Trick or Treat!

Hope everyone had a fun and safe Halloween. My kids had a great time! Daylyn and Allison went trick or treating with their Dad while Tyler, Travis and I stayed home and passed out the candy. We have a tradition of chili and cornbread for dinner. Chili is one of Travis's favorite meals, I so I walked him through making it step by step, and he did a fabulous job, it was great! Have to say that it is one of my favorite meals as well.

Here are the kids all dressed up and ready for fun!

Arggh, I'm a Pirate!

 A full moon Fashonista (aka a tween werewolf).

Our mystical Mage.

First Day of School

I can't believe that yesterday was the first day of school. Summer seemed to fly by so quickly this year. I think part of it was that we didn't get "summer" weather until the last few weeks. It is always a happy and sad day for me when the kids go back to school. Happy because they love it. They are ready to get back into a normal schedule, see their friends, and okay, mostly see their friends. Happy for me because I have to admit, I love the quiet house! Sad because there is no more sleeping in, and it is another milestone in their lives which quietly points out that they are growing up too fast.

The boys weren't thrilled to have to get their picture taken for the blog, but I did get "smiles" out of them. Tyler is a junior this year. I can't believe it! Its ACT/SAT time and time to start the serious look at colleges. He is taking 3 AP classes, and is in ASB. I am hoping we survive this year! Travis is officially a high school student as well, starting his freshman year. He lucked out and is able to take his advanced Algebra at the jr. high, and doesn't have to run to the high school campus like Tyler did. He is thrilled to be in Mrs. Elliff's honors class again, and I am too. Both boys will have had her for their 7-9th grades.

The girls were more happy to pose for me. I literally finished their hair bands just minutes before I took the picture and sent them out the door to catch the bus. :) Both girls have the same teachers they did last year. Our school is trying it out, and I have to say I love the idea. The girls and their teachers already know each other, so the first few weeks aren't all about figuring out the learning/teaching styles of each other. Daylyn is in 6th grade and is looking forward to another fun year. She can't wait for choir to start. Allison is in 4th grade. She came home so excited because she already made three new friends. So far the year is off to a great start, lets cross our fingers that it will be smooth sailing all year long!

Craft Show with my Sister

Last year, my sister began a new business called, Lil' Miss Mae, selling accessories for babies, kids, and even me! I love the hair bling! I was so excited to be able to be there with her as she had her first official show. She had done an Open House for her Mary Kay and had her things out as well. When I saw the picture, I immediately started thinking okay, plotting how I was going to "redo" her display. Thankfully she wanted me to!  Here is her before, and then the after. :)

Before

After

Learners Permit

It is so hard to believe that it has been 16 years since I first held Tyler in my arms. He is now 5'11", still growing, and yesterday his Dad took him to the DMV to pick up his learners permit. It is unbelievable to me that this day has arrived. I am thrilled for him and scared for him. It is an exciting time for him and us, but I am in awe that it is here.

It's Sticking!

Yesterday morning, those are the happy sounds I awoke too. The girls were overjoyed that it was not only snowing, but sticking. :) I on the other hand wasn't thrilled. I had the last day of my show to do, and snow is not bead buying weather.  Now that it is Monday however, I love the snow! I am thankful for the 2 hour delay that the kids had for school, we all needed to sleep in. Here are the girls as they are walking down to the bus stop. Allison of course already had a snowball!

Bagel Pizza's

The other day Daylyn asked if she could make dinner. I have to be honest, as a busy mom,  sometimes I don't have time to have my kids make dinner. I just need it done, and done fast, but I actually had time to have her make dinner. She wanted to make one of our families favorite easy dinners, bagel pizza's.  Here she is making them.

Bagel Pizza's

• small bagels


• jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce


• shredded cheese


• turkey pepperoni

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place bagel halves on a cookie sheet. Spoon spaghetti sauce onto the bagels, sprinkle shredded cheese on, and then your turkey pepperoni or whatever other toppings you love. Bake for about 8 minutes, then take out and enjoy!

1. Place bagel halves on pan, and spoon on spaghetti sauce.

2. Sprinkle on some cheese

 

3. Add your toppings, we love turkey pepperoni!

 

4. Taste testing, got to make sure that the turkey pepperoni is good!

 

5.  Bake in oven until cheese is melted and golden brown.

 

Thank you for a wonderful dinner Daylyn!

 

and my favorite picture where she is saying, "Mom, my cheeks hurt from smiling!" :)

Trick or Treat!!!

What could be more fun for kids than dressing up, and getting candy with friends? My kids and I had a blast this year.  Travis went out with a couple of friends from school, the girls and I went with one of their friends, and Tyler doesn't go trick or treating anymore, but helps hand out candy for us. Here we are all dressed up and ready for fun...well, except for me. I am really in costume the entire year, and on Halloween, I can reveal my true self! :)

A spunky witch!

A Gothic Empress!

Harry Potter!

Any guesses? He is a "cereal killer"

and more pictures

[slideshow]

Halloween Brownies!

One of the kids favorite parts of any holiday are the parties at school. We try to send in goodies with them. This year Daylyn took the Marshmallow Mummies that we made earlier, and Allison wanted to bring brownies. I am sure that many other busy moms out there know that helping our children make things takes more time than just simply making it ourselves, but in my quest to have and create more memories with my kids, I thought it would be fun to have her help me make them. She was thrilled.

Read instructions

Pour brownie mix into bowl.

Crack and add eggs.

add water and oil

stir, stir, stir!

