a great trip.

Also, I found this 20 Page Photo Flipbook for $5.00 Shipped deal. I get ~~great information~~ spam mail about similar deals all of the time. So, this is not a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. However, I have been thinking about doing a book for one of the kids and since (1) I had all of the pictures I needed and (2) the price is right (only $5 including shipping -- wowser!), I ordered a flip book.

Where have I been? I could have been blogging, but I created a flip book instead.

Brody is so so so super excited about his book, The Carrot Seed and gardening in general. He is the proudest gardener you could ever meet.

So, I made a gardening book based on the book "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, what do you see?" Most of you are familiar with the book. Here is my version.

Note: All of the pages have the same border, text size, and text font. I included the cover as an example.

Brody, Brody, what do you see?

I see a shovel looking at me.

Shovel , shovel what do you see?

I see a wheelbarrow looking at me.

Wheelbarrow, wheelbarrow, what do you see?

I see dirt looking at me.

Dirt, dirt, what do you see?

I see a tiny seed looking at me.

Tiny seed, tiny seed, what do you see?

I see the sun looking at me.

Sun, sun, what do you see?

I see a sister looking at me.

Sister, sister, what do you see?

I see a sprinkler looking at me.

Sprinkler, sprinkler, what do you see?

I see ~~bug poison~~ a watering can looking at me.

Watering can, watering can, what do you see?

{okay, I left out the part about the bug poison mixture}

I see weeds looking at me.

Weed, weed, what do you see?

I see a little tomato looking at me.

Little tomato, little tomato, what do you see?

I see a big tomato looking at me.

Big tomato, big tomato, what do you see?

I see a green pepper looking at me.

Green pepper, green pepper, what do you see?

I see cabbage looking at me.

Cabbage, cabbage, what do you see?

I see a carrot looking at me.

Carrot, carrot, what do you see?

I see a sunflower looking at me.

Sunflower, sunflower, what do you see?

I see a great vegetable gardener looking at me.

The end.

I can't wait to get the book.

It's small -- only 4 x 6.

But, I'll take it for only five bucks. Right?

Gather up 20 pictures and

head on over and make your own little book.

Won't ya?

This post is part of the KinderGARDENS series.

Click here to join or for more information.

The Fruits of Our Labor

2011-06-23T06:08:00.000-07:00

Cabbages

I had to give in and use a pesticide on my cabbages. The flour/water mixture just wasn't cutting it. I am told that the pesticide that I used is environmental friendly and edible. I'm not sure that either is true, but it smelled horrible. It is working, however. Nice!

Eating from the Garden

We are so impatient at my house. We have been itching to eat from our garden. So far, the garden has produced 2 ripe grape tomatoes, a small head of lettuce, and lots of fresh mint.

We ate the tomatoes right off of the vine.

We used the tad bit of lettuce to add to our steak wraps.

And, I am saving the best for last... drum roll please...

we made mint-infused simple syrup with the mint leaves. Yes.

I know this isn't the greatest picture, but trust me, it was delicious!

What would one do with mint-infused simple syrup you ask? ~~Drink it straight out of the pot.~~ Make mojitos, of course. You can also add it to iced tea (to make mint tea) or lemonade.

The recipe is simple -- that's why they call it simple syrup. Put equal parts sugar and water into a pot. Bring it to a boil and melt the sugar. Add flavors (herbs/fruits) and remove from heat. Allow to cool. Strain herb/fruit bits from the mixture. Enjoy!

I know, these are small victories, but they are victories nonetheless. Right?

Conversations

2011-06-22T10:02:00.000-07:00

Picture this.

My husband and I were laying in bed. Lights were out. Bro was sleeping soundly inbetween us. It was very late at night. The sheets felt so comfortable after my long (albeit very normal) day. My mind was wandering... as it usually does... and then we had this conversation:

Me: {spoken in a loud whisper} Honey - how are we going to stake those sunflowers?

Him: What do you mean 'how are we going to stake the sunflowers'?

Me: Well, I mean,so they don't fall over because they are getting so tall.

Pause.

Pause.

Pause.

Him: You mean to tell me that we are growing plants that can't even hold their own heads up?

Pause.

Him: I don't know YOU are going to stake them... 20 feet stakes.

And then I giggled... and fell asleep.

So, today I am googling "how to keep a mammoth sunflower from toppling over" and hoping that he is in a better mood when I tell him my the plan.

Any suggestions?

Again, clearly, I have no idea what I am doing.

And off we grow!

2011-06-17T08:25:00.000-07:00

Today we will talk about (1) mammoth sunflower growth and (2) cabbage worms.

Let's start with the fun stuff.

Here are the sunflowers on June 6. {{Remember?}}

Here are the sunflowers on June 16.

In case you are wondering, the sunflower was...

a whopping 43 inches tall, as of June 16.

We have been measuring them and they are growing about an inch per day. Goodness!

psssst... are you wondering why we have siding missing from the side of the house? My Dear husband is replacing some of it. Yes, he really can do everything!

Moving on.

We are also battling cabbage worms.

Something is eating our cabbage. I am 100% sure that it is cabbage worms... because I finally saw them with my own eyes.

After doing a bit of research and speaking to a local Master Gardener, I decided to use the following plan to rid my garden of cabbage worms.

