Baby Shower

So I know Im a little crazy because I havent even started on Kenzies room and Im already thinking about her baby shower!

Whatever.

I've been racking my brain trying to think of the greatest baby shower I can have and nothing comes to mind. I wanted an all girl kind of thing because well, thats what I want, but hubs wants to do a boy/girl thing so his friends can come. Im not all that into crazy games, been there done that. Maybe we will have a few classy games and win classy prizes. I really dont want to register because to be perfectly honest after 2 kids you pretty much have it all.

Im thinking since the shower will most likely be at the end of January (holy cow thats not that far away) I can do a sort of winter wonderland kind of thing with diamonds and bling and stuff like that. I just want to get together and party!

What do yall think?

Oh my gees and I also have to plan my soon to be 3 year old birthday party, this doesnt end does it!

**ps, my camera broke ...boo hoo. It fell out of my hand because it got caught in the door when my Jack closed the door. The LCD is cracked and you cant see a thing. You can still take pictures, you just cant see them =( Im very sad. Hubs is getting it fixed. He bought the new screen and will be fixing it as soon as the screen comes in, thankful he is mechanically inclined! For now it will be the horrific point and shoot!

The Play Club

So as I've said before, there are millions (ok not millions, but lots) of children on our block. They range from babies to about 13 years old. Theres this group of 6 little boys I think they are all about 6 years old give or take a year, who are always playing together ALL THE TIME.

First let me tell you the cutest thing, this all happened yesterday (Sunday), I was outside helping hubs with the lights and watching the boys play outside. Jack was riding his quad down the street and the 2 older boys were riding their bikes. They pass jack and Jack waves and says "hi kids".....how could I not burst out laughing!!!! It had to be the funniest thing Ive heard out of his mouth in a long time and hes a funny guy. Jacks on his quad going about 2 miles an hour and these boys are zooming on by. It was hilarious, picture it.

Ok back to the story, the little boys were all hanging out next door listening to Alvin and The Chipmunks Christmas CD and Jack was over there with them, they had their boom box out (do people even call them that anymore?), their little cars out and stealing pretzels from our garage taking them in their house to warm them, them bringing them back out and offering us some! haha, kids. One little boy came up to me and informed me that Jack is now part of their club, my Jack, my handsome, 2 year old (ok almost 3 year old) baby boy. How could this happen? Dont I have to give permission or something like that? Dont I have to sign a waiver, a release to let him be apart of a "club"? Im not sure I like this club.

Then Jack goes inside to get something to drink and one of the little boys tells me he has something top secret to tell Jack and to tell him to come out. Apparently, the person providing the drinks and pretzels cant know this information because Im older than 12 years old. Right? How lovely, this kid cant even tell if Im older than 12 years old and hes giving my child top secret information.

Oh how Im not ready for kids to be knocking at my door asking if Jack can come out and play and Jack too excited to go out and share all his toys. What about me, am I not good enough to play with any more, oh how I could just cry.

Fine Jack, go, me and Ol will eat cookies all day and reminisce about the good ol' days. Oh ya, Kenzie too! *tounge sticking out*

Christmas Decorating

This weekend we were busy decorating the inside and outside of the house for Christmas. Oh how I love this time of the year! The leaves on the trees are beautiful and the air is crisp and all the houses are looking beautiful. Christmas music is on 24/7 in my home! I have directv so they have the Holly channel that has xmas music on all the time!

I was decorating the inside and then realized I need more decor, so its almost done! My table is almost done too, I just need to add some pretty candles. When Im all done I will post pictures. Im hoping to get my tree this week. I just love the smell of real Christmas trees!

Hubs was working outside on the outside decor and all we have left to do is the icicles on the outside of the house. We now have a two story home and so I am not letting him do them, I am hiring someone to do them. Too dangerous, as Jack would say!

Heres a few funny pics of the weekend!
Here is the mountain man, just looking for trouble!


