Guess What?

I have wireless at my grandparents house:) I had a feeling that someone in this neighborhood would have it!! I am sure that I wont be on here much but it's nice to know that I have something to do at night when they go to bed early.

The flights out here went well. We had a few close calls with Lani on the plane from Boston to Chicago. Thank goodness I remembered to bring the DVD player last minute. It saved us from getting kicked off the plane. On the smaller plane into Peoria I just checked the car seat and let Lani sit on my lap since it was less than 30 minutes. She zonked out soon after take off. Wesley, of course, was fine the whole trip. He listened to the in flight radio the whole time or used his Nintendo DS. He was also very helpful with Lani and getting our things from one place to another. I will admit to losing my patience with him a few times when I was trying to listen to announcements and he would keep asking what they were saying. LOL!!

When we got to my grandparents we did a little food shopping because she was nervous about Lani's allergies. She didn't want to buy anything that Lani couldn't have. I explained that Lani's finickiness is worse than her allergies. Guess what she had for dinner? Chicken nuggets! Big shocker there huh? So, Gramma made us dinner with homemade cheesecake for dessert!! Oh I was in HEAVEN!!! My gram rocks!!! Now they are in bed and we are just chilling out before going to bed. Lani actually told us that she was ready for bed and went right down for us in the pack n' play. One miracle after another for this little lady.

I will update when I can but we plan on keeping pretty busy!!

Another winner!

Congratulations to Sharon who won my latest book giveaway!!

Leaving on a jet plane

That's right! Saturday morning we will be boarding a plane to visit family in Illinois. This is where my Mom and Dad were born and raised. We will be staying with my grandparents (Mom's side) and visiting family on my Dad's side. It's been a long time since I have seen most of them so I am pretty excited.

Some of our plans include going to St. Louis for a few days. We will be going to the zoo, arch, and maybe a children's museum depending on how Wesley and Lani are doing. There isn't too much for us to do around my grandparents house so we will be relaxing, swimming, and just visiting. We haven't been out there since 2002.

I am bringing my laptop but I have no idea if and when I will be able to get on the internet. I will be updating to twitter via my cell phone so my friends can keep in touch with us that way. I am sure that I will be able to convince Michael to visit a Borders or Starbucks to satisfy his coffee cravings and my blogging cravings:)

I will be announcing the winner of my latest book giveaway tonight so be sure to put your name in the hat if you haven't already.

In a small town

I live in a small town. Although I love where I have made my home for the past 7 years there are times when I wish I lived in a bigger city. I hate driving 30 minutes to Walmart, Target, Malls, etc. I hate that there is no summer camps or programs for Wesley that cost more than I make in a week. I hate the we don't even have a playground for the kiddos or a big park for us to run around in. I hate that we don't have museums, culture, play areas. I hate that we don't have a dentist, doctor, or any medical offices. I hate that there is nothing for teenagers to do.

Then I go out into my front yard and listen. All I hear is the wind in the trees, birds chirping, and a few of the neighborhood children playing next door. This is when I remember all the reasons I love my small town. I love that I don't have to listen to horns blaring, cars revving, or sirens screaming. I love that I can sit on my front deck and watch my children play with out worrying about them running out into a busy street. I love that Wesley can run over to his best friends house and I don't have to worry about him being kidnapped or hurt along the way. I love that everyone in Wesley's school knows him and I don't have to worry about his safety while he is there. I love that we have a very low crime rate and the most we hear about is vandalism. I love living so close to a lake where we spend most of our Summer. I love that when I go in to the library Pam knows all of us by name and remembers our last question from 6 weeks prior. I love that with these expensive gas prices I am discovering the businesses that have been hidden gems in my town all along. I love that Wesley goes to a karate school who recognizes this is a small town and charges half of what bigger city schools do all while giving more personal instruction. I love going for walks around my neighborhood and recognizing everyone who I pass.

The little island that we walk to often. Nothing to do but relax and explore

I am so blessed that I am able to raise Wesley and Lani here. I am happy that my "loves" out weigh my "hates". I am excited to know that we plan on making this our home for a long, long, time. Of course if it didn't snow so much in the winter things would be PERFECT:) I thought of a new photography project that I want to take on. I plan on going around the town and taking photos of people, places, and things that mean so much to me. I saw someone else on Flickr (i think) do this and it turned out fabulous. So, lets see what this little camera of mine can do. I may even look into renting a better zoom lens from a camera shop. Our town also will be having a photography contest at this years old home day. I plan on entering a photo all though I have no idea which on yet. Maybe I will pick a few and then have you all vote.

Recycling my toothbrush? COOL!

I was sent a Recycline Preserve toothbrush from Mom Central to try out. What makes this specific toothbrush so special is that it's made from recycled Stonyfield Farm yogurt cups. Which is made right here in good old New Hampshire I might add. You can watch a video on how they are made right here.

The toothbrush comes in a reusable traveling case and can be sent back to Recycline to be recycled into plastic lumber for picnic tables, boardwalks, and decks. All you do is go their website and print out the postage paid label and mail it back. It really can't get any simpler since you don't even have to leave your house.

I have one of the toothbrushes to give away to one of my readers. Just leave me a comment and I will choose a winner on July 24th when I return from vacation. If you don't want to wait you can get download a coupon, head to your local Target and pick one up for yourselves.

