Friends

A couple of weekends ago my dear friend Daniela invited us over for a BBQ at her house.  I met Daniela when we were living in Illinois.  We became instant friends, but of course, the Navy moves people and we were the first to go.  Well, besides Julie who had to move way the heck out of state and she now knows that she needs to come home because she is missed way too much!!!  The good news?  Daniela and her family received orders to California and have moved out here!!!  They aren't super close, about 45 minutes away but close enough to see.  We had a fun girls night a couple of weeks ago, we met halfway to see Sex and The City2 and had yummy cocktails before.  This time we went to her house.  Her hubby grilled up some burgers and dogs while we drank high school alcohol, otherwise known as Boone's.  I know, we are so super classy.  I believe she has a nice blackmail picture that hasn't surfaced yet and it never will because she knows I can take her down :)  Now, my dear friend is originally from Texas which I have always accepted, however I was a little nervous how deep her roots go when my sweet girl came down looking like this.

What the?  Guess it will come in handy when all them darn yeller bellies come to take down San Diego.  Ok, so I forgot to mention we worked at Cracker Barrell together out in Illinois and well, they carry stuff like this.  If you have never been, please don't be alarmed or judge, they have yummy food and the store is a country store filled with old time candy and cute stuff for the house.  And of course the outfit in question.  Not only did I get to visit with my dear friend but I also got to spend some snuggle time with her newest cutie Arabella.

How sweet is that little face?  Her momma kept telling me the light makes her looked shocked, like the first picture, I personally think it is because she doesn't like me.  I wanted to snuggle and take in the little snuggly sweet smelling baby that I miss and she just cried and cried until her mom or dad took her.  The girl liked being alone in a swing or her bassinet more than being in my arms.  I told her she better wisen up because with an attitude like that, there will be no coach purses from Auntie in her future.  I will get my snuggles in, by george, I will get my snuggles in!!!

Febreze Fun

I don't know if many of you know about House Party, but it is a pretty cool website.  It is basically big name companies who have new products coming out and send products for you to display in your home and have a party to get the word out.  My good friend Amanda had done it before and had given me some cool stuff to try.  So, I went to the website and signed up.  It is all free.  There will be a list of "parties" that you need to apply for.  I guess after applying they look for people who fit the description of people they are looking for and if you win, you get the stuff.  I had been applying for numerous things and recently was told that I wont the Febreze house party.  I was super stoked.  A couple of weeks later, a FedEx man came to my door with a large box.  What was in that box you ask?

This is not a picture from me.  I got it from someone elses page because I was too excited to take a picture of all my stuff before it went away.

I actually think that I received more of the boxes to the left.  How cool is that though?  My house smells amazing!!!!  Most of the scents were pomegranate mango, but I think the new stuff, to the right, is Hawaiian and Laundry.  They are the new things Febreze was excited about.  They are called Set and Refresh.  Basically you insert the yummy smelly thing inside the container and it smells the area up with an amazing fragrance.  I currently have one in the laundry room.  Not because laundry doesn't smell good to me, our lovely black lab sleeps in there and so it smells more like dog.  I knew this all along but my good friend Pattie would always let me know when she came over :)  So, if you ever have a chance, I suggest you go over to House Party, register (for free) and apply.  You never know what cool stuff you may get!!

Amazing

An amazing brother, husband and father.  He should be here celebrating his life, instead we are forced to face life without him.  Heaven is a sweeter place to have a man like him.  I will love you Justin, my amazing brother, until my very last breath.  And only then will I see your face again and feel complete.  I love you!!!

All About Baby

All moms think that their kids are the cutest and show them off every now and again.  Most of the time it is when they do something funny or accomplish great feats, today I am bragging just because I have cute pictures and I want to share.  Is it really that bad to have to sit there and stare at a sweet little face?  I love staring at the sweet faces of all your little ones, I promise I do, so stare a little at mine.

This is our littlest one enjoying her very first Oreo cookie.  I was cooking in the kitchen and she was super whiney, trying to climb my leg and let the whole neighborhood know just how unhappy she was.  I remembered buying my secret stash of Oreos earlier and thought it might just do the trick.  Yes, an Oreo before dinner, sue me or send the mommy doing something bad police.  It made my little one super happy and I got to take a cute chocolate filled face picture.  Mission accomplished.

