More pictures from another busy weekend!

This past weekend was the UA homecoming. Friday night was the start of our weekend. Jackson graduated to a full orange belt in Karate and did a fantastic job. We had so many activities planned for the weekend. As usual, we are constantly busy but we are busy as a family!

Sitting like Black Belt and waiting your turn is the proper way to show your teachers respect in class.

Standing like Black Belt also is another way to demonstrate respect for your class and the teachers.

Awesome front kick during Forms testing.

Jackson and teacher from Sunrise ATA school Diana Perry

Jackson and his instructor Mr. Kim

Saturday morning the day started with soccer for Jackson and Daddy. Then mommy, Anthony and Taylor went to Anthony's Karate graduation and he worked hard to earn his Brown Belt Recommended (half blue/half brown). Then, mommy and Taylor went to Taylor's ballet class while the boys went to get something to eat. We met at Nana and Papa's house and drove to the UA campus for Junior Scientist Day. (Bear in mind this all occurred BEFORE 2pm)

Taylor rests on Anthony while they wait for graduation to begin. Too sweet a moment to pass up. They both are a little sleepy...I don't know why, they each got 9 hours of sleep the previous night.

Anthony sitting like Black Belt...well almost. In his full sparring gear it is sort of hard to sit like a Black Belt.

Sparring. Must show 3 "cool" moves each. After they do this then they perform full contact sparring.

The kid has hops! Since Anthony is a high rank (Blue Belt) his kicks include jumps.

Demonstrating good technique during the forms testing.

Anthony and one of his instructors Mr. Park.

Mommy enrolled Taylor into a ballet class that accepts 2-3 year olds. At most schools she would have had to wait until she turned 3 to being. Mommy was a bit scared since Taylor has been wearing undies the past few weeks that she would have an accident on the dance floor. Mommy really underestimates the kids!

Taylor does a leg lift during warm up...not quite a Pice turn.

Waiting patiently for her turn across the floor.

Taylor working across the floor. Slow and deliberate she goes.

Chase away the foot with Miss Elizabeth

Jumping over mats across the floor. Taylor still has to work on her hops and jumps but she's getting there!

Junior Scientist Day is always so much fun for the kids. Last year we found it on a happy accident. This year, we made sure we took in the activities on purpose. The kids had so much fun making kaleidoscopes, putting their DNA on a chain, making slime, touching bugs, painting using robotic arms and eating free Eegee's. They had the ice cream making station but that table was always so crowded and so we skipped it this year.

All 3 kids got to make Kaleidoscopes. Jackson had fun assembling it.

Anthony holds a meal worm from the Entomology table...Bait anyone????

Kids and bugs. Taylor got to hold a HUGE millipede. As soon as it started to move on her hand, she moved her hand out of the way almost dropping the poor thing.

Trying to get an ending picture with dad...3 very tired children.

Mommy came out of hiding from behind the camera to show she WAS at the activities.

After we finished with Junior Scientist Day Nana picked us kids up and took us to Papa's store. Mommy and Daddy stayed on campus and found cousin Courtney and watched the Homecoming parade. (No real comment about the parade) Then they went to pseudo tailgating with Courtney and Doug and their friends (Their area is sooooo cool! They want to go back). Mommy and Daddy met up with their friend Glen and went to the game. Our cousins from San Diego came into town for the game (USC fans) and we had dinner with them on Friday night but saw the boys (men) on Saturday. I think they enjoyed the game. USC did win but UA overall (despite some small brain farts) played very solid 10-17 was the final score.

Lisa in front of the UA softball exhibit at the Hall of Fame in McKale Center.

Tony near the Fiesta Bowl Football trophy. He was able to attend this game in Tempe too.

The Holiday Bowl trophy.

Victory! 1997 NCAA National Basketball Champions. This was a GREAT year and tournament for the Cats.

Tony and Glen at the game.
Kenny and I pose for the camera. This was about 50 minutes prior to kickoff and our stadium is starting to really fill up.

Kevin and Kenny gearing up for the game. These guys wanted to come down to see USC play before Kevin got out of high school. Tickets are too hard to obtain for home games at USC so they came down to Tucson for a mini vacation.

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Wilcats!

Some action on the field.

Hahahhahahah our silly self portrait. Not bad for not being behind the camera.

Expensive yet good for the kids...

I have recently discovered a few organic foods for the kids that are more expensive than their non-organic counterparts but are so much better for the kids AND they actually eat this food w/o grimace.

