Flashback Friday!

This time last year we were at the beach!

and I looked like a Beached Whale!

Wordless Wednesday

I love my babies<3

Busy Busy

I really need to take pics of the kids at practice so that is my homework tomorrow to show you how much fun they're having. Bubbs is playing Football and Audrey is in Cheerleading, it makes me so happy that my kids are active and involved in something. I remember at Audrey's age I was very shy and a couple of years later my mom threw me in Judo and it really broke my shyness. So tomorrow I'll have pics of my little jocks enjoying their new sports.

Did you know?

That Olive Garden has their recipes online??? say whhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaaat? YES YES, just found this out so don't kill my joy and say you already knew that or you've been using the site for years...BOOOOO just tell me Thank you and you never knew even if you did!

Timber.....

Naty has finally conquered the tree!! He's been having a great ole time with that thing and has been trying to cut it down for years and finally something went PING in his brain and he decided to get rid of it before Bubbs is too big for a clubhouse. It was going to be a treehouse but it's breaking that brick wall (in the back). Instead, he decided to get rid of it and build it on 4 legs and elevate it that way.

In the process....

Tree down and here he's grinding down the stem

Naty decided to get a stem grinder type thingy and shredded it all up into pieces. I'm so proud of his progress and I can't wait to get started on the clubhouse.

Zukes are back in action...

My FIL said because of the hot weather I MUST water twice a day and it brought my zukes back to life! I'm so happy, so far they're considered Organic cause I haven't used any pesticides and I hope to keep it that way BUT I think  if those little buggers tried messing with my food supply I'll have no problem zuking them. Consider that a warning.

On forth of July I had my in laws over and my FIL noticed I had a tomato plant growing in between all the weeds, of course I didn't believe him and was like, whatevA. I decided not to pull it and let it grow and sure enough.....this is what happened.....

Is it a tomato?

Update on Love Tree

Day 1

Day 4

Up Close

I love my tree :-) and guess what?!?! we have another growing in a pot, my FIL took it from one of his properties and wanted to see if it would grow and it did! So now we have another for our backyard! yayy!

The Love Tree

Naty bought me this tree about 3 years ago for our anniversary and I take care of it like it's one of my kids. It's a crepe/crape myrtle and it fills up with bright pink flowers every summer, it's sad cause it only lasts a couple of months and before having Nate (in August) this was the only thing I looked forward to in the summer (I hate summer, hehe). I just had to take a pic cause it's ready to bloom any day now.

Flips and 8 Years

Our nightly routine consists of sitting outside while Audrey flips all around me and Nate eats leaves....here's a little taste of it....

Also, yesterday we celebrated 8 years of Marriage and I couldn't be any happier. I'm so lucky to have Naty as my husband and grateful to God for all the blessings he's blessed us with, especially our children. Speaking of children, Naty couldn't resist taking them on our anniversary date but since Grandpa was dying for Nate he stood with them and Bubbs had football practice so only Audrey got to go. He took us to Shoguns and it was sooooooo good but I forgot my camera......bbooooooo Anyway, they cooked our food in front of us and that made Audrey's eyes light up (I love my peppa).

Naty, my love, you are my life, I live for you and love you with everything inside me. I'm so lucky to have you all to myself and thank God everyday for placing us together. Thank you for being such a great husband and father to our kids. I love you babe. Your Wife, Marlene

Another HOT post!

(that's how HOT it was in my room when we decided to leave)

This time I can REALLY complain, my damn AC decided to go out on us! And BOY OH BOY, was that fun. When Naty got home from the baseball game Saturday night he noticed that hot air was coming out of the AC duct and of course he left it on and went straight to sleep. So when I woke up on Sunday Morning for Mass, I felt the hot air and was like........say what??!? Right away I started messing with the buttons and nearly dialed 911 because this was an EMERGENCY that needed immediate attention. I then wake up Naty and he's like, "oh yeah, I felt it last night," uuuhhh?? ok.........So then he makes me feel loads better by saying, "I'll call Sam after church and ask if he can swing by and take a look at it." The day drug on and I couldn't leave since Nate needs his crib to nap so instead of suffering I told them kids, "let's go outside," as soon as we get out I busted out the hose and wet them, LOL. Naty was trying to be cool and walk around like he wasn't getting wet, nuh uh, not happening so I soaked him too :-) After getting wet we came inside and stood in our wet clothes in hopes that it would keep us cool for a while. By 6pm, we had enough and decided to pack the kids up and go to my in laws house where they have AC, aaaaahhhh. But thank GOD Sam was able to make it! he's so hard to get a hold of and we were lucky he came and fixed our problem in.....1 second flat. Naty wasn't too happy about how easily he fixed it and felt bad for calling him out here when Naty could have done it so Naty just learned everything he needed to so that next time something were to happen he'd know how to fix it without calling Sam. Anyway!! We're not boiling anymore :-)

Baseball game #179,237,461

(That's Naty's friend from work, they came to see his brother in law play (Jack Wilson) so they got tickets together and met up there)

So Naty and Bubbs are having way too much fun and think that hitting up a million baseball games a week is awesome.....Whatever! (Can you tell someone is jealous?) Ok so maybe it isn't the 179,237,461st game they've attended this season BUT it sure feels like it.

