Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas

Love,
The Guillens

Just Got Back...

I miss this place already.

I'll update once I find:
* my camera
* a snack
* some clean clothes
* Maggers

The Story Of Thanksgiving

By: Olive

"Once upon a time, there were peelgrims. They had a B-I-I-I-I-G pirate ship. It was called the Mayflower.

All the peelgrims lived on the pirate ship. Then one day, it CRASHED into a big rock!

But, it didn't break.

Then the indians came over to help the peelgrims. They put on their Halloween costumes and then the peelgrims and the indians ate some corn.

They had a B-I-I-I-I-G FEAST!

And there was a big fat turkey but, they didn't eat him because he was nice.

And, they didn't eat pumpkin pie either because it was too hot.

Then the peelgrims and the indians danced together and they had a B-I-I-I-I-G THANKSGIVING PARTY!!

The End."

Dear Fleet Company,

I would like to commend you on the efficiency of your Infant Glycerin Suppositories. What a superb product! Within seconds of insertion, my four month old was able to eliminate in, what I would describe as, a projectile manor. Her four days worth of "discomfort" was easily dislodged all over her changing table and our beautiful hardwood floor. She is now back to her regular, happy self.

I would also like to thank you for the instructions, found on the back of the package, to contact a Poison Control Center if swallowed. When my three year old put one in her mouth thinking it was candy, I calmly used your suggestion and was assured by a friendly Poison Control operator that ingestion of the product orally, yet in moderation, would do no harm to my sweet daughter. Boy, was I relieved!

I am forever grateful to such a fine product in which your company produces.

Sincerely,
Mrs. Guillen

Oh, Maggers....

This is going to hurt me more than it is going to hurt you.

YARD SALE!!!

This weekend we had a yard sale. Here's a brief summary of how it went:

* Time the alarm was set to wake up and prepare for the sale: 6am

* Time we actually got out of bed: 7am

* Time the first items were placed on the lawn: 8am

* Number of bags of clothing brought out to sell: 10

* Number of bags thrown back in the garage after sale was over: 2

* Number of times our wonderful, spanish-speaking customers requested the price of an item in their native tongue from Rob: 6

* Number of times my Latino husband answered in English because he, " No hablo espanol" : 6

* Number of times Olive started a sentence with, "HEY! That's my ....." as someone hauled it off to their car: 50

* Number of times I was asked "How old is your son?", referring to Maggie, who was dressed head-to-toe in pink: 4

* Number of times Rob and I agreed on the pricing of an item: 0

* Number of hours the yard sale lasted: 5

* Number of hours I actually worked : 0.5

* Number of dollars made: 211

* Number of times we will do this again due to our now tidy garage: 1,000,000

A little misinterpretation

"Hey Olive and ***(special loved one who will remain nameless)...
Put your heads through that and I'll take a picture."



"Uuummm.... I mean FACES. Put your FACES through that."

"Mommy!"

"Can I take pictures of Maggie?"




This one is my favorite.

An Update

We bought a new car...


And a dirty, diseased horse for Olive.


Found a new obsession, WALL-E.


Ate poisonous apples left to rot in a serene orchard.


Transformed Olive into a beautiful, yet temperamental bumble bee for Halloween...


Dressed up as a tired, moderately chubby mother being attacked by a sweet, tutu wearing butterfly for a Halloween party in Folsom...


And had a blast with these guys.


Celebrated Halloween with the neighbors.


Got a tattoo of a hammerhead shark...


Matching haircuts with grandpa...


And glasses.




Nothing too out of the ordinary.

I'm Back!!!

My computer is once again working and so is my brain! I will update with pictures soon!

Happy Birthday, Geez!

Love,
Your trophy wife

For She's A Jolly Good Fellow!!!!!

SHE DID IT!!!

Last night, my little Maggers slept from 9pm to 5am!

Without being swaddled!!

I simply placed her in her bed with nothing else and that was it.

She slept.

Like a baby.

And so did I.

Irvine Park

Today the girls and I met some fun friends at Irvine Park. What a great way to spend a 199 degree fall day! We had a great time, especially Olive.

She played with pumpkins


and sister


and cute friends




whether they liked it or not.


Maggers and Meggers


Olive and "Dan". He was no Traveler, but he was a "bery good girl".


As you can tell by the grumpy faces and flat home perm, it was time to wrap up the fun with a train ride around the pumpkin patch.


We all had a blast.

Guess What Time It Is?........

Tonight we celebrated fall by sweating our you-know-whats off at Disneyland in 86 degree weather.
Boy, was it fun.

Here's Maggers having a great time with daddy before a "Drawn To Magic" show.


Enter Olive.
Cue the panic in Maggie.


Best Friends.


Olive and Daddy enjoying the parade.


My two loves.

Weekend Update

On Saturday, the girls and I did a whole lot of nothing during the day.
It was great.
Thanks to the cool 68 degree and cloudy weather, it finally seemed as though fall was officially in full force. Here's how we celebrated.

