Fun: Flashback childhood fun

When I was in first grade we got rewarded every Friday with a fun activity and my favorite was the shaving cream party! The teacher would spray a huge mound of shaving cream on to our desk and we would just have a blast playing with it! Such simple pleasures!

I decided to let my kids experience the fun at home since it's too cold to take them out for some fun and there's not enough snow to bring in for them to play with yet. Here's how much joy a $1 can bring:






Kai said he was Santa and Cassia said, "Me too, Santa!"

The clean up is a breeze, just plop the foamy kids in the tub and the bubbly fun continues! A bonus is the super clean kid's table afterwards!

Family: Our new addition... baby Maxwell Tre

He is finally here and he's wonderful! Maxwell will be one month old tomorrow!! The picture above is of him just a few days old. Yes, he is a big boy. He is my biggest, weighing 8 pounds 6 ounces at birth. Which by the way was a day over the due date! I guess all the medications and bed rest really work. Not to mention the support of my wonderful husband and family.

His big brother and sister really adore him! They always want to hold him and are so helpful when it comes to changing him. One would bring a diaper and the other would throw the dirty one away. I forgot how many diapers they go through when they are this small.

I can't believe what a good baby he is. He only fusses when he's hungry or wet, otherwise he is quite content. (knock on wood) Soon he will be ready for his first road trip, I'm so excited because we want to go visit my in-laws. The children always love visiting their grandparents and since we are close enough to drive I want to visit as much as possible.

I am feeling almost back to normal and just in time for the holiday season because there is a ton of planning to do. I'll be posting more regularly now. Have a great week everyone.

Family: Week 39!!!

I can not believe that we've made it to 39 weeks! Well, to be exact today is 39 weeks and 2 days; five more days until baby Max's due date!! He might actually come out on his day! We are still on edge because I am already 4cm dilated and have been this way for a few weeks now. This kid is either stubborn or really big! I am hoping that things will be normal and I can have a natural delivery. I really am afraid of having a c-section.

We have almost everything ready, well except the diapers and wipes but we have a drug store around the corner so it's not a big deal. If I don't go into labor today, we plan on going to get Kai and Cassia their big brother and big sister presents. They are really excited about the new baby and keep telling him, "Baby come out."

Kai started preschool last month and to our surprise really loves it. We take him twice a week to start him slowly, but he tells us that he wants to go everyday. Due to my condition and his never being in a structured class we thought that it was a good introduction for him. Next term we'll let him go five days a week.

Cassia has become quite a handful. She's really not that terrible for being two, but more like bossy. She pretends to not hear us and bullies Kai around. She's really lucky that he adores her so much that he can laugh off her attacks, but I tell him not to laugh because she thinks it's alright for her to hurt him. She already knows how to delegate! When we ask her to do something she responds with, "Kai do." We are in for it with her!

Jimmy's new job is going great. He has had to make at least one wedding cake every weekend! His hours are so much better for the family and he can have two days off a week for family and football! I actually watch games with him too. Something about football allows us to have junk food on game days! Burgers, chili, chips, wings, hot dogs and pizza!

Family: week 27, 90 more days to go

This morning, I finally made it to the lab to go take the three hour glucose tolerance test. I can't believe that I actually made it. I had to lay down the whole time except for when I had to get the blood drawn, but I did it! I have a feeling that the lab possibly might have made a mistake and administered the higher dose of glucose for the first test I had!

The results were extremely high, from what they said my sugar level was over 120! That has never happened before! I know that every pregnancy is different, but all the other glucose tests for the previous pregnancies have been under 93! The lab technician said that if I was given the higher dose then that would explain why my sugar count was so high!

Ladies, my advice from this experience is to ask as many questions as possible about every test that you have to take. It is your body and your right. Trust me you don't want to have to redo any tests due to someone else's error. Not fun!

26 weeks and counting

Our fourth of July weekend was uneventful due to me not being able to stand or sit up for longer than 2 hours without having to lay down for a few hours to recover from the pains I was experiencing. On Monday I called my ob and told her of the pushing feeling, mild cramps and low back pains. I was also feeling a few contractions. I was afraid that it could have been early labor so I was sent to the hospital for evaluation.