Oh how I love her sweet blue eyes!!!!  However, try to look above that and see her cute flower propped right on top of her sweet little head.  It was a gift that was given from The Pleated Poppy when I went to a blog party called Blog Sugar thrown by a sweet gal over here.  I wear it from time to time and love it.  However, the other night before we headed out to see some friends, I was trying to find a cute headband for my baldy baby.  She has a pink headband with nothing on it and it is comfy on her head, however she is channeling a little 80's workout queen when she wears it.  However, add a super cute flower that matches her shirt perfectly and look how cute!!!!  I think I like it better than when I wear it!!!!  Ok, I am almost off my momma soapbox, I just have one more thing.  Our little one has always said "dadda".  First, it was because she wanted her dadda, then everything turned into dadda.  She would point and say "dadda" for everything.  I have been trying and trying and trying to get her to say momma.  Mission finally accomplished!!!!

Milestone

Today is Cassidy's last day of second grade.  I know she is old enough but it still boggles my mind that I am old enough to have a child getting ready to go into the third grade.  I actually think I am taking it harder than she is, she is excited to be out for the summer, well, minus summer school, but that's not real school is what she tells me, haha.  I got all teary going into her classroom this morning to give Ms.James her gift and a nice big hug.  I guess I just feel close to certain people within the school since it has been a trying year.  Her teacher saw her through a seizure and helped her to calm down when she had behavioral outbursts.  The nurse was always right there if the hint of seizures popped up and helped to keep her healthy by being her lunch buddy.  This school year has been a different one for us and she missed quite a bit of it, but the times she was there (physically and mentally), she had amazing teachers to help her grow.  I was sad to not see her special ed teacher there.  Unfortunately she had a family emergency, she has been with Cass for 2 years now.  I look forward to seeing her at the beginning of next year.  And then Kendall will be in school too, Oy Vey, time will not stop for nothin!!!!!

Hello Dinner

Tonight I was super excited.  Not only because I had a glass of wine in my hand (amen to that), but mainly because I was making Pioneer Woman's Chicken with Olives.  I saw it on her blog the other day and it looked ridiculously good.  And I have never tasted a PW dish I have not liked.  This is not a recipe that you make last minute, it definitely takes time to prepare and put it all together.  But I must tell you over and over, it is all worth it!!!!  This dish has your meat with pasta and bits of yummyness all covered in a super yummy sauce.  For all the bloggers out there, you know the magic that is known as PW and if you are new or don't blog and are wondering who the heck PW is, go to her site and look around.  She is an amazing woman!!  She even wrote a novel which is all about her and her husband and their love story, it is so good it will make you swoon.  And just a little info, I was googling a couple of nights ago out of sheer boredom and found out a lot about PW and family.  And one bit of info I got all excited about, her novel is being made into a movie that will come out in 2012!!  And right now, Reese Witherspoon is set to play her.  I see a girls night.....we totally have time to plan but I am still excited.  So, go to her site and then make this for dinner tomorrow!!

Jello

So starts a new week.  Cass graduates from second grade and I start working out......again.  I dislike feeling so out of shape!!!  I dislike being the person that 5 minutes into a workout hears that little voice telling you that you are weak and should stop.  Do I need to mention my expensive P90X system collecting dust in my drawer?  But today, i did not stop.  I did the workout I set out to do and I must say I feel so much better.......ok, maybe more like jello.  Yep, I am afraid to stand because my jelloish legs may give out on me.  But gosh darn it I am gonna look good :)

American Girls

Today Amanda and I took our girls to the American Girl store in Los Angeles to celebrate the amazing job they did during cookie season.  And not just in Los Angeles, the store was in The Grove.  I don't know how many people are TMZ watchers but I am and Cass sits next to me quite a bit so she knows all about The Grove.  I think from seeing it so much on TMZ, she assumed it was going to be filled with nothing but celebrities, and not just any celebrities....Hannah Montana!!  Her reasoning?  Hannah Montana lives in Los Angeles, therefore she shops The Grove all the time so we have to see her!!!  It only added to the excitement of the day so we went with it :) 

The Grove ended up being a really nice shopping mall!!!!!  It was all outdoors, had a cobblestone walk and fountains, it was a nice place to walk around!!!  But we didn't want to just walk around, we were on a mission. 

Isn't it a nice building?  I think I was more excited because the last one we went to was in Chicago and it was right off a busy street, don't get me wrong, it was a ton of fun but this one seemed nicer from the outside.  The girls were stoked from the second we walked in.

