Today's Makeup Monday post :

Mascara

Mascara is the staple of every makeup bag. If you only choose one thing to put on before you run out of the house in the morning, it is mascara! So, if I am going to have very little time to put on very little makeup, then it will be one that makes the biggest difference.

I decided to try a new mascara that claims to lengthen your lashes dramatically.

L'Oreal Telescopic Intense Looking Lengthening Mascara Blackest Black

Their claim:

"For clump-free, perfectly defined longer lashes. L'oreal introduces new telescopic clean definition mascara for lashes with telescopic length, perfect definition, and a clump-free, natural end result. The patented no clump brush cleanly defines and lengthens up to 60 %."

Type of Mascara: Lengthening
Colours Available: Black, Blackest Black & Brown



When I first opened this mascara I realized that the wand is different than most I have used. It is long and flexible and does not have a brushy end, but more of a separator. I opened it, and swiped on a a coat.

This mascara impressed me for many reasons. It only took one coat, and really seemed to lengthen my lashes. I've always dreamed of long lashes, and this definitely did the trick. I have now worn this mascara for a week, and have not had any flaking. It is very long lasting (this is a plus!!!  because I constantly have allergies and itchy eyes which I can't stand not rubbing)

Okay, so I must really love y'all for letting you see
my naked eye :)



This was with one coat of mascara! I was pretty impressed.
I took these pic's with my phone camera, so
please excuse my unenthusiastic look :)
I was concentrating!
All for the love of makeup.

  Pros:

• This mascara gives lots of length and very little clumping.
• It gives good clean definition, and looks natural
• Creates long looking bottom lashes
• Does not feel too heavy but still looks dramatic 
• Does not have a scent
• Is safe for contact lens wearers
• Gives good separation of lashes
• Quick and easy to apply no mess, clean wand.
• Widely available : Wal-Mart, Walgreens, CVS
• Good pricing

Cons:

• Does not give much volume for those with thin lashes
• Does not curl lashes much
• Does not come in waterproof- for those of you like me who occasionally break out into random tearing when our children say sweet things, or when we watch movies like "An Affair to Remember."

Overall:
Quality: Good
Price: Great (approximately $7-$10 depending on where you buy)
Would I buy again? Yes

Fits into our category of

Simple, Affordable, and Functional!

Just a Swingin

My kids love to go to the park. They love to slide, and climb the monkey bars. They love to play in the sand (and throw sand in each others hair), but their favorite activity at the park is the swing.

I think I have spent hours of my life pushing children on the swing. I don't mind doing it, because it keeps them happy and entertained and not saying, "Mom, I'm thirsty" or "Mom, I'm hungry." The hunger is constant in my little starved monkeys, I swear! But it is not until recently that I got the chance to experience why they love it so much.

For Valentines day, Coach got me a swing.

I know it seems like something that you get when you are old, but I feel old :) Just kidding, I have always loved swings. My parents used to have one on our front porch, and it was the only thing that I could use to put my little brother to sleep when I would babysit (If my mom is reading this, she is saying "Yeah, cause you babysat like what... 1 time????"  I know. I know. I was not much of a baby person back then, but when I was forced, it worked :)   Who would have thought I would have 3 of my own monkeys before I was 30. Oh how God laughs at your plans :() He always has better ones.

I promise the baby has two shoes.... but I don't promise that
both are ever on at the same time *sigh

I have come to believe that this is one of the best inventions ever, and not only does it swing, it turns into an outdoor lounging area (lays down flat into a bed.... lounging area sounds so chic....I almost spelled chic as sheek, I guess that proves I don't really portray the word).  It is my new area of relaxation. Coach's team made it to the playoffs, and have been doing really well, but that means more time on my own figuring out ways to stay sane and keep kids entertained. I've loved sitting outside, soaking in the southern sun, and watching as my kiddos fight to see how monkeys can fit in a wagon (sounds like the name of a children's song.....hmmm). It's entertaining.

