Ten Most Powerful Things You Can Say To Your Kids

Love this article about the ten most powerful things you can say to your kids.  I especially agree with #3 about manners.  Biggest pet peeve are adults and children who don't know how to say please and thank you.  My three might be wild children, but they have their manners drilled into them and I rarely need to remind them anymore. :)

No Patience

Someone posted this on Facebook yesterday.  Apparently this is from over a year ago, but only reading it now and LOVE it.  Enjoy.

Happy Fall!

My favorite season!  We have been celebrating with a trip to a local Oktoberfest last weekend and today got the house ready for Halloween and took the kids for their annual picture at the pumpkin patch in costume.

Lots of football on the agenda too - last night my big guy had his Friday Night Under the Lights game and tomorrow from 11:30 - 5 pm there will be 2 practices and 2 games.  No way the little man will tolerate that (and in all honesty neither can I since I have been sick for over a week) so I am likely going to hang home with him for some of the day.

My oldest put in a request for homemade bread so tomorrow I plan to make this favorite recipe for spinach cheddar bread and homemade clam chowder. 

Happy weekend!

Daily Dose Of Inspiration

Overnight French Muffin Casserole

Forgot to post this yesterday.  I had 2 blueberry muffins and a handful of mini pumpkin muffins that didn't move for some reason this past week.  I hate spending all this money on organic ingredients/food and tossing them so I decided to replace them for bread in a French toast casserole I sometimes make.  The kids devoured it!  Not even a photo to share it went so quick!

Sliced muffins to size of piece of bread and layered in casserole dish.  Mixed cup of milk, 2 eggs, pinch of vanilla together and poured over it.  Put plastic wrap on and put in fridge over night.

Sunday morning I made a streusel topping for it -- some flour, brown sugar and mixed through butter until crumbly and sprinkled on.  Tossed on some raspberries and blueberries and baked at 350 for 30 mins. No syrup needed.  Awesome.

Chocolate Pumpkin Cake

Fun weekend!

Friday night me and my three little men hit up Walmart.  It was with the usual drama.  They insisted on pushing the cart onto the conveyor belt thing they have.   Of course they didn't do it right so it went off the track and was stuck for 20 minutes while we waited for it at the top of the escalator.  My middle one exclaimed loudly "mommy, everyone is looking at you". LOL

Saturday me and the little guys met my friend and her daughters for a two hour bounce house extravaganza - aka tire them out.   Then went to dinner at her house.  I didn't have a ton of time to bake so did a semi-homemade chocolate pumpkin cake.  It was pretty good -- and sort of healthy with an entire can of pumpkin and avocado oil in it.

Today we went apple picking in the morning.   Kids loved their dinner of pork chops, veggies and of course fresh made applesauce.  They are enjoying our fresh apple pie now. 

I am finishing up laundry and then resting for a busy week ahead -- 3 year-old nursery school orientation and kindergarten orientation on tap!

Back to School Cake

Had such a great weekend with my little men.

I promised the kids Friday that when I got home from work we could do a lemonade stand.  So as soon as I got in we went to work squeezing lemons and getting everything ready.  As I walked down the front steps I fell with this enormous glass canister of lemonade.  I am a mess.

They had so much fun though.  We happened to catch two classmates and their parent walking by so there was an impromptu play date at the stand. :)

Saturday met my friend and her daughter with my guys for a 3 hours for an early picnic in the park.  That evening I hosted our annual back to school pool party/playdate.  Love doing this so kids can see each other before school starts.  Was supposed to happen during the week, but my oldest got sick so we had to reschedule.

Love our tradition. :)

Sunday took the kids to visit my friend and her kids for lunch.   Yesterday some families in town got together for a barbecue. 

Tomorrow my big guy starts school -- welcome back evenings of homework, packing lunches and washing school uniforms -- I didn't miss you!

Healthy Crockpot Freezer Meals

Fall is around the corner - my favorite time of year!  Can't wait to go apple picking and bake some pies with my little guys weekend after this. Someone also told me today about a local oktoberfest that is coming up so I am rounding up my peeps for that.

With the cooler weather (well, not today but hopefully soon!) comes out the crockpot for soups and stews.   I came across this link for healthy crockpot freezer meals.  Going through this in detail over the weekend and will see if I can get one or two of them prepped for back to school craziness which begins a week from today - ack!

Heaven from OAR's live album is the song of the day!   I am at the mercy of others to upload to my ipod, but once in awhile something catches me like this one. :)