Step 1. Spray off any worms and eggs with powerful spray from a garden hose.
Step 2. Create a solution of flour and water.

Step 3. Sprinkle flour and water on the plants.

Step 4. Repeat. Daily. Without fail.

Supposedly, the worms eat the flour and it causes them to expand and die. I sure hope so.

How do you get rid of cabbage worms?

This post is part of the KinderGARDENS series.

Click here to join or for more information.

HUGE

2011-06-08T08:20:00.000-07:00

We are still gardening.

Everyday as soon as we arrive home from daycare, my big boy runs around to check his garden.

First stop? The sunflowers.

Today he said I could take his picture with the flowers. This picture just makes me laugh. Look at this feet... sitting so very carefully in the middle of the garden so that he doesn't smash any surrounding flowers.

These are the mammoth sunflowers that could grow 18-20 feet.

Next, he runs over to the vegetable garden and announces, "Mom - these are so HUGE!"

Why do my cabbages have holes in them?

This is such a learning process.

This post is part of the KinderGARDENS series.

Click the here to join or for more information.

13 Revisited

2011-06-07T07:41:00.000-07:00

We did it!

We survived a 13th birthday party!

Guess what? I didn't cry!

I don't have too many pics to share because most of the pictures involved kids, other than mine, and in bathing suits.

There is some stuff I can share.

That is:

The Justin Bieber decor rocked!

We had lots of food... um... and Bro insisted that he eat in his regular spot, which was a tad bit crowded -- ya think?

Someone made these cute ~~mini-burgers~~ cookies.

We kept the presents out of reach of Brielle.

We went crazy about the cake that Lulu designed! (ahem... not made by me)

And Lulu blew out her candles.

Even better... the girls were in their sleeping bags and asleep by 11:30. By all accounts, it was a very busy day. Perhaps Friday-night sleepovers are the best -- the kids are so tired from being at school all week.

Have you had successful Friday-night sleepovers?

13

2011-06-03T08:30:00.000-07:00

You can run but you can't hide... from 13, that is.

Someone we all know and love will be 13 tomorrow.

She wore this gorgeous outfit to school today. Yes, that is a tiara on her head.

Let's take bets here...

What are the chances that I will start sobbing

when we sing Happy Birthday?

I'm serious folks! Hopefully we will be outside and I will have sunglasses on.

Do you know your nursery rhymes?

2011-06-02T09:45:00.000-07:00

I have been trying to think of a creative way to showcase Bri's lonely curl. It is the only bit of curl that any of my kids has ever had -- and so we cherish it. I think of a certain nursery rhyme when I see her curl. Now, she has the attitude to match.

Thus, here is my version of a popular nursery rhyme.

There was a little girl

Who had a little curl

Right in the ~~middle of her forehead~~ back of her head.

And when she was good

She was very, very good

But when she was bad

She was horrid!

-Nursery Rhyme (Adaptation by Napmom)

And here are the pictures to go with it. You will have to trust me that she has the ~~attitude~~ personality to match the poem.

Clarification: Many people (myself included, until now) do not know that this nursery rhyme (often credited to Mother Goose) is actually a poem written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow According to several websites (including http://www.rhymes.org.uk/a116-there-was-a-little-girl.htm):

The line "she was very, very good" should actually be "she was very good indeed." Longfellow's second son Ernest says of this poem: "It was while walking up and down with his second daughter, then a baby in his arms, that my father composed and sang to her the well-known lines .... Many people think this a Mother Goose rhyme, but this is the true version and history."

Hot/Cold Therapy Pack

2011-05-27T07:36:00.000-07:00

I made my mom a hot/cold therapy pack for Mother's Day.

Well, I made one therapy pack out of fabric scraps from Brielle's Easter dress, and couldn't part with it {{emotional attachment}}, so I made another one.

It's uses include heat therapy 9heat in microwave) and cold therapy (cool in freezer). Ease lower back discomfort, fibromyalgia pain, restless leg syndrome, arthritic cramping, and menstrual pains. Roll up for neck support. Reduce daily stress and strain; use as an eye pillow to block out light, help ease a headache, and relax.

I made my mom's pack with bamboo and palm tree fabric. Since I was NOT anticipating making two of these in one week, I was kinda pressed for time. So, I took my supplies and the kids to the beach and put the finishing touches on the pack.

I ended up with this little gem. The case for it is kinda just like a pillowcase. The pack itself is made of one type of fabric.

Lulu has been using the pack I made for myself. She puts it in the freezer every day and places it over her eyes each night. I have to admit, it is soooooo very comfortable. Simple -- and amazingly comforting! What a way to decompress.

So, I bought the fabric so I can make a hot/cold pack for her to have as her own. I am so excited! She is sure to love it!

There are all kinds of tutorials on how to make these on the web. For some reason, I cannot find the tutorial that I used. When I do, I'll share the link with you, mkay?

Water and Weeds

2011-05-26T07:34:00.000-07:00

There isn't too much exciting stuff in the world of gardening.

Since we are no longer watering the grass in the front of the house, Bro and Daddy set up the sprinkler to water the soon-to-be mammoth (not an exaggeration) sunflowers along the side of the house.

Bro keeps checking the vegetable garden. A few of the tomatoes are popping out. He gets so excited to see them!

