Happy Halloween friends!

Kid3 and Dusty had an especially nice time trick-or-treating.

The Little Princess in her boots.

Kid1 and 2 trick-or-treated together and got great loot!

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween dear friends! I can’t wait to see what tonight brings to us this year; I’m guessing a little princess and 3 kids too big to beg for candy. We are looking forward to living in a neighborhood for Halloween this year.

This is my all time favorite Halloween picture of them together. Today I’m going to spend a little time remembering the good ol’ days when they were all little together and Halloween was spent squealing in anticipation of candy and knocking doors!

I miss their tiny faces, cute little costumes, the fussing over hair and make up, the loads of candy to sort through and their excited painted on smiles all day long waiting for the sun to fall...

Cherish each little moment while it’s happening, Happy Halloween to all.

goodbye Great Grandma

Will she live forever? Will she always be around? Will I always have a Great Grandma to cuddle up next to and enjoy? Will I always be able to say “MY Great Grandma is one hundred and ____ years old”? These are the things I have found myself asking over the years and now I have the answer.

My Great Grandmother, Alta Madeline Franks passed from this earth early Tuesday the 20th of October 2009 and entered the gates of heaven after serving 105 years in this ever changing world. I didn't make it to see her one last time, but I cherish the time I had.

As I have blogged before, my Great Grandma saw more change than I can even fathom. She was born when Oklahoma was still a territory she moved across Oklahoma on a covered wagon as a teen. In 1904 the average speed limit was 10 MPH and there were only 8000 cars in the US. My Grandmother’s family did not have a car, they rode horses.

When my grandmother was dating my grandfather they rode horses to meet each other. Can you imagine how different things were back then? Can you imagine the change she witnessed in her lifetime? My Grandma was a proud woman who loved her children deeply. She was the kind of mother that gave good sound advice and her kids sought her advice until the very end. She was a non judgmental and wise woman.

I have so many memories of my Great Grandma I could never write them all. Some of my favorite memories are of her and I having tea parties, she would make tea and put out sugar and cream and set the table and we would have tea together and she would always make me laugh. When we visited my Grandma we would pretend to fish from the side of her porch, play in her garden and we always ate strawberries with sugar on them after lunch. My Grandma let us play with her beautiful brush and mirror, her jewelry and snuggle up with her sock monkey when we curled up with her at night.

Dear Grandma, I can’t imagine this life without you, I never thought it would happen, I guess I thought you would live forever. I loved that you never changed, I loved that your face was always the same. You were such a constant in my life and I treasure all of the memories and all of the moments you have given to me. I will miss you forever and ever. Rest peacefully Grandma, you certainly deserve it…. And tell Grandpa hello from me, I miss him too!

I love you.

(I can't get this video to turn- I'm sorry)

welcome home to me!

We're back from our very short but what felt like a very long trip.

We did so many things, saw so many people and are really glad to be home.

I have so many things to share with you my friends and I am going to start writing really soon!

after I get caught up with the ...

laundry

grocery shopping

getting the car cleaned out

getting back on a reasonable schedule

having a lot of lunches with Bat Girl and catching up on life on the road without her!

catching up with all my facebook friends

getting the kids through all of their make up work!

the list goes on...

you know...

all those things that have to happen when you come home from vacation?

sweet sweet girls

Girls are darling, really they are! I often say that my girls are the most challenging and it’s true, my girls are far more challenging than my boys. My girls are much more hard headed and strong willed than my boys are but the pay offs to those challenges are totally worth it.

When we had our first girl, I was determined to encourage her independence, make sure she had her own ideas and help her along with her strong will. I wanted a girl who could stand on her own, and be confident in all her choices.

I have to tell you that with confidence and strong will there are also challenges. It’s hard to know where to draw the line sometimes, what is strong will and what is defiance. I sometimes struggled with her as a preschooler trying to help her wade through the waters of being confident with a side of strong will, hold the belligerent.

One of my favorite things about girls is the way they love each other. I love it when girls hug, because girls hug with all their heart and soul. I have been witness to these amazing hugs so many times as a mom of girls but there is always one or two friends who they just can’t let go of and for my girl it’s her lifelong friend “precious perfect”.