He also helps decorate.



Jack getting some tools to help.


Jack happy that he was able to get the flashlight!


So far this is what we got! Once its all done I will post another picture of it all lit up!!!!

Thanksgiving

My Thanksgiving was actually very wonderful and tiresome. Wednesday I was baking all day up until 9pm. Hubs didnt end up getting off early like we planned so that I could finish early. So it was me and the boys all day. I was having to take breaks, to take care of them! Who woulda known! Ha. So I ended up opting to wash my floors in the morning.

My mom and dad showed up at 4am and I was unable to go to sleep after I woke up to let them in. Lucky them, they were able to go back to sleep! So I watched a little tv and then I got up and got started on breakfast and washed the floors and finished cleaning downstairs oh ya, and put the Turkey in. Then my mother & father inlaw showed up with cousin, lil sis and lil bro inlaw. My other sis and bro in law showed up and then my actual brother and his girlfriend showed up! I cooked the whole time, everyone wanted to help me but Im weird like that and wouldn't take much help. Needless to say by the end of it all, I was exhausted. The whole time Im drinking this apple cranberry sparkling cider, boy was that delish!

Here is the appetizers, just a little something to keep everyones bellies at bay until dinner, tuna and ham wraps, chocolate covered strawberries, cheese and crackers, sugar cookes, and veggies.


I made:
Mashed Potatoes
The yummiest brown sugared yams, tasted like pumpkin pie! Not a fan of marshmallows on my yams.
Cornbread stuffing with cranberries and apples
bacon and greenbeens
homemade cranberry sauce
Coca cola ham with pineapple and cherries (this went sooo fast)
Oranged glazed apricot turkey
Green Salad

**Ignore my cooking mess in the background!

I just keep it simple because in the end IM left with all the food!!! Luckily everything was eaten and there wasnt much left over! After clean up we were just all sitting around talking, laughing and eating dessert. Jack actually slept through the whole thing, dinner and all!! He did wake up for a little dessert, of course. This is the only picture I got of Jack before nap time, can you tell he was ready?


I swear that sparkling cider made me a little loopy! Too much bubbles, haha.



I was exhausted from cooking, eating and laughing too much. So all the drinkers ended up going to Red Rock to gamble and drink some more and me, hubs and the kids went to bed! Hubs actually didnt, he was their ride!

My daddy getting my father inlaw drunk (they were both already drunk) before carving the turkey! Fun times, you can imaging the talk at the dinner table!


Now its my dads turn!

Oli eating at his own table!


Here is a picture of the newlyweds, my sis and bro inlaw!


It was a great Thanksgiving with my wonderful family, I couldn't have asked for anything better! Definitely looking forward to Christmas. Right now we are in the midst of Christmas decorating, almost done!!!

I hope everyone else had a great Thanksgiving!

My Oli gobbling up his favorite sugar cookies!!!


Me and my sis inlaw!


The next day, I made breakfast then we all went back to Red Rock Casino again and they gambled some more and we hung out in the arcade with the kids! The kids always have sooo much fun there. I really dont remember much after that. I think we all went home and slept! Everyone left before that happened of course!

The kids love driving the cars!


Trying to win!

Tired and eating lunch!

Feed me, feed me, feed me!

A bit of R & R...

So at last, today, I am able to breath and laugh and play with my kids.

Over the past few days it has been stressful and hectic, mainly because I make it that way. Im just that person that gets something in my mind and I need to do it that way. For instance, trying to get all my Christmas Shopping done before the crazy crowds, my days have been filled with Thanksgiving shopping and Christmas Shopping. Then for some reason I decided to re-do my guest bathroom (ala picture below), Im sure that could have waited, but noooo.

