I have been a bad blogger!

I have been a bad blogger, my poor blogs have been so neglected, but these past 6 weeks have been CRAZY. So much to share and now that we are on the final countdown before school starts again (this Mom is doing the happy dance) I can get back into the swing of things.

So stay tuned..................

Blog Drive by

Just a quick post today because our household is crazy busy at the moment and I am catching myself coming back wards, summer hols are in full swing, but I wanted to share one of my favorite websites with you all. Slickdeals is a great site for keeping informed on coupons, deals online and in stores, my family use this site regularly so if you have never heard of slickdeals here is the link and go check it out!

Baseball Clinic for a good cause

This past Sunday Jon and I took the boys to the High School here in Rio Rancho for a Baseball Clinic with the Coaches and players from the State Champion winning baseball team. Not only was this a great opportunity for the boys to experience a new sport (we are a soccer & football household) but we were also going to donate to the Corbin Hayes Memorial Fund. 13 year old Corbin Hayes lost his life recently whilst playing in the Rio Grande River, and as a way for the community to come together the Baseball team hosted a free baseball clinic, we had 11 boys from our Cub Scout pack come and donate, play and learn about baseball.

Now I am first to admit I really don't know a lot about baseball, but the High School team coaches and players put on a fantastic clinic, very well organized and kept the kids interested in all aspects of the sport.

Aaron getting some tips!
Brendan getting some batting tips

Both Brendan and Aaron enjoyed the clinic and we were glad to be able to donate to the memorial fund.

The trauma of going through the car wash!

I have no idea why at the age of 3 and a half that going through a car wash is the most traumatic thing in the world! My eldest did exactly the same thing at 3 and a half, and now Mr Aaron is carrying on the family tradition and freaking out when we go through the car wash. Maybe it is the noise, the unknown, those big scary rollers that seem to be hitting the car and are going to attack in the eyes of a 3 yr old, I just have no clue.

Now I have tried to be the calming force when we go through the car wash, and explain that the car needs a bath and there is nothing to be scared about! Yesterdays trip through the car wash was just hilarious and at the expense of my 3 yr old, I knew what I was going to blog about this morning! After telling him it was okay that the car was just taking a bath like he does, and getting no response but screaming, I proceeded to snap away with the camera on my phone, yes the mean mommy that I am just snapped away, not only for my blog, but as a record so that when the boy is 8 and going through a car wash is so boring I can pull the pictures out and show him that in his eyes when he was 3 the car wash was going to eat him!

Backyard Camping

We brought a tent yesterday, our first official tent, we needed one for an upcoming cub scout camp out. But decided to get one early, first because they were on sale ($48 for a 13ft x 10ft tent) and second because we can now just pack up and head out for some weekend camping fun. The boys were really excited and wanted the tent to go up immediatley when we got home, and New Mexico weather was not co-operating, so thinking it could go up in the front room, we set to putting it up! Silly us, cause it wouldn't fit, thankfully the rain and thunder passed, and our partially pitched tent was taken outside and finally pitched in the back yard.

The boys were so excited about sleeping in their sleeping bags in the new tent, Daddy thought that it would be a good idea to permantley move all their toys and clothes outside! Of course Mommy and Daddy were expected to join in the back yard camping fun! This was a practice run to see how the boys especially Aaron would do with the whole camping outside, he has never been camping, plus it has been a few years since Jon and I pitched a tent. I have to say it is surprising how noisy night life is in our sub division! But we survived our back yard camping and are looking forward to planning some camping trips this summer.

9 years ago today

9 years ago today I walked down the aisle and said "I Do" to a wonderful man. Our wedding was simple, nothing over the top, we did a lot of the wedding things ourselves like the cake, and the favors.
This picture above was taken just after our first dance, and is one of my favorites. I am very lucky when I look back over my life with my hubby. Jon and I were actually together 2 years before we married back in 2000. Our life together has seen it's ups and downs, but through it all we have been at each other side and without sounding all corny and sappy, if there is such as thing as a soul mate, Jon is mine.

