So the other night I was making PR food and I made my own fresh Sofrito. I have made this before and I love using it in my food but there's no real way to save what's left. I've put it in jars in the fridge...it keeps for a week at best. I've put it in ice cube trays....it makes the freezer smell (there's a lot of garlic and onion in this recipe) and the cubes get freezer burned easily. So the other night I felt so defeated that I just made the best batch I've ever made in my life and it was going to go to waste. :( booooo. If only I had containers that I could put a small few tablespoons in....and then it hit me!

I had a zillion of those little bags that they sell at the craft store for jewelry etc. PERFECT! Every thing fit into nice little portioned bags. Contained and "sealed" this was good enough to at least allow me to save my "secret sauce" for another occasion and it'd be so easy to defrost etc. Horray!!!

Then it hit me....why stop there?! My husband wishes there was a way to take a sandwich to work with mayo mustard etc with out getting the bread soggy! Or a salad without having to get the lettuce all mixed up with the dressing! You can totally portion control it too So now I will never have to deal with the fact there is that "little bit of sauce" that I have no container for....Because now I DO! Yippie!

I really think this could work for other things too....like baking soda, baking powder to measure out a couple of TBS or tbs of anything to have quick on hand (like for pancakes in the morning).

A small little bag of treats for kids? raisins? candy? perfect and ah-maze-zing!

this is a really really smart idea and i hope that all of you can use it :) it has changed my life forever :)

oh hi! i figured out my password! so now i can come back. sorry about being gone.

here's what i did for a Wild Kratts birthday party for boy blue.
I made some creature power suits out of black felt and colored felt.  For the middle of the paw print I made it into a pocket so that the kids could put their discs "in" their suits...so it was just two pieces sewed in a circle and then sewn on the vest part in a 1/2 circle

the cake was just regular cake decorated like a nature scene but I went to the grocery store bakery with a picture of some creature power discs so they could print it out on edible paper. I got two sheets printed...i could have survived with just one...but..anyway yeah. It made such a HUGE difference to just be able to throw them on to finish the design, not worry about needing to peel off the paper b/c you can't eat it etc. It was just the right touch and so much easier for me than trying to do it myself. (only about 7 dollars a page not bad at all!)

For the games we had the kids wear their power suits then we tied streamers around their waists and they had to run around a pull off each other's "tails"it was so much fun we did it a couple of times.  Then for the "fish" powers we filled blue balloons with air and then "trapped" them in the hall so that it would be like water to swim in just...less wet. LOVED IT! We then had the kids eat cookies that were like sticks as fast as they could for their beaver power! They loved it.  The bat powers we did a take on Marco Polo, but we said Wild Kratts instead.

so that was how boy blue turned 4! hooray!

ps...here's the jpeg of the discs just incase you want them too :)

i never buy spagetti sauce in a jar. i always always make it. but tonight i was in the kind of bind you get in sometimes where i needed to have sauce DONE b/c it would take less than 10mins to put dinner on a plate if i did. SO i bought this little jar of liquid gold and i have to say i'm going to go to the store and buy at least 2 maybe 3 more. it was soo good. and it would be good to put together a "make in case of emgency-like-pica-can't-cook-tonight" kind of thing. Yes actually that is exactly why i'm going to buy some more of it. I like thier alfredo one too....but it has wine in it and i dont' think warming it up actually cooks the wine out so....

anyway. delish! and so what we needed tonight with both kids having a fever from who knows where but here's hoping that they are over it by tomorrow....what? i know it's wishful thinking....but if i could have one wish....right now it'd be that....or that we were financially free.....no i think the health thing. yeah. ok better go to bed now for my own health. :) night

today was a good workout and so far we've had a pretty good start to the day.

