The cake!

Here are the making of the cake pics. Chef Lucas helped with the making of the cake and the eat of the frosting! Shocker! My child liking scratch that LOVING frosting. Say it ain't so!

When the boys got home, Eli joined in the fun. He helped with the green.

And the finished project. It's hard to read but it doesn't say Trevor sucks!

Lucas says . . .

I have another funny story of what Lucas said. Yesterday, Lucas and I were making my nephew's bday cake (Happy early Birthday Trevor!) And Lucas asked if he could lick the beater. And I said yes. So, as Lucas is leaning over the kitchen sink licking the beater-he says " I want to make sure it isn't POISONED!"

What?!?! Where does he come up with this stuff? So, Julie rest assured that Lucas is Trevor's official taste tester and the cake is safe!

Some Before and Afters . . . .

It's my Grandpa's bday next week and this is a before and after of his present. Since there are 3 sets of great grandboys, I thought that this set of frames was perfect. But a little plain.
So, I painted them. And I love how it turned out. I felt bad though because when I bought them Lucas was with me (before kindergarten). And I painted them after I took Lucas to school, when he got home and saw them he said" You painted them without us?" I felt bad, because they are usually right in the middle of all the craft projects that I do. I had bought some stamps for them to make bday cards. So, they each made my Grandpa a card.

When we went into Michael's, Lucas saw all the St Pat's Day decorating stuff and wanted to of course get some. Truthfully, I don't like decorating for holidays. They come and go so quickly. And as the boys have gotten older, they ask more and more to decorate for the holidays. Lucas was really wanting a wreath (and they were tacky!), so I came up with a craft project with this wreath. It wasn't white but I spray painted it. I just thought a brown wreath wouldn't go with the ideas that I had. And my bloggy buddy Ashley is always spray painting things white. So thx for the idea! So this is the after before pic. What?!?! I don't have a pic of the wreath before painting it-oh, your smart -never mind.

And here is the St Pat's Day wreath. Lucas helped me with putting the garland on. The plan is to then have different garland for the holidays to switch out. So, the wreath will have lots of use. And the easter stuff I got will go with the white better. But maybe I will have to get a brown one for the holidays that don't look as great with the white. I can't wait for the Easter one. Now, look who's excited.

And the last is a pic of another St Pat's day decoration. Didn't make it but its cute and simple (my kind of decoration).

Chef Lucas and his Whik!

Chef Lucas enjoys his new "Whik". I believe we were making pancakes, or eggs. Something breakfasty. He is such a great help in the kitchen.

Thank you . . . Thank you!

I am so giddy over getting this award. For those of you who don't know, my girlfriends/coworkers won a Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 contest. We got a spa day, movie tickets etc. So, I love this award. Thanks Ashley! She has become a great new blogging buddy. The rules:

1. Put the logo on your blog or post.

2. Nominate at least 10 blogs which show great Attitude and/or Gratitude!

3. Be sure to link to your nominees within your post.

4. Let them know that they have received this award by commenting on their blog.

5. Share the love and link to this post and to the person from whom you received your award.

So the nominees are . . . . drumroll please . . !

1. Julie

2. Brooke

3. Eryn

4. Violet

5. Sarah

6. Ashley

7. Lynette

8. Kat

9. Kelly

10. Laurie

So share the love and pass the award along!

I am alive!

I am alive. I have a few people ask why haven't I been blogging. But it has been a busy week and my computer HATES me.
My Dad left for Germany on Thursday. Don't freak out its a short stay, longer than my kids wanted but not 6months-1yr. So, we had dinner with him on Sat and Wed to say good-bye. He arrived safely. Yeah! And I think he is going for 6weeks, maybe 3weeks. I can't remember. He will miss Trevor's bday-BOO! But we will get over it.
The boys' school had their spring bookfair, so I worked there a few times this week. This morning when I told Lucas we were working 8-10am at the bookfair- he replied "Please, let the bookfair be over soon!" LOL! But truely he does help alot. He stamps the book, straightens the junk table (pencils/erasers/bookmarks/pens etc), puts books away and even helped with the cash register this year. On, Tuesday when we did a 4hr shift, he had reached his limit. We had a bunch of kids, and he just said, "I am tired, I am going on a break!" Too Funny!
I think I have figured out why my computer HATES me. So, hopefully, I can get back to regular posting.
Trevor's bday is next week, and I am in charge of the cake. And my sis-in-law says I have complete creative range. She said that she didn't have anything specific in mind. Also, said that I could put "Trevor sucks" on the cake, but I am pretty sure that she was just kidding about that ;).
I have some Chef Lucas pics to post. But I have to get my taxes done first. Priorities! I know!

