Today is Day 5 of the Comment Challenge. Check it out!

Today we are supposed to talk about our dream vacation or our favorite place to go. 

I am going to cheat and say if I could go on my dream vacation, it would be a year long vacation around the world! There are so many places I want to visit, hard to pick just one. Here are pictures of a few places I want to see:

Ireland

Scotland

Its obvious that I love all the green! So beautiful. I also love historical things and places. I love old castles! I would love just to go around and see old castle ruins all over the world.

Rio de Janeiro

I love towns built on the ocean like this (or on the sides of cliffs) and of course I'd want to do during Carnival! Who wouldn't!?

Japan

I have to break this one down into Tokyo and Kyoto.

Tokyo is such a massive city and way different then anything in the U.S. All the vending machines, the hotels. Everyone thing is different! I could sit and people watch all day long

I also love how old world meets new world. 

The other place in Japan I'd love to see is Kyoto. If you read my post on Day 4, I mentioned the book Memoirs of a Geisha being my favorite book because I love old world Japanese culture. Well the book is based off Kyoto and the Geisha lifestyle there. And even today, they still train girls to become geisha. I'd love to go and see these beautiful and mysterious girl/women. Oh and also watching the Cherry Blossom trees bloom would be awesome too.

Those are just a few places I'd want to spend some time in. Of course, I want to go to Australia,  Abu Dhabi, Russia, Europe, Caribbeans and many many other places. If I was to get my dream vacation, I wouldnt stop at one place!! Take me to the world!! :)

---Robin

Bento Thursday & More

 I was pretty excited to make the kids their first Bento sandwiches. It is crazy how much prep time goes into making these buggers!

First up: Pizza Sandwhiches

How did I do it? I used a large regular circle to cut 4 slices of bread (I made 2 sandwiches). The large circle was perfect because it basically just cut the corners and crust off (not wasting to much). I then used a smaller heart cutter to cut the shape into two of the cut circles. I then used the circle to cut the slices of cheese. (For this sammy I used 2 slices eat) I also cut up baby carrots into very thing slivers and then into smaller pieces. Placed one slice of circle cheese onto the circle bread w/o the heart, put some of the carrots onto the cheese and laid the second circle cheese on top. I then put it in the microwave for 15 seconds (or till cheese was melted) ***This was my sneaky way to get the kids to eat a veggie*** I then put mini pepperonis on top of the cheese, put the top circle bread on top. Then I spread strawberry jam really thinly on the cutout heart, sliced up some strawberries and put them in the cupcake holder. I finished it all up with some mac & cheese (Kraft brand)

Kids reaction? Both kids looked at them with excitement. Ellie did really good at eating the sandwich until she realized it had carrots in it, but that was over half way through it. Both kids chowed on the strawberries and Garrett ate the strawberry jam heart. Ellie did not. They of course ate some of the mac & cheese, too. Oh and Garrett takes his sandwich apart and picked the pepperonis and cheese off and thats basically all he ate of it.


Day 2: Cowboy bears

How did I do it: I used a cowboy hat cookie cutter to cut out the hats and cheese and grilled them till the cheese melted. Then I used a small bear cutter to make the little bear, a boot cutter to cut out 2 slices of lunch meat, a small heart cutter to cut a heart for the bear out of a strawberry. Lastly, I used star cutters to cut stars out of strawberries.

Kids reaction:  Ellie thought it was cute and ate most all of it. Garrett ate all the strawberries, ham and picked apart the grilled cheese.

I think next week I may try to make minute rice and see if they like it. Also, I have an idea for a breakfast bento sandwich for them, just havent had the energy in the morning to do it yet.



I have to add, dont you hate when you want to google something but by the time you get a new window open to do it, you have done forgot when you were going to search? Yeah, me too. Happens a lot to me it seems. Maybe it has to do with the constant yelling of kids in my house that clouds my thoughts..... Probably

On down to the Comment Challenge. Today is day #4. Today's topic is Tell us about your hobbies! What do you do in your free time? What are your favorite books, movies, music etc?


My hobbies consist of chasing 3 kids around. :) Oh wait, thats my job. Hobbies, I like to scrapbook and do other crafty stuff. I just havent had the energy, motivation or time lately to do anything. I also love to be outside! Our newest family hobby consists of taking the Polaris Ranger out for rides. Where we live (BFE Arizona) there are old roads and trails everywhere, not to mention old mines. The kids do really well when we go for rides and usually end up sleeping part of the way out and part of the way home.

