Ok, I'm weird.

Let the joyous news be spread! It has been a better day Kim said!

Wicked Witch of the Pines

Now that I have a few minutes to park my broom, I thought I'd write a little about my wicked attitude this afternoon! What is my problem??? I have not been remotely compassionate, kind or caring. Ethan asked me why I was talking so mean to Mackenzie. That's so sad! I totally know why Elphaba (the wicked witch of the west) was so "witchy". It was those crazy winged monkeys! All that jumping around and monkey jabbering would drive anyone mad. I think I'm going to check my kids for sprouting wings. Matt is now on his way home. Dinner is ready, and I'm nursing my glass of sangria. So far, these are three highlights of my evening. Now it's time to fly my pretty...

Paradise Found

I have found the land of milk and honey-and it is called Lake Placid, FL. teehee Seriously though, it is GORGEOUS!!! We took a trip there yesterday to visit some friends of ours who had moved there last year. My friend Amy, her three boys, my two monkeys and I piled into her van and we drove two hours north on I27 to get there.

As we drove down the town's little main street I thought we had entered 1956 (I don't know-I just picked a year). Lake Placid is called the Town of Murals because every building has a mural painted on it. They even had a clown school! (Some of you may now be saying-OH! Wow! Now that's definitely paradise!!) Hold your sarcasm. The clown school and the murals aside, the sunset on the lake, the big, beautiful houses surrounded by orange groves, no traffic, lots of peaceful surroundings-these are just a few of the reasons why I thought Lake Placid was so unique and beautiful.

We know a few families that have moved to Lake Placid and they seem so relaxed now. Every evening they see the sunset from their front window. They have friends that live in an unbelievable house on one of the lakes and they have a private beach. We went swimming there, and I thought I had walked into the pages of Southern Living magazine.

The kids had a blast!! Ethan was asking me this morning when we were going back to play with the kids. Even though I felt like we were in a different world, I would see a bird that was native to South Florida or a palm tree and then I would feel like I was still home. It wasn't too foreign, and that was comforting. Enough of the terrible description of Lake Placid, here are some pictures. Thank you to Adriana and Liz and their families for being such wonderful hostesses and tour guides!!

Easter blessings

The grandkids enjoyed a little photo session at ZsaZsa's house yesterday. Olivia is such a cute baby! She is a little pudge and I love to see the rolls on her legs. She laughs at silly faces (and not so silly ones too). She couldn't stop staring at Kenzie, and then Kenzie would make a funny face and Livi would break out into a big grin. All three kids were adorable in the pictures. Here are a few.

Just Curious...

I know. This is a weird post, but I just had to ask- Did you have an imaginary friend when you were growing up? I did, although I don't remember having one. My mom said her name was Lisa.

So, why am I asking this bizarre question? I am 33 years old, and I still love watching cartoons. This one, Fosters Home for Imaginary Friends, is one of my favorites these days. I think it is hysterical. I got to thinking about my IF Lisa. I don't think she was as unusual as the ones on this show, but again, I don't remember her. I wonder if she's living at Fosters Home... So, did you have an IF??? I want to know!!

Kenzie's Easter Party

Yesterday Ethan and I attended Mackenzie's school Easter party. Her class, along with three others, went to a local park and enjoyed an egg hunt and a "surprise" visit from the Bunny (whom Mackenzie promptly informed me was not a REAL bunny because she saw someone's arm in there with a watch on). Ethan loved being set free in a big field to run around and look for eggs. They both REALLY liked eating the candy. I'm getting a little nervous about Kindegarten next year. Faith is such a sweet little school, and I'm a little anxious about what school will hold for her next year. I am praying that she chooses her friends wisely, that her teacher is loving, that we will be able to continue good communication between us when she encounters something she isn't sure of, that she is more of a leader than a follower, and that she can be a light for Jesus in her class. She has such a sweet spirit, and I pray that she continues to grow into lovely, intelligent big girl! Please pray for her (and me and Matt) as we get ready for the school journey. Thanks!!

