Mini Cheese Cakes

Things have been pretty quiet lately... which I have been trying to welcome it with open arms.  Today I was full of morning energy so after I baked some almond poppyseed muffins, I searched for a cheese cake recipe.

I am notorious for wanting to bake something and always missing ONE ingredient. Boogers! I needed heavy whipping cream. Had none. So I looked up how to MAKE heavy whipping cream. And well.. unless you lived on a farm with cows- you can't make home made heavy whipping cream. Ok so I inventoried again on what I had. I had ready to bake dough, sour cream, cream cheese, eggs and sugar. There HAD to be a recipe with this stuff to make a cheese cake.. Grrrr. I came up empty handed. Then I found one that used chocolate chip cookie dough... and the aerosol whipped cream. HARK! Yes.. I have that! Ok well.. I had sugar cookie dough.

I wanted something bigger than muffins/ cupcakes so I used my mini pie tin. I scooped an ice cream scooper size of cookie dough into each "cup". I rolled it in my hands and flattened. I can not confirm nor deny if I actually licked my hands after that.

Then I took my softened cream cheese and some sugar (that is what that white canister is), put on my whipped attachment and watched it turn into creamy goodness

wheeeeeeeee.. It is so much fun watching this!

Then you open up the Reddi Whip... squirt it in your mouth and squish your face... because its fun... Then squirt in kids mouth.. because that is even funnier.

After your cookies cool - for about 15 minutes and then spoon on the cream cheese mixture.

Then you can go through your pantry to see if you have any decorative SOMETHING... and then find nothing so decide to go ahead and chill it for a few hours and PRAY hubby likes it :)

Mouse Trap and Petri Dish

I have neglected my blogging which is a shame because my head is filled with lots of things to write and share about.

But just for shits and giggles- lets just jump ahead to the issue at hand. I'll give you 2 chances to guess what it is about......

If you guessed MICE... you were correct.

So we moved into a beautiful home (another post for another day) and things have been going great. No big issues.. ok well... Colorado has some big nasty looking spiders that like to show up when you least expect it but other than that- I feel like I am constantly at Disney.

Aww shit- I just realized that funny little pun... Disney... Mouse... UGH.

Hubby and I were down in the office working when our daughter comes rushing through the door- all out of breath- saying something along the lines of " kitchen... mouse... ack.. ewww.. " Ok well since its past bedtime we agreed we would check it out in the morning.

Morning comes to wake me up early with the older kids. Like 5-6am early. Something about that doesn't seem right. So my older son went to open the bottom drawer in the cabinet when I heard him yell. But instead of rushing to his side, I jumped to the other side of the kitchen, laughing with a little bit a fear and asked what happened. When he exclaimed that a mouse jumped up and ran to the back of the drawer.. again I couldn't stop laughing. Oh dear- the look on his face.. priceless!

So hubby played hero and boot-scooted his way to the store to get some traps. Of course before setting them, we played with them to see how sensitive they were. Let's just say, if I was a mouse- I would be dead. So, hubby scoops a little bit of peanut butter and places it on the target thingy on the trap. He places it in a few places under cabinets. Within a few hours we heard a loud pop. Ohhh one little sucker down. Ohhh maybe that was all there was.. maybe our days are saved!!!

The next morning, hubby goes to investigate his good doings. There he found a trap that had TWO little (kind of cute) mice trapped. EWWW. ok. pretty darn talented that he caught 2 in 1 trap. So we cleaned the crap out of our cabinets for second time- thinking for sure our problems were solved.

Then next morning...

Anywho.. laa-da-da... I opened up our silverware drawer where I see a few black spots. Yes mouse droppings. EWWWWW.. WTF?!! you have got to be kidding me. How many more of these creatures are there?? And then mind mind went straight to the movie Ratatouille. Colony they mentioned... Where there was one- there was a colony. Holy freaking GET ME OUT OF here!!! We set more traps with more peanut butter and we quickly learned that the little - once adorable- mice have become smarter than we are and fully ate all the peanut butter from the trap.  Ok sweet hubby- this is not going to work- it's time to get evil.

Once again all the utensils go into a sink full of bleach water and cabinets cleaned... again. This time I packed up all our stuff until I know for sure we are mouse free.