I watched an episode of "The Middle" yesterday (recorded on my DVR-because I no longer get to watch shows when they really come on) and it talked about how adults should revert to things they did as children to reduce stress. The parents were both skipping by the end of the show. I think this is my reversion (not sure that's a word, I love making them up). Swinging.  If you have read my previous post about cartwheels, you know how that worked out. (Still no progress)

As you can see, many times I have to wait
for my turn on the swing

Anyway, I would recommend attempting something you loved doing as a kid and see how it makes you feel. Let me know what yours is, and how it turns out! Good luck!

P.S., Coach's team won their second round of playoffs tonight!!!! Congrats to my homebody hubby!

Remember to Take the Time to Care

I saw this video today and had to share.

***Warning, it brought a tear to my eye*****
(but it doesn't take much, I'm kind of a baby).


It helped remind me how important it is to not just go through the day looking at my own problems, but to make sure to acknowledge others and support them as well. Sometimes our struggles are minor compared to what others are facing.


The video was made for employees of Chic-fil-A. Good chicken and a good message!!!

Every Life Has a Story from Dan T. Cathy on Vimeo.

Yea for Makeup Monday!

Today is the first edition of Makeup Monday!   I thought I would start with one of the basics:

Tinted Moisturizer

I have always been really bad at wearing moisturizer until this year when I started noting a few wrinkles around my eyes. I have always thought wrinkles are cute, and still do, but can wait a few more years until I embrace them with open arms :) I usually use a sheer moisturizer, but during the winter thought, "Hey, a little color never hurt anyone!"

So, I was on a quest to find a good, inexpensive tinted moisturizer (that doesn't turn my face orange). The life of a pale girl *sigh......

Well, I have found one that I like. It is smooth, sheer, and very inexpensive (that always makes it sooo much more appealing).

Jane BE PURE
aquaceuticals

This moisturizer is sheerly tinted, and includes organic green tea and white tea extracts. It is certified organic, so not only am I looking good, but I'm helping the environment while I do it :)

This product comes in 4 shades: Fair (very fair, pink or porcelain undertones), Light Warm Tones (beige or yellow undertones), Medium Warm Tones (mediterranean, tanned complexion) and Dark Tones (deep, warm complexion). I use the lightest which is supposed to be used on  fair/pink toned skin (I call it pale, but fair sounds so much prettier).

Pictured: Fair Tones for very fair, pink or porcelain
undertones

When I first put it on my skin, I almost had a heart attack. I knew for sure that this was not going to blend in well.

But it did! There was no sign of a line!

The moisturizer also claims to reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles and delivers a 30 SPF. So..... not only am I preventing my little haunting eye wrinkles by wearing this moisturizer, I'm also hiding them! What a deal.

The PROS:
-SPF 30, protects your skin
-paraben free
-has green tea and white tea extracts
-gives a good coverage that does not feel cakey,
-When I put it on, Coach said, "Wow, your skin looks really nice!
-you get a  good quality and quantity for the price, 1.5 oz for about $7

The CONS: (I didn't really have any, but this may be a con for some)
-a slight scent, but it goes away quickly after application

Worth Buying Again?: Yes

Where to buy it: Walgreens, Wal-Mart, Rite-Aid

Overall, I was very impressed with the Jane Be Pure aquaceuticals tinted moisturizer.

It fits into the Autumn motto:

 Simple, affordable, and functional.

Just Go With It

This weekend I attempted to conquer one of my fears!!!

I am a people person. I like to go out, and be surrounded by people. I've rarely actually had the chance to do much on my own. I was the oldest of 5 kids, met Coach in high school, and then attended college with him. I always had roommates in the dorms until the day I married my handsome hubby. I've never lived alone. In fact I've rarely done anything alone We found out we were pregnant with Stinkerbelle 6 months after getting married, and you know kids never leave you alone :)

Who would ever want to be alone after you see
this face?

I think its because of this, I feel uncomfortable doing many things alone. I have gotten used to grocery and clothing shopping by myself, but other than that I won't do it. That has been something I've wished to change about myself for a while. And being married to a coach, does not give you much of a choice but to do things on your own.


Meet Ashtin, my sister. This is all her fault :)

She's the tough looking one on the right, unless you couldn't tell!
We were getting ready to play football on Thanksgiving and
felt we needed to dress for the part.

