Moments ago

.... James was singing around the house and Finn tells him to stop.
This is normal for Finn, just today in church he was covering his ears and telling me to stop. Granted he probably has reason to tell me but James has a great voice so when Finn tells him to stop it's just to boss him around I think. LOL
Lately we have been telling him that he can't say that.. blah blah blah (I am sure this is what he hears)
So when James told him "No, I'll sing all I want, cause this is my house"
pause....
Finn "No it's mom's house"

Heeeheee isn't he just the cutest?

Turkey Day

This year, James will not be here on Thanksgiving so we decided to have our own little celebration on Veterans day. It turned out quite nice too. I picked up a 9 lb turkey, and let me tell you I loved cooking that thing. My oven is small and doesn't fit a large turkey very well. I stuffed it with Pepperidge farm's cubed herb seasoned stuffing (red bag), which is by far the best stuffing ever! It has great seasoning already and the cubes keep it from getting too soggy. Other items on the menu were mashed potatoes, green beans, cranberry sauce, apple pie & pumpkin pie (of course).

After talking with Jen, I am including the recipe I use for my Turkey. I originally got it from Martha Stewart, but don't follow it exactly.

Turkey:

• Rinse and pat dry
• stuff slices of garlic and pats of butter under skin
• slather butter all over turkey skin
• sprinkle with salt and pepper
• tie legs together if not already done
• stuff with stuffing

Basting the turkey:

• 2 layers of cheese cloth cut to cover breast and legs (can be found in the fabric department at walmart if not in the cooking area)
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 bottle white wine (if you don't want to use wine, chicken broth can be used instead)

In a pan melt butter and add wine. Soak cheese cloth and then place over the turkey.

Put turkey in preheated oven of 350. Every 30 min use baster to wet cheese cloth. Once you use all the butter and wine mixture, baste turkey with juices from the pan. My 9 lb turkey took 3 hours to cook stuffed. Here is a great site with cooking times for your Turkey.

When the turkey is done, use juices to loosen the cheese cloth. Move turkey to your serving dish and let sit while you prepare gravy and other items.

Gravy:

The wine mixture with turkey juices make a wonderful gravy. Very flavorful. I have a measuring cup that separates the fat from the juices, if you don't have one I suggest getting one ;)

In a pan pour in turkey juices and bring to a boil. Mix 2 tablespoons of flour with 2-3 tablespoons of water. Make sure it's not clumpy. With a whisk pour in mixture till it starts to thicken, you may need to make more if you want it thicker.

Well that's pretty much it. Let me know if you try this recipe :)

Enjoy!

Halloween

This year I told the boys that they had to find stuff here at the house for costumes. Aiden used his old baseball uniform and went as an undead ball player. He had way too much fun! Brennon went as Darth Vader. Conor used Aiden's old army uniform and went as a soldier. Finn went as a fireman.

We started out at the YMCA, but with so many people there we went to one of the neighborhoods by our house and had a great time. Aiden and Conor were running from door to door faster than Finn and Brennon. Brennon stayed behind most of the time to help Finn knock on the door. Finn had such a great time. Just the way he said "Trick or Treat" would score him extra candy.

Hair Cut

Toph had a special day at the groomers. I have tried to trim her myself but with a wiggly puppy, it has never turned out like this. I'm not sure she liked it too much. We got there as they were pulling hair out of her ears... ouch!! But now the hair is out of her eyes and she smells so nice.

I just love how Toph looks after her hair is all done ;)

Flight School Graduation

October 30, 2008 is the day James graduated from flight school.

Here I am pinning on James' wings.

James is now an Army Aviator.

I'll get somemore pictures up of this day a bit later...

