Happy 4th Birthday Austin!

Austin's birthday was a blast! We had so much fun with friends and because their wasn't too many friends, I actually got a chance to socialize a bit. The kids ran upstairs to play and the grown up guests just hung out in the living room and breakfast nook.

We were going to Seaworld later so Kamal had to go pick up a rental car at Enterprise. They closed at noon so it wasn't going to take him long. He took my mother along so she could drive the van back. Well, when they got there, there were no vehicles available, so Enterprise had to go get another car from another location. It ended up taking them about an hour and a half, way longer than anticipated. But we didn't start any festivities until they got back and our guests were really patient. We so appreciate that.

It was so hot outside that we did the piñata inside the house. Since I ran out of time beforehand, and we had plenty of time at the party, the kids ended up helping me stuff the piñata full of candy. That was so much fun in and of itself! Then, when Kamal and my mom got back, I tied one end of the piñata to a jump rope, went upstairs and lowered it down slowly and tied the other end to the banister upstairs. It was a string pinata so each child grabbed a string and on the count of 3, pulled. It didn't quite work out as planned so one of the women stepped in and gave the bottom a tug and TONS of candy came out! All the kids came away with great big bags of candy.

Then, it was time to serve the cake. Everyone filed in and was so nice. We sang to Austin and then everybody blew on their little blow outs! Austin was thrilled and had such a fantastic time.







Thank you everyone for coming and for the awesome presents. We couldn't ask for better friends. Happy Birthday Austin! I can't believe my baby is now four years old.

Austin's Extreme Fun Playdate and Petco Tour

One of my mom's groups that I am in was having a playdate at Extreme Fun and since it was also Austin's birthday, we took cupcakes to share with everyone. I encouraged my best friend Lisa to come along so we could chat and so that Danny would have his best friends Laith and Noora and Austin would have his best friend Farris to play along with.

Lisa and I met and drove down together in two seperate cars because the kids and I had another playdate to go to afterwards. We were the first two there and the kids had so much fun. They were running around to every single jumper, jumping, playing, laughing, etc. It was great to see. After about an 30 minutes, we decided to have them sit down and eat but they were too excited to do much eating. After a few more times jumping, we got them to come to the table for cupcakes. By then, my friend Ledda and her two boys, Nick and Alex had gotten there as well as my friend Kim and her daughter Zoe and a new friend KC and her sons Wade and VJ. All the friends sang "Happy Birthday" to Austin and then ate their cupcakes.

Monkey Bread

So, at the Father's day playdate on Friday, Belinda made monkey bread and it was so delicious. But being the good dieter that I am, I only had one bite. Well, yesterday, I decided to make it for the family. I looked up the recipe on RecipeZaar.com and when it was done, I couldn't resist! I had several pieces with my coffee and it was so great. I had to alter the recipe quite a bit because I didn't have brown sugar or biscuits and I didn't want nuts in it but the way it came out tasted so much like glazed donut holes. It was so good.




Here is the original recipe with RecipeZaar.com:

Ingredients

• 3 (8 ounce) cans buttermilk biscuits
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/2 cup margarine
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans

Directions:

1. Cut each biscuit in fourths with scissors.
2. Shake biscuits in bag with sugar and cinnamon.
3. Layer biscuits into greased tube pan.
4. Sprinkle with nuts.
5. Melt margarine and brown sugar and boil 1 minute.
6. Pour over biscuits.
7. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes at 350 degrees.
8. Let stand 10 minutes before removing from pan.
9. To serve, just pinch off pieces and eat with fingers.

My alterations:

I used 2 cans of Pillsbury pizza dough instead of the 3 cans of biscuits (that's what I had in the fridge) and then for the syrup, instead of brown sugar, I used 1/2 cup granulated sugar and 1/2 cup honey and 1 tsp. vanilla. Turned out great.

Splash Playdate at Zachary's

We had so much fun today at Melissa and Zachary's house. They invited us all over to have a splash party and the kids loved it! There were two pools, sprinklers, slip-n-slide and water hose going down the slide. Also, there were bubbles galore and tons of friends! What could be better?

All the kids were so cute and I had to get tons of pictures of them. I know it's hard to believe but I didn't put all 63 pictures into the blog. These moments for my small children are so precious and fleeting. I look forward to having these memories to look back on and reminisce fondly.

Free To Be Me by Francesca Battistelli

Since we are on the subject of how perfection is overrated (see my other post - Perfect People by Natalie Grant), here is another song that I love. In Francesca's song, she speaks of perfection as being her enemy. I couldn't agree more.

Farmtown Addicted

Hi. My name is Lachelle and I'm addicted to Farmtown. I just can't stop building up my little farm. Maybe in a previous life I was a landscaping architect. At first, I just harvested my crops and planted new ones just to get to the next level. But now, I never harvest my own crops (I always have people do that for me) and now I'm to the point where money isn't really an issue so I can buy anything I want. I just recently put in a river, made a couple of parks with picnic tables and grills and soon, my goal is to put in a nice big park (but I have to reach level 29).

Man, it is so addicting but I absolutely enjoy every minute.