 She is awesome. She is my inspiration because she has no problem doing things on her own. She has plenty of friends to do things with, but if they aren't available, that doesn't stop her. She went to see Dane Cook (the comedian) by herself. She is friends with some country singers, and attends their concerts by herself. In my eyes, she is so brave. I've always wished I could be like that, so a few days ago I decided to try.


I wanted to start small so I set out to go to the movies by myself. I woke up, told Coach my plans, and readied myself to go. He was so supportive! I kind of hoped he would say that he had plans for the day, so he would need me to stay home. No luck. I knew I would chicken out, so I bought the ticket online. I may be a chicken, but my cheapness outweighs fear any day! There was no way if that ticket was paid for that I wasn't going. I got in the car, drove 45 minutes to Austin (because it was going to be way too hard to see Coach's students at the theater while I was conquering my fear), and parked in the lot. That was the easy part.


Then I just sat there..........  I didn't realize how nervous I was until I got to the theatre. I gathered myself and went into the movie approximately 10 minutes before it started. It went great. I picked up my ticket from the lady at the front, held my head up high like I knew exactly what I was doing, and went into the theater and found a seat. This was the part I dreaded the most. I don't know why, but in my head I thought that everyone would stare and think "Wow, that lady came by herself, what a loser." I have a pretty mean imaginary audience :)


The theater had maybe 15 people in it, and 2 or 3 other people who were there by themselves. I sent a few texts while I waited for the movie to start. I'm pretty sure no one even noticed me. It was actually pretty fun. Besides the whole stressing out part. I enjoyed the movie, and even went to the mall afterward for some window shopping. The movie was "Just Go With It."

Maybe that should be my new motto for conquering this fear. I am going to attempt to "Just Go With It," and not worry about whether I am with someone or not. If I would enjoy doing it, do it! It's easier said than done, but at least I took a first step.

Let's Hear it for Lefties and Hair and Makeup Mondays!

I am a leftie. I'm not really sure if that is how you spell it, but if it isn't, that is my new spelling for it. It's actually kind of a cute spelling *leftie. Anyway, I've learned over the years that many times when you are left handed, you tend to enjoy being creative and thinking abstractly. (During school I always seemed to catch on to the things others found difficult, and had the most difficulty with things others found easy. It's weird I know) Lefties always tend to do things a little differently, maybe it's because the whole world is built for righties, so we get creative trying to figure out how to use right handed scissors, desks, and the mouse on the computer. You righties don't know how good you have it! :)
I would like to point out that there are many famous lefties who did great things:

hputx.edu

• Presidents:

James A. Garfield

Herbert Hoover

Harry S. Truman

 Gerald Ford

Ronald Reagan   (I love him!!!)

 George H.W. Bush

 Bill Clinton

Barack Obama


• Musicians/Singers

Ringo Star
Paul Mcartney

Leonardo Da Vinci

Phil  Collins
Natale Cole

Jimi Hendrix

Judy Garland

• Artists

M.C. Escher
Hans Holbein
Michelangelo
Raphael

Leonardo da Vinci





xtremewalls.com


• Actors

Michael Landon (my mom's boyfriend :)
Robert Redford
Julia Roberts
Marilyn Monroe
Dick Van Dyke
Bruce Willis
Oprah Winfrey                                                                 

The list goes on.......   The list was just for kicks, no real point :) Sometimes not having a point is so much more fun! But I do have a point to this post.

The reason I bring this whole creativity thing up is because being a mom of three little ones and working full time, does not leave me with much time to express myself creatively. Back in the day I used to draw, paint, scrapbook, photograph, sew.....(the list goes on.... at one point I worked at Hobby Lobby, so you know I kept busy).  I do occasionally do crafts at my job, but that's work. Not just for fun.

I have always found one way to express myself, even if my life was filled with craziness. Make-up and Hair.(Some people claim it's an art!)  I am not going to claim that I am an amazing makeup artist or hairstylist, but I will admit that it is something I like to do for fun. I love to play with colors, and experiment with different hairstyles. I consistently seem to grow my hair out and then chop it off ridiculously short.

My mom is a barber, and her motto was "It's just hair. It will always grow back."  I don't know if I would live by this statement. I've never colored my hair pink (although I have always wanted to.... maybe just the tips) and I've never done anything much shorter than right below the ears but I like to switch it up a lot.

