Randomness

Today seems like a great day for randomness. I mean, it's been such random weather, my mood has been all sorts of random lately, and to top it all off, I just kinda feel like it's time to ramble a bit and empty out my brain a bit...

- I am tired.

- I find myself still having a hard time getting out of my comfy warm bed in the mornings! That is SO WRONG! Why is it that I still bundle up on the couch at night with an afgan? It's JUNE! Almost JULY! It shouldn't be cold! I should be wearing shorts and sprawled on the couch with the AC and fan on full blast!

- Dinner tonight is gonna be SO YUMMY! I am making shredded sweet pork, with baby carrots, rice, and homemade bread for dinner.

- I ate Ramen noodles for lunch, and they tasted GOOOOD! Why? I dunno. But they did.

- Tomorrow I am taking dinner to a neighbor of mine. Unfortunately, I won't be eating any of the meal I take her- since I have a family party to go to, but I am serving her one of my all time favorites. Italian Au Jus Sandwhiches with home made buns. YUMMY! And what doesn't smell better than fresh bread baking in the oven? (Which is exactly where they are right now... Here's to hoping they last til tomorrow, I may eat them all before then! YUM!)

- My house is a wreck, and I really don't feel like cleaning. I think I need a housewife. You know, someone who will clean and cook so I can focus on being a mom and playing with my kids and sleeping...

- I am tired of waiting on the holdup for my business... UGH! But you do what ya gotta...

- Lilia informed me yesterday that Lacey is annoying and she wants to get rid of her and trade her in for a boy.

- Lacey was growling (very loudly) when Lil told me the above.

- My kids make me laugh.

- Joe makes me laugh too. He is awesome.

- Lacey's language has been growing by leaps and bounds. I have to share this video with you cause it is really funny. She has her own special technique to eating cherries... I got her to showcase some of her latest words in the video too. Enjoy!

- Lilia is going through a secret telling phase. It's been all sorts of fun to hear her secrets. Mostly just confessions of love for all sorts of things. But occassionally she has a real doozy of a secret. For example, she came up to me yesterday and said, "Mom, I have a secret for you." Then she leaned in close and said, "I have to go potty cause my tummy is upset." She then broke wind, and giggled as she ran off to the bathroom. The little stinker! (Quite literally)

- I have to share one other picture with you. Ironically it is seriously the ONLY picture I took while on vacation last week. But it was funny to me.

(Notice the lock? hehehe)

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Slacker

I am sorry I have neglected my blog!  It really isn't like me to go so long without a post, but I have been super busy this last month.  

So lets go back and do a bit of catching up.  

Lacey is still up to her slathering antics...  she no longer uses peanut butter though.  She has experimented with sour cream, and found it a bit too crusty upon drying...

 Her latest is shampoo and soap.  In a 4 hour period the other day, she had 3 showers to get the different soaps and shampoos out of her hair...

Lilia is growing up SO FAST!  At the end of last month, she graduated from preschool.  They did a cute little performance, which I got on video, but unfortunately due to the wind, you can't hear a darn thing!  :(  Good thing I got a few pictures.  

At the end of it, the kids were asked what they wanted to be when they grow up.  Lil said she wants to be a ballerina. 

Each kid was also given an award.  Lil's was Most Likely to be Mistaken for the Teacher.  (Darn smart kid!)

We got bored a few weeks ago, and decided to put ponytails in our hair.  Lil and Lace giggled through the whole process and left in the ponytails all day.  Cute girls!

My girls really love their family.  Especially Uncle David (my baby brother).  

He is all kinds of fun!

Lace is also pretty partial to Grandma.  She is her cuddle buddy.  They like watching TV together.

