A day at the fair

The kids and I went to the fair with a good friend of mine, Jenny yesterday. The fair ends today and since I wont be home I wanted to take the kids one last time since we haven't really been able to spend a lot of time there.
Last year Jr didn't want anything to do with the rides. I brought him on the bumpers cars with me and he hated it. I also carried him up the slide (hardest workout ever LOL) and he wasn't really a fan of that either. So this time when he asked to go on the bumper cars, the slide all by himself and his first roller coaster I was so proud of him!

 Now I just have to throw in a picture of my little diva. All her little divarisms just come naturally to her, she doesn't even realize she's doing them. To me they are just too flippin cute. So when I saw her standing watching Jr on the bumper cars I had to snap a shot of her little pose.

Now, this little obstacle course Jr had his eye on since the first time we came to the fair. While it may seem small and nothing of difficulty for some. Jr is a very timid kind of guy. He will talk about how he wants to go on big rides and do big things but when it comes time to do it he gets scared. Nothing wrong with that. I was the same way growing up. It was really neat to watch him go through the course. I could see on his face that he didn't really want to do it after he got inside. The little bit of fear but my boy pushed through. I am beyond proud of him. Normally he would have cried and ran out the other side but he just kept on going. He would pause a few times but he didn't quite. This is a really huge step for him.

 My boy just kept on surprising me yesterday! Next he asked if he could go down the slide. As soon as I handed him his ticket he was off. I didn't even get a chance to take a picture oh him before he got on. But I did manage to catch these few pictures which just speak to me on so many levels on how much my boy is growing up and maturing.

I love how he is smiling back looking at me in the first picture. He was so excited to go on like a big boy without mommy there to hold his hand. And that smile didn't go away the whole climb up or the way down.

And last but not least his first time on a roller coaster. I tried getting Samantha to go on with him but that was a no go. Im bummed that all the pictures I took of him actually riding the coaster came out was a big huge blur. But hey a picture of him sitting on it right before it goes is proof right LOL

And that concludes our day at the fair. It was a lot of fun. OH, and I won two free tickets to Knotts Soak City in a free raffle drawing. I know I am such a dork but I was shaking I was so nervous to go in front of all these random people and claim my prize. But I did it and I can't wait to go with my family.

Waaaah, life is so hard

I decided to take a video of my oldest whining to me a little bit ago. I took it as an attempt to make him smile cause he just loves attention and what better way to get attention then to watch mommy watching you on the computer laughing LOL I know I'm so mean but it worked hah!

So in my first official video on my blog I would like to proudly announce my handsome six year old whiny man aka Jr. And in the background is mantha panta aka Samantha and bugger butt aka Shawn.

What's for dinner tonight you ask

Well tonight I made a new recipe. Grilled Chicken with Lemon Basil Pasta. I got the recipe from The Pioneer Womans site. If you've never been, GO! Now. Seriously go now you wont regret it. She has amazing recipes.
Now let me just say OMG! I love lemon in my food and you can't go wrong with anything involving cream. Oh and I forgot the Parmesan cheese, again yum! I might have to wait like a year before making this again because it is something I can just dig into and not stop eating. So good.
Okay enough talking and share the recipe already! Okay, your wish is my demand. Not literally cause if I had that power I would be living in a 5 bedroom house with a mini van LOL Anywho, here is an amazing recipe for you guys to try.

Grilled Chicken with Lemon Basil Pasta

Ingredients:

4 whole Grilled chicken breasts 

1 lb. Penne Pasta cooked Al Dente

1/2 stick of Butter

3 Whole lemons juiced

3/4 cups Heavy cream

1/4 cups Half-and-half

1-1 1/2 cups Grated Parmesan cheese

Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

20 whole Basil leaves chopped

 

Cook pasta. Reserve one cup of the hot pasta water in case you need to loosen the consistency of the sauce later. Set the pasta aside in the colander.

In the same pot melt the butter over medium heat. Squeeze the juice of the lemons. 

Whisk together. Pour in the heavy cream and the half-and-half. Whisk until hot. 

Then add in the Parmesan cheese and whisk until it is melted. Add salt and pepper to taste. Check the consistency of the sauce. If it's too thick add some of the reserved water from the pasta.

Pour the pasta and the sauce into a big serving bowl. Sprinkle remaining basil over the top and then add the sliced chicken breasts. 

Enjoy!

