My Oldest turned 14!

My Oldest son had his birthday back in November. I am so behind on posting to my blog...Ughh! He decided to have it at the local YMCA. They spent the 1st hour swimming...this was his first swimming party, since his birthday is in the fall, so he was happy. Then they had cake and presents.

14 candles!

My Oldest and his friends.

HHe even invited a girl!

The set-up.

His youngest cousin and Uncle.

Some of his presents.

Happy 14th birthday baby!

Grandma and her Tiger Cub Grandsons!

My husband and I are the Den leaders of my Youngest son's Cub Scout Tiger Den. It's fun being a leader and you get to plan some great activities...

They made snowmen...

Basic ingredients: 3 HUGE marshmallows, wood skewers, pretzel sticks and frosting.
My nephew is also in our Tiger den.

This a picture of my Mom, my nephew (on the left) and my Youngest (on the right).

They made Santa hats from donated hats (thanks Terry) and peel-and-stick Christmas foam pieces. They had a hoot!

My 1st Earthquake!

Experienced my 1st earthquake on Saturday night! It was a new and very weird feeling, let me tell you! First off...it wasn't the 1st earthquake reported on Saturday. That was a 4.7 quake early Saturday morning with the epicenter located about 50 miles NE of here. I didn't feel it. We have actually been having a lot of earthquakes lately...baby ones, minor temblors, non of them felt by me.

Of course I then tempted God by saying..."I've never felt an earthquake, I would like to feel one once in my life..." And voile! A 5.7 earthquake hits Saturday night about 50 miles NE of here...silly me! A 5.7 is actually the strongest earthquake recorded in this state so it's something everyone is talking about.

Then today it's an outbreak of tornadoes! Go figure! There's a saying around here: "If you don't like the weather in Oklahoma, wait 5 minutes and it will change!"

Sour Cream & Onion Burgers

I have a new favorite burger recipe! Tried it tonight and it was DELICIOUS!!!

Sour Cream & Onion Burgers

2 lb. hamburger
1 pkg. onion soup mix
1 c. sour cream
1/2 c. italian bread crumbs
provolone cheese
oil
buns
lettuce
toppings
I mixed the 1st 4 ingredients and fried them in a little oil until done. The recipe calls for them to be grilled and I bet that would be awesome. This made 6 large patties for my family and they don't shrink all that much. I topped them with the sliced provolone and melted it before making the burgers.

I buttered and toasted the buns (we used a large italian kaiser bun) under the broiler.

I topped them several different ways, my son had ketchup, my husband had mayo and mustard and I had miracle whip and barbecue sauce. Some lettuce and they were good.

Other toppings that sound good would be onion rings, onion strings, french fried onions...just a few ideas for future burgers! Try it, you'll LOVE this burger!

Very LATE pictures my Youngest's B-day Party

My Youngest's 7th birthday was a month ago and I didn't even realize that the pictures were still on the camera! (Bad Mom!!!) He decided he wanted to go skating at the local rink and so that's what we did! We invited a few friends and family and even some GIRLS! and had a great time!

BATMAN!!!

The Skaters! Don't know that any of the younger kids made it around the rink!?!

Being sung to by the bystanders at the rink!

Let's eat that cake and ice-cream!

I ate a smurf! They are so darn yummy!

The money machine: he came home with $5, which he later spent on legos!

It was a fun party and the skating rink makes it so easy on the parents! Didn't realize that I didn't take any pictures of the presents: almost all Legos except for the guitar we bought him and clothes from Grandma!

Happy 7th Birthday Baby!

Fun Filled week full of torture and mayhem!

I've had a fun week, filled with torture and mayhem! I've been Subbing and I've been experimenting...not sure which one was torture and which one was mayhem though!

Monday and Thursday found me Subbing, 2-half days in Pre-K and a 1/2 day in 3rd grade. Wild little monkeys, they were! I think this was more along the mayhem line. Don't you?

Torture had to be Wednesday and Friday at the YMCA...experimenting! Took a "Body Sculpting" class on Wednesday, between the squats, the weights, the little rubber band they tie your legs up with...torture! I came out of the experience tired, sore (still today, 2 days later), but proud of myself for completing the entire 55 minutes. Today wasn't as torturous...took orientation for all of the equipment in the fitness room. Spent an hour going over and practicing all of the muscle working equipment (not difficult, and maybe a little fun), and then spent 1/2 an hour on the treadmill walking. I was sweating when I got done, also not all that bad since I could watch the History Channel while I walked. :-)

Going to spend some more time at the Y tomorrow. My husband has his orientation scheduled, my Oldest wants to run the track, my Youngest gets to go to the Fit'N'Fun class and play and then we'll all take a dip in the pool, which for us is exciting! We're also going hiking this weekend (even if it is raining!) so we can check out the park I want to take my Tigers to in a couple of weeks. Sounds like a plan!

