That's My Boy!!

Guess who likes chocolate?
who's this big boy and where did the time go?... sorry... it's the runny nose season again...

Take time to stop and smell the flowers!

The Greatest Show on Earth!!!

The greatest show on earth was all that I hoped it would be and more.... full of ELECTRICITY

GRANDPA loved the elephant bearing the flag at the opening... always the PATRIOT
GRANDMA ooed and awed at everything and marveled at how such an event could be pulled off!

MY all time favorite was the Elephants!!!! They were amazing and endearing (the way they held on trunk to tail... I thought that was just in cartoons) they were totally awesome

NICK loved it all! But mostly he loved being with BUDDY

TAYLOR was chosen as part of the preshow events... you go there little magic girl... the magician/ring leader asked her what her favorite color was (hinting and hoping she would choose either red or blue... like the scarf's for the magic trick.... she said "turquoise"! That's Tay Tay for ya.)

SADIE liked the clown dancers... especially the one with the TuTu and funny hair.... and most of all being with TAYLOR

WHERE'S MASON? i'm not sure why he's not pictured... oops... he was there and loved it all! ... oh I know where he was... busy trying to decide what he was going the spend his own money on... he settled for the $9 snow cone! HOLY CIRCUS SCKAMOLLI!

Being with family at the circus PRICELESS

oh ya... Andy loved each and every second of it! he clapped and danced and watched in awe!

Breakfast Magic

For the kid who doesn't like breakfast food... BREAKFAST COOKIES!bREAKfaSt CooKiE ReciPE:

1 1/4 c. all purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp salt

2 Tbsp butter

1/4 canola oil

1/4 c. brown sugar

3 Tbsp sugar

1 egg

1 mashed over ripe banana

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 c. oats

1/2 c. crushed raisin bran cereal

1/3 c. walnuts

preheat oven to 350

combine dry ingredients in medium sized bowl

in a seperate bowl combine butter, oil and sugars. Beat until light in color. Add egg, vanilla and mashed banana.

add flour, beat 30 sec.

add oatmeal, beat 30 sec.

add cereal and nuts and beat just until combined.

*over beating this mixture makes the cookies too dense and chewy*

spray cookie sheet and scoop batter into mounds.

*I made them way too big...for kids that is. Nick couldn't eat a whole one.*

dough will be sticky and not as cohesive as traditional cookie dough.

bake for 12 minutes.

eat them hot! or let cool on rack

they are a delicious and semi-healthy way to start the day.

This recipe is my version of Ellie Krieger's found here.

My cub-scout Project

My Cub-Scout is done being a CUB and has moved on to bigger and better things. I was rifling through his things, getting ready to sew on some new patches for his scout shirt when I realized... wow, there are a lot of badges and pins and belt loops and hanging things and special patches and great scouting paraphernalia here that I have no idea what to do with it. After thinking about it for a few days I realized that those things will sit in a box and waste away without ever being acknowledged. So, I decided to make something out of it. The shirt was a hand-me-down (thanks Leslie) and I decided to use it as the backdrop for the project. I should have put a step by step tutorial like I've seen on other blogs.... sorry, I wasn't thinking about it at the time. I sewed on every badge he earned, pinned on every pin and arrow. Then I cut off the sleeves and shortened the length and sewed up the bottom and the top of the shirt. It became a pillow. I didn't sew together the front buttons so that I could use it to turn the pillow inside out, therefore I made a simple pillow form to go inside the shirt pillow. I threaded all the belt loops onto the scout belt and secured it around the pillow. I really like the way it turned out.

The true test of its worth was showing the boy. He really liked it as well. He was playing with another boy who is younger than him and just started scouts. He was so excited to see all that he could do in scouts. Mission Accomplished!

Proud Mom

Mason recieved his Arrow Of Light Award last night... the Scouting world is a very worthwhile place to be! I am happy that he has accomplished this first goal...hopefully we've done our best to encourage him, and if he wants to keep being involved with scouts that it will be something he enjoys doing. I think there are so many good things about it...it is however a whole huge world of requirements and commitments. It requires much help and parental.... guiding? pushing? helping! I'm happy to help!

"Cheers" ... to you in Margarita-ville!