Kenzie is not at all a shopper or down with exercise. Walking the mall is absolutely exhausting for me. Doing anything is exhausting for me and makes me extremely stiff and achey. Yesterday, we did so much and so we came back home for a nap (for the boys) then after that was all done we needed to go to Target for the last time! Jack was not happy to go, I felt sooo bad so I bribed him with a movie. Then he was excited, but the excitement didnt last too long! Good thing it was a quick stop, quick but necessary. Then we were home for the night.

TODAY....we stay home!!! Yay! I will be cleaning, washing guest bed sheets, cleaning, cleaning, cleaning. Good thing I cleaned my bathrooms yesterday! Now its just everything else. On top of cleaning, we will be baking, today is only baking. Luckily I have a double oven so cooking tomorrow wont be so hectic! It is a little odd that cleaning and baking is now a form of relaxing.

I was stressing out about the grocery store but I went at 9pm last night and thankfully it was empty! I was shocked and hubs said "well ya, your out shopping while everyones asleep, what do you expect", not the response I was looking for but whatever! Then I cleaned out my refrigerator, like all the left overs from previous meals and such. I told you we are not a left over family, they just end up sitting in the fridge until Im forced to clean them out, yes gross I know. So for thanksgiving, although Im a little scared to do this in Vegas, I normally treat the local homeless.

Me and my brothers girlfriend would pack lots of plates after dinner during dish time and then just drive around looking for the homeless and give them food. I sometimes would help out before hand at the shelters, helping preparing food, picking up donations and stuff. Last year here in Vegas I attempted to but FORTUNATELY, here in Vegas there are lots of helpers already and they were booked solid, so I just donated food. This year, I know, so bad, Im such a horrible person, I havent had the time at all to even think about helping out. I need someone to help me out.

Ok well Ive went on long enough.....hope everyone has a great holiday tomorrow and are lucky enough to spend it with those you love and those that love you!

Some Pics...

Here are some of the pictures of my bathrooms I was telling you about.

This is the upstairs guest/boys bathroom. Again the boys dont use this bathroom but to bathe so I figured having it in monkeys was a bit of a waste. Its really bad lighting so you can't really see how pretty the purple looks but you get the picture. I may, in the near future add some things if I see something but for the most part, here it is!

Heres the guest basket full of a bunch of goodies.


Then my downstairs guest bathroom decorated for the holidays.....



Then I wanted to show you all these CUTE cocktail napkins I got at Pier 1 the other day. They were too cute to pass up!

They say "Wine goes with everything I wear", "Fashion before function", then my favorite is "Born free, now Im expensive"!


Then yesterday I got the chance to add the bowls to my table, so here ya go!

Not Black Friday...Black Tuesday

So I was out and about this morning still trying to get everything ready. We went to Costco, it was complete horror in there, we got there when it opened and it was still a zoo. Dont these people have jobs. I really dont like going to Costco, I really dont think you save money, I think you spend more, but I had to get my dads Christmas present there and a few other things. Then we made our way to Bed Bath and Beyond, another zoo. But I needed to get some curtains for the downstairs sliding door. This time of year is dreadful to be downstairs in the day time, because the way the sun shines in, its not fun. Then I saw some curtains for Kenzies room. They are dreamy....I cant wait to show you! I also got some stuff to redo the guest bathroom. I did have it decorated for the kids but lets get real, they dont care and its a little tacky. So I got some stuff. Oh oh oh oh....I did my downstairs bathroom holidayish, I've got to take a picture of that and show you all, its cute. I dont get too crazy because then it borderlines on looking a little freaky, I think. But its cute. Ill do that later and add it. Then I went to Homegoods looking for some frames and stuff, I got towels and all kinds of goodies.

Yesterday I went to the Fashion Show to do some more Christmas shopping and boy did I! I have hubs just about done. The boys are definitely done! If I see a few things I wont mind getting them for them but Im not going out looking to shop for them. I was able to take advantage of friends and family at Macys and do a presale. I totally recommend it because you save another 25% off and unfortunately I cant take advantage of their coupons they send out because I enjoy not using credit cards. So I get to pick up all that stuff Dec 2. So I go to the craft room/guest room closet to put more of my bags away and its stuffed, I may have to start in on another closet, I really cant walk in there because I already have my scrapbook organizer in there that takes up lots of room.

