Lesson Learned???

Braden has a way of always finding change and saving it. He has a number of piggy banks around the house he stores it in. A few weeks ago he decided he wanted to get a the new Tiger Snake Webkinz (I really have to blog about my Webkinz obsession sometime for those who don't know what it is...) and since I wouldn't buy it for him (com'on he has 6 already) he finally had a light bulb moment...

This

Plus this

Equals this
This

and this...

Poor piggy... He had over 50 dollars in his banks! Key word being HAD...

Spring Break?!

So this last week was more of a how-much-can-we-stuff-into-7-days kinda week than a 'break'.
Here's a look back...

Monday: We finally got some new trees for our front yard. We lost a few trees to the frost this winter and the tree on the side of the house was just U-G-L-Y. So after 5 years and a few hours with the chainsaw (it was as dull as a butter knife, I swear) the yucky tree down, new trees in. It is funny to hear the comments we get from people now the tree is down. Like one of our neighbors parents "Oh, dressing up your yard finally, eh?" Too funny. Guess we weren't the only ones who hated it! We also planted some a new rosebush, and other flowers and shrubs and I just love my yard now! The best part will be the shade from the trees!

Tuesday: We went out to Mesa to my Mom's while the cleaners were at our house. Unfortunately, as bad as my allergies are at my own home, they are worse at my Mom's. Combine that with a day of digging outside and a trip to the nursery, and I spent the better part of this day in a benedryl/claritin/zytrec fog..And in true Braden form, the boys played outside once we got back and he 'accidentally' got himself and Berk in the sand box.

Mental Mommy Note to Braden, Sand + Mom's squeaky clean wood floors = irritated Mommy. Wednesday: We ran errands, looked for yet another allergy medicine to try and since my floors were already gross, the boys played out back again...

Thursday: We sure had a ton of fun this day, but by the end of the night I honestly could NOT breathe! We woke up bright and early to head to Phoenix Zoo. Braden had only been once, nearly 2 years ago and Berkly had never been, so with the beautiful weather this was the time. We went with some good friends, Marcie and her 3 boys, her friend with her 2 boys and Parie with her step-son and newborn baby girl. Four ladies and 8 boys under 5 between us, it was crazy! By the way, Berk is obsessed with airplanes, and routinely calls out "JET!" whenever he hears or sees one. So, anytime you see him in a photo pointing, it will generally be at that.

Then that night we headed out to Freestone Park to have a family picnic with Nana & Bopy (Rusty's grandparents) and his uncles Todd & Wade's family. We had so much fun. Burgers, frizzbe and the summer sleds. If you have ever ice-blocked at Freestone, this was so much funner. They brought us these sleds that had 6 huge wheels on them, and we cruised down the park hills... Man, there were a few major wipe outs but everyone had a blast...



Friday: Rusty played hookie from work and he took Braden and the rest of the Texas cousins out to the desert to ride quads. Why didn't I go? Um, dust, dirt, wild blooms... pick any of the following... (have I mentioned I HATE allergies?). Braden is getting better and better at controlling the quad, as well as more daring. He is quite proud that he can do doughnuts like his Auntie Kelcie.

Then Saturday rolled around...keep in mind I have been cleaning, so I was pretty spent by then. I decided we should color eggs and get ready for Easter. Braden had a blast. Honestly, I hate eggs, but hard boiled eggs -no way. So pretty much everyone in my family has made fun of me for asking how you make hardboiled eggs. Sure, it's easy now I know how, but I was told 2 totally different way by my Mom and my Mom-in-Law...Anyway. Mission accomplished. Braden also peeled the carrots to leave out for the Easter Bunny. A few year's ago he decided it wasn't fair Santa got cookies and the Bunny got Nada.
Easter Sunday: We have 9 am church, so the time was quick with their baskets. They got new jammies, chocolate bunnies, small toys, and other stuff. We made it to church on time, whew, and sat through the meeting but ended up taking the boys home. Good decision. Berk puked three times, Braden has a gross cough and I, well I needed a nap to sleep off the allergy med haze. We did manage to have our egg hunt and make it to my parent's house for dinner. My sisters and their kids and my brother all came. Rusty even made the twice baked potatoes and deviled eggs. Delish! I took the chance to take some fun photos, and we had a lively evening as usual.

