The Taste-of-Home cooking show

The cooking show was awesome last night. It was fun to get away with Joan and her friends and spend some time together just her and me on the drive to and from Loveland. They made a ton of recipes right in front of us and, if I get to the store today, (that's a big if) we will be having manicotti for dinner tonight. If not tonight, maybe tomorrow night would be better since today is early release day at school and it is dance night and scout night. I am also watching Aaron for Joan today and will be again on Friday. He is such a great kiddo- pleasure to have him! I love that he is 3 now, talking, and can express himself more and more. Just makes life a little easier to know their wishes and needs instead of guessing them and it is fun to watch the little personalities emerging and developing. Thanks for sharing your little one with me today, Joan!

Production?

Why is it that I can be doing stuff all day long and still not feel very productive or like I got much accomplished and the house doesn't show it either?
Today I bought a ticket for the taste of home cooking show in Longmont. Looking forward to going to that tomorrow night.
I also bought my 4 Sunday papers with the circulars for my coupons. I've done several loads of laundry. Took Cameron to his dentist appointment. About to do dishes, move more laundry, fold the clean laundry, and work on the last details of 2 of the boys' costumes. Their class Halloween parties are tomorrow so need to get those done tonight. I sure am glad that our piano lessons are cancelled so I can get them done. Also, gonna get something on the table for dinner; probably tacos or some leftovers so it's quick.

That's it for today...

Check this out!

http://media.photobucket.com/image/jack+sparrow+jack+o+lantern/wonder_lick/Halloween/JackSparrowlantern.jpg?o=1

A little help?

Okay,
I just set my preferences to bring me to this page upon loading Safari. Hopefully, that will get me into the swing of blogging regularly for a little while. I guess we'll see what happens. Right now, I am missing Mike, feeling sad for Susan, hoping for a couple hours with Jamie tomorrow at the Book Fair, and getting a bit tired. Tomorrow or Sunday, I will get a bit up to speed with what has been happening here lately. TTFN, my friends.

The summer has truly been a whirlwind of activity and travel. I am glad things are slowing down now in that regard, but it seems there is an autumn hurricane of activity stirring among us. School has started and I am trying really hard to keep up, but find it a bit trying at times. I accidentally missed a visiting teaching appointment this week and I had just talked to the person we were visiting on the phone that same morning and had a message a short while later from my companion about the rescheduled time change. I told another friend that I had an appointment in the afternoon, and I STILL ended up missing it! I was so busy crafting cards, that when I remembered I needed to go and looked at the clock, it was an hour and 48 minutes too late! Close to time to pick the boys up from school. I immediately called the sister we were to visit and apologized. Thank heavens that Jesus is my Savior and Redeemer and has covered my every mess-up! I just wish I wouldn't mess up quite so often as I do.

Nicole's 11th Birthday

Nicole just turned 11 and I had the privilege of baking her a cake. She is into tigers right now, but I also wanted to honor Amber with a purple flower cake. Fortunately, I found a picture online of a tiger butterfly and I found instructions on bettycrocker.com of how to construct a butterfly from one round cake pan. I put the two together and came up with a tiger butterfly cake flying toward a purple flower!
I think it turned out pretty well.

School's out- Summer's here!