1. Horizon Organic Milk Boxes in Chocolate and Regular flavors. They also make Vanilla and Strawberry milk boxes as well which we haven't tried yet. They are very yummy but so expensive! However, it's a great way to get Jackson his milk during the day at lunch while at extended care. Anthony loves them too but I already paid for him to get chocolate milk at school so he'll have this at dinner or on the weekends. I was purchasing them at Wal-Mart for $3.29 for 3 and Wild Oats sells them for $3.39 for 3. They also sell them by the case at Wild Oats Market and anytime you purchase something by the case at Whole Foods, they give you 10% off. It's still cheaper per container to buy this milk from Wal-Mart but sooo convenient to purchase the case at Wild Oats. Hmmmm, only about $.10 more per carton. I guess I could use the savings and just purchase another 3 pack more from Wal-Mart.

2. The other thing we found are the Cliff Brand Twisted Fruit and the Cliff Brand ZKids bars. They sell the zKids bars for $.69 cents at Whole Foods and $.89 cents at Sprouts and at Wal-Mart...I didn't see the per bar price. Also they sell the Twisted Fruit for $.69 cents at Whole Foods and $.89 cents at Sprouts. I didn't see the Twisted Fruit at Wal-Mart. These things are like a thick fruit rollup/licorice rope. It gives the kids 1 full serving of fruit and has very little sugar.

3. Fruitabu Smooshed Organic Fruit Twirl. This stuff is great, it's also about 1 full serving of fruit. It's equivalent to a Fruit By the Foot. The kids gobble this up at their morning snack time. And the fact that they can pronounce the name is a bonus too. I found it at Sprouts for a 10 piece pack for $4.99.

4. Y Water. They make Bone Water, Immune Water, Brain Water, and Muscle Water. It's flavored water that has extra vitamins and minerals that are supposed to help the kids grow. I have only been able to find it at Wild Oats Market and it's $1.39 per 8oz. bottle. Jackson LOVES the Muscle Water and Anthony loves the Brain Water. Plus you clean out and keep the bottle and when you order YKnots they become connectible toys. Hahahaha, dual purpose.

Although these items are expensive, they are good for my kids. I'm not making a complete change to Organic eating because if we did, our food budget would triple or maybe quadruple!

I have read in an article about fresh foods that should be purchased organic due to higher levels of pesticides. These include:
Apples, Bell Peppers, Celery, Cherries, Grapes, Peaches, Pears, Potatoes, Raspberries, Spinach and Strawberries.

I haven't seen too much on meats. But I know that locally grown, grass fed cows are better. Organic fish or Wild grown fish are good as well as Range Free Chickens. They are supposed to have no hormones and are better for you than mass market ones.

So for now, it's the small changes and I'm hoping that it'll cut down on the amount of "bad" snacks that are requested to be brought into the house and over time, I'm hoping that I'll be prolonging my kid's lives.

The girlie is sick

Poor Taylor has had a mild grade fever for the past few days. It started on Saturday, never getting above 100.5 degrees would go down with Motrin and she was bouncy and fine. We went to see HSM on Ice and she had a great time, dancing and everything. Silly mommy left the camera in the CAR! I should have ran out to get it as we were in the front row but that's ok. The kids are talking about it still. I digress...

So Saturday evening she stayed with my parents and didn't need Motrin and her temp appeared regulated. On Sunday we picked them up and took her swimming...again, she seemed a little warm but didn't warrant Motrin before the lesson. She then went most of the day and finally in the evening the fever sparked again. She got clingy and a little cranky but nothing too unbearable. Around midnight she was very warm so we gave her more Motrin and rubbed her down with a cool cloth. She slept through the night but was warm this morning so mommy kept her home. Good thing she did, after dropping the boys off at school we went to Wal-Mart to do some shopping. She was zoning a little bit but was a little warm and overall fine.

Then we got home, she watched "Dorothy" (Wizard of Oz) and VeggieTales and played for a bit. She ate some chicken noodle soup and after that was finished. We went to lay down and she was clingy and hot! She slept for a good 4 hours. Mommy is not complaining because she got rest too. She did break out in a sweat which was good because she hadn't done that last night. Then we went to pick up the boys and it's been downhill ever since. Taylor is complaining about being cold yet she's very hot to the touch...fever. There's no snot or coughing, which I kind of wish there was then we could say it's a cold but oh well. During dinner she did nothing but sleep on me and then as we were getting into the car to head back home...she puked all over mommy's car. Oh well...it happens. But she feels better now. Funny how that works out. She's currently sleeping and after another bath she still has a mild fever again but is sacked out!