Yum....strawberries!!

This time of year finds us spending at least a few hours at a strawberry field picking (and eating) fresh strawberries. The California Strawberry Commission website is full of recipe ideas that I can use to make some delicious treats. I can smell the yummy shortcakes in the oven now just waiting to be smothered in whip cream and strawberries.

There is also a neat site called Stawberryville that has a cookbook, games, downloads and fun facts. Did you know that there are 200 seeds on the outside of a strawberry or that if you line up all the strawberries grown in California in a straight line that you could wrap it around the earth FIFTEEN TIMES! Head on over to learn more about the little red gems.

Yum, I think that I am off to the store! We need some ingredients for Strawberry Shortcake.

Wordless Wednesday: Hot and Humid edition

Weekend Roundup

Quick reminder about my book giveaway below! It's a good one and so far only 3 entries!

Another late Weekend Roundup! This week has been crazy with Michael getting an unexpected 3 extra days off (paid) before we head out for vacation. He is one lucky fella who will have like 21 days off!!

Our weekend was actually pretty relaxed. On Saturday we hung out around the house doing yard work and going for a walk around the lake. While we were there Michael found the smallest frog that I have EVER seen. We were basically wasting time until Wesley came home from vacation with Michael's parents. Wesley finally called to let us know they were almost to the house so we headed out to get him. While we were there I took some photos of Darbie's (Michael's mom) garden and pond. Her yard is beautiful and a perfect place to take pictures. I plan on going back when it is a little more sunny so I can use the natural light. The wagon wheel photo is my favorite but I had to take it at a weird angle because the pool deck kept getting in the shot. After getting Wesley we brought him home to see his surprise drum set from Joel. Soon we left to go mini-golfing and visit with Melissa and Joel. They had left some things at our house on the 4th of July.

On Sunday we headed out to the lake near our house with some friends and family. We pay association dues to use these lake so we love having people come with us to enjoy the water. It was a fun day despite Lani's incessant whining about this, that, and the other thing. I was finally able to get her in the water. I just kept creeping in a little more until her legs were in. Wesley on the other hand wouldn't even come out for lunch.

After the lake our neighbors came over for a little cookout. We still had a ton of food left over from the 4th of July that we wanted to use up. We just hung around chatting and let the kiddos make a mess of the yard with those confetti poppers that you use on New Years.

I will tack Monday onto this post since it was such a fun day!! My Aunt Carol took us to Storyland up in the mountains of New Hampshire. It was HOT, but Wesley and Lani both did awesome. Wesley even went on rides this year that he was too afraid to go on before. I was shocked when he wanted to go on by himself a few times. I think he felt cool because he was finally tall enough to do so. I went on a lot of rides with Lani because Michael gets sick on spinny rides. I was nervous the first time that we were going to have to stop the ride but she was laughing.

I have a TON of photos over on my Flickr in case you want to see more. Just click on any of the photos and it will take you over there.

A Summer Affair By Elin Hilderbrand

A Summer Affair by Elin Hilderbrand is about Claire, a mother of 4 and wife to Jason. She lives on Nantucket and is asked to serve as chair person of The Nantucket's Children Summer Gala. She has a hard time saying "no" and takes on this challenge. It leads to an affair with Lock, the millionaire who heads this organization. Of course it's hot, steamy, full of secrets, lies and deception. The drama is never ending!

I started to read this book and was instantly sucked in. I stayed up too late for two night so that I could finish this book. I just had to know what was going to happen. It seemed that there was constantly something happening to the books main character. I felt a little like I was spying into the life of these people and just couldn't turn away from it. There were times when I couldn't believe what was going on and could never imagine myself in Claire's position. I guess that's why this would be the perfect book to take to the beach with you. Sit back, relax, and get away from the real world for a while.

As always I would like to offer my copy of this book in a giveaway! I will be leaving for vacation in a few days so I will choose the winner on Friday, July 11th. Good Luck!!

Thank you to Mother Talk for allowing me the opportunity to read and review this book.

Happy 4th of July

We arrived home early from the fireworks so I decided to upload the pictures and get them onto Flickr. We decided to try out the fireworks and Lani seemed to be doing really well. That was until the amateur fireworks began. She was diving onto me and Michael saying "Hold me" and "I no like it". Then she laid down, asked me to cuddle her and sing "Twinkle Twinkle" over and over. If it was this bad already then I knew we would be in trouble when the real thing started so we headed home. No biggie since Wesley wasn't with us. No sense in torturing the poor girl!!

Our Fourth of July celebrations began with a few friends coming over. We ate some BBQ with all the fixins' then the boys did some jamming. Joel bought Wesley a used drum set so of course Joel and Michael took turns playing on that. I shot a little video of Lani singing the "I Love You" song from Barney. (Don't mind our messy garage! We had to move a lot of things around to make room for the drum set)

After everyone left we were going to head down to my friend Michelle's cookout, but Lani was in need of a nap. So, we drove around to let her nap and by the time she woke up it was too late. Lani woke up hungry and was asking for "fry fries and chicken" so we headed off to Friendly's! You already read above about our attempt at the fireworks. I will put on some of the photos and Lani's video of course. As always you can click on any of the photos to be brought over to my Flickr account to see more photos.