Beach Bum

After Disney World we spend a few days at Cocoa Beach with the Picards!  Ellery said this was her favorite part of the trip.  She loved the water ...even if it was a bit chilly!

Photo from Ellery's IPod Touch...

This GEEK is all mine!!

Merry Christmas!!

 Yep ANOTHER Nerf gun.  A boy can never have enough of those~!

 All the grandkids (minus Mason) looking out the window at the blow up Santa.  That Santa gets a round, the last time it was put up on Hannah and Jerods back deck....so she snuck it to the front deck of Mom and Dads and plugged it in while we were opening gifts....watch out it could be at your house next year!!

 OMG..it's the pencil case with her name on it from Hannah, Jerod and Breck...she LOVED it!  Oh and don't you just love Hannah's Christmas sweater...handmade by Hannah! 

 Yep trying to get a good picture of all the grandkids...it would have been a Christmas Miracle....we tried!

 Good old Santa.  We told Ellery she couldn't paint her room ...she had been asking for months to do so...and that Santa brought her new bedding and a gift card to pick out new paint for her room!  That guy rocks!!

 See Maizy's new vaccum?

 Well this boy was OBSESSED with it.  Like took it right from Maizy and wouldn't let go of it AT ALL.  We even tried to turn it off, so we didn't have to listen to the noise of it and he would come over to us with the saddest darn face and say 'noise'.  Oh man.  So we let him play with it for awhile and then took it away and hid it....see photo below to find out his reaction....

Hope you all had a Merry Christmas, we sure did!

Here's to a wonderful 2012!!

We've been busy....

Yep, it's been a while, the last time I posted, I was trying to clean out my fridge.  We did a really good job of that actually...and in the mean time, we took a quick trip to Disney World (over Thanksgiving).  The kids had an absolute blast.  It was such a fun time to go, everything was decked out in Christmas...even Mickey, Minnie & Goofy!! So much to share about the trip, but I'll leave you with some of our favorite characaters that the kids were lucky enough to get their photots with! 

Food Challenge.

I am on a food challenge.  The challenge: to empty out my freezer and pantry.  For the past month I have vowed to not buy anything at the grocery store except essentials like milk, bread, fruit or snacks for school and use items out of my freezer and pantry.  (Of course I am still getting Schwans..duh)  Sometimes I have to buy an occasional ingredient to make the items from my pantry or freezer work as a meal.  It has been relatively easy so far because I had so much stuff in there I didn’t even know I had.   My freezer in the garage is looking great; I am hoping to have it empty in another couple of weeks or so.  And then start fresh and stop buying so much stuff, thus not having to throw away freezer burned food….it happens to me way to often.

Last night for instance we had Chicken Alfredo.  A while ago I had bought six packages of the Lean Cuisine Chicken Alfredo steam bags.  I must have eaten two of them, but got tired of them so there they sat (they were just so so anyway).  So last night I nuked all four bags according to the package, then I opened them up, dumped them in a bowl and ADDED more yummy-not-low-fat alfredo sauce and parmesan cheese, heated again.  It turned into a really good pasta dish…and I just used up more stuff from my freezer!!  Yah me. 

I served the pasta with these scrumptious breadsticks......

http://juliejuliastacie.blogspot.com/

Paul Bunyan Land

Well cross Paul Bunyan Land off our bucket list! We spent the weekend in Brainerd with some friends at the end of July. We stayed at The Lodge hotel and waterpark and then spent the day at Paul Bunyan Land. Enjoy the photos....

A family photo with Paul.

Calvin taking a rest in the grass, he went on the swings about 25 times. I told him at about his 20th time he would get sick, but nope he wouldn't listen. Well low and behold, guess who came running over to me ...sick. So while the rest of the group, went on more rides, Calvin rested with a Freezee pop and his smart mom.


Yep here are the nasty nasty swings. I almost puked on these babies. I will NEVER EVER go on them again. Horrible. Did I mention NEVER EVER again.



Bumper Cars for Ellery!

The Boys, going crazy on the bumper cars.

Ha look at Brians face. I think he loved it!

