Vacation Day 1

The weekend before school started (Aug 15-17) we were finally able to go on a mini vacation.
We left on Saturday and went to the Pittsburgh zoo.
It was nice to visit a different zoo (and for free with our zoo membership!!)


Look at his lip they are hilarious!
I caught him in mid chew...lol

They had a underwater tunnel where at the polar bear exhibit, and we were fortunate enough to see one swimming around!

Kind of a blurry yet cool picture of Mr Polar bear!

Piranhas at the really nice aquarium.

I miss having penguins at our zoo, they are so cute!

We paid big buck to have this picture taken and we also got to pet her, it was so neat though, and E loves elephants.

Look at the elephants trunk...Merci must have smelled good=)

First Day of School 2009

Well here are the obligatory first day of school photos.

Ethan on his first day of Kindergarten!

Merci on her first day of 4th grade.

Amazing how time flies!
This was last Thursday Aug 20th.
Today was their 3rd day.

I got cash for GOLD

I have been seeing these dumb cash for your old gold commercial, billboards, you name it...everywhere.
I wasn't sure if I trusted them to be honest.

Well...I tried cash for gold with the stuff I knew was just junk and if I didn't get paid, oh well...AND to my surprise I got about $20 deposited into my paypal account a few days ago! And some of the stuff I sent wasn't real gold and I guess the silver I sent wasn't being accepted, and they sent that all back free of charge...they paid for the postage to get to them also. I just printed out a prepaid label and dropped off my package in the Quick FedEx drop box and that was that!

They emailed me an offer after they received the package and I could accept or decline, I accepted, and got paid the next day, and about 3 days later received my old stuff back...I was greatly surprised!!

The $20 I got was for the 3 random small hoop earrings and the D charm that I wore in middle school or something, you know...when they were cool! I consider that a good deal, $20 for old "junk" sitting in my jewelry box...wish I had some broken chains or something I could have got more.

Hopefully you have the same GREAT results I did, if you try this company!

Yummy Treat

I was sent a box of Cinnabon bars from Kelloggs, so I could try them and let you all know how wonderful they are!

Well...I won't lie they are YUMMY. Hardly good for you, but we all deserve a treat every once in awhile! The one good thing besides the taste is only 150 calories per bar.

They box claims they are good warm and I saved one to try warm, but it mysteriously disappeared, so I have yet to try it warm. It was delicious right out of the box though! Definitley had the Cinnabon taste! (who can resist that??)

Funny story. In high school our school was right in the same parking lot as a mall, being the poor 15 year olds we all were we would all buy containers of frosting after school for a quarter=)

So if you are looking for a nice little treat with a satisfying taste and not too many calories, I recommend you give them a try. One box to stash won't hurt;)

New season

Tomorrow, Aug 20th. I will be starting a brand new season of life.

Both of my kids will be is school all day long. 8:30-3:30.
I am excited and horribly sad at the same time. My Ethan, my little boy will be in Kindergarten. I had to give up Merci years ago (I did cry), and cried some more because I had a horrible, fussy, difficult baby at home. That horrible, fussy, difficult baby is still all of those to this day, yet so kind, tender and loving at the same time. My son who is so perfect for his teachers (pre-school and sunday school) but not for his momma. A boy that kisses and hugs me more than anyone in this house. A boy that thinks I'm going to talk to the cats and play games (XBOX) all day long since I won't have him. A boy so brave and so shy. A boy who has learned to swim across the pool underwater this year. A boy who has had 7 dry nights (never before has) just to prove to his momma that he is ready to be a big boy. A boy who (again, so opposite, so extreme) loves sugar & veggies equally and nothing in between. A boy who will drink a gallon of liquids, only juice mind you a day. A boy who went white water rafting with his family and was so scared and overcame it and enjoyed himself-and would go again! A boy who drives me crazy but can make me smile like no one else can. A boy who did all he could to get the butterfly bandaid open so his mommy's arm would stop bleeding. A boy who you can find with a sword shoved down his shirt or pants at any given time. A boy who has loved the color orange since he could say the word. A boy I am going to miss so very much.

I'm loosing my baby (we don't plan to have anymore) and gaining freedom Ive longed for since he was born, and now I want to go back, to stop time, to be a better mommy, do so mnay things different. Yet I will be proud of him and his every accomplishment. And I am sure I will be ready to send him back every Monday=)

I can do this. It has been 9 years, do I know how? To be me.

Wordless Wednesday ::Missing you...Big Bass Lake::

My son woke up a comedian

My little Ethan. What a character. He made me laugh this morning. 2 times. Not to mention Josh's mooing cow alarm. Ethan loves to smother the cats, rub his face in their fur and make these funny singsong noises to them. So I embraced him and did the same. His response was "Meow"....LOL.
Then it was time to get dressed, so he could got o church early to do lights with daddy. Ethan is very, and I mean very particular with the clothing he wears. I asked him to pick a shirt from the hangers (the nicer shirts he has), he came back with a long sleeve thermal shirt, and a pair of camo shorts...daddy said no way. I've learned if it matches don't fight. So we got him to wear a different shirt. As he looked glaringly at all the shirts hanging, he said I don't like those shirts with those things. I tried to comfort him to the fact his shirt did not have a collar so it was OK. His response "dogs wear collars, people don't"...LOL.

He woke up a comedian or I just woke up in a very good mood for once.

I LOVE that kids and cannot believe I will be celebrating my baby's 5th birthday next week!

I came up with it all by myself;)

The other day I went to make a recipe that was grilled chicken with a fruit/veggie salsa. When I was looking for the recipe I could not find it and had never made it before, so had no idea where to start except for the fruits/veggies I bought to make the recipe with. I was WAY off, but it turned out WONDERFUL, so let me share!

Grilled Chicken and Summer Salsa

Marinate chicken breasts (4) in Italian dressing for a few hours or overnight.
Grill on grill.

Meanwhile
You will need pineapple tidbits (I prefer in 100% juice), red peppers, green peppers, and red onion.
(You can make the mix the way you prefer, heavy on the onions and pineapple for us).
Dice them all up. Pineapple does not need to be diced.

Place a small amount of pineapple juice in pan, place diced fruit/veggies in the pan and heat for awhile. Just to make the veggies soft, yet not too cooked.

Serve grilled chicken topped with Summer salsa!

You can add some kick by adding jalepenos!

Sorry no pictures, I couldn't find a recipe I was going to use therefore had to come up with my own Summer salsa on the fly!
We loved it and so did the kids.