Ella is a Winner!

Ella's school had a pumpkin coloring contest. One winner was picked from every grade. Ella won for kindergarten! Her picture is on display at our Food Lion and we went yesterday to pick up her free pumpkin!

Congrats, sweetie!!

Weekend Recap and more wall art!

I had a great weekend! Our church had it's annual women's retreat HERE and the food and accommodations were as good as ever. The speaker, Jen Hatmaker was a down-right RIOT!! She was great to listen to and had a great message for us. I didn't get any pictures of me with my roomies, but I stayed with my BFF's (hee hee....that sounds so young!) Kathi and Stacey. I'm still trying to get Stacey to do a blog. I don't think it will EVER happen! Anyway, we had a blast. But, it was also nice to come home. I'm going to try real hard to get quiet time in every day. Jen really stressed how important it is to be in The Word everyday. This is a goal for me!

Anyway, I have had the opportunity to work on Ella's room a little more these past few weeks and have gotten two more "brands" done.

I'm staying super busy here. I've got a family fun night at the school I'm in charge of Thursday and our Bingo is less than a month away!! I've also started the planning and organizing of the Christmas Coffee's for church.

Alright, enough from me. I've got some stuff to do and then I'm devouring this that I picked up from the library today!

Ella's Schedule

I have no clue where she may have come up with this idea (**internal snort**) but Ella enjoys making herself a checklist every morning before school. And, of course, on the day I decide to blog about it the "checklist" is not up to snuff.... The one you see below is confusing because she drew a check mark when she had done it and then drew a line to connect the check mark with the activity. Other ones that he has done have been much better, but I cannot find any of them. I think it's hilarious that she does this, Jon just shakes his head and is (I'm sure) praying for whomever her husband ends up being.

Anyway, there are five things she has to do before school. If she gets all of them done then she gets TV time before the bus comes. That doesn't happen often because the process of making the checklist takes time! Here is a run-down of what she needs to do:

-Make bed (I'm thinking that's the picture with her laying down looking nine months pregnant :))
-Get Dressed (that's the one with the clothes drawn over her body on the bottom left)
-Eat Breakfast (sitting at the table)
-Brush Teeth (I think that's a toothbrush in her hand, not a knife....)
-Pack Backpack (this is where it gets tricky. I think the thing that says "Ella" on it is supposed to be her backpack)

What a riot!

Another Item On The Checklist Is Done!!!!

I was able to get this done today! I didn't have my camera with me, so the picture isn't the greatest, but you can see it's done! This is Jon's grandmom's wall with the verse she chose!

Woo Hoo!!

One More Recipe...

I know I just did a recipe, but I had a few requests for this one. I just made it today for Jon to eat while he enjoys the Raven's Game. It's the Olive Garden's "Zuppa Toscana." Enjoy!

1lb ground Sweet Italian Sausage
1tsp Crushed Red Pepper
1 Large Diced Onion
1Tbsp Bacon Pieces (pre-cooked or Baco’s)
2tsp Garlic, crushed

10C Water
5 Cubes Chicken Bouillon
1C Heavy Cream
1lb Diced Russet Potatoes (about 3 large)
¼ of a bunch of Kale

Cook sausage and red pepper in soup pot. Drain fat and put in the refrigerator until needed again. In the same pan, sauté bacon, onions and garlic for about 15 minutes, or until onions are soft. Add water and bouillon and bring to boil. Add potatoes and cook until soft – about ½ an hour. Add cream and cook until heated through. Stir in sausage and simmer. Add kale just before serving. Serve garnished with fresh shredded parmesan cheese.

Monkey Munch

I have been wanting to make "Monkey Munch" for awhile now and decided to take the plunge today. It's really good! Don't care for the TV show that promotes it, but will definitely make this again!

Enjoy!

Monkey Munch

Ingredients:9 cups Chex® cereal (any variety)

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup peanut butter

1/4 cup butter or margarine

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Preparation Directions:

1. Into large bowl, measure cereal; set aside. 2. In 1-quart microwavable bowl, stir together chocolate chips, peanut butter and butter. Microwave uncovered on High 1 minute; stir. Microwave about 30 seconds longer or until mixture can be stirred smooth. Stir in vanilla. Pour mixture over cereal, stirring until evenly coated. Pour into 2-gallon resealable food-storage plastic bag. 3. Add powdered sugar. Seal bag; shake until well coated. Spread on waxed paper to cool. Store in airtight container in refrigerator.

