Let's Go To The Hop

Laundry Room Remake

We all have that household chore that we HATE!! We procrastinate, put it off, do OTHER chores, enlist the help of other, etc, etc. For me it is folding laundry. I don't have a problem gathering it up, bringing it downstairs, washing it, and drying it. But when it comes to getting it all folded.........I am the queen of procrastination. So my dear husband took pity on my and tried to make the process easier for me (and he was probably tired of wrinkled shirts).

Here is the best "before" picture I have:

The hard working crew (don't worry, they were just pumpkin carving knives):

And the finished product:
I am so grateful to have a built in handyman. Thanks honey!!

Sticky Fingers

Emma and Grant are OBSESSED with St. Patricks Day and Leprechauns this year. They both wanted to go out tonight and try to catch one--until Daddy scared them!! This was the conversation at bedtime:

Grant: I don't want to sleep in my bed, leprechauns might get me.
Daddy: The house is locked, they won't get you.
Grant: They might climb up the walls and sneak in my windows.
Daddy: The windows are locked and they can't climb up the walls.
Grant: What if they climb up using their sticky fingers.
Daddy: Leprechauns don't have sticky fingers.
Grant: What if they eat a cupcake and get sticky fingers from the frosting, and THEN climb up the walls in sneak in my windows.
PAUSE, PAUSE, PAUSE
Daddy: Do you just want to sleep in our bed tonight?

(Have you ever read the story, "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie?"--sound familiar)

COOKIES ARE HERE!!

If you are in and around my house, give me a call, email me or just show up and see if we are home to get your cookies. I will try and bring them to you, but it looks like some of you just might be a cookie addict (you know who you are) and might need them ASAP!!! :-) I have your totals too................yummy, THIN MINTS!! (I've already opened my box)

Here I Sit....

In front of the computer.....kids are both safely at school, dishes are in the dishwasher, grocery list is made, gym shoes are on. This is is supposed to be a kid free, errand running, laundry kind of day. I hopped on the computer "really quick" to look something up before heading to the gym and beyond, but here I sit...........STILL!! Why is it so easy to get distracted? I think I might have a mild form of ADD. Does this happen to anyone else?

Karate Kid

Grant started karate lessons this year for his birthday. He has been obsessed with ANYTHING ninja, karate, swords, fighting, etc., etc. for most of his 4 years of life. So after having his birthday party at the local karate studio (pics to come--I promise!!) he was hooked!! He goes twice a week, and each day they do something different. I'm still not sure of all the karate lingo, but I do know that last week we went on the "sparing" day--or as Grant would say "PRETEND FIGHTING!" Since he did not have sparing gear, he just got to do "no contact" sparring, but it was still the most hilarious thing I have EVER seen. We will definitely bring the video camera next time.

Girl Scout Cookie Time

It's that time of year again!! If you look in your freezer and your last box has run out (yeah right, like any box makes it more than 1 month in the freezer) then your in luck. Emma is selling cookies again this year. Leave me a message on this post or send me an email. Boxes are $4 a piece, no money needed now, delivery the week of February 10th. Here are the flavors in case you are new to Girl Scout Cookies (again--yeah right!):

-Carmel DeLites
-Shortbread
-Peanut Butter Sandwich
-Lemonades
-Peanut Butter Patties
-Thin Mints
-Thanks-A-Lots
-Daisy-Go-Rounds
(100 calorie packs)

More Catching Up

I promised more............here it is:


Emma is still doing wonderful in 1st grade. She received a Perfect Attendance award, and the Student of the Month award. It is so great when you get to hear OTHER people say nice things about your kid.

Halloween 2009 (sorry about the sideways pictures). Grant was a "red inja"--translation "red NINJA", and Emma was (the day before Halloween changed her mind) a 50's girl. They both got to go to the pumpkin patch with their school, carnivals, class parties, and of course trick or treating in the neighborhood with Daddy:

Emma lost her 2nd tooth on Halloween (day before her 7th birthday). She pulled it out herself on accident while wiggling it, and was kind of freaked out. Grant was very concerned for her and "the blood":

Budding Artist

Last night Emma and I went with our friends the O'Donnell's to paint bowls. There is a local event coming up where people pay to have a soup lunch in a hand painted bowl, and all of the money goes to the local food bank in our area. I read about the local ceramic shop that was donating the paint, and studio fee, so we just had to pay to come paint the bowl. For 7 year olds, I think they turned out great!!

Beginnings and Endings

I have just spent the last 30 minutes catching up on all the blogs that I have missed for the last 2 months it seems like. I have the usual excuses for not blogging, and not reading blogs, but I guess it just comes down to giving myself a "time out"! I just needed to take a break. But I'm glad I'm back, and it looks like life is good for everyone. If I am going to get back into blogging, I have to just dive in and post. So here it is. I hope you enjoy catching up with us too. Some of the things might be self explanatory, others not so much. But oh well--they are blogged, and that's all I care about at this point.

Apple Hill 2009--We have tried to make it a family tradition it visit Apple Hill at least ONCE during the fall. Some of our favorite things to do are measure the kids at the same tree, ride a horse, get lost in the hay maze, and of course eat chocolate/carmel covered apples, and chocolate covered marshmallows (Emma).

