Saturday, April 11, 2015

My Buddy

Usually babies like me. I'm not being cocky. I'm just goofy, so they love my sound effects and silly faces. 

Except Edison. He's my youngest nephew. He'll turn a year old in May. Every time he sees me his bottom lip starts quivering and crocodile tears form. 

He loves his mom - my sister Terra the most, his oldest brothers come next, then his dad, then my mom, then my dad, and finally my oldest niece and nephew. Even Isaak he likes. Everyone else gets the lip.

On Easter Edison actually let me hold him. I held him for probably 20 minutes. Maybe he was just too tired to care.


Then he let Uncle Travis hold him without crying.


He let my Grandpa - his Great Grandpa hold him.



This little punk is trouble. He gets into the cupboards, eats out of the trash, and removes Emerson's diaper. He has walked for a few weeks and never really ate baby food. He doesn't turn a year old until sometime in May (I can't keep their birthdays straight anymore. I just know the months.)


Sing, Sing a Song Saturday

Sing, Sing a Song Saturday is all about me discovering something that is different. I don't want to post things that you and I have more than likely heard before. I want to find something different. It could be from another country, someone singing from the streets of NY, and more.

This week I'm covering a band called DaiQing Tana & Haya Band. Tana is the voice behind the music.

In 2006, Quansheng formed HAYA with several of his students and friends. “HAYA” means “margin” or “boundary” in Mongolian. According to an ancient legend, at the boundary of the endless sky, there is a gem called “HAYA” that holds the radiance of all living things. When one day people see it, all hatred will dissolve and love will abound throughout the entire world. HAYA’s music breaks free of national boundaries and ethnic ties, mixing inherently unaffected and profound Mongolian music with pioneering musical elements, infusing new blood into ancient melodies that have been passed down for centuries, giving them fresh life. The morin khuur (horse-head fiddle), tanbur, khoomei (throat singing), shaman drum, chanting – they have all passed through the hourglass of time and become HAYA’s gems. In 2010, HAYA performed at the Columbus Asian Festival in the US, and in 2011 they performed at the Cultural and Arts Festival of India and the Cannes World Music Festival in France, after which they began their “Migration” concert tour of Asia. - Source

What I love about their music is that they play with a lot of different instruments. Their voices are very hypnotic to. It's great to listen to when I'm working on something.

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The first song that I'm going to put on here is about Qinghai Lake. I looked it up, so you can see a visual of what the song is about.

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Qinghai Lake


Silent Sky


My favorite song of theirs is: Crazy Horse


Like Haya Band on Facebook.
Buy their CD on Amazon.

Friday, April 10, 2015

Randome Tid Bits

  1. Travis AKA Dad has had a much better week at work this week. 

  2. Our Honda Pilot was much cheaper to fix than they originally quoted us. They also gave us a $250 GC to use there at a later time. 

  3. The rental car place gave us a discount because we had to wait so long because they were understaffed on the day we got the car. 

  4. This week I've been watching the old show 30 Something on DVD from the library. I figure I may as well watch it since I'm almost out of my 30s. I always liked how the characters Michael and Elliot worked in an advertising agency. Did you ever watch that show?

  5. Source
  6. It snowed and rained yesterday. Such a crazy back and forth spring. The worms felt like they were going to drown with all the rain, so they were all over the cement. I saved some (picked them up and threw them on top of the grass). The birds were so happy. It was like a buffet out there for them.


Dying Easter Eggs

We don't get fancy, we just make it fun. Here are the kids with their cousins, and my cousin's kids. 

The only rule for me, is the boys have to take their shirts off. When we were kids the girls took their shirts off to. We were just kids. No one cared. The girls this day wore over sized t-shirts.




It's a good thing we did this at my Aunt's house. We did dye eggs at home with Isaak and Cousin Elijah, but Mica missed out. I didn't take pictures then because we did it at night. Let's face it night photos generally suck! Taking pictures suck when you have dye all over your hands to. 

Here's a photo of all the great grandchildren minus Samantha who was down for a nap. My Grandpa is close to his 90s. Not the ideal spot for taking pictures, but one family was ready to leave. You get what you get, and you don't throw a fit. I've asked all the above parents in the past if I can post pictures of their kids. It was ok before. I hope it's ok now. All the names are spelled right except I'm not sure on Coragan. They call her Cora Rae.

 

Thursday, April 9, 2015

Egg Shaped Fruit Pizza

I saw a few Egg Shaped Fruit Pizza's online. I decided to make one myself at Easter time. With my own twist of course.

