not enough hours in the day.

i just got home from the craziest birthday weekend in vegas! girls trip for tracey's 30th!! we had so much fun to say the least ;) but now that im home its back to reality. cooking, cleaning, laundry, homework, being a mom, being a wife... the list goes on and on!

i feel like i need another day off just to clean house and do laundry. how lame is that! im sure by next week i will finally have caught up on my sleep. until then i feel like i have not one moment to rest! work was a blur today. i hope i didnt screw anything up. my body was there but my mind was still sleeping!! three days off a normal schedule of eating and drinking can throw you for a loop. im not interested in alcohol for awhile now. i need to be kind to my liver since she was nice enough to let me party in vegas :) 

when i got home from work, i made dinner for dylan and bobby. cleaned as many rooms as i could and started the many loads of laundry! of course when i get home the food is scarce. a mini safeway trip was in order for tonight and soon ill have to make the dreaded BIG trip. why cant the husband grocery shop?! do any wives out there have a husband who shops?! i would love to make the list and have him go to the store so then i can cook. thats fair right?! i dont think im going to hold my breathe.

i just feel like there are never enough hours in the day to do "it all. the hours after work are chaos! that is why im up till midnight daily cause im on the move all evening and i don't wind down till now. getting back in the swing of things in hard. i really, REALLY want to start my meal planning. i know it will be a little time consuming but im hoping it will make grocery shopping less stressful and ill actually get my monies worth for each shopping trip. i feel like i spend so much money only to get home and have nothing to cook =/ i know im not the only one.

after dinner is homework, bath time, reading, bed... im neglecting my DVR so its about to explode with all the shows it has on it. i would love to stop time once i get home from work so i can enjoy some time with my boys  :) thats not asking for much! 

i want to get these pics up from the weekend, but i know it will take time. sorry ladies, i will try again tomorrow night!! still rotating laundry and typing this and watching the news and uploading pics to my computer... all while thinking about how i have to brush my teeth, take my medicine, turn dylan's movie off, take charlie out to pee. my work is never done!!

AHHHHH!!!

my favorite time of day

i love bedtime. its my favorite time of the day. no matter how good or bad my day has been, i know that the one constant is bedtime with my husband. its a time to relax, catch up on our favorite shows and just talk about whatever. we are both equally reality junkies ;) so the DVR fills up quick. its easy to watch TV together cause we like a lot of the same shows. he may not admit it, but he likes to watch Jerseylicious just as much as i do! 

my son is a night owl, so even after a nice bath, he can stay up forever. i try to dim his lights, have him watch one of his movies and at least get under the covers of his bed! the later he stays up, the worse he is in the morning =/ i have yet to find a way to get him asleep by 830. any suggestions?! 

it took me 4 1/2 years to get him out of the bed with me. [it isnt as bad as it seems, we lived at my mom's house then and i didn't like sleeping alone either.] once we moved, he has slept every night in his own bed. this seemed to only make room for our cat and within the last months, we now have a dog who shares the bed with us too. we got rid of one kid and gained two animals =/ what happened there?! its like, first one to the bed better claim their spot or else they will be scrunched all night long, LOL.

but back to loving bedtime... i am so not a morning person. never have been & never will be. i love nighttime, i love laying in bed relaxing after dark. if feels good to just do nothing after a crazy day. sometimes, i catch up on my book im reading at the moment or type away at a blog. i need my pink & brown blanket and no pillow. im not a fan. he on the other hand has his pillow and barely a sheet over him. one of these days im investing in an electric blanket. i am ALWAYS cold and he is ALWAYS hot! i want the heater on and he wants the door open, fan blowing! despite our differences, it just works :) it makes us who we are as a married couple. even when we lay in bed in complete silence, it is never awkward. 

i guess you would call that comfortable love<3

how many can say they have that?!

