Oh How I've Missed You.

My darling NASCAR,

I know it's been a while since we've seen each other. I have been lax in my visitations and I truly regret the time we have spent apart. I have only myself to blame. I have found myself a higher calling, as a mommy, and this has caused me to put you on the back burner for quite some time now. I hope you understand. It's not you, it's me (and them).

But wait! There is still hope for us! I have introduced my beautiful darlings to your western track, Fontana, and they hit it off right away. Was it the snacks? Was it the headphones? Maybe the high speed action? I don't know. But whatever it was, there was chemistry and I like where this is headed. I am including a photo of our latest trip to visit in hopes that you will be understanding of the past absences and look forward to our next meeting, hopefully very soon.

What to Make

I have discovered mini-canning jars! They - are - AWESOME.
Here's a quick and easy mini pie recipe for you to try too. Buy pie crusts (sold by the butter in the supermarket), don't make it, it's too hard and who wants that? Then buy pie filling. Don't make it either, see previous comment. Coat the inside of the jar with the pie crust (no, you don't have to butter the jar or measure the crusts). Just push it with your fingers. My 4 year old did half of these. They really are that easy.Fill the inside of the jar with the filling (I used peach, cherry & wait for it...

caramel apple!)

and put a little dab of butter on top. Yep, see? easy. Each can makes about 3 jars worth.Then cut out a little circle from the crust using the ring from the jar top. Cut a little vent out (I used a cookie cutter but you don't have to, use a knife if you want, see if I care). Spray with oiil then sprinkle the top with a little sugar if you're feeling sassy.Now bake it until it's golden brown at about 350 degrees. No, don't complicate it, really, it's THAT EASY. If you are not feeling sassy and really not feeling like eating pie at all then you can give these little darlings as gifts or *GASP* freeze them! Yep, right in the jars. Just like that. I swear. Then when you want to cook them just toss them in the oven like you would have if you were feeling sassy right now. No, you don't have to pre-thaw, no you don' t have to adjust the oven temp. They're canning jars, they're meant to go from hot to cold and back again a zillion times. See, I told you so. Mini-canning jars - are - AWESOME.

What to Make

This one only works if you have a fireplace....and it's pretty self explanatory I think.... camping dessert, not just for dirty people anymore...

Poor Little Dude

He wasn't feeling very good last week. It just makes me want to curl up with him on the couch and cuddle all day long...which, if he wasn't throwing up, I just might have done.

Silly Girl

I was playing with my daughter's hair the other day and wound up putting it up into two very VERY tight buns. The following morning, when I took it out, her long flowing locks were so tightly curled that it barely made her hair reach her chin! After a little mousse and coaxing with a comb, it relaxed down and was very pretty. I liked it so much that we decided to take a picture of her. Of course, we couldn't just take a picture of the back. I had to get my little girl's beautiful face. One thing led to another and....

The View from the Rim

Why would anyone ever want to leave our mountain?

Girls are from...Pluto?

My kindergarten girl was recently involved in her class play about the planets. Since she is doing well at reading, she was chosen to be a narrator, which was great with mommy because that meant I didn't have to make her a costume - WOO HOO! One of her little friends was Pluto though and isn't she just ADORABLE?!?! Here's a shot of the whole class, in all of their planetary splendor~For the rest of your life (excluding Halloweens), when can you dress up as a planet and have people come from far and wide to applaud your effort to entertain? Not many times I tell you. Live it up kindergarteners, for next year it's times tables and sentence graphing.

Team Jenna

We made a drive down to see cousin Jenna play in the Southern California Regional Semi-finals for basketball last week. She is graduating soon and it was one of our last chances to see her play. Of course, we might be biased, but really, the girl's got some pretty good handles. Unfortunately I think she was just recovering from pneumonia and had pulled her leg muscle so she wasn't playing as good as she possibly could but was still out-shining almost every girl on the court. She has a very good grasp on the position of her players and can visualize the court and make confident, effective passes. Congratulations on your win Jenna and good luck Mission Prep on the rest of your tournament.

A Day in the Boat

We went out to Phoenix recently and spent the day on the boat. It's a great way to force us to focus on each other and really connect as a family for the day. Plus, I get to play cards with my hubby, the kids get to eat lots of snacks and if they fish, play with worms. Really, what could be better?

Stirring the Hornets' Nest

Uh oh. Here's one of those things that starts out as good intentions...

For my hubby's birthday (he's now the big 3-6), I wanted to do something special for him. I know that he has a minor nagging regret of not being a fighter pilot when he was young enough to try. So for a long time now I have been trying to get him up in an airplane to try it out. Well, luckily I was able to make those connections recently (finally!) and for his birthday I got him a couple hours of flight instruction in an actual airplane.

