NASA, Flying, and Fam

Ramon is turning 28 tomorrow!!! 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BABY!!!!

 Last week we visited NASA since he had never been. Yesterday we took him to fly and plane (I got to ride along too), and we went out to eat with his family and my mom.

 The patches of all successfully completed space mission.

 Robots!!

 A spacecraft...insanely big. It's crazy that they get this thing to fly.

 USA Baby!!

 Definition of complicated: (see above)

 Ramon where you can see him next to this rocket...

 Ramon where you can't

 "One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."

 The plane Ramon flew

 The cockpit.

 Taking off

 Ramon and his brother (Patrick)

Ashlyn's Grandma and Nana

 Ramon's dad, brother, and Ramon

Uncle Pat and Ashlyn

Okay, I was having way too much fun on my iPhone...

 Someone drawing Ashlyn

Ashlyn as a strange looking angel.

 Okay, I know this is weird, but it just looks so funny! Ashlyn as Santa. 

 This is for daddy...he's always saying, "I wonder if she will be __________". The blank is always something big, like a famous soccer player or an astronaut....

 If only they really did have billboards like this everywhere...the whole world would be happier.

Sick little girl :(

 Our poor little Ashlyn has bronchiolitis. Bronchiolitis is the inflammation of the little airways going to the lungs. We thought she had a cold (runny nose, lots of coughing and sneezing) but it just wasn't getting any better after several days. We took her to the pediatrician and they diagnosed her with bronchiolitis. It's so sad :(

She has to be on a nebulizer every 3-4 hours for 2 weeks. She hates it...poor girl. She's getting a little more used to it but she still tries to fight mommy and daddy.

YUMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Diapers+Medical Bills

+2 Weeks of Maternity Leave Without Pay

+Ramon Going Back to School (will talk more about that later)

=A Tight Budget

One way we cut back was on food. When I was preggy I DID NOT feel like cooking and Ramon is culinarily challenged. Now since I'm able to cook without puking or having the worst back pain ever I've been cooking pretty much every night and a couple huge meals on the weekend. I freeze the 2-3 huge meals I cook on the weekend in small containers and that serves as our lunches the next week. It makes it super easy to make the lunches too. I don't have to worry about trying to cram my lunch in the fridge at work because it's still frozen so I just leave it out until lunch time.

I thought I'd share a recipe that was just too good. You have to try it. Normally I HATE any kind of fruit or nut in any kind of salad but OMG this is the best chicken Salad in the world! (Ramon agrees) I guess that's why it's rated 4.5 stars and like 750 people rated it on allrecipes.com. I cut the chicken in cubes and boiled it and seasoned the water with salt, pepper, and onion powder.

So here it is from allrecipes.com:

Ingredients
4 cups cubed, cooked chicken meat
1 cup mayonnaise
1 teaspoon paprika
1 1/2 cups dried cranberries
1 cup chopped celery
2 green onions, chopped
1/2 cup minced green bell pepper
1 cup chopped pecans
1 teaspoon seasoning salt
ground black pepper to taste

Directions
1.In a medium bowl, mix together mayonnaise with paprika and seasoned salt. Blend in dried cranberries, celery, bell pepper, onion, and nuts. Add chopped chicken, and mix well. Season with black pepper to taste. Chill 1 hour.

Reference: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Holiday-Chicken-Salad/Detail.aspx

Our Little Pumpkin/Cupcake/Sweetie/Muffin/Little Lady/Baby Girl/Stinker Poo...etc,etc.

The Evolution of our Stairs

We're always doing projects around our house. The last project was refinishing the stairs because 1- the carpet is U-G-L-Y and 2- The cats decided to make a section of the stairs their litter box. Here are the pictures of the process from beginning to end.