Dylan's 7th Birthday Party

today we had Dylan's 7th birthday party at Blackberry Farm! its the first party we've had away from home. we love this place and try and make a weekly visit during the summer. he wanted a pool party so he got a pool party. he loves spongebob so it seemed perfect to have a spongebob pool party. our family was there, our good friends and even dylan's friends from school :) 

the morning started off foggy, the cake slid in the car and as we were setting up raindrops started to fall! this can not be happening?! is all i could think. not on my son's birthday party, especially since yesterday was such a beautiful day. luckily, the fog burned off, the raindrops passed and i managed to fix the minor defect on the cake from the car ride =/ nothing the kids noticed, im sure. just me, the neurotic mother i am. 

the kids were like little fish! they stayed in the pool all day long. it was hard to get them out to even eat! i love how they all get along so well. the boys are close in age and all the girls are too. i cant help but fast forward to their teenage years and see them all hanging out still. im sure to have gray hair by then ;) it was nice to be in the sun with good company!

we sang dylan happy birthday and he blew out his 7th birthday candle. he had yet another amazing cake made by his aunties :) it was a swimming pool with spongebob and his friends just chillin' in the sun :) its crazy how quick time flies. i can still remember my little one year old at his sesame street party. he is one lucky kid, who has many friends and family members who love him! 

i have to thank his grandparents for all their help today, [mom, dad & sherry]! we missed papa richie! thank you to all my friends with kids and without for sharing dylan's day with him :) you guys are great to me and my son! also thanks to his schoolmates that made the trip to blackberry farm to hang with their buddy on his birthday :)

oh and how can i forget... a HUGE thank you to the guys that sucked it up and came even though they couldnt believe that i planned dylan's birthday party for 9/11/11 the FIRST sunday of Football Season ;) thank god for radios, right?! 

major bonus to the day was having a great party and being able to pack up and leave afterward. no mess to clean up. so much for that tent, huh babe?! i was almost divorced this morning. note to self: dont argue over stupid things. its not worth it, cause in the end it will all work out. he's lucky i didnt throw a pole at him, LOL. we are so investing in a pop up tent :)

 

we couldnt forget that we also shared this day with all the victims of 9/11! the ten year anniversary has approached us. we remember everyone who lost their life that day. dylan wanted something special added to his cake, just for this day. he had "patrick" laying on an american flag raft in the pool! i thought it was a cool idea. he may only be 7 but he still understands, somewhat, the events of that day.

 

our day ended with opening gifts back at home. he sure was spoiled! kids and those gift cards! they're like gold to him. he wanted to spend them tonight. he IS my offspring ;) shopping is in our blood! i'll be good and make him wait a week! now its time to unwind, get back into the weekly routine and get ourselves ready for monday. which is by far our least favorite day of the week. 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY 

DYLAN RILEY!!

i hope you had a great party... i couldn't have asked for a better kid... i love you!

Mmmm, i want S'more[s]!!

back in July when i took dylan to Tahoe, we roasted marshmallows one night to make yummy smores! now any chance we get, he wants to make them at home! thanks to our fire pit on the back patio its possible :) everyone knows it only takes three simple ingredients:

• Hershey bars
• marshmallows
• graham crackers 

so my hubby made a fire for us and it was game on!! how can you only eat one?! the ooey gooey marshmallow melts the chocolate and the first bite is heaven :) i like my marshmallow [un]burnt. i will sit there with mine over the fire for 10 minutes if i have to cause i only want the inside melted. the kids... they light theirs on fire and blow it out like crazy ;) my hubby, he's in between! it was a nice way to unwind from our crazy day!! we all smell like a bonfire, but it was worth it! our tummy's are happy and a baby wipe was definitely needed to clean up afterward. those things can get sticky!!

so if you smell the fire pit and hear the noise, come grab a stick and make one for yourself :)

satisfied :)

2011 Soccer Opening Day!

today was Dylan's third opening day for AYSO soccer! not one of my favorite days of the season, but it had to be done. i love trying to find my kid in the "blue" uniform, when a hundred other kids his size are wearing the same color, LOL. its a chaotic day to say the least! pictures started at 7am with andrew, then amaya around 930am, next was the parade... my favorite part. seeing all the kids looking so cute in their colorful uniforms and awesome creative banners!! then, last but not least, dylan bringing up the rear with his late afternoon picture time. this is where the kids also took their buddy/sibling picture. [they are the cutest kids on the field] i look forward to this picture each year and seeing how much they've grown.

dylan's team is the Blue Rain, Andrew is on the Green Hornets & amaya's team is the pink panthers :)

all three kids had such a long day today, but even with all the running around it was still fun! its now time to start the soccer season. i call this, what we do to pass the time until baseball season is here again :) its good exercise for them and i know my kid looks forward to winning & playing hard each Saturday morning when he's on the field!! he sure is the competitive type! 

