Ultimate Blog Party 2010!!

I am participating in the Ultimate Blog Party 2010 hosted by 5minutesformom!  Make sure you go and check it out!  What a party it will be!  Lots of new friends to be made!  Since its a party, I wanted to tell you alittle bit about myself!!

When I turned 40 it was a huge eye opener for me. I couldn't believe where all the years have gone. I thought to myself that I have a life too even though I'm a Mom and a Wife and yet I wanted to do something for myself.  I have been pursuing modeling for the past 4 1/2 years. I have been I have been inundated since I turned 40 to do some photography work and I really love it!

In my spare time, I take ballet lessons, which I love, and have been doing for 7 years now however this year I decided to take the year off. I am hoping to start again in the fall but we will see what's going on then. I am also a licensed Cosmetologist and have my Real Estate license. I have worked as a Promotional Model in the past which was very interesting! My current job I am a Salon Educator! I educate salons on products that the company I work for manufactures. I take really good care of myself and my husband and I walk 3 miles everyday...at least we try to!! I love to cook! Cooking for 5 boys (counting my hubby) is not an easy task! I think I live at the grocery store!

I am truly blessed with my family and I'm so proud to have 4 sons and such a loving husband. I feel beautiful inside and would like to show the world how beautiful I am on the outside! Stay with me on my journey through life when the kids are growing up and moving out and yet your not sure where the time has gone!

Wow you should see the list of prizes!!  Should I be fortunate to win one, I would be honored to receive:


Toshiba Laptop

US11 – A $100 gift eCertificate to Restaurant.com
US39 -Be My Guest certificate ($250 value)
US95 – $100 Gift Certificate to Restaurant.com
US112 – $50Amazon Gift card
USC 3 – A $50.00 Target Gift Card
USC15 - $50 Target gift card to one winner
USC 35 -$50 CASH Paypal Transfer
USC 39 – A $50 paypal cash prize for one winner

Pretty awesome huh!!  Come join me and lets all party!

Away for the weekend!!

Monday is my 24th Wedding Anniversary!!!  Joe and I are leaving Saturday morning and coming back sometime on Sunday!  Just the 2 of us!!  Venti is coming home today and we are all going out to eat tonight for his birthday and so he is supposed to be in charge of the other boys while we are away.
Should be interesting.  I'll be sure to fill you in on Monday on how our weekend went and how our house survived!!

Have a great weekend!!

Easy Yummy Orange Cake!!

For Tall's birthday in March he requested his favorite Orange Cake! I wanted to share the recipe with you because it has been a favorite in my house for a very long time. My Grandma use to make it and it was always my favorite and now I make it for the boys. It is very simple and easy to make!

Ingredients:
1 Yellow Cake Mix
1 Large Orange

2 lbs Confectioners/Powdered Sugar 
1 Stick butter (not margarine)
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Make the cake mix as directed...set aside until cooled.

Melt the stick of butter in a large bowl in the microwave (about 35 seconds).

Add the 1 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla to the melted butter.

 Beat butter and vanilla with mixer for about 40 seconds.

Take the large orange and use a grate and grate the peel into the bowl...go the whole way around the orange but only grate the very outside of the orange...don't go too deep!

The picture above shows you about how much of the peel you should have.

Next cut the same orange in half.  Squeeze as much of the juice as you can into the bowl.

Next add 1 lb of the powdered sugar.  Mix on medium speed.

Add the other 1 lb of powdered sugar and mix well.  You may need alittle more or alittle less powdered sugar depending upon how big your orange is and how much juice you squeeze out.

All done!!  Icing the cake!!

Yummy!!!  It is so delicious!  If you want your icing more "orange" in color you can add a couple of drops of food coloring.

Let me know if you make this and how much you enjoyed it!!

Happy Birthday Venti!!

It is so hard for me to comprehend that my little boy is 22 today!  Where did the time go?  It went by in a flash.  If you have little one's enjoy every single day.  Don't rush the milestones like sitting up, talking, walking, etc. because before you know it they suddenly become the age you were when you gave birth to them!  Its so hard to believe.  I get a lump in my throat thinking about it.

I found this poem on the internet and thought I would share it with you as this describes how I feel:

You were six months old and full of fun
With a blink of an eye you were suddenly one.
There were so many things we were going to do,
But I turn my head and you were two.

At two you were still dependent on me,
But independence took over when you were three.
Your third birthday, another year I wished to ignore,
But as I lit the candles there weren't three but four.

Four was the year that you really strived,
Why, look at you now, you're already five.
Now you're ready for books and rules,
This is the year that you go to school.

The big day came you were anxious to go.
We walked to the bus, going oh so slow.
As the bus drove away and you waved good-bye
I felt a lump in my throat and a tear stung my eye.

For when the bus brings you home and you jump to the ground,
You'll be wearing your cap and graduation gown.
Time goes by so fast its hard to believe,
Why just yesterday you were home with me.

So I am holding these moments as hard as I can,
Because the next time I look I'll be seeing a man...

 Happy 22nd Birthday Venti!! 

Tuesday Beauty Tips

I gave you my tips on facial creams and what works really good, and so we use our fabulous skin care, our antiaging makeup, and get a youthful new haircut....and one glance in the mirror tells you that 40 really is the new 20, until you look down at your hands. While these changes usually begin in our 20s, the signs of intrinsic aging are typically not visible for decades!

Lines, creases, dark spots, and bulging veins on the back of your hands are the sneaky little tattletales that give away your age! The hands are one of the first places where we see the signs of aging, and also the area most people neglect when it comes to skin care. As we age our skin gets thinner, but when you're dealing with the backs of the hands, where skin is already thin...thinner then on our face and necks.

