Ten Eight on Tuesday Wednesday

*While I began this yesterday, I just ran out of time!*

1. I don't claim to be crafty, but I would like to be. On Thanksgiving, we did a family craft project. I found a new blog I love Tatertots and Jello. Seriously, with a name like that, it can't be bad. She obviously has fantastic photo abilities as well, some people have all the luck, so her wreath looks super bright and lovely, but I think ours turned out pretty darn cute too (picture from my cell phone because I am too lazy to get up and find my camera)!




2. My DVR is just about to send me over the edge. Didn't record any of my shows Monday night while I was watching football. UGH, that is the WORST feeling to me!

3. I am REALLY anxious right now, and I am trying to tell myself that everything happens for a reason, but seriously,I don't know that I believe that! Ha!

4. I have this FANTASTIC opportunity to go to New York with my friend, Alissa, in April. She works for Step Up Women's Network, and they are having an event. A shoe event where designers donate shoes, and you can buy them at a discounted price, but the funds go to her non profit. It is said that there will be celebrities there, celebs I happen to LOVE, but I can't bring myself to buy the ticket because I am SUPER nervous about traveling there by myself (Alissa would already be there for work!)! I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO disappointed in myself, because I like to think that I am super savvy, but I am so clearly NOT!

5. My only purchase on Black Friday was a $4 Hannah Montana sweatshirt from Walmart. Tyler wore it to school on Tuesday, and you would have thought she MET Hannah Montana. She looked so cute in it, but like complete TRASH at the same time. How is that possible????

6. I am freezing, it might be time to turn on a little heat to get the chill out.

7. I spend WAY too much time on the computer when the kids are at school.

8. Today I am going to record a Z'Tejas radio commercial at a music studio! Watch out world, next up Disney and Dreamworks is going to be knocking down my door to star in my very own movie!

Petz Fantasy Review by Tyler

Jackson and I woke up one morning, and we saw a new DS game sitting on the counter. We knew Christmas was coming, and it is very uncommon for us to get any sort of toys after the month of July because our mommy says, "Put it on your list for Christmas," from about July 1st on. BUT we found out that we get to play this game and tell Mommy how much we like it. When we saw it was a Petz Fantasy Moonlight Magic game we were thrilled because much to our dismay, mommy will NOT let us have a real pet. Mainly because she tells daddy that when he stays home with the kids and pets he may bring another thing for mommy to care for into the house.




Our favorite thing about this game is that it is AGE APPROPRIATE. Being 4 and 5, sometimes the games aren't easy enough for us to play, and we end up asking Mommy for help, and then she ends up playing WAY LONGER than she should-trying just one more time because she LOVES video games too. We also love that even though we aren't both boys or girls, we both love the game. There is something for everyone, no matter what the gender. Since I am a girl, I LOVED being able to dress up the "petz" and change their outfits as often as possible. Jackson, being a boy, liked the mini games and trying to guess which toy, food, cleaning tool was the "petz" favorite!

We usually fight a lot when we are at home, but this game really promoted "working together", and we found ourselves helping each other to try and beat the mini games or remembering which foods, toys, cleaning tools we had already tried. As you increase in Level, it becomes more and more difficult trying to find the favorite. As of the time we wrote this blog, we were only on Level 3, and there were already so many choices of food. It kinds of makes us hungry playing it!

Sometimes Jackson has to try several times before he is to get a Gold Medal in the Magic World and release a new pet, but when he does it is sooooooo exciting. The goal of the game is to unlock 20 "petz". I wonder how long it will take us to unlock them all. Some games, when we turn the game off, we lose all the progress we have made, but this one has an AUTOSAVE feature, and I am telling you, it is genius for kids like us. I think all games should have this feature!

If you want to buy this game for your little ones, mommy says you can go to amazon or Toys R Us to purchase it today.


While Ubisoft provided me with this game to review, the opinions I've expressed here are solely my own and represent my honest viewpoint. Ubisoft, Clever Girls Collective and I promote Blog With Integrity.

Gwyneth on GLEE!

