Post Holiday blues...

I think I have them...I have been very productive today, I washed windows, floors, cleaned the oven, washed & folded about 4 loads and even scrapped 5 (count them 5) pages. I should feel some sort of accomplishment, instead I feel deflated.

I know this too shall pass....

23rd & 24th

The kids were lucky this year- they got to open presents on the 23rd, 24th & 25th....these are just a few shots I got with my digi- still have film pictures to develop...I know, no one uses a camera with film anymore...but until I can afford a new camera, film it is!

Holiday Show

Jake had a Holiday Show last week....one of the parents taught the kids some holiday songs & they sang for the parents. They practiced for weeks. His teacher told me that he wouldn't sing (sometimes he would). We were so surprised that he sang every song! He did a good job- I don't know why he gets so embarrassed...I guess he inherited that gene from me.

P.S. I Love You...

Why didn't I know? Why didn't I know how great this movie was? I now have a headache and puffy eyes, because I have cried so much in the last two hours. I. loved. that. movie!

This is what we did on Sunday- from sun up to sun down....

Tanner's football team had their banquet at the ESPN zone in Downtown Disney at 8:00 am....then it was off to Disneyland...the whole team! Each family received 4 tickets & $90 in Disney money from the team...you see we were fundraising like crazy because we thought the team would go all the way to Florida...didn't happen so we had a ton of money to spend.

It was a fun day- but very, very long!

Twenty Dollars
Author Unknown


A well known speaker started off his seminar by holding up a $20 bill. In the room of 200, he asked. "Who would like this $20 bill?"Hands started going up. He said, "I am going to give this $20 to one of you - but first, let me do this." He proceeded to crumple the 20 dollar note up. He then asked. "Who still wants it?" Still the hands were up in the air."Well," he replied, "what if I do this?"
He dropped it on the ground and started to grind it into the floor with his shoe. He picked it up, now crumpled and dirty. "Now, who still wants it?"Still the hands went into the air."My friends, you have all learned a very valuable lesson. No matter what I did to the money, you still wanted it because it did not decrease in value. It was still worth $20.

Many times in our lives, we are dropped, crumpled, and ground into the dirt by the decisions we make and the circumstances that come our way. We feel as though we are worthless; but no matter what happened or what will happen, you will never lose your value. Dirty or clean, crumpled or finely creased, you are stillpriceless to those who love you. The worth of our lives comes, not in what we do or who we know, but by ...WHO WE ARE.You are special - don't ever forget it."


good to remember....sometimes we do forget...

Left over wine, recipes....

I had to laugh when I saw this article on Real Simple for "5 ways to use leftover wine"....who ever has left over wine? Not at my house!! :) Anyway, this recipe sounded kind of good....

Marcus Nilsson
Drunken Cheesy Bread

Butter for the pan

1/2 baguette, cut into 2-inch slices

1/2 small yellow onion, thinly sliced

1/8 pound thinly sliced cooked ham

3/4 cup white wine

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1 1/2 cups (6 ounces) grated Gruyère

Heat oven to 400° F. Place the bread in a buttered ovenproof skillet, a 9-inch square baking dish, or a casserole. Scatter the onion and ham over the bread. Pour the wine over the onion and ham and sprinkle with the pepper and Gruyère. Bake until the cheese has melted and begun to brown at the edges, about 20 minutes. Spoon onto individual plates.

Tip: If you don't have Gruyère, you can substitute Swiss, Monterey Jack, fontina, or white Cheddar

Thanksgiving

This is what my Thanksgiving will look like....50+ people in the desert....


Last year's picture

Opinions/help needed....please...

Ok, here is the deal...we are going camping over Thanksgiving and we are having a wonderful feast on that day....I am making yams. I got the "recipe" (if you can even call it that) from one of the girls in my bunco group- her grandmother gave it to her like this...."use a little bit of this and put in some of that" - type thing....

So my question is this...can I bake the yams on Tuesday, place them in the cassarole dish for the final baking on Wednesday? Or will that make them yucky? I have to slice the yams into "hockey pucks" & remove the skin....

What do you all think?

They are going to Vegas...baby!

The girls competed in a Jamz cheer competition and they placed 2nd! With the same routine (mostly) that they used for the Pop Warner cheer comp and we beat out a team that beat us at the first competition! Go figure..

Needless to say the girls were VERY EXCITED....and if all works according to plan we will be going to Vegas in February...now if my money tree would just sprout some more branches.....

2nd grade Play

Amazing, I know, that I completed a layout- especially since this was a layout kit from Scrapbook Oasis, that I got, oh about 6+ months ago. I tweaked it just a little bit, but for the most part- I made the layout exactly as the kit showed....sad that it took me about 3 weeks to finish it, when I had everything at my fingertips to use, already cut, etc. Oh well...at least I scrapped...

