No fear

Don't forget to pause the music!

This boy of mine (Tanner) seriously does not have any fear. Do you remember those NO FEAR shirts that were popular a few years back (am i dating myself?)? Yeah, this boy so could have worn one! We were @ a party on Friday night & Tanner said "Hey Mom, watch me do a back flip/dive". I didn't even know he could do a back dive. I love that he can do anything he puts his mind to!

Walking school bus

Our family joined in on the fun this morning & took the walking school bus to school this morning. This is an event put on by the city in efforts to get more people to walk to school, to carpool, to get out and exercise, & to just remind us to save gas when we can. You find the closest stop to your house (a map was provided by the school) & wait for the walking school bus to hit your stop. It was quite a sight to see all of the children & their parents walking to school. I think the entire (or almost) school participated this morning. Once the kids arrived @ school, there were cheerleaders (parents) holding signs that read "You can do it" & "You are almost there". They had bottles of water, cinnamon rolls, banana's, & granola bars waiting for the kids. They had Mac Gruff the crime dog & a juggler there too. They had fun music playing & just really went out of their way to make it a fun morning for the students.

Today was the day! Garrett headed back to preschool with a new outfit on & his bucket in tow. He wore the new orange basketball shirt that he picked out earlier this week. Dad saved him & had a new pair of shoes for him to wear today. John found these pair of Nike's in a sale bin a few weeks back @ a local sports store. Take a good, long hard look @ them.. they won't EVER be this clean again - HA! This is our yearly foot shot. There is just something about a new pair of shoes.

John worked from home this morning so he could see Garrett off to school on his first day. We got there & Garrett went right in. I think he is happy to be back in the swing of things. He does well with schedules & routines. There are never any tears. He is happy to do his own thing. He needs school & I need him to be there. It is a nice break for the both of us. It is just long enough (ok, maybe not long enough on some days) that I miss him. I am happy that he loves school. He loves his friends & his wonderful teachers, Miss Jenn & Miss Christi.

We have been with this preschool for 6 years now. Brody is even on the wait list. We put him on as soon as we knew he existed (3 months in the womb). Garrett came home with all sorts of papers that he had worked on & even had a cute Garrett poster. They had worked on his name with foam letters, beans & other fun materials.We asked him what his favorite part of the day was & he said "playing with my friends". He has really missed all of them. He constantly talked about them all summer. YAY for a new school year. I am so thankful for a wonderful school environment for Garrett. You can just see & feel all of the fun the children have while attending this preschool. Have a wonderful year Garrett!

randomness

We have had a busy couple of days, hence the lack of blog posts. I thought I would post a few random things from our week, the things we are digging & enjoying.

1. Carter's basketball team won their first playoff game last night. I missed it because I am the Make & Take girl @ Green Tangerines on Monday nights. I had no idea if they would make it to the playoffs or not(so I did not request the time off). Carter came running into Green Tangerines last night, all sweaty & stinky to tell me ALL about it. He was so excited & so cute. It MADE my night. He had asked John to swing by the store so he could give me the news. They won their game tonight & play on Friday. Way to GO!

2. I bought Brody's Halloween costume yesterday. Yes, you read that right. It is still August & my baby has his costume. I also found his Halloween t-shirt today @ Gymboree, it is so stinkin' cute! I love Halloween & I can't wait for him to wear it! I even bought him the matching socks :)!

3.Garrett starts preschool on tomorrow! Can you hear the angels singing??? I can sure can! He is all giddy about his new bucket & new shoes. Ummm yeah...his shoes used to be new. He got them when Tanner & Carter went back to school two weeks ago. He has worn them everyday. Yeah, those Vans don't look so new anymore.

4. I am loving the Katie Herzig, Weightless CD that I purchased off Amazon this month. I really like the sound of her voice.

5. I am not enjoying the new start time for school this year. The boys start @ 8:55 (20 minutes later than last year). It just makes our mornings drag. My boys are early risers & we have the NO TV, NO video game policy in the mornings @ our house.

6. John & I went out on a much needed date on Saturday night. We went to Costa Vida for dinner & then hit Wal*Mart to do our grocery shopping. What a night out on the town! Sounds exciting doesn't it?? Hey, I take what I can get. We were going to see a movie but our sitter was 45 minutes late. Oh well! It was still fun to have an adult conversation for 3 hours! Thanks sweetie!