I Apologize

Sorry about yesterday's outburst. teehee I was partially kidding. Being on the south beach diet isn't all that bad. I have actually made some yummy dinners, although I would rather have Paula Dean's stuffed shells and tiramisu. I wonder if she has any low carb recipes. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Yeah right.

Grumpy Girl

Ok. Here is how I work:
yummy food (usually involving chocolate or lots of sugar)= happy Kim
grilled meat, roasted veggies, and ricotta cheese (as a dessert) = grumpy Kim

Matt and I decided to start the South Beach diet on Tuesday. Today is day 3. We're doing ok. We have dodged all temptations, except tonight. We celebrated Matt not getting layed off at work by eating a bag of microwave popcorn. Thank goodness we ran out of ricotta.

I did find a cool website with loads of South Beach appropriate recipes. If you google South Beach Century Club, you can get the website.

So, today, I was watching Paula Dean. **Note to self: DO NOT WATCH PAULA DEAN WHILE ON THE SOUTH BEACH DIET!!!** And she made stuffed shells. When she pulled the dish out of the oven and the camera zoomed in on the gooey melted Asiago cheese and the luscious homemade tomato sauce and the overstuffed shells with ground beef, spinach, cream cheese and parmesan cheese I literally had tears in my eyes. It looked so good!! Then she went on to make a Savannah version of tiramisu. Needless to say, it looked sinfully good. Anti-South Beach good. Wow. I am pretty grumpy.

We go to Disney, They go to Boot Camp

For Matt's birthday, I decided to surprise him with a one night stay at our favorite Disney resort. We left on Saturday and came back today. Just one day and one night to relax and get rejuvinated. The kids stayed at my parents' house, aka Boot Camp. Why Boot Camp you say? Because we came back to find Ethan with a buzz cut. I almost cried, but he does look cute. If you remember my post about his last hair cut being too short-well, this one is super short. He got his "summer cut" a few months early. When he woke up this morning he asked my dad if he could put his hair back on. But he was excited to look like Pops.

As for our time away, we had a really nice time. We didn't go to any parks, which was so much more relaxing. We tried new things, like renting bikes and riding the trails around the campgrounds, and we ate at Boma's in the Animal Kingdom Lodge (which was a beautiful resort!). We also went to the Boardwalk and saw the Epcot fireworks. We took time to sit around the resort and read and watch everyone else's kids scream and cry because they were tired. tee hee I was very anxious to get back and see my babies. They had a great time with ZsaZsa and Pops. They went to the zoo, to the park, to the mall for pizza and ice cream and "rides". We all had a great time. I'll post a few pictures next time.

Happy Spring!

We have been experiencing some really beautiful weather up until today when we got some much needed rain. Last weekend our church had Dinner on the Grounds where we continued to enjoy the cool breezes and bright sunshine. Catered by a local bbq restaurant we pigged out on yummy food and had a great time fellowshipping with our church family.

The picture of the sunflower is thrown in there because it finally bloomed and I thought it was pretty! It bloomed completely yesterday, and perfect timing! with yesterday being the first day of spring. Funny thing is I didn't plant any sunflower seeds and it just started growing. I almost ripped it up because I thought it was a weed. Sunflowers must be low maintenance because I have a serious black thumb!

The Next Anne Geddes?

It's almost 10:30 pm, but I wanted to upload some pictures I took today. So as I was doing this, I found these pictures. I didn't take these pictures and Matt didn't take these pictures, so that only leaves one person...

M & E

We have been going over catechism questions during devotional time, and Ethan has started picking up the first few, such as who made you? what else did God make? So yesterday morning as Matt and I were relishing a few extra minutes of sleepy time we overheard Mackenzie and Ethan talking. It went something like this:

M: Wow Ethan! Who made your bed?

E: God.

What sensation do you get?