Girls weekend!

As promised, here is the pic from my girls weekend at Tan-Tar-A. There were about 20 women and it was a blast! There was a girl I went to highschool with, that goes every year - what a small world. It is an annual thing and Jules has been wanting me to go, but since I work every weekend-I need to do some planning ahead to be able to take the weekend off. I am glad I did. I needed it. Here are some pics of the view from our house.

I meant to get some pics of the house, but forgot. Here is a pic of us out to dinner the first night. We had t-shirts that looked like softball/baseball shirts (and lots of people asked if we were a womens softball team). Most of us had names/nicknames on the back. Which helped with remembering names.

Here are the pics of some of my purchases. We did some serious shopping. Like 7hrs in one day. My feet were hurting by the end of day #1. And when I got home I slept for like 14hrs. They say sometimes you need a vacation after you had a vacation!

Okay, I bought the cookie cutters for my mom. She has been looking for them. And they had some cute kid utensils, so I bought a spoon for the boys. The whisk is for Lucas. And he loved it. It has moveable arms/legs. I will post pics of Chef Lucas whisking soon.

The boys are doing yoga this month, so I got them some extra workout clothes. The clothes on the left are Noah's, Eli's in the middle, and Lucas on the right. The older boys pants are a little too big/long. But they are wearing them for jammies. But the shirts fit great. The older boy's clothes were marked down from 19.99-24.99 down to $7.50 for the pants and $6 for the shirts. Lucas's weren't as good of a sale. But were $9.99 each.

The croc outlet had ALOT of business. Lucas's (the red ones) were $4.99. Great deal, I know! The older boys were $9.99.

I found a great christmas present for the BFFs. And since they check the blog, I can't post any pics. So, you will have to wait till chrismas.

Noah needed a new watch. Fossil had ton of watches marked down. Mine (the one on the left-if you couldn't tell) was marked $29.99 down from $65. And since I bought 2 they were buy 1 get 1 50%off. So, Noah's watch-which was originally $29.99 was only $5. Sweet!

Bath and Body works is coming out with a new look for spring, and all their old bottles were 75% off. So, I paid less than $3 each for the lotion/shower gels. And the spray (which is the new look) was free for purchasing more than $10 worth.

There was a uniform outlet, so I picked up some new scrubs.

I needed some more long sleeve t-shirts(there is a pink one too, but it was already in the washing machine-so just imagine it) to wear under my scrubs and Eddie Bauer had theirs on sale for $7.99. I also picked up some new jeans and workout pants.

But the buy of the day was from the Coach outlet. The had clearance purses that were marked down an additional 50%. That's right, I said an additional 50%. And believe you me, LOADS of women were taking advantage of that. And they had a HUGE selection. There were women standing in line with 5-10 purses. . . . . .What you want to see the pic of mine?!?!










TA-DA! It is SO me. I love it.

And it was originally $379, but I like to say $400. Really what's $21 more. $400 rolls of the tongue better. But you see how it was then marked down to $329.99. And then $209.99. But I didn't pay, $209.99, that was the clearance price. Which is still not a bad price for a COACH purse. But more than I could spend. That's were the additional 50% off comes in. That's right it was $104.99. . . . . I KNOW! I snatched that baby up and wouldn't put it down. I checked with the sales girl, to make sure I was understanding the sale signs. And then I bought it.

