Christmas Elves!

I know that it doesn't look it from the still video pics but each of these videos are different!
Enjoy some holiday fun! Do the elves look familiar? :o)

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

SNL Digital shorts

OMG! If you missed SNL this past Saturday, you missed the best short that they have ever had... I actually fell asleep during SNL so I told Joe to hit record because I thought it was going to be a good episode.. he must have missed this part as well.. or he would have told me about it.. I just watched it this morning and peed myself!

Now.. it's slightly adult, not too bad.. but adult humour... totally my sense of humour. And keep an eye out for two cameo appearances in it from my man, Justin Timberlake!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pXfHLUlZf4

Updates to the blog

Hey all! I made some changes to the blog... not big changes.. just the layout, (remember when I used to change it all of the time?) but I got lazy and kept it on the green grass one all summer..., also I added a few more features..

First, on the top right hand sidebar, you can subscribe to the blog getting notifications when I update.. This is a cool feature for those who don't check blogs daily so that I don't have to send out emails everytime that I add a new entry.. however, I am the person (and Donita told me last night that she is too) that checks the blogs daily for new activity.. and we see the new postings before we actually get the email from the subscription. Either way.. a cool new addition to the blog.

Second, you can add yourself to be a "Follower" of my blog.. (that reminds me a bit of Myspace) Also a cool feature because the rest of our friends can link to your blog.

And last, those of you who are my Blogger "friends" (on my links list) are highlighted in a whole new way! Yes, it still tells my friends and family that you are my daily links.. but it also updates everytime that you add a new entry.. so visitors of both of our blogs know whether you have made updates as well.. (a great feature for me since I check everyone's blogs daily.. now I'll only have to if I see a new post under your name)
Some of you have password protected blogs for friends and family only.. that won't change.. people will see your name on my list but still will have to enter their login to get to your page, so no worries!



So! Be a subscriber if you aren't a frequent visitor! (Hint* Both of my sets of parents and family!)

And Bloggers.. be a follower so that I know you are a reader! Great for those who don't have time to leave comments.

Enjoy the new features as I have so far!

No Bake Cookies!

When I was a child, I used to love eating No Bake Cookies.. the chocolatey peanut butter kind that my Mom always made. It's been years since I made it, but today was a special day for Evie.. her first day of school and I wanted to do something special with her. I called my Mom and got her old recipe and Evie and I made them after school today. They are soooo yummy! Evie did all of the measuring and most everything by herself!



The recipe is as follows:

In a large sauce pan, mix
2 Cups Sugar
1/4 cup cocoa
1/2 cup milk
1 stick of margarine or butter

bring to a boil and cook for about a minute...
then remove from heat and mix in
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 cups of dry oats

after stirring together, line baking sheets with waxed paper and using a spoon, drop heaping mounds of the cookie mixture onto the paper. Let stand for about an hour (if you like them warm, dig in, but they are firmer as they stand)

So easy to make with the kids! And so delicious! and hey.. if it gets my picky daughter to eat peanut butter AND oatmeal, it's a good snack!

Evie even took some to her Tiny Tigers instructor tonight!
Have fun!

Yo Ho! It's a Pirate's Life For Me!

Been pillaging Navy guards and pludering ships on Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean Online game. www.piratesonline.com
I downloaded it for Evie about a week ago and It's me that's addicted. Well.. Evie is as well! You can get basic access for free which is great! I think after 7 days, it's about the same only then you have to contend with a smaller screen with ads around it... we've decided that we like it enough to pay the membership fee.

So if you like the movies, you'll love the game.. all of the charachters that you love, (Jack Sparrow, Will Turner, Elizabeth Swann, Barbosa, Tia Dalma, etc.) are in it.. plus many more.. you have to sink and steal from Navy and East India Trading Company ships.. and lots more. It's a HUGE map with tons to do.. crews to assemble with your friends and you can play together. John Michael and Evie's charachters are on a crew together and can sail ships and do tasks together. Evie's Pirate is named, "Cap" (after her imaginary friend), and you can design your own girl or guy..



