The Finish of Birthday Week

Day 6 Thursday, June 10th
Today is a surprise day. After work I taught my piano lesson and then Robert and I were off. Not quite knowing what to expect Robert headed onto the freeway. We ended up at Grossmont Center Mall. Walked into the mall and right into a place called Caermic Cafe. Inside I go to choose anything I wanted to paint. I picked an adorable penguin piggy bank and Robert picked a very cute garden gnome. We were there painting for about an hour and a half. Once we were done we left out masterpieces (once you paint them, they fire them and so we couldn't take them home with us until the following Tuesday) and headed across the street to Olive Garden. YUMMY!
We got a chicken flatbread appetizer, and I ordered the five cheese Ziti while Robert ordered the Tour of Italy. Too full, we couldn't even finish our dinner let alone have dessert. Such a wonderful day!

My Penguin (you can't tell in the pic, but he also has rosy cheeks)

                     Robert's Gnome
                                                                                                   

Day 7
Friday, June 11th
Relaxtion day. It was nice just to be together after work and relax. Especially after my fun filled week.

Day 8
Satuday, June 12th
OK. So technically my birthday week is over, but a present that Robert had ordered did not come until today. So he considered this part of my birthday week. I actually had alot of fun today though. While Jessica and my Mom went to a bridal shower I got to watch Gabe. We went to Target and then to the park to play for a bit. Then back to the house for a nap and then a battle in the backyard with water guns. Needless to say Gabe got soaked and loved it.
When I got home Robert had already checked the mail. Excited to see my last present I opened the box and found the movies Little rascals and Summer Stock. Two movies I have been wanting for awhile now. Plus Summer Stock is my favorite musical!
So all in all. I am one spoiled girl who had a wonderful birthday with a fabulous husband...who spent too much money :)

Recipe Time! - Honey Glazed Chicken Stir Fry

Since it was so delicious, I thought I would share the recipe with you...

Honey-Glazed Chicken Stir-Fry
Start to finish : 25 minutes

* You can use frozen vegetables to save on the preparation time, but I prefer fresh.

Ingredients
• 12 ounces skinless, boneless chicken breast halves or skinless, boneless chicken thighs
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 2 tablespoons vinegar
• 2 tablespoons orange juice
• 4 teaspoons soy sauce
• 1 ½ teaspoon cornstarch
• 2 tablespoons cooking oil
• 4 cups vegetables, fresh or frozen (sweet pepper, onion, broccoli, mushrooms, etc
• hot cooked rice or couscous

 Directions
1. Rinse chicken; pat dry. Cut chicken into bite-size strips; set aside. For sauce, in a small bowl stir together honey, vinegar, orange juice, soy sauce, and cornstarch; set aside.
2. Pour cooking oil into a wok or a large skillet. (Add more oil as necessary during cooking.) Heat over medium-high heat. Add vegetables to wok; cook and stir for 3 to 4 minutes or till vegetables are crisp-tender. Remove vegetables from wok. Add chicken to hot wok. Cook and stir for 3 to 4 minutes or till chicken is no longer pink. Push chicken from the center of the wok. Stir sauce; add to center of the wok. Cook and stir till thickened and bubbly.
3. Return cooked vegetables to wok. Stir all ingredients together to coat. Cook and stir about 1 minute more or till heated through. If desire, serve immediately over rice or couscous. Makes 4 servings.

More on Birthday Week

Day 2 -
Monday, June 7th (I skipped Sunday).
Worked during the day. Then evening came and Robert and I went to El Torito for dinner (they sent me a free entree for my birthday...who can resist free food). I love El Torito. I love their yummy warm chips, their salsa and their tableside guacamole (made to order). I was stuffed! But a good stuffed.
After dinner we went to Target to go grocery shopping since I am a slacker and a bad wife and have been sending my husband to work empty handed of lunches. :-(  While there Robert felt the need to buy me another present, the Stargate movie, unedited for $5. Score! Before we could grab up more items to spend money on we went to check out.
We got home, Robert unloaded the groceries and then we had Family Home Evening. Sometimes I can't wait til we have kids to do Family Home Evening with them. Sometimes it is hard with just us two.
After FHE Robert gave me yet another birthday present. Singing in the Rain on DVD!! I am so happy!

