Demolition Men

We moved into this house about 7 years ago. 

In the winter.

Little did we know that the backyard was not covered in luscious, green grass come spring and summer.  Oh no, it was covered in lovely weeds. 

Anthony tried his hardest to keep the ‘lawn’ mowed and looking nice.  Well, as nice as trimmed weeds can look.  I mean, there’s only so much you can do. 

The plan was to put grass in ‘next summer’.  That was the plan….. every summer!

Um, yeah.  Next summer never came.  We just kept trying to keep it looking… reasonable.  But it wasn’t.  It just became a giant potty pad for the dog.  Landmines… everywhere.  Until now. 

I’M SO EXCITED!! 

One day, very soon, my kids will have a real yard to play in.  They might actually prefer the backyard to the front. 

A couple weeks ago we rented a tractor.  Is it a tractor?  A contraption of some sort anyway. 

Good thing I wasn’t in charge of it.  I don’t even know what it is.  All I know is that 1) Anthony gutted the entire yard, 2) the boys thought they were in some sort of heaven with that thing here, and 3) we have been waiting for an opportunity to get rid of that stupid shed for YEARS.  We never used it, it was full of the previous owner’s garbage, and I wouldn’t have been surprised if there was a dead cat or two in there.  Plus the roof may as well have not been there at all.  The hole in it was about the size of a giant beach ball.  A highly effective piece of tin that shed was.

Doesn’t my Afony look hot from behind?  {Mom, don’t read this!} He looks good from the front, too but seriously…

This is how the kids watched much of the action.

Even Moe got excited about his new play area.  {Have I ever introduced you to Moe?  I think not.}  Blogland, this is Moe. 

He’s our doofus.  But we love him.  Except when he gets into the garbage and chews up diapers.  Or when he darts out the front door because the kids left him an opportunity to do so.  Luckily, his bad hips have slowed him down enough in the past several months that K is able to catch up with him so he doesn’t end up running the neighborhood.  Or at the pound.

This is the boys… in Seventh Heaven!  They were devastated when we had to take it back the next day.  Every day since, C has asks when we’re going to buy our own.

I can’t tell you how excited we all are at the thought of an actual yard.  One that we can play in and entertain in.  What will we do with ourselves?  Guess I better add ‘Doody Duty’ to the chore list, eh? ;)

Deck railing coming this summer, too.  Now if only we could afford a new fence between us and the back door neighbor.  He hates us!  (Actually, he hates Moe.)  UGH!

Twist Bun {no bobby pins!}

There are so many wonderful websites out there for doing little girls’ hair.  And I love every hairdo I see.  But I am definitely not a hair mom. 

I think my fingers lack the dexterity needed to accomplish all the twisting, turning, braiding, etc… needed for all those fancy hairdos.  Not to mention, it takes me about a year and half just to complete one of those dos.  Um, yeah, just not my thing.  (I do everything slow… just ask my mom.)

But hey, I’ve got the side ponytail, regular ponytail, flip ponytail, pigtails, and the small french braid across the top (headband style) leading into a ponytail down PAT! 

Yep, I can do a mean ponytail!  ;)

I can also do a twist braid and the occasional bun.  But most of the time, as I’ve mentioned before, you wouldn’t even know that we own a brush.

Seriously.

My kids look like ragamuffins quite often.  K’s hair isn’t too bad.  It’s pretty straight so it lays pretty when it’s brushed.  A and H, however (and I should include myself), have some wicked frizzy waves going on.  It doesn’t look too bad on the girls the day of their shower.  The day after is another story.  They can brush it a hundred times and within 20 minutes it looks like they haven’t touched it.  As for me, if I leave my hair alone straight out of a shower I end up looking like a guy…. with long hair.  It’s scary.  Let’s move on.

So, on a whim a couple weeks ago we did this bun in A’s hair for dance. 

She has joined K in Jazz class playing “Annie” in their ‘Let’s Go to The Movies’ dance.  I originally just did a simple twist braid but she didn’t like that it whipped her in the face when she did turns so I put it into the bun.  The moms at dance were asking how I did her cute bun.  They couldn’t believe I didn’t have a single bobby pin in it. 

Since that day, both A and H have asked for this hairdo several times.  They think it’s so pretty.  And I am asked just about every time we do it how it was done. 

Let me just tell you… it couldn’t be simpler!  You’ll probably laugh at my ‘attempt’ at doing hair and posting it as a blog entry. 

