It's done, it's finally done!

When decided what to do for Halloween this year I knew I wanted to make my daughters costume. I'm not the craftiest person out there but how hard could a costume be to make. So I got all the fabric and went to work. All was well until I started working on it while I was tired and well just not thinking about what I was doing. I sat down and looked at the fabric and asked my friend Jenny "Why didn't I cut any of this fabric"? So I went to work and proceeded to cut all the fabric. Once that was done I went to put it on the elastic and realized OMG I cut ALL, yes every single piece in half! So now they were all too short too use. I think if Jenny hadn't been there I would have cried.
Fast forward to the following Friday (today) Jenny came over and saved the day with tons of replacement fabric. This time I made sure that I was cutting the correct way before I did anything. The end result, a beautiful costume for my princess. I'm calling it a strawberry shortcake princess tutu dress LOL I really don't know what to call it but I went with the color theme of strawberry shortcake and it is a dress so it works.

The finished product.

Her wand to go with her costume

Samantha was so excited to put her costume on and of course didn't want to take it off. I'm so happy she loves it because in the end that's all that matters.

Two more days until Halloween!

And I cannot wait! I love taking the kids out trick or treating and seeing them having a blast. Today was Jr's Halloween parade at school. All the kids and the teachers dress up and walk with their classes around the school. It's fun for them and fun for us mom and dads to watch and see all the kids costumes.

Can't do early morning parades without coffee! Don't worry she was just holding my cup for me

Cranky or tired???

Here he comes, my Jr man dressed as Jango Fett. Did I spell that right? I don't know anything about Star Wars

Not sure which costume he was looking at but he looks a little freaked out LOL

Bye Mom, see you after school!

Do you send cards for every holiday?

I am not normally one of those people that sends out cards for every holiday and birthday, in fact I rarely even send out cards at all. While I do have the best intentions and I even take pictures of the kids specifically for Christmas cards I just never actually order them. BUT this year I'm going to do them no matter what! I.am.determined!

Now I know you may be saying, why are you talking about Christmas already. Well it may be a little under two months away but those two months will sneak up on you before you know it. While browsing Shutterfly I came across a few cards that I am just in love with.

The Snowflake Damask Holiday Card-I love damask print and the simplicity of this card.  

 

 

The Family Wall Noir Christmas Card-This card just seems very elegant to me. Not too busy, the collage of pictures with the family letter for the last name. Black and simple is just elegant to me and you can't go wrong with that.

Bubble Wreath Holiday 5x7 folded card-Again very simple yet very pretty, add in a touch of color from the bubbles and you have a fun yet elegant card.

Now all I have to do is eliminate two of the cards so I will have the one to go with. But I really do love all three. This would be part of my indesivieness showing through LOL (if anyone wants to chime in with their favorite I'm all ears/eyes).

I also started browsing on the birthday invitations they offer, oh my! My daughters fourth birthday is coming up next month and I just couldn't help but take a peek. Would if be odd if I ordered a few of my top favorites and used all of them. Hey there's nothing wrong with a little bit a variety right???

And speaking of the upcoming holidays, I think a great present for my parents and my Grandma would be a Desk Calendar especially since we will be moving soon. It would be nice for them to have a full month of pictures of their grandchildren to look at.

*Shutterfly is sending me a voucher for 50 holiday photo cards for writing this post. I did not receive any compensation for this post. As always, all opinions are my own.*

We finally made it to the Pumpkin Patch

It only took two weeks of planning to get over there, and lots of canceling and rescheduling due to sickies or weather but we finally got over the yesterday! The kids were excited, no that's an understatement, they were ecstatic!

If you live in Los Angeles County, Saugus to me more exact or anywhere near that area I suggest you go to Lombardi's Ranch. I have been going there since I was a little girl and let me tell you, it's not like those "pumpkin patches" that are on the street corner that charge you an arm and a leg for a pumpkin and to ride their scary carnival type rides. Lombardi's actually grows their own pumpkins. Imagine that a pumpkin patch that grows pumpkins, huh what a concept. Every year they grow their own pumpkins and pick them when they are at their peak and set them out throughout their land for families to come and choose their perfect one. They have a sunflower maze that you get to walk through and see all different types of scarecrows that local organizations and schools have made for display. They have a corn maze and a little animal area, even a train ride around the grounds of the farm. Not only does Lombardi's sell pumpkins they also have corn, tomatoes, squash and watermelon. They are only only for a few months out of the year so don't delay, check out the link above and head on over for some good family fun.

