Tricks

Her are a couple little tricks I know about and love to do. Helps save time, and makes things a little better.



If you have a chunk of cheese you need to shred, but it in the freezer for 30 minutes to an hour before. It makes it easier to grade.



Put a half cup of baking soda in with your laundry. It will take out blood and all those other hard stains!



I put a little sticky by my computer with ideas to blog about. So when I want to write something but not sure I check my little list.




When I buy hamburger (or any other meats) large in quantity, I'll cook it all right when I get home from the store, allow it to cool and put the meat in little zip lock baggies and place them in the freezer. It makes dinner time a little faster for our busy family.

The First Day

On Thursday was the first day of cub scout day camp in Tempe. I was able to work it out that Will, Jack, and Tyler all went together with a couple other boys in our ward. I had to go along too, which ended up being a ton of fun. Scott also went, being in charge of one of the rotations. Sweet little Brigs had to stay home, all alone. No, just kidding. He had a babysitter, but I really missed him. Gavin could of gone and hung out in the toddler area, but he's still in Cali with his favorite Nana and Papa hanging out and playing with them. (Keeping them young, I'm sure!)

There were over 300 children who attended the camp and it was outside, all day long. The camp went from 2pm to 10pm. (That's a long time to be outside in the hot Arizona heat! Especially for me!)

One station was the pool! YEAH! My favorite. Another was a craft lodge. (which had an AC set at 90 degrees. oh, man!)

Another rotation was with Scott and on the first day they made a cool knot board. An obstacle course, with a large wall to climb over as they get sprayed with the hose, over stuff, under stuff, monkey bars.....Boys loved it and were dripping from head to toe afterwards. BB gun area, where they even let the parent have a turn! SWEET!Archery. My first turn I had my left arm a little too straight, and how it has two huge bruises on it. OUCH!

We all had a very fun time, but were exhausted by the time it was all over.

Awards Assembly

Today was the boys last day of school and there was an awards assembly held in the morning. The school does these special awards every quarter. So the awards this morning were for the 4th quarter of school, but also the big year round awards.

Will received Honor Roll, Perfect Attendance, and Artist of the year (only 15 children out the whole school received this!) Will also received the Liberty Arts Academy award for Honor Roll (which means he was on the honor roll each and every quarter!)

Jackson was awarded Honor Roll and Perfect Attendance.

Great job boys!!

Will's Bear!

Will loves scouting, everything about it. He'll go through his book and work on random things and check them off with either me or his cub leaders. For pack meeting last night, it was extra special for him. He received many different awards.

Before the awards were handed out, they talked about recycling and cleaning up after yourselves and then played a cute game to go along with the theme of the evening.

Then the scouts were going on a bear hunt. The leader, Josh Bryce (who is great with the kids) took the boys on a little adventure saying, "going on a bear hunt" and the kids repeated after him. First they went up the stairs, over the bridge, down the slide and then Brother Bryce spotted the bear. Will! The boys had water guns and fires away at him. It was so cleaver and Will loved every second of it.

He received his Bear, a golden arrow and 2 silver ones. This was one of the rare occasions that Scott could be there with us. It was a very special evening for all of us!

Tyler's Kindergarten Graduation

Today was a very special day! It was Tyler Kindergarten graduation! His class went up front and sang a couple of cute songs, and then they called the children up one by one. Once they called their name, they asked them what they wanted to be when they grow up. Many children said police officers, fire fighters and teachers. Tyler, surprisingly said zoo keeper. I thought for sure it would be a fire fighter or a doctor like his dad. (That's what they always say!) After the graduation his class had a little party and then Scott and I took him out to a special lunch. When I told him he was going out with us for an extra special lunch, he got all excited and said, "Yeah, we get to go to Taco Bell!" I laughed. I tried to explain to him was extra special, better than TB. "McDonald's!?", he then asked. No, no, no. He sat there and thought about it for another moment and shouted out, "Disneyland?!" Funny Tyler! We took him out to Chili's, I had a coupon! :)

Mrs. Haasch his Kindergarten teacher!