The following is what I call my evolution of hair:

I loved this short pixie cut! So easy and free!
When Summertime hits I always get the urge to
chop it off!

That middle stage is always the hardest when
you are growing it out. This was a few months after having
baby Gray. My eyes look tired!

I was almost there!

My current hair length

I got tired of waiting and added some
fun extensions-clip ins-not permanent (Way too cheap for that)
Stinkerbelle calls this my "Taylor Swift hair"

With makeup, I am not one of those ladies who sticks with what works. I always feel like there has to be something better, so I try out the new products. Many times I am disappointed and go back to my old faves, but sometimes I stumble upon a keeper.

Because of my need for an attempt at self expression, I have decided to begin Makeup and Hair Mondays. Every Monday I will feature a new cosmetic product or hairstyle. Like I said, I am a busy mom, and don't have time to look like a model in the mornings (not that I would if I did have the time) , so I plan on featuring simple, mom friendly (not mom'ish) makeup and styles. Simple, affordable, and functional. That is the theme of my life!!!!

I know Monday is a few days away, but I had the idea yesterday, decided to do it today, and had to share. Until then, let me know if you have any ideas of some new makeup products to give a try.





Skittish Sleevy

It's game night. (We made the playoffs and are 2nd in our district!) Coach is at an away game, and I of course did not dare attend. I feel like I'm having dejavu :) Oh wait, it's because I have sworn off away games until potty training is over. That is a whole other story in itself. We won't go there tonight. I don't have enough energy to even think about it.

Tonight after I accomplished making dinner (frozen lasagna), giving the monkeys baths, emptying and loading the dishwasher, reading 50 books for bedtime and putting the kiddos into bed with no one escaping, I found a new friend. No, I'm not talking about Joe.... he's my morning friend (coffee is my best friend if you haven't had a chance to read my previous posts).

This friend is Sleevy. She is my calico kitten. I have a cat named KiKi, and the kitten as well. I've never really been a cat person, but since having children, it comes in handy having a pet that does not chew up my favorite high heels, and potty trains itself. Cats have quickly grown on me.

Sleevy started out as wild as a banshee. That's what my mom used to call us when we were acting crazy as kids. "Quit running in the house you wild banshee." Not really sure what it means, but I sure do use it on my own kiddos!

Sleevy would not let us hold her or even pet her for that matter the first 6 months of her life. The only reason we still have her is because when we were attempting to give her away, with the rest of KiKi's kittens, we couldn't catch her. She would dart to a hiding spot that we had no chance of getting to and stay there until she knew for sure we were gone. I got a kick out of watching Coach try to catch her!!! We won't go into details :)  She kind of chose us, I guess you could say.

 Over the past week, I guess Sleevy decided that she has changed her mind. She is still a little skittish (for some reason I always thought Skittish was spelled with d's but apparently I was wrong..... my spelling word for the day), but she's actually wanting to be friends. She began with a few little sniffs of our fingers as she walked by while we attempted to pet her. It then moved on to her rubbing on our feet as she meandered by. Today I came home after work, sat down on the couch, and realized Sleevy was sitting in my lap.

I'm not sure if I like her more now because I think I tamed her, or because I was feeling rejected and have finally been chosen. She likes me..... She really likes me!!!! 

 I can't put my finger on what happened, or what we did to change her mind, but I am glad to have my new friend here tonight, sitting in my lap, and purring.  I think I will sit here and enjoy the relaxing purr for a few minutes before I begin cleaning up the cheerios off the carpet, the fingerprints off the t.v., and every pillow I own strewn around the house (Baby Gray thought it was hilarious to throw them at his sisters..........boys!)  

P.S., Sleevy gets her name because she looks like she has a sleeve on her arm. Very cute!

Oh Valentine's Day...How I miss thee.....

On T.V. and in the movies, Valentines Day always seems to go smoothly and perfectly. The couples walk in to a restaurant,  have reservations, and immediately sit down to a candle lit dinner. Their children (if they have any) are with a babysitter and the only thing they have to think and talk about on this wonderful day of love is each other. Awww.....

