Friends, Fun and a Movie!

With my kids being in Year Round School, they had a very, very short Spring Break (3 days off). We went to see the Monsters vs. Aliens movie with our friends. I was a little resistant in seeing this movie based on the previews and some one's comments about the movie. But, I loved it! We saw the 3-D version and I don't normally like 3-D movies as they normally give me a headache. Not this movie! I couldn't even tell I had on glasses. After the movie, we went over to Barnes and Nobles and us girls (adults) each got a coffee!

The kids looked around at books and a few purchased books. Then we headed over to our friend's house for more fun, lots of girl chatting, food and a surprise wild rain storm!

Awesome EASTER

I know I have not posted in awhile. Sorry!
We had a very fun EASTER with my husband's side of the family. My In-Laws has always had such great EASTERS at their house. This year they changed it up a bit, but we loved it!
BRUNCH
Easter Egg Hunt. This year each kid had a specific color of plastic eggs to find. Mr. President was orange and Firecracker was pink (she is no loving pink right now, but was okay with it since she is the only girl in the family). This worked out perfect in that everyone got the same number of eggs to find and $ in the eggs;))
Pinata The new Easter addition and the kids had a ball!
















After brunch, hunt and pinata, the grown-ups sat down outside and just talked and watched the resident squirrels and blue jays eating the peanuts my father in-law threw on the lawn.



My In-Laws took us out to yummy Chinese later in the day. It was such a PERFECT DAY!!

NEW RIDE!

Remember this and this? Well, this past weekend, I got a new car! Since I'm going to need another car soon, we thought we would take advantage of the great deals and save on the upcoming 1% sale tax hike and DMV fee increases starting next month. I totally love my new van! I know there is many people who will ask why I got another van. Well, I love having a van. I'm a soccer (& softball) Mom and proud of it! My kids love to spread out and not be next to each other.Typical kids! Remember when you were a kid and did not like having your sibling touching you in the car? My Mom actually put a masking tape line on the backseat and told my sister and I not to cross the line since we were fighting/touching each other:)) I feel very spoiled with the leather seats, automatic doors, seat warmers, dvd player, etc... We still have my old van which M & M Dude is now driving to work; that is until it dies. (I predict that it will last about 8 more months:))

Let's Play Ball!

Firecracker's softball season has started. She has been practicing twice a week since Feb. This past Saturday was Opening Day. Her team, The Bomber Babes, have been "Smoking" the fields since. So far, they have had 2 games and the scores have been 11 to 4 and 25 to 3. This is Firecracker's sport! She is a natural and she really enjoys it, which makes it so fun to watch!! Firecracker hit a double on Saturday and she has been playing catcher for half of each game. This position is totally my Firecracker!! I'm looking forward to a great season!

Two Quick & Easy Crock-Pot Recipes

It's starting to get to that busy time of year for us and I have 2 crock-pot recipes that I use on a very regular basis. I thought I would share them with you:
PULLED PORK SANDWICHES
Ingredients:
Pork Loin
Favorite BBQ Sauce (whole container or jar)
Place pork loin into crock-pot and pour the BBQ sauce over the pork. Cook on low for approximately hours. Take pork loin out of crock-pot and shred pork and return shredded pork back into crock-pot and stir. Keep on warm until ready to serve. Serve with hamburger buns (we like Orawheat whole wheat buns) and grated cheese (optional).

SOFT CHICKEN TACOS
Ingredients:
3 or 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Favorite salsa (about 2 cups; I just pour a little salsa on the bottom of the crock-pot and then cover the chicken with more salsa)
Cook chicken and salsa on low for 6 to 8 hours on low. Shred the chicken and return to the crock-pot. Note: it will seem like there is too much salsa, but once the chicken is shredded the chicken just soaks up the salsa juices. Serve with tortillas, cheese, tomatoes, olives, lettuce, and sour cream!
Hope you enjoy! These recipes are life savers for me on busy softball and soccer nights!!

Somebody is growing up!

I can't believe Mr. President is 11 today! Where has the time gone?



He celebrated his birthday at the bowling alley this year with all of his friends. Most of his friends he has known since 2nd grade with a few even from kindergarten! They had pizza, cupcakes and Mr. President even requested that I make my bubble gum cookies for his party.







His celebration is not over, as we are taking him out to whatever restaurant he chooses tonight and then we will head over to Cold Stone! Once my sister is all settled in her new place in Granite Bay, we will all get together for Mr. President and my Mom's birthdays!

Awards in the house!

I'm not talking the Academy Awards. These are awards that are closer to my heart! Both of my kids received awards last week at their end of trimester assembly. This assembly was even more special in that Firecracker received her VERY FIRST SCHOOL AWARD! Firecracker has always struggled in school and the fact that she received an award was HUGE!! Her teacher emailed us a few weeks in advance and we decided to keep it a secret so that it would be a surprise. Even my in-laws came to cheer her on! You should have seen her face when she saw M & M Dude (he rarely comes to the assemblies), her Vovo & Papa (my in-laws) and me there, yet she was unaware she was getting the EFFORT Award. I'm very proud of Firecracker as she has worked so hard this year!
And to our surprise, (well, kind of; as Mr. President's teacher is not very good at communication), Mr. President received the Principal's Honor Roll Award for having straight A's!!
As you can tell, I'm beaming with pride! I'm just so proud of both of them. To celebrate, we took them out to dinner on Saturday night! Their choice!