Stella Roo & Mommy Too!

We're alive...

2012-01-26T10:34:00.000-08:00

Yes, we are alive. Stella started preschool 2 days a week and gymnastics has started back up. We've also been doing A LOT of projects. House and fun projects. We were in crafty overload over the holidays. The other day we had some friends over and decorated heart cookies and made these snazzy little wands. We took a kitchen skewer and snipped the sharp ends off. I sewed together 2 hearts out of felt with white yarn. Then we stuffed it with some leftover pillow filler. You can have them put something else inside it, like glitter, before you close it up. Kinda like build a bear. But of course we forgot that part. :) Then I put craft glue on the stick and stuck it in the bottom of the heart where I had left a little space. I rolled the wand in mod podge and Stella sprinkled it with glitter of her choice. :) Lastly, I tied a ribbon on held in place with a little glue. She loves it and has been "turning me into things" such as a carriage or fairy godmother all week.

Be back soon...lots to catch up on.

Stella's Under Sea Adventure

2011-11-08T07:20:00.000-08:00

Stella had a blast at her mermaid birthday party. I didn't do anywhere near as many decorating crafts as I did last year but we still had some fun highlights. The kids pinned the tail on the mermaid, made jewelry and dug for buried treasure. The same friend as last year made her adorable cake and as usual she did a beautiful job! This year I did no where near as good of a job of hosting and picture taking. I figured this out when I went to upload the pics and I hardly had any besides the few I took before the party and a few I had taken while she was opening presents. I'm pretty sure Mario's dad took some so as soon as I can get my hands on some of those I'll add some more. All in all it was a success and a great time!

Soul Food

2011-11-08T06:45:00.000-08:00

As usual, when Mom was here, we went shell hunting. These trips always hold special memories of lazily drifting down the beach, sun on our faces as time slows down. A walk on the beach is always good for the soul. We had an especially nice walk on this particular morning. I have never seen the tide so far out at Alligator Point. There were SO many shells and we walked through a sand dollar farm it seemed. There was a sand bar that the tide going out so far naturally provided. We walked the whole way in between two bodies of water over flowing with shells dotting the sand. I know my Mom loves our walks on the beach and collecting shell "souvenirs" and we treasure the memories as much as she does...

Three

2011-11-04T16:52:00.000-07:00

Stella turned 3 last week.

Three. I still keep saying she's 2.

Three seems so much older then Two.

Tear.

My friend Christina took some beautiful pictures of Stella for her birthday. I love so many of them! She totally captured Stella's BIG personality! She did me a huge favor and took some with my Mom too since she was in town for Stella's birthday. You can find Christina, her beautiful pictures and her daughter (Stella's buddy) Addison here.

Thanks Christina!

I need to spend some time catching up. We went on a cruise. Alone.

My Mom came for a visit. Stella had a mermaid party. We've been busy.

Lot's coming up too.

Disney in a few weeks.

Then the holidays and SEATTLE!!! Yay!

Hopefully we'll have the first mellow weekend in a while this weekend

and I will catch up on my posts a little...

Little lovely

2011-08-15T05:33:00.000-07:00

Sugar and Spice and everything nice...

2011-08-01T08:36:00.000-07:00

Our girl. Love her.

Panama with the cousins!

2011-08-01T08:33:00.000-07:00

I am so far behind on the last few weeks. Mario's sister and fam have headed back to Austria. When they first arrived we all headed to Panama City for the weekend. It really felt like a vacation. We stayed at a different place then we usually do. It was perfect for all of us and had a lot to offer for the kids. There was quite the pool "scene", people were out walking around the hotel late into the evening, they showed a movie on the side wall of the building every night and there was even a pirate walking around! Fun for everyone! We spent a lot of time at the beach and pool, ate a lot, hit pier park for ice cream, and even went to the water park! Stella loved the lazy river! I'm gonna keep plugging away on all the pictures I have from their visit so I'm sure there will be more coming soon!

Cousins

2011-07-19T09:13:00.000-07:00

Since Mario's sister has been in town we wanted to get some pictures of the "cousins". So one evening after dinner the girls and I went down to Alligator Point to mess around. Right as we got down there Mario called and said there was someone coming to look at my car so we only had about half an hour. At least we got some in and I think a few turned out really cute. We are going to take some more before they leave at McClay gardens so we should have at least a few for framing. We spent the weekend in Panama City when the first got here and I have a lot of great pictures coming up from the weekend!

The post that was hijacked.

2011-07-12T18:34:00.000-07:00

The girl loves her some watermelon!

Toes in the water...

She loves playing with fish.

Old friends!

Sharon and Stella

Stella and Daddy cutting the rug!

So I had planned on writing about our friend Sharon from Nashville and how she was the reason Mario and I met. We haven't seen her in 4 years. We got to meet up with her a few weeks ago as she was in Destin. We met halfway and had some lunch and beach time. It was wonderful! While I was uploading the pictures Mario and I got into another discussion about Aubrey. I don't talk about that whole part much with anyone other then close family and friends. I have started a million posts only to delete them or never publish them. As his family would say, don't air your dirty laundry. I also don't think it's fair to discuss someone that I don't really have the right to discuss in public. Privacy and all. I can discuss my feelings on it though, I have just chosen not to. I choose to say nothing. Someone said to me recently, when we were talking about it, that it's my life too. It's been really rough lately. Hell, who am I kidding. It's been really rough always. It has been an uphill battle from the start. I see other blended families that seem to make it work and even thrive. I wish that was us, it would be a whole different story. No relationship comes easy, they all take a lot of work but it shouldn't be this hard for this long. I have a step mom and while I know I've had my moments of probably being a real jerk off, those are few and far between and long gone years ago. We could probably count them all on one hand. It wasn't consistently hard. My Step Mom and I have a great relationship and respect. I've even dated people before that had children. In 2 cases in long term relationships and had great relationships with the kids, one I even keep in touch with through facebook and she's now 18! Crazy! I don't think I have ever had this degree of difficulty getting along with someone, let alone a child. Although she is a young adult and not really a child anymore it hasn't made a difference. I get along with most reasonably well I would say. Yes, I know. I knew this going in. We all thought it was just jealousy over having to share her dad. It would pass. We would work on it. Then jealousy over Stella, again thought we would work though it. She would mature. We've been in counseling in 2 different time periods and I went by myself to cope. Mario wants us to go back again. He says we need to go back again. I am tired. Emotionally spun out on fighting about and with. I'm sure it is so hard for him. He has a hard time and acknowledges the difficulty in the situation but at the same time, you love your child unconditionally. I understand that completely and I always try to support, encourage and respect that relationship. Yet when things are said, and done I cannot just turn the other cheek and have that unconditional love between a parent and child. I am not trying to deflect 100% of the blame but this situation is not just between us. I am not the only one having a hard time. I've gone into more then I wanted and more then enough. It's emotionally draining. I just want peace. I'll probably never touch on it here again but sometimes you just have to release. Rock and a hard place.

Summer Lovin

2011-07-01T05:30:00.000-07:00

We were getting ready to walk out the door and Stella said, "Wait Momma, I gotta get my purse!"

Friday field trip to the Gulf Specimen Lab

Watch out! Shark!

Buddies

We went straight from the field trip to the beach!

Nice smile Stella Roo....cheese ball.

We found a sand dollar!

Then Bella came over to play for a while until the rain slowed down!

Sunday we went with Daddy to the beach!

He caught a Stingray. Scary looking little buggers.

Mario threw out the net and caught some little bait fish. Believe it or not Stella loves them. They are her pets. She moves them back and forth between buckets, puts them on the top of her sand castles & drops them in little tide pools then catches them again. Usually there's a few casualties from their playdates.

We've been busy playing. A lot. We've been going to the Friday field trips. We've been clocking some beach time. We've taken long walks exploring sea life and collecting shells. We've had play dates galore. Boy oh boy have we been eating watermelon. Oh and popsicles, lots of popsicles. We've gone to puppet shows. Craft time at the library. Hung out at the pool. All sorts of fun going on around here lately. Not to mention, we've finally had some rain! I think it was over a month with temps pushing 100 and not a drop of rain. It was hot, I was wilting. Any living thing in our yard was dying. Even with watering once a day. This week we've had afternoon/evening showers and it feels so good! Mario's sister and family arrive next week so I see lots more of the above activities in our near future!

Cheyanne Country Farm

2011-06-22T15:05:00.000-07:00

I had written 3 paragraphs on what we've been doing, a witty antidote on something silly Stella did & what's going on the next few weeks. Then it disappeared. So for now this is all you get. We are off to a puppet show and I don't feel like retyping. I'll be back soon. We have field trips all summer with our library group. Last Friday was Zachs' farm. Well, not his but his families. Here's the pics. :)

Public Service Announcement

2011-06-11T13:47:00.000-07:00

OK, so if your child is sick please do the rest of us a favor and keep them home. Much appreciated. I guess there's parents that go both ways. Me, I am extra cautious. I usually try to give it 2 days from when her fever breaks before I arrange play dates or face to face contact with people we like and would not wish to get sick. I know not everyone feels this way. OK, so there's the whole the more their sick the better their immune system will be idea. Well, we're pretty much out of the woods but I would rather have a 6 year old with a nasty bug then a 2 year old with a nasty bug as their little bodies take a beating pretty easy. They also aren't as articulate at letting us know what exactly is going on and what hurts. My friend Jenny's 3 year old daughter just spent over 2 weeks in the hospital to drain her lungs from a virus that turned into pneumonia. Followed by her 1 year old that came down with it also and spent a week in the hospital. Thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars later and that's WITH insurance. They have their whole school career to catch every bug in the universe and I know shit happens but if you knowingly take your kid out when their sick, especially around a bunch of other toddlers, you should be exposed to a germ firing squad.

2 weeks ago we were are library group and someone told me one of the kids wasn't coming because they were sick. Lo and behold they came straggling in. I heard the Mom "didn't think he was contagious". If your not sure err on the side of caution people! This isn't a Prom it's a freaking library group. Just stay home. A little bit later I look over and my unsuspecting daughter was playing with the little virus monster and he was hacking this deep cough right into her face. I thought to myself right as it was happening, "uh oh, I hope she doesn't get sick".

Three days later we were in the trenches. 2 weeks, 3 Dr visits, 2 Adeno Viruses, 1 double ear infection, 1 nasty case of pink eye and a UTI later we are on the mend. Stella didn't get more then an hours sleep for 7 days. She would wake up saying, "It hurts", or coughing nonstop. Her fever was up and down to 104 for 6 days. On day 7 she turned the corner. Day 8 Mommy got it. Ugh. Day 12 Mommy went to the Dr and even though it was a virus and there was nothing she could do begged the Dr to give her something to help sleep. Nasty little virus that was. Normally you get a bug and maybe a few days are spent in bed this was a full week where you felt so bad you didn't want to move but could sleep because of the body aches, head aches and incessant coughing. So not only for the kid your sick kid is getting sick but their parents also...please stay home if you are sick. Thanks. Much appreciated.

Needless, to say not much picture taking going on around here lately. The week before we got sick we went to the beach....that's all I got. Sorry.

This, that & the other.

2011-05-16T17:55:00.000-07:00

Mario's Step Mom, my Mom, Mario's Dad & Stella! They had Mom and I over for dinner one night when we were here and we got to have a nice visit! Stella's excited!

Dada caught a Pompano fish and of course Stella wanted to hold it.

My sweet babies cuddling.