So, it doesn't really work like that for me and Coach anymore :)  I don't think it actually ever did. Does it really work like that for anyone????  As a child, I remember riding around with my family on Valentines day attempting to find a restaurant to go to. We would go to Olive Garden, see that the wait was 2 hours, and then move on to another restaurant. We usually ended up saying forget it, and either waiting the 2 hours at restaurant #4 , or picking up something and going home. 

I remember saying, "That will not be me! When I get married, it will be romantic!" Well, 6 years later, and 3 children later, I understand the struggles that my parents faced when it came to making Valentines day, the day of romance. How could it not be romantic? I'm sure I was sitting in the backseat belting out some N-Sync. (so sad) 


I've got some advice for this upcoming Valentine's day.
I know you are all thinking, "What amazing answer is she going to give us?" "How can we still have an amazing, romantic, special, one of a kind Valentine's day even if we have kids?"  (Hopefully they're not singing N-Sync. That would be weird.)

I don't really have an answer. Sorry. What I will tell you, is that I am reminded daily that my children are a blessing. Yes, sometimes things don't go like they do in the movies, but real life is so much better. When my daughter hugs me and tells me that I'm her Valentine, I am reminded that the small sacrifices like not getting to go out to a special dinner are not really that important.


Okay, now  I am going to tell you that if we don't have a babysitter, I will probably order pizza, light some candles and hang out with my hubby for Valentine's day (after the kiddos go to bed). The romance is in who you are with, not what you do. For those of you who do get amazing reservations, and meet at the top of the Empire State Building, I am extremely jealous! Tell me how you do it :)

~Wishing you all a day full of love~

Joe: My Best Friend

5 Reasons Why Coffee is My Best Friend!

1. Have I told you I'm not a Morning Person (See the blog labeled A Tu-Tu A Day Keeps the Morning Blues Away)

2. The next few days are going to be busy. Coach's basketball team made it to the playoffs! Yea!!!!  Although I am very excited for him, this means that he will be gone a lot more preparing the team for the upcoming games. Tonight he has traveled to Dallas to scout out some teams he may be playing against. Tomorrow is game night, and Saturday the team will be playing a make-up game due to the snow day. Because of this, I am warning you ahead of time that my posts may sound a little delirious :)  But that only makes them more fun. Right?  I guess we'll see.


3.  Yesterday I awoke at 5:45a.m. (yeah I said A.M.) to a banging noise in the living room. I sent Coach to check it out. He returned with an expressionless face like he had seen a ghost. I asked him what the noise was, and all he said was, "Your daughter found your nail polish." Needless to say, the rest of the morning I was scrubbing bright red nail polish (the one from the post about betting!) out of my white carpet.
***** Tip!!!!! ************
If you ever spill nail polish on the carpet, after scrubbing it with soapy water, use Windex to help remove the remaining stain. (Found that tip on the Internet when I was hoping for a miracle, and it worked!)
I hope deep down in my soul that you will never need that tip, but just in case!
***********************
She had also painted her legs, arms, and lips. She apparently thought it was lip gloss. I will have nightmares about that morning for years! There were no pictures of this, I was busy feverishly scrubbing the carpet.

4. Coffee makes me sit. I'm not sure how or why. When I wake up on the weekends, I usually do so with a vengeance. I have a list of things to get done running through my head, and I jump straight to work. Coach is a coffee connoisseur. I've never seen someone drink so much of it. It is the first thing he does every morning, so as soon as he places the cup of coffee in my hands, I feel like I need to sit down and take a few minutes to enjoy it. Although it is full of caffeine, it is probably the main thing keeping me calm.

5. It's easy to make! I know this sounds silly, but at this point in my life, anything that only takes a few minutes to prepare, and has a setting where it turns itself on and makes itself is definately a favorite. It's like the croc-pot of beverages. Not only that, but my husband is such a coffee lover, that I very rarely have to actually make my own. Score!


I tend to agree with Mike Ditka from the Movie "Kicking and Screaming"

Coffee is the lifeblood that fuels the dreams of champions.

The Best Bet: Superbowl Fashion

Ok, so I am going to let y'all in on a secret. I am officially addicted to betting. I don't mean any of those illegal bets, or ones where you make money off of someone. I mean ones where I get my husband to do things for me because I am a good guesser!

