Random things...

I had the best parent-teacher conference ever...I got told that they couldn't give me enough compliments about Bryce and that Ty was an outstanding kid!

Football is over and I'm so sad....we had a great season for a team that wasn't suppose to win any games..we were 3-6 and went to the second round of playoffs...GO VIKINGS!!

I wish Charley would sleep better...

I miss Chad...and it is hunting season so I will be missing him more! But I love the food we get out of it!

Bryce told me that I should get a pat on the back for being a good mom :) and Ty left me a note that said I was a good mom...that makes my world go round!!

I couldn't be in a better place right now!

Charley is crawling all over the place and has found the stairs...looks like the gates need to go up!! He is super busy. He also has found some words that he likes to say...Mum-mum, Da-da, and dog!

I can't believe Christmas is almost here...

I would love to adopt a child...that would be my Christmas gift!!

I wish people would understand how precious life is and take the time to enjoy what matters most instead of materialistic things...

I hope everyone has a great Halloween!!

Someone likes to play beek-a-boo!!

Charley is 7 months now!!

It is hard to believe that Charley is already 7 months old!! We are having so much fun with him and he is just a joy to have!! We can't imagine life without him!!

He still loves to hold his toes in the air...that is what he is trying to do in the picture! The older two boys love him so much. They want to play and hold him all the time. They tell Charley what a good boy he is and how much they love him. It just melts my heart!! I feel like Chad and I are in the time of our lives right now and I want to cherish these moments because as we all know our kids grow up too fast!!

First day of school....

I can't believe school has started!! This summer went by so quickly. I truly am sad to see the big boys go back. I know Charley is going to miss having them around everyday. It will be Christmas before you know it and we will have them home for a couple of weeks. Charley and I will be looking forward to that!!  I did a short little interview with the boys on the first day to see what they were thinking. It was pretty cute. The older they get I may add more questions but I remember being nervous on the first day so I didn't want to overwhelm them too much with a bunch of questions! Here it is:

1. Are you excited for school to start?
     Ty:  Yes!
     Bryce:  Yes!

2. What are you most excited for?
     Ty:  P.E, Math and Science
     Bryce: Learning to read more books!

3. What do you think you will learn this year in 4th/1st grade?
    Ty: Some really cool stuff!
    Bryce: Writing

4. What is your favorite subject in school?
    Ty: P.E and Art
    Bryce: P.E and Reading

5. Do you think you will have a lot of homework?
    Ty: Yes!!
    Bryce: No, not very much.

We hope everyone has a wonderful year in school!! Keep up the good grades and listen to your teachers!!

I've got some catching up to do!!

It isn't that I haven't got anything to write about...its that I have been too busy!! I finally get a breather this week but next week Ty starts tackle football (yep, I said tackle..I'm a little nervous) and then school starts on the 16th. I will miss my little boys and I know that Charley will too. They keep him entertained and the big boys do not let Charley get upset! If that child makes a little peep the big brothers come a runnin! It is super sweet but I think Charley thinks he is a little prince around here!

We have played a lot of baseball this summer. Bryce and Ty both play so it kept Charley and I very busy. Bryce finished out t-ball and gets to move on to the Rookie League next year. He had fun but told me he would rather go fishing. He is truly a little outdoorsman! Ty finished out the Rookie League this year and gets to move on to the Minors next year. He had an awesome season!! His team was 16-2 and recieved first place for their league. The highlight for him was that he won the Home Run Derby for his age group!! It was awesome! Plus, it was his birthday...I'm sure he will remember that forever!

Here is what we have been up to:

Some summer salads...

