Cuteness and Cake

Thought I'd share a few cute pics today. Not much else to report.Sometimes I just decide to make random cakes.
This one was a red velvet cake with chocolate frosting!

mmmmmm!

Last night Connor and Jeremy were playing video games and this was the spot Evan choose for best viewing. He fell asleep this way, under the coffee table, legs up in the air.

No-Vacancy!

**ATTENTION all wayward, stray or otherwise lost dogs:

There is NO vacancy at the "Roberts Refuge & Spa"!!

Here we go again..... another week another stray dog! Last weekend we had some bad thunder and lightning storms roll over our area. Jeremy was working in his shop area. (which is in the garage but it's a separate room with a door) The garage door was open because the kids were playing outside.

Katie was with Jeremy "helping Daddy work" and was sitting on his lap when Katie very calmly asks Jeremy,

"uh Daddy..... what's that?" she pointed to the other side of the room.

"uh that's a dog Katie!" The dog ran under Jeremy's feet and crawled under his the desk they were sitting at.

The dog was scared out of his mind! It was a collie. (Katie thought it was a wolf!)Out of no where this poor dog sought refuge from the storms in our garage!

Katie comes running inside and says to me,

"Mommy - come here! There's another doggie in our garage"!

I said to her: "yea right ok that's not funny Katie" Jeremy comes to the door.... "come here honey I want to talk to you."

"Ok honey I'll be there in a minute"

I was shocked to see a strange, mangy, matted soaked dog hiding under my husband's desk! Naturally, being an animal lover I tried petting it, it let me pet him. Finally we got it to come out and allow me to give him a treat. His fur was so badly matted I ended up shaving some of his fur off. He fell asleep while I was grooming him!

So, 4 days later: He's had a flea/tick bath, brushed everyday, got a collar and is happier than a pig in slop!

He's so quiet and laid back I forget he's even here at times! He seems to be a senior dog and sometimes has a hard time getting up and staying up.

I've tried to find his owner but somehow I doubt they want him back considering the condition he was in. So, I've stopped trying to locate them. I was contacted by an Atlanta area lady who fosters collies until a suitable home is found. Hopefully things will pan out with her. I would love to keep him but my hands are full already.... overfull if you want me to be honest!

Not much else is going on around here. There are a few more summer adventures planned like Evan's Birthday and 1 last trip to see the Braves.

23 days left until the first day of school --- but who's counting! Back to school shopping will begin soon and I will have a clean house again! Yay!

Connor and Evan will be going to a brand new school this year. The county will open Rocky Creek Elementary on August 3rd. They are very excited to be part of the first group of students to go to the new school!

Well, I'll save more things to write about later: now I must enjoy my daily dish of ice cream!

Love to all!

Happy Birthday America!

July 1st was our family's 1 year anniversary living here in Georgia! Wow it's gone by so fast! Turns out we do like living here!

On the evening of the 3rd we had our own fireworks show at home. It's new for us because in Massachusetts you were not allowed to have fireworks, nor could you buy them in the state! So, Jeremy naturally had to give it a "go"! It turned out fun! I took a few videos; here's the best one:

We are discovering new things all the time. This weekend was no exception!

Question: What to do this 4th of July?

Answer: Go all out and bring the kids into Atlanta to see some really cool fireworks!

That's right we packed up our coolers and our blanket and headed out on an adventure! It was great! We got to take a tour of the Lenox Square Mall (which by the way is fabulous!)

We met a family that just relocated from San Francisco CA 3 months ago. It was good talking to them about our parallel lives and about making a big move. They had 2 cute kids! We shared glow sticks, puppets, snacks and sparklers.

Things we learned: bring a deck of cards, bring you own hibachi, bring more chairs, bring a canopy/umbrella and don't forget Jeremy's beer. But, each year that goes by we'll get better and better at planning day trips. It's just a little difficult to plan not knowing where you are going and the rules. But everyone had an all around good time!

Happy 4th of July everyone!

Weeknight Lasagna Toss

I love easy, minimal ingredient, creamy, yummy pasta dishes! I got this one off of Kraft's website. I made a few changes to suit my family's taste. It uses oven-ready lasagna noodles that I got (Barilla makes them) and it comes together in like 20 minutes! You can easily add other favorite veggies to yours or use your own sauce! Yummo! It is sooooooo easy to make and it tasted like I was slaving over a stove all day!
Here it is:
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Weeknight Lasagna Toss
[adapted from Kraft Food&Family]

1 lb. lean ground beef (or turkey for better nutrition)
2 green peppers, chopped (I used 1 large and it was fine)
8 oz. mushrooms, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce
1 2/3 cups water
1/4 cup italian dressing
12 oven-ready lasagna noodles, broken into quarters
1 cup Mozzarella cheese

Brown meat in large saucepan; drain.
Add peppers (and other veggies of your choice), garlic, spaghetti sauce, water and dressing; bring to boil.
Stir in noodles; cover.
Cook on medium-low heat 10-15 minutes or until noodles are tender, stiring occasionally. Remove from heat. Sprinkle with cheese; cover. Let stand 5 minutes or until cheese is melted.

Serve with a homemade salad!!

