Saturday, September 25, 2010

Fall Weekend

We love our weekends around here.  This is what we've been up to:


My nephew, Cooper, with a dandelion



Sweet little face

Not sure what the problem was here
 Aidan had to learn to do 3 different kinds of flips for cub scouts.  He taught his cousin and his sister.

Cooper's falling forward flip



Aidan helps Ella do a forward roll

It was a rainy day for the Rain Gutter Regatta


Ella with my beautiful mom

Aidan's boat was really fast


Go Aidan, Go!

Aidan didn't win the rain gutter regatta this year.  He was only disappointed for a few minutes...then he started having lots of fun racing his friends in the free races.  We were very proud of how he handled everything.  He did a great job on his boat and on his races.

It's been a great weekend...rainy and cooler.  Great weather for just hanging out with all our favorite people.  I hope everyone else is having a wonderful weekend too!

Friday, September 24, 2010

Writer's Block

I have writer's block.  They say the best way to cure writer's block is to just write something...anything.  But, that's just goofy, because if you had something to write about, you wouldn't HAVE writer's block.  But, I haven't updated this thing in several days...so I'm updating...even though I have nothing interesting to say (you may think that's what I do every time I update the blog...haha!)

So let's see...what to say??

I took Ella and Cooper to the post office and the car wash today.  To hear their excitement, you would have thought I took them to Disney World.  Which is fine with me, since today's outing cost a total of $4.58, and Disney World would be more like $4,058.  Speaking of the post office, I refuse to buy books of stamps.  They always look at me weird when I just want enough stamps to mail the 2 or 3 things I need to mail that day.  But, I have this theory that every time I buy an entire book of stamps, the price of a stamp goes up the next week.  And, they don't print the price on them anymore, so you never know which stamps you have...are they from 2 price hikes ago, or 3?  It's very confusing.  I'm doing everyone a favor by not buying stamps...because now they won't raise the price again.  I tried explaining all this to the postal worker today that tried to sell me a book of stamps, but she just looked at me like I was nuts.  Maybe I am.  It didn't help that both Ella and Cooper were spinning in circles singing weird songs that they made up.

What else?  Hmmm...got a whole van load of "new" toys for the kids yesterday.  My cousin decided it was time to part with all of her childhood toys and my lucky kids got to be on the receiving end of that.  We got a kitchen for the patio, a toy washer/dryer/ironing board combo, a Fisher Price grocery store and a post office...all kinds of stuff, I don't even remember what all we got.  But, the kids have been playing with it non-stop since yesterday.  To hear their excitement, you would think we had a Toys R Us shopping spree. Again, that's fine with me, since that would have cost about $1000, and this cost us a big fat nothing.

We've all been sick all week...lots of runny noses and yucky coughs.  Mark and I have almost completely lost our voices. It hasn't been very fun.  I'm not a fan of being sick.  =(  I especially don't like it when my little people are sick.  Cooper is staying with us today, because he's been sick.  We're just one big, sick, happy family.

Aidan has his rain gutter regatta tomorrow for cub scouts.  Last year, he was the champion of all the tiger cubs.  He's hoping for a repeat this year.  I think I am more nervous about it than him.  I know he won't always win everything, and it's good for him to learn to lose well, but inside, I want him to win so bad I can hardly stand it.  I can't stand for that boy to be disappointed!

Looks like we may finally get some fall weather next week...at least fall-ish.  I can't wait.  I love crisp mornings and crisp evenings.  I think we'll spend lots of time at the park next week.  Maybe we'll make a trip to the zoo.

Ella seems to have mastered the whole potty training fiasco.  It only took her a few days to really get it down.  I figured out with her, I had to act like it didn't matter to me one iota if she used the potty or not.  If I acted too excited or too anxious, she was going back to diapers for sure.  She definitely has to do things on her own terms...or she's digging her heels in and you can just forget it (don't tell anyone, but she just may have gotten that from me).

I guess I better end this rambling mess.  I need to go do my time on the tread mill.  I borrowed one from my parents, thinking I would be more likely to do it if I could do it at home.  I wish I liked exercising.  But, I don't.  There.  I said it.  I don't like exercising at all.  It's kind of stupid.  And, it's a waste of time.  All I can think about is all the other things I could be doing if I wasn't exercising.  Sometimes I find it a little annoying when people like to exercise (if you like to exercise and you're reading this, I don't mean you).  Seriously, why would you like it?  I know there's the runner's high and all that nonsense about energy...but, can't you just drink a coke?  Then, you don't get all sweaty and have to shower again...more wasted time.  But, I struggle with vanity and I want to be skinny again...pre-Ella skinny.  So, off to the treadmill I go.  If you stayed with this post this long, I'm sorry...you probably should have stopped long ago and done something more productive, like exercise.


