as i sit here finishing up my lunch (a ham, bacon, cheddar cheese and cream cheese wrap...affectionately known as heart attack on a flour tortilla), i was thinking about all the things i have done lately, and all the things that are coming up.

this weekend was spent traveling to a town about 45 minutes away. every. single. day. on friday, haley had a tournament game there at 7. her coach picked her up and drove her there because there was no way i would be there early enough for her to warm up. they won that game. the coach's daughter spent the night with us, and then haley spent the afternoon with them while i went to alex's game, then they met me there. then alex and haley both had regular season games in the same town. so saturday was spent there. alex's game was a mess. the boys weren't playing their best, but the officiating was horrendous. we had boys getting smacked and elbowed in the face, in front of refs and parents, and no calls made. even the parents from the other team were upset at it. no one wants to win that way because when you don't call a fair game, it makes your team look weak. so they lost. haley's team won by more than 10 points. they played a really tough team on sunday (second tournament game). this game, we knew, was going to be tough. they are a very talented bunch of girls. one girl in particular was a monster. she's fast and aggressive...but fouled out because she let her emotions get the best of her and didn't keep herself in check. we won that game by more than i thought. hubby's cousin's little girl was on the other team, so we sat with them during the game. talk about awkward! but we cheered for both kids, and had a good time talking about how the families are. this was the first game we were held to 3 pts in the first half...and they only had 2. i think it ended up being 16 to 4 (most of our points were scored after that girl fouled out or because of her fouls). haley had 4 points in that game, and 12 on saturday. she is at least 2 or 3 inches taller than most of the other kids. her games had different refs than alex's. i don't know why they would put adults out to ref 4th grade girls and kids to ref 6th grade boys, but oh well.

we celebrated my girls birthdays and my sister's 29th birthday. haley's birthday is this thursday. it's hard to believe she's going to be 10. it's even harder to believe that 10 is also her shoe size! YIKES! i sure hope that means she's going to be tall, and not some clown footed freak. oh, i kid! so i will have a post on her coming soon.


my boys spent all weekend at my dad's house. it was much easier than dragging them to games all weekend. and we were going there anyway on sunday. haley spent the night there on sat and sun nights. grace went to a birthday slumber party on saturday night, and then had 2 of my nieces spend the night sunday night.

i got rid of 4 roosters on monday. thank you craigslist! a guy sent his son to pick them up and we are now down to 11 chickens...and 2 too many roosters. though i can't convince josh or haley of it. i asked josh if he would take money for his rooster, and his eyes started welling up...and i was all "bud, i'm just asking, i'm not going to make you!" oh and we now have a cute little black and white girl kitty.


our 8th graders from school are in washington d.c. this week for the annual pro-life trip. what a bad week for that. it has got to be crazy up there right now...not to mention not exactly pro-life friendly. and 4 years from now, it will be my haley going to d.c. hubby and i already had a talk. neither of us has been there yet, so we are taking turns. i can't wait for alex's teacher to get back (she went with her daughter) so we can all hear about the trip. i guess that would be the deciding factor of whether or not i would want to go with haley...or send hubby instead.

well, i am off to take care of my waking babies!

well, i took my hubby to meet up with 4 other guys going to chicago for training this morning. he won't be back until thursday evening. i now find myself extremely crabby. i didn't think it would bother me so much. not that i thought i wouldn't miss him, but i figured it would take me a little longer than the car ride to take him over there.

i finished up making the dough for the peanut butter blossoms. they are a peanut butter cookie that you bake as a ball and when you take them out of the oven, you push a hershey's kiss in the middle. very yummy. we've made these cookies all my life. (if you want the recipe, leave a comment and i'll post it) they are fantastically peanut-buttery. and there is nothing better than one about 5 minutes after they are out of the oven. the chocolate is still melty and the cookie is still warm...........yummmm!

the roosters are starting to crow. when we were leaving to take hubby to the meet-up, you could hear them. it's not the "cockle-doodle-doo" you would expect. it's more like a baby trying to talk. some of it you recognize...but not all of it. they are huge too. we have at least one that rooster that is not going to be shown. he has messed up toes (they bend all funny) and he has a pretty bad cross bite. i think it's a rooster...maybe it's a hen. it's hard to tell because it's a bearded polish crested chicken. i guess i should try to figure that out. to show hens at the fair, you have to have a matching pair, and other than haley's rhode island reds, i don't think we have a matching pair. the poultry superintendents have decided to order chicks from http://www.ideal-poultry.com/ this year. i think we may have to order some more...hubby will be so pleased. he may end up travelling more if i bring home more animals!

i still have some presents to buy. i have to take the little guys out to buy presents for grace and alex. i think that i still have to buy one for grace too. i think i'm just going to give some money to the rest of the nieces and nephews. i think that's all we have left to get. i hope that's all i have left to get! i am so done with shopping.

hello? anyone there?

hello there! well, it's been a busy week or so here at the zoo!