yesterday we hung the hammock and i have a retractable clothesline now :) horray! and it's been almost an entire year since we've used a dryer....weird. since it's started to warm up (bleh!!) i think that we still might not hook up the dryer and just continue on with the way we've been doing things. also yesterday i made a whole list of things that needed to be done and i got about 80 percent of the list done. It was good to cross things off and also the best part was that i knew that i had done things and not just forgotten about doing them. Here's hoping that i can finish off that other 20 percent today :) LATER

so little boy blue was starting to have hair that made funny shapes so the other day after he woke up from a nap and it was pretty bad i snapped a pic of it and then whisked him off to have it cut. of course there were tears lots of them. It's hard to cut your little ones hair but it had gone on too long. he just looked scruffy all the time and i knew a cut would help him look cleaned up. OH! note the green wall in the background it is the second wall in our house that we have painted and i really love it. it's just the right kind of energizing green that's a little muted that i was going fortada! and even though i have no NO training i think he looks better. and older which is good because he's a sunbeam now! so he should look like he's ready for primary. oh and this is thier "big" gift santa brought them. i debated about getting it or a regular kitchen and just desided that this would be good. i'm glad i did. the only thing i keep thinking about is how i should make some felt food for them :) :) for extra hours and hours of play.

practicing my photography skills or rather trying to develop them. i think the little photo shoot in the back yard came out pretty good! I am slowing feeling more confident and more knowledgeable

a few of our thanksgiving trip out to cali. my nephew took the one of sebi and me i think he did a great job!

more halloween fun we dipped this cookies on a stick in melting chocolate (pretty ez) and added eyes and some other details. I think we'll give them to the Nursery leaders to try and score some points with all of them.

Soliluz LOVED her little pumpkin. It was fun to make jack-o-lanterns yesterday for FHE

We went to the Fair. It was nice but expensive (lame)

sometimes its nice to be a little buzy. hopefully next time i post it'll have some fotos of the back yard!!!! (because it'll be done)

Halloween Decor

I really don't like to spend a lot of money on anything I don't have to :) So when I saw this "craft" in a mag i couldn't resist. I bought about 15 plates in the dollar area of Target and then made my faces and punched the holes and then hung it up. TADA! A craft finished in the amount of time it takes the kids to finish a snack (i could have had them do it if they were a little bit older. OR i could have cut out shapes, for eyes and mouths with some black paper or even out of the big black roll of tape that we have but i couldn't wait) I strung mine together with some ribbon i had laying around but it would look even better if i had used GREEN fabric or ribbon to string them together....oh well next year i guess :)

this is pretty much the free stuff that i pulled from the side of the road. it's not much now but hopefully if i can learn how to paint it properly some of this won't but things people will want to throw out :) heee hee hopefullythis i did not pull it was just given to me! unfortunately this skyline doesn't fit well with the rest of the house so i guess i'll just have to change that
tool for better spray paint control....still struggling. guess it's more of the person behind the tools than the tools themselfs :S blerg
free from the road!
oh this is a before and after of a little pencil holder tin i had that i thought to my self....i wonder if i could just spray paint that right now.....


more after photos to come.....hopefully

so we finally got Soliluz a new chair. she kinda finally got big enough for a bigger chair and since we knew she'd use this one for awhile awhile we got her this one. i think she likes it :)










so we went to the fire station last weekend. Oct is fire safety month and they had a really nice little set up for kids and families to come and visit the fire station. We got some fun pictures and had a nice little time there. They also were giving out free ice cream so that was great too. Mosiah was leery of the fireman in his whole get up with the mask and everything and Soliluz was a bit distracted from it all once she got a balloon. But we had a nice time and it's always nice to get out as a family.

this weekend we have planned for a REAL babysitter to come (yes we are paying her and she's a teenager. this is a first!) while my mom me and sebi go out to a comedy show and then on saturday it continues with a trip to the pumpkin patch! I love that the weather is cooling down and that we can finally go outside again. October is set to be a very buzy month :) horray!