Stove-Top Directions:

Into large bowl, measure cereal; set aside. In 1-quart saucepan, heat chocolate chips, peanut butter and butter over low heat, stirring frequently, until melted. Remove from heat; stir in vanilla. Pour mixture over cereal, stirring until evenly coated. Pour into 2-gallon resealable food-storage plastic bag. Add powdered sugar. Seal bag; shake until well coated. Spread on waxed paper to cool. Store in airtight container in refrigerator.

Weird Wet Spot

So I was vacuuming my Sienna this afternoon because it finally stopped raining and my van was in desperate need. When I lifted up the front passenger mat to get underneath I was startled to see a wet spot on the floor! Upon further investigation I find that nothing else is wet....not even the carpet piece that lays over it! So I Goggled it and found that this is a problem in some Sienna's and now I have to call to take it in. I made it over a year so far without having to take it in, which is more than I could say about my last van (piece of junk MPV). While it's there I'm going to have them also look at my manual sliding door as sometimes it doesn't latch and stay open. Little issue I've had for awhile but not worthy of a wasted afternoon at the service center.

So, if anyone has a copy of Karen Kingsbury's final book in her series and won't be using it this week, can I steal it for something to read? I'm hoping to make the appointment for Tuesday.

As if I have nothing else better to do with my time......

Win A Free handbag!

Just enter your name and email address and be entered to win a FREE handbag..including shipping!!! Woo Hoo!!

Go here:

HANDBAG PLANET

Good luck!

Busy Busy!

I've been so busy lately I haven't had time to blog! I'm trying to get into a groove and it's not quite happening. If anyone knows how to add four or so hours into the day, please let me know!

We've had quite a bit going on here. My grandmom had hernia surgery two weeks ago and called me from the ER last Sunday morning. She had an ambulance take her because she had extremely bad pain in her neck and thought something was really wrong. Well, they diagnosed her with a pulled muscle and muscle spasms and gave her a morphine-based pain killer as well as a muscle relaxer and sent her on her way. Needless to say, she does not remember that day at all. I told her she was coming hope with me for a few days. Has anyone ever taken 24 hour care of an elderly person? I'll tell you, it's worse than having a newborn baby! I had her stay until Friday. I was wiped by the time the week was through.

Speaking of newborns, my sister-in-law had hers two and a half weeks ago! She is beautiful and perfect but it's been far from easy for her. First Jenna ended up back in the hospital at five days old due to her bilirubin being very high. She stayed for two nights. Becky got barely three more days in at home and then ended up in the hospital herself. She ended up needing three units of blood and a D & C. So, she was starting over from day one as far as healing was concerned. Coincidentally, the next few school days after I dropped my grandmom back home were spent helping Becky.

So, all is well now. Becky and Jenna are both troopers and in spite of "pumping and dumping" when Jenna was ten days old and having to supplement with bottles, she's now over her birth weight and nursing exclusively. Yay for that!

In addition to all of that, I'm in charge of a big Women's Ministry Event at church that we've started planning, as well as helping with retreat stuff. On the school end of things, I'm the School Spirit Committee Chair and I'm trying to get events and spirit wear stuff together. I had our first committee meeting last night. After that I headed to Jon's grandparents house to start on their verse on the wall. She is hosting Canasta in October and wanted it done by then. Looks like it'll happen! Also at school I'm class mom for both kids' classes and I'm a steady volunteer in Ella's classroom and now the media center (thanks, Mary Ellen! Hee Hee Hee...!!). Someone remind me that I'm a STAY AT HOME MOM? Don't even get me started on the gym!

Oh and I almost forgot! While I was home with my grandmom last week I managed to pull together 15 meals for my quarterly meal swap. I needed 12 for the actual swap and the extras I had went to Becky and Jon's cousin who had a baby last week. I'm going down there to meet that baby tomorrow!

So this week my goal is to pull my house together to prepare for Sunday. I'm looking forward to the get-together and competition!!!

Now I'm off to enter in all the PTA members into the database on my computer. Oh, did I not mention I do that, too???

Yearbook Yourself!

Alright, so Steph peaked my curiosity! Here are some pics of me from this site:

I'm not going to post all the years.......but they pic are too funny!!

I actually really LIKE this last one above...what do you all think??

And, without further ado....JON!

Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha!!!