The day arrived and he had no idea what we were taking him to do. As I drove up to the local airport (which he didn't know existed so it was a surprise even at that point), I told him that he would be flying an airplane for his birthday. He seemed tentative but interested as I dropped him off, introduced him to his instructor and left him for an hour or so. His mood had changed drastically when I picked him up though. He was grinning from ear to ear and has since then not seen a soul without telling them about his awesome flying experience. In fact, he has introduced the instructor to his dad and now they both have the pilot itch. The whole thing went as good as I could have imagined. So good that I think I may have stirred that hornets' nest and reignited his interest in becoming a pilot. This could be good (think "flying to Idaho for the weekend on vacation") or maybe not so good (think "$8,000 in flight school costs")...oh well, for now I will be happy that I was able to make him so happy. Really, that's my goal in most things anyway :)

What to Make

Here's a fun idea for Valentines day:

Get two hershey kisses and put a glue dot between them to hold their flat sides together. Wrap a piece of wire around them and let the majority of the wire hang off of the bottom. This is your starting "bud". Second, wrap the kisses in pink and/or red tissue paper so they look like flowers. Next, wrap a couple small pieces of green tissue paper into the wire for leaves and finally wrap the whole thing in floral tape (green) to cover any imperfections...TA-DA! Hershey kiss roses! My kindergartener made them for her whole class and used pencils for the stems instead. Totally easy and cute when they're done. You could make a whole vase of them for yourself and use them as a centerpiece also. That, however, requires a moderate amount of will power not to eat your bouquet though so I sent them off to the grade school to save myself the post-binge guilt I foresaw. It's better for everyone that way. Happy V Day ya'll~

Good Afternoon Race Fans

We made our appearance again at the Santa Anita racetrack recently (we tend to go a few times per season) and had a smashing fun time with some friends at the park for the day. In particular, my little man had fun romping around with his buddy. We are pretty lucky to have friends who have kids the same ages as ours. Going places with friends makes everything more fun (especially when the kids entertain each other!).

Kids on Ice

This was at the local skating rink recently for a friends' 6th birthday party. MAN, that's a lotta kiddos. Us mamas have our hands full, huh?

What to Make

Here's an easy one for you, and HEALTHY to boot! Get yourself a bunch of fruit. By that I mean, get a large variety of colors. Get red strawberries, raspberries or cherries, then oranges or manderines or cantelope and some yellow pineapple and green grapes or green apples or green kiwi and perhaps some blueberries and blackberries or purple grapes. Go crazy! Go on a huge fruit bender and buy out the entire produce section of colorful fruit! Okay, maybe not all of it, but you get the idea. Then get some skewers like the kind you'd make shish-ka-bobs on. Now pierce the fruit (in chopped up pieces of course) in a rainbow-like fashion. Okay you're done. That was easy, right? I made a zillion of these for a recent party and they were a hit. It's cool too because anything left over can be used for smoothies....mmmmmm....smoooooooothies.My daughter helped me make these they're so easy. This is a cutesy little treat for the kiddos or a fun snack to bring along to a party like the superbowl or something St. Patrick-ey, right? Right. Now go make it. It's a great excuse to eat lots of fruit.

Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep

Nana's dog, Blessed, came to stay with us for the weekend while Nana and Grandpa were out of town. As the kids knelt down to say their prayers she jumped right in to say her thank-yous to Jesus too....and maybe ask for forgiveness for chasing that squirrel last week.

Sir Yes Sir!

We spent last weekend cheering on Uncle Chris as he rocked the sheriff's reserve academy graduation ceremony. He has been working non-stop for this goal for many months now and we were so proud of him for seeing it through to completion.
(Here's a picture of his class all getting inspected immediately prior to the ceremony)
(Here's a picture of him getting an award for being the best academic in the class) And here's some of Uncle Chris with the rest of the family~
Cheers buddy, congrats!

Ready, AIM...

Camping! YAY!
Camping AND shooting GUNS! DOUBLE YAY!!
Okay, so it's a PINK red rider bb gun. So what? He's not quite old enough for one of his own so he had to borrow his sister's gun. The point is that he got to go shooting with Daddy while they camped in the FREEZING weather last week. Totally not kidding, that's ICE behind the kiddos the next morning when they woke up. Editor's Note: You don't see MOMMY anywhere in these pictures because Mommy is not crazy and stayed home in the nice warm house so she wouldn't freeze her tushie off. Good times.

What Happens at Nana's...

I always wonder what happens with my kids when I'm not around. In particular, I wonder if they have Nana and Grandpa hog-tied and gagged in a closet somewhere. Thank you cousin Jess, for giving my little princess a camera that takes videos for Christmas. I got to take a little glance into their lives with Nana when they visit without me...just as I suspected, running amuk (in the first video) and putting the SMACKDOWN on Nana (in the second video)...

