Pinterest

In the evening when Matt's working and the kids are asleep I've been wasting a lot of time on Pinterest. What is Pinterest? For those who don't know, Pinterest is a virtual pin board where you can organize, save and share things you find on the web. I've been planning Livi's 4th Birthday party on there and have found lots of fun ideas. I started browsing food ideas and tonight made my first Pinterest inspired dinner.

Ham & Cheese sliders with poppy seed sauce

24 good white dinner rolls
24 pieces good honey ham
24 small slices Swiss cheese
1/3 cup mayonnaise
1/3 cup miracle whip

Poppy seed sauce (you probably could half this...I had plenty extra)
1 T poppy seeds
1 1/2 T yellow mustard
1 stick butter, melted
1 T minced onion
1/2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

In a small bowl, mix together mayonnaise and miracle whip. Spread onto both sides of the center of each roll. Place a slice of ham and a slice of Swiss inside of each roll. Close rolls and place them into a large baking dish or heavy cookie sheet. Place very close together.

In a medium bowl, whisk together all of the poppy seed sauce ingredients. Pour evenly over all of the sandwiches. Let sit 10 minutes or until butter sets slightly. Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes or until cheese is melted. Uncovered 2 minutes serve hot.

Matt had made a ham for dinner last night so what a good way to use the leftover meat. I paired the sliders with sweet potato fries. The kids loved this meal and it was so easy to make and didn't take long. We'll definitely be having it again.

Beautiful fall weekend

My favorite season is here, welcome fall. Our first weekend of fall has been a beautiful one. Sunny and 83 yesterday and today it got up to 80 in our area. Unfortunately we weren't able to enjoy the sunshine too much Gidian has had a fever on and off Friday as well as today. We've been treating him with lots of cuddling, naps and Tylenol every four-six hours as needed. Hoping he'll be fine tomorrow. Last night I went out with one of my girl friends. We went to dinner then saw Abduction at the movie theater. It was a great movie, lots of action. Today Livi and I spent the afternoon together at the library picking out some new books and grocery shopping. It's so nice only shopping with one kid.

perfect weather for fall

Had fun at the libraryPoor sick-o

Check out this near lenticular cloud on Wednesday night

Rock Star Party

Can you believe in seven weeks my baby girl will be 4?!? Crazy! I can hardly believe it myself. So with her birthday right around the corner we're in all out birthday planning mode. Alivia told us she wants a 'Rock Star' party this year. I am having so much fun planing and have so many ideas.

When we changed salon locations at the beginning of the year we knew we wanted to throw little girl birthday parties. We have a backroom that's 500 square feet that we'll be transforming into the party room. Hopefully it will be done in time for Livi's birthday. We plan on using her party to promote it on the salon's website and facebook page.

Stella

It's been an emotional couple weeks for my sister and her boyfriend, Roger. Well the whole family really. Three weeks ago they brought their Corgi, Stella in to get spayed. Everything seemed alright they brought her home and she just didn't seem herself. They called the vet back two days after the surgery and they were told to bring her back in. So for the next couple days while Shea and Roger worked Stella was being monitored at the vet. Labor day weekend arrived and Stella was home, seemed to be doing better. Sept. 7th Stella took a turn for the worse and was brought back in. After blood tests, Ultrasounds etc.. she had to have a blood transfusion and be opened up again. Poor girl had a tear or leak not quite sure, but over a liter of blood was in her stomach. The day after her surgery her body temp and blood levels weren't changing her blood level was at 18 and it should be at 30 or over for a dog. The vet was then talking about her having a uncommon blood disorder and they needed to get the results back. On the 8th another blood transfusion was given to Stella. My sister had to pick up a thousand dollar thing of blood infused with some sort of special clotting agent in hopes it would work. After the transfusion her count was still at 18 and Stella came home for the night. No one knew if she would make it to the next morning. Livi was heart broken and that night cried when I put her to bed she said in tears ' I just want my best friend, puppy Stella to get better,' broke my heart. Thankfully lots of good thought and prayers we finally got good news the next morning her levels were at 36, they doubled!!! She's continuing to do better and is starting to be active. What a scary few weeks though. Poor girl went through a lot.