The rest of the garden is starting to pop up, finally. The only problem is that I didn't mark the location of what we are growing and I can't tell the weeds from the vegetables. I finally identified the carrots. I see a lettuce popping up. There should be Basil, Lavender, and Brussell Sprouts in there somewhere too. Also, I think I see a few tomato plants from seeds that maybe were left behind last year????

Clearly, I have no idea what is going on here.

This post is part of the KinderGARDENS series.

Click the here to join or for more information.

Hello Gaithersburg Book Festival!

2011-05-23T08:18:00.000-07:00

When I left the office on Friday I had a list of fun things to do this weekend: visit the Clark's Eliok Farm, the library, the Air Show, the zoo, or the Strawberry Festival, to name a few!

I also added: read The Paris Wife, by Paula McClain to my summer reading list.. {{This will be important later.}}

Then, I woke up Saturday morning, checked facebook as usual, and saw this post on my profile page: "Aren't you going to the book festival today?" {{Thank you my friend!!}}

THE BOOK FESTIVAL! OH -- I TOTALLY FORGOT ABOUT THE BOOK FESTIVAL!

The boys proceeded with their plan to go to the Air Show. ~~Lulu and~~ I wanted to go to the book festival. No one wanted to drag Brielle along -- sorry Baby Bee! I couldn't ask my parents to watch her at the last minute -- and it did not make sense to send her to the air show -- so, we took her to the book festival, hoping for the best.

Why did I want to go to the book festival so bad?

I wanted to go because Matt Logelin was going to be at the book festival. He was the keynote speaker at 4:00 p.m. and signing books at 5:00 p.m. Matt's is a blogger. He blogged his wife's entire pregnancy and delivery. His, wife, Liz, died suddenly as she stood up to go to the NICU and see her baby for the very first time after her delivery. His blog follows his struggle between his grief after Liz's death as well as his joy for his new baby -- Madeline. I have been reading his blog since very shortly after Maddy's birth. He recently published a book about his experience and it is a NY Times Best Seller. I just have a soft spot in my heart for this dad.

Moving on!

Since I had Bri with me, I knew that I would not be able to stay for Matt's speech nor wait in the line to get a book signed. Nonetheless, I still wanted to go and see what the book festival was all about.

Beltway traffic getting to the event was nothing less than horrendous. And, my preteen was starting to have a meltdown and wishing she was at the Air Show instead of in the car on the way to the book fair; I remained calm and tried to crack jokes -- stopping at McDonalds helped a bit too!

As soon as we were inside the book fair things took a turn for the better. First, we saw a famous cat.

Then, we got some food and found some shade.

I checked the schedule and saw that Paula McClain was doing a book signing right then! The lines to get to the authors were surprisingly empty. I was able to enjoy a pleasant conversation with Ms. McClain and she signed a book for Ms. Beth, one of Brielle's care providers. Ms. Beth and I talk books every time we see each other. I am giving this to her as a belated Teacher Appreciation gift. I am so excited!

We walked over to the Young Adult tent and found an author reading some of her book and taking questions from the audience.

Lulu peeking over at Brielle who was less-than-excited to listen to this author.

Lulu was interested in the book. Yippee. She is not a lover-of-books, unlike me, so I am thrilled when she takes an interest in reading. We learned that the author, Dominique Paul, is signing books right after her reading so we went to the sales tent to buy her book, The Possibility of Fireflies.

What did I see when we got to the sales tent? Piles and piles of Matt Logelin's book Two Kisses for Maddy. Sigh - it was only 1:30 p.m. and there was NO WAY my kiddos would last to see him speak at 4:00. Sigh.

We bought The Possibility of Firelfies and scooted over to Dominique Paul's book signing. While we waited behind the only other person in line, we overheard that Ms. Paul's book is soon going to be a Hollywood movie. In fact, the author, Dominique Paul, is directing it. Ms. Paul recently had dinner with the Travolta family and is still making cast selections for her movie; she dropped some names of some big time popular actresses! We were star struck!

We were so star struck, in fact, that this is the only picture that I have with Lulu and the author/director.

Having experienced as much as we were going to, from the book festival, we headed out. Along the way I spotted a booth for the Liz Logelin Foundation. This foundation was created by Matt Logelin (ahem... keynote speaker -- a #1 NY Times best seller) and the money raised goes to help other recently-widowed parents.

As I neared the tent, I started to sweat. I literally gasped as I saw... Matt... standing right there! Oh my gosh -- why is this semi-celebrity (he's been on Oprah ladies) just right here? Where are the gobs of people? Isn't he supposed to be tucked away in his tour bus right now (he is totally NOT a tour bus kinda guy).

After I ~~stopped shaking~~ sorta composed myself, I ~~emptied out my wallet~~ made a small donation to the foundation. Matt shook my hand. I said something ~~totally stupid~~ brilliant and inspiring. He asked if I wanted to enter the raffle to win a book signed by him and Maddy. I declined -- I don't know why. And, then I took a picture -- crazy groupie -- and snuck off into the sunset!

We passed by the tent a few more times. Sometimes Matt was signing autographs and sometimes he was chatting with the one or two people at the tent.

I wish I had said hello to the lady standing next to him. I am sure it is his girlfriend Brooke. On his blog she has stick-straight brown hair. Today, she has wavy blonde hair. I didn't recognize her -- or maybe it isn't her at all.