So I also made it to Pea in a Pod and bought two great pairs of maternity jeans.....Im happy. Then we met up with Hubs and went to eat and Chipotle.

Take a look. Keep in mind, most of it is for the boys. You cant really see it in all its messy glory otherwise you would just see other messes that you dont want to see! haha


Then I thought Id show you my tablescape for thanksgiving. Its just about done, just need to add bowls and silverware. But you get the drift. I have time to show you now, when its done, I doubt there will be much time and I wont be able to show you!

These are the cups I was dying for from Pier 1 and they dont really show up well but its like a brown/black tortoise they call it, kind of looks leopard-ie.





When hubs got home last night and he saw everything, he said, "Im glad you spend our money so well, I mean it looks better here than in our bank!" Glad your so supportive babe! hehe

Tomorrow I will be starting and finishing the desserts. Im making a pumpkin cheese cake, Bayou Banana Pudding and snickerdoodles and sugar cookies that Jack can not wait to help make. Im doing simple and easy, I hate having too much left overs so I think this will be perfect and go quickly. I will also do my chocolate covered strawberries that will go out with a cheese tray, veggie tray, bruschetta and some bit size tuna/chicken salad wraps. Everyone thats coming will be there for breakfast so Im sure Ill have to make a small but might breakfast too or hopefully people will be happy with just bagels and scrambled eggs.

Happy Holidays!!! I will check in later!

So when hubs came home

My Email....

Here it is.....
Obviously I put hubs' real name and the **** stands for the name of the company.
------------------------------------

Scorekeepers, Referees & Tournament Directors,

Hubs and I have received a few requests/questions regarding raises and Im sure the rest of you are thinking it. ***** is in its 3rd season, most of you have been with us for those three seasons and before, to you all we thank you for your hard work and loyalty.

We want you to know that we have no problem giving raises, but in order to give raises and still be able to run a tournament (from a financial point) we would in turn have to raise our tournament fees for our teams. Again, this we dont have a problem doing but we have to be giving them a better product in return. Every season, Hubs, myself and the board members have been working hard to improve our product to keep our clients with us so we can all still be able to do this job, I feel in that perspective we have been successful and we are still working to improve, that will never stop. Im sure you all have noticed with this first tournament a few of the changes, among many others coming.

Now to where it effects you all. Like I said, in order to ask for more we have to give more. Whether for referees it means knowing the rules better, improving your demonor on rink, tying up loose ends (not giving rosters back to scorekeepers unsigned), looking professional/acting profession every tournament, being a leader trying to better your self and your peers. Scorekeepers; always watching the games, not texting during games, making the refs go back to get rosters signed if they didnt succeed the first time, making sure your stats are complete and on time. Tournament directors; no texting, talking with managers/coaches, trying to get to know the people, team work, watching games, getting rosters to scorekeepers at first game, working on updating stats on line, having fun, stuff like this. All these tasks are the job requirements of each job. Most of us can improve. If we do this, our clients will take notice and then when they see the price increase they will say, well you know the referees are the best of youth roller hockey (which I believe we are, lets make them notice), or I do love going to the tournament to see Trish, Danielle, Nancy or whoever, they do make me feel like they are doing all they can for us, or they may just say WIHA's stats are alway correct and I see the scorekeeper involved in the games like we are. Believe me the parents DO watch you all, whether your making a mistake or doing a great job, they take notice as do Hubs and I.

So if your still giving us the same participation and dedication that you did 3 years ago and havent tried to give more, why should our clients pay more for that? You wouldn't.

Remember though, there is a pay scale cap. Just like you can get a job at Burger King flipping burgers and stay there for 15 years and expect to make $100,000. The same goes here. As much as we would love for you all to stay with us until humanly possible, there comes a point where you will be at the max ****offers and it will be up to you to decide whether or not your ready to move on to bigger and better things.

