sprinkles and bounce.

It's been a busy day! With Jeff home, we find ourselves out and about to find the days muse. On top of all of that, Ben was given a specific job to do.

He was put in charge of the refreshments for tonight's Family Home Evening.

This was his pride and joy.

He chose carefully at the store yesterday. And his final pick was something sweet.

Ben is a natural:

We both had fun decorating. Our final result left us with satisfied smiles. (and plenty of dishes.)
Another exciting event for today:

the satisfaction of ending the day with a little:

It's arrival in the mail caused much anticipation.
When Jeff arrived home from work on Saturday, the construction begun.
By the time the boys and I got home from our trip, we were bouncing... and we have yet to stop!
It is the:
A hard 5 minutes will leave you breathless.

We love it. Birthday presents are the best!

favorite 6.

from last week. (in no particular order.)

My new miniature:

that just adds enough pizazz to my kitchen window to cheer me up when I am up to my armpits in suds. Between the waifing scent, and the sunshiny yellow-- you can't help but sing.

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During our stamp-capades the other day, our snack turned into a:

Talk about trash into treasure. I think I want to make a whole set of cards. They have a vintage quality that I adore in that cherry red.

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You know fall is hanging around somewhere if I start making:

Too pretty to eat.
Vintage ribbon helps out with the charming-ness.
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I realized yesterday that I don't get nearly enough of this anymore:

A trip to the park with friends proved to be the perfect dreaming spot. We were right at home under an old oak tree.
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Ever since my trip out to east Texas, I can't get my mind of of these:

I am seriously thinking of making myself one.
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And, my new best friend in a pinch:

Who knew that delicious and chewy cookies were as easy as 1-2-3. Not I!
I could get myself into so much trouble with these.

mum's the word.

This weekend, I drove over to East Texas to spend some time with my friends, the Stephensons.
It always blows me away by how big those girls keep getting! When I was their nanny (8 years ago) they were so tiny!
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Brenna was so proud of her Homecoming Mum.

I am new to they Texas culture and first learned about Homecoming Mum's a few days previous on my friend Glenda's blog.

What a tradition!

I wanted one instantly. (don't you?)

Brenna's blossom was the size of a dinner plate, and her ribbons cascaded to the floor! What a lucky girl she is. I never knew what I was missing!
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Soon, we headed out to another Texas tradition:
Caitlin and I grabbed the seats with the kids and decided to take a self portrait. This was harder than expected with those harsh lights shining down on us.
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This was:
and, it is wrong on so many levels.

1. I am nothing but a floating head.
2. Caitlin has a shadow pirate beard.
3. Ben has spooky eyes.
4. Josh's eyes are glued to the field.

But, it was the best we got-- so that's what you are getting.

Kenna, of course, had a few tricks up her sleeve. The first one of them being gold pom poms for the boys.

Josh:

His arm was in the air:Well, except for when he was eating the:
(which was more like a bucket of snow cone if you ask me.)
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Ben also liked the pom pom, but found it more fun to rub it in my face most of the evening.
Later, Kenna showed her press pass (she has her own segment on the news called Dr. Mom) and got us into the press box.
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I warned the boys to be quiet as mice.
We got to see the scoreboard controller, and even got to peek into the guys broadcasting play by play on the radio. Josh thought this was enthralling.
Josh has such a friendly face and outgoing personality. The sportscasters took right to him and even had him talk a little bit on the radio!

He was right at home up there.
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Of course, I had to meet Preston: (since I had heard so much about him!)

I'm serious when I say that I am making Jeff buy me a mum next year! (I am still jealous.)
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Caitlin and I took the boys back to the hotel and got them settled. We stayed up until the wee hours talking so it was an early morning for all of us.
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Ben did manage to find a little time to spend with:

And, Josh all spooked us We had a great time and can't wait to do it again soon! Thanks Stephenson family!

on the ball.

Oh, my little chefs!

They keep me on the ball!

Today we crafted our own homemade ice cream sandwiches.

We even made ice cream from scratch. It was a ball!

No really, an ice cream ball!

In 30 minutes of shaking and rolling, we had creamy vanilla ice cream.

We rolled out soft "cake box" cookies and baked them to perfection.

After a few songs about ice cream, our treat was complete!

They were divine, much better than those you buy in a box.
And more fun to eat too-- like licking soft drips of ice cream from your arm.

Our sweet tooth is satisfied (for today.)

Shake it up! Ice Cream
1 quart of Cream or Half & Half
1 tablespoon vanilla
3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons sugar

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*In all recipes, using cream makes a richer creamier ice cream. Using Half & Half or part milk and Half & Half makes a lighter ice cream, but takes longer to freeze.
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This is the recipe I use for my ice cream ball. It can be modified for use with the plastic bag or
#10 can ice cream method. Along with the ice cream ball, I have used both methods—and when used properly, both work really well.

