On Vacation in glendale AZ

Yes I am!!! The hubby and I got to get away for a weekend or week day x3 from the kids and every day life. He is taking a training class for work and I got to tag along. 3 days of peace, quiet and warm weather! Woo hoo. I plan on spending my time taking some pictures and reading my books all while soaking up some vitamin D. I'm actually sitting in the hotel business center at this very moment. It's sooo nice and quiet, actually, it's kind of wierd.

Were already missing the kids (and I dont think they have even noticed that were gone) 5 hours after leaving home.

Thanks to my mom and dad for watching after them while were gone!

If anyone has any sight seeing ideas for me, pass them along. I will be on my own for most of the day while the hubby sits in a classroom :)

Have a wonderful week!

Another School Shooting......Only this time it's way to close to home.

Picture courtesy of 9 news.

Yup, today's school shooting happened about 5 blocks from my home. It's all very surreal too. I'm very surprised that I didn't hear anything, considering I was walking out of the preschool (you can see the middle school from it), with my two youngest children right around or a minute or two before it was happening. I didn't know about it until my oldest called and told me that his school was on lock down because of a shooting. Let me tell you, that is a scary phone call to get! I didn't get all that concerned because originally I was thinking that it was something that happened at a home around the neighborhood. But then he called me back to say he was with a friend and his mom, and in the background I could hear someone say it was at the middle school. That's when I began to feel sick.

My 8th grade cousin stood about 10 feet from the shooter, she saw him and yelled that he had a gun, then she was able to run and hide before he started shooting. Thank God, there were only 2 kids that were hurt and they both have non life threatening injuries.

Remember the last post when I mentioned that whole home schooling thing??? Well, here's another reason to add to my pro vs con list. What is this world coming to? I just don't get it and I really don't want my kids growing up like this? What are we going to do though?

To read the whole story click here.

What's even scarier is that from what it looks like right now, it was a totally random thing. An adult male (32 yrs. old) walks into the school and back out again, asks some students if they go to school there and then starts shooting?? My question is this.....did he stand out on the street and ask himself which school to go to? The elementary school or the middle school? Why shoot kids for no apparent reason? He has NO connections to the school what so ever. He's not a parent, he doesn't work there or get fired from there. Just a total whack job! They just released his name......wait for it......Bruko Strong Eagle Eastwood. My hubby said maybe he's mad at his parents for naming him. LOL, hey we have to find something funny about this.

All I know is that those Dr. Benke and all of the other teachers are freaking amazing and total hero's. They were able to tackle and subdue him until the police got there, and they were there within minutes!

On a lighter note, it's Wordful Wednesday! I was cleaning this week, while trying to conquer the ever growing laundry pile, I made my way into Shays room to put some clean clothes away; Well, one thing led to another and I came across his stash.......you know that spot they throw everything in even if it doesn't belong there. The one where they put everything and then proceed to tell you that their room is clean. yeah, that one and let me tell you, it was not pretty! On another wall I found some little tiny dirty piggy's that had been left behind by my Jax when he shared that room, how cute is that (and kind of gross)!

Well, that's my week up until now. So everyone have a wonderful day! Go say hi to Angie and her beautiful family.

Wordful Wednesday Double Digits!

My oldest boy turned 10 last week. Were into the double digits and it's really scary for me!!!!

We had his party on thursday night with no school the next day. We went bowling first and that was just a little chaotic with 7 boys in tow. Thank goodness the hubby was off that night, cuz I dont think I would have been able to do it alone. They were soooo wild! Five 10 year old boys are worse than girls, I think. They were full of farts and burps and even more energy! One of them went home and couldnt stay the night but we ended up back at the house for cake and presents and what I thought would be the Wii. I was wrong. They played on their cell phones all night texting girls........and talking about them too! Staying up until past 1 in the morning, laughing and giggling the whole time. It was exhausting!!!