The House that Boys Built

My little guy got a neat building set from the Diamond family for Christmas and he has been begging his daddy to construct it with him ever since he got it in the house. Finally today Daddy had time to build with him. Daddy played supervisor and let our little guy do most of the work. Not too shabby, eh?

Cutie Pies

No reason, while we were visiting the Silvas in Phoenix they were just being cute...

Happy New Years

May 2012 find you so blessed that your cup runs over and you have to drink from your saucer.

The Big Show

My little darling girl had her first holiday performance for school this year and had a speaking part with a couple other girls in class. They did awesome as did all of the kindergarteners. I was amazed that they were able to learn 12 different songs and poems for the big day. Here she is, pictured with Evelyn (in silver) and Jordan (in red/black).

Merry Christmas

I found this song through and friend and although I like Mercy Me very much, hadn't heard this song before. It's called "Joseph's Lullaby". I LOVE IT. Merry Christmas my friends.

Joseph's Lullaby

A LONG Drive

We went to Oregon for Christmas this year and will spend New Years in Arizona. That means that we did a LOT of driving. The kids did a great job being patient and entertaining themselves in the back of the truck (we towed a trailer then a boat so couldn't take the van). It must have been particularly hard sleeping and sharing the back seat with the dog too. Luckily she's a good pseudo-mama to them....

I am SO Thankful

Every day my hubby drives to work and busts his hump so that we can have a home, cars, food and the other nice things we enjoy. Even when it's nasty icy weather and the kids and I are staying home because school has been canceled, he goes to work in weather like this:
I got so lucky that he found me. He is a good man.

Happy Thanksgiving

A little Turkey comedy for your day...

What to Make

DON'T EAT THIS!!!!

THIS IS A CRAFT, NOT A FOOD!!!

But it's still fun to make. Who wouldn't love HOMEMADE SLIME?!?!?

Here's what you need:
2 Bowls
Part A:
3/4 c warm water
1 c white glue
green food coloring
Part B:
4t Borax
1 1/3 c warm water

Mix Part A ingredients in Bowl #1.
Mix Part B ingredients in Bowl #2.
Pour contents of Bowl #1 into Bowl #2 and let sit - DO NOT STIR - for 1 minute.

That's it, your slime is good to goo! We found this fun tip on the familyfun website and the kids had a blast playing with it. If it congeals just microwave it for a few seconds. Other than that, easy cheesy lemon squeezy. Both kids and their daddy loved making this. It was perfect for little hands and big ones too.

Selling Ice to Eskimos

We attended the local Rotary auction last week and, like previous years, the kids got to present a few items to the cameras and were televised across the greater mountain area. The first item the presented was a quilt that sold for about $400 (above). They also presented and doll that sold for over $300 and a rocking chair that also sold for over $300. Man, put those kids in front of a camera and people just melt like chocolate :)

LBBOL

Last weekend we went to visit our friends to shower one of the ladies with gifts while she's pregnant. I just love baby showers. There is so much to be thankful for in this world and children are one of the best blessings to be thankful for. Here is the host (my sister, Lyss), The mom-to-be, Sarah, and yours truly, in post shower bliss:
Congratulations Miss Sarah & Wally on your upcoming baby girl. I can't wait to meet your daughter. I just know you two will make great parents.

Happy Veterans Day

Thank you to all of the American Soldiers who have fought to protect what society is often trying to tear apart...

Tea Fit for a Princess

My little darling was invited by a friend to join the birthday girl in a day of princesses, pampering and partying. They met in Upland at Olivia's Princess Doll Tea House and got to dress up and show off all of their royal moves. They were super cute to see dressed up together. I will truly miss these days when they are gone.

The Best Costumes

My kids decided last year that they wanted a particular Halloween costume. In a weird twist of fate, they AGREED on the costumes. Let me reiterate that..

NOT ONLY did they AGREE on something,

They agreed on a HALLOWEEN COSTUME, which everyone knows is a BIG deal for kids.

NOT ONLY did they AGREE on a Halloween costume,

They agreed a YEAR IN ADVANCE on the costume.

NOT ONLY did they AGREE a YEAR in advance on a Halloween costume,

They agreed on the SAME COSTUME for both of them.

Impossible you say? Well, improbable, certainly. But nothing is impossible for

United States Soldiers!!!

1 party, 4 highlights

Every year, at the end of October, we pack up the kids and head west to our old alma mater. It's a fun chance to watch the kingsmen play football, have some fun, and catch up with old friends. Ironically, although we all spend the majority of the weekend together, we all come home with different highlights. This year was no exception. For my hubby, I'm sure the highlight was getting to golf with some college friends:
For my little girl, of course, the highlight was getting her face painted pretty:
The highlight for my little man was getting to sword fight with the kingsmen:
And for me? Well, I guess it's not one thing in particular that stands out, but just having the chance to spend a fun weekend together as a family (and the free carnival games):