Kid2 and Precious perfect have been friends since they were 3 and 4 and they have had a long friendship through good and bad. They were separated by circumstances when they were young and it’s the most amazing thing to witness how they run to each other and hold onto each other when they are together again. I’m always so honored to be in the presence of true friend love. They just pick right up where they left off, hug each other the exact same way and hang on every word the other says. It’s truly amazing.

Have you ever had a friend like that? Did you have someone you adored when you were young and just never lost the love for that friend? I had several, I loved Julie and we were best friends instantly when we were little girls and still love each other so very much. Melissa and I had a rough start (LOL) but Melissa saw me through some very tough times as a teenager and I have loved keeping in touch with her and learning new things about her through facebook. Stephanie and I were inseparable in high school for a short time and had a connection that has lasted all these years; we also pick up where we left off a short time ago. Of course I don’t need to mention Bat Girl- DUH we are still inseparable and try to spend most days together laughing and picking up where we left off only the day before!

Girlfriends are an amazing gift. Girls stay friends through hard times and support each other through the unimaginable. Girls are amazing to raise while witnessing their friendships and how they become strong and confident. I’m working to hug my girls a little tighter, smile at them a little longer and spend a lot more time appreciating them. Won’t you join me in supporting our girls?

FAIL

What not to buy at GOODWILL

What not to donate to GOODWILL.

What not to use once opened.

What not to use once donated.

perfectly perfect pumpkin pandemonium!

the chalkboard

This is why I have a chalkboard at her reach! Sometimes she stands there and draws us a little surprise and I love it! She just ads and ads to it and every day it's a new thing. I love it!

My masterpiece

Have I ever shown you this adorable little drawing that Kid2 drew for Mr. B. on a very special past father’s day? She drew a picture of a picture we took of them together on their very first father daughter dance. When she gave it to him we both fell in love with it and decided it needed to be framed. As you already know I *heart* framing children’s art so we framed this one and have treasured it always.

This gorgeous little rendition of a very important date between a father and his daughter shares a very special spot in the living room. It sits right next to her painting for everyone to enjoy and for us to reminisce daily.

Enjoy!

cheater cheater pumpkin eater

This is Kid4 a few years ago - I LOVE this picture! Isn't fall grand?

water

Do you truly appreciate water? Do you know what a gift you have by being able to drink water?

I have thought about water so much lately. I filled a big glass of water and took a big drink and remembered that a few weeks ago I could not even drink one drink of water without throwing up.

For weeks I would have given anything to take a simple drink of water and feel it cool my body from the inside out. I would have given anything to be able to quench my thirst.

The problems I had with my lap band almost killed me literally. I was dehydrated and starving slowly to death. It was a miserable feeling to be so thirsty and not be able to drink a drop.

Today when I was gulping down a drink of refreshing water, I remembered those days not long ago and I thought of the little kids all over the world who don’t get to drink a nice cold glass of ice water anytime they want… Can you imagine?

There are ways to help give something as simple as water. Think about donating the gift of water this Holiday season.

It's so important, you can't imagine how horrible it is not to be able to drink. I can't imagine how these children feel every single day.

Here's a way to help if you'd like

BRING CLEAN WATER TO AFRICA

the roads WE travel

So we’re crazy, this settles it.

We’re taking another trip… see trip 1, trip 2, trip 3, trip 4, trip 5, … and so many others I haven’t blogged about. Ask Bat Girl- I’m a worldUSA traveler!

Mr. B. is having his 20 year high school reunion in two weeks and we are headed back to Mt. Perfect to celebrate his old-ness accomplishments… The road home is never long, or at least I try to pretent that the 1500 mile round trip is a short one.

On Thursday we will enoy the company of good friends and look at the little town we called home for so long. We'll visit the kids old school and remenisce about our life there. Did I tell you that Mr. B. and I got married there. I'll snap a little picture of where it was- you won't believe it? Any guesses? Thursday night we are having dinner with Mr. B.'s cousins and their families. I can't wait to catch up and hear all about what's new for them in Mt Perfect!

Friday morning we are heading up north to Oklahoma to to kiss my Great Grandma, I mean honestly she’s 105, I feel like any minute I have to spend with her is a gift. My Grandaddy is also in hoofville, oklahoma and I HAVE to hug his neck too- I can’t drive all that way and not hug his neck can I? I have a favorite Aunt there too... you know what, I'm related to quite a few people there- let's not take stock!

