Oklahoma Bound

Sunday, May 16, 2010 7:31 PM Posted by The Cookie Cutter Diva 0 comments



Well we made it safe and sound to Oklahoma and officially relocated home during my husbands training and deployment!


I know different people have different opinions on rather you should go home during deployments and I normally am one that thinks it's really better to just stay at home and hold down the home front when they are gone instead of uprooting the kids and the family and starting all over in a lot of ways but I also see a lot of benefits of it for a lot of people. Just for me in the past I hadn't come home for the deployments in the past but the last deployment I came home and don't think that was a bad choice and don't regret it but it was definitely hard moving home after being on my own for so long. Being used to sharing space with someone, not having the entire house to myself, my parents unfortunately don't have a back yard so I had to go out a lot more to get the kids out door time else where to make sure they stayed active and it was definitely a little stressful for them getting used to years with no kids and then all of these kids coming in. So I wound up going back to Texas before deployment was over and enjoyed my time back on my own and didn't think I would attempt moving home again.


But here we go, yet another deployment and as the time came closer I found more and more reasons to why I should come back home and making me think about it again. But the biggest kicker was my health and the recent things going on and not having much choice if I wanted to get the ball rolling and get things taken care of I knew the drs here would do it and not put me off like they were there. I think the fact I "need" my mothers help more then just moving in for convenience has made me appreciate it a lot more. I've noticed even on visits home the last year that I appreciate things she does a lot more and I think she appreciates us being here more because she realizes how far we are and how much she missed when we were gone.


I don't care for a lot of things in our home town but I miss some of my friends of course but really miss the family and them missing out on the kids as they grow up so it's nice to have this time to share with them while my husband is away. Like a bitter sweet trade off.






The kids got their first swim of the year in at my parents house (aside from the lake)! I don't know how they swim in that cold water but I remember swimming so much earlier then May when I was a child! Around March or April sometimes! It's amazing how our tolerance changes as adults!

Chalk Fun and Froggy Friends!

Thursday, May 13, 2010 10:36 PM Posted by The Cookie Cutter Diva 0 comments






Today we enjoyed some beautiful sunshine before the rain headed our way! On top of the normal not so fun school work as the kids call it haha we went outside and did chalk art for our arts and crafts part of the day.
We had a contest to see who could draw the biggest best dinosaur after reading about dinosaurs! My oldest son Aidan drew a dinosaur with a long neck like we read about in the book!
The kids traced each other with chalk and made shadow images of each other.
And of course my youngest son who I'm going to start calling "frog boy" knows just where to find frogs! He seriously walks out the door and it's like he "smells" the frogs and finds them! So he found a little buddy who sat there with him on his lap while he drew art! He sure is going to miss those frogs when we move!
I just can't believe how he gets them and gets them to just chill and sit on his lap! It's so crazy to me!
We've also had a little bunny camping out in our back yard the last few days. Every morning we
find it under the pic nic table and she will run away when you get to close (yes my kids did try
to catch her lol) then she will come back later in the day!
We also had a really fun snack today that was a hit for the most part but my oldest son doesn't
care for strawberries. I would've liked it to be a little sweeter but it was pretty good!
Olivia Strawberry Smoothie
Ingredients:
1 cup frozen strawberries
1 cup orange juice
1/2 cup ice
1 tbsp dry milk powder
2 pink marshmallows
chocolate sprinkles
Directions:
Combine first four ingredients in blender.
To make ears cut two thin slices cross ways from a marshmallow.
Pour smoothie into a glass. Place large marshmallow on top of smoothie as snout. Add other two pieces as ears to glass. Add the chocolate sprinkles as eyes and snout.







All About Oreos!

Tuesday, May 11, 2010 5:20 PM Posted by The Cookie Cutter Diva 0 comments



Well Mother's Day was a pretty good one! It started out kind of crappy because Bryan had to work with getting ready to head out for training here soon to NTC. We thought it was going to be a short day but he wound up working all day so I was a bit bummed that not only did I spend it alone with out him but I didn't go home to even get to see my mother because we thought he'd be home fairly early.







I finally got tired of sitting around the house stuffing my face with chocolate and watching lifetime and figured what better idea then to take the kids to Chucky Cheese to have fun on Mother's Day and relax while they ran around with their smiling little faces! And of course I figured it'd be the one place NOT packed and sure enough it was so peaceful in there! haha


Then Bryan got off while I was there and surprised me by leaving a big thing of flowers and some new flip flops in the car waiting for me for when I came out to the car after we got done! I heart my flip flops!



It's been an interesting week so far this week. We are all ready for a summer break around here for sure!


We've done a lot of new things over the last week. My youngest son who is in prek has been working on learning about money, simple addition and subtracting and learning to read. Things he wasn't doing when I pulled them out of school just yet but has caught on very quickly and showed a huge interest in it so we are making a go with it! I thought I'd introduce it to see how interested he was and shocked when he took off with the sight cards I introduced to him and has even started reading some beginner readers!



