My Special Blend

Plasma Car

2010-04-18T11:41:00.001-07:00

Hop over to Mama's a mess! to try to enter to win a plasma car. My kids play with these at the daycare down the street. They are the best entertainment ever. I would love to have one of our own!

Family

2010-01-20T21:00:00.001-08:00

I’ve been wanting to do this project for a looooong time! Well, a year to be exact. I’ve been planning it since Big Ben made this shelf in our living room. But for the last year it has waited, naked and lonely, for something… anything to adorn it during the eleven months of the year that aren’t Christmas.

Finally! While Broc and Maris were here for Christmas, I took profile pictures of all 4 kids and turned them into silhouettes. And now my once lonely shelf is finding its greater purpose in our home.

Now, perhaps in this next year I will be able to

find something to go ON the shelf!

Today’s Lesson

2010-01-14T20:05:00.001-08:00

It’s right up there! Up there in that tree.

That is a raccoon! Sleeping in a tree at the end of our street.

… and the lesson is… Raccoons CLIMB trees! (I had no idea until today.)

Our Fairy Tale

2010-01-13T21:28:00.001-08:00

Once upon a time…

I believed this stuff was a creation of the devil! And knew that it was NOT invented by a woman because no woman on Earth would believe it a good idea to give this stuff to children!

I was horrified that my children had gotten it as a “loving” gift from a grandmother! And I banished the Devil’s Dirt to a cabinet in the laundry room!

Then one day, it managed to make it’s way out of it’s confinement… and a miracle occurred!

Did you see it? Did you see the miracle in the picture?

Let me show you again in case you missed it…

Yep, right there it is!

My children, who sometimes have tendencies toward geniusness (is that a word?), realized that if they clean up their mess… Mom will let them play with the Moon Sand! They realized this all on their own and take it upon themselves to clean up.

I couldn’t be more proud!

And now Moon Sand is a very acceptable rainy day activity, and that is exactly what happened at our house today.

And they all lived Happily Ever After!

A Christmas Review

2010-01-09T10:51:00.001-08:00

I know this is a bit late, but better than never…

This is what our house looked like on the morning that Santa visited us. Broc and Maris were here with us this year and there was happiness and smiles all around.

Christmas Houses

2009-12-09T20:10:00.001-08:00

We had a Gingerbread House making party today!

My awesomest neighbor, Meredith, helped me throw it for the neighborhood kids.

We prefabricated the houses, not that easy of a task. And the kids all got to decorate their own homes.

I think as much ended up in their tummies as on their houses.

But the finished products weren’t too shabby. Our kids had to show off their work!

And when we realized there were a couple extra houses and the decorations were going fast… the mamas decided to get in on the action too.

And then we ate cookies and drank hot cocoa… delicious!

The Polar Express

2009-12-01T20:29:00.001-08:00

For Family Home Evening, tonight, we had a Polar Express night.

This morning each child found an invitation to the event at the Breakfast table.

The invitations instructed them to, “Present this ticket for one family viewing of The Polar Express. Wear your favorite PJ’s and bring a blankie. Ticket good for one movie, popcorn and hot chocolate.”

Before movie time we read The Polar Express.

When the kids “arrived” for the movie, their Tickets went into the ticket box.

Popcorn was served.

And the movie began.

Hot Chocolate was served during an intermission.

Following the movie, the kids were asked to check the ticket box for the “First Gift of Christmas.”

The new bells ring for those who Believe.

(I found the template for the invitations here and the template for the tickets here.)

Have I mentioned…?

2009-12-01T15:42:00.001-08:00

This child makes my heart sing!

The neighbors have puppies. Sarah LOVES puppies. This afternoon, before all the other neighborhood kids came home from school the puppies were out playing in their front yard. Sarah stayed over there with them… mesmerized.

The dog whisperer!

Hot Chocolate

2009-11-28T19:30:00.001-08:00

We enjoyed a make your own Hot Chocolate Bar tonight. I got the idea here. I made the hot chocolate from scratch in a big pot, the first time I’d done that. And the kids had the options of adding their own chocolate chips, miniature marshmallows, candy canes, swirled marshmallow sticks or cool whip with candy cane dust mixed in it.

A special Thank you to Dollar Tree for having such cute stuff that this was possible.

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It was delicious!

Windows Live- An Experiment

2009-11-18T22:14:00.001-08:00

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Part of my sparse blogging recently has been due to frustration with Blogger. Uploading photos and getting the placement I want has been a challenge. This post is a test using Windows Live. I hope it will change my blogging and make sharing easier.

Leaf Man!

2009-11-11T22:23:00.000-08:00

Out of the leaves, he rises...

Be-Witching

2009-10-30T11:39:00.000-07:00

Sarah's Kindergarten Halloween Concert

(Apologize for the blurry picture, but it was the only one that showed her dress)

The witches dress seemed to be a bit bunched inside her tights, I guess that is what happens when 5 year old witches need to go potty before the big performance.

