The Monster Mash

This is seriously TOO FUNNY!! The kids want to watch it over and over.

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SAVE THE TA-TA'S

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Organized - ME???

Tomorrow is back to school!! EKKKKK!!! My relaxing one drop off/pickup, no homework and no packed lunches days aer OVER!! This school year I have once again a 2 kid/2 school pick up, packed lunches, homework (and man Corey gets alot), soccer and piano. Thanfully Ally's dance class is during school hours. I've decided this year I'm going to try and make a bunch of dinners ahead that can just be thrown in the oven, keeping in under an hour so I can work on homework before dinner.

This is my first shot at making dinners ahead, I even made some of them in throw away pans :) They are nothing special but simple dinners my picky kids will eat.

Pasta Bake

1 box of whatever pasta
1 pound lean ground beef
1 onion, chopped
1 (28 ounce) jar spaghetti sauce
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Cook pasta as instructed 8-10 min or al dente. Drain well.
Meanwhile, cook ground beef and chopped onions in a skillet over medium heat until browned.
In a large bowl, mix together spaghetti sauce, shredded mozzarella cheese, pasta, and browned ground beef and onion mixture. Transfer to a greased, 9x13 inch casserole dish.
Bake at 325 degrees F (165 degrees C) for 20 minutes, or until very hot.

Homestyle Chicken & Mushroom Casserole

1 pkg. McCormick® Seasoning Mix

1 cup uncooked regular long-grain white rice 1 can

(4 oz.) sliced mushrooms, drained (I didn't use this because the kids wont eat them)

½ cup frozen peas 2 tbsp.

butter, cut into pieces (optional)

1½ lbs. boneless skinless chicken breast halves

1½ cups milk

1 cup water

Place rice, mushrooms, peas and butter (if desired) in 13x9x2-inch baking dish.

Top with chicken. MIX milk, water and Seasoning Mix until well blended. Pour over chicken and rice. Cover with foil. BAKE 45 min @ 375º F or until chicken is cooked through and rice is tender. Let stand 5 min. Cut chicken into serving-size pieces. Stir rice before serving.

Meatloaf

1 pkg. McCormick® Meat Loaf Seasoning

Mix2 lbs. lean ground beef or turkey

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1/2 cup milk

1/4 cup dry bread crumbs OR 1 cup soft bread crumbs (2 slices bread)

1/2 cup tomato sauce

MIX all ingredients in large bowl until well blended.
SHAPE meat mixture into a loaf. Place in foil-lined baking pan or 9x5-inch loaf pan.
BAKE in 375° F oven 1 hour or until cooked through

I also got two dinners for the crockpot, pot roast & chicken n dumplings. Cool thing to is we will get leftovers from the dinners so lunch for me or a quick dinner. Im plan is to make this school year STRESS FREE!!

What? It's just DIRT mom

Someone tell me when this little princess

turned into this little tomboy

Tackle It Tuesday - School Supplies & Contracts

OK!!! So I didn't ACTUALLY do any housework TODAY but I DID tackle TWO IMPORTANT THING TODAY!!! SO SUE ME!!!

At lunch I ran and got the VERY long list of school supplies Corey's teacher has requested and thank goodness since "meet the teacher night" is TOMORROW and that's when we have to bring all the supplies.

Next on the list was to meet hubby, kids, realtor and mother in law at the two houses we bid on. One bank has accepted our offer and the other realtor says we are looking good. I hadn't actually seen the 2nd house that Kevin bid on. Brave I know!! Now that I have, Im happy with our decision and have now started escrow on the house that has accepted our offer.

SO HERE IT IS A PICTURE OF OUR NEW HOUSE!! There are things that need to be done before we move in and many things I want to do in the future, BUT the best thing is this is our house for as long as we decided to grow our roots in Vegas so we've got plenty of time.

Maybe NEXT Tuesday I will actually get to some housework. A girl can DREAM!

Not ME Monday

I love how innocent kids are and must share this story.......

Before leaving to Cali for our trip to the beach we were driving home from work/daycare to get the car packed and on our way. Lately I've had the WORST heartburn and knowing Kev was stopping to pick up ice for the cooler I called him and asked him to pick me up from heartburn medicine. If you know Kev he doesn't just say OK you MUST explain why you need whatever you asked him to pick up. Frustrated I described my heartburn and "my chest is burning from the inside out"

After hanging up the phone and NOT realizing Corey was even paying attention to my conversation Corey asked me "mom your heart is burning?" I told him "yes I have heartburn and dad's going to get me some medicine" then the conversation went like this.....

