Morning Routine

Over the past few months I have gotten out of the habit of getting up at 5 in the morning to go to the gym.  Can you blame me?  :)  Instead I have been working out with Jillian at a more reasonable hour (6:30 in the morning) at home.  However, this arrangement has changed our morning routine...

Before, I would get up and go to the gym, come home and get ready, get the kids up and ready for the day, and then we would eat breakfast together.  Now, I get up and work out in our living room, kids wake up, get them ready for the day, feed them breakfast while they sit in front of the TV in my room or in the family room, and then I get myself ready.

I should really get back to the old routine.

Dance Class

Payton wanted to play dance class.  So cute!

Park Play Date

I am so tired!  Crafty Ladies Night was so fun but going to bed at 12:30 am and then getting up at 6:30 this morning...I am getting old.  Ha!  Ha!

My friend Debbie is in town visiting and joined us for our weekly park play date.  It has been great getting to visit with her and see our kids play together.  Sometimes park play dates can be difficult for visiting with friends...for the mommies anyway.  :o)  Payton and Lincoln always seem to go in opposite directions or play on things that I need to be close by and/or helping.  Debbie and I seemed to spend the mojority of the play date on opposite sides of the park.  Oh well, at least the kids have a good time.

Payton and Riley

Lincoln doing what he does best, running.  :o)

Crafty Ladies Night

I love these nights!  "Girls Night Out".  I do admit to rarely being "crafty" at these get togethers but I do enjoy the company.  :o)

Tonight started off the same as it usually does for me.  Talking, visiting, laughing...But I did end up accomplishing something.  Yay!  I was able to sort through our September 2011 pictures, get them backed up on our new external hard drive, and post some of them to Facebook.  I am so awesome!

Kids Craft Group

Some friends of mine, Tess and Tobreth, hosted a Kids Craft Play Date.  We made this cute Halloween banner.  When they sent out the email showing what they were planning I thought this banner was so cute.  It didn' take long for me to realize it wasn't going to look like it did in the pictures.  Payton was going to be putting it together, not me.

We started out doing the witch...I was very hands on.  But as we made the rest I really tried to back off.  It was really hard for me not to "fix" all the things that didn't look exactly like the example.  Guhh.  Anyway, it still turned out pretty cute.  Ha!  Ha!

Taking a break from all their hard work.

The break continued...  Ha!  Ha!

Dance Excitment

Payton came into our bedroom at a quarter to 7 this morning holding her dance leotard asking if she could put it on...What happened to my not before 7 rule?  :o)

She was so excited to go to her dance class.  One of those run through the door, see ya mom moments.  I am so glad she is having fun.

Say cheese!  Entertaining ourselves while waiting for Payton.  Ha!  Ha! 

This morning we made chocolate chip banana bread.  I am planning on taking it to a couple of the ladies I visit teach.  Let's see if it makes it out of the house. :o)

Lincoln added the ingredients.

Payton mixed it all up.  What a team!

Lastly, the pillow...

I put Payton down for "quiet time" and a while later had this prompting to check on her.  When I picked up the monitor I could see Payton doing something but couldn't tell what.  When I went back to her room I discovered that she had turned the little hole in her princess pillow into a big one and had pulled out about half of the pillows stuffing.

I remembered the wise words from my mother-in-law.  Take a picture before you react. 

When asked why she did that she responded, "I don't know."

Birthday Dinner

Michelle was out of town for my birthday and so I told Dave that we should have a "Birthday" dinner when she got back.  Dave caught on real quick that I was just trying to extend my birthday celebration out as long as I could.  Ha! Ha!  Anyway, tonight we had Ralph, Michelle, Ashley, Rob, and Keri over for dinner to celebrate my birthday yet again.  :o)

Dave barbqcued some awesome pork chops, Ashley made S'more cupcakes, and Keri brought chocolate mint cookies.  I am going to use a phrase my mother just told me and is totally fitting here, "a mouthful of yumminess."

Dave took some pictures of us enjoying the S'more cupcakes.  NONE of them are good but I thought, what the heck I will throw then in.  Good times!

I especially love this one...

Pool Play Date

I was so happy when Aimee announced that we were going to be having a pool play date today.  It was so hot.  When I stopped by my parent's house the temperature gauge read 103!