Santa Barbara Fire

We have had our share of fires in beautiful sunny Santa Barbara, that's for sure! While on my short but sweet vacation there my mom drove us around to see the different areas effected by this last fire and the other two.

It was amazing to see how close the fire came to some homes and burned their entire front and back yard but didn't touch their home. And then others were not so lucky.

Here are some pictures of the hillside.

Missing the family...

Um...Not yet! We've been so busy with a fun packed schedule with the best weather imaginable I haven't had much time to sit and think how much I miss them all. Of course I miss them, but time is flying by quickly on this fast paced trip to Santa Barbara.
Brigham and Gavin have been adorable to be around with Nana and Papa. I am happy that their cute little growing personalities are shining through with so many radiant colors.
Like I said before the weather is has been great. 70-72. Clear sky's lite breeze, no clouds in sight. Aww, I can sit in the warmth of the sun and not die of heat exhaustion. Gavin has been riding his bike all over and Brig's loves playing outside picking Nana's flowers and chasing all her cats around.
This morning was really busy finalizing the summer camps the boys will attend. Gavin too! He'll be thrilled. There is zoo camp, Cub scout camp, art camp, and a couple others that have fled my mind. I'll bring them all back in a few weeks to spend part of their summer here.
I made that yummy tortilla soup for the fam, they seemed to enjoy it. Tomorrow we're going out to lunch and dinner to some of my favorite Santa Barbara restaurants! YEAH! I also plan on taking the boys to the beach for a bit. It may be a little chilly there if it's windy. I hope my body soaks up the chill and remember to take it home to Arizona in a few days!
We've driven around a little bit to see the devastation of the fire. Pretty dang sad. The fire fighter did a tremendous job and I am happy to report there were no deaths!
I'll have pictures of our little trip soon!

Updates

There are so many things I need to update you all on.....So here it goes.

Garden update: Lettuce, peas and corn came up and the birds ate it all away....:( Strawberry plants are now dead. Onions doing ok out there. My 2 tomato plants are great! Lots of buds. I have a ton of cantaloupe, watermelon and pumpkin. Today when Scott comes home I'm putting up the 30% shade cloth to help put my little plants.

Gavin update: He had his last day of preschool and did really well there. Next week Gavin, Brigham and myself are off to Santa Barbara for a week of fun with Nana! He talks about seeing his Nana and Papa several times a day and is so excited to go visit them.

Scott update: He just completed another rotation! YEAH! That means he has only TWO more to go. The rotation he just started on Monday is a family doctor's office 5 minutes away from our house! He really enjoys it there and love that it doesn't take him forever to get home!

Baby boy #6: He doesn't seem to be as active as the other boys, but is defiantly getting bigger! We like the names Preston and Camden. Middle names we like are Joseph or Grant (family names). Any thoughts??

Food Storage: Going pretty dang well. I don't have anything from the cannery or those massively large containers of food, but I have been buying and saving extra in all the different food groups. Our shelves are stocked up! Scott keeps telling me not to go the store anymore, we're literally running out of room!

Cookies and more!

For the past 8 days I have made an extra yummy dessert for my family. One of my friends is a total baker and makes homemade cookies, everyday. Yes folks, you read that right. EVERYDAY! So I thought I would do something similar. Some of the desserts have been homemade and others from a box but I'm trying to make a special treat everyday.

I've made:

Texas Sheet Cake

Sugar cookies (2 times, 2 different recipes)

Peanut Butter Cookies

Cinnamon strudel muffins

chocolate chip cookies

brownies

Oatmeal cookies

It has been fun with little helpers in the kitchen with me. They love to help choose what I'm going to make and then stay in the kitchen and help me make it. Today is Snicker Doodles!