Mario built Stella a sandbox that backs up to the fence in our backyard. We've been collecting buckets of sand every time we go to the beach. She loves to "play" with grasshoppers there. Which usually means the grasshoppers end up buried and "she can't find them". The grasshopper supply in our yard is dwindling. I think the words out on the grasshopper street.

Stella and Daddy "jumping"!

Pool time

The kids from the library group all got together for an Easter egg hunt before Easter!

On Easter we went over to Mario's Dads house.

So these were all from before my Mom came. For the most part. Mario's been pretty busy working, which is good. He has to go back over to Panama later in the month for a few days for work so we are going to tag along and make it an over nighter back to where we took my Mom. He'll be working, but Stella and I will hang at the pool and beach and hopefully he'll get to fit in another belly flop. ;) I really like these last few pictures of Stella and Aubrey. Aubrey looks a lot older in these for some reason. Not that she's not getting older but you could look at a picture from after this day and she doesn't even look quite as old. She's out of school in just over 2 weeks so them the camps will begin. So far she only has 2 on the books but I'm sure there's more that will pop up.

I've been thinking a lot lately about being good enough. Mommy self esteem. Doing as great of a job as Stella deserves. Of course, as a toddler, she is into everything. I feel as if all I ever say is "No, Stella", "Stop that Stella", "Stay out of that Stella", "STELLA, WHY did you do THAT"! Usually quite a bit louder then I would like at the moment.

She is constantly testing boundaries, pushing buttons and being quite mischievous. I have this huge complex of not having "that kid". You know the one. THE one. The troublemaker. The one at the playground that Moms give each other side glances about, the one you tell your husband stories about. I'm not blaming it all on the Mom nor am I blaming it on the kid. I think it's a little bit of both. I'm sure she/he will grow up just fine with out doing any hard time but it makes for a lot of criticism along the way.

Personally we don't spank. Mario and I have agreed on this and he wholeheartedly agrees and supports our decision. I knew even before I had kids I wouldn't. Or should say didn't want to, she's only 2. We have a long way to go. It just didn't make sense to me. I was probably spanked a handful of times at the most. I guess that explains it huh. Maybe I should start spanking....but seriously I heard someone say somewhere you shouldn't have to resort to violence nor use violence as a teaching tool and I totally agree. Mixed message, I can hit/spank whatever you but don't you do it to others. I know there's A LOT of people that do it, especially here in the south. I know those on the West coast won't believe this but...it's still legal in schools here. Seriously???? Unfortunately yes. Absurd. A parent is one thing but if someone at Stella's school layed a hand on her. Oh man. Not their call. Punishment if called for? Yes, but you lay a hand on my child and I don't know what I would do. Never been in a fight in my life and am against violence but....anywho. Where was I?

So, nothing against it for others, just wanted to try to use other options. We've been using time outs, which the threat of them usually works with out having to actually do one. It all just depends on the situation though. When she is exhausted or worked up or happened to have been lucky enough to have a treat with sugar in it, it can get ugly. I feel like I need more tools in my discipline tool box. I want her to learn from, rather then be scared of me but when she has dumped something on the floor that I can't even believe she could get to, scared of me is looking like a pretty good option.

I think that the hardest thing for me is to look outside the box. You can't see things clearly in the box. This happens all the time in all aspects of life. It's SO easy to see why people are having a hard time with something or why they are getting the results they are when you are on the outside. When it's your box it's much harder. I get caught up in the box and can't take a step back. I think I know so many things that I don't want to do but need to become clearer and more confident of the things I do or want to do. It's not necessarily her, I just don't want to short change her. I want to be 100% every bit the Mommy that she deserves. I know I am doing some things right though...as she is a sweet, loving, smart, kind baby girl. :) With just a little bit of spirited gremlin thrown in for good measure.

More Mama

2011-05-15T13:09:00.000-07:00

My Mom would come in every night to read to Stella with me. I even got a whole book on video. The first night after my Mom left Stella asked for Grammy Cathy. I told her, "remember she went on the airplane". She replied, "I want to go on Grammy Cathys' airplane"! Then leaned over, put her hands on my cheeks and said, "Mama, don't worry, I'll be back".

The last day before my Mom left we went down to our "home beach" to take a walk and look for shells. Such a nice time. We made so many nice memories while my Mom was here. A lot of them were just walks we went on, or sitting together and reading books, or Stella getting in bed with Grammy and hanging out.

Mothers Day we had Mario's Mom over and I made my Mom's wine sauce chicken recipe. It was so special to have both our Mom's there for Mothers Day!

I didn't take hardly any pictures for a bit but I've certainly made up for it in the last few weeks. I'll probably be posting random pictures as I go through them, I still have a bunch.

Panama City Beach with Mom!

2011-05-11T06:14:00.000-07:00

We took a boat over to Shell Island which you can only visit by boat. It was gorgeous! In all the times we've been to PC I've never seen the water looking so beautiful. It looked like the Caribbean!

Dolphins on the way over!

Stella was happy! :)

We relaxed after the beach and made dinner in the first night! So fun!

Mario enjoyed some pool time!

We had dinner at Margaritaville the next night, Mom loved it!

When we were changing her Stella took off running! Naked baby on the loose!

I have been so bad lately. I don't think I even have very many pictures from April. I just haven't been on the computer much lately. Usually I keep up with various other blogs and friends but I haven't even been doing that recently. The last few weeks have been really busy. My Mom has been in town for the last 10 days or so. We took her on a quick mini 3 day vacay at our favorite place in Panama City. We had a great time! So much fun. I have other pictures up update but for now here's our trip to Panama City. Stella is hilarious lately. The things she says are so funny. She has an amazing memory. We took her to the Zoo yesterday and last night she was telling Mario about it. He was talking to her about the horses. She said, "I want to go to Zach's house and ride horses"! Seriously? That was months ago the we went over there and she rode the horse. She's on strike with sleeping again, I think in part due to our schedule being kinda crazy lately and not being consistent but also partly that she is like her Daddy and loves to go go go on an adventure!

I need to start writing some things down she says or get them on video. She's loves Grammy Cathy and wants to wake her up every morning. I have to stop her from knocking on the bedroom door to wake her up and most mornings she gets a few in before my Mom gets up. Good thing she's a sound sleeper! They've been playing a lot and reading before bed every night. Grammy will be sad to leave and I know Stella will be asking for her for days after she goes home!

Camping Take 2

2011-03-29T09:52:00.000-07:00

She's very serious about sand castle building!

She brought her friend Bella a present and was so excited for days before to give it to her.

Dirty, dirty, dirty.

We wiped them out every day.

Seriously, must you lie in the dirt? By the end of the trip I had enough dirt to last me a year.

SO cute! She's a bird!

Catching fishies.

A little down time on the beach.

Mario and Bret were taking everything down the morning we were leaving and he had told Aubrey a bunch of times to get up and bring their stuff out of the tent. Finally they just picked up the poles and collapsed the tent. We were wishing we had got it on video. It was quite funny.

Really, have you ever seen dirtier shoes? Does she look like she minds? Nope, not at all.

Aubrey and her friend Mariah.

So I think it's safe to say camping is not my "thing". Our trip last year was quite eventful so I thought maybe this time it would grow on me more if there were no hurricane or collapsing tents in the middle of the night. Nope. The funny thing is that we went camping every summer when I was growing up. It's a lot of work for a "vacation" and I don't think I have felt dirtier in my entire life, even after taking a warm shower. The second night we had a raccoon try to scale our tent. I kid you not. Now Stella, she had an absolute blast. I think Aubrey had fun too although we didn't see her and her friend all that much as they tried to stay as far away from us at all times. Well, except when we pulled out the s'mores. It was really beautiful though and is the island we got married on. It was nice to visit with our friends also and the kids had so much fun getting dirty, playing and hanging at the beach. It's safe to say Momma prefers a nice clean pool, hotel room or boat and she's as happy as a clam...and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that fact. :)

Busy Bees

2011-03-28T17:08:00.000-07:00

Doesn't that look just say "Trouble".

Not quite sure...

Big girl

She looks like she is about to bust out in a break dancing move!

Loving her pool!

Silly girl!

We've been busy lately. Nothing too exciting. Just life. Spring break just passed for Aubrey and we went camping for a few days. Aubrey brought a friend and our friends met us on the island with their kids so we had 9 total. Chalk that up to a week. It takes a few days of prep and packing, 4 days of camping then 2 days of recovery, unpacking, laundry and cleaning and there's over a week right there! I'll post those pictures soon!

Stella is getting to be quite the entertainer. Sunday afternoon we were out to lunch. As we were walking out a man at a table stopped me to say what a beautiful smile Stella had. What a sweet man and a sweet compliment! He was sitting at a table of about 20 people. They all started waving to her. She threw her hand up in the air and enthusiastically was waving to everyone. Suddenly she burst into some dance moves. As everyone started to laugh she was encouraged and I guess decided to pull out her special move. The downward dog. Yep, she bent over with her little behind in the air. When this produced even more laughter from the crowd she raised up as high as she could go on to her tippy toes. Then stayed there, as I explained that they did yoga moves at the end of her library class. She finally stood back up and with a few final waves and smiling ear to ear she walked out. It was hysterical!!!

The next few months should be fairly busy. A lot of stuff with Aubrey going on. We think my Mom is making a trip out the end of April or so and we are trying to maybe fit a cruise in somewhere either April or May but we'll see. Scheduling is making it a little difficult but hopefully we can work something out. Summer will be here before we know it. Crazy.

J'aime la France

2011-03-07T09:33:00.000-08:00

So I spent a few months with the Lusks in the South of France a few years back. I had stored my approx. 1000 photos from the trip somewhere on our computer when I transferred them from an online photo sharing website. Occasionally I think about the photos and wanted to print them out and make an album. Last weekend I set out to find them on our computer. Which I did, Yay! Now I am going through them, doing some editing, deleting, etc. Now I like a heavy edit, for prosperity sake if I'm printing out physical copies or making a book I leave them pretty true but I pulled some out and did some playing around. We actually have a few of these blown up in frames around the house along with some I had taken in Hawaii also. The quality could be much better as these were just taken with a small point and shoot. It was amazing to be immersed in the French culture not to mention, it is absolutely gorgeous! We lived in Juan Les Pins which is a little town by Nice, Cannes & Monte Carlo. During the time we were there they had both the Cannes Film Festival and the Grand Prix. Beautiful!

View from our patio

I found myself a nice French boyfriend...Just Kidding! We couldn't resist getting this hubba hubba on film.

Cannes

Antibes, a small fishing village with GREAT restaurants and even better ambiance. Best Thai food EVER.

The neighborhood restaurant we ate at all the time.

Fort in Antibes

In Biot, a glassblowing village.

Monte Carlo

Casino in Monte Carlo

View of Monte Carlo built into the hill...breathtaking!

This is a view of Monaco. Where the palace is located straight ahead is it's own city of Monaco but it really is pretty much part of Monte Carlo. If you panned right in this picture you would see the view of the picture above.

View the other direction

More glassblowing.

Kams birthday!

Baby you're amazing :)

2011-03-03T07:34:00.000-08:00

Every night, as I'm tucking Stella in and leaving her room I say to her, "Good night Baby, Sleep good, Sleep tight, Sweet Dreams, I love you".

In the morning she calls to me, "Mama", Maaaaama"! I go pick her up, she drinks her milk and we cuddle in our bed as Mario is getting ready for work. I love this time with her. She is mellow, affectionate, sweet & has yet to charge her battery up for the day. I will always remember and cherish this time we have together. It will always be special to me and it is probably my favorite part of the day. I know soon enough it will be a rush to get ready for school and get out the door so I am drinking it in and enjoying it while we can have it.