Hubby becomes the hero again and gets some decon. Please Lord, lets this work. I am creeped out and tip toe around the kitchen afraid to touch anything. So now I am trying to calculate how long it will take for the "problem" to go away.

But while I am waiting on that to go away- I get to play nurse maid at home. Too many kids sick.. not enough mommy. 

But thankfully I have not gotten sick- just those annoying headaches that seem to never want to go away. I have wiped so much snot in the last few weeks, I could make a slip and slide out of it. I have been a oil Nazi though and I will continue to do so save any other survivors. Hubby thinks I am a little nuts for using them, but call me crazy- I believe they work.. and if they keep antibiotics away for me- I am ALL for it!

For another does of shits and giggles.. here is one of my fave videos

Bloddy Hell

A few long weeks ago, hubby shared a photo on my fb page on these fun looking- creepy looking- cupcakes. I KNEW I had to try them. I love love love to bake stuff but it always seems to go to waste here at the house. I am the snack natzi so my kids are not really allowed to just eat and eat baked yummies all day- because trust me- they totally would. In fact... my last baked yummy was zucchini bread and I believe I was the only one that ate that whole damn pan. I had a package of those break and bake cookies... found the WRAPPERS under my boys bed- without the cookies even been cooked!

But tonight we started the prep and made step 1 in our bloody hell cupcakes :) I cant wait to document our baking adventure tomorrow and share it with you. I am sure too if you were to hurry down, we would give you one!

But our plan as of right now (before tasting them) is to take them to the Johnstown firehouse. Today they put on a community event for us which was wonderful and such a great learning experience.

So... dust off your aprons and get your dancing shoes on because tomorrow we BAKE!

Pot Head

It's not what you think exactly but considering it's not even 10am- I thought it was a great title for today!

We have 5 days till we leave for Colorado and I really can't tell you how happy I am. Well, excited till I realize how long my list is- personal and business. But today... oh today is the winner winner chicken dinner... ohhh yumm that actually sounds good. How sweet it would be to crawl into the corner of my living room, hide inside a box and chow down on a bucket of KFC chicken and cole slaw. Num num....

ok where was I??

Oh yes.. so today my lovely hubby calls to tell me he loves me and at the end of our conversation he tells me to have a productive day. {not in a bad way just praying I have a good day}. Oh how I wish I can take those words and beat them over the head of someone!
I started my morning with a bowl of oatmeal and editing- so far so good. Then I start on that "list".

I try my handy dandy hands on tying to take apart bunk beds. I get one side off successfully. Feeling very proud and roar like a prod lioness. I attack the other side with a smile that quickly turns into a mad woman foaming at the mouth and eye twitching. I am pretty sure I developed another personality at this point. I decide to leave that side alone knowing that hubby would rescue me. Great ok... so I vacuumed one side, found a spider, tried to kill it with a stick that was so nice and handy under bed 1. Sadly when I went to squish that nasty spider, I lost it and have no idea where that sucker went, but I vacuumed the heck out of that carpet hoping I killed him with my mad vacuuming skills. Starting to feel proud of myself again, I went to to bed 2. Damn, same thing. So I pumped up my muscles and dragged that sucker across the room so I could at least clean under the bed. Besides the misc paper, pencils, bottle caps, blocks, crayons and things that I do not even want to know or touch, I noticed some kind of harden green goo on the carpet. Ohhh here comes the split personality.

I am pretty sure by now I blacked out from gross frustration and wondered to the laundry room. And what do my wondering eyes see?! A big pile of clothes that includes a great mixture of clean and dirty. Like they were having their own American Ninja Battle. I slowly walked out. That was the only great solution i could think of, of that moment.

Upstairs I start to clean the kitchen breakfast mess- you know that pile of cereal and milk goop that is left on the table that NO one sees as they are leaving for school. I gracefully walked into a pile of that lovely stuff on the floor so I had to hobble my ass over to the sink to clean off whatever I could from the towels and now my sock. Suddenly I heard this crash from the other room. I paused for a moment to hear if a child is hurt or they just decided to remodel wherever they were. When I heard the screaming I took off running.... where I find my dresser has fallen on Jack, scentsy warmer with wax all over the floor, wall and when I looked.. all over jack. He was fine- scared mostly. But he was talented enough to get the wax to fall on his head.. in his hair. IN HIS HAIR. How the heck am I going to get that out?!



