last call

for the month of February...

we actually have been busier than what the blog shows

I've just been slow moving this month

but that is all going to change really soon

because I always seem to  forget how much goes on in March

So here is what the last few weeks have looked like

An afternoon drive over to Emmett to have a Lenten lunch with my mom.

This is something we do every year during the Easter season, 

usually I have the boys with me but this year I was riding solo.

It was a quick but fun afternoon hanging out with my mom

and we always love our deserts.

 Speaking of desserts...

doesn't this look like a breakfast for champions

Over the long weekend Amanda and I took the kids out 

for the above mentioned breakfast

and then a trip to Jump Time to work it all off

Sadly though this (riding together all in one vehicle)

was probably the highlight of their day. 

Afterwards we took them to McDonald's

for yet another healthy meal

then out for a little shopping

and lastly a trip to our local library

This little girl was baptized on February 17th

a date to remember for sure

What a doll, right?

She was so adorable and she loved all of the attention

that she was getting from the whole congregation.

 Matt and Summer asked Heath and I 

to be her Godparents so that made the day even 

a little bit more special for us to share in.

It was a great family day for us all to be together.

We finally got a new to us vehicle that will fit more than just our family of five.

This will be so nice when Teresia comes to visit so we won't have to take

two vehicles everywhere that we go.

Our new Yukon has affectionately been called the station wagon 

because after the girls got their new expedition the boys

kept calling it a van which we thought was just hilarious,

so I guess that we are even now.

Sunday we went out with my sister and Jim after church.

It's crazy that they are almost empty nesters with Hailey doing her own thing most of the time, 

so she always gets to experience eating out and shopping with my crew.  Thankfully she's great with the boys

and has learned and perfected patience over the years so she handles our craziness just fine.

We usually split up from the guys at some point, my boys usually always pick to go with the big boys

because they are going to places like Best Buy and Sportsmans so Nicole and I get some fun shopping time together with no kids, lucky us.  

One of our finds was this super cute bird butter dish

and this new mirror fit perfectly just where I was hoping it would.

It was a successful shopping day.

This kid, I tell you...What am I going to do with him?

I helped out in Ryan's classroom the other day and when he came in from recess he told me that some kid was punching him in the face over and over, (don't feel bad for him just yet, keep reading) I wasn't too concerned because Ryan wasn't even crying and didn't look like he had been beat up so I figured that there was more to the story.  When I got ready to leave I reminded him to tell the duty if something like this happens again at lunch recess and that's when he told me the rest of the story. He say's, 

"So mom, the only thing that I did was say to the kid, Hey Loser!

Then he came up and started punching me, Who does that?"

We had a long talk after that and I hope that he learned a lesson or two.

Luke will be starting spring flag football soon.

He is very excited to be playing, he is all about the football (and his hair) and

seems to have a pretty good understanding of the game. This will be so good for him

because we are hoping that he will gain some confidence in trying new things.

He has now added playing professional football to his list of things to do when he grows up.

 Same ole same ole going on with Cody.

The kid loves school and is still enjoying basketball.

He was the only kid in his class to get a 100% on a paper so his teacher let him

teach his class in the computer lab.  He was wanting to wear a bow tie to school and have 

the kids call him Mr. Amazing but he opted for his normal attire and to just be called Cody, 

good choice. 

I'm in love with these sunshine and blue skied filled days,

I hope that there are plenty more of these for us in March.

Good bye February, Hello March.

cool as a cucumber

 Really I don't know where the time goes

I had no intentions of slacking off on my blog

Once again.

The kids each had a spelling bee within their classrooms to see who would qualify for their school's spelling bee.  Cody showed no interest in wanting to be in it but when you have a memory like his, you win in your class without even really trying.  He wasn't too excited about moving onto the school's spelling bee but we did put in some time and study for a few days.  There were only six fifth graders total in the spelling bee so the odds were in his favor and he ended up coming in second place with spelling deception and juvenile correctly but getting out on the word disastrous.  So this meant that Cody was moving onto the multi-school spelling bee and that we would really need to start studying.

My family has a little history with spelling bee's and spelling in general. Growing up my dad always told us the  story of when he went to a small country school that had many grades all in one classroom.  He told us how he would take the higher grades spelling tests and that there was only one word that he ever missed, which was the word bouquet.  We have heard this story so many times that we would never forget how to spell bouquet.

Fast forward to my sister in fifth grade and she was also in a spelling bee.  She earned third place, getting out on the word garment, this is yet another story that we have heard many times and another word that we all will never forget how to spell.

