The Bates Family

Flash Back Friday -2008

2012-01-20T06:49:00.000-06:00

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These photos are both from the summer of 2008! Its not been that long ago, but the boys

seem so little! Carter compared to that tractor tire and Caleb compared to that pig! Time sure flies that I know for sure!

Life Made Lovely Monday...

2011-04-12T07:21:00.001-05:00

I love my new Paula Dean pan set!!

I love that they are deep, non stick and robbins egg blue!!!

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31 Day Challenge-Day 24: A picture of something you wish you could change

2011-04-11T20:14:00.000-05:00

If I could change anything it would be how hard Dan has to work!

Even when he has punched the time clock his work still

doesn't end, because his phone rings off the hook all hours of the night

and several times through out the months during the night he gets woken up by alarm calls and

has to get up out of bed and go fix whatever is wrong at the barn.

I am proud of Dan for the hard worker he is but I just wish he could find time to relax

31 Day Challenge..Day 23: A picture of your favorite book

2011-04-11T20:12:00.001-05:00

I don't have just ONE favorite book,

but I do have a few books that are special to me...

I've mentioned these before..

I'm in love with my 1950's cookbook..I love the vintage farm house look of it..

and get this...I haven't cooked not ONE recipe out of it!!

I should do something about that!

and..

Wordless Wednesday.....

2011-04-06T15:15:00.000-05:00

This is one of my favorite photos!!

What's on Shawna's Phone Tuesdays

2011-04-05T14:09:00.000-05:00

Not a whole heck of alot!

My nephews birthday gift..yes you are seeing that right..

I wrapped it in butcher paper and duct tape!

So what...don't judge me!

Carter with his cousin Trent went out exploring today

and found the ultimate treasure of all.

A birds egg!!

Their excitement of their special find was infectious and brought me back

to when I was a child and how cool and lucky I felt when I too

would find an egg on the ground!

This stuff doesn't just happen every day man!!!

2011-04-05T11:40:00.000-05:00

I came across this idea while looking thru a blog hop and drooling over everyone's projects..!!

This is not MY idea..I totally copied it! And I love it :)

I got this idea off of "Keeping It Simple"

You won't beleive how easy this was..and ah hem..MESSY :)

She made up a tutorial on how to make this VERY SIMPLE and CHEAP wreath..you should all go check it out. It only cost me like $3 bucks to make it and I still had supplies left when I was done!

It's nice and bright and even the hubs says it makes the door look "cheery"..and he's color blind lol..

31 Day Challenge -Day 22: A picture of something you wish you were better at.

2011-03-31T20:36:00.000-05:00

ORGANIZATION!!!

I am telling you I am such a mess with this topic in life!!!

I dream of everything having a place and everything being put in a place...

To come home to this..would be so dreamy...

But instead I've got this...

(Ignore the dirty mat, it's saw dust from renovating the kitchen)

A pantry ah..to be so ORGANIZED..every woman's dream..Is this really how people LIVE?..

because this is MY pantry...

Love my 70's shelf paper???....

Now I gotta know for sure...is THIS REALLY what it looks like under YOUR bathroom sink?

Mine might look like this for a day..the SAME day that I organized it but by evening it'd be a wreck!

Infact..this is a typical day in our bathrooms...

My bathroom looks like this..

And under Dan and the boys' bathroom sink it looks like this...

Gasp! You see I TRY to bring organization...see the empty toilet roll paper holder there in the back..yea..

it's not functional if you don't use it right...then the baskets...well..that defeated the purpose..(same as the basket on my sink to what is suppose to hold my "make up"..not "and some"...

and look at that 1900's game boy! Now that's poopin in style folks!

....So as you can see....I wish I was better at organization...Im pretty sure it goes hand in hand with my procrastination :)

31 Day Challenge-Day 21: A picture of something you wish you could forget

2011-03-31T14:48:00.002-05:00

March 5, 2008

The day my brother Brad died..in a horriable car accident no less (ah hem..my car phobia!)

Not that I want to forget my brother, but the pain I experienced with his loss has been nothing like I've ever experienced before. We all expect that someday we will lose our parents, but I never gave it a thought as to losing a sibling.

I miss him all the time. Especially around Easter time when we are all at "Grammy and Poppy's" dying eggs with the grandkids. I can still see him manuvering around the table trying to video tape and photograph whoever would stand still long enough..His piercing blue eyes and big smile is something I will never forget.

31 day challenge-Day 20: A picture of somewhere you want to travel to.

2011-03-31T14:48:00.000-05:00

There are two places I dream of going!

To some people it may not seem that dreamy..but to me

it's on my bucket list without a doubt!

I would love to travel to Maine!

I don't know what it is that has attracted me to the seaside of Maine but I beleive it

started with the movie "Sarah Plain and Tall"......

Another place I would love to go to is

Rockafeller Center to watch the ice skaters.

Another thing Im not sure so much as to "WHY"...

It just has a nostalgic sense to me..every year when I set

my ice skating pond up for my villiage I always think of Rockafeller!

I don't know as "I" would actually skate (perhaps just to say I did!) but I think

it would be lovely to just sit and watch the other skaters for a little bit. (And by little bit..I mean

not very long lol..I hate cold..lol)

As for Mr. Handsome, he has said he would love to go somewhere tropical or extravagant, some place

that you absoultly have to fly to get there..like out of this country..or Hawaii..

Thing One and Thing Two..well they will just settle for taking them to Dave and Busters in Chicago lol..

31 Day Challenge-Day 19: A picture and a letter

2011-03-31T14:47:00.000-05:00

These are some of my favorite photos that I have seen from Dan's childhood.

He was (is) so adorable!!

So today is share a photo and a letter..today I have chosen to write a letter to my In laws...

Dear Danny and Lou Anne,

Seventeen years ago I met a boy who I thought was such a pain in the butt!

He picked on me, always made jokes that he thought were funny, and at worst...would

fart!! Who raised this boy??!!!

As time went on he became a boy that was funny...his jokes were corny but yet I found myself laughing at them..the farting..well..I never got on board with that!
Soon I saw a young man, one that I admired, respected and was quickly falling swooney over..AND he liked me enough that he was embarrassed to fart around me (yay!)

Before I even knew what was happening I was in love with this young man and I knew that he was without a doubt the man I wanted to marry, the man I wanted share children with, the man I wanted to spend the rest of my life with.

I am proud of this man and I am proud to call him my husband.
His morals are strong, he knows how to treat a lady, he is a great father, a hard worker, and strong family provider, and anyone who is lucky enough to call him a friend is truely blessed.
He did not learn this all on his own, he was taught this by two parents that raised him to be the awesome man that he is today.

I thank you for that!
My one hope is that we are raising our own sons with these same values.

Dan is very lucky that he has you both for parents and has expressed that to me several times.
There is nothing that you two wouldn't do for your kids, grandkids or in-laws.
In a sense we are all truely blessed to have you both as "our parents".
So today I thank you for Dan and all that he is, without your influence, love and support he would not be the most awesome man I know!

I know that I am truely blessed to have Dan as my husband and I try every day to not take him for granted!
Thank you to you both!
I love you!
Shawna

Wordless Wednesday.....

2011-03-30T15:49:00.000-05:00

Wordless Wednesday..

31 Day Challenge-Day 18 A picture of your biggest insecurity

2011-03-30T09:45:00.000-05:00

I can't speak for the rest of my family on what their

insecurities are but for me, if you are reading this and you know me

you will not find this surprising...

My insecurity is DRIVING!!!

Super Moon...!!

2011-03-21T09:32:00.001-05:00

Did you all see the SUPER MOON?

Im not sure if I seen it while it was in super mode or not.

I didn't notice it was large like people were saying, but

I did notice it was alot brighter then usual tho!

I feel lucky that I was able to witness this in my lifetime.

"They" say it won't happen again for another 20 years!

So if the God Lord allows I may just have the chance to see it again!!

These aren't the best photos, I've seen other people's photos and they are alot

better then mine and I read that the best time to see the moon at it's largest was at sunset, me on the other hand I went out and looked after midnight :)

Flash Back Friday..

2011-03-18T00:43:00.000-05:00

Carter at his 3rd birthday. I loved his chubby butt in that speedo-he'll prolly kill me for that lol..

Carter's first ride in the tractor with Daddy. Click on this pic to see it bigger sooo cute!

Dan and Caleb 2008

Caleb 2008 first year playing on minors

Carter's first year of tball 2008

Product Reveiw-Glade Sparkle of Spring Candle

2011-03-18T00:14:00.002-05:00

As part of being a Bzz Agent, I got the opportunity to

sample the new Glade spring line.

I was sent this candle "Sparkle of Spring".

I first used it as my table setting for St. Patty's Day dinner because

it was GREEN!!

(See here for table setting)

At first I didn't notice much of a scent from it.

After dinner I cleaned up the kitchen and realized, I may not have

much noticed the scent because the aroma of the food I had cooked may have still been in the air.

So I moved the candle into the living room and IT DID IT'S JOB!!

My living room is by no means a small room and Im telling you the candle filled the room with scent!

It was a very fresh and clean scent. Very pleasant!

I will be buying this line of candles again!

