Rolled Chicken

This was my delicious dinner Aaron made tonight. We got the kids to bed and had a nice quiet dinner. The chicken was rolled with feta, spinach, cilantro, pecans, cream cheese, etc. Served with a balsamic reduction and veggies. 

Seriously, he is amazing.

Photo Class

Today I spent the day taking a photography class that I had purchased on Groupon. Can I just say I love Groupon. It was a great day learning how to better use my camera. I have played with it a little but today got to actually grasp some real knowledge about it. Now, I just need the practice and having a chance to apply what I learned. Here are a few shots I took with manual settings. It's a wonder what a little instruction will do for photos. Now I just need to practice on my kids.

Day Date

Today I was lucky enough to leave work early.  I sent Aaron a little message to see if he wanted to play hookie and go to a movie.  We had a sitter so we headed out to an early movie together.  It was nice little spontaneous treat with my husband.  And the movie was great.  My favorite, a romantic comedy, and it was really funny.  It had me laughing out loud, which doesn't happen in movies all that often.  I really enjoyed it.  But what's not to love about Jennifer Aniston and Adam Sandler.

Otis

I just has to give Otis a little blog time. He might be the cutest little doggie. The other thing I love is the kids are absolutely in love with him. Lane won't call him Otis, he calls him dog. No matter what we say he is always Dog to him.

3 Things Favorite: Hair Products

I got this idea from a friend of mine Sarah. I love reading about favorite things of friends or fellow bloggers. It is always fun to get others opinions and try new things out. I like how she does 3 things favorite about random things. So here goes my first try. 3 things favorite: Hair Products.
Dust It, this stuff in amazing. A good friend Julie got me hooked on it about a year ago. It produces the most amazing 'bump', I just ordered my second bottle. So not only is it amazing it lasts forever. Just dust a little at the root, back comb, and walla body and a cute bump. I love this.

I have been using Paul Mitchell Fast Drying Sculpting Spray for years. Actually, as long as I can remember using hairspray. I think my Mom got me hooked on it. So every year for Christmas I get a refill. I have tried others but always go back to ol' faithful. It smells great, doesn't leave white flakies, and does the job. 

 I won't ever buy anything else.

Last but not least. Bobby pins. I'm pretty sure I use them everyday. Whether it is to hold my bangs out of my face, create and up do, or just secure a pony tail, they are in my hair. I love them. 

 They are a definite necessity in my house.

Pima Air Museum

As I have said in the past, I have the most wonderful parents. Tuesdays are "their" day with the kids. It is a day I have worked since Zackary was born. It is my parents only day off and they willingly watch my boys all day. Today they took them down to Tucson to the Pima Air Museum. Yes, I let Zackary ditch preschool to hang with Nana and Papa. As you can see in the pictures they had a blast. They of course were perfect angels according to my folks and they had a great time.

I love the picture of them on the moon.

Thank you Mom and Dad for everything you do!

DBG

Today we spent the day at Desert Botanical Garden. I purchased a membership on a Groupon quite a while ago and finally activated it today, just before it expired. Now we have a full year to reap the benefits. I'm aware that it isn't the most kid friendly place and there were several times I felt my kids were disturbing the peace of the gardens, but they were just being kids. One time in particular...there was a dance floor (I assume for Jazz in the Garden) right in the middle of the eating area where several 'older' people were enjoying the peace and quiet, the birds happily chirping, and a beautiful sunny day...with 4 really cute little kids putting on quite the Rockstar show. No joke, singing loudly about how they are rockstars and dancing. Zackary went on to sing a few songs from our music class we are taking including Pop Goes the Weasel and Vroom Vroom Driving in the Car. He was singing and dancing like nobody was watching until I clapped for him and he proceeded to take a bow and say "thank you very much."  I really am not sure where everything came from but it was hilarious and several others joined in for laughing and clapping. I'm sure there was a few that had a little disrespect for me as a mom because I was letting my kids sing and dance in such a peaceful area but they were being kids and having fun so I just had to soak up the moment and enjoy it. Hey at least they weren't screaming and crying right? We had a great day out with great friends.

Party On

This is the boys new trick on the swings. To be airplanes. Lane caught on pretty quickly after watching his big brother. Remember how fun swings used to be and all the tricks to do on them?

