One Word

I got this one word tag idea from Alice. Feel free to play along...

Just one word
1. Where is your cell phone?
Ear
2. Your significant other?
A Gift
3. Your hair?
Droopy
4. Your mother?
Great
5. Your father?
Cool
6. Your favorite thing?
Flowers
7. Your dream last night?
None
8. Your favorite drink?
Coke
9. Your dream/goal?
Family
10. The room you’re in?
LR
11. Your hobby?
Scrapbooking
12. Your fear?
Friendless
13. Where do you want to be in 6 years?
Alive
14. Where were you last night?
Here
15. What you’re not?
skinny
16. Muffins?
Maybe
17. The last thing you did?
Bedtime
18. What are you wearing?
pajamas
19. Something you’re not wearing?
glasses
20. Your mood?
Midline
21. Your summer?
Awesome!

Our Fun Weekend

The fun began Friday night with our Ward's Spring Picnic. Alice is so good at her calling, I guess that's why she didn't replace me as the Primary chorister. :) I made Cream Cheese & Jam Turnovers; a recipe I got from another blogger. I thought they were great and so easy! My mom and dad were both there with us, and the boys had lots of fun playing croquet and throwing the football with daddy. I've shared my favorite picture...

Then on Saturday we were looking for something fun to do...there wasn't even soccer to interfere. So we packed a lunch and headed to West Knoxville for Earthfest. Go Green! Draven & Brody had lots of fun digging in a compost pile for worms, making newspaper hats, and playing catch with a tennis ball and empty milk cartons (I thought that one was a little extreme). I forgot my camera, so you'll have to plug into my head to see how cute Draven was in his newspaper hat. Brody wouldn't wear his so I did. As we walked to the car lots of people were laughing.

When we got home I finally planted our vegetable garden. Last year I planted at the end of March, because that's what things say to do for our region. Then everything died when the mid-April freeze happened. So, this year I waited, and the mid-April freeze came again. This year we moved the veggies to the side of the house (Pierce cringed every time he came home last year when they were in the front), and I planted roma & sandwich tomatoes, corn, & watermelon. We also have peas that the boys planted at Earthfest, and Strawberries that have been growing. Does anyone know how peas grow? I can't decide where to put those.


Tonight we had FHE. Pierce gave a lesson on Journaling. We talked about how we're printing our blog entries to use as a journal, but that the boys also need to write their own thoughts. So we had Draven and Brody each tell us their favorite part of this week while I wrote it down. Draven had fun with that. Brody said his favorite song is My Green Kite, by Peter Himmelman, and his best friend is Draven (it was Brielle on Wednesday so who knows how long this will last). I think PJ is most excited about finally learning to pull up and sit down on his own. Does anyone have any good ideas for getting Brody to participate more in FHE?


The most fun part of the weekend was spending it together. With soccer, mowing the grass, grocery shopping, etc. sometimes it's hard to just play together, even on the weekends. So that was my favorite part!

More Addicted Than I Thought

68%How Addicted to Blogging Are You?

So I saw this quiz on Alice's blog and thought I would probably be below 50 for sure, but there were some trick questions! Of course I've blogged about something as it was happening...hasn't everyone?

Brotherly Love

Most of the time, when I think of Draven & Brody's relationship, I would call it Love/Hate. They love to hate each other; but today I have gotten to see the love side twice. I think it bears noting!
This afternoon when we got home from the park Draven wanted to finish his soccer treat (the snacks he got after the game). So I told him if he was going to eat it right then, with Brody right there, he would have to share. He said ok. So, they were standing at the table, sharing a rice krispy treat, when Brody said, "Draven, I love you." Then he leaned over and gave him a hug. It wasn't silly or dramatic, just simple and sweet.
Then, tonight I put them to bed early because we had been to the park, played in the sandbox outside, had two neighbor boys over, and they were so wired that they were making me crazy! As I was doing the dishes I noticed that they were still talking a lot, so I went to their room to tell them to be quiet. When I walked in Brody & Draven were up on Draven's top bunk getting ready to go to sleep. I told Brody to go to his bunk. A couple minutes later they were still talking. Usually by this point, oh yeah they got up once too, I would be pretty upset and near the yelling stage, but today is a good day...So, I walked in the room and Brody & Draven are in Brody's bed. When I told them they were nearing the end of my patience, and Draven needed to get in his own bed right now, Draven said, "But, I just want some time with Brody." What could I say? I gave them 10 minutes to be asleep.

