Food Storage Updates

So Three Month Thursday didn't really happen again this week, but at least I do have a good excuse: Christmas. Mostly I got pasta, but it doesn't really count because I stole some pasta from my supply so I am actually replenishing my supply. But I did manage to get some extra too. I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas, but back to business this week! Get some food for your three month supply. Do it every week with your regular shopping. Make a space specifically for your food and start saving...now!!


Also we got our food storage from my mom's basement. We were starting to add to our long term storage until we moved to Hawaii. Now that we are back we need to get our butts in gear again! I couldn't even remember what we had so I made a list of what we already have. And yep, you guessed it - I am posting that list!!!
Oats - 6, Rice - 8, Cocoa -1, Fruit Drink - 1, Red Wheat - 1, Onion - 1, Sugar - 1, Macaroni - 7, Spaghetti - 7, Potatoes - 1, Flour - 1, Quick Oats - 1, Milk - 2, White Wheat - 2, 24 pack of ground beef, and 2 5lb buckets of honey. That's quite a long list!! How awesome! It's sort of like giving myself a headstart for the year. So I encourage everyone to go to the cannery with their ward when possible or at minimum buy some extra things that you can rotate. Good luck!

Holiday Christmas Cards

div>So Darrell and I are not big fans of the traditional Christmas cards so we had a little bit of fun this year. Here is a sample of the photos we took. Hilarious and terrible at the same time! I hope you all get a good laugh out of it like we did!!

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Pompas!!! (Monsters)

So Brody is really into monsters and dinosaurs these days. For his Christmas Eve pjs I got him some cute monster pjs. I tried to get the stupid video to download like five different times! I am so mad, because his reaction is hilarious. Brody goes crazy over his new monster pjs. He pronounces monsters as Pompas or something similar to that with lots of growling. Very funny. He was covering his eyes and then he ran around "the loop" in the kitchen. I always say everything is more exciting when you are with Brody. Here is one small example. Who knew pjs were so exciting!!??!!

Also we got Brody new monster bedding so he would transition to the Big Boy Bed easier. Worked like a charm! First night was a little bit of torture, but we are on day 3 of the big boy bed and it's awesome! He went to bed perfectly. He has always been such an angel about sleeping, and sleeping with monsters is just so cool!! Yay Brody!!

More Collin Chatter

Collin got a small change purse as one of many party favors from a birthday party last week. It's the cheap plastic kind. Basically a circle purse with a small slit to put the money in. ANYWAY, it's been his favorite thing for a week now.
I over heard him telling Brody, "You want to know where I got my money? I got it in downtown Los Angeles. I robbered a bank."

The things he says! He is constantly cracking us up around here.

Three Month Thursday - On Time!!

Hooray for me! I got my food storage on time this week! Aren't ya'll so proud of me!?! So I didn't get much. It's Christmas so the budget is spread a little bit more thin so I just got a few things this time. A can here and a can there really adds up. Get a can or two this week! Sorry, short post. Hey, at least I posted. :)

