Jim's Birthday

Last day of May, can you believe it? Tomorrow Savannah will be 18 months old and in a month Connor will turn 5. It seems like just yesterday they were both babies...........gosh I feel like I'm getting old! When you're younger you just want time to speed on past but now it seems I want to put the breaks on already.

So a few weeks ago it was Scott's Dad's Birthday. We celebrated at his house with homemade pizza, yum! He received his "big" present 1.5 months earlier - a camcorder - he got it early because they were going on vacation and we figured he would want to capture those memories! So on his actual birthday we only had one other present for him to open, a Milwaukee Brewers Cooler.  He also received one of those fancy coffee makers were you can put the individual packs in. I hope his birthday was fabulous, and here's to many many more.

Hall Pass

So how was every one's Memorial Day Weekend? Ours was pretty good I guess, can't complain to much. However, I do have to take a second and say to a family friend Betty that we are thinking of you and if you need anything let us know (if you know Betty make sure you send her a note, or card or something, her dad passed away this weekend).

A few weeks ago we finally got around to watching the movie Hall Pass. I know it's been out for awhile but we never got around to seeing it. Okay, so the movie was pretty funny and I will say I didn't hate the movie, however some of the humor was a little more crude than I like and this is a movie you definitely need to wait until the kids are sleeping to watch. Not entirely sure I'll ever have a need to watch it again but like I said before I didn't hate it and I did laugh at parts.

Mother's Day

I love long weekends! So glad we don't have to go back to work tomorrow - with everything thats been going on this weekend its nice to have that extra day. What is everyone doing for Memorial Day? We're going to the parade in Monona then we'll probably have to hit up the grocery store and Menards.

I know I'm a little behind in this but I wanted to post about Mother's Day. For my present Scott helped the kids create a (very) large coffee mug with their feet prints on it (Connor has big feet that's why it had to be big, lol). I absolutely love it!! We met up with John, Carol & Joan for breakfast at Nauti Gal's then headed over to Jim & Pat's to let the kids play outside for awhile. So overall it was a pretty low key day but it was nice. I even got to take a nap! (I love naps!)

Arizona Turns 2

Wow, what a work out tonight! It was a lot of leg stuff, so for me it was awesome! I ended up sweating a ton and the workout was amazing but I didn't want to die afterwords, which is a plus (other people wanted to die though, so I'm sorry to those people for recommending a leg workout).

So recently Scott's cousin Paul's youngest daughter turned 2 and we all went over to their house for her birthday party. They had a bouncy house (always a plus when there's a lot of kids in the family) and they had some pool foam things turned into light sabers so the kids had a blast with those. Other than that it was a nice pretty low key party just sitting outside and enjoying the weather. We gave Arizona some clothes for this summer which with the way the weather is being she could probably wear them now. I hope her birthday was awesome and I can't believe she's 2 already!

Crucial Conversations

As I dropped Connor off today at school is teacher said something about only 10 days left in the school year....... what? OMG! My baby is almost done with his "first" year of school. They're actually having a little graduation ceremony, which I still think is silly, but I know it'll be super cute and I will probably cry, lol.

So for my Business Communications class we had to read two different books. Crucial Conversations by Patterson, Grenny, McMillan and Switzler is the book we had to read the second half of the semester. I know I learn a lot from textbooks but sometimes it doesn't seem clear where I will use this information. This book however is completely opposite. Not only is this going to be the first book that I keep from school it is a book that I recommend to anyone. It teaches you the tools to have conversations more effectively and to help other people share their knowledge as well. If you are a businessman, a teacher, mom, anyone really could benefit from this book. I believe I got it off of amazon for really cheap so I recommend checking it out.

Mother's Day Pictures

In a couple of days we're re-doing the floors in our living room & kitchen - can't wait! But you know what has to happen first? Cleaning..........ugh! Neither Scott or I like cleaning, so we pretty much do what is necessary to not go crazy, so tonight we spend about an hour cleaning. We still have a LOT more to go but its already looking less cluttered in here (just stay out of Connor's room, lol).

So for Mother's Day every year for Scott's mom (and the rest of the women in his family) - The Moore's and us go to Portrait Innovations and get our pictures taken. Chrissy & I have fun going to Kohl's to get the kids matching clothes (and us matching shirts this year) and getting everything all ready. It was a lot more difficult this year with the girls being older and not wanting to sit still but we still got some super cute pictures done. Hopefully though next year will be a little less difficult/stressful!