Science Fair Projects

Last night was the Science fair at the boys school. Each of the boys had to do their own science experiment and put all the information on a board. It was a lot of fun seeing the different experiments the children choose. There were a lot of the same ones done, but not the three we chose.

Will chose to do his experiment on a floating egg. How much salt was needed to be added and how much sugar to see when the egg would float.

Jackson chose to see if ocean water would freeze. We made an ice try of regular water and then salt water. His took a while, but was fun.

Tyler wanted to do bubbles. We made several different shapes from pipe cleaner to see if the bubbles would come out those shapes.

Tyler was awarded a "Super Star" certificate for making an outstanding sciend project!

Krispy Kreme anyone???

My boys are in a fundraiser at school selling Krispy Kreme cards. Each card is $12.00. This entitles the buyer to a FREE dozen doughnuts when they purchase a dozen doughnuts. There are 12 punch marks on the card, so this means 12 FREE dozen doughnuts!
If you are interested in purchasing a card, let me know!
THANKS!

Tortilla Soup!

Yesterday afternoon I was looking in my freezer, fridge and pantry on what I was going to make for dinner. I have plenty of items to choose from but only hamburger meat to use. I have my little handy-dandy list taped to my pantry to help me decide and I notice "Tortilla Soup". Sounded good. But, I've never made it. I remember my friend in SB has a great recipe but I couldn't find hers. SO, I searched on the Internet and found a new one. And it was GOOD! My picky eaters even ate it. They thought the coolest part was crunching up chips and adding them, to the top on the soup and also adding a handful of cheese! It was tasty, easy, and a fun dinner with the family.

Here is the recipe:

Ingredients

• 2 ears of fresh corn


• 4-5 large garlic cloves peeled


• 1 sm onion


• 1 sm jalapeno trimmed and seeded
• 2TB corn oil
• 2 lg ripe tomatoes
• 2-3 tsp. ground cumin
• 2 qt chicken stock
• salt & pepper to taste

Garnish:

• Corn tortillas
• Avocado
• chicken breast, cooked, bones, chopped
• cheese
• cilantro

Directions:

Scrape kernels of the corn cobs (or you can use a can of corn). Finley chop up garlic, onion, and jalapeno. Add corn.

In a large soup pot heat oil. Stir in vegetables and simmer. Add tomatoes (or canned ones), and cumin. Slowly pour in stock. Cook on low heat. Add salt and pepper to taste. ( I also added in some cooked hamburger meat)

I cooked this on low heat for about an hour. We poured some into our bowls, scrunched up tortilla chips and added a little cheese.

ENJOY!

8 Things

Eight Things I'm Looking Forward To:

1. For Scott to be DONE with School
2. For the kids to be done with school so we can play in beautiful Santa Barbara.
3. For my new sweet baby #6 to join our little family
4. For my tomato plant to start producing some yummy eatable tomatoes.
5. To a nice tan. With all the pools, lakes and oceans I'll be in their summer, I will be tan soon!
6. To ride in Jarom's boat on the lake. Watch my kids have a blast skiing behind the boat and playing in the water.
7. For Scott to start working at his job.
8. For fall to come so it will start to cool down.

Eight Things I Did Yesterday:

(What was yesterday...)
1. I found out my cute little cousin, Kara is expecting her first! We're about 3 weeks apart! YEAH!
2. I had lunch with Scott and Briggs at a yummy Mexican restaurant. Taco Tuesday!
3. Helped the boys with their science Projects
4. Entered in 500 books into the schools library system.
5. Used my new fabulous carpet cleaner in the boys bedroom and hallway.
6. Made a Yucky dinner that I made the boys eat at least half of before they could have dessert. I didn't even have 1 bit, but I got to have dessert! :)
7. Went to 2 different grocery stores and saved a lot of $$. One store I save 76% off my bill. The other was 65%!!
8. watered my sad, sad garden.