Princess for a night

Wednesday was the graduation Ball. James and I had a wonderful night. If you have ever been to a military ball then you will already know how things went, if not.... let me tell you ;)

It started with me getting my hair done (James insisted). I had the hair lady do little curls all over the back. It turned out quite pretty. When school got out we took the boys to a friends for the evening. With time running out I had to hurry and get ready... thank goodness I didn't have to do anything with my hair ;) We had to be there at 5 pm for social hour, which was a new experience for me. I only knew a few people, but made it through one hour of chatting away with strangers. We also had our pictures taken and should get them back in a few weeks. I sure hope they turned out nice. So after social hour it was time to go through the receiving line. Now this is so we can meet and say hi to the guys in charge, their wives and guest speaker. I can only remember one of the wives names... Heather.

After the receiving line we waited and talked to people by our table. I guess the rule is to wait for the guy in charge to sit first. But before he sits, we paid our respects to the POW's. It was a very moving tribute. I can't help but get emotional when I hear taps. Then the soldiers did a few different toasts which ended with toasting the ladies, and finally we get to sit :) Before dinner is served though, the men presented all the wives with an honorary diploma for helping our guy get through flight school and a set of wings. James got me a beautiful necklace with wings. I remember seeing other wives with wings before and thought "oh how pretty". I am very excited to have my own now.

We finally get to eat dinner. The rolls were the favorite for everyone. James and I had the chicken cordon bleu, and cheese cake was served for dessert.

As dinner ended we watched a class video. It was nice to see some pictures of James doing his job. I was even able to pick out which chin and helmet were his.

We had a great guest speaker. I don't remember his name but he was a Colonel and he had a great sense of humor. He spoke to the graduates about how they need to be great examples, and to respect the soldiers they are in charge of. I really enjoyed his speech.

The rest of the evening was about awards for this or that. James took a few pictures with friends and when the coast was clear (the high ranking guys gone home) we decided to head home too.

1LT Booher & James

James, 1LT Wagnild & 1LT Booher

James & WO1 Avalos

Isn't James so handsome in his dress blues...

My little Punks!!

All weeks is Drug free week and today is Crazy hair day. The boys had a great time doing their hair. I think

I have my very own Punk Rock band ;)

I know... I'm behind ;)

So I am a little slow on getting things posted this month. As you can see it was Aiden's birthday on the 9th... which brings me full circle on my blog. I went ahead and uploaded all of my blogs for this last year and made it into a book which I will get next month.
Hmm so what else have I missed? James and I celebrated our 12th anniversary on the 12th ;) I'm not to far behind on this one, but Conor just got tubes put in on Friday. He was very brave. The Dr. asked if he was scared and he said No... He says he hears better but I guess we will see how things are in a couple of weeks.
I think that's about it for now. We have a big week ahead of us. James will be graduating from flight school and we will have lots of family in town to help celebrate.
Guess I'll cya on the flipside ;)

Arrow of Light!

This last Wednesday our Scout troop had an Arrow of Light ceremony for two of our WEBELO boys. Aiden being one of them ;) Anyone ever in scouts as a boy or a leader will know that this award is hard work. I have been the WEBELO's leader for about 9 moths now and am so happy to see Aiden and Ben receive their Arrow of Light, which is one award they can keep on their uniform when they cross over to Boy scouts.

After the Arrow of Light ceremony, it was time to watch Aiden cross over into the Boy Scouts. James and I got to walk him to the middle of a bridge where the boy scouts were waiting for him and they walked him to the other side and welcomed him to the Boy Scouts. Unfortunately we didn't get any pictures of this part lol oh well.

Here are all our Cub scout boys reciting the oath and law of the pack

Here is Ben pinning his mother and receiving his Arrow of Light

Here is Aiden pinning me and receiving his Arrow of Light.

So 1 down and 3 more to get through cub scouts... 9 more pine wood derby cars to make LOL!!