Corey: Mom, sometimes when I get really mad my heart beats really really hard
Mom: What do you mean?
Corey: Mom, when you get mad does your heart beat really really hard?
Mom: sometimes
Corey: Mom, I think your heart is burning because you get really mad and dad and yell
Mom: I think you might be right
Corey: I think your heart will stop burning if you stop yelling so much
Mom: How do you think I should do that?
Corey: I think if dad doesn't play on the computer so much you will stop yelling and your heart will stop burning

DAMN I HAVE ONE SMART KID!!!!

Saturday Stirrings

Even though I finally fell asleep around 4am I didn't mind being woken up by my 6 year old wispering "Mom, I'm making you waffles is 1 ok because the box is empty and Ally and me want 2 each"

I will take a few hours sleep anyday if my babies are going to make me breakfast.

The root of all EVIL is........

INSOMNIA!!!!!!

It's 3:08am and I'M STILL AWAKE!!!! Thank god tomorrow (I mean today) is Saturday or i'd be SCREWED!!!

The night started as.....

This is all I could think about........

Finally I gave up and hit the computer.........

When you see me in the morning (which is NOW)

I NEED SLEEP!!!!!!!!!

We all scream for ice cream CAKE!!

I tried to channel Betty Rocker and make an ice cream cake for the birthday potluck at work. It was going to be an Italian theme so I searched the internet for something that was Italian and ice cream cake. Ekkk!!! I found a recipe but had to tweek it alittle to please the masses. So I started the 3 day process to get this cake made. Freaking out the whole way that it would be a disaster and would taste NASTY. Day one I made the and let it cool hours (would have just been overnight but it was during the work week). I cut the cake in two and put the coffee syrup mixture in the fridge to cool. Now the pictures begin ....

Here I am putting the coffee mixture on the cake to soak up. Ally was my photographer here you can tell how tall she is. Mama say CHEESE!! I work all day, I dont have time to make homemade ice cream.

Sorry you are missing the ice cream layer, Ally had a craving for bananas. Chocolate layer is down and now for the top cake layer and its drenching of the coffee mixture. Getting ready to wrap it for another 24 hour visit to the freezer.

Now the cake goes in the freezer to set for 24 hours................ It was a crazy day so no pictures of putting the coffee ice cream layer on BUT I did sneak down that night (the night before the potluck) to see if the cake was a disaster

Slowly take off the springform. Ohhhhhhhhh!! Yeah it worked and Corey thought it was cool that I made it.



The layers didn't come out perfect like I wanted but it did taste pretty darn GOOD. Since I made it for the potluck I have made it again for papa's birthday. Here is the recipe if anyone wants to try its from http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Ice-Cream-Tiramisu-Cake/Detail.aspx

INGREDIENTS

1 cup white sugar
2/3 cup water
1 1/2 cups brewed espresso (I actually used vanilla nut coffee)
1/3 cup coffee flavored liqueur
1 (9 inch) sponge cake (I used Betty Crocker Vanilla Cake)
1/4 cup finely ground espresso beans
2 pints espresso ice cream (Instead of 2 layers of coffee ice cream I make this one chocolate)
2 pints coffee ice cream

DIRECTIONS
In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine sugar and water. Bring to a boil, then remove from heat and stir in espresso and coffee liqueur. Let cool completely.
Split the sponge cake in half horizontally to make two layers. Place bottom layer in a serving dish. Brush with 3/4 cup coffee syrup. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons ground espresso evenly over surface of cake. Beat the espresso ice cream with the paddle attachment of an electric mixer until spreadable. Spread over bottom cake layer. Place the top cake layer over the ice cream. Brush with remaining coffee syrup. Place in freezer 30 minutes.
Beat the coffee ice cream until spreadable. Spread the ice cream over the frozen cake, and swirl to make pretty. Return cake to freezer until firm. As my own special touch I sprinkled the whole top of the cake with chocolate jimmies.

bon appetit!!!

OH GOD!! Not the Dentist!

