Caterpillar, anyone?

Today the kids had a jolly ol' time hunting caterpillars with their neighborhood friends. The hunt wasn't too challenging since they were EVERYWHERE!





I stole these cute pictures from my bloggin buddy, Kristin. Thanks for always having the camera ready!

Important Steps to Avoid Swine Flu

Don't do this!

*This came from an email from my brother. Too funny to not post!

We hit the JACKPOT!

Today we received a wonderful package in the mail from my brother and his girlfriend. Ashton was the lucky one that was home (and not sleeping) at the time of delivery. I think he felt like it was a little "taste" of heaven! The package was FILLED with St. Louis Cardinals Pez Dispensors, Pop Rocks, Mentos Gum, GIANT Cheetos, booger/soap/earwax flavored Jelly Beans (yum yum), batteries (Energizer, of course), Wet Ones (we are slobs), Oreo Sticks, and the list goes on. Thank you guys. Oh - and don't tell Brinley that she had a bag of Giant Cheetos.

Strike a Pose!

Today I asked Brinley to stand still so I could take some pictures of her. She decided to "pose" for me.




Brinley Elise - 2.5 years old

Uno - Dos - Tres!

Today Ashton lost his 3rd tooth. This was a MAJOR feat for him. The only part he likes about having a loose tooth is the potential for some moolah when it's all said and done. We tried for DAYS to get this tooth out with no luck. Then Ashton decided to visit our next door neighbor to seek some help. She has been the only person who can get his teeth out without a major panic attack. Once again, she was successful and the tooth came flying out. She is now 3 for 3! Thank you neighbor!

Service Day Part I (In the Beginning)

For Stake Service Day our ward decided to organize a food drive for the local food pantry, The Amen House. They asked each family in the ward to help participate. Our assignment was to deliver bags with flyers attached to a number of houses in our neighborhood. A few days later we were asked to go around to the same houses and pick up the filled bags. The boys had such a wonderful time participating in this service project. It was a great experience. We even received help from the neighborhood kids in helping deliver the bags/flyers.

Here are a couple of pictures of the boys delivering the bags.

Service Day Part II (The Collection)

Today was the day we were to go pick up the donated bags of food/toiletries. We began on our street only to be met by another family in the Ward. They obviously wake up much earlier than we do on Saturdays and had already completed their assigned streets. The kids had so much fun doing this service project. Once our streets were completed, we drove over to the other side of the neighborhood and met up with one more family from the ward. With all 3 families working together we were able to knock it out lightning fast. It was really fun watching all the children working together to get the job done.

Once we gathered all the food we drove it all over to the church where they separated it into different categories and got it ready to deliver to the food pantry.

Thanks to all who participated - whether by helping organize the routes, print the flyers, deliver the bags, picking up the bags, donating the goods in the bags, sorting, etc. It was much appreciated.

"To serve others willingly and unselfishly should be one of our greatest virtues. It is not even a matter of choice. It is an obligation, a sacred command.... "Therefore, let us serve one another with brotherly love, never tiring of the demands upon us, being patient and persevering and generous."
-Ezra Taft Benson (Thirteen President of the Church)

Waste Not, Want Not? Guess Not!

This was in the local paper this morning. After reading this, I felt very disappointed in the school's decision. Give me your take on this situation.

Father requests review of school's lunch charge policy
By Lori Kersey
Georgetown News-Graphic
4/23/09
Published: Thursday, April 23, 2009 6:15 AM EDT


Greg Plunkett thought he had the bases covered.

His daughter, a fourth-grade student at Western Elementary, needed lunch money as her account at school was overdrawn.

Pressed for time, Plunkett said he handed his daughter $2 to cover that day's meal with the intention to write a check and bring the account up to date the next day.

Instead, a cafeteria worker took the child's $2 to apply to the overdrawn account, tossed the lunch she had gathered into the trash and gave her a complementary cheese sandwich and milk.

It's Raining, It's Pouring . . . . NOT!

Today Brinley and her friend Sarah Kate were having a good time with their umbrellas. No rain, but plenty of sun to block.


