Happy Birthday and a Goodbye

Chunky Monkey is two today.  TWO!   I just can't believe it.  My babies, and my nephew are growing too fast. Way too fast.  We'll be celebrating Chunky Monkey today by adding his name to the #2 birthday decoration. Yes, it's still up in my house.  After six hours of work, I just can't bring myself to throw it away.  It very well might be moved into Little Miss' room as a permanent decoration. 

Back to Chunky Monkey...Since he's apart of this family, he'll get the same crazy birthday singing at every meal complete with two candles.  I can't get enough of him.  He's amazing and funny and passionate and chunky.  I love him. Seriously, how could you NOT love this...

{Chunky Monkey's mascara artwork}

Now it's time to say goodbye.  Tomorrow is my 15K race.  9.3 miles.  The end of the race is Satan's Blvd times two.  An incline that I know I can run up, but I won't make promises if I will survive or not.  So this is goodbye.  Maybe, just maybe, I'll be back on Monday for Menu Monday.  In case I'm not, you can find awesome recipes here and here.  I love you all dearly!

A New Piece

For those of you who have been to my house, you know my living room is bare.  Of course you would never say anything, because that would be rude. I don't have rude friends, but come on.  You know you've thought it.  Well, Steven got his new toys for the living room.  A movie screen tv mounted above the fireplace complete with his surround sound that drives me nuts. It's entirely too loud all of the time.  I'm thinking of returning it because from what I know there are only two noise levels...off and blaring.  I prefer off, but guess who prefers blaring?

I can't complain too much.  He's happy, and I'm happy a little.  I can now pick out my 'toys' for the living room.  Since he has his set up complete, I can now work around it.  Of course the furniture had to be rearranged so The Chair is the direct view of The Screen.  Once that happened I could see what I wanted and where I wanted it.

So this is the start.  My shelf.  I especially love all the little trinkets.  I really fond on one piece in particular.  I'm sure you'll be able to find it immediately, and NO, it is not my coupon binder and/or recipe binder!

It's a lovely piece, isn't it?  Truly, one of a kind. 

All Things Pumpkins

We have not made it to a pumpkin patch this year, and I don't think we're going to make it.  Instead we did some pumpkin things at home, like carving our first family pumpkin and roasting it's seeds.  I can't really say that the kids helped with the carving of the pumpkin.  Little Man only wanted to pull out the seeds one by one.  Since it was already evening time, we decided to reach in and get down to the nitty gritty.  We wanted the job done before Halloween. 

Little Miss' only contribution was informing us that what we were doing was, "Ewwweeee."  Typical girl!  However, Steven enjoyed the carving process.  He had never, in his entire life, carved a pumpkin.  Ever.  I couldn't believe it.  He did a great job for his first one.  It was a great Torres Family moment.  Since we're a super competitive family, we now have a starting point in which to make our pumpkins better and better.

I had remembered eating roasted pumpkin seeds as a kid and being completely disgusted.  So, I went to Tasty Kitchen to do a little pumpkin seed roasting research.  I found this recipe.  It was simple.  I kept my oven temperature at 200 degrees to preserve more of the nutrients in the seeds.

I give these seeds two thumbs up.  The seeds came out crispy and flavorful.  Little Miss even approved (Little Man didn't like them).  I was st-st-st-stoked.  Another item to add to her little menu of healthy options.  Too bad pumpkins aren't year round.

Happy Cooking!!!

Mini Vacay!

Branson, MO.  Outlet shopping.  Silver Dollar City.  Big Cedar Lodge.  Need I say more?  We had a blast!  We were only there for 3 days, but we crammed in as much fun as possible.  Not to mention we succeeded in completely tiring out a 2 year old and two 3 year olds.  Yep, the adults outlasted the kids.  That's a huge accomplishment. 

Our first evening in Branson allowed for some shopping.  I'd like to say it was a marathon shopathon, but it only lasted a brief hour and a half.  Not nearly enough time, but 3 hungry kids won out against Jackie and I.  Luckily, there was a little 50's diner across the way to grab some grub and listen to some live singing from the wait staff.  Step outside and suddenly you're in Santa's Village...with a real Santa walking around.  A creepy Santa, but nonetheless Santa.  Many things I got to check off my Bucket List that first night...Eat artery clogging food...check.  Listen to a singing waitress...check.  Dine with the Gray Hairs...check.  Watch my children get creeped out by Santa telling them to be good...check.   All in a days time.  I can die a happy woman now.