At that moment I have decided to say "screw you list" and first google how to get wax out of carpet and then google how to get wax out of hair- I can't be the only one this happened to, right? please let there be another mom out there! So as I come to sit on my couch to google and blog my lovely day, my butts gets cold really fast. UGH- someone peed on the couch. DAMN IT!

Where's my chicken and box fort when I need it!??


Awww but when I least expect it and need it the most, here comes Jack to gives me hugs and kisses.  MMmmmm and his head smells so good.

Spicy Little Sucker

I usually LOVE Monday's. It seems like the only day of the week that I feel really put together, but not this Monday. We all woke up late, made the kids rush to get themselves ready and then made them walk to school. Got a phone call from hubby to check our acct- not good so I had to play accountant without any coffee yet. So far- not a peachy morning.

I tried to go down to our bank to make a deposit and their internet was down- which means they could not make any depsoits. Ok- totally not good for the home team, but then I remembered that I have that cool little phone app that I can take a picture of a check to deposit. SWEET!!

So I get home and try to do more accounting role play, clean the house, do more laundry, clean the bathroom (yuck), pick up left over breakfast messes. I try to sit down and do some important family research only to get bambarded with 2 boys that want to use my head as a hat and my body as a trampoline.

Where's that damn cup of coffee??

So finally I say screw it and gather the boys to take them to the gym for them to run off some of this energy. I hop my squishy butt on a bike - thingy machine, plug in some pandora, try not to sing out loud and do some candy crushing.

.. Super fast forward... get home, feed the animals, put one into quiet time and the other down for a nap- at least praying for a nap so I don't start foaming at the mouth from parental stress. I grab my bag of super hot Jalapeno chips- so dang hot but so dang good and I sit my squishy butt on the couch to enjoy some well deserved quiet time.

And that only took a total of 5.5 seconds for it to end. A cute little bouncy toddler came running towards me- I like to believe he heard the bag open. He decided to take a seat next to me and flash his big blues at me- you know... butter me up so I would give him a chip.
I said over and over again "no, HOT!" But after the 20th time I let the little hungry Jack dig his hands into the bag for a little taste. Now, Jack doesn't do small when it comes to food. This sweet boy believes he must take as much as he can into his mouth to enjoy whatever he can shovel in there.

Now here comes the part where my parenting might look a little gray.

I sat back and watched him. Chew by chew. Waiting for the reaction.

At first he just sat there- eating chips like it was some yummy ruffle. Then it came...

That look like something was just not right. I couldn't hold back my little giggles. He blinked a few times and gave a half giggle like it was actually funny, which only made me laugh out loud.
His eyes started to tear up a little more and he decided that sitting next to me was the issue. SO he got up and walked across the couch to the other side. By that time he was making wimpering sounds.

*inset mommy laughing harder*

I told him to go throw it away but that little turkey just looked me straight in the face and spit it all out on my couch and then began to lick the couch as to if that taste would make the chip taste and burn go away.

I quickly stopped laughing at that point.

Growing Pains

The life of ups and downs can be a real rollercoaster. Some days can be a real jerk but others can be a beautiful ray of sunshine!!

Last night I made a list of things I wanted to accomplish which was taking a shower and putting on makeup to get the day started. I kept talking myself in and out of just the simple task of showering, but I did finally do it which made the task of making coffee even more enjoyable :)

I got the kids off to school, saw hubby off to work, met a friend for coffee and folded socks. Ok, first now.. I HATE folding socks. HATE it.. I am glad we have socks- especially in this house with sticky floors, but matching everyones but hubby's in a real pain in the ass. It was even more enjoyable after I noticed and had to do sniff test, that someone mixed dirty socks with the clean ones. Boys are gross!

To add to the grossness of the day, I scrubbed our bathroom- which felt so wonderful after it was all done. I kept walking back and forth to look at how clean it was. Now all I needed to do was vacuum and not let anyone step on the carpet.

I even made dinner.

Over all a very successful day. I really hope tomorrow I have the same energy. Now, if I could find some quiet time to edit- that would be great.. ohhhh and even better if I was snacking on movie theater popcorn and chocolate... num num

but... the day can't be it's usual self without the choas of kids. Lilly had taken Jack in her room and she fell asleep... well Jack decided that his body was the perfect canvas for a black sharpie. The little turkey has learned that the first thing he does when he wakes up, comes home, plays- if takes off all his clothing - down to naked little butt. Well that sharpie found his artistic self all over his legs, butts, arms, hands and.... to his whoooha.  So while that child was coloring himself another one was outside playing. Only I learned he wasn't playing... he was mad at his friend (neighbor) and decided that he needed to throw rocks and a large piece of glass over the fence. Seriously- WHO does THAT?!

