3rd grade program

Last week, Braden's 3rd grade class presented their musical program "Bugs". It was so cute!

Braden is in the black shirt on the top right

After the show with his BFF aka the stink bug!

Bday party

A couple weekends ago, we went to my neice Ela's 7th bday party. We had a blast!

Tre and Gracie

Braden
Gracie and Poppy

Rhett- blowing water out of his noodle

Birthday Girl!
The birthday girl requested a Tinkerbell Cake.

Ask and ye shall receive from Auntie Erica, my dear!
This was my first Tinkerbell cake. I had fun making it. I thought it turned out cute and since I sampled (for quality control only, of course!) I can testify that it was yummy!

Friends!!

My BFFs two kids, Jaiden and Trenton, came to spend weekend before last with us. The kids were all so excited for weeks leading up to Saturday. They had a blast together! We were so glad they got to come and spend some time with us. We don't get to see them very much anymore since we moved and we miss them!

The boys- being goofy- big surprise!

We made "Chocolate Chip Softies" from my new cookbook. Gracie was my big helper.


Jaiden helped me make some pizzas for lunch.

Me and Jaiden cooking away. She borrowed one of Gracie's aprons so we could be twinkies.

After we got home from church, Jason and the kids played a little bball in the dark.

Gracie LOVES Jaiden!
Big Breakfast Sunday morning
Sunday afternoon, we went bowling. Here's the kiddos all in the car after bowling, heading to eat lunch at Backyard Burger.

What a fun weekend!!

Cupcake Catastrophe

We've been doing really good lately with eating healthy and working out. Since the first of the year, I've lost 9 pounds and Jason's lost 18. He's only 2 pounds from his goal, but I still have 16 left to go. We've pretty much been avoiding sweets altogether for the past 9 weeks, but I found this great cookbook that has lots of yummy deserts that are under 200 calories per serving. So, I decided it was time for some cupcakes! Red Velvet to be exact. Can you say YUM-O?!


The recipe said to boil 1 cup of water in a "tall glass" in the microwave. Then dissolve 2 diet hot chocolate packets and 1/4 cup chocolate chips in it. Then, add 1/2 cup cold water into the "tall glass". I actually did think twice before adding the cold water into the "tall glass", but I figured they've tested the recipe so who was I to question it.


As soon as I added the water, I could hear the glass about to bust. I could hear the sizzling/cracking sound. I was thinking, "I knew better than this!" "Crud! I'm gonna have a huge mess to clean up!" So, I just stepped back to the corner of the kitchen and waited for it to blow.

It split the heavy glass exactly in half. No small pieces of glass. Just 2 pieces- exactly half.

I was tempted to clean up the mess and go on about my day. But, I could already taste those cupcakes and I knew I'd better make these "lighter" version cupcakes because if I didn't I'd be likely to go out and get Shake's or something else that would wreck my good progress.

So, I cleaned up the mess. Regathered the needed ingredients and got to work on the cupcakes. This time, I did the mixing in a heavy plastic measuring cup instead of in a "tall glass".

Here's the finished result.

They turned out really good. I sprayed the muffin cups with non-stick cooking spray even though the recipe didn't call for it and I think it was a mistake. 1/2 of the cupcake stuck to the cups. Next time, I won't spray them and we'll see what happens.

Field Trip and Upward Awards

I was so glad I got to go on Rhett's class field trip last week. Here's my sweet boy on the school bus. We went to see a play of Snow White.

Waiting on the show to start


We went to Rhett's Upward awards ceremony. Here he is running out onto the stage when they called his name. He's right in the middle of the picture.
He was a little too fast for my little camera!

Here he is up on the stage. (Again, he's the one right in the middle of the picture.)

Basketball may be over for Rhett, but soccer evaluations are this week, so he won't be sitting around for very long!

Ode to the Winter Olympics

Our entire family enjoyed watching the Winter Olympics this year. We are sad that they are over. On this day, Rhett helped Gracie dress up like Shaun White. She came running in to my office and said, "Look, Mamma! I'm Shaun White!" Don't forget to notice the belt. And since we don't have a snowboard, she opted for "ski poles". I have the coolest kids!

Afternoon at the Park

On the first "unseasonably warm" day, we took full advantage and headed to the park. It was wonderful to get some fresh air and let the kids run off some energy. They had a great time!