I know a lot of you watch GLEE, but some may not, and this performance was BY FAR my most favorite of the season. I was getting pretty close to dropping them from my watch list because I wasn't digging it, but after this I remembered just how great the guest stars could be! I wish I could have legs like her. I swear it seems like they go on for miles! It also makes me smile because it seems as though she is so shy in real life, but she is so INCREDIBLY talented!



And then I saw this clip of her on Chelsea's Big Interview Special, and I fell even more in love!

60th Anniversary Party

Was a fantastic success!

We had a lot of fun, the kids were sooooooooooooo well behaved, and the sound of laughter was EVERYWHERE!

I would say the food was the only disappointing thing. Alexi's Grill is where Pat and I had our Rehearsal Dinner, and I LOVED IT! The food was amazing, the owner is super accomodating, and it is a great central location. Now, 7 and a half years later, I would have to say the food was VERY DISAPPOINTING. I heard the lamb was AMAZING, but the trout and chicken were not causing anyone to do cartwheels. Pat, Mr. BLAH Eater Himself, said that he thought the chicken and vegetables reminded him of something he would get at Luby's!

Anyway, I won't continue on about the food, I will let the pictures speak for themselves!

Ten on Tuesday-My Christmas List

1. A new battery for my car. Very excited I know!

2. Coach perfume-I think I liked the one in the square/rectangle bottle better.

3. A mandolin.

4. Crazy Monkey Lady to stop appearing in the hall every time I bring Tyler to school. Seriously, it is getting a little old trying to find something else to look at when we pass one another. This morning she opened the door for me, I said thank you, and she didn't respond! Class act that woman is!

5. MAID!

6. Dreamworks Royal Carribean cruise (I was planning on never going on another Royal Carribean cruise because they didn't have any ranch the last time we went, but I will suffer-OR check to make sure they have ranch before boarding-what if I brought my own bottle on board-HA)!

7. A DVR that doesn't randomly shut off and restart fifteen times a day-which I could easily get, but there is the whole hating people in my house thing, so I suffer through it!

8. Charming Charlie gift card.

9. Target gift card.

10. To believe in Santa!

I just remembered the Glee Christmas CD comes out today-how am I going to fit a trip to Target in to my day? I am feeling completely overwhelmed, and I think it is starting to spiral out of control! :-p

Christmas Comes EARLY!

I know I will be using Shutterfly for my Christmas cards because it is designed and ready to go in my cart, and while I won't show you which one I chose! I will let you know that I have used Shutterfly to print my Christmas cards since Pat and I were married. I have NEVER had a problem, and I absolutely LOVE how easy it is!

If I could get a picture of my kids together that I like, I would most DEFINITELY use this card because the colors and black are the PERFECT combination in my opinion!



This card is awesome and needs no words on the front because it is a FOLDED card which means you can put your entire message on the inside leaving LOTS of room for pictures. Best part of this card is that 10% of your purchase will go to the American Lung Association!



And there is something whimsical about this final card!




As a bonus I included some of my favorite photo gifts for this holiday season:

What if my little Tyler Gracie got a poster of HER standing next to her favorite Superstar for Christmas. . .that would be QUITE the treat!



Jackson loves to play an sort of sport, what if he could have big wall decals of himself for his bedroom, he would think he was QUITE the superstar!



Now, it's your turn: Bloggers get 50 free holiday cards from Shutterfly… sign up: http://bit.ly/sfly2010

The Great Pumpkin Smash

We decided to do something different with our painted pumpkins this year, and I have to admit, this Family Fun night was the best one we had in awhile. We loaded up our pumpkins and went over to a little bridge in our neighborhood. Each of the kids got to drop their pumpkins off the bridge until they broke. The first time they dropped them, they just kind of bounced and got a crack, but the second time, WATCH OUT! Splatter, seeds, FUN! We put a sheet down and dropped them on the sheet, so when we were done, we just scooped up the sheet and put it back in the wagon and dropped the whole thing in the garbage!

CHEAP EASY FUN! Here are some pictures!!!

La Piazza al Forno

SUCKED!