Had I read Matt's blog before I left the house I would have known that his daughter, Maddy, was at the festival too. Alas, a missed opportunity to see the sweetie I have been following in pics for so long!

Anyway, I do not mean to stalk the poor guy. I was just shocked to see him. He presented himself in the cool, calm, and collected manner that he always does on his blog -- no surprises there. Maddy is very blessed to have such a great dad!

What to expect at the Gaithersburg Book Fair: This book fair is full of lots of things for kids and adults to experience. It is not super crowded. You will get the opportunity to meet and share the work of loads of local authors (some more famous than others). Next year, I will probably be selfish and leave the kids behind. I will research which authors will be speaking at what times and then spend all day going from tent to tent and experiencing the love of reading from those who bring it to life -- the authors themselves!

Have you ever been to a book festival?

Add it to your bucket list.

Let's Dish: My Review

2011-05-19T07:41:00.000-07:00

Oh gee, I have a crazy winter work schedule... it is grueling, in fact. Some time in the early winter I saw this Groupon advertisement for $79 for $136 worth of do-it-yourself meals at Let's Dish.

There are several companies similar to this. The premise is that Let's Dish offers all of the ingredients for lots of meals (roughly 12 different meals to choose from -- the menu changes monthly). I go in and put together all of my meals and walk away with ready-to-eat meals for my family and I didn't have to go to the grocery store or mess up my kitchen to prepare them.

I bought the Groupon. My plan was to make the meals and use them during my hectic work schedule to fill in when we we stressed for meals. Alas, I never got the time to go to Let's Dish until this week.

The cost for the meals (per meal) is definitely a little bit more than I would spend in the grocery store, but often the Let's Dish recipes use ingredients that I wouldn't use because it isn't cost effective for me to use them. For example, one of the recipes I chose called for 1/4 cup Hoison Sauce. Um... I can tell you that I will probably never use Hoison Suace again... and if it were in my kitchen, the rest of the jar would go bad. However, this was an opportunity to prepare tasty meals that we don't usually try, without commiting to all of the seasonings and sauces.

Can I tell you -- I had such a great time at Let's Dish! Yes, I had to prepare my own meals, but everything was already set out for me: directions. ingredients, supplies... and more! This could not have been easier!

I went with a friend. We chatted the whole time we were there.

They have a snack and coffee bar. You can stop, chat, grab a bite (then wash your hands again) and get back to prepping some meals.

Lulu went with me. I thought it would be fun if she helped me. She ~~did her homework~~ chilled out and ate all of the snacks instead.

The staff was so friendly. You felt like they were your girlfriends... seriously. I felt so... at ease!

In the end I went home with four main courses for a family of six (we are only a family of five). Also, i got three side dishes, four family-size servings of scones, and one family-size dessert... all for $79! I had so much fun, this was so easy, the meals are so new... it was worth it for full price... in my opinion!

Lat night I made two of the six mini-Hot Molten Chocolate Lava Cakes and they were a hit. I threw the Luau Pork in the crockpot last night (now it's in the fridge) and we will eat it for dinner tonight, along with the coconut rice. We already sampled it this morning and it gets rave reviews -- Yum! I am eager to cut and bake the scones for the family for a breakfast treat! I think we are making the Raspberry Mango chicken this weekend.

I could make this a monthly event. I want Let's Dish gift certificates for Christmas.

Have you been to one of these ready-to-go meal places?

What did you think?

Easter Grass

2011-05-18T09:48:00.000-07:00

You may remember that I grew some Easter grass in February.
The goal of the Easter grass was to have real grass in the kids' Easter baskets, instead of the plastic stuff.

While the Easter grass is adorable, it is not necessarily suited for the type of Easter baskets that the bunny fills at our house. Logistically, it wasn't going to work.

However, I still wanted an excuse to grow the grass, so I did. I decided to make cute baskets for my aunts for Easter. I bought cute baskets and tins and grew the grass in them. Then, I added some faux flowers to them and brought them to Easter dinner at my Grammy's house.

They searved as centerpieces on my Grammy's porch table. How festive! I was able to enjoy them in my home right up to Easter and my aunts just adored them.

Growing Easter grass (a.k.a. wheat grass) is a fun project for the little ones. The results are almost immediate. There are lots of uses for wheat grass as gifts. Next, I might make them for my kids' teachers with a little sign that says something like, "Thanks for helping me grow and bloom" or something like that.

You can also eat this stuff and it is supposedly very healthy.

Have you eaten wheat grass before?

Dentist

2011-05-13T07:31:00.000-07:00

The dentist came to visit Bro's school. She brought lots of ~~junk~~ treasures for the kids to keep.

Bro asked me for a flashlight, pulled on his blue doctor glove, and checked everyone's teeth. Luckily, baby Bee is a very good patient.

Planting Sunflowers on Mother's Day

2011-05-12T08:26:00.000-07:00

We continue to garden.

Every day when we come home from school, Bro jumps out of the car and asks, "Mom, can I go see my beautiful garden?"

Of course we take a moment to check it out.

Um... it still looks like this.

How do we water all of our stuff? Right now we have hoses stretching across our yard that are hooked up to an automatic timer on the spicket. However, we need to think of a better way to water this stuff. I'll get to that in a moment.

For Mother's Day, Dear Husband and Bro prepped some land next to the house for my sunflowers.

