A letter to Aly

To my beautiful daughter Aly,

Words cannot express how much you mean to me. From the day I found out I was pregnant, to the day I found out you were a girl, to the day of your birth I just fell more and more in love with you. I was amazed when you were born the intense feeling of love I had for you. I had never felt a love like this before and I felt so happy to have such a beautiful little girl in my arms.

You were so fun to watch develop. I remember each stage of development eagerly awaiting your mastery of it. I also remember thinking each stage was my favorite, from you first smile, to discovering your hands, to learning to roll over, etc.

You had a command on language at such a young age. By 8 months old you were already shouting dog commands such as sit, stay, come. At 12 months of age you loved to be read to which I believe is what helped you to talk at such an early age. By 18 months old you were already talking in sentences.

Things seemed to progress rather quickly from there. Your sister was born and while it was quite an adjustment for you it helped you grow into an independent little girl. I remember how you looked at her when she was first born, not knowing what to think, only to soon discover that she is your best friend and that you love her more than you ever knew you could.

By the time you were three you were already taking an interest in learning to write and read. You had learned all of your letters and sounds before you turned three and you began writing your alphabet shortly there after. I remember you would sit at the table for hours at a time tracing letters and showing me how well you were doing. I was so proud of your natural interest in learning and so proud of your ability at such a young age to sit for long periods of time to do a project or activity.

By the time you were three and a half you began learning to read 3 letter words such as cat, dog, rat, etc. It amazed me how fast you learned and how much you personally wanted to learn everything around you that you possibly could. I was so proud of you and let everyone around me know of your progress.

Do you know what amazing skill you developed at the age of four? It was then that we began to recognize your amazing talent for drawing. You can check through my blog and look at many of the posts that I made displaying your art. You amazed me everyday at how well you were drawing and what your imagination brought you to draw next. I also really loved to watch your drawing sessions with Daddy. I loved seeing how you would learn to draw things he drew by watching him draw. You know what I loved the most? When you would draw pictures for me and write Mom on them. The best part was when you would bring them to me beaming with pride at how well you had done.

I love every part of you for who you are. I love that you enjoy being you and that you explore things in life that interest you. I love your smile, your beautiful brown eyes, and your happiness for life. I love your caring nature and your desire to teach others new things as well. I love that even with all your talents and skills you are humble and proud of being who you are.

I love you with all of my heart Aly, and I always will.

Pancakes for breakfast anyone?

Last Monday at preschool one of the mom's made pancakes with chocolate chips for snack. Aly was so excited and has been begging me ever since to make the same thing. Of course since I am on such a whole wheat kick I had to look up a recipe to make a healthier version.

Our friend Terry gave us the airplane and train shapes to make pancakes with for Christmas. Aly was really excited and chose the train. We gave KK the airplane although she wouldn't even try a bite. I made regular pancakes for me, hubby didn't want any because he doesn't like to eat carbs.

Aly loved her pancake and ate the whole thing! I made mine with strawberries and whipped cream. It was so good I had a second one!

Here is the recipe if you are interested in making them:

Whole Wheat Pancakes

2 cups whole wheat flour

1/4 cup of sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

2 eggs, well beaten

2 cups of milk

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

3/4 cup chocolate chips

Stir together dry ingredients. Add eggs, milk, and oil. Stir until dry ingredients are moistened (batter may be lumpy). Add chocolate chips. Cook on preheated griddle or frying pan until bubbles form and edges start to dry. Flip and cook until lightly browned.

This week has been crazy busy

Wow, I can't believe how fast this week went by and how stressfull it was. Last year I made a DVD slideshow for Aly's preschool as a fundraiser. I was asked to do it again this year and boy did it give me a lot of trouble! I bet the whole thing took more than 20 hours of prep! One of the longest processes was going through all of the photos that not only I had taken but also the teacher and other parents. I also had to try and make sure each child was shown an even amount of times. Plus the editing of photos and adding text so people knew who the children were.

Once I finished that process I began working on the slideshow. Tuesday night I ran into a bunch of trouble. Everytime I tried to burn a copy of the slideshow my computer kept freezing. Of course this was another week of hubbies long hours and deadlines and he was at work that night and didn't get home until 10:30! I ended up having to remove files from my computer because my hard drive was too full. I also removed magic jack as I had a feeling that was hanging it up to.

The slideshow consumed my every moment this week. I did get it done for Open House and recieved comments on how good it was. Hopefully we will raise a good amount of money for Ms. Gilinda to spend on classroom supplies.

My latest win!

Yesterday at the mom's mixer they had a raffle going on. There were probably more than 20 baskets to raffle. I went through very carefully and picked the four baskets that I would really want to win. One was a palm pilot, another was a haircut at a nice salon, the third basket I put in was a 3 month membership to a gym, and the fourth basket I put in was for a fairy tea party for my girls.

Luck would be in my favor and I won the fairy tea party for my girls. Click on the picture and you can see what all they will get. It is a tea party for 4 valued at $200.00. The girls should have a lot of fun. Aly was really excited about it. I called her two best friends right away so I could coordinate dates with them so they could be our guests at the tea party. All of the girls are really excited and they should have a great time. I can't wait to take lots of pictures!

