Erin Go Braugh!

The Greek blood that runs through my veins is dangerously laced with a little Irish.  This might explain my occasional temper flair-ups as well as the auburn highlights I have through my hair.  Two of my brother-in-laws (I won’t name names…Matt…Joe) teased when I first met them that I was a bit of Irish Half and Half-concisely put, I suppose.  That is neither here nor there so when St. Paddy’s Day came around this year we decided to have a bit o’ fun.  Poor Annie was shocked to find the toilet water green and consequently refused to use it.  Hudson went on a hunt for Leprechauns right then and there(Later in the day, Hudson did begin questioning the validity of leprechaun existence.  I responded with a, “What do you think?”).  The green milk sealed the deal for Annie.  Leprechauns must be about.

Now the idea for the cake was courtesy of my friend Amber -thanks!  It wasn’t too hard to make, but if you ever try it, I would recommend using two white cake mixes not one.  There wasn’t quite enough to spread the layers evenly.

Either way, I hope your day was magically delicious!  As a side note, how many of you actually know what, Erin Go Braugh, means?…just curious.

Just Charge It!

As parents, Will and I realized that we have spent so much energy and time helping Hudson earn, count and save money that we haven’t even mentioned a thing to Annie.  She is much more saavy than we have noted.

Will offered to help Annie do chores yesterday so that she could earn some money.  Annie looked at Will and replied, “I don’t need any money, Daddy.  Nana sent me a cupcake credit card.”  If you only could have witnessed the shock on Will’s face.  For Annie’s birthday, her Nana did send her a gift card.  We went to the store.  She picked a toy and I let her swipe and sign.  Apparently, that was too much liberty for such a little munchkin(I would like to say I will NEVER give my child a credit card, but I have learned that every time I say NEVER – it happens.  So I’m hoping to avoid cursing the band on this one…no need for a break-up).  Needless to say, we have new resolve to make sure that our children work a little harder for the things given them.  After all, everything in this life comes at a price, whether monetary or by some other means.

Up!

I woke the day after Will’s party to an interesting end of a conversation between the two little ones of the house.  I hear Hudson speak first.

Hudson: Hey Annie come here.  Hold these balloons.  I want to see if you will fly away.

Annie: Ok Hudson. Totally oblivious to his scheming.

As you may have gathered, Hudson had been collecting the balloons floating around the house attempting to recreate, “Up.”  Luckily, he was not able to collect all of the balloons.  Either way, Annie is sturdy enough that 70 balloons isn’t enough to get her little toes off the ground.  Does anyone know how many balloons it would take for lift off?…just curious.  And, no, I don’t plan on floating my kids to South America.

1…2…3…Surprise!!

The pictures are horrible, but I only had my point and shoot.

I wanted Will to begin his third decade of life with a bit of a bang.  My line of thinking eventually led my to a surprise party.  There is nothing better than food, games and fabulous friends, right?!  After weeks of planning we pulled it off.  I so patiently, kicked Will out of the house to go to photo club.  Will was supposed to be taking night pictures at the temple, but  an intense downpour had my friend Jessica hopping to keep Will distracted at her house for a photo club meeting(to which no one actually showed up).  Thanks to Brandy we were able to helium fill at least 70 balloons for the party, decorate and rearrange my house.  Yes, we even took apart my couch.  Amber so sweetly swept my kids away, brought food and returned my kids – putting them to bed for me.  She even lent out her husband to fill more helium balloons.  Maren helped cook food.  I feel so blessed to have so many friends willing to help.

I’m sure you might be wondering my obsession with helium balloons by now.  I really wanted this party to be all about Will.  I love him so much and he does so much for me.  I just wanted to celebrate him.  We took the helium balloons and grouped them all over the house.  I then found some of the first pictures he ever took…back when he was realizing how much he really loved photography; and clipped them to all the balloons so everyone could see them.

Dinner included all of his favorite foods from sweet potato fries and kabobs to Pat and Oscars bread sticks.  I was sure to remember the Dr. Pepper.  For dessert, I couldn’t make up my mind.  He isn’t really a cake person so I decided on a mountain of ice cream scoops(Girl Scout Thin Mint and Samoa, double chocolate fudge, cookie dough, spamoni, etc.-8 gallons maybe?) sans candles of course.  That many candles would just be a fire hazard not to mention an enemy to ice cream at it’s finest.  The picture you see here is our family eating what was left the day after.  Our kids thought we were the coolest parents ever…score!

Will loves playing games with friends so I brought a mean game of Family Feud to the table.  He fared quite well when everything was said and done.

On a side note: Maybe I am getting better.  I found a screaming deal on plates and glasses for the party.  24 white, porcelain plates= $6.  24 glasses = $3.24(Even this part is about you Will.  I hear your budget pleas…and I’m slowly reforming).

As for the surprise.  I got him good!  He had no idea.  There was quite a bit of shock when he realized just how many of us had been so sneaky.  I sneak because I love!  Happy 30th Birthday, Will!!

Pinching My Pennies

Normally, I stink at pinching my pennies(not for a lack of trying)…however; today was an unusually fabulous day for this.  I don’t really believe in driving around to a ton of stores shopping for good deals.  With gas still over $3.00 a gallon here, I don’t save any money and I just waste time with an antsy little girl I would rather be playing with at the beach.  I have gotten better about clipping coupons and actually looking at the grocery ads before I leave the house.  Don’t be fooled those two little things are bigs steps for me.  Today I hit up Albertsons and Vons(I have actually only shopped this store one other time), coming out with receipts from each store almost as long as my arm(They both reached well past my elbow).  I guess I haven’t come to term with standard units of measurement yet.  Please no scoffing from you fabulous shoppers out there than can get a box of cereal for 10 cents and a box of pasta for free.  Shop on!  That’s all I have to say.  Maybe I will be there in a decade or two…or three.

Anyway, the whole reason I even ventured out today was because of a sale I saw on Quaker Oatmeal Squares.  We love them at our house.  They are usually about $6 a box(and I swear the box size is the smallest on the shelf) and I will buy them if they are under $5 a box.  I got them for $1 a box today.  You should have seen my cart…fiber for a lifetime.  I haven’t gotten stuff this cheap since we were at BYU.

I digress, I managed to save $75 from one store and $60 in the other.  At least $20 of it was coupons.  I’m still not sure if this was a random incident or if I’m getting the hang of being a smart shopper.  I guess only the future will tell.