Next up was me and I was in the spelling bee in sixth grade.  Apparently I felt very sure of myself and my abilities and I did very little studying which is why I got out on the first word which nobody seems to remember what it even was.  Sad story but a lesson learned and I didn't want Cody to follow in my footsteps so we studied as much as we could.  Studying words is really so boring but Cody and I managed to have a little fun with trying to come up with ways to remember some of the words spellings.

The day finally arrived and Cody had no worries, he was as cool as a cucumber.

I had to laugh at how serious some of these kids were, they were pacing around out in the hallway and having parents recite words over and over and then there is Cody just hanging out playing on his Ipod and goofing off with his brothers.

He wasn't really nervous at all until he had to walk up on stage and even then he seemed so relaxed.

This Spelling Bee had a total of ten kids and Cody hung in there for three rounds spelling luncheon, obvious and kerosene correctly but getting out on the word amateur for a seventh place finish.

It was a good experience for him and we were so proud of him.  He has been so busy with homework, basketball and trying to study the words that I am just happy that life feels a little bit back to normal now.

one step forward...

Cody asked me last night where all of his jeans were

this came as a complete shock

because until recently none of my boys liked wearing or 

chose to wear the so called "fancy pants."

I told him he has two pairs of jeans

the rest of them are cargo and athletic pants.

 He wanted to make sure that he had a clean pair for the next day

because he likes to wear jeans now,

something we never thought we would ever hear him say

So he got dressed this morning

in his jeans

and his home made tie dyed shirt from last summer

that happened to have a pocket

a pocket that he thought was really cool

and that would be perfect 

to fill with pens

so there you have it

two steps back...

I told Cody it did look a little nerdy

and he just laughed

I sure do love this funny kid.

did you know

well probably not

since I haven't been blogging

but now you will

Cody was in a school play 

he played Merlin in the play Joust

he had around ten lines to say and he did great

even though I thought he seemed a little nervous he said that he wasn't

and had a lot of fun

I think he enjoyed the singing and dancing more than the speaking

we were proud of him

I finally got a canvas made up from our last family picture

I love how this wall came together

thanks to Amanda and her decorating skills

it just brings a smile to my face every time I look at it

 Heath was home sick two days last week

one of those sick days was his birthday, that's not fun

but it did work out that he was able to go to Ryan's award ceremony, yeah for that

Ryan earned a paw print for respecting others

so he was acknowledged at the school assembly

Ash also earned one, way to go you two.

Cody is playing basketball again this year

and just had his first game over the weekend.

He's not one to go out and want to practice all of the time

(or if ever) 

but Heath and I were very proud of him at his game.

He has a better understanding of the game this year 

and what he needs to be doing, plus he's having fun

so we are excited to watch him grow.

We celebrated Luke with a family party even though Grammy and Papa were missing.

I loved the confetti garland that I made 

and all of his pictures hanging across the room

it was so fun to seem how he changed over the last nine years.

His party was all about his favorite team, the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Since we always celebrate Heath at the same time

I decided to make them rivals and have it be

Heath's favorite team the Tennessee Titans against the Steelers.

I asked everyone to come wearing colors to support one of those teams

and if you couldn't do that then come wearing your own favorite teams colors

and so they did.

My brother is such a dork

this is how he parked in our driveway

so nobody else would be able to

I actually thought it was pretty funny

Luke's party was also about all of his favorite foods

(like it was last year)

I don't think his favorites have changed much

deviled eggs, turkey & bacon club sandwiches, cheetos, fried pickles & potato salad

He loved it all

especially all of his presents

He is all about the beyblades this year!

 The sun was out yesterday

I could hardly believe it

after being in the inversion for so long

I forgot how needed and wonderful

the sun and blue skies are

I loved it.

  We couldn't let Luke's actual birthday go by without celebrating

so we started it out with our presents to him

doughnuts for his class

doughnuts again after school with the girls

McDonald's for dinner

He is just an awesome kid

and lucky us

we get to celebrate being his parents everyday

(or at least most days).

In other news not too long ago

 I asked the kids what they wanted to be when they grow up, 

Ryan's answer was pretty standard for a little boy when he said police officer or fireman.

Cody's we have heard before too when he said doctor, pilot or video game designer.

Luke's was a complete shocker when he told us a car sales man (because he said if you sold three cars a day you could make sixty eight thousand dollars) or a hair cutter and as a side job he would breed lizards to which Heath replied "Do you plan on getting married someday?" thinking what woman is going to want that.

It will be so interesting to see where life does take them.

And lastly,

I have a new job

it's actually really funny to say job

because I don't get paid

but I am the new 3rd grade keyboarding teacher

as a parent volunteer.

It's something that they just started in the school with the third graders

 so I get to work for an hour and a half, one day a week.

Last Friday was my first day and I was a little bit nervous because this is all new to me

but I managed to do okay except for one mistake (at least that I know of).