Shaymus was the only one who didnt have a cell phone and I know he hates me for not getting him one but I have my reasons. He is just not responsible enough to own one and there is really no need for one! When the kids left the next day, one of their moms gave me just another one to add to my list. Are you sitting down? I'll tell you what she told me. They monitor his texting and a few weeks ago found 2 very disturbing ones from.......2 seperate girls. Mind you these are 10 year old girls. The first text was asking the boy if he wanted to "hump" her and the second was from a seperate girl wanting to know if he thought she was "sexy"..........................WTF???? If I EVER catch my kid sending or getting texts like that, someone had better watch out, cuz I will be on the phone faster than he could ever imagine. But, that wont be happening since he doesnt have a phone. What the hell is happening to kids these days? Or maybe it's the parents.

Seriously? When I was 10 I dont think I even knew about sex, I was still playing with freakin Barbies and my friends. We were building forts, playing hide and seek and riding bikes. The thought probably crossed my mind but not like that!

I'm sooo not ready for my kids to grow up.

For more Wordful Wednesday posts head on over to 7 Clown Circus and give Angie a shout!

Winter Olympics

As a child or even a young adult I don't remember having much interest in the Olympics. Now, well that's a totally different story!

I'm not an athletic person and I have never really participated in any sport, even when I was in school. With the exception of when I was in 9th grade I tried out for the swim team......I have no freaking idea why either! I wasn't and am still, not a great swimmer and back then I didn't even weigh a hundred pounds.....wet. So going up against girls that were seriously like twice my size and who had been swimming since they were children was just a STUPID idea on my part. I hated every minute of it and was elated when I got pneumonia mid season and had to quit.

My parents never forced me to get into extra curricular activities or a sport and so I had no interest in it at all. Looking back, I think they probably should have! I don't remember them even putting the idea in my head. My brother played baseball through junior high, but quit before highschool.

Now that I'm a parent I'm glad that my boys are very interested in athletics and sports of all kinds. Shaymus has been playing baseball since he was 3 years old and is now starting a new season in 10 year old kid pitch. I'm very excited for the season to begin and to see how much they progress this year! Jaxson and Riley will be starting pee wee baseball or soccer this year as well. They are very excited about it.

Anyway, about the Olympics, I LOVE watching speed skating. Short track or long track I don't care. It amazes me when they are all in sync and how they just float across the ice; It's so graceful, even when in the heat of the moment when they are fighting for first place! It's just a total rush to me!!!! So Jaxson (my 4 year old) and I were watching them the other night and he was fascinated by it and stated that he wanted to do that. It got me thinking that if he does have any interest in it, I should get him started young. Wouldn't that be awesome for your/my child to end up being one of those amazing athletes that make it all the way to the Olympics?! I cant even imagine.

I wanted to share a very exciting race with you, but I cannot embed it right now so you will just have to go to this link! Short track speed skating is soooooo exciting!

Sooo, I have decided that not only do my kids need to play an organized team sport, I think it would be good for them to find an interest in an individual sport as well. As a teenager, I never even thought about how far a sport could take you in life, even if you didn't plan on ever having it as a career but just something to keep you disciplined and on the right path.

I have been looking into lessons for all of them, especially ice skating :)

Unfortunately, I did not take these pictues, they are courtesy of a Bing search!

Wordful Wednesday - Cat Bath

It's that time of week again and Angie is hosting Wordful Wednesday. So head on over and join in the fun!

Giving a cat a bath sucks. Giving a cat 3 baths REALLY sucks.

Squishy came home last week smelling absolutely horrid! Originally I thought he had lay down in an oil spot under a car, but one day I saw him go into my next door neighbors yard. I was leaving and it was really cold out and I didn't want him to stay out, so I went to go find him. Can you guess where I found him and what he was doing? As I walked into their driveway I recognized the smell, the smell that was emanating from my cat. I turn the corner and here sits a 10 gallon bucket filled to the brim with used motor oil and the cat is balancing on the edge of it, playing in it or trying to drink it!!! I never once said the poor thing was normal. But c'mon, what in the world was he doing?

Anyway, the first try and second trys totally failed. He got a bath but it only made him smell 10 times worse. After the second try, he smelled so bad that I had to lock him in the downstairs bathroom over night! All he wanted to do was sleep with me. Day three, I went on the internet and researched anything I could find. I came up with a Dawn dish soap, baking soda and hydrogen peroxide mixture and it worked like a charm. Thank goodness!

Bloggograhy Challange and Cooking 101, No mess No fuss Dinner

Well now that I'm working at night AND taking the kids with me, I need to make dinner at like 2 in the afternoon and it has to be something that I can put into Tupperware to reheat. I want it to taste good and still be healthy for us.

