Fend For Your Self … I'm taking the night off!

I have decided to institute a new program in our home, "Fend for Yourself Night" which will take place at least once a week. This means that each individual is on their own to fix their own dinner for the evening and clean up the mess. They can have anything their little or big heart's desire, left overs, cereal, frozen waffles and sandwiches, I don't care what they choose to eat. They know how to boil water (mac n' cheese) use a microwave, and they know how to spread peanut butter on bread. Why not put these skills to good use!

The reason I've started this is because on some nights I don't feel like cooking or even want to think about what to cook and maybe I'm not even that hungry and snacking will suit my nutritional needs--so why am I gonna cook a meal!. I have a wonderful husband who cooks and picks up the slack for me, but sometimes we need the night off.

I like to believe I'm training my kids to be independent and self-reliant. Plus it's kind of fun watching them...Fend for Themselves!

Cooking 101

Alex cooked rice pudding today all by herself. I stood by just to capture the Kodak moment

She measured out all her ingredients

Waiting for the ingredients to boil and photo opp with mom.

Voila...it's ready to be chilled:

The taste testers...

Two Thumbs Up!!! It was delicious. I'm so proud of Alex this was her first time cooking, aside from boiling water to make hot chocolate. She is becoming a lovely young lady.

Go Cardinals!

hehehe … I really don't care about the Super Bowl. It's just a great excuse to get together with family and eat lots of yummy food!! Hope everyone has a great day today!

Fat Man's Pass...

This is Fat Man's Pass located on Phoenix South Mountain Park. Our family memory for the month of February was to hike through Fat Man's Pass. Our hike was a moderate to difficult and the kids did a great job. It was quite an adventure with lots of big rocks to climb on and caves to explore. We even got lost on our way back so our 3 mile hike turned into a 10 mile hike. We had lots of fun spending the day together! The pictures speak for themselves.



Click here for the photo album with videos.

Family Weekend Getaway

It's been feeling like we need even more togetherness lately, so we all took a road trip to L.A. over the long weekend. When the kids showed up after school Friday we surprised them with our plan to pack for the weekend and leave town before dinner. We stayed at Sal & Kellie's house (Evon's brother), visited Knott's Berry Farm, the Kodak Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard, Roy Rogers Beach, the L.A. Temple, Beverly Hills, the PCH, Evon's old place in Agoura, and had a good dinner and lots of fun visiting our friends, the Cook family.

Aside from Evon's two-day rollercoaster hangover, the weekend was totally perfect! The weather couldn't have been better, the lines at the park were very short, and we had quality time with some family and friends. But best of all, our family enjoyed the time we spent together.

A million thanks to Evon, who hatched the whole idea! I love you!

Click the picture to enlarge or click here for the photo album.

Family Togetherness

I have been wanting to do things together as a family that will create memories for the kids and allow us to become closer as a family. My goal for 2009 is to once a month find one thing that our family can do together that will make us closer and stronger. January is becoming the month of "RISK". Last Sunday we sat down together and played the game Risk. Seth taught us the rules and how to play and 3 hours later the kids could not get enough. The kids ask every day, "Can we play risk?" We have not turned on our TV once this week due to this game. What I like about this game is that:

1. We play for 3 hours minimum (when the game is over they want to play again)
2. We laugh at each other and with each other
3. Everyday distractions are forgotten — phones, TV, video games, etc.
4. And it's not Chutes and Ladders, Candyland or Pretty Pretty Princess — we have evolved to the next level of game playing

I have started making a list of the things we like to do together, so when we are wondering, "What should we do," I can look at my list and remember the things we have done in the past and do something off that list.

GREASE is the word...

Grease is one of my all time favorite movies. I love the music, dancing and energy; it's just a fun movie. I saw Grease when it first came out in 1978. I was 9 years old. Seth got me the DVD for Christmas and I was so excited to share one of my favorite movies with my girls. I got so caught up in what I loved about the movie that I forgot all about the innuendos in it. Luckily the girls are still innocent enough they didn't catch on to any of it, but Rizzo's predicament was not so easy to overlook. Guess I won't be getting the Perfect Mom of the Year award! Needless to say, I have created a couple of Grease lovers and they think it's the best movie ever! They have been running around the house for two days singing, "Your The One That I Want" and "Beauty School Drop Out." I think they love it for all the reasons I do.

Watching Grease again as an almost-not-so-quite-for-another-six-months-forty-year-old-woman, the story line did not sit well with me: Good girl changes image to get a boy to like her and all the other stuff in between. I must be growing up!!

I also introduced them to ABBA over the weekend and they know every word to "Dancing Queen." I think Seth has had enough and is ready to move out!