Them's Fighting Words

2009-10-29T16:00:00.000-07:00

Last night, Ben and Sarah were in the bathroom brushing their teeth and we overheard the following conversation:

B: Sarah, did you see the fighter fighter at school today?
S: What?
B: The fighter fighter at school today?!
S: What kind of fighter was it?
B: You know! The fire guy!

It must be tough when you don't even speak the same dialect of "kid-ease" that your little sister speaks.

Spooky eats!

2009-10-28T19:13:00.000-07:00

I went to the Dollar Store today and discovered these skull and cross bones plates. With our Halloween theme this week, I couldn't resist.

Tonight's dinner was Ghost Pie (Shepherd's Pie with Ghost Shaped Mashed Potatoes)The meal was rounded out with some moldy pears (Pears that I canned with green food coloring)

Bedtime

2009-10-27T20:16:00.001-07:00

Now that is love!

Boo to you!

2009-10-27T19:43:00.000-07:00

We are enjoying a week of Halloween themed dinners. Tonight we had Witches Brew in a Pumpkin Bowl with Witches Blood to drink.
RECIPE

Then we carved pumpkins... pumpkins that we grew in our garden.

Our family in Pumpkin representation: Me
Big Ben
Ben
And Sarah

Boo!

Little Miss Tiny

2009-10-14T19:14:00.000-07:00

Tonight, I walked into the room and found Ben reading Little Miss Tiny to Sarah!I Love Little Miss Tiny! All the Little Miss Books are great. In fact, this one was mine when I was young. It wasn't until after they read the book that we all noticed that Sarah was wearing Little Miss Trouble on her wrist band.

Lawn Mowing

2009-10-05T09:43:00.000-07:00

Wedded Bliss

2009-09-05T09:20:00.000-07:00

Hey baby, let's go to Vegas
Kiss the single life good-bye
Hey baby, let's go to Vegas
Bet on love and let it ride
- Faith Hill
We are going to Vegas this weekend for a wedding! My bestie Meredith is marrying the man of her dreams. Greg is the most perfect guy in the world for her. They make an amazing couple. It makes me so happy to see them together and I am so excited. The very best part of this whole story (at least as far as I'm concerned) is that Greg just happens to live across the street from us. Our kids are going to go to school together. It will be so nice to have "family" so close.

Congratulations Greg and Meredith!

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

2009-09-04T20:32:00.000-07:00

I typically avoid commenting on politics, but I have become quite irritated by an issue that I believe to be crossing from politics to parenting. Obviously, I don't have a problem commenting on parenting.

Last night, there was a story on the news... actually, two stories about the same subject. The subject: President Obama speaking to school children. First, the news broadcasters told me about a school in Utah where the children were shown a broadcast of President Obama; he told them to work hard in school and welcomed them to the new school year. The parents of these students were outraged and demanded an apology from the principal. A mother was interviewed and stated that she doesn't talk to her friends about politics and therefore her children should not be taught about politics in school. OH, MY GOSH!!! Is this for real? Children should NOT be taught about politics in school? This must be a joke. For goodness sake, the man is the President of the United States!!! I don't care if you agree with his political views, and I don't care if you didn't vote for him, once he is elected he IS the President and that deserves some degree of respect. We should be encouraging our children to become educated concerning what their political leaders believe and what their platforms are.

The next story, similar in type, is concerning the President's planned speech that will be broadcast over the Internet to all schools. I am shocked by the Facebook movement encouraging people to keep their kids out of school on the day of the speech as a means of protest. Protest of what? I don't understand. I don't believe that he is going to be attempting to "brainwash" my children.

Allow me to make something clear, I tend to be very politically conservative, and I did not vote for Obama. However, even at 7 years old, I don't believe that my son should be spoon fed my political views or sheltered from any other views. I do not agree with, but can understand a parent keeping their children out of school on Sex Ed day, but keeping them out of school for a Presidential address is NOT the same thing!

I want to encourage my children to make educated political decisions, not ignorant, isolated decisions.

Tahoe, Baby!

2009-08-28T10:14:00.000-07:00

Trip to Lake Tahoe- Circa Aug. 2006 (yep, I just used the word 'circa'; just 'cause I'm cool like that!)

When Big Ben and I were dating, we went to Tahoe for an Alexander reunion. Besides falling in love with Big Ben and the Alexander Family, I fell in love with Tahoe!

This weekend, we're going back!!! We will be there for 4 nights and 3 days to enjoy the beauty. I'm so excited!

