ole, ole, ole, ole...

is what the kids were singing as they danced through the house like this yesterday...

they have gotten so into the world cup and wanted to cheer on brazil in their game.  they made these flags out of baseball bats...

and put on their green and gold.  i got a good laugh out of christopher dressing john in one of his school uniform shirts, he looked pretty darn cute...

they had so much fun marching through the house singing their song for brazil...

it was very sweet, and i am always so pleased when they come up with creative things like this together.  it was a wonderful morning of laughs and smiles.

twelve

years of wedded bliss.  today is our anniversary and we were so lucky to have a weekend getaway.  we spent two nights in scottsdale and had a wonderful time to say the least.

we ate at some fabulous restaurants  in old town scottsdale.  we ate at the estate house last night to celebrate our anniversary, it was delicious.  the mussels were outstanding - cooked in negro modelo with roasted cherry tomatoes.  they have a really neat bar/lounge upstairs with a great patio that we'd like to go back to sometime.

and brunch this morning was outstanding at metro brasserie.  it is french with some real unique items - like the beignets....served with three dipping sauces: vanilla, nutella and rasberrry...

my dad made these for us a few times growing up, so when we walked by and saw them on the menu i knew we had to try this restaurant.  and we are so glad we did - the food was amazing.


we also got the tempura bacon which is served with burbon infused syrup....

and the quiche lorraine served with a light spring salad...

we stopped in at the culinary dropout on saturday (in between shopping) to catch the usa game.  it too had great food and a fun atmosphere. they had 'brown bag' beers on the menu for $1, it was a can of whatever the bartender pulled out of the fridge and wrapped in a little brown bag - kind of fun not knowing what your getting until they set it down on the counter right in front of you!  here we are cheering on the us in the world cup...

we truly had an amazing weekend. i am so thankful to both sets of grandparents for watching our four kiddos so that we could have some uninterrupted quality time together.  i highly recommend couples doing this if you can, even just for one night - it is truly wonderful to have time together as a couple.

and i am so thankful to have such a wonderful husband and father for our children.  i feel so lucky to have such a deeply fulfilling relationship with my husband.  i cannot believe it has been twelve years - we watched some of our wedding video tonight with the kids and man did we look young.  we were young, but we didn't think so at the time.


here is a picture from our anniversary last year...

we ate at a pointe in tyme last year and i highly recommend this restaurant too.  it is up on the mountain (tapatio cliffs) and has a beautiful view of the city and fabulous food as well.


go try some of these amazing restaurants and enjoy a night out with your spouse, you won't be disappointed!

lemon curd...

is so delicious and easy to make.  i made some for father's day to go with some scones i made.  cost plus has the best scone mixes and they are quick to make, you just add water to them.

below is the lemon curd recipe...

*this picture is from some lemon curd i made last year at the end of the school year for teacher gifts.

lemon curd
makes about 2 cups


3 lemons
1 stick butter
1 cup sugar
3 eggs

1. zest the lemons and mince the zests; juice the lemons.  Combine the zest and the juice with the butter and sugar and place in a small saucepan over very low heat.

2. cook, stirring occasionally until the sugar dissolves.  beat the eggs, add them to the mixture; make sure heat is very low.

3. cook, stirring constantly until the mixture thickens, about 10 min; do not let the mixture boil or the eggs will curdle.

4. cool slightly, then pour into custard cups, small bowls, or jars; cool, the refrigerate.

*this is a fun recipe to get the kids involved in too because it doesn't take long to make and they can taste it right away (when it cools off a bit).  ella helped grate the the lemon zest and juice the lemons, and all the kids cracked the eggs and took turns stirring (step #3 - since you have to do it for ten minutes) while i  put some dishes away.