ShabbyBlogsDividerD.jpg

Sunday, September 19, 2010

Pumpkin Cobbler

Ella at the pumpkin patch with her Pawpaw (2009)


Okay, fellow pumpkin lovers...you have to try this one.  I started making this several years ago for our annual pumpkin carving party.  It is delicious.


1 can of pumpkin
1 c. brown sugar, packed
1 lg. can evaporated milk
3 eggs
1/2 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. ginger
1/2 t. salt
1 box of yellow cake mix
1 1/2 sticks butter, melted
1 c. chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Mix together pumpkin, brown sugar, evaporated milk, eggs and spices.
Pour into a greased 9x13" pan.
Sprinkle the cake mix over the top.
Drizzle butter over the cake mix.
Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.
Sprinkle nuts on the top for the last 10 minutes of baking.

Eat and be amazed.

Cousins at the pumpkin patch (2008)

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Even More Things I've Heard Lately...

Aidan:  Are the streets in heaven really made of gold?
Me:  I believe so
Aidan:  Then I hope I die with a jackhammer

Aidan:  (while shopping in Canton)  This is even MORE boring than Wal-Mart  (to which a couple of men standing around waiting on their wives whole-heartedly agreed)

Ella:  (after her daddy bought her new toothpaste)  My daddy is perfect.  He's a great guy.

Ella:  Mommy, will you paint my finger tails?

Aidan:  I'm not even 50 yet and my back is killing me!

Ella:  (while pointing a rubber band gun in my face)  Stop singing, or I'll shoot!  (I didn't realize my singing was that bad!)

Ella:  Mommy, you're my hero, my herooooooooooooo!

Mommy:  Look, the windshield has a chip in it.
Ella:  A chip?  I can't eat a windshield!  That's yucky.

Aidan's friend, Cade:  I was thinking last night that when we grow up, we should live together in a RV and go around the world talking about God.
Aidan:  And we could make lots of money and give it to God
Cade:  But, we could keep some of the money

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Pumpkin Bread

Autumn is quickly approaching, which means it's time for pumpkin bread!  Everyone loves this bread.  It is so moist and tasty.  Aidan could eat both loaves by himself...for breakfast.  He loves this stuff!  Bonus...it is VERY easy to make.  You probably have most of the ingredients in your kitchen right now.

Ingredients:

3 c. sugar
1 can of canned pumpkin
1 c. vegetable oil
4 eggs
2/3 c. cold water
3 1/2 c. flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
Beat sugar, pumpkin, oil, eggs and water in a LARGE mixing bowl.
In another mixing bowl, combine all the dry ingredients.
Gradually add dry ingredients to pumpkin mixture and mix well.
Pour into 2 greased 8x4x2" loaf pans.
Bake at 325 degrees for 75-80 minutes.

Serve warm with butter.  YUM!

Weekends

     We enjoyed our 3 day weekend last week.  We went to Canton on Saturday, to NRH20 on Sunday, and spent the day together at Trinity Park on Monday.  I thought I would share some pictures of the kids from the park.

Cooling off in the mister

Waving to the Trinity Park Train

We love big trees!

Wheeeeeeeee!

He may be getting a little big for this

Ella was taking drink orders

On another note, should I be worried that Ella LOVES these vampire teeth?

The other day, Ella got mad at me when I made her get out of my bathroom.  She was getting into everything and unwinding all the dental floss, so I made her leave while I finished drying my hair.  When I was done, I walked into the living room, and this is what I found:


I guess on some days, all you can do is lick all the chocolate out of your cookies, drink your chocolate milk and give up.  





Saturday, September 11, 2010

Hermit Crabs

     Right now there is a dead and dismembered hermit crab on top of my TV.  Apparently, being a hermit crab is risky business.  All hermit crabs molt.  And when they molt they are very vulnerable.  It seems that when our little hermit crab named Sleepy was molting, his buddy, Speedy, attacked him and tore him into pieces.  There are claws, legs, eyes and other unrecognizable parts scattered all over their cage.  It looks like the remains of a Hermit Crab Horror Movie in there.  I always liked Speedy too...until I found out he was a hermit crab murderer.  I know I need to clean up Sleepy's remains, but I just can't seem to make myself do it.  Have you ever seen a hermit crab out of its shell?  It looks like an alien.  I really don't want to touch it.  It's one of the hazards of being a mom of boys.  Being the mom of a boy has caused me to have a snake party, where the guest of honor was a live ball python.  It has caused me to have numerous rocks in my purse and pockets at any given time.  It is the reason I now know more about snakes, lizards and frogs than I ever cared to know.  It is why I now scour the earth for good deals on legos.  It is also the reason I've wasted more hours than I care to admit playing video games.  And now, it is the reason I will be removing a dead hermit crab from a cage, piece by disgusting piece.  I hope Speedy doesn't take my hand off while I'm cleaning up his kill.