Eight Things I Wish I Could Do:

1. Be invisible
2. Fly
3. Have more energy to get the rest of my daily and weekly list completed.
4. Be in shape and have the cutest hot little preg-o body
5. Have ESP.
6. Train my boys to do all the chores on their own and done perfectly.
7. Be the most patient mom.
8. Travel all over.

Eight Shows I watch:

1. Brothers and Sisters
2. Medium
3. Top Chef
4. Project Runway
5. Biggest Loser
6. Amazing Race
7. Life
8. Grey's Anatomy

Macaroni and Cheese, please!

The other night we went out to dinner to the campus cafeteria. We enjoy going there because everyone gets to choose whatever they want for dinner. It's a fun, young atmosphere and it's really close to home. I ordered Brigs a side of some macaroni and cheese. I knew he'd eat it. He eats anything. :) But I also thought he'd eat a little differently. Not as messy. This is how he looks just moments after eating his first few bites....

It was everywhere to say the least.

Pedal Party

Last Friday night I was invited to a pedal party. It gave a website to check out and I did. I showed up but didn't bring any flowers to make, because that's not really me and I have to daughter to make them for. I went for the moral support of my good friend. It was a lot of fun chit chatting it up with the ladies but also making these adorable flower clips. I only made 2 and was just fine with that when the other ladies made 10 plus. They were all so creative!

You take a fake flower and pull it apart. You then re-make it by itself or add in other flowers to poof it up a bit. You can glue a gem or a homemade button to the middle. So cute.

Here is the website:http://projectsforyournest.blogspot.com/2009/04/flower-clips.html

Here are the two I made:

Motherhood, God's greatest calling!

Mother's was great. It always is. My boys made several presents for me and continued to shower me with hugs and kisses all day. (that part is like any normal day!)

Five main reasons I LOVE being a mommy!

1. Will. My oldest, smartest, most helpful son. He gets to try everything first, and always has to do more than the rest. He is confident and hard working. Right now he is saving his money until he gets $100.00. ( I told him if he could save to that I would give him $25) He loves spelling, and reading and many different sports. He is almost 10 years old and I can already tell he's moving into a new stage of life. What a wonderful first born he is.

2. Jackson. My most humorous, caring, thoughtful son. He is defiantly a class clown and struggles sitting still and being reverent. But, he is right there for any brother or friend at any time. When there is just one piece of gum left he will hand it over to his brother with no hesitation. He is friendly and loyal to all. I learn a lot from him. What a special guy he is.

3. Tyler. He is my toughest, fastest, wildest son. He will take on any challenge and repeat it until he gets it right. He struggles a lot with communication, but still tries daily to conquer his speak problems. He never tiers of giving up. He can play any sport with anyone and will do a great job. He always is full of energy and ready to roll anytime.

4. Gavin. He is strong willed, confident, and a sweet love bug. He has helped me learn the most patience. He is hard to understand and to get to know. He will do his own thing whenever he wants to whom ever he wants. He does not like consequences, but he does love me. At several times of the day he will randomly walk up to me with a big hug or several kisses and a sweet smile.

5. Brigham. He is an angel baby, adorable and loving. He says mom and mama about 100 times a day. He doesn't really need me most of the time, he just likes saying it. It will be fun to get to know him a little better and see how his personality shapes.


I am thankful for these little blessing and what each of them have brought into my life.

THANK YOU BOYS!!

Why does it take so long...

Why does it take so long to cut a piece of watermelon?

