My house smells like fall

I made this delicious roasted veggie soup. I didn't have the exact veggies this fantastic blogger used. Just went with what I had and it worked for me (acorn squash, carrots, broccoli, peas, corn, tomatoes, onions, potatoes, red peppers).












Along with this DELISH bread (used whole wheat flour though).












And rounded things out with this apple walnut cake courtesy of Dehorah Norville (I use whole wheat flour and greek yogurt for the oil). It was just one of those days that I was SOOO thankful I could be home. Making my home smell fantastic and making beautiful healthy food for my boys. Don't ask me if they enjoyed it as much as I did though. I try not to take it personally!!

scene: running circles around the kitchen fighting over karson's vampire teeth (screaming and hitting are in full affect).

kooper: MOOOOOOOM! Karson won't share his vampire teeth...AND he doesn't listen to Jesus!"

mom: prepared to say, "figure it out yourselves" can't do anything better than LAUGH!

Apparently, in Kooper's mind when he talks to Karson he expects the same result as if Jesus himself said it.

We do not lack confidence in this house...well, except when it comes to my forgetfulness!

my recap

I have a tendency to be forgetful. It seems to be getting worse lately (and no, I'm not pregnant!). I've managed to lose 3 different sets of keys over the last few weeks (set of car keys, spare house set, and now my church ones which I've only had for a few weeks...lovely, huh?!). Why am I entrusted with such things? How have I not managed to lose my children? I've also lost a rather large gift certificate, brand new not so cheap sunglasses, checks...you name it and I can lose it.

I'd like to think that I am not the sole person responsible for losing said items. I do live with several other people and many little hands but it's all REALLY starting to bug me! Does it really matter? No. Can I get the keys replaced? Yes. Do I still feel like an idiot? YES...and it drives me nuts!

Now to my actual point of this post (yes, there is one!)...since I'm forgetful we went trick or treating without my camera. Yup, completely forgot it and since we did not go in our neighborhood this year it was a problem. Thank goodness a few of the gals we went with brought one. So, here's my brief halloween recap from pictures I did not take...thanks to my forgetful brain. I should probably start taking some herbs or something!

Kyle emailed me this

One of Kyle's goals in life is to be able to do all of our shopping at Fresh Market or Greenlife (local specialty grocery stores). Not cheap but delish...and worth it if we can. Just another reason why no matter how much I'd like for couponing to work for me it just doesn't. We just don't eat the stuff that you get coupons for.

Preview

Just had to make sure the costumes fit AND make use of this great tree.

Happy Halloween week.

His first

Sunday was Kooper's first primary program. He did such a good job...and next year wants a longer speaking part! He wore his tie during the whole program, he bounced in his seat a bit, and I LOVED hearing his little voice above all the others as he belted out, "God gave us families to help us become what he wants us to be. This is how He shares his love. For the family is of God." So cute.

Karson was still eating breakfast and wasn't dressed...hence the reason he's missing from the pics. He did a great job too and along with his speaking parts sang "Jesus Once Was a Little Child." Pretty sweet. My eyes teared up many times over cause I'm a sappy mom like that and maybe slightly overwhelmed since they put me in as primary president two weeks before the program. Yes, my LDS friends you read that craziness correctly.

Just in case you want to...

get a few great pics of your little ones before Halloween or any upcoming holidays, drop me an email or comment. I'm just doing it for fun and to learn. So here's what I'll do:

• 30 minute session

• $25

• I'll give you a disk with the high resolution images and you can print whatever you want.

• You really can't beat it!

• I will do some additional editing for a small fee.
  

So, why so cheap? Well, I'm not a professional. Don't have plans to be. I just know how much I love images like these and thought I'd share with my friends (just have to make a little $ since it does take time).

making me want to go dancing...NOW

I can't stop listening to this song this week. Doesn't an adult Christmas or Valentine's party where someone comes and teaches you how to dance to a song like this sound like a blast? Probably sounds like punishment to my man.

This one will get you moving too...it's Kooper's favorite and cracks me up whenever I hear him singing it:

Hmmm...what do you think?

I'm not one for politics. Makes me kinda uncomfortable. It's been a dirty business for a long time. However, the state of our country is starting to make me even more uncomfortable. I've never been one to watch many political shows. Ever. I've been a Today show and morning news girl for a long time. I'm done with morning news now unless it's Fox. I'm also a new follower of this guy's opinions:



You don't have to agree with his opinions...I don't agree with all of them...but he brings a new perspective to light that is NEVER heard on any other program. It's refreshing. Plus, his sarcasm cracks me up...especially the radio program. Anyone else a Beck follower or hater? Just curious.

An actual game

Baseball fun for 2009. Kooper was SUPPOSED to play. He went to all the pregame practices and on the last one decided he didn't want to play during the season. I didn't want to fight with him on it but he's SOOOO playing next season. He has got to burn off more steam.

Karson got a great hit in the game...way over the 2nd baseman. You can see in the bottom left photo that he didn't exactly want to stop running the bases though. Good stuff.

Fall Fun

Last week was Karson's fall break. I have tons of pictures on my point & shoot but for some reason my computer no longer recognizes it when I try to upload...blasted technology!!! We'll see if I get them up sometime this year. We tried to fill the week with fun activities. We've had TOOOONS of rain here lately so the trip to the Enchanted Maize was not so enchanting. There was so much mud that you really couldn't do anything.