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Plastic bag method: Take one large (heavy duty) ziploc freezer bag, and 2 smaller Ziploc bags. Put the ingredients inside the smaller bag. Seal it up and place the smaller bag inside the other small bag (to make sure you keep the salty ice solution out of your ice cream) . Place this bag into the larger bag. Surround the smaller bag with ice and rock salt. Seal well and shake and roll the bags around making sure that you drain the melted water and replace with more ice and salt to keep things chilled properly. Ice cream should form in about 30 minutes.
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#10 can method: Gather a #10 can (with a lid), and also a smaller can that fits inside and has a lid. Place your ice cream ingredients inside the smaller can. Seal (using packing tape around the edges if necessary). Place the smaller can inside the larger can. Pack the empty space with ice and rock salt. Roll and shake the can making sure you drain the water and add more ice and rock salt to keep things chilled properly. Ice cream should form in about 3o minutes.
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Soft cake box cookies
1 package of cake mix
1/3 C oil
2 eggs
Heat oven to 375. Stir together cake mix, oil and eggs with a spoon until well blended. Drop by tablespoonfuls about 3 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheets to make 22 cookies.
Bake for 7 to 9 minutes or until puffed and almost no indentation remains when touched. Cool 1 minute, remove onto a wire rack and cool completely.
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Put it all together now!
To assemble your ice cream sandwiches, place half of the cookies bottom side up and top with a scoop of ice cream. Cover with remaining cookies, bottom side down. Gently press cookies together to flatten ice cream. Roll the edges of each sandwich in sprinkles and tightly wrap in plastic wrap. Freeze at least 2 hours. Enjoy!

the big man on campus.

It's been award central in our house the last few days.Josh was granted "Student of the week" last Friday to every ones great surprise!

I received a phone call from his teacher the previous Thursday to congratulate me and let me know of the upcoming assembly in which Josh would receive his award.

She was enamored with him.

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I was so proud when she said that he is very considerate of others and will tell her if he sees someone needs help.

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Was he really listening all these years!? Thank you for listening Josh. Really. My motherly heart is just beaming with pride.

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Yesterday, I found a special surprise in Josh's take home folder. It was an extra large sheet of paper folded into fourths. On the inside, I found his name written inside a large red circle. Surrounding the circle were little circles with quotes from his classmates about his recent Student of the week award. As I was reading them I couldn't help but feel so much gratitude for this little man. I am just so proud.

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JOSH

• Josh always makes good choices and is nice on the playground.
• He is a loyal friend.
• Josh is polite.
• He is always respectful to others.
• Josh is happy and content.
• Josh is very optimistic.
• Josh is very smart, he always has the right answers.
• We are excited he got picked!
  

in the dollar spot.

I always check it. (even before I hit the shoe isle.)

If you know Target, you know dollar spot.

Is it your favorite too?

Today I found a:

A kitchy alphabet stamp collection.

Perfect for little hands.

Perfect for learning minds.

Perfect for us.

I snagged it, and let it entertain my:

All we had to do was add:
-and-
and before we knew it, the afternoon was coming to a close.
Dinner was around the corner.
The school bell was ringing.
- it was time to clean up.

What a worthy cause, that little dollar for benny's stamps.

it's all greek to me.

Today, my baby (the other one!) turned 5.

I think my life just flashed before my eyes.

...

Besides going out to lunch at Burger King (per request of the birthday boy.)

We had our favorite dinner:

I don't know how I have gone 3 long years of blogging without posting this gem of a recipe. It is our favorite.

Greek Chicken Salad and Pita Bread

1 pound of chicken tenders
S&P
8 pita breads
The zest and juice of one lemon
3 T of red wine vinegar
1/2 C olive oil
2 T oregano
3 cloves of garlic
2 hearts of romaine, chopped
1/2 C pitted and chopped Kalamata olives
8 ounces feta, crumbled
2 tomatoes, chopped
1/3 cucumber, diced
1/2 red onion, chopped
1/2 flat leaf parsley, chopped

Season chicken with salt and pepper, set aside.

Combine lemon zest with vinegar in a bowl and whisk in oil. Add oregano, garlic, and whisk again to combine well. Pour half the dressing over the chicken and turn them to coat.

Combine veggies in a mixing bowl and toss with the remaining dressing until lightly coated. Season with salt and pepper.

Pan fry tenders until they are cooked through. Chop and place in a bowl.

Cut the pita bread into halves.

To assemble, take half a pita bread, open and fill with the salad mixture. Top with the chicken and enjoy!

it all started at 8 am.

And boy, oh boy-- am I glad I woke up extra early and got to the park to claim the pavilion. Not 30 minutes after we arrived, a group of karate kids came by and wanted our spot for their lesson. I guess I wasn't so crazy for getting there at 8 o' clock after all!

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We spent a good part of the morning blowing up balloons, taping up streamers, and:

Each place setting had it's own:
And, I found an awesome use for some of:

(It pays to be a pilots wife.)
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At 9:30, right on the dot-- our:

By 10:00, everyone was already asking for lunch!
I sent Jeff to the pizza shop to pick up our pizzas while we indulged in a little:
And chaos it was!

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I think a true point of inspiration was bringing along these glasses I found at the 99 cent store. They were truly a hit:

I had them lining up, everyone:Soon, after what seemed like forever, Jeff arrived back to the park with our pizza.
The pizza came in a close second to the glasses. Everyone was starved.
I just have to take a minute here and give my friend Laura a special THANK YOU for helping me man the troops while Jeff took off for lunch. I could not have done it without her. Keeping track of 12 little bodies in a large park is quite the job.---

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Laura was the brains behind the whole pizza box wind blocker. This helped so much when Jeff was lighting candles.
Soon, we got them all lit and we sang to the birthday boys!

The cake was worth the work and the wait. It was scrumptious.
Chocolate AND vanilla to please all palates.

I am so glad I only have to throw one dual party a year! Whew!
Only 364 more days until our next one!