I got hooked up to an IV, which I absolutely hate! I know that it's a great way to stay hydrated and gives the nurses easy access for administering any emergency drugs if needed, but I just hate it! I don't like having it on my hand, which I'm glad they did not do. Even so having it on the back of my forearm is just as annoying! They had to put it on my right arm because the veins were bigger, but I'm right handed so it was like I only had one arm. I couldn't use my right arm for anything and when you are left alone for the night, it's just not easy.



I received two steroid injections to help the baby's lungs, along with some other tests like the FFN. Luckily the FFN test came back negative indicating that I was not in preterm labor. Thank goodness, I was so scared. But now I am on bed rest, which was expected. I guess I should be happy that I got to stay on my feet for as long as I have. I was on bed rest for previous pregnancies too, but they all started before 20 weeks.



I am so lucky to have such a wonderful husband who took such wonderful care of the kids and I through all of this. A strong support is crucial for a successful bed rest. At times I get depressed and feel useless because I am not allowed to do anything, but I have to remember that this is one of the only few times that I have to just relax for the sake of the baby inside of me.



I know that it is normal to feel stressed and at time think the worst, but positive thinking as hard as it may be to do is the best thing. Like I said I have a wonderful husband who understands and is super supportive. I know that he has to take on all the housework in addition to child care and work- he's my superman! I love you Jimmy!

Got a new cell phone yesterday and running a test to see how text blogging works.

Pictures of Kai's Train mini cakes

Finally I am posting the pictures of the mini train cakes that Kai decorated for his fourth birthday. Jimmy also made him a special little chocolate cake.

week 21

We spent the weekend in Michigan visiting with family. It was my in-laws 50th wedding anniversary! I think that it is amazing and inspirational that couples can stay together forever. I know Jimmy and I will have a 50th celebration too, with our children and grandchildren.

Our children got to spend some time with their cousins and had a blast! I'm so glad that Kai didn't take to long to warm up to his cousin Bryce. He can be shy sometime. Cassia is still a mommy's girl so she stuck around with me and Jimmy instead of playing with the other kids.

We had dinner at their favorite Italian restaurant. They really had the best thin crust pizza outside of NYC! I had three slices and it was loaded with pepperoni, ham, bacon, bell peppers, mushrooms and onions! I could go for three more slices right now!

Jimmy and I made the anniversary cake. (Strawberry filled vanilla sponge cake with butter cream icing) We served it with a scoop of vanilla ice cream for dessert. We also made a sweet platter of fudge brownies, shortbread cookies and gold foil wrapped chocolates.

It was a great trip, just too short for spending time with family. Jimmy is so busy with work all the time, I like it when he has time off to spend with the family. We also don't get to see his sister and her family often. The last time we saw them was three years ago!

I am in my 21st week of pregnancy. All is going well, except I missed the delivery for my medicine yesterday, so now my shot days have to change to Wednesdays. The baby is almost one pound and I am gaining about two pounds a week. Right on track. I am rarely nauseous anymore, but have started to get growing pains where the side muscles ache. I have also become wobbly and clumsy!

My skin is terribly dry and flaky. I bought a new liquid exfoliant and moisturizer from Aveda and my face is no longer flaky!! I used it yesterday not expecting it to work on the first use, but it did!! Thank you Aveda, you have saved my skin again! Last pregnancy their sensitive lotion worked for me, but this pregnancy I needed more hydration so their Botanical Kinetics Hydrating Lotion was a miracle product for me. The Botanical Kinetics exfoliant is liquid and non-abrasive. It has no grainy substance that most exfoliants have. I have no idea how it removed the dead cells, but it did and I'm so thankful. I can see a difference after one use. I love, love, love Aveda products!!

Week 19

I've been so scatter brained lately and just not wanting to spend time on the computer because it hurts my eyes. My pregnancy is progressing nicely. No more morning sickness, but starting to feel the growing belly pains. I can have dairy again, which I am so happy because I can have ice cream everyday again. We also started my weekly progesteron injections last week. Not fun! I'm such a wimp, I can't stand needles. (That's the real reason I avoid any kind of drugs during childbirth)

Kai just had his annual check up yesterday and he is doing well. He has gained two pounds and grew two inches. He was so happy that he didn't have to get any shots.