But here goes nothin’.

PLEASE START WITH WET HAIR.  AND THE NEWER THE PONYTAIL HOLDER, THE BETTER. 

First you want to gather all the hair into a regular ponytail.  Then you divide it into two sections, twist them both in the same direction, then twist both pieces together the opposite way.  This creates the twist braid (but you probably already knew that).  Finish it off with a ponytail holder.  Note:  The finished product will look better if you use a much smaller ponytail holder on the end.  I just didn’t have one.

Now take the twist braid and wrap it around the original ponytail, starting at the top and twisting around.  Tuck the end in as well as you can.  Then add another large ponytail holder around the entire bun.  Twist it once and wrap around a second time.  This will secure the bun into place. 

And there you have it!  Fast, easy, and pretty without much fuss at all.  That’s my kind of hairdo! 

Here is H’s twist bun adorned for St. Patrick’s Day.

 

 

Birthday Boys!! 5 & 3

My two oldest boys are lucky enough to share a birthday month with their daddy, whom they absolutely adore!  We thought maybe that’s how boys came for us… have a baby in March and it will be a boy!  Obviously that’s not the case.  Baby B was born in November (see part 1 and part 2)  So that’s not it.  It’s one of a few things.  Either they like sharing a birth month with a parent (I’m in November with Baby B), girls are born in odd years and boys are born in even years, or the fact that all the girls were born in temporary conditions (housing-wise… each in a different apartment) and the boys were all born while we’ve lived in this home.  {Yes, we think too much.}

Or maybe it’s the way Heavenly Father planned it ;)

Whatever the case may be, C and B get to share the month with daddy.  We always celebrate them all together because it’s easier that way, not to mention less expensive.  This year C insisted on having his own Monster Truck party.  He didn’t want to share with B.  Sharing with dad was fine, but not with B. 

In the end, however, we finally talked him into sharing and they agreed on a Dump Truck party.  Why a Dump Truck party?  I have no idea.  Why is the sky blue?

We decided to hit the zoo beforehand.  My sister gave us an annual pass for Christmas and the weather was perfect!  Besides, we hadn’t yet seen the not-so-new exhibit, Rocky Shores.  It was pretty awesome!

We all had a great time.  Everything went perfectly and no one got lost! 

Ok, ok.  It went something like this {I’m such a terrible liar!} … First we hit up the Radio Disney crew.  That was fun.

A couple of birthday boys chose to opt out of the fun and play it cool on the sidelines.

After that we headed over to the Primate Building.  Then on to the elephants.  K was so excited to get over there because she had brought her sketch pad.  She wanted to draw Zuri, the baby elephant, though I suppose you might call her a toddler by now.  She sat and sketched, I sat and nursed on a separate bench across the exhibit, everyone else wandered on a bit further and I followed once the baby was done.  I had supposed everyone, including K, had moved on.  We had quite the crowd with us. 

Soon after the rhinos our large group split into two.  Half of them had stopped for something to eat without the rest of us realizing it so we thought they had moved on.  I had seen my other two girls with my mom so I knew they were fine.  They were with their cousins and having fun, I was sure.  Anthony and I still had all three boys and my sister was with us.  I kept trying to call my mom and my cousins just to be sure but no one was answering. 

So, long story short, we finally met up at the new exhibit and realized that we had assumed K was with the other group and they had assumed she was with us.  It had been at least 45 minutes since we had seen the elephants. 

Anthony, my dad, and my sister all went to look for her and there she was… still at the elephants… and extremely frustrated.  Not scared, just frustrated.  And rightfully so!  But by golly!!  She did exactly what we’ve always told her to do, STAY IN ONE PLACE! 

And for what it’s worth, she did get to see the trainers feed the elephants and make them do tricks. 

MOM OF THE YEAR AWARD GOES TO…… um, let’s talk about that later.

First let’s look at a few pictures.

NOW we can talk about that award.  No points for me at the zoo but let’s look at the party itself.

The girls and I are taking cake decorating lessons from a fabulous lady in our ward so we took it upon ourselves to make the boys some perfectly boyish, dump truckish dirt cups!

Uum, Brooke, what in the world does that have to do with cake decorating lessons? 

Absolutely nothing except that I was so sick of eating cake at that point that I had to do something different!  And yes, we put candles in the dirt cups.  They totally went with the dump truck!!

Can I have that award yet?  Am I disqualified for not having actual cake? 