Arcadia

Monday already? Where did the weekend go? We didn't have a horribly busy weekend, I went to Scott's cousins' bridal shower yesterday and Connor & Scott went to see the Avengers but other than that it was a pretty lazy weekend. Anyone do anything fun?

So a few weeks ago we held our book club at Aunt Missy's house. The book this time was Arcadia by Lauren Groff. I actually hadn't finished the book in time for book club (the wait list at the library was super long and I only receive the book the Monday before book club). However, since then I have finished the book. The book was interesting and kept me guessing. There were parts of the book that seemed not to be resolved that I wish were. I think the hardest part of the book to understand was the first section. The sections are written in the perspective of the main character at different times of his life and the first section was when he was five. It was hard to understand what exactly was going on but some of the things were answered later on in the book. After you get past the first section of the book its fairly easy reading. I didn't love the book but it was interesting enough that I would recommend it.

Peanut Butter Chewy Brownies

How's everyone doing tonight? I'm actually rather bored. I really do not feel like watching wrestling anymore (I'm so sick of it) and I really just need some "girl friend" time but unfortunately it seems like I have very limited friends........all of which live too far away or are busy with their kids. They're probably being good mama's and putting their kids to bed/playing/reading with them...... where as right now I don't feel like dealing with mine.........ugh.........I know, I'm a bad parent........ book club is less than 2 weeks away, can't wait, need a break!

So recently a co-worker gave me a recipe for Peanut Butter Chewy Brownies. She got it out of a magazine that she gets. On the bottom of my sheet it has the website for Penzeys but I could not find this particular recipe on there. Ingredients: peanut butter, butter, sugar, brown sugar, egg, vanilla extract, flour, baking powder, salt, and chocolate chips. I love peanut butter and I love chocolate so I assumed I would love these. They were pretty good but I almost think they had to much chocolate. I think if I make these again I would probably cut the amount of chocolate in half. But other than wanting to make that one change, they were pretty tasty!

Lyliane Is 5

So I have officially finished the Spring semester but I'm still waiting for my one instructor to finish grading my final project. Not sure how she'll be able to turn in grades on time, the last project took her a month to grade and I just turned this one in Monday night and I believe grades are due tomorrow...... so I guess we'll see. Thinking I'm on Perfect Honors again this semester but I'm not 100% sure.

So a few weeks ago my good friend Mandie's oldest daughter turned 5 years old. Lyliane shares a birthday with my brother so it's a birthday I will always remember when it is. She had a nice party with a few friends and family. We gave her a new TuTu as she's a total diva princess and she should always have 5-6 at all times, lol. Kids are so funny! It's so great watching her grow up, and I hope she loved all of her presents (anyone wanna buy me a guitar, cause that was an awesome present!), and I hope her birthday was fabulous.

Face Paint

Almost done with the semester, woho! Finished my last assignment last night and turned it in now tonight I just have to take my final test. It sounds like it should be pretty easy, only 20 questions and I have 90 minutes to complete it. I think I figured I only need like a 60% on the test to get an A, so I'm pretty sure I can handle that.

A few weeks ago we took a trip to Hobby Lobby, love that store! We told Connor that we could pick up some crafts for him so we decided to look for face paint. We found these ones that were more like crayons so we picked those up for only a couple of dollars. What an awesome idea! Because they're crayons they are very easy to work with and we had a lot of fun. The first night we made Connor into the flash (my handy work) and the next night he was Spider Man (Scott's work). It was so much fun, I recommend these to anyone! Any way to have cheap entertainment is a plus for me!

Black Bean Taco Salad

So Scott is officially done for the semester, and he received a 4.0. I am almost done, I have until Tuesday night to finish up everything. I still have 2 small assignments, a large project and a test. I just finished up reading the last chapters in one of my books and I'm about to watch two small videos but then I'll leave the rest for the next four days - should be able to finish it no problem!

So recently I once again turned to my cookbook - Taste of Home : Simple & Delicious, on page 44 is a Black Bean Taco Salad. I saw this recipe and immediately thought of Scott (he LOVES taco's). Ingredients: ground beef, lettuce, tomato, black beans, Catalina salad dressing, and nacho cheese chips. I do not like nacho cheese (Doritos) chips, so instead I just used some plain tortilla chips I had that I eat with my salsa. I'm not sure if it's because I used different chips but I did NOT enjoy this recipe. Maybe it was the dressing? I'm not sure. Scott used regular Doritos and he seemed to enjoy it, so maybe that was my problem? Either way, I don't think I'll be making this again anytime soon.

