Summer is HERE!

Yep, I think we are ready for summer around here!!!

Somebody.......

Somebody looks cute in stripes.

Somebody loves to put his little, chubby fingers in his mouth.

Somebody really loves his sippy cup.

And somebody has a really cute naked body. Those are some of the sweetest rolls I've ever seen.

FYI-I posted another blog called My New Obsession tonight, but I had saved it on Tuesday and it posted it in order on my blog. So, if you would like to read it, scroll back to Tuesday. And if not, I'm sure your life will still go on.

Finley's Graduation

Last week, Finley graduated from Sugar & Spice Preschool. She has been to school there since she was 2 1/2 on Tuesdays and Thursdays during the school year. Sugar & Spice also happens to be located where we attend church as well. We love it there and both Slade and Finley have attended their program.

Sweet Mrs. Dana-she taught both Slade and Finley. She is a wonderful lady! We were blessed to have her as a teacher.

This year, Finley's class performed, "Sugar-Sugar". It was so cute to hear them sing loud!

Then all the 4's donned their cap & gowns and received their diplomas. Finley said she planned on "being a cowgirl". LOL!!!

Afterwards, she got to pick where we went to eat. We went to On the Border with the whole family-Us, Brandi, Shane, Campbell, Nana, and Mom.

Gunnar thought he was cool because it was past his bedtime and he got to sit in a high chair at the table. He just sat there and smiled and kicked his little feet like he was so excited!

And of course, she had cheese dip-her favorite! It was a fun night! I'm so proud of my girl!!!

Slade's Award Day!

We attended Slade's Second Grade Awards Day. He was awarded the Science Award.

The second graders sang some songs for us and then they received their recognition.

Man, I can't believe he's almost a third grader. Yikes!!!

Sweet Mrs. Greak-she made his year a great one! We will miss her next year!

My New Obsession

Yes, I do have another obsession besides my desire to live in Forks, Washington, and marry Edward Cullen. My new obsession could not be further from the Twilight world, and that is the Baby Food making world! Thrifty....yes. Resourceful.....yes. Pathetic that I love to do this....perhaps. But I am sickly addicted to making it. I can't make enough. I think it's some type of therapy. Or something.

Last night, I made all of this-sweet potato/green beans, apple oatmeal, & pumpkin/mango.

Even though I already had this............

And this..............already frozen.

Not to mention this, which I don't even have to cook. You just mash it up.

We are going to try green beans for the first time at some point. When G eats all the 500 other things I have frozen.

And I just love pumpkin. No, I don't make pumpkin. You actually can't buy a pumpkin right now. Or not anywhere I've been. I might try that this fall. Or I might just decorate the outside and continue to buy it. I can only do so much. And the cover on the pumpkin can is so cute. You could say I'm a baby food maker extraordinaire. And if you know anyone who needs some baby food, you know where to send them.

Recipes

I made two really yummy recipes today that are definitely blog worthy! Enjoy!

Aunt Mimi's Blueberry Muffins

1 stick margarine (I used butter)

1/2 salad oil (I use canola oil)

1 1/3 sugar

2 eggs

3 c. sifted flour

1 tsp baking soda

3 tsp baking powder

3 tsp Butavan

1 c. buttermilk

1 15oz can of blueberries-drained but save the juice

Mix butter, oil, sugar, eggs. Add Butavan. Add dry mixture and buttermilk. Blend in 1/3 cup blueberry juice. Fold in blueberries. Bake @ 400 for 20 min. Batter keeps 3 weeks in the fridge. Muffins also freeze well.

I can tell you these are the most wonderful blueberry muffins! The recipe came from Kyle's Aunt Mimi. She made them for us at Ramma's cabins in Ruidoso and we LOVED them!!! They are great in mini muffin size, too. If you never have heard of Butavan, you aren't alone. Nobody knows what it is. It's actually some type of butter/vanilla flavoring. It has the consistency of pudding. I buy it here at the Gourmet Pantry and it comes by the cup. It keeps in the fridge. Call around your specialty kitchen stores and get some. Now. And make these muffins because you will never make muffins from a box again! I usually double the recipe, eat some right out of the oven, give some away, and freeze the rest in Ziploc bags. They warm perfectly in the microwave in the morning on your way out of the house.