Coach and I have a long standing tradition of betting on sports teams. I love sports (tennis, soccer, volleyball, ice-skating.... pretty much all of the one's that my husband doesn't care about), but I would much rather be watching some reality show that makes me feel like my life is Waaaay normal.  In order to cure my boredom during games Coach and I  started making bets. He soon realized that it encouraged me to actually watch the sports he is interested in and learn a little about the games.

 If there's something in it for me, then I am a great supporter. This is how I learned what first downs were (I'm not really sure how I was a cheerleader for so long, and never really understood what I was cheering for.) I've even learned what a tight-end is. We won't talk about what I used to think it meant :)

The last game we made a bet on was of course, The Superbowl.

Since we don't bet for money, I definitely try to get something good out of it! My toe nails were beginning to look a little rough, and I am too cheap to go get them done (and am not really full of spare time), so I decided that if my team was to win, then I wanted Coach to give me a pedicure. Not just paint my toe nails, but really do it up. Scrub my feet, wrap my legs in hot towels, the whole shebang! The whole point of the bets is to make sure that you have the other person do something that they would never do unless forced to by the loss of a bet. (I love it!)

Coach decided that if he won, he wanted me to be the perfect coach's wife for 3 days. I pretty much feel like I am already pretty perfect at it (Not!). I was supposed to bake the team cookies, create a gift bag for my husband the day of a game, and attend the game in full team colors (etc... etc....).  I was pretty much supposed to worship him for three days. He would love to be spoiled like this all the time, but life is a little hectic for me to normally come up with baked goods for the team and worship him :) I have 3 monkeys that I'm busy chasing and a job, sorry Charlie. But this is what would happen if I was to lose.

We shook on it, and moved on to our team choices.

The way I pick teams really cracks up Coach. I usually just say I have a feeling about who will win, and who won't. I call it my MommyPsych. I think all moms have a 6th and maybe a 7th sense. We do have eyes in the back of our heads you know!  I really didn't have an opinion about who I wanted to win, but I remembered that I had an old comfy Packers t-shirt packed away, and that it would be fun to wear a shirt supporting my team. So, based on my outfit, I decided to choose the Packers. Coach, was happy to go for the other team and the bet was on.

Long story short, I'm sure most of you saw or heard the outcome of the game, so you know how this all turned out. It turned out with a happy Autumn!

I would like to thank my best friend Stacey, who let me borrow her Packers shirt approximately 8 years ago (Not sure if I stole it or if she gave it to me..... Sorry Stace. Let me know if you want it back!).









Just so you know Stacey, you are the reason that I am sitting here with soft feet and pretty red toes. Thank you friend!

Thanks mom for passing down the Flintstone feet



Poor baby, I think I passed them down to her too!
Mini-Me was determined to have her toes
photographed
(ooohhhh..... I just love baby toes!)

 I am proud to say that I won this bet because of fashion! Superbowl Fashion that is!

If you are ever having trouble with getting motivation to watch a game with your spouse, I would definitely recommend  betting! It makes it so much more fun. Please do not hold me liable if you end up having to worship your husband, you win some, you lose some. I am now out of professional sports team shirts to help me make choices, so I guess I will be using the MommyPsych for March Madness! I do occasionally lose, so I'll let you in on those sad days too :) We'll think happy thoughts of painted toes until then.


Thank you Coach for always going along with my crazy bets!
You are a great sport!



Ice Cream For Breakfast?

Yesterday it snowed here, and it's already almost all gone today. That's the way I like snow, here today, gone tomorrow. It was a very light snow, but for the south, this was a blizzard. Everyone got out of school, and the boy across the street was shoveling the snow out of his driveway with a real shovel. I awoke to the horrible scraping sound. It was an interesting sight.

My two oldest monkeys woke up bright and shiny (of course) and immediately wanted to go out to play in this white delight (mmm....that sounds like a name for ice-cream, maybe that's what I will name my snow ice-cream!).

I bundled them up Missouri style! To me that means so many layers on that you can't feel your arms and legs anymore, and plastic bags over your hands and feet to make sure the water doesn't seep through your clothes. We don't really invest in heavy gloves or boots, because you only get the chance to use them every 5 years or so.