We needed to check-in for lunch so they knew not to give away our spot so we quickly ushered our girls to the nearest elevator.  While we were waiting we discovered the magical world known as personal shopping.  I thought that only happened in high end stores and for millionaires or celebrities!!  Near the elevator there was a separate room that occupied desks and dressing rooms filled with little girls and their personal shoppers for the day.  Luckily the girls were on a "whats coming next" high so we didn't get to hear "wheres my personal shopper, why I am not as lucky as that little girl dressed in the Louis Vuitton frilly dress who has 20 gazillion boxes of things?"  Can I get an amen for girls being grateful?!  We checked into the reservation desk and had some time on our hands so we did some window shopping.  It was actually pretty neat.  They have a whole section with a museum type feel of each girl and the time period they are from.  We even met a girl who worked there who was herself a former Girl Scout so she took to our girls and gave them a personal tour of all the girls and all about their stories.  Then it was time to dine.  We walked through black and white double doors into our perfect lunch cafe.

The decor was simple but having it black, pink and white made it super girly and fun.  I think I want to do Cassie's room in those colors now.

The table had these cute pink sunflowers in a watering can, along with a small black pinstripe box filled with conversation starters.  Can I add that on the way home my sweet daughter leaned into her friend next to her and in a not so whispering voice uttered "look, I stole one of these" (holding up one of the convo starter cards, which were for sale in the store actually so totally not something they wanted you to take).  Good job on showing my lacking parenting skills.  However, I could swear we have had the no stealing convo, I guess not enough.  Anyways, back to our great day.

My favorite decor were these mirrors.  They lined one side of the cafe and I love them!!!  I want to make some!!!!!  After oooohing and awwwing, the girls sat down for their lunch.

If they didn't bring their own doll, they were allowed to borrow one, along with its own highchair so you can sit next to your new friend of course.  The meal consisted of yummy little cinnamon rolls as soon as we sat down as well as drinks (pink lemonade of course). 

Our appetizer was fruit kabobs, veggie sticks and pretzel bites with honey mustard and ranch for dipping.

My lunch was a spinach and sauteed mushroom burger.  Some others a salad, pizza and chicken fingers, yumm!!!!!!

For dessert everyone a chocolate mousse/oreo cookie crumb flower pot, a cookie and some cake.  It was so cute!!!  Even some of the girls who had fruit with their lunch found it cut into hearts and stars, they really know how to make little girls happy!!!!!!  After we ate we walked around The Grove and found the trolley.  After much begging and pleading, we climbed aboard and sat on the upper deck.

It took us through the whole mall until it ended up at the world famous Farmers Market.

I think I may need to make a trip just for that place!!!!!  On our trip back to the other side of the mall, our lovely trolley driver got the girls all sorts of excited.  He had been telling us jokes over his microphone and updating the men folk on who was winning in the World Cup so far.  Then we heard, "ladies and gentlemen, we may have a Justin Beiber sighting".  What?!!!  Where?!!!!  We informed the girls it was just a kid who resembled him, otherwise we would have heard a million girls screaming and the trolley would probably have come to a screeching halt.  But mister trolley man, never say such things around six 8 year olds who love the Beib and have had their heart set on seeing a celebrity.  I think the hearts were thumping for a good minute or so.  All in all, we had a great day.  The sun was shining and our girls got to relax and enjoy themselves after pounding the streets selling calorie filled goodness.  They have already made plans for next years trip.  I feel like a proud momma times 6 :)

The Skits

Oh my lovely older child, how much joy you bring into my mornings, especially this one.  This morning Cassidy was set to get an award at school so after we dropped her off, we found a place to park and attended the assembly.  While we were looking for a place to sit, we saw Cassidy walking with Miss Mary, one of the parents who helps in her classroom and is always with Cass.  Cass had a serious look on her face and didn't even notice me while I was smiling and waving.  However, Miss Mary did.  I knew it was serious when she had the look of relief on her face for seeing me and started walking toward me, Cassidy in hand.  She said they were on their way to the nurse because of Cassidys "skits".  Huh?  Is that the name they have given her seizures?  What happened?  She said Cassidy told her friend sitting next to her that she has a disease called Skits.  The friend then came up with "my moms friends boyfriend had the skits and it is contagious!!!!!"  This freaking out the entire classroom of my daughters horrible contagious disease called Skits.  I looked at Miss Mary wondering what on earth she was talking about.  As far as I know, Cass does not have Skits.....and what on earth are the Skits might I ask?  So, bending down to Cassies level I asked what on earth she was talking about.  She said "remember mom, the stuff on my face?!!!"  Ummm, you mean your dry skin?  (we think it may be eczema and wont know until her appointment).  Miss Mary started cracking up and proceeded to escort her back to class.  What to go Cass, nothing says good morning like freaking out your whole class with your new fake disease.  Lets see how many friends decide to come over and play soon :)  The awards ceremony went well by the way, Skits and all!