The water felt so good and made being outside barable.  I didn't even realize it was as hot as it was until we left the pool. 

Payton swam all over the pool with her puddle jumper floaty on and Lincoln actually did really well with some simple water wings.  I had him throw one of his little balls and them swim for it.  Each time I would help him less and less and the last couple of times I wasn't hanging on to him at all.  He didn't go very far but he didn't freak out either.  :o)  Awesome!

I was also so happy when I found out Aimee made one of my favorite desserts, Peanut Butter Bars.  Yummm.  :o)

Park Play Date

Our Bernal Ward play dates have changed from Wednesday to Thursday starting this week.  So Lincoln and I picked up Payton from preschool and headed over to the park.  Today the play group was pretty small but the kids still had a great time.

For some reason today the kids got super dirty.  OK so the reason could have been because Lincoln and one of the other little boys discovered and patch of dirt and decided it would be fun to roll around in it.  Ha! Ha!  When Lincoln and Payton got in the bath the water turned brown.  Yikes!  Yuck!  :o)

State Farm

For the past several weeks, while we are having breakfast, a State Farm commercial always comes on.  And every morning Payton asks, "What is State Farm?"

Today we stopped by Auntie Jen's kitchen to pick up some Fro Yo.  As we were leaving Payton starts this conversation.

P:  Auntie Jen has to make my wedding cake.
K:  Oh, I am sure she would love to.
P:  Yeah, because I am going to have a big party with flowers, and balloons...
K:  That sounds like a lot of fun.
P:  Yup.  Hey mom.
K:  Yeah.
P:  If you are looking for a better state, State Farm.
K: LOL

Dentist

Payton and I had dentist appointments today. 

She was nervous.  This wasn't her first time to the dentist but I don't think she really remembered the last time she went.  The whole way to the appointment she went on and on about not wanting to go.

She watched me get me teeth cleaned and by the time it was her turn she was a lot less nervous.  However, not quite ready to sit in the chair by herself so she sat in my lap.  Unfortunately, I do not have any pictures of her getting her teeth cleaned.

She did really well.  The hygenist was awesome with her and started by explaining everything she did while they were doing it on me so she could see what it was all about. No Cavities!!!

As we left, she said she wouldn't be scared next time we came and that she wanted to be the person to help Lincoln not be scared.  She is so cute.

Hair, Dance Stuff, and Blood Draining

This morning Lincoln and I dropped Payton off at preschool and headed off to get Lincoln a haircut.  As you can tell he was totally excited.  Ha!  Ha!

We decided to go a little shorter so we could spike his hair.  It is totally cute.  He looks like a little boy instead of a baby boy.  My baby is growing up. 

After we picked Payton up from preschool we started the search for her dance attire. Payless Shoes had her tap and ballet shoes, Target had her leotard, and we are still on the look out for a pair of dance tights. After visiting 4 different stores we decided to call it quits for the day.

Payton was so excited to get her tap and ballet shoes. She was telling the sales lady all about her class while prancing up and down the isle. Then when we got to Target and were looking at the leotards she picked out on she liked and that was it. No need to look at any others.  She danced and twirled in front of the mirror saying, "I am so cute. I am so pretty." Ha! Ha! I wish I would have had a video camera.

Lastly came the blood drive. My friend Jessie and I both wanted to donate and scheduled our times so that we could watch each others kiddos while the other person was "being drained". I am glad it all worked out so that we could both participate.  As usual, my favorite part was the treats!  :o)

My Little Dancing Diva

We enrolled Payton in the "Little Dancing Divas" class through the Southside Community Center.  She loved it!  We have been wanting to enroll her in a class for a long time but I just didn't know where to start looking. 

I love that this class is so close to our house.  I am excited that it was affordable.  And I loved seeing the smile on Payton's face when she was showing Dave all that she learned.  I only wish they would let the parents sit in the room and watch them during the class.  I peeked through a window and tried to watch and take pictures. I am excited to see their little recital at the end of the class.

Yes, she was in flip flops.  I am going to have to go and buy tap shoes and ballet shoes.  Ha!  Ha! As well as some kind of dance leotard.  Who knew?