Weight Loss Mondays--hee, hee

For the first time since doing this I have to report that I gained weight. I am kind of laughing as I write this because I knew I would. I had a fantastic week. While I did do the treadmill everyday there were quite a few days where I only did it once. Typically I like to do at least two a day.

That wasn't my only problem. On Wednesday I allowed myself to eat Round Table pizza. If I had stuck to lunch only where I was full after two pieces this probably wouldn't have been a problem. I brought left overs home and had three pieces for dinner--hee, hee. Then there was also the yummy cake I made for hubby's birthday.

Yesterday brought another major cheat day. I went to a Mother's Luncheon for our Mom's club and totally gorged. It didn't help that I hadn't had anything to eat. I was so busy in the morning and had to leave by 10:30. The luncheon started at 11:00 so I assumed it would be no big deal that I could wait until we were served. We didn't start getting served until 12:45 and it was bread. So I started scarfing bread. I ate the entire salad, and my chicken and rice plate. Dessert was served and it was a chocolate mouse type cake. Very rich and quite delicious. I ate all of that as well. What a great day!

So today it is back on the normal routine. I gained 1.8 pounds this week so let's hope my hard work and dedication in the next week will help take it off. Hee, Hee, I just can't help but laughing.

Gas and grocery bill

I figured out my April gas and grocery bill for the month. Our gas bill was $708.46 and our grocery bill was $249.36. I am definitely happy that I am getting my grocery bill down so low but I can't do much about the gas bill.

Our corrolla still isn't fix. My mechanic friend redid the brakes, replaced the pads, turned the rotors, and adjusted the calipers. Apparently that didn't fix the vibration problem. So far to try and fix this problem we have had the tires balanced, replaced the axles and did the brakes. The current mechanic is going to test the fuel injectors and the valves next. I certainly hope it isn't a valve because that could run 1,000!

Check out that fuel image above. Can you believe just four years ago gas was averaging $1.85 a gallon? Here in CA our gas is around $3.95 a gallon. It is just crazy. They need to get rid of the taxes we pay on gas and give us a break! Did you know the federal tax rate for gas is 18.4% and CA tax rate for gas is 18%. So we pay 36% of our gas fees in tax. So if you said gas was 4.00 a gallon, got rid of the fed and state taxes you would be paying $2.56 a gallon instead. Big difference huh!

Well over a year since make up

Today we had a mom's luncheon for our mom's group at a nice Italian restaurant. I decided to take the opportunity to dress up since the last time had been over a year ago at hubby's Christmas party in 2006. Aly watched me with fascination as I put make up on and asked me to apply some on her. I made sure to only put lip gloss on and a little powder since this is a very sensitive matter with hubby.

I kept my make up light as I think it really just looks best that way. Less is more! My hair turned out really pretty, unfortunately I didn't take a picture of the back of it. Some of my fellow mom friends said they didn't even recognize me. They are used to seeing me with glasses, no make up, and casual clothes. It was fun to feel pretty for an afternoon.

Check back tomorrow so I can tell you the wonderful prize I won at the luncheon. I was so excited!

Easy Chili recipe

Here is an easy yet very delicious chili recipe. I personally love a 3 bean chili and hubby prefers an all meat chili so I took both of our preferences and made it into one! I personally like to use the crock pot but if you are in a hurry you could use the stove top method as well.

1 can black beans
1 can pinto beans
1 can kidney beans
1 can enchilada sauce
1 pound ground beef
1 pound cut up cooked steak meat
red pepper

Brown the ground beef and put into crock pot. Use a pound of your choice of meat and cut up in bite sized pieces and brown, add to crock pot. Add all three cans of beans and the can of enchilada sauce. Cook in crock pot on high for four hours. Use red pepper to season to the desired spicy taste you can handle.

Hubby's B-day celebration

We celebrated hubby's birthday this week. I made him a mint chocolate chip ice cream cake with chocolate mocha frosting. It was sooo good. The girls loved it just as much as we did. The frosting recipe I used called for 1/4 cup of coffee so well it gave it a coffee flavoring, it wasn't over powering. I used a brownie recipe for the cake part. It was really soft, moist and delicious.

Here is an interesting fact you may not know. Hubby and my mom share the same birthday. Yes, they are both Taurus's. Really easy for me to remember both of their birthdays. Hubby turned 24--yeah right that is what he wants us to think!

What a week

It has been a long tiring week here at our house. Hubby has a project deadline of May 9th and is working 6 days a week 12 hours a day plus his hour commute each way. On his birthday we saw him for half an hour, the next night another half and hour, didn't see him last night due to volleyball, and will be lucky enough to spend an hour and a half with him tonight. He will be working over the weekend but said he will take Sunday off.

His lack of sleep has affected my sleep as well. I find it weird that I have a hard time sleeping when he is not next to me. I have woke up many mornings this week around 4-4:30 and have not been able to go back to sleep. This lack of sleep has really caused me to be avoiding blogging.

Hopefully this weekend I will have a chance to catch up. I want to post some birthday cake pictures.

If you have a chance and you need clothes for your children Walmart marked quite a few things down to $1 a piece today. Mostly leggings and long sleeve shirts. (Don't know what is marked down in the boys section since I don't have any boys) Anyway, great deal for clothing! Better than used clothing prices and they are brand new.