The crew with Babe the big blue Ox.

My Favorite Summer Salad

I was going to post this on my Julia, Julia and Stacie blog, but lets be honest, there hasn't been much cooking going on this summer. We have been happily living on sandwiches, wraps, hot dogs, and guacamole!

Whenever I bring a 'dish' to a get together, I don't usually have people flocking over to me to request a copy of a recipe. It's not because I am a terrible cook, but more because I don't make anything too complicated or maybe because they can see from the package that I just picked it up from Wal-Mart.

But if I bring this salad, I always get a request. It is by far one of the best summer salads around. By it's self, the salad is just okay, but if you want to pump it up and make your guests think you spent hours in the kitchen, add the following: corn and black bean (I just use cans, and maybe only 1/3 of each and then I add a handlful of shredded cheese. Oh you will need to add more mayo because you added the extra ingredients. Here is the rest of the recipe...wait for it

wait....

seriously the easiest salad to make in the world....

your family and friends will be so impressed....

are you ready....

PS. You can only find this salad at Econo if you are from Litchfield!!

Happy Birthday!!

Happy Birthday Mom and Grandma! Thanks for putting up with this crazy family! We love you to pieces!

Hugs and kisses!

Love,

Brian, Stacie, Elle and Cal

Its been a busy week....

Here is where the kids found the Watercade
Medallion! Yippeee! They were so excited!

Winners!!

Then Ellery donated her hair to Locks of Love...

Jumping with Maizy on the tramp!

Watching the parade!






















My boy!




















Ellery and Gramps!!

Quick photo shoot of the grandkids!

The winners picking up their $200

Details ...

This is how the universe works right?? Your kids get older and you allow them to do more things on their own or maybe it's more like I am just paying less attention to the small details. Either way we are trying to find that fine line between independence and a mother who hovers.

One of my favorite independent things that they are able to do ..most of the time is go up stairs and get the bath started. So I send Calvin up the other night to go get it started and then I go up a bit after to make sure he hasn't flooded the bathroom. While I am downstairs, he yells down and asks: can I put toys in the bathtub? Uh, duh, of course, there is huge bucket of them next to the tub, have at it. So I go upstairs a few minutes later to find.....beanie babies in the bathtub. Cloth/fabric beanie babies. See the photo over to the left, those are beanie babies floating in the tub. When I asked him why they are in there, he reminded me that I told him he could put toys in the tub. Yes, he's got me there. I certianly didn't think to ask him if the 'toys' he wanted to put in the tub were stuffed animals. My bad.

Calvin 1, Mom 0 and so the battle continues.

This sweetheart graduated 3rd grade and broke my heart all in the same day. I can't believe she is heading over to Wagner next year. Ugh, it has gone too fast. Before I know it, she will be going to prom (a boy in her class asked her if she wanted to go to prom the other day - ha) and graduating high school. She loves reading, doing art and gets along with her brother 80% of the time! I love this girl to pieces.

This boy is moving onto first grade next year and just turned six. He is on the go from the minute his feet hit the floor in the mornings. When his head hits the pillow at night he is sleeping before I can turn the lights out. Legos are his life, I find lego pieces in the car, in the bath tub, on the stairs, in his backpack, ...and just about anywhere he has been.

And this little boy is also busy busy busy the minute he wakes up. He has the best facial expressions ever. We love him to pieces!

Anyone know where I can find a good dentist?

Ellery and Calvin had swimming lessons in May. I was lucky enough to get them in at the same time! This is huge, as then we only have to sit through one hour of lessons! One evening Brian was not able to make it to lessons, thus leaving me to trust Calvin to get ready after swimming lessons himself. There were a couple of other dad's that made sure he soaped off and got dressed. So he comes out and we are walking down the hallway (he is walking in front of me) and everyone is laughing at him, I am a bit confused, so I run up and flip him around to find.... this awesome set of teeth in his mouth. What a funny kid! Anything for a good laugh. And Johnny if you are reading this... I am looking for a real dentist so don't bother calling ;) Oh and yes both kids passed lessons. Calvin is now in Level 2 and Ellery is Level 5!