Yesterday when I went in to get her the first thing she said to me was "I wanna sleep tight in Mama's bed"! I think it is a special time for her too...

These are the moments I want to remember. I know as she gets older I will wish for these moments back, even for a minute. I would give anything to feel her little arms around my neck hugging me oh so tightly. I savor them, try to embed them in my head to always keep close to my heart. I think sometimes about how there is no way anyone else can love their child this much. That no one can possibly understand. Other people of course must love their babies but not quite like this. My heart that would hang the moon for this precious little girl. I know this is not true, I know most Moms love their children with this voracity and passion. I also know, some don't. That, I will never understand. There are also some Moms that lose children or struggle with health issues. My heart breaks for them. Carpe Diem, seize the day. This doesn't mean you have to go out and do something big today. Enjoy every moment. When your patience is wearing thin or you have averted another disaster which would probably entail mopping or had to say no for the 12,000th time, think of 10 or 20 years down the road when you will wish for a beautiful little face to be tugging at your pant leg. I want to savor every precious moment because it is a gift. The best gift you can be given and I am so thankful for that.

Last night I was holding Stella, loving on her as I do every night for a bit after her books and before I lay her down, Mario came in to say goodnight. When she saw him walking through her door she outstretched her hand to him and brought him in to our hug. As we stood there all hugging, with her head on my shoulder she said in the softest, sweetest voice, "I lub (love) you guys", followed by, "I love you Dada, I love you Mama, I love you guys". Followed by a kiss for each of us. These are the moments.

I am a lucky lucky Mama.

Gotta go avert another disaster. Stella has brought her potty chair/stool from the bathroom to the kitchen pantry and is trying to reach the chips. Carpe Diem. Sieze the day.

Please keep the Rudkin family in your thoughts, hearts & prayers.

Big shocker...

2011-02-23T10:04:00.000-08:00

We spent last Saturday at the beach. I know, your floored right. :)

Last weekend we drove out (an hour away) to the island where we got married. We are also going camping for a few days there soon. I am scared. Not sure if anyone remembers this trip or how I was hijacked but I do. Mario and Aubrey used to go every year on her spring break. She asked him if we could go. He twisted my arm and promised a grand time. Hopefully there won't be a monsoon this trip & luckily there is a hotel on the island in case of monsoon.

Skipping...

It's been awhile. Again. I don't know what the deal is but I just haven't been into posting lately. I just haven't felt like it. I also haven't been taking very many pictures so there hasn't really been any to post.

Spring is here though...it's been at least 70, closer to 80 degrees the last 10 or so days. Beautiful weather. We have spent much of our days out playing in the yard or sprinkler. Well, that sure was a quick winter this year. It was quite nice at Stella's Bday party on Halloween, so pretty much Nov-Feb. Works for me. I JUST switched out my dresses and shorts about a month ago for pants and sweaters. Wasn't even worth it. I have a big plastic storage container that I put all my sweaters in and pull them out, usually Novish until Aprilish. Gonna have to get Mario to pull it back out since they are predicting 80 for the next 10 days and I I don't have a single pair of shorts in this house.

Stella miraculously stopped climbing out of her crib. Just like that. The day we got the railing for her toddler bed. Mario started to put it together, but then we had to put it off until the next night when it was taking a little longer then expected to get up. After she didn't attempt escape that night, we waited another. Then another. So now the toddler bed is temporarily on hold until the little escape artist remembers the taste of freedom.

Stella continues to be a huge chatterbox and is hours of entertainment. The last few weeks it was all about Valentimes. Yes, that was not a misspelling that is what she calls it. Valentimes. "Mommy", where's my Valentimes treat?"

She's up to about 9 words continually. Yes, occasionally Mario counts. It's really funny if she backs up 2 sentences into each other. Girl can ramble. Again, it's really strange. Not quite sure where she got her gift of gab from. I am quite shy. What? You don't believe me? Hmm, weird.

The other day I was changing her and I leaned over, gave her a big kiss and said "Stella Mommy loves you soooo much"! She replied..."Mommy, I love Dada".

Chopped liver. I tried to gently remind her who changes the sweet treats she leaves in her diaper but she doesn't care. She loves her daddy.

The minute he gets home she is it at his heels.

Oh and she loves to boogie. She'll come up to you and say "Dance with me, dance with me"!

She's also taken up waving. To everyone. The other day I was driving and I look in the rear view mirror and she's waving to the postal carrier in the car next to us...he didn't see her but that didn't stop her. She waves at cars that drive by when we are outside. Sometimes she even throws in a "Hi peoples"!

When I was her age I would invite people over at the grocery store. This is back in the day when people weren't so worried about you talking to strangers. My mom says that I walked up to my Mom with a lady and said, "Mommy, she's coming over for tea"!

Love her.

An old friend turned me on to this blog and I love her style. I just adore the dialogue

she has with her kids and approach to parenting. Looks like she's recently started her blog but hopefully we'll see more from her.

Tangy Pork Chops

2011-02-03T15:26:00.000-08:00

I made these Monday. Then this morning I gave Mario the option of a few different things for dinner. He requested the pork chops again. My husband is a carnivore. He has to have some sort of meat with every meal or he will be feigning hunger again in 20 minutes. I am a rabbit. I love salads and pretty much lived on them before. Seriously I would probably have meat once every few weeks, if that. I've had to learn to cook meats and come up with recipes that I like too. We are still compromising on things like brown vs white rice and regular vs wheat pasta but he's pretty open minded and for the most part agreeable. Although you can see on this dish he won out on the rice portion. These are boneless and I use the crock pot. I leave them in around 8 hours on low. I also triple (yes triple) the sauce as I take about a cup or so out and heat it to have on the side to drizzle on rice and pork chops. The remainder marinates the chops in the crock pot! :)

Tangy Pork Chops

Ingredients:

1 Tablespoon Soy Sauce

2 Tablespoon Vegetable Oil

1 Tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce

1 teaspoon Lemon Juice

2 Tablespoons Brown Sugar

2 Tablespoons Ketchup

6 Pork Chops

Directions:

1. Preheat Oven to 350 degrees (I use crock pot)

2. In bowl, thoroughly blend all ingredients except pork chops

3. Place pork chops in baking dish and cover with 1/2 the sauce

4. Bake pork chops 30 minutes. Turn, and spread with remaining sauce. Continue baking 30 minutes or until done.

Happy

2011-01-31T07:06:00.000-08:00

No more pictures Mommy!!!

Ok, if you insist. One more. :)

I haven't been updating a lot lately. Luckily things have slowed down after the holidays and life has settled into a nice little pace. I think she is going through a growth spurt emotionally, mentally & physically. I think she's looking older recently but she's also talking A LOT more! She's ramble off 7-8 word sentences and her memory is amazing. She is just the sweetest little thing. Don't get me wrong she is awfully curious and rascally but her voice is as sweet as the melted cake I posted about. If I tell her "Stella please don't ........." She puts her arms around my neck so tight and kisses me with an "I'm sorry Mama". She just has such a sweet disposition.

My Mom just got her first "Marker" test back and it was low, really low. That is good.

Mario's started out the year a busy bee so that is good too.

Life is good.

Happiness is like a butterfly which, when pursued, is always beyond our grasp, but, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you. ~Nathaniel Hawthorne

Warm Chocolate Melting Cake

2011-01-27T17:12:00.000-08:00

If you've ever been on a Carnival cruise before you've probably had their to die for Chocolate Melting Cake. I know there are a lot variations out there but I LOVE theirs!!! They posted the recipe earlier on Facebook and I think we just may be making some this week!

Doesn't it just make your mouth water?

***Disclaimer***

Must be followed with at least an hour of cardiovascular activity to burn off the 6000 calories. Kidding. There's probably only a 1000 or so.

Warm Chocolate Melting Cake

1 Lb. Dark Chocolate
1 Lb. Butter
10 Eggs
10 Ounces Sugar
6 Ounces Flour

Melt the chocolate and butter. Mix the eggs with the sugar and whisk for a few minutes. Add the flour. Combine egg mixture with the melted chocolate and mix. Then pour into individual greased molds. Bake directly in oven at 400 degrees for 14 minutes.
Sprinkle confectioners sugar, and garnish with fresh fruit.
Serve with ice cream.
*Make sure eggs are room temperature and chocolate is warm enough while mixing.
Serves 12
(I'm going to half the recipe)

Beach Excursion

2011-01-18T15:06:00.000-08:00

After Stella woke up from her nap today we took advantage of the blue skies and mild weather to take a walk on the beach. This is the same beach I've posted pictures of a million times but it's been quite a while since we've actually walked down the point. I think the last time I did it was when my Mom was here and Stella was a few weeks old. You have to climb over about 4 different sections of rocks. The above being the shortest. It actually was easier then I remembered and Stella just walked over all except the last which I carried her. Once you cross the last rocks it goes straight out about half a mile. You rarely see anyone out there and it is beautiful. Right after we started down the beach the fog rolled in. It's not a very foggy beach and this is the first time I actually remember it being foggy there. It rolled in thick but was still about 60 degrees and no rain that I could see so we just wandered on down the beach. The sky was crazy though, so thick with dense fog in some areas then as we cleared the last section of rocks and got to the point it just lifted and there were bright blue skies. It was kind of bizarre to go from spotty blue skies, to dark, to white fog, back to bright blue all in an hour or so. It was beautiful though and almost mysterious since I am not used to that beach having that kind of weather. It almost reminded of the mysticism of Northern California beaches...

Down by the point is known for it's shells. There are shells as big or bigger then your hand down there and EVERYWHERE! Stella had a blast collecting shells. She would stop every 20 feet or so and just sit down and start playing with them. It was such a nice walk. I love those moments with her, well in between telling her to keep moving. I swear she could sit in one spot for an hour alone. The point was also my Mom's favorite walk and I remember carrying Stella, only a few weeks old, down that beach with my Mom collecting shells. We've made lots of wonderful memories in our backyard and it will always be a special place to me and hopefully Stella!

Jumpy Jump!

2011-01-06T17:20:00.000-08:00

I feel like I haven't posted in like a month, even though really it's only been a week or so. Christmas was so wonderful. The girls had a great time. Stella really got it. It was SO much fun. We have like 280 pictures from Christmas thru New Years which I finally just uploaded a day or so ago. I'm still going through them but will post some soon. The last few weeks have been so busy. We had family over Christmas Eve then went to Mario's dads' Christmas day. Mario was home until the following Wednesday and only worked Wednesday and Thursday in between Xmas and New Years. New Year's we had some friends over for a sleepover with their kids and the girls had a BLAST! They played dress up, watched movies, watched fireworks, played at the beach and just had a great time. Needless to say when this Monday rolled around I was so ready to get back to some resemblance of normalcy. It took Monday and Tuesday to get everything back together and so here we are...

Stella. Oh Stella.

Where should I start?

Well my perfect sleeper has turned into a little nap monster. A few days before Christmas she figured out how to get out of her crib. We knew it was going to happen eventually and I was actually surprised the little bugger didn't figure it out sooner. So now she's boycotting and I've turned into Super Nanny. Minus a few pounds and an accent. No offense Super Nanny love ya! With all the craziness of the holidays there were some days she didn't even get a nap and the days we were home I spend hours out the day sitting on the floor of her room tearing out my hair and putting her back in her crib every 30 seconds. Some days she's won, some days Mommy has but either way at least an hour is spent in her room supervising nap time. Ugh. Double ugh. I was hoping that once things got back to a regular schedule she would (fingers crossed) fall back into the routine but, no such luck. Monday it took and hour and a half but Mommy won. Tuesday we were down to 45 minutes and I was optimistic. Well after another hour and a half yesterday I was losing hope. Today...she won. After over 2 hours I couldn't do it anymore and I gave in. We are going to put blinds in her room this weekend and hopefully making it darker in there will trick her. Probably not but hey it's worth a try. The funny thing is she doesn't try at bedtime. Not even a peep, even when she has had a nap. Hence the hope that the darkness at nap time will make a difference.

