How Summer is treating us so far...

We are in our second week of Summer around here and so far, so great. I LOVE Summer. Bottom line.

Isabel, Nico and I were alone on Memorial Day (womp womp), so we decided to head out for a drive and a picnic lunch. We ended up near the Salt River and got some fresh air. We weren't out long and we didn't do much, but it was nice to be out and about and not stuck in the house.

This past weekend, we were at Wal-Mart and I decided to grab a few family games. Which is totally against my better judgement, seeing how any and all board games we've ever owned were ruined by some kids I know. Money lost, pieces in the trash, boards colored on, etc. But since they ARE 18, 15 and 7... I thought I would try them out one more time. And it's been worth it!!

Besides Monopoly Empire (which is different than the original), we also purchased Yahtzee and Uno.  I think all the games have been great for Nic... counting, reading, learning to be a super winner and not a sore loser.

Last night, Alex had his friend Jose over, so we played a few rounds of Uno. I am pretty much a champ. :)

Finally.... as far as updates go... Alex has a new job!

Not really  his name badge, Photoshopped it for the sake of this post.

This is a blessing for us/him. It's regular hours (if you count 4pm-1am regular)... guaranteed 32 hours a week unloading trucks at Wal-Mart. He's nearly done with school, just one more Math test to go. He passed his SS, Science and English GED tests (in lieu of graduating), so we are just waiting on that last one. I know graduation season was hard for him as he should have been up there with his friends. We all have take different paths in life. This one for him isn't bad, just different than I would have hoped.

All in all, it's been a fantastic start to Summer for us. We've been busy, but have also found time to relax. We've had great food.... and plenty of sweet iced tea.

His Prom

This past Saturday was Alex's Senior Prom. I have been waiting for that day to arrive for 18 years. :) And it was pretty darn perfect, at least from my end. This first picture is of Alex and his lovely girlfriend, Brianna. They were absolutely adorable. The pictures below are of their friends. After a night of dinner, mingling, dancing, and picture taking, they headed to iHop for some early morning breakfast. I am so glad they had a great time!

And the boys are back to school, too.

Last week was my first week where I didn't have kiddos hanging on me while I worked. Because the boys are back in school!

And with that, things are moving right along! The craziness has started. I am barely coping. But that's a whole nuther story.

Makin' it rain

My baby... my first born... my Xander-Man is now 17 years old. It's so hard to believe. I hugged him for so long and super tightly tonight. I told him he had to stay 17 forever. Like Edward. =) Except, he doesn't need to sparkle. I think he draws the line at sparkling.

Alex is a Halloween baby. And this was the first Halloween he wanted to go out with his friends, and leave us peasants behind. Shame on him.

Because we love him. We let him go. And picked him up promptly at 9:30.

:D

And then proceeded to give him his present.

Marcos and I decided on the amount and figured this would be a much more fun way of giving it to him, instead of a gift card. 

It took him a while. But eventually he ended up at 200. While he was counting... I was sure to point out that the ones did not come FROM a strip club...(I hope)... nor should they be FOR a strip club.

One of my best parenting moments, ever. :)

Happy 17th Birthday, my sweet child. We love you soooo much. We love your heart. And your mind. And the way you take care of everyone. Stop growing. That's an order.

He is 16, going on 17

Name that movie...

:D

It's hard to fathom that my first baby boy is days away from the big ONE SEVEN.

We had a small pre-celebration last night, at my aunt's Halloween party. Which is kind of fitting since Alex is a Halloween baby.

Isa's First Day

This morning, Isabel starts 8th grade! The Queen of the Campus! We went to her school last night for 'Meet the Teacher' - she only has two new teachers, four of the others she had last year. The school built a new Junior High wing over the summer, so there is plenty of room of them to spread out and do their thing. Although, I thought it was quite ingenious of the school to put the sinks and mirrors in the HALLWAY instead of in the bathrooms!! The bathrooms just have 5 or 6 stalls, and the communal sink is HUGE and right outside the boys and girls rooms. I love it! No more primping and posing or messing around! They do their business and get out! Smart!

Anyway - here is a picture of Isa from this morning (that sun light was killing me!)

And here are all of their first day pics, again!

Two things to note about today... 1) I am going to be KID free for the first time in FOREVER! and 2) I can't forget to pick Nic up from the bus stop early today - it's early release.

Will someone call to remind me?! ;)

Back 2 School: First Day of School Snapshots

Well, the day is here. Back to school for my boys. I got up early to to grab a snap shot of Alex. He wasn't too happy, but finally obliged. Man, this is starting to feel like Groundhogs day...

