5th Annual Sloshball Game

As I hinted at earlier, sloshball was a great success this year.  We had a great turnout and everyone had a good time playing, eating, and gossiping.  It's going to be picture overload, but we got some great pics this year!

Ready to play

Action shots

Cake!

Enjoying singing for his daddy

 There might be a slight overkill of pictures of Trent.  Sue me.

Our hoodlums had a great time running around outside.

Trent decided clothes were optional

Like really optional

The best seats in the house (after Trent left)

Can't wait for next year.  {grin}

Another Recipe, Movie Review, and an Update

I stole another recipe from Megan, which came via this blog (which is also where I stole the picture).

Ingredients:

-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

-1 cup salsa

-1 can cream of chicken soup

-1/2 cup sour cream

-taco seasoning

-tortillas

-any toppings you want

The recipe says to mix some stuff in a bowl and save stuff for later.  Whatever.  I threw everything (except the tortillas) into the crock pot and let it cook on low for 5 1/2 hours.  Shred chicken, put on tortillas, cover with any toppings (I could see people liking this with guac or pico but Brent and I hate both so we put some grated cheese on them.)

DELISH!  EASY!  My kind of meal!

Over Memorial Day weekend, Allison and I went and saw '21 Jump Street'.

 Plot: A pair of underachieving cops are sent back to a local high school to blend in and bring down a synthetic drug ring.


Review:  Allison and I both thought the movie was okay.  It had it's funny moments, but a lot of it was cheesy and too much.  I absolutely cannot complain about watching Channing onscreen for 2 hours, but I'm glad we went to the dollar cinema for this one!  I'd say it's worth renting for a few laughs and one of my fave hotties to look at...but that's about it.


Night-night update!  Trent did okay at school yesterday.  He didn't take a nap, but his teachers said he didn't cry either.  He is chewing on his blanket constantly (like sopping wet blanket chewing), but he also seems to get mad at blanket because he can't have night-night too.  He stayed with Brent's parents last night (bless them for wanting him still on night 2).  My mother-in-law said he didn't cry, but it took him a LONG time to fall asleep (she stayed in the room with him), and then he was awake at 6:15.  So here's hoping he takes a nap today!!  We are 48+ hours night-night free and going strong.  Although I'm not going to lie...I see a few toy purchases happening this weekend. {grin}

A Knight's Night-Night Tale

Friday when I picked Trent up from school, I got some very shocking news.  We've known for about a month that Trent will be transitioning to the next class at the beginning of June.  {Part of me is so proud of him because he's actually going up a little early, and part of me is scared because he actually loves his current teachers.}  However, on Friday, his teacher told me as a by the way that pacifiers were not allowed in his next room.  Oh really?  That might have been nice to know more than, you know, 10 DAYS before we were transferring Trent.


Now don't get me wrong, Brent and I are aware that our child is almost 3 and still using a pacifier. We knew the time to cut him off was coming up soon.  But we had always intended for it to be right around his 3rd birthday.  Use that 'You're a big boy now' line.


So we spent Memorial Day weekend breaking the habit.  We've never limited his access to his pacifier before, so we spent Saturday and Sunday only allowing him to have it at nap and bedtime.  We had some tantrums, but it wasn't horrible because he knew he was still getting it. Monday was THE day.  We threw night-night away. {Trent did sneak into the kitchen and get it out of the trash and hid sucking it.  Ha.}  We even went to Target and spent easily $60 on new toys.  Monday's nap?  Didn't happen.  What did happen was the taking off of 2 diapers and either peeing in his bed or pouring a cup of water in his bed.  Good times.  When I got him out of his bed, he went and peed on my bed.  To say I was upset would be an understatement.  Luckily, he redeemed himself with excellent behavior at the grocery store and was an angel the rest of the evening.  {As a sidebar, I have never felt such rage as I did at the store when I asked a cart boy to hold the special race car cart for me while I got Trent out of his car seat only to see another family walking off with OUR cart.  I mean seriously I saw red.}


Monday's bedtime though...was rough.  He cried for 45 minutes alternating between wailing and begging for me and for night-night.  That was hard to listen to, but Brent and I agreed he needed to figure this out for himself.  Luckily, when he finally fell asleep, he was OUT.  Minor waking at 10:30, but I just rubbed his back for a minute and he calmed down.  He slept an hour later this morning too!


So we'll see how the next few days go.  Regardless, he'll be without it when he goes to the next room!

Madness

This is for real what these 3 do when together.  Patty and I are just along for the ride.