Paula Deen's Avocado Chicken Salad with Avocado Dressing

3 c. cooked, diced chicken

3 c. cooked white rice (I used brown rice)

2 avocados, peeled, diced and tossed with 1 tbls lemon juice to prevent browning

3/4 c. chopped onion (I used 1/4 c.-I also think green onions would be good)

1 c. mayonnaise (I used 1/4 cup-it didn't need very much-just enough to stick together)

pepper

salt

1/4 c. chopped fresh parsley (I used garlic parsley seasoning instead)

Mix all together and chill. Pass with avocado dressing.

Avocado dressing

1 lg avocado, peeled and mashed with 1 tbls lemon juice

1 c. mayonnaise (I used light)

1/2 c. sour cream (I used light)

1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce

1/3 c. chopped onion (I used less)

2 cloves chopped garlic

1 tsp salt

dash of cayenne pepper

(I used garlic parsley seasoning also)

I have been wanting to try this recipe since I got Paula Deen's The Lady & Sons cookbook two years ago. I am kicking myself now that I waited this long!!! It is scrumptious! I rolled it up in a lettuce leaf with a little dressing on top. The dressing would be good on salads, wraps, etc. I'm adding this to my recipe box for sure.

And I had some help tonight.............

G chewed on muffin papers, pulled the spatula out of the blueberries, stuck his hand in chicken, and tried to attack the ivy behind him.

S just took the butter out of the microwave, ran through and asked me what I was making, ate raw batter, and avoided eating his dinner so he could just eat muffins. He wouldn't touch the chicken salad with a ten foot pole.

F is on vacation with Cita or I'm sure she would have been really helpful, too! We miss our sissy!

Night Lights

I stole this idea off of a blog and made these.........

They turned out really cute I think.

Just Because........

Because I didn't want to let a whole week go by without blogging, I just wanted to fill you in on my weekend. I have a big. fat. ugly. snotty. sneezing. head cold. Yup, that's what. I don't feel good and my eyes are burning, nose chapped, head hurting. Gotta love those "summer colds"! Actually, I think baby G gave me his cold. So, I hope you have had a better Saturday than me and your nose is in better shape than mine. Now, someone pass me a Kleenex.

Random Thoughts

I have no organized thoughts tonight. I'm plum pooped. This past week was a little crazy. Gunnar had strep throat at the beginning of the week. Which was weird, because I didn't think babies really got strep throat. Anyways, now I think he has a little cold. He's been coughing at night and sleeping horrible. Well, more horrible than he usually sleeps. I have been a zombie.

We had a garage sale on Saturday morning and that took the big part of the week to get ready for. Actually, Kyle did most of it, which lead to him hurting his back. He was in pain when he got home Friday night and actually went to the doctor on Saturday. Let me just say that he must have been miserable because he NEVER goes to the doctor. The doctor said it was sciatica, so there's not much he can do about it until it just gets better. After waking up about 15 times per night with Gunnar, I got up at 4:50 on Saturday morning, fed him, got dressed, and started working on putting stuff out in the drive way because it started at 7am. I'm still wondering why we started at 7? Anyways, Brandi kept the kids till after lunch and then I packed up what I could that didn't sell.

Random Thought-I read in my Parents magazine to put paint in egg cartons to let your kids paint with. I loved this idea and it worked great!

We had supper club at my house Thursday night also. Yes, it was a busy week around here! I don't think I've blogged about Supper Club yet. There is a group of 9 of us. We are getting together at one person's house, once per month. The person who's house we go to is incharge of the main dish. Then the other's bring appetizers, sides, dessert, drinks, and party favors. We have a different theme each month. This was my month and we did Mexican because of Cinco de Mayo. We had dinner out on our patio and Kyle got it all fixed up with our summer flowers and plants. It looked so nice. I made homemade enchiladas-sour cream/cheese and beef. All the food was yummy. We've only done it twice so far, and last month our theme was eggs for Easter. Each dish had to have an egg included in it. That was really cute. So we have had a really fun time so far!