Hope you all had a great Easter. It was great today to take the time to remind Braden what this holiday is really about. I love Easter decorating second best to Christmas, so I will be sad to put it away. I am however counting down the minutes till preschool is back in!

Spring Cleaning!

Alright, it's that time of year again, and I am already knee deep in my cleaning. I have sorted my closet, organized it (I see carpet again!), cleaned out my medicine cabinet and under the bathroom sinks. I have sorted through (read thrown away) the toys in the playroom and I am tackling my office next... So, if you don't hear from me for a while you can look for me there. I have so much going on between my calling as YW Secretary (we have a HUGE fund raiser coming up as well as Girl's Camp planning); my business is picking back up after the Christmas lull. And that means I have beads, tools, thread and fabric all over (and I mean ALL OVER) the room. Plus I decided to do a new letter decoration in Braden's room (a B, duh) and I have the paints, brushes and newspaper out from that. My poor cleaners came today, and they just closed the door cause they couldn't even tell where to begin, and I don't blame them!

Any who, I though I would show you a little of my "Martha-ness" and give you the list of Spring Cleaning I try to do each year. Most of these ideas I got out of magazines (am I the only person under 50 who reads Good Housekeeping???), or online or family, but they are all great and I try to do them a few ties a year but FOR SURE in the Spring. Enjoy!
Kitchen

• Unload your freezer, and dump the old stuff and/or the stuff you don't remember buying
• Check the medince in your cupboard for expiration dates and toss the old, it's no good
• Microwave 1/2 a lemon in water for a few minutes. The steam will loosen cooked on food and leave it smelling yummy. Then toss the lemon in your garbage disposal to get rid of the musty smell
• Empty the pantry. Check expiration dates. Toss the half eaten bags of whatever, and organize it with the older things upfront, so they will be used first (like soup cans ect..)
  

Bathrooms

• Toss your loofahs & toothbrushes
• Check your makeup, most makeup is really only good for about 3-6 months from when you open it
• Soak those bath toys in a little bleach and let them dry in the sun. Check any toy that hold water for mold and other gross stuff
  

Bedrooms

• Inspect your clothes and your kids. Make 5 piles: Keep, Toss, Store (out of season, wrong size), mend and donate (if it needs mending in my house-buh bye!
• Another trick I got from GH is to flip you hangers backward (hook towards you) as you wear things, so you can see if you are really wearing everything in your closet. If not, donate it!
• Have your bed spread dry cleaned and wash or air out your pillows
• Sort your shoes just like the clothes. Break out the flip flops and put the snow boots away
• Remove your window treatments. Wash or have them dry cleaned, or at least shake them out to remove the dust
  

Around the House

• Clean ceiling fans, blinds and baseboards
• Change vacuum filters
• Check you dryer for extra lint and clear it out, can I say fire hazard???
  
• Change A/C filters (really it's every 3 months)
• Take your rugs outside, shake 'em and if they are washable wash them
• Clean windows (or even better, have someone else). But, before you go crazy with the windex, take the screen off, dust off the dirt and THEN break out the spray.
• Wipe down computer screens, tv's, picture frames -- basically all the stuff we skip when we can!
• Have your carpets and tile grout cleaned. We like our at home carpet cleaner, but one a year we bust out the $ for the pros
  
• Take all your garbage cans out in the yard and house 'em down. I even toss a little dish soap in before I let them soak and then scrub them. Don't forget your huge City ones, they get gross too!
• Store it! We have a huge pile of blankets and quilts we get out for winter cozying. Now is the time I wash them all and space bag them. Honestly, I LOVE space bags, I have them everywhere. No lie. Come see Berk's closet sometime for proof...

