sweet friendship

I hope they understand how blessed they are.

Taken

Yes another movie review. Yes another Liam Neeson movie. This one was better. It is an older movie from 2008 but it was new to us. It is an action packed testosterone fast paced movie. Basically it is about a divorced dad who was once a CIA agent now retired and not really doing to much. But he has a teenage daughter who he reluctantly let go to Paris to follow U2 on a concert tour. {SPOILER} Once she arrives there she is taken and thrown into the sex slave world. But she calls him as this is happening and he goes after the kidnappers with a vengeance until he retrieves her, basically unharmed.

As I said in my last Liam Neeson review he is just old. In this movies he takes on tons of in shape younger body guards. Some scenes 7 at a time. So it is very unbelievable you can't even pretend. My husband was calling him kick ass grandpa, which pretty much sums it up. He did successfully always win against however many.

However my husband who is also OLD said if it were Faith he would come after them whoever and where ever too. So chasing after your daughter to protect her has no age restraint. Awe thanks honey, but remember I am younger and faster I will get to her to just a bit quicker. But l pray nothing like that will ever happen. No one is getting my daughter she sleeps with me every night.

Again it is the same movie you have seen before but apparently most movies are. It was okay though. I like it better than Unknown and I stayed awake. I guess worth the watch but never with children or teens.

Another Monday

Thankfully an uneventful weekend. We got some rain from Irene but that was it. A nice soaking rain that watered the plants and grass. And afterwards we were left with a beautifully cool day and nice breeze. Let hurricanes like that come through more often.

Today is the big kids second week of school. Things are getting back to normal. We are getting used to our school year routine sorta many things have not started back up yet. So really it is a nice transition.

With the big boys gone the house is substantially quieter. I still don't have a lot of time to get things done with the babies being at home. Someone is always wanting to be held, feed or in need of a change.

It is impossible to hold them all the time. Things still need taken care of and no one but other moms realize how much that is. Faith, princess Faith, of course is still completely dependent on us for everything and loves/needs to be held all the time. But sometimes I have to put her down. I bring her with me in the kitchen and place her tiny self in the high chair.

At first she is okay with it. If you coo at her and give her toys or food.

Then when she quickly has had enough of toys her frustration sets in. I want to be held! Pick me up!

And with a little fussing I cave in.

I miss her brothers being home they would help. Although they are to young to hold her and pick her up they would come by and tickle her or anything to make her laugh. It was nice.

I am not the only one who misses the big boys.

He waits for them and is so happy when they get back home. Oh does he love them and so much want to be just like them. Sweet smiley in one of each of there shoes. You are so much like them.

A little nap

Getting a little rest. She sleeps with me at night then take a nap with Daddy during the day. I think it is funny how she seems to always mimic what he is doing while both are sound asleep.

Red Beans and Rice

Easy ingredients I bet you have all of them all ready.

3 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

12 oz. sausage, I used hot Italian

1 onion chopped

4 celery stalks, you can use less but I love celery

1 bay leaf, but I used 3 small broken ones same difference

1 tsp. dried thyme

? cayenne, to your taste

salt and pepper

2 garlic cloves finely chopped

2 can kidney beans, rinsed

4 jalapenos

1 cup chicken stock

2 cups rice cooked

Cook the bacon set aside and drain. After cooled dice. Let rest.

In a dutch oven, heat the extra virgin olive oil over medium heat. Add the sausage, onion, celery, bay leaf, thyme and cayenne; season with the salt and pepper. Add the chopped and seeded jalapenos that you are growing in your own garden.

Cook string occasionally, until the onion is golden brown, 12 minutes.

Stir in garlic and bacon and cook for another minute.

Drain and rinse the 2 can of kidney beans.

Using a fork, mash a quarter of the beans.

Add the beans and stock to the pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium low and simmer, stiring occasionally, until thickened about 20 minutes. Then dicard the bay leaf.

While simmiring cook the rice.

Yumm once it is all done. Place the rice in a bowl and top with the red beans and sausage mix.

Top with any topping you like I used green onions and a bit of hot sauce. Delicious.

First Day of School 2011

Today wraps up our first week of school and it was only there second day back. I don't really understand starting on a Thursday but they were so excited what ever day it started couldn't come early enough.

They returned back to Montessori school this year and hopefully every year after. Montessori does the grades differently and this year both of them are in lower elementary. It is Gregory's 2nd year in it and Evan's first. Lower elementary consist of grades 1-3. All grades are in the same class which is limited to less than 10 kids per teacher and each class has 2 teacher. Luckily there school has 2 lower elementary classes so they do NOT have to be in the same class. That would have been a challenge for the teachers, distracting to everyone and to competitive for them. When they are older they will be together but now they need separation.

They were waiting for the van from 7am. Not to mention it was thundering, pouring rain or the fact the van does not come till a quarter after 8.