Mr. and Mrs. Fancy Pants

Darrell and I were able to get away for the weekend with no kids! Can you believe it? Darrell's company had their Christmas party in Dallas and they flew us both out there. Our flight was delayed Saturday morning for about an hour and a half because it had snowed in Salt Lake overnight. We had to wait on the plane in line to be de-iced. Would not have been so bad if I didn't have food poisoning from eating at JB's the night before. We had gone down to Temple Square to see the lights on Friday night and we ate at JB's because it was right there next to the temple. Anyway it was a less than pleasant dining experience that kept being less than pleasant for about 24 hours. So I embarrassed myself and went to the bathroom 4 times on the plane. I know, too much information. That's what you get when you read my blog. :)
Anyway we get to DFW about 2pm. We rented a Dodge Charger (only about $8 more than the compact) and it was so fun to drive! It was a really dark blue color and it was just a sporty fun car to drive. Darrell showed me his first project that he worked on. It was about5 minutes from the hotel we stayed at.
We stayed at the Marriott in Dallas. It was a pretty nice place and best of all a king bed! Yay! I mean I love my husband, but he is a big guy who is a big bed hog! We showered up and got on our fancy clothes. I bought a cute burgundy dress after being on the hunt for a couple weeks for a modest cocktail dress. Darrell also got new clothes: some grey pinstripe pants, a white on white pinstripe shirt, and a black vest. The guy was smoking hot!
The dinner was nice. There were 400 people there and Darrell knew about 6 of them. :) It's hard when he is in the field working with a small crew. The food was good and there was an open bar. Yay! ;) We got to eat prime rib which is one of Darrell's favorites. The owner of the company gave a nice little speech and gave gifts for people who worked for the company for 5, 10, and 15 years.
After dinner we played casino games. We were all give $4,000 (fake money) in chips. At the end of the night every $1,000 you had you could purchase a raffle ticket to win prizes. We didn't win though. We are just not lucky! We played blackjack all night though and had a great time. There was an open bar so we were surrounded by a whole bunch of drunk Texans. Let's just say there was never a dull moment, ya'll.
We went out to breakfast the next morning after sleeping in and then headed to the airport. It was a quick trip, but it was lots of fun doing grown up activities and having grown up conversations. It was really nice. We didn't get any pictures of us all dressed up, but we were hot! :)

How does this sound?

Ok, ok, I am trying to get it together here. I don't want the trip to be too expensive or too far out of the way for anyone. I was trying to decide what a good middle ground was. Marsha wants warm with a pool, Heather wants cheap, Amber wants probably more than one night since it's far, and I just want a massage. ;) Mitzi and Katelyn we need your imput too.
What do you think about this?
Scottsdale, Arizona
I found a pretty cool condo that we could rent here. There are a million fancy places to eat, shop, and get a massage. It's a really upscale place where us girls can dress up and be adults! No kids!
What do you think? We could rent a sweet minivan that we could cruise around in. Arrive in the afternoon, go to dinner, and stay up late gossiping! The next day get a massage or something at a spa, go to lunch, go shopping, and eat yet again. Fly home the next day.
April 1st and 2nd would be good. The rates are only $150 per night. Sooner than that would be more expensive since winter is the busy season for Arizona. Sound good?

Nothing "Wicked" This Way Comes

So Wicked sold out. Anyway I had no idea the tickets were over $300. I guess I should have done my homework a little more. Anyway I like Marsha's idea: somewhere warm. I am still thinking March or April if we can. I have a feeling my summer schedule might get a little bit crazy this year so I want to do it before then. Anyone know of a good spa retreat or something? Somewhere warm? Don't really want Vegas, but I would go for that too since flights there are cheap, probably for everyone. Anyway let's get some ideas rolling.

Three Month Thursday

I know I am a day late this week, but MAN I am so busy lately. Darrell is home so that always takes a lot of time. :) Also we are getting ready to go to Texas for the weekend!! I get to go to a fancy Christmas party in Fort Worth. No kids for about 36 hours! LOL! It's going to be a fun quick little getaway for us. It's going to be fun because we are dressing up. We both got new clothes so we can be HOT! Anyway, what does that have to do with food storage? Nothing!

I finally got to the store today. I bought 5 extra boxes (1 lb each) of pasta. It was easy and it didn't require a lot of thought. Perfect. About a buck a box. So even if you are busy or crazy you can still throw a couple things on the shelf for your food storage. My shelf is pretty much full so I am going to need to find somewhere else to store the food. Maybe I can straighten things up and store things other places and use another shelf in that closet. We will see. Anyway, no pic this week. Lazy, I know. Get some food storage! Go! You can do it!

