Calling all sports fans... It's that time again! That's right... Time for peanuts, Cracker Jacks and BASEBALL! (Okay, does anyone REALLY eat Cracker Jacks at the baseball game? And now that I type that and say it over and over in my head, where the heck did that name come from?)
I must admit that I am shunned by many of my friends during baseball season... That's right, I said shunned. You see, I am a Dodger fan living in... It kills me to even type this... GIANTS country... BLAH!
But that's okay... I will survive the shunning and I will continue to root for the boys in blue! GO DODGERS!!
2 tsp olive oil 1 medium white onion chopped 1 medium head of cauliflower, broken into florets 3 cups chicken broth 3/4 cup fat-free evaporated milk 1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg 1/8 tsp white pepper 1/4 tsp table salt parsley
Heat the oil in a large nonstick saucepan or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook until tender, stirring constantly (about 5 minutes). Add the cauliflower and cook, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes. Add the broth; bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and cover. Simmer until the vegetables can be easily mashed, about 10 minutes. Transfer to a blender or food processor and puree. Pour the puree back into the saucepan. Over low heat stir in the evaporated milk, nutmeg, pepper, and salt. Heat to serving temperature, about 1 minute. Serve garnished with parsley.
Avocado-Cucumber Toss (3 points for 1 cup)
4 tsp apple cider vinegar 1 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil 1/2 tsp table salt 1/4 tsp black pepper 1 cup cherry tomatoes, quartered (about 12 tomatoes) 1 cup avocado, peeled and cubed (about 1 medium) 2 cups cucumber, chopped
Combine first 4 ingredients in a jar; cover tightly, and shake vigorously. Place tomato, avocado and cucumber in a bowl; add vinegar mixture, and toss gently to coat. Serve immediately.
Well... I must admit that B coming home from Mexico early put just a tad bit of a crimp in my style... Okay, that sounds horrible! I don't mean it in a bad way, but the kids and I had our day all planned out and I feared that I'd have to change all of our plans to spend the day with him. I was wrong! Having him home actually helped the situation! Unfortunately for him, though, I didn't spend the whole day with him like I'm sure he would have liked.
Our pre-B plans for today consisted of Easter party shopping with Grandma and seeing a movie with some friends. Our post-B plans didn't change much but I was able to shop with Grandma SANS KIDS! THAT was a big help! We get SO much more done that way!
We ended up going out to breakfast then going to see the first showing of the day of Gnomeo and Juliet (We give this movie two thumbs up! Great for the kids with plenty of clean adult humor!) which left me all afternoon to shop with Grandma, and it left B all afternoon to run errands with the kids. Probably not EXACTLY how he wanted to spend the day, but he WAS a good sport about it. (Thanks, Honey!)
WHAT. A. TRIP. B was gone for a week and what a wild ride it was for him and the Mexico Team!
The adventures began last Sunday with an 11 hour drive to San Diego (a drive that should take 9 hours tops!) filled with rain, sleet, snow, wind and craziness! The group spent Sunday night at a church in Coronado. They arrived a little before 9pm, unloaded the cars and set up their sleeping areas and had a LATE pizza dinner before hitting the sack.
They were up bright and early Monday morning and headed out to meet the guide from Amor Ministries who would lead them across the border and to their camp. When B started up the old van he drives, the check engine light was on. This was the first of many 'obstacles' the group was faced with on Monday.
While sitting in the parking lot at the border, one of the cars in the group wound up with a dead battery. As they arrived at camp the rain started, their first work site was unreachable due to muddy, rain gutted roads, and they were cussed off of the 2nd work site by the home owners and her neighbors. With morale down and decisions to be made, the group returned to camp. Determined to actually BUILD a house, they decided they'd try for a 3rd work site on Tuesday morning, rather than doing finishing projects on homes that other groups had started.
Despite cold nights and intermittent rain throughout the week, the team completed the house at work site number 3 with the exception of the stucco. Heavy rains Thursday night caused the tar paper to rip forcing the team to wait around all morning for it to be dry enough to even think about stucco.
The promise of rain Thursday night forced the team to make yet another tough decision... Spend ANOTHER night in the rain, or head for dryer sleeping quarters which also meant coming home a day early. They scrambled to find a church in San Diego where they could spend the night, broke down camp in under an hour, and headed for Encinitas.
Exhausted but dry, they spent the night there and headed home on Friday rather than Saturday. It was a LONG trip and a tiring trip filled with challenge but I have not heard one negative comment from anyone who participated!
Today we kissed Daddy goodbye and sent him on his way to Mexico along with 23 other brave souls ranging in age from fifteen to fifty-something. Yes, it's that time again... Time for our church's annual Mission to Mexico trip. The difference this year is that Daddy is leading the trip!
The group will drive to San Diego tonight and cross into Mexico early tomorrow morning. They will spend a week near Tecate building a house for a family in need and return to US soil sometime next Friday.
