Christmas '10

Santa came!


Lyla 'waiting' for Santa on the couch


Not to bad they woke about 7:45

I believe Chris is satisfied :)


Jullian loving his new blanket from Nonna.

Prepping for Christmas '10

(I've completely slacked but we wont get into that)

Heres making cookies with the kids




Getting the tree up




The 2 little ones doing ornaments



More to come :)

Thanksgiving '10

We had a white Thanksgiving this year here in WA
Our snowman was nice & healthy :-)

We found a great sledding hill


& look how fancy we dressed for dinner




(yes we are missing Alex, we will get through this hard time of him making the choice to leave home, we will look back and forget the sadness & remember only the good times)

Sgt. !!!

Oct 26 2004

Mister Jullian Miguel was born
I can not believe 6 yrs has past by already.
Now in Kindergarten and learning to read & write,
playing basketball, baseball & soccer like a champ.
How unique & great you are.
You do have your good & bad moments but being the 3rd and middle child has its ups & downs.
You are a great great boy, the bestest Jullian in the world.
You have a shinning smile & give the greatest hugs.
Just look at how you've grown.

Recycle all that glass!

A fun universal Holiday/Birthday/Celebration project.

Here I'm showing it themed for Halloween & J's 6th Birthday to decorate the tables & hand out when everyone leaves.

I can see this for Thanksgiving and giving one to each who attends dinner or even for Christmas, you can hand one out to all at the office.

I got the inspiration from here.

This could be a pretty quick project but C & I worked on these 1/2 the day yesterday everything was all spread out over the dinning room table from noon to midnight.

So lets start!

Prep & supplies needed:

Dig through your glass recycling container

After picking through and getting the ones you want, remember to check for chips & cracks
fill your tub or sink and soak the bottles in warm water.

Rub off all the labels, don't worry about the sticky glue stuff, I'll show you a tip later

(clean out the tub after it drains :)

Let glass dry

Get out all your supplies, here we have two types of paper, 1 long and skinny, 1 short and squared. We have coordinating stickers, & ribbon. Glue, tape, tons of scissors, pens/pencils, a tag/label stamp (optional), fabric scraps (at least 4in circle/square), stencils,rubber bands & plastic wrap (if using popcorn or open candy) oh and a hole puncher

Make sure you have a big ole bag of candy, m & m's, treats, small gift bag toys and even crunch n' munch works well

Now the how to:

Select a bottle, a fabric piece and coordinating paper and sticker, use your imagination and have fun.

After the jar is all decorated, fill as you choose, if its a wide mouth you can do gift bag toys & small individual candy, if its a small mouth you can try out m&m's or popcorn.

Here's a picture of everything ready to go, a hanging to/from tag ribbon, 2 fabrics, & a filled jar.

All done!

here's one with crunch n' munch

& one with m&m's

Oh yeah the sticky glue removal tip.

Fingernail polish removal works wonders.
See below, the before & after, I just rubbed the glue off with a clean dry washcloth that had fingernail polish remover on it.

art project

A quick post (so I don't forget :))

Heres what C has been working on for art class,

its only the was before & is now pieces

I hope he brings home the other steps so I can share the complete process.

Me~Mom

I'm feeling old :(
I'm almost 32, about half grey & a good 30 lbs over weight.
I seem to be tired & grouchy all the time.
I'm not enjoying the projects, playtimes or even being awake.
I'm slacking on the house, not working out, skipping out on taking L to play group.
Well today I weighed myself, 154 lbs at 5ft 1in that's not good.
I thought of starting a diet yesterday- I had rice noodles so yesterday couldn't count.
Today is my first full day of Low-Carbing it again.
It worked a few years ago, its a way of life, it can be done & work for me.
Hi, my name is Jessica and I'm a Carb-a-holic.
I need to lose at least 29lbs,
I need to be able to ride my bike and not feel like passing out.
Here's to a better me.
I'll name this Tummy & Thigh Thursday
(even though its Wednesday for this first post I'll keep it updated on Thursdays)
and to kick it off right...a picture (not of me :))
Craving a burger?
Have it bun free!
Yes that's mayonnaise, mustard & ketchup too with pickles, onions & tomatoes to round it out as a burger salad

Oct. Fall craft w/ the little ones

I've seen this before but have no idea where.
Heres our take on it.