The boys were sooo excited when they were finally able to take their new dump truck outside to play in the dirt hill after the party.  (More about why we have a dirt hill soon.)

Some fun things about C:

• Almost always tells me when he needs to go potty, even if he has to go out of his way to find me.  (Just GO, for crying out loud.)
• Says “Yes, sir” or “Yes, ma’am” if you ask him to do something… except he says, “Yes, Man!” for ma’am. 
• Has a very specific routine for just about everything.
• Tells people he loves, “I like you” and has more recently been saying, “I like you and I love you, too.”
• Laughs hysterically at potty humor (must be a boy thing).
• Really likes the Ripley’s Believe It or Not book that we have.  “It has a disgusting lady, huh mom.”  (A lady with piercings all over her face)
• Adores his baby brother and protects him from the tyrant that is B. 
• Loves when K will play with him.
• Loves to help in the kitchen when I let him.
• My favorite recent quote:  Don’t worry (to Baby B), I’m gonna be a daddy soon and you will be a C.
• Another favorite quote:  I’m gonna go live with Grandma and Grandpa (my parents) because they didn’t get a kid yet.  They need a kid.

Some fun things about B:

• Still drops the F-bomb when trying to say ‘Look’.
• Thinks he’s hilarious (sometimes he really is) and will run away laughing hysterically when he’s done something he knows is naughty.
• Bites the corners of pillows and blankets.  It’s his trademark. 
• Loves to play pretend and be different people.  His favorite people to be are Dad, Papu (pah-poo… my dad), and Pops (Anthony’s dad). 
• When pretending to be Papu he is always carrying a ‘Pepsi’ (usually water).  (Seriously, my dad ALWAYS has a Pepsi!)
• Favorite recent quote:  Mom, what time is it?  (As if the time really means anything to a 3-year old)

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

There’s a war going on in my house.  And it’s all because Anthony’s taste buds are dying? dead? deranged? insane? disturbed?

I don’t know, all I know is they’re just not right!  Pumpkin is one of the best flavors in the world when paired with sugar… and chocolate chips (unless it’s pie, because… EW!).  But seriously, it causes me much anguish that he doesn’t love pumpkin the way I do. 

Maybe I should have screened him better before entering into this lifelong commitment… I kid, of course ;)

Every time I make a pumpkin dish (besides pie because he already likes the pie) I force it down his throat and I just know that this will be it!!  This will be the time that he says, “WOW!  That is great!  I love it, give me more.” 

No such luck.  He always politely eats (if you can call his unacceptance as ‘polite’… psh!) and then says something like, “I just don’t love that flavor combo.”

Who is this man? 

Ugh! 

Anyway, I found a recipe that I LOVE!  (Original recipe found HERE) I modified it slightly because the original recipe made a gigantic batch and I like my pumpkin treats to be full of spicy flavor.  And I lowered the temp of the oven as well.

These are TO DIE FOR, moist and delicious!  I promise you’ll love them (unless you’re my husband, then you’re just a weirdy! ;))

Mix together the following:

• 1 c. softened butter
• 1 1/2 c. sugar

Add:

• 3 eggs
• 2 tsp. vanilla

In a separate bowl, combine:

• 2 1/4 c. flour
• 1 1/2 - 1 3/4 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 - 3/4 tsp. cloves
• 1/2 tsp. ginger
• 1/2 tsp. allspice
• 1 tsp. nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

Add to butter/sugar/egg mixture and mix…

Add:

• 15 oz. pumpkin puree

Once all is combined well, stir in:

• 1 1/2 c. chocolate chips

Bake at 325* for about 20-25 minutes.  This made 24 muffins. 

{Don’t forget to enter to win a 1-year subscription to BYOU magazine.  Click here}

BYOU Magazine Review & Subscription Giveaway

I was given the opportunity to review a magazine aimed at young girls… tweens, and share my thoughts.  It was a no brainer for me to accept this opportunity when they told me it was a magazine focused on trying to empower young girls and build their confidence in just being themselves.



Young girls seem to have worldly views thrown at them from every direction and it’s so hard in those critical tween years to decipher good from bad.  It’s hard to know when you’re giving in to peer pressure and when you’re standing on your own to feet.  All of it seems to run together. 

I remember those years and wanting so badly to fit in, have more friends, be popular…  I don’t that I could have told you who I was.  Most of my rough times came during the early teen years but I think if I had been confident enough in myself before the teens hit, I could have fared much better. 

