You can't beat free!

Well, it has been a busy busy week - which is why I have been a bad blogger, but I do want to let you all know that the Free Night of Theater is back! It would be a perfect date night for all of you exhausted parents out there (which is exactly what I am right now). You can get free tickets to shows all over the US. Check it out here and sign up for free tickets starting October 1!

Quick Fall Fun in the kitchen

I saw this idea in Parent's Magazine and knew I had to try it out with the kids.

You take a leave cookie cutter (I found mine at Walmart today)

and cut out leaves from egg roll wrappers.

Lay them on a cookie sheet that has been coated with cooking spray and then lightly spray the tops of them. Sprinkle your favorite colorful spices on top -I did paprika and curry powder, along with some salt. Bake for 3-4 minutes, watching carefully because they do crisp quickly, at 375.

Savory Fall chips!

We also used an acorn cookie cutter and sprinkled the acorn chips with cinnamon sugar instead of spices. The kids seemed to like those ones better. Neither were incredible tasting, but it was fun anyway.

Soccer Season

Colin is enjoying soccer again this year. Their first game was last Saturday.

His cousin Santiago is on his team, and my brother Bobby is their coach, but as you can see here, it is plain who is running the team.

I had to include this picture because it looks like Sabina has her arm around Chad while they are watching their little blond boy. Pretty funny. We know how he likes those soccer moms.

On our screen door

When I was a baby, my nickname was Thunder Thighs

I have been SO good about eating this week.

Which is why I did not appreciate getting an email from Red Robin offering me this:

And letting me know about this:

Yes, mozzarella sticks on hamburger. Pure genuis, if you ask me. I hope this is still around when we go there for Gabe's birthday next month.

I shall see you then, my mouth-watering friend (or is it enemy?).

Keepin' It Real Wednesday

The other day, I heard the toilet flush as Colin walked out of the bathroom. I asked him if he had washed his hands. He replied that he hadn't. I asked him to.

He responded with a big fat NO.

Ready to fight the fight, I told him to again, and got my least favorite question, asked rather defiantly-

WHY?!

I took a deep breath and an idea flashed into my head (inspiration, if you will).

"Didn't President Obama tell you to wash your hands?"

Colin's face went sheepish, and he simply said, "Oh yeah."

Then he immediately walked back in the bathroom, where he scrubbed for a good two minutes.

Thank you Mr. President.

A Negative Spin :o)

The good news is....I am past the exhausting duties of parenting a newborn.
The bad news is.....I am in the midst of the exhaustive duties of parenting a moody six year old.

The good news is.....I have been working out for three weeks now. Go me!
The bad news is.....I have somehow gained three pounds.

The good news is......my sister Christie had a baby boy!
The bad news is......she stole my babysitters!

The good news is......So You Think You Can Dance is back on.
The bad news is.......They seem to be showing only one audition city a week. It's gonna take forever to get to the top ten!

The good news is.....Chad is thinking about getting his MBA.
The bad news is.....Chad is thinking about getting his MBA.

Surprise Party for Mom

We managed to pull off a surprise party for my mom on Thursday. At least, she says it was a surprise - I'm still not quite sure if I believe her. Regardless, it was a lot of fun, and I was really happy that we got to celebrate it early with her (her birthday isn't until next Tuesday), because she and my dad left Friday, the very next day, to drive to Texas for the birth of their 20th grandchild.
Yes, my dad is carrying in a salad - I had my mom bring something to her own party :o) I think that helped make it a surprise. We did a soup and salad dinner. My two older brothers both brought scrumptious soups, along with their scrumptious children.

I thought this picture turned out pretty good considering how many kids are involved!

Please let me look like my mom as I age. She has beautiful skin. I think my dad would agree.

We played spoons - a Jeppson family favorite, followed by a game of Black Magic, which was fun, but kind of mean since Sabina was the only one who didn't know how to play.

We watched a little slideshow that all my siblings and sibling-in-laws helped me put together. Thanks guys! I have a couple of little things I want to change in it and then I will try to have it posted on YouTube by mom's birthday. Then the birthday girl put the blaze out on her cake.

Everyone had a great time. It was just so much fun to have my mom HERE to celebrate it with her. We love you Mom!

Hail to the Chief - *possible spoiler

Does anyone else find it amusing that Sigourney Weaver has been in two movies about using a double for the President?

For the record, I still love Dave, no matter how many times I see it on TBS, and I was pleasantly surprised last night when we watched Vantage Point. I definitely liked it more than the critics.

Cougar Pride

I busted out my 9 year old BYU t-shirt today. Was it to celebrate their victory on Saturday?

Um, no.

It was to get a free original chicken sandwich at Chick-fil-A (with free tomatoes, lettuce and cheese!). Yum-o. We dressed the whole family up in rag-tag sports paraphernalia and went. Five sandwiches, two large waffle fries and the best Diet Dr. Pepper you will ever drink, all for around $5.

Incidentally, when I walked past the very long line, I heard someone say very loudly, "It's a great time to be wearing that shirt!"

For Me

Sometimes when I am watching Oprah, I hear women say things like, "I am so busy taking care of other people that I never take care of myself " or even worse, "I am always a giver. I just don't have anything left to give myself."

I can be kind of judgmental sometimes, let's admit it, so I usually scoff a little to myself and think something like,

"Lady, you are just using that as an excuse for being a drunk/overweight/out of style/disorganized."

Because really, taking care of other people and taking of yourself can go together. It isn't really about how much time we devote to other people. Let's face it -most of us, no matter how much we have on our plate, waste plenty of time in one way or another on ourselves - time that could be used in more productive, results-driven ways if we just put forth the effort.