I immediately called our neighbor and apologized and offered to help clean up. Good gravy- they can go crazy. But it is always a successful day when no one has to take a trip to the doctors!


As everyone was cleaning up dinner my daughter started to freak out a little and scream that I needed to get away from the window. SHe was freaking out because the boy she liked was at our house. This boy has been "interested" in daughter since last year. But our daughter has a very protective dad- who will make a person go through hell and back to just be able to say hello. Not to mention 2 other protective males in the house that a boy also has to go through. Basically- this kid has no luck.

A few weeks ago this kid showed up to the house wanting to talk to Lilly. thankfully one of the guys were here to send him away. A message was then sent back to this kid that if he wanted to talk to his daughter he was going to have to call the man of the house first.
For a while we didn't hear or see the kid, until one day, we did try to call and text big daddy! Well daddy's response was for this kid to write him an essay answering 2 questions.

1. Why do you want to date my 13 yr daughter
2. Why would she want to date you?

Charley thought for sure that would make the kid run for a while.. I mean for a 13/ 14 yr old boy- this was more than a hassle for him.

So we thought.

Well this determined kid showed up tonight to talk to hubby! Of course I had to go outside and hear the details- hense the dramatic episode of daughter shrieking at the window.

There was a little chit chat about family and a little talk about being old school and how we want the best for Lilly and most of all someone to respect her.

After the kid left, I felt a little tug in my heart for him. He seemed to have been respectful and trying his best to follow what Charley wanted. I got a little broken hearted when I realized that my little lil bug wasn't 2 anymore. She is VERY 13, but I vow to keep her "old school" as long as I can. I mean she is lucky enough to be able to wear makeup out of the house and shave her legs right now!

Some reason I don't think I was that young to do all that!

Watching your kids grow up is hard. In ways it is happy and fun but most times I want to hang on so tight and not let them go anywhere. I miss rocking a snuggling baby in the crook of my neck or the smell of a freshly cleaned baby. Now all I seem to smell is pee and dirty feet.

But the love is still as strong!

When Hairy Met The Emotional Crazy Mother

I knew this day was going.. I just hope it would have waited... a little bit longer.

All my "babies" are growing up and there is no way to slow it down. But as September was sneaking up on us the lingering thought that the little one was going to be 2. I couldn't believe it. He is going to be TWO... and I am not pregnant! Oh how jealous spurs from my pores at times when I see a pregnant woman or two. There was little left of "baby" in Jack. His feet not longer smell sweet- they actually smell like.. boy- eww yuck. He doesn't have the chunk anymore between his thighs, no more breast feeding, bottles, sleeping in my arms, or sitting still. Now it's a game of how fast he can rip his diaper off, telling me no, biting anyone that walks by, jumping off things (the higher the better for him), bumps,bruises and did I mention the "no" part. His teething necklace he had has been broken for a while but the LAST thing I had left of him as a "baby" was his beautiful soft curls. But... Septmeber was creeping up and I knew we eventually had to cut it- poor thing was having troubles seeing!

Then it happened.. that  time when hubby looks at you and tells you it's time. For a moment I got giddy then the panic attack swooped over me. This was my "baby" and I was just giving hubby permission to cut if off. I freaked a little and I believe my voice went up 2 octive levels as I said over and over again to make sure he saves some curls. I know it's kind of silly. I mean out of the 5 kids I have never once gone back to that envelop of hair from my kids first haircut. It's not like you can run it through your fingers anymore.

This time though.. I am a photographer, so I documented the crap out of his first haircut. What a sad sad day!

Silly me thought hubby was just going to give him a shaggy boy haircut. I mean I saw him grab the clippers- I just didn't expect DRAMA.

He plugged it in, sat my little dude down and turned on the clippers. Jack sat very still as hubby took that first pass of a buzz cut. I think at that moment I vomited in my mouth, tears came to my eyes and I wanted him to stop. Yes, he would have had a run-way hair do, but at least I would still have {some} curls. But it was too late. I sat and watched how lovely blonde pieces fell to the ground. Oh- how those will never come back. Oh, how I will never be able to hold my very own baby again and watch beautiful curls grow. Damn it- why did I get my tubes tied. Oh yea... 5 kids- that's why!

