Today.

Today was church.

Choir afterwards, with talk of Christmas program.

A short walk with Emily and Matt while waiting for our ride.

The weather was BEAUTIFUL! Leaves in a gentle wind blowing off of trees and swirling to the ground; blue sky behind puffy white clouds; temperature crisp, but not chilly; Delicious!

Home again, home again, jiggity jig. :)

Dinner: fried rice. A combined effort: I made the rice, Steve seasoned and finished it.

A walk. The weather was a bit cooler, and grey clouds looked a bit threatening, but it never rained and Steve and I got in a nice, loooonnnnnnggggg walk up in the foothills. I was ready to do it all over again once we hit the pavement. I think walks are one of my favoritest things ever.

Then home to eat some more Halloween candy.... I will really need to go on a diet after all the chocolate I ate. YUM!

Hanging out. TV watching. Computer. Homework. Playing. Talking on the phone.

Baby Aiden's bath. Steve helped (can you ever have enough hands to bath a baby?!) He smelled deliciousl :) Then a warm bottle and bed for baby.

More hanging out.
Winding down.
Hopefully bed and sleep come soon.


Hope your day was wonderful too! :)

Halloween!!

My kids had such a great time with Halloween this year.

Poor Karen and Josh had to work today, so Aiden got to spend his first Halloween with Grandma & Grandpa. Karen was really bummed, and asked me to please celebrate with him. I told her that we'd take him Trick or Treating with Michael. :)



This costume was first worn by his daddy way back in 1990. :) It was then worn by just about each of the kids in turn. Now it has started on the grandkids. I wonder how long this outfit will last?! I have certainly gotten my money's worth out of it. He was such a cute little leopard! :)

And these characters are Emily, Michael, and Matt.



Emily said that she didn't know who she was, and that this was just a random costume. I think she looks like she is straight out of a Dr. Seuss book! :) Michael was Harry Potter, complete with the scar, however, he did not like the Harry Potter glasses and opted for his own shades to complete his costume instead. :) Matt worked on his costume throughout the week, putting this robe with that mask. (I have a wicker hamper full of costumes collected through the years that my kids get to choose from for Halloween. We add to it as the we find something cool. :) He chose to be "Death", A.K.A. The Grim Reaper, and then one day added the hat just to be funny. It was the creepiest thing ever!! So he decided to stick with it. He loved his costume... until he made two little kids run away crying. Then he said he "felt like a jerk". Poor kid. He is such a good person and loves kids.

Jared won 3rd in Improptu and 3rd in Congress today at a Speech and Debate competition. He is really talented and loves competing. Great job, Jared!! :)

And Amber worked at both of her jobs today. She started at a sandwich shop today and loved it. Yay! And she also works in a local restaurant. She is preparing to move out in January if everything goes well. She is done with all of her high school credits (she is a senior) except needing 1 term of English 11 that she needs to repeat; she didn't do so well with it when she got mono last year. After that, she is finished with high school and is free to just concentrate on her culinary arts class. I'm so proud of her hard work! She is doing so well.

Josh got a raise last week. Yay!! And Karen is working her tail off trying to get her diploma with her class this year. Lots of hard work, but she is doing great!

How blessed am I?! :)

Happy Halloween to all of you!

Great ideas!!

I really love the blog Be Different... Act Normal! She must scour the web for the cutest crafts and recipes! These are some of my favorites from her more recent ideas: (don't worry about clicking on the link and losing my blog! A new window will apear for each link :)

Acorn Treats (nilla wafers, hershey kisses, and a dab of icing for the "stem". Whoda thunk it up??

These nachos would be a hit at my house!! Seven layer been dip Halloween style!

Witch leg decorations, super cute! My favorite is the ribbon leg door decoration. :)

And of course we need to have some *healthy* Halloween treats too!

And who could resist these cinnamon swirl pancakes with buttermilk syrup?? I want to try these... and SOON!

Happy Halloween!

Tuesday the 19th: Going through old pictures :)

Today was my Monday since the kids were out of school yesterday. Today I had high hopes of getting my house in order.... nope, didn't happen. Oh well. I'll try again tomorrow. :)

Tomorrow is the 15th Anniversary of the day Steve & I got engaged, and remembering that fact got me excited to go through pictures. I even scanned in a few. :) We had a whirlwind courtship. We met September 9th; our first date was September 16th; engaged on October 20th; married on November 22nd. WHEW!

