A little bit of this...A little bit of that...

So, I had to take my daughter, Ariana out today for some art supplies for a Kite project she was working on for school.  While I was at Michael's, I decided to buy some canvases for this Photo Mod Podge project I was going to work on with the kids pictures.  Click here for a tutorial of this project which my friend Leisa and her sister came up with on their blog The Sassy Pepper http://thesassypepper.blogspot.com/2010/11/mod-podge-photos-on-canvas.html.  They are so creative.  And, since I was at Michael's, I decided to buy some spray paint for my bamboo candle plates in my living room and for my basket on top of my cabinets.  I wanted to make them both a reddish wine color.

Bamboo Candle Plates Before...

Bamboo Candle Plate after with Candle (Red Wine color)

Dinner was a success!!!

And after I painted the candle plates and my basket, I decided to try a new recipe for dinner.  I saw a little blurb in Better Homes and Garden this month about trying a Pea Pesto Sauce instead the regular pesto with pine nuts to cut out fat and reduce calories.  They didn't list any measurements at all, but it listed the ingredients, so I decided to give it a whirl.  This is what I came up with.  

So here is the recipe in case any of you were interested in trying it.  You can make this strictly vegetarian style and drop in some peas to add color, or add chicken.  

Pea Pesto Sauce with Pasta and Chicken 

1 bag frozen peas (thawed but I heated them up too)

1 - 2 cloves of garlic minced

1 - 2 tablespoons of fresh basil 

1-2 small lemons juiced 

1/2 teaspoon salt 

dash of pepper

1/4 cup of shredded parmesan cheese (not pantry style)

olive oil

So while I was boiling my pasta, I whipped up this pesto sauce in my food processor.  If you don't have a food processor, you can always use your blender.

Add all ingredients except the olive oil.  Puree and gradually add olive oil until smooth and creamy. You will want to add enough olive oil until you reach the consistency of thick spaghetti sauce.  Once the pasta is done, drain it and toss with this pesto.  I added cubed chicken which I also cooked while waiting for the water to boil. 

The kids were a little surprised with their green pasta, but they all went back for seconds and so did Dan.  I was good and stuck to my one serving.

Try it, you might like it...  Happy Eats!

Kids, life, and mood..

This week flew by!  I spent most of the week stressing about the usual stuff.  We had lots going on but what can you expect with four kids!  Most of the week was spent calling contractors over to give us a bid on the loft upstairs. The landlord wanted me to get more estimates, so I had to make sure I kept up on the house all week too! 

Today a guy came over and he was really nice and to me, seemed like he would do the best job.  His design included a closet being built up from the downstairs closet and saving floor space.  If this was my house, I would do it his way.   I hope the landlords pick him because this would give Ariana more room for her stuff and save the floorspace.

A couple days ago the landlord was here too pulling out the Goji berry bushes on the side yard.  Elissa was too cute helping out.  It reminded me of the Karate Kid with Mr. Miagi and his apprentice.  I had to laugh because he was this little Asian man who barely spoke English and he was trying to explain to her how to help with minimal words.  He also took out a tree under the grapevines that was infested with bees.  Yep another bee hive here.  This time we saw that they were the huge black bees who drilled into the tree and made a home out of it for the last year or two.  Come spring I hope we can actually play out there without worrying about getting stung.  Here is a picture of Elissa carrying one of the bushes to the landlords car.  He wanted to save some so he could replant somewhere else since they are so expensive to buy in their current state.

My Weight Loss efforts....

All week long I worked out for over 1 hour per day.  I even watched my calories and I only managed to lose .6 pounds.  I feel so discouraged.  I only lost .6 pounds last week too.  I don't think I will ever lose this weight!  Kelli on the other hand lost another 3+ pounds.  She is at a total of about 15 pounds in 1 month. I guess I will have to even eat less than I have been to lose more.  We will see how this next week goes.

New Furniture Addition

On the bright side, we bought a new couch from Costco which we really like. Finally, the whole family can sit in the family room and watch a movie together.  Here is a picture of our new couch.

We had to move all the other furniture out of the room because it was so massive.  That's is fine though because our front room was pretty empty so, adding the chaise lounge and two tables in there filled it up.  It isn't the best fit, but it works ok and the kids like it.

Well off to do my Saturday errands.  I hope all of you have a wonderful weekend.  I wanted to give a shout out to my Mom.  Happy Birthday Momma!  xoxo :)

Elissa's Party City Shoot Today...

Today was pretty hectic to say the least.  Friday night I got a call and Party City wanted Elissa to come back for another party scene - Disney Princess.  I said sure, but wasn't really comprehending how chaotic it would be for me there with all three kids. The kids had a minimum day today, so I needed to make sure I picked everyone up, drive Noah to Rachel's house and then drive to Pleasanton by 2:30.