Little Jack sat perfectly the whole time and after he was finished- it was hard to see the little Jack we knew. He now looked.. .older. *gulp* older... that was hard to swallow. Where was my little baby??

The past few days I still sit and look at him.. trying to remember that long haired hippy kid of mine. In between his moments of jumping off furniture and telling me no, he will surprise me with big hugs and sweet boogery kisses. This little boy he has grown up to be has been a sweet adventure.

Now- grow back your curls!

Loco in the Bakken

Back where I come from- the mountains, trees, streams, lakes and people that believe in Christ! We come from a place where no matter who you were, you were given blessings for the best. No matter who you were, people helped you out. You treated your friends like family and your family even closer.

When we moved here- I was filled with excitement. I was so happy to be all backed together as a family. My hubby was out here for a few months without us, but we decided to take a loss on our life and home back in Idaho to just be all together here in Dickinson. After all- it was just a house... A home my hubby built with his own hands and belongs that we had gathered over years- but just stuff.

We had blessings with company housing and later a better job that has opened up an opportunity for hubby to start his own business out here. My business has grown beautifully and I have been able to meet some amazing friends and clients in the year we have been here.

We had to move out of our company housing due to the job change and we were blessed to have found a house that would fit our whole family. The landlord was great (in the beginning) and had come to the agreement that since he had evicted his last tenants, that we would take care of all the cleaning and repairs in exchange for the deposit. After thanksgiving, a LONG time friend of hubby's, Trent, had joined us for dinner. He was sharing with us how his work was going and that he was waiting for his apartment to be finished and waiting for more work to start up again for him. So here was a friend of our- a friend that was family to us- a friend that has been a part of our lives- and we did what we do for our friends and extend our home to him. We never asked for money from him nor did we ever accept money- it was just not something we would do.

The landlord had met Trent- welcomed him, was nice to him and asked if there was anything we needed, to let him know.

a while later....

the dude went coo-coo!! Showing up at our door yelling and screaming- yelling obscene words with the kids sitting right there. We refused to answer the door and asked him to leave. When he decided to get louder, we called the cops. We later received a hand typed eviction letter on our door.
Since we have Legal Shield, we called up our lawyer, explained the situation and got legal advice. We followed all the legal steps we needed.

After our lawyer sent a letter to the landlord that in fact the hand typed letter was not in fact a legal eviction letter and we had legal representation, we would still be legally able to reside at that address. Well as you have guessed we soon after that did receive a court order eviction letter. Still not the correct letter, but good enough for good 'ol North Dakota. We had a court date set and off to court we went.




















I was proud of hubby. For standing his ground. For doing the right thing and not letting this guy bully us into paying an extra $1000 a month for us to continue to live there. Remember we have been paying $3000 a month and had only 2 months left in our lease. We did all the research we were advised to do and had copies of the lease.

We get to the court room and I instinctively wanted to yell " OBJECTION" and " YOU CANT HANDLE THE TRUTH" but the looks hubby was giving me was telling me I better not utter a word. What a kill joy huh lol
 Long story short- the landlord oozed lies out of his mouth- making me want to just cry. I couldn't believe he was sitting there in front of the judge and just bleeding bullshit lies. If I had a dart gun- I would have tranquilized him for sure.
In the end the judge ruled on his opinion on what "subletting" means. We were just flabbergasted that a judge would rule on his opinion. Whatever happened to the ... i dunno.. the LAW. He then hit his little hammer thingy and ruled that we had 5 days to vacate the home.

I walked out flustered but feeling such peace about it. I wanted to squeeze lemon juice in the landlord eyes, but I had such a great calmly feeling from God. I know he has a plan and I felt safe. Hubby looked so sad and just angry- and for good reason. He was doing the right thing and we just got suckered punched.

We went home and tried to make a game plan. I called the only person I knew that could possibly direct me in the right direction. Housing here in ND is so ridiculous. Sweet Ms Amber was able to spread the word and this amazing man had answered us with such grace. We were in need of a home with 4 or more rooms, someone that would hear our story, listen and acknowledge that we were not trying to take advantage of anyone, but really just living in what we believe in Gods giving way.