Sloshball Teaser

Crockpot Recipe: BBQ Chicken Sliders

A lot of people link up on Menu Monday.  I don't cook enough to link up on a Menu Monthly.  But I like reading other people's recipes and occasionally getting inspiration.  I found this recipe through Megan.  I like her recipes because they are simple - just how I cook!


BBQ Chicken Sliders:


Ingredients:
1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast
1 cup BBQ sauce (I use Sweet Baby Ray's)
1/2 cup Italian dressing
2 Tbs. mustard (although I put more in)
Slider buns or rolls (I bought Hawaiian bread rolls...yum)


Steps:
1. Put chicken in crockpot.
2. Mix other ingredients together in a bowl.
3. Pour over chicken.
4. Cook on low 4-6 hours.
5. Shred chicken.
6. EAT!


It was easy and great!

Chicken

I am not known for my neatness.  In fact, I am pretty messy.  I think there is a distinct difference though between messy and dirty.  Except when it comes to my car.  There?  I am filthy.  My car is a cause of embarrassment to me, yet I don't do anything to make it better.  It is full of cups, Trent's snacks, work junk, shoes, sweaters, trash, anything imaginable.  Today however...when I opened my car...it reeked.  Like beyond anything I had ever smelled before.  I instantly gagged.  Okay, what piece of my lunch got left in here that spoiled was my initial thought.  I looked under the seats, I looked in the backseat {maybe Trent had a snack}.  Nope.  Nothing.  


And then it dawned on me.  I didn't remember putting away the raw chicken I bought at the grocery store on Saturday.  Yes, you read that right.  The THREE POUNDS OF RAW CHICKEN I bought on SATURDAY.  I ran to the back of my car, popped the back and yup, a bag of rotting, stinking, warm, oozing raw chicken.  I Febreezed every inch of the car, got rid of the foul offender, drove with the windows down, and still gag thinking about the smell.  Ugh.  What a way to start the week.


Happy Monday!  It can only go up from here, right?

Randoms

• Today is my sweet's birthday.  I love you, honey!!  Even though you said you want to give up on my blog because it's boring. {grin}
• It's George Strait's birthday too (his 60th too).  He's got good company.
• After 8 1/2 years at my job, I finally got an office {well, I co-share it}.  I finally can put pictures up in an office at my job of my family!!  Woot, woot!

• I hinted to my mom how good some of her potato soup would taste.  Guess whose mom made them soup??  Lucky girl right here. {grin}
• I rented 'The Vow' and watched it twice this week.  Weird?
• I love Channing Tatum!
• I'm making another bee cake this weekend for a shower.  I bullied persuaded the other hostesses to go with a mother-to-bee theme since I already had some decorations and a cake pan.
• Sloshball is this weekend too.  It's going to be busy and fun!

Book Review: Insurgent

I hinted that I finished Insurgent over the weekend.  In the fall, I discovered this trilogy.  I was nervous I wouldn't like Insurgent as much as Divergent.

Plot: One choice can transform you—or it can destroy you. But every choice has consequences, and as unrest surges in the factions all around her, Tris Prior must continue trying to save those she loves—and herself—while grappling with haunting questions of grief and forgiveness, identity and loyalty, politics and love.

Tris's initiation day should have been marked by celebration and victory with her chosen faction; instead, the day ended with unspeakable horrors. War now looms as conflict between the factions and their ideologies grows. And in times of war, sides must be chosen, secrets will emerge, and choices will become even more irrevocable—and even more powerful. Transformed by her own decisions but also by haunting grief and guilt, radical new discoveries, and shifting relationships, Tris must fully embrace her Divergence, even if she does not know what she may lose by doing so.

Review: For the most part, I did end up loving Insurgent.  I think it had some of the typical second book in a series pitfalls.  It wasn't new, so I wasn't enthralled with the story, but that's pretty typical of any series.  The great - I still love these characters and what is happening to them.  We met several new characters that involved several shocking twists, and that definitely kept the story interesting.  The love story from Divergent remained.  The ending had a pretty big shock/cliffhanger that has me ready for book 3.  The not-so-great - It did feel a little more YA this time.  I sometimes got frustrated with Tris' inner-monologue (but not very often).  And while the love story was still there, I got frustrated with Tris and Four on occasion as well.  There also wasn't any reminders from the first book, which I could have used after not having read Divergent in many months.  But that was about it.  So I would probably have given Divergent an A+++, I will give Insurgent an A.  So those of you who read Divergent (and loved it b/c I know you all did), you will still love Insurgent.  So get reading!!