I get sick of the same dishes all the time so I thought I would share some easy, simple and delicious salads for summertime. I'm always looking for fast dishes to put together because we are on the go so much and I'm by myself a lot due to Chad's work. Also, I like dishes that can be thrown together if you are going to have a cookout or if you are going to a cookout. Here you go:

Summer Fruit Salad:

2 (20 ounce) cans unsweetened pineapple chunks                        
2 (3 ounce) packages of cook and serve vanilla pudding 
3 1/2 cups of cubed honeydew
2 cups of fresh strawberries, halved
2 cups of fresh blueberries
2 cups of seedless grapes            
2 1/2 cups of orange juice                                                            
1 small cantaloupe, cubed                                                            
2 medium firm bananas, sliced

Drain pineapple, reserving 1 cup juice; set pineapple aside (discard remaining juice). In a large saucepan, combine the pudding mix, pineapple juice and orange juice. Cook and stir over medium heat until mixture boils and thickens.Remove from the heat; cool.

In a large bowl, combine the pineapple, melon, berries, grapes and bananas. Drizzle with pudding mixture. Refrigerate until serving.

I love this dish!! It has such a pretty presentation and my kids love it!! You can really do any kind of fruit you like. Easy for cookouts or for at home!!

Mexican Salad:

4 tops of green onions
2 cans of Mexican corn
1 cup of shredded cheese
1 cup of Mayo
3-4 cups of Chilli Cheese Fritos

In a medium sized bowl, combine the green onions, the 2 cans of Mexican corn (drained), cheese, and mayo. Refrigerate until serving. Right before serving, crunch up the chips and add to the salad.

This is such a different salad and thats why I really like to bring this to cookouts. I always get a good response on this salad and everyone always wants the recipe. Talk about fast and easy! You can get the Mexican corn in the same aisle as regular corn and make sure you add the chips right before serving or else they will be soggy!

Frozen Fruit Salad:

1 can of 7-up
1 cup of sugar
1 small can of frozen orange juice
2 bananas
1 box of frozen strawberries
1 small can of crushed pineapple

Mix all together and freeze. Set out 30 minutes before serving.

So simple!! I will be honest, you do not need a whole cup of sugar. I use about a 1/2 cup and it still taste pretty sweet. This fits in a 9 x 13 pan perfect. It does take awhile to freeze so make sure you give yourself enough time if you plan on taking the dish with you somewhere. I love this because you can make it a day or two in advance. My boys request this dish everytime we go to Grandma Norma's! It is one of their favorites! Also, after it is frozen I cut it into squares, put each square in a baggy and put in the freezer and it makes a great on the go snack for the kids. Its almost like a square frozen popiscle! They love it!!

I hope this helps some on the go Moms that are sick of the same dishes all the time! I will share any other recipes that I feel are worth sharing. I hope you enjoy!!

St. Louis trip....

We went to St. Louis a couple of weekends ago to see the Cubs play the Cardinals. Little Charley stayed home to be cuddled by my Aunt Tracy and cousin Kristen. I really wanted to take him with but it was going to be too hot at the game so we decided he should stay at home but I told Chad that would be the only time he is left out! It was really hard to leave him. Ty and Bryce never left my side when they were that little and still to this day have only spent a handful of nights away from me.  The sitters sent me pics of Charley and updates all day so that was nice to see that he was having fun and being spoiled! We went to the game with Chad's parents and my mom and step-dad. We all went to the zoo the next day, which I may say go if you get the chance...it was a wonderful zoo and free!!

This was the last animal that we saw when we were exciting the zoo...it is called a "Wild Ass"...I'm pretty sure this is what Chad would be if he were an animal!!

Oh, by the way, Cubs lost...what a bummer!

My favorite number 3....

When I found out I was pregnant with Charley there were some freaky line ups in our life with the number 3. I thought I would share them and you can decide for yourself if this should be my lucky number or if it was just a coincidence! Here goes:

Charley was my 3rd pregnancy; Charley was our 3rd boy; I was 33 when I got pregnant and Chad was 33 as well; my first child was born on the 13th, my second boy was born on the 23rd and my third boy was born on the 31st; my nurse that delivered Charley told me that the country she was from has a favorite number and it is 3 ( kind of like here when people say lucky number 7); my only cousin that made it to the hospital for my delivery because we had a bad storm was born in March; Charley was born 9.2 and the square root of 9 is 3!! 