By this time, we’ll for sure be a little delirious from travel but we can't stop now my friends, we have a Mt Perfect football game to go to so we can cheer on those MP Tigers.

My fun friend Linda is letting us stay at her house (can you believe her kindness), i can't wait to see her and catch up while actually looking at her little face!

Saturday there's a picnic for all the families and then a party at the "country club" that night that we'll be attending. (I just have to say that I put the words "country club" in quotes for a reason, I'm telling you my friends, I LOVE Mt Perfect but this is no "country club"- don't worry I'll be armed with pictures to prove it)

We have to pick up and tow home the car we left in Texas, it's an oldie but a goodie. It's going to be a "first car" for Kid1 and 2. They don't love it, but I think it's okay to not LOVE your first car, don't you?

There will be so many road stories to tell and YOU KNOW I’m taking a jillion pictures while traveling and partying! I can’t wait to tell you all about laughing with Mr. B’s OLD (im younger- have I mentioned this before?) high school buddies! I can’t wait to tell you all about my lovely Great Grandma and my Grandfather- remember the last time? You know! The time Bat Girl and I took him to Subway…. Remember how that did not go well? (this story is a MUST READ Y'ALL) I can’t wait to tell you how perfectly silent the kids were on a 36 hour drive, how they smiled and never said a single sour word to one another- HA!

You know how I love to share road stories and I can't wait to start pecking away on this keyboard!



Just wait! There will be stories my friends- I promise!

stranger things have happened!

WEIRD!

Grandma's chocolate pie and memories

"I made the most wonderful pie and I’m telling you it IS fool proof! I was a little nervous because we were having company and I wanted a diner type chocolate pie and I had never made this kind before. As I was searching the internet for pie recipes I found a perfect one and it’s going to be my go to chocolate pie from now on.

Besides being a gorgeous pie and scrumptious too it came from the most wonderful blog. I had read the Homesick Texan before but when my computer was rebuilt I lost my favorites, I lost her and didn’t even know it. When I ran across her site again I breathed a sigh of relief knowing that this home sick Texan had been missing from my life for months and we were once again reunited!

Her site is heartwarming; it makes you miss home, wherever “Home” may be. Her Grandmas hands made me long for my Grammie last night as I studied her Grandma’s pie recipe. Memories came flooding back of my own Grammie and time spent in her kitchen when I looked at that old recipe card. Do all Grandmas’ have recipe cards? Should I start using them and get a head start on being a Grandma? (Okay, that makes me nervous, never mind)… Her blog is kind, thought provoking and full of all things good."

I love this season!

bumble bee, bumble bee where are you?

(Photo by O. N. H.)
I’m single parenting for a few days
I have mentioned before I don’t enjoy being a single parent.
I need Mr. B. to help me with the kids.
He is such a busy bee when he is at home.
He is buzzing here, there and everywhere.
He is picking up and dropping off kids,
he helps take the kiddos to Dr. appointments for shots and check up’s,
he is a fabulous dentist taker and picker-upper,
he’s the greatest dance and football dropper offer.

Do you want to know his secret?
He’s always buzzing here and there and he never slows down.
He is an impressive person, someone to admire and adore.
He gets more done than humanly possible-
I’m serious, you’d be impressed.

If you don’t believe me
I’ll send him to you once he’s done with my list.
Don’t worry, MY list is only a few hundred miles long…

I love you Mr. B. please come home soon!

(plus, YOUR kids are a real handful!)

what came first?

A few years ago my little goose, as I call her, was a chicken for Halloween. I love kid’s costumes! I love all things not scary and sweet about Halloween like the dressing up in something cute, the orangeness of it all, I love pumpkins, fall leaves, kid’s excitement and candy- duh! When you’re little there’s something so exciting about planning what you want to be for Halloween.