My Pirate is called "Eliza Firehazzard" (You can create a name from the different names that they provide)


Here I am in Tortuga


And here's my ship.. on fire.. just got hit by two Navy ships.. bastards!
But I got to shore and had it repaired!


The music in the game is straight out of the movies.. funny I hadn't realized that until yesterday, Evie and I were watching Pirates 3, "At World's End" and Evie was like.. "We know that song!" She remembered it from the game.

Anyway.. it's a great way to unwind at the end of the night for me.. and a great way to play something with Evie that I actually can get in to!

There are different servers you can play on since the online world is so big.. I like to play on the same server each time in case friends wanna find me.. It's called "Angassa" (Angassa Ocean), so if you hop on, look me up!

Back to the game!!
Night!

Celebrity Morph by MyHeritage

I think I found my twins!!!
Kelly Clarkson! Scarlett Johansen? Who knew?
I tried two different pics and here were my results.. kinda amazing how accurate they are! I never thought that I looked at all like these two, but the morphs are pretty perfect! YAY! I'm so glad to have gotten these two!

MyHeritage: Celebrity Morph - Free genealogy - Family tree template

MyHeritage: Family trees - Genealogy - Celebrities

And it looks like my kids are gonna be good looking people when they grow up!
Miss Evie will look like Keira Knightley. (I tried several of Evie and got Parker Posey alot but this one had the highest precentage result)

MyHeritage: Celebrity Morph - Family search - Old pictures

And Evan like Sean Astin! Not bad!
By the way.. I tried 4 different photos of Evan and each time I got different pics of Sean as his top result...

MyHeritage: Celebrity Morph - Free family websites - Research family history

Kinda fun!

Punched in the Face....

I just couldn't resist... I absolutly LOVE Saturday Night Live's Digital Shorts...
This one was on a re-run tonight... "Punched in the Face Before Eating". LOL I love how Andy throws himself into every punch! Hilarious! Enjoy!

Hoctor Look-alike Meter

MyHeritage: Family trees - Genealogy - Celebrities - Collage - Morph

MyHeritage: http://www.myheritage.com">Family tree - Genealogy - Celeb - Collage -

I'm not so sure how much I agree with this.. I should have tried other pictures but I don;t have time before work! 99% of people tell me that Evie looks just like Joe and Evan looks just like me.... what do you think? Comments anyone?

Woah! May showers?

I know, this is the 3rd of June but Holy crap! We are getting pummelled by rain, thunder, lighteneing, tornadoes!

There's a break in the craziness so I went outside to take a couple of pictures of my double street.. where's the street? you ask? Umm.. somewhere under that stream floating by..


There are trash cans floating by the house.. we could probably take a canoe out.. that's how deep and fast the current is going past the house. It's pretty neat actually.. I wouldn't want to be the neighbors across the street.. looks like its flowing heavy right to their door.


And then it started raining again.. no.. it's now POURING again! I thought this looked kinda cool.. kinda like snow.



I'll try to take some pictures in the morning if I have time, before work when it's daylight... Plus.. we are supposed to have more of this weather tomorrow, too!!!

Stay dry!

Hello Cupcake! part 2

Another creation from my "Hello Cupcake" book...


POPCORN!



Okay... that was the real deal up there! Ha ha ha! REAL popcorn in a bucket..

Here's MY Popcorn cupcakes:




First off.. thank you to Target for having these nifty popcorn buckets in their dollar bin!

I started off with countless mini cupcakes.. (one box of cake mix)



Then I used whipped vanilla frosting...

Then I made individual popcorns by cutting white and yellow marshmallows into thirds and arranging them like a clover.. then with frosting, using a whole one on top of that arrangement to make it look like popcorn.. (I had to make over 200 of them, took a LONG time!)



