Awards

 This morning I got to attend the first grade awards assembly at Max's school.

 Max received an award for Good Citizenship in his class.

The award said that he is always helping someone and that he even helps to tie shoes!

I love Max. I think he is a great kid and he tries hard. Good Job Max!

The Finished Product

 The front rooms are painted and they look great! We went with "pewter" for our splash of color and we really like it.

 It is still really neutral but it makes the rooms seem nice and calm.

 And here is Zackary driving his cars on the couch.

Max and Mia are off at school this morning. Zack is playing and I have some floors to clean due to the whole painting thing yesterday!

So glad it's Thursday. Last day of homework for the week :)

5 for Wednesday

1. Zack has had a tough week filled with allergies and asthma, but he is starting to feel much better. He slept through the night last night and we are all happy about that!

2. I am 30 weeks pregnant and taking advantage of any and all napping opportunities that come my way.

3. Ty is home today painting again. The color we went with for the front rooms is called, "Pewter" and I think it is looking great.

4. I am trying out a recipe for Ruth's Chris Sweet Potatoes tonight with dinner. Hoping for yummy results.

5. Max's new favorite movies are the old Star Wars. He keeps talking about light sabers and Darth Vader!

Happy Birthday Zackary!

 We had a little birthday celebration for Zackary last night.

Ty brought home balloons for the birthday boy.

 He was excited about his surprise :)

My parents came over and we opened lots of presents.

 Ty's parents sent Zac this bumblebee pillow pet. Max and Mia each received one for their birthdays and Zackary was glad to be a part of the pillow pet crowd.

 My parents got Zack the secret agent car from Cars 2. When you shake him up he drives on his own. A big crowd pleaser!

 Zack also got Lightning Mcqueen and Mater from Cars. He wanted to go upstairs and watch the movie with his new friends right away.

 There were also some Thomas Trains included in the mix.

 Zackary loved all of his gifts. He spent the rest of the evening playing with them and then took them all to bed with him. (He slept really well too!)

 I made a chocolate cake for Zack. I covered it with buttercream and a layer of ganache and then I made the letter "Z" for Zackary out of M&M's.

Max pointed out that it could also be the letter "N". I figured that was okay, since his last name is Newman.

I put one little #2 candle on his cake, but he was unwilling to blow it out. He was nervous about that part, so Max and Mia helped out.

Happy Birthday Zack! We love you!

Sara Bareilles

Sara Bareilles

"Love Song"

Music

I love music!

I love listening to music and I love singing along to music. I really hope some of my kids enjoy music as much as I do. I try to play music at home and sing with them often.

This morning I was feeling really drained so I decided to spend a little time listening to some favorites and I felt so refreshed!

Happy Listening :)

Taylor Swift

Taylor Swift

"Fearless"

The Band Perry

The Band Perry

"If I Die Young"

Painting

 We have been in our house since March. Every wall in the house is white and in desperate need of some paint. Last weekend Ty put up chair rail in the front two rooms and then the painting began.

 We chose to paint the rail and everything below it white ( I know I said everything was already white, but it was painted in Matte white paint and that stuff is just really awful to clean so we are switching to semi-gloss!)

The next step will be to choose a color for the upper half of the walls. It is starting to look really great Ty is such a hard worker. He is so willing to make our home a more beautiful place and I am very thankful for all of the work that he does, both at his place of employment and at home.

Zac Turns 2!

Today is my little Mr. Zackary's 2nd birthday!

We will be having the official celebration tomorrow night, but I wanted him to have a good day today as well. After dropping off Max and Mia at school Zac and I headed to the park. We were the only ones there and Zac had a great time running all over the playground. To refuel I took him to Mcdonald's for a hashbrown. They are his favorite breakfast!

Here are some Zack stats:

Zack is 2

He loves Curious George and all monkeys

He loves the movie "Cars" and Lightning Mcqueen

He loves Thomas the Tank Engine

He loves riding on his little cars and trains all over the house

He loves grapes, chocolate (soy) milk, and ravioli

He loves his brother and sister and I know he is going to be a great big brother too!

Happy Birthday Little Boy!

At home with Littles

 On days when Mia is home we usually spend a lot of time creating at the kitchen table. We do lots of puzzles and color lots of pictures.

 We try to work on our letters and numbers as well.

Zackary loves to color. He has his own "special" set of washable markers and crayons, because he likes to spread his art all over the house.

It's really just a nice way to spend some time together at home while we wait for Max to be done with school for the day. We listen to music and enjoy our time together.

5 thoughts for Monday

1. 29 weeks pregnant. Only 11 weeks to go. Woo-hoo!

2. We spent Saturday putting up chair rail in the two front rooms and tomorrow we are painting. Can't wait to get a few rooms looking finished!

3. On Sunday I made a batch of sticky buns. They were the best things ever and I had to work really hard not to eat more than one. They have a ridiculous amount of butter in them!

4. I have a very long list of to-do's for the day. I am slowly checking things off.

5. I have been feeling very bored with our dinners and I am ready to try some new things this week. I love testing new recipes!

Friday!

We have been really enjoying the cooler weather that has come our way this week. It is so nice to open the windows and enjoy the fresh air. This morning was especially cool and foggy. We were all wearing sweaters when we took Max to school. It looks like the sun is on it's way out and we should be warming up soon, but we are still enjoying our fall day. I am trying out the roaster oven that my mom gave me earlier this year, we are testing out a few more pumpkin recipes, I am trying to organize my pantry, and I have set up a little city using all of the kids dollhouses, castles, and superhero hideouts for Zack and Mia to play with. Mia is using all of her princess figurines to play and Zack is driving his cars through all of the buildings. I love having both boys and girls at home. It is so fun to watch them grow and play in different ways. 