We spent the day out at Mark and Celia's for Mark's birthday. Luckily I got to "stay home on call" and spend the afternoon with our amazing family. The birthday boy cooked us up some amazing food and all the cousins played together so well. It is so wonderful that all the cousins are around the same age and get along so well. Happy Birthday Mark! Thanks for letting us celebrate with you.

FroYo

I think our new favorite thing might be to go get frozen yogurt at Swirl It. Well, maybe the boys and I (I think Aaron could take it or leave it). We love all the yummy toppings and different flavors of yogurt to choose from. I'm pretty sure they have to refill the cherry bowl after the Allan's roll through.

Marley Farms

Today we went to a Birthday party at Marley Farms for Sean our neighbor. It was such a nice party and a great way to enjoy some family time outside. Zackary insisted on wearing his cowboy costume from 2 years ago. Needless to say it was slightly small, but he sure looked cute.

Enjoying cupcakes as usual. These 2 little boys are seriously joined at the hip. They do so well together. I love how close they are and how good to each other they are.

Happy Birthday Sean!

Nanny Love

I must say we got really lucky finding an amazing nanny. We are blessed with her once a week. I always come home to happy children, clean folded laundry, and a clean house.

What?!

I really get annoyed that so many people complain about the weather here in AZ. It really is too perfect to complain about, ya it gets a little hot and sometimes quite cold in the winter, but for the rest of the year it is amazing. We all know it has been freezing the last couple of days here in AZ, but really, icicles hanging from the neighborhood fence in Chandler. I'm pretty sure I have never seen icicles in Chandler.

I figured this was picture and blog worthy.

Boys

I have to admit, I have some amazing boys in my life. Today I had an OB appointment and my father in law gladly came over to watch my sweet boys so I didn't have to drag them along. He got them dressed and fed them breakfast. I came home to Opa and Lane snuggling in the chair. It was so sweet to see.

This is how our night ended. Well actually we are having family movie night tonight because we all took late naps today. We also had to stay inside most of the day because it was so cold out. The boys were playing choo choo train after dinner. Zackary was dragging Lane around in the blanket (I'm not sure what happened to Lane's bottoms). They needed to get some energy out and were having a great time together.

 Now for a movie and popcorn!

What's this

This was sitting on the counter when I got home today. Not sure what they studied at preschool today. What does this look like to you?

V-Day Artwork

Today we got out some Valentines Day art projects we picked up the other day. Zackary has been asking about painting them for a week now. I love to watch them paint and actually focus on something. Sometimes I wonder why I get all the paint out just to clean up a huge mess, but boy do they love to paint. Here is the final masterpieces. I will put them in the living room on display. The did a great job on them and now we will have a couple of Valentines Day decorations.

This morning I was thinking...boy they are sure quite. You know what that means. They were coloring with a marker on their hands. Zackary said he was making gloves on his hands.
 Luckily it washed off throughout the day.

Frizz Head

Please don't judge these pictures. I had to get the full effect. Yes, I am posting raw pictures, no makeup, fresh out of the shower, with crazy frizz head. I hate to do this but it is something I'm really excited about and I was not about to get dolled up for before and after pictures right before going to bed. My whole life I have had some crazy big hair. Which does come in handy sometimes, like in the 80's or well...I guess that was it. It is a must that I have to blow dry my hair pretty quickly after I wash it. I usually sleep on it then have to straiten it the next day, even for a pony tail day, or it is crazy frizzy/wavy. So I've been eyeballing this straitening thing called Brazilian Blowout. Yes, I'm aware it might be the worst name...so many other things come to mind. It came up on Deal Chicken in the fall, I contemplated buying it all day, did some research and at the last minute before it expired it bought it. I really hate trying new hair people but I felt it was worth it to try this out. The other day I drove all the way to Paradise Valley to get it done...and I think I'm in love with it. So here is the   craziness I have had to deal with. This first picture is right after a blow dry.

Here it is now, right after a blow dry. Don't worry I will still be able to produce the famous 'bump' with the right product (more on that later).

Here is the back before and after. Can you guess which one is after?

Today was amazing. I woke up, bumped it (with product of course, not Bumpits) and left for the day. No flat iron, nothing...it was so easy. Wow, I am so excited. This will save so much time. 

 It is for sure worth every penny.