Sunday, September 30, 2012

My breakfast helper :)


Dad surprised me yesterday, he was suppose to have to work today but he took off so we can have a family day/date night.  I am so excited.  It may not be huge, just us two out to eat, but we don't get to do that very often so it means a lot! 

So I thought since we had nothing going on this morning I would get up and make cinnamon rolls.  I was surprised walking into the kitchen and seeing K standing there.  Well, not really surprised, he is my early riser!  He was so excited when I asked him if he wanted to help me make the rolls!  As you can see on his face!

We are currently waiting for them to be done baking so we can eat them up!  The house smells delicious!  Coffee and cinnamon rolls sounds like a perfect breakfast!

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Pizza Sauce

I love to do almost any recipe as long as it is easyily done!  With four kids running around the house it will have a better chance of turning out if I stick to easy and most times quick.  I have gotten bread to turn our ok, even with the slamming doors and screaming!  So I found this premixed pack of spices to make Pizza Sauce and decided to try it.  Super easy!
 
 

You will need about 18 mid size tomatos, 1/4 cup white sugar, and this pack of seasoning.  I think it cost about $2 and made a huge pizza plus dipping sauce!
 

You will need to boil the tomatos for about 10 minutes in a heavy boil.  Then flash cool them, I had my sink already filled with ice cold water.  This make it so the skin just peels off!  Cut up in chunks and place in a pot.


Boil down so they are smooth(I blended mine a little in a food processor, you can also de-seed if you want by putting it through a strainer now).  Place back in pot and add sugar and seasoning, mix well and let sit on low for about 20 minutes (or more) to really get the seasoning.  Make sure you watch it and stir occasionaly because it WILL burn to your pan and it smells awful if that happens!  Don't ask me how I know this!



Spread out homemade crust(I will put this recipe up later) or put down store-bought crust.  Top with sauce and anything else you like on your pizza.  Enjoy!  This is a cookie sheet that my pizza crust makes, and it is so heavy!

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Picture Day.

This is one of my favorite days of the school year.  I love the kids getting all dressed up and taking their picture.  I love the fact that my boys still want to wear ties(this is truly their choice not mine).  If you look at D his tie is a little of center, I think that makes it even more cute!  This is one of the few mornings that I do not have to fight them to get ready and look decent for school.  I can not stop looking at these pictures and realize how incredibly blessed I am!





Of course D had to get in on the picture.

Saturday, September 22, 2012

Crock Pot Applesauce



This has to be the easiest recipe for applesauce there is!  It takes 4 hours in the crock pot on high.  The ingredients are as follows:

1 bag of apple(your choice)
1/2 cup sugar (no more)
Cinnamon to taste(or not at all if you like non cinnamon sauce)
1/2 cup water

Peel, core and chop apples into inch by inch chunks.  throw in pot, top with water sugar and cinnamon.  Let sit for 4 hours on high, stirring occasionally.  If you don't like chunkier sauce, place in a blender and smooth out.

That is it!  How easy is that!!

Homecoming Parade


We had our Homecoming Parade today!  I love these parades, it so much fun seeing all of the school spirit and the kids get so into it!  Only J and C are in the parade.  K is in PK, even though the parade is short it is a little far for those little legs.


This year it is cold and windy so unfortunately they couldn't really dress the way they wanted.  Last year it was so nice and warm.  Poor D was shaking by the end of the parade.
It is always so cute to see all of the little people in the parade, always so proud.


Friday, September 21, 2012

Happy Birthday Roxie!






Roxie will be one year old tomorrow!  It does not seem like we have had her that long!  With how much she has grown in this time it seems like she should be a lot older than what she is!  She is going to be a massive dog!

She defiantly gives me headaches, chasing leaves and bugs instead of going out to the bathroom.  And when it is raining or there is a sprinkler or water slide...well lets just say she gets to dry off for a while in her kennel!

In all of the bad, there is far more good!  She is one of the most loving and tolerant dogs we have ever had!  She lets the kids do just about anything to her, she almost expects it!  She has learned a new trick, which the kids love, "Roxie find the kids".  They hide over a hillside or behind a wall, and she will barrel them over, all while they are squealing with delight!  Water slides, like I mentioned above, she loves!!  She actually would go running down it with the kids sliding and end up sliding right with them!  I don't know who had more fun, her or the kids!

Dad and I were really not going to get another house animal.  We were set against it!  J kept begging us to get one, as almost all 8 year olds do!  So out of curiousity we looked!  We were refered to an amazing couple who did an awesome job raising her to 11 weeks old when we got her.  It is a perfect match and love at first site!  We thank you so much for blessing our family with such a perfect and wonderful dog!