Isn't that a sweet face! He ate carrots for the first time tonight. My friend, Angela, says that it's a good thing he is so cute since he doesn't sleep, haha!

Cell phone pic of "The Crew"

How sweet are these boys! I'm glad Slade has a brother. He loves Gunnar so much and is so good with him. He cannot stand for him to cry. He also likes to tell me how to take care of him-I'm not sure what I do without him when he's at school during the day, LOL!

And my Smart babies. I love this pic of them. We were getting ready for Beth's little boy, Logan's 2nd birthday party.

And someone is starting to really like to sleep on his belly now, thanks to Natalie's suggestion. It's working out better for him. Now, if only he could stop waking up to eat three times per night. Any suggestions in this area?????????? Momma ain't sleeping 'round here.

Happy Mother's Day to Me!!!

On Saturday night, I was treated to a wonderful night's sleep in Slade's bed, all by myself, with no crying, no bottles, with uninterrupted sleep for SEVEN whole hours! Heaven help me, it was pure joy! And that would have been enough of a perfect Mother's Day for me. But there was more in store for my wonderful Mother's Day on Sunday morning. Early in the wee hours of the morning, I was told there was some scurrying around in the bedroom I was sleeping in, unbeknownst to me. A 474 could have landed in the front yard and I wouldn't have noticed because I was sleeping so soundly. Some hidden objects were moved into the kitchen and then they swarmed in on me at 7am and told me my breakfast was ready!

I walked into the kitchen to find this.......waffles, fresh strawberries, tea, & pink lemonade. Slade has prepared the breakfast his own self and forced Kyle to take him to the store the night before so I could have fresh strawberries. They chose tea, my favorite drink. And Finley picked he pink lemonade. I also had three precious cards from them, including a voice recorded one that has all their voices on it wishing me a Happy Mother's Day. How cute is it that the waffles are on a paper plate!!!

I also had a red rose-I believe that was chosen by Finley.

And a brand new MacBook Pro! I.was.shocked!!! Speechless. Still am. Oh the excitement I have for this little device. I have really bad history with Dell laptops and this was a total surprise! I don't deserve it but I'm keeping it. It makes me think of Forest Gump saying, "He got us invested in some kind of fruit company?" LOL!!! Be expecting some fabulous blogging from this baby!

This child was so excited. He worked the whole night before stashing syrup, plates, forks, and who knows what else in his drawer to get ready to make me a surprise breakfast. I went to a movie Saturday night and Kyle took all three kids to the grocery store to get the strawberries. How cute did that have to look with all of them walking into the store at 8 o'clock Saturday night!?!

All my sweet kiddos.

And my red rose.

Rose in mid-air!!! Notice Gunnar in the background wondering what the heck!?!

And then we got dressed and went to church. We had hamburgers for lunch at Brandi's house and spent the afternoon with them. It was way hot, so the kids ran in the sprinklers and Slade even got burned on his shoulders! We had such a fun day!

Best Mother's Day on record. Thank you Kyle, Slade, Finley, and Gunnar! I love you! You make my life!

M-O-M

Celebrate Life. We tend to be so focused on efficiency and convenience that we forget to invite our children to share in life's messy or inconvenient pleasures: finger paints, late-night fireworks, mud puddles, the sunrise, baking a cake. The pure joy of a moment fully lived is more precious than clean hands, an hour of lost sleep, dry shoes, or a perfect desert.
-Katrina Kenison

Happy Mother's Day to all the sweet mothers out there. I hope you take time to do something inconvenient, mundane, or even silly with your kiddos today, because when you crawl under the covers and shut your eyes tonight, it will be the end of another day that you will never get back. And the dirty laundry will still be there tomorrow.

