Graduation

First and foremost I have to say CONGRATULATIONS to my second to last baby sister Michaela!  

She will be walking across that stage tonight to receive her high school diploma.  I am so proud of you and SO SORRY we can't make it.

You are still and forever will be my Favorite! Sister! Ever! 

Although you will always look like this in my mind......

Instead of this..........

Now....This is your big sister talking.  Don't be a moron at all the stupid CC graduation parties.  

BE SAFE AND BE RESPONSIBLE.  

I love you! 

As for everyone else, I hope you all have a wonderful and safe Memorial day weekend as well.  Here in my house we will be gearing up for our big move as well as something else..............

A very very young Rhiannon and Crystal.

Happy Friday!!!

Favorite Places

I asked my family this question the other day.  For me it is easy.  My absolute favorite place to be is near the water.  Any water really, with the exception of the Mississippi river.  I always found that to be gross.  I guess any water that is relatively clear is my favorite place.

The Misters reply was easy.  His favorite place is called "Heaven".  (White Sox Stadium with a polish hot dog topped with grilled onions in hand.)

Rhiannon said playing soccer after school.  I don't think she really understood the question.

Clara's, hands down is Grandmas house.  She loves going to both Gma Melanie and Verna's and every time we get in the car she asks, "Nana's?  Mama we go to Nana's?"  However coming in at a close second would have to be the dog park.

Its easy to see why, since every single dog there is in LOVE with Clara as well!

Where is your favorite place to be??

Track & Field

Yesterday was Rhiannon's first and only, (due to the weather) track meet for 6th grade!  All of the girls did SO GREAT and I am such a proud mama!

I promised her father I would tape it, so I did, but before you watch the videos of her rocking the track meet you must first understand a few things:

• I was juggling a baby on my hip while recording her run.
• I tend to yell and generally sound really dumb and LOUD when I get excited.
• Since I was watching her instead of the camera most of the time, there may or may not be a few seconds of ground shots here and there.
• If you get nauseous easily, this may not be the thing for you to watch.

The girls right before it started.


First Race 100 m dash.....

Second Race 400 m dash.....

Pretty Amazing, Right?????  We were very excited!

Then we came home and Buehrle let the mister know exactly how he felt about him.....

Happy Hump Day, Folks!

Life's a Beach...

Where did the warm weather go?  This weekend was SO beautiful, with it topping out at 91 degrees on Sunday......Where is that warm weather at now?  We took advantage of the heat wave, packed up a cooler, grabbed our Sports Umbrella (best invention ever!  If you are fair skinned, like me, please do yourself a favor and invest in this!  It folds up into a small skinny case that is really easy to carry to anyplace you need extra protection from the sun!) and we had a long day at the beach.

Here are a few things we learned on our all day beach adventure.  

1. Taking our spastic around other dogs dog to the dog beach is not fun for the human involved.  Especially when I have to run about a mile to catch his stupid arse.  (The mister took him home after that so I wouldn't have to murder him.  I didn't even have to ask him to.  I just walked up with the "look" on my face.)
2. Our water dog is actually afraid of water, (which makes it easier for us not to feel bad when we go to the beach with out him forever more.)
3. The closer you put your umbrella to the water the less you will get pelted with sand when the wind picks up.
4. When mothers put sunscreen on their children, they must also remember to spray themselves!  (OUCH!) 
5. This pin actually works if you do forget the sunscreen.  (The mister made a lot of fun at my expense while I was doing this.  Who's laughing now, buddy?) 

Even though there were a few snags and uncomfortable moments here and there it was an overall success!  Best part of the day is when we convinced the princess aka Clara that sand and water are fun!  Here are a few shots of the day...

In these two shots we are trying to get the dog and the baby to like the water.......They didn't believe us that it was fun here.... 

 Playing in the sand and "sunbathing"

Being Sassy pant for the camera while taking a lunch break.  These two were in the water the whole time!

 Clara and daddy making sand castles......

Slowly edging to the water......... 

Daddy took a chance and it worked!  About 5 hrs into our day and she was finally all about the water!!!! 

Unfortunately for mommy, the lack of sunscreen had taken its toll, so I retreated back to the shade, where I should have been all along.

Rhiannon thinks this is a horrible picture.  I corrected her by saying this is a horrible accurate picture.  Me cringing from the sun while the mister listens to the ball game on his old man radio and reads the paper......A horribly accurate picture of our beautiful relationship.


And now its back to packing our house up once again! 

Send me some good packing vibes because I'm needing some help to see the light at the end of this looong tunnel!!!!

♫ Let's Go ♪ Fly A Kite ♫

What a fantastic weekend!  Friday started with and impromptu date night with the Mister, who was being all sorts of romantic (the white sox winning might have something to do with the exceptionally good mood.....), Saturday was my favorite festival of the year and Sunday funday turned into an all day beach extravaganza!