Maggie modeled her new fall headband


And stayed in her pajamas all day along with her sister in her new "Pirate Olive, scary skelleton jammies".
And yes, they glow in the dark.


Later in the evening, we had some of our Trader Joe friends over for a Fall Feast Potluck. It was delicious! And the best part about it was having Rob help me with the clean up today!!!
It's a Fall miracle!
I even secretly documented this special occasion....

What a guy!

The following are recipes of some of the delicious food we devoured.

** Slow Cooker Beef Stew** :
2 pounds beef stew meat, cut into 1 inch cubes
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 clove garlic, minced
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon paprika
1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 onion, chopped
1 1/2 cups beef broth
1 packet McCormick's Beef Stew Seasoning
3 potatoes, diced
4 carrots, sliced
1 stalk celery, chopped

DIRECTIONS
1. Put flour mixture into gallon-sized, zippered bag. Shake beef in bag to coat. Sauté coated beef in 1-2 tablespoons olive oil until browned. Add chopped onion to beef to sauté and soften. Transfer to slow cooker.
2. Mix beef broth with worcestershire and beef stew seasoning. Pour into hot skillet to deglaze, then pour over beef and onions in cooker.
3. Add remaining ingredients.
4. Cover and cook on Low setting for 10 to 12 hours, or on High setting for 4 to 6 hours.
Serves 6 people.


** Crockpot Chocolate Cake** :
This cake is to die for, especially when served with vanilla ice cream.
1 package chocolate cake mix
1 container of sour cream (8 oz)
1 cup chocolate morsels
1 cup water
4 eggs
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 package instant chocolate pudding mix

Spray crock pot with nonstick cooking spray. Mix cake mix, sour cream, chocolate morsels, water, egss, oil and pudding mix in a bowl by hand. Pour into crock pot. Cover and cook on low 6-8 hours or high 3-4 hours. Makes about 12 servings.

So yummy.

Today, we also headed on over to Seal Beach to the Japan American Kite Festival. We thought it would be something Olive would love to see.
Too bad she feel asleep in the car on the way over and napped in Rob's arms the entire time we were there....
All 20 minutes.


Nice day.
Nice weekend.

MMMMMM! What's That Smell?

Get dressed.
Grab your wallet and keys.
Throw the kids in the car.
Drive to Target.
Mosey on over to the "air freshener" area of the store (usually by the cleaning stuff).
BUY THIS CANDLE!!!!!!


....... You're welcome.

Halloween Must Haves

Festive shirts


Candy


More candy ((candycorn mixed with m&m's is the BEST combo!)


Scary kisses

First Day Fun

We decorated our house and made cookies.


Yummy peanut butter chocolate ones:
1 cup Butter softened
1/2 cup Peanut Butter ( I used crunchy)
1 cup Sugar
2 Eggs
1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
2 cups All-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon Baking soda
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1 cup chocolate chips ( I used half chocolate chips and half Halloween m&Ms

Directions:

Heat oven to 350 F. In large bowl, beat butter, peanut butter and sugar until well blended. Add eggs and vanilla; beat well. Stir together flour, baking soda and salt; gradually add to butter mixture, beating until blended. Stir in chocolate and candy pieces.

Drop by rounded teaspoons onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 9 to 11 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool slightly; remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely.

So far, October has been great.

My Favorite Month

October.

I love it.

I love the weather.

I love the colors.

I love the pumpkins.

I love the festivals.

I love the menu.

Most importantly, I love THE holiday....

Halloween.

I love the candy.

I love the dress-up.

I love the decorations.

I intend to celebrate my special month everyday.

I can't wait.

I'm Not Complaining...

But, I am tired.

REALLY TIRED.

It's Maggers.

She's decided her bedtime routine is no longer working for her.

For the past two nights, my little 10 week old friend has been staying up way past her 8:30 pm bedtime and waking up not once, but twice throughout the night, and sleeping in until about 6 am.

What happened to sleeping through the night?

What happened to sleeping in until the time her sister (awake from her 11 hour slumber) wakes her up by slobbering all over her 25th percentile head, and squeezing her tiny feet dangling from her 95th percentile body (roughly around 7:30)?

Is she sick?

Am I sick? (I am nursing)

Is it a growth spurt?

Is it my growth spurt? (It's a perpetual growth spurt.)

How long will this last?

What can I do??

I will do anything!!

Uumm..... anything that doesn't involve giving up baked goods.

Or m&m's.

Or Barq's root beer.

If you, my fellow blogger/friend/mother/sweet tooth have any suggestions or answers to my questions, PLEASE HELP!

And if you have a good cookie recipe I can try out at 2am after nursing for the 99th time, please send it my way.

Pronto.

It's Back!!

Waiting for what seemed like a year, the season premiere of the Office was last night. Although I loved the engagement of Jim and Pam, I was a bit let down by the hour episode.

I must say, that Andy was pretty funny last night.

I CANNOT stop laughing over the part when he was naming all of his friends in his singing group from Cornell. My favorite being, "Puby Lewis and the News".
That seriously cracks me up!

So, what's your opinion on last night's show?