It is long lasting as far as the burn time. I've had it burning for 5 hours now and it's

not even close to half burned!

There is another candle in this line called "Bring on the blossoms". Im anxious to give that one a try!

So stay tuned for an update on what I think of that candle!

2 thumbs up, I would buy this product!

Other items in their spring line include

Premium Room Sprays

Scented Oil Candle refills

Plug Ins Scented oils

and the 4oz jar Candles I mentioned above

Happy St. Patrick's Day (2011)

2011-03-17T23:33:00.000-05:00

For the "small" holidays, I always like doing simple things for the boys,

but this year with the house being in such a disaray I wasn't sure what I was going to do.

So I quickly threw something together...

I went to the store and bought "gold" candies..

Found 2 similiar containers..put a sheet of green paper into the jar

and stuffed them with the candies...

It made for a nice "goodie surprise" for the boys...

I made a quick pasta dish and added some precooked chicken and cooked it in the electric pan

(the joys of not having a stove ha ha)

Added some green food coloring..

Bought some green punch..

added a green candle to the table and green table cloth and called it

St. Patty's Day!

The pasta dish came out yum-o!

(ignore the background mess, with everything going on these types of messes are everywhere in our home!)

To end the dinner we made our own

"shamrock shakes"

Carter mentioned that we didn't have whip cream to top it off..

well as luck would have it...I had heavy cream in the fridge!

Yay for recipes that don't use the whole carton :)

So our St. Patty's day was a little fun and a little special..I hope yours was

full of lots of green and maybe even some gold if you were lucky :)

31 Day Challenge...Day 17: A picture of someone who has made a huge impact on your life

2011-03-17T22:43:00.001-05:00

I'd have to say that my kids are who have made the biggest impact in my life.

Before kids my life was nothing but day in and day out partying...It took a little while for us to adjust and grow up but eventually kids have a way of changing you..I like to think for the better :)

Some days are hard, with them fighting and bickering all the time, and some days are nothing but joy.
The trials you go thru as a parent are sometimes for the good and sometimes for the bad..it makes my day when they share their day and their life stories with me. When they come to me and tell me things that they are going thru in life and share with me things that I never shared with my parents it makes me feel like I am doing my job.
I love my boys so much and would never trade them for the world!

Wordless Wednesday

2011-03-16T11:24:00.000-05:00

31 Day Challenge...A picture of someone who inspires you

2011-03-16T10:43:00.000-05:00

I am just going to speak for myself on this one..

Shawna Bates ‎31 day challenge-Day 16: A picture of someone who inspires you.

The person who I am inspired by today is Angell Lundy. She has worked so hard in bettering herself and standing her ground in following her faith. Her walk with Christ is very ...inspiring and I am so proud of her. She is doing her best in her journey of life and works hard and is a genuine friend. I ♥ you Angell McLundy!See More

31 Day Challenge...Day 15: A picture of something you want to do before you die.

2011-03-15T23:10:00.000-05:00

I am going out on a quick limb here and deciding for everyone lol...I might not be right down to the exact but I know Im darn close to things they would choose lol..

For me, I dream of going to Maine to see the sea! I've been told

so many times that the sea is the most beautifuliest sp? in Maine..

Dan would love to go to the Daytona 500

And Caleb and Carter have been begging to go to "Dave and Busters" lol..all atainable dreams..now to get a plan in action :)

31 Day Challenge...Day 14: A picture of someone you could never imagine your life without.

2011-03-15T23:08:00.000-05:00

I could go on and on and on listing the people we couldn't live without!

But I only added pics from what I already had on my computer.

So if you aren't in one of these photos don't get upset..you are special to us and we love our friends

and family very much!

Shawna's sisters...

Thing 1 and Thing 2..we couldn't live without them, and they couldn't live without each other!

Me personally I couldn't live without Mr.Handsome!

He is such a wonderful husband!

Our lil' family..

and our big families! Many of the ones we adore aren't in these photos but wouldn't ever

want to live without them. We are very lucky that we have the families we do. God has certainly blessed us and continues to do so!

So to family..and friends..we couldn't live without any of you.
You make our lives enjoyable. Love you all!

31 Day Challenge...Day 13: A picture of your favorite band/artist

2011-03-15T23:03:00.000-05:00

Our whole family loves Nickelback!

What's on Shawna's Phone Tuesday..???

2011-03-15T23:02:00.000-05:00

Lot's of pictures on my phone this week...

We started the kitchen renovation this week after the "mishap"...

Say bye bye stove and yucky burnt up wall...

Say bye bye fridge...a new one is coming to replace you...

Bye Bye..yellow walls..the kilz alone made a huge difference!!

Bye Bye Jankie light fixture..a ceiling fan will be replacing you soon...

BUBBYE FUNKY YELLOW FLOOR!

Wood laminate is in the process of being laid!!

Ignore my beat up ole stool..I kept it around thinking that "someday" I would redo it..

and well...as you can see it sat in the garage for a super long time...BUT it did come in handy during the clean up process :)

When we ripped the trim off the bottom of the walls this is the wall paper that was behind it...

Can you imagine having a WHOLE KITCHEN in THAT paper!! YIKES!!

And the painting begins....

Still have a couple more coats of the red to do, that is not the true red that it will be,
it will be darker once I get more coats on it...and so the kitchen renovation is to be continued..look for more updates soon!!!

31 Day Challenge...Day 12: A picture of something you love

2011-03-14T15:26:00.000-05:00

Some of the things we LOVE...are...

Caleb-Loves his ripped up faded jeans-infact sometimes I have to remind him he already wore them to school during the week lol..

Dan loves his chair, and can often be heard saying
"I can't wait to get home to my chair"..

it's a love affair in the making!

As for me..my dark coffee..it can't ever be

too dark or too strong!!

And Carter, loves his psp...any of his gaming devices for that matter..

He is grounded from his psp at the moment but I hear him now over on the couch

playing his DS...I think just grounding him from the psp kinda defeated the purpose..lol..ole well live and learn...

31 Day Challenge...Day 11: A picture of something you hate.

2011-03-11T13:19:00.000-06:00

What our family is hating right now, is the soot that is all over our house!!

Thankfully we are getting it cleared up! This particular wall has been painted already!

31 Day Challenge...Day 10: A picture of the person you do the craziest things with.

2011-03-10T14:16:00.000-06:00

Day 10: A picture of the person you do the craziest things with.

If I had to pick for Dan and I, I would say we do the craziest things with our bike riding Toy Run crew!

We love this group of people so much. There is NEVER a dull moment with them. Even when you are doing nothing but sitting around the bon fire ...it's always a ass laughing good time!!

For Caleb he does all his silly crazy stuff with his best friend Dylan..these two are a riot when they are together!

As for Carter he is just crazy on his own!

He needs no side kick to do crazy stuff, he's the one usually bringing the crazy!

Wordless Wednesday

2011-03-09T13:51:00.001-06:00

Kitchen Renovation Has begun...

To join in on the "Wordless Wednesday" blog hop click here

31 Day Challenge A picture of the person that has gotten you through the most

2011-03-09T06:40:00.001-06:00

A picture of the person that has gotten you through the most..

Other then our parents, I would pick Dan as the one person that has gotton me thru most things in my life, I'd like to think he'd pick me as well :)
I would also LIKE to think our boys would say Dan and I to this question as well.
Caleb, tho Im certain would add his Grandma Lou into this as well :)

What's on Shawna's Phone Tuesday..???

2011-03-08T06:00:00.025-06:00

So what's on my phone today?....

A little humor...

Shannon helping me clean soot from the ceilings

When the cat is away..the mice will play..

I walked around the corner and Lowes and here is how I found Thing 1 and Thing 2 entertaining themselves

Caleb playing in the jungle..ok it's really the plant section at Lowe's..

31 Day Challenge Day 8: A picture that makes you laugh.

2011-03-08T06:00:00.001-06:00

This made me laugh!

Dan wrote in the soot! I was in the shower and looked

up realizing I hadn't washed the bathroom yet, and lucky for me I hadn't

because Dan left me this sweet message..

31 Day Challenge..Day 7: A picture of your most treasured item.

2011-03-07T21:55:00.011-06:00

Day 7: A picture of your most treasured item.

For me these are some of my treasured items

I love my Little House books.

I have a whole series that my Grandma got me when I was 10

for making the honor roll at school.

Im guessing for the rest of my family..

Dan I would say his most treasured item is his phone

I would say Caleb's is his IPod!

He loves that thing!

And Carter's of course would be his gaming unit!

He gets grounded from the wii alot!!

31 Day Challenge-Day 6: A picture of the person you'd love to trade places with for one day

2011-03-07T20:44:00.000-06:00

Day 6: A picture of the person you'd love to trade places with for one day

I don't know what the rest of my family would pick and I don't know who this lady is, but I think it'd be fun to trade places for a day with her!!!

31 Day Challenge...Day 5: A picture of your favorite memory

2011-03-07T20:35:00.000-06:00

Day 5: A picture of your favorite memory

I don't have a "favorite memory" because all my memories

are what I cherish, big and small.

So I will share a couple photos of various memories...

