Dirty Shirley

Each summer, I try to pick a drink that I know I'll be able to enjoy when "wine thirty" rolls around....a couple of years ago it was a blueberry vodka/ lemonade drink from my friend's wedding. Last year it was water...because I had just had Grace!

This year, the "Dirty Shirley" is my drink.  It's versatile and relatively cheap...2 important components to a good drink. 

Here's the recipe:

1 shot of Cherry Vodka

A splash of grenadine or maraschino syrup

Ice 

Sprite or 7up to top it off.

I think it would be great mixed with some lime and blended. It reminds me of a Sonic Cherry Limeade...mmmm.

Give it a try and let me know how you like it!!

Happy Victoria Day in Canada and Happy Memorial Day in the US! 

Mandy

Adventures in Potty Training

Jacob has been obsessed with airplanes since he was born...I am excited for his passion and sense of adventure. We spend many field trips at various airports watching planes, his first word "tintin" was spoken when pointing to airplanes while traveling to Canada 2 years ago and we own every single matchbox airplane ever made.

When it came time to start potty training, I foolishly considered myself a pro...this was of course my 2nd kid! What I failed to remember is that this kid is in fact a person, with opinions of his own. Peeing was a piece of cake. Pooping? A disaster. This child WOULD NOT DO IT. So I took a break and humoured his desire to own it and sit in those nasty pull-ups :-)

Well, throw in kid number 3 and I was DONE. I pleaded, I bribed, I negotiated. I continued to change poopy pull-ups.

Finally, we decided to "go big or go home". We promised Jacob an airline flight if he would commit to pooping 10 times on the potty.

For the past 6 months, yes SIX months, this kid has told every. single. person he has spoken to that "I poop 10 times and I go onna airtane ride".

Well, 3 weeks ago, the little man fulfilled those 10 times and I booked a flight.

Southwest Airlines: Phoenix to Vegas and back for he and Jim. The little man was ecstatic. He told everyone he was going to let the pilot know that he had popped 10 times and he was going to give him a high 5 and a hug. He "flew" everywhere with his arms stretched open wide.

I had prepped Southwest by calling them and asking them to make a BIG deal over him and they didn't disappoint.

He wore his little pilot hat, got to meet several pilots, gave them his pictures, got special treats from them and was soooo proud to be flying that plane. He earned his wings after the flight when he was allowed to take the controls in the cockpit...after all the passengers were let off and the plane shut down ;-). It was the highlight of his trip.

It was truly an amazing day. Both for Jake and his daddy.

Parenting win.

Determination

Whenever Jacob is focusing, concentrating or determined to do something, that little tongue sticks right out.  It was out in full force when we were building blocks outside.

Love. this. guy.

A Sensitive Soul

Wow.  It's been a LONG time.  I'd like to say it's because of the 3 kiddos, and work, and just general "adultness" but honestly, I hit a major writing block.  I came off the 31 days series feeling defeated and bored.

Then, just as I was getting excited about some posts again, Sandy Hook happened.  This hit me right in the core. I have a 5 year old. Who is heading to kindergarten. Who knows nothing about guns and really bad people. I have had a hard time moving on from this.

So, that's leads us to where we are here....my sweet 5 year old.  Who is oh. so. tough. Who challenges me every day....turns out we are too much alike.  Who leaves me worrying if I'm a good mother.

My dear in-laws have been here for a week.  It's been awesome visiting with them.  We spent a TON of time doing FUN things.  We kept Andrew home from school because we rarely see them.  Today was their last day and while Jim and I headed off to work, Missouri Glamma and Glampa (yep, that's how they say it) got to hang out and babysit.

We had prepped Andrew with what was going to happen...the kid is a planner.  He hates surprises. He knew that when Mom and Dad got home, it was time for them to leave to catch their plane.

He was so brave. He said his goodbyes, and gave his hugs and kisses.  We all walked out to wave goodbye as they drove away.  Once they were out of sight, the poor little man broke down....the biggest tears I have ever seen....bigger than when he broke his arm, bigger than when I take Monk away when he's naughty, bigger than when he's worried he's in serious trouble.

Luckily, he's got an awesome Daddy who knew he needed to come home early to scoop up our sweet boy and his broken heart.  We had a quiet night with lots of snuggles, and remembering the fun times with Glamma and Glampa.

Here he is just minutes after they left...sweet boy.

Shutterfly party winners

Since I only had 10 people leave comments...8 here and 2 via email, there is FREE SHUTTERFLY FOR EVERYONE!! Yippee!!!

Look for your packages to arrive in the next week...I will contact you via Facebook if I am missing your address.

Thanks for partying with me!!

Mandy

SHUTTERFLY MERRY HOUSE PARTY

I'm not sure if anyone loves Shutterfly as much as I do, but I love them even more now!

A few weeks back, I was selected to host a Shutterfly Merry House Party. Well, today is THE day. And since life has been a little chaotic around here these last couple of weeks, I've decided to host the party on my blog...which means that even MORE people can get it on the fun!

I use Shutterfly for all of our prints for our Project Life books, our large prints, our Christmas cards and the best of all...the photo books! I make an 8 x 8 book for each kid each year. These books are what they will take with them when they leave home. Rather than inundating them with scrapbooks, they will have 18 tiny little books summarizing their years with us :-)

These are WONDERFUL books and they make great gifts. I'm thinking about doing some vacation ones as well. I've also made a few for the grandparents. They are super easy to make and very reasonably priced. They have so many different styles to choose from and you can customize every last detail of your book.

I also use Shutterfly as a photo backup storage for our photos. It's not my primary backup but I upload every month allowing me that extra piece of mind knowing that they are in someone else's "cloud" in the event ours ever fail.

So, the party...I've got 10 party packs all set to go out. In then comes several codes for prints, cards, and a free photo book!! And you get a balloon ;-) Here's the skinny...

1. Leave a comment with your name and city

2. Like Almond Place on Facebook

3. Share this link with your friends!!

4. Grab a cocktail and enjoy making your photo book!!

In the event that I have more than 10 people join the party, I'll randomly select my 10 party guests who will receive the party packs.  Your chance to leave a comment will end on Sunday night at 9pm Pacific Time and I will post the winners on Monday morning.

Cheers!!

-Mandy

31 DAYS OF FALL: Gearing up for Halloween

Holidays are way cooler and more fun when you have kids...we took this opportunity to start a "BOO" train in our neighborhood. The kids and I dropped off a couple of Boo bags at 2 different houses. They LOVED leaving surprises for our little friends and stood proudly yelling BOOOOOO at their houses!