Baking with the boys

Today it is a rainy day. I was going through the cupboards looking for something I do not remember what but, I pulled out some chocolate chips and managed to leave them on the counter. While I was wasting time looking at gardening thing wishing it was time to play in the garden I over hear Gabriel talking Foster into going into the kitchen to open the chocolate chips. That Gabriel is always trying to get his brother to do things he should not.  When Gabriel is doing something he knows he should not he will come check on me to make sure I am busy so he can go about making trouble. I just love these boys.

Well I decided we needed to make cookies together because we have not made cookies in a while. Of course Gabriel wants to do it all so I measure and he dumps and taste test the entire process. He just loves making cookies. Foster does not so much care about the process but, he loves the end and almost end results.

One of my favorite things as a child was to lick the beater. It is something the boys love too. Foster got the beater this time and Gabriel insisted it was his and that his brother should not have it. Gabriel got the spatula.

 

 Of course after too much cookie dough the onlything left to do is have some water to rinse it down. Their dad would disagree. I am sure he would prefer milk with his cookies.

Oh hum!

January is not my favorite month it never has been. I always get the post Holiday blues and I am not sure why most of the time. This year I kinda know why I am blue. One it is ugly outside and the wind seems to never stop blowing. And this year I had to Put my cat Pawdashaw down. Man, I love that cat.

On top of all that today, I was again disappointed by the most disappointing person in my life. I usually do not let it bother me because I am so far removed, but it is for some reason. I think maybe because of my boys or because I am already blue.   When I am depressed I like to eat and right now I would like to loose about ten lbs 5 are Doctor ordered to get my cholesterol levels and blood pressure down.

On another note Patrick and I have been looking for another car. A family vehicle. The truck is just not a great family car. We would like to get a crossover SUV some thing that has room for the family and is big enough for all the things the future holds. I just do not want the debt that goes with a new car and I do love the truck. On the other hand it would be really nice to have another car that we fit in well. Maybe now is just not the time. I will keep my eye out for one and maybe we will find a killer deal for sale by owner.

I am ready for spring I have been thinking about what I am going to do in my garden this year. I go and get horse poo from my moms house often to keep my compost pile growing. I am excited to get some grapes growing. I really need to get a sand box, a real sand box, for my boys out back this year. I would love to get this going soon so when there is a nice day they will want to go out and play. I also would like to get the ground prepped for there to be grass in the back yard this year.

Oh and I am getting baby chicks! I am so excited about the baby chicks that I am going to be getting. This wonderful lady my mom works with ordered her some baby chicks and had to order a ton so she is giving the ones she can not have to others. I asked for 4-6 thinking they would supply eggs for my mom, my sister and my family then my mom asked for 4 for her. I am already expecting to have way too many eggs. I am excited to teach the boys about taking care of babies. I known that they will love to feed them daily. They love to feed the deck cats and the dog and our fish. I am also excited for what there poo will do for my compost.
I am so ready for spring now. Let the out door fun begin.

Family Date Night!

We had to take the commuter car into the shop to get looked over and hopefully fixed and last for at least another fifty thousand miles. Because of this I decided it would be a good idea to take the boys to Sakura a hibachi/sushi restaurant. Patrick love going here when we go out on dates. Patrick loves the sushi and I love the teriyaki salmon on the hibachi. The boys are almost 3 now so I thought they may enjoy the show at the hibachi.
Oh the fun. Watching the boys try new things and enjoying it was fun. Gabriel just loved the meso soup. He did not even want to try the rice til his soup was gone. This kid loves rice. If we are having rice for dinner he finishes it first and we have to bribe him to eat the rest of his food.
Now if you have been to one of these restaurants than you know how it goes a chef comes out does some flare with his spatula and fork and then the smiley face is lit on fire. FAWOOSH (that is the sound the fire makes.) Well of course the reaction to this was not what I was thinking 2 crying little boys. Our chef was really good about moving on and throwing things in his hat and it calmed the boys right down. They just loved watching the salt shakers disappear into the chef hat and the eggs when he dropped it on the grill and it broke. Gabriel just watched but Foster giggled and had a great time but he did not like the fire. When he lit the volcano on fire Foster covered his face and hid a little. But it all ended up being funny because the chef brought out a little doll that puts out the fire by peeing water on it and on the boys.

