Monday, May 30, 2011

Memorial Day



Happy Memorial day to all and Thank You to all the wonderful men and women who have bravely served for our freedom!



The Mister was able to come home from work early in the morning so we spent the whole day together as a family and it couldn't have been more perfect! We decided to bring our teeny grill to the front yard so we could spend the day lounging.



(We bought that giant "Sports Umbrella" from sports authority last year.  It folds up and goes into a bag the size of a folded up lawn chair, (like the one the Mister is sitting on).  I highly recommend it to anyone who likes to frequent places like the beach or do not fare well in the sun, like me. It is amazing.)


The Mister made some delicious corn on the cob, which is a family staple in this house.

















Since it was ridiculously humid outside I busted out not one, but two baby pools.  Rhiannon had a great idea for them.





We then just lounged the rest of the afternoon away in our little urban oasis.  Naps were had, discussions took place and Rhiannon and I even got a few games of yahtzee in.  The best part was this all happened outside in the beautiful afternoon.


After nap time we decided to go and check out a carnival that was being held at a school across town.  It was really fun!




Clara rode the Carousel and didn't like it at all!






She started out okay but as you can tell by that facial expression above she was quickly over it.  




Rhiannon wasn't impressed with this ride either,









She did love lots of other ones.  They had the gravity ride (same one that they have every year at the June Jamboree).  She rode that about four times.  Then we went on the ship ride together which is my absolute favorite ride ever!  We ended the carnival fun with one of the scariest rides I have ever been on in my whole entire life.  Let me tell you how it went.

They start off by putting you in a padded cage.  This instantly made me claustrophobic.

This padded cage you're trapped in flips around in a circle.

Then they make the cages go around in an oval really really really quickly which makes your cage spin upside down and all around in circles really really really quickly as well.

I screamed the entire time believing I was about to be thrown into the sky and die in one of the nastiest padded cages in the whole entire world.  Rhiannon, I will never go on anything like that with you again.  Ever.


 

Sunday, May 29, 2011

Thunderstorm Madness

WARNING:  Before you read any further I must inform you that Rhiannon say's we look incredibly stupid.

I've never seen someone look more happy about looking stupid.


That being said, we had a huge weekend and its not even close to being over.  Yesterday was Rhiannon's birthday.  Now that the seven girls who helped us celebrate are no longer screaming, running up down and all around, getting girlied up, dancing everywhere or spraying asinine amounts of perfume I barely have enough energy to do anything, including blogging.  Tomorrow I will write all about our amazing journeys in birthday land but for today I'll just share how the girls and I spent the afternoon.  Also, a big fat thank you to the Mister for helping me clean all the the party mess away.

Mister, I think you're amazing and I'm glad you're mine.  ♥♥♥♥♥




















Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Watermelon Sorbet + Tequila = Amazing

I made some watermelon lime sorbet for the Mister's birthday.  It was okay, a little on the sweet side.  I also had bought a handle bottle of Tequila for the misters birthday thinking we were going to have a bunch of people over.  We didn't have anybody over.


So now I have a huge bowl of sorbet in the freezer as well as a giant bottle of tequila silently willing me to drink it.  

Whats a girl to do?

Combine them, of course!

I made myself a Watermelon Lime Margarita last night and Damn was that good!




WATERMELON LIME SORBET

  • 6 to 7 cups of watermelon chunks (seedless watermelon works best.  This will be about 1/2 a watermelon.)
  • The juice of three limes
  • 1 1/4 cups sugar*
  • 1 1/4 cups water
(*Next time I make this I will be using less sugar.  This was a little to sweet for my family's liking.  If you use less sugar make sure you have the same sugar/water ratio.)

Bring your water and sugar to a boil.  Once it boils reduce the heat to a simmer.  Simmer until the sugar is dissolved but DON'T STIR!  Once the sugar is dissolved set it aside to cool.

Put the watermelon and lime juice in a blender and pulse it about 20 times.  Once the sugar water is cooled mix it together with the watermelon/lime puree.  Put it in a bowl and freeze it.

Now at this point you're supposed to check back and stir the mix every couple of hours so it doesn't turn rock hard.  I didn't do this and was able to scrape it out just fine.  

So..............thats how you make sorbet, super duper easy.  After it's ready, put some sorbet back in your blender along with some tequila (however strong you want it, I wont judge.)  Pour in a pretty glass and enjoy!


This was taken after our Hawaii trip four years ago.  Can you believe the mister and I have been together for 4 whole years?  I can't.

