baby goats

We had another pretty amazing weekend up north visiting my in-laws. Here are some shots of things we did...

LOTS of playing outside, mostly on that swing you see hanging in the background.

Learning how to play poker from Grandma W. Cam was actually quite into the learning process. :)

Eating, eating, and more eating of delicious food. Here Kendall is helping with the strawberries. My favorite was a homemade pizza bar Chris' mom made for my birthday. Wow. :)

A huge highlight for the kids (and myself!) was visiting my MIL's friend who owns a farm. Her goats had just had babies and the kids loved getting to hold and pet them.

2+ hour game of Monopoly.

Our good friends, Matt and Jana, came over to enjoy the pizza dinner. It was so fun to catch up with them and the kids played incredibly well together. :)

Back to regular life today...including a workout this morning that was made easier by a quote I read yesterday. This is sooo true and something I should remember.

french fried onions

*It's no surprise when celebrity couples divorce, but I was kind of bummed when I heard that Dean McDermott had cheated on Tori Spelling. For some reason I've always kind of liked her/them. I'm watching her TrueTori show which follows them through the counseling process. It's sad and interesting at the same time.

*I've discovered that a few french fried onions goes a long way. I sprinkle just a tiny bit on Chris' chicken wraps or vegetables and it adds so much flavor.

*Yesterday I redeemed my free birthday drink from Starbucks. I didn't even get the largest size and it was still $5. Wow. My drink: Grande upside down skinny soy caramel macchiato.

*Paid my second "lost book fine" in two months today. It kills me to do this but I turned our house upside down and could not find it anywhere. But it's either pay it or not check out books anymore. So pay it I did. Ugh.

*Kendall has been abnormally difficult this past week. She's showing a lot more snotty attitude and I'm not a fan of it. However I did discover what "does it" for her as far as consequences. The other day she yelled at Cameron so I told her she couldn't play with the quadruplets (who live across the street) for the rest of the day. Wow did that NOT go over well. :)

*We are headed up north to visit my in-laws today. :)

two new recipes

I bought a bag of spinach not realizing we wouldn't be able to finish it since we are heading to my in-laws' this weekend. I found a recipe for Green Banana Bread that is soooo yummy!!! I'm being completely honest when I say that you cannot taste the spinach at all! The kids and I LOVE it :)

I was browsing a friend's Pinterest board and came across the ingenious idea of putting corn bread batter into your waffle iron. The original recipe topped the waffles with chili but I just topped ours with ground beef (seasoned with a little BBQ sauce). It was a big hit and super easy!

 I laughed when I uploaded this because despite Kendall and Chris' faces, they DID actually really like it!

This is unrelated to food, but I just had to snap this pic of Kendall after I painted her toenails and fingernails. She loves this. :)

He is risen!

We had such a nice Easter. Sunday morning we went through the set of Resurrection Eggs I had made at my moms' group on Friday. I can't believe I had never heard of these! The kids LOVED them and it was such a meaningful + fun way to go through the Easter story :)

After that was church.

After church we met my parents as well as Chris' brother's family at a park for a picnic. The kids always get very, very, very, very excited to see their cousins. :)

Here are the dads playing a game of baseball. My sweet mom suggested we get a whole family game going. Mom of the year declined and told her I was quite content to sit in the shade and talk while the dads played. :)

We got home in the late afternoon and Chris and I were pooped. After the kids went to bed, we started the second episode of Walking Dead. Chris is convinced I'm going to like it as much as Breaking Bad. So far...um...I'm on the fence. I'm not willing to rule it out, but I sure could do without the insanely gross zombie scenes. :)

35

Well, I'm 35 today. As Chris put it...I'm only 15 years from age 20...but also 15 years from age 50. Wow. :)

This afternoon, per my request, I got away for a couple of hours while the kids and Chris prepared my birthday meal. I started out reading at Starbucks and ended up at Kohl's. I didn't buy anything as today's shopping trip was one we all have experienced; when nothing looks good and you leave a tad depressed. However I quickly perked up upon entering my house which smelled wonderful and had fun posters hung around the kitchen. The most memorable being a huge picture of a rat from Kendall. Not sure about the significance of the rat, nor it's 20 legs. :)

After dinner we headed to Frugo's for frozen yogurt.

Just my kind of birthday night. :)

egg dye

*Last week I had to take both kids with me to a doctor's appointment for the elderly gentleman I run errands for. Normally a doc's appointment is difficult because you never know how long they'll last. However the kids actually were excited because this medical building has a beautiful outdoor area where they play spy kids and run around (fortunately no one is ever around). 