Tomorrow she stays home with daddy so mommy can work. We'll see how that goes. I will say this though...she stayed dry in undies all day long and did beautifully! She's been sleeping in undies for the past week and is doing well. Only 1 accident in the morning after she woke up waiting for her turn in the bathroom. But she did finish up on the potty. And at school she's been staying dry pretty much all day long. I mention this because when kids get sick, they usually have accidents especially the potty trainers and she didn't. I don't know what tomorrow holds in store for us, I hope we'll get her temp regulated, keep the fever down and she'll get over whatever she has tonight! But I don't know, she had what my mom call "feverish eyes" around 4pm today (glossy, watery, sad and tired looking). She didn't have them until after her fever had broken the first time. So maybe she's cutting teeth although there's no increase in saliva or the change in the weather from cold last week to hot (over the weekend) made her a bit dehydrated and that's how her body is reacting.

Thank you Meetup Moms of Tucson!

I had to post a message board post on my moms group board and I have gotten a lot of great responses and suggestions to help us with Tony's allergy issues. As of today, it looks like he's going to have to try and get a transfer from the Rita Road site up to the Airport site (hee hee...JUST KIDDING) because the landscaping is KILLER down there! It's landscaped with everything he's allergic too. Next it looks like we'll be ripping all the carpet out of our house and then putting down more rock in the yard to keep the dust down (for my benefit too). However, the carpet ripping outing won't happen for a LONG time. For now, he'll just have to get on his round of allergy shots to desensitize himself and we'll both be very invested in keeping all the allergens out of the house.

On an interesting note, I've heard that locally grown honey works wonders. I guess that will be a change in his drinks...no more Splenda and using honey instead in his iced tea.

Flylady challenges and superfling boogies here I come again! :-)

Tony's Allergies

So after 3 years of suffering (from the time we moved back to Tucson) with allergy problems, Tony FINALLY went to the allergist. Granted this year has been a horrible year for allergies but because the Doctor was going to test him...(they forgot to mention that he was going to have a scratch test)...he couldn't take any antihistamines for 3 days. So from Saturday morning on he has been miserable! Sneezing, coughing, wheezing, blowing his nose. Monday he came home from work to work out of the house because he was disrupting his co-workers w/all of his sneezing and nose blowing. Today, he also worked out of the house because of the appointment and has been working in the kitchen but I can still hear him sneezing and blowing his nose as if he was sitting in the office next to me.

Two years ago we found out that he has adult onset Asthma, this year...he's allergic to pretty much everything that grows in and around Tucson. He's been prescribed meds to try and combat his current problem and then goes back for a 2 week follow-up. He may have to get desensitized to the allergens since we intend on staying in Tucson for a long while. But that will mean rounds of shots over the course of 18 weeks or something crazy like that! However, I say go for it because when he suffers, we ALL suffer! Plus it's been 3 years and at least we know what he's allergic too. I'm hoping that if he can get desensitized to this stuff, it may help get rid of his Asthma symptoms too. I guess I had better get the kids tested as well since their nasal allergies are also acting up AND since Jackson has food allergies just like me.

Just so I never forget I'm sharing with all readers all the items Tony is allergic too. I'll have to look up what causes or grows these things so we can try and avoid them and get them out of our house:

MOLDS:
Alernaria altern.
Bopolaris Sorok.
Cladosporium sp.
Drechslera spicif.
Mucor circ.
Penicillium not. (yes that's penicillian)
Phorna betae
Stemphylium sol.

GRASS POLLENS:
Bermuda (similar to what's on golf courses)
Brome, Smooth
Kentucky Blue (the same type we had at our house in Colorado)
Rye, Perenn

WEED POLLENS:
All Scale
Baccharis
Burro Brush
Careless Weed
Lamb's Quarters
Pigweed, Spiny
Ragweed, Desert (um...ya, I'm allergic to this too and yet we LIVE in Tucson where it's rampant)
Russian Thistle
Sage, Common

TREE POLLENS:
Ash, Arizona (And we JUST purchased one of these trees through Trico Electric....the boy should have gone to the allergist sooner!!!!)
Elm, Siberian
Juniper, Western
Mesquite (We have one of these in our front yard and just purchased one from Trico Electric too)
Mulberry Mix
Olive (I'm allergic to this one too)
Palo Verde (HAHAHAHA, this one is all around us in Tucson and around our subdivision)
Privet

Oh ya, and I have to mention that he's allergic to Ibuprofen based medication (Advil, Aleve, etc.). We had that almost 2am trip to the E.R. a month ago for him. However, I found out the next day from my cousin that Asthmatics AREN'T supposed to take Ibuprofen as it causes Asthma flareups!!!! Hmmmm, it would have been good to have known this 2 YEARS AGO!