I remember when Emily made this Valentine for

her mommy (Stephanie). I just adored Emmy at this age.

Bryce so bad wanting to be like the big boys and ride 4wheelers

Safety first!

Poison Ivy has been found...It spread like wild fire

all over him!! Poor kid! Thank God we got thru that one!

Visiting the last year of Dream Haven. Looking
at all the villiage stuff was fasinating..

So there you have it, there are some of our favorite or not so favorite memories

: A picture of your typical night.

2011-03-07T20:08:00.001-06:00

Day 4: A picture of your typical night.

A typical night in our house isn't really usually anything exciting..
Dan and the cat are usually sleeping in his chair, I am playing on facebook and
the boys are either wrestling, Caleb is texting his girlfriend, Carter is watching a movie
or the boys are in the living room watching idol with me.

Generally we don't get many nights where we are home, alot of times we are on the go
so we don't get to always relax, but when we do we enjoy it!

Life Made Lovely Monday

2011-03-07T09:17:00.000-06:00

Life Made Lovely Monday takes place on Blessed Little Nest obviously every Monday..this Monday I decided to join in.

What a neat idea to reflect on the little things in life.

For me..what I find lovely is the fact that we finally picked out and bought the paint to redo my burned up kitchen! YAY! I'm so excited!!

Beleive me when I say there are a couple cans of primer in there too lol..dag gum soot it just wrecks everything!

Disregard that dingy, dirty 70's YELLOW floor because THATS GOING TOO!

We also bought the wood laminate floor to go in there!!

How exciting right!!!

Yea, I know!!

Now isn't that just lovely!!

Day 3: A picture of your favorite TV show cast. (31 Day Challenge)

2011-03-03T10:49:00.001-06:00

I already told you on day 1 that our family likes to watch the show "Sanford and Son" but another one of our favorites is "Rosanne"..I think every American family can relate to this family!

No matter how many times we've seen the episodes, we still can't bring ourselves to change the channel when we come across this show on tv!

Wordless Wednesday

2011-03-03T00:10:00.000-06:00

A Picture of yourself and the person you are closest with (31 Day Challenge)

2011-03-02T23:30:00.002-06:00

It's too hard to pin point who all our family is closest with, so speaking for myself here, I am closest with my sister and best friend Shannon.

Her and I have been thru so much together and always come out on top loving each other even more!

31 Day Challenge...

2011-03-01T09:54:00.001-06:00

I am taking the 31 Day Challenge. Each day for 31 days I will be posting a picture and a small insert to go with the photo. I hope you enjoy the posts and learn a little about our family.

1.) A picture of yourself with 10 facts.

Since this is our family blog I am going to post a picture of our family

1.We all love the show "Sanford and Son"

2. We eat way too much pizza!

3. We like to take walks around the farm.

4. We think Harley Davidson rocks!

5. We love playing wii bowling!-Except Carter always wins!

6, We have a bathroom the color of Caleb's shirt!!

7. We live on a pig farm..and love it here!

8. We love nascar! -Go Jr!

9. We all love the song "Chicken Fried" and turn the radio up everytime it comes on!

10. Family is important to all of us.

MAJOR OOPSIE!!

2011-02-23T00:58:00.002-06:00

This has been the week from hell!

First we had the crazy ice storm..will share photos of that

possiably tomorrow..but that's a big maybe because I'll be busy cleaning up THIS!!

Thing 2 said he was hungry so I decided I

was going to make him shrimp..so I get the pan of oil out

turn it on medium, go get the shrimp and realize it had already been eaten...

So.......I go to the stove shut the oil off...and walk away..

I hear noise in the kitchen but figure it's Thing 2 scurrying around STILL

looking for something to eat because he didn't want anything else that I had offered him..

DARN YOU SNOW DAYS!!

I go out into the kitchen and have a FULL BLOWN fire going!

APPARENTLY I didn't get the knob completely over, therefor the burner was actually turned on to

blazing hot burn your house down high!!

I can tell you I have never been so scared or freaked out I don't think in my life. I possiably even pee'd a little!

I grabbed the fire extingusher and used that...it was helping but the fire was still spreading and I had emptied the entire can!!

Crap!! Ah..box of baking soda-Thank GOD I got the bright idea to make my own laundry soap! I had a HUGE box of it!

That got the fire out fast...except the cupboard was still smoldering and I couldn't get it to stop. Mr. Handsome rushed in with a crow bar and ripped it off the wall..

In all the chaos I managed to get Thing 2 out of the house (Thing1 was at work with Mr. Handsome) I rescued the dog and FROGS and threw the cat down in the basement because I knew the dogs would eat him alive (Hey don't judge me! The fire was out there was just black smoke all over!)

I kid you not when I say it looked like night time in my house!

Only a few things got wrecked, but I am really sad to say good bye to my beloved Ronco Knives..I love them so so much! (A few can be salvaged)

Is it possiable to get new handles put on? Anyone??..

Nicely lovely scorchy burn up the side of the cabinet....ugh..sigh..

How absoultly disgusting this looks! The stuff all over the stove is from ripping the cabinet down..

Thing 1 and Thing 2 and Mr. Handsome were very helpful in working on the clean up this evening.

Mr. Handsome worked until he couldn't stand anymore cleaning all the walls we had JUST painted.

Still lots of cleaning in our forecast but my sister is coming in the morning to help me, and a special thank you to my parents who kept the boys warm (because every door and window was open and the heat was off) and for going and getting cleaning supplies.

Also thank you to everyone who called and sent messages letting us know you were there if we needed you and that your help was availiable.

We are very lucky this did not get even more out of hand...God certainly was walking beside me today!

What's on Shawna's Phone Tuesday..???

2011-02-23T00:25:00.000-06:00

While traveling thru town I notice something BRIGHT blue hanging from this BRIGHT red truck..as we got a little closer I realized the truck had "BLUE BALLS" ...Now you know that's FUNNY..so OF COURSE I had to take a picture of THAT!

Who doesn't love taking WACKY pictures? I know you ALL totally BELEIVE that

my SISTER really is swimming right??...The PEOPLE in the background are just TANK DECORATIONS!!-honest!

Sunday Feb 20th, Mr. Handsome and I renewed our WEDDING VOWS.

This is the ROSE he gave ME...Plus I thought this was a

pretty AWESOME photo I took lol..

Renewing our vows was pretty AWESOME!

Also on that SUNDAY Thing 2 had his CUBSCOUTS banquet.

Which was really just a FREE FOR ALL-for EVERY little BOY

that could get away with Climbing anything possiable, or to get away with RUNNING all

over the room..but hey they all seemed to ENJOY themselves..I did NOTICE a few PARENTS

looking around for ink pens to JAB their EARDRUMS out from all the chaos :)

And OF COURSE Thing 2 has to give you a NON-NORMAL photo-because WELL that's just WHAT HE DOES! -Everything he learns comes from Thing 1. MONKEY SEE...Monkey DO!

Well that is what's on my phone this week..Stay tuned to see what kooky photos I have next week!

Flash Back Friday

2011-02-18T11:13:00.000-06:00

I decided to join in on the "Flash Back Friday" blog hop. Thought it sounded fun and it was also fun looking thru all these old photos!!

Here are a few I chose to share. Some of you may have seen them before and some of you maybe not...

Most of you probably will remember KiKi the little girl I babysat and Caleb's best friend.

Those two did nothing but laugh the whole time and any time they were together!!

I love this picture because you can see how genuinely happy Caleb is in the moment.

Look how chubby Carter was as a toddler!!

Shane (Samantha's son) and Caleb frog hunting. Why oh why did we shave that boys head!!

So that's it for Flash Back Friday. Hope you've enjoyed taking a glance at our photos of the past. I just may participate in this again!!

Whats on your phone tuesdays??...(Cept' I'm late and posting Thursday...whooops..)

2011-02-17T09:39:00.000-06:00

Well here is what's on my phone...Yes, you are seeing right..it's a photo of MY baby dolls..lol..

As most of you know, I've had the blonde doll for awhile now. I like to dress her up in different holiday/season clothes. My neices love playing with her especially Allie. The other baby came from a yardsale this past year. I LOVE dolls and could spend big bucks on them...too bad I don't have big bucks :) I got the lil' thumb sucker for a buck. She is adorable but her eyes are creepy-don'tcha think??

Anyways for a buck I just couldn't resist. The good thing about this doll tho, is when "she's" put in pink she makes a cute little girl...but thankfully the dolls previous owner hacked it's hair super short (thank you little girl who isn't suppose to be playing with the scissors!) so this doll when dressed in blue becomes a very cute little boy too!! Wait? Does that make me officially the owner of a cross dressing baby doll??

The reason I have this photo on my phone is because I dressed them in their Valentine clothes and was talking to my sister Shannon while I was doing it so I sent her a photo..and that ladies and gentlemen is why I am such a big dork :)

^v^v^v^Heart^vAttack^v^v^v^v

2011-02-16T16:03:00.000-06:00

The night before Valentine's Day, I snuck out to Dan's work truck

and taped hearts all over the inside of his truck!

Finding them at 4:30 am was a bit of a shocker for him.

He thanked me kindly for all the tape he had to peel off spots :)

HOLY SNOWLY!!

