Ear infections

Blech! I have my first ear infection in years. Now I remember why the kids are so darn miserable when they get one. Good thing I had a stash of drops in practically every medicine cabinet in the house. And I already had a chiropractor appointment tomorrow, so I'm going to see if he'll also adjust my ear so it will drain properly. I've had him adjust the kids each time they've had an ear infection and it seems to work. They are back to normal the next day or so. At any rate, Jeremy got sick of my random shrieks of pain so he made me go to the doctor this afternoon. Two prescriptions for drops and I'm back home, typing this with my head sideways to let the pain drops work their magic before I attempt sleep with the help of my trusty heating pad.

Menu Plan Monday

Monday: Lemon Garlic Shrimp Skewers

Tuesday: General Tso's Chicken

Wednesday: Pulled Pork sandwiches

Thursday: Spicy Macaroni & Corn

Friday: Bourbon Chicken

Saturday: Leftovers or Eat out

Sunday: Mongolian Beef with brown rice

Kid updates

Jonathan seems to say a new word a day now. Every time we turn around he's repeating us. Some new ones that I can remember.
* all gah (all gone)
* cah-kee (cookie)
* ni-ni (night night)
* bye bye mimi (when my mom leaves or we leave their house)
* bye bye papa (when my dad leaves or we leave their house)
* mine! (he says this A LOT to Kaylin)
* He'll grab his nose if you ask him where it is
* He'll lift his shirt if you ask where his belly or belly button is
* If you ask if he's poopy he grabs his diaper and says something that starts with a P
* He loves turning the lights on and off for us and will say "on" and "ah" (that F is a tough sound!)

Kaylin is taking swimming lessons with Mr. Bob again this summer. Her lessons started on Monday and they spent Monday and Tuesday doing the things she learned last year. In Wednesdays class she learned the freestyle stroke and in today's lesson she learned the back stroke. Tomorrow I'll take my video camera get some video to post here.

Today, Jeremy and I celebrated our 3rd anniversary. Jeremy brought Pei Wei home for dinner, so I didn't have to cook. Saturday my mom is watching the kids and we will go out to a local steakhouse and hopefully catch a movie or something else that we don't get to do often.

My current favorite lotions

I was lucky enough to receive samples of two new lotions and I have enjoyed using them so much, I figured I could share the wealth with you! I'll write an update on the kids in a later post.

Dove Cream Oil Lotion for extra dry skin. I love the smell of this lotion! I don't know what it is about it, but I just love the scent. I also like the way it makes my skin feel. My skin is very dry, so this didn't feel greasy to me at all because my skin just sucked it right up! It leaves my arms feeling nice and moisturized and not with a damp, sticky feeling that you get after using some lotions.

Aveeno Daily Moisturizing lotion with SPF 15 I use Aveeno Daily Moisturizing lotion on a regular basis after I get out of the shower, and throughout the day, so when I got invited to do a Bzz campaign on the new one, with added SPF, I was really excited! We all know we should wear sunscreen daily, but how many of us actually do? I know I don't. So, to know that I would always put this lotion on anyway, and know the sunscreen was already in there is was just an added bonus. I hate sticky and/or greasy lotions and this lotion doesn't have either of those traits. It also has natural colloidal oatmeal in it, which helps when my skin gets so dry that it's itchy.

I have 4 samples and $1 off coupons for the Aveeno lotion for anyone that is interested. If I am going to see you anytime soon and you want to try it out yourself, let me know!

It's finally here!

I've been waiting for this movie to come out since rumors started swirling right after the series ended on HBO. And my moment finally came. I went out with some girlfriends to see the premiere at 12:01 last night. We didn't get home until almost 3:30 am and dare I say, it was worth it! Best movie ever, but functioning on the 3.5 hours of sleep I got is not any fun at all and I woke up with a headache. I already want to see it again and absolutely cannot wait for it to come out on DVD so I can own it, along with seasons 1-3 & 6. Yes, I'm missing seasons 4 & 5 still. Need to remedy that too, while I'm at it!