Perfect People by Natalie Grant

I heard this song the other day and fell in love with it. It speaks to me and I hope it speaks to you. In a world so daunting as ours, it is so hard to compete with perfection. When I hear that it's okay not to be perfect, it takes a lot of the weight off my shoulders and gives me peace. We can strive for perfection but if we don't reach it, it's okay.

Pay It Forward

My friend Amanda started a great thing on her blog called "Pay It Forward". It is a great idea and I hope that it really takes off. I decided to give it a try to. The first five (5) people to respond to this post will get something handmade by me, even if it is something corny, at least it's a gift of some kind. This should be an awesome opportunity to give back. Here are the rules and what she posted on her website:

Random acts of kindness have turned into little gifts for you. A great opportunity to pay it forward. The first five (5) people to respond to this post will get something handmade by me.This offer does have some restrictions and limitations so please read carefully:

1. I make no guarantees that you will like what I make. Whatcha get is whatcha get.

2. What I create will be just for you, with love.

3. It'll be done this year (2009).

4. I will not give you any clue what it's going to be. It will be something made in the real world and not something cyber. It may be weird or beautiful. Or it may be monstrous and annoying. Heck, I might bake something for you and mail it to you. Who knows? Not you, that's for sure!

5. I reserve the right to do something strange.

6. In return, all you need to do is post this text on your blog and make 5 things for the first 5 to respond to blog. (So obviously you have to have a blog. If your blog is private, tell me so in your comment and I will trust you. Alternately, you can post this on Facebook instead - my own rule change!)

7. Send your mailing address - after I contact you. (Be sure to include some sort of contact info if your blog profile doesn't link to your email or blog.)IMPORTANT: This offer is null and void if I do not see you post your own blog to pay this forward.


Okay, Mandy. I posted it. Thank you so much for starting this. It is going to be wonderful.

Library Fun Time

Today at the library was a show by Mr. Leebot at 11:15am. Both of my mom's groups had it on the calendar so I thought "Great, two playdates at one time!" The kids were sleeping soundly and I had to wake them up at 10:30 so we could get ready to go. We were out of the door by 10:50 and got to the library by 11:00. I took about 5 minutes or so to get some change for the vending machine and then we were in line. Wow! The library was so packed that the line to get in was out the door.


I stood with my friends Amanda and Bethany as we were waiting, got a picture of the kids sitting on the bench and then the library personel started letting people into the room. Everything was good until we got to the door. We were the next ones to go in when the lady came out and said "Sorry, no more can come in due to fire code restrictions". We were waving to a bunch of our friends that we saw in the room. Crystal and Jake, Keitha and Samuel, Kellie, Marshall and Kaylee and Amanda and Lauren were already sitting and Bethany, Riley and Lucas got in just ahead of us. Darn. But when we turned around, there was our friends Carla and Samara and our day turned around. Also, my friend Michelle came around the corner and I got to see her and Brenna for a little bit.



I let the kids get their snacks from the vending machine and then we signed up for the reading club. Carla took us to the outdoor section so the boys could finish their snacks, which was ideal because they burned off a lot of energy running around, and then we headed to the kids' section of the library. There we saw Naiomi, Elijah and Caleb. It was packed but the kids still had a lot of fun playing with the computer, finding books and putting together puzzles. Danny and Samara were glued to the hip... they loved playing with each other and were so cute. Carla, it was so fun hanging out with you guys. I hope to do it again real soon.

In the end, we didn't miss anything. It would have been nice to see the show but the kids had fun regardless and that's all that matters.

Monday, Monday, Such a Busy Monday!

This was a busy day. This morning, I went to work out with Lisa. When I got home, I took care of some cleaning, bill paying, organizing, etc. until it was noon and time to wake the boys up for Brushy Creek splash park.

When we got there, we found Kim, Zach and Zoe and the boys took off into the sprinklers. Zach, Kim's step son, gave the kids water balloons and they were in heaven. Then, we sat down and ate a picnic lunch (I say we but really it was only Austin and Danny eating as I started my strict diet today). Then, they played on the playground for a bit before they went over to the sand volleyball court to watch the big kids play.



After we finished there, we went to the post office to drop off the bills and then on to the library where we had to return several books and movies. The kids wanted to play a bit, Danny on the kids computer and Austin with the puzzles and puppet show, and then we came back home where I quickly made all of us fried eggs and myself, a spinach salad with strawberries and just a hint of Caesar vinaigrette salad dressing. Yum yum!

At four, we had our neighborhood playgroup at Michelle's house to do a father's day craft. Michelle came up with the cutest idea of making construction paper toolboxes for the dads with little cut out tools to put inside, which are supposed to be things the kids will do for dad for Father's day but we left ours blank for the time being. On the back of Danny and Austin's toolbox is a poem with a tracing of their hand on it. Also, we made little popcicle photo frames and we will be putting a picture in it and putting a magnet on the back to put on the fridge. They were all such cute ideas. Thanks Michelle!



After we left there, we had to run to the bank and to Walgreens to drop off the Kirby DVD. When we got home, I cooked maklouba and instead of eating the whole meal which is rice with fried cauliflower and chicken, I only had a few pieces of cauliflower and my chicken breast without any rice. I'm doing so well... of course we are only on day one!

Such a busy, full day but lots of fun.