Lilia also had to finish kindergarten registration this last week.  She had to go in to the pediatrician for her kindergarten checkup and immunizations.  She did really well- until they went to give her the shots.   They had a cute little program for the kids to follow.  After the nurse does the initial Q&A session with me, they gave her some stickers.  Then the doctor came in and did his checkup on her.  They then posed for a super cute picture of LIL being the doctor.  She was given a little bag of goodies (a bouncy ball, more stickers, some play jewelry, candy...) and finally, when they came to give her the shots, she was given a cookie and a cup of juice.  The shots didn't react well with Lil, so the cookie and juice were fed to Lacey since Lil was hovering over a garbage can.  Poor girl!  But she was a trooper and will now tell anyone who listens that she doesn't need any more shots until she is 12.  Which is "a long LOOOOONG time away!"  She was given a passport to Kindergarten, and got to write her name at the top and check off all the tests they did with stickers.

And finally- the reason I haven't posted lately-  I am in the middle of starting up a business...  it has been slow going, and I do have at least a couple more weeks before I am ready to go, but I will give you a hint as to what I am gonna be selling...

Mothers Day

My Mothers Day Weekend was pretty spectacular.  It helps that I have some pretty awesome kids and a spectacular hubby.  In  case I haven't mentioned my new resolve before, lemme just say that I have been working (yes it IS work) pretty hard to be surprised by gifts.  Due to interesting (or sometimes nosey) circumstances, for YEARS Joe couldn't surprise me with ANYTHING.  From my engagement, to Christmas and Birthday presents...  I am never surprised. I think it is partially because Joe knows EXACTLY what I want, and so do I.  I just need to think about it long enough and I will know what I am getting.

This Mothers day started on Thursday night when Joe said he needed to go run an errand.  I asked where he was going and he said, "None of your business."  Which is Joe code for "I am getting your gift.  Stop asking questions!"  SO I  didn't ask anything else.  (Aren't you proud of me?)  He and Lil left for like 2 hours and came back just after Lil's bedtime.  He then cautioned me to stay out of the garage.  Which I did.

The next day, after Joe left for work I DID ask him one question... am I still banned from the garage, cause I gotta take the dog out to go potty...  Nope.  I was safe.  The item in question was in the car.  Which was with him at work.

That night, I was banished to the bedroom so Joe could move the item in question down to our basement.  Later, Joe said he was gonna give me my gift early.  He gave me a kiss on the cheek and said, "Happy Ol' Lady's Day!"  Then he asked Lil if she had a gift for me.  Lil ran to her room and came back with a little purple envelope.  The envelope contained a 1 hr. massage.  :)  Yay!  So, of course, to tease Joe I said, "So I had to hide in the bedroom and stay out of the garage because of this gift card?"  To which he flashed a conspratorial smile. We both knew there was more to it.  He then revealed that the remainder of the gift (Lacey's part I guess...) would take time with me out of the house.  Well what do ya know, I was gonna be spending ALL DAY Saturday with my mom!

Saturday, after the typical routine (grocery shopping) Lacey and I headed off to my mom's for the day, where Mom taught me how to make jewelry:

(I made these)

Joe and Lil stayed home, went to a family baseball game, and eventually joined me and Lace at my mom's for dinner.  During dinner Lil came up and said, "Mom, I have a secret for you."  This is something she does QUITE regularly...  It's usually, "I love you." or "I love Daddy!" or "I love Pizza."  WELL- this time the secret was:

"Daddy and I stayed home and worked REALLY HARD on the present in your bathroom!"

CRAP!  I know what I got.

I mean, YAY!  I got a medicine cabinet!  BUT- CRAP!  It's not a surprise!  I managed to make it ALMOST all the way with it being a surprise.  But a mere TWO HOURS before we went home the secret was spoiled by a well meaning sneaky 4 year old.  How was she to know that the ONLY thing missing from my bathroom, the ONLY thing I have wanted in there since we moved in was a medicine cabinet?  

I tried to be surprised when I got home, but I must not be very good at it, cause as soon as I gave Joe (and Lacey) a big hug and kiss, he asked, "So, how long have you known?"  MY response:  ::SIGH::  "Two hours... (head hung in shame- then speaking very fast), but I swear Lil didn't MEAN to tell me, and I was really surprised which STYLE you got, and I love it, and I had NO IDEA until she told me.  You did GOOD!"