I checked the stash of seeds I bought and found Mammoth sunflowers and Giant sunflowers. I didn't read the package carefully. Let's just say... Mammoth sunflowers could reach almost to the window. Gulp!

Is this tiny little seed really going to be a mammoth sunflower?

Even Bri joined in on the fun.

Bro planted the seeds and gently covered them with soil. Good boy!

Many gardeners have pointed out that it can sometimes be a challenge to get the teens to participate in the process. As you can see, my teen is no different. She cheered us on from the sidelines though.

It was a fabulous Mother's Day. I never thought I would enjoy a day like this so much.

Now for the watering issue.

This is our current set up. One main hose comes from the spicket in the back. There is a splitter and it connects to two hoses. One hose waters the grass we are growing in the front and one hose leads to the veggie garden.

These hoses are run by an automated timer that turns them on and off.

However, now I need to also water the sunflowers on the side of the house as well as my new hydrangea bush along the back fence (a gift from my mom).

My question is this.

How do you manage watering your plants and flowers?

Right now I am manually (the old fashioned way -- standing there and holding the hose) watering the sunflowers and hydrangea bush. However, this is not a long term solution for us... I don't think. Wait... hahaha.... my teen will be home for the summer soon. Maybe I should put "water the plants" on her to-do list. Perhaps my problem is solved. Just kidding!

This post is part of the KinderGARDENS series.

Click the here to join or for more information.

Sandbox

2011-05-11T06:50:00.000-07:00

My folks (a.k.a. Fairy Grandmother and Luvs2Boat) gave Bri a sandbox for her birthday. Prior to this, Bro had been using an unused flower bed as his sandbox. Pathetic -- I know.

So, Bri got a sandbox for her birthday and we told Bro, "This is Bri's sandbox and she will share with you."

The sandbox sat in the yard, unused, for a few days. We were still deciding where to put it before we dumped all of the sand into it.

Finally, Bro came up to me one day and said,

Bro: Mom -- I am going to share with my baby Bri all day today.

Mom: Okay - you are such a sweet brother.

Bro: Yes. Mommy -- do you want to set up Bri's sandbox now?

So, we did.

You'll have to excuse me while I continue to be amazed by the relationship between borthers and sisters (I am an only child).

Baby Bee is such a copycat and Bro is happy to lead the way.

Bro throws the dirt so...

... Bri throws the dirt...

... which means that someone is gonne get dirt in their eyes.

Lulu chilled on the hammock {{a Father's Day gift for Dear Husband that he never gets to use}}...

... and posed for some pictures.

Bri and Bro wrestled in the sandbox, one of their favorite pastimes. He is so rough with her (but not TOO rough) and she is almost equally as rough with him, but they have so much fun.

Their wrestling makes me nervous. I don't want anyone to get hurt.

How old will they be when they finally stop?

Bee's birthday cake.

2011-05-10T06:45:00.000-07:00

We also celebrated Bri's birthday with my husband's family. This post doesn't have many pictures because his family does not want to be ALL over the internet? Who knew? Really? You mean some people don't like to flash their kids all over the internet? What? {{They know I am teasing. Hi y'all - love you.}}

I do want to show you Bri's official bee cake.

She was a grumpy-pants after her nap so we did not get pictures of her eating her cake. This is most unusual behavior for her, but we try to be flexible in this house.

{{What? I'm flexible. Stop rolling your eyes.}}

Nonetheless, here is her bee cake... in all of its glory!

Ta-da!

Now y'all know what I always say -- If you can paint-by-number then you too can make cakes like this. The cake pan was the Wilton Ladybug pan. The original directions called for wings made of cardboard and covered with icing. The lady at our local cake supply store suggested I use rice paper instead and I did. I just love it!

Baby "Bee" Birthday Recap

2011-05-09T11:35:00.000-07:00

This is the first in a 3-part birthday series.

Part 1. Bri celebrates her birthday with my parents.
Part 2. Bri's bee cake.
Part 3. Bri and Bro play in a sandbox.

Bee (a.k.a. Bri) turned 1-year old last month.

I couldn't decide what to do for a birthday theme for her. We often call her our baby Bee... so at the very last minute I decided on a bee theme. As if making 3 cakes (one for school, one for my folks, one for Dear Husband's folks) wasn't enough, I also added making-a-bee-dress to my list of things to do. What? I'm so crazy!

Seriously. Look up crazy in the dictionary and you'll find something like this:

Crazy
[krey-zee]
–adjective

1. mentally deranged; demented; insane.
2. senseless; impractical; totally unsound: a crazy scheme.
3. Informal . intensely enthusiastic; passionately excited
As in... Napmom was crazy to make a bee dress just three days before her daughter's birthday.

The dress is reversible. The reverse side is the black-and-white check pattern with a yellow bee border.

Lookie - lookie! Occasionally I get to be in a picture too!

As promised, her first bee cake was a honeycomb cake. It came from the Williams Sonoma store.
No, I don't ever spend money like this.
Yes, my family did give me a hard time for buying this cake pan.
No, I don't care.
Yes, I hope use it again someday.
Yes, this cake was cute and easy {{which totally made it worth it, right?}}

Baker's Tip: I used a regular lemon cake mix from a box -- easy and yummy. I made two of these cakes (one for school and one for home). I used Pam Baking Spray on my first cake and the nooks and crannies were not crisp. It is best to use real butter and flour to flour your cake in this cake pan so the details really show up, as in my picture below.

