Saturday Smile

Jeff took this picture the other day at the park.

I cannot tell you how much it makes me laugh...

and what a reflection it is of my life.

I just go through life trying to make everything seem calm and controlled while the chaos

unfolds around me!!!

What? Wild monkeys?!

I don't see a thing ;)

Happy Saturday!

I'm Back...with Chicken Cordon Bleu

Wow! It has been a while! For a while I was doing so well keeping up on my blogging...

My secret...

I would upload pictures from home, save the post, and in my down-time at work...finish up!

It was a dream! I had a nice quiet place to think...in between customers.

Yes...it was a dream...and as with all dreams...it didn't last...my wings were clipped.

Everyone's internet access was taken away :(

I can't imagine why!

And so it is now so difficult to get to a computer with my eyes still open to do anything but balance my checkbook.

But with my now-approaching-Terrible-Two's-daughter asleep, and all of my boys out for a couple of hours...

Ahhhh! 

A little time alone with my computer!

So I thought I'd share a recipe that I tried this week from a "5 Ingredient or Less" cookbook I have.

Chicken Cordon Bleu

Serves:4-6

4-6 chicken breast halves, skinless

4-6 slices ham

4-6 slices Swiss cheese

 1/2 cup seasoned bread crumbs

1 egg, beaten

Optional: 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Put chicken breasts between plastic wrap and pound thin. Place a slice of ham and a slice of cheese on each chicken breast and roll up; secure with toothpicks. Combine bread crumbs with Parmesan cheese. Dip chicken rolls in beaten egg and roll in bread crumbs to coat. Brown in a small amount of oil. Transfer to a baking pan and bake 20-30 mins or until chicken is cooked through.

Unfortunately they were almost all gone before I thought to take a picture :(

These were so yummy!

The hubby and kids loved them!

And I could even make them for dinner guests...

Wanna come?!?!

Happy Halloween!

Originally I was scheduled to work on Halloween this year. I am so thankful that my boss gave me the day off because it was busy!...And so much fun!

I started the day by taking my homeless man to school...

On the way to school I glanced over to see a full paper bag in his lap, no backpack in sight.

When I asked him if he remembered his backpack, he replied, 

"Mom, homeless people don't have backpacks! Everything I need is in this brown shopping bag."

Jeez...I should've known!!  

If he doesn't make the Halloween Page in the yearbook this year...something's wrong!

He had so much fun with people not knowing who he was.

Later in the morning I went to Connor's school to watch the Kindergartners' Parade and attend their party.

Connor was hilarious as he showed off his muscles to the crowd.

(Later he told me that he was "jealous" that everyone was looking at him...I think he ment "embarrassed.")

Side note: So much of the time I don't think about how little this little man really is. Especially with a younger sister in the house, I think I treat Connor older than he really is a lot of the time. As I watched these little Kindergartners, I remembered back to when Dominic was in Kindergarten and how cute and little he was. It was just another one of those "Mom" moments that put time in perspective for me and reminded me how quickly it goes by.

Connor and his teacher...

Later in the day we all headed over to Uncle Nick and Aunt Becki's house, as we do every year, to Trick-or-Treat with the cousins.

My little Ice Cream Cone was so into it!

So was my Pumpkin..

It took Corben a little bit...

But the Spidermen were fast and furious! This was the year for them!

They literally ran from house to house.

Luckily Dom had opted to hang with the family this year, and was totally game for keeping up with Connor and Cale. It was so funny....it looked like some crazy guy was following the boys around!

Why oh why did I not insist on taking their group picture at the beginning?!?!

Emma Kate had truly had enough!

Connor was pretty exhausted too from all that running!

(Though still in good spirits, he hitched a ride back to the house in the wagon.)

It was definitely "tricky" with the slower little ones and the faster big kids.

We all fell into bed with full bellies and very tired legs!

Happy Halloween!

Pre-Halloween Sunday

This year is actually, in my opinion, kinda nice that Halloween is on a Monday.

It allowed for lots of fun activities and plenty of time to prep for the big day.

Saturday was pretty uneventful...we both worked.

But yesterday was full of fun...

After church we headed to Downtown Martinez for their Halloween Event.

Many of the downtown shops opened their doors to trick-or-treaters.

They also had a "trunk show" in which a lot of local businesses parked along-side the streets, popped open their trunks, and decorated for Halloween. They, too, passed out candy to the kids.

Added bonus...Farmer's Market was also going on.

We really should have gone home for a nap for Emma Kate before going, but I wanted to get there early, so we took our chances.

She did "ok" but by the end she had had ENOUGH!

I started the pics of our day with one of me!

Jeff is always taking pictures of me...which when I think about it...it's really sweet...but most of the time I don't like how they turn out and I never include them in my posts.

So here's one I like!

You also get a sneak peak at Connor and Emma Kate's costumes in this post!!

Here's Connor and Emmy, excuse me...Spiderman and my Ice Cream Cone...getting some yummy's....

It was good practice for Emma Kate...by the time we were done, she knew exactly what to do.

Tonight she'll be a pro...fingers crossed!

Here's Connor walking far away from us...though he's a little better this year, he's still pretty scared of the decorations.

Emma thought she could get candy from the Farmer's Market stands.

She stood at the pears saying, "Teeet!" (Trick or Treat!)

The lady was really sweet and dropped a pear into her bag.

Did I mention she was DONE by the end?!?!

In the car she was the grumpiest thing ever!

Just Dominic looking over at her would cause her to shout, "No!!"

After some much needed rest time we asked Gram and Nana to come join us for some pumpkin-carving.

Dominic decided to go simple this year..

Do you remember last year's fiasco?!?!

Connor actual helped. A little. This year.