Grannis Girls Get Together

So I am planning a get together for the Grannis girls in April. Amber gave me the idea of going to see "Wicked" in Salt Lake. So if you currently are or ever were a Grannis Girl and you are over the age of 18 you are invited to come for a fun night (maybe two) sans the children. I would like to get a nice hotel suite and just have some fun girl time. Go to dinner, go shopping, and gossip. Sounds fun, right?!? Anyway, let me know if you are interested. I think something like this is long overdue.

Dinner Party Dress Giveaway

Dinner Party Dress - Click Here

Is it Thursday yet?

Ha ha! Sorry about last weeks posting (or lack thereof.) The week went by pretty fast. Really there are no excuses though. Just laziness. Last week I bought some milk and chocolate milk that you can store on the shelf. My mom's ward put in an order for some so I tagged along. My dad was the one in charge of it so it was easy. I bought a case each of 12 - 1 quart 2% and chocolate milk as well as a case of individual sized chocolate milk. The kids can't get enough. The milk is good for about a year so it's something we will have to rotate which shouldn't be a problem since they like it so much. My dad buys it from a place in Brigham City, but I saw some on the shelf at Walmart too. It was twice as much there though. You should look into it though. Milk that can be stored on a shelf is awesome!

P.S. I won't miss my regular posting this week. I swear!

I finally figured it out...

So I finally figured out what being a stay at home mom means, to me at least. I love my kids very much, but it's been hard for me to be a stay at home mom. I like to work and I like to bring home money. Some people are just natural home makers, but I am just not one of them. That doesn't mean that I am not a good mom-it's just not as natural to me. It has taken me since April 5, 2004 to figure out what being a stay at home mom really is.

A stay at home mom is:
-Someone who makes and cleans up meals 24/7/365
-Someone who dresses, cleans, and combs hair of the children
-Someone who organizes, plans, and mails check for the entire household activities
-Someone who teaches her kids everything she knows, whether she means to or not

All of those things and more are the obvious things that fall under the category of regular stay at home mom activities. I have known all these things (and secretly rebelled against them) for a while now. But what was it for me? What is this mom thing really all about? Those reasons reallyweren't enough to settle down and just accept my mommy duties. I still wanted to work outside the home.
I have changed my mind now about all of it. I have found the real reason that mommy's staying home is important: Mommy's need to be available for whatever life throws at her family, good or bad.
That's it! Simple, right? Brody was up last night sick and then just miserable all day today. If I worked outside the home how would that have affected him? What a hassle to get off work or have my parents watch the kids because no daycare would take a sick kid. Also my husbands schedule is pretty set, but there are a few things this month that are different, a Christmas party in Texas (no kids!) and then 2 weeks off over Christmas. What if I had to work!? How terrible would that be to turn down a getaway weekend with my husband! Or to not be able to spend every second of his Christmas break together. (I hope we get a chance to take Collin skiing.) Also my sister needed a babysitter today because things fell through for her and she had to get to work. I was available.
I have a new outlook on this whole motherhood thing. I am very grateful to be able to stay at home with my kids, because not everyone has that option. And yes, some days will be filled with boredom and routine, but I am there for my kids when they need me. How exciting! It's like a whole new lease in life. :) All you good moms out there probably think I am totally crazy. Well, you are probably right. ;)

Surprise, Mom!

We have our water heater in a closet in the hall which is basically in the kitchen. The other night I was chit chatting on the phone with Amber and Brody was starving so I let him grab whatever he wanted out of the fridge. (I tend to neglect my kids when I am on the phone.) He picked out a bag of pepperoni from the fridge and began eating it, as is. Who cares, right? :) A while later as I am walking around the house talking on the phone I see my sweet little baby putting pepperonis in the vent to the door for the water heater. I open the door and much to my amazement I find a whole pile of things that have been inserted through the vent! Wahoo, money! Also a keychain, my sisters ring, pirate gold (lol), pencils, candy, and the obvious silverware. I guess I am not a very good mom. Oops!

Mr. Nerd Pants

My Collin is the constant Comedian. He does this almost every night since most of the clothes he sleeps in are elastic waist.