So I was goggling romantic, mushy poems to add to this blog for my entry on our anniversary, because it is late here and I really should of been more organized and prepared! nothing jumped out at me and screamed Jon and Gillian. Until I found this:

"An anniversary is a time to celebrate the joys of today, the memories of yesterday, and the hopes of tomorrow."

For my hubby, I love you for the joy you gave me today, the memories we made yesterday and our hopes for tomorrow. Here is to many more years of being your wife xxxxxx

Another School Year finished

2nd Grade over and done with, it is very scary how fast time is flying by. There are days and even weeks were it seems as if time has stopped and days drag, but before you know it summer is here and camp plans are being made. Schools here in Rio Rancho actually had school on Friday, well if you can call it school, they had class for whole 3 hours, which I thought was rather nice giving parents a final reprieve before summer!

Brendan and his 2nd Grade Teacher

But Brendan is looking forward to summer, he gets to go to Cub Scout Day Camp this year which he is really excited about. Aaron I think is even more excited because BIG BROTHER is home during the day now and doesn't have to go to school, please note I shall be reading this line to both of them over and over again when the fighting and bickering starts!

Before I know it though August will be here and we will be school supply shopping!

My Wonderful Hubby!

Awhile back I blogged about the one thing as a mother I just can't do well just to show you how it plays in my house when one of the boys is sick here is hubby ready for action with his marigolds on!
Brendan was sick on Tuesday, and he very graciously vomited while Daddy was home! Love my wonderful hubby!

Our Shining Star

Mr Aaron found out this past week that he was picked from the lottery of children that applied for Preschool. Very exciting news, because he sees big brother leave every morning for school, and given half a chance Aaron would be on the bus with him. The preschool that he is going too has a 50/50 ratio of kids who have learning disabilities and those kids that don't but are known as mentors. Mr Aaron has been picked as one of the mentors, which we are very proud of, but for those who know Aaron putting the word mentor and Aaron in the same sentence is slightly amusing!

So when I got the phone call last week Aaron was so excited that he was going to start preschool in August he demanded that he needed his backpack NOW. I tried reasoning with him that all school shopping is done later in the summer and that he really doesn't need his backpack right now. Aaron was not having any of this, and when we went to get milk and a few other groceries on Friday, we checked out the backpacks, they had 2 for him to choose from, Iron Man or Transformers. Aaron went with the Iron Man one, and he has been wearing it and carrying it around the house ever since!

Kilts, Rugby, Bagpipes and Tossing the Caber!

Unfortunately we did not make a quick trip home to the UK! This weekend was the Rio Grande Celtic Festival here in Albuquerque, they have it every year at Balloon Fiesta Park. In the 7 years we have lived here we have never been, that was until this year. Seeing as both Jon and I have Scottish and Irish in our Family Trees we decided that we would take the boys bright and early on Saturday morning and introduce them to some of their Family heritage. Sounds good doesn't it! Well it turned into more of a day of Mommy dreading that it would be an anatomy learning day as it was VERY WINDY, and in a hope that the men were not taking the wearing of the kilts in the true Scottish manner!

THANKFULLY we had no anatomy questions.

Instead we got to see the Rugby Sevens Tournament, some of the Bagpipers, wander the stalls, and some of the Highland Games.

Getting ready to watch the Rugby

Not quite Twickenham!
Tuning the Bagpipes
I am sure there is a proper Scottish name for this Highland Game, but it looked just like Shot put except with a large rock!

A heart filled with love

This week has been full of FANTASTIC news for our household. On Wednesday Brendan had his heart check up appointment and we were curious to know the outcome, it has been a few years since his last check up. For those that don't know and are reading this, our eldest, Brendan, was born with a hole in his heart. The first year we were at the hospital every month, then we only had to go every couple of years. We have been VERY LUCKY that he has not had to have surgery, and as he has got older we have not had any complications from him playing sports.

