Happy Half Birthday!

Since the kids bday are all clumped together at the beginning of the year, we go a long time without a party. I thought this year, it'd be fun to celebrate their 1/2 bday! Braylee's bday is right mixed in the K's, so she came over to celebrate too! We partied the same day as all our Old Settlers activities, so it was one crazy day!

After the parade we came home for lunch and our first treat was fish cookies. I used a King Arthur cookie mix with Enjoy Life chocolate chips added. Blue Betty Crocker cookie frosting and Swedish Fish. They were yummy and the kids loved them!






After Katie's little dance performance, we came back to play with water beads. Kelton and Katie were interested at first, but Konnor and Braylee are the ones who really loved them!





Next we came inside for dinner and cake! I used a Hodsgon Mill chocolate cake mix. The frosting was coconut oil, sunbutter and powdered sugar, also Betty Crocker cookie frosting again.





We took baths to wash off all the chocolate cake and put on...matching jammies, of course!






Then a present for everyone!


So much fun! I think we have started a new tradition!

Old Settlers 2012

I started the Saturday of Old Settlers Days out bright and early with the annual 4 mile road race. My time was just under 41 min. Considering I'm not really a runner, I was happy with that!


After the race, I went home and when Dolly and Braylee arrived, we headed down town to watch the parade!




The kids got TONS of candy!




It was super exciting to see Kelton in the parade!



We came home for lunch and quick naps. Then it was time for Katie's dance class to perform.




Such a fun and busy day! We can't wait until next year!

Pretty Pretty Preschooler

Miss Buggy started preschool on Monday. She's attending the 3 days a week that I work. This facility isn't new to us. Kelton used it for before and after school care for the past 3 yrs and Katie has gone on a drop off basis for over a year.

She had no hesitation what so ever. E and I on the other hand felt a tad bit anxious about her being so far away from us. Our daycare provider is in Winfield where I work, so the kids have always been just a couple blocks from me. It took everything I had for me not to call to check on her that first day.

She's loving it...loving picking what to wear everyday, loving bringing home papers and projects and likes to sit at the table and say she's doing her homework (like big brother)! :-)

It was quite the decision on what to wear for her first day, but finally settled on "a pretty dress" and her favorite shoes.

Konnor, Heartspring, & a 50K

You might recall Konnor was in PT off and on most of his first year of life. He has always just been a little delayed with his gross motor skills. He finally started walking around 17mo, but hasn't progressed much from there. He very much still acts like an early walker, so our ped thought it was time for an eval.

His eval at Heartspring went great and he loved the facilities. Which is good because he was diagnosed with generalized muscle weakness, lack of coordination and muscular disuse atrophy. He is getting older, but his level of development is at a standstill. So we are starting with weekly therapy for 6mo and will see how things go from there.

I will admit that at first, I was a little deer in the headlights. Why did we go over a year without therapy, why wasn't this caught sooner, should I have done something different, will he overcome this? That evening I just prayed for peace and patience to deal with it and woke up knowing this was just a little bump in the road and we will handle it just fine. We are so completely blessed to have this little miracle man in the first place. Based on the problems with the pregnancy we are very fortunate that gross motor delays are our only issue.

Because I want to support this wonderful facility, all the great people who work there and all the families who utilize their services, I signed up for Pedalfest, a 50K bike ride to benefit Heartspring. "We ride so they can run, walk and play." I'm specifically riding so Konny can have the best start in life possible. I would love to have some family and friends SPONSOR ME and help me support this great program!

How can anyone resist this adorable little man?

Review : Progresso Recipe Starters

New Progresso Recipe Starters give you easy delicious starts to great dishes! Progresso Recipe Starters are available in five flavorful varieties that can each be used as a starter to create numerous home-cooked meals. Inspired by the five “Mother” Sauces that form the basis of classical French cooking, including Béchamel, Velouté, Tomato, Espagnole and Hollandaise, Recipe Starters use a variety of ingredients and the best techniques to make sure your family has endless solutions to the weeknight dinner dilemma. The five varieties are:

Creamy Parmesan Basil
Creamy Roasted Garlic with Chicken Stock
Fire Roasted Tomato
Creamy Portabella Mushroom
Creamy Three Cheese

To get you started, Progresso created 80 recipes utilizing this new line of cooking sauces. Each of these recipes are classic family favorites, such as Bacon Mac n’ Cheese, Chicken Pot Pie and Chicken Parmesan, and utilize ingredients your family may already have on-hand.

