Green Light

Derek is learning a lot at preschool! His letters and numbers and even how to write (or trace at this point) his name!! But one of the big things he is learning is to listen, behave and be kind to one another.

At school they use a stop light method for behavior. Good behavior keeps you on the green light. Not so good behavior moves you to the yellow light and really not so good behavior to the red light!!

I will admit that my boy has been at all three colors so far this year!! Last week he had 2 out of 3 "good days" so he was able to pick out of the treasure box at the end of the week! He picked a green bouncy ball and was so excited!

This week he had a not so good day on Monday but today he had a great day and was sent home this little certificate for good manners and behavior!

I try to use these times to really praise his behavior and tell him how happy I am and how proud of him I am. I have been talking with Derek every night before school and every morning of school and other random times about behaving and making Mommy happy by listening and being good. On Monday (the not so good day) when I went to get Derek the first thing he said to me was "Are you happy Mommy?", I should have suspected something was up because of the way he said it. So as we were walking to the car I asked him if he got in trouble today and he said he got put on "red". At least he told me the truth on his own and we had a good talk on the way home about behavior and listening!

I know there will be "red" days and "yellow" days but it makes me so happy on "green" days like today!

Cherry Cheesecake!!

I made this yummy dessert last week! I've tried making homemade cheesecakes before but I have never really liked how they turned out! If I was wanting cheesecake I would usually just end up going for Jello No Bake cheesecake and be done with it! But when Pioneer Woman posted a recipe for cheesecake recently I thought I would give it another go!!

You start out with some Nilla wafers, try not to eat too many while making it like I did! Throw in some pecans and you have a very yummy crust. This was a very different crust than what I'm used to, I had always had a graham cracker type crust but this was definitely tasty!

Then you mix it all up in a food processor if you have one or you can use a plastic bag and smash them. I actually ended up putting them in a plastic bag to break apart the cookies better then put them in the food processor to get it real crumbly.

My crust got pretty fine, but it was very Yummy! Once you get the crust to the consistency you want it's time to add the melted butter. I followed the recipe but I think it was a little too much because my finished crust was pretty moist! Add a little bit of vanilla, place crust in the bottom of a springform pan and set aside.

Next we start on the filling! Place the cream cheese in a large mixing bowl, then add the sugar. Begin mixing together until creamy. Now it was about this point in the process that my small trusty little mixer completely died!!

Luckily I had this small little mixer that is a part of my food processor that we had gotten for our wedding. It did the job and allowed me to continue on! Next add the eggs one at a time and mix well. Once mixed well add the sour cream and continue to mix until very creamy and smooth.

Pour mixture in to pan over the yummy nilla wafer/pecan crust. At this point the oven should be heated and ready to go.

Place the pan in the pre-heated oven, sit back and wait for yummy gloriousness. Have I used the word yummy a little too much in this post?

After a little over an hour you get this...

I added some canned cherry pie topping to mine but you could do any fruit you desire. Cherry cheesecake is my favorite though!

If you would like a more thorough recipe with ingredient amounts, check out the full recipe on Pioneer Woman's website. She did her cheesecake with blackberries which also looked "yummy"!

First Day of School

Derek had his first day of school ever on Monday! He was so excited to start preschool!

The day before I was trying to decide what to have Derek wear for his first day of school so I asked him what he wanted to wear and he says "hmmm, maybe a swimsuit"! Ha! As you can see he didn't get to wear his swimsuit!

For preschool they wanted them to have a canvas bag instead of a backpack, this bag is the only one we could find! It is a little big for Derek and with all the school supplies he had to take on the first day it was getting a little heavy for him to hold! So he decided to kneel for some of the pictures!

Derek hanging up his "backpack" on the first day!

Daddy helped Derek with his bin for his art supplies! Derek was just taking it all in on that day and I'm not sure he knew exactly what to expect, but he was very excited to have little places in the room that were just for him!

I'm all set Mom! See you later!

I did pretty well, I had a few emotional moments dropping him off for that first day! My little boy is growing up! But Derek loved his class and teacher and I know he will have a great year!

