A more complete picture

This is more like it... I needed a new pic of all the kids together. I sometimes feel bad that I dont take as many pictures of Hunter. His face doesnt change as often as the babies...but it's so crazy to see him getting older. This was taken last night- Hunter 13, Owen 26 months, Quinlin almost 9 months.

Because they're cute

I look at this picture and realized that Owen and Quinlin have the same shape eyes.... it only took me almost 9 months to figure that out. Both are spitting images of Sean...

Menu Planning Monday

I was very excited to once again plan our menu for the week and stay organized for once. Sometimes, I dont know how we do it with 3 kids but- we managed to go to the grocery store and only bought what we needed for the week and are trying to use up items from our freezer and pantry. Grand total at Giant Eagle this week? $47.69. The sad thing is, I know if we would have gone to Marc's, we would have probably spent half... oh well. Here's our menu:

Sunday- chicken with tomatoes and fresh mozzarella, steamed veggies

Monday- chicken tacos

Tuesday- sloppy joe sandwiches and baked potatoes

Wednesday- tuscan chicken and pasta

Thursday- chicken marsala and pasta

Friday- chicken fajitas

Saturday- frozen pizzas (Sean and I have plans so kids are on their own with the sitter)

Notice a trend of chicken? Thank you Sam's Club big bags! Plus- Sean and Hunter are starting their big workout that they have been talking about for weeks. Sean wanted to wait until Hunter's cross country season was over. Today is day one- they're supposed to run a mile and then start lifting... let's see if they actually do it today! Hunter's excited to start working out with Sean.... and Sean's excited too... (Hunter calls Sean the "bad Situation") LOL

Extreme Makeover Home Edition

So Extreme Makeover Home Edition is in Northeast Ohio building a home for a local family. Through work, I got to go down to the site on Friday to volunteer. Once I read about the family chosen, I couldnt wait to get down there and be a part of it. The mother is legally blind, the father is totally blind and they have two sons, one of whom is hearing impaired. Despite their own needs, they run a center for families with disabilities as well. They were nominated by the Mayor for the show and I am so glad they were picked and are getting their new house.

My company sent about 6 of us down to help with the construction and also sent some guys down to actually help do the build. I didnt get to do much, but it was neat to see even in the short amount of time that I had been there. This is what the site looked like on Friday afternoon when I got there at about 2:30pm:

And a continuation of the work...

See the dude in the plaid shirt with his back to us? That's Ty Pennington...

I left about 5pm on Friday but have been following along all weekend to the progress of the build. From newschannel 5's website, this is what the house looks today. They just have to finish work on the interior before the big reveal tomorrow!

The house looks incredible. I'm amazed they are able to do these things so quick. They do make much of it prior to getting to the job site and just piece it together. The house is, I believe, about 3100 square feet. They dont use a garage because they cant drive so the builders built an office area where they can do their community outreach work. It truly looks amazing. I cannot wait for the show to air in December.

I came home from the build and we did movie night in the basement (Iron Man 2). We went to the farm on Saturday to spend the day with Sean's parents and then caught up with laundry while watching the Browns game on Sunday. Go Browns!

Roger Waters Concert

So- last week I got an email from GE Smith asking if I'd be interested in seeing the Roger Waters Concert at the Q on Tuesday night. GE is currently touring with Roger and gets two tickets per show. I was so incredibly flattered that he invited us!!! I called Sean who was so excited and jumped at the chance. After checking with my boss, since that is how I have a relationship with GE, I immediately emailed him back and said we would love to go! He told me the show started at 8, but that they really didnt come on until 8:15pm. I was so glad he told me that! We drove downtown and I couldnt believe how many people I saw. I didnt realize how big a show this actually was- but the Q was sold out. I should have known- with how big Pink Floyd was- it was jam packed! We got to will call and there was an envelope with our name on it. The ticket lady opened it up and handed us the contents...

First- our ticket


Section 109, Row 5, Seats 1 and 2! we were on the right side of the stage (not floor) but lower sides (right side when facing stage but I guess to the artists left?). Fantastic seats! I forgot to bring my real camera, but a pic from my cell phone

Also inside my envelope were hospitality passes- woot woot!

