It's School Time Again.....

 It's that time of year again when the kiddos go back to school and the Mom's do the happy dance....oh, I mean cry.  :)

My wonderful bundles of joy and energy met their teachers yesterday.  Tyler has Mrs. Wendland this year in Second Grade.  He's a bit excited to be back in school and a bit nervous. He likes school a great deal, but is sad for summer to end.

Brandon on the other hand is my social butterfly in 5th Grade.  He immediately found his friends and went running around the school to visit their old teachers and see all the new renovations they have done in the school.  He has a new teacher this year, Ms.  McKinnon.  She's single, tall, and a world traveler with lots of stories to tell.  He'll LOVE her! :)

Bunny Relocation Program

The bunny wildlife relocation program is going well this summer.  

After returning home this winter to another dead bush due to the wild bunny propagation  in our neighborhood, we decided the best thing to do was to give them a new gene pool, and lots of land to roam on!  

This is bunny #8, the kids named him 'spiderbunny' because he didn't want to leave the cage at the relocation site, and just 'hung' around for a while watching US! 

 As sad as it will be to NOT have 'Jack and Jill' (the original TWO wild bunnies in our yard) waiting for us when we arrive home each day, it will be nice NOT to have to play 'dodge-the-bunny' when pulling out of the drive way.  :)  Dah-bunny, Dah-bunny.....yea  for the Dah-bunny's new HOME!

Oh Brother...

Brotherhood lays the foundation for collaboration and teamwork...Charles & William Mayo

...What will these brothers do?

I found myself looking at my two growing boys this weekend and wondering just what they will be when they grow up.....What kind of fathers will they be.....What careers will they pursue to provide for their family.  There is contentment in my heart that they will grow up to be great men at whatever they do because they are being taught by their gracious father.  When I look at the three of them I feel very blessed to be apart of this family and to be given such a gracious gift of love in each and every one of them.

Ebay Funnies!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130144061675

Ok, I read this ebay auction post because a dear friend emailed it to me.  As a stay at home mom, I laughed so MUCH.  It's hilarious!  Enjoy!

NEW PHONE NUMBER

Hey everyone, we have a new phone number.  Check your email in-box to see if you received it.  If for some odd reason you did NOT get an updated contact email......just email ME and I'll give it to you!  :) thx

New Favorite Artist

Meet my new favorite artist!

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=49305

Mandy Budan from Pickering, Ontario, Canada

LOVE her artwork!

Artists Abound!

The children and a few of their friends, Kate and TJ, had a blast this week creating original works of art. Starting as a raw piece of parchment, brush, and paint, it's glorious what they came up with!  Tyler did some amazing free-form art using a wide color palate.  Brandon did detailed depictions of blue angels in flight.  TJ created a very life-like turkey and deer while Kate was a bit more adventurous and her painting changes every time you look at it!  Imagination was abounding this week! Ahhh, the joys of summer!

Cooking Kids

The children learned how to make calzone's from scratch this week.  They were fascinated by the biology lesson using fresh yeast and 'feeding' it with honey.  NOT so thrilled with the yeast's smell though!!!  They mixed, kneeded, and rolled their way to a fine supper for all!  Now, about the gigantic mess they made, well let's just say, it was ALL WORTH IT! :)

Trip My Legos!

Brandon took on new revisions to his previous air creation this week.  He's 'tripped it out' with new features and, I have to admit, it looks very cool!

Amanda's Orzo Recipe

Another picnic, another shared recipe!  Thank you Amanda for sharing this AWESOME summer favorite!

Do you recognize these people?

A hot summer day means staying inside, but who said it had to be boring!  Some time with friends turned into a carnival fun-house day complete with mirrors of 'mac'dom.

ENJOY these home made treasures! LOL

Share your Recipes!

Ok, ladies and gents, it's time to brush the dust off your recipe books and dish the dirt on your good old family fav's.  I'm a HUGE fan of recipe swaps and would LOVE some new ones to add to the pile!  My all time favorite swapped recipe came from Kristi Dawson in Dental School.  Go Kristi, Go Kristi!

Kid Pleasing...Honey Mustard Chicken

1/2C Margarine (melted)

1/2C Honey

1/2C Mustard

Pepper to taste

Mix above ingredients and pour over frozen or fresh chicken breasts.  Bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes.  WAY EASY!

So lets see them!  Just email me and share your recipes with the rest of us....sick of ours! :)

Pie anyone?

To those of you who know Brandon, you know that his nick-name is Piemaster!  In fourth grade he and his best friend Matthew literally drove their teacher to retirement working the word PIE into EVERY sentence, verbal or written.  She was such a dear that in parent teacher conferences she actually asked us if we could talk to him about using the 'Pie' word less, just to calm her aging nerves.  The boys thought this was doubly-funny and refrained from using it directly with her and instead just walked around the school saying 'PIE' every chance they got.  What a year!  This summer we went to a local restaurant specializing in pie's, and Brandon said that he wanted to be buried here under the 'pie' case.  Gotta love them!

Natalie's Spinach Calzone

Click on this AMAZING recipe shared by one of our new residents.  It's Un-believably awesome and FREEZABLE!  Enjoy!