I have HUGE remorse paying forty dollars to have eaten there. Our server was FANTASTIC, she was sweet as pie, but the food. . .NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am grief stricken tonight that the place that looked sooooooooo good on Diners Drive Ins and Dives was TERRIBLE! (IN MY OPINION, he is 25% with me: Chino Bandido-NO, the Mexican food restaurant in the gas station around 7th or 19th ave and Union Hills-NO, La Piazza al Forno-NO, Matt's Big Breakfast-YES)

I will watch Diners, Drive Ins and Dives, but I will no longer put forth any credibility in what he says-we do not have the same taste buds-OBVIOUSLY!!!!!!!!!!!!

To My New Readers

SOME of you, I have met since the birth of my kids. Some of you have not seen Jackson's hospital picture. Some of you do not believe me when I talk about how he looked when he was born. . .take a look for yourself. This is his hospital picture. He was 9 lbs 9 oz when he was born. I pushed for four hours before he UNFOLDED out of me! This picture makes me smile even on the darkest of days!

Cupcakes

I am a little OBSESSED with the ABC Cake Decorating Supplies! I made these for Tyler's teacher's birthday on Wednesday! I only chose Mickey and Minnie Mouse because there were sooooooooooo many options and I was overwhelmed! I didn't know what to pick!

Christmas Pajamas

Christmas is about the only time of year we get new pajamas around here. We all get matching pajamas pants, it is fun and ONE of the very few constants around these parts. I ordered the pattern for this year, but I don't know where I am going to put them because we are kind of on Christmas pajama overload! I have recently cleaned out my closet, but I can't bring myself to get rid of the Christmas pajamas. Chances are if you come to my house in July, I will still be wearing Christmas pajamas! Why doesn't anyone want me to be on Real Housewives of Phoenix-I am a CLASS ACT I tell you!

Ten on Tuesday

1. The thought of traveling to The Lodge and learning to cook Holiday Treats with The Pioneer Woman leads me to hyperventilate! Seriously, even entering to win makes me giddy! I don't even have to win, just the thought!

2. I got The Pioneer Woman cookbook for both of Tyler's teachers this year for their birthday, I think I may get it for Jackson's teacher for Christmas. Seriously, is there anyone MORE obsessed with her than I am out there! I guess I just like giving gifts I believe in!

3. I want to try a new restaurant this weekend for Pat's birthday. . .any suggestions? The current ones I want to try are. . .Beckett's Kitchen Table and La Piazza al Forno.

4. I went on a rant on facebook about people not RSVPing, and people who I wasn't even REFERRING to replied! Thank you for your response, but I was talking to the 12 kids I invited in Jackson's class of which ONE has replied so far! WHY IS IT SOOOOOOOOO HARD!!????????????

5. I have big plans for Family Fun night tomorrow, I hope it works out!
6. Shannon and I have a favorite dive bar, I think it should be everyone's favorite dive bar!!! The food is so good, and I think about their nachos once a week!

7. I want a nanny and sushi!

8. Bought some hamburgers from Fresh and Easy-you know, my favorite place-bought the Angus burgers, SOOOOOOOOOOO worth the extra $$$, SOOOOOOOOOOO GOOD!

9. What is everyone getting their kids for Christmas this year? Does anyone actually NEED another toy in their house!?

10. I locked Jackson's and Tyler's room during the Halloween party because we have TOO MANY toys, and I cannot stand to possibly clean them all up, the Barbie Dream House was enough!! UGH, why do toys have so many small pieces!

Happy Halloween!

What a fantastic Halloween we had!

The kids dressed up (Hannah Montana and Shadow Ninja). . .






We played a FANTASTIC pop the pumpkin balloon game. . .








We got A LOT of candy. . .

AND HAD A GREAT TIME OVERALL!

Thanks to all who came, definitely think this year was better than last, and next year, it can only get better when I get name tags and organize a "GET TO KNOW ONE ANOTHER TYPE GAME"!

And this morning, the Halloween witch came, we ate some cold pizza for breakfast, Tyler is back in her costume, and will probably lie on the floor and watch TV until it is time for a nap because she is so tired! Jackson-THANK GOD-went to school for a fun filled day!