Pour the batter into pan and bake. While brownies are baking, run upstairs and get dressed for school!

Let brownies cool and frost with orange frosting of course.

 The big decision, what sprinkles to use? 

(I have a sprinkle addiction, so there is normally more than one choice available. LOL!)

Sprinkle away!

 

 Smile, and look what you did. :)

Halloween Fun

Friday night, our Primary had a Halloween Carnival for our kids. I know my kids had fun, especially the girls. The boys had fun too, they got to scare kids in the Haunted Alley. I took some fun pictures of the girls that night. I plan on taking some more pictures tonight as well of the boys. :)

Mornings at my house...

Friends and family know that I am not a morning person. I also know that I set the tone in my home. So, while I still would rather work most of the night and sleep in, I don't have that luxury anymore. I try to be happy, cheerful, okay, not cranky in the morning, so that the mornings can run smoothly. Do I always succeed? Heavens no, but at least I am trying right? My oldest son, Tyler, is going to seminary, so I get up early with him. He is like me, not a morning person, and I have to make a public apology to my parents, I am so sorry for all those "fun" mornings that you had to deal with me getting ready for seminary and school. I am lucky that Tyler is better at mornings than I was. Though we did learn the first year, that both of us awake at 5, not a good thing, so we changed things up.  Anyways, here is a typical morning at our house...crazy huh?

4:51- alarm goes off so I can wake up Tyler, and then back to sleep.

4:57 - alarm goes off again to make sure Tyler did get up and I go back to sleep.  He is like me and can "wake up", have a conversation, and still be pretty much asleep. My parents would watch me get up, walk across my room, turn off my alarm, and never wake up!

 

5:15 - Actually get up and go downstairs to spend some time with Tyler and say our family prayer before he heads out to seminary. This is where I am very blessed. Our friend is one of the seminary teachers and lives in the neighborhood next to us, so he picks Tyler up everyday. Because of him, I don't have to wake up all the kids, pile them in the car to drive Tyler to seminary. If you are a mom that has to take your kiddo to school and wake up all the younger siblings, you know what a blessing this is, Thank you Bro. Smith!

5:30 - Go back to sleep.

6:00 - Alarm goes off  yet again to make sure Travis has gotten up for school. Now Travis is a morning person. Most of the time he is up before his alarm even goes off, and is pretty much cheerful from the minute his eyes open. It is wonderful! And then, back to sleep again!

6:55 - Alarm goes off for the last time, and I get up and wake up the girls so we can pile in the car to take Travis to school. We have our family prayer in the car on the way to school. Last year I was really good about helping the kids learn an Article of Faith as well, and I don't know why we got out of the habit, but I think we will start again tomorrow. It really helps to set a good tone for the rest of the day.

8:00 (tues and thurs) - Take Daylyn to school for choir practice, and then Ally and I come back home.

9:00 - Girls catch the bus to school and then I have an entire 5 hours before I run to the school to pick up the boys from school.

* Note*

The craziest part of all of this, is that most nights I don't get to sleep until midnight! Sleep is over rated right? :) I know I am not the only mom out there that has crazy mornings, and I think it is amazing what families accomplish every day by the time the kids head off to school. Give yourself a hand, or a pat on the back for all you do everyday just to start the day. I think we all deserve it! Oh, and a secret that can make the morning easier....always have chocolate available!

 

Who knew? My daughter, the songwriter...

My youngest daughter has taken to writing her own songs lately. She writes down the lyrics, and walks around the house singing them. Here are a few of her latest ones.

I have a heart

and no one can see it.

I love my family

and my friends

and my teachers.

------------

A bird, a blue bird

a blue jay, a blue jay

Look at it fly

Here it tweet

You see the nest

there are eggs

its hatching

Blue jays yeah!

---------------

and of course she had to come up with a Halloween song as well. :)

Halloween Boo Boo

Scary Hide Hide

Help, Help

AHHHHHHHH

Halloween

AHHHHHHHH

BOO!!!

Marshmallow Mummies

A few times a year, I get to play in the kitchen and make treats that my kids just love. This is a new treat this year inspired by a picture in a magazine that I saw at my friends house, thanks Jan! They are fun and easy to make, in fact, we even had our young women make them at our Harvest party. :)

What you need to make these:

• bag of marshmallows

• big round sprinkles

• white chocolate

• sucker sticks (I get mine from Jo-Ann's)

• styrofoam

• small bags to put them in after

1. Melt white chocolate. I use a sugar dish, and melt the white chocolate in the microwave in 30 second intervals until it is done, stirring each time. I then place the sugar dish on a candle warmer to keep the chocolate warm.

2.Take Marshmallow, sucker stick, and dip end of stick into melted white chocolate, and push into marshmallow. Set on wax paper to let white chocolate harden.

 

3. Once you are done inserting all the sticks into the marshmallows, you will dip the entire marshmallow in white chocolate.

 

4. Once marshmallow is covered in chocolate, place 2 round sprinkles on the marshmallow to make the eyes. (You can also just put sprinkles all over the marshmallow as well, very cute!)

 

5. Place mummy into styrofoam to the chocolate can set.

 

6. Once chocolate has hardened, Dip a fork into the white chocolate and use that to drizzle white chocolate over the marshmallow to create the look of a mummy.

 

7. Set mummies back in the styrofoam to set. Once the chocolate has set again, place your mummies into a small bag and tie with a twist or ribbon. Aren't they cute! Now present them to your kids and enjoy their reaction, or for a fun family night, have them help make them!