Happy Day

My birthday was last week.  I had to put this picture up to document how cute my kids were on my birthday.  They went shopping with Dad the night before and in the morning actually REMEMBERED it was my b-day and ran downstairs yelling "Happy Birthday Mom" .  They also spontaneously wrote these songs.  I sure love these kiddos. 

I love Oreo's.  So this is what we enjoyed for dessert that night. 

Thanks Aaron, Lizzy, Andrew and Sam for making my day special.  And to many family and friends sending their happy wishes my way.  I love you all.

I've been wanting to post a video of Sam walking around but since my video camera broke I didn't think I could.  Recently I remembered that I can take video with our other camera.  So here it is... many months late.  :)

And Some Words Too...

I don't want to forget...

**The awesome adult party that Aaron and I went to.  Everyone was invited to dress as a "D list" celebrity.  My favorites were the Octomom (and her fertility doctor), Hulk Hogan, Nacho Libre (and his Nun girlfriend), and Ken and Barbie.  Aaron went as Jared the Subway guy.  (Which by the way was the cheapest, easiest costume ever) and I was Wendy (the fast food icon).  We played all sorts of crazy games and the grand finale was the winner of all of the games (or should I say loser) finished off her drink of blended worms and clam juice.  Really we watched him blend 6 worms in the blender and she drank it.  Ughhh. 

**  Our neighborhood did a little party on Saturday night.  I was so much fun.  We honestly have the best neighbors.  I love them all.  We played games and ate food and then watched movies that were projected up onto someone's garage.  Good times.  I wish Aaron hadn't been in San Diego for the whole thing... but that's how it worked out this year.  :(

**  Aaron said I was more into Halloween this year than I ever have been before.  I guess I was.  Decorations, fun treats and costumes.  I've decided that anticipating holidays is really more fun than the events themselves.  But still... at about 9:00 last night after the kids were tucked in... I had a real itching to take down the Halloween decorations.  I waited until this morning, but it is done now.  Time to start planning Thanksgiving.

Halloween in Pictures

A Few Happenings...

My camera isn't working so well.  Outdoor pictures just don't work anymore and indoor pictures often have these funny lines through them.  Anyone know why that is happening?  Also... my cell phone had a cup of water spilled on it and I can no long view anything on the screen.  Oh and our video camera... well it got broken last week too.  So I've been having a tough week with our technological devices.  I haven't posted because the pictures are just no good, but we've been having some fun and I just needed to do a post anyway.  I'm trying to pick photos without the line problem, but they still aren't very good.  Sorry.

See this is how all outdoor pictures look, or just plain white.  But I wanted to write about how we went camping on the beach a few weeks ago and had a great time.  Galveston doesn't have the most amazing beaches, but there was some pretty amazing wildlife.  We found crabs, big and small, saw lots of cool birds, fish, and best of all we saw sharks.  Or maybe they were dolphins.  We don't know but a school swam by very close to the beach.  Like close enough that we could have swam out to touch them.  Aaron started to do so, which made me a little nervous because other families on the beach were getting their kids out of the water while yelling about sharks.  Either way it was amazing.  We then saw the same thing again the next day.  So awesome.

I love sneaking in to see how Sam looks at night.  Sleeping kids are so awesome.

These two entertained themselves one afternoon by dressing up in each others clothing.  They had a blast.

 I've been trying to find ways to use apples since they are so cheap right now.  I made this yummy apple pie, but the kids weren't into it and Aaron wasn't around much that week.  So... I ate the whole thing myself.  Every bite.  Couldn't let it go to waste.  Loved every bite.

 This is Sam's favorite place to be while I'm cooking.  After I remove the sharp knives, he is free to sort through my utensil drawer and it often occupies him for a long time while I'm getting dinner on the table. 

Also check out his diaper.  Isn't it cute?  That's right... I've gone green with cloth diapers.  Ha.  Actually I'm kind of doing a half n' half thing, using disposable diapers as well.  It's not as bad as I thought and I do expect it to save a lot of $$$ in the long run.

Lizzy is now missing her two front teeth.  She is thrilled about it and I must say I think she's pretty cute.

Well that's all the excitement from my end...

coming soon....

halloween. :)

Have you Ever??

.....picked up some food that your kid dropped on the floor and decided to pop it into your mouth because it was easier than taking it to the garbage can?

....looked forward to going to the bathroom just so that you can be alone for a minute?

.... taped your child to his chair at dinnertime?

.... Absolutely insisted that your child go watch cartoons for awhile instead of "helping" fix dinner.


Oh .... yeah... totally... me neither.  Just wonderin'....

Happinesses for Today

1.  I walked outside this morning and it was amazingly, beautifully splendidly... COOL.  If that isn't thrilling to you then you probably don't live in Houston, TX.  But I do and 78 degrees almost made me cry. 

2.  Lizzy left these cute notes on everyone's pillows.

Can you tell that we have already received a Christmas card catalog in the mail?

3.  I found out that my in-laws are coming to visit over Thanksgiving.  Yippee.  We love visitors.

4.  At dinner tonight Lizzy sat down and said... "So Mom... did you hear about the big game last night?  You didn't?  The Cowboys won."

5. I pretty much, totally like my kids.  At least most of the time.  Doesn't Sam look big?

Recipes that have come in handy lately

Yogurt pops.  Are you ready for a great recipe that your kids will love?  And they'll think they're getting a dessert when it's really just yogurt and even your baby loves them, who happens to be teething and so this cold stuff helps soothe the pain?  Are you ready?  Are you?

1.  Buy some yogurt. 
2.  Dump it into ice molds.
3.  Put in a stick of some sort.
4.  Freeze. 

Wallaa.  Good stuff.

 Okay and my next big reveal is called Easy Pizza Rolls.  Here we go.

1 loaf frozen bread dough (or just make your own dough)
4 oz cream cheese
one 6 ounce can tomato paste
2 t. dried oregano
1 t. garlic powder
1 t. onion powder
1 1/2 c. shredded mozzarella cheese
1 c. chopped pepperoni

1.  Preheat oven to 375degrees.  Coat a large baking sheet with cooking spray.
2.  Roll out dough into a rectangle and make it as thin as you can.  Spread with cream cheese and them tomato paste over the cream cheese.  Sprinkle evenly with spices.  Top with cheese and pepperoni.
3.  Roll up jelly-roll style, starting at the long end.  Cut log into 1 inch think rounds just like making cinnamon rolls.  Place on pan and bake for about 20 minutes. 

We ate a few for dinner one night and I froze the rest.  I have two bags of these in my freezer right now.  These are great to grab when you are in a hurry.  Lizzy also likes them in her school lunches, just cold. 

Enjoy.