Then I topped each cupcake with 2-4 popcorns and put paper towels in the popcorn boxes about half way full, then stacked about 10 cupcakes on top of each other to look like popcorn.
They were a hit at my friend, Kylla's outdoor party last night!

And they looked so real! Although Kylla's 4 year old son, Brayden wasn't fooled.. I walk out of the car carrying them and he yells, "Mom! Tina brought cupcakes!"
Lots of others were fooled upon first glance, though..

It was fun making them, they just took a long time.. If I had a helper, it would have gone faster and been more enjoyable.

Stay tuned for more cupcake creations!

Hello Cupcake!

So I got this new book a couple of weeks ago titled, "Hello Cupcake".. it's the cutest book that instructs you on how to decorate cupcakes easily!

So I thought I'd try my luck with the sunflower design.

You start out baking 24 vanilla cupcakes, tinting vanilla icing green, orange, yellow and black..

covering them with the green,


then topping them with regular and bite sized oreos next..

And then you frosting around the oreos with orange and yellow to make the petals of the sunflowers... and then use a red m&m for the ladybug with black grosting to make the spots..




I did really well with the first few flowers, the book instructs you to use a ziplock freezer bag and scotch tape on the corners, then cut a V-tip to make the petals.. it said that it was easier and less messy than a frosting bag with tip.. I found this NOT to be true. Even with tape reinforcing the tip, my V shape would be screwed up by the third flower.. making them blobby... I got discouraged.. and well.. don't tell Evie I used this word..) but I "gave up" Evie would say, in her own words "When things go wrong, don't give up" LOL Well.. I had HAD it with that frosting.. I KNOW I could have done it if I had the bag and tip.. next time, I will do just that!

The few that came out were cute, though! Don't know which ones I will make next!!

I've been tagged... Book Tag

OK, so Alyssa tagged me (She was tagged by Donita)
...the rules are:
pick up the nearest book that is at least 123 pages...turn to page 123, find the 5th sentence. Type the next 3 sentences.

From Gene Simmons "Sex Money Kiss"

"I'm reminded of that wonderful Mel Gibson movie What Women Want. Here's the truth: Men don't care. To be more specific, they're not even curious about the notion."


Aint it the truth! You said it, Gene!


Tag, you're it, Mandi!

"100 Ways to Keep Little Kids Happy"

The best article ever featured in "Parents" Magazine! I was thumbing through my latest issue while eating lunch with Eve today and found this! These are great ideas!!!

"100 Ways to Keep Little Kids Happy" by Nancy Rones;


Pretend-Play Games

1. Celebrate a new holiday. Announce that it's Polka-Dot Day or Purple Day.
2. Throw a doll's birthday party. Wrap up a few "gifts," decorate with balloons and streamers, and enjoy a mock -- or real -- cake.
3. Dress for the weather. Lay out items for different weather conditions, describe a certain day, and ask your child to pick an outfit for it.
4. Open a petting zoo. Place stuffed animals around the room, pet each one, and talk about what they like to eat.
5. Camp out in your living room. Climb into a tent and sleeping bags. Turn on a flashlight, and pretend to eat s'mores.
6. Form a family band. Have everyone grab an instrument and jam to a CD.
7. Imitate animals. Practice hopping like a frog, squirming like a worm, waddling like a duck, and stretching like a cat.
8. Play restaurant. In the real kitchen or a pretend one, alternate between being the customer and the server or chef.
9. Offer horsy rides. Let her bounce on your back while you "neigh" and chew hay.
10. Ride the laundry-bin "school bus." She's the passenger, and you're the driver. Make stops to pick up other kids, and wave bye-bye to the mommies at each stop.


