Gentlemen Start Your Engines

We did loads of fun things in the last five days. One of which was taking my hubby to drive NASCAR cars at the Fontana Speedway with his brother. He got to drive the Dale Jr car and his brother was in the Jimmy Johnson rig. We all went and watched to cheer them on...

Six...UGH....S.I.X!!!

I am super duper uber excited to have a six year old!
We can go to movies together, get our nails done, she likes shopping with me, we can play all sorts of "girly" things together, she is still at the age that she listens to me and asks my opinion...and yet....she's SIX - already. Okay, maybe "super duper" but not UBER excited for her to be six...[sigh]

Here's some pics of us having our "girls day" for her birthday this year. We got our nails done with 4 of her girlfriends and their mommies:Then we went out for a "tea" for lunch in our fancy dresses and hats:She even got to have her first sleepover:Yep, six is pretty awesome. But then again, it IS six, and 1-5 were pretty awesome too.

My Little Lunatic

Did you ever get that itch to do something just wildly insane in the freezing cold?
Yeah, me neither.

Well one thing is for sure - She didn't get her mommy's "Stay warm and dry" gene. In case you can't tell what you're viewing, that is my daughter, in her swimsuit and thongs, dancing a jig on the deck while the hail pelts down on her from above. You will notice that mommy took pictures of her from INSIDE the house. Mommy is crazy for many different reasons, liking the cold is not one of them. I guess if that's what puts the wind in her sails though, more power to her. Rock on little lunatic, rock on.

Captain Underpants (the superhero)

I have one word for you - BLACKMAIL. In 12 years when he is being a brat and won't listen to me or do what I ask of him and he thinks he's too cool for his mom:PS, thanks Jill for hosting the superhero birthday a while back. This cape will someday prove invaluable.

Ice Cream A'la 6-year-old

For her 6th birthday, we took our little princess to where every little princess wants to go on her birthday, Famous Dave's Barbeque. What? Yes they do. You don't know what you're talking about. Well OUR LITTLE PRINCESS wanted barbeque, so THERE.

Ahem, although she and her brother (and mommy and daddy) loved the barbequed meats, her favorite part of the meal was dessert, when the waiter brought her a HUGE plate of ice cream for her birthday. She and her brother proceeded to eat their ice cream as any princess would....

Our Little Daredevils

What better way to spend a friends' birthday than a party around and in airplanes? Thanks Cole, for inviting us to share in your big 5th birthday party. Here's a shot of everyone practicing their skydiving initial jump technique. Psssst, I don't know WHAT my little man in the red shirt is doing, I think he jumped out backwards or something....crazy kid.

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