chirp chirp

Have you ever had an awkward pause in a conversation where you could
have sworn you heard crickets chirping? Now you can ACTUALLY hear
crickets chirping. Check this out. theCRICKETtoy™ is for any awkward pause.


Right now, some awkward situation is probably running through your mind. And if your family is anything like mine, the upcoming holidays should provide countless opportunities for this little green guy to interject a chirp or two.


theCRICKETtoy™ was created by my hubby (and I am so proud of him!). He has several awkward videos posted here and you can buy your own cricket on his website. Matter of fact, it would make the ideal stocking stuffer for the teen in your life. Everyone knows they are full of awkward moments…


P.S. I told him I would help him get the word out, so feel free to copy and paste this entry in your blog and ask your readers to buy a toy and put this entry in their blog. I want to see just how many blogs we can get this on! I think we've got the next “pet rock” so be a part of creating a cultural phenomenon (and help me pay my mortgage :) )!

Trick or Trot

My neighbor and I have been consumed with the Trick or Trot. We ambitiously took on starting a fun run fundraiser at our girls' elementary school. Since it's the first year for it, we had to get EVERYTHING figured out. It was a lot of work but a ton of fun too. The run was during the school day on halloween...and it turned out great!!! And although we don't have the money in hand yet, the pledges taken were over DOUBLE what our goal was!!!! We are so proud AND relieved! It was super fun - but we are glad it's over!

 

 

 

 

Halloween

We had a blast this year! We have started a tradition in our culdesac. We all throw our candy in a big pot in the middle and set up tables with TONS of food - chili, sandwiches, chips, and lots of desserts! The all just hang out and take shifts taking the kids trick or treating. We have SO much fun and the kids love running around like crazy (it runs a little of the sugar off)! Gisele looked beautiful and Cruella was hilarious! We also had a cat, witch, angels, tinkerbell, a ladybug and bumblebee, a ninja and a whole star wars family (including baby yoda!).

 

 

 

 

so maybe I'm biased...

BUT...my girls are TOO cute! One of our neighbors is a fabulous photographer. We had a "portrait playdate" with a couple of our neighbors and got some great shots! Check out just a few...










If you ever need a photographer, look up jonathancampbellphotography.com - he's amazing and great to work with!

Are you ready to PARTAY!!!

obviously I haven't blogged in a while...LIFE!
We've had a FUN couple of weeks. Especially this last week - we have been doing some MAJOR partying! We had 3 parties this week - Pump It Up with Aubrey,
Build A Bear with Mayson
and Glow Galaxy with Carson
- is that fun or what?! :)

Disney on Ice

Last week D and I went to see Disney on Ice at the Sommet center. It was a blast! She loved it...her favorite of course was "Kachow" (that's Lightening McQueen) and Mater from Cars. We also got to see Ariel, Lion King friends, Tinkerbell and the fairies and Mickey, Minnie, Donald and Goofy. She got a Kachow hat that came along with her blue cotton candy - and she was pumped! She even slept with the hat for the next couple of nights! :) K got to see the show the next night with her friend Bella (and she got to spend the night with Bella - major big girl stuff!). It was a fun night for all (including me)!

bonjour bed

Dakota has decided her bed is not good enough for "happy nappy". So she's decided to sleep in the closet. We hung a blanket from the clothes bar and hooked it to the door so it looks like a canopy. She thinks it looks like Fancy Nancy's bed so she calls it her "bonjour bed". Jeff decided to try it out with her the other day...

Dakota's first day

Dakota started school this week. She's going 9-2 on Tues and Thurs. and she absolutely LOVES it! She asks every morning if she gets to go see Mrs. Sherry. She has several friends in her class that she already knew. She was really excited that she got to be the line leader and earned a "monkey treat" on the first day!

Labor Day

We had a great Labor Day weekend...nothing much...just hanging out!
It was great! We had a cookout with neighbors on Monday. All the kids played in the sprinklers and had a ton of fun! and the best part??? It's FALL!!!

haircut

Karis got a haircut last week...a MAJOR haircut - no trim here! We just decided it was time to bite the bullet especially with school. She loved her long hair but it was getting to be a pain to wash/dry/comb so she decided she wanted it short (to her shoulders). SO...we did it! Actually Rachel did it :) And she did a great job!
And now Karis looks all grown up! She really does look a lot different. It'll take me a while to get used to it...it's very cute and I do love it short but I sometimes miss that beautiful long hair!

married

ok...so Dakota's new thing is "getting married".
Up until Sat anytime she was asked who she was going to marry she would say "Daddy."
But Sat, my brother (Uncle Dave), came in town and, as always, won her over. She absolutely LOVES Dave and talks about him constantly. So, after asking him to make her a bunk bed (so her "puppies can sleep on top"), she told him she was going to marry him.
And then tonight she let me know she has a new plan:
D: Can God help me carry my room?
me: ummm...well, where do you want to take your room?
D: to a new house when me and turner get married
me: oh really?
D: yes...I'm going to marry Turner at McDonald's

So what do you think McD's would charge?