Cassia has started to have night terrors again and waking Jimmy and I up at 3 a.m. There's not much we can do but let her scream. She's not awake and if we touch her she just screams louder and kicks us. I really hope that it stops soon. Other than that, she wants to be just like Kai. She'll only wear his clothes unless we are going out in public because I won't let her wear them out! She doesn't care if they're three sizes too big or that the pants are so long she keeps tripping on them. I've got to take some pictures and post them. But until then here are some from our trip to Texas.



Cassia in the outfit Aunt Priscilla bought for her.


Kai showing us his chopstick skills @ a Vietnamese restaurant.


The kids with Auntie Priscilla and Cousin Tiffany @ a BBQ restaurant.

Week 16

Wow, it has been a month since my last post and so many things have happened. I am feeling better and less queasy. I spent a week and a half in Texas with my family while Jimmy was studying chocolate in Spain.

Jimmy brought home lots of chocolate and cute toys for the kids. He also got me a cute little purse (what a guy, he remembered my obsession of bags!). I wanted to go, but that would be a little hard taking the whole family. He did like it and said we should go back for a visit. I'm all for it! Who wants to babysit??

The kids had so much fun playing with their cousins. They also loved being able to play outside everyday because it was sunny and lovely in Texas. Tomorrow is Kai's birthday! He will be four! Time just flies. My sister Priscilla sent him a Thomas the Train bike. He loved riding around on his cousin's bike so we thought he should have one of his own. He is so excited!

I bought a train baking pan and plan on making him train cupcakes for his birthday. Instead of me doing it by myself, I think that it would be fun for him to help decorate it. I'll try to post pictures.

Week 12

This is almost the final week of the first trimester. I'm still not able to eat as much, but at least the nausea has not been so bad. I found out after a bowl of ice cream that I can not have any dairy during this pregnancy. Strange very strange! All the other pregnancies I ate a pint a day!!

This little baby does not like dairy of any kind! So, I'm indulging with soy ice cream! It's not as rich, but hits the spot! Speaking of ice cream, we went to a new ice cream shop for Jimmy's birthday last week. It's a place called ICream. You custom blend your flavors and they make it to order using a mixing bowl and liquid nitrogen! It was great fun for all of us because they also offered soy milk.

For Jimmy's birthday, we had a relaxing day of dining out and chilling at the house in between meals. We had fish and chips for lunch at an Irish Pub, ice cream at ICream and then had dinner at Rick Bayless's Frontera Grill. They have the best duck dishes there so it's our favorite place for fantastic Mexican food.

Kai is so excited about his upcoming fourth birthday and keeps asking everyday how many more days. It's cute. We haven't decided what we want to do yet but it's between the children's museum or the Lego discovery center.

Cassia is starting her terrible twos and she's only 19 months old!! I'm in for a ride with her. My sisters and mom tell me that she's just like me when I was little. That's karma for you.

Feeling a bit better...

Tomorrow will be ten weeks into what I call 'the last one'. The past two weeks have been miserable. The worst morning sickness I've ever experienced! I now must apologize to my best friend for constantly telling her that she needs to have another one. Why you ask? Well, she had a whole pregnancy of being sick and I just couldn't even handle two weeks!! I now understand why she wouldn't want to go through it again.

Peppermint has been my life saver this time around. I have peppermint tums, peppermint toothpaste, peppermint candies, and peppermint tea. I just can't stomach ginger any more, not since my first pregnancy.

I have good days and bad and this happens to be a good day that's why I'm able to give an update. Kai has been such a wonderful helper in my time of sickness. He helps me to take care of Cassia by keeping her occupied to let me rest. He is the best little boy a mom could wish for. Jimmy has also been great with doing housework and caring for the kids. On his days off, I don't have to worry about anything and I don't I'm usually curled up in bed wishing it was already 40 weeks.

I was telling Jimmy that I think it is probably a boy because I don't have any cravings for junk food. I want to want a dough nut, but the thought of one even makes me sick! I just want fruit! I've been trying all types of citrus, apples and bananas but none of them are satisfying. I have to try mango, pineapple and other orange/yellow fruits.