2011-02-16T15:44:00.000-06:00

Michigan has certainly got hit with their fair amount of snow this winter!!

The piles of snow that were made by the men that plowed out

our drives quickly became "king of the mountain"

and zooming sledding "hills"...

I had to snap a photo of our window. If only I had

Christmas lights and a cat sitting in the window it could become

next years Christmas card lol..

The snow along the side of the road after the snow plow

went thru...now THATS SOME SNOW!!

I beleive this is the biggest amount of snow that the boys have ever seen.

Not only was it deep it was heavy. Before we went to bed the night it was snowing,

I tried to open the front door and it was darn neared snow'd shut because it was hard to push the snow back with the door.

As I look outside today, the sun is shining and all that snow is working on melting, I am very much so looking forward to spring!! But be prepared fellow Michiganders..it's going to be one muddy muddy mess!!

Happy Valentine's Day

2011-02-16T07:18:00.000-06:00

When it comes to holidays, no matter what holiday it is I tend to get..what is it Dan says...looney..

I always like to do fun things for the boys and Dan on the "little holidays"

I made spaghetti and meatballs. I got a bottle of sparkling apple cider and and pulled out the champagne glasses for an added special touch. The boys loved drinking out of them.

After dinner I pulled out a tray of chocolate fondue!! My sister bought this for us last year for Christmas and this was the first time we used it. We all had alot of fun with it!!

While I was cutting up the food and melting the chocolate I swear to you no joking aside Carter was stalking the fondue tray the whole time!!

Bread..Marshmellows..Bananas..!!!

I got them all a tiny little gift and we just enjoyed the evening having fun at the table. I hope memories were made and hope your Valentine's Day was just as special.

I love my family so much!!

PUPPIES..PUPPIES...GET YOUR FREE PUPPIES

2010-11-08T09:12:00.005-06:00

Well here we are once again..another litter of puppies!

The mom is full blooded Border Collie

The Dad is full blooded Boxer...

Both parents are great family dogs and have wonderful personalities.

These pups are free to a good home and there are TEN count em TEN to choose from.!! (I'm partial to the fawn colored ones myself)

They were born October 13th and will be ready for a new home November 24th! (Just in time for Thanksgiving???)

If you have any questions or would like to see more pics just let me know...if you don't want one of the pups just enjoy the cute pics :)

Kalamazoo KWINGS

2010-03-03T09:36:00.007-06:00

One of the field trips we took with the Cub Scouts

was to go to the KWINGS Hockey game in Kalamazoo!

None of us had been there before so we were looking forward to it.

(Can you beleive Caleb opted to NOT go!!!!!)

The "sticks" Carter is holding are like inflatable balloons, but when you bang

them together they make like an echo noise. Pretty neat!

Oh Darn! I can't remember this birds name! If Carter were here
I'm sure he'd remember. But all the kids thought he was the cooliest!

Carter thought that "thingie" that smooths out the ice was pretty neat.

And Dan says he'd love to take that for a stroll LOL

I thought these were neat photos.

Carter is standing right up to the ice rink, checking it out up

close and personal. He said "it was alot bigger up close"!

Ahh..and the fighting was the highlight of the night..

And you can't leave a sports even without

a foam finger right???!!!

More fighting..........

Corey and Carter

We had a great time, we really wished Caleb would have came we know

he would have loved it. But we'd like to take the kids again sometime.

It's a cheap night out :)

Christmas at Grammy and Poppy's

2010-03-03T08:54:00.001-06:00

Chewy Brownie Cookies

2009-12-18T07:47:00.002-06:00

Chewy Brownie Cookies

2/3 cup shortening
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1 tbsp water
3 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups flour
1/3 cup baking cocoa
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp soda
2 cups (12 ounces) semisweet
chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecan, optional

In a large bowl, cream the shortening, sugar, water, and the vanilla until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs. Combine the flour, cocoa, salt, and baking soda. Gradually add to the creamed mixture. Beat just until blended. Stir in the chocolate and the nuts if desired. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls 2 inches apart onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 375 F for 7-9 minutes. Do Not Overbake. Cool for 2 minutes before removing to wire racks to cool. Makes 3 dozen

These are SUPPOSE to have chocolate chips in them..HOWEVER..I went to get my chocolate chips out of the freezer..and my lovely husband had a snack attack and there were NONE in the freezer so I had to substitute with the m&m's...otherwise I'm sure they would look alot better..

They are good and chewy tho!!!

Give em a try!

Santa Hat Confections

2009-12-18T07:12:00.003-06:00

These "cookies" are so melt in your mouth yummy!

Dan's family refers to them as styrofoam cookies.

Give em a try they are fun to make!

I didn't have any red sugar, so I took food coloring paste and put it in a bag

of white sugar and I squished it all around. I didn't get red, more of a darker

pink..but ole well I think they are still cute :)

Ingredients

2 egg whites, at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup sugar
Red colored sugar

Instructions

Heat the oven to 200º F. With an electric mixer, beat the egg whites until soft peaks start to form. Beating all the while, add the cream of tartar and vanilla extract, then slowly add the 1/2 cup of sugar. Continue to beat until the peaks stiffen.
Spoon the meringue into a quart-size plastic bag. Snip off a corner and pipe 2 dozen 1 1/2-inch-tall Santa hat triangles onto a parchment-lined baking sheet (you should have about 1/4 of the meringue left).
Sprinkle the triangles with the red sugar, then use the remaining meringue to give each one a pom-pom and trim. Bake the hats until they're hard but not browned, about 1 hour and 20 minutes. Turn off the oven and leave the hats in it for an hour to crisp before removing.

Cake Mix Cookies

2009-12-17T21:58:00.004-06:00

Earlier today I thought I'd make some cute santa hat cookies for Caleb to
take into his class for his Christmas party. But to my sadness..he was too cool
for those little Santa hats :( He was bummed that "those" were the cookies
he "had" to take into class...so here I sit..midnight making a whole new, different
batch of cookies. I needed something quick and easy because we had a cub
scouts meeting tonight and didn't get home until 9pm. So I remembered I had 2
cake mixes in the cupboard so I did a quick cake cookie mix search. (Thank
God for google!) I remembered a friend from Canada made these for us when
she visited us here in the states, so I knew they were pretty yummy.
(Thanks Amy) So this is what Caleb is now taking to class. He is long fast
asleep but I'm sure he will be happy in the morning to know he doesn't have to take
those "santa hat's" to school lol.......

CAKE MIX COOKIES

1 package of cake mix (any flavor)
1 large egg
1/4 cup of oil
1/4 cup of water
1 cup of chopped nuts, raisins, oatmeal, coconut, chocolate chips, M&M'S® etc. (anything you like in cookies)

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Combine cake mix, egg, oil, and water. Beat until well blended. Stir in remaining ingredient (s).

Drop by teaspoon about 1 inch apart onto greased cooke sheet.

Bake for 15 minutes or until done. Makes about 4 dozens. Yummy!

Peanut Butter Chippers

2009-12-16T20:16:00.002-06:00

Peanut Butter Chippers

6 tbsp butter, softened
1/4 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup milk chocolate chips

In a small bowl, cream the butter, peanut butter, and the sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg and vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda, and the salt. Gradually add to the creamed mixture. Mix well. Stir in the chocolate chips. Drop by tablespoonfuls 2 inches apart onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 350 F for 11-14 minutes or until golden brown. Remove to wire racks. Makes 3 1/2 dozen

Under the peanut cookies you can see m&m cookies, yep I made those too but I cheated :) I bought chocolate chip cookie mix (got a great sale!) and mixed walnuts and m&m's into it. Fast an easy!!!

Peanut Crescents Cookies

2009-12-16T19:32:00.003-06:00

Peanut Crescents

1 cup butter, softened
1/3 cup sugar
1 tbsp water
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
1/2 cup finely chopped
salted peanuts
Confectioners' sugar

In a small bowl, cream the butter and the sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the water and the vanilla. Gradually add the flour. Mix well. Stir in the peanuts. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour or until easy to handle. Shape rounded tablespoonfuls of the dough into 2 1/2 inch crescents. Place 2 inches apart onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 350 F for 15-18 minutes or until set. Do Not Brown. Roll the warm cookies in the confectioners sugar. Cool completely on wire racks. Roll the cooled cookies again the confectioners' sugar. Makes 3 dozen

The Christmas Season can begin...We watched Rudolph!!

2009-12-03T22:57:00.008-06:00

Well it's official! The Christmas season kick off has begun!!

We watched Rudolph!!
Now we're on the look out for Frosty the Snowman!!

When I took this picture, I shut the flash off.

It was so cozy when we watched the show.

The only lights that were on was the Christmas tree.

