March Birthday fun Friday night with a concert with friends and celebrated Brooklyn turning 4 at Discovery Center. We loved the Dinosaur exhibits and playing around on Saturday. We ended our weekend with "SAND LOADS" of fun working on our barn. We shoveled about 5 hours worth of sand filling our 4 horse stalls. The doors got put up before we could use the tractor to spread it, luxury of Jeff being out of town. Great news though, he'll be in Canyon/Amarillo area most of the summer!

Kids in The Kitchen

Wouldn't be Valentine's around my house without a few special treats and it's even more special having the kids join the FUN!

Valentine Chex Mix

Box of Honey Nut or Rice Chex cereal

1 cup white vanilla baking chips (Blaine keeps asking where I put the leftover bag)

1/2 cup peanut butter

1/2 cup butter

3/4 cup powdered sugar

1/2 cup of Valentine M&M's

1/4 cup of sprinkles

Directions:

In a small bowl, place baking chips, peanut butter and butter and melt in microwave for 1 minute and 30 seconds. Stirring every 20 seconds until melted and smooth. Pour box of cereal in a large bowl or container and pour butter mixture over cereal, stirring until evenly coated.

Place 1/2 the mixture in a large zip lock bag and add powdered sugar. Seal bag and toss until evenly coated. Spread on wax paper or foil and let sit for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, stir in candies and sprinkles into remaining cereal in your container or large bowl. Mix well and spread on waxed paper or foil to cool for 15 minutes. Mix both cereal mixtures together and store in airtight container.

Brooke took this to her school party with a wooden spoon and valentine ziplock baggies (Dollar Store) so everyone could take a spoonful home as their Valentine Treat.

SNOW DAY = LOTS OF FUN

Spent the day sledding with cousins! Here's a cute picture of Crockett & Blaine (little dare devils)We worked up an appetite and ate at Jorge's Mexican Restaurant...yummy... tried out the new 4WD in an empty parking lot doing a few donuts! Upon returning home and putting on dry clothes, the kids filled a bowl with fresh snow and we made Homemade Snow Ice Cream! It was a great Wednesday.

Castle Time

We created a castle over the weekend for Brooke's 3rd grade school project. One of her favorite TV shows is Ace of Cakes and Cake Boss. Poor Blaine, his sister talks the show up like, "Blaine they are going to make a space ship out of cake" so I think he's just as hooked as she is now. So, we got some ideas from the show and decided to tackle our castle "Cake Boss Style".

First, we took 25 rice crispies and molded them, cut them, shaped them, colored them and about 100 toothpicks later - Walla!

The castle gate is made from Popsicle sticks painted brown and glued together.

Drawbridge is held up with paperclips and string.

Can you find the queen of the castle? We taped a picture of Brooke in the window of the "Tower" made of marshmallow.

Flagpole was made with dad's creative pocket knife work.

Blaine helped paint the water and make the crocodile. What's a castle without a crocodile right! It was a fun project and smelled Delicious!

New Year

My New Year started off with a NEW RING and I couldn't have been more surprised. I lost my ring in my apartment 5 months ago and searched high & low only to finally admit it was LOST...I wore an old fake one for the longest and hated it...just felt wrong? Jeff took the kids shopping and they presented it to me the morning of Christmas Eve. I love it! If I find my old one I plan to do something really special with it for Brooke's 16th birthday? Mom put her rings together and made me a pendant that I absolutely love and gave it to me for my 21st birthday. I still remember it and love something old turned into something new. Maybe why I love painting furniture so much...
Staying busy with the house so - in less than 90 days - we hope to be moving in. Starting the barn this week and Jeff decided to put a shower in it? To wash the dogs and horse blankets...really? I'll be washing them and a water house would've worked just fine and not have to clean another shower? Making decisions on the house has really surprised me - I usually over analyze everything - but with the house it has been easy. Sheryl - my Amarillo Mom that I've adopted - aka Shane Woodard's mom - is my go to girl on my final color combinations since Jeff is color blind. I'll picture something in my head, run it by her and she helps make it happen. Having someone like her at this final stage is a blessing! We finish each others sentences and I just love her.
Cabinets are being stained, lights and appliances have been ordered, paint has been picked out and I'm thinking of painting a wall ZEBRA in my laundry room? I know crazy right....but cannot wait to move in!

OBD!!!

OBD - Oh Breaking Dawn, are you ever going to be here??? I think I'll re-read the book after my friend Tracy sent me this picture. It's not from the "movie" but I can imagine some beach scenes now.....

Back to BootCamp

Fall is here and I am getting back into our routines since school started. Our weekly practices now include 2 hours Basketball. Homework luckily hasn't been so bad but heard 4th and 5th grade is a whole new ballgame. Our dinners have been on the fly lately so eating healthy is not working out for me. I try to get my good healthy meal in for lunch and totally bomb with my dinner choice (Sonic and Taco Villa).

I got a bright idea that I would get back to my BootCamp routine this week as we have mostly been doing the 5k workout the past few months. Cardio is great but the muscle and fitness challenge was missed, WELL UNTIL THIS MORNING.

My Morning Recap: I woke up this morning with a little soreness in some muscles I haven’t used in a while.

Then, reality hits, I raise to get out of bed and have a flashback of SUMO something I hope to never see again….

It hurts to squat to the sitting position, once I have finally made it to my chair,

I find “relief” and hope I don’t have to get up anytime soon…