How cool is that? it allowed us to get to the hospitality area to see the band prior to admission and intermission. We didnt make it down prior, but went down in intermission. It was a nice little area they set up in the visiting team's locker room at the Q. They had couches, restrooms and then an area with beer, water and chips. A few of the band members came down but it was pretty rushed. It was kind of funny to see some girls, completely dressed up....groupies maybe? LOL.

The show itself was amazing. The Plain Dealer took some great shots of the show:

You can see GE in the first shot playing guitar (hi GE!)

What a neat experience- such a fun night! Best part- it only cost us $10 for parking!

My lunch today- SOYCZ

Haha- two posts in a row. I wish I would have waited to do my post. i didnt realize my lunch would be a part of the step outside your comfort zone.



Exhibit A- My lunch today:

I am so incredibly lucky to get breakfast and lunch at work. This is what they were serving today!

red wine marinated london broil, potato crusted tilapia, pasta primavera, fried raviolis and cajun roasted asparagus. I totally stepped outside by comfort zone- twice. I would normally not have tried the tilapia (especially when London broil was being served) and I'm not a marinara person. Both- amazing!

SOYCZ

My new thing- stepping out of your comfort zone! Recently, after being inspired in a cheesy, corny way by my friend Tara at http://www.pineapple-grass.blogspot.com/, I decided to start stepping out of my comfort zone. I dont know how she did it, but every once in a while, she would post restaurant reviews and what she and her husband ate, etc. I started noticing, she would order different items wherever they went. I am pretty predictable. I go to a restaurant, I order a steak...all.the.time!

So- I went to Champps about a month ago and ordered a bruschetta cheeseburger. It was amazing! (I am in a big tomato kick lately so it really hit the spot). So- I had a thought... dont order what my husband will think I'm going to order. Step outside the box. Try something new. So- I started getting tomato, mozzarella and basil salads... and started ordering them at different restaurants. Amazing. again- tomatoes.

I went to Houlihan's and ordered the stuffed chicken breast with veggies and mashed potatoes. The chicken breast was stuffed with garlic-herb cream cheese. It was so good. This got me thinking- the next time I go out to try something new.

So- Friday night, we had a much needed date night and went to Bonefish Grill. We hadnt been there before. I am not much of a seafood person, will eat fish if its mild, but am up for trying things!

We looked at the menu and we were set! We ordered baja fish tacos as an appetizer and split them.

They were amazing... I could have eaten more. They were cajun grilled and had a mango salsa. The perfect mix of flavorings. For our dinner, we ordered the ocean mixed grill- dinner for two. We figured that was the best way to try everything... it came with jumbo shrimp and scallops, chilean sea bass, wild grouper, salmon, two sides (we ordered asparagus and mashed potatoes) and we each got a salad. I loved it. The shrimp and scallops were cooked in a pan asian sauce and were my favorite, while Sean enjoyed the grouper the most. It was such a great night- and I was so proud of myself for SOYCZ- stepping outside of your (my) comfort zone!

The rest of our weekend was great! Did some shopping, H had a cross country meet (scored 17:25- 1 minute faster than his last meet and 2 minutes faster than when he ran the course a year ago) and lots of laundry. I dont know how we manage to get 8-10 loads of laundry a week. I realize we're a family of five, but I didnt realize how much space in a washer even the little people's clothes are!

Looking forward to the week ahead- we have a menu going for the week to avoid eating out, two cross country meets, and a concert. Should be busy and fun!

Taken from http://fatcontrolfreak.blogspot.com- here is our menu planning monday!

Sunday- meatloaf, mashed potatoes, broccoli

Monday- Jack Daniels Pork Loin, baked potatoes

Tuesday- kids are eating pizza or fish sticks

Wednesday- tacos

Thursday- chicken and pasta

Friday- chicken fajitas

TV Talk

Remember this post?

http://twodudesandadiva.blogspot.com/2010/05/tv-talk-greys-anyone.html

Yeah- I couldnt stop talking about it. Loved the episode- everything about it. The season premiere was last night.