When my big kids were young I needed them to plan ahead because I couldn’t afford all new costumes at the last minute and I made most of their costumes anyway. We have done a friendly witch, lots of princesses and football players, we have been clowns and Pippi Longstocking, farmers and 70’s girls, we have been Army men, Navy men and business men and this year Kid4 is being a Zebra or a ballerina or a princess- we have all of those in our Halloween costume box and I’m a more laid back Mom now that I’m old. As long as it’s in the box already she can be all of them at once, I don’t mind. Some of the kid’s best memories are the free costumes that I threw together because we spent time together making them. You don’t have to spend lots of money to have a good time, to dress up and to enjoy the season.

My point is, are you enjoying this time? My friend Jan is planning a fall festival at her local school, my neighbor is making little ghost pops at her house, we are carving pumpkins and spending time together, my mom is no doubt wrapping candy bars in ribbons and bows for cadets. Kid4 has a stack of orange paper that she is making into pumpkins for our neighbors and we have told funny stories to each other about pumpkins. What are you doing to enjoy this fall? It doesn’t matter how much money you have or what your plans are just be sure to slow down and enjoy every minute.

my life

CLICK PICTURE TO LOOK CLOSER

pumpkin carving palooza

Every year we chose a night and do our “annual pumpkin carving night” as a family and I just know you’re holding your breath waiting to see it all!

We picked our pumpkins, then the kids usually spend a lot of time picking what they want to do but this year because they are old and not as much fun they chose really quickly. All day I said “Heeeeeey…. Whaaaaaat are ya going to chose this year?” and they were all like “Heeeeeeeeeey, weeeeeee don’t know” and that was that. So when it came time for carving all of a sudden everyone needed to be online at once and it all happened so quickly, we all had a design and were headed out.

While they headed out the door and towards their pumpkins carrying sharp carving objects I made a big pot of hot chocolate and then met them on the porch.

It was fun, a night full of my kids, hot chocolate and lots of time together. The neighbor cat joined us and hung out while we laughed and talked. It’s nice to have time stop sometimes, to be together and to watch the kids interact and just be a family. So often, we get too busy running here and there- dance, football, friends…

But tonight… tonight my friends we sat together as a family and laughed and talked and enjoyed each other.

This is where it’s at y’all, this is where it’s at!

Let the fall festivities begin!

We visited Lane packing Company for beautiful afternoon flowers, pick your own pumpkins and a little hay maze with Kid4 and it was a beautiful day!

What a nice time picking Zinnia’s with a little know it all 5 year old- seriously does anyone else think 5 is a little bossy? All day she is ordering us around and so sure that whatever she says is right. For instance she is POSITIVE that a penny is the color of “caR-pper” because that is what her teacher said! We nicely corrected her and she so nicely said “you’re wrong!” I started to say I was right and then decided … why bother?! Who cares… we let it go. She’ll realize some day… right? Otherwise you’ll be able to recognize my kid as the one that describes the beautiful lamp as “a lovely caR-pper color”!

It’s nice to pick your own flowers and pumpkins, it’s also nice to buy them, which is what we ended up doing because the pumpkin’s were 8 dollars for one and at a very well known chain store they were 3.49. WE admired them, let her pick one and then let her forget it… darn it!

Happy Fall Y’all!

Toy Story, memories and shoud be classics

Once upon a time there was a little chubby adorable perfectly perfect 3rd child that we all adored and when he entered this world so calmly that August day we named him “Kid3” … not really but you get the picture. He was a joy from the moment we laid eyes on him. He is the most laid back kid I have ever met. Kid 4 did not even wake up when he was circumcised if that gives you an idea of his personality. He truly slept, ate and observed for the first few months of life.

As he grew older he just grew to be sweeter and sweeter. We moved from Hawaii to Colorado in the middle of a January Blizzard and while everyone else was crying about the weather too cold to touch anything and locked inside their coats this darling little Kid3 simply embraced the fact that he could no longer move his arms in such a fat coat and was satisfied with the stillness that the freezing mountains brought to him.

He grew some more and fell in love with his tricycle, dirt and a certain movie, a movie that we all learned to fall in love with over time and I believe is a classic and should be considered up there with “It’s a wonderful life and Old Yeller”.

This ‘should be’ very famous movie was Toy Story. My darling kid3 loved Toy Story and so I put a little TV/VCR combo in his room so at naptime he could watch it. His naptime routine would be push in the movie, watch the whole thing, let it rewind, get up push it back in and snooze a little while it played again and rewound for a second time. He would get up from nap and push it in again and go outside and play and do the things that little boy’s do. He knew exactly when to come back in and push it in again. His days were all the same, he lived on that movie and so we all did.

