Jackpot

I felt like I hit the jackpot a couple weeks ago when I went to the Goodwill and found this at the end of the aisle! I asked the lady stocking a shelf if it worked and she didn't know - for $10 I didn't care! We finally filled it with gumballs last night and I was so excited to see it DID work and you don't even have to put money in it. (I pictured myself digging for coins so the kids could get gum, but all you have to do is turn it.)

Bonus!!

For the Birds

Made using this recipe - it was easy and stuck together really well. For some reason, I have fond memories of making a similar birdseed hanger in Sunday School (thanks to Vel Hodges!) and it included peanut butter. SO I decided to add peanut butter to one of them as a test and I don't recommend it. It totally fell apart. But I threw it on the sidewalk and the birds did chow down Sunday afternoon. I hope it made their day :)

Kaleidoscope

Saturday morning we went to Kaleidoscope at Crown Center. And Brady said, "I knew it was going to be fun, but it was really fun!" Did I mention it is also FREE?!

Somersault Olympics

Brett's Room

Thought I would post a tour of Brett's room since I recently finished painting it.

He's been in a big boy bed for almost 2 years, but it's been evolving a little bit. He got a"real" comforter and plaid flannel sheets this fall, which led me to thinking I needed to get rid of the yellow walls - recently painting them "golden crust."



I also took down the beloved cow painting that has hung on the wall since before Brady was born (the whole reason I decided to have a farmyard nursery theme) and put up the flag window I painted last summer. I'm confident the cow will find his way back onto a wall some day :) - I do love him.



The other parts of the room are pretty much the same -

I swapped out the plaid ribbon holding the letters and used white fabric with little red stars. I love the stuff on his dresser. Green picture frame holds the first picture of Brady holding him (little white piece of paper leaning against this frame is a birthday card Brady made for Brett last year), the picture in the brown frame is me holding him in the pool at Table Rock when we went with my brother's family 2 summers ago (when Brett had white curly hair) and the white frame is the picture I used for his birth announcements. His birthday crown from last year is sitting on top of his 1st birthday hat.



This is something I started with Brady and am trying to do for Brett - a photo wall, showing a picture from each year.



And last, but not least, a glimpse into his closet, just because it is clean :) I got rid of A BUNCH of ancient clothes - which allowed space to put a bookcase and organize some toys.

2010 Valentines

We made jigglers for classroom treats -

Made some candycane cookies (photo courtesy of Danielle Thompson - mine were actually quite pretty too, but I forgot my camera cord at work - will update photo when I get it :) These are actually a new Valentine tradition - in addition to being super easy, the peppermint and chocolate was an addictive combination! Bonus buy - I scored a big box of little candycanes for $1.48 at the Allegre drugstore in January :)

And we made these for teachers and classroom Valentines -

Chinese Calendar

2010 is the year of the Tiger on the Chinese Zodiac Calendar and the boys have been learning about it at school, which led to Brady asking what each of us were. I knew I was a snake (from the House of Ma menu in Emporia!), but wasn't sure about everyone else. SinceI looked it up for Brady, thought I would share (really I just wanted you to see Ed kissing a fish :). And no, I don't think these descriptions fit us very well!

He's a dragon - popular, full of life, fun-loving. Best career options are priest, artist or politician.



I'm a snake - romantic, deep thinking, wise/charming, dismiss others too easily and are stingy with $$. Best career options are teaching and psychiatry.



Brady is a monkey - intelligent, well-liked, successful in every field.

Brett is a dog - honest, faithful, worries too much and finds fault in others too quickly. Best career options are secret agent or business man.

Redneck Saturday Night

Ed got us tickets to "Monster Jam" last Saturday! The days leading up to the event were fun because we decided to surprise the boys, but gave them "hints" to where we were going. Brady ate this up. Ed printed off monster truck coloring pages and got them Matchbox Monster trucks (I didn't even know they made these). One of the trucks Brady got was "Gravedigger" who just happened to be at the event!

And they had 3 rounds of two 4-wheeler teams racing - they interviewed the "winning captain" after each round and it was quite entertaining.

See the big yellow cushion on the dirt behind Brett? A guy went up really high on a forklift, lit himself on fire and plunged into that. Again entertaining, but when Brady started asking questions about the fire and how he did that, I don't think it was something I really wanted my children to see (ideas they might want to imitate.)

The scores for the jumps appeared to be already decided based on the truck and not the actual performance, but it was still fun. And much to Brady's delight, Gravedigger won!

It was a fun night!