Dig in baby Bee!

Baby Bee and Daddy. Oh... I almost forgot... Happy Birthday Dear Daddy!

My folks and baby Bee!

My favorite pic of the day. A classic baby Bee smile.

I had to have this balloon too!

We save the mylar balloons and use them again the next year.

Does anyone else do that?

KinderGARDEN

2011-05-06T11:33:00.000-07:00

I decided to participate in KinderGARDENS 2011. It is sponsored by fellow blogger the inadvertent farmer. The purpose of KinderGARDEN 2011 "is to get kids into the garden; to ignite the spark in the next generation of gardeners is our goal"... as well as to teach kids where vegetables come from and to get them out into the fresh air.

All I have to do to participate is to blog about my family's garden project... and I'm ALREADY doing this! Yay!

The first assignment is to introduce my family. Here goes.

Tell us about your family. What are your plans for this year?

My family is my husband, my three kids (ages 1, 3, and soon-to-be 13), and myself. My plan for this year is to grow something that we can eat. Hopefully my kids will eat the vegetables too. I'd really like it if the carrots pop up like they should.

In the end, our garden should look somewhat like this. However, we decided not to plant the cucumbers or watermelons; Dear Husband doesn't want long vine things in the garden. Party pooper!

Are you a first time gardener who needs help and encouragement or are you a veteran gardener that can help others here?

Oh -- I am definitely a first-time gardener. We have grown tomato plants on the back deck in the past. I might be able to lay claim to growing some herbs in the past too but that's about it.

Are you gardening with your kids or grandkids or are you doing a school garden or maybe gardening with college kids?

I am gardening with my kids.

Are you going to expand on last year's ideas or are you going a whole different route?

Since we are new, we are totally starting from scratch. Did I mention that I have no idea what I am doing?

What are your kids dreaming of doing this year...remember to involve them in the planning stage, after all that is why we're here!

I asked everyone what they wanted to plant. My husband wants tomatoes. My daughter wants, peas (she says they are pretty). My son wants carrots (like in the book The Carrot Seed).

Anyone doing a hobbit house? Ohhhh I hope so!!!

We are not doing a hobbit house. I am most excited about planting Giant Sunflowers on the side of our house. A friend of mine suggested that we plant mini-sunflowers in front of them. I think this will be my Mother's Day project.

It's not too late to participate in the KinderGARDEN fun. You can find all of the information at the link below.

http://sweetgrace.typepad.com/the_inadvertent_farmer/2011/05/kindergardens-2011-here-we-go-again.html

p.s. I just texted Dear Husband and told him that I finally know what I want to do for Mother's Day. I want to plant the sunflower seeds!!! I was thinking trip to the zoo, but now I am definitely thinking sunflower seeds.

Newseum: A review

2011-05-05T08:06:00.000-07:00

What a wonderful time in history to visit a museum about news.

Yes, I was a chaperone for Lulu's middle-school field trip to the Newseum in Washington, DC.

Overall, the Newseum is a museum about the history of news and the evolution of news as well current events in the news.

Typically, the top level of the museum contains rows and rows of the current front pages of newspapers throught the world. Their website boasts newspaper covers from over 800 newspapers across the globe.

On this particular day, however, their front page covers were replaced with the covers from the day following the death of Osama Bin Laden.

The Newseum has a September 11 exhibit. It includes a piece of the antennae from one of the New York Twin Towers. September 11 news is featured from floor to ceiling on the wall to the left of the antennae (not pictured). Today, clips of recent news headlines were also projected on the wall behind the antennae. It was a very poignant image.

The September 11 exhibit also highlighted even more of the recent news.

There was lots to see at the museum. The 4D movie was one of the coolest parts of the museum. This movie pulls you back in time as you follow three reporters who risk their lives to tell the world exactly what is going on behind the scenes or on the battle front.

I also liked the replica of Tim Russert's office.

Other items of interest included, OJ Simpons's suit, the Unabomber's cabin (replica), and the reproduction of the DC sniper's car that was used by the FBI during court room demonstrations.

For those of you who didn't live in the DC area during the time of the DC sniper crimes, the snipers hid in the trunk of this car and aimed thir guns out of a hole in the license plate area. They killed unknowing people as they left department stores and as they stood still while pumping gas (easy target).

During this time, I (like others) did not have my kids in the car when I went to get gas and I zig-zagged as I left department stores and headed for my car. Many elementary schools and daycares stopped letting the kids play outside. Some local communities cancelled youth sporting events. It was a very scary time to live in the DC-metro area.

To this day, I sway back-and-forth when I get gas, making myself a less-easy target if someone has a gun pointed my way. Is this silly of me? Perhaps.

A trip to the Newseum is an amazing experience that anyone from about 7th grade on up will enjoy. Stop by if you can; you won't be disappointed.

Please stand for the playing of the National Anthem

2011-05-05T07:34:00.000-07:00

Wow! Get thyself to the Newseum.

I was a chaperone for Lulu's middle-school field trip to the new Newseum in Washington, DC and I had a blast!