Kid3 and Cody (Bat Girls son) have been dressing up like Woody, Buzz lightyear and Bullseye for years and years and years…. Not anymore but they dressed up like Toy Story characters for much longer than was probably normal!

We have a healthy affection, (maybe too healthy if you ask some) and today we took Kid3 and Kid4 to see it on theaters and had a wonderful time. What a great feeling too look over at him, the big ol’ grown up boy that he is becoming and see him enjoying it all over again. The memories came flooding back as we sat there watching a timeless classic.

I hope you will go and enjoy it too. After all it’s a must see!

might we be a wee bit crazy?

We are planning a 5 day trip.
Does this seem like a little much for 5 days?

Trip distance: 1848.022973.9 mi Time: 31 hrs 2 mins

I'm starting to get a little worried about our trip planning skills.
I always feel like this- "If we are diving ____ far, we should see everyone we can"...
But I'm starting to wonder if I'm over doing it a little.
what do you think?

Kissing raccons, dirty hands and seizing... or something like that

Have you ever read the Kissing hand? It’s a cute little story about a cute little raccoon that is nervous about going to school. I was first introduced to this book by Kid1’s Kindergarten teacher the first week of school. Kid1 was my first baby and I was not a super star mother back then (or now), I didn’t have a good schedule down yet, I was unorganized… need I go on? ANYWAY, he was nervous about going to Kindergarten and I was nervous about letting him go. When he came home from school the first day he told me about the Kissing Hand book where a little raccoon’s mom kissed her little raccoons hand and when he missed his mommy he could put his hand on his cheek and think of her because her kiss would stay in his palm all day. He wanted me to kiss his hand and he would kiss mine. This was supposed to make us both feel better….. ?

Can I just say a few things about myself before I finish this story?

Hi, I’m Ashley and I’m a germapobic. The thought of kissing the palm of my little boys filthy hand totally sent me over the edge.

In my mind I was trying to think of ways to get around it, what if I kiss close to his hand? What if I pretend to kiss his hand… you get it. I tried to talk myself into actually doing it but then the thought of where his hands might have been all day made me want to turn and run far away! Lets be completely honest here, he’s a little boy! His hands could have been anywhere! After much thought while he stood there with his hand open and out for me to kiss it I made myself do it and that was that. Just imagine my squished up face and VERY pursed lips… it was gross.

So he didn’t ask me again and I sighed a sigh of relief until…. One year later when Kid2 entered Kindergarten with our favorite teacher and her favorite beginning of the year story. YEP folks, we had to do it all over again! So here we go again, on the way home from school Kid2 was professing her deep love (remember she’s a girly girl) for a “new book that her teacher had read to her” and my stomach started turning! How could this be happening to me again? You guessed it … she hopped out of the car and held open her germy little hand and started towards my face and I wanted to just faint! So again, my mind wandered to where those little filthy hands had been all day- bathrooms, playgrounds, sneezes? I thought I might die! I pursed my lips up as hard as they would go and forced myself to kiss her dirty little kid hand and whew, another year was done.

As you can probably already guessed since I have more kids than Kid1 and 2… I had to do this AGAIN. I have to admit though by the time it was time for Kid3 I had loosened up quite a bit. I was much more relaxed about germs; I wasn’t nearly as grossed out about their little hands. No! I was not on medication! I just grew up a bit and realized it wasn’t as bad as I thought. He came home with the raccoon story… yada yada… raccoon, missing mommy, kiss the dirty little hand and so on and so forth… you get the picture. I kissed the kids hand and he was happy and it was over.

Last night when I put Kid4 to bed she picked a book…. Can you guess which book? Of course it was the Kissing Hand, why wouldn’t it be? I read her the book and we laughed and I tickled her and I kissed her hands…. BOTH OF THEM… because I think in my old age I am much more relaxed than I use to be. This morning I kissed her hands without a menace and she kissed mine and off to school she went with a smile. How wonderful to have a baby so late in life and be able to enjoy instead of worry about her dirty little hands!