Today was a fun day! (to say the least) I hosted a party of 8 here in my home. & loved every minute of it. It's always exciting to plan and prepare and come up with things that are good, different, creative, pretty to look at, and yummy to eat. Hopefully that is the way it came off. I feel good about it.

The waiting is always the hardest part for me. I had everything lined up and ready to go... The guests arrived right on time and I had only a few more things to do. Here's the menu:

Margaritas! Nothing kicks off a party like a good beverage... No Tequilla only happy spirits.

Mock Margarita Punch
1 12 oz. can lemonade concentrate
1 12 oz. can limeade concentrate
1 c. sifted powder sugar
6 c. water.
mix and freeze
2 liters club soda or sprite chilled.
shave frozen mixture into large punch bowl... add sprite serve with salt rimmed glasses and a lime for garnish!

Next: Fresh Avacado with seafood salad cocktail and mango slices
slice avacado, rub in lime juice
place seafood cocktail in cavity and drizzle with lemon juice
slice mango and arrange on plates

(*cocktail sauce on the side for those who wanted it)

next: Southwest Chicken Pitas

Southwest Chicken: Marinate chicken in 3/4 c. oil and the zest and juice of 2 limes for 4 hours
seer chicken in skillet and place in crock pot for 8 hours.
during that cooking time shred chicken and add chopped red peppers *i added a little bit of bottled salsa

Assemble: Greek Pita Bread (Mom, you are my hero!!!! thanks for finding those)
chicken mixture
shredded monterey Jack cheese
*broil*
top with sauted red peppers and onions
tomatoes
lettuce
cesar dressing
~fold and eat~
the cherry tomatoes are from my garden and were a garnish.

next: and not pictured was sweet potatoe and black bean salad as a side dish.

and finally....
Chocolate Malted Tart

Tart:
8 Tbsp butter
1 1/2 c. chocolate wafer cookie crumbs
11 oz. milk chocolate, finely chopped
2/3 c. heavy cream
1/3 c. malted powder

melt 6 Tbsp. butter, add to cookie crumbs to form a crust. place crumbs in 8 inch tart pan. set in freezer about 20 min.
place chocolate in medium heatproof bowl. in a small saucepan bring cream to a simmer over med.-low heat. remove from heat and add malted milk powder, whisk until smooth. pour over chocolate and let sit 1 minute until chocolate is smooth. stir in remaining 2 Tbsp butter small piece by piece until evenly incorporated.
turn mixture into prepared tart crust and spread evenly. cover loosely and refrigerate until filling is set at least 1 1/2 hours.

whip cream for topping

and here she is the reason for the party enjoying what she called "HEAVEN"

Walmart Roses!

Nothing says love like... me, buying myself a dozen walmart roses! Well....... someone has to every once in a while!

Aren't they pretty!

Daughters!....

Sadie found this book at the BookMobile yesterday...
she made sure I saw it

perhaps she's trying to tell me something... YES I GET IT.... I'm ruining your life!

"BEAR"-LY a road trip

What is funner than a SPUR OF THE MOMENT - LABOR DAY - ROAD TRIP!! .... to where else: Bear Lake! We have had quite the Bear Summer! Now today, I'm a MOMMA BEAR... but here was the trip

Mason shared a few tunes with Andy.. he was rockin' out!
FAKE ASLEEP....

the Marina... Sadie said "let's all start being good and everyone put this on our christmas list..." I liked the START being good part....

don't fall in Mason..

Just "1" thing: ...

So, I'm racking my bRaIN trying to think of just OnE thing that I can do and do well enough to SeLL? You know like at a craft fair or in a shop or something like that. I like to do LoTs of things. But is there just ONE thing that I LoVE? I'm somewhat tired of having all these ideas float around in my small brain and doing nothing about it. Am I just getting sucked in to some crazy world thinking that I can sell what I do? There are lots of people out there who market themselves and their creative ideas. Perhaps using this blog as a way of doing so would be my best bet... only I have no idea where to begin... or with what? here's my list of possiblities:

fruit flower boquetts

checker board quilts

crochetted cupcakes

table top quilts

or any of the other things I have swirling in my mind that I could make... the possibilities are endless. So what am I waiting for? I'm not sure? I just can't seem to narrow it down to JUST ONE THING!