Shirley J?

Does anyone use this stuff?  I came across it from checking out hip2save (which by the way is an amazing site where I get tons of samples and deals).  One of those deals one day was for a sample of Shirley J Universal Sauce.  Well, the sample came (a big full size product sample I might add) and I was excited to use it.  Supposedly you can use this universal sauce for a ton of different things, hinting to the name universal, haha.  Anyways, they swear top chefs use it to cut out the middle man and make simple fast recipes from it.  On the back of the packet is 3 recipes, the one I chose to make was Chicken Alfredo.  It was so ridiculously easy!!!!  I grilled some chicken on the BBQ and boiled some spaghetti noodles.  The sauce was simple.  I added 2 cups water and the contents of the universal sauce mix.  Let it simmer for 5 minutes, add 1/4 cup grated parmesan, let it boil another 5 minutes and voila......chicken alfredo is served.  I admit, I had to add a little salt for myself and it wasn't the best thing in the whole world.  It definitely wasn't one of those foods that hit your mouth and you feel like you must have it every second of the day.  But it was good.  Something I wouldn't mind having in my pantry when I don't feel like spending a long time on dinner yet want something yummy.  Because ti was pretty good I went to their website and it seems like it is a Tastefully Simple like business.  They have a lot of different foods and at extraordinary prices.  Which got me to thinking, has anyone ever used their products?  Do you know if they do parties where I could sample more before I buy?  because with the prices they offer, I want to buy, haha.  And they seriously have a 4 pound bag of brownie mix for $11, I think I could die.....and eat it all myself :)

Lemon-Strawberry Cheesecake Bars

(please don't mind the not so great picture, I have never been a great food picture taker, this recipe is yummy, I promise)

Crust:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/3 cup powdered sugar

1 1/2 teaspoon grated lemon peel

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup unsalted butter, chilled, cut up

Filling:

2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk

2 tablespoons lemon juice

2 teaspoons grated lemon peel

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 eggs, room temperature

Topping:

1 pint strawberries, sliced (about 1 3/4 cup)

3 tablespoons strawberry jelly, melted

Heat oven to 325.  Line 13x9-inch baking pan with heavy-duty aluminum foil leaving extra foil extending over edges.  Spray with non-stick cooking spray.  Place 1 1/2 cups flour, powdered sugar, 1 1/2 teaspoon lemon peel and salt in food processor; pulse 10 seconds or until combined.  Add butter; pulse 20 to 30 seconds until mixture is crumbly (can also be made by hand using a pastry blender).  With well floured hands, press press dough into bottom of pan.  Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until edges are just beginning to brown.  Meanwhile, place cream cheese, 2 tablespoons flour, condensed milk, lemon juice, 2 teaspoons lemon peel and vanilla in food processor; process 30 seconds or until smooth.  Add eggs; process 10 seconds or just until blended (can also be made using an electric mixer).  Pour filling into crust.  Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until filling is set and edges are slightly puffed.  Cool on a wire rack to room temperature; about an hour.  Refrigerate at least 6 hours (can be made 2 days ahead).  Arrange overlapping rows of sliced strawberries over top; lightly brush with melted jelly.  Hold edges of foil; lift bars from pan.  Cut into bars.  Serve cold.