Barbecue Beef & Potatoes

So today is mine & Scott's anniversary. Cant' believe 4 years ago we got married, where does the time go? To celebrate we took the day off of work and we're just going to get stuff done. Scott is going to get the oil change done on my car and I'm going to plant our garden! Later we're going to pick Connor up from school, grab some McDonald's and go to the park and play for a few hours - and then hopefully get a nap in (I love naps!).

So awhile back I turned to a cookbook I've had for awhile (the picture is not the exact one I have, I couldn't seem to find it online - I purchased it from my cousin for $5 as one of those school fundraisers so it's really little but has a variety of recipes in it). I made Barbecue Beef & Potatoes - more for Scott than me as this is more of a "him" meal. Ingredients: potatoes, ground beef, green bell pepper & BBQ sauce. I'll say it was okay I guess. Nothing specially and I really do not like green peppers. It's not something I would make if I got to choose but if Scott really wants it again I'll make it for him.

Easter

Just finished this week's homework assignment - 1 week left! Ugh! And of course they pile it on at the end of the semester. I have one assignment, one journal, one project and on test left - all due by next Tuesday at midnight, yuck! Which, of course that means, when we're not busy spending time with family this weekend (birthday party & Mother's Day), I will be working on school stuff..........just how I love to spend my weekends! At least I'll have a few weeks off before my Accounting 1 class starts in mid-June.

So of course this is ridiculously late and I contemplated even posting it, but I figured, why not? Easter was a few weeks ago but it's a great Holiday. One of those Holidays that we really should have went to church, but we didn't (I know - we're bad people). The Easter Bunny stopped at the house and product the kids a bag full of clothes and a present each. Savannah got a music table and Connor got the mini wrestling guy money & the bank that he wanted. Afterwards we headed over to Matt & Chrissy's, then out to John & Carol's and then finally to Aunt Missy's house. We had a ridiculous amount of candy in the house, and out of the 5 pounds I've lost this year, I've gained 4 back (not all from Easter Candy, but it's partially to blame). I hope you all had a great Easter - anyone do anything "unusual"?

The Girl With The Dragoon Tattoo

Purchased some fun stuff for the garden today, yay! Can't wait to get it all planted. Should probably be able to do it this Thursday because Scott & I have off work to celebrate our anniversary. Can't believe it has already been 4 years since we've gotten married, time sure flies by!

So Easter weekend I made my first "purchase" at the local RedBox - I say purchase I actually goggled a coupon code and received the movie free. I really wanted to go see The Girl With The Dragoon Tattoo in theaters because I had just finished reading the book around the time that the movie came out - I just never got around to it though. Although the movie didn't follow the book exactly (what one does?) I really enjoyed it. Scott really didn't know what to expect with the movie (never read the book) but he really enjoyed it too. He enjoyed it enough that he is now on the wait list to get the book on CD version of it so he can compare. Now I'm going to start reading the second book and can't wait until the second movie is made!

Easter Eggs

So I took a ridiculous amount of weeds out of the garden tonight - gross!! But I'm glad to get it done I guess, still actually have more but I got all the big ones out. I really want to start planting the garden next Thursday when Scott & I have off for our anniversary - anyone know if Menard's has their tomato plants yet? That's where we got them last year and they turned out great, so we'll probably get them from there again.

Even though we kind of had to cram it in the weekend of Easter we had to make Easter Eggs! Coloring Easter eggs is one of the best part of Easter (along with the gross amount of candy, lol). This year we didn't even buy those kits from the grocery store, we just used vinegar & food coloring. We created 6 different colors, which seems silly when you only have 12 eggs, but oh well! It was a lot of fun and the kids had a blast - Connor even worked on his writing skills with a trusty crayon on the egg to decorate it!

What Happens In Vegas

Got the lawn mowed tonight, not with our mower - ours still isn't working - thankfully the Moore's let us pick up theirs and use it tonight. OMG, it looks so much better - our weeds are getting out of control! Now we just need to apply the weed killer, but it says it needs 24 hours before rain (and it's suppose to rain the next couple of days) and also you're not suppose to do it 2 days before or after you mow the lawn - so maybe this weekend?? Not sure how the extended forecast looks.

So a few weeks ago we watched the movie What Happens In Vegas. I know this movie has been around for a few years but I had never seen it. I like Ashton & Cameron and I really enjoyed this movie. Don't get me wrong, I know there wasn't any fabulous acting in this movie and the plot wasn't extensive - but sometimes its just nice to watch a funny laid back movie that you don't have to think a lot about. I would probably watch this movie again but it's not something I would actively pursue - if its on and I'm flipping channels and see it I'll probably stop and watch it.