1st Tiger Den Meeting!

We had our 1st Tiger Den Meeting last night! My Youngest has been ready for this since he was a baby, so now it's his turn to be a Scout! I think I'm crazy...don't know what made me want to be Den Leader again! Maybe it's the smiles, or watching the boys play, or knowing they're learning something and becoming responsible and courteous and all around wonderful young men! Maybe I'm just crazy?!? At least I have my Hubby! I get to order him around at least!

This is such a busy week! Baseball practice and baseball game, Pack Scouts and Troop scouts, Troop Leader's meeting and Pack Leader's meeting...OH MY!

I love Scouts though! It was a wonderful place for me to grow up and it's been a wonderful place for my Oldest to grow up and it will be a wonderful place for my Youngest to grow up and we're all dragging Dad along for the ride! He gets to have as much fun as we do, so here is to another happy year in scouts!

This weeks menu!

I had a productive day! This is going to be a busy week, my Husband or I or Both of us have something every night this week and I've started scheduling Substitute jobs for the days, so I needed to prep my food for the week.

The menu:
Monday---Hamburger Nachos w/Salad
Tuesday---Clam Linguine w/Bacon & Peas, Biscuits
Wednesday---Chicken Potpie
Thursday---Mongolian Beef w/Snap Peas & Carrots, Rice
Friday---Honey-lime Grilled Chicken w/Rice & Stir-Fry Veggies

I've had my menu planned since last week when I went grocery shopping on Friday, but I took the afternoon and got this week all ready to go.

The hamburger/bean combo is cooked and ready for my nachos, and the lettuce is chopped and washed. Bacon is cooked and crumbled for the Linguine and I even reserved the bacon grease for cooking the onions. Chicken is diced and cooked, ready for the pot-pie, and the honey-lime chicken is de-thawing in the fridge (I'll add the marinade on Thursday). I was going to slice the mongolian beef and marinade it in the fridge, but that is the one thing I did not get done.

In addition to all of this I made a roast with potato and carrots for supper tonight...Yummy! I'm ready to go for the week, so...BRING IT ON!

YMCA!

My weight loss isn't going so well at the moment...I've plateaued...Bummer! At the end of May, this last spring, I had lost 40 lbs. in 9 months and was happy, although I had already slowed down on the lbs. lost by that time. I didn't exercise at all this summer (my excuse was that the boys were home and I couldn't leave them alone and couldn't take them with me and it was toooooooooo hottttt!), so I gained back 15 lbs over the summer. I'm very disappointed with myself, so I asked myself what would help me get back in the groove and my answer was...the YMCA!

I'm looking forward to the machines, classes, swimming, weight lifting, etc. that I did not have before. It's new and different and I'm sooooo excited about the new venue! We joined as family and the boys are looking forward to year around swimming, my Oldest will be able to start lifting weights for baseball, and my husband won't have an excuse not to be active too! This is great!

Stay tuned for (hopefully) many more goals reached!

DIY Pizza Lunchables

I found a recipe for a Do It Yourself Pizza Lunchable at this site:

Mommy's Kitchen: DIY Pizza Lunchables {Another Back to School Lunch Box Idea}

I haven't tried it yet, but I'm going to since my boys love lunchables, and they look mega easy to make. This is a great site to surf through...she has a lot of fabulous recipes...and I've tried a lot of them.

A New Book Series

My boys love being read to in the evenings and I love sharing different books with them. Some books are old friends of mine and some books are new and exciting that we can discover together. New and exciting is where we discovered are newest series: The 39 Clues.

This is a series of books, each written by a different author, but all covering the exciting adventures of 14-yr old Amy Cahill and her 11-yr old brother Dan. Orphaned at a young age and recently losing their beloved Grandmother, they attend her will reading and are handed a choice: they could accept 1 million dollars each or gamble that money and search for the 39 clues. The 39 clues that lead to the greatest Cahill treasure of all time and might bring them ultimate power, or cost them everything.

They are competing with other Cahill cousins, since only 1 team can win, but during this journey they will not only learn to depend on each other, they will also learn about the Cahill family...they will find famous cousins from the past (like Benjamin Franklin) and secrets (like what really happened to their parents) along the way. It's going to be an exciting trip.

We've finished the first 2 books: The Maze of Bones by Rick Riorden and One False Note by Gordon Korman. Our current book is The Sword Thief by Peter Lerangis and I can't read it fast enough for the boys. They get a chapter a night and once that chapter is done they always beg for another! I love reading to them and they love being read to...even my 13 yr old! If you don't already do this with your children you should try it! You will love it as much as I do!

1st Day of School

The boys have started another exciting year of school! I have a 1st Grader and an 8th Grader...it's hard to believe that they are growing up so quickly!

