Free museum, zoo, and more! passes

You can get FREE passes to the following museums with a Scottsdale, Phoenix, Chandler,Mesa, Tempe OR Glendale library card. The following museums are participating:
Starting April 1st 2009 – April 1st 2010,
using what is called a "Culture Pass", you can get a group of 4 into the following places for FREE:

> AZ Museum for Youth
> AZ Museum of Natural History
> AZ Science Center
> The Bead Museum
> Cave Creek Museum
> Children’s Museum of Phoenix
> Desert Botanical Garden
> Heard Museum
> Mesa Contemporary Arts
> Phoenix Art Museum
> Phoenix Zoo
> Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art
> Taliesin West
I think this is sooo cool! If you haven't been to the Children's museum of Phoenix, it is sooo cool!

My honey showed up at the library on a Tuesday and they said to come back on early Wednesday's or on early Fridays. Apparently tickets go by fast so I strongly recommend you call the library first and find out when they get a new batch of tickets before going...

Have fun and be sure to tell me how it goes!

Earth Day!

It's Earth Day today and I thought it would be great to conduct a homeschool study on being "green." So lil' Geovanni and I sat down and researched the 3 R's... Recycle, Resuse, and Reduce. I learned so much from our local recycling website. I was apalled on the amount of items that I was throwing away instead of recycling! Even worse, I felt embarrassed of our lack of consideration of taking care of our Earth! So lil' Geovanni and I made a commitment to become more concious on what we can recylcle. I am thinking more about what can be reused (i.e those containers for sour cream, cottage cheese, etc. make great tupperware items!). To help reduce, I think that thinking through our purchases and making sure to donate clothing not only helps being more frugal, but we are more conciously aware about our good deeds!

We started a mini collection of reusable grocery bags. If only I can remember to throw them in the car so that I don't do the "I forgot" to bring them to the grocery store dance when I get there.... ugh.

The drycleaners near me have these great triangle boxes to store those wire hangers. I am pretty excited because the look so cool and it's a neat way to store them. After I am all done collecting them, I can put bring them back to the cleaner's. Unfortunately, they don't offer a discount for recycling the hangers... at least I can pat myself on the back though for one more "green" effort!

Happy Earth Day!

Wii Fit is so brutally honest...

Ok, so this is the big turning point for me. Yesterday I moped around because I jumped on the Wii fit and thought, maybe I will check on my weight. We don't own any scales in the house so I had no idea... I do know that I couldn't fit in my size 8 pants anymore and had to size up to a 10... yup... a 10. What's even crazier is my mom is a 10. She likes her pants booty tight though and she looks fantastic in them!

Anyhow, the Wii was cruel and so brutally honest. So it gave me the BMI and said... "Overweight." What!? What the heck?! Then I saw the line shot up the screen as I have gained a whopping 8 pounds within 30 days... whoa.

Sooo after many, many years of anti-diets and anti-exercise regimens it's time. It's time to face the music... turning 30 this year and my body has had enough with the donuts and brownies with ice cream for dessert. It said, "I am not going to allow this anymore..." So here goes nothing... I know making public announcements of your goals is the way to keep yourself accountable.

So from now on... I am officially going to eat healthier, (no donuts? ugh.), excercise more frequently (does running up the stairs chasing after Papi count?), and keep it on a budget (no buying any of those weight products from the infomercials, so sad).

In one month, it's time to weigh again... Is asking for my 8 pounds back realistic? Since I have no experience in diet in exercise I guess we will have to wait and see!

Crocs warehouse sale

I am just giddy about the other deal we will be checking out on Thursday. Crocs is having a warehouse sale and there will be Crocs from $5 on up. I am a huge fan of crocs for our boys since it is soo easy to slip on and go. I love dressing up my sweeties for special going out nights and for church, etc... but when we are going on a quick grocery run, a walk in the park, or something simple, it's so easy to dress them in a t-shirt, shorts, and a pair of crocs!

The Crocs warehouse sale is going to be on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday across from MetroCenter mall at 9801 N Metro Center Pkway, East

Ok, so watch out! CROCS here I come!

Free movie night at Drive In

In keeping up with the latest deals, I am so excited about checking out the drive-in this Thursday. According to the AZ Republic, Glendale Drive-in will be offering FREE MOVIES on Thursday nights! We are totally going to check it out! The choices include: “Bedtime Stories,” “Madagascar: Return 2 Africa” or “Paul Blart: Mall Cop.” We might see Bedtime Stories since Adam Sandler is a hoot in that one.

Preschool Project

Today Ira and I worked on our ABC book. We are taking one letter of the alphabet and cutting out pictures from magazines that correspond to that letter. I know he can identify certain letters but I am hoping I can integrate some of the letter sounds too.

After about 20 minutes working on the book, he started yawning which is a total clue that it is time to stop! So funny the attention span of a 3 year old!

Here is a pic of the book we started so far...

CVS deal today

I did it! My first CVS Deal in ages. I printed a total of 6 coupons and walked away with $20 worth of hair supplies for a total of 1.44 tax. I LOVED it! I love the thrill of shopping smoking deals and getting started with my stockpile stash!

woohooo!

Amazon Kid's Music Deal

I just bought 150 songs for Ira through Amazon and it cost only .99!

If bought separately, you would have to pay $150. I am so excited to add this to his little mp3 player.

Preschool Project Shapes

I decided I would teach Ira some shapes today. I cut out different shapes: triangles, circles and squares and we practiced identifying them. Then I drew the shapes on a large chart paper and had him race against the clock to match the shapes and sort them. He did so well with the game!