Menu Plan Monday

Monday: BBQ chicken, baked beans, coleslaw, fruit
Tuesday: Dinner Station Cheesy Brunch Bake and fruit
Wednesday: Baked Teriyaki Chicken (but I will use breasts) with frozen veggies
Thursday: BBQ Ranch Chicken Salad
Friday: Grilled pizza and salad
Saturday: Southwestern Steak, Corn, and Black bean wraps
Sunday: German pancakes with scrambled eggs

I also plan on making Crustless Strawberry Pie sometime this week. Unless I get a recipe for a different pie from my friend Meg before I go grocery shopping.
4 servings, 1 point per serving

Ingredients

1 3/4 cups boiling water
1 small pkg. sugar-free gelatin
**1 small pkg. sugar-free cook 'n serve vanilla pudding
1/4 cup cold water
4 cups sliced strawberries, no sugar added

Instructions

In medium microwave-proof bowl, comine gelatin and boiling water. Stir to dissolve.
In separate bowl, combine cold water and vanilla pudding. Stir until smooth. Add the gelatin mixture and mix well.
Microwave mixture until boiling (will look like a glaze.)
Cool to room temperature.
Pour glaze over berries. Mix gently. Pour into sprayed 9" pie pan. Chill until very firm. Top each serving with 2 t. fat-free whipped topping.

Special Notes

**Be sure to use cook 'n serve pudding, not instant.

HUGE picture update

So, I've uploaded a TON of pictures to our albums. The rest of the pictures from April (oops!), the kids hamming it up around the house, pictures from our trip to TN, Uncle Adam's graduation, Kaylin's preschool graduation, and our trip to Scarborough Faire (without the kids). Click on the pictures to be taken to the albums.

April album

From April 2008

May album

From May 2008

I've been tagged

A - Attached or Single: Attached
B - Best Friend(s): Allison, Karen
C - Cake or Pie: Cake, unless it's peach pie

D - Day of Choice: Sunday

E - Essential Item: Mascara

F - Favorite Color(s): Pink and green

G - Gummy Bears or Worms: Gummy Bears

H - Hometown: Duarte, California

I - Indulgence(s): Spa days

J - January or July: January, the month of my baby boy's birthday

K- Kids: I have two

L - Life is incomplete without: Family

M - Marriage Date: June 5, 2005

N - Number of Siblings: 2 sisters & 1 brother

O - Oranges or Apples: Oranges, especially when they are nice & juicy!

P- Phobias or Fears: Something happening to my family or to me and I wouldn't be able to take care of my family

Q - Quote: "Where there is great love there are always miracles"

R- Ring size: 7

S- Season: Spring when all the flowers bloom & Fall when the colors change

T- Tag 3 Friends: Heck, I don't think anyone else reads this that hasn't already done this. If you haven't done this already, I tag you!

U - Unknown fact about me: I almost drowned when I was six

V - Very favorite stores: Target and Costco

W - Worst Habit: Biting my nails

X-ray or Ultrasound: Ultrasounds, but only when I get to see a baby!

Y - Your Favorite Food(s): Mexican, Japanese and fruit

Z - Zodiac: Sagittarius

Happy Mother's Day

I think this has been my favorite Mother's Day thus far. This is the first year Kaylin seems to have really understood Mother's Day and been excited about it. I know I didn't word that right, because she's understood it in the past - this year was just...different. Saturday she started telling me...
Kaylin: Mommy, I want to make you breakfast in bed for Mother's Day!
Me: We're going to Mimi's house.
Kaylin: Well then I'll help Mimi make you breakfast!
Sunday morning she woke me up by tapping me on the arm -
Kaylin: Mommy, daddy isn't here, I need him to take me to Mimi's house so I can make your breakfast.
Little did I know, Jeremy was out buying me roses. They are beautiful. White roses with pink tips, some of my favorite and also the same kind he proposed with! I won't get my actual present for awhile yet. It's a Wii Fit which won't even be released until May 21st, but I really wanted it! So, we pre-ordered one and it will ship once it's in stock. My parents bought me the Willow Tree Grandfather figurine. Mom said she thought it was a father and son. Which is fine, I still love it!

For brunch, we had - baked french toast casserole, fruit salad, ham, bacon, mushroom quiche and then MUCH later, for dessert, pineapple coconut bars and strawberry shortcake. I also took a nap in between brunch & dessert. Later on, I went grocery shopping for snacks for our trip to Tennessee next week. And I bought myself sushi for dinner. Nothing better than eating sushi in your pajamas! All in all - a WONDERFUL mother's day!