Here are us landlocked folk trying mussels for the first time on Friday.  It was a delicious success!

This Saturday was one of my favorite festivals in Chicago.  The Kite festival!  This is a festival that is all about getting getting outside and enjoying the simple pleasure of, that's right folks, flying kites!

If you live in Chicago and have children, or if you just enjoy simple pleasures of being outside flying or watching other people fly kites this is definitely the place for you!  

Every year up until now I have always went around one p.m.ish.  By that time the entire hill is covered with people all flying kites.  This year the Mister demanded we go right at the start (grumble grumble, to many people..grumble) so we went at 9 am.  I have to admit, the Mister was right.  It was even more fun going this early!  Our good friends even met us there with their little one, which meant I got to have sweet little baby snuggles!!!!!!  

(Clara kept telling daddy that she "wants one of those" while Mama was holding baby Remy.)

It was a wonderful way to start our Saturday.  I was even interviewed by 101.9 fm, and I am sure I sounded very special while being interviewed, holding two children AND keeping Rhiannon's kite up while she was helping our friends with theirs.

(Rhiannon is seriously the kite whisperer.)

Clara was so happy the entire time we were there!

Trying to fly the impossible kite.....

       It's Up!!!!!

I have a feeling there will be a lot more kite flying this summer........

Happy Monday, Folks!

To All The Mothers

This post is a little late, but that is all part of my charm.

Happy Mothers Day!!!!

Mister done good.  Real good.

I am lucky enough to be called a mother because of these three rugrats right here......

I have been a mother going on 12 years.  I have to be honest, it feels like I have always been a mother and there was never a time in my existence where I wasn't one.  I know you can probably say some psychological bull about why that is, had 'em to young, didn't fully live out my childhood, blah, blah, blah, etc. etc. etc. 

I will say that it's a strange feeling for me to look back and not even once be able to think of a time where I was completely care free and not thinking about my children's well being.  Even more so, now that all my friends are at the child rearing stage in their lives and are having little ones of their own I am amazed at all the things that concern them with their children. I never even thought twice about most things they ask my opinion on.  I always knew I raised my children a little more lax then most but until I saw and heard my peers questions and concerns with their own children did I start to realize it is quite amazing my children, especially my oldest, have even survived at all! 

Regardless of how terrible or good I am at it, I am so thankful I get to be a mother to my children.  

They keep me grounded.  

They keep me  crazy.  

They keep me laughing.  

They expand my imagination.

They keep me dreaming.  

They fill my life with love.  

Here are a few shots of how we spent the day celebrating our life together.......

How can anything be bad with a view like this?

Best picnic mates a Gal could ask for!

There were lots of dandelion bracelets, rings and necklaces made for me that day and what woman can say no to such precious jewelry?  

Not this one!!  Happy Thursday to You!

Crispy Rice Chicken

Its been a month since I posted last.  Taken from the famous last words that come out of Clara all day every day...  

OOPS.  

But at least I have a good reason(ish) this time.  We are moving soon.  And this makes move number 5 since the Mister and I have started cohabitation.  

5, Folks!

The one thing that is always consistent with these moves of ours is this....Me running around last minute like a chicken with her head cut off trying with all her might to finish packing all the odds and ends before the movers come.

It is the worst feeling ever!

(And I never finish on time!) 

So this time I have started early.  One might say, (like the Mister,) that I might have jumped the gun a bit.  For some reason I decided that the kitchen needed to be completely packed up first.  Now, while I try to make dinner every night, it turns into me trying to be as creative as possible with what little utensils and dishware I have left out.

Even with all of the essentials packed away I have managed to come up with this new delicious recipe!

Crystal's Crispy Rice Chicken

• 1/2 box crispy rice cereal
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1/2 tsp oregano
• 1/2 tsp thyme
• 1/2 tsp sage 
• 2.5 lbs chicken (I used drumsticks)
• 1 can cream of mushroom soup

* It is a well known fact that when it comes to chickens there are pretty much two kinds Americans like.  Breasts and Wings.  However there is one part of the chicken that tastes just as good and yet, due to the fact that it is unpopular, is sold in stores for really really cheap.  The drumsticks!  That is what we used in this recipe.  

** When I make this again I will not be using Cream of mushroom soup.  While it made it really moist and delicious it was almost to moist, while I was going for more crispy.

1. Mix soup in a bowl with a little water until you have a nice thick consistency. 
2. In separate bowl, pour out about half of a box of crispy rice cereal and crush it up.  (Don't grind it, just crush it.)  Add all herbs and mix well.
3. Take your piece's of chicken and cover it with the soup mixture.  Then cover the chicken with the cereal mixture.  Put the chicken on a baking sheet.
4. Bake in a 400 degree oven for 50 minutes, turning once halfway.

The girls gobbled this up.  (Don't mind the beautiful dinnerware.  Like I said, I really jumped the gun on the packing of the house.  All that is left is the paper plates.)