So I included the second photo for the feel of the atmosphere lol

We got our tree up

2009-12-03T21:26:00.007-06:00

Well the tree if officially done!!
We've discovered we have more ornaments then our tree can hold lol..but we love each and every one we own :)
This year Caleb wasn't all that interested in decorating the tree. He put a couple ornaments on but that about sums it up...guess my baby boy is growing up :(

Carter bugged me for 2 days to put the candy canes on...i think it really had something to do with the fact that once the boxes were open they could be ate :)

and 5 minutes later....
Guess all that tree decorating was hard work!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Our Christmas Count Down

2009-12-03T21:01:00.002-06:00

For the past couple years I've been trying to figure out how to make
a Christmas Countdown that would be simple but possiably reused...
FINALLY!!!
I don't know where I seen this idea...(Sorry I can't give credit where credit is due!!)
I thought this was a neat idea!! It's recycling, simple, cutesie/old fashioned "feel" to it...
WHo woulda ever thought to use toilet paper rolls!!
Isn't that a nifty idea!!
Now that I did a simple one, I'm thinking...hmm this could be done up really cool if you have any spare time on your hands to add great whimsy to them!! For me...well maybe another time..but for this year, these are perfect! :)
So does that mean I have officially "altered" toilet paper rolls??? LOL..
Don't it look cute!!!
All I did was tuck fold the bottoms of each end.
I stuffed candy and other goodies
in it, along with a small activity!
I was able to stuff 2 packs of funsize m&m packs into them!!
**** COUNT DOWN/HALLOWEEN TIP HERE!!! ****
On Halloween when you take your kids trick or treating,
once it's all over give them a freezer bag with their name on it.
Ask for 25 pieces of candy. When they are done seal them up and throw them in the
freezer!!
You now have your Christmas Countdown candies. They still get to eat "their"
candy...just not all at once!!! :)
Thanks Suzanne for this tip you shared with me years ago!!
P.S. Don't always expect your kids will be pleased to "hand it over" lol..

I've been wanting to find a website
that has the story of Mary and Joseph and the
birth of Jesus, where you would read a section of the
story each night but I've yet to find a website for that.
So next year I will just break the story down myself, plus have
family activites in there.
I had a hard time tho coming up with something everyday..so incase you need some ideas too I'm including our list.
Have a Merry Christmas..time is counting down..ha ha..
1 decorate the tree
2 watch rudolph
3 curl up with hot coco and read a christmas book
4 send postcards to your friends
5 say a prayer for the troops
6 Set your shoe by your bedroom door for tonite is the nite St Nick comes!
7 work on gifts you're making for family members
8 listen to christmas music and sing along
9 read a christmas book
10 watch a special christmas movie in mom's bed! (I bought the movie "8 crazy nights" and included 2 fun size m&m's)
11 have a cup of warm coco and tell us about your day!
12 say a special prayer for everyone
13 enjoy your treat (put suckers in this one)
14 make cookies
15 read a christmas book
16 say a prayer for the troops
17 read a story about Jesus
18 Take goodies to the neighbors
19 have fun at the school party today!
20 enjoy your treat while we read a christmas book (put a piece of candy inside)
21 play a game of "trouble"
22 help open and hang the christmas cards
23 have coco popcorn and watch and christmas movie
24 Hang your stockings. Read a book about Jesus and verse
25 Happy Birthday Jesus! Be sure to thank him for all he's done for you! Enjoy your day!

Cass County Fair 2009

2009-09-08T17:31:00.028-05:00

I'm not a big fan of the County Fair.

If I could go just one day I'd be fine.

With the boys having pigs up there tho

one day just doesn't cut it.

However one thing I do enjoy about the fair is walking

thru the buildings and seeing what everyone submitted.

I love looking at the rows and rows of vegetables

The shelves lined with canned goods and ribbons, always give you

a sense of "country"

We at least had fairly descent weather this year!

Caleb didn't place with his pig but that's ok. He enjoyed the experience

and it sold for a descent price so he was pretty happy.

I'm gonna toot my own horn here..toot toot...I won a blue ribbon

for my zuchinni bread. I was pretty excited concidering I never made it before!

We attended many of the free events just to fill our day in between tending with the pig and doing shows.

Carter thought the circus was neat, but especially enjoyed the dirt bike that drove in circles all

over this cage. And when the rider took their helmet off it turned out the driver was a girl!

Mine and Carter's mouths both dropped lol!! Girls rock!

Then there was Grandpa Cratchett-I think EVERY kid enjoyed him!

I don't know how many times we watched this show..but I could recite some of the skit for you if you ask! "Everybody say Hi Grandpaw"

And then there was the monster trucks! They stole the show!

Of everything we attended at the fair the boys were estatic over the trucks!!

It really was a neat show and I was glad we got to attend it!

Of course you know Carter and Shane are hardly apart in the summer!
So he attended with us! We were glad to have him along. Their faces when the trucks did "tricks" was priceless!!

And whats a fair without a carmel apple??!!

Carter did much better this year in showing the pig, but there is still room for improvement but that's ok that's what pee wee's is all about!!

Caleb did ALOT better in showing his pig this year!!

One thing he (finally) learned this year was you don't

pick a pig to bring to the fair by it's color lol

Caleb and Carter getting ready to show...

Caleb selling his pig at the auction.

And the dreaded "final feeding"..every year after the final feeding is the hardest part

for Caleb. Knowing that the pig is going to be loaded on the slaughter truck in a matter of hours really makes him sad...but that doesn't stop him from bringing pigs the following year lol..

Dan and I always feel bad for him and it tends to be a little hard on us watching Caleb break down.

In this photo Dan isn't laughing at Caleb he's laughing at me for taking the photo.

Caleb got the chance to see how fast and how many mph he threw a baseball..

lol..he was pretty happy with 49!

Shane loved the bumper cars! Carter was bummed because he's still too short to ride them!

So he opted to try his hand at the bull instead..I gotta say he did pretty good!!

So there you have it...that was our week at the county fair..

It's easy to be a martyr about things but I guess looking back on the photos, we

did have a pretty good time especially the boys.

The whole clan!

2009-09-08T17:26:00.002-05:00

This photo was taken at Uncle Sonny's 80th birthday party!

What started as a family of 4 (Dan, Lou,Dan jr, Lisa) sure did multiply!

I loved reading this, I hope you all enjoy it too! (thanks Barbee!)

2009-08-15T16:28:00.002-05:00

WOW! THOSE OF LONG AGO SURE COULD HAVE USED A GOOD HEALTH CARE PLAN AND WOODEN BUCKETS FOR DRINKING WHISKEY
- history can be Fun

They used to use urine to tan animal skins, so families used to all pee in a pot & then once a day it was taken & sold to the tannery........if you had to do this to survive you were "Piss Poor"
But worse than that were the really poor folk who couldn't even afford to buy a pot........they "didn't have a pot to piss in" & were the lowest of the low
The next time you are washing your hands and complain because the water temperature isn't just how you like it, think about how things used to be. Here are some facts about the 1500s:
Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May, and they still smelled pretty good by June.. However, since they were starting to smell . .. . Brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odor. Hence the custom today of carrying a bouquet when getting married.
Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the house had the privilege of the nice clean water, then all the other sons and men, then the women and finally the children.. Last of all the
Babies. By then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it. Hence the saying, "Don't throw the baby out with the Bath water!"
Houses had thatched roofs-thick straw-piled high, with no wood underneath. It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all the cats and other small animals (mice, bugs) lived in the roof. When it rained it became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof. Hence the saying "It's raining cats and dogs."
There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house. This posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings could mess up your nice clean bed. Hence, a bed with big posts and a sheet hung over the top afforded some protection. That's how canopy beds came into existence.
The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt. Hence the saying, "Dirt poor." The wealthy had slate floors that would get slippery in the winter when wet, so they spread thresh (straw) on floor to help keep their footing. As the winter wore on, they added more thresh until, when you opened the door, it would all start slipping outside. A piece of wood was placed in the entrance-way. Hence: a thresh hold.
(Getting quite an education, aren't you?)
In those old days, they cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle that always hung over the fire.. Every day they lit the fire and added things to the pot. They ate mostly vegetables and did not get much meat. They would eat the stew for dinner, leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight and then start over the next day. Sometimes stew had food in it that had been there for quite a while. Hence the rhyme: Peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old.
Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made them feel quite special. When visitors came over, they would hang up their bacon to show off. It was a sign of wealth that a man could, "bring home the bacon." They would cut off a little to share with guests and would all sit around and chew the fat.
Those with money had plates made of pewter. Food with high acid content caused some of the lead to leach onto the food, causing lead poisoning death. This happened most often with tomatoes, so for the next 400 years or so, tomatoes were considered poisonous.
Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the burnt bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle, and guests got the top, or the upper crust.
Lead cups were used to drink ale or whisky. The combination would sometimes knock the imbibers out for a couple of days. Someone walking along the road would take them for dead and prepare them for burial. They were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days and the family would gather around and eat and drink and wait and see if they would wake up. Hence the custom of holding a wake.
England is old and small and the local folks started running out of places to bury people. So they would dig up coffins and would take the bones to a bone-house, and reuse the grave. When reopening these coffins, 1 out of 25 coffins were found to have scratch marks on the inside and they realized they had been burying people alive. So they would tie a string on the wrist of the corpse, lead it through the coffin and up through the ground and tie it to a bell. Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night (the graveyard shift.) to listen for the bell; thus,someone could be, saved by the bell or was considered a dead ringer...
And that's the truth...Now, whoever said History was boring ! ! !
So . . . get out there and educate someone! ~~~ Share these facts with a friend like I just did! ! !