So I picked Brendan up from school and off we went across town to the Cardiologist. Once we were called back, Brendan was hooked up to the EKG machine, while Aaron kept asking all the nurses and Dr's if he had to have a shot! Aaron assumes that because we were at the Dr's he had to have a shot, and was very relieved when Brendan's Dr, Dr Berman, told him that they don't give out shots here just stickers and suckers!


Once his EKG was done the Dr came and listened to his heart, and straight away said that he couldn't hear anything, which was a very good sign. See from an early age Brendan has known that his heart makes a special noise and he would very proudly tell people. So he was slightly confused when the Dr said he couldn't hear anything, I told Brendan that his heart would be beating normally and that the Dr is saying that he can't hear the whoosing noise that the blood makes as it rushes through the hole. But to be 100% sure he wanted to get an ecko done of Brendan's heart. So we moved to a different room and Brendan was hooked up to the machine and settled in for pictures of his heart. The nurse had put Lightening McQueen on the TV which Aaron was very happy about, but Brendan decided it was fascinating to watch the different pictures of his heart.

Once the Dr reviewed the pictures, we could not of got better news, the hole had closed and Brendan was given the all clear, no more check ups, no more worries, or as Brendan said "he is now normal!"


When Brendan was 1 Jon and I wrote in his Brithday card that "although he had a hole in his heart, the hole would close because Mommy and Daddy would fill his heart with love" 8 years of love has proved to be a very powerful thing and we are now so grateful that the hole in his heart has closed.

Cub Scouting Fun Filled Weekend

This past weekend we had a fun packed time involving Nature Centers, Rock Climbing and Roses! Saturday Brendan and I headed out the Rio Grande Nature Center were the boys got to see Owls and birds of prey. We hiked down to the river and boys got to do some weather experiments, the weather was slightly warm, but the boys had fun looking for frogs and climbing trees.

Some of the owls and birds of prey we saw

The Gang down by the river
Me and Mr Brendan

My Mothers day was nice and my gift from my boys and my hubby was AWESOME. I got a couple of rose bushes, which was really nice. I have never had my own roses to grow before, now there is a funny side to this because when it comes to growing plants I have a pretty bad track record, hubby thought that it would be really nice if I could have roses all the time, so here's hoping I can!

My roses

Then my Mothers Day was rounded off with a trip to the new indoor rock climbing gym (not exactly a Mothers Day activity, but it was fun and I even did some climbing!) Our Cub Scout Pack had arranged a trip to the new indoor rock climbing gym, some of the boys had climbed before, but Brendan and Aaron had not. Aaron tried it twice but was a little scared. Once Brendan realized that he couldn't fall because Daddy was belaying him, our spider monkey made it all the way to the top!

Our Spider monkey!
Mr Aaron hanging on for dear life!

Our weekend was busy, fun and rewarding. I am one lucky Mom and wife! I hope all the Moms out there had a great Mothers Day

A Dentist, A Doctor and a Lost Son!

Yesterday could not of been any worse for me. One of those days I would like to erase and re-do, I wonder as Mom's if we can have re-do days!? because I needed one yesterday. Brendan was scheduled for the Dentist in the morning because the boy had another cavity, and I was planning on being there. Whenever he has dental work done he has to take antibiotics because of his heart condition. But the dental appointment was last minute because it was the mobile dentist at school, and I completely forgot to give him his antibiotics, realizing this I raced to school to let them know he could not be seen, which was okay but wanted him seen either later in the day or the following day. Of course we had none of his antibiotics at home so from school I went straight to his Dr's office to see if I could get a prescription. Now before I tell you what happened next, Aaron was with me during this exciting adventure and he was none best pleased about being in and out of his car seat. He loves going to the Dr's office because of the large fish tank that is on display in the pieds waiting room. While Aaron was naming fish I waited for the receptionist to be ready. Without sounding frantic about needing drugs for my 8yr old son I explained the problem to the receptionist and she headed back to see if the Dr was here.