*lemon curd is also delicious on shortbread, toast, ice cream, graham crackers - pretty much everything!

last day of school...

christopher's class was the choir for the school mass on the last day.  they did an amazing job...

julianna, (my friend lori's daughter) is right next to him.  look at the height difference!  she is a beautiful petite girl and christopher is tall - they are good friends and i was happy they were next to each other for this special last day of school mass.

the principal and pastor  announced scholarship recipients at the end of the mass...i always tear up at this (pretty much at everything they do at the school, it is truly an amazing place).  it is always so neat to hear what the kids (who have applied for them) have written about the school,  a catholic education, or community service they have done.

the pastor has been reassigned and we are very sad to see him go.  we will sure miss him, but we are looking forward to the wonderful new priests that are coming (one just ordained).

the boys both had amazing teachers this year...it was hard to say good-bye to them.

there were some tears shed before this picture...christopher had two wonderful teachers this year...

a bunch of us went to peter piper after school.  the kids had a great time...

it really was an awesome school year...we feel truly blessed.

can you believe this...

weather?  not that june is bad here, but today was beautiful.  and tomorrow is supposed to be even better. we are soaking it up...

"yah for summer!"....

let's do that again!...

have a happy weekend, hopefully you're able to enjoy some time outside (and i mean outside without having to be in the pool!!)...

take me out to the ball game

we went to the dbacks game over the weekend.  christopher was dying to go to see dontrel willis, the new pitcher.  we took nani along, she had never been to a dbacks game!

it was really a fun family outing.  we are so lucky to have such an amazing stadium here.  john john had cotton candy for the first time...

he wasn't too sure about it at first, but then, of course, he loved it...

the boys did too...

andrew and ella got to bat in the sandlot (christopher wanted to stay and watch the game)...

after we were done in the kids area, john walked the entire way back to our seats doing this little elbow swinging walk/dance screaming 'let's go jj hardy!'. he doesn't even play for the dbacks (i don't even know who he plays for) but it's always who he pretends to be when the boys pitch to him at home. it was really funny and he got a lot of laughs from people walking by him.

he asked to be put on chris' shoulders on the way out of the game which is also funny because i don't think he's hardly done that before (although, his oldest brother used to put him on his shoulders around the house a lot which he loved, it was really cute but we always had to put an end to it each time).

he's looking a little tired in this one! that kid seriously cracks us up. he is one sharp kid and he sure makes us laugh, it's so fun to have a 2 year old in the house.
we had a great time, and they won!!! go dbacks!!!

my budding star...

andrew's second grade class put on a play for the parents during the last week of school.  it was a twist on the three billy goats gruff.  he was the frog who convinced the troll to share and taught him how to be a good friend.

since we had been busy with end of the year school stuff and baseball games like crazy, i didn't hear any of his lines until i saw the actual play.  when i would ask him to practice for me and he'd say, 'mom, i know them all - don't worry'.  so i didn't.  man, was i impressed.  he did an amazing job...said the lines with enough enthusiasm but not so much that it sounded forced, had the right amount of pitch in his voice.  and the role he played was so perfect for him, it was so sweet and sincere.  it was truly a joy to watch him up there.

andrew has always been interested in acting.  from the time he was young, when he would watch a movie he would really want to imitate the characters he had seen.  he would want to talk like them, dress like them, be like them.  and he has always loved to sing.

when he was 3, i took him to audition for annie.  i saw this interest in him and thought it would be fun for him.  it was my first glimpse of show biz for kids, some of the stage moms that were there, wow - talk about pressure (for their kids).  but we were in it just for fun and he did amazing - had to learn a song and dance and get up in front of the judges and say his name and age and perform in front of them - and he got a part!  he was the youngest one there (well, there was one other 3 year old).  but after a couple of rehearsals i grew concerned because he was never given a part, no lines, no specific thing to do.  they would just mix him in with the older kids learning these crazy hard dance routines.  so, i approached the director asking if there was going to be something specific he would be doing.  the answer, 'no, at that age they just kind of stand there and look cute'.  well, that wasn't going to work for andrew.  i saw the frustration and stress he was having that he didn't know the dance steps all the older kids were doing.  the other 3 year old could have cared less, he was just in his own little world dancing around, not caring at all about what was going on around him.  not andrew, he was never like that - and i didn't blame him, so we dropped out.

andrew was in the school christmas play this year.  he auditioned and got a part - i'll be posting on that this summer (hopefully).  his teacher this year was wonderful...right up his alley - always teaching the kids songs to correlate with math and english rules they were learning.  he had an amazing year in the 2nd grade and we are so proud of him.

it was wonderful to see him perform and see this special talent of his.  i am so thankful for the teacher he had this year, ms. swan, and for him to have these fun experiences.

i am so proud of my little actor...