Sunday, October 19, 2014

Wichita, staycation

Took a quick drive over to Wichita this evening to help Granny and Gramps with their car club poker run. The kids really enjoyed playing in the pool! Here is a video of their pool fun.

Friday, September 26, 2014

Lizalde 10 year anniversary photos

Monica and Michael celebrated their 10 year anniversary this year. Monica got her wedding dress out and put their girls in it. Here are some of the pictures of the girls wearing the dress.

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Wednesday, May 7, 2014

My Super Heros!

May 2014

Maks. May 2014

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Monday, February 24, 2014

A little family update

As I sit here on our 2nd snow day in a row I was thinking about how much the boy have grown and thought I would post an update!

Between yesterday and today we got right at a foot of snow at our house.  Yesterday the boys and I had a lot of fun playing and clearing it (with the snow blower of course).  Today we are spending time inside as the current windchill at 11:30 AM as I am typing this is -21 degrees! I much prefer snow when there is NO WIND!  Sheesh!

This month Erin started back to school with a slightly heaver schedule than last semester.  He is still working on his Electronic Engineering Degree and loving it.  We are so proud of him and I actually think having Erin in school now that the boys are old enough to understand homework, hard work and dedication has been very helpful.  I think showing them that dad sits down and does homework when he would rather be playing or watching TV has been great for them to see.  Kale loves asking what he learned and getting to play with some of the computer "games" (programs) Erin uses in class.  Erin seems to be enjoying everything he is learning, it couldn't be farther from interesting to me but that's ok cause it's not my major!

Kale just celebrated his 100th day of Kindergarten.  He has so much fun in school and really loves his class and teacher, Mrs. Ridge.  Kindergarten has taught Kale many new things, good and bad.  He has really started to enjoy Math. He has his fathers mindset about it too.  Math is easy, it always has an answer, as apposed to Reading where letters have more than one sound.  He really understands the logic of Math and picks up on patterns quickly.  He is right at grade level for Reading but doesn't really enjoy it (mostly because it is not as easy for him as Math, there are no shortcuts to learn).  I think he will enjoy reading more once he starts to get a little quicker at it because he really likes reading/listening to books about anything military related.  He checked out 4 books at the library the other day all about military planes, helicopters and tanks.

Kale loves his dog Charlie!  Charlie enjoys being read too....and maybe the warmth that comes with cuddling/sleeping on the couch!

 Kale is very stylish! Also, well hydrated!

In school Kale has made many new friends (not that we were concerned he wouldn't) he is very social and loves meeting new people.  He had to learn at the beginning of the year that at recess he needed to play with kids in his own class and not the older kids.  Jalen and Kale are in the same class and enjoy playing with each other and adding new friends to their circle.

Maks is in Pre-Kindergarn ( you can't call it Pre-School or he will correct you)! He is doing so well in school the teacher has asked him to bring extra reading material.  He only goes half a day (afternoons) out of both classes (morning and afternoon) he is the only kid that can read.  I attribute that to two things 1. Miss Debbie (his awesome babysitter that works with him on about everything) and 2. Kale. Maks loves watching Kale work on ''homework'' and is always sitting around listening when we are working with Kale.  Because of this a few things have occurred. First, reading has become a competitive sport around our house. Second, Maks has realized reading at his age gets him more attention....Maks isn't really a fan of extra attention so he tends to try to keep his reading a secret! Third he is getting bored at school.  So far he is being well behaved but I fear that may not be the case for much longer. He can already read all of the books/assignments that Kale is bringing home from school so we will see how next year goes.  He isn't as strong in Math so hopefully that will keep his interests!
Here are the boys on the computer. They can run it all by themselves without our assistance! Maks is playing on pbskids.com in this photo.

Maks really loves sports, he specially loves his basketball.  He hates missing a JuCo game and loves watching anyone that may be  playing on TV.  He did really well this past season playing on his YMCA team. His favorite part is dribbling!
And lastly myself. I don't have too much new in my own life right now. Still working at the College as a Transition Coach for the Adult Learning Center and loving it.  Always new changes and budget issues but it keeps it interesting! I also teach online Customer Service classes for HCC.

Spring planting done.....well seeds started!

Last year I planted seeds for the first time and the garden turned out great. We started them because Maks was so into seeds.  Well this year not much has changed but we did do a few things different this time around!!