She's had potties for quite a while now. She knows how to use them but I have always said I wasn't going to try til after she was 2 and wait until the holidays were over. Last weekend we got her Tinkerbell and Fancy Nancy panties. We started first thing Monday morning. Let's just say we're about 50/50. I set the alarm for every 15 minutes and sometimes she would go, then other times she would have an accident in those short 15 minutes. I just can't get her to tell me BEFORE she has to go.

The naps, or lack there of, are harder to deal with for me then the potty training. Up to 2 hours sitting on the floor in her room takes up a lot of time I used to get things done while she was asleep. We had it SO good there for a while but between the nap boycott and potty training makes for a long day. So we've had some GREAT holidays and some frustrating toddler moments but all in all I am excited for 2011. She is jabbering up a storm and says about 5 to 6 words straight. Sometimes she'll just babble on for a minute straight although I think she may be speaking french then. Before the holidays we started going to an open gym at the Gymnastics school here. They have all sorts of bouncy houses, trampolines, mats, balls, etc. She LOVES it. They have a tumbling class but I think we are going to just do the open gym right now because the class is more structured and she really loves going to the "jumpy jump" and running wild. As you can tell...

Ho Ho

2010-12-23T18:55:00.000-08:00

Well, we are full steam ahead in Santa preparations here. Or "Ho Ho" as his nickname according to Stella goes around our house. Today we had the talk about what we leave for Santa and his Reindeer. Cookies and carrots. She's got it down pat. :)

Luckily we were pretty prepared this year. Presents all accounted for and wrapped except a few small stragglers I'll hit tomorrow at some point. Most of the food is ready to go and chilling in the fridge. Cookies taken out of the freezer and thawing on the counter. Hopefully all still there by tomorrow afternoon. I need to vacuum and mop in the morning but I left that for the am on purpose, if I do it today it would look as if it needed it again anyways.

We made the trip to see Santa this week. Roo did pretty darn good I must say. No tears, she even gave the big guy a hug when he asked for one as she was leaving. Her eyes were pretty big the whole time we were there and she definitely "got it". We told her she had to tell Santa what she wanted for Christmas when she sat on his lap, so as she timidly approached him you could hear her whisper..."Doggy & Baby Doll". I don't think he could even hear her. I did though and that's what counts. Love her. :) Such a cutie.

So we didn't get a big smile but I'll take it.

I think she actually looks bored in this one...ha ha!

I hit a low bah hum bug point the last few days and all week was not feeling the Christmas spirit whatsoever. We've all been home most of the week and that usually comes with challenges. Even though this is my blog, I don't really think it's fair to bring other people that have no say in. That's sometimes hard though because these are my memories, good and bad. That being said, I was just having a hard time snapping out of it and letting things roll off of my back. Which you just have to do. You have to stay positive and adapt. I was trying to meditate, bathe and coombyeya my way out of it but it just wasn't happening. Today though for some reason, I finally turned the corner and Mrs Claus is BACK! It also helps that my husband brought me 2 large Christmas bouquets of flowers. I am looking forward to a nice next few days! Good food, fun times and Santa! The only thing that could top it off would be if I could teleport all of my family (in Seattle) here or us there so we could ALL be together but we're sending them all our love...

XOXO

Yummy yummy Christmas Cookies

2010-12-14T07:58:00.000-08:00

I've been fighting a head cold for a few days now and I woke up this morning on the losing end. I would like to crawl back in the warm bed and take a sick day. You know, sleep, movie, sleep, bath, book, more sleep. With a 2 year old you can still do all of these things although it will look a little different then I was envisioning. The sleep will be one nap instead of 3 (hopefully) when she goes down, the movie will involve a fairy, princess or barbie. The bath will include lots of squirt toys and boats and the book will be something along the lines of Guess How Much I Love You or Fancy Nancy's Spendiferous Christmas. As much as the first option sounds more heavenly right now I do recognize it could be worse...much worse. I could be warming the car up, putting our coats and hats on and heading to work and daycare. So, I will gladly take a sick day with my best bud any time. Although I may have to throw a little baking in there because lately the only time I really feel warm is when the oven is on. No matter what the thermostat is set to.

We've been doing a lot of Christmas cookie baking lately. Sunday we made Peanut Blossoms and Chocolate Glaze Cookies. I'm sure everyone is familiar with Peanut Blossoms but if you have never made the Chocolate Glaze Cookies you really should. Their lackluster name does NOT do them justice. These have always been my favorite in my Mom's Christmas cookie repertoire.

Chocolate Glaze Cookies

2 1/2 Cups Flour

3/4 tsp Salt

1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder

1 tsp Cinnamon

2 Eggs

1 tsp Vanilla

1 Cup Sugar

3/4 Cup Cooking Oil

Pre heat oven to 375. Place flour, baking powder, salt & cinnamon in bowl. Combine eggs, vanilla, sugar and oil in separate bowl. Beat well. Shape dough into 1/2 inch balls. Flatten with floured glass. Bake on greased cookie sheet 10-12 minutes. Glaze with melted chocolate chips. I make mine with a heavy chocolate glaze. :)

OK, so the cookies don't call for Monster but when on a cookie baking run it really helps in the home stretch... :)

I think she likes them.

Chocolate Glaze Cookies

Peanut Blossoms

The Peanut Blossoms are pretty common but just in case you have a craving to make them and don't have the recipe handy here you go...

Peanut Blossoms

1 3/4 Cup Flower

1 tsp. Baking Soda

1/2 tsp. Salt

1/2 Cup Butter or Margarine

1/2 Cup Peanut Butter

1/2 Cup Sugar

1/2 Cup Brown Sugar

1 Egg

2 Tbsp.

2 Tbsp. Milk

1/2 tsp. Vanilla

Mix first 3 ingredients. Cream together next 4 ingredients and add to flour mixture. Mix the next 3 ingredients together and add to above mixture. Shape into balls and roll in sugar.

Place on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for 8 minutes. Remove sheet and press Hershey's kiss in center.

I've frozen the 3 kinds we've made so far and hopefully they will last for the next 2 weeks. I've already warned Mario & Aubrey to stay out of them BUT that is not who I'm worried about. I used to be the one to sneak some out of my Mom's stash. Some things never change... :)

Can't help but brag...

2010-12-13T09:40:00.000-08:00

about my adorable sister and her family. How cute is my nephew???

I love these pictures.

I love my sissy.

I am a total baby. I started crying just looking at them and thinking about how much I miss them. They are such a special family. My sister gives 110% to everything she does. She is an awesome sister, daughter, wife, mother & friend. I am lucky to call her my sister & friend. If you are in the Seattle area and are looking to get some pictures done check out Jocelyn's work HERE.

Love love love her style.
She rocks.

A warm tummy on a cold morning

2010-12-09T07:42:00.000-08:00

It has been COLD around here lately. OK, well maybe we haven't seen snow in 30 years but it sure has felt cold enough for a few flakes. Seriously. It was a low in the 20's this week and Sunday night looks to be a low of 18. Yes, in Florida 18 degrees. I really don't consider where we are real "Florida". No palm trees to be seen, no surfers running in to the water with their boards under their arms, nothing that would even hint of a east coast version of California and mind you it's not 18 degrees as you head towards Miami. It's supposed to warm up to the high 60's and even 70 degrees Saturday. Although still an overnight low in the 20's/30's. We've had oatmeal for breakfast and soup or stews for dinner. I'm still holding out for some snow...

Stella has oatmeal for breakfast most mornings even when it isn't frigid. She has the regular Quaker Oats not the packaged instant then I add fruit to it. The other day I found a great trick that's super yummy.

Cooked oatmeal...

Add some Apple Juice...

Throw in a few raisins...

Sprinkle with Cinnamon...

and VOILA!

Apple cinnamon raisin. Super easy, super yummy. Stella loves it. You could always bake a few apples ahead of time, throw them in the fridge and have them ready for the week but I thought the apple juice was a cool trick.

Dear Santa

2010-12-08T12:24:00.000-08:00

Dear ~~Hair Gods~~ Santa,

I am writing on behalf of ~~a follically frustrated Mommy~~ my dear daughter Stella. She has been a perfect ~~rascal~~ angel all year and would like to put in a special request. She was quite challenged in the hair department the first half of her short life and while we are grateful for the hair she now does have, it is quite ~~unruly~~ independent. If you could please remove the cowlick that makes ~~all of her hair around her pony tail stick up~~ her so uniquely adorable it would be much appreciated. We would like to start using all of the cute barrettes and pony holders she has for something other then wasted space. As you can see from these pictures it is at it's best right after a nap. Think you could work on this??? Thanks so much.

Oh and she would like a wagon by the way.

Getting in the Christmas spirit!

2010-12-07T06:05:00.000-08:00

This weekend we met up with our friends, Brett, Margaret and their kids, Bella & Christopher. Bellas' birthday party had been in Georgia with family so we got together and threw our own party. We started with dinner at Chuck E. Cheese then headed over to the Christmas tree lighting and holiday parade. The girls had fun looking at all the people and lights.

The Christmas season has kicked into high gear. Aubreys' schedule has been jam packed, as usual, with chorus, play, guitar, living Christmas tree, dance recital practices and Mario has been really busy with work lately. They had to leave before 7 this morning to get her to a play practice then he'll have work tonight so makes for a long day for him. Stella hates it when it is like this as she barely gets to see him. It's really cold right now. I'm mean REALLY cold! It was 20 degrees last night but warms up during the day to 50's to 60's. Even high 60's to low 70's last week but I think that was the last we'll see of 70's for a few months. I've been looking on the Internet for various art projects for Stella during the day. She says over and over, "I like to paint". Maybe a future Picasso? She is quite funny. She has her favorite numbers and letters. You ask her what letter is this and almost always her answer is, "a W"! We are working on a Christmas gift for family today which involves painting so she's happy!

She's Crafty

2010-12-06T06:59:00.000-08:00

Check out my new "hobby"! So I was looking on Etsy for a winter hat for Stella and Mario chimed in "Why don't you just make one"? Hmmm, well the neighbour had just mentioned that she was crocheting a few blankets and it would be a good winter hobby for in the evening. This is not like any of the one's I was looking at but I thought it quite nice for a first attempt! We followed a pattern out of one of my neighbors magazines and theirs was green and red, like an elf version. I wanted something a little bit more versatile so I switched up the colors. I have moved on to my next item but that's super secret since it's a Christmas present! Mario's is kicking himself though for his suggestion and he's quite sick of the color yellow he said. My project I'm working on now is yellow also. It was quite funny yesterday as we are driving home and I look over at the car next to us and there was a lady in the passenger seat crocheting away. Where I would have probably laughed before I wanted to hold mine up and say "cheers"! :) Why yes, I think I have lost it. Thanks for asking...

How much do I heart Shutterfly??? Let me count the ways...

2010-11-29T18:34:00.000-08:00

So even if they weren't having this insanely awesome promotion for bloggers here I would love to brag about how many cool things I have ordered from Shutterfly. I have recommended the site/company to many people. I know there are a few companies online that you can order prints/photo books/announcements/Xmas cards from but by far, my personal fave has got to be Shutterfly.