I had such a good time, and hope to make it an annual thing.

Valentne's Day Belated!

I had tried to post this Vday stuff before I left for my girls weekend (those pics to come later), but that was a NO GO! So, Happy belated Vday! Here is how the boys and I spent our Vday, (which we celebrated on the 12th).
Eli was my 1st step of the dessert helper. The boys wanted baked Alaskans. Which I hadn't made since home ec in highschool. But it was any easy recipe to remember.

Here are our ingredients. We had caramel cone sundae for our ice cream and the hostess individual sponge cakes are awesome!

Eli put a little caramel sauce in each cake for a little added something. There are lots of variations to this. And anyone who knows me, knows that I improvise a lot when I cook. I see a recipe and use as a guide, but put my own spin on it.

Most of the recipes that I found, called for putting the baked alaskans back in the freezer for 1-2hours before covering them with meringue. So, we did this up right after the boys got home from school.

The boys wanted to each be able to pick out their favorite food and have that for dinner. So, for Noah alfredo noodles, Eli mashed potatos, and Lucas mac and cheese. I see a carb theme. . . . hmmm. So, I thought chicken would go with each of those and cooked up a veggie to round it out.

The boys LOVE biscuits, so I made some heart shaped ones. They turned out well, but I tried using the scraps to make more hearts. And they didn't hold their shape as well. So, when I do this again, I will either make my own dough or leave the scraps with the heart shapes cut out as is.

Here is how they baked up.

And they boys dinner.

Lucas was step 2 dessert helper. I whipped the meringue up during dinner. And quickly stuck them in the oven for about 6-8min.

Ta-da! Is your mouth watering?!?!

Sorry there were NO leftovers!

For the boys Vday presents, I got them the musical cards, lunchables, and candy watches. I snuck the cards in their lunchboxes for a surprise. Lucas (who eats lunch at home) LOVED his card. Since I was leaving after Lucas went to school, I popped in on the boys before going out of town. Eli was saving his card for his Vday party (which I missed :( ). And Noah was heading to recess and hadn't had lunch yet.

Back to breakfast. Lucas helped me make pancakes. They were vanilla sugar.

And I attempted to make them heart shaped. But the batter was thin, but this is one of the better ones.

Noah quickly put together his present for his teacher.

He put a little note inside for her.

The helped me make Vday presents for my parents, grandparents, my sibs.

I cut out a variety of hearts out of construction paper.

And we made these fish shaped cards to go with the gifts.

And wrapped up some candy for each family. My sis-in-law Jen, tried to hide the candy from my nephews. But when Scott called to tell me thank you (really I think he just want to talk with Eli), I asked him if he was eating some of the candy. And he said ,"What candy? It was just a card." So, Jen tried to say the mailman took the candy, but I was onto her by then. So, she had to share with everyone! Nice try though Jen. Hope everyone had a great Vday! I had a blast on my girls weekend. Like I said there will be pic from that to come.