Kaylin is too funny!

Kaylin: Mommy, there was a pigeon in our flower bed!
Me: Really? A pigeon? Cool!
Kaylin: Yeah, you know, a CITY bird.

For some reason that made me laugh so hard. Like "a city bird" couldn't possibly fly all the way out here to us in the sticks! Then she continued on and on about the city and how she's never been there, and asking me, "when are you going to take me to the city?" I still haven't figured out what city it is she wants to go to!

Second Chance Bachelorette - mommy night out!

While I was planning our wedding I found a local message board with other girls that were also planning their wedding or were recently married. Over the years, we've had several gatherings for happy hour, dinners, etc. and a handful of us have become pretty close friends. Close enough that we talk with each other on, pretty much, a daily basis. Well, at one point bachelorette parties were brought up in conversation and several of the girls stated they wish they could do it over, because their first bachelorette party wasn't fun. Not me! Mine was lots of fun! Anyway... So a second chance one was planned for anyone who wanted to partake. It was Saturday night and we.had. a.blast!

About 18 of us split 3 hotel rooms at Embassy Suites in Dallas, only 14 of us spent the night. Embassy Suites holds a Manager's cocktail reception every evening with free snacks, beer, wine, and cocktails. So, we all checked in to our respective rooms and then headed downstairs. We all grabbed a drink (or two) and some snacks and sat around and chatted with each other while we enjoyed our drinks & snacks. We all headed back upstairs to get dressed & ready for dinner and our night out.

We split into two different groups to head to the restaurant, Victory Tavern. The first group was in the hotel shuttle, while the other group was in a cab, paid for by the hotel (score!). We had dinner, some more drinks and still more talking. Because that's just what you do when you get a group of women together! Well, maybe I should amend my previous statement. The other girls had drinks. I had a few sips. I had ordered a Lemon Drop martini. I've had these enough times before to know what to expect. I swear to all that's holy - what they gave me was rubbing alcohol in a sugar rimmed martini glass. It was horrid! It was passed around our entire table and only two of the girls disagreed and said it actually didn't taste bad. So, I let Jess B. have it since she thought it tasted fine.

Once dinner was over, we had to split into two groups again to head to The Rose Room, a drag queen show! Since this was a second chance bachelorette party, a couple of the girls were wearing veils. This is a popular place to head for bachelorette parties, so the MC called all the bachelorettes on stage. The girls wearing veils went up there, even though they are technically already married. They had to "compete" for sexiest bride to be by dancing and walking the catwalk. It was very funny and such a sight because I have some silly friends! Our friend Sars (her real name is Sarah), bumped one of the other girls out of the way because she was taking so long on the catwalk. She got a bunch of cheers out of the room for that one. Once that was over, a shot for all the bachelorettes, on the house! Dianthe made friends with the cute gay guys across the aisle from us, Dave & Greg. They bought us all a shot! Free drinks from gay boys are the best! Because you know they don't have an ulterior motive!

Once the drag show was over we all spread out over the club - downstairs on the dance floor, in the lounge/bar area sitting on couches talking, some girls headed back to the hotel. I headed into the lounge and talked some more with some of the girls in there, had another drink then we headed downstairs to find the others. When I got to the dance floor a Justin Timberlake song was on and Dianthe ran up to saying, "Where were you? Justin came on and I was looking for you all over!" Haha! What can I say, she knows me! So, I danced to Justin and I may have even oogled a little at the video playing on the screens and then Meg asked if I was as tired as she was and ready to head back to the hotel. I was, so we did. We caught a cab out front and headed back. Once back to the hotel we talked for a little longer and then I headed to my room for the night. I was the only one staying in my room that was already back, so I tried to get some sleep. Naturally, right when I was falling asleep Dianthe calls my cell and asks me if I was already up in the room and let me know they were headed up. They came in like gang busters - all loud, wound up from dancing & drunk and there went my sleep! Then we stayed up talking until 4am. We slept in until 10 am and headed downstairs to hopefully grab some breakfast before it stopped at 10:30 and we just made it. We stood in the line for pancakes & omelets and by the time we made it over to the bacon, because Dianthe had requested bacon, they had already put the bacon up. So, some of us had omelets and others had pancakes and that was it! Oh, and Jess grabbed a bagel for herself & ReJana.