Happy 2 Year Old Birthday, Brody!

My baby is officially 2 years old! So sad! He is such a big boy now. Here are a couple of pics to bring back memories and make a mama cry. Love you Bro-Bro!

Christmas Service

It's that time of year again: Give me presents! Ok, ok, maybe some of you are always selfless and your children are already perfect, but for me it's a constant battle to stay on the straight and narrow. I am, however, someone who is big on service. I love to give and I wish I had millions of dollars to just go buy presents and do things for people. My mom told me once that I will never be rich, because I just give too much away. What a nice compliment!

Now that I am done tooting my own horn I am going to get you guys motivated. It's the Christmas season and lots of people need our help. I would like everyone who reads this to do one act of service for someone in need this holiday season. It seems to be especially hard this year for a lot of people. It doesn't have to be something big. You could go through your pantry and fill a grocery bag and take it to the food bank. Or you could find someone in your neighborhood or ward who needs some help and do the 12 days of Christmas or even one gift per child. There is someone you know that needs help this year. Be on the look out for ways you can serve. Maybe you can give someone a holiday dinner. Or you could donate one small toy to the local toy drive. It doesn't have to be a lot of money, but I encourage everyone to do something for someone else. Involve your kids and they will learn so much from your example. Plus it will be fun! I love to leave presents on someones door, knock, and run. What a rush! Make it fun, exciting, and educational!

"And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God." Mosiah 2:17

Christ spent his life among the poor and needy not among the rich. We need to follow that example and become humble and serve. Do our kids really need 100 new toys? Not really. Especially mine who are only 2 and 4. They have no idea! Collin has been playing with the styrofoam that the new TV came in. It's a castle. :)

You have officially been challenged. I want comments on here of what you and your family have done or will do. I love hearing stories of service.

Ride 'Em Cowboy

So I am going through all my videos now that they are accessible on my computer. Here is a classic video. It was on my MySpace so some of you might have seen it. First of all I can't believe that Collin got near the sheep let alone got on it. Enjoy!

For You Suzanne - Hunter and Collin

I have finally downloaded video to my new (6 months old) laptop. I am having fun watching Christmas 2006 with brand new baby Brody. Here is a clip of cousin Hunter who is in China now so obviously we never get to see him. Collin and Hunter are 2 months apart. Collin is not quite 3 in this clip. Such a toddler! My little boy is all grown up now.

Three Month Thursday - Playing Catch Up

So here we are on Sunday afternoon after a long exciting weekend. I really didn't buy anything specifically for my 3 month storage this week. I ended up having extra stuffing so I put that in, as well as a couple taco seasonings. My Aunt Elise gave everyone a 100 hour candle, from Emergency Essentials, as a gift at our family Christmas party. (Future posting about that. ) So this week that is all that I have. Every little bit helps. No excuses people! I want some reports on what you got this week. If you haven't started NOW is the time! Fill a shelf, a box, under your bed, in your closet, or wherever! Make a space devoted specifically to your long term and 3 month supply. I want you guys to tell me what you are doing to store food. Have you started? If not now, when? What did you buy this week or this month?

Blog Background

So I had to change that other turkey background. It was just too crazy and busy for me. I also changed the pic to one of my favorites. It basically sums up my life. I tell Collin to go get dressed and he comes back like this. Collin is constantly joking. He is so funny.

Collin Chatter

So we went to the party store today to buy some stuff for Brody's birthday party. We are doing a dinosaur theme. Collin was looking at some of the other decorations and said, "Mom, what about doing a Peter Potter party?"
I said, "I think you mean Harry Potter." :) It's laugh out loud funny every time I think about it.