The nurse came and told me that the boys Dr needed to see me, of course a scene errupted because I had to tell Aaron we were leaving his precious fish. The Nurse tried bribing him with a sucker and a sticker, and the look on my son's face was one of those that said "lady, you will have to do better than that!" We made it back to the Dr's office and the words "you need to come and sit with Mommy" were uttered as Aaron headed for his escape. The Dr was then trying to tell me that due to new regulations Brendan no longer needs antibiotics when he has dental work done, and out of the corner of my eye realized that my little escape artist was gone, and when I say gone he had escaped, myself and about 6 nurses were calling his name and they were frantically asking me what he was wearing, Mr Aaron had made it back in to the waiting room without anyone seeing him because he would of had to pass 2 nurses and was out in the main waiting room. So there I am relieved that Aaron was found but wanted to tell him off but I am stood in the middle of the waiting room and everyone is staring waiting for my response! How I found the strength to stay calm and quietly say "You scared me, you have to stay with Mommy" I do not know!

So after losing my son, we had to head back to the school and get Brendan in for his dental appointment. If there is such a thing as a re-do, I really would of liked one that day!

Our S.O.A.R Student

Very proud of our eldest son, Mr Brendan became the S.O.A.R Student of the month last month. Basically his school recognizes students who each month shows Safe, On time, A+ attitude, Respect and Responsibility. The students are issued S.O.A.R tickets every time they show one of the above traits, and then the child from each class with the most tickets is nominated as the S.O.A.R student of the month.

Brendan will have his picture up in the front office and get to have lunch with the principal. He has been doing really well and Jon and I are so proud of him. He is our soaring raven! (school mascot is a raven)

I knight thee Use Up Monday!

I have decided that Monday's in our House will here by be knighted and deemed USE UP MONDAY! We went grocery shopping over the weekend as we do every 2 weeks, came home and when we were putting things away in the freezers (we have 2) I noticed there was a lot of packets and boxes with just one in or bags with a few fries etc. So dinner today will be cook up and use up day. I am just going to put it all in the middle of the table or on the breakfast island, kind of like buffet style and everyone can help themseleves.

Houston we have a problem............

Our Saturday morning was filled with winding rubber bands and rocket malfunctions! Yesterday was our Space Derby with Cub Scouts, each Den had launch times allocated and Brendan's rocket which had been made the night before (don't ask) was a camouflage themed rocket.

The prize winning rocket!

We helped set up and realized that this was going to be one of those activities that involved a lot of fixing and re-do races. Only 3 of Brendan's Wolf Den turned up and the rockets were paired off and wound up! The boys were really excited and got into the spirit of racing, and Brendan's rocket got first place, not quite sure who was more chuffed Daddy or Brendan!

Brendan getting his 1st place medal and a pat on the back from our Cubmaster

(this is one of those photos were speech bubbles would come in handy with all the different expressions!)

Hand Sanitizer anyone......................

So as we all now know about the swine flu, or whatever the World Health Organization is calling it now that a name change is in the works, my day today was filled with hunting for hand sanitizer. Just to be on the safe side because our youngest has had RSV in the past we decided to stock up on medicine, his neb treatments and Hand Sanitizer. Here in New Mexico we are awaiting the results on swabs of 2 suspected cases of this flu, if they test positive they will be the first to have this strain of the flu. Our Hand Sanitizer was running low but we decided that we had better get some more, plus we were out of those handy little bottles that are great to throw in a school bag or handbag. Well after visiting 2 Wally Worlds and 2 Walgreens I came away with just the little ones, I certainly wasn't going to start driving half way across the city. So for those who haven't done so and are reading this I suggest if you haven't already stock up on hand sanitizer because our shelves are empty here!