Wordless Wednesday

I love that my husband still acts like a kid sometimes. He jumped off here and said "I'm so glad I didn

't land on my head" LOL

Out of the loop

I know I haven't been posting regularly and I am pretty much out of the loop with almost all of my friends. I feel bad about this and sad that I have missed a lot. I'm trying not to beat myself up about it but I am the type of person that is constantly beating herself up over, well everything. I take everything personally (my husband would be so proud I admitted that LOL). I haven't posted on my blog the why for my sudden absence and I think I'm okay to do that now.
On August 10th I got a text from my mom asking for me to call my sisters and arrange for all of us to come over to my Grandparents because my Grandpa wanted to say goodbye to us. If you don't know my Grandpa has been fighting renal cancer. By the time they diagnosed him the cancer had already metastasized to a lot of his organs and pretty much all over his body. My mom finally got them to move closer to family so we could spend more time with them and be there to help take care of him. Fast forward to August 10th. We all knew this day was coming but no matter how much you prepare yourself for it, it's harder then you can imagine. I spent almost all day over there along with my Aunts and Uncles and my Mom and sisters. I got to give my Grandpa a hug and tell him that I love him. The following day we all went back over there. By that time my Grandpa was sleeping all the time. He never fully woke up. He would open his eyes and we think try to smile. When my husband and I walked in my mom told him we were there and he smiled and opened his eyes. We spent the rest of the night there until he passed away at 9:42 pm. It was one of the hardest things I have ever experienced but knowing that he was surrounded by family so full of love for him helps me.
I love my Grandpa so much and that love will never fade. I will miss him as time goes on but I will never forget him. He was the first real man in my life and I know he loved me just like I loved him. I have my bad days when everything I see reminds me of him and I cry but I know it will get easier. Jr and Samantha tell me all the time that Zadie is in heaven and smiling down on us. Well Samantha says he's laughing at us but it still brings a smile to my face.
Papa, I love you more then I think you will ever know. You were always a strong point in my life and even though you will be missed I know you are in a better place and you have no more pain.

Bubbles, smiles and more bubbles

One of the positives to living in the desert (don't laugh, you knew there had to at least be one) is that at least it's not cold in the summer so we can go out and play. On the other hand it does get disgustingly hot to where I can't go outside without getting a headache. So on the rare days that there is a slight breeze and not a huge gusting wind I like to take advantage of it.  So I grabbed Jr's baseball bat and ball and the bubbles and we headed outside. I even managed to get one of the kids to drag, I mean get the hubs outside. This was Shawns first time actually blowing bubbles. Usually he just chases them but now that we have a spill proof bubble thing I let him play with it. He loved it. Must have blown bubbles for 30 minutes. And he actually did pretty good at blowing them. Of course he tried putting it up at his lips at first but hey, haven't we all done that one time or another ;)

This is Jr's "Daaaaaaaaaad" look. He must have done something silly to get that look

Two little monkeys........

JUMPING ON THE BED! There was no one falling off and bumping their head thank goodness. I am such a bad influence sometimes but hey what fun would it be if I were straight laced and boring LOL Little man, aka Shawn and I were sitting on my bed and he started jumping so of course being the photo freak that I am, I told him to wait a minute and let me grab the camera first! I ran and grabbed the camera and said ok, do your worst. After about five minutes Mantha Pantha aka Samantha came running in and wanted to join in the fun.

And what results of having such fun :) Yes she climbed into his crib somewhere in between the time I put them down and I went to bed. I love when they do sweet things like this.

Wordless Wednesday

I lied, this isn't wordless, it turned into my not so wordless wednesday post. 

My kids LOVE when I make them smoothies. No I'm not talking about the unhealthy ice cream one's. While they are yummy I am not that crazy to feed that to my kids in the morning LOL. I make mine with fresh and frozen fruits. This time I asked my oldest what kind he would like and he said blueberry. So blueberry it is, well at least it was the main ingredient. I must have dumped well over a cup and a half worth in there. I also added in some peaches and banana. Oh and of course the apple juice.

 All the kids were saying how loud the blender was so I looked back & this is what I saw.

Jr plugging his ears

 Mantha covering hers (this picture cracks me up cause this barely even looks like her to me)

And little man....being different by covering his eyes LOL

The finished product

They gulped it down within five minutes and then were asking for more. I try to do smoothies at least once a week. It's something sweet for the kids so they love it and I don't feel bad giving it to them and if there's some left over I get some too LOL

What! School starts when???