If you've known me for awhile you will know that my kids, well actually just Corey but Ally follows his lead is deathly afraid of the dentist. This last night I did research and found a great kids dentist, all kinds of toys, video games and even cartoons playing on ceiling tv's so they can watch while in the chair. We put Corey first and he was not having it, kicked screamed you name it. So we thought ok, we will have Ally sit there and if she can do it a big boy like Corey can do it. Nope backfired and to make it worse Ally bit the dental assistant. They took us from the open kids room to a back consult room because they said MY kids were scaring all the other kids. We get back there and Corey still will not cooperate and continue to cry and scream and it ends up being at least 4 people holding him down with me at the head so he knows its ok. It was one of the worst experiences of my life.

I guess I really just don't know how to deal with this kind of fear. I mean as a child I was scared of things but was always just pushed to do it. And I guess even as a child I had that person in my head telling me I had to be perfect everyone is watching so crying and screaming was never an option.

Did I mention that last dentist appointment was one of the worst experiences of my life, so here we are over a year later, I KNOW BAD BAD MOMMY, but it was seriously awful and I needed to make sure I could get an appointment where Kevin could go because no way was I doing this alone. I have YET to tell them they are going to the dentist, I'm too afraid of having to drag them in from the car WHICH I HAVE DONE AT PRIOR APPOINTMENTS. I'm thinking I'm going to take them out to breakfast and BUTTER them up with some smiley face pancakes, well smiley face for Ally and and plain only circle nothing else on the plate for Corey. LOL

Wish us luck.

The Wiggles - Past & Present

Its been awhile since I've blogged, I know, I know SHAME ON ME. Today I had a deja vu moment and my first thought was I need to blog again. HAHA I'm so lame.

On 2/27/04, Kevin, my mother in law and myself took Corey to see The Wiggles in concert. He was such a HUGE fan that is was seriously one of the most exciting parenthood days.

Here I am with little man way back in 2004

And today in 2009 here I am with my Ally. I wish I would have looked at these old pictures before we went because they had they same light stick for sale. I ALMOST did buy it but was afraid Ally would use it as a sword and that would have been BAD. I stuck with the very soft harmless pillow guitar.

I still can't believe SO MANY years have past and the changes that have happened AND I still can't believe that The Wiggles are still going strong. LOL I really thought that after MY yellow Wiggle couldn't perform anymore and then they replaced him with a younger guy that the Wiggles were done but NOPE they are still going strong. Sam is an ok yellow Wiggle but her could never be as good as my Greg. :op

SUCKA

Yep its offical not only am I a sucker but Kevin is too. Few weeks ago Ally's school call to tell me she had a fever and to pick her up. I went and picked up my sick baby and stopped at Albertsons on the way home to get some medicine, some popicles and whatever else she wanted to make her feel better. When we walked in I saw the Redbox and asked her if she wanted to get a movie. While standing in line for pick a movie this little man approached us about this old fashion photos. He gushed over how cute Ally was and how I just needed to get a photo of her. He pointed out that it wasnt my turn yet for the Redbox and I had plenty of time to sign up. Ugh, when it comes to photos of my kids I just can't help myself. So we went last Saturday to have our pictures taken. I wasnt completly sure if we were dressing up or not so I had us where matching outfits in case. It was a dress up shoot and if you know me you know I have OCD where everyone must match or blend when having a picture taken or just going out. Yes I have issues. For them to pick out clothes for us killed me, but I only looked once through the clothes for Ally until Kevin told me to stop and just wear what they gave us. I knew I wasnt going to be crazy about the famly picture because it was a weird pose and they made me wear an ugly hat. I was always told I looked like that chick from blossom adding this ugly hat didn't help. The kids photos though were super cute.

Yesterday I sent Kevin to go pick up the 11x14 picture that was part of the deal I bought, I knew I would have a hard time walking away from those expensive super cute photos of the kids. Surprise surprise Kevin came home and said "they suckered me" and he had bought the super cute photos of the kids. Luckily for me he has some restraint and only bought two sheets.

