First Day of School!

Today is was back to school for all three of our kids!  It was a bit hectic, but great!

This fourth grade beauty could hardly sleep last night.  And changed her outfit no less than 5 times....

This now middle schooler was cautiously optimistic as he started his new adventures in the 6th grade...

The benefit of middle school is that he now gets to ride the middle school bus (and no longer has to put up with be in the same breathing space as Lauren).  She can be quite a large personality on the bus.  Allegedly.

Off they go......I hope they have a fantastic year.  They are my superstars and I love them.

And then we hurried back home to get this princess ready for VPK.....I will miss this face for a few hours each morning!

In the end, they all had a great day.  Looking forward to an exciting year!

The End of Summer is Here....

It's hard to believe the summer is coming to a close.  In a little over a week, we will have a 6th grader, 4th grader and one in VPK.  I can honestly say that this has been an enjoyable summer!  I think now that our youngest is 4 1/2, we had a little more freedom to come and go.  We enjoy our babies when they are tiny, but they.are.work.  Period.
The highlight of our summer was making our first family trip to Washington D.C.  Not only does Rodney's brother Brian (and his wife) live there, but we wanted to go and say goodbye to some of our dearest friends moving out of the country.  We knew it would be 3-5 years before we would probably see them again, so the trip was bittersweet.

So off we went.....12 hours there, and what turned out to be 16 (yes, SIXTEEN) hours home....

This was by far the prettiest rest stop we had been to in a while....flowers everywhere!

Leave it to my boys to find an open area of grass, a stick and a rock for a quick game of baseball while trying to stretch their legs out.  Oh yeah, this is Brooke getting into the middle of things....

No one fought the minivan battle the way I did......but I must say, it's GREAT on long trips! (let's remember folks, this is the car on the way.  I'm sure that had I have taken one on the way home, items would have been spilling out all of the doors)

Stayed the night in Kenly, NC.  Apparently they have a famous truck stop called Kenly 95.  We took a moment to check it out and educate our children on the ins and outs of what one might need if you were a trucker on the road.  They thought it was cool that there were showers and a small movie theater for the truckers to use.  

Speechless.

 Once in Virginia, the kids were thrilled to be among good friends.....lots of late nights, but sooo worth it.

I thought it would be fun to bring these huge human hamster balls I found at Costco.  They took forever to blow-up.....

 And then gave me a continual heart attack each time the kids got in them.  Although they seemed to love them, it was not a well thought out plan on my behalf.  

There goes poor Ritchie down the slide...

I am still counting my blessings that our husbands couldn't fit in them!

More to follow.....it was a long week and we took lots of pictures!

Stovetop Stuffing Meatballs?

Yep, you heard me right people.  When I first saw this recipe I was instantly curious.  I happen to like Stovetop stuffing and also love meatballs.  My only problems with meatballs, is I don't normally make them on my own and I don't really care for the fatty pre-made frozen ones they sell in the freezer section.

I was pleasantly surprised that these came out so good.  The bonus is that is makes a lot and they freeze very well.

In a large bowl, mix:

2 lbs of ground beef

1 box of chicken flavored Stovetop Stuffing

1 1/4 cups of water

2 eggs
I would also recommend you add a few more spices (pepper, garlic, etc.)

Use a 1/4 cup to measure out each meatball.  Place on a cookie sheet that has been lined with tin foil (you may need 2 pans).  Cook at 400 for 16-18 minutes (I like to turn mine over half way through cooking).

And what about the same old bottle of Ragu that you know you will pull out to go with it?  Try adding 2 oz of cubed cream cheese and 1/4 cup of chopped basil.  It whips up a nice creamy sauce!

A Much Needed Break

It was beyond fabulous to escape for a couple of days this past weekend.  One of my oldest BFFs was thrown a surprise 40th by her hubby in DC.  Even though it was short, being with my amigas from high school was awesome!

The Mansion on O......where to begin......  We stayed at a haunted cool hotel that will keep the stories of the weekend alive forever.  The place is full of antiques and thrift store treasures - I mean it's everywhere.  This little stairway up leads to nothing but this mannequin of a small child holding a baby doll.  I swore if I heard children screaming "REDRUM, REDRUM" in the middle of the night, I was outta there.  The place reminded me of the Winchester Mystery House in CA.  For those of you who have been there, it's equally creepy.



 Here was the door to our room - just a mirror on the wall.....yep, I never would've found it on my own....

I had tons of fun hanging with these gals before/after the party.  I think we are so blessed to still have our friendship of foursome in place (after 35 years!)

Here is the view of the hotel from the suites across the street (they spread the creepy out so it consumes both sides of the street).

 And by the time we got around the the "Surprise" part, I was not the least bit phased when the gal that worked there opened the bookcase and said "Hide in here!"...

Just before heading out to the party...

 After the big reveal - and Justene was stunned that so many came from so far away.  It was really special.

 The next day we took a quick trip over to Arlington Cemetery.  It is sacred ground. Period.

Happy Birthday girl!  A huge thank you to your hubby Raul for providing a much needed escape for me!  It was great! 

Two words you never want to hear on spring break....

POOL. CLOSED.

We headed to Orlando to enjoy a nice hotel and hang by the pool for a couple of days.  Mother Nature had other plans......  I swear she does it just to test the patience of parents.

So.....we spent some time in the hotel arcade and went to watch a movie.

This is only man on the face of the planet that would ever consider putting up with me and (our) three kids.  Stuck inside.  For two days.  In the rain.  He asked if we should consider just going home (where it was also raining).  The room was prepaid, there was no chance of that happening on my watch.

The kids tried to make the best of it, but it really just started making them cranky (hence Nate's face when I prompted them to smile).

We took them out to a "fancy" dinner.  Okay, it was just Maggiano's.  But considering they think Applebee's is normally fancy, this was a treat for them.

This post was to document our spring break trip.  Which sucked.  Also, to those of you whom I tell Florida is the happiest place on earth - this just goes to show that even our well planned outings don't always go as planned!  Maybe we'll have better luck next year!