This was at Steve's grandma's house the night before our wedding (the photographer - I think Steve's mom - caught Steve mid bite lol!):



And after the ceremony, before the reception:



I had three kids from a previous marriage:



Josh was nearly 5, Amber was barely 3, and Jared was 20 months. Josh was so excited about us getting married. Right after the wedding ceremony, he looked up at Steve and said, "Hi Dad". :)

Tonight as we were on our walk, as he said things I would think, "Yep, that is one of the reasons I married him." :)

Today I've felt a bit "off". Not really sick, but just feeling kind of yucky, know what I mean? Hopefully I'll feel better tomorrow because not only is it a Special Day with getting Engaged 15 years ago, but it is also PayDay ... which means it is also Bill Day. We just get it in our hands long enough to pass it along to someone else. haha! (do you ever feel like that too?!)

Take care of yourself and I'll talk to you again soon! :)

Saturday, October 16

Today looked a lot like:

Steve installing a fan in the bathroom (thanks, Sweetie)

Emily & Matt going to cousins

Jared waking up early to help a neighbor sod their lawn, doing work for aunt & uncle, and then dashing over to mow another neighbor's lawn

Amber hanging out with friends and then going to work

Melody going to a For Every Home party (if you look and find something you like let me know and I'll let my lady know to order it for you :), taking goats to be bred, being a chauffeur and a facilitator for all

Home again, home again, jiggity jig :)

Wacky Chocolate Cake Recipe

Many, many years ago I was introduced to a really yummy and easy to make cake. Years later I found the same cake in an Amish cookbook called a "Wacky Cake". This cake is such a great one and has served me well! Today I am baking this same cake for a funeral for a man in my church, and I thought I'd share the recipe with you. :)

Preheat oven to 350*.
You can mix everything up in the same pan you intend to bake the cake in (You don't have to grease the pan for this cake!), or use a separate mixing bowl, which is what I do.

* 3 Cups Flour
* 2 Cups Sugar
* 6 Tablespoons Cocoa
* 2 teaspoons Baking Soda
* 1 teaspoon Salt
* 2 Tablespoons Vinegar
* 3/4 Cup Salad Oil
* 2 teaspoons Vanilla
* 2 Cups Water

Stir well and make it smooth. Bake for 35 minutes in a 9x13" cake pan.

Enjoy! :)

Wednesday Oct 13th

I keep thinking that I will write when I have something interesting to say.... boy I've been quiet, haven't I?!

Lots of disappointments in my life right now... I'll skip over those.

I have started working on Aiden's quilt (it is for Christmas shhhhh :). It is coming along quite nicely.

And I got all of Amber's Christmas presents already. Yay! And I've got a present or two for everyone else, too. :) Shopko had a really great sale, so I took full advantage of it!

And Steve & I have been taking a hike every evening. I'd call it a walk, but it is a walk in the foothills that we live near, so it is more of a hike. :) I really love getting away from time into the outdoors as often as I can.

In the next day or two you will be seeing a picture or two of Amber. Her birthday is tomorrow, and she will be 18! Another one grown. Time flies when you're having fun. :)

A success of the day is that I got the picture from my give away a few months ago sent out in the mail to Joy, Coffee Bean, Tammy, and Becca. Let me know that you receive them alright, would you ladies?

I think I'm going to hit the hay now. It has been the first calm moment of the day. It was end of term for my 3 public school teens today, so last night we were up until 1 am and then back up at 6. I've said it before, but I mean it when I say the old grey mare ain't what she used to be. ;)

Take care of yourselves and I'll see you at your blog tomorrow. If you are a lurker, please let me know you are here and leave a link to your blog; I can never have too many bloggy buddies. :)
<3

Silent Sunday (w/ Aiden) - 10/10/10

After his bath, as he lay on the changing table looking at Emily I remembered that I hadn't taken a picture of his cute teeth, so I had to remedy that. :)



He now has all four teeth on top and two on the bottom. He got all four top teeth all at once! Look at those little pearls:


And they are always so sweet when they are asleep, aren't they?


I hope that you have had a wonderful weekend. :) Happy 10/10/10!

What is on my digital picture frame right now

I'm going to be making a calendar from the pics that I took over the course of the year. Yay! :) I've been wanting to do it for a while now, but I think I'm finally ready. Soooo..... I've put up my favorite photos on my digital photo frame to see if I still love them after looking at them a lot.

Here are the pics on the frame:

I forgot this one and need to add it!:

























(Steve took this one :)







I'll be going through my pics and see if there is any more that I want to add. If so, I'll share them with you so that you can see. :)