I had a TON of fun - but I definitely can't do that often!

May...already?

I cannot believe it is already May! May, the month my baby girl is done with preschool....FOREVER! How bittersweet it is. On the one hand, I am sad that my baby girl is getting so big. So big, that we have Kindergarten Round-up (registration) next week! Tuesday night we'll go up to the elementary school and we'll register her for school, she'll tour the school, get to tour the bus (that she wants to ride and Mommy won't let her!), meet the Kindergarten teachers, etc. She's going to be a kindergartener! Holy crap! On the other hand, I'm really really looking forward to watching her grow into a young lady.
She's not that little baby anymore!

She has her preschool graduation on May 20th. The week before that, we'll drive up to Tennessee to visit Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Adam, Uncle Austin, Aunt Jacque, and Jacob and Nicholas. Where we'll watch Uncle Adam graduate from high school. Kaylin is excited to see Grandma & Grandpa, but I think she's extra excited to see her cousins. And I think she'll be even more excited once she realizes that Jacob will actually be old enough for her to play with now. Last time we were up there he had just turned 1, so not exactly old enough for a 4 year old to play with. But I think she'll have a little more fun with a 2 year old! I know Jonathan will just have a blast having a little boy around his age to play with.

Okay, Jonathan just woke up from an almost 3 hour nap - screaming, so I guess I am done here!

Thanks, Meg!

My friend Meg made our pretty new header! Isn't it fun?

Happy Earth Day!