My Weekend

Well my weekend was very eventful and tiring. The start of roller hockey season. So Friday night we drove down to So. Cal and went straight to be being that we had to be up at 3:30 AM, to think I actually missed hockey. Haha. I did.

Let me tell you that my sis inlaw was going to be watching the kids, shes not around kids that much and mine can sometimes (oliver) be high maintenance, not to mention the fact that Oliver and Jack has entered their fighting stage. I. WAS. SCARED. I really thought I would be getting a call to come pick them up because she didnt know what to do, I guess I dont give people enough credit, or my children, because I didnt hear from them all day. I got a few pictures and texts but to my surprise, the kids were exceptional. Don't get me wrong, my kids are very well behaved but its normally when you need them to be normal, they are not. So I was happy to hear that.

We started work at 5AM and ended at 11PM...I was exhausted. When I was pregnant with the boys, working those hours was easy peasy, I went on to work a few days before my due date. Yes, getting from one rink to the next took me a little longer but I was great. So so much with this little girl....not even a few hours in to the day I was a train wreck. I was hurting badly in places I never knew was possible to hurt. The BEST part and the part that made all my hurts go away was seeing all my people. I know Im a little lame that seeing my teams, coaches and team managers made me that happy but I really do enjoy them. We dont only talk hockey, we talk tons of other stuff. They are all moms, obviously, so we talk kids. Everyone was so shocked to see me pregnant again, they can not believe that Im pregnant just about every season. Most of these people have rubbed the pregnant belly that contained Jack! So we are all a close little hockey family and I love it. Another thing I love is the food people bring me, me and the other tournament director have serious food problems. We eat all day, whatever people bring, we eat! Its lots of fun, we listen to music loud, dance and sing. Play with the kids, yell at dumb people. Its really the greatest job anyone can ask for! Which leads me to my next paragraph.

This is an easy job, a fun job, a job. All these people have been with us for over 5 years we are like family. Now people are starting to ask for raises.....yesterday after we got home I was thinking alot about it and started getting angry. Not that I'm opposed to raises because Im not. But I feel that a raise has to be warranted. We have been putting new procedures in place to try and make this tournament series greater and greater and its like pulling teeth to get people to follow through. Everyone always texting and not paying attention. You can text but make sure your work is done and you've mingled and done everything that we are asking of you.

I will post my email to them next and you can let me know what you think. Im also sending out another email to the Tournament Directors because, they expect me and hubs to do everything and thats not flying any more. When me and hubs first started we started out as Tournament Directors (not true hubs was a referee) and there was stuff we had to do that we did not enjoy doing before or after the tournament but it was part of the job and so we did it. Now these Tournament Directors dont know what thats like and when we ask them to put stats up on the website during the tournament, they dont because they are "too busy". Whatever. So we tell them to do it the next day. They are again too busy. So I've had it with that. If you want this easy, great job then you have to also do the nitty gritty. Its part of the territory, so thats another email going to go out that I havent yet drafted. Wish me luck.

So back to Sunday, after I got out of my mood and had ALL the boys down to sleep, I took off to Pier 1 Imports. Thats another favorite store of mine. I bought some decor and other stuff for Thanksgiving and stuff for our guests. Then I went to Target and tried to finish getting more stuff for our guests. I like to entertain, so in the guest bathroom I make sure its stocked with new shampoo, conditioner, toothbrushes, vasoline, lotion, toothpaste, floss, perfume, anything they may need, brushes, mouse, hairspray all that stuff. Then I like to put goodies in the bedroom, like slippers, snacks, just so they can be comfy. So I was busy doing that. When Im not so tired, when Im done setting it up I will take a picture and show ya'll.

So long.....