Take-Alongs That Make Waiting Fun

11. Brain Quest. This "flip deck" of age-appropriate questions and answers for children as young as 2 builds smarts and keeps kids busy.
12. A dry-erase pen for dressing rooms. "My daughter decorates the mirror while I try things on," says Stephanie Simon, of Charlotte, North Carolina. "The ink wipes off easily with a tissue."
13. Mini Etch A Sketch. Ask your child to draw what he sees.
14. Bubbles. Blow them while she's in a shopping cart or waiting to see the doctor.
15. Long-lasting snacks. Consider mini bagels, breadsticks, or graham crackers.
16. Pipe cleaners. They can take the shape of a ring, a flower, or a headband.
17. Crayons and a coloring book. Or try Crayola Color Wonder markers.
18. Finger puppets. Act out a story while you're stuck in a long line.
19. A plastic magnifying glass. She'll love seeing objects and people close-up.
20. A little toy train. Introduce a special choo-choo that only appears when you're outside of the house. Create your own track: Tell your child that it's along his arm, up a chair, or over a table -- and he'll keep the train rolling.

Easy Art Project

21. Finger-paint with pudding. Place a dollop on a laminated place mat or a cookie sheet and have your child create sweet abstract art. (You can dye vanilla pudding with food coloring.)
22. Make jewelry. String painted Cheerios or hollow pasta shapes onto yarn and voila, a necklace or a bracelet.
23. Create fingerprint critters. Using washable paint, make thumbprints on paper or a flowerpot. Once the paint dries, use a fabric marker to draw on legs, a face, and antennae. For more ideas, check out Ed Emberley's Complete FunPrint Drawing Book.
24. Go splat. Channel your child's inner Jackson Pollock: Drag an old sheet outside and let him use a paintbrush to splatter it with waterproof paint.
25. Make a collage. Give him paper and a glue stick. Go nuts with decorations, such as torn pieces of tissue or construction paper, cotton balls, feathers, images from magazines, and photos.
26. Adopt a pet rock. Adorn stones from a nature walk with paint, glitter glue, and stick-on eyes.
27. Try Dot Art markers. They're super easy for toddlers to hold.
28. Design a T-shirt. Paint your child's foot or hand with fabric paint and imprint a T-shirt for her or to give as a gift. (To prevent color from bleeding to the other side of the shirt, place cardboard inside.)
29. Knead some goop. Mix a box of cornstarch with water to a consistency your child likes, then add food coloring.
30. Crown your prince or princess. Decorate a strip of construction paper or cardboard with markers, glitter, and stickers. Then staple or tape the two ends to size.

Toys That Are Worth Every Penny

31. Melissa and Doug Deluxe Band Set ($30)
32. Little People Racin' Ramps Garage ($33)
33. Playskool Busy Ball Popper ($20)
34. Little Tikes Cozy Coupe II Car ($50)
35. Playhut Crawl 'N Play foldable tent with tunnels ($30)
36. Lego Duplo Deluxe Brick Box ($45)
37. LeapFrog Brightlings Exploration Station ($40)
38. Parents Mirror Pound-A-Ball ($17)
39. Little Tikes Cookin' Fun Interactive Kitchen ($100) with Step 2 Play Food Assortment ($20 for 101 pieces)
40. VTech Pull & Lights Phone ($15)

Games to Play with a Ball

41. Knock it across the room with a kitchen utensil. Grab a spoon or a strainer with a handle.
42. Roll with it. Facing your child with legs spread apart, roll a ball to each other, alternating between using your left hand and right hand.
43. Bounce it into a hula hoop. Hold the hoop and have her try to toss the ball so it lands in the center. Move back to make the game more challenging.
44. Design spin art. Dip a small ball, such as a golf ball, into nontoxic washable paint, then put it in a salad spinner (or a plastic container) along with a few coffee filters. Put the cover on and spin! (You can use your salad spinner again after you put it in the dishwasher.)
45. Go bowling. Knock over some empty water bottles or soda cans.
46. Size them up. Give your child an assortment of balls -- tennis, golf, Ping-Pong -- and an empty muffin tin. She'll have fun putting a ball in each compartment, dumping them out, and starting all over again.
47. Play air ball. Take turns hitting a beach ball up toward the ceiling, trying not to let it hit the ground.
48. Sing a silly ball song. Have him run around the room holding a ball, while belting out "The Ball on the Bus Goes Round and Round."
49. Toss it up a slide. She'll love watching it roll down.
50. Pass it through a "human" tunnel. Both parents and the child stand in a row, one behind the other, with legs spread wide. The first person bends over and tries to get the ball through the three sets of legs.

