5 on Friday

Yay for Friday!

Here are my super random 5 on Friday.

-1-
Last day of school!!

Although I think a lot of us teachers do miss our little kiddos over the summer and think about them and hope that they are ok, we are all just as excited as the kids on the last day!

-2-
  What does the fox say?

This guy crossed the street in front of me leaving for work.  Bizarre, but we do back up to a trail that has quite a bit of wildlife.  He then decided to go potty in the yard across the street.

-3-

  Flowers for no reason

Matty showed up at my school one day with a dozen roses for no reason.  Well, he said it was for finishing up another great year at school, but it was still a surprise to me.  Love that boy.

-4-

Mother nature

Thursday afternoon it had down-poured while the sun was still out, but it was just enough to cool everything down.  We are lucky enough to have this great trail literally in our backyard, so I grabbed Blair after school and did my run/walk.  I had never ran pushing the stroller before and it was totally awkward and hard, but I only lessened my distance by .01 of a mile.  I was pretty proud.  I'm doing the Couch to 5K and it's a 30 minute workout of running and walking increments that slowly get you to a 30 minute 5K.  

-5-

Blue eyes

I mean, come on!!  Husband and I both have green eyes, but this lucky gal seems to have gotten the recessive gene and these beauties.  

  

My Famous Cookies

So, I make cookies pretty much every time I have a function to go to.  This all started with my mom.  She made cookies and somehow they got famous around my parent's circle of friends.  Then, when I got old enough, I made them and people still thought they tasted amazing.  People are always asking our secret and I think I am prepared to show you today.  This is big, really, really big!

Wait for it.....

1.  Buy a bag that looks like this.

2.  Turn it over.

3.  Follow that recipe.  It's not a secret at all.  However, some people swear they have followed the recipe exactly and they just don't taste the same.  I think it's just that everything tastes better when someone else makes it, but here's the recipe just in case.

2 1/4 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

3/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla

2 eggs

2 cups (12 oz  package)

Directions:

1.  Combine flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl.

2.  Beat butter, sugar, brown sugar and vanilla in large mixer bowl until creamy.  Here's maybe the one secret.  BUTTER FLAVORED CRISCO!  I'll put an extra large picture because it's that important.

3.  Add egg, one at a time, beating well after each.

4.   Gradually beat in flour mixture.

5.  Stir in morsels.  I put the whole bag in, minus the handful I eat.

6.  Drop by rounded tablespoons onto ungreased baking sheets.

7.  Bake for 9-11 minutes at 350 degrees.  I usually do 10 minutes, give or take.

8.  Eat and enjoy!!

Pears

Today I will share with you how I make pears for Blair's baby food.  It's not hard at all and sometimes I sneak a few bites myself.  Sorry it's not a super exciting post.

1.  Buy pears, I had 4 this time.

2.  Peel, chop and put in a little water.

 

3.  Cover and let simmer for awhile, like 20-30 minutes, until they are mushy.

 4.  Put in Baby Bullet, blender, or food processor and give it a few pulses.

5.  Pour into containers.

 6.  Freeze.

I got six 2 ounce servings, so 12 ounces of pears.

Bada bing bada boom

Weekend Recap

What a great LONG weekend!

Friday after school, I did my Walmart run.  Always a good time.  Matt picked up dinner and we had a fun night at home.

Saturday morning, I ran in the morning and it was hot, hot, hot and humid!  Then, my mother-in-law and I started a repaint-the-house-shutters project.  She taught me how to use the drill thingy to unscrew them.  Then, we cleaned them off and set them out to dry.  We made a few trips around town to pick out the right color spray paint.  I painted them in the afternoon and set them out to dry.    Saturday night we went to Matt's parents for a Memorial Day cookout.  It was great to see his family and have some great food.  Blair was All-American in her Wranglers and leg warmers.

Sunday morning, we headed out to church.  Then, I hung the shutters back up in the afternoon.  They look great!  I wish I had a before and after to show you.  We decided it would be fun to go swimming in the afternoon.  It was a workout getting baby ready for a 30 minute swim, but she loved it.  Matt made dinner and it was great.