7. I turned in my October class sample for my soccer album class & the LO's I was in charge of for the 12 weeks of Christmas @ the store. All of the calendar pages look great. It is going to be an awesome 12 weeks at Green Tangerines.


8. I want to paint my scrapbook room! I am down to two color choices. I just need to move all of the crap, (ugh)I mean stuff that i love out of there so I, (ugh)I mean John can paint for me. I have little hands that like to touch all of the things they are not supposed to. I am not even sure where I can store it all while we paint.


9. The price of gas is going down (a little). It only cost me $85.oo to fill my tank this morning. Isn't that sad that that makes me happy?! I am just happy that it didn't hit the $100 mark this week.

10. It took me an hour & a half to clean Tanner & Carter's room tonight. I was not a happy camper. I just don't know where all of the stuff comes from. I cleaned out the closet & even under the beds. It looks great & it better stay that way-LOL! They try to blame it all on Garrett. Garrett likes to sneak in there while they are @ school & play with their things. Trust me, it was not all Garrett.


11. I got to chat on the phone with one of my dear friends from the Bay Area this weekend. It was so GREAT to hear her voice. She is one amazing lady. I just want her to know that I miss her & that I think she is incredible. Love you F!

I hope your week has gotten off to a great start! I am so ready for Fall & cooler weather.

Chocolate Crackles

These are some of our family's favorite cookies. I made them as an after school snack for the boys yesterday. BTW-I did not have a single one :). These have got to be the easiest cookies to make. They remind me of when John & I were dating. We used to spend Sunday nights with our friends, playing games @ the Tate's. Chris' Mom, Pat would make these by the dozens for all of us! Great memories.


Chocolate Crackles
*preheat oven to 375 degrees

1 box of Devils Food Cake mix
1/2 cup of oil
2 Tbs. of water
2 eggs, slightly beaten
powdered sugar

In a mixing bowl, mix the cake mix, oil, water, & eggs with a fork. Roll dough into balls (walnut sized). Pour powdered sugar in to a separate bowl. Roll each cookie in powdered sugar & place on cookie sheet(un-greased). Bake for 9-10 minutes. Leave on cookies sheet to cool & then transfer to a cooling rack. I will then sprinkle a little more powdered sugar on top of each cookie.


These are so yummy! Enjoy!

I'm on a roll...

I have been scrapbooking-YAY! I haven't created very many layouts for our own personal scrapbooks lately. Not only did I make a layout similar to the one above...I made three more of these exact layouts. I figured since I already had the stuff out, I could just keep creating till my product ran out. I made a layout for each my (older three) boy's albums. Their books are 8 1/2 X 11's & Brody's album is a 12 x 12. I still need to make one for Brody. I thought it would be fun to include my favorite family photo in each of their books from each year(this is 2007's Christmas card photo). I know their books will never be caught up (in my head) but if I did more LO's like this, I guess I could highlight the year better.

I created a layout just like this one(with a different title/journaling) for our good friends, The Torgersens. They are moving to Utah this week! We sure are going to miss their cute family. We wish them so much happiness as they begin this new journey & phase in life. I just want Stephanie to know that I am going to miss her. I appreciate her & her friendship. She is so down to earth & just a great friend. It has been fun to hang out on the basketball courts & baseball fields with their sweet family. Please keep in touch!

I am off to work on some class samples & 12 weeks of Christmas stuff while my younger two are napping! What are you up to?

Have a wonderful day!

What's for dinner?

Another yummy recipe! This one is from my friend Jan. She is ALWAYS trying out new recipes & is wonderful about sharing them with me! We had these for dinner tonight. They are yummy & very easy to make. The best part is that you can feed an army with this recipe or just have yummy left overs for a few days.

Chicken and rice grilled burritos

1 lb. chicken (boiled & shredded)
1 cup mild salsa
1 pkg. Taco seasoning mix
1 1/2 cups rice
Flour Tortillas
Shredded cheddar cheese

In sauce pan, combine 4 cups water,salsa and seasoning mix. Bring to a boil. Stir in rice. Cook on low heat for 25 minutes stirring occasionally or until liquid is absorbed. Stir in chicken. Heat griddle. Spoon 1/3 cup mixture and some cheese into flour tortillas-roll like a burrito. Grill on both sides until brown.
Our family likes to add sour cream, more salsa & guacamole on top!
Enjoy