Thank goodness for the fabulous little park in St.Elmo that we went to after leaving the muddy mess. Followed by lunch at Burger King which is such a waste of money. My kids save most of their food to feed to the ducks because they don't even like it...they just like the idea of eating there. I REALLY shouldn't complain about that, should I? Don't little boys in overalls and 1980's mickey tees look adorable? You don't have to answer that because I think they do!

It's baseball season. Really!

This is what boys do while waiting for a REALLLY long time to take team pictures. They had a blast and amazingly no one got hurt. Hopefully I'll get some actual baseball pictures soon. Half of the season has been rained out and I couldn't stay for this game because Kutter was just not cooperating. Silly boys!!

You had a birthday shout hurray!

(click on pictures to enlarge)

The family came over today to help celebrate Kutter, who turned 2 on Wednesday. During the summer we often made what we call "rainbow picnics" for lunch. Find as many different color foods and then eat them all. It's fun and easy for the kids to help with.

Last Sunday the older boys helped me plan the menu to make a HUGE Rainbow picnic for Kutter. I loved the bold display of color and they were totally impressed with the finished product. I'm not sure they actually ate that much though since they were so excited...that is until it was dessert time.

Kutter was a BIG fan of the Izze drinks (on clearance at my target in mass quantities of red & orange). I think the main reason for his adoration was because it fit in his little hand so well. He hasn't quite mastered the art of getting the hole in the can lined up with his mouth so my floor is quite sticky. It was pretty cute though. Kooper had fun opening (I mean helping to open) all of Kutter's presents. Kutter didn't mind too much since he just wanted to play with the dogs outside. Priorities!

I'm sure a rainbow cake would have been a perfect addition to our little gathering. I was planning on it till I saw the premade Elmo cake/cupcake combo. He LOVES playing Elmo on the computer and I loved not being in the kitchen for hours making the cake. Plus it was from Sams so it was only $9 and change. That's a bargain people! (Elmo party hats & all colored party stuff for the table were on clearance at target too...we're talking $.30 -.75 cents for color! Makes me smile and they had TONS in case you're local and need some too:)

Getting SO Big

The family party is coming this weekend but I think we managed to make today special for one adorable little boy. We started it off with hot chocolate and scones from Starbucks (the pumpkin scones chased by a mouthful of hot chocolate = PERFECTION). We followed that up by a trip to the Zoo with Mimi (thanks to his buddy Kellen for meeting up with us too). We rounded out the evening with a trip to our favorite pizza place. Fun times for a super cute boy. We love you little Kutter!

Filling My Down Time

I know I've been away from posting for a while. That's not to be confused with not checking blogs...but my commenting or posting just needed a break. Getting the house in order and KEEPING it in order requires most of my down time these days. I really do enjoy the end result...just not the process so much.

I have squeezed in some good reads lately though. I signed up on the goodreads site a while ago but really...something else to update??? RIGHT! The concept is great; I guess I'm just lazy.

Anyways, here's what I've enjoyed lately:



I could give a little synopsis of them all but that would require more thought than I want to put into this right now. They're all good in their own right and genre. Enjoy.

He adopted us

Kyle calls him Bruiser. Kooper calls him Scooby-Doo. Kutter calls him Dog. The neighbors call him Fetch. The neighbor's little girl calls him Peaches. He has many names and a collar with no info and seems to have adopted our cul-de-sac as his new home. My boys are in HEAVEN. He's incredibly gentle and sweet and LOVES to play fetch with balls but prefers rocks. He also prefers rocks to food sometimes so I'm not sure he's all there in the head. Regardless, we're enjoying our 5th stray dog and I haven't rushed to call the animal rescue people...YET. He has managed to push through a part of our screened in porch though. Considering all the crazy rain we've had lately, I don't really blame him.

For Sale

The PERFECT family home is now for sale. Yup, we put the house on the market. The boys are super excited but I'm sure that will wear off quickly after constantly nagging them with, "clean up, put that away, please don't make a mess!!!"

You got kids? Need more space? You need this house!

(Oh, it actually has 4 full baths...not 3 like the listing says)

Our 9th

This is where Kyle and I were married 9 years ago on September 2nd, 2000. It was a perfect day. A few weeks ago we were able to go visit some friends and go back to the Nashville Temple while they helped watch the boys. The afternoon was beautiful and I was thrilled to be able to take a great picture for myself of a place that is full of perfect memories. This will soon be enlarged and hanging in my home.

The kids on Sunday morning. Our boys thought that starting the day at 4am was a brilliant idea. They couldn't wait to wake up the girls. They saw crazy bedhead for the first time and thought it was hilarious. Thanks Nicholson's for a super fun weekend.

Summer, Summer, Summertime!

These pictures make me smile. After long days of testing boundaries and me wondering when "this phase" will end????, I like to look back at these happy faces and remind myself that I have great kids. STRONG WILLED but great kids. My favorites in this little collage:

upper right corner: kutter stuck in the slide
middle row to the left: kooper in action...check out(click the pic to enlarge) that second one with saggy face. it amuses me so!

Down on the farm

My grandparents don't live too far from us. Sadly, we don't get there often enough. Mom and I made a quick trip up to see them with 2 of the 3 kiddos for an afternoon. The boys had fun exploring (and freaking me out with the ol tub full of DISGUSTING water), I had fun admiring my grandmother's flowers, spending some quality time with the mimi, and snapping a few pics. Good times!