The biggest slice of Pizza I have ever seen

I meant to blog about this last week, but there just isn't enough blog hours in the day right now! My darling hubby owed me big time last week, as I helped him write one of his papers for school. So he took me out to lunch, Aaron and I met him at work and off we went just a short trip to a pizza place Jon has talked a lot about, as far as he is concerned it is the best pizza ever!
Personally I am not a huge pizza lover, it's dough, tomato sauce and cheese, whether I make it myself, buy it from Wally world, or delivered from Papa Johns, pizza is pizza to me. Giovanni's pizza place is tucked away in a small shopping strip just by the Air Force base and Veterans Hospital, and is very popular at lunch time. It is just like stepping back in time into an old fashioned Pizza Joint.


You order by the slice or you can order whole pizza's, they do calzones, manicotti (not quite sure what that is), salads and other Italian delights. We ordered our pizza and sat at a booth, Aaron insisted he needed a high chair, we told him he didn't that he was a big boy now and that he could sit next to either Mommy or Daddy, but no the boy needed that high chair. I knew he would get stuck, and figured he would learn the hard way! (which he did)
Now despite the fact that it was busy and only 2 staff were working our slices were ready pretty quickly, Jon brought them over to the table, and I think my mouth dropped to the floor, I have never seen a slice of pizza that big. We were going to be there a long time, it takes Aaron forever to eat, how he was going to eat his slice was going to be one of those"here let Daddy help you" moments!


I was so WRONG, Aaron folded his slice up and chowed down, he ate every piece of it, and loved it, and I have to say it is the best pizza I have eaten and by far the biggest!

For when you have one of those days!

Mondays are here again, the weekend seems to be rolling by way to fast. I wanted to share an email I got from my Mom last week, it made me smile and although Monday is here again I hope it brings a smile to your face.

Gonna be a Bear!

In this life, I’m a woman. In my next life, I’d like to come back as a bear. When you’re a bear, you get to hibernate. You do nothing but sleep for six months. I could deal with that.

Before you hibernate, you’re supposed to eat yourself stupid. I could deal with that too.

When you’re a girl bear, you birth your children (who are the size of walnuts) while you’re sleeping and wake to partially grown, cute, cuddly cubs. I could definitely deal with that.

If you’re mama bear, everyone knows you mean business. You swat anyone who bothers your cubs. If your cubs get out of line, you swat them too. I could deal with that.

If you’re a bear, your mate EXPECTS you to wake up growling. He EXPECTS that you will have hairy legs and excess body fat.

Yup, gonna be a bear!

My bargain of the week!

As we all know times are tough, and when you have a family we all do our best to grab that bargain. Well this week the bargain I got was clothes for our eldest. I swear the boy sneaks out at night and stands in a grow bag (not sure if you have them over here, but in England you can grow your tomatoes from a grow bag!) I know kids go through a growth spurt, but Brendan has been on a growth spurt since the day he was born.
We have a couple of Kids consignment stores here in Rio Rancho/Albuquerque and I decided yesterday I would stop by because our school district decided to change the dress code, and I certainly wasn't rushing out to buy new clothes with only 4 weeks of school left. Plus the boy needs shorts, so I stopped off at Other Mothers it was the first time I had been to the store. It was slightly crazy busy and they had a lot more girls stuff than boys. But being Thursday it was 50% off yellow tag day and 75% off red tag day (even better) I picked up 2 pairs of shorts and a huge bundle of tops, polos and T-shirts for the whopping price of $23.

On Friday Brendan very proudly wore his new clothes and he looked really smart, total cost of shirt and shorts $3.99!

As a Mom there is one thing that I can't do.................

I am apologizing now for blogging about this but I am curious if it is just me or there are other Moms who have the same or similar problem???
Now bearing in mind I have been a chef and handled my fair share of raw meats, fish, oh and squid (really gross to clean) and I have dealt with plenty of poop filled diapers, not just from my boys but from when I was a Nanny. Even those diapers that seem to explode up the back and down the legs, give me them any day instead of cleaning up and dealing with vomit!
Yes folks I just can't do it, that is a Daddy job in our house. I am getting better, but that is only because there have been occasions when Daddy has not been here and I have just had to get on with it(the boys just couldn't wait until Daddy was around!). Which trust me takes me forever, I have this unfortunate problem that being around vomit makes me feel sick, which of course is no good when I am suppose to be comforting my children while they pray to the porcelain god!
Why you might ask am I blogging about this, because I have just finished cleaning up vomit and comforting our eldest Brendan, of course Daddy is at class, and will be home soon, but the boy couldn't wait!