Last night a washed off a nice large watermelon and was about to cut it when I noticed the counter was a little dirty. I went to grab the wash cloth I had layed out the day before and realized it was pretty dirty. I walked the wash cloth to the washing machine and realized I had to move the dry clothes out, the clothes from the washer into the dryer and then start a new load. After doing that I walked into my off to check my e-mail and was reminded of a vinyl order I needed to print out. I started printing it out and one of the boys asked where their piece of watermelon was. I walked back into the kitchen and noticed Brigham had gotten into the trash can and there was papers all over the floor. I leaned over and picked up each of those papers and a half eaten apple and decided to just take the trash out so it wouldn't happen again. As I finished emptying the trash into the large container outside I looked over to my garden and wanted to have a better look. I was checking it all out and thought it needed to be water a little. After finishing the watering I was walking back to the house with the trash can in hand when I smelled something gross. Brigham needed a diaper change, bad. After changing his diaper I walked to the kitchen sink to wash my hands and realize the watermelon is still sitting there. So I cut a piece out for everyone.
That is the story of my life. There is always something to pick-up, to wipe off, to put away, to clean up, to reorganize, to fix, to change.......It's a never ending cycle until they all leave, get married and start having their own children! :)

Gloves

What's up with everyone everywhere wearing those nasty plastic gloves?

Getting a mani and a pedi with the gal wearing gloves is gross! It doesn't feel good and I don't like it one bit!

Watching the workers at Taco Bell make my meal wearing those funky gloves. It just doesn't seem right!

Yesterday at the grocery store the clerk had gloves on as she's scanning my items. What's up with that?

Yeah, yeah I guess it's a good thing to prevent disease and germs. But it's all so new and it makes me a little worried that we've already come to this. Who else out there is wearing those gloves?

FREE KFC Meal!!

Get two pieces of grilled chicken, two individual sides and a biscuit!

Limited Time Download Coupon download available from 9 a.m. CDT on May 5, 2009, to 9:59 p.m. CDT on May 6, 2009.
Coupon is redeemable at participating KFC® locations in the United States from May 5, 2009 to May 19, 2009—excluding Mother's Day, May 10, 2009.
http://www.unthinkfc.com/

THANK YOU KFC and Oprah!!

Cheerios are that good!

My kids love Cheerios, especially Honey-Nut Cheerios! Yum, yum! I would say Brigham likes them most of all. Some Cheerios fell off the counter and landed inside the puppy crate. That didn't seem to stop cute little Brig's! He would move the puppy out of the way with his hand, climb on in.....


Grab a handful.....

Climb back out and enjoy his little snack!

How cute is that?

Summer Fun ideas

There are so many wonderful things to do in the summertime, I just had to share some thngs I found. And of course this is for the Mesa, Az area only. I found a lot of these great ideas from my friend's blog, crazymamaof6@blogspot.com. Check out her site. She is hilarious and posts at least once a day!!!

So, here ya go summer fun ideas. Make sure to verify pricing and availability this year, since some have changed.
I included links to the google doc from last year. Here are the current listings and brochures for this year.

• Summer movie fun listing
• FREE art classes at Vision Kidz. The classes are all booked up, but you can call and be on the waiting list. We went last weekend and the kids had a blast! They also have FREE art classes in the fall!
• FREE ice skating lesson (1 hour ea. for 2 Saturday's) and/or FREE ice hockey lessons (1 hour ea. for 4 Saturday's) at Polar Ice in Gilbert.
  


• Harkins for this year here.
  
• First Saturday of the month is a FREE craft at Home Depot.


• AMC here it's a $1 per kid. Wednesdays June 17- August 5th.
  


• City of Mesa parks and rec brochure. here
  


• MESA PUBLIC LIBRARY summer reading program here

this fun stuff Summer Fun Doc. Rememebr this is just last years , you need to call and verify the details for this years programs.

• here are100 fun things to do in the summer
• Phoenix zoo has lots of fun activites during the summer.
  


• 
  

  There are tons of fun things you can google too.

  
  

  Do YOU have other fun activities that you're doing? Please share!

Ice Hockey

I signed 4 of my boys up for FREE ice hockey lessons. They are an hour long for 4 Saturday's. On Friday night we went to get the boys fitted into their pads and uniforms. Saturday morning we were off to the rink. Each boy has their bag and stick they are in charge of, even cute little Gavin.