Homemade Ice Cream YUM!!!

2009-08-10T21:07:00.009-05:00

Caleb had went to his Grandma's and Dan went to bed

early so it was just Carter and me.

I got the typical, "mom I'm bored"..

So what's a mom to do?? Turn to google for bordom recipes of course!

I looked up the recipe for ziploc ice cream and as luck would have it we had all the ingredients!!

Here is the website and recipe we used

http://crafts.kaboose.com/ice-cream-in-a-bag.html

Squishing the mixture around in the ice. (I wrapped a towel around the bag of ice so it wasn't so cold to handle

Time for a taste test...

Yep!! It's good!!

So good infact he had to wake his dad up and insist on Dad trying his first time every making ice cream at home!!! lol..
(In all honesty it was good!!!)

Our Little Garden

2009-07-31T00:00:00.008-05:00

Our garden may not be big, it may not be the cream of the crop,

But, our garden is our garden. We love it!

We got it planted late...ok very late..but we are pleasantly seeing more

and more harvest coming from it!

We have picked lots and lots of raddishes, spinach, lettuce and onions, as well as 4 zuchinni,2 cucumbers and lots of red tomatoes working on ripening!!

To me the most exciting thing in a garden is when you first see the fruits of your labor
starting to prosper!! These are yellow zuchinni and these ones have already been picked and eaten :) Little green tomatoes...which are now bright orange..and soon will be RED!! :)
The start of lots and lots of cucumbers! Look out homemade dill pickles here I come!
And the fruits of our labor :)
Along with some basil out of the herb garden!!!
I hope those of you who have gardens have had a wonderful harvest and have enjoyed yours just as much as we enjoy ours. And for those of you with no garden!! Plan ahead for next year and get some plants in the ground..or in a bucket...where ever...you won't be sorry!!

Enjoy the rest of your summer!!

Shannon and Scott Got Hitched!!

2009-07-15T00:28:00.021-05:00

Ahhh...At last the wedding day has finally come!!

What a sigh of relief to see it come and go!!

There were so many mishaps and last minute stressers!!

But all in all it was a beautiful wedding!!

This is what the hall looked like

Angell and Sam making the salads

The stress is starting...the Bride to Be has got a headache!!

Rehersal

Randy and Sam

The Family

Shannon with the guys

Emma and Shannon

They're so cute!

Mr and Mrs Wineberg

Braydon and Shannon, He loves his Momma!

I love this photo!

He'll always be Shanny's little man
Too cool !! Riding off on the motorcycle!!

Shannon with her second mom, Aunt Mary

Shanny getting her dance with her big brother (Dan)

Shannon with her other big brother (Bobby)

Carter with his Aunt Shanny

Bobby playing the air guitar (or wrapping paper guitar rather???) to some ZZ Top

I think a great time was had by all!!

Allie Turns 5!

2009-07-14T23:59:00.009-05:00

Tinker Bell Cake.

Blowing out the candles

Lots and Lots of tissue paper

Does she look excited??

YUMMY cake and ice cream!!

Having a blast in on the water slide.

Summer Break!!!

2009-06-24T14:50:00.001-05:00

So far the kids are having a pretty fun summer!!

We went swimming in the lake...ONCE only to get "chiggers".

Caleb had an over night party at a friends and got to go tubing.

He had a blast!!!!!

I wished I was there to take photos!!

Today Carter is with his cousin seeing the new Transformers movie

and Caleb is at his Aunt Stephanie's and she sent me the photos below.

Looks like he's having a great time!!

~SPLAT~! WATER BALLOON FIGHT!!!

2009-06-17T23:45:00.006-05:00

You know it's summer when the kids beg all week to have a waterballoon

fight.

For me personally, water balloon fights are rather a pain in the butt..No pun intended..

ha ha..ok maybe it was....

But seriously..am I the only mom that thinks "Gee I have nothing better to do then stand here and fill up 100 water balloons.."...

I tell ya..Here you are..standing at the sink,

praying to God that each and every balloon you blow up doesn't explode in your hands..You know it won't hurt, but the element of surpise will scare the hell outta ya every single time!!!

Ahh..and how about the pain in the finger you get from tying everyone of those son of a guns!!

Not to mention while you're doing all this the kids are circling you like sharks asking "Are you almost done??" and you're only on the 6th balloon!!!

All that work, and in less then 10 minutes the fight is over and latex is all over the yard..

What we won't do for our kids!...

Baseball has come to end for Summer 2009

2009-06-17T20:26:00.009-05:00

When baseball first started, *I* wasn't so sure how *I* would like

watching it...Turns out, one game and I was hooked!

I loved watching Caleb pitch.

He got down on himself several times for various reasons but

aside from that HE grew to LOVE the game!!

Shhh....He even said he liked it better than football!!

Carter was funny to watch play T-ball.

After going to practice with Caleb and seeing and playing with the

"big boys" he went into tball thinking "I know this game"

Tball was sorta out of Carter's league but because of his age there

was nothing else he could play.

He prefered to have his coach pitch to him rather then have him

hit the ball off the T.

Even tho Carter thought he "knew it all" I think there were a couple things he learned

and took from Tball.

I also think that the boys looked so handsome in their uniforms :)

Carter with his T Ball trophy

Checking this thing out!!!..

Caleb receving his awards

Coach Dad and Caleb

Caleb with his trophy

The girl who couldn't find a mushroom!!

2009-05-01T22:15:00.010-05:00

Ok so today I was on a mission!

I was going to find me some dang mushrooms darn it!

Everyone I talk to has been finding them like crazy so why shouldn't I??

So me the girl who has never mushroom hunted because she is scared of Mother Nature aka stepping on a snake

ventured out to the fence row searching and looking and going cross eyed

in the hopes of finding at least ONE of these gems.

Ok well...I didn't have much luck...or maybe it was because I was seeing double...but I finally gave up finding NOTHING!!

So when the boys got off the bus I asked them if they wanted to go look.

I even had one extra hunter. Caleb's friend Dylan came home with him from school. HOWEVER he didn't even know what he was looking for. He never seen them or tasted them before

They told me they did want to look for mushrooms and off we went out into the woods this time. Didn't find anything again.

(Just where the hell are you people finding these?????)

So finally we decide to give up and go home.

About an hour later we were getting around to go to Burger King and the 3 boys went outside to toss a baseball.

All of a sudden Dylan comes rushing in and says....

"Is this what we've been hunting for"

Of course I get excited and Dan and I run out side to the area that the mushroom was found.

Then we all got to looking.

Dan found some.........

Caleb found some....the biggest one in fact.

Carter found some.....the most actually!!
Shawna....well...screw hunting! I found none!!!!! DARN IT!!
They ended up finding a total of 16 good size Mushrooms
right in my own damn back yard!
WHO KNEW!!!!!
Geesh I tell ya!!

This is one of them compared to a D battery

So after calling my mother in law (Thanks Lou Anne!)
and finding out just what the heck I was suppose to do with these gems,
she told me soak them in salt water, pat dry and roll in flower and fry in butter...
Ok..well I'll give it a try..I hope I don't wreck them they were hard to come by lol...

Here is the end result. (I didn't cook them all)
They were SO good!!!!!!!!!! And I don't think I screwed them up!
Yea! Me!

Carter had never had them before.
He loved them!
Dylan never had them and assured me that he didn't like mushrooms
I said "Come ON DYLAN!! after a hunt like that you're not even going to give them a small taste." (I can convince this boy to try ANY FOOD!!!)
So he too gave them a taste and ended up loving them!!!

So that's our day in adventure of mushroom-ing. They are still out there and I'm going to keep my eyes open. Maybe just MAYBE I'll find ONE this season. One is fine. I will be happy with ONE :)

Easter At Lou Anne and Danny's

2009-04-27T15:16:00.024-05:00

Easter 2009

The cake Jera made. It came out adorable!!

Uncle Dan holding Bryce. It just melts Dan's

heart when Bryce wants to snuggle him.

Noah (check out his boots lol) Grace and Allie

Kennedy,Carter, Dylan and Trent

Allie showing me her eggs.

Carter is on the hunt.

Look at all those eggs! No wonder she won!!!

She knew where to go!!

Gracie got a couple eggs. She was so cute. She went to grab

an egg and seen a little toad hop and that was the end of picking

up that egg!!! (She's so adorable)

Bryce was on a roll with gathering eggs!!!

Once he figured it out he ran after the eggs and ran

them back to his dad to put in his basket!!

This is certainly the age when they are so fun!!

Carter showin off all the eggs he found!

Dan helping the kids count and empty their plastic eggs.

Kennedy counting her eggs and SHE WAS THE WINNER!!

She had the most eggs of all the kids. Good movin girl!

Dying Easter Eggs at Grammy and Poppy's

2009-04-21T10:32:00.008-05:00

Every year on Good Friday we all get together at Gramy and Poppy's

to color Easter eggs.

The kids love it!!

It gets to be rather messy but it's all worth it.

This year around 5 dozen were colored.

After the eggs all dried we hid them and had an Easter egg hunt.

