Growing Up...

This is one of those things I never, ever want to forget.


Out of the blue-Issy asked me to please google Zoologist.
Me: "oh really, why?"
Issy: "Well I want to really know what they do"
Me: "Okay" (as I googled) pause.
Me: "Wwhere did you hear about Zoologist?"
Issy: "At school. I didnt know about them at all, but my teacher told me that they study animals. All animals!
Me: Quickly read through the career description to her
Issy: (pause) "Yes, that is excatly what I want to be when I grow up! (Giggles) Good think I go to school, becuase I never knew about zoologist. They dont just help animals get better, they get to be around them even when they are not sick. Cool! (runs off to watch Phineas and Ferb , like the conversation never happened)

Ahhh! I am so proud!

How about a little Bling?!

My friend Ali at Ali's Coupon Adventures is having her first giveaway. The giveaway is for a Smart Jewels three piece handmade jewerly set. The jewerly designer is a Boise local which I think is extra cool. Anyway, there are a few chances to win, so head over to Ali's blog for more details.

Good Luck!

24 on the 24th

Happy Birthday Sister!

Planning ahead...

I made it a commitment last year to be as involved in my kid’s school as I possibly could. I always figured that if my kids saw how important school was to us, they too, would follow in our footsteps.

In the last few weeks this is proving to be more difficult than I originally expected. Yes, I find myself freaking out when I hear the words “mommy, I have some important papers in my backpack for you”. (I have to resist the urge of sprinting in the other direction screaming NOOOOooo!). I know inside that inside that backpack there are going to be at least a half dozen papers waiting to fly out on to my face to let me know about all of the upcoming school activities. I know that for a fact we have been to at least 4 different afterschool activities this fall alone. Today, I got few more reminders for 3 more activities coming up in the next few weeks. Do all schools have this much going on? I tell ya, I am exhausted.

At this point, I am starting to dread the days when Jax has to go to school at the same time Issy does. By then I hope that I am a pro at juggling all of our family activities. For now, I am fighting the urge of becoming one of those women. Those moms, with the dizzying calendars marked meticulously with a different colored maker that outlines the activity of each member of the family? Right now I am almost daring enough to say that I refuse to ever be THAT busy. I am being too naive?

For Pete’s sake, Issy is only in kindergarten, and I am feeling so overwhelmed trying to remember who is going where and when etc. Oh no, I really don’t want the centralized calendar. What else can you do to stay sane?

There must be another way. I will find it.

All things Apple

The trip to the orchard a few weeks ago was probably one of the best ideas I have ever had. Our house has been filled with this sweet cinnamon-apple smell for the last week or so. My family has been enjoying the apple sauce I made, the apple butter for our pan cakes and best of all the Superb Apple Pie!!! We just can’t get enough of all of this apple goodness!


Jax enjoying pancakes with apple topping!


Issy enjoying the apple pie with a little french vanilla ice cream!


My first apple pie ever and it was oooh sooo superb!

Why can't it be fall forever?

Wow...I scored!

I have been following my friend’s super coupon savvy blog for some time. Today my friends, I scored big time! I got two Playskool Step Start Walk N' Ride, which normally retail for $21.99, for the low price of $5.99!!! I got two, one for my little man and the other will probably be gifted at x-mas. If you want to know how I did it, check out Ali’s Coupon Adventures blog right now. Unfortunately this deal is only good until today (10/17/09)...dont miss out!

Case of the Mondays...

You know, it’s just been one of those weeks for me. I hate being the “Negative Nancy” but I think today, I finally hit my breaking point. Last night, I had the mother of all headaches. I realized that I was feeling miserable and I was having a bad case of the Mondays. Only, it’s not Monday, its Wednesday and I haven’t been able to shake it off. Why? Well, the irrigation water was shut off in our area last week, which means only one thing. People that were once complaining about water are now complaining about everything else.



It’s pouring rain outside and 40 degrees and I still get calls that go something like this:

Angry Homeowner: “Why did YOU shut the irrigation water off, it’s only the beginning of October?”

Me: Sir, the irrigation water is managed by your Irrigation District, we do not control the water turn on or shut of dates. You may want to consider using your city water if you need to water, just keep in mind that you do pay for that.

