The Battle

We are trying to rid our home of a highly addictive substance.

While stopping short of calling it a drug - it is exhaltingly delicious and has a complex effect on the human psyche AND body. It is the F*O*U*R letter word of all beverages. According to numerous household cleaning Websites, it can clean your toilet, eliminate rust from a car bumper and remove grease from clothing. No wonder it can corrode and stain your teeth AND.....it officially contains one of the most horrific ingredients in the food supply - High Fructose Corn Syrup, and loads of the highly addictive substance caffiene.

* SODA * POP * COKE *

whatever name by which you choose to call it

Why do we love this stuff so much when it is so dang bad for us? I actually CRAVE a daily dose of some sweet, black liquid - preferrably Coke, Dr. P or Pepsi - I'll even opt for Mountain Dew at times. My absolute fav is a trip to Sonic for a Large Vanilla Coke ~ wow...true bliss....especially with those special little ice pellets! Don't even bother with the diet varieties either....just read the reports that tell you what all that fake sugar can do to you!

So, we're weaning ourselves off of it - or shall I say we are trying to wean ourselves off of it. I'm writing with a blazing withdrawal headache right now -gonna have to have some or I think I'll just die! I'm starting with buying the soda that is somewhat "better" for you...made without the HFCS - using real cane sugar instead. Of course, it's much more expensive but whatcha gonna do? We are also making homemade italian sodas - which contain much less sugar overall. The kids don't know the difference and have actually enjoyed getting to mix up their own flavors and such. The kids don't drink much soda anyway - it's the parents that have the addiction problem.

I caught this little thief enjoying my Jones Cream Soda the other day ~ what a cute little Junkie!

What things are you doing to try to make your family healthier?

Any ideas for alternative drinks for kids?

Tuesday Tell All

"Never Say Never", at least that's how the saying goes.
For this week's Tuesday Tell All I thought it would be interesting to possibly tempt fate and record the answer to the following:
I've never...........

• worn red lipstick
• eaten real sushi
• snow ski'd
• traveled across an ocean in an airplane
• broken a bone or had stitches
• had my eyebrows waxed
• been to the opera
• been farther northeast in the US than Ohio
• visited a Disney theme park
• worn a bikini
• kept my New Year's resolutions
• mastered playing an instument
• won an argument with my husband
• bought anything at 5-7-9
• had a root canal
• watched an episode of Sex in the City or the Sopranos
• worn fancy lingerie
• lived in a 2 story house
• been to the JFK memorial in Dallas, lived here all my life though
• ran for an elected position
• liked to eat cooked carrots, fennel or capers
• had a tan - I just burn baby burn
• failed a pregnancy test
• recieved enough comments on my blog * hint hint*

Wow...this was harder than I thought it would be......give it a try!

A SUPER Party

It's a bird, it's a plane....no it's the CAIDENATOR!

For Caide's 2nd birthday party we had a SUPERHERO themed party. Batman, Superman, Spiderman...they were all there.

The invitations - front:

the inside:

My mother and I made capes for all the little superkids - they got to pick their color - Red, Black or Blue. Then we had Spiderman give a guest appearance via DVD - he taught the kids his Spidey skills - they LOVED it and looked so cute doing the moves.

The weather was beautiful so they got to use their new found Spidey skills to blast webs all over the back yard...and each other!

The web string:

We played a game of pass the Kryptonite (like hot potato) (I found this glowing green nitelight thing on Ebay that I wrapped up in cellophane to look like a big Kryptonite rock - it glowed from within via a battery - super cool!)

Food was the usual - Caide's favorites - chicken strips and 'Spiderman shaped' Mac & Cheese, we also salad for the adults in attendance.

I made the birthday cake - chocolate with buttercream icing. The superman and batman insignias were made with fondant...that stuff is awesome to work with!

The treat bags were filled with candy and tied up with cupcake rings - I found them on Ebay too - aren't they adorable?

Decorations were huge mylar balloons and sticky cling ons for the walls that just peel and stick - they don't leave any residue on the walls at all and they can be re-used.

Caiden got his first set of wheels for his gift from mom, dad & sisters~ and tons of other great stuff - He LOVED EVERYTHING!

The thank you notes that I made turned out so awesome - thanks Adam for making my little Caidenator.

It was a SUPER party!

Happy Heart Day Crafty Things

In leiu of Christmas cards our family traditionally sends out Valentine's Day Cards - Here is our 2008 version.
This card was SO time consuming because of all the ribbon that I had to limit how many I made but they turned out so incredibly beautiful. The family pic was just quickly taken at Portrait Innovations - they do a good job and are incredibly affordable for a large quantity of prints!

These are the Valentine's that I made for Raistlyn's first grade classmates. The heart was cut out of stiff felt and glued on so it puffed up really cute. The card was just attached with really sticky glue dots to the packaging. Kids love these glow bracelets...good alternative to candy for sure! You can't see in the pictures but I tied a cute ribbon to the end of each package.

