Wordless Wednesday: Teagen

Denver Broncos Football Party

What do you get when you put together:

Eight energetic five and six year old boys,

A decent spring day,

Lots and lots of navy blue and orange,

A pinata, an obstacle course, a few tackling dummies, and some footballs?

A Denver Broncos Birthday Party.

Just what the boy wanted for his big day! 

His party in pictures (sorry there are quite a few):

the front of his invitation

the back of the invitation

his football field cake

lance explaining the obstacle course

throwing for a touchdown

his one request - we need a pinata

going for the candy

what do you do with the pinata when it is broken? wear it as a hat

just checking out the frosting (he is DEFINITELY his mama's son)

blowing out the candles

morgan helping to keep his birthday gift a surprise

the look when he saw his "real" basketball hoop

Smashed Potatoes Field Trip

My kids love to cook and help in the kitchen.  So I knew they would love our March field trip to a local home based cooking school called Smashed Potatoes.

The kids learned about kitchen safety, the food pyramid, and then made calzones and popcorn ball microphones.

The woman who hosted our field trip was so patient with the kids and did a wonderful job explaining things to them.  There was a small group the day we went so she let Mauryn participate. The kids all had a blast and they are still talking about it one week later.

I took far too many pictures so I put them into a slideshow.  Enjoy!

Happy Birthday Landon!

Age: 5

Personality: energetic, loving, empathetic, passionate, full of life, silly, great sense of humor, attentive to details (he doesn't miss much), care taker

Favorite Books: Curious George, Clifford, Hank the Cow Dog, Little Critter, Jesus Storybook Bible

Favorite Songs: anything by the Wiggles, Snazzy CD by Go Fish, Snow CD by Go Fish

Favorite Movies: Air Buddies, The Wiggles, Cars

Favorite Food: caramel rolls, macaroni and cheese, fruit snacks, tilapia, apples, ice cream

Favorite Games: Crazy Ates, Chums, Sequence for Kids, Hide and Seek

Favorite TV Shows: Curious George, Zooboomafoo, Calliou

Favorite Toys: Hot Wheels and Lightning McQueen cars, Basketball, Football, Bike, Scooter, Drum Set

Favorite Activity with Mom: make food

Favorite Activity with Dad: go to work 

Landon, 

My dear sweet boy, can it really be five years since the first time I held you in my arms?  You have brought so much joy and life to our family.  You are on the move from the minute you wake up until you go to bed.  You love life and grab hold of each day to make it the best.  You are always thinking, wondering, and asking questions. You have a love of learning that is so exciting to the teacher in your mama.  Your little heart is full of love that you shower on others.  I can always count on you for some great snuggles every day. I hope that never changes.

I love you buddy!  Have a wonderful fifth birthday.

Mama

Wordless Wednesday: Doing a Little Thinking

Chef in Training

As a little girl, I always wanted an easy bake oven. (everyone had one)  

I never got an easy bake oven.

I remember thinking if I ever had a daughter, she was going to get an easy bake oven.

When Morgan was old enough to want an easy bake oven, I realized why my parents never got me an easy bake oven.  It was the same reason I didn't  get Morgan one. We were in the kitchen doing baking in a real oven all the time.

I am very thankful to my mom for allowing us to be hands on in the kitchen (and with the grandkids).  She would guide us in our cooking and baking and even let us experiment on our own (the first time I made frosting was a disaster!).

I have taken this philosophy with my own kids. I love to cook and bake and spend most of my days in the kitchen. My kids love to help.  They help read recipes, add ingredients, mix with the mixer, and our the best taste testers. 

Morgan has even started her own little collection of cookbooks.  She is always searching for something to make on her own.

The other evening Morgan asked if she could make dinner.  She was adamant that she do it on her own. I gave her the recipe, let her ask questions, and then sat back and watched. 

She did an awesome job! The pizza turned out great and she was thrilled with her success.

Here is a tutorial by Morgan on how to make Bubble Pizza:

cut the biscuits into fourths

cover the biscuits with pizza sauce

add hamburger

mix biscuits, sauce, and hamburger with your hands

put mixture in a jelly roll pan

add pepperoni

before going into the oven

while the pizza was baking, morgan was doing her least favorite part of cooking/baking - cleaning up

adding the cheese

her finished product

Bubble Pizza

4 tubes of buttermilk biscuits

2 cans of pizza sauce

1 lb hamburger, browned

pepperoni

8 oz mozzarella cheese

4 oz cheddar cheese

1. Open the tube of biscuits and separate the biscuits. Cut each biscuit into fourths.
2. Place cut biscuits in a large bowl. Add pizza sauce and hamburger. Mix together with your hands.