So tell me Mom's am I the only one, or is there that one thing you just can't do?

Mint.............the final frontier

Mint, love the stuff on potatoes, love mint choc chip ice cream have done since I was a kid. But the actually plant that the lovely aromatic herb comes from became the pain of all pains this past weekend. Neither Jon or I are green fingered, I have had a tendency in the past to kill plants, and there has been numerous occasions that I have had to call home, some 6000 miles away, to ask what to do.
When we first moved into the house we are in now, the back yard had a mint bush by the back wall, and my Mom had warned us that the Mint will grow and spread everywhere. Well it had, up the wall into the grass, it was like some Alfred Hitchcock movie "Revenge of the Mint!"
The weather lately here in New Mexico has been really crazy and there hasn't been a chance for us to actually work in the back yard until this past weekend. So on Sunday we all set to pulling weeds and tidying, and we decided that the mint had to go, so we transplanted some of it into a pot, in the hope that we could control it's growth. The actually pulling of the bush was not an easy task, it was never ending, and Jon was heard to say "I feel like I am digging to China"

One of the many trash bags we filled After nearly 2 hours of finding and pulling roots we finally finished and HOPED that we got it all. I have been checking every morning the mint we transplanted because I am half expecting to find that it has broken through the pot and taken over the patio!

Can Crushing Fun!

My boys have found a new obsession!
I honestly didn't think they would have so much fun, but crushing cans grabbed their attention, maybe it was the whole destruction of the soda cans that sparked such enthusiasm!
This past Saturday we all joined in the task of crushing soda cans for Brendan's Cub Scout Pack. The Pack encourages the scouts to collect the cans, sell the crushed cans, and then the money is used to help purchase badges and awards. So I came up with a fun way to encourage the collection of cans, with a bit of healthy competition thrown in for good measure!
The Pack will be having it's first ever Golden Can Award next month. Each Den would have had just over a month to collect cans, which I have the fun task of collecting, crushing and weighing. The Den with the most cans crushed in weight will receive the coveted Golden Can award and a Pizza party. The boys have been getting all competitive, and this past Saturday, Brendan's Wolf Den had already got a jump on their cans so we set too crushing and weighing them.
This was the end result

Harry the Hamster

Harry our long time surviving only pet (we have not had much luck in the pet department!) nearly met an untimely death over the weekend. We have had Harry since 2006 and not only has he grown to resemble "Rhino" from the movie Bolt but his home has doubled too. He has two houses joined together by tubing, which on numerous occasions we have joked that one of these days he will get stuck in! Well that joke became a reality on Saturday, after cleaning his cage and letting him roll around the place in his ball, Harry decides to stuff his face with carrots. Not just one carrot, but his cheeks were full, he then proceeds to squish himself into the tubing, Jon was watching this unfold when the words"he is stuck" came out of his mouth.
Jon managed to get the cages apart and as he releases Harry carrots and food come flying out of his mouth! I will be very surprised if he does that again, we are hoping he has learned a lesson!

The 3rd looking leg that appears to be tucked up in front there is in fact a carrot!

The tubing that nearly caused the end of Harry's life!

Easter for us

I hope you all had a great Easter weekend, ours was quiet and full of egg dying and too much chocolate! Our first Easter back in the States, back in 2002, I realized that just giving chocolate eggs to children was not the norm, I became a fast learner in the Easter Basket department! You see in England we just give Chocolate eggs, they are hollow and are filled with candy. This year the boys had the best of both worlds, Nanny had sent them Chocolate Eggs from England and the Easter Bunny brought them a basket of goodies on Easter morning.