Kind of strange, huh? I think it will be neat to keep this for Charley's baby book. Maybe the number 3 is meant to be his lucky number. I guess we will find out as he grows up. It must have been aligned in the stars that Chad and I were meant to have 3 boys! My nurse kept telling me if you have this baby after midnight then your 3s won't line up and I told her yes, they will, because February 1st is a 3! ( 2nd month + 1st day =3!!) Pretty crazy!

I've learned my lesson...

I'm always going to look at my receipt from a store before I leave the parking lot! Since I have become a coupon shopper sometimes I go to more than one store to get the good deals. Well, today I went to four stores, which really didn't take too much time since I was only getting a couple of things, and for some reason when I came home I decided to check a receipt to see if they gave me credit for something. What I was looking for ended up being right but I noticed that they didn't give me credit for something else. That is what made me think I should check my other receipts. On another store they didn't give me credit for two coupons that I actually gave the cashier! How strange is that? I'm hoping just a simple error since the store is at no loss to me using a coupon. So, out of four stores two got it wrong! I think I will be checking my receipts from now on!!

My Bryce is 6!!

I just can't believe that my precious Bryce is 6 today! He is such a good little boy and we are so lucky to have him! I feel so honored to be his Mommy. He is always coming up with something funny to say too! This morning he said to me "I still look 5"...I reassured him that he grew a little overnight!  Bryce and my grandpa Chuck share the same birthday and this year he turned 80. My Aunt Tracy had a wonderful family get together at her house on Saturday to celebrate both of their birthdays. It was a lot of fun and everyone really enjoyed all the good food!

 I think Grandpa is telling him to not blow out the candles until he has made his wish!!

 My two favorite Charley's...

 

Bryce had a birthday party with his friends at Discovery Depot on Sunday and of course I left my camera at my Aunt's house!! Shame on me...my mother-in-law took some pictures so hopefully I can get some on here. The kids had a really good time and I ordered the cutest cupcakes for them. It was a monster theme party. I will have to get better at remembering my camera!!

Charley's new love...food!!

Bring it on Mom...I'm ready!!

Sometimes I try to eat my bib too!!

You are not feeding me fast enough...give me your hand so I can help you! 

Needless to say...he loves food! I'm not surprised. All of my boys are big eaters. I'm scared of what my grocery bill will be when they are teenagers!  

Look who got spoiled.....

Chad did! My grandma made him this yummy gooseberry pie.  Its one of his favorites!

And then the next day, this is what she brought me....banana creme pie!! My favorite!!

I wish there was a smell button! The banana aroma just filled the house and it tasted so delicious!

Thanks Grandma Bonnie!!

I have a confession....

I'm addicted to coupon shopping! I can't believe how much I have saved and I have been doing this just for two months now. Why didn't I do this before? I saw a couple of friends sharing their stories on how much they saved by using coupons so I thought I would give it a try. Its worked out great and I wish I would have started this a long time ago! I wanted to see if I could make up for my loss of pay since I no longer type. I have worked from my home for 6 1/2 years as a transcriptionist but after having Charley we felt that I wouldn't have enough time. If I wanted to continue typing I would need to take Charley to daycare while the other two were in school and that just didn't make sense to me - work from home but your kid is at daycare - no thanks! I told Chad that maybe I could make up the money through coupons. Not only have I made up for my loss but my house has more supplies than ever before! Just today I bought 3 things of mens bathsoap for $2! Before couponing I would have went to the store for 1 thing of bathsoap and probably would have spent $3-4. I told myself I wasn't going to go crazy but I think I'm going to need a shelf system in the basement to store all my supplies! I haven't shared that with Chad yet - I'm already driving him crazy with all the coupon talk!

Lastly, I really thought baby #4 would be out of the question with everything costing so much now days - maybe I found a solution to that problem!

Oh, sleep...how I miss you...

