Cannot Be Held Responsible

I'm a two cups of coffee into my morning.

One cup: Still not safe to talk to me

Two cups: I can hold a conversation, but cannot be held responsible for my words.

Three cups: My kidneys are now working overtime, but I can finally begin my day.

Four cups: I can conquer the world!!!!!!!!!

So, I'm blogging on two cups.  Just warning you!!!!!!

Yesterday I worked my tail off on these signs.  All because I was in the mood to get a little crafty (and also because I'm a wanna-be super mom).  

This is Ryan's.  

Because I was also channeling Betty Crocke.....I made these!!!!  Recipe will be at the bottom of this post (in case you want to forfeit your New Year's resolution).

Then I sat my hiney on a bleacher seat.  Again.

I thought it was fun taking pictures of the student section with my signs.  

How cute are our Hornet fans?  Ummmm....VERY CUTE!!!!!

Here are all three of our Coaches.

The guy in grey is Coach Marsh.....his name is Tim.

The guy in the black argyle sweater is Coach Cunningham....his name is Tim.

The guy in the white shirt and red tie is Coach Cool.....his name is Tim.

Nope, not kidding.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecake Bars

Ingredients: 
Crust:
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough:
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup flour
2/3 cup chocolate chips

Cheesecake Filling:
10 oz cream cheese, room temperature
1/4 cup sugar
1 large egg, room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions: 
1. Preheat the oven to 325 F. Line an 8" square baking pan with parchment paper or foil allowing a little overhang and spray with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside.
2. Mix the melted butter and graham cracker crumbs until thoroughly combined. Press the mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan. Bake in preheated oven for 6 minutes. Remove pan to a cooling rack. Leave your oven on while you prepare the dough.
3. While the crust is cooling, prepare the chocolate chip cookie dough. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or in a large bowl with an electric mixer, beat butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, salt and vanilla until smooth and thoroughly combined, about 1 minute. Mix in the flour on low speed, and mix until just incorporated. Mix in the chocolate chips. Set aside.
4. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or in a large bowl with an electric mixer cream together the cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Mix in the egg and vanilla on low speed just until incorporated. Pour the cheesecake batter into the prepared crust. Using your hand to form clumps, distribute the cookie dough onto the top of the cheesecake batter in teaspoon-sized clumps. Be sure to use all of the dough. 
5. Bake for about 30 minutes, until the top feels dry and firm (the cookie dough) and the entire pan looks set if given a gentle shake. Move bars to a cooling rack and allow to cool completely. Chill in refrigerator overnight or for at least a couple hours.
6. Lift the bars out by the overhang and cut into squares for serving.


I found the recipe on this blog........Brandy's Baking

New Year = New Lists

I'm going to table my Christmas (part 2) post until later this week.  

#1. There are TONS of pictures and I'm dreading the comentary.

#2. People......I am soooooo done with Christmas.  The thought of looking at the pictures nearly brings tears to my eyes.

So, I will skip forward temporarily.

It's a New Year!!!!  2012!!!  Holy smokes they sure come around quicker and quicker nowadays.  We had a little bit of family and a little bit of friends over to celebrate (and it was nice).  

Normally I make the New Year's Resolution to bless someone every day.  I thought this year that I would add to that some.  2011 was a little difficult for me.  I wasn't sad in the least to see a different number on the ole' calendar.  I'm making a vow to make 2012 happier!  (More on that in a bit).

So, here is my list....... 

#1. Drink more water and less Diet Coke.

It's really not fair.  Why can't Diet Coke be good for me?  Why does water have to taste so blah?  Anywhoo, so far, I'm doing a better job.

In summary....

and less.....

#2. Plan meals ahead so there is less eating out.

We are gone nearly every single night.  Ball games, play practices, and whatever the heck is happening in our home, takes us away from our family table.  I believe that if I just planned better, we could avoid some of the impulse super sized Big Mac meals. 

#3. Exercise more and be aware of what I eat.