Today we also started "Marble Jars".  My friend Sara told me about how they do Marble Jars at their house.  When the kids do certain things (make their bed, take their dishes to the sink, are reverent during prayers, etc.) they get get a marble to put in their jar; but, if they do other things (push, hit, whine, etc.) they have to take a marble out.  The goal is to fill their jar with marbles to get a "prize" or "reward".  I thought this would be a fun thing to try. 

Payton and Lincoln were super excited about the marbles and the jars.  They had big smiles on their faces tonight as they dropped the marbles they earned in their jars.
  

 
We have been doing a responsibility chart with Payton for the past few months and she really enjoys doing it, so I think this will go over big with her.  Lincoln has been wanting to have his own responsibility chart and always asks to do "dots" when Payton is doing hers.  Unfortunately, we have not been able to find a responsibility chart for Lincoln that isn't "girly" (according to Dave).  Ha!  Ha!  So I think this will go over big with him too.  :o)

Their Marble Jars with their selected rewards. 

A Haircut and La Fondue

I got my hair cut!  Well, I got it trimmed.  Ha!  Ha!  You can barely tell that I did anything, I am just excited because it looks so much more healthy.  No split ends!  Yes!

I really liked the place I went.  I had heard of it through some friends of mine at a play group.  Both of the girls I know that went were happy with their hair cuts and were very excited about the price.  :o)  I decided to try it out for myself and I am so glad that I did.  The cut was only $15 dollars and the lady did exactly what I wanted.  Sweet!

Dave took me out for a special dinner at La Fondue for my birthday.  So much food!  All of it so good, but who are we kidding I am there for the chocolate.  Ha!  Ha!  We usually to the combination dinner.  You choose a cheese fondue, a salad, MEAT and how you want to cook it, and finally a chocolate fondue.  We decided to try the Mediterranean Cheddar for the cheese, it was really good.  Dave discovered that he liked the little pearl onions dipped in the cheese.  Hmmm.  My favorite was the bread and the apples.  The salads are always good and way huge.  We usually grill our meat but decided to shake things up and try a new way of cooking, so we boiled...I think we will stick to grilling.  It was OK, but so much better when grilled.  I did venture out a little and tried something new, not ostrich or alligator but I did try buffalo.  For the chocolate we got the milk chocolate with toffee bits in it.  Mmmmmm.  My favorite dippers were the bananas, strawberries, and rice crispy treats (I got seconds). :o)

The food was really good but I also had fun just hanging out and spending the evening with my hubby.  He is such an awesome guy!

Happy Birthday to me!

I had so much fun today.  It did start off a little rough with some tag team tantrums but turned around rather quickly and ended awesome.

We went down for a play date at Aimee's house in Gilroy.  Had a great time watching the kiddos play and visiting with friends.  They even had a couple of cream pies for dessert, stuck a candle in one of them, and sang Happy Birthday to me.  How cool is that?

The kids and I ended up staying at Aimee's house for a little while.  The kids watched a movie and we got to visit and catch up.  I just love our little chats!

The plan for the evening was to go to Olive Garden for dinner with the family.  I had intended on getting to the restaurant around 5:30 to hopefully save everyone from having to wait for a table.  But as usual I tried to fit too many things into too small of a time frame and ran late.  We ended up pulling into the parking lot of Olive Garden at 5:55 and having to wait an hour for a table.  As least we had plenty of time to visit.  :o)

Always gotta have one of these pictures in there.  :o)

 The kids had so much fun running up and down this little patch of grass in front of Olive Garden.  I am glad they are easily entertained.

Jen made my cake as usual and as usual she out did herself again.  She made a cake with all of my favorite things that I have been trying to avoid while watching the calories.  Ha! Ha!  Yup, I took Payton to the bathroom and when I came back there was this awesome cake on the table.

Loved the note!

It was a Chocolate Faustine Cake (my favorite) with brownies, chocolate chip cookies, and mint chocolate chip ice cream (Just kidding it was mint chocolate chip butter cream frosting.  Doesn't it look like ice cream).  I even asked her how she kept the ice cream from melting.  Heck our servers asked how she kept it from melting.  She set it out before our food came so that would have to look at it through the entire meal.  However, she didn't think how hard it would be for the little guys to sit and stare at it while eating dinner.  Ha!  Ha!  Lincoln wanted a cookie so bad.  You can see that he had already snuck a few pieces from the side of the cake.  When I stopped him he got down from his seat and walked all the way around the table to try and sneak some from the other side.  This was his face when he got caught.  He is so adorable!