The boys holding their British Easter eggs! I managed to get a picture quick before they ripped into the boxes!

We dyed our eggs on the Saturday and made some bunny cookies. Normally I use the pots to dye the eggs, were you add the vinegar. This year I had brought the Tye Dye kit, looked different and fun. Oh was I wrong, first of all I did not realize that the eggs had to be warm when applying the dye in this kit, and it was slightly awkward having to transfer the eggs to a new a baggie every time you wanted to add a new color. I think next year we shall go back to the good old dye pots. The boys had fun and they said our eggs looked like dinosaur eggs!

Our Dinosaur Eggs!

The boys were very excited on Easter morning, that crazy Easter Bunny had left eggs throughout the house.


The rest of Easter Sunday was spent relaxing at home, while the boys played with their goodies they got in their baskets, and Jon and I were the candy police!

Hot Cross Buns

A British Tradition on Good Friday is Hot Cross Buns. I have never made them before, normally back home we would just buy them from the grocery store. But I decided that I would have a go making them this year, and set to making them yesterday. They turned out YUMMY! I should say that my bread machine did all the hard work!


I have 2 different recipes , one uses icing for the top for the cross, but then the other one said to use a piped pastry for the cross (which is the proper way to do it)

Here is the recipe for a bread machine:

2 eggs + enough water to equal 1 1/2 cups
1/2 cup soft butter
4 cups Bread Flour
3/4 teaspn cinnamon
1/4 teaspn ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspn salt
2 tablespn sugar
1 1/2 teaspn yeast
1 cup raisins

Icing for the top

Set bread machine on the dough cycle, add the raisins when indicated. When done remove the dough and let it rest for 10 minutes, covered. Grease a cookie sheet. Divide the dough into 16 equal parts and roll into a smooth ball. Place on a cookie sheet, cover let rise for about 40 minute. Heat oven 375 degrees, brush with egg wash and bake 18-20 minutes. When cool make a cross with icing.

For the pastry cross you need 1/2 cup plain flour , 2 tblspn margarine and some water. Rub the marg into the flour until it resembles bread crumbs. Then bind together with enough water to make it a soft pastry so it can piped. Then a cross has to be piped on top of the buns before they go in the oven.

Enjoy!

No Computer for the last 2 days

The last 48 hrs have been frustrating, my Computer got a virus, and like a Doctor operating, my WONDERFUL husband performed miracles. It was touch and go at one point and the words "I'm going to have to roll back your computer" were uttered and knowing that if he did that I would loose documents, pictures etc. I waited patiently and having complete faith in my husband to remove the sneaky virus, DR PC worked his magic and saved my computer from being thrown out of the window!
As a heads up for people, if you are surfing the web and you try and go to one of your regular web sites that you visit and that is not the page that displays you have what is known as a root-kit virus, and trust me it is not easy to remove.

But my computer is healthy again and I am so lucky to have a computer genius for a hubby!

Freezing cold Easter Egg Hunt

Only in America do you take your kids to an Easter Egg Hunt and watch the eggs blow away because of the winds and freeze because despite the fact that you live in the desert, the wind has dropped the temperature to what feels like minus five!The words "I'm freezing" were said instead of Cheese!

That was us this past Saturday, it had been a few years since we had taken the boys to an Easter Egg Hunt, and seeing as Aaron is nearly 4 he was able to really get into it all. It had been organized at a local park and split up into age groups, which was great, but there was 6 kids and 2 adults in our group, so the older boys had to fend for themselves while I had the younger kids and our neighbor was with her daughter in the middle age group. The younger kids were so cute, one of the girls decided that 2 eggs were enough for her and plopped down in the middle of the field to see what treasures were inside the eggs! Meanwhile Mr Aaron decided that seeing as his bucket was full, he would stuff his pockets with eggs!

Aaron's stash of eggs

The older boys checking to see if any of their eggs had tickets in them

It was a fun morning, just wish it had been slightly warmer!