When is a month too long?

I'm going to back up even longer than a month because that's when everything started.  We got a phone call in mid October letting us know that Joe's Grandma Beth passed away.  This came as a shock at first but it was a relief as well since she suffered from Alzheimer disease.  We decided we needed to be there.  See Grandma Beth was very special and a wonderful woman.  I want to be the kind of grandma she was.  But then we looked at just how much it will cost for us to go to the funeral then turn around and come home just to turn back and go to my family's place for Thanksgiving.  So we decided we would take the kids out of school for the month and take our time visiting our loved ones.


At first this seemed like a great idea.  Then we actually had to do it.  Taking the kids out of school for that amount of time required a lot of work on the teachers and the principal.  They worked miracles and let us do it.  Then came the hard part... Independent Study.  I do not suggest doing this if you are not willing to be hard nosed with your kids.  My kids don't like me trying to be their teacher when I am helping them with homework, so I.S. was less than super fun.  But we made it through and they got all their hard work done.  While we visited family we were able to help redecorate my niece's bedroom, play in the snow, have three bouts of the stomach flu and still make it back!

  The worst part was the stomach flu on Thanksgiving.  I don't suggest this method of weight management to anyone.  ;)  We did have fun and by the time we got back home we were ready to get back to our normal lives. 

 The boys are back in school and they LOVE their teachers.  I was informed that I am not as good or nice of a teacher as their teachers are.  I am glad they love their teachers and I am glad I am no longer in charge of teaching them things I, myself, am not very proficient in

Tragedy while at Walmart

So today Ian and I ran to wally-world for a few odds and ends for our camping trip tonight.  I thought it would be fun to get the small cans of A&W root beer for the boys along with stuff to make s'mores and just general goodies to munch on.  While I was in the camping isle looking for a charcoal chimney, Ian discovered how to open a can of soda by popping the lid using his teeth!  So exciting... I know.  So after we had that discovery, he discovered just how wet you can get by pouring soda on yourself!  Isn't this fascinating?  So being the good mom that I am I decided to strap him in, take away the soda and head to the checkout line.  I spotted the perfect line: One lady checking out and no one else there yet.  So I dashed to the line and piled my treasure up on the conveyor belt and all the while Ian is intent with trying to escape.  The checker was doing a wonderful job at getting our stuff scanned and taken care of, but she wasn't quite fast enough, Ian figured out how to get himself unbuckled.  Oh the horror.  Oh the tragedy.  Now I have no way to keep my child securely fastened in the cart.  What am I to do?  Any suggestions would be helpful!

ooops!

So my hubby is a pretty good handy man and even a decent computer dude, but I believe he found his match today.  Here is the story from the beginning:


A few weeks ago my wonderful hubby was able to go on a trip to Portugal for a conference.  Lucky I know.  He took my camera to take pictures for me and they are amazing!  When I get the chance I will post some of them.  Anywho, he tried to download some pictures on to his computer by utilizing it's card reader not realizing he needed to have the little adapter card reader with my card because it's smaller than others.  So needless to say, it got stuck inside the computer.  Well, tonight he dared to open the laptop up and get the card out.  The down side to this?  Now he can't get his laptop to start up.  Hmmm.... what to do in this time of crisis.  Three things come to mind: 1) We could take it to a real computer dude to get it fixed.  2) We could go buy a new one.  3) My wonderful hubby could attempt to fix it again.  The out come to all of the above, I am afraid, will result in a new laptop.  But alas we shall see.  Only time and a few hours of silent reflection on my part will bring this dilemma to an end.  Good luck MWH.  I love you and hopefully you will come out of this unscathed. 

New Hair Style

My youngest is such a cutie.  He has these fabulous curls that just about anyone would love.  He reminded me of a little Hobbit.

After his birthday I realized I have never cut his hair.  I have fought with the tangles and snarls only to realize it was time for a trim.  So here is the evidence of how my baby turned into a little man.

Breakfast?

Friday morning was eventful.  We were out of milk so I made pancakes only to find we were out of syrup.  But that didn't stop my kids from loving it.  We had a partial traditional breakfast.  Usually we have pancakes, sour cream, mashed frozen strawberries, with syrup, we didn't have most of these... in fact we only could come up with two of the items, pancakes and sour cream.  So that is what we had. 

Hard to say "No" to this goodness! 

Glitter Hands

So as we were trying to get the boys homework done the glitter hand bandit struck.  If any one of you have ever had this mennis attack, you know the chaos that can ensue.  But in the end, the glitter bug fled the scene of the crime only to have a trail of glitter and we caught him.  Here is what we found...

I love my kids... :)

Party Time... Almost

So our littlest one turns 2 on Sunday!!!  We are celebrating tomorrow though and in honor of his new favorite movie, Cars, I made him a "car car" cake.  I think it turned out pretty good... you'll have to tell me what you think!