He's home

Can I say Woooo Hooo!!! The boys are just as excited. James had a long 3 weeks at SERE school but says that it's the best military training he's been to so far.
Anyway, I wanted to just let everyone know that we are almost done with our stay here in Alabama. It's been a great 2yrs and I will be excited for the time we can come back.
Right now Jame's Graduation date is October 30th. He is going in this morning to make sure he is starting his last class this week. If for some reason he isn't in this week's class I will let everyone know the new graduation date.
Oh and for those who haven't heard, we are on our way back to FT HOOD TX. It gets us a few days closer to the NW and we already have friends there. The kids are excited to see some old friends (if they are still there). We aren't sure when we will be headed that way, mostly because of our un-sold house here but thinking mid Nov. early Dec.

Oh let me know if you are coming to the Graduation so I can send out emails about times and stuff.

#8

I didn't get much done today other than organizing...

Before:

After:

I really do like those space bags. I was able to get rid of the sizes my boys don't wear any more then put the rest into the bags. I just love to see them squish down as the air is sucked out.

#6&7

Well today I cleaned out the shed... unfortunately the garbage won't be put out till next Tuesday. But hey I got all the spider webs all swept out.

As for this guy..... our resident banana spider

I am tooo afraid to get rid of him. He is hanging above the shed. I hope James gets home before the open house.

So I guess my count goes up by 2 today with:

#6 donating to goodwill. Finn prefers to walk anyway.

#7 we replaced almost all the light fixtures when we moved in, so these have been taking up space in the garage...

Declutter #1-5

Well my friend Amy really started something.... and it was Dana who said I should blog my progress.


With moving in the near future and an open house even closer I need to get rid of some things. I started with the garage yesterday. I had some Laundry soap containers (full of soap) melt on the wire shelving and leek soap all over the garage. So after I cleaned the mess up I got rid of all the other containers (they were free and i wasn't using them). This would be my #1



#2 & 3 are an old swiffer that hasn't been used the whole 2yrs we have lived here and a car seat that Finn has grown out of.

#4 & 5 are clothes that Finn no longer wears. The box is going to my Sister in Law and one pile to goodwill and other to garbage due to stains or holes.

Tomorrow is the shed and the toys if I can bring myself to go through those LOL

Getting out

James' flight buddies had a get together a couple of weeks ago. We got to go without the kids, which was a first for us in a long time.

However, before we left for out date, I was desperate for something to wear. Due to my hair all wet, I asked James to go buy me something. A little worried while he was out I finished my hair and makeup. On his way home he called and ask "will you please have an open mind?" A bit hesitant I said yes. I mean you can't beg your husband to go buy you something and get a upset after he does.... right?

OK, so instead of just one he bought me 3 new shirts. SCORE!! And they were actually very nice. The one I wore out that nigh actually made me laugh at first. It was straight out of the 80's. Maybe something Cybill Shepard would have worn in Moonlighting. After trying it on and liking how it looked, James made me pose for a picture.

So, I just wanted to let you see what my husband bought me. I think I will have him buy all my clothes from now on. LOL

KIDS

...really do say the darnedest things!

So I am just sitting at my computer when I hear this conversation:

Brennon: you know George Lucas is really old. He was born in the nineteen's.

I was completely amazed at how old I felt after that. LOL

Happy Birthday

I have been remembering and thinking of Billy lots lately. I am sure all who care for him are doing the same today.
Just this morning I was thinking of a time when the kids and I visited California. I didn't get to see much of Billy while I was there, but what I remember was his crazy hair.

I didn't get a chance to see all these hair styles in person, but I think Billy enjoyed standing out in a crowd.

Happy Birthday Billy
Love you lots <3

On the market

Just wanted to share our excitement with the house being on the market. Haven't had any lookers yet but what do you expect in the first 12 hours. lol
Anyway take a look at our house

Count down begins ...

...not that we have an end date yet but we know its coming and so this last weekend we made it official.

The house is going on the market this week (so tell all your friends that there is a great house for sale in AL), and anyone who has ever sold a house can tell you that lots of work goes into getting it ready. Our big project was repainting the living room. It was a blue (that looked almost purple) and yellow. It wasn't exactly how I imagined it and figured buyers might not see that they could paint something different... now it's a nice toast color.