Just this last weekend I was here working on our Christmas cards for this year. Love their selection and designs and they are having some great sales right now. My cards were already designed and ready to go when I came across this great promotion for bloggers!

Hello Bandwagon! I am jumping on!

Mario and I had a small beach wedding that included mostly close family. So after the wedding we sent out announcements to extended family and friends that didn't attend. Guess where we ordered these adorable announcements???

You guessed it.

Need to announce an occasion of your own? Wedding, baby, new fish? You can create your own masterpiece right over here

For Father's Day I ordered Mario his own photo book that included solely pictures of him and baby girl. He started crying when he opened it. (Sorry babe!)

I LOVE it and love flipping though it occasionally.

I also recently made a photo book from Stella's Birthday party to keep in her keepsake box. I am anxiously awaiting it's arrival which should be any day now!!!

Take a wild gander where I ordered them from?

Mmmhm. You guessed it.

You can make your own book right over here and make your man cry. :)

For Mario's parents' Christmas gift last year we made them calenders. The cool kind that have your personal pictures which we corresponded to what was going on in that particular month. You also can add all of your families important dates. They turned out great and it was SO easy! The hardest part was going through all of our pictures and picking out which one's to choose.

Where did we make these wonderful gift ideas you ask?

They also happen to be running a special right now on calendars, buy 1 get 1 50% off!

That great gift idea can be created right over here

Last year for Stella's birthday thank you's I ordered a simple white card with a cute border. I added her name across the top and voila personalized thank you's for any occasion.

OK, overkill I know but thank you's are polite and you should order yours now right over here

They also have this cool little area where they have special offers just for YOU! OK, well maybe not specifically for me but I think the more you order the more "special" you are because there always seems to be a special offer for me and the best part is they are FREE! If you have a Shutterfly account go down to the bottom right of the home page and click on "view my special offers". There is almost always a tasty little treat waiting!

But seriously...I use the product. I love the product.

Right now they are offering bloggers 50 free 5x7 Christmas cards here (Yes, photo cards included. I asked.)

Oh how i love cool free stuff.

Especially from a site I love and use regularly so thanks Shutterfly and this concludes my shameless plug.

Back to your regularly scheduled programming.

Thanks and goodnight.

P.S.

If you receive a Christmas card from us this year...why yes they are from Shutterfly and yes they were FREE!!!

Black Friday Nightmares!

2010-11-29T07:19:00.000-08:00

image via news tribune

So there was a whole row of the cutest kids dress up ball gowns you've ever seen! Just beautiful! I went to grab one for Stella. Obviously the lady next to me was admiring them also, since she reached out to grab the same one at the same time. I won. She challenged me with, "What size do you need"? I responded vigorously, "4T"! Then challenged with "What size do YOU need"? She volleyed back, "4T". It was a standoff. We both held our ground but I could tell she was going to stop at nothing to get the dress I held.

Then I woke up.

Seriously, a Black Friday nightmare.

I've officially lost my mind.

Aubrey and I went down to one of the sales at midnight armed with the local circular and actually got everything I had "circled" minus 1 item. Success!!! We didn't get home until 2:30 though and so 6:30 comes early. When I groggily woke up I realized I had been dreaming of a standoff with some random woman over a dress. The funny thing is...there were tons of these dresses on the rack for 1 and for 2 Stella is no where near a size 4T. Black Friday obviously got to me. :)

I blame it on the year before. I had never done Black Friday before. I'm sure at some point I had done some shopping later in the day, but I had never done the whole get up at some ungodly hour and jockey for items that the stores only carried 2 of to get you in to spend money on other things. Last year I decided it was time. I got up at like 3 am and headed out in the dark. I got to the first store right as it opened, grabbed a buggie (that's what they call a cart in the south) and jumped into the sea of others trying to make their way back to the toy section. I quickly realized I was getting no where with a cart. I abandoned the cart and went in search of the items I had marked on this coveted circular with my sharpie. Nothing, everything I had planned on getting was gone.

I moved on to store #2 with said circular with similar sharpie markings. FAIL. OK, OK. Store 3? Nope, nada. Even worse I had to drag 4 different play tents up through the maze that led to the checkout. Each time to be informed that the tent in my hand was NOT the tent in the circular. Every tent I brought up was a variation of the Disney Princess tent just not THE specific one. I was getting mad by the 4th tent and asked the girl at check out to please have someone find this needle in a haystack only to be informed it was sold out.

Fading quickly and getting more pissed off by the second I drove to the 4th store. By this time it was about 6:30 A.M. and I had made not 1 purchase. At this point I abandoned the circular and just started shopping for deals. Success! I finished almost all of my shopping and saved a nice amount of money. Was the whole morning worth it, probably not. I most likely could have saved the same amount just shopping for deals through out the season. I had the experience though. The famous "Black Friday" experience. It has obviously scarred me for life.

This year was a greater success. I still got out the sharpie and circled. I started with what I had wanted to get the most. Upon arrival I staked out the 4 wheeler and waited for the clock to hit 12:01. Well, actually 11:56. People started grabbing their items 5 minutes earlier and who was I to stand there like a dummy. I told the lady next to me that everyone had started getting things and she could probably go ahead. She told me her husband was a lawyer and would kill her if she started early. Her loss, let her look like the dummy. There was only 1 item I didn't get that I had wanted and the clerk informed me that their store never received that item. 7 out of 8 isn't bad odds.

Happy Holidays!!!

Da Girls!

2010-11-24T14:59:00.000-08:00

We went down and took some pictures at the beach last weekend. I really really like them and am excited to get some up on our wall.

I am pooped from Turkey prep. It is the night before Thanksgiving and I am DONE!!! All we have left is season the turkey, stuff the turkey and cook the turkey. Oh and vaccum upstairs and swifter the family room, but those are Mario's job. I feel like I got a really good workout in at the gym. So far I have Cranberry sauce, Mashed Potatoes, some kick butt stuffing, a Pecan Pie, Sweet Potato pie & green beans. I feel like I've left something out...hmm. Mario's mom is bringing sweet potatos, rolls and olives. We also had Book babies at the Library today then cooked & cleaning and now it's time to relax. I've been a real party animal lately. I've taken up a new hobby, crocheting. Yes, I know. I am getting old, either that or extremely lame. It's actually soothing. You can just zone out and get really zen when doing it. So far I've made Stella a hat and am working on a blanket now. More on that at a later date though. So I have been sitting in bed while Mario is asleep crocheting me little heart out til after midnight lately. Last night I was going to try to crash early and where did I end up? On the computer surfing Amazon. I'm not doing Black Friday this year I am going to do my shopping from the comfort of my own computer in my pj's. Ahhh.

Get your free Amazon Prime Mom membership here

Amazon Mom Prime

You get free shipping on tons of items!

For now it's time to RELAX! Gobble Gobble!!!

Salmon with Mustard and Brown Sugar Glaze

2010-11-18T05:31:00.000-08:00

image via www.ifood.tv

Salmon with Mustard and Brown Sugar Glaze

Ingredients:

3/4 cup dry white wine

1/4 cup butter, cut into small pieces

1 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning
1 2 pound center cut skinless salmon fillet
1/3 cup spicy brown mustard
1/4 cup (packed) brown sugar

Preheat oven to 350.
Boil wine, butter, and Old Bay seasoning in small suacepan 3 minutes. Sprinkle salmon on both sides with salt and pepper. Place fish on heavy rimmed baking sheet. Pour wine mixture over. Bake until fish is opaque in center, about 14 minutes. Remove from over.
Preheat broiler.
Mix mustard and sugar in small bowl to blend; spread over salmon to cover. Broil salmon until topping is brown and bubbling, about 3 minutes. Transfer salmon to platter and serve.

So I made some modifications to this, but it had a great flavor.

So I was fresh out of spicy mustard so I just substituted regular mustard and it was still really good. Fyi. I also didn't have Old Bay seasoning so I used a little Lawry's and some paprika instead. I added fresh chopped garlic to the wine/butter mixture. I just used a casserole dish instead of the baking sheet. The other change I made was in broiling. We (ok well mostly me) LOVE sauces. I am the sauce queen. So I heated the mustard/brown sugar mixture in a pan and after the salmon was cooked I just did a few minutes on each side in the sauce. Then topped with remaining on plate. Yum! It was really good. If you are looking for another way to do salmon try this, the flavors are really good with the fish.

Free stuff is cool!

2010-11-17T14:02:00.000-08:00

How cute are these?

I never used slings but I know they are really popular...

Seven Slings is giving away a FREE sling! All you have to do is pay shipping, which is $11.95.

They also charge $3.00 for insurance to exchance sizes, but you can choose to remove that.

Even if you don't use them yourself they would make a great gift for someone that does!

Thanks Liz for the info!

Always love a deal!

Click on the Seven Sling website.

Make sure you know what size you need under sizing, choose your sling which automatically takes you to the cart. Put the word "turkey" in the promo code and VOILA!

The Girl has moves!

2010-11-13T06:43:00.000-08:00

Fairy Extravaganza Part Deux

2010-11-11T12:38:00.000-08:00

Here's the remainder of Stella's Birthday pictures. Thanks Larry for sharing your copies with us. Right now through Shutterfly they have an offer for a FREE softcover 7x9 Photo Book. I'm going to make Stella a book from her Birthday/party to keep in her keepsake box.

Great Grandma's No Bake Cookies

2010-11-06T09:14:00.000-07:00

I foresee lots of cookie baking in our future! I am starting to get excited for the holidays. Thinking about our Thanksgiving menu, we are having Mario's Mom & Step Dad over. The The Pioneer Woman has been posting lots of yummy recipes the last week or so. I have already printed out a few I am going to try. I've pulled out my old & new Holiday editions of Bon Apetit & Cooking Light. I'm going to make the infamous Pumpkin Ice Cream Torte and am trying to decide between this Pecan Pie from Ree or this Caramel Apple Pie from Cooking Light. After that Christmas Eve we'll host a open house here which includes numerous kinds of Christmas cookies! My Mom always had so many different choices on Christmas and by the time the day came, our freezer was stocked with goodies. The trick was to see how many you could skim off the top in the weeks before with out it looking like your sticky little fingers had been into her precious stash! :) The fudge was the GOLD prize but because the neat little rows it was pretty obvious when too many of those went missing.

This morning we made my Great Grandma's No Bake Cookie recipe. Not for the holidays, just as a treat for Daddy. He loves them. They aren't at the top of the pretty cookie list but boy are they easy, yummy, rich and chocolatey! Pour yourself a BIG glass of milk before you dive into one of these!

No Bake Cookies

1/2 Cup Butter

1/2 Cup Milk

2 Cups Sugar

1/2 Cup Peanut Butter (optional)

4 Tablespoons Cocoa

2 Cups Quick Oatmeal

1 Teaspoon Vanilla

Bring Butter, Sugar, Milk & Cocoa to a boil in saucepan.

Boil at a rolling boil, stirring constantly, for 3 solid minutes.

Take off burner. Add Peanut Butter, Vanilla & Oatmeal.

Drop quickly by spoonful on wax paper.

Let set.

Yum!