Last night I made smoked sausage, rosemary potatoes and onions. I usually put green peppers in it, but I couldn't find a single one in the grocery store! I don't know if it had something to do with the crops or if I was just blind.

I didn't feel like making a big production out of it so I made it as easy as possible, it turned out great and I'll be making it like this from now on.

You will need......

1-2 pkgs. smoked sausage

4-5 large russet potatoes

1 lg yellow onion

1 green pepper (if you can find one!)

salt, pepper, garlic powder, rosemary

3 tbsp butter

1 lg casserole dish or deep dish pan for the oven

Considering that I have 3 boys and a healthy husband we could probably do 3 pkgs of sausage!

Start by slicing it up into 1 inch pieces. Cut your potatoes and onions into large chunks. Melt your butter and stir in about 1/4 tsp of each seasoning. Toss all of the ingredients in a large mixing bowl until it's well coated. Put it into your baking dish and bake at 350 degrees for about an hour. Try to mix it up a little bit half way through cooking to get it all evenly browned. Serve and enjoy!

On another note, Lolli over at Better in Bulk is hosting her bloggography challange: shutter speed. Here are some of the shots that I got while playing with Riley on a beautiful winter day!

Superbowl Commercials that I Missed

Yes folks it's true, I hate football. Therefor I did not watch the Superbowl last night! Instead I colored with the kids, messed around on the computer, did some laundry and put the kids to bed. After doing all of that, I realized that I had missed some of the funny commercials. Then I figured they would be all over the Internet today anyway. So here they are, a few of the funnies that I found!


<a href="http://msn.foxsports.com/video?vid=116f413e-e1fc-4b09-80e9-2c29009d76a8&from=IV2_en-us_foxsports_videocentral" target="_new" title="Snickers: Betty White">Video: Snickers: Betty White</a>


<a href="http://msn.foxsports.com/video?vid=4ebc3588-4f77-4f59-b1c1-329fe10f2838&from=IV2_en-us_foxsports_videocentral" target="_new" title="E*Trade: Upgrade">Video: E*Trade: Upgrade</a>


<a href="http://msn.foxsports.com/video?vid=5e592f86-86e4-4465-81de-2a86d01cf6c6&from=IV2_en-us_foxsports_videocentral" target="_new" title="Coca Cola: Sleep walk">Video: Coca Cola: Sleep walk</a>

Week in Review, GMYBS, and a Virtual Girls Nite Out

Whew, what a week. I feel like I have been so busy but I can't really pin point why!

Lolli over at Better in Bulk does a weekly post called Give me your best shot (GMYBS). It's just a glimpse of what you did or if you took a favorite photo. Not a contest or anything, just for fun! So stop by and say hello to her.

Lets see, this week we all got sick! Sounds exciting huh? Our house is filled with coughs and boogers. Yuk!!!

We went to a friends house and I thought I would get some pictures while we were there. They live on nice property that has a pond and a small stream running thru it, but everything here in Denver just looks blahhh. Everything is brown and dead, there's dirty gross snow and ice every where, and it hasn't snowed in awhile, just been cold! So my pics didn't turn out how I was expecting them to!

They bought the boys some giant playing cards, and they had a blast with them. They own a gorgeous home with lot of beautiful art and walls of windows for natural light (and perfect picture taking)! I high lighted my hair! Now the greys are blending in and not so noticeable! I really like it but I'm sure I'll be bored with it in a month or so!

Anyway, it's game time for Virtual Girls Nite out!!! Ann is hosting the weekly party over at Ann again and again, so pop in and say hello.

The Mighty 3

Name 3 Places You Would Rather Be Right Now:
1.) ANY beach
2.) with my hubby
3.) on a vacation not worrying about money

Name 3 Things You Will NEVER Drink Again:

1.) tequila by itself
2.) hot sauce
3.) cant think of another one

3 People You Would Like To Have Dinner With-Not necessarily at the same time:
1.) Rachael Ray
2.) My husband
3.) Matthew McConaughey

What are your Mighty 3?

Nothing New, Just Sickness.......Ughhhhh.