Like I spend hours a week sitting on the computer at night after my kids are sleep - hours that could be used exercising, or learning Spanish, or reading my scriptures- if I really cared enough and used more discipline.

The phrasing just annoys me a bit. I hate the martyr act (I told you I was judgmental).

But I had a little Aha! moment (you like that Oprah?) a month or so ago.

I was thinking about my brother-in-law Roy, who has given up all sugar. When he was here over the summer, I asked him if he ever misses it. He told me that he misses it, but he doesn't miss overeating it and feeling addicted to it.

I thought to myself, Wow. Good for him. You can tell he is happier and healthier for it. I just couldn't ever do that though - give something up that is so much a part of my diet. I'm just not that strong.

At which point the thought came,

You did do that. Twice. Not for yourself, but for your sons.

Oh yeah. Duh. Twice I gave up all dairy for six months so that I could continue breastfeeding my sons without making them sick. Dairy isn't sugar, but it is pretty big, and a major lifestyle change, and I did it without a second thought.

I was willing to completely restrict my diet to make my sons healthy, but I am not strong enough to eat what I should for my own health?

If someone told me that my sons would only be healthy if I exercised an hour every day, I know I would do it. Probably every single day. Can I make that same effort for my own sake?

Maybe I do get those Oprah women a little.

...........................................................................

We joined the YMCA last week. It was expensive and I agonized over the decision because, although we can afford it, as I always say to Chad, I hate it when people just "throw money at a problem", (again, judgmental). I could do yoga at home, or use our little community gym at night when Chad is home if I were only disclipined enough. The thing is though, the YMCA has child-care included. Child-care I can use every single day of the week without feeling like I am taking advantage of someone. Guilt-free child-care, if you will.

It turns out that for me, that is pretty big, because exercise at home at 6 am that gets interrupted by a crying baby is exercise that is hard to be excited about. Exercise at 7 pm after the kids go down and I just want to sit down and never get back up? So much harder than doing it in the morning. Exercise just about any time I want, that also gives me a little break from my all-consuming duties? Wahoo! Sign me up.

Dear Ollie,

I've got my eye on you, little boy.

No more funny business.

Yours truly,
Mom

A couple of food questions for you

Do carrots.....

give you the hiccups when you eat them? They often do with me, especially when I eat them too quickly. Regular carrots, and baby-cut carrots.

Did you ever eat O'Boises when you were a kid? They were my favorite kind of chip (I think it was partly because I was born in Idaho so I thought the name was cool). Well, we were Dollar Tree last week and I saw bags of them for the first time in years. I was pretty happy. The bag says "Back by Popular Demand" so I guess I wasn't the only one who liked them, especially since they have made their big comeback in, you know, the dollar store, which is which is so prestigious and all. Anyway, I bought a bag, and they aren't the same. Not nearly as good. The old kind were a lot "fluffier", if you will. Maybe my memory doesn't serve me right, so if you remember them, please go to Dollar Tree and try them to let me know what you think.

Back to School

Yes, it started last week, but I haven't gotten a chance to blog about it yet.

Gabe started going to preschool last. My friend Jamie (who is really the most adorable and fun mom around - seriously, I want to be her) organized a group of moms in our ward to take turns teaching preschool. It is on Mondays and Wednesdays for a couple of hours, and Gabe seems to be having a good time. He is a little shy around other people still, but Jamie did say that she got him to smile, so that's something! Here he is on his first day. He think he is checking to make sure the car he brought for show and tell is still in his pocket.

Colin started 1st grade last week. His teacher was actually the person who took over for his kindergarten teacher for three months last year while she was on maternity leave, so he already knew her quite well. From what we saw of her last year, she pushes the kids a little more than some of the other teachers, and some of the work he has brought home already seems to show that. The second day of school he brought his math home (what they did in class, not homework). It was questions like 14-9, 16-4.....things I'm not sure they covered much in kindergarten, and this was the SECOND day of school. I heard a bunch of the moms talking about it the next day at pick-up. Some of them were saying that their kids were in tears over it, so I asked Colin how math was going. He said it was "kind of frustrating" but that he only missed one problem. Then I remembered that the previous day, when I picked him up, he told me that he had said two prayers while he was at school. When I asked him what they were about, he said, "I didn't want to mess up on what I was doing" but couldn't remember what he was doing. I am thinking that was math. I am glad that he seems to be able to handle the extra push that his teacher is giving them, but of course I will be keeping a close eye on that. He has taken going back in stride and seems pretty happy. His biggest complaint is practicing writing characters, which was what he hated most last year too, so nothing new there.

Here he and Gabe are in front of the school garden on his first day back.

Second Annual Back-to-School Dinner

On Monday we held our Back-to-School Dinner/FHE. It was first inspired last year by Nie, and though I will never pull it off as beautifully as her, I suppose I can get away with it since I have only boys, who wouldn't truly appreciate it if I did.

On the menu:

Zuppa Toscana with garlic butter crostini (okay, it was garlic bread)

Mom's Lasagna

Salad with broccoli and garden grape tomatoes

Pumpkin cheesecake (no cracks!)

After dinner we had a special Family Home Evening highlighting this year's family motto, Our Home Should be a Sacred Refuge, which was inspired by this talk.

Although we have lived in this home for two years, we hadn't dedicated it yet, so after talking about it with the kids, we knelt and Chad offered a dedicatory prayer.

Our motto and a theme that we wrote that we are focusing on for the year are now hanging in our front room to remind us of our family goals.