So little that we didn't get a picture of him sticking his hand in trying to get the seeds out.

He was my cheerleader though as I created exactly what he wanted...Doc Hudson from the movie, Cars.

Everyone was pleased with their creations.

I'm sad I didn't get a picture of my mom's...it was really cute too.

Connor's (and mine) on left. Dominic's on right...if you couldn't tell :)

Doc turned out really good! (I can say that because all I did was use a template from one of those carving books.)

Dominic's...well that's the face I get from him a lot lately...fitting I guess!!

So we're ready! All ready for Halloween!

Hope yours is fun and safe!

A Flat Tire, Karate, and Puke

Setting:

Tuesday 3:30pm

Dinner in the crockpot...check!

House in acceptable disaray...check!

Dominic staying after school to do some Peer Counseling...no problem...rode his bike to school today...doesn't matter when he's done...cause he doesn't need a ride...check!

Emma Kate had gotten up from nap a little moody.

She felt really warm so I decided to take her temp before heading out for Connor's Taekwondo class.

I was wrestling with her, trying to keep the thermometer under her arm, while juggling the remote in an attempt to turn on Dora for a 2 minute distraction, telling Connor for the 5th time to get his Spiderman costume on (the children got to wear their costumes to class today so he was SUPER excited that Spiderman got to do Taekwondo,) when I noticed a missed call from Dominic.

With my 3rd hand I dialed him up to see what was going on. He informed me that as he got ready to head home on his bike, he noticed that his front wheel was totally flat. I asked him if he could call Papa to go get him and bring him home.

3:40 (usually the time we leave for Taekwondo, which starts at 4:00)

I rethought my decision as "Mom Guilt" crept up on me.

"I'm his mom...I should make this work!"

So I quickly called my dad, cancelled his ride, gathered up Spiderman, Emma Kate, a snack, etc...

3:45

Actually left the house.

Drove like a crazy woman to Dom's school, threw his bike in the back of the van, told him NEVER to drive like I am driving, stopped in the middle of the street in front of the house, told him I loved him as I "kicked" him out of the car, and zoomed off.

4:02

Arrived late to class with Spiderman commenting how he can't breathe or see very well through his mask. Yet he declined when I told him I could hold it for him.

4:15

As I was trying to keep a now-20-month-old content for a half hour, I fed her yogurt covered raisins. She was walking around a little amongst the other parents and a couple younger siblings as she ate. This is when she started to choke on her now-mouth full of raisins. It started as a little choke, I waited a second...not quite clearing up...I calmly got up, went and grabbed her, and as I was thinking she was ok, and heading back to my seat with her...she threw up...yup she puked...on me...on the floor...right in front of the row of parents...right in clear view of Spiderman, Buzz, The A Team Wrestler, all yelling, "Hi----yah!"

Before I knew it, two of the other moms had sprung into action. As I am helplessly trying to keep my daughter close, using baby wipes to start to clean up the floor, they appeared with both wet and dry paper towels and were taking care of business! That floor was clean in 3 minutes flat...no trace of puke anywhere...until I looked down at my clothes. I grabbed her and headed for the bathroom, as a piece of regurgitated hot dog fell out of the bottom of my shirt!  

4:30

After thanking those two women countless times for helping me, I grabbed Emma (spotless) and Spiderman (apparantly clueless that anything out of the norm had happened) and walked out of there with countless wet spots on my clothes from trying to wipe away the puke, and my head held high with any shred of dignity I had left in me. (To think I had been worried that people would notice that my toes were in desperate need of a pedicure!)

4:40 

Would have fallen apart crying in the car on the way home... if it hadn't have been for those mom's. I was too thankful to cry.

5:00

Back to the norm...as if nothing had ever happened...final rushed dinner prep, etc...

5:10

Jeff came home, kissed me, paused...and said,

"What's that smell?"

Oh did I have a story for him!!

Bye Bye Butterflies

If you read this post you probably were disgusted by the pictures of our chrysallides, all wrapped up tight and transforming into butterflies.

Last week our butterflies "hatched!"

It was so cool!

First there was one.

Then 2.

Then 5!

We filled the bottom of their "habitat" with fresh flowers from our yard and then made a sugar water mixture

to spray on the flowers.

At first we didn't think they looked very exciting...

and then we saw the tops of their wings in the sunlight!

We were able to watch how they eat and actually see how they look up close.

Their faces are in reality pretty ugly!

After a couple of days it was time to let them go...

Bye Bye Butterflies!

This was such a cool activity to do with the kids.

We all loved checking on them at their different stages and experiencing God's amazing creations.

And the best part...next year we can order more larvae and re-use our equipment to do it all over again!

This makes an awesome and inexpensive birthday present also.

Pumpkin Patch 2011

  Last weekend we headed out to The Clayton Valley Pumpkin Farm, like we do almost every year.

Here's a little flashback of Dominic one of the 1st years we went...

(Later if you look closely, you'll see this same bat...only it has been re-painted.)

As usual this place did not disappoint.

Buckets and buckets of gourds.

(I LOVE the colors of Fall.)

Big plastic swimming pools full of dry Navy Beans to play in.

Tunnels and tubes in the hay bales for balls to roll through.

Some "Mommy and Daddy Time" while the kids played.

Of course...a train ride!

And a Train Picture.

The annual growth chart...

The thing I honestly love most about the pumpkin patch is the pumpkin pictures.

The colors are so vibrant. However the kids barely ever cooperate:)

I LOVE this one of the kids...zoom in if you can't see Emma Kate's face...the pumpkin was slipping out of her lap. Oh, and see the bat behind them?! Unlike Dominic, the bat hasn't changed that much.

Good bye Pumpkin Patch...until next year!