46 simple ways to help the environment

THE DISHWASHER: Use it. Contrary to popular eco-belief, it's greener than hand-washing - if you run it with full loads and scrape rather than rinse. The average dishwasher in American homes today uses 8.7 gallons of water a load. Washing by hand for 10 minutes with water running can use 20 gallons. If you fill the sink, you still use about 5 gallons for washing, 5 for rinsing.
LAUNDRY: Wash only full loads of laundry and save (the average American home) as much as 3,400 gallons of water a year.
DRYING LAUNDRY: Do not over-dry laundry. An electric dryer operating an extra 15 minutes a load can cost you up to $34 a year in wasted energy; a gas dryer, $21 a year. If your dryer has a moisture sensor that turns the machine off automatically when clothes are dry, use it.
WATER-SAVING PLANTING: Plan for wise watering. Group thirsty plants in one bed close to the house. Fill farther beds with drought-tolerant perennials that need little or no watering. For lawns, choose buffalo grass, which tolerates dry spells better than St. Augustine. Mulch around trees and plants to keep water from evaporating.
THE GARBAGE DISPOSAL: Use it. It's greener to feed the disposal than it is to encapsulate food waste in a plastic garbage bag and send it to the landfill. Sent down the disposal and into the sewer line, organic waste gets treated by the sanitary district.
HOME ELECTRONICS: Power them off. A home office with a computer, printer, fax machine, computer speakers, scanner and cordless phone could consume as much power as two 75-watt light bulbs left on 24/7. And that could cost you $100 a year in electricity. Plug equipment into a surge protector-power strip. Power off all equipment and then turn off the power strip at the end of the day.
THERMOSTATS: Get a programmable thermostat and save as much as $150 a year. Set it way up (in the summer) or way down (in winter) when everyone's at work or at school and when they're asleep. And program it to turn up the heat (in winter) or air conditioning (in summer) shortly before folks get home or shortly before they wake up.
LEAKY TOILET: Fix it now. A leaky toilet can waste 200 gallons of water a day. Check for leaks by adding food coloring to the tank. If you have a leak, color will appear in the bowl within 15 minutes. Flush as soon as you're done with this test to avoid staining the bowl. It is estimated that 2 out of every 10 toilets in the United States leak. Those two leakers can waste as much as 146,000 gallons of water a year. That's enough water for a family of four to wash clothes in their washing machine for eight years.
NEWSPAPERS: A year's worth of papers from a big-city daily weighs nearly a half-ton. Every ton of paper that gets recycled saves the equivalent of 17 trees, saves enough energy to power an average home for six months, saves 7,000 gallons of water and keeps 60 pounds of pollutants out of the air.
LIGHT BULBS: Switch to compact fluorescent light bulbs. If you replace five of your most-used incandescent bulbs with CFLs, you can save $25 to $65 a year in energy costs. CFLs use two-thirds less energy than incandescent bulbs, generate 70 percent less heat and last up to 10 times longer. They do contain a small amount of mercury - but the benefits of using CFLs outweigh the mercury issue.
HAND SOAP: Rediscover good ol' bar soap. And eliminate the plastic bottle waste that comes with using liquid soaps.
THE MICROWAVE: Yes, use it instead of the oven and stove to reheat food or cook small portions. You will reduce cooking energy by as much as 80 percent.
COOKING ON THE STOVE: Match pots to the appropriate-size burner. A 6-inch pot on an 8-inch burner wastes more than 40 percent of the burner's heat. Using the right-size pot can save you as much as $36 a year with an electric range, as much as $18 with a gas range.
WATER FOR LAUNDRY: Forgo the hot water when doing laundry. Heating water to "hot" accounts for 90 percent of the machine's washing energy; only 10 percent goes to power the motor. Switching to "cold" can save the average household more than $400 annually with an electric water heater and $300 annually with a gas heater.
MORE ON WATER FOR LAUNDRY: And get over the idea that you need hot water to kill nasties. Cold-water laundering is perfectly healthful in most situations at home, with a couple of caveats. One: If you suffer from allergies, you might need a shot of heat, which you can get from tossing the laundry into a hot dryer for 10 minutes. Here's how it goes: If your problem is pollen or mold spores, cold water (and detergent) can rinse those out of your laundry as well as hot water. You need no heat on the situation. If your problem is animal dander or dust mites, you need some heat. Putting your laundry in a hot dryer (120 to 130 degrees) will kill those allergens. You don't need to precede that with a hot water wash. It's overkill.
The other big caveat: infectious diseases. If your family is dealing with something like E. Coli or norovirus (the cruise ship virus) or food poisoning or excessive diarrhea, all of which result in high levels of bacteria or virus in the environment, you need bleach. The hot water setting on most home washing machines is not hot enough to kill these. Add bleach with a cool or warm water setting and then follow with a hot dryer.
MORE ON DRYING LAUNDRY: Clean the lint trap before every load. It's the safe thing to do and the efficient thing to do. A clean trap can save as much as $35 a year in energy costs.
GET ORGANIZED: Do your own (linen, storage) closet systems with a bunch of inexpensive clear plastic boxes/bins. Stash all sorts of household essentials in their own box - for instance, tape, ribbon, razors, soap, shampoo, etc. That way you can see what you already have at home and won't be tempted to overbuy.
MULTIPLE-USE PRODUCTS: Pay attention to all the single-use items in your daily life - the throwaway plastic water bottles, paper napkins, paper towels, disposable wipes. And try to figure out alternatives: reusable water bottles; cloth napkins; microfiber dusting cloths that can be washed and reused.
CLEANING TILES: Keep shower tiles sparkling clean without using chemicals. After a shower, use a microfiber cloth or chamois to wipe down tiles and fixtures or for glass, use a squeegee.
BRUSHING TEETH: Turn off the tap when brushing your teeth and save as much as 10 gallons a day, a person. For a family of four, that's 14,600 gallons of water a year.
RECYCLING ETIQUETTE: -Rinse out cans and bottles before throwing them into a recycling bin to discourage vermin and keep food waste off paper.
-Remove caps from bottles, since they are made of different materials. But don't bother trying to remove the plastic or metal rings that are often left from caps on glass bottles.