Here are some pictures from Nic's morning... He was very excited and a little anxious (even though he claimed he wasn't).

 He was ready for me to put the camera away and "go already!" Marcos and I just laughed him off, and stayed. I wasn't going to miss this, his first morning!

For the fun of it - here are a few before and now pics of the boys:

Isabel doesn't start school until Wednesday, so I will be taking her pics then!

Stop the Clock!

I am so tired of my boogers getting bigger.
And older.
And wiser.

Who, exactly, is giving them permission?
Heck, even Olive {the dog} is getting bigger.

I know Alex has been 16 for a few months now...
but I think it's finally starting to sink in.

Sob.

Updates, Breaking News & Random Randomness

I am truly trying to get back into the swing of things... Half of the month has gone by, and I feel like I've accomplished nothing.

I take that back...
We planned, executed and survived my grandpa's memorial service. I was the lucky one who prepared grandpa's obits and also wrote the program and tribute. I also read the tribute at his memorial service.
As in - with a micro-phone. As in - with Nic coming up to the stage every 5 seconds "Mom!" "Mom, can I talk into that thing?!" - to which at one point, I laughed nervously and claimed, "That one isn't mine. I promise."
To which, Father Brian* replied, only loud enough for the table he was at to hear him, "He's not MINE either!"

*Some names have been changed to protect the innocent. Or maybe since he's not my Father, I can't really remember his name. Sorry!

With grandma settling into her new routine, we've started to settle into ours.

Marcos and I had a few shopping trips this weekend. We went to Home Depot to buy some rose bushes. We will be planting those on the side of the house. We went to Best Buy to purchase a new mouse for me... and a cover for my Kindle Fire {love that thing}... and we went to Barnes and Noble and purchased a few books.

Nic and I are starting to read some of the Magic Tree House books. I remember those books being for 1-3rd grades. Now they are listed as Pre-K - 3rd. What the heck?!

We should have started in order, but Nic loves Pirates and he loves Mummies {he's already planning his Halloween costume for this coming Halloween}.

We finished Chapter 3 last night... after each chapter I ask him questions to ensure he is #1 listening and #2 understanding. If nothing else, it's awesome cuddle time with my baby.

At Barnes and Noble I also picked up One Pot Meals by Weight Watchers - it has over 300 recipes. Looking forward to trying some of them out. Who doesn't love one pot meals?! Easy peasy.

Isabel and I had to make an impromptu trip to Wal-Greens on Saturday night...
I had to seriously consider if I wanted to share this with you all on the blog. But after thinking about it for a while, I've decided to go ahead and put it out there.

#1 Reason?! It's *my* journal - I want to remember these things. I want my kids to be able to read back on them and remember....

#2 Reason?! When she sent out a text message to all of her friends that said "I am now a woman!" - I figured the news was fair game.

;)

Marcos had to go back to work yesterday, but I decided to keep up with the errand trend. While Alex went on his first {uhem} date {accompanied by his girlfriend's 9 year old niece}, I took the girls and Nic to IKEA.

Let's pause for a swoon moment.

SWOOOOON!

I was in desperate need for a new down comforter. My old one was actually for our old queen-sized bed, which Alex now has. I had a hard time picking out the cover{sheet?!}... but I love the one I ended up with.

I know... I need to work on my bed picture taking skills. And my bed making skills... sorry everything was so wrinkled. Just keeping it real, folks. ;)

Since I had my camera up in my room, I thought I'd show you what I wake up to every morning...

Doesn't even look real, does it?!
Some day there will be houses behind the pool, so I will miss the view of the mountains and such. /sigh
Until then, I will continue to soak it up as much as I can.

Wow - what a recap. This all brings us to today. Today, I am off {I work for a bank, remember!} and the kids are off... so Alex and I are getting my OFFICE squared away.

Marcos has decided to move out.
So I get my whole entire office to myself!! That means no more crafts on the formal dining room table (which already houses a nice modge-podge "stain").

YAY!!

Of course, I *will* miss the husband, but I am sure we will meet in other parts of the house.
 If he's lucky!

;)

Pumpkin Bread / Birthday Cake

For Alex's birthday party this past Saturday, we had a fall-ish theme.
Chili, corn bread, you name it.
So, for his birthday "cake" I wanted to do something a little different.
He's a guy, so he could really care less... so he tells me.
I took him up on it.

I decided to pull out a recipe I tried for the first time last year - and loved. I found the recipe on a fellow blogger's site. Let's just say, it was my first taste of Connie's blog, and I am still reading it - everyday - a year later.