Rainy Day Ideas

51. Create a sunny scene. "My kids draw on the windows with washable window markers," says Stacey Marshall, of Charlotte, North Carolina.
52. Splash in a couple of puddles. If the rain is light, you can look for worms along the way.
53. Pop in a yoga tape. Have her follow your poses.
54. Measure the place. "My 2-year-old daughter, Meredith, loves to play with a plastic tape measure," says Heather Gillespie, of West Harrison, New York. "We see how big all our furniture is."
55. Bake cookies with care. Give her a lesson in altruism by baking cookies for an elderly neighbor or to send to the troops in Iraq. Let her sneak a couple.
56. Plant seeds. Try lima beans, marigolds, and zinnias in a variety of mini pots, clear plastic cups, or an egg carton.
57. Play tag. Make it more fun with Playskool's Tag Tails ($15). Each player wears a detachable animal tail, which you try to pull off.
58. Create an obstacle course. Jump on pillows, crawl under chairs, and burrow through a blanket-covered tunnel.
59. Hunt for under-the-sea treasure. Run a bubble bath, then have your child sit inside or outside the tub and feel around for objects you've "buried."
60. Practice math. "Change the words of 'If You're Happy and You Know It' to 'If You're Happy and You Know It ... clap one time or jump three times and hop two times,'" says Jackie Silberg, author of 500 Five-Minute Games. Keep changing the activity and the number of repetitions.


Ways to Make Every Car Ride Rock

61. Take along a cookie sheet and magnetic letters and numbers. You can count and sing the ABCs as she arranges them in proper order, says Trish Kuffner, author of The Toddler's Busy Book.
62. Entertain her with a dancing bear. "When I'm in the passenger seat, I hold a stuffed animal on my head and have it perform," says Lisa Depew, of Ashburn, Virginia.
63. Pack a Travel Go 'N Doodle. No worries about ink stains on the seats with this version of the Aquadoodle mat.
64. Burn a favorite-songs CD. Make sure you like a few of them!
65. Try the shopping game. Name a store your child knows well (supermarket or toy store), then on the word "Go" see how many things your child can name in that store.
66. Bring a storybook on CD. These sets signal when it's time to turn the page in the corresponding book, so nonreaders can follow along too.
67. Take pictures of the trip. With a child-friendly digital camera, such as Fisher-Price's Kid-Tough Digital Camera, he can snap (deletable) pictures through the window and view his shots as often as he'd like.
68. Play "Who Am I?" Offer clues about an animal or a community helper, and ask your child to solve the riddle, says Kuffner.
69. Pretend with a doctor's kit. Ask her to examine a couple of her dolls or stuffed animals.
70. Let him steer like you. A toy with a steering wheel can help your child feel in control. Try Tiny Love's Wonder Wheel.


Books Toddlers Love

71. Knuffle Bunny, by Mo Willems
72. Best Word Book Ever! by Richard Scarry
73. Tails, by Matthew Van Fleet
74. Tickle the Duck! by Ethan Long
75. Hug, by Jez Alborough
76. Barnyard Dance! by Sandra Boynton
77. Peek-A-Baby, by Karen Katz
78. The Very Hungry Caterpillar, by Eric Carle
79. Everyone Poops, by Taro Gomi
80. A Fish Out of Water, by Helen Palmer