Brinley


Sarah Kate


Brinley & Sarah Kate

Yum Yum

Here is the recipe for the Popcorn cake I talked about on Facebook. I got this recipe from my mom who has had it for ages. On the years that I didn't want German Chocolate cake for my birthday it was because I wanted this cake instead. This recipe is also in the GREEN Chesterfield Ward Cookbook (p. 58) for those of you who have it.


Popcorn Cake
1/2 c. butter
1/4 c. oil
1 large bag of marshmallows (small ones melt faster)
1 lb. peanuts (I don't use the entire can, but almost)
1 lb. plain M&M's
Unbuttered popped popcorn (large bowl - maybe a little more)


Melt butter, oil and marshmallows. Mix in peanuts, M&M's and popcorn. Put in a bundt pan or a 9x13" pan.

HINT: Let marshmallow mixture cool a little or the M&M's will melt.



I made this cake in a 9x13" pan. It makes them more like bars than a cake. You will notice that the marshmallow mixture was still a little to warm and the M&M's melted. That makes the cake not look at pretty, but that doesn't really matter to me!!


These are the peanuts I use. You can buy them at Wal-Mart

On this day in 1996 . . .

On this day, April 21st, 13 years ago my life changed. For the better! You see, that was the day Matt and I started dating!

I've been searching for some pictures of us during the dating phase, but I have been unsuccessful. Matty seems to be in most of the pictures . . . or JoLynn!!! LOL. I will keep looking and post them soon (hopefully!)

My, how time flies!

Goggle Baby!

This is how Brinley prefers to take her bath.

Box Tops 4 Education

Well the school year is winding down and we are still trying to gather Box Tops. Ethan's class has been doing a real good job collecting these and hopes to win a computer for their classroom if they collect the most. If you have some could you let me know? I would love for you to help Ethan's class. Here is a link to the website that lists the products that have box tops on them.
Click HERE for the list of products participating.

Take Me Out to the Ballgame!

As an incentive for children to read, there was a special promotion at school. If you read "x" number of days, you would receive 2 box seat tickets to the Lexington Legends baseball game. (The Legends are the single "A" team of the Houston Astros.) Luckily Ethan and Ashton both received the tickets so we (along with our friends) decided to go to the game. Matt was home sick so he and Brinley chilled out at home. The kids had such a great time. Our seats were perfect and the Legends actually won in extra innings. The boys were so excited that our next door neighbors came along for the fun.


The Gang

Ryan


The view from our seats

Ethan, Evan and Ashton

Ashton and Ethan

Cailey

Ethan, Evan and Ashton

You have the Right to remain SILENT!

This week at Ryan's preschool they discussed Community Helpers. So today they got to dress up as a Community Helper. Ryan wanted to dress up as Tigger and I said, "No, Tigger is not a Community Helper." Then he asked if he could be a Princess. Again my reply was "No". He then asked about dressing up as a witch. I could see we were not getting anywhere . . . so I started offering suggestions. I gave him 2 choices (don't laugh, Carmen!). He could be a policeman or an army guy. They are the only outfits I had in his size in the "community helper" department. So he picked the policeman/swat team guy. He was thrilled with the outfit and he looked as cute as ever!

Good Grief!

When I put Ryan in the bath this morning this is what I saw!!!




I guess he has seen me painting my toenails with a sharpie marker?????

Easter Sunday

Here are a couple photos from today. We should have taken the photos BEFORE church, but of course we were running late so we had to wait until AFTER church.

Our day trip to Cincinnati

Today we traveled north to visit Matthew's sister Sarah and her family. We started the day off playing frisbee and baseball. We then had a delicious BBQ'd dinner. I think it might have been the best meal I've ever had. Everything tasted so yummy. We then ventured over to their friend's house around the corner for an egg hunt. This family also joined us for dinner. The kids had a good time finding the eggs with their name on it. After the fun filled egg hunt we went back to Sarah's for a delicious dessert. The weather was great, the company was even better. Thanks guys for hosting another fantastic Easter!!


Pre-Dinner Festivities

Ethan

Brinley, Ryan and Abigail (our niece)

Brinley and Abigail

Ashton

Ashton and Abigail




The Easter Egg Hunt

Ryan

Matt & Brinley

Ella (our niece)

Brinley

Ryan and Ashton

Oh Nooooooo!

If this isn't proof that Brinley only has brothers . . .

Poor girl!