Now what would a post about a trip to the pumpkin patch be without some pictures.

Love this picture of Jenny and her little man

Mr. Fosters Wild Ride

That's the title of the article in the Hoffman Hospice seasonal magazine. Hoffman Hospice is the company that took care of my Grandpa while he lived in a retirement home for the last few months of his life. I know I've already posted about his Harley ride but I wanted to share this article. I still get very emotional talking about my Papa and reading this made me cry but a happy cry that his family was with him on such a momentous day.

I know it's small but I can't make it any bigger on my blog so just click on the picture and it should open up in a new window full sized.
Thank you Hoffman Hospice for featuring my Papa and thank you to everyone who helped make this day happen for him. Also I'd like to thank you for taking care of him. I couldn't have asked for a more gentle, caring croup of women not only for my Grandpa but you also helped my Grandma and my Mom so much during this time. You ladies are truly amazing.

Sick of it all

Not really, that's a name of a band I listen to but it kind of applies to how I'm feeling right now, well except I'm only sick of one small thing. I have to hear pretty much weekly, if not more that I should buy another car. REALLY! Oh gee thanks for letting me know. Let me just pull 20 thousand dollars out of my bum and get right on that. 

I hope you caught the sarcasm in there LOL. Here's the deal. We are a family of five, we live pretty modestly. Once in a while, yeah sure we splurge but it's on something we've saved up for. We don't have credit cards because they are evil. We don't mooch of the system, any of them. We don't mooch off family members or friends. EVERYTHING we have we have from hard work. Can't say that about a lot of people these days. 

One thing that is on my dream list is another car but it's just not in our budget right now. Is it hard having one car, yeah. Does it suck commuting to LA every week, you betcha. Don't you wish you had another car, uh duh! Well why don't you buy one? Simple, I refuse to put our family in a financial crisis just to get temprary relief on the situation. Soooo, we deal. I run back and forth between two schools all day and then there's soccer practice and games and general errands but at least I am thankful for what I have. I can't imagine how much more difficult things could be if we didn't have any car. 

So here's the deal. Of course I want another car but it's NOT going to happen right now. It's not your decision on whether I should buy one or not. When the time is right we will get another car, until then leave me alone about it.

*This post was not directed at any one in particular, just venting my frustrations out*

Fish Tacos

I love fish tacos and my family does too. And after sharing I had some the other day I got a few requests for the recipe so I'm going to share my recipe that I came up with with you all.  This is more of a healtified version (no breading or deep frying involved) but it is still full of a lot of flavor. 

One thing I need to work on is getting some exact measurements, since I've only been making this recipe for a little over a year now I've never written it down or used any measuring tools. I just do it by eye so I'm going to lay out the ingredients for you all and you can do it by your preference. 

Also with the fish I buy the packed mahi mahi from Trader Joe's and that will feed my family of five (2 adults & 3 young'ins) if you are serving mainly adults I suggest getting two packages of fish. 

Mahi Mahi
Garlic Salt
Onion Powder
Cayenne Pepper
Cumin
1-2 tbsp. Olive oil
Light Sour Cream
Lime
Salsa Verde (I used trader joe's salsa verde)
Corn Tortillas (if you can find fresh home made one's they are so much better)
Cabbage
Onions

Avocado chopped or thinly sliced 

I start the sauce for the tacos first so it can blend all the flavors together. Mix 1 cup of sour cream to 1/2-3/4 cup of salsa. Add in some lime juice and cayenne pepper to taste. Stick in the fridge until later.

Season the fish with the dry seasonings and then cook in the olive oil. Cook fish until flaky with a fork (about 10 minutes).

While your fish is cooking thinly slice up your cabbage and dice up some onions.

To prepare the tacos, warm up the corn tortillas, place on a piece of fish, squeeze some lime juice on the hot fish then pour on a spoonful of the salsa sauce, then put on the onions and then cabbage. Dig in.

If you aren't a fan of sour cream just use your favorite salsa. The avocado is optional, I've never tried it in my homemade fish tacos but as I was typing the recipe out it sounded really good.