I am glad that they enjoyed the show but the best part was they loved the food. All of it Foster tried all the sauces and ate with the kids chop sticks with no help. Patrick had to show Gabriel how to use the chop stick and he enjoyed it but he could not use them to eat his favorite food rice.
I had so much fun watching the boys enjoy the show it made my day and I am so glad that they enjoyed the food also. We defiantly will be taking the boys back there again.

While writing this I got an update on the car. Looks like it needs a new engine. Oh the fun of commuting.
So we are going to get a new engine for it and maybe it will have less miles on it and last years longer.

Good bye Princess P.

Today was not a fun day. I had to say good bye to my Princess I have had her since she was a kitten for over 15 years. Every night it was cold she would sleep on my pillow just the sound of her purr would put me right to sleep. Before the boys were born every evening she would come sit on my lap and watch tv with me. She did this when I was pregnant she would rub her head into my belly loving on my babies in my belly. I have so many wonderful memories of her and our life together. She was so good with Gabriel all the way to the end.

I love you Pawdashaw!

A Date for Me with the boys

Today I decided I needed to get back to eating and living the healthy lifestyle I know I am meant to live. I made plans to go back to Weight Watchers. I choose to go on the Mommy and me class on Thursday morning. I do have to say I was nervous because I was not sure how the boys were going to act in the meeting. I have taken them before but not by myself. I was relieved to see a few other mommies with there little ones there too. The boys did so good they played with the kindles until they realised that the other kids wanted to play too. They played mostly quietly in the back until the end they were very done. So we packed up and headed to Jumpin' Jacks. This is a big warehouse full of bounce houses we played there with the other kids for about an hour and a half then the boys I was done. We headed to Wendy's for some chicken and fries. I got a hamburger. Just the burger for a whopping 11 points + but I know that I can do what I need to do and still have a hamburger once and a while. So my plan is to do it again next week. I hope the boys are just as good in the meeting and then we will head to Jumpin' Jacks again for some exercise for me and the boys. When the weather gets warmer and I search for us to do other fun things in town it will be a date for ME and the boys.

Christmas 2012

Oh my am I behind on things. I was doing so good with my blog before my computer had chocolate milk dumped on it.

Every year for Christmas Eve we open our one present and it is always PJs This year I thought the boys needed a preview of the day to come so they got to open a small toy too.

On Christmas morning the boys slept in. Figures every other day they are up around 6:30 or 7 am and on Christmas they slept til 9am. I think I was more excited to see what they were thinking about it then they knew they would be.

It was so cute Foster was opening his gift and he looks at his Dad and says "It's my Birthday"

Christmas cookies 2012

Well it is that time of year again. I just love to have the kids over to make a huge mess making Christmas cookies. I have an easy recipe that was given to me from a coworker and it makes a huge batch. It is enough for everyone to take a plate full.

The planning that goes into this is not so bad now that I have done it for the last few years. The night before I made lunch I cooked up hamburger meat to make sloppy joes in the crock pot. This works well because the oven and stove are usually crazy busy. I also make sure to make the frosting and separate it into baggies to squeeze out of bags on to cookies. This year I decided to add a veggie try to snack because we have so much sugar when we are making cookies. This morning when I got up I cut the veggies for the try and got the kids and myself ready for everyone to show up. I put the cookie recipe together so that as soon as everyone showed up we would be able to get things going. This year we did little balls for everyone to roll and cut. So much fun and with that no one was in a hurry to get the dough cut thinking they were going to miss out. Also we did sprinkles this year.
Every one showed up just after ten am and so did the fun.

I just hope that everyone has as much fun as I do. I love you Mom, Barry, Jamie, Marty, Jordan, Madison, Korbin, Janacy, Trisadee, Taigyn, Traclyn, Patrick, Gabriel and Foster. Thanks a ton and it was nice to meet Holly Ann. I can not wait til next year to do it again.