JandA4

Sunday, April 29, 2012

Miss Photogenic

I took Molly out back to take her 5 year old pictures.

She hardly ever smiles in pictures for some reason.

She will however do "other expressions"

This is the look I get when I tell her to turn around so I can see her pretty face.

This is what I get when I ask for a smile.....

And 30 pictures later - - I FINALLY get ONE!

Friday, April 27, 2012

Happy SURPRISE 14th Birthday to Jens!

When my girls have a birthday, Jeff takes them out on a date to dinner and shopping or whatever.  When my boys have a birthday, I take them out on a date to dinner too.  I took Jens out like normal and that was all he wanted to do because his friend wanted him to go fishing --- or so Jens thought.  Little did he know, the friend was already at our house waiting to surprise him!

He hurried in our house already unbuttoning his shirt to change into his fishing clothes.  He glanced out the back window and saw tons of balloons, tons of friends and lots of treats.  He was so surprised!  He hurried and buttoned his shirt back up, with all the friends watching him through the window, and went to see them all.  It was a perfect surprise!  

I had bought everything ahead of time and had it all hiding in my closet.  My sweet neighbors came over and helped Jeff set up the blow up outdoor movie screen, the balloons, the popcorn machine, the treats and the volleyball net.  They were so fabulous to help out!



They played volleyball and messed around until it got dark.  Then they watched the movie Jack and Jill.  They had pizza and treats.  I think it turned out great!

The only picture I didn't take was one of the aftermath the next morning.  Do you remember that movie Sixteen Candles?  Do you remember the part when Jake Ryan has that party at his house and the next morning he wakes up to a massive mess in and outside of his house........  He just stands there with this look of disgust and remorse on his face.... Remember that?  Well that is exactly how I felt the next day! I wondered what I was thinking!

Then I just had to remember how much I loved my little Jensy Bug and it was all worth it!

But seriously, I don't think I will be doing that again anytime soon.

Sunday, April 22, 2012

Pizza Dip

Oh this is OH SOOOOOO GOOD!!!!!

Hot, cheesy pizza dip.
Just imagine taking garlic bread, deep fried mozzarella sticks or some other favorite and dipping it into this cheesy flavorful dip! It is so yummy. Everyone loved it. My 4 year old loved it, my husband loved it, even all the neighborhood kids loved it, who said, "Mmm, you need to teach my mom how to make this!"

Prep time: 10 minutes
Bake time: 20 minutes

4 ounces of cream cheese
1/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup mayonaise
1/2 cup grated mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
*Mix all together and spread on the bottom of a pie plate

1 jar of pizza sauce (which is about 1 to 1 1/2 cups)
*Spread on top of cream cheese mixture

3/4 cup grated mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
pepperoni slices
sliced black olives
sliced green pepper
*Sprinkle on top of the pizza sauce. Bake on 350 degrees until the sides start to bubble and the cheese is melted and starts to turn light golden brown. About 20 minutes.

I DOUBLED THIS RECIPE IN ORDER TO MAKE IT FIT IN A CAKE PAN

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Baseball in the Desert Tournament

Jens had a tournament in Las Vegas over Easter weekend. My kids were thrilled to go over Easter. They swam in the pool, went bowling, played at the parks and soaked up the sunshine ~ meanwhile back at home it was snowing!


I took the kids down on the strip a couple times. We went to New York, New York and road the roller coaster and played at their "Coney Island".

We went to M&M world and spent a small fortune on M&M's.

Jeff and I went out and had dinner one evening with our good friends, the Martin's who live there. Then Jeff and I went with Jeff's parents to see Jersey Boy's while we were there. It was a great trip!



The Dawgs ended up taking third place. Not bad considering it was single elimination and there were about 40 teams. But I'm a pessimist I guess because I am still wondering why we didn't take FIRST PLACE!




I'm amazed at how much, over the years I have come to love every single boy on this team. My heart breaks for them when they fail and I am one proud mama for them when they succeed. I am really going to miss spending time with all of them when this season is over. I just hope that all of them make the high school baseball team next year. All of their parents are great! They have raised fine young men. I'm so glad that Jens has good friends.

Easter


Easter came a week early for us this year. Jens had a baseball tournament in Las Vegas over Easter and I simply refused to let the Easter Bunny show up in our hotel room.


I love Easter. It's my most favorite holiday.

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

My Annual Easter Egg Hunt

This is what 942 EGGS looks like.


The hunting rug rats.


If only I could figure out how to make my kids clean their toys up just as fast as they can clean the eggs off the lawn.

Cade was all excited because he was one of the 15 winners this year. He won a giant chocolate bunny. I don't know why I didn't take a picture of it.


Alivia and Molly didn't care that they weren't winners because they found "golden" eggs.



L O V E this party!