See?  He did good!

As promised, and then some...

The picture of Lilia with a red mustache and knee...

Then there is just some random cuteness that is my kids.

That would be peanut butter on her hands and arms...

Leftover cuteness from Easter

Lacey loves Lil's boots.  

Seeing Red

Today, my oldest child WHO DEFINITELY KNOWS BETTER took a permanent marker to her body.   I knew the permanent marker was next to my laptop (in a fairly high location put away where Lacey couldn't get to it) but I figured Lil would have known better than to play with it.  Oh how wrong I was! She gave herself a bright red mustache, colored both her knees and a little on both her arms. Now, though I knew she was gonna be dealing with the red for at least a few days, and I was angry, a little, I still was trying to hide my smile while I took pictures.  It is hard not to find some humor in the situation, that is, until I got a good look at my laptop...   

As background here, Lil has had full access to our old desktop computer for the last year or more.  We had her set up with her own password and parental controls set so she could play with only certain games and websites.  Well- the computer finally kicked the bucket last week.  It was an old computer and had lived a good life...  Back when Lil was a bit younger she had taken a crayon to the computer screen.  She had gotten in significant trouble for that little act.  Luckily, crayon is easy to clean off a computer screen.  WELL-until we can afford to replace or get Lil her own computer, Lil has been using MY LAPTOP to play her games.  I set her up with her own account and games.  But--  she was under strict instructions that she is not to color on or around the computer.  

Just so ya know, permanent marker is easily removable from most hard surfaces (with a bit of hairspray), though it seems it doesn't come off laptop mouse pads so well.  Needless to say she has been given a lifetime ban from playing on my laptop.  

Maybe when I am in a better mood I will post the picture of her with the marker all over her face...

Food for Thought Friday

I found this recipe online this last week, and can I just tell you how ABSOLUTELY AMAZING it is?  I was very happy with how this turned out.  My only word of advice?  Make sure you are as close to right on as you can be with the weight of the meat, if you have too much it could be a bit dry...

Pineapple and Green Chile Pork Burritos

1 lb. boneless pork chops (I used thick cut chops)

1 (8 oz.) can crushed pineapple

1 cup salsa verde (green salsa, or tomatillo salsa- it's all the same)

1 (4 oz.) can green chiles

1/3 cup brown sugar

Combine all ingredients in the crockpot.  Cook on high for 5-6 hours or on low for 8-10.  I definitely recommend cooking it on Low.  It shreds easier.  Using tongs, squeeze the chops to shred the meat.  Serve on flour or fresh corn tortillas with some lettuce, cheese, rice, and tomatoes or any other burrito toppings.  For my rice, I used white rice and added a bit of lime juice and cilantro.  

This recipe is SO TASTY!  And for those of you in my neck of the woods, it is nothing like Cafe Rio (or Costa Vida) pork, but it IS sweet and very VERY good!

Food for "thought" Friday

This recipe was introduced to me by my husband. His mom always called it Eggs Benedict. Which was NOT the same. My husband ordered eggs benedict a few years back at a restaurant and was, quite frankly, disgusted by what he was served. The next day I made him his mom's Eggs Benedict. It is an Easter tradition in our house. As are egg salad sandwhiches.

"Eggs Benedict"

3 T. butter
3 T. flour
1 1/2 c. milk
1-2 c. grated cheddar cheese
salt and pepper
3-4 hard boiled eggs, chopped up or diced
Toast

In a medium sauce pan melt butter over medium heat. Add flour and stir with a whisk until the roux turns a golden color (about 2 minutes or so). Quickly add all the milk and stir with a wisk until mixture boils. Add salt, pepper and cheese. Once the cheese is melted, add chopped boiled eggs.

Serve over warm buttered toast. OH so yummy!