*Chris finally got to the point where he needed to get a new computer. He held on as long as he could. His previous computer had started making loud noises in addition to the fact that he couldn't update his software because it was too old. :) He LOVES his new toy (a shouldn't call it a toy seeing as our livelihood depends on this thing!! :)

*Right now I'm watching a Felicity while Chris is out with the kids. I'm feeling the body aches coming on and really hoping it doesn't turn into anything. :(

*Toys from the 99 Cent Store are lame. Activity/crafts are pretty awesome! I bought an egg dying kit and the kids had so much fun. :)

*I wish we owned a treadmill. I used to love running on my parents' while watching a movie. It was amazing how long I could go as long as I was watching something. :) Clueless was my movie of choice.

spontaneous night

I discovered a California Pizza Kitchen gift card a while back. We tried to use it once, only to discover the location (downtown Palm Springs) was closed. So today we went to the one in Palm Desert and had such a nice night.

But first we stopped at one of the kids' favorite parks. :)

I loved this pic! So graceful! Ha! :)

We got the kids a dessert to share. Cam couldn't finish his half. Kendall had no problem at all. :)

bread cones

*Well, hello summer weather! It's so nice of you to visit! :)

*Four years ago one of Cam's goals on his IEP was to play with another child for five solid minutes. This seemed SOOO unattainable to me. So how much do I love looking out our back window today at our little guy who had been playing for over an HOUR with one of our neighbor kids?? :) Love it.

*Friday is a big day for Chris. It's the start of the Masters. :) He is going over to a friend's house to get his fill of golf and asked me to make some treats. I'm making my all time favorite brownie recipe my SIL gave me years ago....Hershey's Best Brownies Recipe.

*Jobs just came out on Netflix so Chris and I watched the first half last night. Despite it getting horrible reviews, we both are finding it really interesting.

*My latest Pin, Bread Cones. How cool are these??

no more street

*The kids played most of Saturday with the neighbors. After seeing them not look both ways too many times, they are now banished from street riding for a while. They weren't fans of the new rule.

*Last night my parents came over for dinner and to watch Gravity. I was the only one that wasn't THAT impressed. It was good, but not great.

*Kendall came waltzing downstairs this morning in her choice of church attire. I gently informed her my black boots should really stay at home. 

I prefer the outfit I chose. :)

*This was another failed attempt at homemade iced coffee. I had a sip before we left and thought it was okay (hence my smile)...but after a few more sips I decided it wasn't even worth finishing. Can Jack n' the Box really have THAT top secret of a recipe that I can't even duplicate it?? :(

*Yesterday when I worked out I actually turned the sound off of the TV and plugged in Dr. Laura (on my iPod) to the stereo. Since I know the DVD pretty much by heart (I only rotate a few DVD's), I didn't need the instructor's prompts. Listening to Dr. Laura made the time go by much faster. :)

"chicken" sliders

*This morning Kendall and I went on a bike ride. She seems to be more into longer distances than Cam so I thought I'd test her out. :) Granted we took a few breaks, but she road over four miles! :)

*I've decided this iced coffee addiction has got to stop...at least buying them. :) Yesterday at Walmart I bought myself a cute straw cup and some syrup to make another attempt at creating them from home. We'll see!

*Today we went to Costco and had a sample that not only did I go nuts over, but the kids were begging me to buy. Ready? Vegan "chicken" sliders. Yep! They were AMAZING!!! The kids wanted to go back for a second sample (I was tempted). I was so mad Chris wasn't with us because I know he would have liked them. I just know it. :)

They were $10 for 12 sliders, so I passed up on the purchase. But I'll be honest and say that I'm kind of regretting my decision.

*Yesterday while the kids were upstairs and I was downstairs:

Cam: Kendall, you want to know something? I told Emerson at school that sometimes you can be really annoying.

Kendall: Mom!!!

Me: I heard Kendall.

Kendall: But mom, I want to tell you what he said so you can REALLY hear!!!

Me: I heard! He said he told a friend you were annoying!

Kendall: Ugh!!!!

Sidenote: I probably didn't handle that in the best way, but to be honest, she had been a little stinker to him all afternoon and I was also annoyed. :)

*Dinner tonight: Chinese Chicken Salad.
I've never given the kids salad as the main course, so we'll see what happens. :)