We love you, you crazy dog!

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Are my kids Pack Rats or...



Just plain messy!  This is a tiny sampling of what I found out of ONE couch cushion!!  I swear I can not even count how many single socks I have found in our couch!  Not to mention, some stuff I wish I would have never found.  I am honestly scared to put my hand down in the couch for fear of what I may grab.

I don't understand how I can have OCD when it comes to stuff like that, and not one of my kids have inherited that!

I finally got to it!



I finally found the time to sit down and organize the craft cabinet!  It needed it so badly, it got to the point where no one would open it because stuff would fall out every time the doors were open.  I tore everything out and threw away all trash, broken and not working stuff.  Next was the puzzles. We have so many, and the kids love doing them, but a lot had multiple pieces missing.  I ordered the little baskets from Oriental Trading catalog.  The other bins with lids I got at our local super center, and the Play dough container is just a giant can that used to have pizza sauce in it.  Binders, notebooks and coloring books are all on the side.  I do have some holders for those are ordered but not here yet.

So Happy!


Dad and D spent the day doing "Man" stuff!  This included going to the local farm and hardware store.  Needless to say they came home with a lot more than what I had expected.    D has an obsession with the color orange, so look what Dad bought him!  He has not taken it off for more than 20 minutes at a time!  He is so proud that he has to tell everyone to look at his new orange hat!

Monday, September 17, 2012

Meal Plan Monday



I used to be really good about writing down a menu and following it.  I have unfortunately let myself slack in that department and need to get back into it.  It helps so much to have it planned, now I am not rigid and HAVE to stick to it.  I just write down what we would like to eat that week and we may or may not end up having it on that exact day.  We will, however, have it sometime that week.

Monday: Fried Chicken legs, Sweet corn bread muffins, noodles and veggies
Tues: Hamburgers, steak fries, veggies
Wed: Pastie
Thurs: Spaghetti, meatballs, french garlic bread, peas
Fri: Leftovers
Sat: Steak, Mashed Sweet tatos, corn


Last night we had amazing and RICH Derby Pie!  So yummy!

Little boys and their toys



I love watching my kids play.  I love it even more when they don't realize that I am watching them and I get to see how they truly use their imagination.  Each one of them are so unique and play so differently.  I am very proud to say they have incredible imaginations!  That was one of my mail goals when I had kids, they would know how to entertain themselves and be able to use imagination!

You know what I love to watch even more then our kids playing like D above?....

When I see Dad laying on the floor with them and playing.  I don't know what else he could do that would melt my heart like this!

Friday, September 14, 2012

Patience



This dog has the patience of a saint!  Yes D is sitting on her, K is petting her and J is poking her nose!  This is a typical night in our house.  But you know what, she loves it!  She gets as wound up as them and has now learned a new trick "Roxie go find the kids" and she goes and gets them, they all squeal with excitement!

C turns 7!

I can not believe my baby girl is 7 already!  Although she defiantly does act like 7 going on 17!




Beautiful, loving, stubborn, perfectionist, creative, loves to sing, dancer, smart, pure heart, loud, sweet...... There are so many other ways to describe her.  I love her with my whole heart!  I am so proud that she calls me her Mama!


C's Monster High cake. I made it, I know not fancy.

Monday, September 10, 2012

Where were you?



"Where were you when the world stopped turning that September day?" ~ Alan Jackson

This day that will forever be burned into our memories.  When we were young we had assignments to go home and ask our parents/grandparents "Where were you when JFK was shot?"  Our children are now asking us "Where were you when the first plane hit?"  I never understood how our parents could so vividly remember exactly what they were doing.  That was until Sept. 11, 2001 a day I will truly never forget.

I don't know about you but I still these images and start crying.  After 11 years I still can not fathom this horrific tragedy.

I was 20 years old and attending the local college.  It was early morning and I was in my bedroom getting ready to drive to school.  Listening to my radio like every other morning, while I was doing my makeup.  I heard the announcer say that about some building being hit by a plane.  I yelled at my mom to turn the TV on something bad was happening.  Right as we turned the TV on we saw in real time, the 2nd plane hit the other Tower.  I was dumbfounded, speechless.  All I could do was hold onto the eyeliner pencil I had and sit on the floor.  It didn't seem like this could be real.

