Father's Day with the A's

M's team was selected as the A's Team of the Game on Father's Day. They were given free parking, tickets, t-shirts, a ball and allowed to be down on the field for pre-game warm ups. 

M and his buddy waiting to go into the stadium...a little excited for it all to begin!

Being recognized on the big screen during the game.

M with daddy on Father's Day at the A's game.

On the field.

Getting the A's 1st baseman's autograph.

So excited!

Watching the game from the stands...with his foam finger he had to have...and enjoying some Cotton Candy.

A snapshot of the kids on TV during the 1st pitches being thrown. The players dads had the honor of throwing the first pitches to start the game. J and M are on the far left of the screen.

Challenger Soccer Camp 2011

This week has been an exciting week for the boys. The two older ones were excited to do a week long Challenger Soccer Camp, M's 3rd year and J's 2nd year. N is still a year to young to start, but that didn't stop him from trying to get in the action too. The camp is a bit pricey, but the boys absolutely love it, they work hard, and you can see them improve everyday.

He thought picking up cones was fun and made for an interesting addition to his arm.

He also ran around and played tag with some of the the other kids.

On the last day J got to put on some war paint.

N throwing a tantrum because he was too little to play.

Some game action from M. He was the youngest in the oldest group, but it didn't slow him down or deter him one bit.

N playing one of the tag games, holding the coaches hand. It was dress the coach funny day, thus the tutu.

J playing with his game face.

Some tight action on M.



M and Coach Craig.

J with Coach Dan.

End of Season Party x 2

So the boys have officially finished up their season of playing baseball/tball. Overall the boys have enjoyed their season and I think no one will be dragging their feet about playing when sign ups start again next year....and they will be able to be on the same team next year! I think I might be a tad excited at the fact that I won't have to be at the field 5 out of the 7 days of the week for games and practices.

The only "reasonable" photo of M...even if you zoom this one in or look close enough you will see his mouth is full...full of Broccoli...who's kid is this anyway!

I had the responsibility of being team parent...every sport that the boys played in this year I ended up taking it on. Luckily I never had to do it for both boys at the same time or I don't think I would have been able to keep up with it all! The coaches were quite appreciative of the emails, scheduling and organizing I did over the season and presented me with some flowers and a plaque....cause I'm just that cool!

I presented the coaches with photo frames that were matted and signed by all the players.

J took much better pictures...shaking hands with the coach...

and oh so excited about his trophy and certificate.

This reminds me, I need to go sign the boys up for soccer that starts in August...there is always something for the boys to stay active in!

Nerd Alert...Back-off He's All Mine!

So it had been a couple of years since the last upgrade of our desktop, and J was finally having some time to do a favorite hobby of his, flying....on the computer....cause he just doesn't get enough of the real kind you know!  But his current computer just wasn't "flying" right...or something...

It has been about 6 years since building a computer from scratch and so he did a little research online about the new components and pricing parts out. He was super excited when Fry's Electronics was running a special...and we live about an hour away from one...and we packed up and spent the day wondering and picking out parts for his new baby.

Very carefully putting his baby together, if you screw up it could cost us big time!

So glad he knows what he is doing, 'cause I have no clue...I just know he showed me how much it cost to order it pre-made and I liked the cost of him putting it together much better.

I'll have to get a pic of him and his new baby playing a little Flight Sim.

Pad Thai Night

So this weekend J and I went off and had a date...we tried to go to a movie (Pirates of the Caribbean), but by the time we got up to the ticket machine the movie had already started and we couldn't buy the tickets. We bummed around the mall, Barnes and Nobles, went and checked out the indoor go cart racing place to see how much it was ($$$), and then went to Cost Plus World Market. We walked out with 4 bags full of goodies. In my bag I managed to pick up rice noodles and a pre-made sauce for making Pad Thai.

After reading the label on the jar I decided to give it a try tonight...this was the first try...

I ended up with clear crunchy noodles...no good!

After doing a little more research on the computer I found out the sauce needs to go in the oil first and then the noodles. Once I had the noodles coated I put in my egg and scrabbled it up good and then mixed into the noodles. Next I put in the cabbage and my shrimp. I let it all cook together and added a little more sauce so the shrimp got a little flavor too. It passed our test and will definitely feed those cravings for Pad Thai.

Just in case you wanted the labels...some close ups of the products I used. Let me know if you ventured outside the traditional box and tried to make your own Pad Thai!

Enjoying Nature

On this lazy rainy day I would like to take a look at what this rainy day will bring.

Glorious Blooms of vibrant colors.

Small little miracles.

And little boys that run around looking at flowers so that they can find "wady bugs".

Seeds for next season.

Hello Sunshine, on a day like today I like to look at you.

Dainty little fuzzy flowers. The colors are just drop dead gorgeous.

Ah but what is this?

That annoying little electrical box, so happy to have you at Halloween and Christmas, but now you are just an eye sore among all the pretty colors.

It is huge, but I have a solution!

Ah, much better! Maybe I should dig out some Christmas lights and make the star glow too! Yes! Yes, indeed...next week I think I will find the time.

I wish I could be that little frog among all the pretty flowers and the pretty smells.

And I think next week I will find some time to make this view a little prettier too. It needs some help! Some flower boxes, hanging baskets, and bird houses are what I envision...some definite bling is needed!

Some inspiration for the fence.

Stayed tuned to see what I actually come up with.

Diaper Cakes How-To

So yesterday I had the privilege of helping a good friend throw a baby shower for another friend that recently moved here. One of the tasks I took on was to make a diaper cake. I had already purchased diapers for the couple as a gift, so I figured how tough would it be to create it into a beautiful center piece for the co-ed shower.

Some of things you will need to reconstruct your own diaper cake:

Some sort of platter/cake plate

Around 100 diapers

Large rubber bands

Clear rubber hair bands

Ribbon

Double sided tape

Baby bling/toys

Ribbon

2 Baby Bottles (I have also seen Sparkling Cider used)

You start with one of your baby bottles and your cake stand/platter. I also ended up putting a diaper inside of the bottle when I knew I had enough to fill out the cake.

Next you start rolling all those diapers. You start at the waist band and roll them tight.

They should end up being about the size of a spring roll...ummm...spring rolls! Have I told you yet about some yummy spring rolls that are in the freezer section...sorry back to topic!

So this is what the package of clear hair bands look like, you can use the teeny tiny ones for the rolled diapers.

Neat little rolled diaper with the clear band on.

So easy N thought he would give it a try too...what a little helper!

Once you get a bunch you break out one of those larger rubber bands and circle them around the bottle.

On the bottom tier you will do 3 rows of the rolled diapers like so.

Then you start the second tier, and do two rows of the rolled diapers.

Now you can use some double sided tape to secure the next bottle on top of the first one, or not. I didn't because I wanted to be able to remove the top tier for transporting it to the party.

You will do one layer of the rolled diapers.

Next you can use some of the double sided tape to use the ribbon to cover up the rubber bands.

Next I attached the baby bling/toys using more of the rubber bands and tooth picks.

After letting it set over night I thought that it needed more, so I added the second thinner ribbon to break up all the green one.

The happy couple with his mom and sister at the party. Many of the guests thought that the diaper cake was real until they got real close. I think for my first time it turned out great. I know that there are other ways to make it, but this seemed the easiest/quickest for the time I had. In all I think I spent just over in hour creating it, and spent around $50. So what do you think?