3. Spread in a jelly roll pan

4.  Add pepperoni (if you want additional topping you should add them now. i have not made it with other toppings. we like it this way - and i am not much for veggies on my pizza)

5. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 25 minutes or until biscuits are cooked through.

6. Take pizza out and add cheese.  (I use way more cheese because in my opinion there just is never enough cheese on pizza)

7.  Bake another 10 minutes or until cheese is melted.

List Maker

Three kids.

Getting older.

Balancing homeschooling with normal household chores/errands.

Keeping up with life in general.

I don't know if it is one of these things or a combination but I have found that I rely on lists to keep me focused on what needs to get done each day, week, and even for a month.

I love lists (and my planner) and like seeing things getting checked off my list. I stay on top of most daily things around the house but I get overwhelmed by the thought of cleaning baseboards, dusting light fixtures, cleaning the windows and window sills, and wiping down the walls/doors. In my mind I think I have to tackle all the baseboards, light fixtures, windows, walls or doors in one day instead of a room at a time or the main level one day and the upstairs on another day. Some of the bigger tasks just kept getting pushed farther and farther down the to do list.

A few months ago, both Lynn and Lindsey mentioned a site called motivated moms where you could get a preprinted to do list. It would divide tasks into things you do every day and then things to do on each day of the week. This sounded like music to my list loving ears.

I have been using the checklist from almost three months now and I LOVE it! I still add things to my daily list that are specific to our needs that day or week. Also, I have found that I do some daily cleaning more than what is on the daily to do list so I just add the task to my daily chores list. I like the reminders for things such as getting gifts and cards together for the next month or changing the furnace filter. I like how it breaks the tasks that used to overwhelm me into smaller tasks completed over a few weeks.

There are days when we are busy and I can't get to everything on my list. Most things can be moved to another day or even skipped if needed.

Each night I can go to bed with a sense of accomplishment. I can see first hand from the lines through my to do list what I have completed in a day.

If you are a list lover or just looking to be more organized this is the site for you.

Muscle Man

One early morning as I was finishing my workout, a not quite awake Landon strolled into our bonus room and said "Mama, I need to start working out with you."

As I was holding in my laughter, I asked  "Why do you need to workout buddy?"

"Well, every time Miah wrestles me she wins. I need bigger muscles so I can start winning."

Wordless Wednesday: Sunday Afternoon Swim

Now He is a Dancer

He is a rock star, a movie maker, and now maybe a dancer.  

He jerks his body and looks like he might be having a seizure dances to this song every. single. day.

It gets a little slow in the middle but he throws in some of his signature moves at the end.

The ladies... well they are going to swoon over these moves.

Girls Day Out

For about a year and half, Lance and I have been part of a weekly small group with three other couples. 

This year, one of the areas we all wanted to focus on was growing and deepening our friendships in this group.  Even though we  were all friends whom supported, encouraged, and prayed for each other, it was pretty surface level.  

Since January, we have been doing a study that is encouraging us to share and be more open and real with each other. It has definitely been enlightening, hard, and even a little bit scary to be so vulnerable with each other -  but it has been so worth it!  

During one of our discussions (the guys and girls split each week), we were really feeling like we were all in need of some "girl time."   It might have been due to the fact that our discussion had been interrupted that night repeatedly by the kids, but I am just guessing. Anyway, we decided that we would get together in the even months and the guys could get together in the odd months to get out and have some social time together. 

In planning our activity, Kara thought it would be fun if each of us picked a month, planned the activity and surprised the rest of us.  Last Saturday was our first outing.  Since it was Kara's idea for the surprise, she planned this months activity.  We met early on Saturday afternoon with no idea of what our day would hold.  

Our first stop was at Kara's cousins house. She is a Stampin' Up consultant and had a craft activity planned for us.  We each made three different circular designs that would go in the center of a plate.  It was simple (great for non crafty people like me), they were cute, and it was fun.

Our second stop was at Savers.  We each had to draw a person's name a slip of paper that gave us our task.  We went in individually and had 15 minutes to complete our task.  There was one clue that we would receive at dinner that evening.

After we finished at Savers, we went to downtown Boise for dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory.  During dinner we revealed our finds from Savers. We were each to find a jewelry or accessory item in a specific color for our person.  The surprise was we had to wear them to church the next day.  We were all far too kind to one another. If only we would have known....

Once dinner was over, we weren't quite ready to head home so we walked down to Starbucks to sit and visit for a while longer.  While at Starbucks we were entertained by a group of college aged boys who were in a contest to collect as many signatures as they could on their bodies. It was quite a sight but it did make for a good laugh.

It was a very full and fun day. It was nice to have dinner and eat it while it was still hot, to start a conversation and finish it, and to linger at Starbucks without feeling like there was something waiting to get done at home.

Thanks ladies for a great night out. I feel so blessed to have you in my life.

showing off our savers jewelry