The Happy Birthday song was well done!  It sounded so pretty, almost like we had a table full of professional singers.  :o)

I am so glad that the majority of our family is so close that we can all get together and celebrate birthdays and other fun things.

Digital Scrapbooking

My friend, Sara, offered to help me learn a few techniques to digital scrapbooking.  Today was the day.  Yay!  I have been so excited to do this.  I had planned to go over and be prepared with my laptop and the scrapbooking stuff already on my computer.  I totally forgot everything and came unprepared.

Even though I was unprepared, it was great.  I learned a lot of cool techniques and am excited to start using them.  If only I could decide on where to start. :o)  Payton's baby book may be as good a place as any.

I don't know how teachers do it.  All I am trying to do is teach Payton to write her letters and Lincoln to recognize the letters.  You would think I am trying to teach them Algrebra or something.  I am convinced they are playing stupid just to get me frustrated.  How hard is it to write a "c"?  I know I shouldn't show my frustration, but it is so hard.  I feel bad because both of them are so excited to do "school" everyday.  I don't want them associating my teaching them something with negativity.  Guhh.  I need to go online and search tips for teaching toddlers. 

Play Date at the Park

I have to admit that yesterday started off great but then ended horribly (there were screaming kids and I am not quite sure how we got to where we did).  It was amazing how different Monday was from Tuesday.  Last night I was a little nervous about what today would bring.  Fortunately, my luck was back and we had another great day.

Lincoln put his pants on all by himself!  They were his pajama pants and they were on backwards but he got them on all by himself.  I was surprised and excited.

The battle every morning is trying to get Lincoln dressed.  He just wants to spend each and every day in his pajamas.  This morning was no different.  I decided instead of battling right away I would let him run around in his pj's while I finished getting ready.  A few minutes after he had put on his pants and I had gone back into my bathroom to get ready I hear Payton talking to him and asking him what he wanted to where.  Next thing I know Payton is dressing Lincoln and there is no complaining.  Funny how that worked.  Maybe that can be one of Payton's responsibilities.  Ha!  Ha!

We spent what seemed like the majority of our awake day at Los Paseos Park.  I almost didn't go today because of how yesterday turned out but with some convincing from Dave I went ahead and took them.  They had a great time.  Payton is so fun to watch, running all over the park with her friends.  Lincoln is fun to watch too but he definitely scares me sometimes.  He loves following Payton around and I will catch him climbing on the big playground equipment.  He just seems too little to be climbing up some of that stuff or going down some of those bigger slides.  The boy has no fear.

Birthday Breakfast

I was so excited when I got the text message from my friend Jessie asking if I had eaten breakfast yet and if I wanted to go out to breakfast to celebrate our birthdays, her birthday is on the 15th and mine is on the 16th.  Yes!  Yes! Yes!  I threw calorie counting to the wind and ate pancakes, eggs, bacon, and hashbrowns.  Yummy!  I am so glad she thought to ask.  It was a great start to my day and hopefully hers.  :o) 

I get these emails from HungryGirl.com.  They give ideas for low calorie meals as well as lower calorie options for your favorite foods.  It was here I found the low calorie pasta that I have grown to love.  Since I have been watching my calories I have been looking for a lower calorie peanut butter.  I love peanut butter and eat it often, I eat it on my pancakes, waffles, french toast, sandwiches, fruit, etc.  It just makes everything taste better. 

The other day I got an email from HungryGirl.com talking about peanut butter and bacon.  I was so excited.  They talked about two different brands of peanut butter that were around 50 calories per serving as compared to the usual 180 calories.  I was very excited but a little wary when I found out it was a powder that you add water to.  I found a store that carried it and thought it was worth a shot.  My first reaction is that it is not horrible.  I tried it on some toast.  I think I added too much water so I am interested to try it with less water added.  I am also interested to try it in a recipe.  Can you say peanut butter bars?  :o)

An Awesome Day. So Far...

Today has been pretty alright.  We didn't have anywhere to go today.  Awesome!  For the most part crying, whining, and fighting has been to a minimum.  :o)

Today we started doing a little "schooling" at home.  Payton has shown a lot of interest in writing lately.  She can now write her name without having to copy it!  Amazing!  Anyway, I asked her if she wanted me to teach her how to write a new letter every day.  She was very excited about that.  I figured that while she was learning to write Licoln could be learning to recognize the same letters.