I go through spurts.  I have to say that last year, I did much better in the "healthy eating" catagory.  I want to continue that though and possibly improve on it.  I downloaded four apps on my phone called, "Ab Workout, Butt Workout, Leg Workout, and Arm Workout".  In case you're wondering, the apps target my ab's, my butt, my legs and my arms.  I did them all yesterday and my buns especially are a little achy today.  Achy is probably a good thing.  Achy means......DO IT AGAIN, and AGAIN, and AGAIN!!!

#4. Go to church regularly.

I'm starting a bible study on James on January 19th.  Pretty pumped up about it.  

#5. Ali Edward's "One Little Word"  started on 1-1-12.  I have picked a word each year for the last three years.  I try to be mindful of it.  This year, I am choosing HAPPY.

Christmas 2011 (Part 1)

The holidays are over......

We ingested large amounts of sugar, saturated fats and caffeine.  My jeans are on the snug side.  

So, like the majority of Americans, I am on a strict diet!!!!!

I will share more about my New Years Resolution in tomorrow's post.  Before that happens, I need to catch you up on our Christmas festivities.  At least the ones that I captured, I kindof failed at photo taking during the holidays.  

Buddy and Bridgette (our elves) brought each of the kids a gingerbread house.  We have assembled these for four or five years straight.  I made up my mind that this year.......we would forego the tradition.  Mainly because it's a humongous mess, but also because after they are done, they sit around till I throw them away.  Just not a fan of things sitting around on the counter.  It stresses me out.   But since the elves brought them, I felt like we had to do it, ya know?

This year, Ryan wasn't too thrilled about playing with frosting and peppermint candies.  He knows that it was important to his mother however.  So he put on a pretend smile and began opening his gingerbread box.  Call it luck of the draw or........ he threw the box against the wall when I wasn't looking, when he pulled the gingerbread out, it was crumpled to pieces.  Guess that took care of that problem.  

Ian and Gracie's were perfectly intact though, so I made them continue.  

Rick sorta feels the same as Ryan about the whole edible house thing, so he watched his favorite holiday movie instead.  

Then another of our traditions of reading "What God Wants for Christmas".  This year we let the kids read instead of Rick.  We also made them read the corresponding Bible verses.  

 

Gracie drew a manger scene on the chalkboard.  I'm going to be awfully sad to erase it because it might be my favorite drawing she has ever done.  

We headed over to Grandma Charlotte's and Grandpa Bob's to have our Christmas with Macy, Titus, Colten, Trey, Nate, Pam, and Heather.  

We had our first dusting of snow that day.  It might have stayed on the ground for 30 minutes.  No snow this holiday!  It's a very strange 50 degrees AND I DO NOT LIKE IT!  In a perfect world, it would snow the week before Christmas and melt on the 2nd of January.  Then not return until the next third week of December.  But Missouri doesn't work like that.  

It wasn't, however, warm enough for shorts.  But my children are freakish and they wear them year round.  

We opened gifts and I practiced my depth of field.

Then we loaded everyone up to eat barbecue.

Titus was having a bad hair day.

 

The holidays sure fly by.  It seems like I just decked the halls.  I'm not a Grinch guys, but I'm usually glad that they are over.  It's just so much mingling, and eating, and short nights, and kids fighting, and cleaning, and cooking.  I love it................yet I dread it.  Does that make sense?

Part two of Christmas 2011 coming soon.......

Holiday Happenings

 I've been busy painting signs for 30+ freshman-varsity basketball boys.

Ian finished the last science fair project in his lifetime.  He got a 63.5 out of 60 points.  Not too shabby.

Gracie and Ian worked most of the afternoon Sunday filling their quarter books.  

Buddy and Bridgette, our house elves, have been as mischieveous as ever.  Here they are hiding behind lincoln log/wooden block forts and having a marshmallow fight!

The house looks "Christmas-sy".  

Gus and Congo.......lazy as ever!!!!!

Gracie sang in a Christmas concert with her Stingers group.  I was impressed!  They did an amazing job!  