1st swim

Monday, we went to my parents for lunch with my family.  We had BBQ and it was great!  It popped up heavy rain off and on, but we were able to spend some time outside.  Blair took a monster nap in the morning, then one at my parents for an hour, and then when we got home, she acted sleepy again.  I put her down and she surprisingly slept again until 5:30.  We actually all took a nice nap!  I was worried she wouldn't be sleepy at bedtime, but she went straight down after her bath.

We like any excuse to dress festive!

All in all, it was a great long weekend!  Four more days until summer vacation!

P.S.  Saturday was my brother-in-law's birthday and Sunday was my sisters!  We weren't together to celebrate, but we will see each other soon!  Happy Birthday to them!

5 on Friday

1.  New shampoo and conditioner

Lately, I've noticed that the shampoo I was using was creating build-up and making my scalp super sensitive.  Also, I struggle with frizz and curl TERRIBLY and my current stuff was totally drying me out making it worse.  Anyway, I bought this Aussie Moist shampoo and the 3 Minute Miracle on a whim and it made my hair feel amazing!

2.  Cake

We had our 4th Quarter AR party this week.  The kids got to go swimming at our high school pool.  A sweet parent had these cakes made for us.  Their from Pricecutter and were so good!

3.  Diva Blair

This week Blair has turned into quite the diva.  She reminds me of a teenager and a two-year old all rolled into one.  She started hating to get up in the morning.  She doesn't sleep with her little hinney in the air anymore, but is all sprawled out on her tummy.  She doesn't wake up as soon as I walk in the door anymore, rather she lays there and silently complains about being woken up.  She also started crying and arching her back when I change her diaper.  On Thursday, she gave Grandma a fat lip by waving her arms around, she skipped her second nap, fell asleep on the way home, but cried when I tried to put her in her crib.  Then, when I got her, she pushed me away.  She had our first time out.  She's really sowing her oats.  Such a handful, but I love it!

4.  Pool

The pool we belong to opens this weekend. Yippee!  

5.  LONG WEEKEND

Hope

On May 22, 2011 everything changed.

It's been 3 years since that day I know we will never forget. 

Although, I do not live in Joplin currently, the town I do live in practically turns into Joplin.

Our house is less than 2 miles from the city limits.

Everything is is Joplin.  I was born there, lived there, went to school there, took dance there, went to college there.  Everything is there.  Stores, restaurants, family, everything.

My husband is a Joplin boy, born and raised, went to JHS.  Our Joplin roots are deep.

I feel guilty because the night it happened we were looking out the window thinking it looked really windy, when so many people were having the worst night of their lives.

When our satellite came back on, we saw St. John's on the Weather Channel.  It was the weirdest thing, seeing something you knew so well, looking so foreign.  People started calling and we started trying to get ahold of everyone.  Phones were spotty.  We were so lucky that all our family was safe.  Some damage, but safe.

We had school the next day.  That was the hardest day of teaching ever.  Every teacher's mind was somewhere else and every kid needed our full love and support.

The next month was spent trying to help clean up any way we could.  We wanted to feel like we were doing something, anything.

This was my aunt's classroom.

This was a storm shelter at a rental house our aunt and uncle own.  I think like 15 people were safe in there.  Uncle Don's boat was being stored there and was thrown almost on top of the door.

My parent's best friends lost their amazing historic home.  I spent so much of my childhood running the halls of this house.  They were safe in the basement.  Thank God.




The town came together in so many magical ways.

We found this guy about a week after in our neighborhood.  Even the wild animals were in disarray.  Poor baby.


Now this is our view from our window.

                                 

Tumblebooks

Today I thought I'd share a website I use in the library and think it would be good to use at home with young kids too.

To get to it, first, I go to our local town's library website:

(They have a paid subscription, which you need.)

www.joplinpubliclibrary.org

and click on Kids

Then, click on Tumblebooks.

From here, I usually go to Story Books, but you can explore anywhere.

It works on ipads too!  I mirror it to my Apple TV in the library.

Have fun all you mamas!  Get those kids reading!