First, the chaperones met in the school cafeteria for a briefing on our day. I have to admit that I got goosebumps when we were all asked to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance and the playing of the National Anthem. It was a very patriotic moment, especially given the recent death of Osama bin Laden. I don't get very many opportunities to stand for the playing of the National Anthem. Participating in this tradition was probably the highlight of my whole day!

Admittedly, whenever I struggle though something I always as myself, "Was the juice worth the squeeze?" That is, was it worth it to go through everything I went through to get to the final result? Most of the time, the answer is yes.

So, everyone is so happy that Osama bin Laden was killed. I tend to think, "okay, so we finally killed him... but was the juice worth the squeeze?" The answer varies for different people. From what I am reading, most people think that the war and death of tons of soldiers, and so on,... was worth it for the death of Osama Bin Laden. Really? For me, I'm not so sure. I feel like this is more of "cutting off your nose to spite your face." Okay - I get it - he's dead - but, from what I have read he was fairly unwealthy and not running the war on terror anymore anyway. I also believe that there is an Osama Bin Laden-like-person out there now still... ready to get us. So, what did we really accomplish?

Nonetheless, I am glad he is dead. What is going through the mind of the man who shot him... knowing that he is the man who killed the most hated person in the world??? What a feeling!

When we stood for the playing of the National Anthem yesterday... in the cafeteria of a local public school... I got goosebumps. IT was cool... and it was even cooler because of recent headlines.I am so proud to be an American and proud of our military.

When is the last time you stood for

the playing of the National Anthem?

More about the Newseum is coming soon!

Metro Diner Cafe Review

2011-05-03T07:59:00.000-07:00

About once every few months we meander out of the house on a Sunday morning to get some grub. With three children, we want something that is fast, cheap, fast, has lots of choices, and is fast. {{Emphasis on fast.}}

We have our favorite watering hole, but we decided to try Metro Diner Cafe this past Sunday.

The bells and whistles were cool. Your menu is viewed on three large plasma screens on the wall. You order from a self-order kiosk or from a cashier. The decor is modern, crisp, and clean.

Fun!

Well... that is... it was fun... until the cashier (remember, we are in a diner cafe)... said, "Your total is $36.38." That is when my husband had a silent heart attack. OK - not really... but I could see the "life" drain from his eyes. He was NOT open to paying close to $40 for diner food (two adult meals and two kid meals).

I kept smiling!

I was further delighted when I saw the coffee bar. Here is my version vs. his version of the coffee bar.

Napmom: Ok - lookie lookie! A coffee bar! Four choices of coffee... a selection of three types of cream. Hmm... look at all of the teas too. Sugar AND honey! Yum! Oh wow! Let me grab one of these nice big white mugs over here. Oh - I love these mugs -- they're huge! I love this place!

Dear Husband: For 36 bucks I shouldn't have to get my own coffee! {{Um... I think those were his words verbatim.}}

The bread that came with my eggs was whole grain. I got four large pieces of bread and it was the thick type of whole grain where you can see the seeds and stuff. Yum!

The syrup came warm in mini-carafes on the plate next to the pancakes. So sweet!

According to their website, "Metro serves America’s favorite foods for today’s on–the-go lifestyles, giving you control with healthy fresh & local options, speed and value!" They also advertise locally farmed Amish eggs, organic breads, green packaging, and more. Their cupcakes were made by Nostalgia Cupcakes, in historic downtown Annapolis.

I mean to tell you... this Metro Diner Cafe was delightful for breakfast!

To be honest, it is a diner/cafe and I don't know that I want to go for a date night, but it was great for a family breakfast and I am looking forward to going back again.

When I was little, my Grandma would take me to the local firehouse for Sunday breakfast before church. I guess it was a fundraiser for the firehouse. I wish we had a local firehouse that cooks Sunday breakfast.

Where do you eat Sunday breakfast?

Confessions

2011-05-02T09:07:00.000-07:00

Today I will make a confession. Most of you will think that this is just awful. I am, however, confessing anyway.

Think about how you would answer this question.

The first thing I do when I wake up in the morning is:
take a shower?
make coffee?
watch tv?

Do you know your answer?

OK. Here's mine.

The first thing I do when I wake up in the morning is... ahem... wait for it... {{gulp}}... check facebook (via my cell phone) to see if everyone is okay? Seriously. Literally... I am rubbing my eyes because of the shock of the bright light against my newly opened pupils.

Then, we follow a strict routine -- set by my three-year-old. He sits on the couch. I turn on "his station" and I get him some juice. Do not stop to go potty first - do not pass GO - do not collect $200.

He is getting bossier and bossier and you must NOT deviate from the schedule in the least.

This morning, we deviated. This morning, I woke up and discovered, via my facebook friends, that Osama Bin Laden had been killed.

Lulu came into my room and the conversation went something like this:

Mommy: Lulu, do you know who Osama Bin Laden is?
Lulu: Yes.
Mommy: Well, the U.S. captured and killed him last night.
Lulu: Wait, who is he again?

Gotta love her -- she was 3 when the terrorist attacks of 9/11 occurred. I'll go easy on her.

As we were all snuggled up in bed, searching for the latest news, Bro was standing in the hallway, pointing and yelling directions at us... defiantly explaining that we were not following propoer protocol -- that he is supposed to be on his couch and I was supposed to give him his juice and giving him "his own channel." He refused to get into bed with us and stood in the hallway, arms folded with a scowl on his face. I shoulda taken a picture.

