Sienna's first day of school....

I realized I didn't post about Sienna's first day of school yet and for my journal purposes gotta get these pictures in here...

Sienna LOVES school. She asks me everyday if today is a school day and if I say yes she squeals with delight...

Here are a few pictures from her first day....she is growing up way too fast! :(

If you are wondering what important necessities she might have in her purse for the first day of school..let me tell you...lipgloss, (of course) her phone, her sunglasses and her keys...you just never know when you might need any of these items on the first day of school. No to the backpack.. purses are way better. :)

Yummo Popcorn Treat

So my kiddo's and I were wanting to make a yummy Sunday night treat tonight so we made this yummy popcorn treat and it was a hit...the kids said it was the best thing they had ever tasted so I thought I would post the recipe for you all...
I am sure you could make many different variations of this that would be yummy too...




2 bags butter microwave popcorn
1 bag white chocolate chips (Guittard works great)
3/4 cup mini milk chocolate chips (I actually didn't use these)
1/2 - 3/4 cup Heath toffee bits (I used the regular ones and the milk chocolate covered ones)

Pop popcorn in microwave - remove any unpopped kernels. Place in a large bowl. Melt white chocolate chips in a glass bowl in the microwave on 70% power. Cook for one minute, stir the chips, then microwave for another 30 seconds on 70% power if needed. Stir until the chocolate is smooth. Drizzle chocolate over popcorn then gently stir to coat all the popcorn evenly. Sprinkle on the mini chips and the toffee bits. Fold in gently. Spread out popcorn on a cookie sheet to dry.

You could probably make these into popcorn balls really easy too.....

Halloween Time

October...once I decide to let summer go I end up loving October...fall fills the air...

The leaves start changing in my backyard....

I start baking everything pumpkin...we pull out the jeans and sweaters....and Halloween...

I love Halloween. As the years go by I love it more and more.

The excitement of the kids makes it so much fun. Trick or Treating....it brings back so many great memories of when I was little and my brother and I waiting by the window until it got just dark enough that my mom gave us the ok to go...we would run through the neighborhood with our pillowcases trying to one up each other with the candy.

It wasn't like it is now..the kids go for 20 minutes and their bags are full. We had to work hard for that candy..1 little piece for every house we went to. We would be out for 4 hours! Brings back such great memories!

My neighborhood goes kinda crazy for Halloween too...I mean some of the houses are decorated more for Halloween than Christmas...

Every year I pick up a couple more decorations so maybe in 10 years I will catch up to some of the houses around here.

This year I let Sienna pick a decoration and my sweet little 4 year old picked this...

You might say she has a bit of a dark side.....

She said this pumpkin wasn't spooky at all and she didn't really like it...Ha! Who is she?

She approved of the welcome mat though...

And all the skeletons we have hanging around....

I love this witch...I got it years ago...her face cracked and I have looked every where for one that is similar and I can't find one so she still goes on the door cracked face and all...

My witches feet...I love these feet...I saw them at a store and didn't get them and then I thought about them forever so I had to go back and get them...

And this is my favorite decoration...found it at my favorite store..Marshalls!

I love Marshalls! Nothing beats a great deal!

So with Sienna changing her mind everyday about what she is going to be this year we are still on the hunt for the perfect costume....

Stay tuned!

Happy Birthday Julie Linton!

Happy Birthday to my dear friend Jules...

Not sure what I would do without you....

I loved spending your birthday with you and I am sorry if you didn't love the signs all over your neighborhood... :)

Bahahahahahah.....it was fun making them!

And sneaking over in the night putting them all up with Cooper!

10 things I love about Julie....where do I even begin.....

1. She bends over backwards for the ones she loves.

2. When she gets the giggles...there's no stopping the laughter...we can laugh until our stomach's and faces hurt...

3. We never ever run out of things to talk about...

4. She loves my kids like her own...and treats them like gold...

5. She is always up on the latest hollywood gossip and I always know who to go to if I need to find anything out.

6. She is an amazing oatmeal chocolate chip cookie maker and always brings me a bag of frozen dough balls that I can just stick in the oven..it's awesome.

7. She is an amazing listener and advise giver, never ever judges.

8. She is the friend that shows up on your doorstep to help even when you tell her not to..

9. She is an amazingly amazingly strong person!

10. She is soooo thoughtful and caring...honestly I could name 10 more things so easily...there are too many things to love about Julie Linton!

I am so grateful for our friendship! I know we will be friends till we are old and gray!

Happy Birthday! We still have more dinner, shopping, and movie on Saturday..woot woot!

Where have all the good ones gone....

As 9:00 pm rolls around on a typical night, dinner's done, kids are in bed.
I get in my comfy pj's, climb in my comfy bed...exhausted from my day of... well probably the same day that all of you get exhausted from.

