hooray for smoothies

My kids and I drink this smoothie every morning. It's great! The girls love it before school and I love it after running and yoga. Charlie chugs a whole cupful and wants more. Try it!

1 cup Dole kiwi strawberry juice
1 cup plain yogurt
1/2 cup frozen blueberries
1 1/2 cups frozen strawberries
1 ripen banana'
2-3 tbsp protein powder
Throw it all in the blender and Voila!! Yum! Yum!

Share your favorite smoothie/protein drink with me!!

it's a great day for "miss boots"

When you live in Arizona, rainy days are a welcome surprise especially for a three year old. The joy on Eliza face while she jumped on the trampoline in the rain was priceless today. In her words..."I was soakin' wet". She was drenched after a half hour of jumping and I had a great time watching her and taking pictures.
Yahoo for rain(every once in a while)!! I'm a true Arizona girl now. I love my predictable sunshine and blue skies.

my little guy

Charlie is my sweet little guy!! And this is his favorite spot...on my lap with a book. And he is very serious about it too. If he wants to read a book, he lets you know right away and he wants you to sit right down. He then plops himself right down after manuevering just the right way with the book in hand. Of course, most books only last for a second and he's on to another book. Unless it's one of his favorites like "Brown Bear, Brown Bear", one of the baby alphabet books or "Ten In The Bed". Then he'll sit for the entire thing.

The best is when he looks at chapter books by himself. He opens it up and starts looking at it as if he's really reading. It's so cute!!

I'm so glad Todd caught this picture of him on my lap! Now I need to catch one of Charlie reading the chapter books.

"miss boots"

About two weeks ago, Eliza discovered these boots in our garage. She put them on and they have become her everyday fashion statement. I think today is actually the first day she has worn her "real" shoes to preschool again. She gets compliments on them everywhere we go. And...lets be honest...they go with everything. Don't they? For fun, I've started calling her "Miss Boots". She responds without complaint so she must like it.

my three girls...

This morning my three girls went with me to take pictures for a friend for their Christmas card. I took some cute shots of them too!!

I love being a mom so much! Of course, I'm so blessed to be a mom to the best kids in the world. So that makes my job a little easier.

Here are a few cute things they've said or done lately to make me smile(or laugh!):

Brenna: The night of Thanksgiving Brenna came to me with her pad of paper. Because she didn't have school the next day, she made a "schedule" of what she was going to do the next day. It included things like "getting ready, cleaning room, playing with webkinz, helping mom(I only got 5 minutes on the schedule". The next day when I asked her to help with something, she said, "It's not 10:40 yet, remember...I have a schedule?" So cute!

And, by the way, don't tell her I put this on my blog...she'll kill me.



Emma Grace: Emma Grace is my little social butterfly. A couple of months ago she got a tiny little phone book out of the treasure box at school. She asked if I would help her to write people's names and phone numbers in the little book. I had no idea what I was getting myself into. Lately she has been calling people. It is so funny! All of the sudden she is on the phone with someone. The other day she called my brother in Utah(he has a local cell phone number). He was happy to hear from her and fortunately he knew about the little phone book. She calls friends or her babysitter. It's cute right now but what are we going to do when she's a teenager?!




Eliza: When I picked her up from Preschool the other day, out of the blue she said, "Michael lub(translation:love) me". What? I was a little surprised since this is the first time I've heard of Michael. So I asked her, "How do you know Michael loves you?" She simply said, "I no know...Michael lub(love) me!" I later asked her teacher who told me that, in fact, Michael puts his arm around her and tells her that he loves her. That's how she knows I guess!

Charlie: Charlie will give us a big wet kiss when asked. But not Dad! He'll act like he is going to give Todd a kiss but then back off before he gets too close to his whiskers.

Eco bags

If you are not using reusable shopping bags for groceries, you've got to start right now. When I was carrying my groceries in the other day, I thought that I needed to take a picture of these and share them on my blog.
I've been using these bags for about 6 months now and I LOVE THEM! They are so durable and easy to carry. I can carry them over my shoulders when I'm lugging everything(including kids) into the house. And, I don't have a million plastic bags in my kitchen!! They are the greatest!! It took me a while to get into the habit of taking them into the grocery store and, in fact, I was a little embarrassed the first time I used them. But now I always remember to take them in.
I got these online at http://ecobags.com/ . They are the Everyday Cotton Canvas Tote (Size: 19" wide x 15.5"tall with full 5" flat bottom gusset and 22" length carry handles/straps). I got five of them and it seems to be a great number to have. They fit a lot more then those yucky plastic bags.