Adventures in Grocery Shopping

2009-08-27T21:33:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I just don't learn my lesson. The particular lesson that I am referring to this time, should have been learned over a year ago when I repeatedly ran into a certain "little dirty guy" (LINK to story) at the grocery store in the neighboring town. These close encounters really should have been enough to teach me that some money savings are just not worth the risks involved. But, obviously I didn't learn my lesson, or I wouldn't be writing this post and you wouldn't be reading about my latest grocery store adventures.

Fortunately, this time LDG is not involved! However, the recent grocery store adventures have been so traumatic that I might almost be relieved if it was merely an LDG sighting.

About a month ago, I decided to stop at the grocery store the neighboring town to buy some meat and produce that was on a killer sale. Broc was along with me. It was a Friday afternoon, the busiest time at this store. Broc and I made our way through the aisles without anything significant happening and went to check out. Without paying too much attention I selected a line, they were all pretty long and we waited. While waiting, I noticed the lady in line ahead of us, she had long orange hair. I also took note of the 'costume' she was wearing. I say costume, because I'm not sure it could fairly be described as an outfit. She was wearing a negligee, there was no doubt about it. Her negligee... wait, that sounds a little too classy, it's much more appropriate to refer to what she had on as 'hoochie wear.' Her hoochie wear consisted of a top made out of black lace, I could see the under-wires in the demi-cups and it was complete with corset bones and little pink bows. Her garter clips hung down at her legs, dangling over hot pink leopard print spandex shorts. As I thought to myself that she MUST be employed in the "world's oldest profession," I went about my business pretending not to notice her and not wanting to draw Broc's attention to the spectacle.

Finally, Madame Grocery Store moved on and it was my turn to pay. As the cashier scanned my items she began to talk to me. She asked if I had seen what the lady ahead of me was wearing, I shyly responded in the affirmative, then as if she hadn't detected my quietness the cashier proceeded to tell me her own story. She told me about a lady who had been in the day before. This lady had been African American and was wearing a royal blue tunic style shirt, with no shorts underneath. The cashier told me that the shirt was completely sheer and the lady had NOTHING on underneath except white granny panties. I was becoming very concerned about Broc's ten year old ears hearing this. Then the cashier continued to describe this lady and added, "the worst part was that she was 9 months pregnant!" As the disturbing image became all too vivid in my mind, I paid as quickly as I could and rushed Broc out of the store. As we left the store Broc asked, "what was she talking to you about?" Oh, nothing Broc! Nothing at all!

Today, because I'm a sucker for a good deal or maybe it's a glutton for punishment, I went back to the same store, again. Today, as I waited for my turn in line I noticed the lady behind me. I noticed her because she kept singing in my ear. I don't know what she was singing, but it wasn't good. When I turned around to look at her I was looking at this :
The lady was apple shaped, wearing a pink shirt and matching pink leggings. And around the bottom of her shirt were two distinct ruffles.

So, all these stories pose the question... will I be returning to this same grocery store again? Well now, let's be honest, the ridiculousness that I encounter there makes me feel much better about myself. Of course I'll be going back!

Everything but the Kitchen Sink

2009-08-26T21:47:00.000-07:00

Ok, meet FlyLady! She's trying to change the world one kitchen sink at a time. Fly Lady provides help for life. She's a life coach. Her program is completely free and completely broken down into tiny little babysteps. The babysteps are meant to heal a life and home that is being consumed by chaos. Normally, I don't think chaos is a gigantic problem for me, but I am always looking for helpful tricks to make things easier.

Step One for the Fly Lady is your Kitchen Sink... yep, your Kitchen sink. The premise is that if you start out each day with a clean, shiny sink your entire outlook on life will be changed. It will be a small step that will make a giant difference in your life.

It reminds me of my grandma's advice that if you "keep your dishes done and your beds made, everyone will think you are a good housekeeper!"

I've been working on the Kitchen Sink thing. It works! When I get up in the morning and my sink is clean and shiny and there aren't dishes waiting for me, I am more motivated the entire day to maintain the cleanliness.

I highly recommend it. Check out Fly Lady, read her daily goals... but definitely shine your sink up before you go to bed tonight, in the morning you'll be glad you did!

What's in a name?

2009-08-25T12:23:00.000-07:00

Sarah is quickly accumulating Kindergarten friends. Each day she comes home and informs me that she has made at least one new friend that day. It has become a pattern.

Sarah: Mom, I made a friend at school today!
Mom: You did! That's great. What's their name?
Sarah: Ummm, I don't know her/his name. No one tells me their names! Maybe I'll ask.

On the second day of school, though, it went a little different. Sarah came home and made the proclamation of friendship, however, when I asked the girl's name, Sarah informed me, "she likes to be called Broccoli!" I laughed, Sarah looked at me confused. Apparently, in a Kindergartner's mind there is nothing humorous or unusual about someone wanting to be called Broccoli.

Silly in SB

2009-08-21T09:32:00.001-07:00

Three days hanging out in SB with Bubbe leads to some pretty silly behavior!