Every good thing...

I believe that the saying is Every Good Thing Must Come To An End. But here is the thing. I don't look at this as MUST...Tomorrow I officially go on pay role outside of my home. I got a really cool job where i can be snoopy, people watch and wear cool blue Latex gloves. Now I will know what all the girls are really carrying in their purses and I will know the best time to come in and out of our little town. I will probably be MIA these next two weeks as I am doing the training thing during the day. My awesome friend is keeping the kids both in the morning and after school until I can beat the traffic home to get them. The Cool thing is that Bill and I get to commute together in the morning. He works like 2 block from where I will be. 2 whole hours of uninterrupted time in the car together. I think there is another saying for that. Something like...what won't kill you...hmmm!

I did this really cool last days of being a stay-at-home-mom project. I even took pictures so I could post it. Well darn-it! I took the pictures with OUT the memory card in the camera, so now I have to figure out how to get my pictures off the camera. CRAP. I should really get my hair darker...maybe then I will have more of a brain. Wish Me luck! :-)

From the Happiest place on earth to a pile of laundry!

Greetings from the laundry pile! After months of planning we managed to get the kids into the truck on the farce that dad was home from work early and we were going to catch dinner at this really great restaurant. 4 1/2 hours, 2 potty stops, 1 Starbucks run, 2 movies, and 2 recharging game boys later we made it to the Happiest Place on Earth. The reaction was pretty good. It was 2 1/2 hours past their bed times so they were all pretty sleepy.

Here are a couple of fun highlights:

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One of the greatest memories from the trip was getting reservations to Club 33 You should go read about the neat history about this club. It was an amazing meal. We ate until we were stuffed. I am not sure we will ever get a chance to do that again, so it is an incredible memory.

Bill in front of the door. You have to ring this bell and tell them your name and what time your reservation is.

This is the french lift. You can either walk up the stairs or take the lift up.

This is all of us. We are outside on the balcony overlooking the streets of New Orleans.

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This was really cool. The Nestle Toll House Kitchen. The kids got to learn how to make cookies. Not that they haven't been taught, but it was cool someone else showed them too!

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The Grizzly River Run was my personal favorite. I know 4 other people that enjoyed it also! The first day that we went on it here is the ride count.

Mom: Once

Billie: 4 times

Dad, Grant and James: 5 times

I am pretty sure this is the 4th time!

This will make anyone smile. Watching a raft go through the geyser.

It is completely random and just by chance will you go through it of miss it!

If you go through it there is no chance in staying dry.


Here they are at the end of the 4th time. The boys still had one more to go. This was Wednesday and when we packed to go home on Friday morning, most of these clothes were still damp despite the fact we had them layed out all over our hotel room.

Can we say soaked to the bone?

(We went on this ride 2 more times on Friday before we came home.)

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Happy Halloween from the Haunted Mansion. You can't not go to Disney at Halloween time and not do this ride. Very cool!

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This was the one ride that James was still too short to go on. (It was okay, I went once and had an upset tummy the rest the day)

Bill, Grant and Billie going on California Screamin. You go up and down and upside down. Everyone else loved it...let me just say that it deserves its name.

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If you look to Bill's right, who do you see? Yes our little girl is really a dare devil. This is one of those rides that goes to the top and they drop you and you bungee up and down. Pretty much a free fall. At this point my stomach was so upset that Grant had to take the picture cause I couldn't even look at the ride. ************************************************************************************
We also enjoyed many other of the attractions at Disneyland and California Adventure. We saw lots of shows and learned some really interesting things about the history of Disney. Bill said next time we do Disney though we are going to experience the cruise. Not as much walking! I guess we need to start researching good amusement parks for awesome roller coasters. I knew I shouldn't have gone on the roller coaster at New York! New York! in Vegas preggo with Billie! :-) It was a wonderful week and we enjoyed our family vacation very much.

Our thoughts are with those in CA this week dealing with the fires.

