D'backs Win!!!!!!

(sorry to those that read TJ's blog, this is a repeat)
Jimmy took TJ to the Diamondbacks game.  They had a great time being together.  TJ was convinced that they were going to loose when starting the 9th inning it was 0-5.  He wanted to leave early, but Jimmy told him "it's not over until it's over".  And boy were they glad they stayed.  The D'backs came back to win 6-5 with no outs.





Aren't dads always right?!!


 

What happens when...

you decide to sit on the roof of a Little Tikes Car?
 

Someone will give you a push and you just might break your arm!

That's what happened to TJ on Sunday over at Grandma's house. He fractured his left arm. We were happy today at the orthopedic's office when he gave TJ a brace as opposed to a cast.  We are very thankful, the break could have been a whole lot worst.  

 However, a very sad boy left the doctor's office being told he can't swim for "4 Whole Weeks"!! What's a kid to do in the summertime without swimming? He was encouraged to play video games to move his fingers a lot.
 
 
We love you TJ!!  Glad you're okay!!

What are you Cooking?

One thing I'm loving with this whole Blogging World, are all the cooking/baking blogs out there.  I used to love to be in the kitchen and try new things.  But somehow 3 kids and a busy schedule I've gotten away from that a little bit.  So I feel like I've been motivated & inspired with all these blogs.

Here are a few of my favorites.



Dinner's Ready

Anne Strawberry

Pizza Place #1

Our first monthly pizza outing was to Nello's.  For all you Mesans you'll remember when it used to be on Brown Road, now it's on Alma School/Guadalupe.  When I was in high school we used to go there for lunch a lot.  I would always get their bread sticks with sauce, which was seasoned pizza crust. YUM!!

Overall we all decided that we give it 4 Stars.  For a Friday night, we had no trouble getting a table right away.  The service was excellent and the Pizza was GREAT!  We ordered the deep dish, which was really thick with lots of toppings (requiring the use of a knife and fork).  This will go on our list of favorite places.

Chocolate Pizza!

As I was trying to help the kids come up with an idea for Father's Day, I saw this great idea in the Family Fun magazine about a "Pizza of the Month Club". Seeing as Jimmy would eat pizza every day if I let him, I thought it would be a great gift. So we found 12 different pizza places where we could go as a family each month to eat and I made a little coupon booklet.



Then my friend, Anna, told me about Cerreta's Candy Company in Glendale, (click here) where you could go have a free tour of the factory and then make chocolate pizzas! (thanks Anna!)  Well, that just topped off our gift idea! So off we went with Nicky and her girls and had a great time. The kids loved it (but were a little confused as to where the Oompa Loompas were)!


Our only disappointment was that the summer is not a busy time for them. The only candy making we saw was the caramel machine.  We were just told what the other machines were used for and how they worked. But they did make it up with some free samples. We'll definitely go back in the fall or winter when we can see them all in action!  (and eat more chocolate!)




Jimmy - here's what it looked like before the words ran together. Happy Father's Day! We Love You!!

TJ The Baker!

  TJ has been wanting to learn to cook.  But the only thing he wants to learn how to make so far is COOKIES!  Chocolate Chip Cookies to be exact.  He's getting pretty good at it now, learning how to use a recipe and everything.  One day him and his friend, Collin wanted to make cookies.  They decided that they needed aprons on as to not get their clothes dirty.  They were so cute and had such a great time I couldn't resist taking some pictures.
 
 
 

Josie's Dance Recital

This is Josie's second year taking dance at Jeanne's School of Dance.  It's been so much fun to see her enjoy and learn how to dance.  And it's brought back a lot of memories for me, since I also took lessons from Jeanne's when I was young.  Jeanne is my great aunt and it's so great to see so many cousins there dancing together.

At the end of the school year they put on a HUGE dance recital.  There are 3 different days of performances at Red Mountain High School and there were around 38 numbers in each one.  It is so much fun!

She gets so excited to be able to wear makeup!




Here she's hamming it up on stage!


Here she is...drum roll...Miss Josie!

Ries's 1st Chocolate Chip Cookie

Mmm!



Finger Lickin' Good!



Chocolate Coma!

Gotta Love Ikea

I love Ikea! The store itself I think can be overwhelming if you don't have a plan first before going in. And you definitely can't make it out of there in 1 1/2 hours (even though that's as long as they'll let your kids stay in the play area). But I love to get inspiration from other places and then try to duplicate it by going to Ikea.

For example, I saw this idea in a Pottery Barn catalog a few years ago.  It would have cost me about $400 - $500 to buy this from Pottery Barn.  But I went to Ikea and found almost the exact same ledge and then bought my frames on sale at Target, which ended up costing me less than $100.




So while searching the www tonight I came across this cool blog where people submit their projects using supplies from Ikea.   http://ikeahacker.blogspot.com/

My creative juices are flowing...I'm thinking summer projects!

Ries's 1st Birthday!

Can you believe a year has gone by already?!  I CAN'T!!  Where has the time gone?  I Love You Ries!!  Happy Birthday!