My other son has been working more on telling time like they were in school as well as introducing working on nouns, correction punctuation, and reading some longer books with chapters in them!





Since we are headed back home for a month during my husbands training we have been trying to do a little more fun stuff around here that we won't get to do once we move and enjoy some time with daddy! So last night we took a trip to Putt Putt! I couldn't remember why we didn't make more trips there when the kids asked several times as we passed "When are we going to go there again" till I spent as much as I did and realized just why we didn't go there that much! If we had just played golf it wouldn't have been to bad but since we won't be back I figured we'd go ahead and hit up the batting cages, play in the arcade some and let them each pick a ride to do. We had a lot of fun though!










My daughter Peyton had her 4 month old check up (she's 5 months now) yesterday as well and I was surprised she did so well. She was doing really good so we decided to go ahead and make a family out ting since my husband got off really early in the afternoon and she did wonderful till around bedtime then it hit her and she was miserable! We didn't give her any Tylenol with the recent recall because I didn't think to get the off brand! After a friend suggested that my husband went out and got some for her last night and she was much better after that! She just needed something to nip the pain to sleep for the night but was fine after that dose.










She was 10lbs and 14oz and almost 25 inches long! She got 3 shots and thankfully I caught the 4th one. We do selective vaccinating and my husband had taken her in last time because I didn't feel well and said something about how she didn't like the "oral" shot they gave her and I'm like "ORAL SHOT?!" it wasn't on the list of what they were going to give her and he signed for it but I had no idea they were going to do it to tell him NOT to do it! I didn't get it with the other kids and don't personally want it and was very aggravated when I found out. Not at him but that they just assumed we'd want it and put it on the list to sign for rather than saying "Would you like this one" since it's an optional vaccine and then he would've asked me. So I declined it and she was like "she got it last time" "yes I know she got it last time and we got in an argument after the appointment thank you!" then she was like "Well would you like to read more on it before making your choice" "No, we don't get that vaccine but thanks" there's nothing I hate more then when they proceed to go on and on like the one nurse who tells me "And you want to get that vaccine" don't tell me what I "WANT" to get my child! UHG.. I know they are being helpful and they want to tell you the benefits they are taught but it's like drop it once I've made it a point that I'm not interested!










Anyways enough of the vaccine drama. Nothing I can do about the fact she's had one dose of it now so I might as well get over it!










On to the better more YUMMY stuff that I made for desert!










Philadelphia Oreo No Bake Cheesecake! This cake out of a recipe book my mom got for me for Christmas!







What You Need:

1 package of oreos divided in half
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) of butter melted
4pgs 8oz each of cream cheese
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 tub 8oz whipped topping thawed


Make It!

Coarsley chop 15 of the cookies and set aside. Finely crush the remaining cookies and mix with butter. Press firmly into a 13x9 inch pan. Refridgerate while preparing.


Beat cream cheese, sugar and vanilla in large bowl with electric mixture until blended. Gently stir in whipped topping and remaining cookies. Pour over crust, cover.

Refrigerate for four hours.

Colorful Plants

Friday, May 7, 2010 5:22 PM Posted by The Cookie Cutter Diva 0 comments





Well I totally screwed this one up because we didn't have enough "leaves" on our celery but it was a cute idea and the kids had apparently already done it before anyways.






But today we did a science experiment to show that plants absorb water through their roots.






Description:



Learn how plants absorb water through their roots with colored water and celery sticks.






Materials:

Clear Glass Jars or Vases

Celery Stalks with Leaves

Water

Food Coloring


Steps:


Explain the experiment. We are going to learn how plans absorb water through their roots.

Separate and select celery sticks with leaves. Cut about quarter inch off the bottom.

Put water into glass jar.

Drop 3-4 drops of food coloring into water.


Place celery into jars. Stir very gently.





Make 2-3 observations. Check after an hour. After 4 hours. After 24 hours.






Sinking and Floating

Thursday, May 6, 2010 5:52 PM Posted by The Cookie Cutter Diva 0 comments


Well today was a normal Thursday for the most part. Started off with heading my daughter off to Ballet/Tap Class and went to Target for a little bit to scope out some more baby clothes for the littlest one. If it's items like Circo or Carters she needs a 9 months but if it's Gymboree or something she can still get by in 3-6 months. I found her a few cute new things. I love Targets clothes!


Then we went to chickfila and met up with my husband and had lunch with him and my friend Kim while the kids had a little play date.




Today for science we decided to do a Shoe Box Science: Sink or Float experiment.




We took a plastic tub from the boys room and filled it up with water.


They went on a little treasure hunt around the house and yard to find different items to put inside the box.


1) Ask: What will happen if??

2) Guess: What will happen..

3) Try: Test to see if your answer was right.

4) Answer: Was your answer right?


The kids had a lot of fun with this experiment! My daughter even got involved on this one and had lots of fun!