But it did come and the house was quiter. They were gone a lot through the summer but somehow this is different. It is not gone for a week it is gone for another school year. We all missed them and they missed there....sister.

I thought I would get so much done but no. I paced around for a while, pushed the kids on the swing set and eventually made red beans and rice.

And before you knew it they were back home. Yea!!! They had a great time and were so happy to see there teachers and friends. Evan joyfully today upon coming home told me his favorite thing today was he made a lot of friends. What great words to hear especially since they stay in the same class with the same teachers for 3 years.

So here is to another school year and my two studious boys. Let it be great!

laying together in love

Sometimes they scream, fight and throw things at each other but sometimes, most times they lay, laugh, and love each other. I am so blessed to have 4 wonderful babies.

Unknown

Ready for another movie review? Well anyways here it is. Yes I know we have been watching A LOT of movies lately and that really is not us but with school starting this week we have been spending more time at home winding down and relaxing and trying not to go, go ,go. Movies at night are a perfect way to do that.

This time we watched Unknown. Well this movie was unknown to me I had never heard of it Jay saw it on the ipad of someone sitting next to him on a plane. So he got to watch it silently and was interested enough to get it for us. If he wanted to watch it that much I would be happy to check it out.

It was a fast action secret agent movie. It stared Liam Neeson, who is best know around our house for his appearance on Sesame Street.

He fit in this movie and did a good job but it seems like a Matt Damon movie. And he would have been more fun to watch. Maybe I would not have fell asleep then. Yes I did, it could not keep me awake. It just is the same secret agent got involved in something he shouldn't and now they are out to eliminate him before he tells. And surprise yes he never dies. He escapes with a beautiful young woman and now they/she will have a good life.

There were lots of explosions, car chases, bad guys with guns, planes and of course set internationally in the middle of a big city. There were a few surprises and twists.

Overall I would not watch it again. It was fine for the first time, okay but not great.

Let's go noodling

Do you know what noodling is? It has become a common word around our house. But until 3 weeks ago I had no idea what it was either.

So what is it?

Noodling is the dumbest way to fish I have ever seen. You stick your arm it to a muddy water hole where you can't see what you are doing and hope a large catfish bites it. You pull it out presumably with a catfish on it.

Not my photo I got it off bing images. I am not dumb enough to do this.

So why has it become a common word around our home? Well Animal Planet has a new show called Hillbilly Handfishing and it is just about noodling. I watched it one night with my boys and was amazed. It was about a family in the south that runs a noodling adventure company for tourist. They take mostly city slickers who would never be exposed to this weirdness and take them for a week of noodling. For as dumb as I think the Southerners are for doing this to begin with ironically it is mostly New Yorkers and other big city residents that are they ones on these adventures. The southerners seem to be the smart ones in this case not doing it and a few even smarter ones making a good deal of money letting the city slickers do it.

I started teasing my scared children with the threat of noodling.

me: "look if you don't stop this I will take you noodling!!!!"

boy: "nooooo, no, no: (In a scared voice quivering because they have the fear I might)

But gotta love on demand it is on there and my kids started watching it over and over. And they lost there fear. (plus realizing noodling is completely mine. There is NO WAY, NOPE, NEVER you would get me noodling) So now my empty threats go a bit differently.

me: "Am I gonna have to take you noodling?!"

boy: "bring it on mom"

The Source Code

The other night we curled up on the couch to watch the source code. It was new, sounded exciting, action, and got good reviews. We continually heard the commercials for it so thought it was worth a try and... it was.

It was about a good looking guy who has to save the world. And he keeps reliving the same event until he gets it right. Much like groundhog day but with a modern matrix addition except Jake Gyllenhaal is by far hotter than Bill Murry. He falls for a victim in the circumstance that he is trying to save the world from. And his controller (the matrix part) falls for him.

It was not too bad for children, two of mine watched it with us. My little boy who was 2 watched because he would not go to bed. The whole movie took place on a train and that kept his attention. Of course he can't understand the movie he just like seeing the train and watching it blow up over, and over, and over (like I said Groundhog Day). My 6 year old came into it sleepy and was barley awake so really neither saw or understood anything. But it is not a movie containing and sex a kiss or two, bad language was to a minimum, I don't really remember any, but there sorta was a lot of violence the train blew up over and over killing everyone but you did not see dead people just the explosion. There were also a few fights and a few gun shot victims. But it is not meant for kids I would not recommend it for them but I also would not shew them out of he room immediately.

Overall it was okay. It was not that great but it was not bad. The main character was cute his love was very pretty and had awesome hair I wish fell naturally upon my head. It was such a copy of Groundhog Day that was disappointing, but it was modern and if you have never seen either I would recommend it.

the grill broke

While you were gone:

The grill broke.

The bottom just fell off!

You can see right through to the bottom.

This can't be safe?

It is probably because no one ever cleaned it.

Nope I don't think even once.

Left out in the elements it rusted right through. We live in rough weather.