8 Years of Awesomeness

It is actually hard for me to write about my rock stars 8th birthday.  Don't get me wrong, it was a glorious weekend.  I kept thinking of my sweet little girl getting put in my arms for the very first time after 29 long hours of labor.  Holding a baby that small and knowing she was mine took my breath away.  We have gone through so many computers since her birth so I don't have any pictures of her that small to share, I actually don't think we had a digital camera back then either, haha.  But you will have to take my word for it, my girl was the best looking baby ever born in 2002!!!!  I think of all the special days we have spent celebrating her birthdays.  From her first birthday while daddy was deployed all the way up to last year when my sister and her kids were down and we celebrated all together for the first time.  And then there was this year.  I feel blessed to be back home and be able to have family surround my sweet one.  It melts my heart to see my family love my girls.  To embrace with hugs and kisses and know it is true and genuine and my girls are loved unconditionally.  But I just couldn't get it out of my head, this is her first birthday of sorts, her first birthday as a child living with Epilepsy.  She has had a long 9 months.  Ups and downs, new meds, hospital stays, tests, needle pricks, seizures and horrid headaches that take it all out of her.  I don't think she felt anything different from any of her other celebrations and I am thankful for that.  I actually didn't think about it until we had to stop to take medicine or make sure she was ok while she tried to stay up all night with her friends to party, it was the days leading up to that special weekend that worried me.  What if this one is different?  What if she has too much sugar and has a seizure, what if she stays up too late and the next morning because of the sugar and being sleep deprived, she has a seizure.  And none of that happened, thank the Lord nothing happened, but it was a constant thought.  Life has just changed so much for her and for our family in the last 9 months and I guess I am just not used to all of it yet and wonder if I ever will be.  And as I said before, none of my bad thoughts happened, but do you want to know what did happen?  She was loved.  She was surrounded by family singing Happy Birthday at one of her all time favorite restaurants.  She danced hand in hand with her sisters and parents to a band outside of Disneyland.  She saw fireworks on her way home and actually thought Disneyland did it just for her to end her perfect night.  Of course we told her they did, even if she knows they happen all the time, we have actually made trips to my Aunts house to see them before, but for that night, they were for her.  She had friends come over with smiles and sleeping bags and they stayed up half the night being 8 year olds.  She woke up with said friends to enjoy the most unhealthiest of breakfasts followed by a very un-nutritious dinner prepared by her and her momma.  And she rocked out like Taylor Swift with her new pink rock star guitar which she feels will make her a rock star one day.  And it will happen.  Why?  Because she is amazing.  Because she can have a tragic morning 9 months ago, followed by 9 months of pure hell not knowing what the future holds for her and still have the worlds sweetest soul.  She sees everything with rose colored glasses and they are beautiful rose colored glasses.  She will be your best friend and greatest fan no matter who you are because she loves life and besides her dream of being a rock star, she just wants to smile and be happy.  So, to my sweet girl who has given me 8 blissful years of happiness, Happy Birthday, may you continue to brighten our lives and teach us how to be better people.  I love you!!!!!

Goin' Buggy

A couple of weeks ago Cassidy was in a play called Goin' Buggy.  I guess her school does a second grade play every year so now it was her turn.  I didn't know too much about the play, I had only received 2 papers.  The first had her one line on it and the next that she would be playing a ladybug and the costume was already taken care of.  So, all we had to do was show up and watch our little darlin show off her stuff.  I was super excited to see her, mainly because she had been super excited and because I love seeing my little ones shine.  When we got to the school, the room was pretty much empty except for the stage.

No it is not fantastic and over the top but it was super cute!!!  I sat in my seat waiting for the kids to come in.  Of course as soon as they all started coming in, I had to find my little ladybug.  As soon as I spotted her my eyes teared up and I wanted to cry.  Yes, I realize this is a little absurd and over emotional, that's just who I am.  I have no clue what I am going to do when my kids actually do something super amazing or when they graduate college, I am going to be an emotional wreck!!!!  But back to my ladybug, I spotted her sweet face and ran over to take a picture and give her a pre-show hug.  Look how excited she was!

After the hugathon (which I know she will not allow me to do in public one day so I am taking total advantage), I took my seat and watched the 30 something little bugs perform.  There was singing and dancing and each set of bugs got their own part.  Cass was one of the first to go so she and her fellow ladybugs took center stage.

After their singing and dancing number they all lined up to say their one line.  Ready set......

"Little Miss Muffet sat on her tuffet, stuffing her face with curds and whey.  YUCK!!!"  That's my girl :)  The rest of the play was super cute.  A lot of my Girl Scouts were in it as well so I felt super proud.  And after it was over, we headed back to the classroom for a picture of the bugs in Ms.James' class.

How cute are these kids?  And the best part came next, Cass got to go home!!!  Gotta love fun days at school when you get to go home early too.  We had to go back that night for a repeat performance and after we all headed out for a celebratory McDonald's dinner (Cassie's choice).  What a wonderful day!!!

So, we meet again............

And we don't include pictures or anything interesting.  I just got my computer back last night after it was presumed dead.  Literally, my friends husband who was going to fix it gave me the sad look and let me know it did not look good.  I started to realize that I would be computer-less for a while only to have it be resurrected and better than ever.  And hello Windows 7, I think I have fallen in love.  More will be written later, there is no time right now for all the craziness...................