Cute Paper Toys!

I was looking at someone elses blog today and found a link to a website called http://www.thetoymaker.com . Because it's Christmas and I'm on the lookout for great gifts, I went to the website thinking it was a toy store. Uh, kind of!! You print out designs and cut, fold and paste into a toy. So cute!! I immediately printed out this rocking horse and elf and started cutting. My girls thought it was really cute but were happy to let me do the cutting. Soon they lost all attention in the activity and went right on singing little songs and performing for each other with their little toys. (Girls are so funny!) I teased the girls that this was so great that I found this fun website. Now the only toys they will get for Christmas will be printed out and folded up.
Check it out! It's a cute website and your kids might like it!

Happy Turkey Day!

Charlie showing off his turkey wings on Thanksgiving morning!!!
Eliza was so excited to be a turkey today that it was nearly impossible to get a picture of her. Yesterday I mentioned that maybe we could do a Thanksgiving play. Without hesitation, she said she wanted to be a turkey. So then she talked the rest of the day about her costume. So we put a little something together for her and Charlie.

Getting Around New York City

Here is Susan hailing a cab. One of the more expensive but easiest ways to get around.
This is us in a cart hooked onto the back of a bike. Can you believe that anyone on a bike would even consider picking up three women with huge shopping bags? We were trying to get a taxi but nothing was available. We had 3 separate bikers come and offer us a ride. Because it is more expensive, we immediately said no to the first one and kept trying to get a taxi. When the second and third guys came(at the same time) and tried to give us a ride, we again said no but they were persistant and then started bargaining their prices. So we ended up paying the guy $12.00. Poor guy! You should have seen the leg muscles on this dude. Why didn't I get a picture of him?(I was just not on my "A-game" with taking pictures in NY...I missed too many things) But you wouldn't believe how fast he got us back to our hotel. And, honestly, we all agreed that was our favorite ride because we could see everything and it was just a fun and different experience.
Of course....the subway!! Say what you want about how dirty the subway is and anything else. But it is really the best way to get around NY. It's cheap and you get there so fast.
And don't forget the miles and miles you walk by foot in NY. These are my feet on the Staten Island Ferry. Check out my new shoes that I bought in New York. Not because I wanted to buy a new pair of shoes but because I just didn't plan well enough in the shoe part of my packing. So I made a little stop at a shoe store.

Shopping in New York

Shopping in New York is really fun! They have the biggest stores and best displays. There are sooooo many more stores that we went to that I loved but these are the ones that we took pictures of. This is mom in front of the giant M&M at the M&M store in Times Square. I bought the cutest little M&M statue of liberty m&m dispenser for the kids. They love it!

We had to check out the American Girl Store. My daughters love the American Girl Books and Dolls. The store is incredible. Complete with barber shop and theater for your dolls.
This is in front of FAO Schwartz. Okay, how old am I but this is one of my favorite stores. So cute and so fun!! But the little soldiers at the doors are the cutest. They salute you when you come in an out. They were too adorable and I had to tell one of them that on our way out. I think he was blushing!!
This is Susan and I on the Ferris Wheel that is inside the Toys R Us store in Times Square. We got to ride in the Matchbox fire truck. Some of the other cars were "Winnie the Pooh", "Barbie", "Geoffrey the Toys R Us Giraffe" and lots more. It was so cute!!
This is in Tiffany's. I'm not really into buying a lot of jewelry but I can't help myself but to go inside and take a peak at Tiffany's. I tried on a ring and I think the lady was really annoyed that I asked. I had "tourist, just looking" written all over me.
This was another fun store that a friend told me about. H&M. Great prices on clothing.

Some of our other favorite New York stores.

Kate's Paperie in SoHo(I love paper stores) http://www.katespaperie.com/

Lululemon in Lincoln Square(I love their athletic pants...I could live in them) http://lululemon.com/

Pylones in SoHo(adorable store) http://www.pylones-usa.com/

T.V. shows in New York

Our first morning there we got up bright and early and went across the street to "Good Morning America". We waited in line and were part of the group that was taken inside for part of the taping. They took us along with about 15 other people back outside at one point to tape the weather and they ended up getting me on T.V. in the background. My kids were so thrilled to see me. A couple from "Dancing With The Stars" was there promoting their new book. My mom really likes that show so that was fun for her. At the end, they moved everyone through like cattle to take a picture with Diane Sawyer(not really a fan of hers!). She stood there like some New York landmark. I thought it was kind of funny!!