I gave each of them their very own three ring binder with paper in it and each their very own special pencil.  Payton chose a Dora pencil and Lincoln chose a baseball pencil.  For Payton I showed each step to making the letter on a different line so that she could practice each step of writing the letter a few times.  We are going to work on both the "big" (uppercase) and "little" letters (lowercase).  She did great!  Lined paper doesn't reall seem to mean much to her right now but she was successful in writing the upper and lowercase "a" several times.  To give her incentive to keep trying I told her that when she completed a line she got to put a "good job" sticker at the end of it.  I didn't get a picture of her with her first sheet but I will try and get one tomorrow with her "b" page.

Lincoln did great as well.  He needed a little more encouraging than Payton did.  Ha! Ha!  For him I wrote the upper and lowercase "a" at the top of the page.  Then I put the "a" in a grouping of three letters like c a t and tried to have him point to the letter "a".  After a few minutes of trying different things we tried having him put a sticker on the letter "a".  That worked!  I had four groupings for the uppercase "a" and four groupings for the lowercase letter "a".  Probably should do less groupings to match up with his attention span.  :o)

After "school" we read a couple of books and then went outside to play.  I pulled out the water table, they were so funny to watch.  Payton has always climbed up into the water table to play in it instead of standing on the side and playing.  Lincoln has followed her example and now does the same.

Lincoln is learning or perfecting his skill at pouring liquids.  He goes from pouring the water into another container, then to pouring it on his head, and finally to Payton "helping" him pour it on his head.  Ha!  Ha!  What was really funny was when he realized the water was cold.  :o)

I love this picture!

Second Sunday

Dinner at my parent's house tonight for our monthly second Sunday family dinner.  I just love it when I do not have to come up with and then prepare something for dinner.  Ha!  Ha!

My job was desserts.  I made brownies and rice crispy treats.  Yummers!  Why do I volunteer for this kind of stuff?  I get all the leftovers.  Oh well, I guess I know what I will be having for breakfast tomorrow.  :o)  A girls gotta do what a girls gotta do.  Sorry Jillian, we can't let all that go to watse.

The kids must of had a blast playing together.  They pulled out as many toys as they were allowed.  I tried to get a picture of the room before they started cleaning up but didn't get in there in time.  It would have been classified as a disaster area.

Payton had a little accident while we were there.  Gasp!  She made it to the bathroom but didn't get onto the potty in time.  :o(  I guess it is bound to happen once in a while.  I was pround of myself, I didn't get mad or raise my voice.  I just gave her a little bath and talked about heading to the bathroom when we first have to go instead of waiting until we have to go so bad that we can't make it.  I need to pay more attention to when she goes.  It seems like if I don't remind her she will go when she wakes up and then again before she goes to bed.  That girl is a camel, I don't know how she does it.  It must come from the Ahlgren side of the family. 

Entertaining Family

Dave and I decided that today was the perfect day to BBQ and had our families over for dinner.  I am so glad our families live so close and that we all get along!  Otherwise this evening could have been really awkward.  Ha!  Ha!

We were able to test out our new patio furniture with a large party.  It passed the test with flying colors.  We fit 9 people around it with no problems.  I love those chairs, they are so comfortable. 

My mom makes these appetizers that are to die for.  I tasted them for the first time yesterday when I was over to her house and have been craving them ever since.  It is a slice of Zucchini, a slice of Tomato, Basil, and then some secret dressing drizzled over the top.  Lick your lips and fingers good.  I told her that the only thing that would make it better would be a little mozzerella cheese on top.  Yummers!  So tonight when she asked if she could bring anything I said, "Yes!"  She came and even made some with the mozzerella cheese.  I was right, it was goooooood.  I am going to have to get the secret dressing recipe.  I have asked twice, we will see if the third time is a charm.  :o)

Payton was our photographer for the evening.  She did pretty good.  It is fun to see the evening through the eyes of a 3 year old.  Here are a few of her good ones.

Right before bed we found Payton and Lincon in her room watching a show or something on her Nook.  It was so cute.  I am so glad they like each other.