scientology

*I have been keeping an eye out for one of these things for a while and finally came across it at Costco. It's a big, brightly colored plastic guy with a "Slow" sign in his hand. We have TONS of kids playing on our block and cars are frequently driving too fast for my liking.

In the pic above, Chris had gone out to chat with a pouting Kendall. She had been sitting on the curb, face down in her arms due to the fact that one of her neighbor friends was riding the bike she wanted (which was actually HIS bike, ha!). I thought this was such a sweet picture of her explaining her side of things to daddy. :)

*Both Chris and I have been really struggling with working out lately. We just simply don't want to. Period.

*We introduced Chris to "Frozen" yesterday afternoon. I can't believe we actually found a copy available at Redbox. It was better than he had thought and now he can picture the scenes of the songs Kendall is always belting out.

*I finally found a book that I'm really enjoying right now. Actually it's completely fascinating. It's called Beyond Belief: My Secret Life Inside Scientology and my Harrowing Escape. The author is the niece of the current leader of Scientology. The rituals, rules, beliefs are so interesting and SOOO sad to read about.

*Tonight's dinner:

Meatloaf and veggies

iced coffee, iced coffee, iced coffee

Two things you did last night:
-Watched a Parks and Rec...this show ALWAYS makes us laugh.
-Tried unsuccessfully to find a new book to read on my Kindle. I cannot find a good one.

Two things you ate today:
-Pretzels and Wheat Thins TOGETHER. For some reason I love the taste of them at the same time.

Three things you are going to do tomorrow: 
Church, go out to lunch with my parents, clean bootcamp room

Your favorite beverages: 
Iced coffee, iced coffee, iced coffee :)

Two things that have made you smile in the last 24 hours
-Watching Felicity, which I'm doing right now. Chris took the kids to the park and lunch so I could have some down time which for me, equals a little of the best show ever! :)
-We've had a gift card to iTunes for who knows how long. I had Chris buy the Frozen soundtrack. I got two huge smiles when I played it. :)

One thing you wish you wouldn't have wasted TV time on:
There isn't a lot of wasted time on TV since we got rid of cable. We have to be pretty intentional in what we watch since we choose it from Netflix and Hulu. While I miss my Foodnetwork (and let's be honest, a little Bravo here and there), I guess it's actually a good thing because I watch less TV overall.

Two things you will do today:
-Take Kendall and a friend to a birthday party. 
-Maybe treat myself to an iced coffee?? ;)

p.s. Want to know what the two best selling items from the Costco bakery are? Their jumbo muffins and croissants. I only mention that because I bought some croissants yesterday as part of a meal I'm bringing a friend. I forgot how absolutely amazing and sinful they are. :)

vampire dip

We are mid-way through our second week of spring break. We have had some fun daytime outings and I think I've kept the boredom away as much as possible. :) It's been so nice to take our time in the mornings and not feel rushed with school.

--This past Monday Chris and I had a meeting out in OC regarding Cam. On our way home we stopped at Slaters 50/50 for lunch. This was SUCH a treat for us as we don't usually go out to eat unless we have a gift card or it's someplace like Costco. :) However a friend took Chris here a while back and he could not stop raving out this "Vampire Dip" (surprisingly he didn't rave about the burgers, which is what they are known for). I've been wanting to try it for a while and, OH MY GOSH it did not disappoint. Holy cow. Must try. Must.

--The past two weeks we've taken a bike ride down to Kendall's ballet class. It's a good distance, so it's nice to break it up with her class...as well as a stop at the donut shop on our way back. Here they are sharing a bearclaw.

--Monday we were able to spend a couple hours with my friend, Jen, who was out from OC. The kids had a great time together.

--This morning I had hopes of going to a storytime at Smiley Library, however a marathon game of Monopoly took us too late into the morning. Wow. Monopoly is long. Really long. :)

Notice the Coke Zero on my right? Yep, I go there some mornings. Not that soda is good any other time of the day, but the mornings feels especially unhealthy. :)

anniversary

Yesterday we celebrated our 12th wedding anniversary. After dropping the kids off with my parents, we first ran a few errands. Actually Chris dropped me off at a Starbucks so he could go find a few things for softball. It was soooo relaxing for me to just sit and read for almost an hour. I'm loving the book I'm reading called Silver Like Dust. So good.