Yes, that is an old mine set up to the left in the above picture.

I am not much of a book reader. It really takes a lot to get me to read one, but seems like I like the Harlequin books. I also like mystery. My favorite book is Memoirs of a Geisha. I have always loved old world Japanese culture and this book seems so real even though it is fiction. 

I have a bunch of favorite movies. Just a few- The Labyrinth, The Crow, Back to the Future (all 3 parts), 101 Dalmatians (cartoon), How To Train A Dragon, Tombstone .... And then my mind draws a blank. Hahaha! It happens when Im put on the spot. I have many others.

Music? Well to pretty much sum up what music I listen to- What's hot. 20s on 20, Pop2k and Country (The Highway). Those are the 3 XM stations I listen to in my car and in the house. 

Well that pretty much sums up todays topic. Have fun on the Comment Challenge!

--Robin

Day 3 Comment Challenge

http://jennasjourneyblog.blogspot.com/

Day 3 of the Comment Challenege. Today's topic is to talk about our Social networking lives. Well, I do have Facebook. The people I have on my friends list consist of family, friends, childhood friends, people I went to school with and friends from message boards. Sorry, Im not going to post a link here, every thing is blocked so it really wouldnt do any good. 

I do have a Pinterest! http://pinterest.com/robinw2009/  Feel free to follow me. I pin a wide variety of things. Anything from crafts, projects, scrapbooking, food, clothing, make-up, and a few random categories. By far my favorite is the food & drink group. Pinterest can make me fat if I let it! lol Soooo many yummy looking recipes! 

I do have Twitter and Google+ but do not really use them. Im not smart enough yet. I never know what to post on Twitter, guess Im not trending :D Google+ is complicated and no one is really on it yet. Though I love the idea of the "hung out" feature. Its like group video chat. Its funny I like that because I actually hate being on video and chatting. I just think it would be fun to be in a group who got together like that. I'd be the one who hardly talked and listened mostly. :)

Websites that I visit at least once a day (but usually more) are of course Facebook, Justmommies & The Mommy Playbook (Both messageboards for moms & moms-to-be), and Pinterest. I do frequent Amazon & Walmart. :) 

Hope everyone is having a great time doing the Commenting Challenge!! 

---Robin

3rd Annual Commenting Challenege

 I am linking up with Jenna's Journey's 3rd Annual Commenting Challenge. Last year when I participated I found a lot of great blogs to follow. I am hoping this year to find some more and maybe get some more followers too. :)

This year Jenna is giving us topics to blog about if we do not already have posts planned. I missed Day 1 and today is Day 2, so I am just going to blog about them both, then Ill be caught up. :)

Day 1-  For anyone who hasnt been her before, my name is Robin. I am 27, married to my H.S. boyfriend (Logan, 25), and we have 3 kids. Ellie is our oldest and she will be 4 in a week. Garrett is our middle child and is 2.5 yrs old and lastly is Blaine, our baby and he is only 8 months old.

I have pretty much lived in Arizona most of my life. I am a desert rat :) I did live in New Mexico for about 10 yrs when I was younger and then almost 2 years in Illinois, but Arizona is where my heart belongs! I love living in AZ. Yes, it is hotter the Hades but where we live is rarely gets over 100 degrees.

I do not work, aside from being a stay at home mom. Which in my opinion is one hard job! Who's with me? Most days I wouldnt trade being a SAHM for anything. 

Logan and I were married 3 years ago but have been together for 9 years. We started dating in High school, right after I turned 18. Here's the funny part, he was only 15. Shortly after he did turn 16, but yes, I was the cradle robber. Neither one of us thought it was going to last more then a week. We were like best friends before we got together. We have had a rough patch a long the way but we have worked through it and though we arnt the fairy tale couple, we are pretty damn happy where we are now. 

Day 2- What is my blog about? Well if you would have come by a few months ago, it would have been mostly a place to put all my negative thoughts and rants. Yes, it was pretty bad a few months ago. However, now, I am trying to be more positive. My posts mainly consist of things that we do as a family and things the kids do. Before I was doing a weight loss post but now I have made a new blog for that. ( Mommy's Mission , please follow me. All the support will help lots!)  I have also just came up with a new post idea, I am going to post on Thursdays about Bento meals I make for the kids. (pics included) So yeah, basically its a family blog! Hope you enjoy!