The recipe is for Chocolate Chip Pumpkin bread.
I decided to make Chocolate Chip Pumpkin muffins. Little mini ones. Bite-sized, if you will.

Never in my life did I think that chocolate chips and pumpkin would go together.
But, trust me, dear reader, they do.

THINGS OF IMPORTANCE:

• 3 1/2 cups flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp pumpkin spice (not in original recipe, but I love it added in)
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 2 cups canned pumpkin
• 1 cup canola oil
• 2/3 cup water
• 4 eggs
• 3 cups sugar

THAT’S AN ORDER:

• Gently mix (by hand) all dry ingredients.
• Combine all liquids and slowly add to dry ingredients. Stir the entire time, until smooth.
• Add 1 bag of Toll-House Chocolate Chips. {I guess you could add nuts or raisins in lieu of the chips, but why bother?!}
• Grease pans.  
• Oven should be at 350*.
• Bake for 25-38 minutes (depending on pan, oven, etc).
• Do not over bake. That would be bad.
• Use a toothpick or thin knife to check doneness.

TOP IT WITH LOVE:

The original recipe (and one I use when making the bread) is a crumb topping:

• 1 tbls flour
• 5 tbls brown sugar
• 1 tbls melted butter
• 1 tsp cinnamon

Add crumb mixture to top of batter and bake per instructions above.

For Alex’s Party Muffin’s, I used the following glaze:

• 1 pound Powdered Sugar
• 1 pinch of salt
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 egg white
• 1 cup of milk (add more later to create appropriate consistency)

Mix, mix, mix, drizzle, drizzle, drizzle.

The recipe can make about 6-8 mini loafs.
I was able to make 48 mini muffins and 6 extra large muffins from my batter on Saturday afternoon.

The only issue is, once you put the plate out - they disappear.
Seriously.

They are that good.

Click here to view the original recipe by the ever-so-clever Connie.

If you try these babies, let me know how you like them!

Halloween isn't just Halloween around here...

Today is Alex's birthday.
He's officially 16.
Can you believe it?!

I hardly can.

Yep. The only photo I got of him the entire day.
And I am pretty sure it was an accident that I even caught him on "film" at this particular moment.

Besides Alex's birthday, today was Halloween!!

Here's a sneak peak of my feature wall... decked out with candy and a skull.
It's changed a few times. Remember this?  And this?  I love what I came up with. It feels more ME!
I have a few more things to add, but there's no rush.

Here's a close up.
See on the left?! That's Nic from two years ago.
This year, he opted to be Buzz Lightyear. Again.
As in, I think he was Buzz Lightyear last year.

Here's our scary entryway, waiting for trick or treaters...

Here is the house, all spooky and ready to go.
I can't figure out where the sky went in this picture...
I swear it was there... I didn't photoshop it out.
Spooky.

Here is grandma and Abby... our official candy giver-outers. They did a great job!

What?!


What's that?!


You can't see grandma too well?!

Hold on.




Let me try something.


Just another second
{keep scrolling}
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There!!


How's this?!

Better?!

Hope you all had a fantastic Halloween.

Marcos & Jaime go to... What? What?!

Pardon the interruption from the regularly scheduled road trip updates...
{admit it, you need a small break!}

While I will share our Texas adventures with you tomorrow, for sure - I wanted to spend a little time today to brag on my three biological and one "adopted."

Alex, Isa and Nic have been WONDERFUL during this transition time. Makes me VERY proud of them.
Now that's not saying that Nic hasn't been a little crazy, excited, annoying, etc... He has been very loving and accepting of the situation and of Abby.

He wants her to be his girlfriend. She constantly has to remind him that that's not even legal in ARKANSAS! =)


Today is Abby's first day of school. She was N.E.R.V.O.U.S. but I gave her some pep talks (or was it Pepto?!) Hmm.  

Abby is fabulous. Bottom line. I know she is going to do just fine!

We went school shopping for her, got her almost a whole new wardrobe (different climate here), new Vans, a new backpack (they had lockers in AR and NC, we don't have them here), school supplies, make-up, etc.

Here is her First Day of School Picture:

She got a new Beatles shirt and opted to wear it for her first day; she wanted to be comfortable and herself!
Nic wanted to know who "all those girls" on her shirt were... =) 

Oh Nickelbutt - you crack me up!

This brings a smile to my face

I know it's early.

And I know it may not last.

But at least I have this one picture...

of all these A's.

I hope it lasts.

I know he's capable. And smart.

I know he has a game plan.

I know he wants it.

We will keep working at it - because he's a good boy.