All kidding aside, I love the Father and Son bond they have and how they get to work on their relationship when they leave for yet another baseball game. Naty can't describe the feeling he gets when he's sitting with his son in the stands and enjoying a game. At one time, they had differing opinions on teams but I'm glad they've come to common ground and have settled for the Dodgers and Mariners as their top teams. I love that they BOTH enjoy the games and can create memories together. But....(<----there's always a "but") I feel as if Audrey is being left out of the bond but she NEVER wants to go anywhere without me. We've tried convincing her to go but she wants, "mommy to go". With Nate's schedule it makes it hard for me to go place and I know my in laws would be more than willing to watch him but he doesn't sleep at their house and his sleep is very important to me, especially because he transforms into a demon spawn when he doesn't sleep. So once again, Naty and I had a talk and we're now going to do days that Naty gets to stay home with Nate and Audrey and I get to enjoy some Mother and Daughter time so this Friday I'm taking her to get a pedi/mani and to go see Ramona and Beezus, it's a cute movie that I know she'll enjoy. Also, I understand that Audrey needs to stop being so attached to me so we'll work on her spending some time with her Daddy and me spending time with Bubbs and then we'll work on Nate not loving his Grandpa more than us!! hahahaha

Here are some pics from past games, all from different times...

I told you it was hot....

Look at my Shriveled up Zukes :-(

My zukes are dying! they can't take the heat, besides excessively watering them, should I be tenting them? Should I cover these babies? They're not liking the heat at all OR should I just stick to the watering two times a day. I showed my FIL and he says that I should water early in the morning and in the evening. I've been eyeing that Zuke for days now and noticed it wasn't growing and right after I took this picture I watered it and the damn zuke went flying off!! I guess the bottom had dried out that it made it weak so it fell off. Can you tell that I'm sad about my zukes? :-( waaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh

Can you say.......HOT?!?!

My Mom and Nate

OMGosh! I hate the summer....Sorry to be a Debbie Downer about it but heat and me don't mix. The last time I checked it was 102, I can NOT wait for fall to come and better yet, winter. Winter isn't that cold for us and it probably hits around 50 during the day and that's freezing for us. Oh how I wish it were "Winter".

So I decided to do something about it and took the kids swimming at my Granny's house, they had a blast and best thing of all.......Audrey finally learned how to swim! She's always been afraid of the water and did NOT want to learn but now that she knows how she's going from one end to the other. Also, Nate is such a water baby and loves the water, once he's in he's splashing around and trying to dunk his head in the water, that boy is too funny and Bubbs is a daredevil and flips off the diving board and has no fear. I'm so glad my kids love the water as much as I do and Naty is finally coming around and liking it, he never really swam in pools as a young kid so this is still fairly new to him but he's starting to like it as much as we do.

Going Organic!

After much reading, talking with Naty and watching too many documentaries......We're going 100% Organic. At the moment I'd say were about 50% there but our goal is to be at the 100% point by the end of the year. I want to start using natural products and being a lot more cautious for my family. Although the price of Organic is almost twice as much as Non-Organic, we think it's worth it for our family. I think if we ate less (like we should be eating) and gave up all the junk, we'd actually be saving money. Also, we'd be saving money on medical costs by getting healthy.

At the moment, we're growing zuchinni, cilantro, chiles, melons and tomatoes, our goal is to grow most of our veggies and fruit one day. So meanwhile, we'll look for Organic everywhere we go and slowly make the transition so it doesn't feel too pricey all at once.

Another thing that we'll be doing is reducing the amount of HFCS in our lives. I can't say that we'll eliminate it 100% but we're gonna try to stop buying so much processed stuff. I found this list that I can use when I go shopping but again, I won't be taking it out 100% that would be too hard and stressful to do at this time. Again, my family seems worth it so I'll do my best to keep them safe and healthy.

Things that we'll be doing are:

-Shop at our local Farmer's Market
-Shop at Whole Foods
-Shop at Trader Joe's
-Make stuff from scratch instead of buying canned

Those are some thing but we'll take it one day at a time

Here's another list that can help you save money on going Organic.

Wordless Wednesday

Nate and the GIANT ONION