CDs Kids Adore

81. No! (They Might Be Giants)
82. You Are My Sunshine (Elizabeth Mitchell)
83. Free to Be You and Me (Marlo Thomas)
84. Catch That Train! (Dan Zanes)
85. Singable Songs for the Very Young (Raffi)
86. Go Baby Go! (The Baby Loves Jazz Band)
87. Whaddaya Think of That? (Laurie Berkner)
88. Folk Playground (Putumayo Kids)
89. Yellow Submarine (The Beatles)
90. Welcome to Ralph's World (Ralph's World)


Really Fun 5-Minute Activities

91. Let your child scrub, scrub, scrub. "I fill the sink or a bucket with soapy water and give my kids plastic dishes or their dolls to clean," says Jodie Fratantuno, of Los Angeles.
92. Hand him an old cell phone. Name a relative or a friend to call.
93. Have her talk into a big plastic party cup. She'll be fascinated by the echo.
94. Pound out some energy. Give your child some golf tees and a toy hammer, and have him bang the tees into Styrofoam.
95. Dance on bubble wrap. Tape a piece to the floor and go wild.
96. Wipe down the kitchen. "My 2-year-old loves it when I give her a damp sponge to go over the counter and cabinets like Mommy does," says Depew.
97. Mesmerize him with a calculator. Kids especially love ones with big buttons.
98. Lay out a foam place mat and foam stickers. "My 19-month-old sits for a long time sticking on each decoration and then pulling it off," says Jane Martin, of Overland Park, Kansas.
99. Present her with a photo album with plastic pages. She'll like seeing memories of her birthday party or pictures of her cousins.
100. Enjoy teatime outside. "My 3-year-old pours water back and forth between her plastic teapot and teacups," says Elli Goyette, of Newport News, Virginia

Copyright © 2008. Used with permission from the April 2008 issue of Parents magazine.

My Personality Painting

I keep seeing this one on all of my friends pages.. kinda neat how it displays your mood at the time.. I think this displays me pretty well at the moment....


Click here to create your own painting.

Cool magazine!

Click on the picture to enlarge so that you can read the captions



How's this for a cool magazine?

Happy Halloween!

Greetings from the Hoctors!

Mirror prank - video

Oh this is soooo cool! It's in German, I believe.. but it's subtitled, the audio is kinda low so turn it up if you wanna hear them speaking. What a neat idea! Some of these people seem pretty freaked out.

Be sure to read the subtitles.. especially at the beginning so that you get the trick.


http://view.break.com/384045 - Watch more free videos

For all of you Dora fans

I've always thought that Dora The Explorer was off-kilter a bit.. glad to see that I'm not the only one! Check out "Maraka"!

Parenting techniques at OUR house!

This is so us! I remember this sketch years and years ago and thought it was hilarious.. but when I came across it again today, it was even funnier.. that's because I have a daughter that pushes all of my buttons! LOL
We always start off by being sweet and saying "please" , and it always turns into a shouting contest! LOL

So you have to picture me and Joe with these two! LOL

A nun walks into a bar...

I saw this joke today and thought that it was right up my alley!


A nun, badly needing to use the restroom, walked into a local Hooters.

The place was hopping with music and loud conversation and every once in a
while the lights would turn off. Each time the lights would go out, the
place would erupt into cheers.

However, when the revelers saw the nun, the room went dead silent. She
walked up to the bartender, and asked, "May I please use the restroom?

The bartender replied, "OK, but I should warn you that there is a statue
of a naked man in there wearing only a fig leaf. " Well, in that case I'll
just look the other way," said the nun.

So, the bartender showed the nun to the back of the restaurant. After a
few minutes, she came back out, and the whole place stopped just long
enough to give the nun a loud round of applause.

She went to the bartender and said, "Sir, I don't understand. Why did they
applaud for me just because I went to the restroom?"

"Well, now they know you're one of us," said the bartender, "Would you
like a drink?"

But, I still don't understand," said the puzzled nun.

"You see," laughed the bartender, "every time someone lifts the fig leaf
on that statue, the lights go out.

Now, how about that drink?"