Journaling

Ok, so I have 4 journals started, that I'm suppose to be working on, but never seem to find the time to do it. One for each of the boys, plus mine. I'm suppose to write on Sunday, but here it is 10:31 and I'm still blogging. So, I'm using a wonderful idea that I got from my friend Lindsey-I hope you have your baby soon-Rose! I have copy and pasted all of our posts into a Word Document and I'm going to print them and put them in a nice 3 ring notebook. Since I have an obsession with everyone having their own-memories, books, whatever-I'm going to print duplicate copies of the posts that are interesting to more than one of us. So, I'll have my book, Draven his, Brody his, etc. An added bonus to this idea is that I can print the pictures that we've included on the post and have it right there with the "journal" entry! I'm even including the random posts-80's music and Helping Hamburger, etc. because I decided that when I read back over my life I want to remember the place I was in, and that includes pinching pennies at the grocery store and setting up our new blog. Just an idea for you! And yes, I'm printing this one too!

Happy Birthday to You!

Today is my mom's birthday! She turned 39 again. We love her very much and are so lucky to have her close by...she's the best baby sitter I know '0) Seriously, she's a great mom, and Grammie, and mother-in-law. She is one of my best friends. Now we just need to find her a man!

Happy Birthday Mom!

Our Temple Trip

This weekend we went to Atlanta, GA to visit the temple. We went with my mom and the three boys-what were we thinking? The boys, Mom, not you! Anyway, we left Friday at 2:00 pm and came home Saturday at 4:30. PJ didn't take a nap the whole time we were gone, and Draven & Brody were less than delightful. I can't really blame them...I felt like kissing the ground when we finally got out of the car for good.

But. It was a wonderful trip. It always is when we visit the temple, and it's been too long since we took that kind of trip. My mom was able to get the paperwork ready for my grandmother, who died in July 2006, and I was able to participate in doing her work. What a blessing. Now maybe she's teaching my grandfather-he's stubborn and probably needs her help! We took pictures, as you can see, and I just didn't want to leave. I love being that close to the spirit! Plus, we finally got a family picture...

Draven Stakes His Claim

A couple of days ago Draven asked for a piece of paper and a pen, so I gave it to him. He's always writing something down-usually a list of movies he wants to see, has seen, etc. So, then he asked if he could have some tape; I asked why. He didn't want to tell me, but I gave it to him and kept an eye on him. He went over to his toy box and put this sign on it. If you can't read it, it says, "Keep Out, My Toy Box." He said that in the Little Critter books (some of our favorites), Little Critter has a sign like that on his door, but it says "My Room" instead of "My Toy Box." We agreed that the toy box belongs to Brody too, and when PJ gets older he can look in there too; it's only Mommy, Daddy, and any other big people that are not allowed.

Our New Piano

On Tuesday our new piano was delivered! It was actually my mom's piano, that she bought when I was a kid and taking piano lessons, but to us, it's new. The piano tuner is in the other room right now tuning it! Lucky for us, my mom was looking to clear out some space in her living room, so the piano is now in our dining room. We are thinking about started piano lessons for Draven-following the "every child will play an instrument and a sport" motto. He is still a little young, but our neighbor teaches and she is convenient and has good rates. So, we'll see how it goes for a couple of months.

He is already playing, as you can see in the picture. He picks a song from the Primary Song Book, looks at the words while he "plays" notes on the piano. He even sings along to his playing. I think it's really cute! I am even more impressed that he lets Brody play with him. They are such a good team.

Hamburger Helper Revisited

I don't know about the rest of you, but I practically grew up on Hamburger Helper. Their Stroganoff is one of my favorites; but I always feel bad serving it to my family because it has so much sodium, the preservatives, it's prepackaged, etc. So, I was looking in my favorite cookbook-Miserly Meals-and found a recipe for "Helping Hamburger." It is practically as easy as the famous Hamburger Helper, but I feel better because I know what's in it! I thought it was great and Draven asked for 3rds, but Pierce hasn't had it yet. I made homemade Chicken Tenders (also from Miserly Meals) for lunch today, so he's eating those instead. So, in case your mouth waters every time you see the little white hand man, here is the recipe...