That about catches me up.  

Hope to be better about blogging after the first of the year.  

I have more monkeys than adults in my house.  That makes life a little bananas!!!

Tis the Season........

Long story.....made short!  

Ryan played in the very first Varsity game.  It was the first quarter, he made the first team points with a basket.  He rebounded..........he blocked.......then he got hurt!  He was laying on the court and I jumped into "Momma Mode".  I was elbowing Rick to go out there.  I was scowling at him because he kept saying, "Give him a minute"!  Well a minute felt like 400 minutes to me.  Daddy went out on the court (so I wouldn't bruise his ribs with my elbow jabs).  

It was a sprain.  Nothing that is going to halt his High School sports career.  It did, however, require two days of crutches, two different types of ankle braces, physical therapy for a week, and lots of Advil.  

Poor E-man is having his own case of bad luck.  As of today, they have not won a single game.   They play tonight and I hope God will look down on them with favor.  I like this picture of Ian.  He makes the funniest facial expressions while he's playing.  Glad I got this one captured!!!

Just to prove that he is a handsome young man, I also included this one.  He has had a haircut since this picture and he now looks like a young Matt Damon (wink ;) )

I've also painted a wall mural on paper for Ryan's 4th hour class.  The high school has a hallway contest every Christmas.  The winner gets a pizza party.  

The theme for our hall was, "The Grinch That Stole Christmas".  This Grinch costume was actually one that Rick wore during the holiday parade one year.  Ryan's 4th hour class is Health and it is in the Science room.  Therefore, we placed the costume on Bones, the class skeleton.  Genious, I think!!!!

What is Who-ville without a Who tree?

And this is a very small portion of the mural.  

Now I am drowning in wooden basketballs that need to be completed.

Basketball games every single night.

Gracie's Oompa Loompa practice and

a 5th grade Christmas concert that her Stingers group is singing in.

I haven't found a mother of three who isn't busy, but it's sometimes overwhelming.

On the go, go, go!

Bad blogger......bad, bad, bad!!!!!

I've let myself get so far behind, that I'm hitting a creative wall.  I've stopped taking pictures, I've stopped looking at other blogs.  Hence, I've been a little inactive here lately.   So, this post is my meager attempt to catch up.

I consider this little blog a record of our family events.  It is nice that friends and family can view it, but honestly, I would probably still do this even if they couldn't.  My goal isn't to have thousands of followers.  It's to be able to remember!  Friends, something happened at 30 years of age to my brain.  It no longer recalls things as easily.  I do remember having three children and a husband.  Maybe a dog or two.  

Possibly a cat..........or three cats.  Who knows?

In the past couple weeks I have sat through countless basketball games.  

I've ordered a few Christmas gifts (though not nearly enough).  

I've decorated the house for the holidays.

  

I've cleaned my scrapbook room (which was a huge, huge feat!). 

Remember Buddy?  Our little elf who visits the house the day after Thanksgiving through Christmas eve.  As we hoped, he was waiting for us when we returned home from black Friday shopping.  With a nice note, no less.  

This year, Buddy brought a helper.  Her name is Bridgette.  We are noticing that having Bridgette help him has gotten him into more messes.  

A toilet paper mess with a toilet paper roll crown.

And a paper trail from the bathroom to his location on the dining room buffet.

Ian's sock drawer

A bowl of milk chocolate chips in the kitchen.

And milk chocolate faces!

A horseback ride through the mess in Gracie's room!

A science experiment in the hall bathroom with food coloring.

Yes, toilet water CAN be turned a nice shade of Christmas green.

Then a game of cards with a few friends.

I will try to keep you up to speed on his where-abouts from time to time.  He has a Facebook page if you care to send a request.  It's Buddy the Elf, in case you're wondering.

Well, we are off to another basketball game in St. Joe, MO.  Ryan had an injury in his very first Varsity game.  So this is his big RETURN!  Hopefully (praying hard), he doesn't get hurt again.  This momma cannot take it when her babies are hurting!