Day 3-
Tuesday, June 8th. My actual birthday. Woke up. Worked. Went to a meeting. Got Rubio's for lunch (another "here, it's your birthday, have a free meal on us"; I definitely will be working out more this weekend)
After work, I ran to the store to get a few last minute things for our cooking class. Yes. I still had cooking class on my birthday...and why not? I love cooking and I love my friends. Sounds like a good birthday to me. Robert came home with yet ANOTHER present. This time it was a fishy maze placemat (quick story: we were at Target and some kids were getting superhero placemats. Robert and I made a comment how we like fun placemats. Robert asked if I wanted a superhero one. I said no. While shopping for my b-day he saw the fishy one, remembered our conversation...and there you go. The idea of the fishy placemat), I also got some scarpbook ribbon, and a book from the Twilight series called Bree Tanner (it is a side story about one of the minor characters, and no, I am not a crazed Twilight fan. Just like the books). Whew. Could I be anymore spoiled?
Why yes I could. My friends showed up for class with balloons, presents, cake and ice cream. I tell you. I think I have the best set of family and friends. That night we made a Honey Glazed Chicken Stir-Fry. I had never made it before so I had hoped it would turn out well. And it was delicious! I even ate the brocolli that was in it.
Afterwards Robert and I finished watching the rest of Alice and Wonderland (since he fell asleep half wya through).

Day 3-
Wednesday, June 9th
I know it is still morning, but this is how the day will go. Wake up. Work. Exercise. And then go with the Young Women to do a service project at the DI while Robert and the Boy Scouts play softball.
Oh and if I can squeeze it in, I will be working on my recent sewing project, which I shall post once I am done with it :-)
Still loving birthday week!

Kristine's Mother's Day Album

I forgot to post this...that is why it is a few weeks late :-)

So, after finishing the Mother's Day Gifts I realized I didn't do anything for my sister. I know, she isn't my mom, but I still wanted to do something, but what? (This was on Friday). I decided to do a mini album, since our family loves pictures. Friday I ordered the pictures online at WalMart for one hour pickup. After work...I was lazy, so Saturday morning I picked the pictures up, finished running my errands, helped Jessica start on her Mother's Day Gifts and then started work on Kristine's at about 2:00pm. I finally finished the album at a quarter to nine. The album took me awhile to start since I couldn't get motivated or inspired. But thankfully it all came together. And that she actually liked it. Here is the final result. Again beware...there are quite a few pictures. I put them in order from front cover to the last cover. The album contains 4 "chapters". One for each year of Motherhood.

If you can't read the page..the first "chapter" is called: First year of Motherhood, off to an adorable start.



Second year of Motherhood full of Playing, Laughter, and Love.

Third year of Motherhood brought you Memories

Fourth year of Motherhood brings Imagination and Adventure

I think with each year I will add to the album that way it can continue to grow with Gabe.

Beginning of Birthday Week

With my birthday approaching Robert decided to give me a birthday week. Here is day 1.
Saturday, June 5th.
Robert got the day off of work and planned a surprise for me. I was told to be ready about 10:30 in the morning. Dressed and ready to go we get into the car; I did make one request the night before, that while we were out we could go over to Santee and go to the library since that was the closest one that had the last two books in the series I am currently reading. Being the fabulous husband he is, he obliged my request.
So after he made a secret phone call we leave the house . And drove over to La Mesa to our favorite deli shop called Trolley Stop. When we got there we got stuck in the middle of the La Mesa Flag Day parade. Not wanting to become part of the parade we walked around until we got to a point where we could cross then walked back down to the deli place. The secret phone call was to place the order.
After picking up the food we decide we are too lazy and it is too hot to walk all the way around so we saw a gap in the parade and walked across.
After getting food we decided we better get gas next since the gas light started beeping at us. We head over to Santee to get gas at the Costco, then since we are over there we went to the library to get my books. And wouldn't you know, right behind the library is a park. Perfect.
We pulled into the park, get out of the car and find a nice table in the shade. We sit down take out our sandwiches and discovered he had ordered the exact two sandwiches we had on our first date, which also took place at a park. It was like going down memory lane.
After lunch we went back home, cleaned the house a little bit and then he left to go run "errands". I stayed home and did some work, read a little and then played a video game we had recently bought.
That evening we went to dinner with my family at John's Incredible Pizza (Robert and I had been there a couple of times before, while this was a first time for everyone else). It is similar to Chuck E Cheese...but more adult friendly. It actually is in the mall where Mervyn's used to be so the place is a decent size. They have a salad buffet, pasta/potato buffet bar, pizza buffet bar (which includes normal pizza flavors as well as unique ones like Alfredo, spicy peanut and nacho pizza) and a dessert buffet bar. Then there are 4 themed sitting areas. A Theatre room that shows old cartoons on a big screen, a music video room, a country themed room and a sports themed room. Then there is an area full of video games and has three indoor rides. Needless to say everyone had fun. Gabe loved playing the games (or at least attempting to, with the help of others). And it was fun watching Anthony and Jessica play Guitar Hero while Kristine and my Dad played the Terminator game (a shooting game).
I was given gifts cards and money and Jessica is giving me a back stage tour of SeaWorld (she works there now). Robert gave me my gift when we got home which was the new Alice and Wonderland movie on DVD, which we attempted to watch that night.
And that was the first day of my birthday week. So Fun!!