So if any of my friends have allergies and have thoughts or suggestions on how to keep them at bay...PLEASE SHARE! I'm beginning to think a lifestyle/living change is in our immediate future.

The muffins are almost all gone!

Well...my family found them appetizing and edible! Yay for mommy. Now I have to find another recipe to cook up tonight. Since Thursdays are my "Fridays" I'll probably stay up late baking and watching my DVR recording of Grey's Anatomy. :-)

Tomorrow is October 10 and wow, that's the same day that Tony and I met each other 14 years ago on the tennis court! Hahaha, love on court...how sappy and romantic ;-) The year was 1994 and we both entered to play in our Asian Club's tennis tournament. Since there was no women's draw they stuck me into the men's draw for singles. Guess who I had to play first...And then we had to play doubles against each other. Anyway, after a few weeks of hitting after classes, he asked me out. Our first date was to a party at his Fraternity house that had a live Jamaican band. We then went out the next night and that Sunday afternoon and we've been at each other's side ever since. Crazy how that happens.

Fast forward 14 years (married for 9) and 3 kids later...I'm now baking! Hahaha, everyone knows, I NEVER bake what has this man done to me??? I'm baking muffins and soon it'll be cookies and bars. What's our next adventure...cakes?

Momma Baked!

For the past 3 weeks or so I have been on this mini muffin kick. Thanks in part to a breakfast parkdate with my moms group and little Taylor bugging me to get her mini muffins for breakfast. So I have made about 4 batches of mini blueberry muffins using the complete muffin mix by Betty Crocker. It's great...just add water, scoop and bake. Voila, yummy muffins that the family gobbles up. So to fulfill my quest for saving money and eating healthier, I was convinced that there had to be a book filled with various yummy (AND EASY) muffin recipes. So far, I think I found it. It's called Muffins Galore by Catherine Atkinson. Of course today, I read the online reviews and the book didn't get a good rating. The only person who rated it found a typo...yes it's still there and mentioned how the author didn't give the correct conversion for substituting All Purpose Flour for Self-Rising Flour. Oh well...I only had A.P.F. and so that's what I used. I know...I could try the Self-Rising Flour as a bag of it is only $4 or so at Super Wal-Mart. Next time! Read on...

Today I went grocery shopping and purchased all the supplies needed to make Blueberry muffins and Vanilla Chocolate Chip muffins. However, both of those recipes call for self-rising flour. I decided to use All Purpose Flour instead. My first batch was the Vanilla Chocolate Chip muffins. They looked great however they (slightly crunchy on the outside) seemed to be a bit dry. Of course me being the OCD cook, I had to do another batch! This time the batter was much more moist than the first one. I used a little bit more sugar and vanilla extract. The second batch is definitely more moist, it still has the nice firm outside and soft inside. They aren't as dry tasting. I'm glad with both batches I used the regular sized chocolate chips instead of the minis...chocolate goodness in every bite!

OK yes I know the muffins are lopsided! The blueberry muffins, I made regular sized and used the new silicon muffin cups I got at Target (6 for $1). They turned out very moist and just about every bite has some blueberry in it. I had to use frozen blueberries since fresh ones are really expensive right now. Not too bad. I actually think I would have liked to have these ones baked a little bit longer. I like the crunchy outside and soft inside. Or next time, I'll add coarse sugar on the top for a crunchy coating. Although I'm thinking that baking them directly in the pan without the silicon cup liners might yield the results I'm looking for. :-) And yes, for those of you who think I need to have more symmetrical looking muffins, I'll use a cookie dough or ice cream scooper for nice rounded muffin tops. Hahahah, I'm not selling these though and the "home-made" look is "in" isn't it???

The real test as we all know is when the kiddos and husband get home. IF they eat them and ask for more, then they are winners. If not...back to the baking board! I think the next set of muffins I'm going to attempt are the Cranberry and Pecan muffins or the Cinnamon Swirl muffins. Both sound like they'd be great for breakfast foods and that's my ultimate goal, to create healthy yet quick on the go foods the kids can eat in the car on the way to school. I think I'm subconsciously becoming more "home-makerish". I know, I could do breakfast sandwiches or breakfast burritos or pigs in a blanket (pancake wrapped sausage) but that would require me OR Tony to get up about 45 minutes earlier than we already do. Sorry kids, we love you, but we also need our sleep too! Besides, the kids are soooo picky about what they eat, they may not even eat those items we cook.