Ok. So why the super bad 70's commercial? Well, I made this peppermint patty poke cake the other day and I totally felt like I was in the Swiss Alps when I tasted it. No, not really. But, it was REALLY GOOD! Here's the recipe:

Peppermint Patty Poke Cake

Cake:
1 box betty crocker supermoist triple choc fudge cake mix
water, veggie oil, and eggs called for in cake mix directions

Filling:
1 box (4 serving size) white choc instant pudding and pie filling mix
2 cups milk
1/2 tsp peppermint extract

Frosting:
1/4 tsp peppermint extract
1 container betty crocker whipped milk choc frosting
3/4 c coarsely chopped choc covered peppermint patties (8 candies)

1. Heat oven to 350 deg. Make cake as directed for 13x9 in. pan; cool 15 minutes. Poke top of warm cake every 1/2 inch with handle of wooden spoon.
2. In medium bowl, beat filling ingredients with wire whisk about 2 min. Immediately pour over cake. Loosely cover and refrigerate about 2 hrs or until chilled.
3. Stir 1/4 tsp peppermint extract into frosting. Spread frosting over top of cake. Sprinkle with peppermint patties. Store loosely covered in refrigerator. 15 servings

*If you're baking this in the Alps or any other high altitude from 3500-6500 ft., bake 30-35 min. Enjoy!!! Let me know if it makes you yodel...

There She Goes

Matt took off Mackenzie's training wheels yesterday. He ran alongside her for maybe a minute and let go, and she took off! She couldn't wait to get outside today to ride her bike, and she rode it alot. She started getting pretty brave too, like standing up and pedaling, going really fast, making quick turns, etc. Because of all the cool tricks, I think I might have a new twitch.

The Cates Express

Yesterday while we were outside enjoying the BEAUTIFUL weather, Mackenzie thought it would be fun to "hook up" her bike to the little red wagon and take E for a ride. How inventive! They had a blast-which you can see from the pictures. After she got comfortable pulling the wagon, Mackenzie decided to go a little faster. At this point, I got a little more nervous about her inventive idea. So I made Ethan put on his helmet. Thankfully, the oven timer went off and we had to go inside and put the train in the station. Ahhh! Too bad! I'm sure that she will be begging me to take it out today, however, when I went into the garage this morning the front wheels fell off. I swear I had nothing to do with it!

The Ladies

My sister visited yesterday with the baby. My grandparents from New York are here for the next few weeks, and my "abuela" wanted to bring all of us dinner. So we all got together at my mom's house and had fun with Olivia. My kids rode around on the deck with their scooters. Ethan tried to shave using my dad's razor and shaving cream. And we took this super cool four generations picture.

There goes my pie...

I should've taken a picture. I made a beautiful blueberry pie. It baked to perfection (or at least it looked good). I took it out of the oven on the cookie sheet I placed it on in the oven. As I took it out of the oven chanting-'please don't slip, please don't slip', you can guess what happened next. As I stood over the splattered blueberries and syrupy juice all over my tile all I could think was-'is that going to stain my grout?' But, never fear! I made another one. The end.

(Disclaimer for the lame post: I was starting to become a little embarassed of the glowing boobies on the previous post. teehee )

Blueberry Pie recipe (from my Grandma Hall)

4 cups of blueberries (I used fresh ones)
1 cup sugar
3 tbsp. cornstarch
2 tbsp. flour
1 tbsp. butter
1 tbsp. lemon juice
Pillsbury refrigerated pie crust (not adventurous enough to make my own crust)

Combine first four ingredients. Line pie dish with first crust. Put berries mixture in crust. Sprinkle lemon juice and crumble butter on top. Put crust on top. Bake @ 425 deg for 10 min. Then change oven to 375 deg. and bake for 45-55 min. Don't drop it when taking it out of the oven. :)