Angry Homeowner: “This is a bunch of BS. You must have forgotten to pay the bill or make some calls. Get a real job! “Click!

I look outside its raining cats and dogs…geez!

or

Angry Homeowner 2: My neighbor has a dog run that according to article 4.1 of the CC&R’s is out of compliance. I called you about these 3 days ago. What are WE doing about this? (I think I can almost hear a foot tapping)

pfft!

Seriously, this is all day, everyday. It just some of the most ridiculous things you could think of. I am sure these complainers have lives, but why they are determined to ruin mine?… I will never know.

Today feeling more rebellious than usual, so I decided to take a personal day! Thursdays are my set days off everyweek, but today, I wasn’t going to work like I normally do. I turned my phone off (okay, I am lying, I only silenced it) and after this post, I will no longer think about work for the rest of the day. I am going to play with my handsome little man, and then treat my family to my creation of my Mother in Law’s Famous Apple Pie recipe. I am excited to finally put the juicy gypsy apples to good use.

In the end, guess what? I win.


Quote of the day:
The trick is in what one emphasizes. We either make ourselves miserable, or we make ourselves happy. The amount of work is the same. - Carlos Castaneda

We got the full Gypsy experience...

Gypsy Apples that is! My biggest goal this fall was to take my kids to pick apples at an Orchard. I wasn't quite sure what to expect, since I had never done this before either, but I could hardly contain my excitement this morning as we were driving in through the little town of Emmett, Idaho.

The drive there was gorgeous, few cars along the highway and just far enough away to make you feel like you are away from it all. My kind of day.

Our GPS, seemed to be a "little off" and at first we kept missing our turn. Yeah, I know, what?!?! When we finally turned the stupid GPS off, we were able to find the place a lot faster. We found it by doing the ol' fashion "peel your eyes kids"! Technology...pft! (Let me say this: Brandon continues to refuse to comment on this incident with his beloved IPhone.)

We pull up to this near empty parking area near the orchard. Almost immediately we were greeted by this super sweet woman, equally excited that we were there visiting. I love small towns for this reason. I will admit, I know very little about apples, except that they are found near the bananas at the grocery store. Luckily for us, this sweet woman loved really seemed to love to talk apples. It was so fun, definitely added to the whole experience. The apples we picked so juicy and delicious. The funnest fact was that this particular type of apple is only grown in this area. I don't remember the "scientific" name for it, but I remember they were referred to as Gypsy Apples, from the cutest, fullest dwarf trees. There was no climbing required so they were the perfect size for Issy and I. She young...I am just short.

We picked our apples, weighted, and ate a few before packing up and heading home. It was cold out there, but no one seemed to mind. It was simple, quality family time. Did I already say that this is my favorite time of year? This will be another thing I can look forward to again next year. I am starting this new tradition.

Now....If you have a good apple recipe please pass it along. I have a ton of apples and I am sure my kids will hate me if I make them eat nothing but apple sauce through the winter.

Now it feels like Fall....

One of our favorite things to do in the fall is taking the kids to the Pumpkin Patch. We love walking around the big pumpkin fields, enjoying the cool crisp air and "carefully" selecting our pumpkins for the year. This year we threw the kids a curve ball and went late in afternoon. We thought it would be nice chance of pace, so after work we loaded the kids up and off to the patch we were.


Issy is always thrilled to go, it has always been one of her favorite activities. For Jax's the experience was a little different. He wasnt quite sure what was going on. He seemed to enjoy the ride, that is until we went past his bed time. We only got to pick out our pumpkins and had to leave (yeah, we saw this one coming a mile away) but we chanced it anyway. We still plan on going back next week for the rest of the activities. For now, this was a nice way to officially kick off the fall.

Jack O Lanterns

The other day I came across a really fun blog, filled with lots of crafty ideas. Inspiration Cental. If you have a second please check out notsoidlehands for a fun and easy Jack o lantern tutorial. Issy and I made our own out of baby food jars. I knew I the jars would in handy sooner or later :)
Becuase my lanters are so much smaller than the tutorial my plan is to get a set of "rice lights" so they glow and to add a little twine to the top to give these spooky faces a little something extra.

Ta-da!!!

Chicago Bears Fans...

