$2 Frames

I got these frames at a garage sale a few months ago for $2!! They are from Pottery Barn Kids and are supposed to be used for school work, changed frequently. However, my kids don't do that much artwork anymore and the frames were a little scratched. What did I do? Same thing I always do...paint them black and distress them! I took these photos and had them printed at Christmas when I had my cards made. They look so cute upstairs in Molly's Bedroom.

Warming Up Cold Pizza

I saw this last week on the food channel when I was laying on the couch feeling lousy. You just put cold pizza on a grill pan and let it warm up slowly, it is really good. MUCH better than in the microwave. We eat a lot of pizza in our house because everyone likes it, and it's easy to order when we have a houseful of kids.

Easter Decorating

Okay, so here are my Easter decorations...STILL IN THE ATTIC!! I have been so busy, and tired, and had so many distractions, I decided NOT to decorate this year. I know...I can't believe it either! You know how I love to decorate for every holiday, but something had to give. Nathan, My Mom, and I are going to Kansas for the week anyway, so we wouldn't be here to enjoy all the decorations and I'm not entertaining, so no one will really notice. When I pack away my holiday decorations, I usually have one "open" box or basket to put things that I buy on clearance after the holiday or thoughout the year at garage sales or thrift stores. These bunnies were actually packed away in Nathan's room, and I thought they would be cute decorations for Easter with some cute bows around their necks...next year!

I'm lucky to have a huge attic, with a pull-down ladder, to store all my holiday stuff and the kids schoolwork as I keep everything!! I also have misc furniture, decorations, camping gear...all that junk that you use, but not very often.

Have a great week. By the way, it is beautiful weather here, and Kansas is under Emergency Advisory for snow...yikes. Who knew we'd hit snow in Kansas in Spring?!

My Excuses

The following is a list of excuses for not blogging the past couple of weeks:

1. I have been to baseball games nearly every day in many different cities. Kyle has to take the bus to his games, which means we have to go to the school and pick him up afterward.

2. On the days that the boys didn't have games, they had practice at various fields in Orange County.

3. Doing laundry for 2 boys and one husband who work out and play baseball everyday, is a huge job!

4. I've been dealing with Kyle's academic advisor regarding a "problem" teacher.

5. I've not been feeling well, went to Dr., she changed my meds and ran a ton of new tests.

6. Molly took a long time to recover from surgery and even had to go back to the vet 2 days after the surgery. Cha ching.

7. I volunteered for Nathan's Jog-a-Thon at his school on my time off.

8. I've been working on a huge presentation for my parenting classes that I presented yesterday. It went great, glad it's over!

9. I decided not to have my cleaning lady come, trying to save money because I probably will not have a job next year.

10. I just want to make sure that someone is reading my blog.

11. Keeping Larry on his toes so that he remembers to tell me every day that I haven't updated my blog today!

Okay, I'm sure there's more, but I'm still tired. I'm home now because Nathan is sick and couldn't go to his game today.

MollyMo...Recovery

So... I'm spending my day tending to my puppy...good thing she is so sweet and cute!! Last night she moaned and cried a lot, needless to say, Darrell and I didn't get much sleep as I had her in bed with us. She still is bleeding a little bit from her mouth and was coughing a lot, probably from the tube down her throat during surgery. She is taking pain meds and anti-biotics and I hope that she is much better by tomorrow. By the way, pink anti-biotics and white puppies are NOT a good mixture! POOR BABY!

Wordless Wednesday #18 ~ Surgery Day for Molly

Will try to update tonight...about Molly Mo StinkyButt Groff...

**UPDATE** I picked Molly up from the Dr. and she's doing great. He had to pull 15 teeth, none of her baby teeth fell out. I hope she continues to do good and is able to eat and sleep.

Newport Beach #2 ~ Boys and Sand

Nathan and Eldon spent many hours playing in the sand at the beach on Saturday. They dug holes and built 14 tunnels all connecting together!! It was pretty impressive. They would have stayed for many more hours, but it got dark.

PARTY in Newport Beach

Last night we went to my cousin Matt's house house in Newport Beach! I felt so young to be saying that and walking by all the parties going on on the patios. My other cousin Andy, Matt's brother, was here with his wife and kids from New York. We had a great time, even though it was cloudy and cold. A photo from the beach...brrrr!

Dinner with Andy, Nolan, Abby, Holly, and Grampy. I know it looks like the girls are drinking beers, but they were only drinking Juicy Juice. I think they sat down in the Daddy's chairs!!

The brothers...so cute!

Tanya, Mom, and I with Baby Nolan. Such a sweet baby! I'm so bummed, I guess I didn't get a photo of Lynn, Andy's delightful wife. I don't think she sat still for too long!

Holly and Abby were fast friends.

Friday Night at the Groff House

Kyle and Jackie watching "America's Next Top Model"...

Darrell and MollyMo watching a documentary about Civil War weapons...

Nathan just learned how to ride Roller Blades. Amazing kid, he just put the skates on and figured it out in about 30 minutes...and these are Kyle's old skates...they are size 10, Nate wears a 7. He and Ryan have been playing hockey in the garage for about 3 hours.

Wordless Wednesday #17 ~ Darrell's Glasses

After years of denial, Darrell finally went to the eye doctor and had to get BI-FOCALS!

Before and After ~ Kitchen "Office"

I know I have not posted a blog in over a week, it's been crazy at our house. Baseball EVERYDAY...I am not exaggerating! It's fun, but I don't get any of my regular stuff done. I have been organizing my kitchen "command center" this week. What I thought would be a few hour project turned into a few day project, after I decided to repaint stuff, replace baskets, and the like. You know I can't just re-organize anything without making it pretty. So, here are the pictures... The cabinet, below, was out of control! I had vitamins in there that had expired in 2004.

An upclose photo of the counter top.

An upclose shot of the cabinet...ugly!

It's much better now! Although, when I get busy, this is always the area that takes the hardest hit. By the way, Jill do you see the little porcelein cup in the back? You gave it to Kyle when he was born, and I use it for my jewelry...love it!!

Have a great week. I am going to try to post more this week, if I don't my family (uh, Hi Larry) gives me a hard time. I'm glad they're interested in my blog.