Well, we have absolutely nothing to report on! Pretty sad huh? It's just been our usual day to day stuff. Although, we are all sick. Again.

I do have some news I guess, one of the Hubby's friends is opening a restaurant/event center and wants me to come work for him. I'm still not sure what my exact title will be but, it will be some thing along the lines of running the bakery part of the restaurant. Today, I'm headed there for a meeting with him and a few others to try some of my desserts/pastries. And of course, I came down with a lovely chest cold and I'm losing my voice! I also woke up this morning with a sweet UTI. My day is going to be lovely.

The hubby has some sort of infection that the doctors don't know how he got or if it's really an infection! They put him on a 3 week antibiotic and said if it doesn't get better come back and see them!!! Yes, that really puts my confidence in our doctors today.
Shay (our oldest) is recovering from a chest cold and has been hacking and coughing for the past 3 days. He was concerned about the "green stuff" that was coming up and I told him not to worry about it, just spit it in the toilet and flush it. I CANNOT EVEN THINK ABOUT IT WITHOUT GAGGING. So yesterday he comes up from brushing his teeth and shoves his tooth brush in my face, "Look, this is what I'm coughing up" he says. I kid you not, the child almost got punched! I screamed at him to get away from me, trying not to puke. Why are boys so disgusting?!

Jaxson is recovering from pneumonia and is STILL coughing. He is finally acting normal again though, which makes me feel a whole lot better. The poor kid has just been exhausted for the past few weeks and the antibiotic has done it's job! Yea.

Riley is just plain green and slimy! We are in the process of potty training him and he's just not cooperating. He is not thrilled with the whole thing at all! He has pooped in the potty but no pee which is totally opposite than my other boys, they were the other way around. Terrified to poop in the toilet, but totally willing to pee. Nope, not Riley, he has to be difficult!
Needless to say, I cannot wait for this week (and sickness) to be over! I will be trying to post as much as I can but this month is pretty hectic. Birthdays and get aways are coming up. Yup, me and the Hubby get to go away at the end up Feb and I'm so excitied. I'll tell you all about it another day.

Cooking 101 - Slim pickin stir fry

Yes, the title pretty much sums it up. Not much in the fridge at the end of the week! I had bought a package of ready cut chicken breast that I really didn't know what I was going to use it for, but they were a good price.

After a day at work (with the kids) we came home starving. I scanned the cupboard for something quick to make and I came up with Chicken Stir Fry.

This meal is simple, quick and easy to make no matter what you have on hand.

Tonight I used the chicken, 3 carrots sliced thin, 3 celery stalks sliced thick, my left over green onions and some frozen peas, and soy sauce.

If I were planning on making stir fry I would use these ingredients plus a few more. I would include broccoli, water chestnut's and some of those cute baby corn. If I plan on a really quick dinner I will go to the frozen section and buy a bag of already cut asian veggie mixes. These ingredients are just a few of our family favorites. You can add or sub anything that you or your family enjoys. The possibilities are endless. There is just one trick.....don't over cook the veggies!!!

Step one - Start the rice cooking. I use long grain rice that takes about 20 minutes to cook. I throw it in my rice cooker and push the button, it does all of the work for you. it's one of my favorite appliances ever! If you're on a time crunch, just use minute rice.

Step two - Marinate the chicken in a soy sauce or teriyaki sauce for about ten minutes. Put about 4 tbsp cooking oil in a skillet or wok and heat over medium high until the oil is smokin hot. Test it with a piece of chicken, if it sizzles immediately, it's ready! Cook all of your chicken until lightly browned ( 5 minutes) and remove it to a separate plate.

Step three - While the Chicken is cooking slice your veggies. Throw them into the wok/skillet all at once and stir while cooking. You'll only want to cook the veggies for about 5 minutes. Less if they are frozen veggies! Add your chicken back in and stir it all to combine it. You may use a packaged or bottled stir fry sauce if you like more or different flavors. Just stir it in and serve. The grocery store sells so many different types of sauces! I love kung Pao but we have a peanut allergy so I don't use it. I do like to try the different flavors, so you should too!

When your rice is done cooking, serve it topped with the chicken and veggies. I like to top mine with those crunchy chow mein noodles. They just add another flavor and texture to the mix. Enjoy your 30 minute meal!