And no one mowed the lawn! It is close to a foot. If you look here we lost a soccer ball to the yard.

If you look at the first picture we are about to loose the grill to it too.

A picture from the past but shouldn't be

Wow nothing can get you motivated to lose some weight and change your looks like seeing an old photo. Jay is now back from Washington and he brought with him a few old photos he found around his dads house. Old photos from when we still lived in Washington old photos that are 10 years old. Before babies, before 4 babies, and a decade of real life.

I look at them and remember the times. I remember how crazy googliey eyed we were for each other. I remembered how hot we were.

We both were a couple of sizes smaller and our best accessories was the smile on our faces. We were so in love. The world was carefree. We were kidless running around focusing on us.

However, fast forward 10 years. We don't quite look like that anymore. Both of us have put on weight. Both of us are really good cooks though and enjoyed those meals. My weight has gone from around 100 pounds in those photos to almost 200 pounds just before I delivered. We look a little more worn. Years of stress, bills, extended family worries, our family, children have added a wrinkle or two. Nothing Photoshop can't fix :) But those pictures are not our life anymore. I miss that life.

But now life is

Me takeing care of kids, a house, and a husband. My days are pushing kids on the swings in our toy filled back yard.

No longer in designer clothes but STILL!!!! maternity pants and just a t shirt and it most likely will have spit up on it. Hair pulled up so baby wont get it. Not wearing jewelry because realistically what I touch throughout the days is gross. I don't want it to get ruined or fall out of its post. And like I said weighing close to 40 pounds more.

Being a mom has changed me. And I love it. I love these kids. But I do believe there needs to be a bit more balance.

Tyson's Grilled Chicken Strips

A few weeks ago in my oddly obsive coupon collecting and clipping I cut out one for Tyson's grilled and ready chicken breast strips. Stuff like this I normally don't buy. It is usually expensive. I buy chicken breast in bulk all the time so it is no harder to grill it when I need it and it is cheaper. But I cut it because you never know. Sure enough I went to the grocery store to get the makings for a ceaser salad and there in the bagged salad section were these chicken strips. They weren't frozen, like I thought they would be. They were on sale too, buy one get one free. They are normally just under $5 a bag!!!! But with the coupon and the bogo sale it made each bad I got around $1.50. Which is still a lot for how little it is. These bags contain 8 ounces of chicken. At worst I never pay $5 for half a pound of chicken breast. Usually on sale I get chicken breast around $2 a pound.

I took it home opened the package to make into a chicken ceasar salad. Upon opening it I was disappointed and confused. The chicken breast was a little slimey and seasoned. Not spoiled slimy just preservatives, I hope. And the seasoning was not much but it was not the flavor I wanted and it did not say this on the package. However I still put it on my salad. The chicken wasn't great but it wasn't bad. Not right for a ceasar salad. I still have another bag I through in the freezer I think I will try it with quesadillas.

But for my overall on this product... thumbs down. It is expensive, small, and has a slight different flavor. But easy yes.

Packing Children

oh my oh my what a crazy month, and it is not over. Ever since we got the news of Jays father passing it has been hard on all of us. It has caused many different problems to everyone in all different ways. Obviously Jay the deepest.

After a few days of staying in bed/working/bed/working he decided he did want to go out to Washington. I went out to the shed to get him some suitcases. Not an easy feat. I need to add cleaning that to my to do list. (wait it HAS been on there for months now) Whew you would think getting a suitcase would be easy but this month nothing has been easy. However I did get it down, crashingly.

I brought the suitcase inside a it sat by his desk for a few days. Everyday I reminded him you need to pack you are leaving soon. But he never did.

He was leaving the next day and the suitcase was still sitting there unpacked and my sweet kids decided they would pack it with what they thought Daddy should bring.





She is crying because there is NO way she wants to leave her mama. We don't even entertain that idea. We will deal with those issues sometime but for now she is my beautiful arm jewelry.

Then Smiley started packing his most prize possessions.



If his guitar is going then he has to as well.





Of course Gregory does not want to be left out. But he just wants to fly on a plane. In my life I have had many plane rides and they are rarely comfortable. I couldn't even imagine the discomfort of luggage travel.





Their dad has been gone over a week and we miss him. It is really not that long but when things aren't right it feels like forever. We have filled the time with fun and family but there have been many meltdowns. It won't be long now till we can unpack the suitcase and all be together again. (no the kids did not stay packed)

Swinging with a sister

What is one of the best things about childhood? Swinging. Oh the joy, the movement, the air.



Smiley could swing for hours. He pulls my finger to come outside and push him everyday. But as good as it is to swing he has found a new swinging partner that make it even better.



She might look a little frightened in the photos but she does love. If it is slow and steady.



It can quite her down when she is upset. She love to be included. I am amazed at 4 months she all ready wants to be like her big brothers.



And why not? I am quite fond of them too.