School has been out for a week now and our summer is off to a busy start. We have already travelled to Indiana and will be on our way back home with 2/4 of our boys within 30-45 minutes or so.
Yes, summer is here and all the glory that comes with sibling rivalry and being together a bit too much. I am very glad that our summer is already planned out and we will be kept without too much room for the rivalry to take place.
I just hope that when school starts back up, our children will have had enough leisure time to realize their break was wonderful and not be full of wondering why they didn't get a break.
Yes, back to Colorado for Cameron's first year of overnight camping with the boy scouts. Caleb is now in cub scouts, and, as I am an assistant leader in the cub scouting program, he and I both have a fun few days of day camp coming up. Logan and Nathanael are staying at Gma and Gpa's house for another 10 days before I fly back to retrieve them.
Speaking of Logan, his 10th birthday was Wednesday, the third. We celebrated this morning with cake and his gift opening. I think I finally found a "toy" that will keep him entertained for a while, is constructive for him to work on his motor and reading skills, and holds his interest. It is the Leapfrog "TAG" reading pen with 3 of the books. I think it is beneficial so far in many ways and we can add to the collection of books for future gifting to him. Yah! Finding gifts to suit his special needs is always an interesting challenge, but I think I found a great gift for him this time! Grandma Sweezy gifted him a new Krazy Kar, Gma. Campbell a new keyboard, and Gma Friesen is going to give him money which I may ask Logan if he wants to use for a couple of new "Tag" reader books!
While we were at the Indianapolis Zoo yesterday (of all places to be when this occurred), Mike called and let me know that Hugo wasn't doing so well. He thinks he may have had a stroke. So, without wanting my mom to have to deal with his care over the weekend while Mike flew back out here and we are driving home, it was with a heavy heart that I gave Mike consent to have him euthanized before leaving for the airport last night. I didn't get to say my last goodbyes to Hugo, but he will be in my heart forever. I love you, Hugo! I can't wait to get on the road so that I can have a really good cry.
Mike is back from attending the memorial service of a friend of ours from church here in Greenwood. We visited him in the hospital after church last Sunday, and he passed away quietly on Tuesday morning. I loaded the van while Mike was at the service and we are about to hit the road. Until later...

Taking Our "Zooful" to the Zoo

On Friday, after Logan's Therapy, Serina & Michael and Jamie with Nicole, Alex & Ethan, met at our house for an outing to the zoo. Mike and I have also been shopping for a van as we are once again in the market. So Mike rented a full-size van for 24 hours that we used to take most of us to Denver. Jamie, her kids, my three youngest, and I piled into the van. Melanie, Serina, Cameron and Michael rode in Serina's car.
Overall it was a wonderful day. I must say the weather was practically perfect in every way for an outdoor excursion; not too hot or too cold. Most of the children did get hungry and a couple of mine got irritable and whiny. Did I say irritable? Maybe irritating (with the whining) would be more appropriate. To be fair, it was a later start than we had hoped for, we didn't want to spend zoo prices on food for that many, and it was way past lunch time by the time we got out of there. I also delayed the lunch by taking the time to apply for a family zoo membership. I am glad that I did so, though, because once the day's entrance fees were applied towards the membership fee, I ended up only having to pay an additional $31.00 for a family plus 1 annual membership. Woo Hoo!
And we got pictures of some real animals too! ;)









Okay, really, there were animals of the "other than human" variety too!























It was mostly a sleepy day for the animals!

The Ickies out- Into the World again; A Museum Outing

For the past two weeks, we have been battling some kind of a virus or strep throat in the house. I am hoping it is finally on it's last leg and on the way out of our home. Melanie (my MIL) arrived in Denver last Sunday evening and we didn't even get out of the house until Thursday.
On Thursday we took the kids to the Loveland Museum downtown. It was a very nice outing. There are childrens' art pieces from the R2-J school district on exhibit through the end of March. There is an area that describes beat farming and when the beat and sugar factories were in operation. Another section has a facsimile to the first jail room in Loveland and different stores, etc. set up how "it must have been back when".
There is an area upstairs with a topical map of Larimer County. There is another area upstairs dedicated to all the Miss Lovelands and the Valentine re-mailing program. They even have the stamps and scrap paper out to stamp the cancel verses from each year (unless they are missing) since the program started.
All four boys, Melanie, and I really enjoyed the time spent here.

Idol Season 8- Top 36

Okay, so here's the line-up for this season. This is the point when the show starts to get really exciting to me. I don't remember all the candidates names, but found this picture on photobucket.com. I cannot wait for this week's performances!

American Idol Fan

I got hooked on American Idol during Season 7 last year. Thanks Jamie. I love David Cook and he was decidedly the American Idol last year, with David Archuleta deservedly being the runner up, but I really liked this performance of Syesha Mercado also!

Love-ly Day!

