Happy! Happy!

I really am finding entirely too much joy from this but I guess it's better than something illegal or fattening! I got a selphy printer yesterday and it is so much fun to play with. It was an incredible deal from Amazon. I called my friend and told her about and she wanted one so I ordered another and then ordered another one for a friend later that day. One word to the wise though-buy extra cartridges. Luckily I did because the printer only came with paper and ink for 5 pictures! Hello, that's like 2 minutes of playing with it!
So this morning I added some rubons to the print. I love using stuff from my stash!

And now I have these to send! Don't be surprised if you get a postcard in the mail.

It's so nice to be happy. I had a bad couple of days. You know when you are just bummed out and in a bad mood? To top it off I had a 3 day headache and was just not happy. I woke up this morning with no headache listening to the kids playing and I just knew it was going to be a good day! My favorite thing ever is to lay in bed and just listen to them talk to each other and build legos or make their plans. It's the best!

Have a HAPPY day!

God Bless Baseball

I love baseball. I am not remotely athletic and wouldn't want to ever play it because #1 I don't run and #2 the thought of me in those pants is frightening but I love watching it. My most favorite is when Joey is playing. My second fav is going to a game. I got tickets for the Angels game last night and could only get 4 and my hubby is such a sweetie that he let me take the boys. Our seats to begin with were high up but good. Noah will go anywhere and be excited about it if he knows he can get cotton candy. Who knew that he'd turn into a fan though. The Yankee game in NY showed a whole other side of Noah. He screamed, cheered and danced. I thought it was the New York high but last night he continuted to chant.

Around the 7th inning we went to say hi to a friend and got brought down to second row seats behind the visitor dugout. Talk about the PERFECT place to see the game. (Yes, it was late and Zach was tired and that was the face he had on for the rest of the evening.

Told you they were good seats!

It was so nice having the boys to myself and just hanging out with them. I am really feeling them growing up and I feel like I have such a short amount of time left with them. I hope they will always want to hang out with me. It's going to kill me when they don't.

Baking, Baking, Baking

It seems like I have been baking just about every day for the last week. I have made s'more bars twice, 40 cupcakes last night, a cheesecake tonight and a lemon cheesecake and lemon bars. Just a few things ;) I wish I had pictures but I haven't picked up my camera in a week or so...kind of lazy about it. The s'more bars are really good. I made them to bring to a friend's house for dinner and the kids just kept talking about them so I made them a few days later when we went to another friends for dinner. My family likes them at room temp but I love them frozen. Oh, and I have to tell you. I don't like s'mores...but I love these bars!

S’Mores Bars
Crust:14 whole graham cracker boards — crushed (2 1/4 cups crumbs)
3 tablespoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons butter — (3/4 stick) melted
Brownie:6 ounces bittersweet chocolate — chopped
3/4 cup butter — (1 1/2 sticks)
3 eggs
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla
Topping:1 jar marshmallow cream (about 1 1/2 cups) — (7.5 ounces)
2 tablespoons milk
1 cup mini chocolate kisses
3 whole graham cracker boards — broken up

1. Heat oven to 350°.
2. Crust: Combine the graham cracker crumbs, sugar, salt and melted butter in a small bowl until the dry ingredients are evenly moistened. Transfer the crumb mixture to a 13 x 9 x 2-inch baking pan; press crumb mixture evenly over the bottom of the pan, pressing the crumbs evenly into the corners and along the sides of the pan. Refrigerate the crust until chilled and set.
3. Brownie: Combine the bittersweet chocolate and butter in a microwave-safe glass bowl or glass measuring cup. Heat chocolate mixture in a microwave oven on high until the chocolate and butter are melted, about 1 minute. Stir the chocolate mixture until smooth.
4. With a hand-held electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat together the eggs and sugar in a large bowl until well blended. Reduce the speed to medium. While continuing to beat, gradually add the melted chocolate-butter mixture to the egg mixture; beat until the mixture is smooth, scraping down the side of the bowl occasionally.
5. Stir the flour and salt into the egg mixture. Then stir in the vanilla until smooth. Scrape the brownie mixture into the crust-lined baking pan; smooth the top level with a rubber spatula.
6. Bake in 350° oven for 30 minutes or until the top is smooth and the center is set when gently pressed with fingertip.
7. Topping: While the brownie layer is baking, whisk together the marshmallow cream and the milk in a small bowl until the mixture is well blended and smooth.
8. Pour the marshmallow topping mixture over the brownie layer in the pan. Spread or tilt the pan to level the topping and cover the brownie layer completely.
9. Sprinkle the mini chocolate kisses evenly over the marshmallow topping. Then scatter the crumbled graham crackers all over the top.
10. Bake in 350° oven for 3 minutes or until the chocolate kisses are glossy and the marshmallow topping is set. Let cool in the pan on a wire rack. Cut into bars.