This, That and Scaling the Fence

THIS:

Today was pajama day at school. For $1 they get to wear their "dress code appropriate" jammies. Billie and Grant were asked to bring their pillows so they could read. James thought it was pretty neat to wear his favorite jammie pants with his boots.

THAT:

Easiest Apple Pie: (thanks to Amy J. for this delicious recipe)

Crumb Crust: 1 1/2 cups flour, 1 tsp salt, 1 1/2 tsp. sugar, 2 Tbsp cold milk, 1/2 cup oil. Mix all together and pat into bottom and up the sides of pie pan. Do not roll out!

Topping: 1/2 cup flour, 1/2 cup sugar, 1/2 cup butter mix together until crumbly. You sprinkle this over the filling.

Filling: 4 cups sliced apples (about 5 or 6 apples depending on how full you want the pie), 1/2 cup sugar, 1/2 tsp nutmeg, 1 tsp. cinnamon, 2 TBSP flour. Mix and toss with apples. Put into unbaked crust.

Baking : Slide pie into a brown paper bag and close tightly. (Or you can cover loosely with foil. I have never made it this way, there is something about baking it in the bag I can't get over.) Make sure your bag isn't going to touch the heating element. NO PEEKING! Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour and 45 minutes. ENJOY!

I literally made this last night in 15 minutes. The hardest part is slicing and pealing the apples, but thanks to the Pampered Chef Apple Peeler Corer thing it goes fast.

Scaling the fence:

I decided to clean and mop the downstairs this morning so that I could go upstairs and work on some other fun things. In my pjs (I didn't have to pay a dollar either) I was going about my normal cleaning. The sliding glass door needed a good clean, so I cleaned the inside, then went out to clean the outside. No big deal, done it before LOTS of times. I am cleaning away when I hear this big clank. Well, the dog is outside with me and there is nothing nearby that looks like it fell. That is when I realize that it was the dowel that we put in the door at night clanking into place on the track. Ah crap! The door won't even open up enough that I can get my hand into it to reach the phone. The kids are all at school, the dog is outside with me. The gate is locked and the key is also INSIDE. Well, at first I pull a chair up to the fence to see if I can get over it that way, too short. I look around trying to figure out what to do, I know that there is a latter in the shed that is locked up and the key IN the house. I see the wave climber. So I pull it over to the gate, with the dog looking at me like I have just sprung a gasket. I get up on it and it is tall enough to get me over the fence. The worst part was the landing. Rocks, bare feet...I am not a small girl. OUCH! But I hobble around to let myself into the house. What an ordeal. A word of advice...MOVE THE DOWL the next time you are cleaning the sliding glass door and home alone. I think this one will be written down next to the time I tried to step into the garbage can to smoosh the garbage down...Until the next adventure!

Friday Night's should always be this good!

This weekend Bill suprised me with the best date! I knew I needed a babysitter, I knew we had reservations at Tarbell's in Phoenix.

We watched Mark Tarbell on Iron Chef America a couple of weeks ago on the food network. Bill called the next Monday and we got a reservation. While we were sitting there dipping our bread into the yumm-o olive oil, Mark actually came up to us and asked us how we were doing, we chatted a minute about Iron Chef and Cat Cora and then he thanked us for coming in. It was SOOOO cool!

For all you food lovers, this is what we ate:

*Cornmeal Crusted Calamari w/adobo & whole grain mustard sauces

*Double-Cut Pork Chop, Wisconsin cheddar grits, and collard greens, caramelized onions & wild boar bacon

*Bill had the London Broil special that was melt in your mouth delicious!

*Warm Chocolate Cake with Pistachio Ice Cream
"almost better than sex"

Then after dinner, we had 6th row seats to the Trisha Yearwood Concert. She has such an amazing rich voice and she is a classy performer. We had great seats, full tummys and a full evening.

The kids went to play at our friends house. They have 2 kids, Grant and Billie's ages, a cat, a dog and an acre back yard. They came home plum happy tired! Billie asked me this morning that Daddy and I need to spend more "alone" time together and can they go to their friends house EVERY friday...I will check it out girly!