The funky family photo, I couldnt scan it so its a pic of a pic

Doesn't Corey look like he could be in that Newsies movie lol

Ally looks girlie and a whole lotta trouble all in one

Painting

Today is grammy's birthday and the kids were very excited to make her a gift. Since its such a special birthday and she will be here in two weeks the kids painted today and we took pictures to send to grammy to show her what they made. They are over the moon excited to give them to her. Corey called and explained to her what they looked like. LOL

Motherhood

My favorite episode and any ideas as to why it make me think of my life? LOL

Small Sunday Thoughts

I LOVE MY DAUGHTER TO PIECES!!!

She is seriously the funniest character ever. Corey was my silly masher man but Ally seems to be in a whole another league of silliness. I love that they are so different.

Potty training is going GREAT now, Im so dang proud of her. But Little Miss Independent she is, she said to me.... "mom I clean my butt, you clean your butt" Thanks for the instructions little one. LOL

She's a crazy mix of tombot and girly girl its so funny. OMG she LOVES baby dolls, not that she's all that maternial with them but loves them anyways. She has one of those dolls that open and close theirs eyes, well this one is broken (wonder how that happened) and while we were taking a bath with the doll she is shaking this poor thing screaming OPEN YOUR EYES BABY!! OMFG the funniest thing ever. All I could say was maybe the baby wants to take a nap.

One of the other things Ally is all about right now is friends, everyone is her friend. She told me the other day that I was her best friend AWWWWW!!! Seriously to here her say "mommy your my best friend" just melted my heart.

Its been an adjustment with Ally nonstop talking when Corey was her age he really didnt say much. Ally seriously never shuts up, she talks about anything and everything. She always says "mom gimme your camera I wanna take a picture of the sun" and I will say no why do we need a picture of the sun? and her response "BECAUSE its beautiful" hahaha I'm counting down the days to her birthday because she's going to be SO EXCITED to get her own camera. Yes she is her mother's daughter.

Now I better scram because mommy and Ally are going shopping. At first she didnt want to go and then I said "are you sure?" and she thought about it and said "ok we go SHOPPING YEAH" hahahaha I LOVE HER!!!!!

Friday's Videos

My girl is the sweetest thing ever.

Singing (well she was when she didnt see the camera phone) Wheel on the Bus

Ally saying she loves me

Spring School Pic

I am so behind in my scrapbooking but i MUST make it a priorty to get this one done because years from now I want to remember that in Corey's Kindergarten spring photo he is sporting a buzz cut in honor of a fellow schoolmate that is battling cancer. I loved looking at the class photo and seeing several of the kindergarten boys sporting buzzed or shaved heads. Can you believe, it this little girl is in several grades above them but the whole school is supporting her, makes me remember how pure the hearts of our children are.

I need to go and print the article to put with the class picture and this one of my very handsome little boy.

A Girl Without Fear = A Mommy With Many

If you knew me when Corey was little we all thought I would have made a emergency room visit by now, but man that lil boy must be made of steel. Now with Ally there are no words. She was born a bruiser and continues to be a bruiser. She's my linebacker and any 2-3 years olds out I'd watch, she will take you DOWN!!! Having an older brother really doesn't help, Ally is two but swears to God shes 6 just like Corey. I'm the only mom wearing heels at the park following her around on the play set. She's likes to swing on the bar and pretend she's going to jump off. Not to mention she loves hurling herself face first down the slide. Because of the ABOVE I try very hard not to bring them to parks, but with Corey's soccer practice being next to a HUGE park structure its hard for me to get out of.

Today I watched her climb up the rope looking things and held her bum and then she gave me a dirty look and said "no mom, me do". I stayed close but I had to admit she was doing pretty darn good. I started to think maybe I was freaking out for no reason. I took a couple steps back to sit down and OMFG!!! I FLIPPED THE F@&K out when I saw her fall forward and land on her head and the right side of her face. My baby was sobbing and saying she hurt. After what seemed to be 2 hours in mommy time but was really only 2 min she was running off again. WTH!!!! Is she mad of steel too, do my kids have some super powers I have no clue about???? There was no way she was playing anymore tonight, I heart couldn't take anymore falls. Poor thing keep crying for ice all the way home, but then once I gave it to her she put it on her face but it was too cold so she ate it GO FIGURE!!!

Ally watching Corey, telling him to be careful LOL

This is her getting ready to run stance

Corey trying very hard not to look at me and my camera


Ally with no fear

and DAMN proud of it

She can ever get up herself now

She's so damn sweet

The aftermath, think mommy cried more than she did. I can't stop checking on her tonight.