Jamie and I took a spontaneous trip to Oklahoma to pick up a new truck that we bought (don't ask!!). On the way back we stopped at a few American iconic spots--Cadillac Ranch, Route 66, Giant legs, and the Grand Canyon.

I work in Grant's preschool class once a week. On one of my days in October I took the kids outside to jump in leaves. All the kids had brought a bag of leaves to school, so there was a pretty good pile. It was so awesome to see the fun and enjoyment that a big ol' pile of leaves brought to these little kids faces!! There is something to be said about the simple things in life:





This was Emma's drawing of our Thanksgiving dinner guests:



The kind of thing that melts a mothers heart (her kids playing together-peacefully):


Jamie was a Watch Dog (Dads Of Great Students) at Emma's school. He spent the whole day at school with her. He visited all of the 1st grade classes and helped out, went to lunch and recess with her and helped with drive thru drop off. He was EXHAUSTED at the end of the day!! (Grant had to get in on the action too):


December was filled with lots of fun activities. We had Emma's Daisy Troop over to host their 2nd Annual Cookie Exchange. Emmas was insistent that we make old fashioned sugar cookies that she could decorate--so that's what we did. And Grant went to the skating rink with his preschool class where a special visitor came to with them a Merry Christmas. (Notice the upper left corner. We brought Emma's old princess skates, just in case they ran out. Grant was more than happy to rock the princess skates--and he even found a little girl in his class that had the same ones! He is very secure in this masculinity!!):

December also included gingerbread houses and choir concerts:

In December we took a trip to the snow too. The snow was great, we took the snowmobile and quad. Jamie drove the snowmobile, and he talked me into driving the quad. It did really well, and I'm getting a little more comfortable driving it in the snow (but it still scares me too). We like to go to an old ski resort area. Once you get up there it has a great open area for tubing, where we spent most of our time. But Grant wasn't feeling well, and fell asleep on the snowmobile. So I ended up going back to the car with him while Jamie and Emma went out for a wild ride (they were gone like an hour--hence the goofy pictures to kill some time):


And here is Christmas Day! We had a nice relaxing holiday. Grandpa and Papa Redfearn came over in the morning for presents, then we spent the rest of the day relaxing. I would say the highlights would be Emma's DS, and Grant's fishing pole:



This is all for now, but I promise there will be more to come!! I realized I haven't' done Halloween, Emma's birthday, Grant's birthday................

Random

Here is my disclaimer:

You may find some random post the next couple of weeks. As you can tell, I have been a BAD BLOGGER lately. But my guilt is catching up with me (okay, it was really Aunt Cathy). So I will be pulling random things out that I haven't blogged about(um, Halloween, etc). Sometimes it will be just a picture or two, or you might get lucky and get some words with it--if not, use your imagination! I don't know why I decided to catch up during the busiest time of the year--oh well, I guess I like to make things dificult. Enjoy!!

Let It Snow.........

This is as good as it gets in Sacramento. It was 34 degrees when I woke up at 6am this morning. Our high is supposed to be 43 degrees. Still had to fight Grant to put his jacket on when he walked out the door this morning for school. I guess that Canadian blood runs thicker than I thought!

Anyone want some of these??

Okay, I'm not trying to sell everyone that looks at this blog something, BUT.............some of you have mentioned that when we did this fundraiser at our school that you wanted to buy some. And I don't remember who you all were, so I guess this is my lazy attempt to get to you (whoever you are). Here is the low down:

Butter Braid® pastries are made from sweet, yeasted pastry dough, are layered with 100% real butter and contain zero grams trans fat. This gives Butter Braid® pastries a flaky outside, and a tender, light and airy inside as each layer raises up before baking. As you take a bite of the One-And-Only Butter Braid® pastry, you will be biting into over 16 layers of warm goodness.

Each Butter Braid® pastry contains a mouthwatering filling such as tart apple, warm cinnamon or smooth cream cheese. These fillings are laid atop the dough and wrapped up as the caring makers of Butter Braid® pastries hand-braid the dough sealing in the filling. The Butter Braid pastries are then frozen to seal in the homemade flavor and freshness.

To top it all off, each Butter Braid® pastry comes with an icing packet to complement the filling inside. Drizzle it over the baked pastry and you have a breakfast, snack or dessert that will leave you (and your guests) begging for more!

Butter Braid® pastries come frozen, allowing you the choice of when to thaw, rise, bake and eat! You can watch as your pastry doubles in size and smell the irresistible aroma of the pastry as it bakes. We recommend that you share your pastry with others, but we won’t tell if you happen to keep it all to yourself!

Flavors:
Apple
Cream Cheese
Bavarian Creme
Raspberry
Strawberry Cream Cheese
Cinnamon

This has been our Christmas Morning tradition for quite a few years now. We take one out of the freezer on Christmas Eve before going to bed. Over night it thaws and rises. Before we start opening presents on Christmas Morning, I pop it in the oven, and when we are done with presents, it is nice and golden brown--ready to eat!!


They are $12 each, I will be putting in the order in Wednesday (but since I am the chair of this fundraiser I have a little bit of a grace period). I can pick up money from you when I deliver them to you on December 18th. Just leave a comment or shoot me an email!!

Answer

Ideanugons..............."Indiana Jones"

1st Grade Spelling

Can anyone guess what this says?

One hint: Emma helped Grant draw a picture of "someone" and then wrote this name under it. I will post the answer tomorrow. ***Kids make me laugh***