Except when we were leaving, a young girl (probably 8 or 9) fell down on the sidewalk and her mom fell down on top of her and literally picked her up by her coat. I thought she was going to ask if she alright, but then started cussing at her and yanking her around. It was chaotic, it was loud - I told the lady to calm down and that the girl had obviously fallen by accident - but couldn't tell if the woman heard. She just kept looking and yelling at the girl. I didn't feel safe. I didn't feel like I could keep talking to the lady while I was with my two young sons and there didn't appear to be any cops or security close by so we continued to walk down the street (the opposite way of the lady/child). I felt helpless. What can you do when a parent looks like they are abusing their child but haven't done anything against the law and there's no one around to tell??

Princess

Thanks Dedra :)

1. Name an author you love.
Maeve Binchy, Kristin Hannah and Harlan Coben are my
top 3.

2. Name an author who highlights your personality.
?

3. Name some books you love.
Maeve Binchy's books all take place in Ireland which I love because I love to travel and can't wait to go overseas someday. I love Kristin Hannah's books because they are wonderful stories about family/friend relationships and Harlan Coben is the King of suspense. As far as books I have read that have stayed with me - My dad has a couple books he always tries to get us to read and Trinity is on the list. I read it every day over lunch a couple years ago and thought about the characters long after the book was over. I also loved The Boy in the Striped Pajamas- heartbreaking. I picked it up at the library for some reason and there was no description on the cover so I was totally unprepared for the story.

4. Something that always excites you.
Spending time with family/the boyz, going on vacation, days off of work, and working in the garden.

5. Something you hate.
Cottage Cheese.

Valentine Party

The boys had their Valentine parties today - at the same time of course. I was hoping they would be staggered so I could just party all day long, but no such luck. Since Ed has been able to help out with a lot of Brady's activities, I decided to attend Brett's party. And he kept asking me "Why are you going to school with me?" I finally asked him if he didn't want me to come, and he said he wanted me to. I guess he just didn't understand WHY.

Brett with his friend, Jackson -

The party started with a snack. We brought heart jigglers and Catelyn's mom brought heart cheese, so I thought they were very festive. (They did get a cupcake later :)

And then they made monkey masks. It was fun to see the differences in how the kids colored them.

And then they passed out Valentine's. Everyone brought a decorated box to put them in.

And finally, before watching Charlie Brown's Valentine movie, they had a dance off. Dance baby Dance!

Brett & Vincent paired up for partner dancing -

Taste Tested

Another great recipe from Southern Living. I saw this (easy) recipe and knew I would like it. It's probably not for everyone, but this is stuff I could eat every day. Garlic + Feta = True love.

Linguine with Sun Dried Tomatoes

Go Jayhawks!

Bet you never thought I would cheer for the Jayhawks! ;) Brady's 3-on-3 basketball team is the Jayhawks, but luckily no one ever calls them by their team name.

His team has improved SO much. I can't even explain the transformation that has taken place.

The players are understanding when to pass, when to shoot, what defense means and how to play it - how to be aggressive! They are even getting an idea of who is good at what without anyone pointing it out. It's so fun to watch.

Brady went from playing no defense to being all over his player (1 on 1 baby!). Of course, being too aggressive involves fouling sometimes (okay, maybe that runs in the family :), but I'll take it over the alternative. He even got a floor burn last week - yep, I'm one proud momma!

Taste Tested

Blue Cheese Ranch Dip
















Stir together 16 oz. sour cream , 1 pkg. Ranch dip mix, 5 oz. package blue cheese crumbles, and 2 T. chopped fresh chives.
Serve with carrots/celery sticks, potato chips and hot wings.
Makes 2 1/2 cups.
Yum!!

Big Game

After Brady's birthday party, we headed to Lebo for our annual tradition of celebrating Brady's birthday with my family over LCL weekend (basketball tournament). However, this year Lebo didn't make the finals . . . . and KU/KSU were playing each other that night so we decided to hang out and watch the game.

We had quite a group! My parents, brother's family, sister-in-law's brother's family (they have a 3-year-old girl and adorable 7-month-old twins that were also there, but didn't make the picture below!), Emily's family and of course, our family, ate Casey's pizza (seriously my favorite pizza besides The Other Place's pizza) and watched the game. Unfortunately, the Cat's didn't pull off the win, but it was a great game and lots of fun. I think the kids had a grand 'ol time :)

Science Party

Brady invited 6 friends over for a science party on Saturday. We had a lot of science experiments planned for them, but I'll admit keeping 7 kindergartner boys entertained and focused for 2 hours wasn't easy! But I think they all had fun.

I cut large men's undershirts down the front to make lab coats -

We connected marshmallows with toothpicks (made molecules), made slime, fake snow, and did experiments in soda bottles (tornados, lava lamps) and a tornado.

Looking out the window while Ed exploded 2 liter bottles with Mentos.

I'll be honest. . . . . When the boys weren't doing an experiment, they were doing this - having balloon (or they would say "light saber") fights :)

The funniest pics I took of the day were boys posing with the gummy eyeballs we put in their punch.

Next will be a birthday party for our 4-year-old. At least we'll be able to have it outside!!