Three Month Thursday

Alright, my friends, it's week four. I know most of you don't have your butt in gear about this, but you need to!! Go out on your next shopping day and buy something extra. This week I chose to get a few non food items. I bought a 4-pack of toilet paper (this much MIGHT last my family a week), a large bottle of dish soap, a 3-pack of paper towels (I got this accidentally because I thought I had ran out, but I had a whole unopened pack so I put this weeks purchase into long term storage), and two pack of wipes. I bought the 6 pack box of wipes and just put two into long term storage. I also decided I wanted to get some soap, maybe a couple bars. This isn't too much stuff! You guys can do it. A little here and a little there. I mean look at my shelf! It's getting full and fast!
Designate a spot in your house that is specifically for your 3 month storage. No one has an excuse, because I can say fairly confidently that I have the smallest living space out of everyone who reads my blog! Put it under your bed in a box if you have to. Find some room and start putting a little bit away....today!
Also if you notice in the picture I have 2 lighters. I bought those to light the pumpkins and never did. I decided I would save them in my storage so that was a nice little bonus.
One little thing I have been doing is I make sure that I don't run completely out of something. Particularly diapers and things like shampoo and body wash. Never be completely out of something. Have a back up under your bathroom sink. Suzanne is really good with that kind of storage. When we went to her house she had lotions, toothbrushes, shampoos, and all kinds of things under her bathroom sink. This was to always make sure she had extra if her guests forgot something as well as a great way to have a 3 months supply, whether she thought of it that way or not. :)
So I hope that I have either pumped you up to go get some storage OR made you feel super guilty about not having storage so you go out and get some anyway.

Needy

So I am asking you guys for a lot of info these days! Well, it's not gunna stop! This one is a pretty easy one though. I need some book recommendations. I am looking for something that is a relatively light read that I can take to the gym with me and read while exercising. Nothing too intense. I like mystery type books and girl power books. I never know what is good when I go to the library. I just stare at the shelves like a lost little puppy. Oh and if anyone recommends "Twilight" I will kill you on the spot. Just kidding. I don't know why I don't want to read that book. I guess I just don't want to follow the crowd. Darrell told me that I should just read it and get it over with. I might give in to the dark side someday, but for now I am irrationally boycotting it. I know, I am weird.
Oh and sidebar- Do you like my new background? Finally I did something after all this time!

Another Tribute to My Grandma Ward

My Grandma has so many sayings and poems that are hilarious. I posted a few of them a few months ago. My poor little grandma recently was diagnosed with Alzheimer's. The kind she has has made her memory deteriorate quickly. So what I am saying is that she is a little crazy. :) She also has dementia and she is seeing things that aren't there. Very sad. We went to visit her a few weeks ago. Here is a little gem that I had never heard before:

A bee is a busy soul,
who doesn't have time for birth control.
And so you find in times like these,
there are so many sons of bees.

My grandma is a temple going, Institute graduating (in her 60's), religious paper writing, hebrew reading, woman of God. And yet all of her sayings are a little irreverant.
So here's to you Grandma! I love you! :)

Familial Cold Autoinflammatory Syndrome

So I just came across this article on KSL.com, our local Utah news station. It's about a woman who is allergic to the cold. Sounds familiar! My wonderful husband is allergic to cold too. Crazy! Most of my loyal blog readers know about this already. It's such a bizarre thing. For Darrell it's not always the cold that he is allergic to, but also being wet and then drying in cooler air. For example like the time he was life flighted after being in the lake. His lungs were expanding and he couldn't breathe. Usually if he can remain dry the hives don't come as quickly. When he snowboards the biggest challenge is staying dry not necessarily staying warm. Anyway enjoy the article about weirdos! LOL!

To Work or Not To Work??