I hope your family enjoys these as much as mine does <3

Donations for Madisons Family

Last week I posted about a sweet little girl named Madison and her fight with brain cancer. It breaks my heart to inform you all that on Saturday October 16th Madison lost her battle and passed away. The family is struggling with loosing their princess not only emotionally but financially. Her mom, Christin works nights and her dad Andy just graduation from school and put his job search on hold so he could spend as much time with Madison as he could. They also have an 18 month old son. Together they moved into Andy's parents house because financially they couldn't get by on their own with everything that was going on. I just learned that now the grandfather has lost his job. Not only did they loose a very special and sweet little girl but now the family is struggling financially. 

I am writing about this because I was just informed that a donation site has been set up for Madison's family. I do not normally come on here and ask for donations but this family needs them and their story is just so heartbreaking to me I felt I had to do anything I could to help. If you are in a position to help could you please Madisons Donation site and help this family out. The great thing about this site is that 100% of the money raised goes to the family. I'd also like to ask if you could help me spread the word about this family. Share on facebook, tweet, forward and email. remember every little bit helps!

Thank you so much.

(Not so) Wordless Wednesday

Last night we had an amazing storm. Well more like two storms. If you want to be technical we had two cells move in that produced hail, rain, thunder and lightening. In other words, it was AWESOME! I have never seen weather like that out here in the desert of California. In TX and GA well yeah but not here. It made me miss living in the south and very excited to move back next year.
Yes I am one of those nuts who loves the crazy weather and I just happened to be married to a nut who loves it too. He loves it so much in fact that he is going to school for meteorological science. So while it was hailing and pouring down rain and lightening was striking every two seconds we were outside enjoying it and I was standing out in the rain camera in hand. Ahhhh I miss my dslr so much. It would have been perfect to shoot with it instead of my p&s but I will take what I can get because I did get some good shots.
And now onto the wordless part.

A blip into my wonderful life

No I am not being sarcastic. While my kids may drive me nuts sometimes I love my life and everything in it.
The kids and I were bored this morning so what's more entertaining then seeing yourself on the computer.





And of course we had a little bit of fun with the camera.

Every little bit helps-Fundriaser for sweet Madison

There is a sweet little girl who went to my sons school with a heart breaking story. Her name is Madison. She is a six year old little girl who was recently diagnosed with cancer. They discovered a tumor the size of a baseball in her head. They did surgery and the Dr's told her she would fine after a round of chemotherapy and radiation treatments. Right before she started to begin the treatments she began to get sick and they discovered that she had tumors along her spine so they suggested more aggressive treatment.
I am not positive on her prognosis because the family wants it's privacy which is completely understandable but I do know it is not good. My heart is breaking for this family. The reason I am sharing this is because I would like to ask for prayers for Madison and her family. I would also like to inform you of the fundraiser friends are holding for her. It will be at Pars Restaurant in Palmdale, CA on October 26th from 4pm to 8pm. They will be serving and all you can eat buffet for $12 a person and 20% of the proceeds will be going to the family. If you would like to rsvp please click here to do so.
Also the school is collecting donations in any form for the family, i.e. gift cards (grocery stores or target, walmart, gas cards), money, any little bit helps. If you would like to mail such things to the school please contact me and I will give you the address.

Thank you so much for reading this and any support you may give. My prayers are with you sweet Madison.

Such a girl

My daughter is such a girly girl when it comes to clothes and accessories such as hair things, shoes, purses, necklaces, ect. I love it, but it's so cute because she is also a tomboy. She loves to get dirty and she has an obsession with all things cars, motorcycles and trucks. Every day she hoards ALL the hotwheels we have in the house and fights with her brothers for them. Then she lines them up all in a row and oh my goodness, it is the end of the world if anyone touches them or gets them out of line. I think it's adorable. Yesterday I bought her a new skirt that she couldn't wait to try on! So as soon as we got home she stripped and put in on so I just had to take her outside for some pictures.

I am so excited to get my camera back. I sent it in for repairs and using my p & s get's me by but the pictures just aren't the same. I'm really bummed the second one came out very pixelated but I still think she looks adorable :)

Chicken and Wild Rice Casserole

Oh my was this goooooood. Everyone had two helpings and there were barely any leftovers left. It's not often I find new dishes that are that big of a hit in my house. So I will not be loosing this recipe and since it was such a success I thought I would share it you all. Now I got the recipe from Allrecipes.com but I changed it around a bit so if you want the original version just click on the link above.