Official Taste Tester

Goodnight Seattle

2010-11-05T08:21:00.000-07:00

My sister gave this book to Stella as one of her Birthday presents. It is so cute and Stella loves it! When she opened it she made me read it about 5 times in a row. Every night we read 3 books in her rocker before bed. This has been on the list every night since she got it! You can get your own here

Amazon

or here

Abe Books

If you happen to be in Seattle she got Stella's at this adorable toy store here

Curious Kidstuff

Tinkerbells Stroll

2010-11-05T07:38:00.000-07:00

How cute is Stella's Tinkerbell outfit? She insisted on putting wings on top of the wings the outfit already has. After everyone left on her Birthday Mario and I were taking a few remaining things down from the tents. She did laps around the yard for almost an hour. After we were done, we sat down in 2 chairs and just watched her for a bit. She would stop every once in a while and rub her eyes then keep going. She was pooped. She pushes her baby stroller all over the house. The next day she even wanted to bring it in the car with us and sit it next to her like a car seat. Every night she's been tucking the "baby" in on a pillow bed next to her crib. She kisses it, gives it drinks from her sippy and rocks it. She is such a little sweetheart, I love it.

This last picture pretty much sums up our last few days. Totally happy about it too. I was really needing some down time. One on one time with the girl Some time to just putter around the house and let Stella play with all of her new birthday toys. Luckily that's what the last few days has consisted of. Those mundane things that sometimes bore you to death. I was craving mundane. No parties, dr appts, funerals, etc. No matter how excited I was about the party and how happy I am that it was amazing, I'm glad it is now a wonderful memory. I was feeling really off and fragmented and desperately needed a recharge not just of energy, of spirit.

"The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, not to worry about the future, or not to anticipate troubles, but to live in the present moment wisely and earnestly."
Buddha

Fairy Fun!!!

2010-11-02T09:16:00.000-07:00

Toadstool appetizers and deviled eggs. (Hard boiled eggs, half a tomato and drops of mayo) I also made Apple lady bugs in with the carmelled apples but I don't think I have any pictures of that in mine. I'm sure Mario's dad got some though.

Loved this cake!!! It was almost painful to cut into it. Everything was edible except the fairy and all the kids wanted a toadstool. It stayed inside til closer to when we cut it and I came in for a minute with Stella, the minute she saw it she ran over to the table and was trying to get to it. It was so cute. She loved it. All the kids would just come up to it and look at it.

Stella's friend Bella when she first arrived.

Bella's Mom; Margaret & brother Christopher. Aka; Peter Pan.

Happy Birthday!!! We decorated with plastic ivy and flowers, streamers & and hung tulle flowers & butterflies from the inside of the tent.

I made the tutu's from a elastic headband and tied tulle all around it. It took about 3 yards for each one. Luckily the tulle was a dollar a yard. If you use a Joann's coupon, it's even cheaper! The wands I got at Micheal's for a dollar each. I glued their initial on then decorated with glitter glue and jewels. Then finished it off with silver glitter spray. Loved them!

One of the Fairy House Painting tables.

Each girl got their own set of Fairy wings, tutu & Fairy wand! I had strung them up around the tent and when the girls arrived they would find their set. I would cut them down and help them get them on. I think this was one of my favorite parts. Just seeing their eyes light up was priceless!

I was very lucky and Stella took about an hour and a half nap right before the party. She woke up right as everyone was arriving, so I got her dressed and brought her down. She was so excited to see her friends and all the fun!

Birthday Girl!

Bella, Zach & Stella. You may remember little Zach from Stella's horse adventures! He is HILARIOUS!!!

Pretty Fairy Princess!

Aubrey did fairy face painting of flowers and butterflies. We also had little Tinkerbell temporary tattoos!

I think my favorite thing that I made for the party was these Toadstools. I had seen some ideas online and Mario modified the idea. If anyone wants to know how to make them just let me know. They take a little bit of time but are super easy, cheap and adorable!!! They end up costing about $4.00 a toadstool. All the kids were sitting on them, especially when she was opening presents. Her wall in her room is decorated with the tulle flowers and butterflies on the wall. I borrowed them to hang from the tent and bought a few more butterflies for a dollar each at Joann's. Which are now up in her room with the toadstools!

Painting the Fairy Houses!

She was very serious about her painting!

Daddy and Papa helping out!

Fairy Maddie! Poor Maddie had the only painting oops! I had been offering all the mom's garbage bags to cover their kids with before they started painting but everyone declined and said it was fine. Jenny was the only one I forgot to ask and Maddie accidentally got painted on her stomach with black paint! Sorry Jenny!!!

Jaden's pirate ship looked great!!!

Zach is ALWAYS enthusiastic about everything!

You can see little Laurel sitting on one of the toadstools in the background!

Stella's party was a total success! Everyone had such a wonderful time, especially the kids! I loved seeing all their faces light up. It was totally worth every minute spent on projects!!! Unfortunately, Mario was carrying the camera around so I didn't get nearly as many as I would have taken. He did a good job, I don't want to knock him but he doesn't think about details as much as I do. BUT his dad has a great camera with every lens in the world and he took 200. He totally gets pictures of details too so he should have some great ones. As soon as I get them from him I'll post round 2! Bright and early yesterday morning we had Stella's 2 year Dr appointment. I'm worn out from the last few weeks, Mario is too. We both feel ugh and Stella's leg is sore from her 2 shots she got yesterday. Today we are taking it easy and still in our pj's, well not Mario. Gonna try to recuperate from all the party fun!!! I am pooped!

You make my heart smile and my soul dance!!!

2010-10-28T19:14:00.000-07:00

I love the way you call any food you like "nummy treats". "Mama, nummy treat peas, nummy treat"?!
I love the way you call Mama when you wake up in the morning and when I go in to get you you are smiling from ear to ear and give me a big hug.
I love your slobbery kisses which are plentiful.
I love your enthusiasm for life, not just your energy which you have in abundance but your love for EVERYTHING!
I love the way you LOVE your Daddy and he loves you back.
I love the way you make my heart smile and soul dance.
I love your sweet little toes, which are always moving and wiggling.
I love the way you look up at me.
I love your smell first thing in the morning when you come in our bed and cuddle with me.
I love when you don't know I am watching you and you are cuddling and kissing your "babies". It's so sweet to see the love that you want to give to everyone, even your dolly's.
I love the sound of your sweet little voice.
I love watching you discover new things.
I love when you giggle uncontrollably.
I love your beautiful blue eyes.
I love it when I am walking out of your room at night after putting you to bed, as I'm walking out the door I say, I love you baby, sweet dreams, sleep tight and I hear your sweet little voice from under the covers saying, love you Mama, seet deems, seep tight.

When I was a little girl and actually up even into my 20's my Dad would always bring me a rose on my Birthday. I remember being probably 7 or so and sitting on the floor in the middle of my party and seeing my Dad walk in with it in his hand. Mario knows this story, I had told him at some point. Yesterday he came walking in the door with something covered up with a bag that he went upstairs and hid. I went up to our bathroom and he was putting a rose in a vase. He said, "You told me how your Dad used to always bring you a rose on your Birthday and this is to give Stella tomorrow....

I love him. I love her.

Stella had a rockin day.

Dada brought her breakfast in our bed while her and I watched the new "tinky" movie.

She opened some presents.

We walked on the beach, she caught some crabs in a bucket, we watched dolphins play, she found a "hidden" present in the brush.

She opened more presents.

We took her to dinner.

She got to watch The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown.

My baby is 2.

Hellllloooo Punkin!

2010-10-27T05:38:00.000-07:00

The other night we carved pumpkins. Stella kept taking the lid off and saying, "Hellllloooo Punkin"! She took a few seeds out but then would rub her hands on her shirt. She's starting to have this thing about getting stuff on her hands. If she gets food on her hands during dinner she'll say, "Wipe Mama, wipe"! I LOVE homemade pumpkin seeds. SO good!

Papa & Aubrey

Last weekend it was Mario's dads' Birthday. He came out and we all went to the Stone Crab festival. We walked around, looked at booths, Stella rode a baby horse and ate crab. Then Larry came back to our house for some Pot Roast that had been simmering in the Crockpot all day. Have I ever mentioned the secret ingredient to Pot Roast is Paprika? When you season it add Paprika. It was a really fun day and it is always good to have Papa out to hang with us. Happy Birthday Papa!

Roller Coasters

2010-10-26T13:08:00.000-07:00

So it's been a kind of emotional roller coaster of a day.

This is going to be pretty random but that's kind of how I feel today.

While the last week I have been so grateful for all I have, the last day or so I've been struggling with feelings of anger, frustration and letting things go.

Mario has a family member who is always talking about us. We are always hearing something catty they've said and most of the time you just brush it off. I have actually over heard comments myself numerous times when they thought I couldn't hear.

I've been told a few times about conversations they've had about Stella's birthday party. They keep talking about why am I making such a big deal about it. The funny thing is they aren't even coming. Why should they care? Why should they have feelings to begrudge a child a birthday party. If I want to throw her a circus, why do they care? It doesn't make any sense to me. After the third person told me that they had been talking to them about it I was so annoyed. It's a completely hypocritical situation where relatives of theirs have events and make purchases beyond their means off of donated money. The ridiculousness of it just is ironic and annoying. I hate hearing about people talk about how "religious" they are, then gossip and put other people down. Happens ALL the time in this situation. So I had started this ranting post (this is the mini version, let me tell you) when I got a call from Mario.

Almost 3 years ago one of his oldest childhood friends died in unfortunate circumstances. That kind of sounds silly, when is death not unfortunate. Still a very sad situation. Mario had grown up close to the family and after he passed Mario has stayed in touch with his brother who was a few years older. Mario took him out on the boat fishing numerous times and they would talk about shared memories. They stayed in close contact and both were still hurt by the loss obviously. The last time they went out he came in and had tacos with us around the table. This morning Mario received a phone call that his brother passed away last night at not even 40 years old. They think it was something heart related but don't know much yet. It rips my heart out that these parents have now lost both of their boys within 3 years. They were their only children. I cannot even think about it for very long. I only had met the parents once at the funeral, if I had never even met them before and did not know the family they would be heavily on my mind right now. It's just unfathomable to me.

I deleted the catty post. I am going to try to rise above the people that feel the need to make comments about their own insecurities and stay in that place of love for my family, those around me that do love and care for us and those who are hurting right now.

I'm still waiting for them to get back to me regarding my mammogram. Mom also finished treatment yesterday. 7 rounds of chemo and 33 radiation treatments. I'm feeling a little raw right now.

Love each other and kiss your babies.
I'm sure there's more then one family that would give anything to be able to do that right now...

images via We heart it

Gratitude

2010-10-26T05:18:00.000-07:00

This week I have just been thankful for everything. For my husband who loves being a husband and Dad and tells me all the time how he loves our family. For being able to take my baby girl on a walk with friends at the beach in beautiful 80 degree weather in October. For having a wonderful family. For a healthy beautiful baby girl. There's just so many things. When you see others that aren't so fortunate or worry about something like your health it puts things in perspective. I love living in that space. It's so easy to get caught up in things and forget that but life is so much more beautiful there so that is where I wish to stay.

Busy Busy

2010-10-23T09:19:00.000-07:00

Yes, that IS lipstick. The other night I stupidly left my purse sitting on the stairs. You would think I would learn these lessons but I have to keep banging my Mommy head against the wall. I was cleaning the kitchen after dinner and she took a lipstick out of my makeup bag and took it over in the corner to her Elmo kitchen. There isn't really anything she can get into in the Living room, well...except my purse. I thought she was a tad quiet (always a warning) so I went over and looked behind the kitchen and THIS is what I found. I bet I was an even funnier sight. Trying to grab my camera and keep her from touching anything and take a picture. Dork. She loves putting lotion on, I'll put a drop on her hand or arm and she'll rub it in. I think this was what she was doing with the lipstick although I'm not quite sure how it ended up on her toes. She is so funny. We were taking a walk the other day and walked by someone house which was decorated for Halloween. She said, "Look Mama! Pumkinween!!! So now Halloween is Pumkinween. So cute.