good luck this season :)

the kids<3

remembering 09.09.10

this image will forever be in my mind. 

seeing it over & over again on the TV screen that evening of 09.09.10. feeling confused, helpless & scared! i was driving home from work that day. my route is san mateo to pacifica. sometimes i take 280 and sometimes im on the dreadful 101. that day in particular, was a carpool day with jose, so we took 101 home. within minutes of walking through the door, the news of an explosion in San Bruno was all over the news. i, like many others thought that it could possibly be a plane that had crashed into homes! the footage of flames was unbelievable.

i remember hearing helicopters over head that were needed to drop water on the fires! all night i watched the news. i think i even fell asleep to it. i couldnt imagine how scared the people in that community were. something like this could have easily taken place in our neighborhood! something so scary yet i've never thought once about it. those poor people didnt have a clue what hit them :( im sure it happened so fast. 

driving to work the next morning, i took skyline to 280. for the first time, ever, i wasn't worried about the traffic. i was in awe at the trees that were burnt black. they had no leaves, just sticks. the sun had just come up and the smoke from the fires that had been put out sometime over night was hovering over the explosion area. it was an eerily feeling to be driving by. in an instant, the whole neighborhood had changed and no one had control over it. 

only thing standing are the chimney's

i drove by the area with my mom one day. it was so sad to see... NOTHING. just fences and memorial flowers. houses that were still standing were melted on some sides. they had their tags on the front. some windows were boarded up. it looked like a real disaster had struck.

close to hell?!

its been one year and where there had once been homes, it is still an empty lot. if i lived there, i don't think i could rebuild my life there again. too many bad memories. i would have to start fresh elsewhere! i hope those people have found some peace in their lives since then. it really isnt fair what they had to go through. cant help but think, who's next?! are we ever completely safe!? 

makes you not sweat the material things. be thankful for the loving people in your life who are irreplaceable. 

a home can always be rebuilt.

thinking of you San Bruno fire victims <3

Who lives in a pineapple under the sea?!

SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS

Dylan turns 7 on the 30th of September! he wanted a pool party this year, so we are leaving the house parties behind and heading down to blackberry farm this weekend!! hoping for some sunshine to go with our fun :) his auntie jan & shelley are making his 7th cake of his life!! this year he gave them his OWN ideas. no help from me. i cannot wait to see what they have come up with. for everyone who knows these ladies too, knows they always seem to top the previous cake.

[how its possible, i'll never know]!! 

so, Spongebob & a water party go great together!! when i think of him i think of a square. i got this idea weeks ago to make rice crispy treats look like Spongebob, himself. to get the treats as perfect squares, i opted for the already packaged treats from the store. blessing in disguise, since these treats took longer then expected to make. luckily i didn't have to add: make rice crispy treats to my list of to-do's tonight.

what i needed:

• rice crispy treats
• sucker sticks
• white chocolate melting chips
• food coloring
• vanilla & chocolate frosting.
• pyping tips and bags
• a picture of Spongebob himself :)
• clear bags to wrap
• ribbon 

first i unwrapped all the treats and stuck the sticks through the bottom of them. i melted the white chocolate chips and dyed it yellow. next i dipped each treat into the chocolate and layed them on parchement paper to dry. a quick trip to the freezer helped to. then came the decorating part. the most time consuming part was changing all the frosting colors & bags/tips. i did this like an assembly line. eyeballs first, then his pants, smile, eyelashes and lastly his red tie :) i am a perfectionist so i can spot all the imperfections of these homemade treats BUT my mom reminded me that these are for the kids and they will appreciate them for what they are... Spongebob Treats covered with yummy chocolate & frosting!! i am happy with how they came out. i must say they do resemble the yellow guy. tomorrow i will bag them up so they are ready for his party :) 

i had to post a pic earlier to FB because i was proud of the 3 hours of work i had just completed. thanks to everyone who thought they were cute, i really appreciate it. and for the record: i know i complained about it, but i would never have done it, if i didn't enjoy doing things like this! 

there really isnt anything i wouldnt do for my kid!! 

time to party :)

i'm back & on a craft high!

i have fallen off the blog wagon. it sucks cause these last 3 weeks have been insane. i have so much to share, but i guess i will have to get back on track one blog at a time. i need my laptop by my bed at night, because my thoughts come to me right before bed and its the perfect quiet time to type it all out! i am making a change and sticking with it dammit!!