So I had my first night of work. I was supposed to work in the childcare of the gym from 4-8pm. First of all let me just say that the lady who hired me is a little kooky. I guess just let me start at the beginning.
I heard that the gym was hiring on Thursday last week. I thought it would be a great little job to get me out of the house and to keep me busy. I interviewed on the spot, sweaty head to toe, and the interview went really well. She said she would call me Monday to let me know because she had a few more interviews. She calls me Saturday and left me a message telling me my schedule. Um, ok, so I guess I got the job. I called her back to tell her that I would have to rearrange my hours on Wednesday morning because Collin has preschool, but the other two days were fine. No problem, she says.
So I arrive today for my first 4-8 shift. Turns out she hired me to clean the gym and only help out when the childcare became too full. There were 3 other girls working in there and the law permits only a certain ratio of children to childcare workers. Um, ok, I guess. I had to vacuum the gym during one of the busiest times of the day! Not to mention that the vacuum was a jet pak you strap to your back. So embarrassing!! The stupid thing electricuted me too! LOL! I burned my two fingers on an exposed wire. What an idiot! :)
Then she tells me that she needs me to work next week doing the cleaning while she is on vacation. She said it takes about 4 hours per day and I can come in whenever. This wasn't a question, I was on the schedule. So I would be working every day next week. Then a little later I start to pick up a little more info from her. (The woman is more scatterbrained than I am.) She wants me to do the cleaning, yes, but she also needs me to cover all her childcare times too. What!! So Tues, Wed, Fri, and Sat I would have to work from 8:45 am - 1pm with the 3-4 hours of cleaning either before or after. Are you insane!?!
Sorry, but a whopping $6.50 an hour is not worth screwing up my Thanksgiving. My husband is out of town all the time and I am going to enjoy the time that he is here. Plus my girlfriend, Lynne, from Hawaii is coming to town and she is taking me back to the temple. (First time since August. )
Oh and she tells me that we are not supposed to wear jeans. The dress code is black or khaki (tacky as she called it) pants or capris. She said it like I should have known. Oops, I wore jeans. Crazy me, I thought I would just be playing with some kids in a room with the door shut! Anyway I am going to quit after one day.
Collin and Brody were both sick of being there that long so I am not going to torture my children. We don't really need the money, although extra money is always accepted here. :)
Anyway it's going to be a little awkward going back to exercise at the gym that I just quit my job from. Thank goodness I don't give a crap!

What have I gotten myself into??

So my mom is hosting Thanksgiving this year. I live so close to her that I had to bring a "hot" item to the party. She was making the turkey and with that comes the gravy. Also she was making the potatoes, because for some crazy reason she bought like three 50 lb bags of potatoes a couple weeks ago. Can't pass up a great deal, right?!? So that leaves me basically with the stuffing. I have never EVER made stuffing from scratch. I always just used the box kind and that's on the rare occasion that we actually eat stuffing. So I am asking my large fan base (ha ha) here on my blog for tips, ideas, secrets, and recipes to making stuffing. I know it's not that hard, but it's all new to me. So any help would be appreciated. Also if you have any cute, but easy enough for someone with the talent of a third grader, decoration ideas for the Thanksgiving table let me know. Geez, I am asking a lot. Sorry! Happy Thanksgiving!

Three Month Thursday

Yep, it's already been a week. This time I have photos. Sorry about last week. So this week I kind of got a variety of things. A few cans of beans - all kinds, a spaghetti sauce, 2 salt (33 cents at Walmart), 2 cans of chicken broth, green beans, and some pineapple. It's all kind of random stuff. What I did was buy an extra can of everything I was buying for the menu this week. It's stuff that I know we will eat. I wanted to make sure and get a fruit and a veggie this week as well as a little protein. I have plenty of carbs with all the rice and pasta.
I probably spent about $8-9 this week. That is a little more that I have spent that last two weeks, but I did get a lot of great stuff. So it's time for me to challenge you! Go out and buy 2 or 3 cans extra this week or go get a couple boxes of pasta. Whatever your pantry is lacking get a little this week. And then a little more. And then a little more. Look at my shelf already and it's only been 3 weeks!! It's not that hard. This week I just bought double of what I was buying already. A total no brainer! It's food that I know we will eat. So go forth and hoard food!