I need this to be my mantra....

She makes me...

very proud! :) The top photo looks like she is sitting on the grass...but she isnt'. Her jumps have gotten really good. The second picture is her being dropped into a cradle - she has learned to keep her legs straighter...She loves cheerleading and I am so glad she wants to keep doing it, because she is good... :)

"Crazy"

That was the girls cheer competition theme...You can't really tell here, but the girls had their hair in high pig-tails and then the hair was ratted out. It looked really cute. I have to say, I am going to be one of "those" moms and say - THEY SHOULD HAVE WON!!! Seriously! They did so well- their stunts, jumps everything...but they didn't even place. Several other coaches made comments like- "wow, they nailed it"- "you guys have it for sure". What happened? We don't know yet, but our Cheer coordinator is going to get the score sheets to see what happened. There is speculation that because the girls were in the novice group (beginner) and their routine was so hard (& very fast) that our coaches were trying to represent our girls as beginners when they weren't. How about alot of long practices??? Maybe? I mean more than half of our squad had never cheered before!! Oh well, move on stage mother, right? ;)

Riley is the short one...if you couldn't tell with their hair all funky! :)

Eggplant Parmesan Rigatoni....

Ingredients
Vegetable oil, for frying (1/2 to 1 cup)
1 eggplant (about 1 pound), thinly sliced crosswise
Flour, for dredging (about 1 cup)
Salt
1 pound rigatoni
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, halved
One 28-ounce can tomatoes
One 8-ounce bag shredded mozzarella
8 fresh basil leaves, thinly sliced

Freshly grated Parmesan cheese, for serving

1. In a large skillet, heat 1/4 cup vegetable oil over medium-high heat until hot but not smoking. Dredge the eggplant slices in the flour, shaking off any excess. Add enough eggplant slices to the skillet to fill it without crowding and fry until golden brown, about 2 minutes on each side. Transfer to a paper-towel-lined plate and sprinkle with salt. Repeat with the remaining eggplant slices and more oil. Let cool, then cut into 1/2-inch strips. Set aside. 2. In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook the pasta until al dente; drain and return to the pot. 3. Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, until golden, about 2 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes and bring to a boil, then cover and simmer until thickened, about 10 minutes 4. Add the tomato sauce to the cooked pasta and toss to coat, then stir in the mozzarella. Divide the pasta among shallow bowls and top with the reserved eggplant strips, basil and Parmesan.

doesn't that sound yummy?

From Rachael Ray's magazine...

Do you ever feel

like you are having one of those days??? I am having one of those types of days today. For the record, this horse wasn't hurt, but they had to use chainsaws to cut his head out of the tree trunk. What was that horse thinking? This happened somewhere in West Virginia, I think...

I hope everyone has a better day then this horse.... :)

One win down

Tanner's team won their game on Saturday- I believe they need to win the next three games and then it will be off to Florida for the National Championship...I think they have a good chance of going- they are undefeated so far.....

Monday, Oct 13th

Here is what we saw out of our kitchen window yesterday about 10:00 am....I stayed home from work because I wasn't feeling well, and I was looking forward to channell surfing as I laid on the couch. The electricity went out about 9:30 and then all of sudden we heard helicopters, very loud and close...sure enough they looked like they were going to come down in our yard. They were dropping water on the hillside where an electric pole went down in the wind. Very scarey!!

Cobras

Since the season is almost over...well, for Jake, I thought I would post their pictures.

Riley had such cute curly hair the morning of the pictures...but she FREAKED out over them until I decided why prolong our misery and straightened her hair...everyone girl on her squad showed up with big, puffy, curls, but not Riley....because, you know, no one else would have big curls like her....geesh.

Tanner's team is going to the playoffs...so far they haven't lost a game and they have only been scored on twice...

I know weird picture of Tanner- It is his button, I don't know what I did with his regular pictures! So I just scanned his button! :) It works.

1st place...

Saturday was our normal busy day.

It started out for me at 5:30am when I had to get up and go to work (my saturday to work, fun huh).
Riley had to be at the Tustin Tiller Day parade at 8:00am and be at Foothill at 11:30 to cheer for Tanner's game that started at 12:30. (thank goodness for Staci! :) )

Tanner, of course, had to be at Foothill at 11:00.

Jake's game was also at 12:30, but down in Aliso Viejo. We had to be there at 11:30.

So I left work at 10:00 to be home in time to get everyone, jump back in the car, drop Tanner off at Foothill, drive down to Aliso Viejo for Jake's game...watch them get clobbered (oh & I had end of the game snack for Jake & we took one of his teammates with us) ...drive home, try to get ahold of Tanner & Riley...we told them we would meet them at Foothill- not there. They went home with Staci...(again thanks Staci!)

And then we find out that Riley's cheer squad took 1st place in the parade and we didn't get to see it!! Typical.