I do beleive that a plastic egg hunt is a much better way to go.

There were SO many broken eggs once the hunt was over!!!

Cyrah and Taylor coloring their eggs

Taylor is such a Tom GIRL! She never uses any egg utinsils.
She dips and pulls the eggs out with her fingers!
Gotta love her!!
Blake making a camoflauge egg

Look!! All hands!!

Hence the no utensils lol..

Cyrah and Taylor

When it came to finding those eggs Blake was on a mission!!!

Carter was even lucky enough to find some eggs lol

I Spy.......a gray and blue camoflauged egg!

Taylor showing off all the eggs she found

2009

Happy Birthday Fat Lip!

2009-04-21T05:47:00.007-05:00

On Caleb's birthday he had baseball practice.

He didn't really get the gift he was hoping for :)

One of the kids hit a ball and it bounced off Caleb's mouth!

This photo is pretty mild, by the next day he had a pretty bruised mouth (inside and out)

It looked like he was trying to grow a half hitler mustache!

But after a few days the bruise went away.

We worried it would make him scared of the ball, but it didn't seem to effect him anymore!!

None the less, our baby turned 11 and is growing more and more.

Wii went bowling and didn't leave the house!

2009-04-18T21:49:00.009-05:00

We recently bought the Nintendo Wii (in March) with the intentions of it being a "family toy". There have been many evenings where we bowled or played baseball, but I wanted to make it super fun.

So I went to Aldi's and bought all kinds of junk food that you would find at a bowling alley.

We moved stuff around in the living room and set up our own bowling alley.

For awhile Carter was kickin our butts!!!

But in the end Dan won!

We set up tv trays in the kitchen and in between breaks Carter ran our "concession stand".

He had a great time being "in charge".

Caleb also joined us for this event, but was being a stinker and wouldn't let me take any photos of him!

We had a fun cheap night at home! We plan to do this again but having a baseball night instead with hot dogs and popcorn..can you say..Take Me Out To The Ball Game!!

What? Noodles can be made a HOME ???????????

2009-04-18T17:05:00.005-05:00

The great thing about kids is you are constantly reminded of "your days gone by".

The boys are always doing things that trigger my memory! They always remind me of how far our world has come and how quickly things change.

The other day I decided I was going to make beef and home made noodles for dinner.

Well Carter being the kitchen cook that he is, I thought I'd wait for him to come home from school to see if he might like to help.

When I asked him if he would like to help me make the noodles his response was "What? Noodles can be made at home?" I laughed and said "What do you mean?" he replied "I thought they could only come from the store" lol...It's funny how it reminded me that making noodles use to be one of my "chores" when it was my turn to cook dinner. How my mom rarely BOUGHT noodles!

And yet, store bought has become a regular staple in our home without me even realizing just how much!

So with a little flour and eggs, and a couple more eggs, due to dropped...cracked on the counter...etc...we were now ready to get our hands dirty.....

"What?? Put my hands in THAT?"

I told him "Yep! That's all a part of making noodles", while secretly thinking this was the part I always hated too lol!!

At first he did not like the feel of it...but I encouraged him to keep mixing and squishing
After a few minutes he claimed his hands were too tired, but assured me that they were just a little tired, he could still roll the dough lol.

So mix, rolled, cut and dried, we got the beef to a good boil and put them in....and I'm pleased to say they turned out, dinner was a success and Carter ate a second helping that night!!

Today I asked Dan to put a clothes line up. LOL..I laugh at what my kids will say about that! "WHAT? YOU CAN DRY CLOTHES OUTSIDE"

A walk to the pond...

2009-04-17T13:17:00.017-05:00

Since we've had a couple nice days,

We've been trying to take family walks and

look at new things that Spring has in store for us around the farm.

In the back field we have a pond, also known as the dogs swimming hole, aka

frogs and toads galore!!

We found this year it's gotton much bigger then it was last year.

As we were walking I picked up a dried plant. I'm not positive what they are called.

Maybe milkweed?? They are dry and brittle and when you break them open it has like a white foam in them?? Well anyways, the boys thought that was pretty cool and Carter carried a stick with us the whole time, breaking it open, pulling the foam out and squishing it. What a cheap toy :)

We seen ALOT of deer tracks, but no deer this time around.

The frogs music was unbeleiviably loud!!!

By the sounds of things you would have thought there were millions of frogs

surrounding us......however...we had a hard time spotting them!!
Everyone looked and watched closely for movement...

After LOTS of searching for frogs in that murky weedy water,

who should be the first person to spy one??!! DAN!!!!

How he saw that thing is beyond me because I was STILL looking

even after he was moving the stick around lol!!

The boys patiently scanned the murky pond in hopes

of finding at least one frog or toad!

waiting...searching..looking for movement..

Caleb sees one, and reaches through the fence to grab him up

out of the water. Did he catch him??

OF COURSE!!!

Carter had to check this finding out too of

course!!! "Can we keep him?" was now the question at hand...

We explained that he still had lots of growing to do and must be

put back.

I was just thankful nobody threw it on me!!! (I hate frogs and toads!)
All in all we had a great walk!!

We didn't get back in time to start our before bed routines (it was a school night) and everyone was super late getting to bed because showers and the such had to be done....but ole well...it don't happen every day and we all had a fun time together!!

It was nice getting the kids outside, all of us letting the electronics take a rest and just enjoying the company of each other.

We know the boys are growing quickly so walks like this will soon be few and far...I hope you find some time this Spring to take in all of God's creation as new life emerges!

Thanks for reading!

One tooth down....Several to go.....

2009-04-17T10:49:00.002-05:00

Well Carter has finally lost his first tooth!

Seems he's behind on losing them and just couldn't

stand that all his friends and couisns were losing all theirs!

His two bottom teeth were loose and one finally wiggled it's

way out when he was at school.

His teacher, who is just the neatest,

Sealed it up in a tiny envelope and sent it home.

The visit of the tooth fairy brought a buck!!

That seemed to make lil' snaggle tooth happy :)

Since then he has lost the other tooth too!!

So two down........

So how did you answer the question-

"Mom, what does the tooth fairy do with our teeth?"

For us, the tooth fairy has always taken the teeth and put them in the sky and made them into stars! How else do we get all those sparkly stars in the sky?? AND the next night when you look outside the first twinkling star is your tooth!!!

It's always worked!!!

Well except once when Caleb found the tooth that the tooth fairy had already paid him for...Of course in cases like that tho, the tooth fairy sells them back to the parents so they can be put in scrapbooks :)

A quick walk

2009-04-17T10:06:00.003-05:00

Every Spring when we go for a walk I take photos

of the boys sitting on these steps.

I can really see how much Caleb has grown

by how bent up his legs are!

Everything about him is changing!!

I really like the facial expressions on the boys in

the second photo..notice whats in their hands!!

Carter's First DILLY BAR!!!

2009-04-17T08:38:00.002-05:00

We stopped off at Dairy Queen (Again!) and Carter was asking

"What's that thing in the freezer"

Well when we told him a "Dilly Bar" he thought the name of it was

pretty darn funny (I had to agree)

So of course it had a funny name, it had chocolate and VANILLA ICE CREAM (his favorite) and a STICK!!! An ice cream sucker he called it...How could one NOT give this fantastic discovery a try!!!

As with anything else that child eats, it was a mess, but I do beleive fully enjoyed!!
Funny how you don't think of things until it is presented to you and then it's a "ah ha" moment...I had forgotton all about Dilly Bars and how I first had them with my Grandma until Carter asked about them!!
Memory triggers are what I like to call things like this!

Playing a Game of Catch

2009-04-16T23:34:00.005-05:00

Taking advantage of these in between nice days is what we've been trying to do! (In between lots of baseball practice)

Now that we are into baseball season Caleb and Carter don't seem to go anywhere without a mitt and ball!!

And constantly are out playing ball!!

Caleb has managed to talk his dad into going out and playing catch a couple time.

Dan is one of Caleb's coaches and it's been fantastic for the two of them!

Caleb loves the one on one attention from his dad and I don't mind seeing it if I might say so myself :)

Grounder!!!!

Kids Club Skating Party

2009-04-16T22:55:00.015-05:00

When the Kids Club came to an end, they had one

last "hoorah" by throwing the kids a skating party.

Every kid that attended Kids Club 6 or more times earned

a free night of skating! Yay!!!

It was rather comical to watch these boys of ours lol..

Carter was so funny!

He was like a baby deer on ice!

Much like the scene where Bambi ran out onto the ice lol..

Carter's arms and legs were just a spinnin' trying to make

himself move as well as stay up lol..

He inched his way fast and best as he could over to the wall

Then once he got there he had an expression that could have been read as
"Get me the hell off this floor!!"

So we thought ok, we'll put locks on his skates where only the front wheels work.
Well that didn't last long either!!
I think having all those skaters around him and zooming by on the floor made him more nervous then anything!
So Carter's skating lasted oh ...I'd say a grand total of MAYBE 15 minutes.
(Good thing he earned this free skate night lol)

So needless to say he spent the remainder of his time munching and
playing air hocky with Dan.

Caleb on the other hand, skated his heart out!!

He was pretty comical to watch too!