Play Time

I just came across this great article on MSN about kids and play time. It's great. It talks about how play time is very important and tells parents not to over schedule their kids with activities. It's good for every parent to be reminded of this. I think that sometimes I get so excited to enroll Collin activities that I forget to leave time for just fun.

Gym Modesty

I think that when us Mormons ( ha ha ) go to the gym it shouldn't be a free for all for immodesty. I know that while exercising we aren't required to wear garments, but I don't think that means you can wear short shorts and skinny tank tops. Roy is a relatively small town, surprisingly, and I see the same moms at the gym that have kids in the same preschool and tumbling. They are dressed very immodest at the gym and then I see them wearing garments to pick up the kids. Anyone have any thoughts on it? I want someone to give me a quote about modesty, specifically with garments and exercise.

Words to Live By

Collin's preschool is what I refer to as the "Nazi Preschool." They are very strict on the kids and the parents. They expect certain things and you have to follow it to the letter. I think that it's good structure for the kids, but on some things they are a little overboard. ANYWAY, one of the quotes that they say I have just fallen in love with:

"You get what you get, and you don't throw a fit."

I think those are words both kids and us grown ups should live by.

Lost a Tooth

Collin lost his first tooth this weekend. What! He's only 4 1/2, you say? Well here's the story on the infamous tooth. When Collin was not quite 2 years old he was coloring up at the table. He was sitting on a booster, but not buckled in. He dropped a crayon onto the kitchen floor. He tried to reach down to get it rather than get off the chair and grab it. Slam! Landed on his face! Lots of blood. His tooth seemed a little bit loose, but it definitely wasn't loose enough to come out. We went to the dentist. She took an xray (you never saw an almost 2 year old hold so still) and we confirmed our suspicions: Collin's tooth was dead. The dentist was so nice and she said her granddaughter had just done the same thing at age 3. She said the tooth was going to turn grey and then eventually fall out. She offered to put a little tooth color on his tooth if it got too ugly and noticeable. Well his tooth held on for 2 1/2 more years. In the last few months the tooth seemed to be getting worse. Then last Wednesday we went to play and have lunch at Arctic Circle. A kid ran into Collin, not sure what happened even though he was standing about 3 feet from me, but I think he bumped Collin from behind and Collin bit down hard on his lip. His lip was bleeding, but his tooth was extra loose. I knew that was the end for the tooth. We let it go a little while, but by Thursday night we were all sick of having to be cautious. I was sick of having to cut up Collin's food just so he could eat. Darrell just yanked it out for him. Hooray the tooth was out! I was getting Collin all psyched up for the event. I wanted to keep it positive for him, because I know that he was really worried about it. He was a little embarrassed to go to school on Friday. I told him that all the kids would think it's cool. I told the teacher to help keep it positive since Collin was a little upset. Everything went fine at school. He is totally ok with it now. Plus he got "tens" (dimes, his favorite) from the tooth fairy. Also the tooth fairy let him keep his tooth until after show and tell next week at school. What a cool tooth fairy! So the Saga of the Tooth is over now. It's good, because he would make some food choices based around how his tooth felt. Like not eating apple or corn on the cob. It will probably be a year or even two before his tooth grows in so we just gotta get used to this look. I am going to see a dentist to see if there is anything else we need to do. Just in case. I was really glad to have a really good dentist when it happened so that I can understand it all and know the options and outcome. Pretty much we just have to wait for it to grow in. Here are a couple pics of my toothless baby.

Oh, and what do you put your tooth in? A cupcake paper, of course! He was carrying this around before the tooth fell out. Just in case! The things this kid thinks of just crack me up.

Three Month Thursday

So it's Thursday again. What a week! Did you get yourself some food storage? This week I got some rice. I got a 10 lb bag from Walmart. It was about $6. I didn't get a picture up yet, but it's been kind of crazy day so at least I posted something. Go out and get something for your three month supply, rice or something else you need! Go! What are you waiting for?

Some Positive Notes

I am not going to talk about any politics anymore, because it just gets me all worked up and crazy! Here are a few fun pics.