Chicken & Wild Rice Casserole

Ingredients:

4 chicken breasts

1/2 dry white wine

1 tsp curry powder

1 onion sliced

2 (6oz) packages of long grain & wild rice mix

1 1/2 cups chopped mushrooms

1 cup sour cream

1 can of cream of mushroom soup
1/2 cup of Parmesan Cheese
Garlic Salt
Cayenne pepper
Onion powder

Cooking spray

Place the chicken breasts in a crockpot and cook on low for five hours. After five hours, take the chicken out and set aside. Strain the fat and save the chicken broth. 

Once the fat is strained add back in your chicken, curry, your wine and your onions. Cook for one more hour. 

Start your rice. Substitute how ever much broth you have for the water the rice calls for. So if you have 1 cup of broth and you need three cups of water only use two cups of water.

Now you get to shred the chicken. The GREAT thing about a crock pot is that the chicken will be so tender it will be really easy to shred. 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

In a large mixing bowl mix the sour cream and soup. Then add in the chicken with onion mixture and when your rice is finished add that in. Add in remaining dry ingredients (onion & garlic powder & cayenne pepper). And lastly your Parmesan cheese. Give it a really good stir.

Once everything is completely mixed pour into a prepared baking dish. Put in the oven and cook for one hour.

I completely forgot to take a picture before it was devoured by my family. Can you tell it was a hit here LOL

Wordless Wednesday

This picture just makes me giggle. His stomach looks so HUGE. 

KitchenAid "Rescue My Appliances" Contest

Have a kitchen that needs some help? Are your appliances broken or maybe not working properly? Is your kitchen just really old school and you'd love to have it updated? If you answered yes to any of these questions you are in luck because Kitchenaid/Sears is having a contest where you could win over $8,000 worth of appliances!

Oh yes, you read that right. KitchenAid and Sears are holding a contest for people who need rescuing with their kitchen appliances. And it is really easy to enter. Just head on over to the KitchenAid/Sears site for a chance to win. Simply submit a photo of your kitchen in need of rescuing and you will receive a confirmation email confirming your entry within 48 hours.
But wait I haven't told you exactly what you could win. I'm just drooling looking at this list.
1.  KitchenAid Stainless Steel 30" Double Oven Freestanding Dual Fuel Range
2. KitchenAid Stainless Steel 26.6 cu. ft. French Door Borrom Freezer Refrigerator w/ Dispenser
3. KitchenAid Stainless Steel Superba® EQ Series 24" Built-In Dishwasher w/ Pro Scrub®
4. KitchenAid Stainless Steel 30" 1.8 cu. ft. Microhood Combination Microwave Oven
5. KitchenAid Monochromatic stainless steel 24 cu. in. Undercounter Beverage Center

I went ahead and submitted my entry earlier this morning because, well have you seen my kitchen LOL I titled my picture "My kitchen, Circa 1970" because to be honest when you walk into it, it almost feels like your stepping back in time with my original late 1970's avocado green stove and our matches linoleum tile floors.

While my kitchen does have a little bit of that cool retro feel, it's old, it's dirty no matter how much I clean and my stove is the biggest problem. The temperature is off of the oven and the bake light doesn't come on anymore so if I happen to forget to turn off the oven (yes I've done it on occasion) I have no way of knowing except if I walk in front of it and feel the heat. The part of the stove that you cook on (it's electric and I'm not sure what those round parts are called) are lopsided and some sit higher then the others which causes uneven cooking. My toaster which we got for a wedding present is now almost 9 years old and is slowly dying. I usually have to double toast our bagels or they come out cold. And our fridge, oh I love our fridge but after 7 years and 8 moves the poor thing has seen better days. The door handle was pulled off on accident in attempt to remove the door and it doesn't sit flat against the door anymore. 

I entered the KitchenAide giveaway. If you want to vote for me that would be awesome but if you also are in need of some new appliances I encourage you to go, hurry, right now, click here and go enter for your chance to win!Entries can be submitted from October 5, 2010 until November 2, 2010 and the voting will begin November 3, 2010 until November 17, 2010.

And even if you don't want to enter each time you vote for someone's entry you will be entered to win a KitchenAid Artisan® Series 5qt. Stand Mixer.

*Disclosure* I was not compensated for this post in any way but it is in hopes of winning a prize