Super Brother

EDITED TO ADD: I don't think Blogger likes it if you put more than one video in a post...it's been "loading" forever...so I'll break this into 2 posts

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Here are some videos of the kids...the first one, you can see how much of a ham Chase is, trying to pose for pictures and then being a big helper, and pissing off his sister :o)

Rocking Sangria

Bruce and I made a giant thing of Sangria for my parents party a few weeks back, and it was a HUGE hit. I got the recipe from my partner in crime (back in the day!) Amy. Here's what I got:

RED Sangria

Slice up peaches, an apple, a pear, and toss 2 packs of raspberries into a bowl
**Edited to add: Silly me! I forgot to list oranges, we used 2 valencia oranges, they were really juicy and great...can't forget those!

Pour enough peach schnapps to cover everything (we used about 2/3rds of a bottle), smush it down if you have to
Add a LITTLE BIT (maybe like 1/3 of a cup) of brandy to give it a kick
Cover and chill in the fridge for 24 hours or so
The next day pour all of that yummy fruit into your cooler thing or a big container to store in the fridge
Add 2 LARGE bottles of PINOT NOIR (we got cheap $10 bottles, nothing fancy, nothing awful like Sutter Home or anything like that though!)
and
1 LARGE bottle of 7-up or Sprite

Mix it all together, keep it cold, and you are ready to roll. ;o)
**If you are using one of those drink dispensers, you might not want to use the raspberries...they sink and clog the dispenser...we ended up taking the top off and using a ladle!

I HAVE A REQUEST...does anyone out there have a WHITE SANGRIA recipe??? Hook me up and add it to the comments...thanks!

A trip to Home Depot started out innocently enough...

We headed over to Home Depot the other morning to grab a few things...Chase was a big helper pushing the cart (note the look of concern on my face and hand bracing for the crash)




Being silly karate-kicking (actually, this is part of his knuckle sandwich dance, I believe)
Poking at things with a sample of hardwood flooring
Finally, Bruce took him over to check out the tractors and mowers so I could concentrate on what I was doing...
Things were going along swimmingly until I got this text from across the store...

I can't help but wonder if this picture was taken BEFORE or AFTER the text?

Taking dining 'al fresco' to a whole new level

After a few hours at the pool we came home for a much needed lunch break. Here are the kiddos dining outside on the deck at their new table...

I am such a jerk!

OK, Carol has been home from Iraq for 2 weeks and I haven't posted anything about her being home since her arrival!

The first weekend she was home we went to a Nat's Game...in 100 Degree Weather! Gah! Here is a picture of the gang, minus Bruce, he was the photographer. Can we talk about this picture for a minute? Ok...thanks.

#1) My dad and I are the biggest nerds...look at the hands on the hips pose we both have...at least I know where I get it from.

#2) Do I remind you of one of those red, white and blue Popsicles you can get from ice cream trucks? I was trying to be cool and rock team colors, OK?

#3) Check out my Mom's hat...nice

#4) Carol...the skinny one with the great hair? Yeah, who looks that good after hanging out in the desert for 6 months? Jerk. And the guy sandwitched in between Carol and I is Verne, Carol's wonderful boyfriend. :o)

#5) Oh, and the cool guy on the end is my Uncle Pat...can I just tell you that he walked home from the stadium, instead of taking the metro, after many beers, in the hot hot weather? He stopped for 2 hot dogs on the way home.

Here's a picture of Bruce and I...it was HOT and VERY, VERY sunny
Here I am, holding up my Redskins Bottle Holder thingy...it's OK that it wasn't Nats Gear...as long as you root for the home team, you are good to go, FYI
I am VERY SAD to say that this is the ONLY picture I have from the ROCKIN pig roast we had last Saturday. I was way too busy drinking delicious sangria, chasing the kids around and socializing to take pictures.

My dad just turned 50...here's a picture of him in well, boxers and an Get Lucky t-shirt...Oh, and a Guinness hat on. Oh? and that moon bounce behind him was a water slide that my brilliant husband Bruce and cousin Matt decided to soap up. It might have been only in the low 70's but damn if we didn't get our moneys worth out of that thing!

LAST THING...please note the sex-ay ankle brace my dad has on...typically he has is ORTHOPEDIC CROCS (which he loves to talk about) on along with it...he fell from a tree last year and shattered his foot. AND he's a fire-fighter. It doesn't' get much better than this folks.

50 is SO NOT OLD! (Love you dad!)

Oooh! Lookie Lookie!

Hey Guys! I wanted to pass on this new blog page that I am proud to be contributing posts to.

It's called Reviews for Change and it's a really great idea! I have 2 product reviews on there so far, and am looking forward to sending more over.

If you have a chance, stop on by and give them some love!

Kerrie from The Minivan Soap Box is the mastermind behind the page..she's a local gal too, from the Tyson's area!

Tuesday Adventures

We went to the park this AM after I got back from running some errands...poor Addy, her hair was a mess! Everyone is entitled to a bad hair day every once in a while, right? Her hair curls right up in the humidity, but this dry weather is for the birds! (speaking of Birds, there was a dead one underneath the playground equipment...gross...I didn't have anything to shovel it up with so we just didn't play under there...yuck)
Chase liked Addy's sunglasses
I can NEVER get a picture of the two kids together...Addy is always running away and Chase always puts her in a headlock to try to keep her still (still rocking the sunglasses!) "Here sister, say Cheese!"
"Addy, come back here! You ALWAYS mess up the pictures!"
Finally, I got the two of them to smile and LOOK at the camera at the same time, sitting in their midget chairs out on the deck. I had to sing The Itsy Bitsy Spider to get them to cooperate.