When I was pregnant with Cassia, Jimmy and Kai had to go on many Krispy Kreme runs for me. I also ate a pint of ice cream a day!! I didn't eat very healthy with her, I gave in to my every craving. That's probably why I gained 30 pounds with her.

When I was pregnant with Kai, I ate carrots and mangoes like they were going out of style! I had cereal everyday like I do now. I snacked on apples and peanut butter. The only junk craving was bar-b-que potato chips.

I will just have to wait and see.

October Baby?

The news is I'm seven weeks along and the baby is expected on October 8! Knowing my body the baby will probably arrive in late September. I was joking with Jimmy that the labor will probably begin on our anniversary.

What you don't know is, Jimmy and I have yet to have a normal anniversary. Our first anniversary we were driving away from hurricane Rita. Our second, we were apartment hunting and I had the flu! Our third year was so busy that I don't even remember what we did. Our last one was spent flying home from Atlantic City after his last pastry competition.

I'm not saying that I've had boring anniversaries, just not the normal date out with the husband that most wives get. We are adventurers and we love each other so I'm kinda glad we're not normal. I would hope for the baby's sake that he or she does not come out on our anniversary! I want the baby to have his/her own special day! I mean really what kid wants to share their birthday with their parent's anniversary?

A surprise and Welch's PB&J Challenge

It's been quite a week. I've spent most of it laying on the couch feeling absolutely horrible! I forgot how horrible the nausea is the first trimester! Yes, we are pregnant again! I'll have a due date after Monday's appointment.

I also made a little video of Kai showing Cassia how to make her first PB&J sandwich and entered it in the Welch's PBJ Challenge on the Food Network website. If you click here it should take you to the page where you can view and vote on the videos and pictures. The public rating ends this Sunday.

Ours is titled "Baby, Let's make a peanut butter jelly sandwich". If you haven't checked it out, please give it a viewing and rate us too. We are hoping to be in the finals. I just think it would be wonderful if we could take a "Baby-moon" before the new love arrives.

I'm still debating if I want to know the sex of the baby or let it be a surprise. What do you think? I'm up for either, I just really love babies.

18 months old!

Wow! Time just flies, I can't believe that my little girl is a year and a half now! She's almost 22 pounds! She had a visit with her pediatrician this week and he seems to think that she should be weighing more? Hmm...well, he actually said that she was leveling off and I should watch her. What? My girl eats more than my three year old boy! Did the doctor not notice that I'm kinda petite?

Well, I think that she is advancing well. I have no worries about her, Kai on the other hand is a bit on the skinny side. He eats, just not junk. Maybe I should switch him back to whole milk to bulk him up. We'll see what the doc says when Kai goes for his visit. I sometimes want to switch to a different doctor who understands our life style a little more, but the one we have is very good so I go back and forth.

It's getting warmer!

I am so happy that it is finally warming up, well not in the 70's yet, but 40 will do! The annual French Pastry School's event For The Love of Chocolate is tomorrow and all will be attending. Jimmy has a table at the event, but the kids and I will be walking around eating chocolate!

I've debated going, but since it won't be so cold I've decided to go. In the past they have had a chocolate fashion show where they paired up local designers with a local chef, but this year they are not doing it. I'm kinda disappointed because I enjoyed seeing what creations the chefs would come up with for the dresses.

I'm also relieved because it makes it a little less stressful around here. Jimmy has done it twice and it was always a fun project, but since the event is around Valentine's day most chefs are busy. Speaking of projects, there is another co-worker of his who is expecting a new baby in five weeks! It's time for me to make another diaper cake!

It really is alot of fun to make. This one will be for a girl. I'll probably go out for supplies in a week and post pictures of it when it's done. I just love little baby things! I was telling Jimmy that when I'm a granny I want to open a baby shop so that I can surround myself with all the cute baby accessories.

Baby words

Cassia is coming up on 18 months so I thought I'd keep a list of words that she knows so far.