Anthony and I try really hard to help our impressionable daughters understand that everyone is different.  Everyone is gifted and carries different talents.  Sometimes those talents are hard to recognize in ourselves.  I think we’ve done an ok job, thus far, at helping our kids recognize their own abilities where they excel but sometimes having an outside source is extremely helpful. 

Enter, BYOU! 



It’s a cute little magazine with some really great stories.  I asked each of the girls what parts they really liked after reading it.  A really liked the Q and A sections.  K liked stories (especially the one with Olivia Holt).  We don’t actually know who she is because I don’t allow much TV.  Sorry to all you Disney lovers… I’m not a huge fan.  However, her story was fun to read.  She was bullied a bit through school but persevered. 

H is still a little young to fully enjoy the magazine.  She was still able to enjoy bits of it here and there.



There are fun little sections on how to run a business, quizzes to take (those were always my favorite part of any magazine growing up), and even a ‘Dear Abby’-ish section.  Questions are answered by two different people so the kids get two different perspectives. 

Now, if I’m being honest (which I am!) I would have to say that the price is a little hefty for my liking.  There are 6 issues per year.  You can check out their website, here for pricing and more info.  But I will say that I enjoy the magazine for what it is intended for… Being YOU!  I think it sends a great message in a way that young girls can really relate to.

Here’s the fun part!!  They are allowing me to give away a 1-YEAR SUBSCRIPTION to a reader.  There are plenty of ways to enter.  Good LUCK!

 
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Chicken Fajitas

The other day I realized that I hadn’t made chicken fajitas for way too long.  They are seriously amazing and my whole family LOVES them!  It’s now on our regular rotation for dinner… again.  (Forgive the picture.  I didn’t stage it.  Just took a pic last minute :))

 

• 1/4 c. olive oil
• 1/3 c. lemon juice (or juice of 1 fresh lemon)
• 1 large onion, diced
• salt to taste (about 1/2 tsp.)
• 2 tsp. chili powder (or more if you prefer, we keep it right at 2)
• 1 1/2 tsp. dried oregano
• 1 tsp. thyme
• 3-4 cloves of garlic, minced
• 4 c. cooked, shredded chicken
• 1 red pepper, cut into strips
• 1 green pepper, cut into strips
• tortillas

Mix olive oil, lemon juice, onion, salt, chili powder, oregano, and thyme in a large frying pan.  Cook over medium heat until onion is tender but still has a bit of a crunch.  Add garlic.  Add chicken and cover to cook for about 10-15 minutes. 

Add peppers and toss until they are still crisp but tender.  You don’t want them to be mushy.

Serve on warmed tortillas with your choice of garnishments:  cheese, sour cream, guacamole, salsa

Recipe source:  The Diet Rebel’s Cookbook

New Beginnings

Why does the title look misspelled?  Beginnings… hmm, I guess that’s right.  Spell check knows all.  ;)

K was invited to New Beginnings at church.

NEW BEGINNINGS!!  Do you know what this means?  I’m OLD!  It also means that K will be 12 this year and entering Young Women’s. 

So weird.  (I swear I was just entering Young Women’s a year or two ago. :/)

Anthony and I were invited (as were all the other parents).  It was so fun to see K be presented with a crown and beads.  The theme was ‘royalty’.  We are all royalty in God’s eyes.  We are his princesses.  There were a couple of talks given and they were powerful.  Integrity and Virtue…. what are they and how do we apply them to our lives and our character. 

The program was short and simple. 

K with the other two girls being welcomed this year.  One of them is her best friend, on the right.

And this is the other best friend.  They can’t wait to join her in YW. 

You can’t tell from the picture since they are sitting down but they are both significantly taller than K.  She’s not short, just average.  They just happen to be super tall!

I’m pretty sure I look amazing in this one.  Do you love the bunched up skin on my neck/cheek?  Me too.

We were supposed to do a silly one first then we BOTH would kiss her on the cheek in the next one.  Anthony totally ruined it!  The punk!  :)  K is absolutely embarrassed about this picture.  Don’t tell her I used it… she’ll be mortified.  **Enter evil laugh**

We’re both so stinkin’ proud of the beautiful young woman that K is becoming.  She is talented beyond measure and knows how to make anyone feel loved and needed.  She’s a shining example of how to be a real friend. 

Keep it up, K!  We sure love you!!