I had to tear myself away from the TV and drive to school, I don't know why I insisted on going that day I think I had an exam.  The whole drive(20 minutes) I kept looking at the sky because there were still planes unaccounted for at the time.  Of course by the time I got up to school all classes were canceled.  I ended up turning around and going back home.

There are pictures that we have seen over and over.  They are drilled into our heads.  To the point, I fear, that people have become desensitised to what truly happened.

I have seen both of my brother sign up for different branches of military because of 9-11.  Numerous friends and family have gone to war.  I have went through(unfortunately many others have also) of loosing someone to this war.

 
I have never been happy to see someone die.  However in this circumstance I was not sad at all. 
 
 
Thank you to all of the Police, Firefighters, Military and Paramedics who did their jobs.  The everyday person who happen to be in the right place at the right time.  The Chaplin who died doing what he was honored to do, giving last rights to someone else.  They didn't blink, or run away.  They ran towards the scariest situation anyone could think of.  The ran into burning and collapsing buildings, they ran into a cloud of debris even though they couldn't see a thing.  They saved the lives of many, whom without them would have perished. 

9-11-01 we will never forget.

Saturday, September 8, 2012

Spy Kids


The kids were made up "guns" out of Mega Blocks the other night.  Dad and I were in the kitchen talking and they kept creeping around.  After we finally asked them what they were doing, they were Ninja/spy, army guys!  Duh Mom!  Love that my kids have such imagination!

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

I Cross My Heart, and Promise too.....



This is the start of a chorus of a very important song for us.  Actually it is the song of our life together, it was our wedding song(in case anyone is wondering, the song is "I cross my heart, by George Strait).

Let's start at the beginning:  We started dating in late July of 2002.  Our very first date lasted over 10 hours!  I would say that is a pretty good start to our life together!  We went through a very heavy period then, I almost lost Dad!  He contacted Viral Meningitis.  He was in the hospital for 2 weeks and was barely conscious.  A very scary time!  We dated for a little over a year and then...

The Proposal:  I worked at a local "Mom and Pop" restaurant.  Very family oriented.  We were crazy busy one Saturday morning so I really wasn't paying attention to anything going on, or my co-workers acting funny.  All of a sudden Dad walks into the restaurant with our dog(Riley).  I thought he was just dropping by until I saw Riley wearing a shirt!  Dad walks around the corner and gets down on one knee and sets Riley next to him.  The shirt he was wearing said " C will you marry F, love Riley"!  Like I said earlier we were BUSY, but everyone stopped and watched to see what my response was.  Of course it was YES!!!  With tears!

The Big Day:  September 6, 2003!  Our colors were periwinkle and white.  It was SO hot outside, we had the air conditioner working on overtime!  I remember my niece(who at the time was about 5) freaked out.  I was only dressed in my crinoline and bustier and she thought that was what I was wearing.  She screamed "I can see your underwear!"  It took us a little bit to convince her this was not my actual dress, but what went under it.  Our photographer was my boss(from the restaurant) and a dear friend to both Dad and I.  It was so much fun to have her there with me all day!  I was kept hidden in a back room so Dad could not see me.  I was told later that our ring bearer actually dropped our rings in the aisle and had people crawling under the pews to find them!  I wish I could have seen that!

The best moment of the whole day:  I walked around the corner with my mother and father on either side of me.  I looked down the aisle to the front of the church and there he stood.  My best friend, the man I was marrying!  He was staring right at me with this amazing look of love in his eyes!  I can still see it in my minds eye!  Truly the day was pretty much a blur.  So many people were there to celebrate with us.  The one part I do remember was that my feet were killing me, I took my shoes off as soon as our formal pictures were taken.  I was in my bare feet the rest of the night!  You can defiantly tell this if you would have saw the bottom  of my skirts, YUCK!  I think we finally got to the Bed and Breakfast that we were staying at around 3am!

I could not be happier to have spent the last 9 years married to my best friend!

Labor Day.

I went out for our towns Labor Day street dance for the first time in 5 years of us living here!  I was so excited all day and I had a blast with Dad and some amazing friends!  I could not have asked for a better time!
Bucky Badger! The band is always amazing!

The middle school marching band and flag corps

C, J and K watching the old tractors come through!

D towards the end of the parade after he finally calmed down!
The next day we had our towns parade.  D is SO NOT FOND OF LOUD NOISES!  I tried warning Dad but he thought I was just over-reacting.  He found out later I was not!  I had to stand in the alley with D while he screamed!  Even through that we all still had fun and the kids got a huge bucket full of candy!

First day of school!

C started 1st grade!

J started 3rd grade!

K is in PreK!

And I still have one more year home with D!