1. Mama
2. Dada
3. Bra (that's brother)
4. Kai
5. wawa (water)
6. mum mum (milk or something she wants to eat)
7. cheese
8. ki ki (cookie)
9. kitty (learned this one after visiting my sister and all her pets!)
10. doggie
11. uh oh
12. up'a (up)
13. mo (more)
14. thanki (thank you)
15. peas (actually please, not the veggie)
16. tea
17. juice
18. train
19. boon (balloon)
20. bath
21. bye-bye
22. stars
23. me/ mine
24. paper (well something that sounds like it any way)
25. bump
26. pants
27. shoes
28. socks
29. ba ba (bottle)
30. boo
31. choo choo
32. na na (banana)
33. hat

Phrases she says:

• I did it/ me do
• all done
• I stir (when she's helping me cook)

Things she can do:

• undress/dress self
• takes off diaper
• climb on to chair, bed, and sofa
• flip flaps in the lift the flap books
• tells me when she needs to go sit on the toilet for making poo (she won't go in her diaper, I think it's more comfortable for her to sit on the toilet)
• plays hide and seek with brother
• colors with pens, markers, and crayons (still gets tempted to taste it all too!)
• channel surfs
• point to body parts when asked
• eat on her own
• feeds her baby doll
• puts toys away

How I do it

During our vacation, my family members and friends are astonished to see that after having two children I am still my prebabies shape. They ask if I am starving my self or what kind of diet I'm on. Well, being the wife of a pastry chef I am on no diet!

Here's what I do people: practice moderation.

I refuse to starve myself or give up my beloved sweets and treats, therefore I indulge, but in moderation. It's so easy! Read the serving size on the packages and stick to it. Don't give in to those pre-packaged products that advertise only 100 calories. You're only paying them to do the work for you. Save your money and portion things yourself. If you like the ease of the grab and go, then portion ahead of time into snack sized bags or containers.

I also eat very few processed foods, packaged foods, fast foods, or non-organic foods. I truly believe in eating organic and local. I refuse to buy conventionally grown or imported produce that will be consumed whole. Bananas are something that I will buy because we are not eating the peel, but there really is a taste difference. My children will only eat organic bananas and I end up having to eat the conventionally grown ones when purchased.

I have a chart up on my refrigerator reminding us of how many portions a day of grains, vegetables, fruits, proteins, and dairy we should consume. This actually also helps to get more fruits and vegetables into the kids diets. The chart also has our meals outlined (breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner) so once each box is checked we are done eating for the day. This chart shows my toddler what to expect and that if he doesn't eat during the specified meal time that he will have to wait until the next one.

It also helps me to remember to eat! I used to only feed the kids and snack on their left overs, but this forces us to dine as a family together and everyone eats the same thing. I don't run a restaurant out of my kitchen. Restaurant quality food, but no menu options. You eat what you are served.

It took Kai only two days to understand this chart, so now he is not constantly asking me to snack and we also don't have to fight about eating vegetables. All I have to do is point to his chart and say, "You have not had any vegetables today."

I cook every day for every meal. It is tiresome sometime, but I know what is going inside my body. No preservatives or other yucky things that make you gain weight or sick. I force myself to plan a weekly menu and write a grocery list so that I am not tempted to load the grocery cart with unnecessary junk food.

a broken dryer, fixed toilet and boggie-fied baby

Our coin operated dryer is again broken, or maybe never even fixed in the first place. Sure the landlord looked at it, but not really in my opinion. He deposited quarters, the dryer spins and feels hot...so it works he says. Yeah, but he's not the one spending six dollars in quarters trying desperately to dry baby clothes!!

His solution, leaving a handful of quarters for the tenants....hmmm...refund?? How's about fixing the problem!!! No amount of refund quarters are going to dry the clothes that I have to hang all over my apartment to dry!! The best part about living in a city apartment that doesn't have a washer/dryer in the unit is the funny stories you get to tell. Like how if the upstairs tenants and downstairs tenants decide to do laundry at the same time it overloads the circuits! Lights, washers, and dryers all go off!!

Well, he's not all that bad. He did come over the following day after we called him about our broken toilet and leak. Yes, I forgot to share that after returning home from our warm sunny vacation, we came back to a frozen apartment. My poor plants all froze, the water in the toilet bowl and tank was one huge ice cube! So when I tried to flush (not knowing that everything was ice) I had probably broke the handle. As far as the leaking pipes...I had nothing to do with that! So, my sister says,

"Why didn't you leave the heat on?"