Grab my remote...pull up my dvr'd shows to settle in and watch...

Watch what??? Not sure about you but there is NOTHING I am dying to watch this fall. Nothing!

Even the shows I have recorded, I just find myself on my laptop not even paying attention.

I use to have nights I would look forward to...get almost giddy as I heard the music starting, not wanting it to end (I know...I know...but it's the little things in life right!)

I feel very disappointed in ABC, NBC, and CBS...I find myself watching Bravo and E channels more often these days.

I miss my Friday Night Lights

At least we have 1 more season with FNL but we don't get it until next spring! What is that about?

Lost

Alias (look at the young Bradly Cooper!)

Felicity (oh how I LOVED Felicity!)

Party of Five (LOVED this one too!)

My So Called Life (I loved all these who am I kidding!)

Relativity (does anyone even remember that show?)

So seriously where have all the good ones gone???

What are you guys watching???

Betty Crocker...um... NO

I really really don't like to cook. I have written posts before on how if there was a pill to take instead of having to eat I would take it...I would buy stock in it...I would be so happy!

But I do like to bake...or maybe I just like the outcome of baking much more.

Some times I make things from scratch...but sometimes a good old mix is my kind of baking. Faster, less mess, and tastes good.

Well I want to share a very YUMMY mix for pumpkin pancakes. I have made them from scratch a few times but I have to say this mix tastes better than the scratch ones.

It comes from one of my BFF's that helps me all the time with my meal time dilemma's.

Some of you may be familiar with him...Joe's his name...Trader Joe's.

Really don't know what I would do without him. He helps me with quick healthy dinners for our crazy schedule. And guess what when he helps with dinner no one complains! It's great!

I suggest he become your BFF too!

Delicious! We like to make a topping to put on them that seriously tastes like pumpkin pie. Cool Whip and some pumpkin pie mix mixed together...seriously DELICIOUS!

I could write lists of my favorite Trader Joe's products...long lists....this one is defiantly worth trying out for all you Trader's shoppers!

Bubbalicious

So Coop is a pretty funny kid. He makes his friends laugh a lot at school...at least that's what all his friends tell me.

Well the other night he came home and told me when I went to back to school night I had to tell his teachers that I was Bubbalicious's mom. Huh?

He told all his teachers that his name is Cooper but everyone calls him Bubbalicious or Bubba for short.

His teachers said the only way they will call him that is if his parents confirm it.

Today I got this note from Coop..should I start to worry? I don't think I want a child named Bubba... :)

Time is ticking away..much to my dismay!

I am laying here in my bed so emotional for some reason tonight (yes emotional is a better way of saying it than crying my eyes out!)...maybe because I have been sick the last couple of days and have a lot of thinking time.

Sienna fell asleep next to me and as I watch her sleep I feel so sad. I just really want to freeze time. I don't want my kids to grow up. Is that normal?

Sienna as a newborn....

Coop has always taken amazing care of Sienna since day one...

Conwey took the kids to grab some dinner tonight and my sweet Cooper is calling me asking me what I want to eat. Trying to talk to the guy at the place to get my veggie burger baked, not fried..( I mean who fries a veggie burger! seriously?) when they couldn't do that he called asking if I would want something from Chipotle instead. It just touched my heart that he was working so hard to try and get me something to eat because he knew I wasn't feeling well. Then he brought it up to me on a plate....love him!

Cooper

Coop and Hunter ages 1 and 4

I don't want my kids to grow up! Hunter's been gone tons lately he leaves for school at 8:30 am and the nights he has games I don't see him till 11:00 at night. On the days he doesn't have games he doesn't get home from football practice til 7:00! Makes me sad.

I don't know if these feelings are normal or not. I know I shouldn't dwell on the inevitable but I find my mind just wanders there a lot....and I get so sad.

Hunter

Coop and Hunter

I was thinking about my mom today realizing it's been almost 6 years since she passed away. 6 YEARS! Hunter was 10...Jackson's age. Jackson was 4... Sienna's age.

Where did those 6 years go? I sometimes feel like it was yesterday..then when I try to remember what her laugh sounded like or what her voice was like...remember what her hugs felt like and I can't remember....it makes me so sad. I miss her.

My mom and I....

That's Coop as a baby..so this was about 11 years ago.....

And then we have my sweet, crazy Jackson.....

Rach has always had a special relationship with Jackson...and all the boys...they adore her.

This is when he was 4 and broke his leg snowboarding...

I really feel like all these pictures were taken yesterday...

So for now I am going to cherish these days while my kids are the ages they are...and still love and want to be with me. I know it probably won't always be like this so I am soaking it in today.

Sorry for the emotional post...just had to write these feelings down. Especially before tomorrow comes and they are all fighting and driving me crazy. :)