---Robin

New Blog Project Idea

  Lately, when I make the kids their sandwiches for lunch or dinner, I've been using a big circle cutter. Ellie requested it. I love the Bento lunch box ideas but most of the stuff the use in them, my kids wont eat. (rice, veggies, etc.) I googled Bento sandwich ideas and there are a lot of them. So, here's the new project idea, Im going to start making the kids Bento lunches and Ill post the pictures and links to where I found them. Think I will do this post on Thursdays. So stay tuned!

Also, if you missed my last post, I have a new blog for my weight loss journey! Check it out (not much going on yet) and follow me, I could use the support! Mommy's Mission

Have a great week!

--Robin

New Blog

So I decided to make a new blog souly for weight loss and my journey to healthy. Please feel free to follow me :) All the support and motivation I can get will help greatly!! 

Mommy's Mission

<3 Robin

groopdealz giveaway!

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Today I took the kids to the park. We usually meet other moms and kids on Wednesday but this morning no one else came (till much later). So I got down in the same with the kids and helped make a sand castle town with Ellie. Garrett was more interest in knocking them down. At the moment Blaine was sneaking handsful of sand into his mouth. I asked Ellie what the name of her sand castle town was and she told me "shanty" or some made up word that sounded like that. She would put a stick on the top of each castle after I made it and then ask for another one. We did this for about an hour till some moms started showing up. I love watching the kids use their imaginations. I can ask Ellie a question about something and see her little wheels turning in her head as she's trying to think of a great answer. Its great! Until Garrett comes crashing through, like a bull in a china shop. He is such a brute. Makes me wonder what Blaine will be like in a year and a half.

----- Mama aka Robin

10 Ways to....

 I am a member of our local MOPS group. For those who do not know what that is, its Moms Of Preschoolers. The groups are usually through a local church but regardless of your religion, you can join. It's a place for moms to meet up and have mom/adult time and they usually provide child care that they call Moppets. It is a really great organization. Check out the link above, there is a search area to find a MOPS group in your area. There are also other branches for moms of older children, military moms, etc.

Anyways, I received my membership package yesterday. It came with a reusable grocery bag, magnet, bookmark and their Momsense magazine (which I believe I get monthly). The bookmark says something great that I thought I'd share.

10 Ways to Love Your Child

1. Give lots of snuggly bear hugs

2. Be your child's cheerleader

3. Create a sense of belonging

4. Draw some lines and limits

5. Show the way

6. Let your child be herself or himself

7. Get giggly and goofy together

8. Learn to let go

9. Take care of yourself

10. Be a hope-bringer!

Something to think about.

---Robin 

Another Wednesday another update. I am still lingering at 217 but of course I havent done anything lower the number. A few days this week I keep saying that I want to go for a walk but by the time I get everyone dressed and ready to leave the house, its to hot! I did start taking something today to help with my energy and help with weight loss. Let me say, I KNOW THERE ARE NO QUICK FIXES! Not when it comes to weigh loss. Im not relying on this to make me skinny. It's just to help. Hopefully I dont get the negative side effects liek I have in previous years with different brands. I am also going to try and start REALLY watching my portions. I've even thought aobut starting to use the kids plates. LOL Grocery shopping is Saturday and Im going to try and stock up on stuff for healthy snacking. 

We took the kids to the public pool the other day. It was fun! Its indoor, walk in pool and has a big slide. Sadly this year they wont let the parents go down with the kids. We let Ellie & Garrett go down by them selves and each time they would flip around and get all turned wrong and it was hard to catch them. Eventually the kids said they didnt want to slide anymore. I actually look forward to taking them back and probably can manage going with all 3 kids by my self. 

Yesterday I was in a funk and guess Logan thought I was mad at him. When he asked what was wrong, I did kind of take it out on him. Guess I just found a reason to be mad and it was him. I felt really bad afterwards and am going to make sure he knows Im not moody when he gets home. He's been working so hard to make me happy and be a family dad and guess I havent shown him I appreciate it. I really do. 

Well time to finish cleaning and all that fun fun stuff!!! Have a great rest of the week!