We then headed to a restaurant we had heard about several times over the years, Russo's. I had puchased a Groupon a couple months back and we were excited to try it. Um...our experiences differed by a lot. Chris gave his Fettucini Alfredo a 9.5. I gave my Pasta Primavera a 4. Since he doesn't consider pasta with vegetables a "real" meal, he blamed my choice for my dislike. :) Oh well, it was still fun to try a new place. :)

(sorry it's so dark)

The kids actually spent the night at my parents and we both slept in until 7:45. Oh the bliss. :) After church and retrieving our kiddos we headed out to the desert since it was beautiful weather.

The park they did their scooter riding at was holding an Arts and Opera Festival. While we didn't browse the booths too much, I did stumble across this little gem. Considering my boy's love of his Lego VW Bug set, I knew we had to snap a picture. :)

custard

*This week Kendall checked out a book at the library on cupcake decorating. She was dead set on making it happen. Later in the week we headed to Winco and I let them each pick out a few pieces of various candies (that's why I love bulk bins) to decorate the cupcakes. In this pic she is holding the cupcake book she insisted on bringing into the store.

*Wednesdays at a local movie theater are $2 movie days. Chris took the kids to see Mr. Peabody and Sherman, which Chris gave a 10!

*When Chris was in AZ with his dad, they got dessert one night at a place which sold frozen custard. He raved and raved about it. Why hasn't it caught on here?? :(

*Cameron gets computer time between when Kendall goes to bed and he goes to bed. He loves to look at old pictures and videos on the computer. Why is it that I get emotional just looking at pictures of my kids when they were babies? It's not like they aren't still little. I guess they just aren't THAT little anymore and I'll never get THAT period back. :)

*This morning the kids and I joined my parents for a bike ride along the Santa Ana River Trail. While we didn't go too far, it was fun for the kids. Especially fun was starting and ending our ride at Fairmont Park in Riverside. This park has got to have the coolest play area I've been to. The kids looooved it. :)

p.s. I sure would like to go on that bike path by myself or with someone else and actually go for a while. It's such a nice ride and would be fun to tackle a long distance.

the eye of the tiger

*Happy St. Patrick's Day!

*Fun facts about Ben & Jerry's:
-In the late 1970's Ben and Jerry initially wanted to go into the bagel making business. However the bagel equipment was too expensive, so they went the ice cream route.
-The current top selling flavor is Half Baked (replacing Cherry Garcia).
-Salted Caramel and Turtle Cheesecake are some upcoming flavors.

*Last summer I made a calendar where I wrote all of our activities for each day. I decided to do one for spring break. Not that we have amazing plans every day, but I find that even tomorrow's "ballet" and "library storytime" seem more fun because they are written down. :)

*Dear sinus pressure, please go away.

*I'm getting my hair done Wednesday. It's been a year so I'm super excited! :)

*Do you have the eye of the tiger????

pictures from the weekend

Chris had a great time with his dad at Spring Training this weekend. They got to see two games, go out to yummy restaurants, and relax. :)

I wanted to make it a fun weekend since daddy was gone, so Saturday morning started out with a bike ride to their favorite donut shop. Kendall chose a new and deluxe flavor, Red Velvet.

Later I watched the kids of a friend of mine for the day. We first went hiking in Oak Glen. They all had a blast, as did I.

Building a dam:

Each night I was swallowed in this, relaxing and watching my Hunger Games movie (very well done, by the way...very much like the book).

potato bug

*I bought a bag of broccoli slaw last week planning a stir-fry night. That never happened so I used it tonight to make a really yummy salad. I threw the bag in a bowl and topped it with a mixture of mayo, rice vinegar, and sugar. I threw in some green onions and raisins and got rave reviews from the kids AND Chris!! :)

*Lately I've been in love with Pandora's "Frank Sinatra" station. It plays the best music...Dean Martin, Michael Buble, Nat King Cole...