We've been pretty busy lately, only to get busier as the week goes on I'm sure. Stella's birthday is Thursday and party is Sunday so I'll be prepping for that. Last night I made a few more wands and a sign while Mario "sewed" a Peter Pan hat. He actually did a really good job! He gets jealous when he sees how much fun I'm having and has to get in on the action. Although, really I love the memories.

Now we're off to the Stone Crab festival for Mario's dads' Birthday!!!

Game Day Grub

2010-10-20T06:12:00.000-07:00

***Disclaimer***

These are not our ribs, I unfortunately forgot to take a picture.

This pic is courtesy of Bon Apetit!

My neighbor gave me a recipe for these Whiskey Bourbon Ribs that would be perfect for Game Day! They are SO good and you can make them with any kind of Rib, but she recommended Pork. The sauce also makes a large amount. I had enough to fill a empty ketchup bottle, which I had emptied in making this recipe. Then use the sauce with other things as a BBQ sauce and let me tell you boy is it tasty!!!

Whiskey Bourbon Ribs

Rib Rub
3 Tablespoons Brown Sugar

11/2 Tablespoons Paprika

11/2 Tablespoons Salt

11/2 Tablespoons Pepper

1 Teaspoon garlic

Combine ingredients together and rub on ribs. In the bottom of a large baking dish pour 1 cup water and 1/2 cup liquid smoke. Cover with 2 sheets of Aluminum Foil. Cook in oven for 3 hours on 170 degrees. Let cool for 2 hours, cover with sauce and grill.

Whiskey Bourbon Sauce

1/2 diced onion

4 minced garlic cloves

3/4 Cups Bourbon Whiskey

1/2 Teaspoon Pepper

1/2 Teaspoon Salt

2 Cups Ketchup

1/4 Cup Tomato Paste

1/3 Cup Vinegar

2 Tablespoons Liquid Smoke

1/2 Cup Worcestershire

1/2 Cup Brown Sugar

1/3 Teaspoon Hot Sauce

In large pan over Medium heat combine onion, garlic, and Whiskey. Simmer 10 minutes. Stir in remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium low, and let simmer 20 minutes. Let cool for 1 hour.

Saturday, after we got home from the beach these are what we made for dinner. It was kind of a last minute thing and they obviously take a while!!! So we ended up eating at like 9 but it was worth it! I had made a homemade Potato Salad and Baked Beans to take to Mario's dads' birthday party Sunday so we had that with it! YUM!!!
Enjoy! 

Home Turf

2010-10-18T07:00:00.000-07:00

Saturday it was back to our "home turf". We had a great but busy weekend. Friday my friend Jenny and I took the kids to the children's museum. Saturday we headed down to our beach, then Sunday we had a Birthday party for Mario's dad. Stella built sandcastles and Mario threw out the cast net and came up with some bait fish that could have entertained Stella for hours. She had so much fun seeing them jump around and throwing them back. She wasn't scared of them AT ALL!

Ewwww!

She actually still has a fish in her hand. Bleck.

Boy does this girl love the beach. She sat in this hole and dug for probably an hour straight. Sometimes when I go get her in the morning her first words are, "Beach Mama"! The weather was gorgeous and we were talking about how we probably only have a few more weekends to be able to go and actually wear swimsuits. I always wish for the heat and humidity to go away but once this weather gets here I wish it would just stay forever but all too soon it's gone and the cold is here. For now though, we will enjoy it.

On another note I have a Mammogram this week. To much information for this blog, I know. There are 2 reasons I am bringing it up. 1 is to throw it out there to the universe for positive energy. 2 because it is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and I want to say if you are saposed to go and have been putting it off GO. If you have never had one and have been putting it off please GO! If you have them every year and are just procrastinating GO! Early detection in anything health related is so important. If you have a family history they recommend starting them at 35, but there is also something to do with the age of diagnosis so ask your Dr. what they recommend. This is close to home though. Mom will be done with her 33 radiation sessions next week. Her treatment will be done and hopefully she can head down the road to recovery. There have been a lot of health scares/issues with family this year. Mom included. I think for this reason I am scared. Irrational most likely, I know. You can't help how you feel though. I think if it were a gall bladder test or something that wasn't so close to home I wouldn't sweat it. This though is heavy on my heart this week. I also hate tests that don't give immediate results, you have to wait for the Dr. to call you. Cruel and unusual punishment. So for now I am going to soak up my most wonderful baby girl and enjoy every moment.

Recovering from the Mouse

2010-10-13T14:30:00.000-07:00

They have all sorts of activities for adults and kids at the condos we stayed at. The last morning they brought down ice cubes with little plastic bugs frozen in them and released them in the kids pool. Stella had a great time trying to catch them. What a great idea and I'm going to copy it, well probably NEXT summer! They filled up water balloons and then put the bugs in the balloons and froze them. After they were frozen they took the balloon off the ice cube which left a ball of ice with the bug frozen inside. The ice cubes floated around and melted fairly quickly but the kids had a great time finding the "bugs"!

Stella loves the beach chair Nana got her! Perfect size!

We were wiped out after Disney and spend the last 2 days at the Beach and Pool! Lots of relaxing going on and recovering from our Disney hangover.

There was an air show that weekend so we got to see them practicing out over the water most of the afternoon. Other then being a tad loud at times it was so cool to watch!

Stella surprised us the last night, as she figured out how to get out the pack and play. She has yet to try with her crib at home but the only place we could put it in the room was right next to the bed. She had been "asleep" or quiet for about half an hour and we were sitting watching TV in the living room. She got out of the pack and play, opened the door and walked right out into the living room. She was quite proud of herself. This led to a 3 hour stand off between her and I. I tried laying down with her and she just wanted to play. I put her in the pack and play and she would just get in and out. She thought it was a game. Finally I just had to put her in and sit there on the bed Super Nanny style, putting her back in if she tried to get out. She even outlasted her Dad who fell asleep on the couch while all the fun was going on in the bedroom. Poor girl was probably funned out and overtired but Mom was pooped after she finally was out. There went our last relaxing evening from 8-11. Phew.

There was a lot of fun to be had by all on this trip but not a lot of sleep. Mario is a morning person and would get up at 6ish every morning. He does this at home on weekends. Are you kidding me? Anyways, I have a hard time sleeping once I'm woken up so up with the sun it was. The plus side was getting to see some amazing sunrises.

Seriously breathtaking...

All in all a great trip to end the summer.

Back to our regularly scheduled programming shortly...

Disney World!

2010-10-11T07:48:00.000-07:00

OK, this is probably going to be a tad long. Like I had said we took a ton of pictures! I grew up going to Disneyland and I was excited to get to finally go to Disney World. It was the first time for both of us (Stella & I)! Mario, of course, had been there before but it had been quite a while since he had been to the Magic Kingdom park. It was similar but different compared to Disneyland. I can't wait to check out the other parks sometime down the road. It is a HUGE area that encompasses Disney, Universal, Sea World & a few others. We're talking probably 7-8 exits off the Freeway. Disney World was all decorated for Fall/Halloween. Of course they do everything over the top and it was beautiful and SO colorful.

You have to take the tram then monorail to get to the parks. Stella didn't seem to excited until we walked into the park. Her eyes lit up and were as big as saucers. She was just looking all around at everything. It was so cute.

The longest line we waited in all day was for the Fairies. There was no way we were going to miss that though so we waited in the hour long line. Luckily since it was a weekday in off season there wasn't much of a wait for anything. I think the most we waited for a ride was 15 min and some had no wait at all.

The second we walked into "Pixie Hollow" Stella tried to run up to Tinky. Mario had to stop her and she was yelling, "Tinky, Tinky" across the room! Although when we got up to talk to her I explained to Tinkerbell that Stella called her "Tinky". She told me that she preferred Tink or Tinker. Oh, oops. OK, Sorry Tinky. :)

After the Fairies we visited Mickey and Minnie's houses.

It's a Small World & the Teacups were closed temporarily so we missed those. Stunk because those were two I was looking forward to. The Teacups was always my sisters favorite. It's OK though, I think we did more then enough rides for her. We went on about 4 or 5. She enjoyed looking at everything more. I think her favorite rides were Aladdin's carpet ride and the Winnie the Pooh ride. We saw a parade and a show and she LOVED those!

I have some great video of them dancing I may post later. SO cute!

Aladdin's Carpet Ride!

Stella was really good all day. We kept seeing kids crying and screaming and she didn't have a meltdown once. All in all it was a GREAT day! Very special & so many great memories. She's still talking about it. :)

We took the rest of the time just relaxing. I'll finish up the trip soon but right now I need to corral the toddler and catch up around here!

Daytona Beach!

2010-10-10T09:53:00.000-07:00

This was the view from our balcony! Ahhhh!

I didn't really know what to expect from Daytona Beach. I of course knew that it was popular for spring break and the races but other then that I wasn't sure. It was beautiful. We got off the freeway a few hours before Daytona at St Augustine and took A1A up the coast. It was a pretty drive and even though it took about 2 hours longer it was worth it. It usually is about 4 hours from here to Daytona but it took us about 6 going the longer way. I want to thank Mario's mom and step-dad for letting us use the time share. They weren't able to use the whole week so they graciously gave us the 2nd half. The view was beautiful and right on the beach. At night we would sit out on the patio and listen to the waves. Stella is such a beach baby. If we are inside she says, "Mama...I wanna go beach, I wanna go poo! (Pool)" :)
She loves chasing birds, playing in the sand or just running around. The first day we took a long walk, built a "sandcastle", ate dinner in and crashed early.

We had planned on driving over to Orlando to check out the area but right before we left Mario threw out the idea of Disney. So he told me we would have to choose. Duh! That's an easy one! We've been thinking about a Disney trip off and on for the last few months and this just seemed to be the perfect opportunity. We were only 45-60 min away from Orlando. Aubrey couldn't make this trip because it was in the middle of the week so we wouldn't have to juggle teen vs toddler rides etc and could just enjoy Stella's first Disney experience. Aubrey gets pretty annoyed doing "little kid" stuff and Stella loses her patience doing "big kid" stuff. Sometimes it gets tiring trying to juggle. We are still talking about doing a family trip but it would be longer and multiple parks. So we called the Disney Vacation Line the night before to get our Florida resident tickets. I didn't think I was going to be able to sleep I was so excited...I love the memories I have of Disneyland from when I was a kid. Mario said it was like going with two 2 year olds! Part 2/Disney World pics to come!

We're Baaaaack!

2010-10-10T05:27:00.000-07:00

We're back! What a fun trip! We had such a great time & we even fit in a "surprise"! We managed to fill up a whole memory card which fits something like 500 pictures or so. Needless to say, it's gonna take me a bit to go through them all. I think I'm going to have to post by day since there are so many. Can you guess what the surprise was??? ;)

What's for dinner? The BEST Lasagna. Ever!

2010-10-04T10:56:00.000-07:00

I LOVE the Pioneer Woman's website. She has so many great recipes and I've blogged about her before. I found the link to the cake pops on her site also.

A while back I made her Lasagna recipe. She called it "The best Lasagna recipe ever". I had to try it because pretty much anything I've made from her site has been awesome. So if she was saying it was the best Lasagna recipe ever it had to be at the least good! Of course it lived up to it's name. It rocks! It is now the recipe for Lasagna I keep in my recipe box. Mario is half Italian. I would make this for his family and be confident that they would love it! Try it, you won't be disappointed!

