Aliens from another planet.

There are moments when I look at my children and think that they must have been kidnapped by aliens because the being before me acts nothing like the children I know I am raising. Tonight for instance we were eating dinner and Zachary got up to refill his water. He came back to the table and after a few minutes this conversation ensued:
Zachary: Oh, by the way mom I just wanted to let you know that I spilled some water on the floor.
Me: AND?
Zachary: Well, I am just letting you know
Me: So are you assuming that I am going to jump up and clean it up?
Zachary: (after pausing for a moment to think) Ummm, no.
Me: So how is the water going to get cleaned off the floor?
Zachary: Ummm, I am going to clean it up after dinner (perking up like he got the right answer).
Me: Ummmm, no! You are going to go clean the water up now before someone goes in the kitchen and slips on it.

Really, what would posess a thirteen year old to spill water on the floor, leave it there and just go back and resume eating his dinner? I guess when you are a growing boy you don't let anything get between you and your food. LOL!

Construction.... finally!

The picture may not look like much, but having walls really makes a difference. It's so nice to have all the studs and ugly pipes covered back up. Now we are just waiting for the walls to dry so we can paint. Hopefully next weekend the painting will get done and then all we will need is the flooring and baseboards. It's taking some time, but just having the walls up seems like a huge deal.

Oh and one step forward two steps back. Yesterday morning I noticed water under the sink (H20 is not my friend) and our garbage disposal was leaking. Thankfully I noticed it right away and it was just a small amount of water. For now we have a bucket under the sink because we just cannot pay another plumbing bill until we receive the insurance check. We seem to go through garbage disposals almost as often as we go through vacuum cleaners. We have owned this house for 15 years and this is our third garbage disposal.

Happy Valentines day!

Today for Valentines day we made cake balls. I found this recipe a while back and have been looking for ANY excuse to make them. So today was as good as any. Dipping the cake balls in the chocolate was tricky and took me a few tries to get them to look nice, but after that we had a nice assembly line going. I would dip them and Riley would decorate them. They did not turn out half bad and they are SO YUMMY! I guess I will be making extra trips to the gym this week because I can't stay away from these.

As requested here is the recipe.

You can mix and match cake and icing flavors as well as the chocolate coatings. If you want, cake balls can be rolled in nuts, sprinkles, coconut, etc. or double dipped in white and dark chocolates.

Ingredients:
1 (18.25 ounce) package chocolate
cake mix
1 (16 ounce) container prepared
chocolate frosting
1 (3 ounce) bar chocolate flavored
confectioners coating
Directions:
1.
Prepare the cake mix according to package directions using any of the recommended pan sizes. When cake is done, let cool at least 30 minutes, crumble into a large bowl (I just put it all in my kitchenaid and let the mixer do the work) and stir in the frosting until well blended. Place the cake/frosting mixture in the fridge for at least three hours or overnight.
2.
Melt chocolate coating in a glass bowl in the microwave, or in a metal bowl over a pan of simmering water, stirring occasionally until smooth.
3.
Use a melon baller or small scoop to form balls of the chocolate cake mixture. Place cake balls on wax paper and put in the freezer for about one hour.

4.Dip the balls in chocolate using a toothpick or fork to hold them. Place on waxed paper to set.

I learned to only take 4 or 5 cake balls out of the freezer at a time because they soften quickly and then fall off the toothpick. As I mentioned it took a few tries to get the hang of it, but even the ugly ones tasted great. Everyone who has tried them loves them. Even Scott who is not big on sweets said they are "awesome".

Bee family

I guess we are a bee family. In December Zachary participated in his school's geography bee and on Wednesday Riley was in her school's spelling bee. The top two spellers from the class spelling bees got to particpate in the school spelling bee. Riley and another boy, Owen, represented her class. Her level included 3rd and 4th graders.
I did not get to see the bee since I had mandatory fire extinguisher training at work that day, but Scott and my mom were able to go and cheer her on. Riley did quite well and lasted nine rounds. Scott said he was very impressed that she got four words in a row that she had missed when they practiced that morning. He also said that Riley was not a bit nervous and skipped up to the microphone every time it was her turn and then skipped back with a big smile when she got her word right.
She was knocked out and the word usually because she forgot the second U...usally.

Construction or Destruction?

We had a water leak in the house today. Actually last night when I went into Zachary's room and it felt like a sauna I knew we were in trouble. It turns out that we had a water leak in the slab under his room and the water from the water heater was leaking out into his room for a while. It was hidden under his bed so we had no idea.
I called the plumber and insurance company first thing this morning. They had to pull up the carpet and jackhammer into the concrete slab to get to the leak. Ironically the leak was smaller than the width of a ball point pen, but it managed to cause plenty of damage. After four hours of plumbers and water damage specialists this is what his room looked like.



I was still coming to grips with the fact that they were going to rip out the carpet, drywall and those lovely baseboards that I installed two years ago this month when it was all gone. I hardly had time to process it and four men were in there ripping stuff out left and right. Then they brought in industrial fans and de humidifiers to clear out all the moisture. We get to enjoy the hum of those for the next four days.
It's hard to believe that I spent three solid days spackling, painting, sawing and nailing only to have it was destroyed in less than an hour.
Oh and this is what his room looked like before all the mayhem.

Disney Day!

Today my niece and I decided to bail out on the whole Superbowl thing and head to Disneyland. Apparently we were not the only ones who had this idea because the park was very crowded so we decided to go over to Disney's California Adventure instead. Since we were with Erica, Luke and Presley we went on more of the little kid rides.

Luckily, Riley was ok with this since she never gets to spend much time in the kiddie parts. Zachary would rather not set foot in those areas now. It was a nice day with the little ones and Luke just adores Riley. He was her riding buddy on most of the rides and only wanted to hold her hand.

I got my baby fix in by hanging out with Presley Jane. Nothing compares to seeing her face light up on the Winnie the Pooh ride with her little feet kicking and her bouncing up and down. Those times go by so quickly.

We did make it over to Disneyland for a couple of rides (now that Riley and I got our annual passports we can park hop). After just two rides in Disneyland we were ready to head out for dinner. As soon as the temp. dropped below 75 my little CA girl became an eskimo. I have to say she looks like she has had a long day in this photo. Considering she was out about two minutes after her head hit the pillow she must have been pooped!