The moral of this story- I kissed their hands and lived thru it. Just do it! Seize the moment, enjoy the minute your having with them. Embrace all the little things because if I could go back in time I would kiss them all over! (Maybe not their feet- I haven’t completely lost my mind you know!)

Carpe’ Diem!

Do it now before it's too late!

buh buh buh BUTTER

Do you love the "buttertons" commercials?

Cah-racking me up!

VIOLA! lunch by Mom

The mini pizzas were fabulous! The kids loved them and they were really easy to make. I used my trusty Duggar roll recipe to make the dough. I changed their recipe up a little to make it a little healthier. I use organic wheat flour, add wheat germ and wheat gluten to it. But you can do it exactly like their recipe and you’ll love it I promise! They are divine. On a side note, don’t you find the Duggar’s lovely? I just adore them, 80's hair and all.

For the pizza’s I bought pizza sauce from the store- I often make it from scratch but this time I just bought it. I added a little sweet potato puree and white bean puree to it (seriously just buy the sneaky chef book) to add a little more protein and health to it- you can’t taste it I’m serious! I cut the rolls into circles and spread them out in the muffin cups and then I spooned a little sauce into the bottom, added 1 pepperoni and then a little cheese and another pepperoni and then baked them at 350 until golden brown. And VIOLA, they popped out beautiful little tiny pizzas! They were such cuties and yummy too!

I put them into zip lock bags into the fridge to be grabbed in the morning and dropped into the already prepared brown bags for lunch!

Lunch designed by MOM!

p.s. YES I am okay with my VERY old muffin tin... it has lovingly baked more muffins than I can count ...unless someone wants to donate a new one how about we just don't talk about it!

I *heart* brown bag lunches

I have said before that I love my job. I love the job of being a stay at home mom, I love everything about it. I’m not saying I love laundry and dirty dishes but I am saying I love it- does that make sense? Part of loving your job is taking pride in it. I take pride in my job, my home, my life, I wouldn’t change a thing (well much anyway- hey I’m not perfect).

I have been thinking of doing posts about my job and I think I’ll start with lunches. I have had a lot of questions lately about how I do the kids lunches and I’m not saying my way is perfect I’m just saying that it works for me.

On a quest to be organized I have found that it works best for me to make the lunches ahead of time. I actually discovered this many years ago when my kids were little and I called Sunday “15 sandwich day”. I had little bins of school snacks and sandwiches that they could pick from. They would choose one sandwich and if a bin had the number 2 on it, they could choose 2 items from that particular bin. As they have grown older I have found that it’s just really easier for me to pack their lunches myself.

On Saturday I open up 15 bags and put the kid’s names on them- 5 each. I put a drink a day for each. Kid1 likes to drink the same thing every day- green tea. Kids 2 and 3 like to have something different everyday so I buy lemonades, fruit juice, sunny delight and usually something special like mandarin orange juice or Guava juice that I can get in the ethnic isle of the grocery store.

Then I add a starch like chips, pretzels or crackers and I put one in each of their bags. I pick something different for each day. So Monday may have chips, Tuesday pretzels and Wednesday a pack of crackers.

Then I pick a protein like nuts, I use nuts a lot because it’s such a good healthy thing to snack on. I usually buy 3 or 4 kinds of nuts so if Monday has almonds, Tuesday may have sunflower seeds and Wednesday will have trail mix. I try to put a fresh fruit in their lunch too, but sometimes it just doesn’t happen. I try to add raisins, my kids like the gold ones, I may add dried strawberries, blueberries or a fruit sauce (you know apple, or peach there are so many to chose from now).

I then go for a milk group by dropping in a pudding, cottage cheese or yogurt. If I drop in a pudding I usually add a little snack bag of marshmallows to add to the top of the pudding, if it’s yogurt I put a little baggie of wheat germ in to put on top.