friday was our "breakfast for dinner with santa". i know, the name isn't the greatest. i have no idea why they couldn't come up with anything a little...um...snappy-er. but it is accurate. we had pancakes and sausage for dinner...and the kids were able to get their picture with santa. of course alex didn't want to go...so i didn't make him. i figured he got his "just desserts" by me not making dinner and his friends were all there having a great ol' time...and i let him know it. haley didn't want to look like a baby..even though a bunch of her friends had a big group picture with santa. i don't know what her deal was. but she was super helpful and i was so happy she was there. i pretty much talked the whole time i was there. well, until the work had to be done for the craft fair. we set up tables and chairs...we cleaned up...we brought in waters...it took a couple of hours. it probably wouldn't have taken as long if there wouldn't have been 10 kids (and one dad) playing basketball while we were trying to work. poor paul, he had been working out of town all week and came home just in time for his wife to have him come up and work setting up tables and measuring and well, work.

the craft fair went well. it looked very busy. i don't think it was as busy as we had hoped (another craft fair was going on at the same time across town...with santa arriving by HELICOPTER in the morning) but it was better than the first one we did. my sil did well with the doll clothes. i think there were other people that also did well...and there were people that didn't sell a darn thing. i got a couple of things. not much. i'm not sure i spent more that $20 but well, i can't see spending a bunch o'money on stuff i have no need for or that i can make myself. i worked there from 12:30 until about 5:30.

sunday we made cookies at my mil's house. i totally screwed up some snicker-doodles (added twice the amount of butter needed) but my sil fixed them and all was well. they actually turned out really good and fluffy looking. we cooked up there until 9, then i went home with the little guys. (hubby had already taken the older ones home) i love to make cookies. i really really do.

now i am getting ready for tomorrow...josh is joseph in his pre-k play and he has 2 lines in it. he is a little nervous and doesn't like to talk about it. the other kids were disappointed because it's at 11, and they don't get to see it. the girls are in their program on thursday too. haley is a narrator. she has more lines than any one else in the program. grace gets to sing. that is at 2 and again at 7. poor hubby, he has to miss all of them. he works 11 to close (like 9:30) and so he doesn't get to see anything. i'm going to get the video camera going and tape it (hopefully ) for him.

this friday the kids are supposed to spend the night at my dad's house and make cookies with my step mom's parents. well, haley has a girl scout christmas meeting that night. they are exchanging gifts and going caroling. so now i have to let my dad and stepmom know that she's not going to be there right away. hubby is off and i was planning on going out with him, but i'm not sure i will be able to since we may have to take haley over to grandma and grandpa's.

this sunday is the annual cookie bake at my grandma's house. it's also the day my hubby is going to chicago for training with work. i have to drop him off at 10 am sunday morning. he doesn't get back until sometime thursday evening. so i will be a single mom for almost 5 days. i am not looking forward to it. at least i will have lots of cookies to drown my sorrows in!

well, i'm sorry i haven't been keeping up with my posts...i guess i've been a little down lately. that and having a house full o'children most of the time doesn't help much either.
the hubby's enjoying the new job. he couldn't get over the fact that even when he was just standing around and doing nothing...he was still making money. very exciting! especially when you are coming from a job where you could be working for hours and hours on a deal...and make nothing on it because it fell through. so this is pretty exciting for him. the hours? well, I was cracking up when he told me he had to be in at 6:30 in the morning for the next 2 days. why? well, i have a hard time getting him up before noon, so having him up in time to drive 45 minutes to work and be there on time at 6:30? yeah, i was laughing pretty hard. he did it though. all on his own. i was so proud of him.

oh, does anyone remember the bloggy carnival? no, i didn't give anything away...although i probably should...seeing as i've won yet again!!! i don't know if i posted about the earrings i won at the last one. they were really cute and i gave them to haley (my ears aren't pierced but hers are) and she LOVES them. cute little dragonfly earrings. this time i won a big box of homemade gourmet food. check them out at http://www.homemadegourmet.com/HG-redesign-index.aspx. i was thinking that i may start posting on the things we try from my new treasure trove of goodies. what all did i get?
well, i have the creamy italian casserole mix, cranberry almond pasta salad mix, chicken enchilada soup mix, italian mozzarella meatloaf mix, skillet burrito mix, white chicken chili mix, apple pecan vinaigrette mix, grandmothers sunday roast seasoning mix, jalapeno bacon cheddar dip mix, mock spinach dip mix, maria's salsa mix, season and steam broccoli beef mix, awesome oatmeal cookie mix, texas cornbread mix, texas cobbler mix, basic sweet bread mix,basic cheesecake mix, and mini pecan pie muffin mix. more than $100 worth of stuff!
that's one heck of a list! i am really excited to try the cranberry almond pasta salad mix, and i don't even like pasta salad! it just looks and sounds that good! what else...um the jalapeno bacon cheddar dip mix sounds really good too. but honestly, it all sounds really good. i can't wait to try something!
so i guess if i was a good bloggy-winner, i should return the favor by hosting my own giveaway next time...but what could i give? how about a whiny 6 year old? hmmmmm, no probably not. who in there right mind would want that? i don't know i guess i have to think about it...

soccer and a mayo sandwich

let's start with the mayo sandwich...i know you are all wondering "what is that?"
well, my boys like cheese sandwiches with mayo/miracle whip (same thing in my book). but i don't have any cheese today. hubby cleaned me out. so zack wanted just a "bandaise samich". he ate every bite. now haley used to eat pickle and mayo sandwiches.

