Let's Celebrate.... With a Girls Night Out!

Last night I went out to dinner with some girlfriends to celebrate my friend Shanti's birthday. There are six of us that get together once a month for some "girlfriend" time. The hubbies are home with the kiddos for the evening, making dinner (or bringing in pizza), giving baths and putting the little ones to sleep. It is always a fun night, and when the evening is over we are all awaiting the next time we can do it again.

Last nights resturant pick was Firebirds,(located by the Chandler Mall).I have been there many times and the food is always great as well as the service and atmosphere. One of my menu favorites is the Pecan Crusted Trout. Yummo!

Here are a few pics from our birthday celebration. Happy birthday Shanti!

I Told Myself Never...

I remember before I had kids, I would see other kiddos wearing shirts, hats, or other articles of clothes with Cartoon Charaters or Superheros. I told myself that my kids would never wear them, because honestly I just think they are all "cheezy".

Okay, so something happened to me in the last six years, because this picture below says it all... A Spiderman hat and a Superman shirt.... And, I even bought both pieces myself for Jayden....

I guess I just never thought about how darn cute my kiddos might look in these articles of clothing.... I LOVE this kid!

Passover Dinner

On Monday night we celebrated Passover at my mom's house. I always love this time of year, and any Jewish holiday for that matter. I love gathering at the table and remembering years past and where we are today. My mom's cooking is one of the best parts of this holiday, and this year I finally made the Mandel Bread myself. And, it was SO yummy! I usually let my mom do all the cooking for this holiday, but this year I watched closely, and it was very fun sharing the cooking experience with her. I learned from the best!

This year was very special, because we had Tom, a new addition at our Passover Seder. My mom met Tom a few months ago and has been enjoying spending time with him, sharing great home-cooked meals, and most of all enjoying a new relationship that she greatly deserves.

The picture below, I cannot enlarge, but is a very adorable one of my Mom and Tom.... and a few others to share as well. Daddy and Jordy.... How cute is this picture????

Mom and Stef

The Ortega's and The Callison's

Sean and Brittany

Jayden and Joshua

Stefanie and Shanti

San Diego Trip

We had such a great trip a few weeks ago when we went back to San Diego. It was a much needed week away for all of us. We spent quality family time together and enjoyed visiting with family and friends.

The trip was really not planned and came together last minute. Caroline had mentioned she was taking the kids to SD for the week and then I realized I was also off, so we decided to all make the trip together. The kids really have a great time together, especially since Caroline lived with us over last summer while her house was being built, so the kids love anytime they get to spend in length with each other. They are such best friends, all four of them! Too cute...

It's kind of funny, I guess I have been away from SD for too long (5 1/2 years), because I packed like I was going to the east coast during the winter. I figured cold mornings and nights and warm days, but it's SD so it will be breezy so I packed jackets, and jeans and thought I did good. Nope, it was so warm while we were there that I found myself in Kohls and Target picking up bathing suits and shorts for my kiddos. Hello Stefanie, you live in Phoenix, drawers are full of shorts and bathings suits and I had to go out and buy new ones... Oh well, I guess I would rather of had to do that, than have cold, rainy weather, right?

Here are a few of our many pictures from our fun week!

Jayden enjoying the perfect beach day.

J & J posing for their Mommy. Too cute!

You have to understand, Jayden hates anything on his face, so when he agreed to get his face painted we jumped on the opportunity. Whatever the cost.. :)

Grandma and Jordy

Jayden and Hailey getting ready for the Shamu Show

Perfect blue skys....

Mike and I took the boys to the top of Mt. Soledad, and Jayden thought it was SO cool...

Enjoying dinner with Mike's family... What a great night!

The J & J boys enjoying breakfast. It is their favorite meal of the day....

Happy 6th Birthday Jayden!

This adorable, sweet, caring, loving, articulate, amazing, smart big boy turned six!

Six years ago on February 21st at 12:17 AM, Jayden Allan Callison finally came into our world! My world has NEVER been the same since. I know it is not surprising to you all that I am almost three weeks late for this post. Actually, I think that time frame is better than in the past... :)

Jayden is such a terrific kid. He is always making sure that Jordy is right behind him and not being left out of any situation. Jayden is in Kindergarten and is learning so many different things. He is doing addition and subtraction, reading beginner books and is such a great student in class. All the teachers tell me he is such a sweet kid.

These days Jayden is into anything that has Superheros in it's name. He loves wearing Iron Man or Spiderman shirts ( I told myself I would NEVER let my kids wear shirts with characters on them), but other things happen I guess. He loves to get on the computer, and log into his "kid" friendly web-sites or just search google for something new he learned at school. He really amazes me.

On Jayden's birthday we had a great family day. We started out letting Jayden pick out something at Toys R' Us, (I was not too sure how that was going to go), but it was okay. Then we headed over to Benihana's (Jayden's choice). He wanted to go where they cook "on" the table... After that, we could not finish the night off without having a birthday cake, so we stopped over at Nana's and celebrated.

Mondays & Fridays...

My two craziest days of the week are M & F's because those are now my long days at work. The old days of being off at 1:30 and working four days are long gone now. They left when WAMu vanished and became Chase. So, this past Monday, Mike said without any asking that he would make dinner. I gladly said okay and came home to this wonderful Chicken Sitr Fry. (Sorry the pictures are dark, I took five and these two were the best).

He always whips up these awesome dinners and amazes me. I know that if Mike's schedule permitted I would have a helper in the kitchen with me. Not only did he make the stir fry, he was brave enough to take out our Rice Cooker that he has never used. I am like, "how did you know what to do", he says, I called Caroline and she told me. I was very impressed again. And, I have to tell you the last two times I have used this new rice cooker my rice came out mushy.... Not his, perfect!

Thanks babe, for making my long works days a little easier. I love you!

Happy Birthday Kona!

Today is Kona's birthday and he turned two! He was sitting so nicely, so I thought I would capture a shot of him on his birthday. I don't talk about Kona that often, but I have to admit he is getting MUCH better. Kona and I have a very strange relationship. How should I put it, we will say, love and dislike..... He causes me constant work, with vacuuming, picking up my decorative pillows from the floor, and his hair that is attached too everything in the bottom level of the house. But, at the end of the day, Kona is now a BIG part of our family.... And, his bark does protect me and the boys when Mike is at work.

Happy 2nd birthday Kona!