HAPPY VALENTIMES

Happy Valentimes! part 2

I got online and caught a quick glimpse of an article listing the ten worst gifts to give your sweetheart on Valentine's Day (or VD as a friend of mine calls it). Yes, I admit, I wouldn't want to receive a glow bra like the one shown above or a "li'l minx stripper pole" (it's spring loaded!) or a four course meal at White Castle (don't forget you need a reservation for the Cupid's Crave Kit!). But as I was pondering these gifts, I thought of my own top ten worst Valentine's gifts. (Let's hope Matt doesn't come home with one of these...):

10. Scooby Doo Chia pet - Who needs roses when you can grow something out of scooby's head? c c c come on! Were the creators of this for real?
9. 9 inch ball point "Cutie" pen - when Kenzie pulled it out of her backpack I thought it was a flash light-no! it's a pen! She even used it to sign ZsaZsa and Pop's valentine card. How handy! Good for a five year old.
8. any resin knick knack from the dollar tree - if you've been to any white elephant exchange, you know where I'm going with this...(babies on a couch? are you kidding me?)
7. a giant talking plush rose ("You're the love of my life", "My life wouldn't be the same without you", etc. and etc.)
6. the talking "perfect" man doll - (see #7)
5. Cupid poop -you know, snowman poop (marshmallows), reindeer poop (Milk Duds), Cupid poop (red hots) duh!
4. a cooking apron that says - 'Matt and Kim-cookin' up love since 1997'

3.Butt Face towel - nothing says love like a Butt Face towel
2. Candy bra/candy g-string - just like the candy necklace! Eating that will never be the same.

1. a lovely picture of me....

That's hot!

Fun in the Sun

What a beautiful day we had yesterday! We ventured over to a park in my parents' neighborhood that was recently renovated. Ethan got a new sand toy (thanks Aunt Susie!) so we brought a few sand toys and the kids went to town. Ethan played with his dump truck and Kenzie got to work on digging a hole to China. I had my camera with me and took a few pictures of the kids playing because I don't have enough pictures of them (teehee). My grandparents are coming on Tuesday to escape the horrible snow they've gotten in the past week and to see Baby Livi. They are certainly coming down to better weather! Let's hope it stays this way...

Li'l Lovey

I am so in love with my little niece, Livi! She is so precious, and I'm really sad that I can't see her more often. The last time I saw her was at Christmas time, and she has changed a lot since then. Her face has filled out and she has little Michelin rolls on her legs. So cute! She is such an angel.

Aren't they too young to shave?

My aunt gave Ethan a gift certificate to this really cool toy store in Minnesota called Creative Kidstuff. So I ordered a bathtub shaving kit. The kids so much fun shaving in the tub tonight! Ethan loved lathering up his face with the "shaving cream". Most of it ended up in his ear and on his chest, but he didn't care. Mackenzie was all set to shave her face, but I told her that girls shave their legs so she shaved hers four or five times. She also helped Ethan shave his face. What a blast! Along with this kit he got a Gears, Gears, Gears building set which they loved too. Thanks Aunt Pat!

I love seeing Mackenzie run into the room wearing her tutu and crown. But when she tries on my boots it really makes me smile! My little peanut has turned into a boot scootin' ballerina-so cute!

Ethan, the greaser

I attended a meeting tonight at church and we got to talking about the upcoming St. Andrews church picnic. Since our church is celebrating it's 50th anniversary this year we are trying to incorporate this in all of our events. So, our picnic is going to be an old fashioned one, checkered table cloths and all. Someone had suggested having a "chase the greased pig" game, and we all laughed. I couldn't resist-I offered to grease Ethan up and let people run around and chase him. Surely he'd give everyone else a run for their money because he certainly gives me one!

The T-Birds and the Pink Ladies

Our church is celebrating it's 50th anniversary this year, so to kick off the celebration we had a 50's sockhop! It was a super great time, and we had fun dressing the part. Everyone loved Ethan's "squiggy" hair and Mackenzie's pink lady jacket. Sorry about the quality of the pictures! My camera is not cooperating these days, but you get the idea....

Not too short, ok?