The Hunger Games

I spent the last five days reading 'The Hunger Games' trilogy. My brother told me about these books a few years ago, but from the way he described them they sounded morbid to me. Something I wouldn't be interested in. After talking with friends, and clients I decided to see what the hype was about and went to Target and bought the first book. It was so good I couldn't put it down. I had it finished in a day and was onto the second. The suspense of them kept me on the edge of my seat through the first two. The third book was slow until the last hundred pages. I didn't know how I was going to get through it, but I wanted to know how it ended. If you haven't read them yet I suggest it :)

They're making movies and the first one comes out in March. Looking forward to seeing it. Hope the big screen pulls it off.

18 Month check up

Gidian had his 18 month check up this morning. He is healthy and hitting all his milestones like he should be. Kind of sad our pediatrician office is changing locations and today was their last day at this office. They're just moving down the street, but still I've been taking my babies there since they were newborn. I'm excited to see the new office

18 month stats

Weight: 31 lbs~ 90% percentile

Height: 34 1/2"~ 95% percentile

head circumference: 19"

Hanson

On Sunday night I went out with three girl friends and saw Hanson in concert at the Showbox in Seattle. It was a blast! I've loved Hanson since I was 12. My mom took me to see them in 1998 for my first concert. This was my 5th time seeing them in Seattle. We got to Seattle around 4pm and got into the Green Room at the Showbox. We had some drinks, food and enjoyed the air conditioning. It was almost 90 that day so we were glad we were all over 21 and able to sit inside. Plus with our drink/food purchase we got tickets which got us in to the concert first. It was general admission my friend Nicole and I got up to the front of the stageand my other two friends sat in the bar. We spent most of the show down front but towards the end it got so hot in the crowd and we joined the others. It was fun being with friends and letting my inner fan girl out for the evening.

Colorado

August 24th-29th we spent in Colorado. My grandparents bought the kids, my parents and myself plane tickets to Denver. Matt had plans with his brother so wasn't able to go this time. We flew in late Wednesday night and spent the rest of the week and weekend with family. My grandparents just bought a new house, which is beautiful. There's a long hall way when you enter the house that goes past the kitchen into the family room and the kids loved running up and down it. I have two younger cousins who are 8 and 9. Livi and Gidian loved playing with them. My cousin, Sola and Livi had many tea parties and played with bubbles together. On Saturday we all went to the pool. Gidian enjoyed floating around with me, Livi not so much. She preferred to sit on the steps and splash around with my mom. My uncle, Shane got her out in the pool for a while and she seemed to like it. My older sister, Amanda and her husband live about 20 mins from my grandparents. We had dinner on night with them and got dates figured out for our trip to the ocean next May. Looking forward to that trip 7 nights at Cannon Beach. It was nice to get away from Washington for a few days. I want to go back already. I miss my grandparents it's always fun spending time with them.

Backyard camping

On August 20th Matt started his two weeks of summer vacation. (That is why I haven't updated lately I've been extremely busy.) Matt told Livi while he was on vacation we'd camp out in the back yard. The weather was fabulous and on the 21st the kids and I played in their little pool while daddy set up the tent. After a family BBQ with my parents we retired to the tent for the evening. Livi was so excited she kept bringing handfuls of items to bring with her to the tent. We probably had easily ten blanket, 4 pillow pets, 4 normal pillows, stuffed animals, books etc... Gidian and I lasted about an hour outside. He likes to sleep in his crib, and sleeping anywhere, but his crib he wont do. So I tucked him in and camped out of the couch with the windows open so I could hear if Livi or Matt needed anything throughout the night. A little after four in the morning Livi and Matt came back inside. She kept telling him he's the best daddy and that she had so much fun.