Mr D was the one that was the one that had answered our prayers- heard our story and listened to our hearts... and offered a home that he had available to rent. I wish I was able to fully express my gratitude and the love that I have for such an amazing person who accepted us. On friday, Mr D called us for the walk thru and he graciously handed us over the keys. I could have seriously cried at that moment :)

This house is so cute and comfortable. I am so happy to call it home :) From the outside I was a little worried that it would not quite fit us good but inside its more than perfect.

God, thank you so much for the many blessings- this was a hard journey but we knew you had a plan
and its perfect- just like always!

Amber- thank you for being a friend and listening to me. Thank you for reaching out to your friends and co-workers.

Mr D- Thank you SO very much. We will be forever grateful for your blessing and gracious heart!

Charley- I am so proud of you! Thank you for sticking up for our family and never letting the evil get into your heart. You are a great man, husband, provider and father! I love  you!

To my friends - thank you for your support and prayers!

now.. who wants to come over for some coffee :)

Piggy In A Blanket

so depressing. so frustrating. so easy to fix.. at least it would seem.

This morning I woke up and I swear I felt like my thighs were 3x bigger than yesterday. With everything going on- kid after kid sick, I have been eating anything that seems comforting- which sadly has not been healthy choices. I complain all day long and run myself into the ground with nasty comments about how I look, but still I sit here- still trying to get motivated to just make it to the gym.

Depressing. 

I know the outcome will be good if I  JUST. DO. IT.

I have tried to bribe myself with new clothes, money, gifts... but nothing seems to pull me out of this lazy funk.

I feel like it would change if I had someone to drag me along with them. Someone to keep me excited and motivated and made it a weekly "date". I feel like I could do it if I didn't feel so run down in the evening and then so beat up in the morning.

 How do I get out of my nasty- fatty-oh-so-ugly funk and get EXCITED to go to the gym. Excited to be like "hey, I am gonna sweat today and love that burning feeling!"

I am heading into my mid thirties and this body is for sure not getting younger, tighter or less lumpy.

The Poop-capades

My mother instincts are not on par today. Today I was busy trying to focus in on my Ms Betty Crocker personality by trying to whip up a test of zucchini bread. I heard it was as easy as making banana bread... well my recipe made it not so easy... so I tried adding a few things here and there to see what would be created. As I slipped my bread pan into the oven, I smiled as I felt I had actually accomplished something today. The littles were occupied and playing... but then I noticed... they were TOO quiet. Which only equals out to TROUBLE.

I quietly walked into the livingroom... hoping that my quiet footsteps would be quiet enough to not share any littles just in case they were actually  just being quiet.

I walked in the living room and the older little was no where to be found but the littlest one... had made a jump pad from his block container.. diaperless. I giggled to myself as I watched him climb up on his launch pad - naked- and jump. That is when I REALLY noticed. This diaperless baby was covered in poo!!! I quickly scanned the room for the stinky missing diaper....way in the corner with his pants- layed the smelling wretched diaper. And there, standing on his launch pad with a ear to ear smile.. was my little. Waving his poo covered hands, bending forward getting ready for his big jump. My mind suddenly went through this process...baby took pants off, baby pooped, baby took diaper off and PLAYED with it...baby now has been all over livingroom, on top of a box, with poop covering his bum and getting ready to jump... and I am calculating that he will just land on his butt... on my carpet!!

I fully move forward in what seemed like a slow motion movie- yelling "NNNNnnnoooooooo" and reaching for him. I then suddenly start yelling for the older child to "BRING ME THE WIPES!!!" of course I get no answer. Once again, " Charlie Joe, bring ME the WIIIPPPPESSSSS" That little turkey casually walks out of my room still in his cartoon tunnel phase. Holding my laughing and wiggly little- covered in poo- I remind you.... I AGAIN ask for the wipes. As he slowly starts walking toward the opposite direction of where wipes would be, I grab the closest thing to me to lay this wiggly child on. The wipes bag. empty.

We had a few minutes of wrestling to clean up and get dressed again, but in the end I suceeded to clean and participate in the monthly poop-capades.

And if you are wondering about that zucchini bread... blah. came out bland. Next time I will be sure to follow an actual zucchini bread recipe!