  Yes it is a 3D cake.  I think i did pretty awesome!

Bagel Recipe

Here is the recipe for anyone who wants it.  I just googled bagel recipe and this is one that popped up!

Don't freak out, it's not hard, just a little time consuming.

Homemade bagel recipe
4 cups bread flour
1 Tbls sugar
1 1/2 tsps salt
1 Tbls vegetable oil
2 tsps instant yeast
1-1/4- 1-1/2 cups of warm water.

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl. You don't have to worry about soaking the yeast when you use instant yeast (most yeast sold these days is instant yeast). The dough should feel stiff, but add the extra water if it's really stiff, or you can't get all the dry flour incorporated.
Plop the dough down onto the counter, and knead for about ten minutes, or until the dough is uniform and smooth.
Cut the dough into 8 equal sized balls, and let rest for 10-20 minutes.
Pre heat your oven to 425.
Now, take each of the dough balls and using two hands, roll it into a little snake on the counter. When the snake is longer than the width of your two hands, wrap it around your dominant roiling hand. The dough rope should be wrapped so the overlapping ends are together at your palm, near the start of your fingers. Now take the two overlapping ends, and use your palm to squish/roll these two ends together. Once the dough is fused, you should have a perfectly circular bagel-to-be! This is the only part of the process that can take a little practice before your bagels will look really professional. Don't get discouraged if they don't look perfect, it just takes practice!
Let your bagels rest on the counter for about 20 minutes, and meanwhile, bring a pot of water to boil, and grease a large baking tray lightly. You can just rub a splash of vegetable oil and rub it around.
After the 20 minute wait, your bagels will start to look puffy, and it's time to get them boiling! Add them as many at a time as you can to your boiling water without crowding them. Boil for about a minute, turn them over, and boil for another minute. Take them out a let dry for a minute and then place them on your oiled baking tray. Repeat until all the bagels are boiled.

Add the tray to the oven, and after 10 minutes, flip the bagels over, bake for another ten minutes; and they're done!
Let them cool for at least 20 minutes, get the cream cheese ready, and feast on what's got to be one of the best weekend brunch treats possible!

You can add any toppings you like to these. To make sesame, onions, poppy seed, caraway etc. etc. bagels just have a dry plate ready with the seed or spice topping spread out on it. After the bagels have come out of the boiling water, place them face down onto the seeds, and then place the seed side up onto the baking tray. Bake and flip as for plain bagels.

Peek-a-boo!

So we had some friends come over to play and Ian had so much fun with his little buddy.  Here is how they spent a good portion of the day...

Bagels anyone?

So I got very ambitious today after I bought a bagel that I was less than impressed with.  There is a great Doughnut and Bagel shop not far from my house.  They don't have a huge selection, but I have been told how fabulous they are so I splurged and bought a bagel.  After eating it and feeling less than excited to ever go back, I decided to make my own.  I made a Blueberry, Onion and Italian.  Let me say, the Onion and Italian are FABULOUS!!  The Blueberry needed some sugar or sweetness, but it was still awesome!  Everyone should totally make their own bagels!  I will keep experimenting and let you all know just how many great and fantastic flavors I can come up with!

So Special!

So I have a few items to update on.  first, I have FANTASTIC children.  They may not always be the best behaved, but man are they AWESOME!  I love my kids.  They keep me on my toes and make me laugh.  Here are some funny photo's for you!

Ian eating taco leftovers that were left out over night!  EEEEEWE!

This is our awesome grill!  No one can hate on us for this master grilling machine!

This is just some random pics my kids took of each other.  Aren't they cute?!!

Term 2

Once again, I have finished another term of school at Westwood College Online and I am very excited to report that I got 2 A's and a B+!!  I know not quite as fabulous as last term, but Critical Thinking is NOT my strongest attribute.  Hence the B+.  But man I nailed Color Theory and thanks to Joe and Rik, I made it through Geometry with flying colors.  I think I might have actually learned something from these classes.  I am truly enjoying college and even though it's really hard, I am glad I am doing it.  Only 2 1/2 more years to go!!  I think I am going to make the Dean's list again!!!  I am pretty pleased and so is Joe.  Thanks everyone for your encouraging words and all your help!

-Chelle

There and back again

So over the passed month we have been on a whirl wind of traveling and having fun.  I will have pics soon and a big-ol-update!!!

Dimples and Dumplings

Today as we were out and about running our errands, Matthew asked the most unexpected question.

Matthew:  Daddy, Do you have dumplings like me?

We laughed and were a little confused then we realized he meant Dimples.  What a silly boy we have.



We explained to him that he should have said dimples and thought no more of it until later tonight.  We were watching TLOTR part 3 and he calls out, Daddy, let me see your dumplings!