My brother Andrew

My story today is about my oldest brother, Andrew (the one in the middle). Since tomorrow is his birthday (yes, our bdays are 1 week apart), this if for him. I am not sure what Fred is doing in this pic, but he was always a goof growing up. And where am I looking at anyway. . . . . Sorry, I got side tracked. Anyway, it was either 1986 or 1987 when Andrew had one of his worst birthdays ever. I am not sure what started it, but Andrew had done something bad and was in trouble the week of his birthday. So, brillant that he is, he decides to make my parents bed to help make up for it. Now, you should know something about my parents. They collect things. LOTS of things, LOTS of EXPENSIVE things, LOTS of EXPENSIVE UN REPLACEABLE things. And they display them everywhere (reasonable I know). Now Andrew knows they collect things and his vision is just fine. But nearly being a teenager was maybe affecting his thinking abilities. Because he whips off my parents comforter and tosses it behind him. And you guessed it, breaks my Dad's porcelain clown collect. Never fear, they were able to repair the damage. But on my brother's birthday, I was home sick from school. And this was when we were living in Germany in non-government housing. And we had to the entrance of the neighborhood to catch the bus to school. And it was VERY cold and snowing that day. We were supposed to wait for the bus for like 30min after its scheduled time in bad weather because DUH buses aren't always on time in the bad weather. Well, since I wasn't with my brothers at the bus stop, my brillant brothers decide it's cold and snowing and they are NOT waiting 30min for the bus. So, they come home. And I guess I should tell you that I told on my brothers for everything that they did wrong. And they KNEW that when they came home that I would know they didn't wait long enough and I WOULD tell. My brothers are very smart, I promise. Back to the story. When they got home, I informed them that they would tell on them. But they bit the bullet, because they had to call mom (who teaches at the school that we went to) to tell her that they missed the bus. And she knew that they hadn't waited long enough. So, at this point you would think since they are already in trouble, that they would be on their best behavior. NO, not my brothers. Karate kid was HUGE back then, so they decided to practice their moves. In the HOUSE! And in Germany, a lot of the house have a front door into a small entryway and an inner door into the house. And a lot of the doors are GLASS! EXPENSIVE glass. And my brother Andrew kicked my brother Fred through the inner beveled glass door. I don't think I will EVER forget that moment. I was watching my STUPID brothers from the living room. Memorizing every detail to retell the story to my mom later, and I was stunned when Fred went through the door. And I should let you know that at the top of the door the glass had broken into a V-shaped shard and we are lucky that Fred wasn't seriously hurt by the whole thing. And for whatever reason, I felt compelled to say "I am telling Mom!" Duh! Like she wouldn't notice. After that my brothers were low key for the rest of that day. We talk about that week and laugh now. But my parents were NOT laughing when they got home. And despite the fact that I turned my brothers in at the drop of a hat, we are close and there isn't a thing I wouldn't do for them. Or they for me. Happy Birthday Andrew!

You know your old . . . .

I know that I had a birthday last week, but I really didn't feel older. Just like any other day, except the pampering/boys spoiling me part. But this weekend, the boys and I were having a date day (date night is watching a movie at home together but a date day is doing stuff together all day/afternoon). I had found (well my mom found) some movie passes, so we went to the movies and did some window shopping while we waited for the movie to start. We saw that Stride Rite had a sale and Eli desperately needed new shoes. I had never been in and didn't know what size they carried. So, I had them measure the boys feet. Eli is a 6-6 1/2, Lucas is 13-13 1/2, and Noah is a 7-7 1/2. I know, Are you kidding me?!?! His feet are as big as mine! He has gone through 2 pairs of school this year, mostly because they are too small to wear. Let's be honest, I have three boys, three active boys, shoes don't stand a chance. They are rough on them, but it is to be expected. So, obviously Stride Rite was not the store for Noah/Eli, but was able to snag a $50/pair of shoes for Lucas for $20. I know, great deal. Lucas's feet don't really seem to grow, but he does wear them out pretty good. Has his fav pair and doesn't really wear anything else. So, I had to take the older boys to Famous Footwear for new shoes. And seriously $50-70/pair. I can't believe how expensive men's shoes are. I know, such a girl thing to say. I don't think that is too unreasonable for women's shoes, but I shop the sales and clearance. Finding shoes for Noah was very difficult, but was finally able to find a pair of Sketchers for $29.99. And I was able to find some 6-6 1/2 for Eli, but alot of them were over $40. These are shoes they might be wearing for 6months. Notice the stress on might. I think I need a second job or put a second mortage on the house. The boys are growing so fast. And that makes me realize how old I am. Where is my magic wand, so I can freeze time?!?!

Open House

Here are some pics from the Open House. Noah did a powerpoint about Kansas. He and Abbie researched and came up with a presentation. For those of you who have Noah's blog address check it out for the whole presentation. Each pairs presentation is different since they got to pick which facts to use.
Eli had several projects to share. But here is a pic with just one. If you have Eli's blog address, check it out.

Lucas shared his writing journal. He was a little more interested in playing with his friends then in having his pic taken.