Boy, Charley is sure wearing me out. I don't require too much sleep as it is but boy, oh, boy, I think I need more than 3 hours! Plus, he is a cat napper during the day so I can't catch up then either. Ty and Bryce enjoyed their rest so this is all new to me. If I am not holding him then he is awake! I really thought by now we would be a little bit better but I've been blessed with patience. Maybe I should move his crib into my bedroom? I'm sure that is what Charley would want!

Oh, and I love what Chad says to me in the morning "Charley slept real good last night, didn't he?"...I'm sure you can hear the SMACK!!

Happy Mother's Day!!

So, this is my first Mother's Day of 3 boys! It has been a wonderful weekend...good weather, good food, and great company with family and friends. That is what my ideal Mother's Day is. I don't need to be pampered or spoiled, I just want to be with the ones I care about most! We decided to have our celebration yesterday because of Chad's busy work schedule. My day started out yesterday waking up to a beautiful card from Chad and the boys and my favorite donuts (so I will start my diet on Monday) from Spudos. Then Bryce gave me this awesome poem:
My Mommy
Mommy I love you for all that you do.
I'll kiss you and hug you cause you love me, too.
You read to me and care for me I'm growing up so fast.
On this Mother's Day just know my love for you will always last!!

I just love it!! I think the schools really do neat, creative things for the kids. When I was in school I'm pretty sure we did the macaroni necklaces and we made paper flowers to give our moms. Now days they have poems and I have actually gotten real flowers to plant so we can "watch our love grow". Times have changed! Maybe when Charley is in school he will be bringing me home real jewelry!!

Later on in the day we had a wonderful cookout with Chad's family. It was a beautiful day and everyone seemed to have a good time. Chad found some mushrooms and fried them up only for the girls. I don't think Bryce was to fond of this idea so I snuck him a couple! A real fun thing to see yesterday was Bryce riding his bike like he was a pro. A year ago this month he started riding and did a really good job but one fall ruined it and he jumped back on his scooter. We have tried to encourage him but I guess kids will do things when they are ready. He told Chad he wanted to try it out and just like that he took off! After about five times of going back and forth on the sidewalk he had another accident and I thought we were finished but he proved me wrong and rode again! I think he is really determined to keep up with his older brother Ty!!

Finally, the kids went to bed at a decent time and I got a little alone time when Chad went to work. We must have really worn out Charley because he only woke up one time for a bottle last night! I'm guessing that was his Mother's Day gift to me!!

Another thing Chad and I have done for the past couple of years is plant flowers the week of Mother's Day. I always tell him that is what I want for a gift because I really like our patio filled with flowers. We went looking on Friday and I have some great ideas to make it look nice this year! Today, we are getting out all the pots I have so I can get it started tomorrow. Chad told me he has a surprise for me so I'm excited for that but he knows he doesn't have to do that for me...I just like us all to be together!

Just a little bit about us....

Okay, so I thought I would start this out by telling a little bit about my family for those who don't know us too well. I'm the mother of 3 wonderful boys. Our oldest is Ty. He is 8 and is in 3rd grade. He is turning out to be a great student and just loves sports. I will have a lot of fun stories of Ty because baseball season is just starting and he is really good at it!! Ty is turning out to be a very responsible young boy and fits the title of "the oldest child" very well. Bryce is the middle child and is such a joy. I couldn't ask for a more loving and caring kid. He is going to be 6 this month and is in kindergarten. He has won the hearts of the teachers this year...they all tell me they want to take him home! Bryce is a very big story teller...there will be lots of these told on here. I usually have a story from Bryce everyday!! Finally, our newest edition...Charley! He is now 3 months old and I can tell he is going to have a fun, loving personality too. He is going to fit right in with the rest of us. Charley loves to watch the big boys. I'm sure he won't stay a baby for too long.

I thought this blog would be a great way for family and friends to keep up with us and it can be used like a scrapbook for the kids. I hope you enjoy!

Hi everyone! I'm just getting this up and going...hopefully I will have some pictures and posts up soon!