Unfortunately these sauces aren't exactly allergy friendly, but hey, the adults deserve a little something special once in awhile too!! If there's anything the hubs and I love, it's chips and dip! I knew the Creamy Three Cheese sauce would be perfect and I loosely based my dip off Progresso's Chorizo Con Queso recipe.

I browned a pound of deer burger with green pepper and half a chopped onion.


I added 2 tablespoons taco seasoning, a tablespoon corn starch and 1/2 cup water.


Next I added the cheese sauce and a can of rotel, brought the mixture to a boil and let it simmer awhile.


After it had adequately thickened, I added a can of black beans.


Finally I gave it a quick taste to make sure it was a yummy as it smelled and it was! E loved it too!


Progresso Recipe Starters will be perfect for me to use when making snacks for adult get togethers or potlucks. Super quick and easy, which is exactly what I need! I would definitely encourage my friends to check these out! Right now you can print a coupon to save a little $$, so don't be afraid to try all 5 flavors!

Disclosure: The information, products and Progresso Recipe Starters gift pack was provided by Progresso through MyBlogSpark. The opinions expressed here are my own and may differ from other's experience.

My 3rd Grader!!

I keep thinking sending Kelton to school is going to get easier, yet it never does! Especially this year! As a 3rd grader now, he goes to the grade school, which is an entirely new building! I was just getting comfortable with the primary school!

Last night as I was getting the last few things ready for his backpack, I noticed a picture one of my friend put up on facebook. She'd decorated her daughter's door with streamers and balloons for the first day of school. What a fun idea!

Since Kelton is in the basement, instead of doing his bedroom door, I decorated the kids bathroom door.






After all the obligatory picture taking, I drove Kelton to school. I always reschedule my 8am patient so I can take him on the first day. I alsoalways hold his hand. Today, he didn't think it was necessary. I have a feeling that next year I won't even be walking him in. ::CRY::

Of course, he already loves the grade school and had a great day, so we celebrated with some ice cream!

Ready, Set, Go!

On my 30th bday, I made a list of 30 things I want to do in the next 30 yrs. Number 24 is Run a 5K. Honestly, I kind of wondered if I'd really do it.

Earlier this spring I found out my friend Nicole from church was moving to our neighborhood. I told her I love to walk in the evenings and asked if she'd like to join. Then I suggested the C25K program and she was game. A couple weeks later, we signed up for The Glow Run so we'd have an event to work towards.

It was sometime after that I apparently lost my mind and signed up for a biathlon last weekend, the glow run this weekend, a 4 mile next weekend and a 50K bike ride the last weekend of the month.

I was lucky to have my friend, Tammy join me for the biathlon. I was little disappointed with my shooting since I hit every target during practice but missed half of them during the race! We had a lot of fun though and can't wait to do it again next year. I placed 4th for my age group with a time of 33:04.

E and the kids made a sign and came to cheer me on. It made the morning extra special!







The glow run was last night and I cannot believe how huge (and rather poorly organized) it was. They started all 4000 people at the same time and it was really pretty chaotic. We had fun with pictures in our glow gear before the race.





During the races, I'm not so much enjoying myself. I'm usually thinking about how I can't believe I signed up for this and I even more can't believe I have to do it again next weekend! LOL! When it's over though, I use my inhaler and recover and think, "I can't wait to do that again!"

I was super excited to find out my official time was 30:03 because my goal was 30. I was 121 out of 504 for females 30-34 and 1012 out of 4000 overall.



Two more races to go and then I get a break before the Susan G Komen in Sept! I think I will aim for one race a month after this!