Makes:24 bars Prep: 25 minutes. Cook: 2 minutes. Bake: at 350° for 33 minutes.

***My cheat- I just used chocolate chips for the bar so I didn't have to chunk it up and I used the chips instead of kisses for the top.

a good night

This weekend was kind of shot. We lost power for about 30 hours. I hate when I don't have timelines and stuff. So anal, I know but it was freaking me out that I had no idea when the electricity would come back on. Should I pack everything on ice? Should I wait it out? It put me in a bit of a grumpy mood.
Some of it was fun though. I loved the candle light and I read almost 300 pages of a new book with my book light clipped on top.

So today, I appreciated the power. I did laundry, ran the dishwasher, cooked.... I was so thankful for these things. The kids have conference day tomorrow so tonight there was no big rush to get to bed. They did homework while I cleaned. Noah wrote a book. I love his books! This one was called Indiana Dog and the Lost Bone. So much detail! Zach and Dave played guitar. I am so impressed at how Zach is really working hard on his cords and is reading the music. I am thinking of maybe cancelling his lessons and having Dave take over. Private guitar lessons are so expensive. Heck, all lessons are pretty expensive. We'll see...

So while everyone was busy I worked on my desk. I put away some layouts I've done. I kept thinking I couldn't find my 2009 folder but then realized I didn't have one. I need to get scrappin!!!

Never Mix An Onion in Jello

Today Joey had to make an edible animal cell. We hollowed out a cantelope, filled it with jello. Then we put a cut purple onion in and toothpicked a cut plum on top of that. It looked cool. We also used those cinnamon candies and grapes...Ok, I know this isn't making much sense. I am tired... I guess my point is don't put an onion in it because my frig stinks and Joey's classroom is going to stink... Oh well.

Swim Team is officially over. More time for homework....baseball...and soccer!

I just love telephoto lens!

Today Karen and I did some planning and meeting for Reflections. So very excited! I really enjoy all the planning and love working with Karen. Tonight was filled with homework, cleaning, paperwork,laundry, and working on stuff for church. I'm taking a break because formatting is not my thing and my church invitations are not looking like I envisioned.

Did anyone watch Next Food Network Star? I loved watching it. My kids were so cute and kept telling me I should go on the show. They want me to become friends with Bobby Flay so he can make them burgers. Anyway, I was happy that Melissa won and I tivoed her show without even realizing it. I think it's called 10 dollar meals. She's doing a great job.

Joey shines

Joey has had such a great season. He has made a lot of friends and I love this new confidence and independence.
Yesterday he swam free style for the Championships. He was so excited. He kept warming up. We had to tell him to stop so he didn't wear himself out. He also brought his own money and bought a swim cap because he thought that might help him go faster.
On your mark!

Get set! Go!

And just look who won his heat! He broke his own records. Joey swims 50 meters so he's usually a little slower on the way back, but not today! (Dave snapped the picture while the places were changing so he really did get first :)) He was in lane 5.

We're so proud of all the boys! Today is their banquet and then no more swimming until next year. Happy and sad about that. I think homework is definately going to be dominating our nights so the extra 2 hours a day will be needed.

Determined Noah

Noah swamp freestyle in the Championships. When we first started swim team last year he was such a little skinny guy who struggled. But Noah worked and worked and he got better every single meet. This year showed his same determination and man did he improve! I watched in awe as he did his freestyle. I was so proud of him! He did really well yesterday and came in 2nd in his heat. I was so into cheering I never looked at his time. We have our banquet today so he'll find out. He wants to make sure he beat his score from last time.

Love that telephoto! Look at that face. He was really nervous but soaking up everything the coach had to say.
Getting ready.

On your mark. Get set!

Go!

Zach and his incredible backstroke

Last year was our first time trying swim team. When Zach started the season doing 25 meters of backstroke took him over a minute. By the championships he was at 35 seconds. We couldn't believe it. We were so proud of him! It is definately his stroke. This year he swam in championshipships and we were really excited. The pool where it's held is huge. There are thousands of people there and it's a bit intimidating. This is where Jason Lezak and Amanda Beard trained for the Olympics so it's pretty exiting. This year he did it in 27 seconds! I am not sure if he was first or second in his heat. Too hard to tell. I don't care. I'm just so proud that he keeps beating his own time.


Relaxing before the swim.

He spotted us trying to take his picture with the telephoto so the hands went up. This time he was creative so we got goggles instead of hands.

Look at him go!

Swimming always builds an appetite.