Poor Baby Gray watched from the window because he has been sick. I felt so bad for him. At one point I hopped outside with the girls and threw snowballs at the window. He thought that was hilarious. One of my favorite things about babies is that anything you do is super funny. I get him laughing so hard that he can barely breathe, and I start feeling like I'm the next Lucille Ball. Then I look over at Stinkerbelle who is giving me one of those looks like" Really Mom, Reallly?" and I realize that I better enjoy my short time of being the funniest woman in the world.

Anyway, after everyone got tired of playing, I headed out and collected some untrampled snow to make snow ice cream. I have some fun memories of going to my grandma's house and having her fix this for me. In my mind, it was the best thing I had ever tasted, so I decided to make my own and it was pretty good too :)

Yes I was using a strainer to scoop it up, don't really know why,
it's just what I grabbed (worked pretty well though)

Homemade White Delight  (Snow Ice-Cream)
Ingredients:
Vanilla
White Granulated Sugar
Milk (you can also use condensed sweetened milk but plain whole milk worked just fine for us)


Directions:

First get a gallon of snow

Add 1 cup of sugar to the snow

I let Stinkerbelle poor the sugar

Pay no attention to Mini-Me's fingerprints in the sugar

Add 1-2 tablespoons of vanilla (I added 2 because I wanted it to be very flavorful)

 

Mix together,

and while mixing this, you add 1 to 2 cups of milk.

You can always tell it's winter when there is a big pile of
coats in the background :)

The snow we had was very dry, so I added 1 and 1/2 cups of milk.


Pretty simple! Spoon it up, and enjoy!

The kiddos were having it for breakfast (healthy huh?) so they thought it would be fun to add some cereal. I was not brave enough to try it, but they really liked it!!

Survival Skills

 7 Things I've survived this week:

1. An amazingly cold day and no socks (I hate socks, they make my feet clostrophobic- let me be free). My nickname in high school had something to do with stinky feet. Not sure why? They weren't that bad. I'll probably steal some socks from Coach to wear tomorrow so my toes don't get frostbite and fall off ;)

2. My speech darlin's turning into little gremlins at the elementary school (weather changes always make them crazy but power outages only added to the spaz factor)



3. Working on 4 hours of sleep. Baby Gray was at home sick with Coach. I hate it when babies get sick. You feel like you can never do enough. The nights were full of lots of rocking, cool washcloths, and vicks. Poor monkey.



a pic of him on a well day!





I took a pic of myself to
document the fear



4. A chicken attack. I see a little girl at her home for therapy and on my way up to the house, a chicken/guinea (not really sure what it was) decided to chase me. For some reason, animals think it is fun to attack me.I promise you I'm not exaggerating, I walked out, ran to my car, and it was pecking on my car after I got in. Growing up I had hermit crabs, hamsters, dogs, cats, birds, and fish (I was bit by all of them except the fish- I'm so glad they don't have teeth). Needless to say my dream of being a veterinarian did not become a reality.

5. Heavy snow! Just kidding. We got two inches, and that is probably a record! The kids loved it!

Stinkerbelle got to make her first snow angel, and Mini-Me only thinks snow is good for one thing. Eating! Everytime I looked up, she was getting another mouthfull.

We made snow ice-cream. I'll post the recipe for that tomorrow.

6. Walking in and seeing Mini-me putting everything she could find in the toilet after she was supposed to be in bed. We have since decided to put a bell on her door, so we can have a warning if she gets up in the middle of the night to explore. Why the toilet??? Why do kids love the toilet so much? The world will never know.

7. The underwear gnome came to visit my house and stole all of Stinkerbelle's undies. I walked in to the living room after about 20 minutes of doing work to find Coach asleep on the couch, and the underwear gnome trying to escape through the back door. Not sure how she did it, but she accomplished putting on 12 pairs. Beware, the gnome escaped and is armed and dangerous.

Not sure how she got away
with all that junk in her trunk

Snow Day Survival Tip: Have plenty of food!!!! Thank goodness we went to the store a few days ago, or I would be suiting up and skiing to the nearest convenience store! Okay, there's not enough snow to ski on, but I'd get there somehow!