  

So now we have to ask, do you have Dumplings or Dimples?

Term 1

It's official.  My first term back in college is coming to a close.  I start term 2 next Monday.  Although I didn't get an A+ in all my classes, I was able to keep all of them over 90%!!  Three of my four classes were over 96%!  I can honestly say I never thought I could do this well.  I struggled all through high school just to make a B- and here I am getting A's!  I won't say I had it easy, but I did my best, handed in all my work, and it all paid off!  I am so happy that I did so well.  

Now, on to next term and we will see how it goes.  I actually have a math class and I have heard that math is a 70% fail rate.  I am determined to not be one of those 70%!  (I don't think I will be with Joe as my most fabulous tutor!)  

Thank you everyone who encouraged me and and helped me this term, I could not have done it without you!!

Caught in the act!

Last night Joe made a batch of cookies to give out at church on Sunday for Mothers day.  There were a few left over and he had left them out.  This morning as I walked in to the kitchen I noticed a few of the cookies had bites taken out of them.

I was curious as to which of my boys did this so I waited and watched, camera ready to catch the cookie eater.  Then without so much as a look my way, the culprit sauntered in and did it again!

Then I caught his attention and low and behold, the cutest little snitch looked at me and smiled!  how can you get upset at someone so adorable and charming as this!

Ian I love you and boy oh boy do we need to find some way to keep you from finding all the good stuff!!!  Eat up buddy boy!

Gifts

So as I turned 30 yesterday, my friends all thought they would get me what they thought I would want most!  They really didn't have too, but boy did they nail it!  I loved my gifts and I have to say I have the most AWESOME friends ever!!

What more can a girl ask for than shopping at target, Diet Coke, Carmel CornPuffs, Oreos, M&M's, Coasters, and re-usable shopping bags!

Thanks everyone for a wonderful Birthday!

Wicked

I have the BEST husband that ever existed in all the eternal realms!  For my birthday my husband (who isn't so good at hiding things or keeping secrets from me) surprised me with tickets to see Wicked!  We went last night and had a blast!

We dropped the kids off with a friend and then headed up to San Francisco.  We ate a very intimate cafe called Soluna.  I got the lamb and Joe got the Walu. (a white fish that was so delectable!)  We also had chocolate truffles and a banana ice cream sandwich dipped in dark chocolate and drizzled with carmel.  SOOO GOOD!!!

After that we walked over to the Orpheum Theater and watched Wicked!  We drove home and all was well.  It was a great night!!!!

Landon wanted to give me something so this is what I got:

Isn't he so sweet!

Fire Pit

Here is the latest addition to our backyard of crazy fun!

 

Joe really spent some time thinking this out and the boys had fun helping him.  Joe chopped logs from trees that were cut in our neighborhood, and I think he did a great job!  He's my lumberjack!

We have decided to have a Sunday ritual of cooking hot dogs over the fire pit!  Can't wait!

Who? Where? How?

Okay, so I am terrible at keeping this up.  Right now life couldn't get too much crazier than it is, but I am sure that if I think hard enough I could think of some way to make it possible.  The boys have been playing baseball and Matthew is doing very well.  (except when he decides to sit down and take a break during the part of the inning that he is supposed to be playing short stop or outfield.)

 

 Landon is learning how to not be the very best.  He want's so badly to be the best one out there and unfortunately baseball isn't one of his better abilities.

                      

Ian is growing up so fast.  He has a small vocabulary, but that is because when he wants something, his brothers do all the talking for him.  They love him and he adores them.  His favorite is still his daddy. 

 
Joe is doing well in school.  He doesn't think so, but He is really doing well.  This passed weekend he decided to take something I said a few weeks ago and make it happen.  I had told him we should look into getting a patio fire pit.  I thought it would be really fun.  So while I was at Matt's game and he was heading home from Landon's, he went and bought some cinder blocks and river rocks, dug out a pit in the back yard, snagged some wood from some of the neighborhood trees that are being cut down and build me a fire pit.  I was so impressed!  I do have to say, it was much more cost effective to build one of our own than to buy one at Target.  ($35 compared to $99!!)
I am halfway through my term in school.  Yes that is right I have gone back to school.  "Crazy!" you might say and crazy I probably am, but I love it.  I feel so much better knowing that I am getting closer to having a degree.  I am attending Westwood College Online.  It's based out of Denver CO.  I am studying Interior Design.  I am really stretching myself and trying to do my best.  Online classes are not quite as I had expected, but I am doing it.
We are getting ready for our Dummar Family Reunion in June.  We are making everyone go camping!!!  Joe and I are in charge this year and it's been really fun planning it all.
That is about all for now.  We will try to get some pics out here of the fire pit.