Catchin' up!

This is going to be a hodge podge post, catching up some stuff I've wanted to share for a bit that deserve much more attention but I've lost most of my energy to give a complete post to each...so here we go!


Em wanted me to take this pic...she helped pull all of the empty boxes out of the "wine protection facility" once we'd unpacked them onto the newly built shelves...and this is where we found her when we came up the stairs.

Gabby and Charlie sent us a gift certificate to Super Suppers (a place where you pre build dinners and then take them home to freeze...ready to pull out defrost and quickly cook when you want) so I could have a bit of a break in the making dinner department as I'm getting fatter and crankier so close to the end. Here's a DELICIOUS tilapia dinner I "made" the other night.
How it looks coming out of my freezer...all nicely packaged in separate steps with directions.
Cooking the fish and rice ready to reheat (and sauce ready to add to the fish once it's done).
The beautiful plate just before I devoured it! I really recommend these make ahead dinner places if you have one near you. It's about $10 per meal...more expensive than bargain grocery shopping and doing it yourself, but TONS cheaper than going out to eat...so it's a nice compromise.

Midnight...104 degree fever...littlest monkey finally passed out in Daddy's chair...too cute to pass up the photo op!

Trev helping out Emilee...she's in the middle of a science project for school...what makes plants happiest?...watering them with water, coffee or lemonade? (I'll keep you posted on the results!)

A cute shot of Carter...naked (he refuses to wear clothes most of the time)...holding his "Bear" with Blankey (yup, same blanket Trev packed around for years)...sitting on his chair (the one he drags all over the house to help him climb anything he can't scale with just his arms and legs).

Run, Forrest, Run!!!

The first of the year rolled around and Josh decided it was time to lose a few pounds and start exercising...so he started Weight Watchers and started running. 10 weeks later he's lost 24 pounds and this past Saturday he competed in his very first 5k run! I am so proud of him!!! The 5k was a fundraiser for the big monkeys' school and we all went to cheer Daddy on. He did great...he placed 16th in his age group, 151st out of all the guys and 214th for the whole race...out of about 1200 competitors. Not too shabby when 10 weeks earlier he was having trouble running from gate to gate to catch a flight! Now, I can't wait until I'm able to join him in a couple of months...maybe we'll even do a 5k together!


Josh stretching before the race

The white arrow is pointing to Josh, two seconds after he went across the finish line

It's not REALLY a tornado shelter...

It's our alcohol protection facility...or more properly...WINE CELLAR!! We finally got to "working on" the storm shelter today (tornado season is coming ya know?!). First project was building the shelves under the stairs for all of Josh's wine--and they came out great! I was surprised how quickly they came together, and how well our many, many years of wine accumulation fit (there's over 170 bottles of wine). We have some of what we made years ago from Grandma's vineyard, some that Josh collected when he was trucking for the California wine industry and some from when Josh was doing his in-home wine tasting business. And then also down there with all of the wine is my tequila and vodka and mixes for my girly drinks!

Next installment will be...actually stocking the storm shelter for storm necessities...tho some would say we actually have all we need down there already *wink*.

Peeps on a tropical beach

So Josh threw a couple of packages of Peeps, one of my favorite treats, into the cart when we were grocery shopping today. We also grabbed a pineapple, mostly cuz it just looked yummy as we've all been on a fruit kick lately (Josh especially since his new diet allows him plenty of fruit).

Anyhooo, I was in the backyard watching the boys play this afternoon and Josh came outside proudly carrying this platter for me...

He declared his creation to be Peeps on a Tropical Beach!! I just had to share cuz I was so tickled at how cute it was and how thoughtful he was. Of course, I let the kids each have one peep and I managed to demolish all of the rest of them myself lmbo.