Umm...hello, no one was home for three weeks and I didn't want to waste the money on keeping an empty house warm. Any way, the toilet and leak was fixed yesterday. While he was here, I pointed out that our bathroom sink was also leaking...to which he replied,

"So that's what the squeegee is for."

Yep. So he will be back sometime today to fix that up. I'll wait until warmer weather to point out that our living room window has a few cracks, I think he noticed...but again didn't think it was a big deal.

Now on to the little baby girl who constantly has snot running down her nose. Cassia has caught whatever virus that is going around and hates to have her little red nose wiped, so she always runs from me. Jimmy also has this virus, but is on antibiotics because he has a really terrible cough accompanying his drainage. Kai seems to be the only one who is recovered, for I also have the drippy nose. Other than the virus, all is well here.

Down South in Houston, Texas

Home again, home again...well that's what it feels like. Driving through Ft Worth and Austin we saw quite a development in the past five years, but here in H-town things are still almost the same. Well, plus and minus a few restaurants and strip malls, but pretty much feels like we never left.



My sister's house is still full of kids (now all college students) and pets, it still takes an hour to get to the other side of town, and best of all our favorite little restaurants are still around! Today it is suppose to get up to 63 degrees and I'm going to soak up all the warmth because Chicago is the same as we left it cold and snowy!!



Our adventure down here has been mostly about eating at new and favorite restaurants, catching up with family and old friends. I almost don't want to go home just yet, but the babies are tired of being in the car and have started asking when we were going to take them home. I keep telling them to enjoy the warmth and sushine because once we're back home it will be indoor activities for many, many days.



It hasn't been bad for them at all. We're on vacation so they pretty much get to have cupcakes, ice cream and other pastries everyday. Kai got a new Thomas the train dvd, a new take-a-long play set and four new trains! Little Cassia has finally got to meet her aunties, uncles and cousins.

We are now getting the kids ready for another day of exploring, eating and playing. We are planning to surprise Kai with a stop to a huge train shop here in Houston. I can't wait to see the look on his face.

Hello sunshine and warmth!!

Ok, so I'm slacking a little bit on the road trip reporting, but we are finally in warm sunny Texas and having fun! Jimmy hasn't had a vacation in a while he doesn't know what to do!

When we first arrived we greeted the family then gave the cousins their belated Christmas presents. We took a few pictures while the kids opened and played with their toys. We caught up with the adults and drove a little past the old neighborhood. Boy, it is sure shiny with new stores!!

Speaking of shiny new stores and road trips. We get the unfortunate pleasure of stopping into a few not up to par places, which has given me a new topic for my blog. The 'I don't work here!' award. I had to say it to a manager of a retail store yesterday and have thought it many times but actually was furious enough to say it to someone yesterday!

This is how it went down: I was browsing the purse section of the retail store called Ross looking for a new wallet or purse (whichever I thought I needed the most). I found two cute wallets that I was interested in, but they did not have a 'Ross' price tag on it so I asked the associate who was scanning purses in the section if she could scan the wallets and tell me how much they were. She replied, "I can't do that because it doesn't have a Ross tag on it so you're gonna have to find something similar and then I can tell you."

Ok, so that is what I did. I spent 20 minutes going through all of their wallets to find one exactly like one of the wallets I wanted to discover that it too did not have a Ross price tag on it, so now what? I started to boil as I hear the associated talking to another about how she was going to buy a purse for her daughter. The boiling point was when she actually was on her cell phone talking to her daughter telling her about the purse and wondering if she was interested!

Um...Hello! "I DON"T WORK HERE!" was my thought and I had enough so I went to the front and spoke with the 'Front Supervisor' on duty and had to tell her all about it. It was unacceptable that I the consumer wanting to spend my money at their store in these hard economic times had to do the job that they should have done correctly in the first place!! Seriously, how hard is it to put a price tag on an item?? I don't remember how many times I said , "It's not my job" or "I don't work here!", but I said it enough and was loud enough that all eyes were on me. They asked me who it was, but I didn't want the lady to get fired because being a mom myself I figured she needed the job...I mean after all times are tough. If we were in a better economic situation and I was younger I wouldn't have hesitated in giving up her name.