no, i have no idea how my kids come up with such weird ideas.

on to soccer practice.

josh is having some breathing issues lately. i guess it's the asthma flaring up. i hope so anyway, as i was giving him breathing treatments. he did really good, considering he lost steam about 20 minutes into practice. we had enough kids to scrimmage. we worked on playing in our positions. i don't mean to sound like i know soooo much, but my half of the team played their positions...and even scored a couple of goals. coach d's team, uh, not so much. i made sure my side knew their jobs: offense-score goal, defense-stop the ball, goalie-catch the ball. coach d focused too much on just the offense, so his defense was playing in the grass. i think as long as you are making sure they are staying focused, it's an easy job. focus is the main thing they need to learn. they are little kids, so it's not easy. you have to make sure you praise them when they are doing the right thing. if they stay in position, that earns MAJOR praise. that's one of the hardest things for them to do. they have to focus on doing their job. it's really rewarding to see them do what you tell them to. and when it works, and they are scoring goals, it shows the kids they are doing it right.

hubby is taking haley to the doctor right now. she has poison ivy (i'm pretty sure) and in the week she's had it, none of the normal treatments have helped. in fact, it's spreading more. she has spots of it all over her lower leg. one is pretty big. we've tried caladryl, ivy dry, benadryl, and cortisone. all of that, and it spread. so off to the doctor. hopefully they don't put her on steroids. poor alex put on like 15 pounds the first time he was on steroids. well, i guess it doesn't matter as long as it clears it up. it's really nasty!

off to finish my lunch!

my mother's day

this was the front of my mother's day card. the one my kids picked out for me. (this is a zero gravity card from andrews mcmeel pub. llc) inside it says "see, there are things more frightening than having me as your kid". what my boys don't understand is...this picture could be them in a couple of years...WHO'S LAUGHIN' NOW!

anyway, i had the best mother's day ever. i mean it, this was, by far, the best one. i don't think they will ever be able to outdo themselves. first off, with this wonderful card, there was also candy...several pounds of candy, and by several, i mean 5 pounds of hershey kisses and reese's peanut butter cups. yes, i know i am lucky to have kids that love me so...but that wasn't all, there were 2 books by one of my favorite authors. i love my kids.

but that wasn't the best part. no, no, not by a long shot. on sunday morning, the kids let me sleep until 9:30. i woke up to breakfast in bed. not just any breakfast, but banana pancakes with strawberries on top, fried eggs, and a cold glass of milk. oh yeah, my kids love me. alex did most of the work, but all of the kids helped. they watched me eat every bite and loved every compliment (it really was good!). they gave me the presents they had made at school, and let me tell you, i have the most talented kids ever! then alex made his brothers and sisters pancakes and eggs, and i didn't even have to ask him. i am so very lucky!

they did leave me the mess, but that's ok. i can deal with that. everyone got along pretty well, i even got to take a nap (couple of hours long) and i woke up to kids. i was covered in children. they had decided to sneak in and take a nap with me. so the youngest 3 and i took a nice long nap and woke up in time to go do family stuff.

the very best mother's day ever.

twice baked potatoe casserole

am i making your mouth water? are you dreaming of potatoes, garlic, bacon and cheddar cheese? i'm making this fabulous dish for my niece's first communion. this is something the family has come to expect from me at every big family get together. of course who could blame them. my own kids love this dish. which is high praise, considering everything else i make they turn their collective noses up at. i'm not joking, there are very few dishes i make that they actually like...well, let me rephrase that, there is very few dishes they like better than anyone else's. my spaghetti is ok, but grandma's is better. my fried chicken is ok, but aunt debbie's is way better. you get the drift. no one has even tried to make this. they are all scared to be compared to me (ha ha ha). anyway, i think they are scared to make it because i don't go by a recipe (a fact that bugs my mil) i go by feel. here's the "recipe".

TWICE BAKED POTATO CASSEROLE
(feeds at least 20)
5-7 pounds of red potatoes
1 large tub of sour cream
2 sticks of real butter
2-3 pounds of cheese
a table spoon or 2 of minced garlic
bacon bits...3 or 4 bags (or make your own- pound or 2)
milk (not sure about this, at least a cup, or more)

boil the potatoes. pre-heat the oven to 375. mash them with the butter, add milk until really creamy, add sour cream, bacon bits, and garlic, mix some more. add cheese last. mix pretty well. put into a couple of large casserole dishes, or one of those big throw away alum. pans. put into the oven and cook until the edges are brown and the center is getting a gold color.
*if you use shredded cheese, you can hold some back and put it on top. i personally use blocks of cheese that i cut into smallish chunks. just personal preference.
**i leave chunks in my potatoes. what can i say, i like chunks. i mash them, but leave some lumps. again, just personal preference.

this is a hard dish to screw up. seriously, if i haven't screwed it up yet (and i've been making it for years now) it'd be pretty hard for anyone to screw up!

now, i'm going to head to the store, take a shower, and then head to the party.

enjoy the beautiful weather!