I'm cooking Ham-It-Up Spaghetti tonight! I haven't cooked this one in awhile!
Ingredients:
1 package 16oz spaghetti noodles
2 cans condensed garlic cream of mushroom soup -undiluted
1 3/4 cups milk
1 tbs dried minced onion (I also add diced to mine)
2 tsp dried parsley flakes
2 tsp dried parsley flakes
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
2 cups cubed cooked ham
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
Cook spaghetti. Mean while, in a large bowl, combine soup, milk, onion, parsley and Worcestershire sauce. Drain spaghetti, add to soup mixture with ham. Transfer to lightly greased 2- 1/2qt baking dish. Sprinkle with cheese. Cover and bake at 375 for 15 minutes. Uncover and bake 5 minutes longer.

Wednesday, May 5, 2010 5:32 PM Posted by The Cookie Cutter Diva 0 comments



Happy Cinco De Mayo everyone!! Today we had a playgroup lunch at Rosa's to celebrate. It wound up just being me and my friend Kim but some nice outing time for the kids and we hit up story time after! We haven't made it to story time in a few weeks and haven't made it as much the last year as I would've liked. We used to go weekly but didn't get to make it when I was on bed rest or after Peyton was born as much as I had hoped. We tried to start going to the evening one because the boys were sad they were missing out but it's right during wrestling practice so it never seems to work out!







So the kids were excited to get to go today but Keagan was having a bit of a melt down and not wanting to go at all but got over it once story time was over and we all picked out books. Each kid got 2 books to read from the library, picked out a movie and a CD to listen to as part of our music lesson this week!



They made Mother's Day cards for their crafts there this week!












We managed to get out and get some much much needed hair cuts for the boys while out too! With summer time approaching fast I really try to stay on top of it because it gets so hot!








We had a quiet night because Bryan had to work late getting some stuff ready for the ball tonight which we unfortunately can't attend because it's clear in Austin and that would be to long to be getting away from Peyton just yet. If it were in town we could maybe get by with leaving her 2-3 hours.




So he didn't get home till about 11:00pm last night! So I did some spring cleaning of the closets and the kids played outside in their toy mustang and in the water with their neighborhood friends and we had a salad and lasagna night!








We got to have some fun at the park last night though with daddy so it evened out!
My Boys are obsessed with collecting frogs around the neighborhood and built little obstacles last night for the frog to have a little frog race lol They are definitely all boy!

More Cinco De Mayo and Garden Fun

Tuesday, May 4, 2010 4:14 PM Posted by The Cookie Cutter Diva 1 comments
Today we continued our learning about Cinco De Mayo!

The kids had some yummy Sombrero Cookies for their snacks! That was a big hit! Now mine were a bit messy because we had to improvise with what we had here at the house and we didn't have white icing or nonpereils




Sombrero Cookies Recipe


1 sugar cookie
White icing
Nonpereils
White Gum Drop



To make one, frost the edge of one cookie and roll it in colored nonpereils.


Next coat the bottom of the lower edge of a gum drop and dip it in nonpereils. Then set the gum drop in the middle of the cookie.



Sugar Cookie Recipe


2 3/4 cups of all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract


Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In small bowl mix together flour, baking soda, baking powder and set aside.

In a large bowl cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in vanilla and egg. Gradually blend in dry ingredients.

Roll rounded teaspoons full and place on ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake 8-10 minutes.



We also did a history lesson on what Cinco De Mayo was and why we celebrated it. Then we made Little Sombrero's for our craft.

Supplies Needed:
Paper Plate
Styrofoam Cup
Crayons
Tape
Glue
Pom Poms or Cotton Balls









Instructions:



Have children color the bottom of paper plate and cups to their liking.


Attach to the middle of the paper plate using tape for faster drying.


Use your choice of colored pom poms or cotton balls (which ever you have) and put little drops of glue around the rim of the paper plate and attach balls.


























Then we started a garden finally for our Science Project!

Removed the nasty ugly small dead shrubs in front of my house that have been there over a year! Wow it was easier then I thought it was going to be. They were so dead they came right out! How sad is that? If I had known I would've done it much sooner!

The best part was one part was really in the ground and stuck on the last shrub and I went to pulling and pulling and pulled so hard I went flying backwards and landed on my bottom! The kids and all of the neighborhood kids got a good laugh out of that one haha


So we removed those and cleaned up the weeds a bit and planted flower seeds of the kids choice! It says about a month to grow so we will work on that for the next month and hopefully we will have a pretty garden here soon!




Tonight we are having Minestrone Macaroni for dinner! I haven't made that in awhile so figured it'd be a nice change up!


Minestrone Macaroni


Ingredients:


1lbs ground beef
2 cans Italian diced tomato, undrained
2 1/4 cup water
1 1/2 cup uncooked elbow macaroni
2 beef bouillon cubes
1 can kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 can garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
1 can cut green beans, rinsed and drained

In large skillet, brown beef; Add tomatoes, water, macaroni and bouillon; bring to a boil.
Reduce heat; cover and simmer 12-15 minutes or until macaroni is tender.
Stir in beans and heat through.
Well I hear the littlest one waking from her nap so time to stop playing!!



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