The kids and I will be spending the week with Grandma and Grandpa and we are pretty excited about that! It was sad to say goodbye to Daddy, but they keep saying, "The good thing is that we get to stay at Grandma and Grandpa's!"
Our prayers for the Mexico team is that they'll have safe travels, work well together, and most of all, HAVE FUN! See you in a week!
A friend of mine sent me this email the other day, and I had to share... When life is rough, when things aren't going EXACTLY how you think they should, when you're having an 'off' day...
As you might remember, the head of a company survived 9/11 because his son started kindergarten.
Another fellow was alive because it was his turn to bring donuts.
One woman was late because her alarm clock didn't go off in time.
One was late because of being stuck on the NJ Turnpike because of an auto accident. One of them missed his bus.
One spilled food on her clothes and had to take time to change.
One's car wouldn't start.
One couldn't get a taxi.
The one that struck me was the man who put on a new pair of shoes that morning, took the various means to get to work but before he got there, he developed a blister on his foot. He stopped at a drugstore to buy a Band-Aid. That Band-Aid saved his life.
Now when I am stuck in traffic, miss an elevator, turn back to answer a ringing telephone... All the little things that annoy me so much, I think to myself, "This is exactly where God wants me to be at this very moment..."
Next time your morning seems to be going wrong, you can't seem to find the car keys, you hit every traffic light, don't get mad or frustrated; It may just be that God is at work watching over you. May God continue to bless you with all those annoying little things and may you remember their possible purpose.
This all reminds me of one of my new favorite songs…
Have you ever had to make a Leprechaun trap? I have. And let me tell you... I am NOT happy about it!
Don't get me wrong... Any other night I'd LOVE to sit with Big A and let his creative juices flow while we create a very parent involved piece of work for a school assignment, but not the day after vacation when it's already past bed time and there are no instructions WHATSOEVER about this Leprechaun trap that is supposedly due tomorrow!
But I'm a mom, and when little boys are insisting that they HAVE to do this project and that it HAS to be turned in tomorrow, mom's suck it up, put on a happy face, and get creative... Alone... While tired boys finish homework packets.
Greenery... CHECK! Rainbows... CHECK! Gold... CHECK! Yep! All of a Leprechaun's FAVORITE things! All I have to say is that he'd BETTER be bringing home a Leprehaun on Thursday!
Can I just tell you how wonderful it is to sleep in my OWN bed??? With my OWN pillow??? I LOVE vacation, and we had a great time, but it's sure nice to be home!
We spent Saturday night in Los Angeles and visited with my grandma on Sunday. After breakfast Monday morning we hit the road for home. We had a long drive to make, and not a pretty tight schedule to keep as I needed to be back for a 7 o'clock meeting.
We arrived home yesterday and jumped right back into our routines today.... Back to work, back to school, back to reality! Now to get the laundry done, house cleaned up, and B packed for Mexico...
Before I begin, please back me up on this... When you're in a car with a six year old and a four year old for 8 hours, you can't be held accountable for what may come out of your mouth, right??
Tonight on the way home, after HOURS of constant chatter, I was done... I had absolutely had it. We were an hour from home, we were all hungry and tired, I was stressing out about getting home in time to get the kids to bed and get to my 7 o'clock meeting, etc. To make matters worse, whatever new game they were playing involved 'gun fire', which drives me nuts anyhow. I just needed a few minutes of SILENCE!
After five minutes of 'gun' noises coming from two little mouths I turned around and screamed, "QUIET! I'VE TOLD YOU I DON'T WANT TO HEAR GUN NOISES AND THAT'S MORE SPIT THAN GUNFIRE ANYWAY!"
B started cracking up and immediately told me I had to blog about it. I'm not really sure it's that funny, could have been delirium... But there you have it.... More spit than gunfire!
After leaving Lauhglin we headed to Southern California to spend a few days at the Disney parks. Go ahead, call me a little kid, but I had a blast! This was our first visit to California Adventure, and I just MIGHT (okay, I probably do) like it better than Disneyland. Don't get me wrong, Disneyland is great... But California Adventure??? AWESOME! It just might (okay, it probably does) have something to do with the fact that I've never been there before, but still! We spent Thursday at California Adventure and rode just about every ride there. The kids even rode the Tower of Terror and truth be told, it was Little A's FAVORITE RIDE! Big A? Not so much... The only thing the kids didn't go on was California Screamin', the big roller coaster. Little A would have gone if she was 2 inches taller!
We ended the day with the World of Color show. It's a water and light show that's projected over the lagoon in the park. VERY cool. Be sure to get a Fast Pass if you go, though! If there aren't any passes left, you can buy picnic meals and you'll get show tickets with your purchase. This worked great for us, and the tickets were for the section that was smack in the middle of the show!
The weather was great, the crowds were light, the lines were short... Perfect day!
Friday and Saturday we soaked in the Magic of Disney. It's been a couple of years since we were there. Big A is older now and appreciated it more, and it was Little A's first trip that she remembers. It was fun, but the lines were longer and the crowds were larger. We went on a LOT of rides, didn't see any shows, and missed two whole areas of the park, but we still had a great time!