This week has been busy and I am thrilled that today is Friday. That fact has added it's own little sprinkle of happiness to the day. I am looking forward to the kids being home this weekend and having 2 relaxing mornings to sit around in our p.j.'s and make pancakes for breakfast. I think Ty and I are going to be doing some painting this weekend as well. It will be nice to get a few rooms looking finished!

I hope everyone had a great week. Happy Friday!

Pumpkin Brownies

We are having a little crafting party this afternoon with our neighbors and for the treat I am making these Pumpkin Brownies that were featured on the Pioneer Woman's Tasty Kitchen blog today. We added lots of chocolate chips to our version. This is our first pumpkin recipe of the season and the house smells great!

Apple Picking

This weekend we spent some time in Oak Glen.

We did some apple picking at Los Rios Rancho.

 Mia carefully inspected the apples she was picking.

 It was a beautiful day.

We ended up with one large bag of apples. Before we left we bought a big jug of apple cider to take home as well. At home I made a big batch of caramel and we dipped some of our apples. Caramel apples are one of my very favorite things and the kids loved them too!

At The Top

 Ty and I got to celebrate our 8 year anniversary yesterday.

We took the Palm Springs tram to the top of Mt. San Jacinto.

 The views were amazing and the temperatures were so much cooler than they had been in Palm Springs where we started. It was strange to leave the desert and just 10 minutes later be in the mountains and wilderness.

 There were lots of little hiking trails.

 I had chosen the very wrong footwear for our little expedition.

 Ty was very impressed with the state park and started planning a backpacking trip while we were still there.

By the time the sun started to set I had to put on my jacket. It was nice to feel the cool. We had dinner at the Peaks restaurant inside the wilderness station and ate the best calamari and filet minion we have ever had!

We took the tram back down the mountain after dark. It was freezing at the top but when we arrived back in the desert the temps were hot again.

It was a great evening and the perfect little retreat.

Graham-wiches from Disneyland

 
These peanut butter filled graham-wiches from Picky Palate are supposed to be just as delicious as the kind you can buy at Disneyland. We are testing them out today and hoping for delicious results :)

For Me

I ordered this Batman t-shirt today from Alloy.com. It is part of my anniversary present from "Ty". I am helping him out a bit. I hope Max isn't too jealous of his way cool mom.

Zac

 I was really glad to have Zac at home with me today. I really didn't want to leave Mia at school and I needed my little buddy to keep me company while she and Max were gone. (I am blaming hormones!)

Zac has been doing really well with his few hours of alone time each week while the other kids are at school. We practice counting together and do little art projects, and we watch a lot of Blue's Clues!

 He is a happy little guy and we are very lucky to have him in our family.

Even if he does like to wear the plug to the kitchen sink as a petite chapeaux :)

Labor Day

It is a wet and rainy day in southern california. From inside the house you might think that fall had arrived, but sadly because the weather is still so warm, outside is just muggy and gross.

I ran to the store this morning and saw plenty of people pretending that it was indeed fall. There were ladies in sweaters and jeans with boots. Everyone seems to love the fall, but really what's not to love?

Apple picking

Cute clothes (great shoes!)

Pumpkins

Baking

hot chocolate and apple cider

Corn mazes

cozy socks.......

I might just stay inside and pretend it's fall too.

Ty is on call today and has been to the hospital twice already. I guess a holiday makes for a busy day at work. I will have to make him some sort of fabulous dinner and dessert for later today.

My parents called this morning and wanted to come out to see the kids. They took them out for some special grandparent fun time. While they were gone I cleaned all of the bathrooms, swiffered my floors (If you have any amount of tile in your home you really must get a swiffer wet-jet, best things ever!), made myself some lunch, and spent a little time on Pinterest! It is amazing what you can do when the house is quiet. And you can do it while listening to your favorite music too!

Ty wants me to start putting all of the pictures I take onto his mac and I am not sure how to do it yet, so that is my brief explanation for why there have been no pictures of anyone lately, but soon I will be brave and learn how to do it.

Happy Labor Day :)

Cinnamon Swirls!

Ty is working late tonight and he will not be joining us for dinner. Instead of preparing a typical dinner for the kids, I made THIS cinnamon swirl bread. I found the recipe on Pinterest. There are few things better than fresh bread warm from the oven with lots of butter. I made some chocolate banana smoothies to go with it. It was the perfect supper.

A Few Thoughts on Pregnancy (This time around)

Pregnancy is not a glamorous thing.

No matter how much or how little weight you gain, someone will have something to say about it.

Cravings don't exist the 4th time around. You eat what you can when you can.

Tums are your friend.

Tiny baby kicks are super exciting.

Comfy is best, but better if comfy is cute too.

A ridiculous amount of time is spent in the bathroom.

Switching doctors halfway through your pregnancy is okay.

20 minute cat naps are the best!

Climbing the stairs is a serious workout

Picking out baby names is always fun.

I am not one of those people that loves being pregnant. I am not a fan of maternity photo shoots, and I have never experienced that burst of energy near the end of pregnancy that people talk about.

What I do love is knowing that we are going to be welcoming another little spirit into our family. I love that Mia is getting a sister. I love picking out comfy socks to wear and movies to watch at the hospital. 

There are ups and downs to every pregnancy, but I really can't complain, because the end result is so very awesome :)