-It's best to keep paper recyclables dry until collection day. But a night in the rain isn't fatal.
-Don't risk cutting yourself by trying to remove the metal tops from cardboard tubes (in products such as scouring powder and ready-to-bake cinnamon rolls). Separation is ideal, but most recycling programs will process the item anyway, either as metal or mixed paper.
SODA CANS: They're small, but not insignificant. Recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to run a television or operate a computer for three hours.
PLASTIC NEWSPAPER SLEEVES: Reuse the sleeves that your newspaper comes wrapped in. Wrap paintbrushes in them if you're midway through a project but have to stop for the day. The plastic sleeve will keep the brush soft for up to a day and saves water normally used for rinsing brushes. You can also use them to slide shoes into when packing.
PRINTER CARTRIDGES - RECYCLE: Office Depot, OfficeMax and Staples take back ink and toner cartridges - and hand you a $3 store coupon for your effort.
PRINTER CARTRIDGES - REFILL: Walgreens and OfficeMax offer in-store refilling stations in some of their stores. Bring in your empty printer cartridge and a store clerk will refill it on the spot (or in a matter of 10 minutes or so) and at a price that beats buying a new one. Walgreens charges $10 for black cartridge refills, $15 for color. Check the Web site (walgreens.com) for the list of refillable cartridges and for the list of participating stores. OfficeMax charges $12.49 to $26.99; call stores to inquire about participation; visit officemax.com for store locations or call 800-283-7674.
PESTICIDES: Avoid using them in your garden and yard. Build up healthy soil instead to help prevent disease. Use barriers such as netting or cutworm collars. Wash aphids away with spray from the hose. Encourage beneficial insects that eat harmful ones. And learn to tolerate a few weeds, spots or insects if it's only an aesthetic problem.
FERTILIZERS: Don't over-fertilize. Plants only can absorb so much; the rest washes away to pollute waterways. Follow directions or err on the side of less. Look for organic fertilizers that release nutrients slowly.
NATIVE PLANTS: Use them in your garden. They know how to fend for themselves; they're adapted to the local climate, soils and pests. That means less watering and fewer chemicals.
WATERING THE GARDEN: Don't sprinkle more than necessary or in the heat of the day when much water evaporates. Put drip irrigation and soaker hoses on timers to water at night or in the early morning. Water lawns long and deep once a week, not lightly and frequently.
SAVE THE RAIN: Put a rain barrel under a downspout to collect free water for the garden. And/or make yourself a rain garden by making a bed designed to collect rainwater so it can be absorbed by deep-rooted natives and perennials.
COMPOST: It is the basic ingredient of good soil. Start with a simple heap of plant material or buy a bin to keep out animals.
GARDEN PLASTICS: Keep them at bay. Take cardboard boxes to the nursery and leave plastic nursery flats behind. Look for plants grown in biodegradable containers. And start seeds in yogurt cups or other recyclable containers (poke a hole for drainage and wash in a 10 percent bleach solution).
THE ORGANIC SEAL OF APPROVAL: The term "organic" should mean produced without chemical fertilizers, fungicides or herbicides - but it's best to ask. If you see the OMRI (Organic Materials Research Institute) seal, it means the product has met a strict standard.
GARDEN POWER: Consider electric yard equipment - and your own muscles. Electric mowers, string trimmers, leaf blowers and hedge trimmers create less pollution and are more energy-efficient than gas ones. Even better: manual equipment.
TREES: Plant them. They're like giant air filters. One mature tree takes care of the pollution caused by 13 cars.
SCREEN-SAVERS: Get rid of them. It takes more energy to run those floating toasters or even a static image than it does to have your computer and monitor go into a low-power mode. Unlike 10 years ago, the screen-saver does not extend the life of your monitor. Killing it could save $50 to $100 a year on your electric bill over a year's time.
OLD CLOTHING: Reinvent clothes. Turn children's jeans with worn-out knees into shorts. Reinvent clothes that you still like and still fit, but have minor "style" problems - for example, hemlines that need to be shortened significantly. Many dry cleaners employ seamstresses for those who can't (or can't find the time) to do it themselves.
OLD CLOTHING - PART 2: Be conscious of how you dispose of well-worn clothes. They're not likely to end up on the shelves of your local thrift store. (In 2005, an estimated 11.1 million tons of textiles were generated as municipal solid waste, only 15.3 percent of which was recovered for export or reprocessing.) The Salvation Army, AMVETS and Unique Thrift Stores are three organizations that work hard to divert all types of unsold fabric from landfills. (Many charities sell unsold clothes to textile recycling companies, which in turn sell wearable items to wholesalers overseas, where demand is high. The really worn stuff could be turned into cleaning cloths or filler inside your mattress or car's interior roof.)
DRIVING: Three simple ways to improve your mileage:
1. Don't drive aggressively. Speeding, rapid acceleration and hard braking can lower your highway gas mileage by as much as 33 percent and city mileage by as much as 5 percent.
2. Don't go super-fast. Driving 75 mph instead of 65 mph can cut fuel economy by as much as 15 percent.
3. Keep up with your car's maintenance. Clean air filters can improve gas mileage by as much as 10 percent. Properly inflated and aligned tires improve mileage by about 3 percent.
REUSE: Check out freecycle.org. It's a kind of eBay experience - but without the financial gain. The city-specific site allows people to post items they want to get rid of and others who live close by, in turn, to "shop" for something they need. No money is exchanged between parties.
KITTY LITTER: Consider alternative litter. There are more earthy-friendly, organic options than the standard clay litters, which pile up in landfills. Among them: Feline Pine (made of pine), Sweat Scoop (wheat) and World's Best Cat Litter (corn). When it's time to change the litter, you can let organic litters biodegrade naturally by dumping them in your yard - far, far away from where kids may roam and from the veggie garden and compost. If you would rather not engage your yard, you still can go green with a biodegradable liner for the cat pan. (Biobags makes one; order at dirtworks.net).