They are soooo excited to get back to school and back to their friends.
1st Grade: Reading, Language, Math, PE/Music, Science/Social Studies, Computers, & Writing

An emphasis is placed on reading with some spelling and beginning grammar thrown in, math and writing. It's going to be a fun year with a brand new 1st year teacher!

8th Grade: Biology, Band, Home-Ec (unless it's changed to Debate), 8th Grade Science, Plane Geometry, Language Arts and Social Studies (US History to the Civil War)

Biology and Geometry are both High school level classes, he tested into Geometry and Biology is a class his school offers to 8th graders during 0 hour, which means he has to be there an hour before school starts to take the class and he still has to take the science for his grade level.

So cheers everyone! Have a Happy New School Year!

'Twas the night before school started...

'Twas the night before school started, when all through the town,
The parents were cheering. It was a riotous sound!
By 8, kids were washed and tucked into bed!
Where memories of homework filled them with dread!
New pencils, new folders, new notebooks, too!
...New teachers, new friends...their anxiety grew!
The parents just giggled when they heard of this fright!
And shouted upstairs: Go to Bed, it's a School Night!

I don't know who wrote this, but it was posted on my facebook this morning! This is a toast to all the parents out there sending their little ones off to school for another year! :-)

Pandamania! VBS

Our church had their VBS the last week of July, my son and his cousins had a great time and I enjoyed the quiet time at home. With the temperatures hovering at 105F the boys hadn't been out much this summer so they were all happy to get out of the house and play with friends...and learn about God!

Cousin J, Cousin J and my Youngest at Pandamania!

The decorations were great!

The sanctuary!

The church put on a great VBS. They had 40-50 kids everyday and the Adults & Older Volunteers did an excellent job. My son had soooooo much fun, we will definitely do it again next year.

My New Roof

Back in June, we had a huge hailstorm...the last in a long line of them over the past year and a half. This one finally did enough damage that a new roof was required. So I broke down and made arrangements for a new one to be installed. It was finished on Sunday.

Before

Before...close up.

After

After...close up.

It's beautiful isn't it! It's darker than the original and so the house doesn't look so worn out. I'm very happy with the new roof and our contractor was a very nice man. Thanks Ben!

July Records Broken

Oklahoma is in the middle of a record breaking heat wave. And man is it hot! Here are some of the statistics for July 2011:

89.2F, the Hottest Average Temp for July on record (avg. months highs and lows)

102.5F, the Hottest Average Max Temp for July on record

27 days in July with temperatures over 100F, the most ever for a single month

Every day in June and July has reached a temp 90F+, the first time ever

38 days of 100F+ temps (Beats the old record by 9 days)

71 days with temps of 90F+ temps (Beats the old record by 11 days)

August is our hottest month and this week is set to prove it, we're scheduled to have 106F-110F weather all week. The hottest summer on record posted 50 days where temperatures reached 100F+, we are on the path to blow that record out of the books by next week.

I'm praying for rain and cooler temperatures, will you please join me? Thank you!

My 1st 3-D Movie!

I went and saw my 1st 3-D movie this weekend: Transformers 3! I won 2 tickets to the theatre at my last Bunco night and so my husband and I decided to take the boys to a movie. We only go to the movies about twice a year so this is always a treat! We had to go all out so we bought 2 Fred & Ginger popcorn/drink packages and settled ourselves in the cold theatre on a day that reached 108 degrees F.
2 Hours and 45 minutes later the family walked out of the theatre. I liked 3-D (wasn't sure I would), but I'm pretty sure I don't want to watch movies that way all the time. I hope seeing it in 3D doesn't ruin it for us when we buy it in 2D.

It was a good movie, and the action sequences in space and in air is perfect for 3D. I still prefer the 1st Transformers movie, but I liked this one more than the 2nd. I preferred the original love interest over the one in this movie, but she's still a good actress though. My teenager ate 2 containers of popcorn (BY HIMSELF) and we had an enjoyable afternoon. We really need to do stuff as a family more often :-)

Baseball 2011

Baseball season 2011 is done...just in time for the 100+ degree weather! Both boys played ball this year, my Oldest played on a competitive team, trying to get him ready to try out for the High school team next spring. My Youngest played his 2nd year of T-ball, and his Dad was the Coach. He was a much better player this year and their team went pretty far in the end of season tournament. Congratulations Cobras!

My Oldest. He isn't a little boy anymore! :-(

T-ballers are the cutest!

The Coach isn't bad either! :-)

After the tournament comes the end of season party. I've seen the cutest cakes and cupcakes on different blog sites, so I thought I should try to make the cake for the party. It actually turned out Not Bad!

The cake display.

Baseball cupcakes.

Cobras!

Trophies!

The last team cheer!

We had the party at the local park where they have a free splash pad. The boys could stay cool, have cake and get their trophies with little problem. Glad it's over for this year...I will be ready for the new season come next March!