Check her out here www.thepioneerwoman.com

The. Best Lasagna. Ever!

Ingredients:

1-½ pound Ground Beef

1 pound Hot Breakfast Sausage

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 cans (14.5 Ounce) Whole Tomatoes

2 cans (6 Ounce) Tomato Paste

2 Tablespoons Dried Parsley

2 Tablespoons Basil

1 Teaspoon Salt

3 Cups Lowfat Cottage Cheese

2 whole Beaten Eggs

1/2 cups Grated (not shredded) Parmesan Cheese

2 Tablespoons Dried Parsley

1 Teaspoon Salt

1 pound Sliced Mozzarella Cheese

1 package (10 Ounce) Lasagna Noodles

*add 1/2 Teaspoon Salt and 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil to Pasta Water

Preparation:

Bring a large pot of water to a boil.

Meanwhile, in a large skillet or saucepan, combine ground beef, sausage, and garlic. Cook over medium-high heat until browned. Drain half the fat; less if you’re feeling naughty. Add tomatoes, tomato paste, 2 tablespoons parsley, basil and salt. After adding the tomatoes, the sauce mixture should simmer for 45 minutes while you are working on the other steps.

In a medium bowl, mix cottage cheese, beaten eggs, grated Parmesan, 2 more tablespoons parsley, and 1 more teaspoon salt. Stir together well. Set aside. Cook lasagna until “al dente” (not overly cooked).

To assemble:

Arrange 4 cooked lasagna noodles in the bottom of a baking pan, overlapping if necessary. Spoon half the cottage cheese mixture over the noodles. Spread evenly. Cover cottage cheese with a layer of mozzarella cheese. Spoon a little less than half the meat/sauce mixture over the top.

Repeat, ending with meat/sauce mixture. Sprinkle top generously with extra Parmesan.

Either freeze, refrigerate for up to two days, or bake immediately: 350-degree oven for 20 to 30 minutes, or until top is hot and bubbly.

Here's a link to the recipe on PW where you can print out a index card.

Best Lasagna, Ever!

Vegetable Co-op

2010-10-02T10:17:00.000-07:00

So, we recently joined a Vegetable Co-op in our area. We love it! We paid less then we would for regular grocery store produce but it's all organic and much better produce. This one is every other week and we only started out at $20. I don't think you would want to account for all your fruits and vegetables this way since there are certain things you want for certain recipes but it accounts for a good amount. There were 9 other people that contributed and they buy in bulk. They send out a list a few days before ordering and you tell them what your likes/wants or dislikes are. I think we will do $30. next time but were really happy with what we got. One person picks up all the produce from the trucks then divides it up. Then you pick it up from them. People take turns sorting and you get a credit for doing so. This time we got Green Beans, Grapes, Green Squash, Yellow Squash, Oranges, a bag of Apples, Lettuce, Tomatoes, half a Watermelon, Starfruit & Bananas. If you have the option in your area to get into one I highly recommend it!!!

We've been spending a lot of time outside lately. The other day Stella and I took a walk at a local park to look for pine cones. The humidity is pretty much gone and it is one of my favorite times of the year. It never used to be growing up in Seattle. I hated Fall, living in Seattle it meant Summer was over. I love Summer. It's different in Florida. It warms up to about 80 during the days and 50's to 60's in the evenings. You can turn your AC off and don't need the heat yet. I've been putting on jeans and a long sleeve in the morning but by 10 or 11ish I'm sweating. October also means the holidays are just around the corner. The holidays are better after you have your own kids. It's so fun to see it all again through a child's eyes. Show her all the little things I looked forward to about the holidays and make memories that she will want to share with her kids someday.

Around our house it certainly feels like Fall though. I got all of our Halloween/Fall decorations out last week and decorated. Lot's of the color Orange and pumpkins around here! I stocked up on my scented candles...warm apple pie, pumpkin, evergreen, mulled cider & cinnamon roll. It feels so cozy in the evenings and smells so good in here. I may even bust out an actual Apple Pie with our apples from the co-op!

Yesterday Mario went into Stella's room where she was playing. She had an Easter basket from her closet and was putting things in it. When he walked in she held it up and said "Trick or Treat Daddy". Neither of us have taught her that so I think she picked it up from one of her Halloween books we've been reading. It was so cute.

Next week we are taking one last Summer beach trip. Instead of Panama we are going to Daytona Beach. We are so ready for a few days of pool, beach, rest & relaxation.

Bye bye Summer, see ya next year! :)

Best. Stew. EVER!

2010-09-28T08:31:00.000-07:00

I have had a subscription to Cooking Light off and on for years now. Not necessarily for the Light part but because of their somewhat simple, mostly healthy, delicious recipes over the years and their reasonable subscription price. I have made so many of their recipes and they are always amazing. The Pumpkin Torte recipe I posted recently was out of the magazine from last fall. I think I made 4 of the recipes out of their Thanksgiving issue last year. So this year when it came time to renew our subscription I thought I would try something different. Why? Not quite sure but BIG mistake. We got a subscription to Bon Appetit instead. Nothing wrong with the magazine BUT I have yet to see anything in the 4 issues I've received so far that I even want to attempt to make. A lot of their recipes are extensive with ingredients you have to send out a search party to even find. Which works for some people, not me. I want simple ingredients, easy and YUMMY! So if something is working why mess with it. I know, I know...duh.

I made this recipe one chilly Fall weekend when I lived in Nashville. I have made it a few times since and it is my favorite stew recipe ever. It is a little heavy on the ingredient side BUT I found it was worth it! A lot of time I will do one of those throw everything in the pot Sunday stews but if you want to go get all the ingredients and spend the time to make it IT IS WORTH IT!!! So so good.

Time to pull out the Halloween decorations, rake the leaves, throw on the sweats and hoodies, bake some goodies and cook a yummy soup or stew! Fall is here!

Well not yet for us in Florida, it's still in the 80's but I can feel Fall coming! Today has been the first cool morning!

http://www.cookinglight.com/

They have good recipe resources online also...now on to the stew.

Hearty Beef & Tomato Stew

2 Teaspoons Olive Oil

2 Lbs Sirloin Steak, cubed

1 Cup finely chopped onion (about 1 medium)

3 Garlic cloves, minced

1 Tablespoon Tomato Paste

11/2 cups fat free less sodium beef broth

4 cups (11/2 Lbs) cubed Red Potato

2 cups slices carrots

3/4 cup pinot noir or spicy dry red wine

2 Teaspoons chopped fresh Thyme

1 (16 oz) package frozen pearl onions

1 (28 oz) can crushed tomato's, undrained

1 Rosemary sprig

1 Bay leaf

1 tsp salt

3/4 tsp Pepper

1/2 cup chopped Parsley

Heat oil in a large Dutch oven over medium high heat. Add beef, cook 5 minutes or until browned, stirring frequently. Remove beef from pan, reserving 1 Tablespoon of drippings in pan. Add onion and garlic to pan, saute 2 minutes or until onion begins to brown. Add tomato paste, cook 1 minute, stirring frequently. Add broth, bring to a boil. Return meat to pan. Add potato and next 7 ingredients (through Bay Leaf) bring to a simmer. Cover and cook 1 hour 15 minutes or until veggies are tender, stirring occasionally. Discard Rosemary and Bay leaf. Stir in Salt and Pepper. Top with Parsley!

Enjoy!!!

Ride Em' Cowboy!

2010-09-25T15:55:00.000-07:00

Giddy Up!!!

2010-09-25T15:29:00.000-07:00

Stella & her buddy Zach.

Feeding the chickens!

Follow me Stella...

She could have chased them all day. The poor girl was sweating like a pig herself.

Stella's new friend, Dakota.

Pulling Dakota into the ring. Good helpers.

She was smiling and laughing the whole time. No scaredy cats here!

Thanks Zach, that was FUN! Can we do it again sometime??? You busy tomorrow?

We had a play date with some friends from Stella's library group on Friday. They just happen to have 14 horses, 14 chickens, 2 dogs and 2 cats. Stella was in heaven. I think she would prefer we move to a farm. She ran around and got absolutely FILTHY! Seriously, they were covered from head to toe in dirt. She had gotten her hands dirty then wiped her face at some point, there was sand all in her hair and just dirt everywhere. I had to put her in the bath and rinse her down when we got home. I bet if you asked her though it was so worth it! They played outside, then we walked down to the barn and fed the chickens. I think this was her favorite part. She could have chased them around for hours. She was screaming with laughter and followed them right into the bushes. I had her in leggings thinking it would protect her legs but the poor girl was sweating from running around like a crazy woman! They each rode Dakota around the ring for a bit and Stella got right up with no hesitation whatsoever. She was grinning from ear to ear! They take the Pony Dakota to birthday parties and festivals and stuff so he is around kids and people all the time. He's so mellow. We had such a great time and she has been talking about it since! I'll post some video to follow.

Free Leap Frog/Leap Frog Jr Book

2010-09-23T17:43:00.000-07:00

I came across this link for a free Leap Frog Tag or Tag Junior book. They only give you one option on the book, you can't choose. Also after you register it says it will be shipped in 6-8 weeks but hey it's free and I'll probably forget I even filled it out and it will arrive just in time for another Xmas gift! :) Less shopping + Free. Right on! It's asks you which products of theirs you own and we just happened to already own a few so I used those but I don't think it makes a difference. You just have to register for their site and the link takes you through all the steps, it's super easy. It's through the actual Leap Frog site and it gives you a confirmation so we'll see in 6-8 weeks! :)

Stella is getting Tag Jr for her upcoming birthday but shhhhhh don't tell!!!

We had actually bought this book already so it's going back and I can trade it for a different one! Sweet! Oh, sometimes it's the little things....

If you own or plan on buying one of these soon get your own free book here:

http://www.leapfrog.com/content/leapfrog/en/site/freetagbook/form.html#utm_content=lw9MynSeamY?utm_source=LinkShare&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=Default&utm_content=TnL5HPStwNw&siteID=TnL5HPStwNw-QR17An_Y5J.6OevhxKVnJg

A good day with the girl

2010-09-21T12:35:00.000-07:00

Today has been a good day. We started off with our morning run/walk. Then the newest Tinkerbell movie came out today so we ran down and picked it up. It is adorable! Really really cute. They also have a cute/fun website to check out here http://www.pixiehollow.com/

Stella is still too young for that kind of thing but if you have a little bit older girl they have cute activities.

After the babes nap the first thing she said was "Outside"! So we headed out to hook up the spinkler and play in the yard. I threw on her swimsuit from last summer with out a diaper. It's a 6/12 month suit and the top was riding up a bit and the bottoms were sagging. She was a little plumber! Our grass is really bugging me right now. We haven't had any rain in about 2 weeks. Not a drop, at our house at least. Plus it's been about 85. Mario's been watering pretty much every day and it's just getting brown and dried out. I don't know how people keep their grass green in Florida. Underground spinklers that water at least twice a day I guess. I really really really wish we would get like 3 days of torrential rain or a nice tropical storm or something. I know it will be cold soon enough but for now I'll just take some fall showers please.

Yes, that is stickers up and down her leg.

I love our 2 hibiscus bushes. We transplanted a huge Gardenia bush right before summer and it looks like it's about to take off since the humidity has dropped a bit. Hopefully we'll have a nice big bush full of fragrant Gardenia flowers. My favorite!!! Reminds me of living in Hawaii when I would wear either a Plumeria or Gardenia behind my ear every day!