My 30 Days Of Great

Back in February I took an online course through Creative Live with the oh-so-great Hailey Bartholomew from You Can't Be Serious and The AMAZING Sue Bryce. I was so excited for this course because I have been wanting to capture video for YEARS- wanting to give my clients something extra special for them to remember a part in their lives. I am actually probably - one would say- addicted to capture video clips. I secretly have a stash of them... not really knowing what to do with them lol..

Anywho... I took this course and at the end they announced a challenge for all us students. To video something each day for 30 days- something you are greatful for and make a video montage under 2 minutes to share with the world.

So with a hop, skip, jump and a twirl, I began shooting. I shot big and little things that made me happy. Things like coffee steam on a cold morning, a moist yummy chocolate muffin on a tiny plate and a tiny spoon - seriously tiny things make giggle. I got a lot of video of my littles... well because I love them and well because they were the ones that were around me the most.

The day came where I wanted to work on my grand video project.. only to find out that SOMEHOW I lost my video clips. I think I actually cried at that moment... and I can't really confirm or deny, but I think there was a little chocolate binge in there as well. Everything that I had worked hard on.. was gone :( How could I do this?! Being a professional photographer I tell others to make sure they back up their stuff all the time.. and I do it myself for clients.. so WHY would I not do this myself?! UGH! I thought that there was no way to actually make the contest deadline and I just threw my hands up and had a little pitty party for myself.

3 days before the contest closed I got a new surge of enthusiasm and I kicked my butt into gear and decided to have a go at the video with what I had and what I could capture in one day. I let myself have fun and told myself that even if I do not make the deadline, what is important is to 1. finish the damn video and 2. this would be something my kids would enjoy hopefully forever!

I found a song by one of my fave folk children singers- Frances England and had a go at what I had. By day 2 I was stressing out because I had 4 hours to finish and nothing was looking right. Once again, I had a pity party as I tortured myself by watching all the other great (seriously great) videos that were being posted online. Feeling like a failure, I closed my laptop and gave myself a mental tongue lashing.

To my surprise... I found out that I still had a WHOLE day to finish the video.. so once again I climbed aboard this emotional train I built and kicked butt to get it finished. That day had a bunch of little problems which included the program crashing and then me not being able to view it. Holy Boogers.. the only one that can fix it was hubby and he was working... LATE.

One hour till closing.. Finally he got the program working and I was cursing at the internet at this moment on how slow it was going. I sat on the facebook board announcing my troubles and begging for an extension. Knowing how silly that sounded.. why would they give me an extension??? But they were wonderful and kept telling me not to worry. HAHAHAHahahahaha how funny... no worries.. that is all I seemed to have done. Finally 30 minutes past the deadline, my video was published and posted. It for sure was no academy award video, but to me it was perfection. It was my life- under 2 minutes. Yes, it would be GREAT to be one of their top 5 videos, but there were some really amazing videos. I am just happy I did not fully give up and trash it. As crazy and stressful I made myself for this video... I would for surely do it all again! In fact, I can't wait for the next video challenge!

So here is my 30 days of Great. Go ahead and take a peek and tell me what you think :)

I Miss

This post is not to sound like I am ungrateful... this afternoon I had some thoughts of things that I miss- either for myself or for my kids. Again please do not take this as I am ungrateful or missing the good things that I currently have.

that being said....

As spring is here.. here except in North Dakota ;) I miss Upward Sports. My daughter played basketball and it was so much fun watching her.. even at practice. Sad that Dickinson does not have Upward. Am I brave enough to try to make that happen??? Eeekkkk.. I somehow do not have faith in myself for that challenge.

I miss things to do with the kids. Activities, events, SOMETHING. Yes, we have a gym here, but childcare is crazy and I have anxiety issues with just letting the kids swim without an adult being right there next to them.. more for the little ones then the big ones.

I miss family time. I miss the feeling of riding my bike as kid. Riding it as fast as I could- letting go of the handle bars and feeling the wind in my blonde hair. I miss climbing trees and playing outside. I miss BBQ's and the occasional bon fire.

I miss the feeling of cleaning the house- and enjoying it :) I miss running in the grass with no shoes on chasing the kids. Blowing bubbles, watching the clouds and sitting in camping chairs having adult conversations.

I miss the feeling of laughter between friends and how your face seems to deform with a great laugh!