The beginning of the next 13 years

Well...this morning we started a routine that will continue for the next 13 years! K went to her first full day of Kindergarten. Over the past couple days she has said she's excited but still a little nervous. But she did great today! She had SO much fun and was WIRED when she got home. We have started a "couch talk" time as soon as she gets home. We all sit on the couch and she tells us all about her day. We want to keep her talking to us for as long as we can! :) The only thing she's having trouble with is that she has to go 5 days a week - she said, "mom, do I have to do this EVERY day?" I think last week's two half days were really good for us all. Karis got used to her class and seemed really comfortable going in today. And Jeff and I both seemed to handle today pretty well. Jeff ended up playing golf in the MWS?DCTalk tournament after I went to coffee with Rachel. It was our "mourning morning". We actually wrote prayer cards out (scriptures to pray for our girls this year). It was the perfect way to begin the school year for me. My baby girl is growing up and I have to keep reminding myself that she is not MINE! It's hard to imagine that God loves her even more than I do!

first "almost" day of school

Don't know exactly when to say K's first day of Kindergarten really is...she had a camp day last week (only half a day as a group - not her teacher). Today she had her first real half day - in her classroom! So I guess this was her first day...except she only went half a day and goes half a day on Thur. So not really...
(I think I may be in denial!)
Her teacher's name is Ms. Hardison. She is GREAT! And K had a fantastic time today. Jeff had a bit of a hard time this morning dropping her off - but we got to stay in the room at first and do a little scavenger hunt with K to help break the ice and get her aquainted with the room. Here are a few pics...but of course I forgot to take one of K and Ms. H. So maybe on her REAL first day... :)

Do NOT try this at home...

ok...if you are on a diet...definitely don't make this!
I found a recipe (on a SUPER cool site - sugar plum for a brownie to DIE for! Make sure to stick them in the freezer for a little while before eating one. I know...that sounds crazy! Normally brownies are really only good right out of the oven - but trust me on this one...

Oreo Cream Cheese-Swirled Brownies (Recipe by Emiline from sugar plum)

Ingredients:
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
3/4 cup granulated sugar
8 ounces (1 package) cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup confectioners' sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened dark cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon salt (scant)
2 large eggs
1 1/3 cups coarsely chopped Oreo cookies

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line an 8x8-inch square baking dish with foil; coat foil with cooking spray.

Melt the butter in a small saucepan, over medium heat. Whisk in sugar and bring to a boil, whisking frequently; boil 1 minute. Set aside to cool for 5 minutes.

In a small mixing bowl, using a mixer on medium speed, beat together cream cheese, confectioners' sugar and vanilla extract, until well combined, about 1 minute.

In a medium sized mixing bowl, sift together flour, cocoa powder and salt; whisk until combined.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together eggs, until combined. Whisk in melted butter-sugar mixture until well combined. Stir in flour mixture until just combined, followed by Oreo cookies.

Spread half of brownie batter into baking dish, followed by cream cheese layer; dot the top with remaining brownie batter, and spread evenly, as best as you can. Run a knife through batter to make "swirls".
Bake at 350 degrees F, for 23-25 minutes. Cool on a wire rack to room temperature before slicing. Lift foil out of baking dish, and slice into 9 bars. For easier slicing, try freezing the brownies for 30-60 minutes.

"disgusting bird"

Jeff's parents were in the area on a fam tour this week...so we got to go with them to Kentucky Down Under (not as redneck as it sounds :)). It is a zoo-like park in Horse Cave KY that focuses on the culture and animals of Australia. So we got to see kangaroos, dingos, wallabes, lories, sheep, emu and cocatoos. We got to watch them herd sheep, tour a cave, mine for gold, play a digeridoo, milk a cow, pet kangaroos and emus and feed lories (which landed on our heads!). We had a blast! But I think the girls favorite part was the "disgusting bird", the cocatoo. When we first got there, he was having lunch:

miss this

Have I mentioned that K starts Kindergarten next week? Still don't want to talk about it...esp when watching this makes me want to go wake her up from her nap and just hold her because I can do that at 2 in the afternoon still...