Now granted I am semi new to the school routine but I still feel like a total failure for letting this happen. Well maybe more a looser then a failure LOL On Thursday I got an automated call from my sons school saying "We are pleased to welcome back all the returning students to our 2010/2011 school year on Monday, August 9th". WTF I'm sorry did she just say AUGUST 9th, like as in this coming Monday! No way, not possible. Freak, she really just did. How did I miss that. How could I not know when he actually started school. I ASSumed they were started around mid to late August.

After stewing on it for a little while I started to get upset that there is no form of communication from the school or school district about when school resumes after summer break. And no, four days notice is NOT good enough. I mean I don't know if it's because I'm new to this and I'm out of the loop or have high expectations.

So end result is I have not gone school shopping for my son. Thankfully his backpack is almost brand new. We bought it one month before his Kindergarten year was over. But other then that I have nothing. I can probably find some pencils around here but I don't have a notebook or paper for him. Heck I haven't even bought his school clothes.

Oh random bit. My son is at his first sleepover. I am so excited for him I was actually giggling when I dropped him off. He is growing up so fast! 

A dream come true

It has been a dream of my Grandpa's to rude a Harley Davidson for a while and after by parents got a bike about a year ago he told them that he had always wanted to ride one. On Fathers day my mom bought him a little bucket and a small pad of paper and wrote on there "Bucket List" and under that "To ride a Harley". And told him that anytime he was up to it she would make it happen for him.

Well Tuesday was that day! The manager from the local Harley shop out here brought over a trike to take him on a ride. It was so neat to see my Grandpa happy. It only ended up being a short ride because the manager had to get back to the shop and you could tell my Grandpa didn't want to stop so when the owner offered to come by on Wednesday and take him for a longer ride he couldn't refuse.

Gary, the grounds keeper for the complex my Grandparents are living along with my mom helped set all of this up. And Gary even called a photographer from the local newspaper out here to come take pictures of his ride. So not only did he have his two granddaughters following along snapping pictures but he had the professional who is so graciously giving him a cd of ALL the pictures she took!

Here are a few pictures from Tuesday and Wednesdays ride.

Tuesday ride with a long time family friend on the right and his friend on the left

All smiles! I wonder if he enjoyed his ride :)

Wednesdays ride. My Dad driving and the newspapers photographer in back

 

 

 

 

This picture just makes me think of Willie Nelson's On the Road Again

 I am so happy that my Grandpa got to experience this. It makes me cry knowing that people who don't even know him helped make his dream come true and were just so amazing about the whole thing.

Wordless Wednesday

Rayovac Snap, Share & Win Contest!

Rayovac is hosting a Snap, Share & Win photo contest right now through August 29th. They have three fun photo categories to choose from, Summer Fun, Fun with a pet and Fun with Water. Each week they will change the themes to one the three preselected theme's they have chosen, but you can only enter once so make sure it's your favorite picture! This weeks theme is...........

The best part are the prizes if you win!

The Grand Prize: You can win 1 of 3 Digital Camera Packages including a 10 megapixel Canon Digital Camera, Canon Compact Photo Printer, Camera case, 4GB memory card, Note cards with your photo that you submitted and Rayovac Platinum Rechargeables. You will also receive a 7" widescreen Digital Photo Frames to share with THREE friends!

2nd Place: 1 of 3 Canon Compact Photo Printers and Rayovac Platinum Charger!

3rd Place: 9 Runner-up Prizes include a Digital Photo Frame Keychain and Rayovac Platinum Charger!

Now I don't know about you but I think the Grand Prize is awesome! Who wouldn't love a new camera. So what are you waiting for. Head on over to Rayovacs contest page and enter!

P.S. If you don't want/plan to enter and you like my picture I would be eternally grateful if you voted for my picture. It's not live yet since I chose the Summer Fun and they are doing Water Fun right now. I will come back and give the direct link when it's available. The name of my picture is: Sunshine Day.

Rub a dub dub

Two kids in a tub. We can't fit anymore then that in our tub otherwise it would be three kids with my oldest in there LOL Bath time is a multiple occurrence in this house. My youngest is like a dirt magnet. I take that back he is an anything that can make you dirty, whether it be food, dirt, milk dribbled on himself, diaper mess, anything, he is a magnet for it. So he gets at least two baths a day, sometimes three. And whenever he gets a bath my daughter comes running in begging to take one also. What can I say, my kids like the water.
While giving them a bath last night they found a new way to play in the tub.

Laying in the tub

Funny thing is I've tried getting my daughter to do it many times before but she never wanted to BUT as soon as little brother does it, it's A-Okay with her. They got such a kick out of it and of Shawn was such a ham, eating up my laughs so he had to make me laugh even harder by trying to drink the water while laying down.