Today I dropped him off for his second day and he kept asking me to take his picture. As he was getting out of the car at the school he says "Mommy, we didn't take any pictures today" then when I dropped him off at his classroom he kept saying Mommy take my picture! So cute, unfortunately Mommy didn't have her camera today!

Off to a great start

Last night was open house at Caleb and Levi's school. We got to go meet in the gymnasium at the school with all the other parents and kids and be introduced to all the teachers and staff. Then the boys got to take us to their classrooms to see their desks and meet their teachers.

Caleb sitting on his desk in his homeroom classroom

Levi with his teacher Mrs. Russell

Levi sitting at his desk in his classroom

After all the classroom fun the boys just had to go on the awesome slide at their school. This pictures doesn't really do it justice. It's actually a super long slide that goes all the way down the side of the hill!

The new school year is off to a great start. The boys are both enjoying their teachers and like their new classrooms. Caleb also started cross country this week and has been coming home everyday with red cheeks and lots of sweat!

Derek keeps asking when he is starting school. Only 5 more days!

No Whining

Too bad only my two oldest can read! :-)

DON'T put things up your NOSE!!

When my son Derek was about 2 yrs old we had an adventure of the icky sorts. Somehow he had proceeded to get stuck up his nostril a small hard foreign object. My husband and I tried and tried to get it out on our own. We thought, hey we are both nurses we should be able to do this. But no matter how hard we tried we couldn't budge the little sucker. It was a very hard and non-pliable object. So after many, many tries and many different techniques we decided we needed help. We took him to his pediatrician who also tried to get it out but she was also unsuccessful. She recommended we see an ENT (Ear/Nose/Throat Doc). So we headed up north about an hour to the ENT who had placed Derek's ear tubes. He also tried but couldn't get it out, he recommended sedation to do it. Yikes! As a nurse I know about that kind of stuff but when it is your 2 yr old who also has a heart condition, that's a little scary. However we didn't really have another choice at this point unless we wanted to have a foreign object permanently up our sons nostril! So after some sedation medicine Derek was finally relaxed enough that the doctor was able to pull the little sucker out! It was a little funny after the deed was done because the medicine made Derek a little goofy! It was good to be able to laugh a little at this point.

So why am I telling you this story now...? Because of this...

As I was sitting on our front porch last evening enjoying the post-rain cool air my precious son comes outside and says to me in a slightly worried voice...

"Mommy, I got a bullet stuck up my nose."

"You got a WHAT stuck up your nose?"

"A bullet."

I had immediate flashbacks to the story above and began to panic! And of course my husband was not at home to help this time!

I'm thinking. "Oh great, not again."

I proceeded to tell myself to calm down. I tilted his head back and sure enough, there in his right nostril was a small little orange rubber bullet from his older brothers toy gun.

I took him to my bedroom and laid him on the bed and went looking for the tweezers! I started to panic again when I couldn't find the tweezers, but before I had too much time to get worked up I found them in the top drawer in our bathroom.

I went to the bed where my normally rambunctious-can't ever sit still-tons of energy son was lying very still. I told him to tilt his head back and I began trying to use the tweezers to get it out. But as with the last time I just couldn't get a good grip on it. I was picturing in my head another visit to the doctor and sedation and...agghh. It seemed all my attempts to pull it out only pushed it further up his nostril.

I stopped and thought for a moment and said a quick prayer. At this point my son was still being very quiet and still but there was a little tear running down from his right eye. Poor guy, I tried again as gentle as possible, still no luck. Just when I was about to give up and wait for his dad to get home and try I had a sudden moment of brilliance.

I told him to "blow really hard", after a few attempts at this the little sucker popped right out. Thank God. Derek recovered quickly and was pretty proud of himself.

"Mommy, I blew it out!"

If only this would have worked when he was two!

So the moral of the story?? DON'T PUT THINGS UP YOUR NOSE!!!!!!

P.S. If you are curious about the first foreign object, we discovered later that it was a tiny hard rubber piece that our puppy had bitten off of one of her toys and Derek must have found it on the ground. And of course HE thought, "hmm, this looks like it would fit nicely up here"! :-)

A Rainy Day Recipe

It's raining today....

I had found this project a few months ago and have been saving it for such a day as this...

I found it online, and it looked like so much fun I knew my boys would have fun trying it!