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My kids scoffed this up!! I love these kinds of meals!
The holiday weekend is comming up and we've got plans to bring the kids into Atlanta to see some fireworks and have some good old fashioned family fun! I will make sure to post some pictures and/or videos!
I hope you all have a wonderful time celebrating our country's birthday!
XOXOXOXO

"chalk 'n' a hose"

What do you do with kids when it's 90 million degrees out and you don't have a pool to keep them cool?

You break out the side walk chalk and the hose! (our hose is turning out to be a life saver this summer!) I should invest in one of those plastic slip 'n' slides that you attach to the hose.

Evan and Katie drew with side walk chalk the other day in our garage... it was much cooler than in the sun! Hey, gotta get creative! I took a short video of Katie playing (topless mind you) in the hose. As I mentioned in a previous post we have a neighbor dog "Boo-Boo" that likes to join in the fun when we break out the hose! Katie is imitating him in this video!

These pictures are of Evan's masterpiece in the garage. He did "outer-space" theme! Very creative I must say!

Rocket shop and shooting star

Katie's doodles and some of mommy's too

Finished work of art! He's sitting in the middle of the sun. He is wearing the 3D glasses the kit came with. If you put them on and look at your drawing it becomes 3D! So awesome what they come up with these days!

Here are some photos of Katie and "Boo-Boo" that I caught that day:

Sasha - "The Stray"

Anyone who knows Jeremy and I knows that we both have a big heart for animals. We were both raised in homes that always had animals roaming around.... and lots of them! So, for us it's natural to have lots of furry little companions in our home running-a-muck. Since we have moved to Georgia a year ago it seems that "magically" our animal head count has doubled! Down here it's common to see people giving away kittens, dogs and puppies. It is VERY dangerous for us to go to Wal*Mart as a family on the weekends. We always end up coming home with something it seems. I have to put on my blinders and just run in the store! They attack you with "Do you want a free puppy! He's so cute and loveable, you know you want to take him home!" AHHHHHHHH! Nooooooooooo!

Anyways, Jeremy has always wanted a German Shepherd, but some how we've managed to always get something totally different. Short, fat, ankle biting rejects that manage to get weird nicknames.

Max: (the Beagle) A short fat polish dog that couldn't make it over a speed bump when we first got him. His nick names are : Special bus, fatty boombalatti

Bailey: (the mini-Yorkie) Named after my favorite ... Bailey's Irish Cream. We nicknamed her Toshiba-Packard because we traded a Hewlett Packard laptop and a Toshiba TV for her!!

Willie: (the Rat Terrier) Named after Wal*Mart because that's where we got him!

Last week Jeremy was on his way home from work when he spotted a dog on the side of a very busy highway running in and out of traffic. It's a normal thing to see stray dogs running around here (so I'm told) and most of the time we just drive on by. But this time Jeremy had to stop. It was a German Shepherd. It took him 45 minutes to get her into his work van. He was so excited! I guess it didn't matter that it would bring our dog count to 4! Oh my goodness!

She came home and was such a love. She is/was underweight and had 29 ticks all over her skinny body. We got her to our vet and she got all her shots, got her her own runner for our yard etc.... etc... After the first few days we started noticing she was being very dominant over our female Yorkie. Turns out she's not getting along with our dogs, nor our cats. She growls and shows her teeth and just is mean to them. The only thing we can atribute it to is that this is behavior she learned being on the run. Survival kicks in and anything that runs became a meal.

It's very sad. I would love to be able to keep her and help her with her rehabilitation and to help her forget her traumatic start in life. But, kids come first and we just don't have the time. So, as I type we are looking for a new home for her. We have interviewed a few people/families and hopefully we will be able to make a decision soon so that she can get to her forever home. It makes me feel good that we were able to "save" her from imminent demise and to find her a better life!

Someday when we are able to Jeremy will get his German Shepard. Wish us luck on finding her a good loving home!

Here's a photo of Sasha:

Surprise Weekend Visit!

It's been a very busy 10 days since I've posted anything on here so..... here goes......

I received a phone call Saturday evening from a very dear friend who was planning a day trip to visit us and turns out she had a fun filled weekend planned! We hadn't seen her in about 6 months so, seeing her for only a few hours was going to be hard but we'd take any visit we could get but she surprised us with a special idea... her and her fiance stay with us for a few nights and headed to Six Flags for Sunday! It was going to be a boring Sunday for Geoffrey, Katie and I because Jeremy was taking Connor and Evan to the Braves/Red Sox game so, I was quite enthusiastic when she offered up that idea! It was great to see her and her fiance for a few days. I admit it's been a long time since I've had any "girl time" with anyone so, it was a BIG treat for me! Here are some favorite photos of our day at Six Flags!

Katie wearing a super girl hat posing for the picture.

Mom, Katie and Geoffrey on the tram.

Katie, Mom, Geoffrey and Ree

Geoffrey carrying Ree on his back! Silly kids!

Geoffrey, Chrissy, Katie, Ree and Mommy

Katie riding the flying ships all by herself! (Shocked me; she had so much confidence!)


Katie riding the big rig trucks!


Ree and Katie.... the end of a long day.