Right now they are all on a Pop Tart kick...of course a few weekends ago Tony had to get the football team frosted brown sugar and cinnamon ones. I had a whole bunch of Frosted Strawberry ones in the pantry that still needed to be eaten up but Anthony got the University of Arizona one so I can't complain about it too much. I guess it's a great change for them from the Quaker Chewy Granola Bars they had been eating in the mornings. Although, I do still have 2 BIG boxes of cereal they need to eat up too. I guess that'll go to school with them for their morning snack at recess time. BUT...that's the other point for me making homemade muffins, something different for them to eat besides their usual snack food. I suppose if I continue making homemade baked goods, we'll either become as big as a house or stop eating all that expensive convenience food! I'm really hoping for the latter.

Understatement: Busy Weekend

Friday Tony and I both had off from work. And so our weekend officially started on Friday. We were swamped with back to back appointments albeit mainly fun appointments but we really need a weekend just to recover from our weekend.

I was asked earlier in the week by the Pre-K aide to help out in the Pre-K room so she could be with family. I was a bit nervous but I know the kiddos from volunteering at recess time and it turned out to be really fun. Those kids are hilarious! 3 hours of non-stop..."keep your hands to yourself, play nicely please, share the toys, finish your work, sit on your bottom, etc." Meanwhile, Tony was able to chase tennis balls thrown at him from the ball machine. :-). Then we met back at the school for lunch duty. 2 more hours of "sit on your bottom, clean up your trash, walk don't run, etc." At least lunch was outside on the quad so the kids could be as noisy as they wanted.

After school Anthony was invited to a friends birthday party. He did that for a little bit and then he and Taylor had an appointment to get a flu shot. Both kids did GREAT! No tears...Anthony did well up a bit but nothing fell. And then Taylor had no idea what was going on so that was great too. Then we went to eat at Chilis for dinner and then off to the bookstore for family book night. Then we went home and the 3 boys (2 little ones and Dad) watched Iron Man. The girls (Taylor and momma) watched The Goodnight Show on Sprout and went to sleep early.

Saturday...we woke up and went to Jackson's soccer game. During the practice and drilling, Taylor and Anthony played on the playground. Then we all went over to the field to watch the game. Jackson played hard and all the kids did great. The opposing team did have one kid that kept trying to slide kick into our team to prevent them from getting the ball. This kid is going to hurt someone. In fact Jackson had a collision on the field and ended up falling on his shoulder. He recovered great though and ended up going back into the game. He scored 2 goals and ended up bumping the other kid back who was slide kicking into our players. After the game we went to eat and then took Tony and Jackson for team pictures.

Then Taylor and the boys were invited to Taylor's friend's birthday party at Pump It Up. We stayed for an hour and left early. Then we met Papa at Bok Bok's house so he could drop us off at the U of A Football game. Tony and I took the 2 boys to the football game while Taylor stayed with Papa. We had a blast. Jackson's dinner consisted of popcorn, Powerade and candy. He barely ate any hot dog. Anthony's dinner was hot dog, popcorn, Powerade, candy and later when Nana came to the game...soda. Oh well. The boys were good sports and had a ton of fun. They actually sat there and cheered the team on. Then Nana, the boys and I walked back to Bok Bok's house. Nana was so awesome, she played "which came first..." and sang "10 more miles to go" with the boys which helped keep their minds off the fact that it was such a long walk back from the stadium. Then Jackson and Taylor spent the night with Nana and Papa while we had Anthony with us. On the way home we stopped off at Jack In The Box to get our free tacos. (Everytime the U of A scores 33 or more points in a home game Jack in The Box gives away 2 free tacos for every redeemed game ticket). Then we made a stop off at Cold Stone Creamery to get ice cream and then headed home.

Sunday, Tony and Anthony left for Phoenix so they could see the Cardinals vs. Bills game. They left early so they could eat with Granny, Granddad and Grandma. It turns out that Aunt TJ was also in town so they got to eat breakfast with her and Albert too. Tony was also going to take Anthony to Todd Mcfarlane's store to see the action figures before the game. I'm not sure how the Cardinals are doing as I haven't checked the scores. And they'll be back home after the game is over. Of course I have to work and Nana just brought home Jackson and Taylor. Apparently, Taylor went to bed at 8pm and slept until 8am this morning. Jackson went to sleep at 11pm and slept until 8am. So they got sufficient sleep. They will be taking naps in about 30 minutes though.

Whew...I'm exhausted! The sad thing is...most of our weekends are similar in nature. No wonder we are exhausted all the time. :-)