The hard part was getting him to listen and pay attention of course. I decided to take it one step further and try to get him to make patterns with the shapes. For example, I would put circle, square, circle, square, circle.... and ask him to fill in the last item. He didn't get it at first but then I sang the rythm to him and he liked it! So singing to him helps with learning... what a concept!

If you have more than one child with whom you are homeschooling... always remember that there are so many different learning styles. I am quickly learning that Ira does not like just sitting and listening to stories. He just doesn't have the patience. However, if I sing the stories to him (and sadly, I can't carry a tune, but he LOVES it!), or somehow incorporate some kind of rythm as I did above with the shapes... he totally "gets" it.

Homeschooling a preschooler is loads of fun and I am so thankful to be doing this again... part 2! With lil' Geovanni going into third grade this fall, the concepts are getting more challenging. Having Ira allows me to make up the things I didn't get to do with lil' Geovanni since he was my first homeschooler.

For more fun preschool activites I found this fantastic blog... Check it out!

Easter

This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it!

What a blessing! Other than the Ira being sick, this day was fantastic. Daddy went to teach the class for us at Palm Valley because Ira was sick...

The boys looked awesome in their new Tony Hawk outfits! We invited all the family over to enjoy the day with us. I started a chocolate fondue pot with all the dippers (bananas, strawberries, and even homemade rice krispie treats), ordered a 6 foot sub and waited for everyone to come over. I am sooo glad the Brody's got to join us too. I loved seeing Hannah in her Easter dress. I am truly blessed to have them as a part of our lives...

When everyone arrived, we ate and then headed for the green grassy area to hide the eggs. I bought over 100 eggs and filled them so the kiddos had a lot of eggs to find! We then played kickball, tball and chased Papi around the grass...

What an awesome day!

Thank you Jesus for dying on the cross for me and my sins. I am so thankful for my family and friends. You have blessed me tremendously and I can't wait to honor you by being the best daughter for you, the best wife, and best mom that I can be.

In Jesus mighty name,

Amen

Cute

Today's first day at home... isn't he adorable?

Introducing Papi Orozco!

We finally got our doggy. Ira has been begging for Papi from the Beverly Hills Chihuahua movie since we watched a few months ago. I, of course am such a sucker for my babies' wishes so when finally found THE dog, we took him home. We couldn't bring ourselves to buy a brand new puppy made just for breeding when there are puppies in shelters waiting for lots of love. We had the love to give, and when we found him, it was a perfect match! He is sooo mellow, at least so far, and Ira and Nani just adore him. He slept with his two masters last night, guarding them and protecting them. I know that i am in for a lot of work today with a brand new dog in the house... but I am so thankful and blessed to have our newest addition to the Orozco Family.

Bible in a Year

My goal this year was to actually read the Bible from beginning to end in a year. I have to admit it is hard sometimes, but honestly I have read more of the Bible this year since I made this commitment, than I ever have in my entire lifetime!

My sweetie ordered me this Bible after I gave him a One Year Bible for Christmas. I couldn't wait for it to arrive and it's finally here! I love the leather bound cover, the pretty pink flowers... it is just perfect for me!

I am so excited to make good on my commitment on reading through the Bible this year. Now if only I can be more diciplined on my journal writing and reflections ;-P

Jammed pack day!

We started off with two games, Ira's Tball and Nani's Soccer. Nani's team spanked the other team as always, thanks to the Italian players (more on that later) ;-P

Afterwards we went to Mesa to eat Vietnamese food that was absolutely delicioso. Then we went to the RV rental location. We got to check them out, learn about pricing and finally get serious about a field trip in an RV around AZ. We are still planning the details, though it looks like a total perfect Birthday PResent for my Papi Chulo! I can't wait to get on that RV and cruise with my 3 boys.

Afterwards, we took Nani and Ira to the new RideMakerz place. It's like a build a bear for cars. They had a blast making them!

Lastly we went to church! I can't believe how many things we actually fit in today!

Orozco's version of Picadillo!

I made my own version of Picadillo today and it was a HIT! I've never seen Nani eat so well before! So I thought I would take a picture and Blog this since it is not often that I throw things together and it becomes a Grand Slam. So here goes:

Ingredients
1 lb of ground beef
1 tomato
1/2 of yellow onion
1 garlic clove
1 green pepper
1/2 bag of baby carrots
1/2 bag of frozen green beans
1/2 can of tomato sauce
White Rice for side
Avocado for garnish (yum!)

1. Saute green pepper, onion, garlic, tomato.
2. Add ground beef and cook through
3. Add 1tsp or 2 of salt
4. Meanwhile chop the green beans and carrots and throw in a pot of salted water to boil
5. Once green beans and carrots cook through, drain
6. Mix together the meat mixture with the green beans and carrots and add the tomato sauce.

Serve with Rice and avocado!

Previously on Lost

So this is my 5th Season watching this show. I am so amazed how much a fan I am of this show. It has sooo many twists and turns that Wednesdays do not come fast enough for me. The boys all know that Wednesday nights are my special nights.

April Fools!

We played a funny April Fools joke on daddy today! Here is the email we sent him:

Hi daddy,

We received a call today for you at home today. They didn't
give us much information though they want you to call them back. The name they
gave was G. Raffe. Here is the number: 602.**** (the number we gave was to the
Phoenix Zoo).

So daddy called the number and found out it was for the Phoenix Zoo. He called us back and Nani said, "April Fools Daddy! The Giraffe was who called you! Get it?!"

It was sooo cool!

I loved laughing with my Papi Chulo. We were cracking up sooo hard!