You can use any recipe of sugar cookie dough. I happened to use a family recipe. I added lemon extract instead of vanilla to give it a springy flavor. I thought the lemon favor complimented the fruit on top well. I rolled it out on a floured surface, cut it in the shape of an egg, and had my husband help me put it on a sprayed pan with a few big spatulas. I used the remainder dough to make into a crust.

You bake it just like you would sugar cookies. I think my recipe is 350 degrees for 20 minutes, or until it's slightly browned.

Set out 1 package of cream cheese to soften. Mix the cream cheese (I used the one with 1/3 less fat) with 1/4 cup sugar.

Spread the mixture on the big cookie (once the cookie has cooled). I find that a rubber baby spoon, or small spatula helps spread it on. 

Next add the cut up fruit. This recipe is better in the spring and summer because there are more fruit options. Try to use fruit that has color contrast.

Kids like to help, so let them. I pre-cut some of the fruit to make the process for the kids faster and smoother. Otherwise they get impatient. It's a good idea if you have more then one kid helping to rotate them. Mine tend to fight about how it's going to look, and get in each others way.

You can top with juice concentrate. I skip this step all together. To me it's just more sugar, and if it's not gobbled up, the juice concentrate can make the crust soggy.


It sat out for three hours, and still wasn't bad. This is great for family get gatherings, or potlucks. You can make just a circle, square, or rectangle one. For St. Patty's day I could see a rainbow shaped one.

This is one I made in the past.

If you do in fact have left overs it freezes well.

Blowing Up Balloons

I thought it would be fun to blow up balloons, then put colored embroidery floss with glue | water | cornstarch. I had a few crafty people on my hands: My nephew Evan and Isaak.

Go figure Isaak kept running off to blow up more balloons, letting them go, and spit was flying places (ewww). The noise of the balloons going places was bugging me.


There was not much help from the little people that day. Evan stayed around to watch me, and all the other kids ran all over annoying me. Also Travis AKA Dad was on his phone talking to the rental car people. He kept saying to me, "Can you keep them quiet please." I felt like yelling, Go outside on the porch to talk to the rental car people. He was talking on a cell phone. Finally I said with gluey fingers pointing, "Go outside!"




It's funny when a kid craft project is going on. They were all picky about the colors of their  embroidery floss. Then they came in from outside and all said, "Can we pop them now?" I said, "They have to dry for a day. I heard a bunch little voices saying, "Awww!" My nephews were worried they wouldn't get theirs back. Humm...remember I was the one pretty much doing them all?! I assured them they would get them back at the family function the next day.

My boys did end up popping them on Easter. Isaak's was more glue | water and embroidery floss. Mica's was more cornstarch | water and embroidery floss. The colors in Isaak's was easier to see. Mica's was stiffer, and will hold up better. I imagine an even mix of both would be great. I didn't put candy in them. You can. I just kept them plain. I didn't buy a lot of candy this year. I sent my nephew's home with my sister to pop at their house. 

You can do: 
  • Red, green and white ones for Christmas
  • Blue, red and white ones for the 4th of July
  • Green, yellow and white for St. Patty's Day
  • Pink, red and white for Valentines day
  • Burlap string ones for Thanksgiving
Or just let the kids pick whatever colors they want like I did.


Have you made these before?

Tuesday, April 7, 2015

WW: Mexican Easter {Linky}

I won The Book of Life from Jumpin Beans. The boys got that for Easter.

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The thought didn't even occur to me that it was Easter, and this is a Day of the Dead theme. It was fine though. I love that style of art, and we loved the movie.

After watching The Book of Life I went through the boy's closets to give Isaak Mica's stuff that he couldn't wear, and to give cousins stuff that Isaak couldn't wear.

Mica saw an Aztec patterned shirt, and wanted to wear it. Then Isaak saw a Mexican shirt handed down to him, and wanted to look like Mica. So we had a Mexican style Easter.



I suppose I could have made them change. They are however just clothes.




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Overnight Guests

My kids spent the night at my sister's house many weeks ago. I like to return the favor. Not just for them to have peace and quiet, but also because the kids enjoy it. I'm not sure how peaceful it is for them anyhow. They have 2 other very dependent kids: Emerson that has special needs, and Edison that's not even a year. 

It just so happened that my dear husband has Fridays off. He had a day planned of all kinds of errands he needed to get done. He was downtown. Bam our Honda Pilot wouldn't turn over. It wasn't a locked steering wheel; it was some other issue with the key. We were having another issue with it, but were waiting to send it in until it needed an oil change, or that recall part came in. Luckily he didn't have to get it towed. He took it in, and then got a ride from Honda to our beloved home.