One of the other projects we got done was one that the boys got to help with. When we moved in there were beige and white switch plate and face plates. Now anyone that knows James will see that it's totally unacceptable to have 2 different types of plate thingies... He replaced a few when we first moved in but then got too busy with school, so 6 weeks before we move it finally gets done ;)










The boys were very excited that daddy let them help out. I think it took twice as long to finish but making some great memories was the point! & who wants to rush a great memory ;)

A little CRAZY!!

So its after 1:30am and I should be sound asleep, but can't. We have had a visitor the last few days and she has been pretty OK, until this morning. Fay has made a mess our our yard this weekend, but now that she is passing back this way, storms are all over the place. School was canceled because she decided to cause havoc and even though she is gone we are still dealing with a few storms. About 30 min ago I started hearing thunder (trying to fall asleep) then all of a sudden the sirens go off. I just hate the feeling of panic that courses through my body. James was off to check the radar to see where the storm was and I was clearing out the closet just in case I needed to get the kids up.
It seems to be a bit north of us but still causes concern. I'm sitting here watching the map change every few seconds and knowing that 6 am is going to come too soon. Anyway I'm just too awake to try and sleep so just wanted to share ;)
Well guess I'll stop rambling for now. Think I'll go find a book to read.

Happy Birthday Conor

I can't believe Conor is 5 already!!

First Day 2008

Im a little slow getting this up, but the boys started school Aug 7 (which I think is way too soon). Aiden is in the 5th grade, Brennon is in the 3rd grade, & Conor has started Kindergarden.

They are all loving it, especially Conor. Every morning he askes if he gets to go to school again. Finn on the other hand is having a tough time with his best buddy gone. I guess he'll get used to it in a few weeks.

Linguine with Chicken Thighs

Just wanted to share this recipe with you. I found it on The Pioneer Woman Cooks and it was great! The kids really liked it. I used bow tie pasta and for the fresh basil and parsley I used 1 tsp dried for each.

If you get a chance check out her other recipes, you will like them ;)

ENJOY

Photo ShaZAM

I have signed up to receive news letters from The Sprague Lab A Little Studio of Scrapbook Alchemy, which teaches different photoshop techniques. This week they are also doing a contest so hence the post here on my blog site ;)

Before

After

Before

After

So as you can see I am having a little fun with photoshop.

The contest runs this weekend if you want to check it out.

Photo ShaZAM

Swim lessons

Since we couldn't take a long road trip this summer, we decided to spend lots of time at the YMCA pool. Our membership included swim lessons that the boys totally loved.

Conor is a self taught swimmer (if his brothers could do it so could he), but in his class he learned the crawl stroke and more floating techniques.Here he is getting ready to jump off the diving board. After looking at all the pictures I took of Aiden and Brennon, I liked these the best. LOL!! All the others with their faces had their eyes closed, so why not just show them swimming ;)
Aiden

Brennon

I just love how the water sparkles around them

Happy Birthday to Me!

So I am 33 today, and it still feels like I'm 20 something. I had a wonderful day, with the primary kids singing to me and I got to pick a birthday pencil. Aiden & Brennon loaded the dishwasher, and did a great job. James made the beautiful birthday cake you see above.

I couldn't have asked for a better birthday!! ;)

When I am Baptized

June 15th, Brennon was baptized into

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

I don't think James could have asked for a better Father's Day gift

Brennon & Bishop Spencer

Before the big day, Brennon had an interview with Bishop Spencer. He said that he was impressed with Brennon's knowledge and understanding of the gospel. Both James and I were excited to know that... yes family home evening does work ;)

Great day for a family picture

Aaron, Aiden, Brennon, Kale, Conor, & Finn

I think this was my 6th picture, and finally an ok one with them almost looking at the camera. lol