I miss a great MOPS meeting- a meeting where you no longer felt alone and you accomplished a cute craft- with no kids hanging or biting your ankles.

I miss the smell and feel of the ice under my skates.

I miss the beach. The smell.. the way the air tasted.. the sound of the ocean at dusk. The feel of the sand as I squish my toes in it.

I miss being able to go to bed with no problems.

I miss being able to laugh, sneeze or cough without peeing myself.

I miss having boobs.

In all those serious and funny things to miss.... I am grateful for so many other wonderful things. Like granny panties for those days that my butt just needs an extra hug.... and for those 5 little kids that show me love and give me hugs and kisses just when my day needs it. 

30 Something Going On 13

I officially have a TEENage daughter in the house. I never thought this day would come... I mean I knew it would come but I just enjoyed envisioning my kids still young as toddlers running a muck through the house. Now, I have an emotional TEEN dancing, running, crying, yelling, laughing and singing through the house.

What is even more crazy is still have littles in diapers WHILE having a teen. I mean its great having someone always available to watch the littles while I [try] work, shower or once in a while sleep in.

Wednsday, Lilly turned the big 1 3 and I wanted to do something special and fun.. and a little embarrssing for her. So I decided that a special delivery at school with 13 balloons, 13 flowers and a tiarra would be great. Then I thought that it would be even FUNNIER if I showed up in a tutu and crazy hair. Well lucky for her I didn't find or have time to make a tutu.... so instead her dad and I stopped at her school during lunch and surprised her. She was sitting in the back of the room- with her back towards us- PERFECT. So we walked in... calling her name- louder and louder until the WHOLE room was paying attention and she turned around.. "lilly..... LILLY.....LLLLLLLLLIIIIIIIIIILLLLLLLLLLYYYYYYYY"
When she finally let herself acknowledged us, she stood up- just as everyone starting singing Happy Birthday. To my surprise, she started crying and did not want to let go of me. IT was pure classic moment. That moment where I wish I had a photographer following us JUST to capture her! After everyone was done singing, dad threw her some keys to her own truck. Charley had said back when they were little that on the kids 13th birthday that he wanted to get them a truck that they can rebuild and learn how to take care of. I just wanted to buy her shoes. He definitely got the best parent award for LIFE!

That night, we took her to get her ears pierced. She has been wanting to do it forever but kept chickening out. In fact she did change her mind again but we as bad parents took her anyway lol. She did fine.. ok she did cry even before the lady did it. She got so emotional before the actual piercing she started to cry. But she looks so beautiful with those earrings in. Now, hopefully she will buy some fun accessories THAT I can "borrow" from her without asking ;)

We had dinner at one of my fave places and then went home. She had planned a sleepover for friday- so that plan was going to be interesting......

The Sleepover

4 girls showed up and we planned on going to a 7pm movie to see The Great & Powerful Oz and let them do some shopping at the mall. If there was time, then hit the yogurt shop for a treat. Hubby ended up working late so I wanted till the 9:45 movie... again this is showing my age because my 8pm I am ready for bed and no more kids. Keep in mind that they have been asking to go to the mall since 5pm- right when they showed up.
We finally make it out of the house and to the mall at 8:30. That left them with 30 to power shop.. I get out the car like a normal mom and suddenly 5 hyper teens start shooting and running out of the car like it was on fire LOL. I calmly walked in a different direction enjoying my little window shopping in peace :)

By 9:00pm we were back in the car and decided to go get that yogurt to pass the time before the movie... again it was like the car was on fire as they exited the car. Oh to be 13 again!

We all finally got home a little after midnight... and somehow teen girls still have a LOT more energy than their parents. Hubby and I went to bed right away while the girls laughed and giggled and talked. I had gotten up around 3:30am for a potty break and they wer all STILL up.. still chatting, giggling, laughing.

One of the guys got up at 5 for work and they were STILL up. Oh there is for sure going to be some crabby girls tomorrow- especially when they have to up and bright-eyed at 9am. MUhahahahahahahahha



THE MORNING
Waking up 5 girls that didn't get any sleep is HILARIOUS! Watching them jump awak and mumble some kind of words is totally video worthy, but once again I went unprepared . Bummer. I am sure their parents would have loved the footage.

Over all I think it was a great birthday for my little girl. I do admit that I am not a cool mom for sleepover for older kids. Now, a sleepover with babies.. anytime :)