Our Annual Bluebonnet pictures

Jonathan wanted nothing to do with taking pictures. He was much more interested in exploring for himself and this definitely did not involve sitting down and getting a picture with his sister!



The one shot I managed to get of them together.


Fine, I'll take pictures of the pretty flowers instead.


It was windy and overcast and Kaylin was getting cold. So, we headed home. Maybe we'll try again before bluebonnet season ends.

Curly Kaylin

So, I heard about this book called Curly Girl by Lorraine Massey and it teaches you how to take care of curly hair. Since I'm tired of Kaylin's hair always looking a mess, I figured I needed to get a copy and read to see if there is anything I could do to make her hair look better.

I couldn't believe the difference it made in only two days. And the book says it can take 2-3 weeks to reach the peak of healthiness. Hopefully this will work for us!





Oh, and my little diva is wearing lipstick in this photo. While I was doing her hair that night, she was going through my lipsticks and asked me if she could have a few that I don't wear.

Jonathan pictures

This is Jonathan holding a light saber. Daddy is so proud of his little padawan.

Kaylin is so big!

So, I had heard a lot about these BOB books that help teach children to read. Everyone told me I could find them at Costco but I would either forget to look for them, or the Costco I was at wouldn't have them. Well, I remembered on my trip today. So, I picked up the first two sets. Kaylin and I worked on the first book for about 10 minutes. She knows which letters make which sounds so I figured it would go by quickly. She learned how to sound out the words, but had some problems with putting the sounds together to form a word. She got the hang of it eventually.

Here's a video of Kaylin reading the first book in the series.

Officially Spring!

It is officially spring at the Leuwerke house! It's the second time Jeremy has mowed the yard, but we are planting verbena, azalea and liriope a.k.a monkey grass. We kick off our spring gardening every year the weekend of the April races at Texas Motor Speedway. That way, we don't have to leave and deal with the traffic. I will post some pictures when it's complete and looks the way I want it to. We didn't get the soil conditioner yet for the azalea, so they won't be planted until tomorrow when we can pick some of that up.

Next weekend, Jeremy has a dodgeball tournament after work on Saturday and the kids and I will attend the Redbud Festival in Denton, with my parents. Then, on Sunday, Jonathan will go over to my parent's house and hang out with them while Kaylin, Jeremy and I head to Six Flags for Jeremy's company picnic. Kaylin is so excited to ride the rides. We'll see how many she actually gets on. She keeps calling Jeremy a chicken because he doesn't ride roller coasters. I plan on taking our new video camera with us and will hopefully get some video of her on a few rides. Maybe she can actually talk Jeremy into something more than the mine train!

Photo meme

If you read it you gotta do it!

1. Go to photobucket.com
2. Type in your answer for each question into the Photobucket search bar.
3. Only use the first two pages. Choose your favorite photo to represent your answer.
4. Copy the html and paste it here.
5. You can only answer in picture form.


what's your name?


when is your birthday?


What kind of car do you drive


Where did you go to school


What's your favorite season


What’s your favorite type of shoe


What's your status


What's your favorite movie- this is always changing

What's your favorite song - this is always constantly changing

What's your favorite Disney character


What's your favorite vacation destination


What's your favorite dessert


What's your favorite drink


What are you most afraid of


What's your favorite tv show