1 lb. ground beef
1 cup uncooked macaroni
15 oz can tomato sauce
1/3 cup Onion Soup Mix (I used one package)
1 1/2 cups water

Brown hamburger. Drain the fat. Add the remaining ingredients. Stir to mix well, cover, simmer for 15 minutes or until noodles are tender.

Variations:
Cheesy-This is the one I made...Add 1/2 cup grated cheddar during the last 5 minutes of cooking time.
Mexican-Add 1 tsp. Mexican Seasoning Mix, omit noodles, and serve over tortilla or corn chips.
Stroganoff-Replace tomato sauce with 1 cup sour cream, and replace macaroni with egg noodles.

My grocery budget has been obliterated lately and I'm looking for more cheap AND healthy meals so if you have any, please share!

Team LDS

This past Saturday night, we spent the evening at the Smartt's home for what turned out to be our Team LDS Basketball banquet. It was a blast...it was almost like little league again. A few of the wives got together and got a few nick nacks for each member of the team. See the Smartt's link for details

We had to have a grand prize for the MVP of the league so I made a little speech about our premier player this season, White Chocolate, also known as Dave. I think we embarrassed him a bit, but it was all in fun. The idea is that we will pass the trophy on to the MVP each season. It was lots of fun, we had Hawiian Haystacks, with all kinds of yummy desserts! Great times! ~ Pierce

Tell us your Favorite 80's song(s)

What is your favorite song or songs from the 80's? You'll notice, we've been having all kinds of fun customizing our blog and would like some feedback from you. I currently have an 80's playlist I created for our blog if you have your sound on. Those are some of my favorite songs and now I want to hear some of yours to add to it.

Some of my favorite songs are from the 80's and they always remind me of the fun times growing up, playing with GIJOE, Transformers, wearing those parachute pants, and pestering my big sister. I always wanted one of those Michael Jackson zipper jackets like he wore in the video "Beat it".....never got one of those. Tell us some of your favorite songs from that wonderful decade. ~ Pierce

Kindergarten Round-up

This Tuesday we took Draven to register for kindergarten. It wasn't what I expected...I thought the teachers would be there talking to the kids, telling them how excited they are to see them in the fall, etc. One teacher talked to Brody-he's 3. Anyway, one funny thing came of the experience...later in the week Draven, Brody, and I were sitting on the floor talking and Brody was saying something about "I can't do it" or "I don't want to do that." Draven leaned down and with his hand on Brody's shoulder said, "Pretty soon I'll be in kindergarten and you'll be the big boy taking care of things here." I thought that was sooo cute. Draven passing the torch to his younger brother.

That was one of the moments that M. Russell Ballard talked about today in Conference. One I'll have to remember for the hard times!

Dollywood

So we took the fam to Dollywood for the first time this year. We all have season passes so our goal is to go once a month. This time around, Quentin and Grammie joined us for a cloudy and semi-wet day in Dollyland. We forgot the camera so unfortunately we don't have any pictures to share :o( We had fun riding the rides with the boys...they love the flying elephants and the teapots. I rode the farris wheel with them and Brody loved it but Draven wasn't too sure. First of all, he read the many posted signs that you are not supposed to rock your seat. So anytime I moved and rocked the seat at all, he was sure to remind me of that. He also didn't like it when it went up high and started coming back down...I think he has inherited my fear of heights. The funny thing about this whole story is that when Draven started to freak out a little, Brody would lean over and look at him and tell him..."Just hold on to this Draven." while showing him the brace that had us locked in.

Me, Quentin, and Jennifer got to ride Mystery Mine together and it was lots of fun. Then Quentin and I road Thunderhead...I had forgotten how fast that ride is. I love it, but it still freaks me out a little because it is a wooden rollercoaster. We're all looking forward to going again when we can ride some of the wet rides. RiverBattle looks like lots of fun, but it was a little too cold for that one this time around. ~ Pierce

Chris Lofton Memories

Try to hold in the tears....he will be truly missed, and always remembered for his part in getting UT Basketball where it is today. Best of luck to him in his future endevours. ~ Pierce