Regis is the man!!! We didn't have much luck in the t.v. show department this time. I requested tickets to everything and got nothing. So we went to "Live w/ Regis and Kelly" and stood in stand-by. Unfortunately that day they did not take any stand by people at all. But....we got to see Tony Bennett, Kelly Ripa and Regis all come through the side door. And then we heard Tony Bennett rehearsing.
Trying still to have a NYC t.v. experience we walked a few blocks to where they tape "The View". Their stand-by line was just forming. We stood in line and again they didn't take any stand-by people. Oh well....don't really like "The View" anyway. Atleast Rosie isn't on there anymore. I probably wouldn't have even tried stand-by if she were there.
My all time favorite NY show is Dave Letterman. Of course, I tried to get tickets but no luck. We tried their stand-by option which is a little bit different then everyone elses. You call in the day of the show and hope that you get through in time. No Luck!! So the day before we were leaving we were in that area so we stopped by the theater to take a couple of pictures. We discovered another trick for getting tickets. There were people in the lobby that would put your name in another lottery for tickets. They said that you are more likely to get tickets that way because not too many people know about this option. Unfortunately, we were leaving the next day and they were doing tickets for the next week. I couldn't believe it! If I had of known, we could have gone over there when we were first in town. Next time!!!

Favorite Restaurants in New York

I love GOOD cheesecake and Juniors knows how to do it. There are several pictures of us eating cheesecake at this plays and so Todd thinks that's all we did while we were in New York! We decided this was our favorite...chocolate mousse. Yum! I really, really, really wanted to bring some home with me so Todd could try it but I figured 5 hours on the plane....probably not a good idea. http://www.juniorscheesecake.com

I don't have a great picture that shows what this restaurant looks like or any pictures of the food. But this was one of our favorite meals. Serafina is the name of this Italian restaurant. It felt so NY. We sat at an open door that overlooked a very cool street with yellow flowers and an iron scroll gate. Yummy food! http://www.serafinarestaurant.com
It's hard to say exactly which restaurant was my favorite but this one might win that title. We discovered this restaurant in SoHo by just coming across it. It's called SoHo Park. The website is http://www.sohopark.nyc.com. The food was absolutely delicious. I had a cheeseburger with fried zuchinni sticks. And the settting was perfectly SoHo NY. Loved it!!

Okay...we rode a subway, walked MANY blocks and waited 20 minutes in line to buy these four cupcakes. Are we crazy? Absolutely. Was it worth it? Yes. The bakery is called Magnolia's. These cupcakes were apparently put on the map by Oprah. After waiting in line, you walk into a very small bakery and simply get your cupcakes and get out. They run people through like cattle and no one seems to mind. So we went across the street to a cute little park and ate our cupcakes like everyone else. Again, I wanted to bring some back for Todd(whatever, they would be for me) but I didn't think they would travel well.

I just had to include the picture of us devouring them. Yes. We ate all four on the spot!!

This is another restaurant that people will stand in line forever, be treated poorly by the host and still pay for the stuff. I had "The Haight-Ashbury" (sliced turkey, tomato, avocado and alfalfa sprouts with melted muenster on raisin pumpernickel with Russian dressing). Really good! They are "famous" for their frozen hot chocolate. So, of course, we had to try it! Yum! Their dessert menu looked awesome. And people all around us were getting these amazing desserts. But we stopped ourselves at the frozen hot chocolate.
By the way, you have to check out their website. It is so cute!!!
http://www.serendipity3.com

Central Park

Brenna called me one day before we were suppose to be leaving NY and asked if I would go to Central Park and take a picture of Balto the dog. We've read the book about Balto, the dog who saved many lives in Alaska when he led the dog sled team to deliver medicine to a town in need. It was Brenna's one request. So on our last day we went back to central park and I ran through the central park zoo and found Balto on the other side.

When Todd and I went to New York several years ago, we had been faithfully watching "Law and Order". So Todd jokingly said that his one request was to see Briscoe and Green in Central Park. We didn't see them in Central Park but Green was on "Regis and Kathie Lee" when we were in the audience. Well this time when we were in Central Park we came across a large crowd of people and they were taping "Law and Order". I called Todd right away and told him what we saw. None of the main characters were there but it was fun to see it.