TITLE-BLAH BLAH BLAH
i had all this stuff to blog about and now...blank. drat. Well let me start with what i know. Conferance was good exspecially the parts i actually got to listen to. I made coloring pages for the kiddies and we played with playdough, strun beads on pipe cleaners, had some magnets on a tray blah blah. it was pretty good. Mosiah kinda got it. It's always fun to see what he's picking up on. He got that the prophet was on TV which i'm counting as a super-rific achivement.
oh! this month is going to be SOOO busy! there is the fair (which since all of you have had a great time at i figure i better go and see what PHX has to offer), pumpkin patching, and ofcourse HALLOWEEN. Mosiah has desided firmly on being Superman. Yes folks my son went from Thomas the train to Superheros. Thats the way i roll no mind numming Spongebob dummy stuff for him. and he's started on the good stuff too the OLD superman the one where my mom passing by says "hey that's superman? i think i watched this when i was a kid" :)
Sebi? oh i guess he's pretty set on being Batman so we'll have to see where i'm going to get both of these costumes since they don't really fit into my M.O. of "make a costume in 30 mins or less b/c we are about to walk out the door" as for me and the little gal i don't know yet (here is where my nerd shows) i wanted to do something that kinda goes together b/c mosiah and sebi would both be DC comics but i don't think we'd go all Justisc Legde and be Hawkgirl and WonderWomen....well, maybe we'll see that'd be kinda a stretch to do i think....hummmm....yeah i don't know. anyway! no pics this time just hard core text with which i notice some spelling errors...sorry it's getting late for me i should NOT be awake right now. oh also found some "good" scraps of stuff in the street. the first trash pick up of the month people can throw out thier "big" items so i found some things we'll see if i use it. ofcourse if i do i'll let you know. better go now i can hear my pillow.......zzzzzzzzz oh! sorry nite!

Our Saturday was filled with tearing up the yard to put in spinkler lines, primary program practice and Gen Relief Society mtg. It was a buzy day but it's good to be buzy sometimes. Here is the love of my life fighting with a groundhog machine to put in the sprinkler trenches. Hopefully we'll have a yard SOON! then on friday i just happened by the Chick fil a near our house and they had a prince/princess night where kids dressed up got a free kids meal. AWESOME ! ofcourse i threw together thier crowns right before we walked out the door to go :) i really do last min costumes. Soliluz loved the fries and Mosiah kept saying that he was Superman. Hence the hands on his hips etc. We all had a great time and got our bellies full. Also i didn't remember that they give little books in thier meals instead of toys. We got two differant ones in the "If you give a mouse a cookie" series

it was a super fun weekend! :)

too cute not to post finally her hair is long enough that i can stick a clip in it! horray!

Just the kids this morning...here is soliluz

and here is Mosiah after a SERIOUS haircut. :( i'll miss his little locks but it was a little out of control and he wasn't talerating the scirors very well like he has in the past so i was left to break out the clippers which i can control a lot better but sadly his hair will be sooooo short. he was also great about letting me get pictures of the back and the front....well mostly great :)

so a few, nevermind nearly 7, years ago my sister and I went to mexico. while i was there i was on a mission to find a "house dress" that was white that was colorful that was beautiful. finally after a whole days search we found one. it was more than i wanted it to be but i just had to have it. I loved wearing it as pajamas while i was down there but when we got back i just put it in my closet. Well, two nights ago i wanted to wear something comfortable and more like a giant t-shirt but not a tee as i was looking in my closet for something i said "wait what about that?!" oh my goodness it's perfect!!! I love this little house dress. I don't even want to leave the house b/c then I have to get dressed and take it off. If you don't have one I recommend one :) on another note at our house I have a craft room. and I had the idea of drilling holes in some of the issues of Living that i have to put up on the wall. to store them but also so they are in arms reach of being thumbed through for inspiration. It came out pretty good i think! If you have magazines laying around maybe try this I really love it

and look Mosiah even somehow made it into this picture

ok! so it's been a year.....sorry about that

my new goal is to post something at least weekly but really more like a photo a day. i'd like to see what happens in our life for a year one photo at a time. anyway! here was yesterday

here are the kids all nice and clean at the start of playing in the flour.....