I sat down & scrapbooked on Sunday-

and of course, Riley & Jake wanted to scrapbook too when they saw me actually doing something.

So, I had to stop & get them pictures and paper, etc.

I get my pictures all laid out and I am ready to adhere everything down...get my adhesive-empty. Go to my other one- empty- go to my backup (that I don't really like) nothing! So for all the time I spent "trying" to scrapbook- I have nothing to show for it. Figures!

Is it wrong that I am totally addicted to the kids website Webkinz? I think I play on the games on there more than all 3 of my children put together. What's wrong with me? I could be spending that time, reading, scrapbooking or just doing something productive with my life, but no, instead I play Smoothie Moves or Goober's Lab!! Now, granted, I mostly play on my breaks at work, but really, I cannot stop! Help!

This boy's

flag football team FINALLY won their first game!! :) So exciting! The boys were very happy too!

Hair

this is what his hair looked like the first week of football in August....long...he decided that it needed to be cut after having a wet head in his helmet...YUCK!

So dad buzzed his head one day before practice.....

We all couldn't stop laughing at his mullet. Doesn't it look like we curled his hair under??? :) He looks like he should have a rifle & some chew in his mouth...;)

The end result...(before the touching up of the sideburns etc...) at least you can see his eyes now...

kicker

probably the first & last time he will do the kick off ... :) but he did well...

First day of school update`

For the only person who really cares about this- "hi mom"

Jake- How was your first day "awesome, my teacher is so nice, the playground is much better than my other school"

Riley- "I love my teacher, she is so funny"

Tanner- "Hewes, isn't that bad. My core teacher is so cool".


So I guess the first day went well for all, here's hoping the rest of the year goes that way!! :)

First Day of School

So they all got to school safe & sound. Tanner started 6th grade which is middle school. He didn't really want us to walk him onto campus, I kissed him on top of the head and he pushed me away. We found his name on the homeroom list and his told him what classroom he was in. As soon as we started to leave he kind of got nervous because he didnt' know where he was supposed to go. I told him to go look for two of his friends that are in the class w/him...that seemed to make him feel better.


Riley got in a 2nd/3rd grade combo with a teacher that she doesn't like (she says she is mean & yells). There are only 7 3rd graders in there. After talking w/two of the moms, one of which talked to the principal about why our girls were picked to go into the class, I feel a little better. Hopefully, Riley will too. She really likes her new shoes.



And so does Tanner....it is 90 degrees & he wants to wear jeans- so he could wear his new shoes.



Jake was the first one up this morning- he was so excited. He had picked out his clothes, laid them out and got dressed all on his own. He was fine until he had to line up, then I could see in his face that he was nervous. He has lots of boys in his class so hopefully he will be okay- Riley had this teacher and she is pretty strict- and she is a Kindergarten teacher! We shall see...

My babies are growing up!!!

TPing

Tanner & I caught three girls from his school in the act of toilet papering our house last night. It was pretty funny...the girls wouldn't look at him, but just kept giggling.

We dropped Riley off at her friends house and turned to go up our drive and there is a woman standing there & she motions for me to roll the window down...she says we have some girls TPing up there- and I said, "hey, that's my house"...she said they were only doing it because they like Tanner...he kind of got embarrassed.

They promised they would be back today to help clean up. We shall see when I get home from work if there was a clean up task force! :)

Football-Horseback Riding-Hart Winery

Opening day ceremonies was this past Saturday and cheer performed during the ceremonies. Riley did really well, especially considering that she is with the older girls now. The dance/cheer was fast & funky, and wow, my girl can move. She doesn't get that from me (or Mark for that matter!) She is a flyer, so she was up shoulder high on the bases. She hasn't been dropped yet, so she isn't afraid!

Jake had a scrimmage after that and boy, is it going to be a loooonnnng season. The boys are all first year flag players and they just can't seem to stop the other team from scoring- alot. Hopefully, they will get to play some teams that are 1st year players....

We went to Temecula after and brought the horses & motorcycles. I finally got to ride beautiful Red. (that is Janet on him when we were in Wyoming). Isn't he pretty. Mark rode Steele again and Steele did great!

We stopped at our new favorite winery (we joined their wine club) Hart Winery . If you are ever in wine country out in Temecula you must stop there. They have a ton of Reds and they are still small and non commercialized....which we like!

the madness begins

In addition to getting Tanner to one field, Riley to another and Jake to yet another- Mark is coaching Jake's flag team, I am the Team Mom and the Player Agent for Jake's team. So that means that we have to be at every one of Jake's games and are only going to see maybe 3 games of Tanner (& Riley cheering for him)...that stinks!

Creative

I found these cute things as I was browsing around blogs....I came across the broken plate - isn't this cute stuff? She breaks plates and then makes jewelry out of the pieces- too cool. I wish I was that creative!