Yesterday was a great Valentine's Day. I spent the morning snuggling with Mike, signing in on Yoville, and finishing making a few Valentines for Mom, Jamie, and Jamie's family. After lunch, Caleb, Nathanael, and I went to Jamie's house. I helped her put a cabinet together which we moved to her daughter's bedroom. We then helped Nicole organize her cabinet and room. I had Jamie's husband surprise her with a large bear for her bed. It's Yoville being played out in real life-LOL (laughing out loud). Isn't Jamie sweet?

Some Wisdom

I was IMing with a girl from high school and this is something she said. I loved it and asked her if I could quote her, so...


"I told my self I am not perfect my house does not need to be spotless all the time'
I am fortunate to have a messy house cause its cluttered with love from the kids"
Nikki


I need to not stress so much about all the clutter in my life!

Bedtime Battle Blues

Why is it that every night at bedtime the boys are all of a sudden hungry, whining, yelling at each other, crying, complaining, etc.? I even asked them an hour in advance to put their p.j.'s on. Do you think anybody did? NO! Of course not.

And Logan got spanked for laughing. Who spanks their child for laughing? I do, obviously. It is a wicked and mean little laugh that comes out gleefully when his brothers are upset and whining, yelling at each other, crying, complaining, etc.

Tomorrow I am not only going to ask them an hour in advance to put p.j.'s on, but I am going to keep on them until they do and then I am going to send them straight to bed after that. That way, if all the hunger pangs, whining, yelling at each other, crying, complaining, and other such nonsense occurs, they will at least be settled in by bedtime.

That's What Friends Are For

Jamie is the best! I was glued to the computer this morning (and afternoon). She came by and started cleaning my house. Oh, the guilt I felt! I, of course, had to put the computer aside and jump in to help. I couldn't even talk her into looking at my blog or anything until after some cleaning got done. This time she has the halo and I have the horns.

I say I am lazy. Jamie says I am burned out. Thanks for making excuses for me Jamie!

That's what friends are for.

EDK: Blogs a new way!

Yesterday, my visiting teachers came over and, I, being addicted to the computer, shared a few photos with them from Snow Mountain Ranch. Also, Angie shared some blogsites with me about digital scrapbooking and blog backgrounds. I am looking forward to getting together with her sometime to learn more and see what she has done building some of her own backgrounds, etc.

Lori, in the meantime, kept Angie's baby entertained. Thanks guys! I love you

PS-no guilt about too much computer time, right? Blogging is keeping family history/ personal journals after all!

EDK got to play!

Yesterday, I spent a few hours at Jamie's house. I finished a couple of projects for her that I had promised to do forever ago. We also got to play on Yoville and she was showing me how to edit things for my blog! It was fun. I am hoping to start blogging more regularly now. I am also hoping to learn how to scrapbook digitally and rid myself of all the paper clutter around the house that I have acquired. Not quite ready to give the tools up yet, though, because i am still hoping to find/make time to make cards. And, I suppose, do the occassional scrapbook page for a real album.

Difficult Adjustments!

I have been having a hard time adjusting back to the routine schedule after such a nice break without obligations. Back to therapies and lessons and scouts. 

Therapies and lessons and scouts, Oh My!

This is the reason for the difficult adjustments:

too much fun with family here for Christmas, a birthday/New Years' party, and spending a relaxing first weekend of the new year at Snow Mountain Ranch with the family! 

I guess we wouldn't know we were relaxing and enjoying ourselves if it weren't for the oppositional grindstone! (LOL)

Happy Holiday Blahs!

OK, so here it is 2 days after Christmas and I have been very tired and feeling kinda lazy too. The relatives have mostly gone (my BIL leaves tomorrow), we've eaten mostly leftovers for 2 days (we had fresh pizza last night), there are toys everywhere, again (we just cleaned the house 4 or 5 days ago), and now I can't bear the thought of even starting on the cleaning process again until after the boys are back at school, but I know I've gotta get on it Monday because I am hosting a birthday party for one of my very close long-time friends!

OK, enough with the "woe-is-me" and onto the "whoa-is-me" for another 2 days at least. 

