What's the Hoth soup special?

I got the call from school today-- Spencer was sick and needed to come home. He seemed fine this morning but IV was sick yesterday (has the flu) so I assumed it wouldn't be long before Spencer was sick. He is warm, body aches, slight headache and very tired. No other symptoms...yet.

He napped a little and then played Legos. When I had my lunch break, I fixed broccoli and cheese soup. Of course, after I take the time to make him his favorite soup, he took two sips and decided he wasn't hungry......

Scrapbooking Yeah!

We scrapbooked this weekend-- well, I guess it is better described as all the girls got together for a weekend and we worked on whichever projects we wanted: cards, scrapbooks, jewelry, etc.
I blinged up a denim jacket! Jen stopped by Saturday and we oooohed and aaaaahed over little Miss Khloe! Stacy finally earned her "Priceless" T-shirt and was inducted into the Loo-Loo crew. It was a great weekend....but I am exhausted....

Congratulations Jennie & Ivan

Friday night was Jennie and Ivan's wedding--it was beautiful and Jennie looked gorgeous! Our guys had football this weekend, so Laura and I were each others' dates, and, of course, we had a blast.

Since Jennie is on her honeymoon, it is safe to post a few pictures. Laura and I decided that Jennie will get more than plenty sweet, wholesome wedding pictures, so we would slip in a few pictures to make her laugh.
Here is a sample:



Notice, we even got a few of the other wedding guests in on the action. Poking our fingers in the cake, stealing the silverware, stealing the wedding gifts, rocking the mic, the gratuitous bathroom humour, etc. Jennie will love it!

Little Rembrandt

I signed Spencer up for a new after school art program called "Little Rembrandts." It has three sessions-- each session is 6 weeks long and he goes for 1 hour each Thursday. ($60 per session)
He LOVES IT!!!
Here is his first project-- a still life drawing of a backpack, ruler, pencils, apple and bottle of glue.
He was SO EXCITED to give it to me and practically giggled the entire time I hung it up on our art wall. I love to see him passionate about something that doesn't involve fart jokes....

Crazy Conversations

Yesterday, I overheard a conversation between Spencer and my nephew, IV.
I had to hold back the giggles.
It went something like this.

IV: I bet Jesus could sing.
Spencer: What?
IV: You know. When Jesus was on earth. I bet he was a good singer.
Spencer: Probably. He was probably good at everything. I bet he was picked first to be on kickball.
IV: Do you think they had American Idol back then? Cuz I bet Jesus would win.
Spencer: They didn't have TV back then. But I bet they had kickball.
IV: Hmmmm... I want to sing like Jesus.
Spencer: yeah. Whatever.

Ticket to Ride

We took Spencer and IV to the Greensboro Fair last night. The boys enjoyed several rides, a petting zoo, a few games and some regular goofing off. It was the perfect amount of fun for a Monday night!

Rock & Roll Jennie!

I poured over the 144 pictures from Jennie's bachelorette party and finally found a few pics safe for the blog. If you want to see all the pics-- you have to get permission from Jennie :-)
:snicker:

Fall Soccer has begun

This year, we are the tornadoes. I can't speak for the rest of the team, but violent, dangerous, rotating columns of hot air pretty much describes Spencer and IV so I guess tornadoes is an appropriate name.
Spencer and IV enjoyed their first scrimmage this past weekend-- and enjoyed goofing off with their friends/teammates. Should be a fun season!

Bow-wow-wow-ser's Birthday

Bowser's celebrated his first birthday this week! He got a big rawhide bone, lots of kisses and his very own ice cream cone!
It's hard to believe that he was once a little puppy!

Mid-Week Party

Friends, wine, Bud Light Lime, a few appetizers and desserts and Wednesday night became a party. Oh and Jen was hocking her Premiere Jewelry...haha--but we had fun. It was nice to sit around with friends I rarely get to see! The kids had a FANTASTIC time-- they were so cute together. All the pictures in the collage were taken by Spencer. He is becoming quite the little photographer!

Turtle Brownies

I found an EASY recipe for Turtle Brownies and I thought I would share it here since it was incredibly quick, easy and tasty!

1 package of chocolate cake mix (I used Devil's Food)
1 cup of chopped pecans
2/3 cup of evaporated milk
1 stick of melted butter
-----------------
Mix these four ingredients (batter will be stiff) and divide the batter in half.
Press 1/2 the batter into a lightly greased 9x13 pan and bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.

While that is baking, unwrap the caramels from a 12 oz. bag of Kraft caramels and slowly heat the caramels along with 1/3 cup of evaporated milk over medium-low heat until it is a smooth mixture.

When you take the chocolate base out of the oven, pour a 12oz. bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips evenly across the entire base.
Then drizzle the caramel sauce evenly on top of the chocolate chips.
Then take the remaining batter (the 1/2 you saved from the beginning) and drop it in rounded tablespoons across the top on the caramel sauce. It doesn't matter if some caramel is still showing.
Return to the oven for an additional 20 - 25 minutes.
Let it cool completely before cutting it into bars.