He would say "It feels more like 20." (He's really sweet like that.)








Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Tweet! Tweet!



I enjoy surrounding myself with ridiculous crap.  For example, I have twigs with the cutest fake little birdies ever hanging out in one of my bathrooms.  The Mister doesn't understand this deep love of my ridiculous crap, however he deals with it very well.  At the very end of our recent move he was in charge of bringing all the odds and ends to the new house while I was cleaning up the old house.

So when he walked into the back yard and saw this little devil laying on the ground he grumbled to himself about all my stupid sh&%.

(grumble grumble grumble)  

He then reached down and quickly picked it up only to find its body to be soft and squishy.

Before you judge there is something you must understand about the outside world and my Mister.  They don't really get along.  Beautiful flowers and trees make him sneeze,  Bee's can easily kill him and all things cute and cuddly make it impossible for him to breathe.

As soon as he realized this wasn't one of my cute little birdies and it was instead a recently deceased and possibly diseased bird, he screamed like a little girl, threw it down and quickly went inside to wash his hands all the while continuing his grumbling.

(Grumble grumble grumble)  

He then came as quickly as he could to the old house to tell me about how ridiculous I am and how much he obviously loves me and how I should appreciate his efforts he thought he was making  to save my crap.

Thank you baby, I love you too!  Almost three weeks later I'm still giggling over the thought of you trying to '"save" my bird!

Monday, May 23, 2011

Boys Vs Girls

It's baby season again!

This is the time of year when all those baby shower invitations start rolling in.  It seems as though we have been surrounded by babies as of late.

First and foremost, Congratulations is in order to some dear friends of ours that just recently had their little girl.  Yeah Z & J!  I can not wait to make a trip east to see you three!

2.  My cousin came and visited us on friday.  She has 2 boys under  the age of 3 and I was so excited to take Clara to meet them at the park.  She has been showing so much interest in other kids lately and this would be her very first playdate with someone her age!  (I was also excited to catch up with my cousin.)  I learned so many different things about little boys that afternoon and how incredibly different they are then little girls.  Clara had a blast playing with her cousins and everyone thought her and Oliver were twins.









After we chased the ball around the park for a bit the sun decided he had enough work for the day and it became really chilly.  We decided to take the kids back to my place to eat some cake and drink some delicious coffee.  (Every occasion big and small deserves cake and every visit deserves coffee.)



First lesson I learned about the difference between little boys and little girls......

Give a little girl a piece of cake and she will eat it.  There will be a mess involved but thats only because she is trying to shove as much yummy deliciousness in her mouth as quickly as she can.  She will then suck all the frosting off her fingers.

Give a little boy a piece of cake they will shove some in their mouth and then throw it on the floor.  You pick up the cake and tell them, "don't throw it!  just eat it!  mmmm!"  Then they will give you the sweetest smile EVER and take a bite of their cake.  Then they will promptly throw it on the floor again.  Once they are done they will take their dirty hands and wipe them off on your table.





Clara & Oliver





















Max & Clara, (learning how to share)







The kids seemed a little restless so we took them to the yard.  Unfortunately for Oliver this was the manliest looking shirt I could find.


But they had fun talking to passerby's and mowing my grass.....


It kind of looks like Oliver is farting in Clara's face here.









It was so great seeing you, Liz!  Come back soon!  (perhaps a beach day?)


On Saturday morning I woke up early threw the girls in the car and trekked down south for Rhiannon's little soon to be brother's baby shower.  It was a wonderful day spent at this beautiful house



Seriously?  It looks straight out of a catalog.  The day was a success!  Many baby presents were to be had as well as laughs.




















Thank you Tim and Shelly for letting us use your beautiful home!  (I must also say there were 6 babies at this baby shower.)  (Six!)



After the shower I took the girls to my mothers house.  It was my brother Paul and his beautiful wife Amy's wedding anniversary so she had my little nephew, Layne with her.  I adore my nephew.  His imagination is incredible and it makes every conversation with him exciting.  We spent the afternoon using our shields and swords to dodge the "evil knife throwing tractor" that was plowing the field behind my mom's house.  It was exhausting but we finally won!







We ended the day with baths, peanut butter and apples, and watching the movie Tangled, which I thought was bad and was extremely disappointed in.  But oh well.  It was a lovely weekend and I am just glad I got to see my Mama!





After all that baby time, knife dodging, and cake cleaning I am still convinced that I want a little boy.  Now only to convince the mister.........