*Yesterday was Chris and my 12 year anniversary. Just typing that makes me feel so old! :) We are planning on celebrating in a couple weeks. I feel like I've bragged on Chris in past birthday posts, so I won't repeat myself but to say I have absolutely no complaints about the best husband EVER!! :)

*Here is Kendall's "house" for a potato bug she found. I gave her this carton after she poured water/mud into a brown lunch bag, not realizing paper bags don't really hold water well. :)

*Went to the doc today and got the green light to do nothing about my umbilical hernia.  Looks like it's fine. I was hoping I wouldn't need surgery (well, actually I WOULD like to get it fixed but not if I have pay for it...maybe someday).

*Tonight's dinner question: What does everyone think Cameron should be when he grows up? Kendall? What if mommy weren't a mommy and daddy weren't a graphic designer...what should we be? :) Fun answers did ensue.

our afternoon

This morning was a pretty lazy morning. Once 11:30 came, the fun began. Kendall was invited to a neighbor's birthday. She could barely keep still she was so excited. This party was the kind that made you feel like the most non-creative mom ever. :) It was beautiful, detailed, and Kendall adored every minute.

While we were at the party, Chris and Cameron went to Toys R' Us. Cameron had saved enough Christmas money/allowance to purchase a new Lego set. He had been doing research for a while as to which set he would buy.  Afterward, he and Chris played some miniature golf.

After the party, I was reading Kendall some books when I looked down and discovered she had fallen asleep. She has NEVER done this before and it was just too sweet.

Soon after she woke we met Chris and Cameron at Spaghetti Factory for dinner. I had a giftcard we had yet to use and our meal didn't disappoint (Mizithra = best pasta dish ever). Before our food came, the kids got a couple of fun balloon hats made. Cam's was enormous. :)

PS. I'm happy to report my eggplant experiment was a success with myself and the kids.  Um...not so much with Chris. In fact, after asking him for a rating, he declined to comment. :) I made what I called "Veggie Fries" (since Eggplant could sound sketchy to kids). I used this recipe and dipping in ranch really helped the kids gobble them up.

spy kids

*One of the kids' (Kendall especially) favorite games to play is called "Assignments". I'm not sure how this came about. Basically I sit in a chair in the driveway and give her tasks to complete on her scooter/bike. One might be, "Ride your bike up to the mailboxes, do five jumping jacks, ride to our neighbors' porch and touch their fountain with your thumb...then come back." Each time she returns she is rewarded with one chocolate chip. It's really the best of both worlds because she has a blast and I get to relax and read a magazine! :)

*We stumbled across Spy Kids 4 the other day on Netflix. My kids LOVED, LOVED it!!!

*Yesterday's library storytime was SOOO interesting. I found myself wanting to check out the kids book she read which was about the beginnings of the Iditarod dog races. The kids got to make their own pine cone dog. :)

*Got an eggplant today at the fruit stand. Now to figure out how to make it palatable for the kids (and Chris!) :)

sorry, joan

*Yesterday we went out to the desert. There is an enormous chess game in the mall where kids can pick up, knock over, and play with the pieces. The kids had SO much fun.

*So I know I just posted about eating less crap, but I must, must, must mention the most delicious bar cookies I have made in a very long time. They are basically my gooey bar recipe with a couple of twists. I can't begin to tell you how amazing I think they are. Wow. If you want to try my altered recipe (which I think is way better), click here for my Pin as I wrote what I did differently.

*I don't know how I've made it this long without reading or hearing how Breaking Bad ends. But now that Netflix has the last final episodes, I'm SOOO excited to see what happens. So excited.

*I'm very glad we have had rain the past few days considering the drought we are currently experiencing. But I'm good. We can go back to sun. :)

*On the way to the desert yesterday I saw a billboard for a Joan Rivers show:

Me: Would you go see Joan Rivers for a free dinner at Ruth's Chris?
Chris: No
Me: Would you go and see her for a free night at a hotel for us?
Chris: How long would the show be?
Me: 2 1/2 hours
Chris: Sorry, but no.

Hehehe :)