Frozen Dinner Party

I went to a frozen dinner party a few weekends ago at Andreas. You make 5 meals that you can freeze, then you go and exchange for 5 different meals that others have made. I made quesadilla casserole. This is what 5 lbs of ground beef, 10 cans of black beans, endless amounts of corn, tomato sauce, etc looks like :) Its layered with flour tortillas and cheese. Was quite tasty...and I made six so we could eat one sometime :) Nice to go to the freezer and pull these out when you are in a hurry!!

Theme Week

Daddy was gone for a week in San Francisco...and I forget how hard single parenting is...working, getting kids to karate, kindermusik, gymnastics, to and from daycare, etc....long week. Luckily Gona and Baca came down to help as Kenna had her karate belt exam. She is now an orange belt! So proud of her!!

Also, it was homecoming week here in Ankeny. With that came theme week. It was dress up like a teacher day, wacky wednesday, crocker pride day, jammies day and athletic day. I didn't get a picture of everyday (wacky wednesday was fun.) But I did get "teacher day" as that was the day that Kenna did the most prep for. 

She wanted her hair "curly like Mrs. Dunne's" so we put curlers in the night before. Then she wore jeans and a shirt like Mrs. Dunne would wear. She was so happy (after we fought the battle of sleeping with curlers in her hair.) She even got to teach the class for a few minutes because Mrs. Dunne said she looked so much like her. Ah elementary school! :)

Bathroom Remodel

Josh had a fun filled weekend a few weeks ago in Denver. His good friend Chad was turning 35 and his wife Tara surprised him with Broncos tickets, in Denver, with all of his family and friends. So, Josh got to go to an NFL game and celebrate with his buddy.

I thought I would surprise him with a bathroom makeover. We have always hated the tan color in our  bathroom, and have talked about changing some of the molding in our house to white. So I killed two birds with one stone! I got up early, worked during the boys naps, let the kids help, and stayed up late to get it all done before he got home! It was a little more work than I thought...3 coats of white paint on trim, sanding and staining tub surround, and just painting around all the bathroom fixtures, but it turned out great! Sort of a grayish purple..I love the color!

I do want to do something either around the mirror, or take it down and replace with two nice mirrors, maybe even tile behind the mirrors...but not bad for a weekend of work!

Feeding Rylee

On weekends all rules are broken. We turn the TV on, no TV on weeknights, and we eat breakfast on the floor. Why not? Grayson was having some kix while watching Saturday morning cartoons and his "sister" Rylee was happy to help him with the ones he didn't want. Lazy fall Saturday mornings, nothing better really!

Toothpaste battle

Josh bought Zachey some new toothpaste. Great intentions...it was bubble gum flavored, dora on the outside, how can you go wrong? Well he hates it, like everytime I put the toothpaste on his toothbrush he says "Ewww yucky!!" Today I said, "How can it be yucky, it tastes like bubble gum?" Zachey's retort: "No mom, it tastes like green beans!!" Funny.

Cute Pix

Don't need a special occasion to take cute pictures of your kiddos...here they are about to leave for school and looked so cute had to snap one :)

Hairspray

McKenna and Megan have spent many a weekend with their new love - the movie hairspray....I have to limit the amount we watch it...and I know all the songs by heart.

At least it gave me a good opportunity to talk to Kenna about segregation and treating everyone with kindness...but man....a little tired of this movie :)

Bad Blogger - Busy Momma

Man - I have been an awful blogger lately..I do have pictures and fun things that have happened just literally haven't had even 5 minutes to jump on here! I am going to do a quick "stuff that has been going on" blog, and then hopefully will get caught up soon!

Work for me has been crazy...my supposed 3 day work weeks are trickling more and more into 4 or 5 day weeks. Frequent trips to omaha, kansas city and in a few weeks saint louis. It isn't a typical day either - its not as if I get to a store at 8 and am in my hotel room by 5...more like leaving around 6am, driving forever, hitting a few stores and hopefully in my hotel by 10pm...just exhausting.

That being said I am ECSTATIC about an opportunity that has come my way! During the school transition at Ankeny they have 3 separate buildings for the high school right now. One of them is the 10th grade building. Because they are so separate, they only have two counselors for 650 kids. One of them is going on maternity leave and has asked me to sub for her! The timing couldn't be better as I can start covering for her the week before Christmas break, work at BBY during Christmas, and then take a full leave starting the first of the year. This will be a great way to get something like this on my resume and try it out before I fully commit! What a great opportunity!!

We went to McKenna's back to school night at the end of August. Got a chance to tour her classroom and learn all about the rhythms and cool things they are doing this year. I am so happy that there are only 20 kids in McKenna's class! Lots of individual attention, and I can already tell that the behaviors have improved for all the students because of it. They have won multiple awards for good behavior and structured learning time...proud momma!!

We started Kindermusik for both older kids. Zachey is in a big boy class now where he goes in by himself (where did my baby go!?!) He walked right in on the first day, saying "See ya mom!" He just loves it and is constantly singing at home. He really has wonderful pitch, I hope he explores singing as he gets older! McKenna gets to play the dulcimer this year. It is a stringed instrument. Last year the learned the glockenspiel so she got a chance to play that form of instrument as well. She LOVES the dulcimer...so we may have a string girl ;)

Mom came for a brief visit and we got to attend Chelsey's White Coat Ceremony. It was a big deal held at the civic center where I LOVED the messaging around compassionate medicine. I think that this school really has it figured out and am so proud and honored that Chelsey gets to attend. She has been working her fanny off, but getting great grades and really acclimating well to having zero free time and 10 classes (with like 3 tests a week!!) We had a lot of fun looking at all of the finishes mom is choosing for her house and it has walls and a foundation now...so fun!

We had the best labor day weekend, just did a whole lot of nothing! Got stuff done around the house, had Gentry's over one night for a BBQ and one last water day before fall, and went to Andersen's another night to hang out with Cyndi and let the kids ruin their house! :)

Aside from that it is the never ending shuffle between karate (of which McKenna is excelling in!!) Kindermusik, parties, gymnastics (starting next week), while trying to fit in time to make dinner and get to the gym!! It is a crazy life, but wouldn't trade it for anything!! Unless we won the lottery and didn't have to work...may trade it for that LOL!