Saturday, August 30, 2008

Free Range

Oh, I love the chickens. I love to let them "free range" around my yard all day.

Look how happy and free our Chicken, (named "Turken") is! She's running around, all happy not to be caged up!




The problem is: It's not MY yard she's running around in. She's at the neighbors:

Such a naughty, naughty chicken! I'm quite sure the neighbors aren't happy about rogue chickens running around their backyard!!!

Taylor is back at school and he's the one I normally send over to retrieve Turken. What do I do?!?! So I throw some strawberries, grapes and cherry tomatoes around our side of the fence, hoping to get Turken to come back over to our yard. Peer pressure you know... let her see all the other chickens having a nice time and a good feast over in OUR yard.



It works! She's happy to munch on some cherry tomatoes on the correct side of the fence!


The grass may be greener on the other side of the fence, (LITERALLY! LOL)!! But because of her bad actions, she lands herself in solitary.


And she lets me know she's not happy about it.

Too bad little chicken! You do the crime, you serve the time!!!


She has ONE MORE CHANCE before she heads over to my parents coop.

Love my chickens!!! They're just like my children... so entertaining yet so STRESSFUL!

:)

Bagpipe Concert

Seriously, we went to a bagpipe concert.


And it ROCKED!


The entire family *loved* it! (Jordan a future drummer in a "bagpipe band"???)


We are *totally* going again next time they have a performance!

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

I just never want to forget.

I have this blog... I won't forget the stories as long as I can come back and read them.

What I don't want to forget is the FEELING I had when this boy:


Was at the Chiropractor today and pulled this slip of paper out of his pocket:

And he tells the chiro: I'm in FIRST GRADE now and I get to eat lunch at school. Mom put this note in my lunch to make me smile.

He put it in his pocket for the rest of the day.

He knows I love him, but I don't think he knows how much a silly wrinkled note in his pocket made me feel this afternoon.

Please... don't let me forget this "feeling". I want to know it for the rest of my life. I've never been so happy!

Potato Head has spoken.

I think even Mr. Potato Head thinks doing dishes is boring. I mean, why else would he drop in on my dirty silverware to give me a smile???



(As I look closer, it appears to be MRS. Potato Head. That makes more sense... I believe she can sympathize more than her male counterpart.)

I love my Madison! You just never know what she's going to do next!

Note to self when making Jell-O Jigglers...

Use "cooking spray" on the molds.

I thought I was being so creative making puzzle shape Jello for the boys lunch. It turned into more of a disaster getting them out of the molds...



But the lunch turned out good anyway. I was able to "save" a few puzzle pieces from total ruin.



I know it's only day 3 of school, but I'm LOVIN' the Laptop Lunch boxes. (Purchased from THIS seller on E-Bay when she was having a pretty decent sale.) It really doesn't make lunch prep any harder... mostly I just throw in leftovers from the night before. Except for today's lunch. We didn't have any leftovers because my dinner plans were foiled.

I've been trying to make something in the crockpot at least once a week - just for an "easy" cooking day. (That compiled with the fact that Brian is back in school and hardly has a moment to breathe, let alone eat... I figure if I can have something ready to go he can snarf it down in his 2 minutes home...)

I was really excited about a new recipe, and had all my ingredients thrown in the crockpot by 11:00 AM.

And then the power went out.

Until 5:20 PM.

So, today's lunch was some (boxed) noodles (I'm sad to admit that I had some pasta-roni... but hey, it came in handy...), celery sticks with ranch dressing to dip, strawberry jello jigglers and garlic bread. Oh! And 100% juice Capri Sun as well. Can't forget the drink, duh!


The boys have been eating most all of their lunch every day. Taylor had school lunch quite a bit last year, and I have a feeling I paid for him to eat practically nothing. He always came home STARVING.

Good investment! And I know what my kids are eating!!! (I remember "taco dogs" when I had school lunch... seriously, it was a hot dog in a taco shell. Nothing on it. That's just WRONG!)

Oh! I forgot!!!

On the first day of school, the girls and I ran back up to the bus stop to see the boys get home. I wanted to take pictures of them getting off the bus and the following is the sequence I saw:





And some say that Jordan and Madison don't get along...

Okay, I'm one of those people. Those two run hot and cold... there's no warm. They're either best-est friend on the planet, or worst enemy's. Madison was SO EXCITED to have him home... you would have thought he'd been gone for a year.

I'm saving these photos and showing them the next time they're arguing.

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Biggest Loser 5


A few months ago I took part in Tib's Biggest Loser challenge. It was fantastic! It was motivating! I lost quite a few lbs!!!