Brody is ALWAYS putting his finger up his nose. Gross!

Here are the boys and their great grandpa. My dad's dad.

Obama? Really?

It's not suprising, just depressing. Anyway I just can't even talk about it right now. Came across this blog, friend of a friend of a friend. :)

Check it out!

The Boys Christmas Lists

Collin and Brody have very different taste in toys. Collin is very creative, imaginative, and artsy. Brody is all boy. Vroom, vroom. So here is the start of their Christmas wish/idea lists. I will add more as I think of them.

Collin:
1. Stickers - any kind
2. Craft kits - the kind you glue together, foam or wood type
3. Colored paper
4. Super hero items
5. Church clothes
6. Pjs
7. Learning to read books
8. "Boy" read aloud books
9.

Brody:
1. Large toy set - Pirates, castle, boat, construction
2. Church clothes
3. Puzzles
4. Race cars
5. Something Batman
6. Finger paints
7.

I will add more as I think of them. There is always something where I think to myself "Oh! Collin would love that." Then I forget what it is. Hopefully this will help me be a little more organized.

My Christmas List

Ok, I am not going to be shy, my friends. Every year people ask what I would like for Christmas. Typically I don't need/want anything and that's the truth, but this year is different. I am doing a little nesting, because I am not going to be traveling all over the country anymore. I need LOTS of normal housewife stuff that all ya'll regular people have acquired over the years. So I am going to put a link to this posting on the main page so you can click to see my updated Christmas list as it expands. :) I don't care if you get me a gift or not, but here are some ideas if you are getting me one anyway.

1. A good mixer
2. Canisters to store flour, sugar, rice. I prefer glass, but anything cute and functional is great.
3. Cute kitchen towels
4. Nice baking pans and casserole dishes
5. Any kind of food storage items
6. Clothing - shirts, preferably not t-shirts, but something nice yet comfy and jeans
7. Misc. kitchen items, apple corer, pot holders, potato peelers
8. Classic movies on DVD - Princess Bride, Sound of Music, Mary Poppins, etc.

More to come.....

Politics

So who else is ready for the election to be over? Who else is terrified for the results? I am absolutely not someone who gets involved with politics, but how can you not with this election?!? I would be terrified if (when) Obama wins the election. I am not a big McCain supporter although I do consider myself a Republican. I think one of the smartest things that he could have done was select Palin for his running mate. That came out of nowhere (at least to me), but I think it was very smart. It's going to be a close race, I think. I will be so happy for it to be over though.
P.S. If you got my mass email today about infanticide sorry. It was anti-Obama, but it was also to make people aware that this was even happening! Crazy! I bawled when I first heard it. Maybe ya'll knew about it already. I try to stay ignorant. :)

Halloween Baking Day

We were baking for hours today. I wanted to make some Monster cupcakes. Plus my sister was having a Halloween party tonight so we baked a bunch of fun Halloween themed things. Here are a few pics from today's baking adventure.


Brody is eating more cookies that he is putting on his pan.

These are cinnamon roll "bones." They are not cooked yet in this picture, but they turned out really great and delicious.

These monster cupcakes turned out better than I thought. Collin had a great time decorating them. Notice the blue one with the mint mouth and white eyes. That one Collin called it his "surprised face" monster. He thinks of the funniest things.

Brody is helping to stir the cupcake batter.

Collin is so organized and orderly. Brody is just hungry. :)

Bat-O-Lanterns

One of our fun Halloween crafts that we made were our Bat-O-Lanterns. (A great idea I found in Family Fun magazine.) I thought they were so cute and they were something that Brody could help us make. We painted some small pumpkins black. Easy right? And super messy. So glad we changed into old clothes first. The kids got black paint all over their hands and legs. Mandatory bath night. It was lots of fun though! We finished putting on their faces and wings today. I think they turned out pretty cute, especially since I am not that crafty.