--Robin

Is it really Wednesday already?  So I hadnt weighed myself yet but decided to do it now rather then tomorrow morning. All I have to say is WTH?! Remind me not to weigh myself at 5 pm again. The scale says Im up 5 lbs, making it 220. I will blame that on eating food and drinking water. lol

Ive been thinking that once Ellie starts pre-k that Ill put the boys in day care for an hour so I can go to the gym. (The convenience is its all in the same group of buildings) It just will cost so much to do it. Pre-k alone will be about $130 a month, then day care will be like another $200 a month. That is freaking ridiculous! There's a chance it could be only $150 but thats still a lot. Booo. As bad as Id like to go to the gym during the day, guess Ill have to work it where I go after Logan gets home from work. Either way, I am going to go.

Blaine is now sleeping in the crib in Garrett's room. So guess its not Garrett & Blaine's room. He still wakes up between 1-2 times a night but thats not horrible. He is an eating machine. Loves food and taking 8 oz of formula every time he take a bottle. Not sure how much he takes total but Im sure its a lot. lol He still isnt crawling yet but sure gets around still. He rolls from place to place.

Well dont really have much else to update on this week. Have a great rest of the week.

Robin

 This weeks post is going to start with my weight again since I missed Wednesday. I weighed myself this morning and I am back down to 214. So its slowly moving down. I really havent started doing any work out again or watching how I am eating. Must get started on this problem! 

Monday, Ellie woke up saying her throat hurt. I looked in side and her tonsils were swollen on both sides and I could see a white spot on one side. I called our little clinic here to set an appointment up. The doctor we saw speaks broken English and his accent is VERY strong. So needless to say, its very hard to understand him most of the time. He looked in her mouth, looked in her ears and felt her neck. That's all and prescribed her Amoxacillian.  I asked the girl at the receptionist desk what he wrote down but I cannot remember what she said. She used the scientific/doctor name for what's wrong. Ellie said her throat still hurt for 2 mornings after that but hasnt mentioned it since. However, now all 3 of the kids are suffering from Allergies :( Garrett started out with it on Wednesday with a very snotty nose and now they are all sneezing, runny noses and congested. Oh and Blaine & Ellie have low grade fevers this morning. 

Wednesday, we went to the park. It was a very nice day. It wasnt very hot at all and had a nice breeze too. There were 7 moms total there (a pretty good turn out for summer time!) and double the amount of kids! (Ranging from 3rd grade down to 7 months old) One mom brought an awesome fresh made fruit cocktail (you know, like the stuff you get in a can?) It was so good. Ellie didnt want any and Garrett only wanted the oranges. I ate all of the fruit. So good! I was enjoying the day at the park so much that I didnt want to go home. As soon as we got home, I felt so tired and wanted to nap. 

Thursday, Janessa, my self & the kids went to Anthem to the outlets for some little shopping. We also met my friend from the Valley, Leah and her little boy Noah. He is 6 months old. What a cutie. Leah didnt get to stay very long because she had to go to a meeting and to work. It was nice to see her and the baby. My whole intention for the trip was to get some clothes for Ellie for Preschool and boy did I. I took out $200  and spent every bit of it (*sept $3 and some change) I also bought Garrett a few t-shirts and Blaine a couple too. My favorite place to get Ellie clothes is The Children's Place, but I was also able to get her a cute outfit at Gymboree and jammies at Carters. Logan looked at me like I was nuts when I told him I spent $200 but I told him if we added up the tag prices that it would be way over that amount. The jammies were $28 and $30 but I got both sets for under $10 each. I also went into Claire's and got Ellie 3 packs of earrings. One set has pretty flowers, the other set is little tiny stars in all colors. The last set is Ellie's favorite, they are animals ranging from Elephants to kitties. (Pictures of outfits to come) After we were done shopping and Leah had left for work, I let the kids play in the little splash pad they have there. (Janessa was still doing some shopping) Of course, I forgot my camera in the car and only had my phone. 

This picture if of Garrett 2 years ago when he was about the same age as Blaine sitting in almost the same spot too. I love having pictures like this of them playing in the same place. I probably can find one of Ellie about the same age there too.

Here's Ellie pic there, she was about 10 months there, little older then the boys were.

I love my babies!!

After that Janessa, the kids & I went to Walmart and Subway and then homeward bound. 

Thursday night was rough on Blaine and me. He woke up so much because he was congested. Makes for a very tired mommy!!

