Okay we have been moved in for several months and I totally forgot to blog about the house.  Admittedly I have had other things on my mind lately, but better late than never, right?  People keep asking me about the house.  I think I will probably do it in two parts to reduce the number of pictures in the blog.  Even then I got a little carried away.

So far we have been lucky that the kids haven’t tried to climb over the rail onto the ledges.  Hudson does love sliding down the rail though and Annie has only tried to jump off the balcony part once.  I think my scream has deterred any further attempts.

We love, love, love the house.  With so much moving in my life we unpacked everything in about 72 hours and I haven’t unpacked anything since.  Most things have a home, but there are still the 2 token boxes in the garage full of junk I just dumped extras into on the last day of the move.  Those are always the last ones unpacked.  I supposed if I have lived without them this long and they aren’t Christmas decorations I should really just chuck the box.  I haven’t missed anything so far…

I know I still have Annie’s purple chair in my room, but it doesn’t fit in her’s without causing problems.  It just becomes another stepping stone for disaster.

Once again I love that the vanity area offers separate areas for Will and I to keep our OWN stuff.  What can I say…it keeps the marriage much happier.

Annie’s room is a little pinkified this time around, but she will only be a little girl for so long so we went with it…

It’s amazing the things one notices after taking pictures of the different rooms in a house.  I usually walk into Hudson’s room and notice the mess on the train table or the floor.  It wasn’t until just now I noticed one of the clocks slightly off.  I can’t help offering a second thought  to the huge booms and crashes I heard last week.  I was assured everything was fine and under control…yeah, fine….

In our on going quest for summer entertainment, the kids and I painted, sewed and assembled a make-shift puppet theatre.  That’s right, how many uses can we get out of our dishwasher box before it goes to be with the recycling…permanently?  It already served as a playhouse for about a week and a half.  During this time it under went a washing of sorts, courtesy of the sprinklers.  I know it’s ugly…but it serves it’s purpose and I got to practice a little bit of sewing on something I get to throw away so there is no stressed involved.  I figure one needs to be in the making since Annie is using her doll house as a theatre.  I am not willing to invest in a permanent one unless the kids show interest in this one.  So here is puppet theatre…Take 1.

I quite enjoy sitting on my back porch, curled up under the arbors.  The sweet smell of those pink roses and the soft gurgling of water from the fountain are so soothing.  Looking around at the abundance of greenery, I felt a leaf project coming on for the kids.

We had so much fun today collecting leaf clippings…Hudson being the official cutter, while Annie bobbed along behind him catching his specimens in a little green bowl.  We have quite a plethora.  I think they got at least 30 different types of leaves.  It’s really a shame the magnifying glass broke, but the kids were still very tender with the leaves moving them around and sorting them with tweezers.  The project culminated with cute, little waterfall books full of leaf rubbings.

So Will and Jessica gave me free reign for managing and advertising  for their photography business, Frevophotos.  After some deliberation I decided to take some liberties with my job and do a Giveaway.  I never really have anything to offer and I’m not worried about numbers for my blog site so I have never been interested in doing a Giveaway.

But, my mailbox recently presented a stack of gift certificates to me for their business.  I see them on occasion sitting so nicely on the shelf. So yesterday I thought to myself,  I think I just want to give some away.  So JUST FOR FUN, I’m giving Will and Jessica away in the form of one of the following: 1.) Family photo shoot, 2.) Engagement photo shoot, 3.) Child/Children photo shoot or 4.) High School Senior photo shoot.  The gift certificate will include an hour long shoot accompanied by a CD of at least 10 digital proofs.  Keep in mind that they shoot in the Greater San Diego area only.  If you are out of town and want in on the deal you will either need to: 1. Grow wings and fly, 2. find an alternate way to get down here, 3.) take an hour or so to smile for the camera when you are out here on your next Disneyland trip.

Leave a comment on the blog and I’ll enter you into the drawing(up to one entry per person).  Using a random number generator, I will pick a winner.  Okay, okay so maybe your name will end up on a scrap of paper.  That paper may just find itself going for a swim in an empty fishbowl.  Ready…Set…May the longest name win…no just kidding…Go!

Both of my kids love to paint.  They are always begging me to let them paint. Suffice it to say I usually let them.  This particular day I wasn’t feeling the clean-up vibe of it all so we headed off to a Pottery Shop.  The kids got to paint.  We got out of the house and I didn’t have anything to clean up when we were done.  I think I’m starting to get the hang of the whole mommy business.

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!!

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.

Some of my girlfriends convinced me to give soccer a go a while back.  Talk about a fabulous workout!  We play together some mornings and do a little league at night.  League is coed so it is a fun change of pace.  Will and the kids were sweet enough to come to our last game.  There is nothing as sweet as Hudson and his friends yelling, “Go Mommy!”    Most of the yells are for other mommies on the team, but it is still fun hearing it cheered from little voices.

And yes, that is me in the bottom corner just standing there.  In my defense, the game hadn’t started yet.  I don’t always stand around picking daisies.

I pulled Will into one of my more recent projects.  I found a killer deal on a bed for Annie a while back, but decided it needed a bit of refinishing.  He took over sanding after I found out I was pregnant.  After everything happened, I stole my project back and finished it out.  Annie is now snug as a bug in a rug.  It was a fun distraction while it lasted.

So I have been going a little crazy in the kitchen lately.  Would you believe I have actually started making dinner again?!  I pulled out a recipe I haven’t tried for years.  My kids have been refusing to eat dinner since I have started cooking…hmmmm.  Anyway, I won’t let them deter me so as an incentive I have started baking desserts to any little person who decides to finish his or her dinner.  I did lemon bars, cream-cheese brownies…all of the regulars.  I was getting tired of eating the whole pan by myself after they went to bed refusing to eat dinner (so much for the bribe), besides I don’t think my waist can handle a 9×9 pan of _____ (fill in the blank with something yummy) for dessert every night.  No amount of running or soccer could bring my body back from that!

I digress, in my effort to mix up desserts I pulled out a cranberry cake recipe that has a delightful cream sauce.  I think the delight comes from the heavy cream and butter it contains.  No matter, I loved every bite of it and found once again that the 9×9 pan stood empty the next morning.  I thought I would include the recipe in case anyone is in search of a dessert off the beaten path(I talked Will into taking a picture of my cranberries for me.  I was sidetracked cooking).

Side note:  The cake has way to much tang by itself.  Don’t make the mistake of making the cake without the sauce.  Your face will be permanently frozen suckered.

Cranberry Delight

Cake: Cream 1c sugar, 3 Tbs. butter.  Slowly add 1 c milk, 2c flour, 1/4 tsp salt and 2 tsp. baking powder.  Fold in 2c fresh cranberries.

Bake in a greased 8×8 pan at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes.  The top should start to brown and should feel spongy when pressed.  I supposed a toothpick would do the job as well.

Sauce: 1/2c butter, 1 c sugar, 1 c cream or half and half.  Boil on medium then add 1 tsp. vanilla.