Long story short there's a few things wrong with it and it will be about $3,000. That's when I want to cuss big time! Mother bleeper! Not to mention I found out the cost today on our anniversary. Happy 13 years...oh you owe $3,000 + the cost of a rental due to the fact that hubby works no where near me now. :(

Dad got home after a LONG afternoon. He got about 1/2 the things he wanted done, done.

Then my nephews came over. I had a wonderful coupon for Abby's. I pick up 4 sandwiches, 1 large fry, and 2 meals for Dad and I for about $18. Not to shabby. Then we all got green beans.

I got a call from the library, "Is Mica coming to the Avatar Lock-In?"

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Ya I forgot that I signed Mica up for that 3 weeks ago. There was an extra opening at the Lock-In, so Evan and Mica went. 

I guess they both ate 3 or 4 more pieces of pizza. WTH! They ran it all off playing laser tag. Yep they play laser tag in the library. 

I was a little worried because Mica's friend from school was there with his brother. I was worried that my Nephew Evan would get left out. Nope Mica's friend's brother was the one that was left out. I hate hearing that. :( I dislike when kids get the shaft! On the up side they were both hot from running and running. They had fun.

Isaak and my nephew Elijah played so well at our house. Usually Isaak gets dissed with the big kids around. Not this time. They went swinging outside, they drew pictures and played tick tac toe on their Boogie Boards, played with moon sand, and dyed Easter eggs. 


In the morning I made Cherry Coffee Cake (Mica begged for that one), we had our dyed eggs, steamed greens and fruit smoothies.

Elijah said, "I can't eat this egg Aunt Lissy. It's just too pretty to eat." He took it home in a baggie.


Just in case you haven't been around a bunch of little boys in awhile, this is what it's like:

Monday, April 6, 2015

Gold

A lot of times I see school papers long after a holiday is over with. Last week Isaak brought home this:


I admit the first time I read it, it said, "Who is worth more to you than gold? I love my mom because she cuts with me every time."

Then when I got it, it melted my heart. I actually says, "Who is worth more to you than gold? I love my mom because she cuddles with me every time"
 
It's not the prettiest picture, but it's the message that I love.
 
By the way I tried to cuddle with Mica this weekend. Oh my goodness that child is a giant. He seems just as long as me on the couch. They grow up so fast!

PKB The Portable Kettlebell Review

Now that our membership is on hold at the Y I've been trying to come up with other ways to workout. I now have a stability ball, and a PKB Portable Kettlebell.


Portable

What I love about the Kettlebell is that it comes completely flat. It's perfect for taking with you for an extended stay somewhere, or if I want to take it to work to workout during lunch.

When finished, the PKB empty weighs less than 10 oz.




It really is a great workout! 
  • Great for new users (me)
  • Home training and for the office (me)
  • Boot camps (my boys) At times ;)
  • Young athletes (my boys)
  • Boys and Girls (me)    
Safe!

The material is like hanging on to a thin seat belt, with a soft rubber handle. It's fits nicely in your hands, but is durable. It's soft, so it doesn't beat up my arms when I press with it.

The material is safe for any flooring. That's wonderful because we have wood floors that get scratched up easily.

Designed to protect! The PKB can be dropped and tossed without destroying you or your surroundings, within reason of course! I won't leave it around for the boys to toss here and there.

Fill it With Anything!
You can fill it with dried beans, rice, sand, gravel, cans in the kitchen, or even water just to name a few things. It won't leak at all.

Weight ranges from 0-45 pounds.

The Most Versatile Kettlebell Set On The Market!
This Portable Kettlebell from PKB is without a doubt the answer to your kettlebell training questions.

The PKB can be used as a dumbbell, weighted ball and more allowing you to create full body workouts with one piece of equipment.

Key Features
  • Handmade of Ballistic Nylon: Puncture, tear, abrasion resistant 
  • Use just about any filler: dry or wet sand, pebbles, gravel, dirt, mud... 
  • Webbing reinforced: 1,800lb+ tensile strength 
  • Includes a 4" X 3" swath of loop velcro to personalize with patches  
  • There are 3 different weights you can buy: 15 pound, 30 pound and 45 pound
  • Prices very on the weight you buy: $44.95 to $79.95
  • Made in the US
My only complaint is that some of the weights were out of stock. They only have the 30 pound in at the time of writing this review.

I debated what to fill in it. I had rice around. Sand seemed like a match.



Don't miss out on your chance at the greatest kettlebell training available! Get your Portable Kettlebell TODAY!





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