The cooking part is a little more time consuming but this is the part I love! I love to cook and I love to create so making little lunches in muffin tins really appeal to me! Once a week I do peanut butter and jelly always- it’s yummy and it’s easy. I have been trying new things last week I tried little meatloaf’s smooshed into muffin tins and they turned out great. I just used my favorite meat loaf recipe and everyone likes cold meatloaf…. Right? I put them in little baggies and put them into my lunch box area in the fridge. The week before I made macaroni cups. I just made macaroni and decreased the milk a little bit, I cooked them in muffin cups (cute ones) and they cooled and held their shape like rock stars! I also tried little scalloped potatoes in muffin cups and they were fantastic too, although they didn’t hold their shape like I had hoped. So I’m on a “what can I make in muffin cups kick”… and loving it! This week I’m doing little pizzas in muffin cups and grilled cheese in muffin cups. I figure if you can buy grilled cheese in a box you can make them right? I have a tried and true wheat roll recipe that I use. I derived it from the Duggar’s roll recipe and I love it. I’m using that recipe for mini pizzas. I usually make up 2 different kinds of home made cookies and bag them up as well. It's nice to have home made things in your lunch and don't tell them but I hide healthy things in them. (Have you ever read the sneaky chef cookbook?) I hide spinach in brownies, sweet potatoe puree in pizza sauce, and zucchini puree in cookies- I SWEAR you can't tell at all, they don't know it!

So this week their lunches will look like this

Monday- sun chips, peanuts, banana, yogurt with wheat germ, snickerdoodles and a mini pizza.
Tuesday- Pretzels, almonds with cranberries, peach cup, peanut butter and jelly and tiny candy bar (have you tried sunflower butter? It's divine and if there's a child in your child's class that has peanut allergies this is a perfectly safe alternative and SO GOOD!)

Wednesday- buffalo wing flavored pretzel pieces, trail mix, pudding with marshmallows, grilled cheese sandwich and chocolate chip cookies and an apple with peanut butter.

Thursday- lays potato chips, honey roasted peanuts with dried blueberries, smores kit (2graham crackers, some small marshmallows and a half of a Hershey’s bar) chicken salad on pita bread with lettuce and tomatoes.

You get the picture right? It’s all about variety at our house, but here’s the key thing; I enjoy making lunches! If I didn’t enjoy making them, I wouldn’t do as much as I do. I actually enjoy making little tiny pizzas, or tiny apple pies. I actually enjoy putting together a little tiny smores’ kit for their lunch. I think its fun, and yes I also know I am crazy, but I’m okay with it! I’m crazy about making lunches, I’m crazy about cooking and I’m crazy about my job, its simple- it’s just me!!!

P.S. Kid4 is whole different story, she eats totally different than the other kids. I'll do a blog about her lunches a different day. (and she takes a cute little purple lunch box with her little cute name on it- oooooh I love girls!)

It's almost THAT time again!

Kid4 Last year

I love Fall. I love the cool weather and the pumpkin carving and the fall cooking! I'm looking forward to the apple festival in Elijay and the corn maze at Lane packing company. I love picking pumpkins out at the pumpkin patch and then planning out how were going to carve them! I love sipping hot chocolate on the porch while our hands are all slimy from pulling the pumpkin seeds out of the pumpkin.

What are your favorite fall traditions?

for you

Roses are red

violets are blue

I'm home and recovering

How about you?

Mr. B.

Mr. B. bless his pea picking heart (well I'm not sure he has ever picked peas to be honest BUT...) he has stayed with me every minute as I'm grouchy from medication and have to potty every hour from fluids. He even put HIS socks on my feet (this is BIG for Mr. B. remember this post?). He has taken such good care of me.

I thought I would post a little pic of where he has slept in the hospital- so nice that theres a little place for him to sleep. And heres another of his little desk area, he has been able to work the whole time too. He's a multitasker I tell ya!

red light special

If you saw this switch would you flip it on (or off)? I spent a few hours in the dark when I was in the hospital because it seemed like a bad idea to touch a red switch in my hospital room bathroom. Finally it was so dark that I braved it. I held my breath, flipped the switch and... let there be light! I'm a bit of a nervous Nellie, have I told you that before?

pearly white memories

This reminds me of my Grammie. When I spent many weeks in the hospital taking care of my Grammster everyday she wanted me to brusha, brusha, brusha her teeth. She could never get enough brushing! She was a clean teeth nut! I use to tease her and call her teeth "Pantry teeth" because she always had hospital food packed into them like a pantry (I know its gross- remember I'm on meds). As gross as it was, I would give anything to be brushing those pearly whites now. The last night I spent in the hospital was with her. Oh' Grammie, I miss you.