P.F Who ???

I did it.
After combining a few "copycat" recipes I made what my family feels is the best substitute recipe for PF Chang's lettuce wraps.
Even the "picky" eaters (my nephew, IV) and the constant complainer (my brother, III) enjoyed this dish!
Nothing but full bellies, empty dishes and compliments to the cook....my kind of recipe!

Wine and Chocolates

Tonight, Laura and I went to Chapel Hill to A Southern Season for a Chocolate and Wine pairing class. We had THE BEST time--the chocolates were rich and yummy and the wine was delish-- so much that after class, we spent plenty time shopping in the wine shop and totally forgot to even visit the chocolate shop! And Laura is even a professional chocolatier!!
After the wine and chocolate tasting, we went over to 411 West for drinks and apps. Laura--aka chief hoochie-- saw a friend of her sister's and got us free apps and dessert. Win!

People of Walmart

You know how I have an immature sense of humor?
Well this site cracked me up. Yeah, I know....shame on me. But c'mon. You know it's funny!
My new goal is to get my local Wal-Mart on this site!

Third Grade!

Sunday evening, Spencer got out a calendar and proved to me that technically it was still summer and therefore school should NOT be starting back yet -- yeah, nice try little man.

But today, he was all excited to go back to school. He couldn't wait to see all his friends and....go to PE.

I let him pick out his own clothes-- and he chose his favorite Mario Bros T-shirt. Combined with his new super cool GI Joe lunch box-- he was loving it!

End Of Summer Beach Trip

click on any collage to enlarge photos

The boys start back school on Tuesday, so as one last hurrah to the summer we went to Myrtle Beach for a long weekend.

We spent each morning-afternoon on the beach-- the weather was FANTASTIC!
Jimmy found a big starfish and then later on we found a little crab and a dead puffer fish. The starfish was by far the biggest hit with the boys!




Spencer and I spent an evening touring the aquarium. He LOVED LOVED LOVED it. I complained about the $30 admission but he really enjoyed himself...so I guess it was okay.



Even though we relaxed all 4 days, and didn't really over plan or try to squish too much into the long weekend-- we had PLENTY of things for the boys to experience: miniature golf at Dragon's Lair, rides, rock climbing, trampoline jumping, fresh seafood, shopping, frozen custard, and lots and lots of goofing off!


and don't fall for that bloody finger/pain picture in the collage. Spencer LOVES the joke/prank shop at the beach and buys a new joke each time. This time he bought the old pin through the bloody finger gag....where does he get this warped sense of humor??

And what is a family vacation without our traditional "butt ugly family" pictures? Gotta love goofy pictures for the scrapbook!

Party at Lydia's!

Last weekend, Mom and I drove up to Virginia to visit with family.
We spent a good deal of time shopping, but the bulk of Saturday was dedicated to celebrating with family at Lydia's (my cousin) house.

Victoria was celebrating her 18th birthday:



Lydia was celebrating her 31st birthday: (Check out that dainty candle blow!)



and Tina Marie was celebrating her 50th birthday! She embraced 50 without dragging the hell out of 49....



Everyone had a a great time and it was nice to see family--outside of weddings and funerals!

Egg-stremely bad smell!

Last year Spencer got in trouble for egging our house.
I asked him to take some outdated eggs to the compost bin and for some "made sense in his 8 year old mind" he thought it would be fun to throw the eggs against the side of our house.....sigh.....

Two weeks ago (before we left for Alaska) I cleaned out the fridge and had Spencer take the food to the compost-- or so I thought.
With the 90+ degree weather, I kept saying, "it really stinks at the front porch!" Poor Bowser got the blame.

Upon pulling up some vines, I found that instead of composting the eggs, my son had decided to hide them like Easter Eggs. They rotted and deteriorated. Oh so gross!

Bless his heart. I think the little punk is trying to get out of doing chores.

More pics

I have 26 over-priced pictures I purchased from the cruise to somehow squeeze into my scrapbook as well. The cute ones of Spencer I will probably frame and hang-- I wanted to scan them in to put them here on the blog as well...but the stupid scanner broke...but here are a few to share:

Alaska was BEAUTIFUL!

We're back from our big vacation! We had so much fun--I have over a thousand photos to sort through before I can get to work on my scrapbook but I wanted to post a quick update about our trip and a few pictures.

Yes it was cold and rainy- but no it wasn't bad at all. Long sleeves and a rain jacket was pretty much all we needed while outdoors!

We saw whales, bears, moose, sea lions, otters, Husky dogs, glaciers and probably several other things I can't remember right now.