Earlier today I had to call around to get bids for the landlord so they could build the room on our loft and I even had a contractor here this morning doing a bid. Additionally, I needed to get Elissa's stuff together and make sure Connor was fed, napped, fed agaIN, changed etc. and eat lunch myself all by 12:45.

If it weren't for my friends and family (thank you Betsy) for lending me some dresses for Elissa's shoot, I don't know what I would do.  They wound up using a pretty blue dress my sis-in-law lent me for this party scene since no one else wore blue there today.  That's fine with me because I personally feel she looks her best in blue. :)

Here are some pictures from the shoot.  Keep in mind they are not professional pictures by any means, but thought I would give you all a peek at what went on behind the scenes.   Hope you all enjoy them.  As soon as I get links to the real pics I will post them for all to see.

This is her posing with other girls.  The director wanted them to pass this blow up crown from head to head.

Here she is with another cute girl posing for the Princess spa scene, but this was in between takes and the ladies were helping get the girls ready for the shots.

Elissa made some friends during down time and one girl even brought all her Polly Pockets for the girls to play with. 

Another picture of them playing.  This little girl here with the curls was such a cutie pie.  Loved her hair.

A nice end to the weekend...

Well today I woke up REALLY sore. So much for working my tail off at the gym today.  That Jillian Michaels workout that I did yesterday really kicked some booty!  I could barely even sit down today, let alone stand up. Dan was the same way.  You should see us, we are quite the pair today.

I did go to the gym this morning, but I only did 20 minutes on the elliptical and about 30-35 minutes working on my upper body and core.  Kelli went to the gym with me, and I was glad to have the company.  After that, I came home and wanted a NAP, but do you think I got to take one?  Nope.  Not in my house.  I usually get about 5-10 minutes if I am lucky.  So, I decided to get up and make some lunch and go do my grocery and Target shopping.  Ariana came with me and we finished in a little over an hour.

When I came home Dan made us smoothies and I put away the groceries, played with Connor and put him down for a nap. I demanded a REMATCH of Scrabble from Dan, but he was busy watching football.  I will get him to play me later and when I do, I am gonna win this time (I hope)!   He beat me by 109 points last night, but I think that was pure luck because I have been on a role lately.  A big winning streak.  So much for that.

Anyway, Ariana said she would make dinner tonight - Chicken Milano.  Yipee!!  I don't know about all of you, but I get tired of making dinner every night, so I welcome this chance to sit one out!  What a nice end to my weekend.  Sometimes my kids can be so sweet.  :)

Where did the day go?

Well, today came and went like most Saturdays do.  At least I still have a few hours left to be productive.  I was tired today because Elissa and Connor were up most of the night with their fevers and coughs, so I really wasted a better part of my morning sleeping and sitting around :(.  I ate breakfast late again and didn't start working out until after my Biggest Loser weigh in, which I was only down about .6 pounds from last week.  Boo!  I didn't work out as much as I wanted to this past week because of my busy schedule.  So, this coming week I will have to buckle down and sweat my tail off!

Anyway, I spent the better part of my morning chatting with my mom on the phone.  After that, I did manage to pull it together and work out for about 45 minutes.  I did 14 minutes of the Last Chance Workout  from Jillian Michaels and then 30 minutes of the Jillian Michaels Shred It Weights 1.  That workout was tough, but I really liked it!  I was breathing so hard and could barely get up and down but I was determined to work really hard today.  Dan even did the workout after I did it.  I just need to go buy a kettle bell so I can really get the most of my workouts.  I just used the dumbbell and that was ok too.  These workout videos were free on Comcast On Demand this month through March if anyone is interested in trying it.  I say challenge yourself and go for it.

My plan is to sweat really bad this week and burn as much weight as Kelli.  She lost 5.6 pounds this week.  She is amazing with the weight loss.  To date, she has lost 12 pounds.  I am so proud of her!  I can't wait to see how we both look at the end of the summer.  I hope we get the results we want.

Well, time to make dinner and spend the rest of my night with the kids.  We might play the new game Scribblish we bought last week.  The kids loved it.  It says you need to be at least 8 yrs old, but as long as your kid can read and draw, they can play.  Elissa is 6 and does pretty well.  

Today was a bit trying, but that comes with motherhood I guess...

I woke up today at 7am as usual but this morning was a bit different than the rest.  Connor was grunting a lot in his crib from about 6-7 and I just knew something wasn't quite right with him.  He was especially clingy too.  I couldn't even set him down long enough to change his diaper or his clothes.  Then Elissa comes in my room and tells me she needs to wear college apparel to school for College day today.  We don't have any college gear for our six year old, so I decided to print out the word HARVARD on a paper and tape it to her shirt.  Hey, I do my best!!  Anyway, I did manage to find a safety pin and stuck it to her shirt.  This made her happy, so I got ready and headed downstairs to get the kids going.  Cereal was all over the place and Connor was crying his head off.  I took the kids to school and decided to bypass the gym today because he felt warm to me.  I put him down an hour early because I just couldn't take anymore and my day had just started.  I finally ate my breakfast at 10am but decided to eat light so I could maybe have lunch with my sister, Rachel today.  Here is a picture of my poor sick baby.