Have you ever seen anything cuter than these pictures? I think not, but I am a little (okay a lot) biased. My Father-in-law is a die hard Chicago Bears fan and just a few weeks ago they made it to Washington for a live game. How Cool!

On sunday we went over for lunch, during the game he pulled out these sweet little outfits. Do I have the best in laws or what?!

Issy got the cute cheerleading outfit and blue and orage pom poms. Jax gots to sport this sweet linebacker sweatsuit. Together they could not be any cuter!

Yesterday she wore the cheerleading outfit all day, movies, mall and all. Today after school, she came home and changed back in to it. We will be practicing our Chants so that we are ready for next sunday.

GOOOO BEARRRS!!

Jax saw that Issy was having fun and decided that he would join along. We weren't sure what he was saying, but it was nice and loud... nice!

Two down, 30 to go

Isabel finally lost the second bottom tooth. The second tooth was loose for ever,in the last month the tooth was just dangling there. I tried to be patient. I tried brives, nothing was working. The other night I was so tired of it even looking at it, that I finally MADE her pull it out.

At first I tried to let her pull it out herself, but it wasnt working. She cried, and then she cried some more and still nothing. Finally (I had been planning this actually) I pulled out some knitting yarn (light weight), coated it with some oragel and quickly put it around her tooth before she could change her mind. She noticed the taste of the oragel on her tongue right away and just as she started to protest- I pulled it.

Out came this tooth ... and then blood. A lot of it. Luckily I had a red wash cloth handy and I was able to make her rinse her mouth before she could see anything. What a relief.

*********
I also posted a video of Issy pulling out her first tooth. I have been dying to post this video for a while, but due to some technical difficulties, I was always unable to do. The video is priceless. Isabel is very much afraid of blood. So this explains why she refused to let us pull the second on out. After this experience, I am not looking forward to seeing anymore loose again. Enjoy.

The begining...

I changed the name of our blog...I am still getting used to it. I just dont want our last name listed. You never know how many creepies are out there, and lately I have heard (and read) enough stories to finally change the title.

I figured that while I have a few minutes to spare, I would also take the time to share our story. This is obviously and shortened version, but its enough information to give us a gist of how we came to be...

I was one of those girls who swore up and down that I would never get married and I would certainly never, ever have kids. I honestly cannot recall what on earth would make me say that. Yet, here I am, 25 years old, married and with two kids. What happened right? Well, not long after I said I would never get married or have kids, I met this guy. He was so not my type, but I fell for him-and hard. He was really cool, and funny. We got married, and to our surprise Issy came along 9 months later. She is just this sweet little girl, full of life, trying to make sense of the world, one questions at a time. Oh my can she talk. We laugh as we try to figure out what kind of person she will become(Our vegan, peta protestor, majoring in some sort of science degree- out to change the life of all cats and dogs).

Five years went by and just as things were getting comfortable and just as we thought we started getting the hang of this parenting thing, we decided that adding another kid to the mix would be pretty fun. Who wouldnt want another Issy around?

I guess we had forgotten all about the diaper duties, and lack of sleep involved. Regardless, baby boy Jax came in to the picture. He is just as funny as his dad only cuter!(As all babies are) I can see him being an avid explorer one day, which he gets from both his Daddy and his Grandpa Ray. I swear that this little guy will be doing wheelies on his dirt bike by the time he is 3.

God help me.

This is my life, as you can see I never knew how much I would change and how much I would love this life I have created, but I do. I love it. So this is what I write about... My family, me and all of the quirky ideas I am never quite sure how to execute, but I wing anyway. Every once in a while I will rant about my frustrations at work, as an Association Manager. Most of the time, I write about all the good things that happen, because there are a lot, but I also write about some bad and of course some ugly.

More than anything, we are a busy bunch...so I dont want to forget a single bit of what has happened along the way.

So When I am not busy with diapers, kindergarten homework or laughing at one of my husband’s jokes I am usually just daydreaming about new things to craft up. I daydream about cooking something I am craving, and despretly want to eat. I also spent a lot of time daydream of what I would spent my powerball money on...Ha!
Other than that, I spend a lot of time blogging. I love cute ideas, handmade goods and reading other peoples stories.

Thank you for stopping by.