Our Summer Fun list

On several other blogs moms have been posting their summer list of things they want to do over the summer. Things to cure the, "I'm bored!" I don't know that we will accomplish everything on our list, but I took a few from some lists I saw that I liked and I added some local attractions to ours. If any of you local moms want to join us, please let me know! You are more than welcome and we'd love the company! I plan on coming back to this post and editing the list when we have things we can cross off. We may not do everything I listed, but it will be fun to try!

• Go to the $1 movies.
• Library storytime.
• Plant a small garden.
• Make a fun lunch. Everyone be in charge of a part of it (ie: dessert, drinks, etc.) and take it to the park and eat and play Frisbee.
• Take some white T-shirts and decorate them outside.
• Have a party with BBQ, games, and ice cream
• Family bike rides.
• Make lemonade from lemons.
• Make popsicles.
• Go to a carnival in the evening.
• Go to the library in the morning and then sit under a tree reading in the afternoon.
• Cook dinner on the grill.
• Go get an ice cream.
• Make your own ice cream (in a bag).
• Visit a museum on a hot or rainy day.
• Use a sewing machine to make a doll or a doll's dress.
• Learn how to make a custom hair bow.
• Paint on a canvas.
• Paint on the sidewalk or driveway with ice.
• Play with your food.
• Catch butterflies.
• Pick berries @ Duck Creek.
• Make a pie or jam with said berries.
• Swing on swings.
• Have a water balloon fight.
• Host a teddy bear or favorite stuffed toy themed picnic.
• Go bowling.
• Go for a round of miniature golf.
• Make snow cones.
• Eat peaches.
• Go to the Heard Muesum.
• Fill up the wagon with the hose.
• Put a baby pool at the bottom of the slide.
• Blow bubbles.
• Watch a fireworks display.
• Have a bonfire.
• Attend an Independence Day parade.
• Play in the yard with the water hose on. Make rainbows.
• Swim!
• Build a fire pit and toast s'mores.
• Build-a-Bear.
• Sleep late.
• "Here's a fun craft. Buy inexpensive flip-flops and dress them up with fabric pieces. You start at one end and work your way to the middle, then do the other side. You take a piece of fabric about 7 inches long and 1 inch wide, fold it in half, wrap it around the strap, double tie it, and there you are! You try to get them as close together as you can. My daughter loves doing this. It's easy, fun, time-consuming, and really makes a cute pair of flip-flops in any color you'd like. Great birthday party idea, too." -taken from an unpink life
• Feed the ducks at a pond.
• Have a tea party.
• Teach our children how to bake something of Mom's or Grandma's.
• Go to NRH20 or Hawaiian Falls.
• Drink an iced coffee.
• Have a drawing contest on the sidewalk with chalk.
• Make home-made play dough.
• Go to a farmer's market.
• Choose a new book at a local bookstore.
• Tint some shaving cream, spread it in a baking pan, and doodle or write words.
• Make strawberry freezer jam.
• Plan a camping trip to a state park.
• Go to Fossil Rim or Arbuckle Wilderness.
• Make homemade yogurt pops.
• Buy a disposable camera for the kids and let them record their favorite summertime fun.
• Have a bubble gum blowing contest.
• Pitch a tent in the backyard and have a "camp out".
• Visit a local farm and pick our own veggies.
• Have a treasure hunt.
• Go to the zoo.
• Learn to make jewelry.
• Visit a local public flower garden.
• Eat strawberries dipped in sugar.
• Bask in the sun. (wearing the proper SPF, of course)
• Picnic with a blanket on the kitchen floor on a rainy day.
• Go to the Aquarium.
• Make silly putty.
• Or slime.
• Star gaze.
• Have a "Spa Day" at home.
• Run through the sprinklers.
• Lay on a blanket, look up at the sky and try to figure out what the clouds look like (animals, etc.).
• Visit a local Children's Museum.
• Buy a cheap kiddie pool and sit in it while eating Popsicles.
• Play Marco Polo.
• Dance in the rain.
• Maintain our blog.
• Have a root beer float dessert night.
• Make homemade ice cream sandwiches.
• Take swimming and/or diving lessons.
• Make something pretty and refreshing to drink, with fun snacks in pretty bowls...enjoy.
• Pick out your favorite color of nail polish and sit out on the patio painting toes, giggling and just being.
• Build forts on a rainy day.
• Pack up a lunch and hit some local state parks.
• Wash the cars with daddy.
• Set up an Obsta-Cool Course.
• Have a pillow fight.
• Learn to french braid.
• Play dress-up.
• Make (and eat!) Crash Hot Potatoes.

Kaylin or Jonathan on the cover of Parents magazine?

So I submitted both kids pictures into this a while ago but I wasn't going to ask for "votes" or anything since they don't count towards the actual outcome of the winner. But then, Goodyblog went and posted this today, so I figured what the heck! Clicking below should take you to the two galleries (one for each kid) but if it doesn't, please let me know so I can fix the link!


Vote for my kid!

7 songs meme

Several of my friends have been doing this meme and tagged me. So, here are my answers.
Here is the full Meme:
You've been tagged. List the seven songs that you most closely tie to a specific memory. These songs do not have to represent your happiest memories, good memories, or even strongest memories… The connection between the memory and the song is what you should use to determine what fits the list. These songs, when you hear them, ABSOLUTELY force you to recall a specific person, time, or event. GO!

1. Good Riddance - Green Day (high school graduation)
2. I Will Remember You - Sarah McLachlan (I engraved a frame with some of the lyrics for someone before they left for college)
3. Shine - Collective Soul (my boyfriend in 7th grade dedicated this song to me on a local station)
4. Pop - *NSYNC (reminds me of the summer I worked their tour - really any song from the Pop Odyssey album does)
5. Heaven is a place on earth - Belinda Carlisle (Senior Prom)
6. Me and You - Kenny Chesney (Our first dance)
7. Bump - Kottonmouth Kings (Driving to Fort Worth with Karen)

I'm also supposed to tag 7 more people, but I'm pretty sure everyone has been tagged already. If you haven't and this looks like fun, go for it!

Swim Lessons

Here is the video of Kaylin's swim lessons, practicing her freestyle stroke. It was really windy that day so you hear a lot of wind in the camera.




And this video is of her floating and then swimming to the side.

Graduation video

Here's the video of Kaylin graduating preschool. At the end, you can see me give her a high five. I was down closer so I could get pictures. I think Jeremy is the one who took the video, and it took him awhile to figure out how to turn it on, so he missed her name.

Sweet baby boy

I just put Jonathan down for his nap and he pulled his paci out of his mouth to tell me "night night" as soon as I laid him down. He's never told me night night at nap before, although it is normal for him to tell us night night before bed. Before we gather up his blankey and paci I'll take him to Jeremy & Kaylin to tell them night night, or if Jeremy puts him to bed, he'll bring him to where I am to tell me night night. But, this was the first time he did it like this, and it just made my heart smile to know he took his paci out of his mouth just to tell me that, because as soon as I said it back, back the paci went in his mouth.

Awww, he did it again at bedtime. Only this time, he said, "Night night mama."

It's Summer...

and at our house, that means lots of time with the grill!

I'm basically putting this here so I'll always be able to find it and because I've received so many comments/emails on my Menu Plan Monday posts that I know you guys enjoy when I share recipes with you.

60 Cheap, Healthy Marinades

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?