The supervisor on duty handled the situation smoothly, she apologised and quickly help me get a price for the cute little change purse. Yes, I bought it...I did want it after all. I could have walked out of the store and not give them my money, but it was cute and I really wanted it.

Ross out on Highway 377 in Watauga, Texas you are the lucky recipient of the "I don't work here!" award from yours truly!

Please, please people: customers are your bread and butter. Without us you have no job because there would be no need for the building that employs you!! This applies to all businesses, especially now. How safe do you think your business is?

One more thing, the other day I was praising Starbucks but I do have a complaint about them too. I was extremely disappointed at the Starbucks in the state of Oklahoma for their lack of trash receptacles in the drive through route and absence of a changing table in the restrooms!! Unless it is part of the new image you want to create....litter on the outside of your stores and parents changing their babies on your chairs out in public eye. Two very basic needs, get it done folks!

Road trip day 1

We are on our way to visit Grandma in Texas and have stopped in Springfield Missouri for the night (half way point). The children did very well during the drive. They slept most of the drive because we left early this morning.

When they were up we sang songs and played games. What a wonderful trip so far. We just had dinner here in Springfield at Ruby Tuesday's and we were not satisfied at all with either the service or food!! We were there pretty early in the evening when it was not even busy, but the server was slow like molasses!! The food was extremely salty, my tongue is still tingling! Kai didn't even eat his dinner because he said it was "gross"! Kai is so spoiled and used to staying in nice hotels that he said, "pick up the phone and call for food!" Um....I wish we could kiddo, but it's not that kind of hotel.

It's the kind of hotel that people only stay at for short trips. Krystal Air, is clean and doesn't smell like smoke and it has wifi. It is right off the highway, walking distance to a few restaurants and has a gas station close by.

We are settling the kids in for the night so that we can rest and get another early start tomorrow. Hopefully we will be able to get some decent coffee too! Missouri needs more Starbucks!!

Which reminds me...since there are no Starbucks I asked Jimmy to stop at McDonald's to try one of their lattes, and I have to say that I will not be buying coffee beverages at McCafe! The guy that took my order asked if I wanted just the plain latte to which I replied "yes", so I was confused when I tasted my drink and it was flavored!!! I asked the guy and he said,"Yeah I sweetened it!"
I asked him to remake my coffee and not sweeten it! Jimmy and I could only drink a quarter of it and had to throw it out! The coffee not only tasted burned, it was so hot I burned my tongue!!! Hello McDonald's, the only reason Starbucks gets so many customers even though they charge an arm-and-leg for a coffee is because it tastes good and have better service!! The counter guy at McDonald's was putting down Starbucks, then even had the nerve to say that the coffee he was about to serve me wasn't any good...even though he thinks that he makes better coffee than Starbucks! Um...dude you should be fired!
I also asked about their sample program for Mondays, since they had a huge advertisement in front of their coffee machine and he said that he didn't know and that the company didn't know what they were doing and that they didn't even have sample cups to sample anything!! Hmm...what happened to training???

All this talk of coffee is getting me worked up...I'm off to bed!

Happy New Year and Happy Birthday!

A belated happy new year to all and an early happy birthday to my niece who will be turning 21 tomorrow!!! Happy birthday Tiffy- we love you and will see you soon!!

Yes, that's right, in a couple of days we will be driving down south to visit family and escape the cold!! Nic is going back home tomorrow and back to school on Monday. I think that he had a pretty good visit. We opened presents, did lots of crafts, had a fun new year's eve party and even made it out to Chuck E Cheese twice!!!

Right now, I'm yawning as I am waiting for somebody to win the football game! The Colts and Chargers went into overtime!! Football minute can actually be ten real minutes long!!!

I can't decide if I should hit the sack since we have to drop Nic off early tomorrow or stay up and try to watch a saved episode of Numbers or Iron Chef...yawn.... I think I'll have my cup of chamomile tea and see how awake I am.

Wow! Football is over, that was quick!! The chargers won 23-17! Yay underdogs!

Ciao for now!