I've been stressed with life lately and I've found that being crafty relieves the anxiety. since I'm no longer taking medicine to help me this seems to be the next best thing. target & Michael's are amazing stores that literally have everything you need to do any type of project. i cant leave these places without spending some $$. i have even gone back twice in one day. 

  

* DIAPER CAKES *

yesterday & today i had been working on a diaper cake for my longtime friend, Tiffany. she is expecting another baby girl this October. who doesn't like buying baby gifts?! i do. its been years since I've had a baby in my life! i wanted to do something different for her gift. only once before had i attempted a diaper cake so i wanted to try it again. diaper cakes are so easy to make! really!! its relaxing too. once the cake is made, the fun part is adding all the baby products, bibs, clothes etc. to it. each cake has its own unique look. the first one i made was for my sister in law, who wasn't finding out the sex of her baby [i was so against this, BUT i am so taking this route for my next baby!], so it was lots of greens & yellows. below is a picture of the finished cake. brings back memories... i thought i did a good job for the first time :)

My Sister In-Laws diaper cake 2009

Since i know this is a baby girl.. its all pinks & purples :)

i started with a package of diapers. usually i use newborn size, but i had size three on hand so i used them. it worked out fine. there are many ways to make a diaper cake. the way im about to explain seems to be the easiest for me. just know that diapers, rubber bands and an 8oz bottle are a must!

lots & lots of diapers

opened diaper

to start i unfold the diaper and begin rolling them into little burritos. i start with the back of the diaper first when im rolling. once its rolled tightly, i hold it together with a rubber band. i repeat this step until my whole pack of diapers are rolled. the number of diapers you use varies on the size of cake you want to make. how many tiers and how wide you want the cake. i decide as i go.

rolled diaper

how each diaper should look

the 8oz bottle in the middle is used as a support. a large rubber band is wrapped around this bottle and each diaper is placed inside the rubber band to form a circle around the bottle. the more you add the wider the cake. again, your preference. i believe i used about 3-4 layers on the bottom tier.

aerial view of bottom tier

 

repeat these steps for the upper tiers too. a diaper cake can be as tall as you want. sky's the limit :) well, hopefully you dont have to transport it too far. once the top tier is formed, i placed another bottle on top to add to the decorating part of it. plus its like the cake topper! i chose purple ribbon and pink with polka dots. i tied it around each tier, real tight and it hides the rubber bands nicely. the first cake i made, i used receiving blankets to wrap around each tier. this is also an option if you dont want the diapers to show. i opted to do the opposite this time. now the fun part... adding the goodies!

 here are a list of diaper cake add-on's but trust me, it is not just limited to these:

• rattles
• pacifiers
• socks
• bibs
• spoons
• rash ointment
• soaps
• shampoo
• teething rings
• medicine
• bottle brush
• bottles

a diaper cake can be placed on a cardboard platform to transport or made into a gift basket. i used a cellophane wrap to put the cake in.  it helped keep all the goodies from falling off and you could still see how cute the cake was. i topped it with a bow and TA-DA!! I'm really happy with how it came out... i cant wait for Tiffany to see it tomorrow :) baby makenna <3 we're waiting for you!!

the finished product :)




even though this may seem like a baby shower gift, you can actually make these for any age of a child still in diapers or the long stretch.. pull-ups. the items you place on the cake can vary from each age group. i think they turn out super cute!! it has my own personal touch to it. I'm putting this on my craft list permanently :) right next to knot blankets!

one year anniversary 8.21.11

today was our one year anniversary! our morning began with yet another gift exchange! the paper theme was a success :) I loved getting a "wife" card! the rest of the day consisted of much needed relaxation with just the two of us! we celebrated last night with dinner at this amazing italian restaurant in SF. Piazza Pelligrini! it was a nice restaurant with sweet waiters and awesome food! we had our entree's and then the most out of this world dessert ;) it was nice to be at some place new! I never realized how many great places the city has to offer. I need to explore more often! today we popped in the DVD and watched our "day" again! I would give anything to re-live it! our top tier of cake had thawed and it was time to follow the tradition and eat a piece... yuck! not how I hoped it would taste but it was fun to try it. it brought back memories thats for sure :) I love my husband, he spoiled me this anniversary!! im looking forward to our continued future together <3 curious to see what year two has in store for us!! happy anniversary robert, I love you!!