Hand & Foot painted Spiders & Ghost

You'll need:
construction paper
black & white paint

other colors optional

2 big brushes

a few little brushes

(or chopsticks & popcicle sticks work too)

oh yeah, little hands & feet too

Paint hands black-skip the thumb

place first hand down then rotate the paper-place second hand down over lapping the palms

Paint feet white-place and step down

let dry, if you choose to have other colors get them ready while waiting

add faces & decorate as you choose

One of J's finished Ghost

L's finished Spider

Tasty Tuesday ~ Crockpot Pernil

This is so super simple pernil,
once cooked it can be used for so many things

Pork-
use bone in butt with the big slab of fat on the side

(since this is being done in the crockpot we are using butt,
if this was being done in the oven the traditional way it would be a big ole shoulder with skin and all)

don't trim this, I know I would want to too, but don't

place meat in crockpot
rub w/ olive oil
season (no measuring-sprinkle all over) with salt, pepper, oregano, adobo & 1pk sazon.
add 1 cup water

cook on high 6 hrs

and its done

take some forks or tongs start pulling apart take out bone

serve as is w/ rice & beans
put on cuban sandwiches
add some bbg sauce
fill taco shells
roll some burritos
eat in the morning with some eggs

Enjoy!

Menu Monday 10/4

Breakfast M-F is U pick: Cereal/Poptarts/Oatmeal

Mon
L-sandwiches
D-chicken fried steak w/ mashed potatoes & corn

Tue
L-ramen noodles
D-asian chicken stir fry

Wed
L-mac&cheese
D-hamburgers & fries

Thurs
L-pb&j sandwiches
D- chicken wings w/tomato-motza-cucumber salad

Fri
L-veggiebeef soup & grilled cheese
D-schnitzel w/ scalloped potatoes & cucumber salad

Sat
B-eggs
L-biscuit bites
D-blt's w/chili

Sun
late B/early L- pancakes & sausage
D- Lasagna

Snacks are always on hand
apples, oranges, bananas, pickles, carrots, nuts, crackers, yogurt

October already!

Football season, Rain, J's B-Day, Decorating, Candy (way to much), Autumn colors everywhere.

C has stepped down from Cross Country :(
A is playing his first year ever in Football
J isn't liking k to much and is schedualed to be moved to a new teacher
L is sprouting like crazy, kinda trying the cry baby route :/
The man is slowly getting back to work, again, he's up for a Saint Barbaras Award! hey it can match my Molly Pitcher Award
Luke got fixed and is driving me bonkers, he seems mean, angry and on edge?
I think I suck at blogging.
I think about coming on here and writing about 'today' but just don't make it over.
I'm not writing for followers, I'm writing to keep track of our lives so we all have something to come back to later on after we are all gone.
We shall see.

Our new thing :)

Bikes!!!
Yep you heard that right
All 6 of us now own a bike.
L is still learning so she's not riding out on the long rides,
instead shes sitting comfy here.

Hubby & J have been going out almost everyday together.
C is riding to & from school and to gf's house.
A just got his today so lets see how much he uses it.
As for my self, today was my first ride.
(my butt is sore)

I'm totally excited.
This is so good for us.

and it's back

The rain that is, I'm totally feeling it & I don't like it :(

~C had his first CC meet and ran in at 23.03. Not bad for the first meet of the season.
He's also in swimming for PE and riding his bike if its not raining. We joke that he's training for a triathlon
~A is doing football this year, bruises, cuts and ice packs.
The doc cleared him to play on his ankle, no pt required but hey here's the kicker, the boy is flat footed-like badly- we go in for insert fittings on Wednesday.
~J is doing very well in school, coming home hungry but doing homework just fine and actually liking the parent drop off/pick up line.
~L, oh L, the little thing is obsessed with nick jr.com games.
After eating and getting back home "I play on computer mommy"
How much is too much?

Hopefully tomorrow night we'll rent a movie with the big boys after the little ones go down.

Wordless Wednesday ~ The man & his WoW ~

Tasty Tuesday ~ Chips & Dip

Chips~

Oil for frying

pot/pan/deepfryer

strainer/papertowels

10 corn chips
salt

Heat oil

cut chips
half into quarters
half into thirds

fry chips until golden

Strain & salt

Dip~

Dash of

salt,pepper,red pepper flakes

1Tbs minced garlic

2Tbs minced onion

2 Tbs sour cream

1 avocado

(you can sub sourcream out for another avocado)

mix mix mix

Serve & enjoy!