I almost forgot, Mr. Blaine is 8 months old. Where does this time go? Seriously!? Maybe Ill get some good pictures of him today. A Blaine post to come!

<3 Robin

*In case you were wondering what I did with that $3 and change, I divided it up between the kids. Blaine's dollar got put in Garrett bank too because B doesnt have his own yet. 

How do you tell someone you love they have a problem when they won't listen?

Anniversary Vacation

(Here goes post attempt #2, Blogger ate my post)

Last year for our Anniversary we went to Las Vegas. This year, after discussing many options, we decided to go to Laughlin, NV.  For anyone wondering what Laughlin is, its basically a small old Las Vegas. You know, like Freemont Street, only not as big as that. Laughlin is located on the Colorado River and has a small handful of outdated Casinos.

We left Thursday for our little vacation. My mom came down to watch the kids for us. Our rooms were at the Tropicana. While there we did a lot of eating, drinking and walking.

The first night we were there we went to wee Ralphie May, a Comedian. He is very funny. If you havent heard him, try Youtube. (Unless you get offended easily). Another night we had tickets to see REO Speedwagon. The concert was pretty lame, IMO, it sounded like the lead signer was yelling the entire time he was singing. I also only knew 3 songs. But it was my first ever concert so it was still fun and neat. We also went to the Looser Lounge and got to see our first wet t-shirt contest. Boy, that was interesting. There was an old lady, a big black girl and 4 young girls (2 who danced like professional strippers) The big black girl won. I think she was a regular there. Maybe next time we go, Ill get involved.. HAHAHAHAHA!!

The place we ate the most was  Pints Brewery & Sports Bar located in the Colorado Belle. We had wings and fried mushrooms and then the other 2 times we had these yummy sandwiches. Mine was called the Cuban and Logan's was the Big Nasty. We joked that we had a Big Nasty Cuban. We also got ribs on the River Walk. The event was called Rock N' Ribs, there was a band playing music. The BBQ sauce we both picked was the Jack Daniel's and it was VERY good. Nothing like good ribs! Boy they were messy though. Most places to eat at the Casinos are buffet style. We went to the Riverside Casino to their Prime Rib Room. It too is like a buffet. You get to make your own salad, then get baked potato, cooked veggies, steak fries and bread. Then they bring you out a prime rib. The meat was cooked perfect and the seasoning was good too. After youre done eating, you can get ice cream and pie. The pie was dried out :( There was cheese cake but it looked really sad, so I skipped it. Oh and we also went to The Black Bear Diner for breakfast one morning. Their food is really yummy any time of the day. I had cinnamon roll french toast. Mmmmmm!

We didnt do a whole lot of gambling, but when we did, we played Blackjack/21. We of course didnt win no big amount of money either. The best I did was go from $5 to $26. We did learn that if you play games at the bar, the comp your drinks. So basically the trick is, you put money in the game and just push the hit button every few minutes or so and get free drinks. I tried a new drink, a Jager Colada. Its like a regular Pina Colada but with Jager in it. I liked it. The bar tender at the Edge Water also made me a few other drinks that were ok, but not may favs.

We were going to get jet skis for a day to ride up and down the river or the lake, but the prices were crazy. Most places were like $200+ a day for one, not including gas. We were driving around trying to find a better deal when I saw a tattoo sign. I jokingly said "Lets get tattoos." We drove around some more and the idea stuck with us. So we stopped at one tattoo shop to look at their books, there was only one guy there and he didnt seem interested in helping us, so we left. We drove around some more trying to find one that was open. Most were closed or closed down. Finally we found Evolution Tattoo. Logan talked to one artist about what he was wanting, Larry Topping, got right down to business drawing on Logan's leg with marker and pen. I told the artist doing mine what I was looking for and it took him all day to come up with a simple sketch of stars and names. Finally we both got done. Honestly, it only hurt in a few spots. I never cried or anything like that. If you are ever in Bullhead City, AZ or Laughlin, NV and want a tattoo, I highly recommend going and seeing Larry Topping. Did a great job and he was pretty fast too.

So after we got tattoos, they put a halt to any water time. We couldnt get in the river, pool or hot tub. That was kinda a bummer but worth it.

Our vacation came to an end on Sunday. We came home and were happy to see our babies. Had an amazingly fun time and cant wait till we can do it again sometime.

Yes, now its picture time. :)

<3 Robin