What is the first thing YOU do in the morning?

Happy "Bee"-day!

2011-04-30T01:00:00.000-07:00

Bee,

A year ago I was hesitant about having another girl. Now, I made you a matching bee dress to go with your bee cake. We all love you so much. You care such a bright spot in our lives and your signature Gerber-baby smile is contagious. May I never forget your chubby legs... and that you are walking already -- big girl! You are also very proud to clap for yourself when you climb up on things and you love to say: bye-bye, momma, dadadada, and Yia-Yia (which sounds alot like "ra-ra" but you definitely do it consistently). You still spit up, especially after your morning bottle. However, it's not near as bad as it used to be. You are a somewhat picky eater and you still really like your bottles. You are not much of a snuggler at all. I don't think you have fallen asleep in my arms since you were an infant... always preferring to be put in your crib rather than let me hold you while we rock in the chair together. You can stay awake as long as you want to, but when you decide you are tired, there is nothing stopping you. You are a bit of a bully - sorry sweetheart -- and can tackle and take down your brother. Wresting is one of your favorite activities... as well as climbing up on things and clapping as we all run to catch you before you fall.

It's been a wonderful year baby-bee. Happy Birthday!

Mommy

Did someone say Easter?

2011-04-28T07:31:00.000-07:00

We colored eggs, as usual. Bro used the traditional dipping method...

... and Lulu tie-dyed hers. Tie-dyeing eggs involves wrapping the egg in a damp, white cloth and putting it in a plastic holder that has holes in it. Then, you apply the colors with a small syringe thingy.

When you unwrap your egg, you get something that looks like this. Cool, huh?

She tried it with paper towels, instead of the white cloth, and that was cool too.

Baby Bee sat in her chair with some ~~extremely healthy snacks~~ cheetos... and was totally content the whole time we were outside.

Did you see my nice Easter grass growing on the table? It was a gorgeous day so I sat them outside for some sun and fresh air. {{ahem.. the grass is real... the flowers are fake -- just sayin'}} Need a better look? {{We'll talk about the Easter grass later.}}

Later, the Easter bunny dropped off some baskets at the house.

Note: I am not at all offended if you skip the descriptions of these baskets. My grandma wants to hear all about them though -- don't you Grandma?.

From left to right:

Lulu's basket: complete with Justin Bieber stickers and a triangle bunny hop game.

Bee's basket: including "My First Easter" bib and a set of bubbles for three people to use (in yellow container).

Bro's basket: with gardening tools and Cars-theme gardening gloves.

Traditions: Dear Husband insists that everyone gets a chocolate bunny and I insist that each basket has Peeps and jelly beans. Also, somewhere along the line, I got the idea that an Easter basket includes small gifts as well. Maybe this is because I was an only child and so I got gifts in my basket. Judging from some of the baskets that were posted on facebook Saturday night (what a busy little bunny) gifts are not necessary. I am hoping to discontinue Easter bunny gifts in the near future.

In case you are wondering, the Easter bunny did not leave Easter grass for the kids, but Dear Husband thought it would look cute in the picture. I think that Easter grass will be a tradition -- it's so festive, easy, and fun.

The next morning, the bunny hid those eggs all over our yard. I'm glad it was a nice morning... what would we have done if it was raining? Maybe the bunny waits and comes back another day. I'm sure that's what happens.

I'm wondering...
does your Easter bunny hide real eggs or plastic ones?

No Regrets

Joy Moments: A mom reflects on birthdays past and present

It's another birthday

buzz... buzz... buzz...

Angels???

Dinosaur terrarium

I Spy with My Little Eye

All New Low

Sanity Update

Tebow Post

Grocery Goodness

2012 Resolutions

Hello 2012!

It is merry, isn't it?

Sanity Update: Week 1 of 4

Blue or Beige?

I think I can. I think I can.

Moms Club Recommendations

Baby Jesus Ornament

She's Crafty!

NABloPoMo Recap

Best Buy Ever

Thanksgiving Recap

JUICE!

Books

Paper Hornets

Do It All. Who me?

Pumpkin and the Power of Stickers

Naps and Ninjas

Bounce Zone

Humanity

Not Here

Finds

Prayer

Sunday Activity

Halloween 2012

Let them eat... pie???

Halloween Part 1 and Vanilla Extract

Weight

Pumpkin Patch

Fall Activities

Pumpkin Martini

Fall Festival

Book Review

Reading Challenge: Spoiler Point of View

Summer Bucket List

Mr. Fix It

Play Dough

Bargain Bug!

Wings!

Christmas in September

A Visit to a Famous Landmark

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Carrots

What do you see?

The Fruits of Our Labor

Conversations

And off we grow!

HUGE

13 Revisited

13

Do you know your nursery rhymes?

Hot/Cold Therapy Pack

Water and Weeds

More Reading

Hello Gaithersburg Book Festival!

Let's Dish: My Review

Easter Grass

Dentist

Planting Sunflowers on Mother's Day

Sandbox

Bee's birthday cake.

Baby "Bee" Birthday Recap

KinderGARDEN

Newseum: A review

Please stand for the playing of the National Anthem

Metro Diner Cafe Review

Confessions

Happy "Bee"-day!

Did someone say Easter?