Well Im grabbing a quick minute to let ya'll know that Ill be MIA for today and the weekend. We are heading out to Office Max to get supplies (oh how I love that store!) and a bunch other errands for the tournament Saturday. I have to come home, clean up, pack us all up then head out to California. Whoo hoo, not!

Oh and guess what? Surprise surprise, babys name has officially been picked! We found lots of names that we like but none that felt right. I felt really weirding calling the baby Shay so obviously it was right. On our way to Dairy Queen I had a talk with the hubs about if it felt right to him and he said that he didnt feel anything and he hasnt felt anything with the other names we've had. I asked how he felt with the boys' names and he said he loved them. Then I went back to my first pick and said "the only name so far that I feel anything for and that feels right to me is Kenzie" Then all of a sudden he said, " I really really like Kenzie and I feel more then I've felt for these other names" So Kenzie it is! Now for middle name, I like Kristiana but thats still up in the air, so we will see. Yay baby Kenzie and it actually feels good!

Ok, my Thanksgiving menu is done! I will do my desserts the day before. We are having lots of people here, something around 13-15 people. Im just about done with my table. Sunday when we get back I will have to take a trip Pottery Barn, Williams Sonoma and Pier 1 Imports to get a few more things, decor. So yay...now whos gonna super duper clean the house? Not I.

Arts and crafts

So for fall there were a few days we did a few fall specific projects. We made Turkeys out of hands and feetsies and went to the park to gather pine cones and then painted them! In this house I HAVE to have everyone on a schedule or else I will go crazy by the otherwise chaos. These are a few of the things we do to waste the day away until the Hubs gets home!

Due to the time change the kids insist on waking up anywhere between 6am-7am. We go down and eat then come and get dressed, we are normally dressed by 8:30am. After this we play, do puzzles, go run errands, go to the park, do crafts and then eat lunch because at around 12:30 -1PM it is nap time. I get about 3 hours to clean and do MY stuff. When the kids wake up they snack and then play outside while Im preparing dinner. This is normally how it goes unless we go somewhere like the mall or something were we wont be back before nap time because the kids have no problem napping in their stroller and that helps me out lots!



This stuff we made at different times and Im so mad that the pictures for this will never be found. Hubs thinks he can erase pictures without checking with me first, assuming I have uploaded them! I am bummed because I got some really cute pictures! Of course you can count on Oli to not want to make a turkey, hes not a crafter, hes a destroyer. And Oli only wanted to paint one pine cone before he was throwing everything on the floor and eating the paint! Thank goodness for non toxic paint!

Victorias Secret Fashion Show

Can we say Yay!!

Im so excited to read about the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show this year. Its always been tradition to finish decorating my Christmas tree while watching and eating cookies. I love the fashion show, I love the music, the lingerie and the models! This year it will be Dec. 1 2009 on CBS.

I had read about it somewhere and it had said that it was doing a Star Wars theme and I was like WHAT? that couldn't be, so I had to investigate. Comes to find out its a “romantic travel” theme and features categories such as Enchanted Forest, All Aboard, and Star Trooper. Thats more like it. I can not wait! Here are a few pictures to hold other fans over!

For Me? Thank You.

As Im sitting here, hurting like a mofo (baby has done something to my legs), when Im active I get very stiff and consequently am then able to do nothing. Unfortunately for my kids, we will not be making it to our almost daily park walk this morning.

Im flipping through some magazines that I get, I get quite a few. Most of which I don't pay for. I really dont know how this happens and it happens every year. Is it just me? Or does the magazine industry just randomly pick people to send their publication to in hopes to get them hooked to subscribe on renewal? I dont know but I like it.

I get Body & Soul...never read it until this past month and its pretty interesting, a real healthy living magazine.

I've received Lucky for a bit, a year to be exact!

I always loved getting this one, but I think it came out quarterly, of course I no longer get this one.

I probably received this one for 3 years, have no clue how and I didnt question it!

I used to get this one last year I think, no I replaced it with US Weekly, in which I pay for!