How do you say 'not too short' in espanol? I took Ethan for his 15 minute torture session that we got for the bargain price of $10. (He got a hair cut from a woman named Dorka who no speaka bery good english.) I said 'too short-no good'. She say, 'ok'. This is the result of that interaction.....




I'm not sure if I want to call him Curious George or write messages on his forehead with a dry erase marker. Oh well, it's just hair. I think we can have fun with his little Caesar cut if we have the right "product". (Any styling product suggestions???)

Some of Ethan's favorite sayings these days are:

"Give me a hug furball!"
"What is that called?" (said while he is tapping the end of his nose)
"I promise I won't _______." (this is usually after he's done something naughty)
"Hi! I'm Ethan. This is my mommy, and this is my sister Mackenzie." (when meeting someone new at the park)
"I'm not a monkey. I'm Ethan Matthew Cates." (this usually happens when we're with Pops.)

Happy Birthday boys!

Better late than never...here are some pictures of our time at the greatest show on earth and beyond.

Pressing on into another year....
I think Ethan was over the pictures at this point.
Happy Birthday boys!


Ethan's latin roots were showing as he and Abby danced to the music.

The Last Two Weeks

I can't believe that this is my first post of the new year! I have lots to write about but haven't quite found the time or the energy to actually do it. Well, we rang in the New Ear (as Ethan called it) with our good friends Amy and Chris Ross and their three boys. We enjoyed sitting back and watching the boys and Kenzie run circles around us.

A few days later, I celebrated my thirty somethingth birthday. (I'm 33, but when I was thinking about how old I was turning, I really didn't believe myself-all I could think was 'where did 32 go?' No, seriously, where did last year go???) I took the kids to see Happy Feet, and then my mom and dad came over to watch the kids while Matt and I went to Macaroni Grill for dinner. We couldn't end there, so we went to Cold Stone and had a really yummy creation! (This is one reason why I'd like to officially change my birthday to a different month. I can't start any diet full force when there is a birthday to celebrate properly!) The celebration continued through the weekend, and it ended with a birthday cake and more ice cream.

A week later, we celebrated Ethan's third birthday. We can't believe that he's already three. I can't believe that I survived the terrible two's, but I have a feeling that I might have the therrible threes (oh crap! I'm sensing a not-so-good pattern here!) We have some very dear friends (the Hunters and the Rosses) that will be moving this summer. If you remember, Ethan, Levi (Hunter), and James(Ross) were all born the same week, and we have enjoyed celebrating their birthdays together the last three years. So for one last hoorah, we decided to go to the circus! There were 13 of us, and we all had a blast. After the show we enjoyed some Latin music by the water where they sang to Etan, Levee, and Yames. It was a great day yet very tiring too! We celebrated with the family on Sunday and Ethan was a little hesitant about me cutting into his race track cake, but he quickly changed his mind when he realized that there was sugar involved. (He's all about the cake!)

I found out the next day (Sunday) that my very best friend's (LeeAnn) sister had died on Saturday night while she was on her way home from church. Her name was Lonnie. Her children were in the car with her, and miraculously, they walked away with a few scrapes and bruises. I quickly made my reservations and flew to Atlanta to be with LeeAnn and her family. It was a very emotionally draining trip, but for LeeAnn, I would do anything. Lonnie was a believer in Christ, and we know that she is celebrating in heaven where there is no more pain, sadness, and tears. It is comforting for the family to rest in that truth, but her loss was so sudden and tragic. So pray for them as they grieve in the coming months. I came home to my awesome, loving hubby who didn't blink an eye when I said that I had to go. Although I was exhausted on Friday, I was so thankful to be able to hug my babies and tell them I love them. Many thanks to my mom and my friends who helped Matt care for the kids while I was gone. I was amazed at the outpouring of love that I saw from LeeAnn's and Cheryl and Lonnie's churches, and I was equally amazed at how quickly my friends and family would lay down their lives for me.

So far this year, I've seen lots of love...may it continue throughout 2007. (I'm getting mushy in my old age.)