Last year I knew I planted the seeds too late but it still worked out.  We just didn't plan on doing it until Maks became so interested in growing things. So this year I made a mental note to get them started sooner.  Last year they were started on March 24th and this year on February 23rd. So hopefully that will give them a head start!

Also, last year we lost a few of our Black Krim plants.  After calling the Extension Office we figured out they are very sensitive to dirt temp and soil dampness. So I purchased a heat map (click the word "heat" to see the link to the exact model I purchased). 

Here are the packages of seeds we used! The Petunia's will be a shot in the dark! The package says 'packaged for 2006' so we will see if they still grown!!  I am excited to see the poppies too! They look so pretty! The neighbor behind us has some red ones that she has probably had for many years and I just love them every year when I see them, figured I would try my hand.  I bought those seeds last year and they are past their date too so I guess I will see how lucky I am!!  The foxglove was one that Maks had to have one day when we were in Lowes!

All of my tomatoes were ordered from Gurneys.  This is the site I have had great luck with in the past so I just stuck with them this year.  I do have other seeds from them (different tomato varieties and some peppers) to plant but I found many of my trays to be broken so I need to get to the store before I can do anything with them.

I plan to use the Aggrand on them but I haven't fertilized them yet. I will do that as soon as the initial watering has dried. While inside I will mix it at about 1/4 strength...maybe less depending on what I use.  I hope to keep you updated.
Here is a picture of the stuff so far. In between the first two is Kale's fly eating plant...that's really the extent of his gardening interests at this point!  In between the 2nd and 3rd are the shoots of Aloe that Nicole gave us last summer.  We have perked them up and separated them...they were just getting a little extra light today. 

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

DIY Dog Shampoo

A few people have asked me what I use for our pets and I told them I would post it. As tonight is dog bath night I was again reminded to post my recipe!  So here it is:

1 cup liquid dish soap (I used Dawn for sensitive skin)
1 cup white vinegar
1 quart warm water

Directions:

1. Mix the three ingredients in a large bowl and then transfer to an empty squeeze bottle (like an old shampoo bottle). Give it a little shake to make sure it is mixed.
 
2. Apply to your doggy just as you would normal shampoo. It is best if you can massage it into the fur and let sit for 5 minutes. My dogs don't mind as long as I keep massaging the shampoo around.
 
3. Rinse dog thoroughly with warm water. Towel dry.


I like the vinegar in this recipe.  Two of my dogs have lots of skin allergies and reactions that causes them discomfort! They always seem to be much better after using this shampoo! 

Happy pet bathing!

Saturday, August 24, 2013

1st successful batch of salsa...ever!

Well the garden is not quite producing enough to can yet but I have bought some things at the farmer's market  so today I canned my first jar of salsa (literally one jar).  I have never successfully done this so it was quite an experience.  In order to help myself keep track of the website I am going to share it here I really liked the recipe I found/used.

 Here are the chopped veges before I put them in the processor.  Yellow and red bell peppers, green sweet banana peppers, celery, yellow and purple onions, cilantro (fresh), minced/roasted garlic and probably something else that I am forgetting!
 After the food processor! Cut them small but did it on pulse mode so I didn't end up with juice!

Put everything in the pan to simmer. Added the tomatoes (sorry no photos my hands were too messy to touch my phone)!  Added a big of tomato paste to thicken, vinegar and seasoning (used Ball salsa seasoning because that is good for Kale). Simmered for a bit and then put it in the jar!
  Almost made the perfect amount for my jar. Maybe an extra tomato or two and it would have been at the right place.  It is currently cooling in the fridge! I tried it before I put it in the jar and loved it but salsa is defiantly best cooled!

After successfully completing this I am very excited for the garden to start producing so I can get some canning done!

Saturday, June 15, 2013

Maks' 4th Birthday Party Invitations!


Got Maks' birthday party invitations completed today! He decided that he wants to have a Lorax party again this year (that was also the theme for his 3rd birthday).  He and I sat down and looked around online and decided on a format that he liked and I sat out to make something close to it.  I am happy with the way these turned out!  Now I just have to figure out how to print them at a good quality because our good color printer is broken and since I made them in Word I can't save them as an image file to print at a retail store! Grr.

For his presents this year Maks is asking for tall socks, keys and sunglasses!  He is such a unique little boy and we wouldn't have him any other way!



Dreiling Family Slide Show! Compiled December 2010