Favorite Fridays

Sometimes we all have "bad mommy days"! Those days when you worry about your kids. You might wonder if you are patient enough, or too patient. If you have taught them the things they will need to be successful in this world, but not given them too much information. You might worry if you are feeding them the best food, making them feel loved, keeping the house clean, laundry done, and

bla bla bla.

The best cure I've found when I have a "bad mommy day" is to just sit down with the kids, and create something together. We all have busy hands, but our minds are free. This is the best time for us to share deeper thoughts with each other, and reconnect on a deeper level. This week we made a "Thanksgiving centerpiece". It was a fun little project, but it ended up taking up our entire table, hahaha.

 1. Have your kids gather 10 sticks from the backyard.

 2. Let them paint the sticks any color. (each of ours are a different color)

 3. let the kids help you cut out circles, and glue the circles onto a plate.

 4. Paint the letters for "GIVE THANKS" on your circles. We decided to cut some of the letters out instead of painting them:)

5. Tape the painted sticks to the back of the plates. Find 10 containers, and stick your signs in them.

There you go!

You will get a cute craft for your table, quality time with your kids, and that "good Mommy" feeling again;)

favorite friday

Yummies!

Need I say more?

You really can't go wrong with Chocolate dipped....anything!

So have fun with it. Get wild. make a mess. And enjoy:)



Tooth Fairy

Here's a question for you. How much does the tooth fairy leave your kids?

This is the short version of Carter losing his first tooth.

Me at gym, kids at Aunties house.

Bathroom in use (by Carter).

Carter wiggling tooth...while working on other things;)

Tooth comes out.

Auntie hears "Aaaaa, it's bloody" and yelling...from the bathroom.

Auntie opens bathroom door to find undressed boy, and bloody tooth in his hand.

Yikes, that was a bit dramatic me thinks.

That night Mom and Dad fall asleep watching movie before tooth fairy arrives.

Lot's of sleeping.

Mom wakes up (6:00 am) to sad little Carter saying the tooth fairy couldn't come because he was awake all night.

Mom convinces Carter to go to sleep.

Tooth fairy made it.

Every one is happy.

Hair CUT!

Craig and I seem to have this continual disagreement regarding hair.

He likes it SHORT, and I like it long:)

Such is true when it comes to both myself, and our children.

Benson's hair had gotten pretty long, and started looking a little shaggy around his ears, so I decided it was time for "a LITTLE trim"...my words exactly.

Craig was home, and he is our resident Barber (most of the time, but sometimes I'll get brave and do it myself...and that can be scary!), so I got everything set up for him.

tall chair...check

towel...check

buzzers ready with Longest attachment available...check

comb...check

water bottle...check

scissors...check

baby stripped down to diaper...check

strawberry sucker...check

We were all set, but my phone began to ring, so I ran out real fast to grab it. I made the call short, because I didn't want to miss the action. I walked back in the make-shift "Barber shop" just in time....in time to see Craig buzz right down the middle with the SHORTEST attachment!

Ahhhhh! Stooooop......too late.

Before

After

Still, He is so so super cute, and I just want to eat his little cheeks, but I miss his long strawberry blond hair. It's amazing how your baby can turn into a little boy in a matter of minutes!

He looks SO much older to me, and I think that is really the part I don't like.

Favorite Fridays

I'm always looking for yummy, easy, fast recipes to add to my collection...aren't you?

We ended up with a BUNCH of Utah Peaches this year (Soooo juicy and delicious!)

We (and when I say we, I actually do mean WE. As in Craig and Myself...isn't that awesome! Mr. Hall scores major points with me for helping out in the kitchen:)) bottled a bunch, ate a bunch fresh (with cream and sugar..YUM), and froze the other bunch. I am normally NOT a fan of any kind of fruit pie, cobbler, and anything of the sort. But, I'm here to say, I am a changed woman.

I found this spectacular peach cobbler recipe, and the best part...It is SOOO easy!

It's awesome for the times I have company coming over, and just changed a ripe diaper with super power strength oder, and I need to cover it up FAST (not that we have ever done that of course).

I just whip this baby together and pop it in the oven. by the time they come my home smells heavenly, and if they stick around, they even get to leave with a tasty treat in their belly.

So, here it is:

Easy Peach Cobbler

serves 10 (I half it)

1/2 C. unsalted butter

1 C. all purpose flour

2 C. sugar, divided

1Tbs. baking powder

pinch of salt

1 C. milk

4 C. peaches

1 Tbs. lemon juice

Ground cinnamon or nutmeg

1. Melt butter in a 9x13 baking dish

2. combine flour. 1 C. sugar, baking powder, and salt; add milk, stirring just until dry ingredients are moist. Pour batter over butter (do not stir)

3. Bring remaining 1 C. sugar, peach slices, and lemon juice to a boil over high heat, stirring constantly; pour over batter (do not stir), sprinkle with cinnamon or nutmeg.

4. Bake @375 for 40-45 minutes, or until golden brown. serve cobbler warm or cold with ice cream or whipped cream.

*note: instead of doing step 3, I use a bag of my frozen peaches. I just spread them out over the batter, and sprinkle the cinnamon on top

I hope you get a chance to make something yummy this weekend, and get to eat it with great company:)

Bear World

 The other day we decided to to take the kids to Yellow stone, since we live 2 hours away, and they have never been. We packed up the cooler, and hit the road. We were in for a long, fun, day in the car, looking for animals in the wild.

20 minets down the road...it started.

"Mom, are we almost there?", then "How much longer do we have to be in the car?", and "this isn't any fun!", repeated several times.

We soon passed a fun little place called "Bear world", I said jokingly to Craig "we should just go there, and tell them it's Yellow Stone". we looked at each other, and realized we were thinking the same thing.

BRILLIANT!

Carter was our Animal photographer for the day.

We saw wolves, bears, moose, dear, elk, Buffalo, baby dear, and lots more.

I have to say, It was the best day trip to Yellow Stone I've ever had;)

Pumpkin Patch

 We have this fun little pumpkin patch in town called Swore Farms, and it's a must every year!  They change it up each year, so I never know what exactly we are going to find, but it's always loads of fun. This year they had a couple different versions of  the "corn maze", and the the real thing. Carter was a school, and Craig was at work, so it was just me, Benson and Layla....and Layla's entire preschool:)

On another note, we took family pictures here 2 years ago, and they turned out super cute!

 They had a bunch of these cute little picture areas set up all around, and who can resist smashing their face in a little hole?

 This is Laylas' Preschool teacher "Mrs. Jen". She is also my first Cousin.

 In this picture you can see the "tape maze" (I don't know what it's really called) behind the kids. This one was the funniest, because the kids would just run right under the tape. Layla made it through in record time and said, "Wow, that was SO easy!" haha. One advantage of being short!

 The Start

 I bought these adorable rain boots for Layla at a yard sale, but I was thinking we would wait a year or so until they actually fit her....she didn't like that idea. They are about 3 sized too big, and slush around with each step she takes, but she still feels the love for them...go figure.



Ok, so my camera has started doing this thing randomly where the pictures turn out like this (see above picture). It's like the shutter isn't closing all the way...or something, I don't know, but it's annoying.

Also, Benson's face in this picture kind of has a devilish look, don't ya think?

(there I go, leaving a question at the end of my post again:) )

ps. is again spelled wrong? I don't know how else to spell it, but the spell checker is having a fit!