Okay....Central Park is cool but it's also a little on the strange side. You never know who's going to be standing out there with a bowl for change.

We found a bench to sit and enjoy Central Park for a little bit. We soon realized that there was a lot of women and children coming and gathering behind us. But none of the moms looked like the kids. The kids were all decked out in the nicest designer clothes and were being pushed in the most expensive strollers. It didn't take long to realize that all of the nanny's were getting together for an afternoon in Central Park.

We enjoyed a ice cream treat in Central Park. Notice the "New York Bible" in my hand. I'm such a tourist!!

Broadway in New York

For me the only REAL reason to go to New York City is to see LOTS of Broadway shows. Here are the show that me, my mom and my sister(Susan) went to see on our trip in September.


"Grease"...great show. It had the characters that they cast from the NBC show "Grease: You're The One That I Want". The guy who plays the role of Danny is from Phoenix, Max Crumm. The cast had so much energy! They have got to be tired after every show.

"Mary Poppins"...oh my! So good! It's different than the movie and is based more closely to the original Mary Poppins books. Disney is amazing though. They really know how to create a set...a little money helps too. This was my moms favorite out of all of the shows we saw. I got a little tear in my eye when Mary Poppins left at the end. She flew over the audience! Sniff! Sniff!

I can't believe I finally saw "Phantom of the Opera" on Broadway. Andrew Lloyd Weber is the King!! Yes...I know...it's a very dark show but come on, the music is amazing and can't be beat. I saw it when I was in High School when they were on tour in Nashville. But this was the real deal!

"The Drowsy Chaperone" was a fun surprise show to see. The only regret is that our sits for this one were to far back and we couldn't see the expressions on their faces. I have one rule when seeing Broadway shows...pay for good tickets! I can't stand to not really see the performance. So we broke the rule and paid for it. But the show was still really good and really funny!


Okay....I saved my FAVORITE for last!! "WICKED" Unbelievable!!! I loved it! I was so excited to see this show and I had every song memorized from listening to the CD before I went to NYC. I was pretty sure that if Elphaba or Glinda were injured in any way and couldn't go on with the show, that I could just hop right up there. My girls LOVE the music as much as I do and have their own favorite parts. Needless to say....I can't wait to see it again....and again!

Emma Grace's 6th Birthday Party

Emma Grace and Brenna's birthday party's were VERY similar this year. It's one of the benefits of having way too many birthday's in one month. Less planning...more fun!! Emma Grace had a "drive-in"movie in our front room. Concession was stocked with pizza, hot dogs, popcorn and movie candy. The children all had Emma bucks to buy their treats.




I made the exact same cake for each of them...chocoate cake, white fondant, stars and a box of popcorn!

The black "wall" on the left of the picture is the big movie screen. It filled up our entire living room wall. Emma Grace chose "Jungle Book" as her movie. Perfect for a "drive-in" movie...old and classic cartoon. Notice the very large blue tarp on the floor. I may be crazy but I'm not dumb. They ate their pizza, hot dogs, popcorn and candy in their cars during the movie. I had to save my carpet somehow.

When the girls all got there(all 14 of them...what was I thinking), they all made their cars. We had paint everywhere and had the BEST time doing it. Todd kept smiling the entire time and never gave me that "what have you done now" kind of grunt. The girls LOVED it! I'm pretty sure a lot of those boxes are still floating around in some of their houses. Several moms told me that they had to go find boxes and paint cars with their other children the next week.

I got a rear view picture of a lot of the girls with their names on the license plate! Here's Emma Grace sitting proudly in her red car.

Brenna's Birthday Party

Brenna turned nine on September 4th!

I can't believe I have a child that is nine years old.

We celebrated with a BIG movie night in our backyard. When given the choices of birthday themes, Brenna chose a movie night without hesitation. A friend of ours who has a super big projection screen set it up in our backyard. Brenna chose "Night at the Museum" as the movie. Perfect for an outdoor movie...big dinosaurs coming to life.
All of the girls got to earn Brenna bucks at the beginning of the night playing carnival games. They were then able to use their bucks to buy food and treats at the concession stand. Brenna and I took the invitations around to the girls' houses. Popcorn boxes, popcorn, the invitation glued to a wooden skewer and red tissue paper.
This is our front porch. Todd made a movie poster of Brenna being silly!