Of course sleep happened, but it was very little because we wanted to hit up Silver Dollar City.  Love, love, love SDC. Did I say I love it?  I do.  Whole-heartedly love SDC.  Apparently half of America loves it too.  At least they did when we arrived on Friday.  It was p-p-p-p-packed!  We stayed until they closed the place down, and then drug our kids to the Bass Pro restaraunt at Branson Landing.  Closed that place down too.  Thankfully though we were able to leave a souvenier there.  Jackie's flip-flop had taken a beating walking up and down the Hills of the Ozarks.  It finally gave up to all the abuse and torture and broke for good.  So she left it under the table and walked out.  She's a real woman I tell ya.

Since we felt the kids didn't need sleep, we woke them up early the next morning (after an extremely late bedtime) and drug them back to SDC.  The boys rode rides until the cows came home.  As for Little Miss, she rode some rides, but she just couldn't hang.  Sleep overtook her in the stroller.  Not even the loudest train on Earth could wake her up.  Literally speaking...the loudest train 'toot' I ever heard didn't even get her to wake. 

All in all, we had a great time.  The best time.  Mainly because it's great memories being made with some great friends.  We are so blessed!

Menu Monday

Whew!  Why do vacations make you so tired?  I am pooped.  Plum pooped.  However, we had a wonderful time in Branson, MO.  I think I ate everything you are not supposed to eat plus more.  A lot more.  It was an ungodly amount of food, but worth every artery clog and calorie.  I'll be paying for it later.  Anyway...be sure to check out the details of the trip tomorrow.  There will be more details than you ever wanted to know.  On second thought, maybe you won't want to read tomorrow's post.  It will be ridiculous.  We will cover topics from gray hairs to a black flip-flop left under a table.  Interesting stuff people!  Until then, I'll leave you with what we will be consuming this week for dinner...

Monday-Taco Soup and Corn Casserole
Tuesday-Chicken Cacciatore and Homemade Cresents
Wednesday-Feta Stuffed Chicken Breast, Spinach Salad, Wheat Split Rolls (from leftover cresent dough)
Thursday-Sausage Balls, Eggs, Fresh Fruit and Toast
Friday-DATE NIGHT!!! (no excitement here)
Saturday-Broiled Tilapia, Club Salad, Honey Butter Bread
Sunday-Frito Chili Pie and CANDY...Happy Halloween!!!

Did You Know?

Wisp Clips

Wisp Clips is a small business that I started back in July.  Never did I imagine Wisp Clips would be as big as it is, but WOW!  I have some great customers.  If you are interested in Wisp Clip products, please visit Wisp Clips' facebook page and/or blog site.  You will be able to view photos of current products and be the first to know about monthly sales. 

Each bow or clip is handmade in a pet free/smoke free environment.  Christmas is just around the corner and Wisp Clips would be great stocking stuffers!  Babies, toddlers, pre-teens, and teenagers have all been recipients of Wisp Clips products.

Labors of Love

Little Miss gave me an uber quick, but super painful labor. Five hours from the onset of labor until the time she was born. It was a complete labor of love. I knew at the end of all the pain I would meet my little girl. It was worth it.

Fast forward two years, I had another labor of love moment. On numerous blog sites I had seen tissue paper decorations. I decided I would make a gigantic number '2' as her main decoration. It sounded like a wonderful idea...at the time. Six hours of work later, I finally finished. It took me longer to make that one decoration then it did to birth the stinkin' child. Yes, a complete lapse of sanity. We all know I'd do it again though. Maybe my elevator doesn't go all the way to the top. I take that back. I know my elevator goes to the top, but it must skip a couple of floors on the way up. That is the only way to explain why I would spend 6 hours on a decorative item. Since there is no way I will throw it away, it's up for grabs. After I shed tears from letting it go.

Now for the cake. I made it. Yes, I will now refer to myself as Betty Crocker. Amanda? Who's Amanda? My name is Betty. Betty Crocker. Truth be told, I invited over Jamie to offer moral support and guidance. She made this same cake for her daughter's 3rd birthday. She helped me get the icing to the right consistency and even threw on the dirty ice for me. Thank you Jamie!!! I really thought this cake would be the death of me, but it looks way harder than it is. It was actually fun putting it all together, and the kids loved eating all the colors.

Turth be told, I really do love making handmade items for my kids.  It adds that extra special touch that I like.  As for Little Miss, she didn't care.  She did love her presents though. She received lots of adorable clothes including a Cinderella costume. She looooooves Cinderella. And you know what? We really loooooove Little Miss!