Then, I know I'll get going again on Monday! :)

I can't wait for the party. My friend's birthday is Dec. 31st, her favorite holiday is Halloween, and, she's never ever had a birthday party before. So, we are doing it up right for her 40th. Since everybody stays up all night anyway, we are going to have a dress-up halloween-themed party for New Year's Eve, featuring the birthday cake as a kitty-litter cake. I am so excited about this. It should be lots of fun!

Well, I am really going to try to update this more often,  try being the operative word. 

What a day!

Ok, so Lindsay, Logan's ST did not show up for the program yesterday. I was very proud of Logan, though. Also, Caleb was great and singing all the songs. Nathanael could have done better in the reverence department. When he wasn't standing up during the singing parts, we were looking at his rear end because he curled up on the chair instead of sitting in it nicely. Also, Cameron was fighting falling asleep the entire time and it showed. I found out this morning that the reason he was so tired was he'd been up late playing his DS- without permission I might add. Aargh. I told him if that happened anymore, I would confiscate the DS.

I also found out right before church yesterday that a dear friend of mine who had a baby on October 16th has been spending her time in the NICU. That's why I hadn't been hearing anything about the birth. Julie, who was a roommate of mine back in the college days got married last October. I went out and took pictures at her wedding. Well, baby Desirae was born with some breathing difficulties due to a PDA valve in her heart not closing properly. They also found out she has the trisomy 21 chromosome which is down syndrome. So, I spent some time on carepages checking out her progress and those beautiful baby pictures.

After Sacrament meeting yesterday, I ended up ditching Sunday School and Relief Society. It wasn't my intention to miss both. I went into Logan's classroom to brush and feed him after the Primary Program. Then, I went into the bathroom and sat on a bench to paint my fingernails while waiting for Sunday School to get over. Well, that took longer than I thought it would and I went about 20 minutes into Relief Society so I decided I'd skip that one too. Oh well, Logan got brushed and fed and my nails are cute. I even got a compliment on them today from the para sub that picked Logan up from the van this morning.

After the boys got home from school today, I took them to the library. Met my mom back at our house about 5:00 for her to take Logan and Cameron to Windsor for their chiropractic care. When they had left, I put some butternut squash into the oven and some rice in the steamer to cook. I also took out a couple of steaks from the freezer to sit out and thaw a little bit. Then, I gathered Caleb and Nathanael and we went to Wal-Mart to pick up some more ingredients for the chex mix I am making for Logan's class tomorrow. WE saw about 4 people there we knew and by the time we got out of there, we only got home about 10 minutes before Mom returned with the other 2. I cooked the steaks as quickly as I could. We ate dinner very late about 7:30. 

I sit here now at 9:43 still fighting with Nathanael to eat his dinner. The other boys are in bed, but with all the commotion, I doubt they're asleep. I've already talked with Mike for the evening and we said our goodnight prayers. The reason I am being relentless about making him eat tonight is so that he'll know he can't get away with not eating his dinner and then get himself bread before bed which is what he did tonight and it totally irritated me since I'd specifically told him not to.

Anyway, a nice thing that happened today is that a neighbor of ours, Jim, brought us some cupcakes. That is what we had for dessert tonight except for Nathanael who gets no dessert tonight. I was very surprised to see Jim at our door as I was trying to round up the boys this afternoon for the library.

I have a busy day tomorrow and I have yet to make chex mix and stuff clear plastic gloves with it before I go to bed tonight. 

I am signing off now to go mix. I may get back on here later if Nathanael is still up when I'm done with the gloves, but I really hope not. I will be needing to go to bed myself. 

I would like to take a picture of my fingernails to show before I take the current paint job off and change them for tomorrow-LOL.

I think I'm getting into nail polish again lately because it is totally girly and I am so overdosed on testosterone around here.

Oh yeah, one more thing before I sign off. Another girlfriend of mine, Tami (from high school), sent us a "Flat Stanley", to have an adventure with, journal and photograph about it, mark our spot on the map, send a postcard, and send on to someone else. Totally fun. I was going to take him with us to pick pumpkins for Family Home Evening tonight, but that didn't happen. So, I think we will take him to trunk-or-treat at our church tomorrow night and then to pick pumpkins on Thursday when we go.

Whew, is that it? Okay off with me to mix and fill.