Giveaway!

Over at Peanut Butter & Pickles (http://pbandpickles.blogspot.com/)
they are having a FANTASTIC giveaway for a WONDERFUL cupcake carrier! You have GOT TO check it out!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Happy Birthday my sweet Bubba & Noni!!!

Enjoying the early morning with their birthday balloons

How delightful that my children already know exactly what they want.

Bubba wanted a "blue square" cake, so he got it.

Noni wanted a round cake with chocolate frosting and flowers.

I realized when I went to make her cake, I no longer had any "round" cake pans (the horror!). So I told her how really neat it would be to have a 'circle' cake with a hole in the middle instead.

I pray many blessings upon you today and hope that you both have a happy, happy birthday, and that all of your wishes come true.



I love you Bubba.

I love you Noni.

STATE CHAMPIONS!!!!

Last week my son's band won the upper state championship. Last night the top 6 from both upper and lower state came together to compete for the [overall] state championship.

WE WON!!!!

Bentley's band won the state championship!!!

I am so proud of him. They have won every single competition that they have competed in this year. What a way to finish up his marching band career as a senior. Champions through and through.

Though he is always a champion in my book.

Just like this!

This pretty much describes what it is like raising teenage boys.

"Fred - you've just had your dinner."

"Yes, I know. But you see, before dinner, I was ravenous. .......... Now I'm just hungry!"

Upper State Champions

There they are....or rather a small fraction of them. Getting ready to perform their show.

The 2008 Upper State Champions!!!

They came in first place with a score of 94.30.

Undefeated so far this season.

Congratulations and I look forward to the state finals this weekend!

Woot!!

Band

My son, Bentley, the oldest, in the middle of the picture with white shirt, white shorts, staring straight ahead. His drive, desire and dedication to the band makes my heart swell with pride.

They have a big band competition tomorrow. Upper state. The first two competitions that they've been in, not only did they win 1st place in their division, they also won Grand National Championship (hence, winning the whole show over everyone). Normally to receive just one Grand National trophy per year is an honor, and thus far - his senior year - they've won two.

I wish you all the best. Good luck on your solo. I know you'll do great!! I'll be the one cheering the loudest in the stands. I'm so proud of you Bentley. I love you bud.

We've been having

lots of this

and this

and this around our house lately. No fun.

(sick bowl and mouth wipe for the little ones)

Show & Tell "E"

Each week in preschool, Noni has a show & tell day for that weeks letter. This week was the letter "E".


Can you guess what her show & tell was?








She fell in love with the chunky, pink, eyeshadow stick, that she said she had to take it to her room "because I just LOVE IT, mommy!"

She must've re-applied it 5 or 6 times on the drive home from school.

Must.have.chocolate.

There comes a time in every woman's life that a particular phrase is uttered. Not just uttered, but with uttered with meaning.

Must.have.chocolate.

That was how I was yesterday. I HAD TO have chocolate.

I am not normally a chocolate eating type of person. In fact, I can go weeks days without it. But yesterday was just one of those days. Did ya ever have "one of those days"? The kind of day where nothing seems to be going right?!? A Calgon take me away day? I had one of those, but spread out this WEEK. One day was just not good enough for me.

We walked out of church on Sunday mid-day. Gorgeous day. Mid to upper 80's. Probably one of the last summer type days of the year. Our Jeep wouldn't start. Our Jeep wouldn't even jump. To top things off, we have no cell phone, and the office doors at the church were locked. Thankfully a man had stopped by to help, AND he was a proud owner of a cell phone! Woot!! By the time Bentley arrived [back] at church with our van, the sun was starting to feel VERY warm.

No, no, no. It didn't have anything to do with my blood starting to boil with the fact that the first - oh, I'd say - 3 or 4 people to stop by and offer to help us, my husband shooed them off, telling them that we would be just fine! The next person to stop and offer, I jumped in and starting thanking him profusely before he even did anything. (that way db couldn't turn down the help.) I don't know WHAT db was thinking. That maybe on the 20 or 30th time of turning the key that the Jeep would actually start?!? I get the 'not asking for directions' thing and all...but accepting help when it is CLEARLY needed is beyond me.

So that's how my week started. It has just been all around sucky. Our refrigerator started to leak IN the door. (whoever heard of such a thing). So much so, that this was the ONLY remedy that I could get to work.

Yes, that is an actual papertowel shoved up under the corner to absorb any leak before it could streak my fridge anymore (as you can tell). THAT is my fix until I can figure out why it is leaking and what to do about it.

Then....Bentley, who had an ingrown toenail cut out A MONTH AGO, showed me this:

An infection STILL. Do you think he could've mentioned this fact a little sooner? So I spend the next day trying to get ahold of his doctor or nurse. After 3 messages, and no call back, I went there the next morning, waving my camera around (like some lunatic) with this picture on it, to prove to them anyone, that I actually DID need someone to call me back. (make mental note to wear a mask or dye my hair before going back into said clinic).

[another] THEN.....I had to quickly find a dentist (since our new insurance took over) who could work my husband in to pull a tooth......that he said he broke MONTHS ago!! (he must've went to the same school that Bentley studied at, about "when" to tell mom/wife things) I find a dentist, and I drive him over. Can anyone say "Little Shop of Horrors"?!? The house-turned-dental office has not been fixed updated in any way, shape or form since the 50's, I do believe. Plus side on that note though: NO WAITING and his tooth was out in less then 15 minutes.

There's been so many more things.....but I really don't want to drag you down (in case I haven't yet already). BUT......I do want to tell you about the chocolate. Mmmm...the chocolate. How could anyone forget? So I come across this recipe for CHOCOLATE CAKE IN 5 MINUTES!! HEY! Can't let that one pass me by! You make it in the microwave.....IN a coffee mug!

(Single serving, don't have to share, it just keeps getting better and better!)

Remember the phrase.... If it's too good to be true, it probably is.... (remember that. It is an important point in this story.)

So I make the chocolate cake. Mix it all in the mug as instructed. Put it in the microwave for 3 minutes to "bake". (at this point, I'm just drooling. This is almost as easy as an easy bake oven). The recipe DID warn me that the cake will "rise above" the mug when baking, and to not be alarmed. THIS is what I saw:

I was truly amazed that an uncooked "liquid" could rise up in a cylindar shape like that and not spill all over.

It did do this though:

It looked like it was going to spill over sideways. But when the microwave beeped, I had this:

And then this:

Doesn't all that chocolatey gooiness look sooo yummy?

It did for me too, until this:

This is most of the chocolate chips that melted to the bottom of the mug, and didn't allow the cake to fully cook. The part that WAS cooked, was very spongy, and extremely bland tasting. Not like some CHOCOLATE that I was expecting...

Too good to be true......that remains to [yet] be true.

Now, on to the quest for some real chocolate.......

The time was....

The time was 6:01pm.

I had just gotten the kids sitting down for dinner when a severe weather alert came on the tv. The alert said that our county was under a severe thunderstorm warning from 6:01pm until 7:01pm.

Ummm........okay, if you say so, as the sun is hitting me square in the eye through the kitchen window.

I grabbed my camera and ran outside.

Here is my "severe thunderstorm warning" sky.

back of the house, eastern sky:

front of the house, western sky:

side of the house, northern sky:

other side of the house, southern sky:

Some storm sky, huh?!?