Little A kept telling us that she wanted to see Mickey Mouse. We lucked out! The characters are not just walking around the park anymore, but both days when we arrived at the park there were characters just inside the entrance near City Hall. WHEW! Crisis averted!
And as an added bonus we got to see Minnie, Donald and Pinocchio, too! Pluto was out, but we'd seen him the day before and Goofy was already gone by the time we finished taking pictures with Pinocchio.
One thing I remember from my many visits to Disneyland as a child was sitting on the patio at the ice cream shop having a treat while watching the Main Street Electrical Parade. That parade may be a thing of the past, but the ice cream is still there and I think the kids enjoyed it as much as I always did!
I think a good time was had by all! It was wonderful to share this trip with my parents and for the kids to get to make these memories with their grandparents. That is SO important to me!
What do you do when you're 600 miles from home and your child wakes up screaming in pain with an ear infection? Call Kaiser of course!
But then your doctor, who has been treating her for chronic ear infections because her tubes are out of place, is on vacation...
So you go through the Kaiser processes and are told that someone will be calling you back but that in the meantime you need to find a CVS or a Rite Aid. In Laughlin, Nevada. Really? Have you ever BEEN to Laughlin, Nevada?
As I sat in the living room waiting for the doctor to call and searching the yellow pages (HOW did we ever survive before computers?!?!), I realized that while playing a game I'd downloaded on my phone, I'd seen an ad for a CVS app.
I tapped my App Store icon, typed CVS into my search page, downloaded the CVS app and had two pharmacy locations within seconds. Grandpa had taken the kids to Kingman, Arizona, for the day, so he was able to find said pharmacy and pick up the prescription that the WONDERFUL doctor called in for me. Thank goodness for iPhones, grandpas, one great Kaiser doc, and the CVS app!!
Interesting note... Turns out it was a Walgreen's ad I kept seeing, NOT a CVS ad. The fact that there was a CVS app was PURE LUCK!
For a year my kids have been asking, "Mommy, how long until Laughlin?" Well? It's FINALLY here! This year we're going to Disneyland after Laughlin, which Little A has been asking to do for a couple of years now. But do you know what? They don't care. When people ask where we're going on vacation do you know what my kids' response is? "LAUGHLIN! TO A FAMILY REUNION!" They LOVE this trip!!
I have to admit, I love this trip too. I really enjoy this time of bonding and catching up with family members I may not know well and usually only see once a year. But more than that, I love watching my kids make connections with these same family members. It continues to amaze me how open my kids are to forming these bonds and how touched they are by each and every one of the people there.
This year we moved the reunion from the Riverside to the Aquarius. The hotel is much nicer, but there isn't as much to do. That's not a problem per say, it just means that you have to do more walking. The kids' favorite attraction in Laughlin is the arcade at the Riverside, so at least once a day they made the short walk to the next hotel with Daddy or Grandpa or Carolyn. They also saw a movie with Auntie Marilee and Uncle Larry and took an afternoon trip to see the trains in Kingman, AZ, with Grandpa and Uncle Dennis.
Unfortunately for B, he had to spend a lot of time studying for the CSET while we were there. I felt bad for him, but it was lucky for me because it forced him to stay in the room with the kids at night and I was able to go out and mingle with family. Sorry, B!
This is a group shot on Monday Morning. There were about 35 people there Sunday night and Monday and by Tuesday night at dinner (the last night) we were down to 18.
The Three Stooges?
This is the view from our living room... BEAUTIFUL panoramic view of the Colorado River and the hills in Arizona.
Nice socks, Stoney!
The kids with Greg and Carolyn. Rumor has it that Carolyn won't come unless Big A is going to be there... I'm not sure if it's true or not.
The kids with Stoney and Melva... I REALLY enjoyed getting to know these two better this year. Please come for Easter??? PLEASE!?!?
And it's off to Disneyland in the morning! I feel like a little kid!
This morning we sent both kids off to school and spent the next three hours packing and running errands. When Little A got out of school she and I went to get pedicures in preparation for a week of flip-flop wearing!
When Little A and I were done, we headed home to pick up B then out to pick Big A up from school and from there we hit the road.
We usually leave Saturday morning when we take this trip, but the more I thought about it the more I realized that it made MUCH more sense to get a few hours under our belt on Friday than it did to leave at 4am on Saturday and drive for 13 hours. SMART THINKING! We met up with Grandma and Grandpa at the Fairfield Inn and Suites in Tehachapi where we got a good night's sleep, enjoyed the hotel's free breakfast and took advantage of the indoor pool! We left around noon for the SHORT drive to Laughlin. I think this may become our NEW tradition!
Welcome to A Little Slice of LIfe, where my hope is to chorincle our lives (in lieu of scrapbooking... Becuase that's just TOO MUCH WORK!) and the memories we create. I am a mother of two kids who are my world. We are active in our church and our community. We enjoy camping, spending time with family and friends and just having fun together.