Major Letdown.

I dont know what I was expecting, but I was disappointed. I even fell asleep partway through it and had to rewatch what I missed this morning.

I get that it would be hard to pick up exactly where they left off, but to come back into it and see them through thier counseling sessions, etc, didnt do anything for me. The only positive was seeing Bailey vulnerable again. Though- I do hope she can let the "tape and glue" dry and end up with the anesthesiologist.

Best line in the show?

Christina "How is Owen"
Meredith "Owen is fantastic"

Haha. I had to smile.

Maybe I should stick with my shows that dont require me to think. LOL. Teen Mom, Bachelor, Real World/Road Rules Challenges, Survivor... I love that stuff!

So- at least its Friday. We dont have much planned this weekend. We got our babysitter for tonight so Sean and I could go on a much needed date night. Not sure where we are going yet. Aside from that, I hope to do some shopping and cleaning this weekend. And spend time with my children. Have a great Friday!

Fantasy Football

So this year was my first year I decided to take a crack at fantasy football. I figured, why not? I know A LOT about football, could draft a good team, this could be fun...

So- here is the team I drafted...it sounded good on paper:

QB- Tom Brady

RB- Adrian Peterson, Reggie Bush

WR- Austin Collie, Miles Austin, Anquan Boldin

TE- Jason Witten

Packers Defense and Special Teams

K- Nate Kaeting

Bench- Carson Palmer, Percy Harvin (he was originally in my starting lineup- may need to move him back, Owen Daniels, Garrett Hartley, Kenny Britt, Vikings D and I recently acquired TJ Houshmandzadeh)

Well- I came up with a fun name for my team since I seamed to have taken all the Kim Kardashian lovers... we were called Miles of Bush (though she recently just broke up with Miles Austin). So- how am I doing? Lost both games so far and Reggie Bush just broke his leg. I think I'm cursed.

Make-Up

Want to know what I did this weekend? I shopped... for make-up. I could have bought something of substance (purse, shoes, clothes, etc), but instead, spent a whole lot of money on makeup. Yikes! But- I think I am happy with my purchases. Want to see what $230 gets you? For starters, I bought the foundation I had been wearing and ran out of- Make Up Forever HD Foundation- color 120. I also grabbed the nars concealer after the kind makeup gal told me about the dark circles under my eyes... I guess I'm an easy sell (picture below).

I was supposed to buy powder but figured I would hold off until my next trip (must remember to get color 220 next time for that). I then walked away with concealer, eye shadow, blush, eye liner, eye primer...eek!

Here is my eye liner- I absolutely love the Lancome liquid eyeliner in noir. I then went and purchased a eye lash curler. I never curl my lashes and wanted to start so purchased what they recommended...

I needed a new blush so went with Nars powder in the color sin. I love it- though the first time I tried it, I didnt realize how much grabbed to my brush and it went on a little dark. But- I finally had cheeks! or cheekbones I should say.

I wanted to start working on my eyes a little more so purchased a primer. I didn't realize that you needed a seperate primer for eye shadow in addition to the face. So- me, still in sticker shock for knowing what I was about to purchase, decided to choose one and buy the other another time. So- I bought the nars smudge proof eyebase. Totally makes a difference. My eyeshadow and liner finally lasted all day! After deciding on the base, I went with some eye shadows as well. Nars abyssinia and duo kalahari (not these purple colors shown- ha). I then finished the eyes off with the bad gal mascara. I already knew I was a fan of that one after trying it one day when I was unimpressed with diorshow.

All in all, a fun trip to the mall. a lot of money spent on makeup. I must find the comparable items for cheaper... help? Our shopping trip ended with me accidentally hitting the straw from my chic-fil-a cup onto the ceiling of my car only for it to burst through the bottom. I drove him in a coca-cola nightmare. I'm still finding sticky spots I missed when cleaning it up. Yuck. Thought it was entirely my fault, I blame chick-fil-a.