Happy Mother's Day Weekend Recap

I had a great weekend.  Nothing crazy but wonderful.

I finished 'Insurgent'.  {post coming soon}

We went to a party at school with animals!

See the boys petting an armadillo?  How cool!

We jumped and played and tried on hats {grin}.

 We 'did work'.  And lost our clothes.

We tried out our new pool and float.  And lost even more clothes.

Trent bought me beautiful flowers!

My sweet made a delicious steak dinner.

And I capped off the night w/ cupcakes and the Once Upon a Time season finale.

Hope all the mothers had a great weekend too!

Randoms

• Has anyone seen a preview for 'Magic Mike'?  Girls Night!!!  Anyone want to join me?
• Insurgent was released on 5/1 (book 2 in the Divergent trilogy).  Just ordered it and am so excited to read it but also nervous it won't be as good.  I've read good things so far though.
• We have a cleaning lady coming today!  First time in almost a year.  Super excited!
• I went to see Kaya, my homeopath {yes, I consider her mine} yesterday.  She just makes me happy.  
• Going to breakfast tomorrow with my mom and sis for Mother's Day...without kids!  Yippee!
• I haven't had a chai in over a week.  Who am I?
• Been really working to increase my vegetable intake.  Man, I hate them.

Dad Rules!

On the Move

It has taken Trent a little time to figure out how to drive his back hoe.

But once he did?

Look out!

The whole time he saw me, he was saying 'I'm coming to get you, Mommy!'

<3

Reunited...And It Feels So Good!!

After almost a MONTH in California, my sis and her family returned.

And boy, were we happy to see them!

Trent asked to hold Blair.  This was as good as it got.

{Miles was too busy playing with Pops' yard tools}

Oh!  How I missed this face!

Sis, never be gone that long again!

Update - Project 52

I have been a major slacker in updating Project 52.  So here goes...


Success!
5. Take a photography class
8. Eat like a vegetarian (I did it for 3 days!!)
14. Take a trip out of state (work trip to New Orleans totally counts)
21. Build our savings account back up (Thanks tax return!)
26. No more artificial sweetener! (None in 2012!)
46. Try taking Trent to a restaurant again (Still a disaster but we've tried several times)


Failure. :(
2. Try fish once per month
28. Give up cheese for Lent (Barely lasted 2 weeks before I forgot)
31. Go to the midnight premiere of The Hunger Games
32. Use my Deceptively Delicious cookbook every month


I already have several failures, but I don't mind.  I honestly thought things would be worse than this.  Of course the year is almost half off...{grin}

Book Review: The Wedding

I just finished my 4th Nicholas Sparks book on my flight home from New Orleans yesterday. {Picture and description via}

Plot: After thirty years of marriage, Wilson Lewis, son-in-law of Allie and Noah Calhoun (of The Notebook), is forced to admit that the romance has gone out of his marriage. Desperate to win back his wife, Jane’s, heart, he must figure out how to make her fall in love with him… again. Despite the shining example of Allie and Noah’s marriage, Wilson is himself a man unable to easily express his emotions. A successful estate attorney, he has provided well for his family, but now, with his daughter’s upcoming wedding, he is forced to face the fact that he and Jane have grown apart and he wonders if she even loves him anymore. Wilson is sure of one thing—his love for his wife has only deepened and intensified over the years. Now, with the memories of his in-laws’ magnificent fifty-year love affair as his guide, Wilson struggles to find his way back into the heart of the woman he adores.


Review:  This might be my favorite Nicholas Sparks book to-date.  Yes, all of his books are a little cheesy and usually a little predictable, but this story was so sweet without being too sappy that I loved it instantly.  Wilson is a guy who has definitely made mistakes in his marriage, but, if after 30 years of marriage, Brent loves me half as much as this, we'll be a-okay.  It was a refreshing read with no major drama - just a real old fashioned love story.

Good News... Bad News...

Good news - I am in New Orleans today.
Bad news - It's for work.


Good news - I don't have an eye infection.
Bad news - My eye is 'angry' and I have signs of chronic dry eyes. (Thanks Mom!)


Good news - The speed limit on the toll road by our house increased to 80.
Bad news - There isn't any!!!!


Good news - Trent loved the lake this weekend!
Bad news - His weird rashes started again Sunday evening.  (Doctor visit scheduled for Thursday)


Good news - I have done really good cutting WWWAAAYYY back on cokes and chais.
Bad news - A weekend at the lake and traveling for work still = too many calories!


Good news - I love springtime!
Bad news - I don't love spring 95+ weather.


Anything good/bad going on with you?