I am VERY itchy

I have poison ivy and it is all I can think about. My skin is crawling! Luckily I had a dr's appt at the dermatologist this AM and he prescribed me a heavy-duty steroid cream so hopefully I won't pass it on to the kiddos. The itching is driving me crazy! Gah!

I'm pulling pictures off my camera now so hopefully I'll have something more interesting to talk about soon :o)

I hate push ups

OK, I have just stumbled upon something that I think is hilarious, and I must try to do.

I am AWFUL at doing push-ups...ask anyone at bootcamp! My butt is always up in the air, and for as strong as I am, I just can't do them! My form is terrible.

So, I am going to do this 6-week challenge to be able to do 100 consecutive push-ups. Wish me luck! Michael is probably laughing out loud right now! :o)

http://hundredpushups.com/index.html

Pretty Pigtails!

Addy had a horrible night last night...she was up from 1:30 to 5:30, ready to rock and roll. Mommy and Daddy weren't. Bummer. She is teething hard-core, is all I can chalk it up to. She rarely fusses about it, and normally teething tablets do the trick, so she doesn't normally ever have Tylenol or anything...she was a bit of a crack head last night when I gave her some..."more"..."good"..."mine" Gotta love her. She laid between Bruce and I talking (at 15 months! so much earlier than Chase) and watching Barney in the middle of the night. We were all a TAD tired this morning.

As paybacks, I put her in pig-tails. :o) She was precious. She is turning into such a little big-girl! She won't look at the camera though. Annoying!




This watering can was about as big as she is...she's a tough cookie like her mother :o)

Carol is HOME!

Yay! I just got back from meeting everyone at Dulles to pick up Carol for her 2 weeks of leave from Baghdad!!!

Chase managed to flash me for the entire Dulles Airport arrivals area to see...he kept lifting my dress up and then he got smart and stood behind me and I definitely felt like my cheeks were exposed! 30 seconds later, Carol walked through the door...lucky for Chase!

Here are the love-birds, back at it already...I'm blubbering in the background...Addy and I were the first to get to her...it definitely involved a sprint that Michael would be proud of :o)

It was an exhausting adventure back for her

~Baghdad to Kuwait...and a fun bus ride

~a "sleep-over" in Kuwait on a little mattress on the floor for 12 hours

~Kuwait to Dublin Ireland

~Dublin to Atlanta (ahead of schedule)

~Atlanta (she was able to snag the last seat on an earlier flight!) to Dulles.

and we are so happy she is home. I dropped Bruce back off at work, took the kids back home and left with Carol taking the worlds longest, most deserved, shower...I think she went through 2 or 3 razors...haha.

Here are some pictures of us waiting and then us happily walking along...we were all too excited and blubbering to take good pictures. It was the kids first time EVER inside of an airport...they had fun...thank goodness we weren't really there to fly...I don't know how people fly with kids, I'd need a Xanax before we got out of the car!

Here's Chase being a bit shy and waiting with Daddy

Here's Addy and HER boyfriend...oh wait, that's Carol's boyfriend, Verne

Addy wandering around like she owned the place...the balloons came in handy to keep track of the kids...haha, she loved wearing them.

The 2 biggest cheese-balls I know, being silly. Chase was too in love to look at me for a picture

So happy to have his Aunt Carol back!

Yay!!!

Look what I got!

What a nice surprise this afternoon at work! Bruce never sends me flowers (Ok, I probably deserve it, the first time he sent me flowers I broke up with him) (I know, I'm horrible)

They smell heavenly...you made my day...thanks babe!

Quick! What's missing in this photo?

The left side of my bumper...yes, but No! not the point! Hope to get around to getting it fixed soon...damn fire hydrant!

Chase's hair...yes, but no!

A VERY LITTLE pink croc...it was such a tragedy for Chase and I that I had to stop and take a picture of it. I tried to get Addy to do "all done" which includes upturned hands which would look like "what in the world happened to my little pink shoe?"...but she wasn't cooperating. Neither was Chase, he was clearly too upset (or looking at a school bus in the parking lot).

I realized her shoe was missing AFTER loading all of our stuff into the back of the truck, so I did the normal walk around the car and looked in the parking lot. No Dice. So, off we went, backtracking through the store, past many helpful mothers (I must have been really obvious!) asking what I was looking for, etc. I even had a friendly Target employee send an APB out over her walkie talkie. No luck finding the thing!

Addy couldn't have cared less, but Chase and I were muttering about how horrible and awful it was...he gets so serious, it cracks me up. All Addy wanted was another goldfish.

When we got home she walked around with one croc on like there was no problem...silly girl. Chase couldn't stop talking about it.

I love my kids. They make me smile...most of the time :o)

PS: This is a tip to new mommies of 2 or more...our Target is located right next to Costco which has the 2-seater shopping carts. So, now that Addy is out of her carrier, I just park at Costco to use one of their shopping carts, and go about my business in Tar-Jay. It's a beautiful thing...and it makes Chase a bit more cooperative about having to sit in the cart, he'd rather be wandering around, but I am no fun, so that's not an option all the time.

Ok, I'm done