the fair

Last night we headed off the to County Fair. It was blazin hot but we had a ton of fun! We got there right at 5 and it was the perfect time...there was NO ONE there! We had every ride to ourselves (thank you to the neighbors who gave us unlimited ride passes! woohoo!) and ran thru our favorite things more than once!
They loved the Little Farming exhibit where they could plant, harvest, milk a cow, take food to the market and then (the best part) buy ice cream with their earned money! They also had a little teacup ride - so we had a reminiscent moment with daddy about getting sick at Disney (they think that's SO funny!) Dakota's favorite ride was the Rockin Tug boat - she thought that was the greatest! She looked SO cute up there...it was a huge boat and each time they rode it they were all by themselves. She would raise her hands and scream! She's just like her mama! As it was getting dark, Karis said..."Mom, don't you think the best part of the fair is when it is dark and all the lights come on? It's so beautiful!" She's so right and just to prove it off we went to the ferris wheel which we LOVED!
Check out the slideshow...

ok...how cool is this? My sweet friend, Laura, wrote about this today and I just had to try it. Basically this program takes your blog and creates a collage (check it out - wordle.net). So this is our summer in a nutshell:


title="Wordle: summer"> src="http://wordle.net/thumb/wrdl/105550/summer"
style="padding:4px;border:1px solid #ddd">

a flower for you

"I picked this for you mom!"

this photo is in a contest on the 5 Minutes for Mom blog.

last "official" week of summer

can you believe that summer is almost over? we've stared the last week before school (K is starting Kindergarten - let's not talk about that right now...). so we've been doing fun summer stuff - basically just playing! Playing in the pool, with neighborhood friends; we went bowling; picking blueberries (again!); and the list goes on...
here are a couple pics from the last week:
tickle time with daddy


neighborhood friends


bowling fun: we had a great time - and Chlo won (she's really good)!

this might take you back...

how many dances do you know? :)

not afraid of the rain

So it's been a little overcast the past two days...pretty rainy actually. But that's not keeping us indoors!

Yesterday we went to the pool in the morning (it was overcast but not raining when we went) and, of course, about 30 min after we got there is started pouring. Since they were already wet, I let them swim in the rain (until it started thundering)...but Dakota decided she really needed her new umbrella (from Gamma). Hysterical!

Today we went to the Farmer's Market and then decided to surprise the girls and go pick our own blueberries. It rained this morning so the branches had rain on them - needless to say we were pretty wet by the time we came out of the field. And both girls were not so happy about their shoes and feet being wet and dirty. BUT...it was a lot of fun and we got 2.5 pounds of blueberries that are DELISH!

YUMMY!

Okay so if you've ever had Nutella...then you know that ANYTHING you could possibly make with it would be delish. Funny thing is, with all the baking I do, I've never made more than a s'more with it (Partially because it's so good by itself I didn't feel the need). BUT I found a recipe for cupcakes with Nutella and just HAD to try it! So I made a couple little tweaks and voila - YUMMY!

Nutella cupcakes

10 tbsp butter, softened
3/4 cup white sugar
3 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 3/4 cups sifted all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
Nutella (about 1/2 cup)

Preheat oven to 325F. Line 12 muffin tins with paper liners.
Cream butter and sugar until light (about 2 minutes). Add in eggs one at a time (wait at least a minute between each). Add vanilla. Stir in flour, salt and baking powder.
Fill each muffin liner with batter about 3/4 full. Top each cake with 1 tsp Nutella. Swirl Nutella in with a toothpick or fork.
Bake for 18 minutes.

Birthday Questions

On each birthday we video the girls amd ask them questions. Although it's only been a few years, it's fun to compare answers and see how much they've grown and changed. Here are a few of the questions from Dakota's 3rd..

For real

Aunt Sandie took Dakota to Target to pick out her birthday present. And since she is SO into baby dolls, she went directly to the doll aisle. She picked out one of the first ones she saw (had on a blue outfit) and decided that was it! Sandie, in an effort to get her to at least look at other things, told her, "well, that baby doll pees - why don't we look at some others?" Of course, Dakota thought that was fantastic and wouldn't even look at anything else. And through the rest day, kept asking "where is my baby that pees?" and telling everyone she saw that she has a "baby that pees FOR REAL!" She even told a lady in the parking lot. To top it off, when we took the baby out of the box and started to diaper and rediaper - we found out the baby is a BOY!

Pensacola

We had a great time at the waterpark...D LOVED the big waterslide (she wasn't quite big enough but they let her go down with me).



And we had some dancing time with Mema and Papa.