He put his WHOLE body into skating lol..

BUT he only fell ONCE! He was pretty proud of himself!!

The funny part was when the Pastor got out on the floor, wow did he show EVERYONE up!!

He was fantastic!!!

Needless to say, Caleb wore himself out!!
When the party was over he was ready to go to Dairy Queen (He spends too much time with his Grandma Lou) and then off to home!
They slept like babies!!
I was really happy that we were all able to do this as a family, and the fact that they EARNED this all on their own was awesome!!
Like it or not, they will be attending Kids Club again when it starts back up.
(I have a suspision this will be a battle but in the end they'll have fun)

Parents Night at Kids Club

2009-04-16T21:20:00.004-05:00

Since October Caleb and Carter have been going to Kids Club

at our little community church.

That have had a blast (most of the time)

Caleb would give me a hard time about going but every time when we picked them up Caleb always talked about the fun they had!

I was especially proud of Caleb for putting forth the effort to memorize his weekly verses.

He brought home lots of little prizes throughout the Kids Club.

He even got a neat award from his teacher. (I'll scan and add later)

The kids all put on programs for the parents.

Caleb was not too excited being up on stage in front of all those people.

Of course, Carter being front in center on stage, did not mind!

He really enjoyed having Mrs. Heather as his teacher.
Her last name being Carter was pretty ironic and Carter thought that was great.
He says "Mrs Heather is beautiful"
Which to anyone else that would be "aww that's cute" but to me it's heart warming.
His teacher you see has Lupus.
See photo here from VBS http://newfromthefarm.blogspot.com/search/label/Vacation%20Bible%20School
Sometimes she wears a shaw on her head and sometimes she wears a wig.
The first time she wore a wig it kinda threw Carter off.
He came home that night and said "Mom Mrs. Heather had on a wig today"
I said "Did it look weird to you Carter?"
He said "No, I think she looks beautiful with hair or without".
I litterally teared up!!
I thought THAT was BEAUTIFUL that my 6 year old said that!!!!!!

Both the boys walked away with a great learning experience!!

We Spent St. Patty's Day...Celebrating Like A Rock Star!

2009-03-18T15:12:00.013-05:00

For St. Patty's Day this year, a friend of ours won

a radio contest called "Party Like a Rock Star".

He got to pick 8 people including himself to

get picked up by a limo, get taken to

dinner at Houlihans Restraunt, at which they gave him a

$200 gift certificate to eat off of, and also got to go to a

concert put on by GREAT WHITE!!

I think this is the best St. Patty's Day Dan and I have ever had together!!!

We had ALOT of fun!!

And the food was FANTASTIC!!!

AND.....What isn't good about getting a free ride in a Hummer Limo!!!

Kim Lyle and Bobby inside the limo.

You can see Lyle checking out the ride!

Down the hatch!! $6 Bucks a SHOT!!!!!!

Holy Mackeral.

Glad Bobby got that gift card lol!!

This was the opening band for Great White.

Can't remember this name, but they are darn good!!

AND NOW..THE PICS OF GREAT WHITE!!

This was after the concert in the limo on the way home.

Bobby, Dan, Charlette and Nate

We ALL had a great time but most of us were pretty pooped!!

One last photo of the "ride". Time to say good bye...our night of being a rock star has ended..

*SOB*

It was a GREAT evening!!!

We have a new NEPHEW!!

2009-03-18T12:49:00.006-05:00

Cole Allen

March 9th

Weighing in at 6lbs 7oz's (I beleive)

Proud Grandpa!

Proud Auntie!
He is Dan and I's 7th Nephew!!
Look at the little baby feet prints!
You sure forget how tiny people are when they first come into this world when your own kids start growing!!

Future Babysitter.

Caleb getting a new cousin is always exciting for him!

Proud Uncle Dan!

Little baby Cole

Proud Papa!

And would you beleive I got NO photos with Mommy and baby!!

Everyone else was holding Cole and I didn't even think about it until I got home! Waah!

The Big Sister!

Miss Allie. She couldn't wait to see her new baby brother!

I finally scrapbooked!!!

2009-02-22T22:03:00.003-06:00

Some of you may already know, and some of you may not.

But I opened a scrapbooking group on yahoo and have ran it for 4 years now!

In celebration of our 4 years we held an "online scrapbooking crop" (Crop meaning doing challenges, chatting, working on scrapbooking items..etc)

I thought since it's been forever since I scrapped I would post a couple layouts.

Happy Valentine's Day!!

2009-02-15T01:52:00.003-06:00

Just want to take this chance to
tell you all Happy Valentine's Day!
I hope your whole day was full of LOVE.
To all our friends and family,
we don't say it nearly enough but we LOVE you all!!
Time passes so quickly, and before you know it..weeks..months..go by
and we go so long without seeing each other or saying I LOVE you to one another.
I LOVE you is not something that should just be said to a spouse or a parent or your children.
Many people feel funny saying "I LOVE you" to people they "actually do LOVE..but I say if you LOVE someone tell them....especially while the opportunity is there to tell them. LOVE is not a shameful emotion. It's the best emotion a human can have...so again to you friends and family, we LOVE you all!!

Come to the dark side...........

2009-02-14T14:21:00.002-06:00

Caleb had a friend over (Dylan) and they wanted to try the

"Goth" look out sooo bad.

They begged me all evening to put make up on them.

I was kinda hesitant about it because I wasn't sure what Dylan's parents would think

about all this........but.....I figured it can be washed off and I could take the heat if they got mad :)

So here they are in what they call Goth, and thinkin they are SO cool!!!

Of course Dan was not too impressed lol...

The Bates Family

Flash Back Friday -2008

Life Made Lovely Monday...

31 Day Challenge-Day 24: A picture of something you wish you could change

31 Day Challenge..Day 23: A picture of your favorite book

Wordless Wednesday.....

What's on Shawna's Phone Tuesdays

31 Day Challenge -Day 22: A picture of something you wish you were better at.

31 Day Challenge-Day 21: A picture of something you wish you could forget

31 day challenge-Day 20: A picture of somewhere you want to travel to.

31 Day Challenge-Day 19: A picture and a letter

Wordless Wednesday.....

31 Day Challenge-Day 18 A picture of your biggest insecurity

Super Moon...!!

Flash Back Friday..

Product Reveiw-Glade Sparkle of Spring Candle

Happy St. Patrick's Day (2011)

31 Day Challenge...Day 17: A picture of someone who has made a huge impact on your life

Wordless Wednesday

31 Day Challenge...A picture of someone who inspires you

31 Day Challenge...Day 15: A picture of something you want to do before you die.

31 Day Challenge...Day 14: A picture of someone you could never imagine your life without.

31 Day Challenge...Day 13: A picture of your favorite band/artist

What's on Shawna's Phone Tuesday..???

31 Day Challenge...Day 12: A picture of something you love

31 Day Challenge...Day 11: A picture of something you hate.

31 Day Challenge...Day 10: A picture of the person you do the craziest things with.

Wordless Wednesday

31 Day Challenge A picture of the person that has gotten you through the most

What's on Shawna's Phone Tuesday..???

31 Day Challenge Day 8: A picture that makes you laugh.

31 Day Challenge..Day 7: A picture of your most treasured item.

31 Day Challenge-Day 6: A picture of the person you'd love to trade places with for one day

31 Day Challenge...Day 5: A picture of your favorite memory

: A picture of your typical night.

Life Made Lovely Monday

Day 3: A picture of your favorite TV show cast. (31 Day Challenge)

Wordless Wednesday

A Picture of yourself and the person you are closest with (31 Day Challenge)

31 Day Challenge...

MAJOR OOPSIE!!

What's on Shawna's Phone Tuesday..???

Flash Back Friday

Whats on your phone tuesdays??...(Cept' I'm late and posting Thursday...whooops..)

^v^v^v^Heart^vAttack^v^v^v^v

HOLY SNOWLY!!

Happy Valentine's Day

PUPPIES..PUPPIES...GET YOUR FREE PUPPIES

Kalamazoo KWINGS

Christmas at Grammy and Poppy's

Chewy Brownie Cookies

Santa Hat Confections

Cake Mix Cookies

Peanut Butter Chippers

Peanut Crescents Cookies

The Christmas Season can begin...We watched Rudolph!!

We got our tree up

Our Christmas Count Down

Cass County Fair 2009

The whole clan!

I loved reading this, I hope you all enjoy it too! (thanks Barbee!)

Homemade Ice Cream YUM!!!

Our Little Garden

Shannon and Scott Got Hitched!!

Allie Turns 5!

Summer Break!!!

~*SPLAT*~! WATER BALLOON FIGHT!!!

Baseball has come to end for Summer 2009

The girl who couldn't find a mushroom!!

Easter At Lou Anne and Danny's

Dying Easter Eggs at Grammy and Poppy's

Happy Birthday Fat Lip!

Wii went bowling and didn't leave the house!

What? Noodles can be made a HOME ???????????

A walk to the pond...

One tooth down....Several to go.....

A quick walk

Carter's First DILLY BAR!!!

Playing a Game of Catch

Kids Club Skating Party

~SPLAT~! WATER BALLOON FIGHT!!!