It's time for Biggest Loser 5! Check it out, join, be happy, give me some competition! Just know that it's MINE this time... (Biggest Loser 4 I came in 6th and I'm not about to let that happen again... *winks*)

Join! Join! JOIN!!! :) Time's running out, so don't think about it! Just DO IT!

Monday, August 25, 2008

She can get them to do ANYTHING. (Maybe she should ask them to clean???)

Reagan wanted to "dance". She doesn't like to do it alone, and dancing is much better in costume.

It's amazing how she can convince the boys to dress up as "princesses" to play with her. There's no way I would have been able to get them to put a dress on... she has the magic touch!





They'll kill me for these photos later, I can feel it.

First Day of School!!!

I'm already counting down until my boys get home!!!

They were so excited to go to school this morning. Jordan had a hard time waking up, but that's nothing unusual... ;)

I'm totally excited about their LUNCHES this year! Last year, we packed very "different" lunches for Taylor. (Not your typical sandwich, chips and a drink...) He liked more "leftovers" than anything. Since Jordan isn't much of a sandwich person either, I decided to SPLURGE on Laptop Lunch Boxes for them. (Thank HEAVEN for e-bay where I was able to find two for a lot less money!) I'm really excited to pack their lunches... with stuff I know they'll eat! Taylor has requested ham fried rice this week, and Jordan wants Chicken Pot Pie. With these boxes, it'll be EASY to pack! And I know they'll love it!

This mornings lunches:


Ham and Swiss roll-ups on whole wheat tortillas. This has an Italian cream cheese spread that Taylor declared "oh so good"... Carrot sticks, ranch to dip, apples, Pringles, and for "dessert", some graham crackers, chocolate and marshmallows to make "smores". (Chocolate milk to drink not pictured...)

Love it!

Took some photos of them before leaving. I can't believe Jordan is gone ALL DAY in first grade. It's terribly odd to just have the girls at home with me. Reagan keeps asking "where's Taylor? where's Jordan?" At least I'm not the only one having a hard time... ;)

Click to play Back to School!
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Can't wait until they're home!!! Happy first day of school, boys!!!

Camping!

My parents invited us to go camping with them for their Ward camp out. Brian wasn't able to go with us, but I had a BLAST with the 4 kids!

We got there early, set up our massive tent, and played for 3 days in the dirt. Loved it. Loved *almost* every moment of it.

The problem was: It was a Ward Camp out. We had the camp to ourselves for that first day and night... then the people started showing up. And it got crazy.

I've learned some new things about myself and my tolerance level with massive amounts of people around. I don't do well. So, next year... we'll have our OWN campsite - I'm not sharing anymore! (I'm a great example, eh?)

We did manage to have a lot of fun. Here's the evidence:


Taylor and Jordan


Madison and Reagan


They played so well together... It's nice that Reagan is growing up a little and is able to have fun with her sister. :)


Madison didn't mind being pushed around in Reagan's stroller... and Reagan had a BLAST doing it!

Common phrase heard around camp: " C'mon Papa"


Grandpa and Taylor

Reagan in her Wall-E shirt. For anyone that knows our family, you know that we generally don't wear clothing with "characters" on them... A small Mickey Mouse every once in awhile, maybe... but nothing like this shirt. Reagan saw it at the store with Grandma however, and HAD to have it. She wears it all the time. (When it's washed...) She LOVES her Wall-E shirt probably as much as I hate it!

Happy Girl

Taylor and Jordan... Masters of the fire

Reagan's little "stump". She climbed all over that thing the entire trip.

Hiking with Papa

The Boys
Looking at the water
Taylor - he LOVES being outdoors... we're going to have to go camping a lot more next year.



Reagan and Papa
Obviously she didn't want Papa to see where he was going...


Taylor decided to cross the stream on a fallen tree

Jordan wanted to stay on "dry ground"

Taylor made it and was sad that nobody followed.

We found a deer carcass. The boys thought that was GREAT! "Take a picture of it Mom!!!"

Reagan helped with the tent set up

Jordan all snuggled in for bed

Taylor building a fire in the morning

Reagan, again with Papa


Grandma makes some (nasty) hot chocolate. Who thought hot chocolate could be bad??? (For the record, the different brand the next morning was MUCH better... )

Jordan trying to warm up

Papa cooling down Reagan's hot chocolate

Still busy with the fire

Yum!
Look at that cold little nose...

Madison decided to join us.



Grandma starts the stove for Breakfast.

He finally got his fire going!

Reagan enjoys watching the flames











Anyone for Checkers???






What a great time. What great kids. What fun we had the weekend before School!