Then I made up a few of these cute tin mailboxes. I gave one to Mrs. Whitehead - Raistlyn's wonderful teacher, sent one to Adam's sister Kathleen (since her Christmas box got lost in the mail), gave one to my sweet friend Irma (as a thank you for all her carpool help), and of course I had to keep one for myself.
Hope they enjoyed the sweet treats too!

You might be a mean mom if.....

I came acress this "mean mom" post and thought I'd share.
I've thought about making up my own ~Mean Moms Club~
for a while now to share parenting advice.
Let me know if you are interested!

Julie Clark gets credit for the following:
A group for mom's who aspire to be "mean,"
"Say what you mean and mean what you say"!
Are you a mean mom? You might be a mean mom if...
You offer choices at mealtime...take it or leave it.
You say 'no' even if your kids "hate" you for it.
You believe that good manners are always in style
You tell your kids to "find something to do or I'll find something for you to do."
You don't believe in boredom.
You tell the kids "Go ahead. Make me parent."
You tell your kids to clean their room, or you'll clean it. And they won't have to clean it for a while if you do it, 'cause whatever is left out goes to charity or the trash!
You believe that "no" is explanation enough.
Copyright 2008, Julie Clark
Find more at: AskMeanMom.com

Super Cool Awesome Things I Found Online

I love to 'window' shop via the internet

Here are some recent INCREDIBLE finds:

Serena & Lily (oh how I wish I could afford) Gave great inspiration for me to hurry up and get my girls' room finished!

Lucky Baby slings. Awesome for when you don't want to tote around a carseat or have the hassle of a stroller running in to stuff while weaving in and out of the displays at the mall.

Fun site to create slideshows, ecards, photobooks, etc. I created one with pictures of Caiden's first 2 years - it was so EASY!

Trash Ties - fun little doo dads to sexy up hair with. You can use them on your girly girls too.

Flatten Me - Turn your kiddo in to a super star of his own potty adventure! They have fairy and pirate themes too! Potty story for Caiden is on the way...wish me luck!

Word Works Jewelry - I also like these by Nelle & Lizzy:

I am planning to take metalsmithing classes later this year so I can learn this craft! I just love it. An incredible way to preserve memories.

Wrapables has this nifty fish bowl that mounts to a wall - I haven't let Raistlyn have a fish because I knew her sneaky little brother would manage to torment (kill) it. This gives us a viable option...do you think I can find a fish to match her pink & black frou~frou bedroom?

I have links to the right for all these and more fun things.

Happy Window Shopping!

About Adam

This is a "tagging" I can really get into because I get to share things about my wonderful hubby!
(Good stuff for our kids and grandkids to read someday!)
What is his name? Adam Benjamin
How long have you been married? 8 years 5 months
What does he do for a living? Right now he's a stay at home dad and a full time student
What are his hobbies? World of Warcraft fanatic, Dungeons and Dragons guru - he'd be happy to be a professional game player!
Who long did you date? about 6 months - mostly via email/instant messaging/phone since he was living in California and I was in Texas
How old is he? 35
Who eats more sweets? If you count his eating almost entire 1/2 gallon of Mocha Almond Fudge to my one small bowl as more - it would be him.
Who said I love you first? hmmm...don't remember
Who is taller? He is: 6'4"
Who can sing better? He does- I enjoy the songs he makes up and sings to the kids - I had one stuck in my head for hours the other day!
Who is smarter? Hands down, Adam is - he reminds me all the time too - just last night as we watched the superbowl he thought it was funny that I didn't "get" a couple of the commercials.
Who does the laundry? Mostly me - I am rather picky about what goes in the dryer.
Who pays the bills? I do.
Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? That would be me - or sometimes Rowan - she's still not sleeping in her crib.
Who mows the lawn? He does, and he hates every bit of it!
Who cooks dinner? We both do - he does most of the cooking during the week - I get weekend duty.
Who drives? Both of us - he's the better driver supposedly....except for when he hit the garage door and backed into my car twice! He'll tell ya about the stuff I hit though!
Who is more stubborn? Ooooh. It's a tie. (He would say me)
Who kissed who first? I'd say it was mutual, but Adam initiated it! To this day I still remember it being wonderful!
Who asked who out first? We met via an LDS Internet Dating Site (way back when that was still so new) He sent the first email to which I did not respond to right away - I'm sure glad that I finally did.
Who proposed? He did, the same day we met in person for the first time.
Who has more siblings? I have 7, he has 2
Where was your first date? He flew in from California and we spent the day site seeing in Fort Worth
Where did you get married? The Dallas Temple and the Historic Anderson Building
How did the reception go? Kindof a blur - I remember it was a wonderful evening. We had a little band and dancing. I don't remember getting to eat any of the incredible food but I snuck an extra piece of the yummy cakes when we had to go over to my parents house early in the morning the next day because we forgot our camera and needed it for the honeymoon. Thank goodness we have a lot of great pictures!
How was the honeymoon? A great big long road trip covering the state of California - it was awesome! We started in Sacramento and drove to San Diego - the favorite spot in between was Santa Barbara. Can't wait to do it again someday with our kids.