And to my own mother:
Thank you for all the times you wiped my snot, cleaned up my puke, applied monkey blood to my knees, made me homemade ice cream, sponge rolled my hair, gave up the last bite, bit your tongue, drove me to town, tied my shoe, cooked me breakfast, gave me vitamins, displayed my ugly paintings, folded my clothes, let me pretend shave, and many, many more countless things that you've done for me. There's too many to name. You gave up part of yourself for me and I realize now just how that feels. There really isn't anything that compares to a mother's love. Happy Mother's Day!

Out With The Old.........

As I was saying, Out with the Old..................................

In with the NEW! Our 2010 Suburban! (Slightly used, but new to us)

Yes we traded in our trusty old 2002 Tahoe.

Yes it was such a good, good car.

Yes I got it when I was four months pregnant with Slade.

Yes I had it when I brought all three of my babies home.

Yes it has seen me through good times and bad times.

Yes it has seen it's fair share of hail, wind, snow, & sleet.

Yes it once had a run-in with a deer, Kyle's fender, & one very flat basketball.

Yes it has seen it's fair share of apple juice, Diet Coke, and puke.

Yes it once smelled like rotten eggs which lead to a new battery.

Yes in 9 years it hardly ever saw the inside of a mechanic's shop.

Yes it has been known to conceal the occasional lost month-old chicken nugget/french fry.

Yes I'm taking a walk down memory lane about a car.

Yes I did take pictures of it and had a hard time cleaning it out for the last time.

And, yes, I may have bawled like a baby when I drove it to the car dealership one last time.

We have been halfway looking for a new car since last fall since we added baby Smart #3. And a few weeks ago we can across this little beauty. I am happy with that extra 16 inches of room a suburban provides. A CD player that works and stain-free carpets. And even more spots with which to spill our drinks from. And it's certainly nice to have room for the baby stroller AND the groceries. But it is bigger and I feel I have to be a bit more cautious while driving and backing out. But, it is a beautiful silver color. My favorite car color is silver.

You see, silver cars and I go way back. My first brand new car (not counting the old burgundy and tan trainer truck equipped with metal deer guard and propane tank) was a 1996 silver Chevy Camaro. Man, oh, Man, did I love that car! I felt really cool in it. Maybe back in the far reaches of my mind, I thought getting another silver car might restore myself to my former glory and my hair back to it's former natural laying out by the poolside blonde, but I'm thinking that ship might have already sailed. Would you believe there's no red & black high school graduation tassle hanging from my mirror, no Iraan High School letter jacket in the back. They didn't even include an Ace of Base or Hootie and the Blowfish CD!?!

I'm not sure what's going on. The last time (today) I looked in the back of my new silver ride, there were two carseats, a bin of toys, one size small pink ballet shoe, a left-behind Lego, and a stained burp rag. I think I've evolved since 1996. Or changed. Or something.

I told Kyle that I love this new car, but it really does "Officially" make me a mom. He said that the suburban didn't make me a mom-the three kids living in my house did and I was already "Officially" a mom. Yes, I guess he's right. Nope, there aren't any similarities to my former glory car and my spacious new ride, aside from the fact they are both silver and Chevrolet. And I've come to discover a few great things the past few weeks that really are grand about my new silver phantom (Unfortunately there was no change in my hair).

I feel in my heart that this new silver suburban is far superior to that measly old Camaro in at least four ways.

1.)Deer really don't stand much of a chance with a Suburban. They could hurdle the Camaro.

2.)I actually do have room to put two carseats in the back and those seats are accessible by doors-4 to be exact, whereas the Camaro was not kind to backseat guests on their way to a football game.

3.)A warning signal actually beeps if I were to get too close to a bike or fender. The Camaro did not possess this amenity.

And lastly..................................................

4.)I will never, I repeat, NEVER, be a distracted driver looking for a Hootie and the Blowfish CD ever again. I now have access to XM Radio. And that my friends, beats the size 8 Girbaud jean pants off the Camaro any day.

I'm Just Saying.......