RAINBOW CUPCAKES!!

Directions: Take three silly boys, add in lots of sugar and color and you get this...

We had fun making the different colors of the rainbow. We had to really think about the color wheel to make the extraordinary complex colors of purple and orange! Sad but true! Ha!

Every one wanted a chance with all the steps of the cupcake making process!

It was right about here in the cupcake making process that Derek exclaimed, "Can I lick my bowl now?." And of course he kept asking every minute or so until it was time!

Finally it's time to lick the bowl! I think this was Derek's favorite part of the process!

He even shared some with Mommy!

And the end result...

Yummy colorful cupcakes, three happy boys and major sugar highs!!

If you want to get in on the fun, here is one of many sites for rainbow cupcakes. Enjoy!

"I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth." ~ Genesis 9:13

Not Consumed

"Yet this I call to mind

and therefore I have hope:

Because of the LORD'S great love we are not consumed,

for his compassions never fail.

They are new every morning;

great is your faithfulness.

I say to myself, "The Lord is my portion;

therefore I will wait for him."

The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him,

to the one who seeks him;

it is good to wait quietly

for the salvation of the Lord."

~Lamentations 3: 21-26

These verses have been such a blessing to me throughout the last few months. I found them many months ago when I was feeling lost and I opened my bible and there they were already highlighted and everything! They touched my heart and have continued to do so every time I open my bible. There have been many times over the last few months that I have felt "consumed" by the trials going on in my life. But God tells us that because of Him we "are not consumed" but that he is faithful to deliver us and give us strength when we have none left. He is compassionate about what is going on in our lives and wants us to come to Him for strength and renewal.

Thank you Lord for loving me so greatly!

School Time!

The boys on their first day of school. They were excited but a little nervous! It's going to be a busy day. Levi has a dentist appointment and gets to leave school for a little bit and both older boys have to go to the doctor for their annual check ups after school and some needed immunizations!





Caleb is in 6th grade this year.
Levi is in 4th grade.
Derek will be in Preschool this year but his school doesn't start for another week and a half!

Playing Cards

One of the things my two older boys and I enjoy doing is playing cards. We have many different ones we like to play but my favorite is 500 Rummy! I played this as a child growing up. It was a must anytime we visited my Grandma. She LOVED to play cards and especially 500 Rummy. Once my two older sons got old enough to actually understand how to play, it became a lot of fun and even a little competitive at times. For the most part though we just have fun and I'm trying to teach them, that fun is what's important and not who wins or loses.





It is always interesting playing with two young kids. You have to watch out that they don't try anything sneaky. My middle child especially is famous for trying to make up rules or forget some for that matter. The way they play is pretty entertaining too. Neither of them can actually hold all the cards in their hands so they have all these little piles laid out everywhere with their different sets or runs. I call it organized chaos because they know exactly what they have in their hands, it's just everywhere!

Today when we were playing we actually had to restart the game after the first round because Levi, after he totally crushed us and went out discovered that he had two cards at his feet that he didn't know were there! Silly Boy! See? You always have to watch them!



So I know it's all about having "fun" and not about being competitive. And I'm not trying to brag or anything....but check out who won this game! :-) Hee hee hee.

Trying

Things I'm learning and trying to do better

To find joy in the small things
To trust God with every area of my life
To stick to our budget
To be a better mom
To just let the house be a mess sometimes
To be a better wife
To pray often and passionately
To read my bible daily
To be a better friend
To be the best nurse I can be
To spend more quality time with my kids
To laugh more often
To exercise more
To drink more water
To appreciate every moment
To slow down
To tell my husband often that I appreciate him
To look for positives in my children
To not be so hard on myself
To look for God's blessings

I'm sure the list could go on and on…this is just what came to mind today! Hope you all are enjoying this last bit of summer! School starts for my two older kiddos tomorrow! This summer has gone by soo fast! The boys are excited about school starting but sad summer is over! I am looking forward to getting back to a routine but am not looking forward to the homework struggles, last minute projects (because my kids at least are famous for waiting till the last minute to tell us an assignment is due!), and running the kids to and from Soccer and Cross Country practice and every other thing they have going on! Life is about to get really busy again! Bring it on!!