That little act of forgetfulness can leave them looking even older, with not only wrinkles, but those birthday give-away age spots. Age spots are ugly and if you want to prevent them, start doing it now! Age spots are the result of sun exposure not aging!!

The hands are exposed to the sun more often than any other part of the body. Most people don't wear gloves. They rarely put sun-block on the back of their hands. So, anytime they are outdoors, the hands get a dose of UV radiation. A handy way to look years younger is to prevent lines, spots, and skin cancer, use a hand cream with at least SPF 25. A really good one is Neutrogena Norwegian Formula Age Shield Hand Cream with an SPF of 30!! And its only around $6.00!

Another good thing to get into the habit to do is whenever you are putting on our facial cream and if you have any excess left on your fingers, rub that excess onto the back of your hands!

Remember...moisturize...moisturize...moisturize! Keep a bottle of any kind of lotion on your night stand and put some on right before you hit the sack!

The Basket Search

First of all I did NOT hid my kids Easter Baskets in the car and they did NOT search forever for them!

Also I did NOT tell them they had to find 20 eggs each when it was actually 16 each...I did NOT count them wrong!

It was all the Easter Bunnies fault!

This is how it all began:

As the boys get older the Easter Bunny has a harder time finding good hiding spots for the boys baskets.  The Bunny has hid them since they were little and will hide them as long as they are getting a basket in this house!  We have lived in this house for 17 years so the Bunny is running out of really good hiding spots.

Every year Tall gets discouraged.  Saying that his is always hid the hardest.  Its not...but he seems to think so!

Last year his was hidden amongst the food in our pantry:

So this year the bunny really had a tough time on thinking where would some good spots be?

I was talking to my Mom on Saturday and telling her the bunnies dilemma.

Her suggestion was...

Hide them in the car!

Perfect!

The boys know that their baskets are only hidden on the first floor...and the garage is still on the first floor....right??

So this is where the bunny put them:

In the car!

First came the egg hunt.  They boys each had 20 eggs to find.

After about half hour there was still 15 eggs not found!!

Turns out the bunny counted wrong and they were supposed to find 16 each....oops!!

After this half hour of egg searching, I said...ok...now go find your baskets!!

"Baskets?"

"Yes....baskets!!"

"But we searched the whole first floor for a 1/2 hour looking for the eggs....and we didn't see any baskets!"

"Well you better search again cause the Bunny said they are on the first floor!!"

So they searched..

And searched...

And searched...

And no baskets could be found.

Tall sat down on the couch and said "I'm happy with my eggs...I don't need any basket!"

Venti walks by and says, "This is an outrage!"as he smiles..

I said well they are here...so keep searching!

After another 20 minutes, Venti wanders out to the garage and returns with his basket!!

The other boys didn't see him go out there and couldn't believe he found his!

I said, "keep looking...Venti found his!"

Finally Grande says, "In the garage!"

Off he runs...Tall and Short right behind him.

And the baskets were found!

The Easter Bunny

How much easier it was to be the Easter Bunny to my boys when they were younger!   The Easter Bunny could fill those baskets and squeals of delight could be heard all around.  Eagerly digging to the bottom...opening plastic eggs and yelling "yeah" each time!   Those were the days!  I miss those days.   The Easter Bunny of this house now has to re-think the way he fills those very same baskets as those little boys are now big boys and wouldn't think much of a lollipop shaped like a chicken!

How the Easter Bunny came to realize that times have changed is when he went searching through the house for the baskets so they could filled again this year and found this:

This is the remnants of Tall's basket from LAST year!  Upon further searching I found Venti & Grande's bucket with lots of remaining candy in it too!   Gummy Bears?  Who wastes Gummy Bears?? 
Short's basket has long been devoured and gone!

So this year I took a different approached....I sent the 3 older boys a text asking them to send me a list of 5 things that they want the Easter Bunny to put into their baskets.  Short decided he needed to send the Easter Bunny a list too!

Venti's (remember..he's in college) list:

1. Chap Stick
2. Deodorant
3. Body Wash
4. Socks
5. Dark Chocolate

In an Easter Basket???   I did see one kind of candy...but I couldn't believe the things he wrote!   My little boy has truly grown up if the things he wants in his Easter Basket are clearly necessities!  Part of me was sad to see this and part of me chuckled!   Guess those things won't go to waste!

Grande's list:

1. Nerd's Rope (and only with the red wrapper because they are fresher)(he seriously wrote that)
2. Tic Tacs
3. Orbit Spearmint Gum
4. Skittles (I threw out 2 bags from his last year's basket and yet he wants more!)
5. Deodorant (I'm starting to see a pattern)

Tall's list:

1. Starburst Sour Gummies (look at all the Starburst Sour Gummies he didn't eat from last year!)
2. Trolli Worms
3. Reese's Sticks (can't find these anywhere!!)
4. Deodorant (do my boys all stink??)
5. Trident Layers Gum

Short's list:

1. Push Pops
2. Tootsie Pop Candy (without the sticks...can't find these either)
3. Trident Layers Gum
4. Tic Tacs
5. Club Penguin Cards (forget it...there are already 100 of these lying around his room)

My thinking was that if they gave me a list with specific things then it would not go to waste!  We will see in a couple of months if this works or not!  Having lists is also more difficult because then I had to search for each of these things which was not an easy task!  I put in some surprises too!

I found some Easter Bunny pictures that I wanted to share.

This one was when Tall was just a week old!

Venti, Grande & Tall

 Short was only a couple of days old!

Short was just 1 year old and super cute!

This was the last year all 4 got their picture with the Easter Bunny.....sniff...sniff

This will be the last year that Venti will be living here....I don't even want to think about it because I'll start to tear up.  Why can't time just stand still??