and now here are the kids after oh...i don't know about 7mins

yeah...just another reason why it takes me an entire year to upload two pictures

ok so i went to Iowa for a while and that was quite an experiance for me with the two kids by myself. Thankfully they slept at night which really saved my hide because if they hadn't i would have been so super crazy.
So since coming home I have come home with a few good habits that I'm hoping with really stick.
1. Going Out
My sister is big on go go going. Me not soo soo much but now that I've been more on that kind of pace for awhile we have been going out more. I'm excited to try out the Librarys culture pass stuff. Instead of checking out a book you check out a musuem or other attraction around the valley. Like the zoo or the childrens museum or the science center or the botanical garden. You get free admission for 4 people at each check out so that means that Mom and Sebi Me and Mosiah can go and do some of this stuff.
2. Going to the Library
I know it seems like why wouldn't i be doing this anyway. Well, the library closest to me you have to go pass all the computers to get to the kids area with a few little things for the kids to do and all the books. this proves difficult for my son. He can't seem to just keep walking to go and play with the little toys and things he just wants to play with the computers :S which he does at home so it isnt really incouraging to go to the library. BUT i'm going to other locations to see what kind of area they have for kids. So far my search has proved to be unfruitful but i shant give up.
3. Exersiceing
My sister's house has stairs. oh yes it has stairs. everything is on a differant level so you have to do stairs all day long. (perhaps the other reason my son was so willing to go to bed some nights there) Well, i happened to lose 15 lbs!! just doing the stairs at her house in the 3 weeks or so that I was there. I don't want to lose all of that for nothing so since I've been back I've been going to the little gym that my apt complex has. it's not fancy but it does provide a good place to work out with out intruption or distraction. Sebi has been great about helping me get out the door the few mornings that I said maybe i wouldn't go. Cuz i go in the morning it really sets the tone for the whole day and our whole house. ALTHOUGH, I feel kinda guilty that I'm getting time to go and do this while Sebi is at home. I feel a little guilty that I'm working out and "doing better" while he doesn't get that oportunity. *sigh I"m not going to let this guilt keep me from working out but I've got to find a way to give him the same oportunity.
4. ....uh... oh dear. i've forgotten what was the other things. ....oh well

anyway. i've just been more "go getter" since I got back from Iowa. I think part of it was my sisters house and another part was a talk/lesson in RS over there about time we spend online etc by Elder Bednar. I had had some ponderings before all of that about how we needed to change but the fact that we were gone so long and then came back provided the chance to really put some changes into motion.

oh and on another note.
last week i did a whole menu thing (like my mom has been bugging me to do all a long) and it was really helpful. I knew what I was making each day so it wasn't difficult to put dinner together. tonight i made a quiche and it was SOOO EZ! and yummy. wow. why didn't anyone tell me? Mosiah didn't eat too much of it (probably b/c of the spinach in it) but it really did come out good. Eggs are so cheap at the store this week that it really made me think about what I could do with them (and mosiah almost always eats eggs) oh and on the side we had brocalli salad. Really simple with rasins and some sunflower seeds that I had. I"m glad that we used up all the brocolli that I bought. We did not use up the celery :S before it went so limp that it wasn't use able.

oh and my camera died :( it's the sadest thing ever. it won't turn on and the last time that it did it gave me some kind of error msg and turned off :( i'm so sad b/c i was really starting to use it more and try my hand at photography as well as I'd like to have some more pictures/video of the kids and Soli. :S I don't even know what kind of camera i might like to get I knew this day would come but I just was not ready for it at all. *sad funeral music*

ok i think i'm done now.
nite

Everyone is sleeping right now. which is funny because we're all in the office instead of in our beds. but it is really sweet when Mosiah and Sebi sleep together. lol they both end up snoring to keep each other company. The baby is having a hard time sleeping after 3am. *sigh and usually will fall back asleep right when everyone else is waking up which adds to the sleep depravation and is aggravating too. oh well hopefully she'll grow out of it sooooooon! She is growing a lot. which is good b/c maybe she'll start to fit into some of her clothes

the baby came a little early but we're glad to have her

yesterday we went out to Tempe Town Lake to watch boat races....but since we were hungry we desided to go to the nearby Tempe Marketplace to grab something to eat. but when we got out of the car Lucilles grabed us! with their tempting bbq smells that were so good. so after eating so much we desided to walk around a little bit. And discovered a "splash pad" Mosiah had never played with a fountian thingy like that before and wow did he love it! After playing in the water for a while we went to the bookstore and before we knew it we had to head home or we'd be later for a baptisum! ....We never made it to the races. But we did have a good day! :)