Blizzard!

Good morning, Snow. Thank you very much for the free day of no school. We will take it! The kids slept in till past 8 and we've had eggs, bacon, & cinnamon toast. The news is calling it an actual blizzard! Wow! It's blowing and snowing as we speak. Now, time to snuggle up in our jammies-we may not change out of them all day long!

Tuesday Random

 Slade joined 4-H and is participating in shooting. He loves it and is apparently a pretty darn good shot! Kyle takes him to shooting on Wednesdays.

 Poor Gunnar man has NEVER been a good rider. Solution......the ipad. Thank you, Apple. He takes it in the morning when I take the kids to school. And any other time he has to ride longer than three minutes.

 Awwwww........

 Gunnar's Easter shirt cracks me up.

 In January about the time that Finley & G got the flu, Fin had to take Ollie the Otter home from her classroom for the weekend. She had to take him everywhere and write a story about all he did. Here he is at Cracker Barrel.

 She also took him to the doctor's office but she was in a foul mood and wouldn't let me take any pics there.

 Gunnar claimed it was his otter the whole weekend.

 This is a cool print I ordered off of Etsy in the fall. I framed it in an 8x10 black frame and I'm loving it so much!

I got a new treadmill for Christmas! I have been wanting one for years!!! I was so excited! I used it 17 consecutive days without missing starting the day they set it up for me. It's awesome! I actually can go and use it after the kids go to bed at night and watch my recorded shows. Love it!!! Weather is no longer an excuse for me!

Popcorn and Chicken Pesto

Don't worry, popcorn and chicken pesto are not together! They are just sharing the blog! Ha!

 It has started to become a ritual that Finley comes home from school and makes popcorn for her snack.

 We've actually started using a Pinterest recipe. You buy plain kernels and put about a quarter cup in a glass bowl. I put one of my Fiestaware plates on top and pop it in the microwave a couple of minutes. Perfect popcorn. It's super cheap and it's really easy! The bag of kernels last a long time.

Anyone would know they have popcorn as a snack because this little man leaves a trail of crumbs everywhere!

I made Pesto Chicken tonight and it was yummy! I love love love pesto. All you do is spray a dish with Pam and spread 1/4 cup of pesto on the bottom. Place your chicken tenderloins on top and spread 1/4 to 1/2 cup of remaining pesto on top. Cover with foil. Bake at 375 for 18-20 minutes. Sprinkle with lowfat mozzarella and bake another 5 minutes till melted and chicken cooked. My kids even liked it. I think these leftover pieces would be great on a panini or in a salad.

 And they are still eating popcorn.

Slade's Birthday, Part 2

Slade wanted to have a slumber party for his birthday. I told him he could ask two people. Well, two turned into three and three turned into four. We ended up having 5 including Slade. It was definitely a house full. We were busting at the seams!

 Slade wanted to have an air soft gun party. The big thing around here are air soft guns. All the boys love them. It's kind of like the new age BB gun. All I can think of is Ralphie...."you'll shoot your eye out, kid!" Boys and their toys.

I had a lady make these awesome camo cupcakes for the boys.

 This inside was even camo! They were perfect!

 Here are the boys before they headed out to Kyle's shop. We are missing one-he came later after a basketball game. I had the boys cover one of their eyes. I told them if they didn't wear their goggles at all times, this is how it would be not to have one eye if it got shot out. I'm a crazy mom like that, but they did keep their goggles on. (I did have all parents approval of the shooting of the air soft guns.)

 Bob, Payton, Slade, Ben, & Jackson

 For hours, the boys worked and worked on their "forts". Jackson and Slade enjoyed driving the golf carts all over.

Slade and Jackson were on one team and the other three were together. Kyle said he didn't realize that the game was 95% preparation and 5% shooting. It was so funny because they really didn't shoot that much, they just worked on their forts the entire time!!!

And we did have a slight problem during the party. Seems that the smoke bomb that Ben brought actually did have a spark. Everyone thought it only produced smoke. Yep, we started a little fire.

 The fire loved the dead grass and the little fire became a big fire that Kyle could not put out. The Woodrow Fire Department had to come put out the fire.

If the wind had been blowing that day, we would have not had a good outcome. Ben's mother was horrified. We were horrified that a fire started while we had other people's kids with us. It was a lesson that they will not soon forget. Kyle said their eyes were as big as saucers. Us Smart's like some excitement at our birthday parties, what can I say.

 Not to worry, though. We had the fire put out and continued the air soft gun party. That's how we roll. After it got too dark to shoot, we went and ate pizza at Cici's and they played Minecraft in Slade's room into the wee hours of the morning. Two of the boys didn't sleep a wink actually. They were rockstars!

And in the words of Bob, "Slade had one EPIC party!" Yes, Bob, yes he did.
(Special thanks to the Woodrow Volunteer Fire Department)