I asked Luke if any of his friends said anything about me being their teacher 

and he said, "they told me that you made a mistake".  Gotta love their honesty.

Anyway we will see where this goes and what doors it could possibly open up for me.

Now onto February...

niNe

Happy Birthday to this sweet boy today!

Be back tomorrow to share what we have been up to

and how we celebrated this guy.

birthday boys and a girl

Saturday we celebrated

Luke and Heath

they have birthday's coming up really really soon

but my parents won't be here to help us celebrate

they will be in Hawaii

I'm so jealous

some place warm sounds so good

I'm so over this -4 degrees stuff

It was just my parents and us

because the family party will be this weekend

My parents picked a great place for dinner

Kyoto's Japanese Steak House

the boys have been only one time but were so little they don't remember

Luke didn't know anything about the birthday plans

or that he was going to see Grammy and Papa

he was so surprised to see them in the waiting area at the restaurant

he was speechless

that's how surprised he was

we enjoyed some great food

it was so yummy

the boys all gave their chopsticks a try

Ryan was actually pretty good at it

all the boys tried catching the shrimp tossed in the air

Heath was the only one to catch it

the boys thought our chef Tony the tiger was funny

and were in awe of his skills

after presents

we headed to the movies

and watched Parental Guidance

it was the perfect movie for our family night

it's all about grandkids and grandparents

it makes you laugh and cry

we all loved it

everything about our day was perfect

I love those kind of days.

The weekend before we had done a little more celebrating

this time it was for my sister though

she turned forty

I can't even believe that

because that means I'm not far behind

but she looks great

she is going to handle forty just fine

 after the not so very surprised surprise party

with the family, food and presents

we all headed out bowling once again

where my mom came out the winner for the second time

at least for our team

the boys didn't cry once 

they even bowled some spares and strikes

it was a great night for everyone

Happy Birthday Sis

two thousand and thirteen

Welcome 2013...

our new year has looked a little like this over the past few days.

sledding with the girls

closer friends with every year that goes by

luke even told us that he sometimes tells the kids at school

that he has two sisters

the kids wrote some new years resolutions and highlights from 2012

Ryan

greatest lesson learned :: being quiet

favorite memory :: being little

want to learn :: listening

favorite food :: watermelon

Luke

hardest thing of the year :: spending money wisely

biggest goal :: beating abigail at a swimming race

favorite memory :: playing with kimber on christmas morning

want to learn :: division

Cody

favorite book :: bible

greatest lesson learned :: that wearing glasses isn't all that bad

what i loved most about 2012 :: that the world did not end on dec 21st

want to learn :: everything 

i have a few resolutions too :: like learning to knit and doing a bible study

and many more things on my wish list to accomplish

here are a few pictures that made me smile

little bird tracks in the snow :: a visit from teresia :: gas prices going down

 teresia took us out to dinner at the goodwood one day

the food was so yummy

and the shopping with amanda afterwards was fun too

i am on detox right now from shopping

i have been a sucker for everything on sale and on clearance

i have to stop
it must stop

the boys got dressed up for our dinner out

we told them to pick out something nice

i love to see their sense of style and how they dress up

cody is all about the socks but he did wear jeans

luke wore his new belt from hailey and a new shirt

ryan picked out one of his button up church shirts and was so proud

a few other fun things we did 

heath and i had a date and ate at 2 fat guys and watched a movie

the movie was so-so but the lunch was amazing

teresia and i took the kids to see Hotel Transylvania

it was a cute movie we all had fun

my friend tanda gave us some fresh georgia pecans

so while teresia was here we made a pie

we tried a new recipe out from one of the cookbooks she had given me

i am not even a fan of pecan pies

and i loved this pie

so you might want to try it next time you make one

i don't think you would be disappointed

pecan pie

preheat oven to 350 degrees. mix all ingredients in the order given and pour into unbaked pie shell.

place the pie shell on a cookie sheet and bake for 45 minutes.

1 cup light brown sugar

1 cup light corn syrup

3 eggs at room temperature

1 stick margarine softened

1 teaspoon vanilla

dash of salt

1 cup chopped pecans 

a few other things that kept us busy

heath was off for a few days to spend time with his momma

cody attended a two day basketball camp 

the boys loved having their mamaw teresia here visiting

they know she spoils them like crazy and won't tell them no

plus they get all of her attention so what's not to love

we are always thankful for her visits 

another snow day and heath off of work

made for a very fun day after school for the boys and girls

cody chose to stay in to finish a bunch of homework instead, bummer

heath pulled the kids on the sleds with the four wheeler

the kids loved it

they were all smiles

so you can see that our new year is off to a wonderful start

i hope yours is too.