We visited Vancouver, Ketchikan, Sitka, Skagway, Juneau, Whittier and Anchorage.
The cruise itself was FABULOUS. Cruising through the inside passage with all the ice, glaciers, whales and mountain views was amazing!

* Click on any of the collages to make the photos larger *
I squished lots of pics in here because it was so hard to choose just a couple from all that I took!

Let's start with some pictures from the dining room. About 15 people have already asked, but yes, Spencer did order AND EAT two lobsters at dinner the first formal night. That kid is such a little foodie--he ordered off the adult menu every night.


Speaking of dinner, for the most part we all did whatever we wanted during the day and then met up for dinner each night. It was so much fun!


The views were amazing! No matter where we were, what excursion we were on or what method of transportation we were in (plane, ship, bus, train, tram, trolley, tender, catamaran, duck, taxi, shuttle, etc.) every window and every view was spectacular!



Spencer's favorite excursion was the Gold Panning. I think my Dad enjoyed it, too!


Everyone agreed that the best excursion was the whale watching! We saw several whales--even a group of 13 of them in a "bubble net feeding" one of which even jumped out the water breach-style and I was lucky enough to be on the back of the catamaran and had my camera ready!


We also visited a raptor center for rehabilitated birds. Ironically, the boys knew raptors meant birds of prey, Lucy was the only one looking for dinos--haha!

We also walked to the State Park and somehow made a 13 mile hike out of the 2.5 mile totem pole hiking trail. UGHHH!!! (But the boys LOVED it!)



The boys also LOVED visiting a musher camp. The sled dogs are huskies but not like the ones in the "snow buddies" movies--the boys were surprised. Our tour included a coach ride through the Yukon territory and then a train ride back to the ship. It was incredible!


Another one of our excursions included a salmon bake. None of us liked the salmon--way too "cat food" smelling/tasting for us. Even Spencer didn't eat it and that kid eats everything. This excursion had a nice hike to a waterfall as well. Notice, even in the cold, I opted for an icy Alaskan Amber over coffee!


We also had a couple of days at sea filled with fun on ship, afternoon teas as we rode through the glaciers, hot nights in the casino (I actually came out ahead this trip!) and general goofing off. Very relaxing!


Okay-- so that's a taste of the trip. Don't think that reading this blog post exempts you from suffering through my scrapbook....as soon as I can get it done!

Facebook pranks

Maureen stopped by for dinner last night and we decided to prank our friend Val via facebook. Val took it well......she only threatened me 15 or 16 times-- hahah!

Toothless Wonder

Check out IV's grill! He took a soccer ball to the mouth and some baby teeth were evicted a little early--but he likes his new look. I bet fresh corn on the cob out of the garden might be a challenge this summer.....

Jen and Scrap +8 or so

This weekend was the summer crop mom hosts for the girls. This time we did a surprise baby shower for Jen (aka the Knocked Up Heifer) and the rest of the weekend was dedicated to scrapbooking, beading and card-making. Obviously by the pictures, it was a very calm girly girl kind if weekend....

Birthday / Father'sDay

Every four years my birthday falls on Father's day (I was born on Father's Day) and this year was one of those years.
A few friends met for apps and drinks on Saturday night and then we went to see Hangover-- we laughed the entire time!!!

Several friends sent me gag gifts--funny books, funny night shirts, embarrassing stuff...typical for my friends.....

Dee made me a small piece of pottery and bought me a summer sun kit from Sephora (awesome!), I got gift cards and $ from family to get new clothes for the cruise, and my buddy, Laura, gave me the requested bag of lime, shovel, bleach, black garbage bags and an alibi---hahah.....actually, it included a bag of limes and a 6 pk of corona.... she is my kind of friend!


Sunday, I hosted the "Danishes with Dad" at church, then went shopping and had lunch with III & IV. Then the entire family met up for dinner to celebrate Father's Day and my birthday. It was fun watching Dad open his Father's Day gifts--he is such a big kid!

Need more ammo!

Spencer had his first real fishing trip this week. Dad took him out to the coast with real poles (not his little Scooby Doo fishing pole) and live bait and the next few hours is a story that will go down in Spencer's Hall of Fame memory book.
Dad said that it was either extremely hot beginner's luck-- or some sort of fate-- but the kid had the fishing trip of a life time.
Dad caught two small,"throw 'em back" fish. Spencer caught 22. Yes--TWENTY TWO!!
One time Dad was helping him bring the fish out of the water and Spencer had TWO fish at one time. Seriously-- he was catching them two at a time at one point! Dad said Spencer got so excited that he yelled, "Quick Boppa! I need more ammo!" Dad laughed and explained that it is "bait" and not ammo-- but with the way Spencer was fishing, they agreed ammo sounded dead-on accurate.
Spencer caught 11 sharks. Boppa let him keep one of the baby ones--which they put in a jar of alcohol for Spencer to preserve in the name of science. And by "in the name of science" I mean take to school and gross out the little girls....