I did go to lunch with my sister today and took Connor with me.  We went to Black Bear Diner and I split my lunch with him although he wasn't really eating much.  He still looked terrible and was still clingy.  By the time lunch was over, his fever started getting higher.  This morning it was barely there, but after I came home from picking up the kids from school it was well over 101.  I laid him down for another nap and this time he only slept for 1.5 hours.  Nothing was making him happy today.  Not even Micky Mouse Clubhouse.  I decided to give him some Tylenol and take him downstairs.  I called Dan and he said he was on his way home.  I couldn't wait for a break away!  

Dan came home and I went to the store to buy some fish for dinner and rushed home because Ariana was going to stop here on her way to the dance for some pictures.  This was her first big Dance and she went to her friend's house after school to get ready.  This was an 80's dance.  I can't believe they wouldn't even tease their hair. Big hair was a huge symbol of the 80's.

I just walked in the door and they pulled up.  Out jumped a group of girls.  They were so excited and ready for us to take their picture.  I couldn't help to think back to when I was her age and went to my first dance. I was so excited.  I remember it was a huge deal.  Anyway, they posed and off they went.  I can't wait to hear all about it later.  Here are pictures of Ariana and some of her friends from school.

                             

Well off to take care of Connor...

Kid Fun

I should have waited to post my first post today until later.  I did wind up walking to pick up the kids and then took them to the park and they had a blast. Here are some pics for you to enjoy.

            

We walked home after that and I took them to McDonald's for a small treat.  I love sunny days!!!

Down Time

Good morning!  I don't know about all of you but I sure love ME time.  My time comes when Connor goes to sleep for a couple hours in the morning between 10am-12:30pm. I get to catch up on reading or whatever.  Mostly I use this time to clean up the house and such, but not today.  I made it a point going  forward that I was going to use some of this time to look for a job and improve my web design / programming skills, so today, I am learning more about blogging and adding to my website that I have been creating www.giuliacci.com.  If any of my friends or family out there would like a family website or blog, or even a professional one, call me.  I am looking to build a portfolio and would love to use you as my guinea pigs.

I went for a 50 minute walk with my friend Kelli today.  Finally, a sunny morning in Tracy.  I love the cold, morning air.  It just wakes me up!  I thought about walking over to pick the kids up from school today too, so that will give me more exercise.  I am down about 7.5 pounds since my Jan 1st start on our Biggest Loser contest.  I am not in it to win it necessarily, although it would be nice.  I know I am up against some tough competition from Kelli.  She can really lose weight quickly, and she has the ability to control herself better and resist much more than I can.  She has a real winning mind.  That is one of the things I like about her.  She has determination!  That's what it takes I guess and I just have to learn to be more determined.  I am motivated but I could always be better.

Anyway, off to my studying for today.  I will share my new site once it is completed.  I can't wait to get a great understanding of the full website design process so I do this on my own or contract somewhere.  I know basic structure, which will help me of course. Wish me luck!

Today was a great day!

So this is my very first posting on our new blog and I thought I would share my WONDERFUL day with all of you.  I woke up this morning and knew I wanted to do the usual working out, but I just didn't feel like going to the gym today.  As many of you know, Tracy in the winter time can be quite cloudy and overcast, so I had an idea in mind.  I thought it would be nice to go to the East Bay (San Ramon) and walk around the golf course.  This was always my favorite walk and I knew it would be sunny today over there.  I stopped by my friend Leisa's house and also got some visiting time there too.  Here is a picture from our walk today.

The temperature outside was only about 55 degrees, but it felt much warmer than that!  I had a great chat with Leisa and she introduced me to Google Blogging and gave me the run down on Adobe Illustrator / Photoshop.  She is one talented girl!

Anyway, she had to leave to pick up her kids so I took Connor to Ascona's pizza.  They have a great $5 lunch deal.  Connor and I shared 1 piece of pizza (sausage and mushroom).  I can't believe he ate the full half I gave him and a whole jar baby food!  He was HUNGRY!

       

                    

After our lunch together, we went to a couple stores and drove back to Tracy.  When we got here it was cloudy as usual and much cooler.  I decided to drop in on Kelli, one of my best friends.  We hung out until it was time to pick up the kids from school.

I picked up the kids and got them going on their homework.  Dan came home and every one pitched in to help with the house cleaning and I made dinner.  Yummy baked chicken, mashed potatoes, and mixed veggies.

So after dinner, I decided to play around with this whole blog idea and here I am.  Thanks LEISA!  I know I am new at this so, expect my blog to get better when I discover how to do more, which I think I will look into now.  Until then...  Have a great night.