Sister to sister we will always be---a couple of nuts off the family tree :) - anonymous

Last weekend, was our Winn Family Girl's Weekend!! We had a blast! Last year, we went to St. George and this year we stayed at Alison's in Hungington Beach. The best part of the whole trip was DISNEYLAND! Ali's friend got us all in for free! And after going back and forth on whether to bring Jace, that made up my mind....when was the next time we could afford Disneyland!!!!! He did so well! I was very impressed. Plus, my mom and sisters helped out so much! Thank you!!!! We also couldn't have picked a better day...there were NO lines. The only line we waited in the whole time was for the new Finding Nemo ride, which was fun for Jace. His favorite rides were the train ride, carousal, Small world, a Bugs Land of Cal.Adventure, and he LOVED the Playhouse Disney live show! (Bear in the Blue House, Pooh, JoJo, & Stanley)

The rest of the trip was filled with the beach, shopping, pedicures, The Office marathon, in-side jokes, yummy food, bonfire, and relaxing!...Oh, and forgot to mention we all got soooo FRIED at the beach on Saturday!!! I had fun with Jace there, but next time, I will be flying solo and chillin with just the girls. :)

P.S. Pictures to come....

Back to School

Jace started Miss Maren's Monkey Preschool again last week and he's already having so much fun and making some great projects. He loves it! The first day took a little warming up, but now he loves going and I think daddy has a harder time than Jace. (he drops him off). He loves his teacher, Miss Maren, who tells us he is quite the crafter. He loves the glue, scissors, & coloring time. They made this flag in honor of Septemeber 11th. We hung it up on the fridge with his other masterpieces and he loves seeing them. He says, look, my pictures. It seems like his vocab is improving every day, which I think he picks up some great habits from his good friend and fellow schoolmate, Elliot. :) 'll be sure to post more of his fun projects so you can share in it with us.

Dance to the Beat of Your Own Drum

Okay, so this is the first of many posts because our lives have been a whirlwind and I'm finding it quite hard to catch everyone up on the last couple weeks, but I'll do my best. These are some recent pictures of our sweet Jace. He can't get enough of music. At first, I thought it was just a phase, but he's clearly shown it's something he loves. I thought this picture was quite appropriate considering Jace definitely marches to the beat of his own drum. He is definitely a spirited child with more energy and personality than you can imagine! He excels at anything he tries....except listening to his mom. We're going through that figuring out how to discipline stage. We had our first trip to the local Peter Piper Pizza place and he did nothing but shoot hoops and run around. He just never stops. His motto seams to be why walk, when you can RUN! He's fast too. I love him so much for who he is can't get enough of his excitement and zest for life.

Jamming Away

To all my fellow foodie bloggers out there...check out this easy recipe for making homemade rasberry jam. My friend Amber helped me make my first batch! A couple simple steps and you've got some yummy jam: Rinse, Blend, Boil, Sweeten, Pour and Seal. She and I have boys the same age and they had a great time playing and watching movies and eating popcorn together while we worked in the kitchen. I couldn't resist the cute picture of them in their chairs.



INGREDIENTS
32 oz. fresh rasberries
1 box pectin
7 cups of sugar
1 tbs of butter
5 Jars (boil lids in water)

First, rinse rasberries, then blend until puree. Pour into pot, add 1 Tbs butter, and pectin, stir frequently until boiling. When it comes to a rolling boil, add all the sugar at once while stirring. Let that come to a rapid boil and then cook for 1 minute. Pour into jars. Seal and tighten. Place under canning steamer for 10 minutes. then, you're done!! Let jam sit for 24 hours before eating :)

P.S. Since I don't have a canning steamer, I'm going to do freezer jam next, which I believe is even easier than this. All this time, I could've been making homemade yumminess.

Baseball Song

I heard this song for the first time this morning on the radio. I loved it!!! I thought it pretty fitting for baseball season...especially for the recent Diamondback/Padres series. Listen to the song to the very end. And then you'll know why I love it. I wish we all still looked at life the way this little boy does. What a great message of seeing the glass half full. So, today, I'm looking for the silver lining. :)

I always knew I was a star!!!

Isn't this fun!! My whole life I've been told I look like Kirsten Dunst or Reese Whitherspoon. Check out your own and see who you could double as!!

I Must Confess

I have a confession to make. Last Saturday night, I fell upon HSM 2 on Disney Channel and I watched it...and liked it! I guess I was late in the game because I just only watched HSM 1 like 2 months ago for the first time. And it wasn't until seeing Hairspray that I realized who Zac Efron was. #2 was pretty cute and they actually have some good songs in there and some that are so ridiculously corny! I do have fleating moments while watching it, that I think to myself, this is so beyond corny, but I love it!

And yes, I am 26 years old and I like a teenie-bopper movie. It's the kind of movie that you secretly want to see, but wait till it's out on TV, so you don't make too big of a deal about it. And then, while flipping through the channels, you see it on and think...hmm...I wonder if it's any good? There's nothing to do but watch it and decide for yourself. Even though your husband is looking up sports on the internet in the same room, you know he is secretly interested in what happens next. But, don't get too excited, the second he recognizes that he's watching, he immediately comments about how cheesy it is and how he can't believe you're watching it. :) Good cover. Gotta love these cheesy films!!!

P.S. I heard that they are filming a Footloose remake with Zac Efron and I'm not sure how I feel about that because nothing could compare to the first -- it's a classic!!!!!! I guess we'll see.