So, that's what I have been/will be up to these days. No, I will not come do your house. No, I probably won't get most of the list done but I will try. And yes, I will make Rusty do the gross stuff like the garbage cleaning and the freezer. And finally, yes, I know I am OCD and I am on medicine to help it!

Do you have any good tips I missed???

Enough's Enough!!!

I am officially calling "UNCLE" to this year's outrageous allergy season.

I always forget when we get great winter rains that it also means we will get wonderful blooms later on. I have never had such a bad allergy season! Agh! It makes me not want to even go outside and enjoy the beautiful weather we are having! It has been in the mid 80's the last few week, and I should be working on my tan, but no! I can't be out long enough before I have a sneezing attack! Poor Berkley is even on a daily prescription allergy med, and Braden should be but he hates taking medicine...I should have kept tally of the number of boxes of tissues I have gone through. And OH, those "24 hour relief" allergy medicines are big fat liars! I have to take one in the morning and a different one at night and I am still watery eyed! Sure the blooms look pretty, and our grass is nice and green. But fresh pollen and grass clipping are killin' me! I am staying inside until the summer heat comes and kills off everything...

or until my kids drive me nuts and I take them back to the park...

Movies, Movies, Movies...

In a rare occurrence for us, Rusty and I have actually been to the movies tons in the last month. So, rather than give each movie it's own post (cause some DID NOT deserve it) I thought I would make this my very own critics corner... Enjoy!

First we saw Jumpers. It was pretty good, overall we both liked it. Of course it had great special effects but the movie ended so quick I was a little confused...








The very next night, we saw Fool's Gold. It was a cute romantic comedy, but if you were hoping it was another 'How to Lose a Guy' you will be disappointed. Wait to see it on video.









Then there was Be Kind Rewind. I thought from the previews it would be hilarious. But unfortunately, they took the only funny parts from the movie to make the trailer... It was one of those feel good movies that taught you a lesson about some jazz guy you have never heard of, yeah...skip it.


And Finally tonight, we went out with some of our favorite people to see Vantage Point. It was really pretty good. You just have to get past the fact that you see the same 20 or so minutes of the movie over and over again... 8 times in fact. But each time you learn more of the plot and see it from another person's view and yeah, I would say see it. Besides 'Jack' from Lost and Dennis Quaid are in it.

Thanks Ryan & Nae we had a blast. I am still cringing a little from those poor souls dancing at the restaurant... At least the food was yummy!

Still Sore!!!

A while back I saw this DVD set on Amazon, and I thought, "Hmm, if she can make people on Biggest Loser drop bazillions of pounds, maybe I should try it." So I ordered it. And let me tell you a few things...

1. She is just as mean on her DVD as she is on the show. I swear she has a camera in my house when I work out, because when she looks right at the camera and asks, "Are you thinking of quitting?" I swear she is hearing my thoughts!
2. You will be sore, you will burn calories and you will like this workout.
3. Don't substitute your clingy 16 month-28 pound- toddler for your weights, you WILL regret it!
4. I am really glad I am not one of the people in the studio with her on the tape. She is harsh!
   

So I have tried a number of home workout DVD's. Pilate's, Tae Bo, you name it. What I love about this DVD is there are 5 totally different workouts, for different areas and muscle groups. Plus one is a cardio kick boxing, so if I don't feel like doing weights I can do it instead (not that it is any easier...). I am trying to up my workout/ activities per day so I figured with this even if I go to the gym at night and do just cardio I have done my strength training already. Or, if I can't make it to the gym I have at least gotten some time in. The basics that you need are light weights, either 2 or 5 lbs. And yes, you can get VERY sore from only 2 pounds. And a step. I just use my couch, or the floor until I decide I am hard core enough to own my own step. I know we are all dreading swimsuit season, but I heard the weather man tonight say temperatures in the 100's are coming... so I need to get myself toned and quick!

Let me know if any of you try it, or have another video you like.